New Zealand’s Native Clematis

…in my experience, is usually flowering at the top of a tree….you can see it from afar, but it is too high up to appreciate at close quarters…let alone photograph…

…this lot is growing in sand dunes on low scrub bushes…

…mmm, clematis.

Can You Spot

…my good friend Dee in this newly decorated room…. you’ll have to look hard, she’s well camouflaged…..

…mmmm…cross stitch boat….…did you see her?

Magnolias Again

…took these a week or so back when we paid another visit to the top gardens ….lots of heavy rain since then, so lots of the blooms are gone…

 

Flowers Fungus Fungus

…in that order…

….visited the top gardens ta the Dunedin Botanic Gardens earlier in the week…bulk magnolia flowerings plus bellbird/tui madness in the kowhai trees plus this marvellous fungal protuberance….

…note kowhai petals in fungus.

Wassat

…in the water there…

….oh…a bloody great leopard seal……never seen one in the water before…let alone on the harbour side of the spit…and I’m sure the bugger was sizing us up as snacks….

….I think I’ll stick to dodging sea lions on the beach….

…female hauled up beyond big male pictured above after lunch…(his flipper in the foreground)….…or viewing fur seals from above…

….mmmm…pinnipeds.

 

…(if we’d seen a sea elephant we’d have the whole set!).

Against A Blue Background

…berries (hips actually)…….sheep….

…shhhheeeeeeeeeppppp….

….(taken on a recent wander along the Central Otago rail trail…time out from painting that banner thing).

 

 

….(shhhhhhheeeeeeepppppp).

Moody

….brooding….

…grey.

So Anyway

…I’m in the back garden splitting wood when there’s a flurry of feathers between the fence and the apartments next door…lotsa feathers…white and black….black flew out… couldn’t see what it was…white popped up onto the fence, heart pounding like a jack hammer, looked fit to burst…turned around to go get my camera….black was behind me on the peak of the house roof…a New Zealand Falcon, Karearea….rare as all hell… hunting urbanly…terrorising the neighbours doves….and sitting on my house!!!…. a very beautiful bird of prey….no camera….I’m between it and it’s intended target…it’s between me and my camera…slowly moved inside…it fly off before I could make three paces….neighbours dove stayed put for two more hours before it snuck home….I can understand why….

…moral?…

…carry that camera ALL the time.

After A Brief Break

…at the secret brief break location……I now find myself with 30 plus weeks of cartoons to draw….

…finally got the brain space to organise and plot a great big chunk from the chaos of my notebook &  journal from 8 years ago…either written whilst “working” in a sheet metal factory or at my cousin Phil & family’s kitchen table….been meaning to do something about it since I got back….not so many ideas going into the sketch  book of late, so I’m glad I “prepared” this earlier….

…onwards!

Autumnal

…toadstool…

…toadstool…

…toadstool….

…toadstool…(blue)….

…mmm…

…nature.