Flower power, part two

I had too many flower pictures for one post, I thought, so here is the second batch. 

Summertime is definitely here. And I'm in the mood tonight to hear three versions of a song that celebrates it. Here is my first. There was no one like Janis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guKoNCQFAFk

And another amazing version. I love it that she seems to be singing it just for herself. You've got to slow yourself down to appreciate this one. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bigf337aU

On our feijoa tree

Bird of Paradise

I don't know if anyone ever called Billie Holiday a Bird of Paradise, but I think it would fit if someone had. What a voice. What a band. Listen to this. Wow. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysow1wXWyvE

Jeanne has been volunteering all year as a 'Reading Buddy' in Arram's year 4 classroom.  She has been helping a group of four students who need some extra practice to improve their skills. The teacher for that class, Mr. Moore, presented Jeanne with this bouquet today in thanks for her efforts. This was her last class for this school year. (The books they use are on loan from the Ministry of Education and must be returned before the end of the year) 

Summer vacation begins at 12:30 p.m. on December 15th.  -djf

Some thoughts about 'Flower Power'

I found that I have collected a sizable stock of flower pictures that I've taken while I've been walking around our neighborhood lately, and as I reviewed them, the very old term 'flower power' came to mind, and that led me to start work on this post.  Truth be told, since I'm 66 now and my allergic reaction to pollen seems to be as robust as ever, the term 'flower power' in this case refers to the sudden fit of sneezing I was subjected to not long ago as I passed beneath a Chinaberry tree in full bloom. 

I thought that a bouquet of flower photos would make a good post for folks who are suffering through their yearly dose of seeing white as the dominant outdoor color. Then, I started thinking of a piece of music that might represent what 'flower power' meant way back when. (not all of you are as old as I am so this is educational.) l considered several, but none felt right. Even this one, which many might argue is the definitive flower power song, wasn't quite right for me. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaPy1JBlxcI

I have to admit that when I first heard it, I thought it achingly beautiful. Then there was this one.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hv0M5etXFA

It was cool but it didn't produce the feeling of longing in me that Scott's song had. 

I continued to think and then, it hit me...

The year was 1968. That summer, my parents enrolled me in a six-week math and science summer course at NMU. I lived in a dorm, took classes that were right at the edge of my understanding, and didn't want to go home when it was over. Oh, and a guy down the hall had a record player...This is an excerpt from The Mothers of Invention album, We're Only In It For The Money. I don't remember any of the other albums we must have listened to that summer, just this one. By the time I went home, I had the entire album memorised. This is where I first learned about flower power. 

I started reciting many of the lyrics in the days following my return to home. My parents were not as enthusiastic as I was about Frank Zappa's music. ('if you want to call it that,' said dad)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th5g2k9rTyI

So, here is a look at Henderson and it's flower power. It's the time of the sea-son for grow-ing.  

"Hey gramps, where you going with that flower in your hand?"

"Hey gramps, where you going with that flower in your hand?"

"Well, I'm livin' now in Hendo, gotta love this kaleidoscopic land."

 A bottle-brush flower.

 The bottle-brush tree is perfectly named. 

The Chinaberry Tree. Boy, do they smell good. 

Cordyline australis, cabbage palm, ti kouka 

Jeanne's geraniums along our fence line.  

 'Squeakers' the Guinea Girl lies resting here.

Jeanne's rose.  

Magnolia blossoms are huge. 

I'm ending my flower show today with what looks to me like a 'negative' of a flower photo.  

It's the sunset taken from our yard on the evening of November 10, 2017.  

"Every day has an evening."   

There will be a flower power part two at some point. 

FYI  Frank Zappa wrote and recorded an unbelievable amount and music. ('if you want to call it that,' said dad) It was so varied that it would be impossible for me to choose one work and tell you, "This is Frank Zappa."  Let's instead listen to an instrumental piece he did entitled, Blessed Relief, that even dad would have endorsed.   -djf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIjvGrtm9Gw

It felt like summer today so we went to Kerikeri Falls.

I don't suppose I ought to start out a post with apologies and complaints. I've just enjoyed a couple of hours of unparallelled enjoyment after all. 
I'm always a bit disappointed though when I look at my pictures from drop-dead gorgeous places like Kerikeri Falls. They just don't do it justice. Take a look anyway. It's the best I can do. A small, two-dimensional peek into a three-dimensional wonderland of palms, cliffs, water and wind. 

Kerikeri Beach is at the bottom of this hill and to the left. You can see a bit of it. But we have passed by it today for a destination even more interesting. We have pulled off the road as best we could, like everyone else, to the side of this very steep, narrow road. 

Another view from beside our car. 

Look at this house. What a job of engineering it must have been to build that. Almost like a tree-house, but this one is perched on the very summit of the ridges beneath it. What would it be like to live there and move from room to room like that? 

There is the object of today's outing. Kerikeri falls. I had been here once before, the 1st summer we lived with Allie and the boys. I find that I had forgotten a lot about it. 

You arrive at this little bit of falls and pool about a minute into the trek to the main falls. This reminds me of a waterfall from the distant past. One of our last summers in Michigan, Jeanne and I made it our goal to visit as many waterfalls as we could around our part of the U.P. We had a wonderful time and saw lots of falls. Take a look at a video I made on one of those trips. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws93g5ZQ6D8

We didn't spend much time here. There is a much more impressive place not far ahead. 

It's just across this little footbridge through the 'jungle.'  About 5 minutes worth of walking. 

There it is. Jeanne and Allie are joining other folks amiring it. 

There is more water coming over it today than there was the first time I visited this falls. It was late summer then and dryer. 

Amiri is standing next to the outflow from the pool at the foot of the falls. I wish you could see the palm trees swaying in the wind and smell what early summer smells like here. 

Here he is having a seat for a moment.  Fan tails were flitting all over in the air above us today. Insects must love the mistiness of the falls area and congregate, and the fan-tails act very much like fly-catchers do back home, picking them out of the air on the wing. Because of the sun's angle across the falls, we could clearly see the insects before they disappeared as the birds snatched them. 

A single muscovy duck was paddling around the pond today. 

 Do you see Jeanne sitting by the clump of flax toward the left of center? I joined her after taking this picture and we luxuriated in the sight and sound of the falls. Allie and the boys headed out for about an hour's hike into the hills above the falls. The next two pictures were taken by Allie as they hiked.  

Absolutely amazing terrain. 

I think Amiri is saying, "What's with this goofy duck?"

I took some videos that you might like to see. I discovered that the sun's position at this point in the afternoon was not ideal for filming.  -djf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8H38gjpWKs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkhCVbTke9g&feature=em-upload_owner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T86OCmrFiG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbnFRrPrJD4

Dredging the 'duckpond.'

I was walking past the duckpond ( aka Paremuka Lake Stormwater Pond) the other day and discovered machines, dumpsters and equipment, all surrounded by fencing. Motor noise told me something was happening. I hurried over to find out what the hub-bub was about. I found out that it all had to do with Cabomba caroliniana. Well, mostly anyway. 

They are currently set up to dredge the smallest of the sections of the 'Lake.'  Periodic removal of the sediment that is carried into the stormwater pond is done to maximize its stormwater storage potential.

But, there is a second  and even more important reason that a careful dredging is necessary this time. This is one of two stormwater ponds in Auckland that has been invaded by Cabomba caroliniana, an aquatic weed that authorities believe was dumped into the pond from an aquarium. New Zealand takes unwanted species very seriously, and does whatever it takes to eliminate them when they're identified. 

One of the workers told me that this weed can be killed by saltwater, but introducing enough salt to do the job into this pond would also damage many other species and so that plan has been ruled out. 
(that's a two meter tall pipe in the background that brings water from up-stream stormwater ponds and from local street drains. The weed-eater/dredger is in the foreground.)

A view from the other side of the park. I was told that it will take about a month to complete this job.    -djf