We’ve lost it!

Unbelievable ... but wikipedia confirms it … It’s now made by coca-cola!

What is it?

L&P of course! L&P stands for Lemon & Paeroa. L&P is to New Zealand what Irn-Bru is to Scotland. Big difference though ….Irn-Bru is still Barr’s Irn-Bru … just as it’s always been.

L&P gets its name from the ingredients: lemon juice combined with carbonated mineral water from the town of Paeroa. Paeroa still has the BIG bottle. I know I saw it there a few months ago but I didn’t know then that we had lost it!

Don’t you just hate it when local stuff goes mulinational? Sigh!

Son’s eye view

I didn’t have my camera this week. It’s been borrowed by my daughter so, for inspiration, I had to look back into the dustbin of history ... I did and found this photo of a tree fern. I took it a few months ago on a coastal walk through the bush.
I only came to know these plants when I came to live in New Zealand. There’s something very primitive about them, don’t you think?

This is what my son saw ..... pretty!

Whatever happened to Pesky’s kittens?

Pesky is our annoying stray. Just before Christmas she had four babies. One died when it was still really small so then there were three; two girls and one boy. The ginger one is the boy. Anyway, he has gone to a good home. His name is Kaz.

We couldn’t find homes for the two girls so I took them to the local SPCA. Hopefully they too will end up happy kitties.

Pesky’s not happy about loosing her babies. She doesn’t know it but she should be very happy. My daughter is going to adopt her and take her home! She is to be spayed first. The SPCA will put her under the knife soon. It’s a cats life all right!

I’ve learned something new from all this kitty drama. Most ginger cats are boys. It’s a sex linked trait. Interesting ... maybe?

It’s not a red rose ...

... but it is a beautiful red hibiscus flower and this morning it’s sitting next to my toothbrush in the bathroom.
I step in to the shower and what do I see? A spray of red begonia has been placed on top of the soap. I’m getting suspicious now! Friendly aliens maybe? df calls out from the kitchen, Happy Valentine!

So that’s it! How romantic!

Doesn’t my desk look good today?

Name match

This very pretty and very old church at the end of our road is slowly being engulfed in our fast growing city. The church is only very old by New Zealand standards where the oldest building is dated 1821. The date on this church is proudly displayed, 1874.


I’ve never been inside the old building. In fact, I’m not sure how much the old building is used. The church has now got a flash new building alongside which I’ve seen used ... at least on Sundays!

You know how it is with stuff that you see every day? After a while you stop looking. Sad really! But see what I did notice the other day .... the name of the preacher!

A case of Born to Minister if ever there was one!

Seeing red

Suddenly it was all too much. It was Friday morning. The traffic light was on red. The car in front was very bright ... and red ... and the driver’s hair was a brilliant red and shining in the sunshine!

The hill in front is another of Auckland’s many volcanoes. Named One Tree Hill – it is actually no tree hill … but that’s a long and rather sad story.

Mural update

Thanks to colleen and bluest butterfly for fuelling my curiosity ... I got the artist’s name. Not too hard since on having a closer look I found a signature, A. S. Robson.

I have tried to find out more about him/her ... but no luck as yet.

Hello Mr/Ms Robson who are you?

There are some beautiful and funny details that I also noticed for the first time ... the olde worlde charm of the horse and cart ..

... and the seagull that has just caught itself a fish is standng on a yellow post that has been cleverly used to give a three-dimensional feel to the mural.

I like this mural even more now. I'm so glad that I got around to photographing it.

Mural magic

Here’s another something that always makes me smile. Isn’t it great? This painting covers the side of a car workshop in one of the not-so-pretty parts of town.

You know the parts of town that I mean?

Pretty parts of town = wide roads, lots of trees, big houses, people out walking their dog(s), etc., etc.

Not-so-pretty parts of town = workshops, warehouses, people out not-walking their dogs (and probably up to no-good), electricity pylons, GRAFFITI ....

Over all the years I’ve admired this mural I’ve never seen it defaced ... I bet it makes even the local rowdies smile!

Foam invasion

I give up! Just look at what has landed in the office next door – a huge mountain of white stuff!

Did it escape through the large hole in the ceiling?

I know ms mac and maybe others of you are sceptical but I suspect its the aliens. They're planning a mass pillow fight tonight.