It Has Been a While

Yes, it has been a while. I haven't published a post for quite some time now. Could it be that I'm getting old? My 75th lap around the calendar is coming up soon, so that sounds like a plausible excuse to me. Not that I really need one.  

I'd point out to anyone who says that they think I ought to keep cranking posts out at the same rate as during my peak production of one every five or six days, that there are 688 other posts just sitting there, waiting for someone to read them.  You don't really need a new post very badly. Go back and start at the beginning and work your way through.  

They're over on the right side of the home screen. Just scroll down and you'll find them.  Click, and away you'll go.  

I have no clue about how many words I've actually written over the course of my blogging.  Some might say that much of my writing has been nothing more than adding captions to the pictures I've shown.  That's true of course, but I'd argue that the rest of my content has been of some interest, if only to me.  If I assume a modest 500 words per post, then I've written a total of 344,000 words since 2014.  That impresses the heck out of me. 

Of course, I'm easy to impress.   

Enough of this. I said something quite similar to this on another post not too long ago and should move on. Today, I'm going to show you a few pictures I took while traveling into Auckland, and across the harbor to Devonport.  

There's my bus, number 14, due at 9:09. Notice that the trees in the distance have lost that springtime look.  

Many of  you already know that the yellow arrow shows our balcony.  

I'm in Auckland. Springtime means the cruise ships have started arriving.  

I'm waiting in line to board the ferry. It's an eleven minute ride across the harbor. 

I've arrived in Devonport and am looking back at the ferry as it loads for the return trip.

No trip to Devonport would be complete without a quick look at the 'big fig.'  It passed 100 years old a long time ago, and notice that what appear to be smaller trees toward the sides, are actually air roots that now support the enormous branches.  I like to imagine what a forest of such trees would look like after several hundred years.  

This quirky cafe is in The Arcade, which is just off the main street of Devonport.  

I'm sitting next to the bike racks on my way back to Auckland, on a much larger ferry.  The crowds have about tripled it seems, since I began my adventure this morning,  and I'm glad to be on my way home.  

One more thing though. My breakfast cornflakes are a distant memory.  I need some sustenance to see me through the return train and bus rides.  

A pretzel with cheese will do nicely. I bought it from a stall at the Saturday market behind Britomart.  

There, I finished post number 689.  

You know, when you've written that many posts over the years, you can't help but receive a lot of views.  I checked my statistics before I started writing this one and saw that 559,799 people around the world have happened across one of my posts since 2014. I never imagined it would get this big when I started it.  What fun.

So, see you next time.  Yes, I do want to continue. I'd like to hit 700 posts at least and then, who knows?   -djf