Photo Journal: Random Impressions of the Last Week

It Summer Holiday so that means less time behind the computer and more time spent with the family. Some random impressions of the last week below.

Evening Walk

Earlier this week we had an incredibly warm day. Later i the evening, to cool off a bit I went for a walk with my oldest son to see this amazing sunset right around the corner.

Backyard

If there are a few things that are dominating in terms what the back yard is all about it is probably the butterflies, the veggie patch and playing children. In a recent post I detailed the cycle of the Monarch Butterfly. And after these beautiful animals took off we already have a number of new caterpillars running and eating their favorite Swan plant.

Besides that we are very pleased with the promise of home grown vegetables such as the spinach, tomatoes, cauliflower, carrots and silver beet.

Are you getting hungry yet?

Hagley Park

Hagley Park is again quite stunning this year and it is so amazing to see how it is different every year. Here some impressions of this every beautiful park and one of my favorite places to go to for a quick walk. There is always the beautiful scenery and at thew same time the beautiful detail if you keep your eyes open: flowers, insects, birds.

Time for a rest near one the amazing ponds in the park.  Who would not be amazed, inspired by scenes like below.

Barnett Park Walk Way

In the absence of our youngest, we took the other two out for a highly recommendable walk up the Barnett Park Walkway: a two hours walk (with kids) up to a large cave, near Sumner, Christchurch with beautiful views over Christchurch  and a nice walking challenge for the boys.

Yes you guessed it right, the black spot in the rocks up there is the destination. The great part was that the track is cyclic so you walk back down a different route.

Again it was a great mix of stunning scenery and beautiful detail making oit clear how much the two are related. From the cave there was a spectacular view back to Christchurch.

Inside the cave it was the breathtaking scenes provides by the differently colored rock formations that took all of my attention.

Any abstract painter would be pleased with an outcome like that.

Rapaki

Finally we ended up for a quiet afternoon at Rapaki, a little settlement in one of the bays near Lyttleton. A lovely alternative when you want to go to the beach but have the luxury to hang out in the shade of the trees when the sun gets to warm. A walk around and a little chat with the fishermen or in my case the fisher ladies, having their minds set on catching some fish for diner.

Keep an eye on my flickr stream as I will be uploading more there.

Related Articles

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• California’s monarch butterflies in peril (photos) (news.cnet.com)
• Reserve saves trees but not monarch butterflies (foxnews.com)
• Monarch butterfly gets Mexico conservation center (foxnews.com)

Photo Journal: Spring Is Here Again (as far as I am concerned)

Spring might start next month officially, but as far as I am concerned it has arrived.  The weather was nice today and we went for a walk in Hagley Park.The change of season brings its own beautiful mix of colors and scenes and Hagley Park is certainly a place to enjoy that.

For the first time since last autumn we had our lunches outside in the park.
But more importantly: during our walk in the park we had the pleasure to see the first daffodils, crocuses and snow clocks for this year. SPRING HAS ARRIVED as far as I am concerned.

And there were other messengers.

What a fantastic walk it was and again and again I am amazed at how beautiful Hagley Park is. Whatever season.

Go for a walk and see for yourself how beautiful it is there.

Photo Journal: Winter Magic in Hagley Park

What a glorious day today I felt an urge to make pictures but also to clear my head and just be quiet. I ended up in Hagley Park and even if I would have had an urge to talk, sing, pray out loud, I was so blown away by the scenery that I would not have been able to speak a word anyway; it felt at times like I was walking through a fairytale. So, I’ll keep it short and just let the pictures do the talking.

It was an amazing play of mist, light, sunbeams and with that shadows, lines and sun rays and other magic.

What’s left to say but ‘what an amazing collaboration between Creator and the created.’  All I could do is stand back in  awe. I suggest you go and check it out yourself.

Photo Journal: Evening Picnic in Sumner

I for one am always in for eating in the open air. With winter coming up we best try to enjoy as much of the sunshine as we can. So earlier this week we took the boys out for diner at the beach. The day started relatively cold. A snail agreed on the nippiness and as soon as we opened the window in the morning he quickly came in trying to find some warmth.

Later that day it became time for diner at the beach. School uniforms off and beach clothes on, off for an evening picnic. Nice and simple: some bread, cheese, and other stuff to put on the bread and some juice.

The boys loved it, for one because the are very energetic and sitting at the table is not one of their greatest virtues. In between bites they now enjoyed the sand, water and all that came in with the tide, no matter how BIG

or small.

Me and my wife just enjoyed each other, the boys, the sound of the sea  and the beautiful evening skies which at times looked like a painting.

Greetings from New Zealand

Greetings from New Zealand by JohnDierckx
Shop for a card with zazzle.co.nz

A beautiful view on the way back from Hanmer Springs.

I remember well how I was looking back from the car, simply had to get out and there I was on the highway shooting this amazing view.