Arts and Framing

Among some of the art venues I took in this past month was the National Portrait show. Below are three examples of New Zealand's impressive realism portraiture. 

Detail from "The Other Sister" by Sofia Minson

Detail from "Tom" by Andre Bronnimann 

Detail of "I Live, I Die" by Peter Miller

 Below is an example of the many creative treatments to the sidewalks here.

 I worked with Gregg and his crew of two other men getting all the prebuilt wall frames into place for Cathy Tracy's new home.

 Cuba street is always a fun space to visit, with its  wide open space, colorful mall and street performances.

 I was able to replace a cable on the bike derailed and then get enough gears to make it reasonable to tackle the sometimes steep grade up into the Otaki Gorge. With its steep drop offs I had to be very attentive, as most places do not have any significant barrier for anyone loosing control and leaving the edge of the road. In some places the drop off is nearly straight down and more than a hundred feet down to the river.

 The giant fern tree is common in this area along the gorge, and these fronds are not even fully grown.

Lots of mountainous terrain here, which makes for a very active watershed into the Otaki River.

 The neighbors have a few doves that frequent the yard here to forage for bugs. As long as I moved slowly they were cool with my presence.

 There are lots of creative garden spaces here in New Zealand, and they really like to find good second uses to everything they have.

 Above is the "tunnel" through the plentiful growth here on the Otaki Gorge Road.

Saba, from the Canadian Maritimes, the Ice Breaker sales woman who convinced me to buy a pure merino wool pullover for my next trip here into the high country. 

 Squash continues to bloom here while several pumpkins and squash are already quite large.

Closing with a caption of connection. Reminders and lessons for reaching out for personal growth.