Baby Birds

On the first day of summer - four baby birds in my bougainvillea.

Mr & Mrs Blackbird were kicking up a fuss a minute ago as Winston Cat strolled down the neighbour's driveway. He stopped and stared at me as if I were to blame for the racket.  

Mid Winter 2018

Oops, found this in my drafts folder and I had forgotten to publish it. Better late than never. Some cheery things from mid-winter:

A few of the surprising number & variety of flowers in the garden

Decorating the Wellington Cable Car for the Rainbow Storytelling school holiday event.

The rainbow lights in the tunnels were gorgeous.

The Kapiti College sign on Sunday made me laugh.

Planets visible in the clear night sky from my house. True they look like bright stars with the naked eye, although Mars has an orange tinge. Skyview app helpfully identifies them all. From left (west) to right (east): Mercury (disappears first), Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars.

Armistice Day 2018

One hundred years after the end of World War One I attended the Armistice Day commemoration in Te Awamutu with my mother. She belongs to the local RSA so we marched behind the official party to ANZAC Green and watched the ceremony to remember the fallen soldiers and mark the moment a hundred years ago that the guns fell silent. Due to our time zone New Zealand was the first country in the world to mark the event at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I think Te Awamutu was the first place in the world to mark the event because everyone was ready and the MC said we may as well get started and the bells tolled a few minutes early! 

1) Armistice Day service Te Awamutu 2018. Iraq & Afghanistan vets lay a wreath.

2) Peace Memento given to Waiuku school children. My grandmother received this one.

3) Gilbert Heald 1882-1915. My great grandfather's brother who was killed at Gallipoli. 

4) Crosses outside Feilding Fire Station in 2018 commemorating local volunteer firemen who died in World War One. Gilbert Heald's cross is front row, second from left.  

Spring Holiday

I've been delving deeply into family history research so I've neglected the blog for a while. But through my research I recently met some extended family members while on a 'meet the family' holiday with my mother. People I phoned out of the blue have been very welcoming and helpful.   

                                 Mum, Ian McCaul & Edna McCaul at Huirangi

      Ben & Fanny Hall's house (my great, great                The house at Huirangi in 2018
              grandparents) built about 1880

   

Jim, Alice, John, Gordon, Annie, Bill,       Alice's son Lyndsay Shuker, Florice's daughter 

             Tom & Florice McGowan. c.1930          Lois Knight. Same doorstep about 90 years later

           The McGowan family homestead                          With a new roof in 2018

Great Weather for Ducks ... and Pukekos

It is finally light enough for me to cycle to and from work again. Although it's still winter I've had three enjoyable rides in the past week. Today it was damp as I rode along the track. There weren't many people about but the pukeko were out and about in force. I counted 30 pukeko around the expressway wetland area. Some pukeko are skittish but the odd one, like a little fellow today, just stroll across the path in front of my bike. 

Thai Football Boys Cave Rescue

First they survived 10 days deep inside a cave in Thailand, then the world waited and wondered if they would make it out alive, and finally after a mammoth rescue operation all twelve boys and their coach are out and safe. 

Shelving Stuff Ups

It seems to be a case of all brawn and no brain. The people responsible for putting the shelves back into place after the carpet laying at the library have become worse and worse at the job the further they progress through the library. The teen book shelves were a complete muddle this morning. The shelving units weren't in the correct position, the individual shelves weren't in the correct slots, shelves weren't aligned and the books weren't even in alphabetical order. How hard is A,B,C? Why would you place books upside down and back to front? I'm not sure if the workers are stupid, lazy, careless or all three.