Sunday Scans: Graduation/capping/convocation

http://sundayscans.blogspot.com/

Al http://alsphotographyblog.blogspot.com/.


That was 1980, I was capped on the same day as the water engineer. We both got our bachelors. My sister Margaret came up to Auckland. We pitied her, she sat through two sessions. The water engineer went on to get a PhD, and my late friend Ken Thornton said I got an honorary PhT, (Putting husband through,)

My second daughter G will be capped tomorrow. She will be getting an LLB.

weekend Bridge: Boat jetty

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/

Where the rich people park their boats at Half Moon bay. I don't own a boat, just as well, I get very sea sick.

macro flowers saturday: Found in Singapore

Macro Flower Saturday

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http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html
Sorry I don't know the name, may be Jama will be able to tell us. I was in the Singapore when I went snapping photos of plants instead of animals.

A Northern Flicker and a male Pileated Woodpecker

I am guessing that the smaller bird to the left is a Northern Flicker. Does anyone have any comments on this id?

Mayflowers in bloom

April Showers bring Mayflowers. Yes, Indeed they do! I found Mayflowers in bloom along highway #785 today! Now we have both April Showers and Mayflowers.

Eagle for world bird Wednesday

Even from a distance as we approached this stark tree outlined against the sky we knew the dark shape perched on it wasn't a crow as it was too large. We had seen Eagles there before and when started to be able to distinguish the white on its head and tail we knew what it was; An Eagle! A little cropping really enhanced its steely eye and its sharp shapely curved bill! What a powerful looking bird this magnificent creature was. It was a lucky sighting on our part!

Got some grest bird photos!? want to share them with others on World bird Wednesdayhttp://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/? To locate this meme, just scroll down the right side of this page until you find the World bird logo, click on it and go from there!

When It All Gets Too Much...

...may I recommend 'Chair Wars'.


You can only be on chair
You have to have a slipper on your head.
The slipper must STAY ON:
You must throw the jacket of Death at each other!

In other news, if you're anywhere near Glasgow on May 3rd this is well worth a look: http://glasgowtosaturn.com/2011/04/26/live-writing-writers-live/

Watery Wednesday: Fishing

This is fish caught by recreational fisherman with a hook and line. There is another kind of fishing.



http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/
http://youtu.be/ix_ZXYREJo8

You got mail, it's from Greenpeace.

Hi Ann,TAKE ACTION

Ask the 5 big NZ tuna retailers to leave out the turtle and shark and change their tuna!

Our relationship with the sea is a vital part of what it means to be Kiwi.

Over the last week, along with the other groups involved in the flotilla to Stop Deep Sea Oil, we have been working to protect New Zealand's coastlines, oceans and economy from the impacts of deep sea drilling.

Slightly further from our shores, but just as important, the Pacific Ocean is being affected by industrial tuna fishing fleets. More than 6000 vessels are scooping up tuna at such a rate that stocks are in jeopardy of being wiped out. Adding to this problem are destructive fishing methods which are killing endangered sharks, turtles and tuna so young that they haven't had a chance to reproduce.

Not only is this threatening the health of the Pacific Ocean it's also impacting on the livelihoods of our Pacific neighbours.

This short video explains the whole shebang very nicely ...
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/take-action/Take-action-online/change-your-tuna/?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Tuna5


We all have a crucial part to play in protecting the Pacific and its fish stocks so there are tuna in the future. Over the next few months we'll be talking to the five companies behind the major brands of canned tuna, the New Zealand fishing fleets and the Government about what needs to be done and we'll need your help.

Starting today we're calling on the main brands of canned tuna sold in New Zealand (Sealord, John West, Greenseas and the 'own brand' products of our two supermarket chains) to follow the lead of tuna brands in other parts of the world that are shifting to more sustainably caught tuna.

Our message to NZ tuna brands is: "Change your tuna". By that we mean they need to start sourcing truly sustainable fish and to stop selling tuna that has been caught using bad fishing methods which catch and kill endangered turtles and sharks.

You can help let the brands know selling tuna caught this way is not acceptable and that you want them to be offering you a choice based on sustainability. Join our online campaign to send this message to them now at:

www.greenpeace.org.nz/tuna

Depending on their responses, we'll decide where we need to focus our
attention, and will be in touch soon with next steps.

Thank you for your support,

Karli Thomas
Oceans campaigner
Greenpeace Aotearoa NZ

Ruby Red/Rednesday: Poppy Day

Yesterday, 25 April was Anzac Day .

It commemorates all New Zealanders and Australians killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.  

The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. 

The poppy's significance to Remembrance Day is a result of Canadian military physician John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare

Every year, the Vets and their families sell these poppy flowers. When I was in primary school in Borneo, we used to buy them. My teacher told me that the money was  ex-Services and Dependants. Later, when Sarawak became part of Malaysia, they stopped selling poppies. feathers were sold instead.                                                                                                 

In my ESOL adult class, I teach ANZAC day to the new immigrants. I was glad to have L and E who lived through the war to assist me. "Lest we forget" doesn't mean as much as those who lived through those horrible days.     

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com

http://www.suelovescherries.blogspot.com/

                                                                                                                                       

White- throated Sparrow for Mellow Yellow Monday

There is no doubting of the identify of this little sparrow! Notice its white-throat ed bib. Its a white-throated Sparrow And the
ytellow lores makes it a perfect candidate for Mellow Yellow Monday! Got photos with yellow? That's all you need to qualifyfor the mellow yellow Monday meme. Just scroll down the right-hand side until you come to the mellow yellow Monday logo. Just click on the picture and you're there. Just continue on and enjoy!

Poetry Bus: NanU's Wild Drive

NanU says 'Excess' here: http://sciencegirltraveler.blogspot.com/2011/04/just-too-too-far-too-bussy.html

I say 'Festival' below. It was a good while ago...

Glestingaburg

Hark! Hark! Each Spartan hound, music fills the air. Spring, Savage, Hunter, Woodman. In the moonlight, by torchlight, by flame. Greedigut, Blab, Ruffler, Snatch. Die Wilde Jagt. The cry ‘Halloo’, reply ‘Oi’ in own tongue: do not touch the White Lady. Men with horns, hide unto the huntsman, body to the hounds. Leaves whirl round, hair is unbound. ‘Hot Knives! Hot Knives!’ for a pound: the bottomless bottle, crystal crazed, stained. Suck not, and wipe the rim. Did you see him! Decline everything in fairy light: pills, tabs, potions, weed; else you will not return. The ground already unsteady, the music a constant throb. The music will never stop. It’s Dr John. People rent their garments, weep, wail. Beware that hoodoo moon. Dr John will never end and that’s a fact. The night is fun, and I am young. Tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Unexpected Treat On Easter Day!

Fast Men on Fast Bikes!


And after an hour-and-a-half they all came back again.


Why? Who? Where? Lord knows. It was pretty cool though.

sunday scans: Glacier

http://sundayscans.blogspot.com/

Al http://alsphotographyblog.blogspot.com/.




In the summer of year 2000, we went to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Fox was a bigger glacier, but nearer to the road. Everyone went but as Sam was three, I didn't go too near to the terminus.

The next morning, D and Sam decided to stay in the car while we went to Franz Josef Glacier. It seemed like walking miles and miles in the rain and narrow rocky path. We saw tiny icebergs flowing down the stream. We saw waterfalls. We got very wet.

When we reached the terminus, I was all geared up and I became a dare devil. Both Gand I went to have a photo shoot of touching the glacier. Later I told this to my girl friends and my Australia friend told me off. This, she said could be the very time when the ice breaks.

I was very lucky I was saved by the skin of my teeth. So I have deleted the photo. Here are some taken at Fox and Franz Josef. Yesterdays news gave me a close warning. It could have been me and the heading, "Mum and teen aged daughter......"

Brothers crushed by ice named, glacier search postponed
Updated 9:40AM Friday Jan 09, 2009



He said people visiting areas like the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers needed to respect safety barriers and notices.

Both the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers were advancing and had vertical, or in places overhanging, terminal faces.

These were extremely dangerous places to be and were continually subjected to unpredictable rock and ice falls, he said.

Mr Jewell said the glacier's face was an unstable and unsafe place to be at the best of times.

It had frequent collapses which sent large blocks of ice flowing downstream.

Recent warm weather had made the glacier even more unstable.

"The present condition of the terminal face is quite steep," he said.

"We have got warm temperatures ... and obviously we have got frequent ice collapses, but we have had a good sized one [yesterday]."

His company was operating guided tours on the ice throughout yesterday, but none near the glacier face when the accident occurred.

DoC procedures

DoC area manager Jo Macpherson said a lot of people were in the valley yesterday, and it was a member of the public who raised the alarm about the ice collapse.

Conservation Minister Tim Groser said it was a "tragedy of almost unimaginable proportions (for the parents) to lose both sons in one tragedy".

Mr Groser was at Fox Glacier but was staying out of the way of the operational staff conducting the search.

"There are extensive safety procedures in place, these are reviewed annually, there's also been independent assessment of these procedures.

"We're dealing with a situation that is a highly dangerous and dynamic natural environment involving rock, ice and rivers."

The procedures were last reviewed in August last year.

He said the facts of the latest incident would be reviewed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), police and probably the coroner.

There will always be risk, but also "some responsibility on the part of these individuals who go into these areas".

Tourist injured in 2007

The last glacier incident involving injury to a tourist occurred in February 2007, when a man standing beside an ice cave at the face of the Franz Josef Glacier, also on the West Coast, was struck by falling debris when the roof collapsed.

DoC said that year that almost one third of the 600,000 visitors to the West Coast glaciers ignored warning signs and entered danger zones.

In October 2000, a 30-year-old Thai tourist was severely injured when she crossed a safety barrier and was crushed by an icefall.

Asked yesterday if people were continuing to flout the rules, Mr Jewell said: "Unfortunately, yes.

"People don't seem to realise the risk they are putting themselves in.

"They are inexperienced people and they are on holiday and maybe their guard is down. They just don't understand the potential for something to happen. A lot of people just like to touch the ice, which is a pretty crazy thing to do."

Sunday Bridge: A stroll across the bridge

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/

The weather isn't too good, I better power walk and rush home.

Brown-headed Cowbirds for Camera Critters

Its naming is in the colouring of its head. This is a male Brown-headed Cowbird. The female of this species is a demure gray in colour, but demure does not describe the behaviour of these unwanted birds in our feeder area. Cowbirds do not nest, rather the female lays its eggs in the nest of another species and leaves the rearing of its young to another.
This male cowbird shown above is the first Cowbird that I recall seeing in Bird Alley for several seasons now, This particular bird appeared to be very hungry as it voraciously claimed the food in the birdfeeder

Do you have interesting photos of 'critters' you haave seen recently? Why not share them with others by posting them on camera critters?http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/http:// This meme can be found by scrolling down the right hand column on this page. Just click on the CC logo there and you're underway!

Macro flowers Saturday: Banana

Macro Flower Saturday
http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html

In many parts of South East Asia, like Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and the Philipines, they use banana flowers in their cooking. I have not used them myself.

I used to grow bananas and I would give the flowers to my friends. There is a lot of work removing the sap. My Thai friend makes a salad, my Sri Lanka friends cooks in curry.

Then my Burmese friend cooks the heart of the stem.

I grew them, but I don't eat them. Other friends ask why I bother, I just like to see the plants grow and make others happy.

These are actually in Auckland. I am surprised because the fruits actually mature to be edible.

A Ring-necked Duck

My first sighting this spring of this handsome, spectacular looking Ring- necked Duck was yesterday when I had seen it at French Lake. I had seen several on the water there, but as soon as I got out of my car to take their pictures they had all disappeared as these ducks are wont to do do. No, they didn't fly away but dove under the water's surface.

Good Golly Gosh!

Venti has been shortlisted for the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. Really. You can read about it here: http://www.nls.uk/news/press/2011/04/callum-macdonald-competition-shortlist

In other news, I got up two mountains this week and then helped out at the Launch Party for Spilling Ink: Volume I (here: http://spillinginkreview.com/2011/04/05/spilling-ink-volume-1/)

And look! Despite only being asked to man the sales table, I still managed to get in front of the microphone. Then started praying, for some reason.

A late lingering Tree Sparrow visitor!

This time of year especially I am more alert to noticing the difference in birds as I watch and wait for sight of returning migrants. But when I saw this sparrow this morning, something didn't seem right to my mind about this Chipping Sparrow? No, of course not, Chipping Sparrows don't have a central breast spot like this bird did! A Tree Sparrow?! But they are all gone now, aren't they?! But maybe not? Does it have a bi-coloured bill? I changed lenses and strived for a closeup that would show the bill. Yes! It was bicoloured! Wow! A Tree Sparrow indeed! Quite a sighting!, But then we did have snow yesterday! But no on ground accumulation resulted. Maybe this little fellow is starting to feel right at home here, even this late in the season. Go away little bird, Go north where you should be at this time of year. I mean further north! We are finished with winter here!!