Close to home

Well I just got back from Sydney, but I don't have any photos of the lucky country as Mr. Millicent Crow is still in Australia with the camera.  So I thought I'd share some photos from a bit closer to home...these are the Manukau Harbour and Tasman Sea back in wintertime.  I'm working on some giant paintings of this area...well giant for me who loves to paint with a tiny brush!

Manukau Heads

 I'm working on a giant painting of Mitre Peak at the moment, from when we went to Milford Sound on tour back in February.  And I've got another giant canvas sitting in my room, which made me think I should also do a giant painting of the Manukau heads.  So a couple of Sundays ago we took a drive out to the Otuataua stonefields to take a few reference photos and watch the sun go down.

 Such a beautiful and slightly eerie place.

There is an avocado orchard there that is part of the regional park and you can take five avocados per person.  Note to self to go back in avocado season!

Wolves and bears, oh my!

 

I was in town today wandering along taking a few photos of green things.  And triangles.  

 

And plants. 

And nice buildings....when I stumbled upon this beautiful mural I'd never seen before.  It's by Mica Still, who has decorated much of Wellington with brightly coloured animals I do believe. 

 

A good reason to take a little detour! 

Hand-lettered

I do love a hand-lettered sign and here are some I've found around and about lately:

Luckily for my overflowing house the op shop in Matakana with this beautiful sign wasn't open!

Snippets

 Just a few little snippets from walking around and about:

Can you see the sneaky paradise ducks?

Carousel at the end of the world

There are few things I like more than a bleak seaside funfair.  So when I stumbled upon a carousel at the end of Silo Park, which can be deliciously bleak in the right weather, I was so excited that I had to come back three times with two different cameras to photograph it!  Apparently it is the oldest carousel in New Zealand.

 Unfortunately none of the times I went back was at a particularly good time of day for light, but I think that added to the bleakness.  It looked like it was a carousel at the end of the world.

Rubbish photos

I had a very welcome day off work the other day and how did I spend it?  Rummaging through stuff like this:

I had heard the inorganic collection was in Avondale, so I grabbed my camera and jumped on the train, hoping to find some good mattresses to photograph.  And I was rewarded with these lovelies!  

Mr. Millicent Crow came along too and was very tolerant of spending hours in piles of rubbish in the rain!  We also had lunch at the lovely Salvation Kitchen, visited the great op shops of Avondale and found a gorgeous 70s sideboard in the inorganics that we were very tempted to bring home.  

 

 But this pink and red rose number was the find of the day!  I may have squealed when I found this beauty:

More mattress enthusiasts here!

Fly me up to where you are

I raced into town after work today hoping that the flags would still be in Aotea Square, and I was in luck.  This tent of flags is an artwork called Fly Me Up To Where You Are by Tiffany Singh - she got hundreds of kids from South Auckland to write their hopes and dreams on them.  They are beautiful, I'm thinking I'll have to make some flags for our house!

 I love the way the city looks through the flags.  Magical. 

 

These colourful deckchairs are a good place to sit and watch the flags.

And I thought this rainbow apartment block matched the colours nicely!