We Live In Testing Times...

The problem persists.
Keep taking the medications...

Photos Not Showing Is A Worldwide Problem At The Moment...

Many Bloggers around the world are experiencing the problem of not being able to post photos to their blogs at the moment.
Blogger is evidently aware of the situation and trying to sort it as we speak.
Normal transmission will resume as soon as possible.
My apologies if the absence of the usually imaged enhanced post is upsetting your day.
If the situation persists you may have to seek medical advice...

A Technical Glitch...

Yesterday and today's posted images do not appear to be loading properly and show themselves only intermittently.
Are you experiencing this problem?
I'm sorry about it.
I think the issue could be a Window's one.
Hopefully it will be resolved soon.
It's not the end of the world but it's pretty close...

An Instant Classic...

And now for something completely different. Bingham Young University player Jimmer Fredette made the cover of Sports Illustrated and gave the publication a big jump in circulation when this image, taken by the magazine's Robert Beck appeared recently.
The image is being hailed as an instant classic.
Amazing shot isn't it.
Wonder if he made the three pointer...

Sweet Delights...

There is nothing, almost nothing like the sweet smell of freshly cut and split firewood except perhaps the sweetness of freshly mown grass...

Living Between A Rock And A Hard Place...

High in the mountains of Fafe in Portugal, inspired some say by The Flintstones, this delightful house was constructed between two giant boulders.
Thank god there are people around with imaginations and abilities to create outside the square, and between a rock and another hard place...

Art To Sit On...

Last November you may remember I posted
'Art To Walk On', a wonderful floor made with the very creative use of mosaics at the Thames Trading Post.
Through the door to the adjoining shop called 4DeSoul, there's the owner, the very talented and imaginative Gaye Mitchell who as well as creating the floor and other mosaic masterpieces around the Coromandel, has just completed four months work on this amazing chair. The price is $NZ3,500.00
Using thousands of hand-cut pieces of mirror and some really gorgeous pieces of 'other' visually enhancing materials she has created this piece of Art to Sit On, which really is a reflection of her.
It's unique and beautiful...

What Is It?

Whatever it is or whatever it's going to be, Ben, you remember Ben, the Boy Genius, is working on it and it'll be finished on Sunday...

International Visitors Flock To Kaiaua Too...

Kaiaua is well known internationally as a 'Birdwatchers Paradise' with huge flocks of little Godwits flying over ten thousand kilometres non-stop from Alaska annually to nest and rest here.
Dotterel breed here from September to March and the Pied Oystercatcher also winters over here.
The Wrybill, a threatened New Zealand species, the only bird in the world with a curved beak is here between January and July so there's plenty for the flocks of birdwatchers to see. And there's an Information Centre nearby.
German friends Erika and Willi sent me photos from when they were here last year.
Theirs is a very interesting, small, self contained and compact campervan with everything they could need in it's place ready for use at a moment's notice. Plus a couple of solar panels on the roof.
Bringing their camper with them from Germany, they travelled extensively throughout New Zealand.
They're another couple of birds we'd welcome back...

Kaiaua By The Sea...

You know it's one of my favourite places.
Overlooking the Firth of Thames, the hills of the Coromandel in the distance.
It will be some time before I return so am making the most of its many moods for a couple of days...

Let Us Treat The Earth Well...

I came across this beautifully worded thought recently and wish to share it with you.
"Let us make sure we treat the earth well. It was not given to us by our parents, it was loaned to us by our children and their children..."

Ken Ring And Weather Or Not...

Ken Ring is known as The Moon Man because he bases his opinions on the weather and the likelyhood of earthquakes on the position of the moon.
He's been having a stormy time lately.
The media loves to hate him while never acknowledging that they sell more papers or tv time because of him.
Earlier this year he offered an opinion that there would be, around February 18, a quake that would devastate the city of Christchurch.
He was right.
Ken's been under severe criticism from skeptics and scientists for daring to opine there would be another large earthquake in Christchurch yesterday, March 20.
He was right again.
Many hundreds of people had taken his opinion seriously and left town.
The 5.1 earthquake did no damage.
The skeptics and the scientists had a field day claiming him to be a scaremonger.
The only scaremonger among us is the media.
A lot of people swear by Ken Rings opinions on the weather.
A lot fewer people will be swearing at him this morning...

Another Heart Throb...

Marilyn usually looks good no matter how she is immortalised and Belguim artist Ben Heine has used his newly created technique he calls Digital Circlism to portray her, Elvis and a few others.
You can see them on Amusing Planet.
It's thinking outside the square...

An Affair Of The Heart...

I admit it. I've just had a love affair.
The last couple of days have been spent in emotional turmoil.
I had a quickie. A one night stand with the most beautiful Spanish seductress.
She had the most exquisite body and her neck, well, to touch it was a spiritual experience. Her colouring was that of something touched by the sun and enhanced by the moon.
And when she spoke, you listened. She was a Carmen, a love child of the famous Riamundo and I loved her.
And then I looked at my Angelica who had been by my side for so many years and had shared so many sunsets. She surely didn't have what this temptress had and she certainly wasn't so high mainenance. She had marks on her neck from my constant demands.
But she knew how to make my fingers dance and my heart sing so I told the beautiful siren to go home.
I took Angelica into my arms and I asked for her forgiveness.
We whispered softly, lovingly, in a minor chord and I plucked her...

The Walking Bicycle...

Designed especially for those indecisive people who can't decide whether to go for a walk or a ride on the bike.
Now it's possible to do both at the same time.
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure...

Sure And Begorrah...

Have a happy one or two or three or four or five or sex or sevin ore ate or nine or tin or elevims or tweliv or firteeen or fooortene twenty fitfteens or whoteva...

How Many Designers Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb...

This Plumen light bulb has just won the top award at the prestigious 'Brit Insurance Design Awards' in Britain.
Described as the 'world's first energy saving designer light bulb', it's become an instant classic.
It uses 80% less energy than an incandescent bulb and will evidently last eight times longer.
Hopefully they'll produce a 12volt DC version too and then we'll all see the light...

Transport Trends...

From Thailand we see what could be the latest in transport trends.
The no horsepower, one cowpower vehicle for town and country.
It might also be the latest thing in motorhomes, without of course the motor or the home.
Who cares, it's funky, it's fun and comes in a range of designer colours and styles...

Go On Kiss Me...

Hundreds and thousands of times...

Lloyd Kahn's Latest Book - 'Tiny Homes'...

Lloyd's latest book 'Tiny Homes' is being worked on as we speak enthuses Lloyd and he's looking to have it published later this year.
Here you can see some completed page layouts and there in the middle is one for The Flying Tortoise.
If you are a fan of building with natural materials, wonderful innovative spaces and their interesting and creative builders and owners, you might check out three of his already published and highly recommended books, 'Home Works', 'Builders of The Pacific Coast' and 'Shelter'.
I have them all and no, I won't lend them...

In Sympathy...

We join the rest of the world in sending sympathies to Japan, that country coping with one of the worst natural disasters to hit mankind in recorded history...

Ooooouch!

The Port Jackson Petition - Update...

It seems that finally, the Minister of Conservation, Kate Wilkinson, has agreed to a meeting on April 8 with Green MP Catherine Delahunty who will present the Port Jackson Petition on behalf of its one thousand and eighty signatories.
Meanwhile, DoC's Regional Conservator, Greg Martin will not entertain a meeting with me because of a 'possible police prosecution' relating to the 'removal of public property', I guess he means the bollards, at the Port Jackson Campground.
While thinking such a prosecution unlikely,
I would be delighted to see the whole issue before a court of law and the New Zealand public.

Another High Flyer...

Erik Johansson is a young Swedish photographer with a quirky sense of humour. He's made quite a name for himself digitally modifying the photos he takes and presenting the finished product as a remarkable and imaginative image.
Google him, you'll see some of his subject matter is more down to earth...

Up Up And Away...

The people at National Geographic, inspired by the Pixar movie 'Up' built this small lightweight house, put two people in it, attached three hundred helium-filled ballons and set it free.
Up it went to ten thousand feet.
Honey did you remember to put the cat out...

Dropped In For A Cuppa...

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place...
Eighty year old Betty Mcgrail was just sitting down in her favourite chair with a cup of tea and the Christchurch earthquake struck.
This huge bolder crashed banged and smashed its way down from the Port Hills, demolished a power pole and a few other things, and, completely devoid of manners, without even ringing the doorbell or waiting for an invitation, crashed through the wall of Betty's sitting room and sat down next to her.
"Do you take milk with your tea and how many sugars" asked Betty...

Another Beautiful Bedford...

We are so lucky to have beautiful housebuses and housetrucks still running on the roads in New Zealand when the regulations some countries impose would see them put out to pasture.
Bedford's forever...