‘Striped Shore’
Tag: New Zealand
Daylight Will Not Be Saved
‘Pohutukawa Branches & Sea’
New Zealand ends daylight saving hours this weekend, as the northern part of the country basks in glorious sunshine and the weight of Covid-19 diminishes the glow without totally extinguishing it.
So, the daylight hours “saved” will now be “lost” again!
If daylight itself cannot be preserved it leads me to wonder exactly just what can be saved right now.
I’ll settle for saving my sanity and, in doing so, remind myself that you can’t save everything and everyone, not even yourself sometimes. You can just do the next right thing, whatever it is, for yourself and others, in any given moment and then keep doing so in those that follow…
Meanwhile, I will make the most of the fading warmth and light of autumn. It is still my favourite time of year in my neck of the woods. The picture above was taken on a gentle coastal walk yesterday.
Stay safe, if not saved, people!
Ghostly
Auckland’s a ghost town in lockdown.
Spookily quiet, with the threat of disease and death the back drop to every muted scene.
The hanging aerial roots of a coastal pohutukawa tree add to the spectral vibe…
Through The Trees
‘Through The Trees’ Hanmer Springs, NZ. July 2013
wooden shafts
shafts of light and air
run parallel
then merge
in memories
Agapanthus
‘Braemar’: Survivor
‘Braemar’
Apparently ‘Braemar’ is the sole late-Victorian period house in Auckland’s central city area still in use as a residence.
Despite its blackened exterior, this is one of my favourite local buildings, with its gothic exterior architrave; the name proud above the arch; wrought iron fence; lace curtains; and the glow of a welcoming light within.
Believe me, there’s been an awful lot of crappy, inconsequential stuff erected around this baby since it was built.
It is a tenacious, grimy survivor and that is something I always admire – in people, and in anything that outlasts the others of its ilk.
Laugh Again
” Stop your snivelling creek bed;
come rain hail & flood-water
laugh again “
– Hone Tuwhare ,‘ Haiku (1)’
This great New Zealand poem, inscribed on a carved wooden gateway in Auckland’s Aotea Square, is an inspiration to Ebb Then Flood (for hopefully obvious reasons!)
