What is it?

I was walking down Edmonton Road on my way home from my morning hike, and came into view of the Falls Café/Bistro across the carpark. Today, there was something new positioned in front of the Bike Hub, a bicycle rental/repair place.   

It was big and bright yellow.  I thought it vaguely resembled a high-power spotlight, the kind you sometimes see at auto dealerships that pan back and forth across the night sky, trying to lure in the buying-public 'moths' with its 10 million candle-power promise of vehicular excitement. But this thing had a platform around it and some round parts that didn't make sense if it was a spotlight.  

Hmmm.  I had my camera of course; wouldn't leave home without it. I had intended to follow the sidewalk to the corner and and walk around the Bike Hub area, but changed my plans.  I had to get up close and personal with whatever this new thing was.  And there was no one else near it. I'd have it to myself.  

I noticed that there were no power cables running to the thing.  Therefore, it needed no electricity to work.  (I did discover it was sun-powered)

The business end has eight pairs of lenses stacked vertically.  

And observe, you can look into the other end.  (Notice the big vertical wheel-shaped thing on its side and the smaller, similarly shaped horizontal wheel below that.) 

Looking closer, I can see it has a central mirror, besides the lens arrangement.  

After investigating its insides, I discovered that I could adjust the lens assembly up and down with the big wheel, or side to side with the small.    

I started turning them one-handed, bringing the device into rough alignment with the sun.  I started getting a rainbow pattern on the walls.  

That's what it is, it's a Rainbow Machine!

 

I didn't have it perfectly aligned with the sun at this point. Close, but no cigar.  

I think if I had put my camera down and fiddled with the wheels a bit more, I could have filled the interior with additional bows, but I had seen enough. I understood what it was.  

I came back again the next day when the Bike Hub was open and asked the guy working there where this had come from.  

He told me that the Auckland Arts Council had bought it a few years ago and had been placing it in similar locations all over Auckland since then.  It was Henderson's turn.  He didn't know how long it might be making rainbows here.  I'll have to return and play with it some more. Maybe get a really full rainbow inside. 

This is a pretty impressive sun toy.   -djf

Update:  I walked by there this morning, 3/18, and it's gone.  Moved on to another location. I really thought it would be here longer....Good thing I told you about it when I did.  -d

It's a small world after all.

 

I've been taking pictures of little bugs. Bees are one thing, they are relatively large, but when the bugs get really small, it's hard to get good shots of them.  Still, it's interesting and the resulting pictures are not too bad...well, some are better than others.  

This one is at most 1/4 inch wide and less than that long.  

I also saw this same species on the railing of a bridge over the Opanuku. Here are those shots.

It's a gorgeous place, in a 'jungly' (like a jungle) sort of way. 

And here is one more on a plant at Waitakere Gardens. What amazing, tiny wings. 

This is a crane fly I believe. 

I like this close-up.  It looks like a machine.  Talk about -0- body fat. 

These first three critters on the white background that I've showed you were sitting on the stucco wall of our balcony last night. You can see that this last one is really small.  The stucco looks like a field of boulders. 

These are aphids on Jeanne's geraniums.  

She gets rid of them by adding one drop of vegetable oil and two drops of dish soap to a spray bottle of water.  Applies liberally.  I keep telling her to also add a drop of hot sauce to the spray. Maybe the word will get around the aphid community that there's a real nasty character on our balcony.  They might stay away. 

Ants on a concrete pedestal next to the mop-headed hydrangeas. (These were taken next to where I took the bee photos from the first bee post.)

These are not big ones, like carpenter ants.  They're tiny little guys.  

Two views of some sort of fly on the railing of a pedestrian bridge over the Opanuku.  

Lichen growing on the same railing.  Not even as tall as the fly.  

 
I was just about to go to bed one night when I saw this female mosquito on the wall in our bathroom.  It is an amazing little creature and beautiful in a way.  At least it was before I squashed it.  

One morning, I found this tiny worm in our apartment.  How it got here I can't imagine.  Possibly was carried in on some vegetable that Jeanne harvested and brought up.  At any rate, I had the bright idea to photograph it on a small make-up mirror of Jeanne's.  Worked out great.  Who knew they have tiny 'hairs' on them?

Yesterday, I was coming in the entrance from the African Garden and almost stepped  on this little critter.  This one is smaller than you might think; just over an inch long.  

That's it for now.  Hope you've enjoyed this 'little' look at the small fry among us.  (I have a lot more pictures - just a hint of things to come.)       -djf

Random scenes

During this time of Covid, I have been avoiding travel, therefore, I've been publishing posts that show my 'local' scenes and subjects.  This will continue for a while yet.  

I'll get back to exploring at some point, I promise.  

Today's post is a random look around our village, and up into the sky of course.  

"Morning comes the sunrise"

A closer detail of the same.

Did you know that bananas grew this way? 

When I did the swallows post recently, I mentioned the Potting Shed.  It's not really a shed at all, but the area beneath our outdoor café seating/barbeque area.  It's quite large. 

Lots of work is done there. Seedlings get started, and harvested vegetables are prepared for the residents and refrigerated. There are also lots of what may look like clutter, but is actually gardening projects in process.  

Grow lights

A tree (trees?) in a park nearby. 

I pass this spot when I walk a trail along the lower Opanuku Stream. 

Well, that's it for today.  I hope that you enjoyed seeing another tiny bit of our world.     -djf

Cottonwoods in New Zealand

 I was crossing the Oratia Stream one day and came across this tree.  

Holy smokes, what's going on with this?  The tree looked like a manuka but it was absolutely filled with light fluff.  

Looking further...

I looked around a little more and the mystery began to resolve itself.  

This big tree towers over the fluff-filled manuka.  

The ground beneath ii is carpeted.  

And the big tree itself looks very much like a cottonwood.  

Cottonwoods are not native to NZ of course, but I read that they were brought over many years ago and are well established.  This one certainly is and is making its presence felt, as cottonwoods everywhere do.                 -djf