Yeah, I miss maples, and cedars and lots of others, but look at what we've been given in exchange...

I don't think I'll ever stop admiring the the 'weird,' (to a Yooper anyway)  and wonderful plants that grow here.  Take a little walk around my neighborhood with me and fill your eyes with lovely green shapes that abound. 

Outside our front door

In our front yard

Next to our driveway

The park on Shiraz

Also at the park

At the shortcut to the park on Graven Court

Across the street from the shortcut on Graven

About four houses down the hill from us

By our bus stop

Next door

Near Summerland Primary

Nice, huh?

-djf

Magnolias time lapse...

Ok, so this isn't a Real time lapse. It's more accurate to call it a composite of images taken from a couple of trees outside our house and at the bus stop nearby. 

It shows what's happening right now on the magnolia trees. The seed pods are putting out their bright red seeds. 

Around Christmas, the streets here are liberally strewn with the bright red stamens of the pohutukawas. And now, our street will soon be decorated with thousands of these bright red seeds. 

Fall is coming on fast but it feels wonderful outside today. The bright sun is so warm while the air carries a hint of coolness in it. It feels so much like fall does back home.   -djf

Late summer 'duck pond'

This post is going to show you a progression of pictures starting in mid summer and moving in to fall. 

Some time ago, I showed you one of the storm water settling ponds. With the passage of time, the vegetation in them has grown.

Take a look.

Here is a big old 'goldfish swimming above the weeds. Already they are getting so thick that  I think the fish have a harder time moving through them. 

The weeds are now almost to the surface.

Starting to crowd the surface

And then, just recently, I discovered that most of the surface of this small storm water pond has disalppeared. 

The residents are making do...

The pukekos seem less wary, they're coming closer to me than they usually do, possibly because they feel hidden by the grass. 

Closer...

Pukeko Peek-a-boo!

-djf

The king of fruits...the durian

Before you look over my pictures on today's post, why don't you watch a video? I considered making my own, but this one is much better than anything I could come up with.

So, are you still with me? Here is my durian in it's packaging that I bought from the Da Hua Asian Market. It was $7.99/kilo and I paid about $13.00 for it. 

You've got to have some way of holding it.

Those spines are as sharp as. I'll bet Nobody walks through durian groves. This one is about 3 pounds and hard and sharp. It could kill you if it fell very far or at least put a very ugly hole in your hide.  

Here it is opened up and laid out. The smell has just magified several times. You might say that it is the limburger cheese of fruits. It smells not because it is rotten, but just because that's what durians do.

This is what you eat. There is a very thin 'skin' surrounding a custard-like pudding. The skin is very tender and easy to eat. The pudding surrounds the seeds.

Here you can see how soft it is. The seeds help to hold the thing together. It is most often eaten with the fingers.
My suggestion is to eat this outside. If the odor is minimized by a nice breeze, you'll enjoy it more. The taste is sweet and unlike anything I've tasted before. The scientists say that there are  over 40 aromatic chemical compounds in there, all  adding together to give you a truly unique taste.

Emptied out. Still smells.

And, surprisingly, the seeds are edible, once boiled. The actual seed is inside the husk that you see here. It tasted very much like potato. I only ingested a tiny portion, just in case. 

Update from the morning after eating a bit of durian seed. No problems whatsoever. The fruit doesn't seem to cause any after effects either.  -djf

The third portion of Muriwai

So far in this Muriwai Beach series, you have seen the gannets' nesting sites that lie on the rocks on the other side of the headland shown just below, and the 'paraglider beach' that lies beyond them. 

Today, we are going to climb down off these rocks that run along the edge of the gannets' headland and look at the miles-long beach that makes up the northern portion of Muriwai. 

This is the view from the rocks looking north. 

 Look at how the black sand mngles with the other sand. As you can see, at low tide this is a very wide beach. 

Here is the life guard station. 

Today, not only is the life guard station well staffed, they are having training sessions...

Surf conditions are pretty average today. Lots of people in this area of the beach. Farther north, it empties out. 

These life savers are getting ready to compete in a race to a 'victim' in the water and then back to the beach.

Here are a couple of the teams returning 

And here they are catching their breaths after the effort. 

Finally, here are some random shots I took from around the beach.

 This is another view of the 'gannet nesting headland'. The stairs lead up to the viewing platforms.

One of the parking lots. The playground that the boys like is just to the left of this picture on the far side of the parking lot. (oops, I mean carpark)  

This shot has everything a good beach shot ought to have. Sun, surf, tanned 'beautiful people', and a guy working on his sunburn and walking funny in flippers. 

This picture shows Allie quite a ways north of the swimming area. She invariably brings plastic bags along and picks up trash that she finds while walking on the beach. 

This beach continues north for about 40 kilometers before it ends at a place called Southhead.
(Birthday Beach lies about 12 kilometers north)

In this final picture of the Muriwai series, we're back up to the top of the gannets' headland and are looking north at the swimming beach and beyond. That's also the blow hole down there that I did a post on some time ago.

My suggestion, go to google maps and type in muriwai beach, nz. Then click on the 'earth' setting and zoom in. I will buy anyone# who finds the Sand Dunz Beach Cafe one of their famous* milk shakes when you visit.  -djf
# refers to family and friends only
* famous all over Muriwai anyway