I've shifted...

Hi everyone! As most of you know I have been having problems for a while now with my blog...I've finally had enough of red x's appearing where photo's should be (along with a few other issuses) so I have jumped the fence and signed up with wordpress. I have enjoyed the easy features of blogger and all the blogger bloggers I have met along the way so I hope you will continue to visit me at wordpress. I still have my art blog with blogger at this stage. You can find me now at http://lisasarsfield.wordpress.com/ and although it's early days I hoping that things will work for me now! Hope to see y'all there soon!

I will see if I can work out how to burn my feed so the lovely people who have subscribed don't have to go through the hassle of signing up again:)
Just incase you missed it...here's the new blog
See you there!

Poor bird!

This poor wee bird flew into our window today. I am not sure how, they are neither high up or exceptionaly clean and see-thru! This was taken with my camera on full zoom and it was as close as he or she would allow me to get. As soon as it attempted to move away from me I retreated and respected it's space. It was lovely to have been allowed as close as I got and I think the bird will make a full recovery once he/she's gotten over his or her headache!

Pukeko's

These Pook's are slowly tolerating my constant visits to 'their' pond. They were coming in closer to me here to get the bread I was trying to entice the ducks with. Some people think Pukeko's are pests but I personally love them. They're stunning to look at and they have cheeky personalities. I am quite pleased with the progress I am making with the pukeko's! The ducks are a different story though:)

Fennel

Trying for 2 photos.... another shot from the local pond. I love that place!
Hopefully it both posts and comes through clearly...

Found Fern

Fingers crossed I have fixed my photo problem! Not a very good photo a day blog if I can't post photo's each day. I think it was Norton's antivirus that was the problem, slowing my computer down so much that blogger thought I had given up and left. I think! It seemed to be even worse if I tried to add text to my photo's hence the lack of comment for ' Alike'. Thanks BTW Janet for including my entry even though I didn't let you know I had entered. You're brilliant:)
Isn't this fern and grass wonderful? The textures and colours were begging to be photographed and I was happy to oblige:)

Here goes...fingers crossed!

2 things challenge- Alike

2 things challenge- Alike

Matamata

This photo belongs to the first entry, Matamata.
The other photo "Matamata 2" belongs to the post of the same name.
First blurry pics, then missing pics..what's going on?

Matamata 2

Matamata

Matamata is a rural farming community on the other side of the Kaimai's (mentioned here several times previously) lots of cows, trees and it just so happens to be one of the places where filming of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. This view is just past the main township and on the highway out. Yes that 2 laned road is actually a highway! I didn't see any hobbits although I did see a garden centre called Hobbiton. There's touristy things to do with LOTR here, tours and the like but we were on a ride straight through. DH and I like to get out on the bike together as often as we can and this is the first ride we've had together in over a month due to hospital visits and the like! It was a freezing day (he tell's me I am a wuss) but beautiful and clear. 'Crisp' I think the weather man called it. We did a 200km run from our house in Tauranga over the Kaimai's and through Matamata, Te Aroha (photo below) Paeroa (where they make the L&P fizzy drink...which is world famous in NZ as their ad says!) Waihi (remember the old Gold Mining House photo?) and along the beautiful Karangahaki George (I posted a photo of the mystery man and the un-used rail bridge a while back) and back home again. It was a great ride and I can't wait for the next one!

If these photo's are looking blurry please tell me...they look funny on my screen when I view them on my blog but fine on my screen when I see them in the original programme...maybe it's the Hobbits?

Matamata 2

No not a hobbit, just a sneaky pic of DH and the bike. No time to compose the shot...just aim and fire.

Te Aroha "The Love"

Just before Te Aroha (Te is The in Maori and Aroha is love) my husband stopped and asked if I wanted to take a photo...which of course I did! We rode over these hills which are part of the Kaimai's and through Te Aroha and several smaller towns I'd never even heard of. It got more and more beautiful although I didn't take any more photos (I had to remind myself it was about the ride not stopping every 5 minutes to take a photo...which I could have!) The whole ride was beautiful and I kept breathing in the wonderfully fresh (and cold) air and reminding myself how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful country. Especially in Autumn.

Trying again, this time the full strength version and not the VGA.

Pretty in pink

Amongst the long grass, just waiting to be discovered I found this pretty weed. I was intending on entering this for the 2 things challenge "looking down" but unless it's just me it looks like the photo has come through 'pixelated' and blurry. It looks fine on picassa. Does it look like this to anyone else?

Autumn and Evergreen

Sitting outside the school waiting for the bell to ring and my kids to come out I notice how lovely the light was, filtered by the evergreen and picked up by the wonderful hues of the oak's rapidly thinning leaves. I was intending to photograph the sun and see what sort of sun spots I'd get for my light series but the tree was filtering to much of it. It wasn't until I got home that I realised that the two trees represented both the evergreen varieties and the non evergreen (what's the term I want here...decidious??)
The sky too has it's contrasts, grey above the evergreen and blue above the other tree.
There were lots of birds in these trees, I couldn't see them apart from the odd dark shape moving but I could hear them. Lots of bird song interwoven with the distincitve throaty call of the native Kereru. I have heard this bird here many times and never seen him/her. I am willing to be he/she can see me though and is almost amused at this 'mere humans' in ability to find him/her. I will have to be content with the bird song for now...I am still wanting/wishing/dreaming of that new camera! It feels as elusive as that Kereru right now close but not quite there...

Cropped

I cropped the top version a little and changed the saturation very slighlty... I love the way it bought out the warmth of the autumn leaves and enhanced the slight purple ring around the sun.

Black and white version

Sometimes I find these sorts of images to 'busy' in black and white. I love simple strong lines and bold but not sharp contrasts..I think this one works though:)

Red, Yellow and Green

My son was unexpectedly invited to a friends house for birthday cake and ice cream so rather than go back home for an hour and a half I went to Yatton Park. I knew it would be looking stunning at this time of year and as always I had my camera in my bag!
There are so many trees at Yatton Park, some of them are ever-greens of course but there was no shortage of Autumn colours. The photo below is just to give the green/yellow tree at the front here perspective. I was standing on a raised area which has made the lower branches on this look close to the ground but I could almost stand beneath them. It was a stunning day to as you can see by the blue sky, frosty morning breaking out to a wonderfully warm day. I created art outside and actually got too hot!

We're off to the hospital again tomorrow to make sure the bone grafts have taken and to get more casts put on Miss 10 again. We're only supposed to be there one night this time so hopefully we'll be home again some time on Tuesday. Perhaps another week or so of bed rest for my daughter and then she should be back at school again. I am also due to have an operation to repair a hernia and will meet the surgeon this Wednesday to find out when it will be...talk about cutting it fine!

Thank you all for your visits and comments, despite my sporadic tours of the globe. I hope this finds you all healthy, wealthy and creatively inspired!

Aladdins Cave

Yatton Park Entry

There are 2 entry official points to the park. This is the walker entrance and there's a access point for cars further up the road. Personally I don't see the point in spending tax payers money and using resources to build an arch way that you can actually step around...but with the Autumn colours offering the scene a wonderful warm light and backdrop it makes for a lovely photo...almost country garden! I almost expect some well dressed ladies to step out from behind with their long dresses and day umbrellas

Cluster of leaves

I love how this one small cluster of leaves shows most of Autumn's wonderful colours!

2 things challenge- Noisy

The photo that should have been below....not sure why it isn't!

2 Things challenge- Peaceful

Peaceful is exactly how I felt standing beneath the thinning canopy of yellowed leaves, the sun on my back and bird song in the air.

Yes, that is a little mushy sounding but it was a lovely moment and I took many photos, the rest of which I will post tomorrow:)

2 things challenge- Noisy

Taken from the school car park amidst the noise of 300 children singing at assembly and the traffic of the main street that runs parallel to the school. The kids were doing a Kapa Haka presentation (singing in Maori with traditional actions to the songs) which was actually quite a nice noise to be listening too! Even though I have no Maori blood in my heritage I feel a strong connection with my country when I hear the beautiful songs of the Maori language sung with such pride by the younger generations.

Song- Waiata. (Said why-ah-ta)

New Light Series Photo

I was waiting for my kids and just so happened to park directly opposite this tree. I love the coloured light spots that you get when you photograph into the sun and the way that the figures (soccer players and bystander) become silhouetted. A nice addition to my light series that I started several months back!

Pic of the day....

I've posted several shots of this field that I spotted today, it would have been almost criminal not too! I go past this field everyday but although I had previously noticed the shed and the horse (there is a chestnut brown horse in the distance but it sometimes grazes by this shed) it's taken Autumn to show me the trees. The colours are glorious!

Big tree

Field and Trees

Digital Autumn

As you know it's not often that I play around with my very basic photo editing tools beyond the cropping and sharpening functions! Although I obviously decided today would be different and I digitally altered one of the many pond photos. I love the texture and tones it's bought out in the foreground and the fact that it now looks like both Autumn and Spring!
I spotted some large trees today totally absorbed in Autumn, I am hoping to go back this afternoon and capture the moment. They're truly beautiful. It's never occurred to me before how much I love Autumn but it's so visually entertaining and pleasing that even while waiting for the kids outside the school amongst cars and people I can still find my small moments of bliss. Quite apt then that I was born in Autumn!

Autumn leaves

My daughters pain levels were low enough today that we could do the short walk to the pond. The fresh air and scenery was good for all of us (and tiring it appears -Miss 10 is asleep on the couch!) The young oaks were looking their Autumny best, all shades of brown through to red and vibrant green and the blue sky made an awesome contrast to them. I collected some grass seed heads for later use and enjoyed watching the birds, the ducks in the reeds with there heads down and bums up, the heron that watched me, the pukeko's that were enjoying the sun and all the while this amazing changing season is going on around me. I am in love with Autumn.

Lily pads on a lily pond

Even the lillies show off the wonderful Autumn colours.

Kowhai seed pods

These funny looking pea like seed pods are from one of my favourite trees- the NZ native Kowhai tree. Kowhai is the Maori name for Yellow and is you may already know the Kowhai's flower is...yellow!
Kowhai flowers provide nectar for one of my favorite birds, the native Tui. There are quite a few young Kowhai's at the pond and eventually the pond will have Tui's as well as the pukeko's, ducks and heron... I will of course be very pleased about this!

Camouflage

I am impressed with this birds ability to camouflage itself so well. In fact if I hadn't have seen it move I may well have missed it all together!
I suspect it is the same heron that landed on my roof a few weeks back, I wonder if it sees me and goes "Oh thats the crazy lady on the trampoline who took my photo?" lol

Rose petals and nests

This is what gravy boats are for isn't it? To hold a collection of rose leaves and petals?

I've had a great day after a long art-less and photograph-less drought!

The still life composition that has been unintentionally created on my window sill grabbed my attention. I started taking photo's of it drawn to the colours and shapes. The rose was actually in a small jar next to it, given to me by my husband. I'm not sure who put it in the boat or why but I am glad they did! It wasn't till later that I recognised that sub-conscious self had actually identified with the nest like appearance it has! The curves and organic colours are perfect and it dosn't bother me at all that my 'nest' is actually a gravy boat!

The top nest and bird (which is actually an old salt shaker) have appeared here before and on my art blog the second nest I made today and you can read about it on my art blog...hope to *see* you there:)

Autumn-ness

After dropping the younger 2 at school for the day I took a quick detour to my local pond to see what lovely 'Autumn-ness' had occurred since I was last there. Miss 10 was in the car with me though and needing to get back to the couch so I couldn't spend long at the pond, as much as I would have liked too!!
This is the island of trees in the middle of the pond...it's a safe breeding ground for pukeko's as it is completely surrounded by water and not easy to access. The big building behind it is actually a private hospital and our house is just down from that hospital. (Not the public one where my daughter was...)
The ducks as I mentioned in my post below have also sought safety there.
Unless the weather picks up we will be house bound for the next 3 days as my DH is working and the car is not the most comfortable place for Miss 10 at the moment ...I will be eager to get back down there when he's home again and truly breathe in the atmosphere (not lean out the car window as I did here!) and capture some of the wonderful autumn-ness before it's all gone again for another year. I'm making mental notes as I write this to not complain to loudly....at least I am allowed off the couch! Miss 10 will be there for a while yet and she's been pretty good about it all too.

Off to visit as many of ya'll as I can...YIPPEE!!

Safe

The pond where I usually take photo's of pukeko's has a resident pair of mallard ducks. At this time of year though there's quite a few extras on the pond due to the fact that May the 1st signals the first day of duck hunting season. Being that we are in a residential area these ducks are safe from man's guns and dogs. It was quite obvious which ducks were the new comers, they took to the air the second they saw me and these 2 ducks sat there and watched them take flight! Given the time of year I don't blame the new ducks for being weary!

On the run...

This is the closest I could get to this bird and as you can see it wasn't hanging about! It moved pretty fast actually, when I composed the pic he was in the middle of my shot and by the time I had clicked he was nearly gone! I don't know what this bird is..I would guess he's a Tern but then he may be a little big? As much as I love birds I'm about as good as naming them as I am flowers:)

Back home!

Hi all, yes were back home! Finally!
My daughters surgery went well although complications afterwards meant we had to stay a week instead of 4 days but after what felt like the longest week of our lives we're back home. Miss 10 will be on bed rest for some time though!
Thankyou Bev, John, DC and Andrea for your wonderfully warm wishes. It is nice to know my blogging buddies were thinking of us and sending 'get well' vibes.
I didn't take any photo's all week :( and I'm looking forward to getting some time alone with my camera and nature...but first I hope to visit everyone and find out what I have been missing out on!

Going away....

Tomorrow (Monday 28th in NZ) my eldest is having major surgery (bone grafts and bones fused in both ankles plus knee surgery) so I'll be staying at the hospital with her for 4 days while DH keeps things ticking at home for the other 2. Her op's not life threatning but it's a big one so please keep her in your thoughts! In brief Miss 10 was born at 27 weeks and as a result she has cerebral palsy, we're hoping that this op (her 3rd) will enable her to stand again, an ability she's lost as she's grown and her feet and legs have deteriorated. She's a real trooper though. Good natured, brave and she has a fantastic sense of humour so we'll pull through this together and I will be looking forward to getting home again and catching up with what you have all been up too ( I'm hoping for a quick tour around the globe before we go of course!)

Take care, keep creating and peace be with you!

Lisa:)

More Tamarillos

'Somebody' forgot to make sure that the battery charger was actually on at the wall...opps! A little hard to take photo's with no batteries in the camera!
I am actually glad that this pic gets a chance to have it's moment. I love the colours of the old wood and fresh greens, the ripe autumn fruit and the nearly ripe.
The maze of thin branches hardly seem thick enough to carry such a load!

Dandelion

No it's not the first time that I have posted a photo of a Dandelion or a weed for that matter but I like them no matter how many times I see them and I hope you do to!

Looks like spring...

These greens are so lush, the leaves are so supple and the berries so bright that you'd could be forgiven if you thought that this was a spring time photo. It was such a beautiful day and I really enjoyed standing beneath the big tree and taking in all the light play. Light and shadow dancing in the breeze togther. If I was a bird I am sure I would build my nest here ;^)
I like the strange composition, I think I was a bit lomo influenced here (I definately havn't forgotten Lomo!) I am playing with the idea of an 'off the hip' series where I literally take photos with my camera 'off my hip' and removing all concious control I have over the end image....they'll be unique that's for sure! lol
There's a big kiwi fruit orchard in the background that will soon be alive with the sound of multi-national pickers and tractor drivers harvesting the bounty and there's large Avacado trees and huge Feijoa bushes along the perimeter. It's a wonderful place to get away too (I have taken many of my flower photo's here) and I always feel refreshed by visiting.

PS: Do you all have feijoa's and Avacado's or am I talking gibberish??? No snakes here atleast. I have issues regarding snakes in gardens! Lol.

A birds nest!!!!

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know how very, very pleased I was to find this nest in a camelia tree today! It's hanging waiting for the next big wind to blow it down, the last wind having got it this far down. I am going to go and check it the next big wind and hopefully bring it home. I also found about 4 in one other tree that were far to high for me to photograph and I will check those after the next big wind too:) It made my afternoon to find this one!

Next to it (and taken not far from where I found the nest) is a photo of an old cane chair beneath a tamarillo (tree tomatoe) tree loaded with lots of autumn fruit. I don't personally like tamarillo but I love the rustic country scene they made together with the weathered cane seat:)

2 things Challenge

This weeks theme was masculine/feminine and it got me thinking about colours..what we consider to be a feminine colour and what's considered masculine. Gone are the days where only little boys wear blue, the rule there has been relaxed although not to the extent where it's common to see a little boy wearing pink.
I'm not sure what makes pink a 'girls colour' other than they way we tend to sterotype and I admit I would never put my boy in pink or lilac! I chose these Kumara's to represent the pinks/purples we accept as being soft feminine colours and changed the image to black and white to represent the darker shades we accept as being stronger masculine colours.

Kumara- NZ sweet potatoe. My absolute favorite roasted vege!

Rrrrr-bit!

This big frog made a suprise visit to our house the other night!
Imagine this...kids fed, dishes done and we are all sitting down watching tv when there's a knock at the door. My friend is there holding the ash tray (clean) from their car and inside it is the big frog! She knows I like frogs and that I already have one pet frog (same breed but much smaller) and having rescued this one from the road she now wants to know if I can give it a home. So I am trying to take a better look (is it hurt?) at it when it decides to make a runner. It leaps out of the ash tray (can't blame it there!) onto the kitchen bench and onto the floor...right into the path of our old cat who was looking none to impressed at the commotion waking her up. It all happens almost in so motion, I'm running across the kitchen yelling at poor puss to leave the frog...the cat is swiping at the frog and just as I get there she pins the poor frogs leg...I pick up the cat by the scruff of her neck which releases the frog who promptly jumps into the glass of the ranch-slider stunning it and making it nice and easy for me to catch! A quick decision needs to be made so I put the frog with my frog in the tank and suddenly realise how big this new frog is and wonder if I have just signed the fate of my frog over to the big frog (my frog slowly crushed to death the smaller two frogs I had.) By this time there's 6 adults and 2 kids in the kitchen when I realise I am missing a child...she's taken refuge with the cat down the hallway and wants to know if they can come out now (awww.poor daughter, poor cat!)
So we have coffee and ponder the fate of the old frog and the new frog....eventually I decide that new frog is a wild and it wouldn't be fair to keep him in our tank so I attempt to retrieve him from the tank. The frog leaps out of my hands and lands on the bench (so I recruit DH to help me out) and then it jumps onto the dish rack....my husband grabs the sieve and is standing there waiting to trap it when I grabbed my camera and took the pic (DH didn't even look suprised...he's quite used to my sudden urge to photograph at in-opportune times!) a quick pic and then a successful re-capture of the frog! I decide that the best place for the big frog is the pond up the road (where I have previously taken photos) so I carry it up the road in a large jam jar and release the greatful frog into the pond where it belongs!
All is well, the cat resumes sleeping..big frog didn't get to eat my little frog and the kids have now forgiven me for not keeping both frogs!

Autumn Kisses

I am pleased to say that the storm came in the wee hours and left again without causing any more trouble at my house! The property developer came and put some boards up to direct the water away from our fence line and it worked well. Other parts of the country didn't do so well though! There were 7 fatalities in the river incident I mentioned yesterday and while that's 7 too many there havn't been any more recorded as a result of the storm to the best of my knowledge and no-one else was struck by lightning!
I climbed the fence this afternoon to see what sort of damage the section next to us has sustained as result of the water diversion and found this lovely red and rust coloured plant growing in the field. Autumn has kissed it as you can see and it was a nice suprise amongst the mud. I spotted some lovely tiny butterflies in the field. Light brown on the underside and dusky purple on the top, they were too quick for me to photograph but I will be going back!

Thankyou all for your concern for me and the mural:) We both stayed warm and dry!

Flooding

My former vege garden turned into some sort of water and mud feature. I moved my mosaic, the pumpkins (which were drying!) and the plants which were waiting to be planted to higher ground. I'm glad we hadn't put our new crop in yet!

It's a tad wet here as you can see! The house being built next to us has un-finished ground work done and that meant that their water came onto our section as well as the abundance the rain man decided to gift us with.

I had to run out and dig a trench/mud wall to direct the water away from our doors and the kids were quite humored by the site of me in the pouring rain, ankle deep in mud with a shovel! I was successful in protecting our doors though!

It's not over yet, we've been told to expect lightening strikes in our area this avo and to leave kids at school as opposed to travel to pick them up if the storm hits around 3. A horse and rider were killed by lightening yesterday and 10 students caught in a 'rain bomb' while kyaking which resulted in 10 students being swept away and 5 have sadly drowned. Here's a quick link to the NZ Hearld's weather warning for the BOP. While not extreme like Katrina or the 88 cyclone Bola it's certainly enough to lift roof's and blow trees over. I am a bit worried that the mudbank under the fence won't cope with another 200mm of rain.

(20cm...2.5cm to an inch..that's the best conversion from metric to imperial I'm giving! lol)

Techno Blues

I am having a lot of trouble getting into the comments section of blogs lately..is it just me? The weather is especially rotten today but I have been having trouble for a while. I have been to visit 7 or so blogs today and have been unable to comment! So please know that I visit and think lovely thoughts and go again hoping to have better luck next time I visit you.
Thankyou for your comments, as always they inspire me and bring me joy:)

A visitor

Not the greatest photo technically speaking but I am pleased to have been able to get so close to this heron. I had to take it very quickly (while standing on the tramp) and it was literally gone from our roof just a few seconds later. I assume he or she lives at the pond across the road where I have previously taken photo's of the pukeko's.