Fall, and coincidences

If you can say, as we always did when we were kids, that spring has sprung, can you also say that fall has fell?  

Whatever it does, it has done so here in Henderson, and that means, for one thing, that the sun is now rising a good deal later than it has been rising throughout the summer months. It has become easy to get my restful eight and still shoot sunrise photos. This morning for example, I rose at 6:45 and it rose at about 7:30.  I had already finished a cup of coffee before its first direct rays tempted my camera lens.   

And, since we are now finally getting some greatly overdue clear mornings, I'd thought I'd try to record  how some of them start. I took all of these pictures from the third floor outdoor walkway of The Palms. The yellow dot shows where I stood and rested my camera on the railing. 

 

I've taken lots of sunrises in the past and used quite a few of them for my header pictures, and will continue to do so, since I'm especially fond of them. And I always think when birds fly through my sunrise pictures, that it's a very special, lucky occurrence. 

My latest batch of sunrises offered an even more unlikely circumstance that incredibly, repeated itself over the course of several days. I was so pleased that I decided to do a post about the series of pictures I took.  

So, if you're in the mood for a cuppa, (decaf, tea, or even an orange juice is okay) get it, and look over my pictures. You can pretend that its dawn, wherever you happen to be in the world and whatever your time really is.   

Here's a dandy sunrise to start things off, taken on 3-23-23. The bird arrived right on cue and did a fine job of adding value to the shot. (Truth be told, it's really expensive to hire these trained birds and get them released on schedule.)

But, let's get to really special pictures.   

These first two shots I'm showing you were taken on a cloudy morning. They're not quite as nice to look at as clear skies, but I wanted you to see where I'm looking and I hadn't taken any long-view shots when the days were clear.  

There is a tower crane out there, just below the brightest part of the sky.

You can see the crane a little better in this one.  It's still a while before dawn. Those are some heavy clouds behind it.     

This is it, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. It's one of my favorite sunrises. It was taken on 3-25-23.(The American way of writing the date)  Or 25-03-23, if you prefer. 

It's my favorite because, not only do I have two birds in it, I have caught the tower crane operator about to step into his booth. Here is a close up.   

(I know that way back when, everybody was using the term photobombing, it was the latest buzzword, and I suppose some might still want to claim this picture as an example.  I don't.  I look at it as a very fortunate happenstance.)  

You can tell from the position of the sun that this one was taken just seconds after the photo above, and you can no longer see him outside the booth.  

But, if we look really closely into the booth, you'll see the outline of his face, a hand and knee, and maybe his foot. After you look at this one, go back and compare the empty booth above.  

Well, let me tell you, I was delighted with the morning's work. I went about the rest of my day with a song in my heart,* and a spring in my 71 year-old step, so to speak. 

* just in case you care, and remember that you can click to the post back while any song plays. ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81YQFvmrOEs

The next morning, 3-26-23, as I once again caffeinated myself, it occurred to me that I should try to extend my good luck.  Minutes later, I headed up the stairs to my third floor aerie, camera clutched confidently.

This was the result. Let's start with a fairly close look. Is the operator there, anywhere?

No, but let's continue to watch. At least the bird is there. The sun isn't visible yet.  

.....just moments later....

Look. Look! Do you see a figure?

Quick, zoom in some more....That's him.  Here comes the sun. He must have a great view. For him, it would be rising over Auckland' South Side. 

Another shot, as the sun continues to mount the sky. **

**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF5emO1X0HA

And my bird is back too.  Hey, this is really working out nicely.  

And there he goes, climbing the ladder.  Dang bird, it was supposed to keep circling.  

We now come to day three of our odyssey.  When I looked out into the predawn darkness, I saw clouds.  There would be no golden sunrise today.  This was actually the day that I took the two pictures that appeared above as the second and third photos of this post. The cloudy morning pictures. 

But, hope springs eternal, and I trudged back up the staircase, just in case...

There was no sun and no birds, but our friend was there. Caught him just in time.  

And here's the last shot, I had just enough time to zoom in a little more before he disappeared. The crane is at a different angle this morning and that is  preventing us from seeing him standing on the level with his booth.   

Well, folks, that's all for today.  

However, I find myself curious about this tower crane. I just might look into where it is, how far it is from my balcony, what it's helping to build, and so on. I'll bet I could research it with Google Maps, then hop a bus, and find the answers to the questions I just posed. 

I think you had better check back with me next week to learn for yourselves the truth behind the photo essay you've just enjoyed. (Hopefully enjoyed, that is.  I'd even take tolerated.) 

Till then, take care,         -djf   

On a lazy afternoon

It's a well-known fact that old men like to sit and watch the world go by. Now that I have attained that honorable appellation myself, I can attest to its truth. In fact, many of you know it too, because for some time now, I have been sharing bits of my world with all of you.  

This post is one that I had fun producing.  I took the pictures as I sat on our Waitakere Gardens balcony in the sun on a fall day in New Zealand and observed.  There was a lot of activity below me. For some reason, it was a day (Wednesday, March 22, 2023) when lots of families visited residents. There was constant coming and going and the shouts of children being children.  

I soon discovered that there was a lot of activity up in the Nikau palms that ring our roundabout as well.  Activity of another sort. The European honey bees, Apis mellifera, from the hives in our very own gardens, were present, and zipping around at great speed. I got excited.   

Being old, I have come to rely on what I like to call my bionics. My hearing aids are one example.

I have also come to think of my camera as a kind of extension of my eyes. When I saw what was happening in the palms, I grabbed my camera, and started snapping. With its help, I was able to reach out and pull that fruiting palm closer to me. Let's get started. 

This was my view from my balcony.  I am looking at the flowers that are obvious in the tree closest to me.  

This view shows the distance from our balcony to the inflorescence.  It was taken from our roundabout. I have placed a yellow rectangle above our balcony. You can imagine me sitting there on our two-seater and resting my camera on the railing.  

And this next one shows Jeanne looking toward the sunrise.  You can see how close we are to the palm in question. (For this picture, I went up to the third floor of The Palms. A good place to catch a sunrise shot too.) 
 

I've got the camera zoomed in. Here comes a bee now. Soon we're going to go a lot closer. The camera can not only bring bees closer to me, it can stop them in mid-air. 

You can even see the pollen basket (corbicula) on its leg if you look carefully enough. 

This bee is in the shadows, but it makes for a nice silhouette.  And notice the second bee to its left that is stationary and slightly more out of focus. Still, you can see a hint of its wing.  

 

I have just a few more.  They're a little fuzzy, but quite close.

And now, let's look at the best ones of the afternoon.

I like this one because you can see the condition of its wings.  I think this might be an older bee.  

Is it any wonder that the honey that is produced here at Waitakere Gardens is so good?  The bees have innumerable and diverse sources of sweetness to draw upon. 

I know this has been a long post, but I have just two more shots I'd like you to see and mull over.  

The first one is another of the palms in the drive.  The top portion is called the spathe, which splits along one side and the inflorescence emerges. 

Now take a look at a super close-up of an individual flower within the inflorescence.  I love how its structure looks somewhat similar.  

Thanks for sharing a seat with me this afternoon.  Didn't the sun feel good?     -djf

I never was a fan. Elvis started his career before I was old enough to care about his music and by the time I was, other types of music and groups had my attention and admiration.  

However, here in New Zealand, and especially in our retirement community, we have found that Elvis is much loved.  His songs make up a percentage of every singalong that Jeanne attends.  And if there is a party some evening, and someone decides to get up and sing a song for the rest of us, chances are about even that it will be a song that Elvis made famous. 

Recently, there was an Elvis festival in Cranwell Park. That's about a five minute walk from our village. It was a beautiful day and I took a few shots as I walked through the festival grounds.  

Take a look. This is the memorial in Cranwell Park.  Sometime ago, in a previous post, I showed you this memorial when someone had placed flowers on it.  Now, that's fan devotion.   

Here is the entrance.  It's a very small gathering.

There was also a car show.  Mostly left-hand drive models. 

This is the very first 'Elvis' of the day. I think they had five of them scheduled. He had a rather unfortunate start. (I thought so anyway.)

The announcer gave him a great intro.  Started quiet and then, as he talked, he got louder and more excited, the music that was playing crescendoed, and the announcer shouted, 

"Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Elvis,"

and nothing happened.  Where was Elvis?  He finally made it to the stage after about a minute. 

Fortunately, the crowd was very forgiving and he was greeted warmly, once he made it on-stage. 

He didn't attempt to do Elvis's accent at all.  The crowd was hungry for his songs and he got right to it.  

I was wondering if the various impersonators got together before the show and agreed on what songs each would do, so there wouldn't be excessive overlap of some songs. I thought this because I noticed he wasn't doing any of the really big hits. However, I didn't stay very long at all and didn't hear his full performance.  

The weather stayed perfect that day.  I'm sure everyone attending, performing, showing cars, or in any way associated with the festival was pleased.   

Henderson celebrated the "King," once again.    -djf

 

Tyrannosaurus rex, Mr. and Mrs.

Good morning, 

Let's suppose that you have just found yourself mysteriously transported from your home to the train station in Henderson .  You'd look up and see this poster. 

(That happens to be Lion Rock at Piha.)  

You look around a little more.  Hmm, you've somehow acquired a trolley on your journey.   

You notice, as you stand there, waiting for the train to show up, (what else would you be doing at a train station?) that there appears to be a bit of something organic down on the concrete, and that there seems to be some activity around it. 

And then you look very closely indeed.  

"Hey you, ant on the right. Quit messing around!  Get off the load."  

As you watch, you hear the rumble of the arriving train.  

You step aboard (what else are you going to do at a train station) and look around. Hmmm, it's  empty this morning.   

You realize that you are on the 9:10 a.m. from Henderson, and if you were to disembark after the automated voice announces Grafton, (in about 40 minutes) and then climb the hill outside that station, you would soon be rewarded with the sight of the Auckland War Museum in the distance. 

(I think the name is somewhat misleading. In fact, the museum has devoted the majority of it's floorspace to displays that have nothing to do with conflicts.  It's a wonderful and interesting place.)  

And then, if you made your way to its south entrance, and passed through it into the large Atrium, which offers a circle of exceedingly comfortable couches, a children's play area, the café and the gift store, you could stand (or sit) and admire Mr. and Mrs. T-rex.  They however, don't stand on ceremony (it's actually a raised platform) and prefer to be called Peter and Barbara.

You may wonder how we know which is which of the pair. It is a fact that male T-rexes are believed to have been smaller than the female of the species and it is true that Peter is the smaller of the two by about a meter. But the fact that Barbara was found with fossilized eggs inside her that was a dead giveaway as to her sex.  

Peter came to us from the Lance Formation in Wyoming and Barbara hails from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. They're Yanks!  What do you know? 

You're totally surprised to find yourself here, but you're glad you are. You plan to not worry about getting home again. You'll just enjoy the exhibition. The future will work itself out.  

That's Barbara in the foreground. 

Peter is on the left.  

Peter

Barbara

Have you wondered if T-rexes ever walked around with their mouths shut? I ask because I've never seen a picture or display that showed one with its mouth shut. 

(Except in Gary Larson cartoons.) 

They appear to have large nostrils so breathing closed-mouthed shouldn't have been an issue. 

What about after they had just had a nice big dinner? They must have taken a break from roaring and snapping at some point.

I think it's just our expectations that cause them all to be positioned as angry, hungry, just-about-to-swallow-you-whole workaholics.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkpcQBRh6Y0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note from your tour guide: (me)

I loved dinosaurs as a kid.  If I had had a chance to see these two back then, I would have been thrilled beyond words. It's still quite a kick.  

Since we are Aucklanders, we have cards that allow us to visit the museum for free.  I hope that very soon, Jeanne will decide she'd like to meet the Dino-Americans and come with me to see them. We'd have lunch and stay as long as we'd like, admiring Mr. and Mrs. Tyrannosaurus rex. 

And yes, those pronouns are correct.   -djf