Windows

"Across the headlands
The forest masses
Under gray skies
And mist
Into a solid wall
Of muted gray
Through which cars
Glide skirting noiselessly
The rocky edge.
Through a window
I watch, windows are
For watching -
Square pieces of life
Ever changing."
-- Donovan Holtz

Let's go fly a kite...

Ferguson Park, the main park in one of Tauranga's most prestigious suburbs - Matua - is a hot spot for kite surfing - one would assume because of the sheltered waters of the bay. It's not uncommon to see tens of giant kites billowing into the sky whilst kids practice their soccer. Here's a shot I took of one of the surfer's boards lying on the shore.

"It's not the waves you catch,
How hard or how strong.
It's the wind in your hair,
The ocean's song.
Knowing you can't,
Almost certain you can.
Endless blue, With a bare sight of land.
Getting to know the oceans,
Dolphins and fish your friends.
Too many mistakes,
That you need now not mend.
The loss of all worries,
The bad, the worst.
Nothing is practiced,
Nothing rehearsed.
The surfer's only knowledge,
Of what's going on,
Is the coming of the waves,
In the wake of the dawn."
-- Sasha Walker/Mills

Long Time Past

A browse through the galleries of Flickr (and in particular this group) last night got me thinking - what would happen when you blended the present with the past? I tried it out on an old image I took of the Tauranga Post Office.

"Like the ghost of a dear friend dead
Is Time long past.
A tone which is now forever fled,
A hope which is now forever past,
A love so sweet it could not last,
Was Time long past.
There were sweet dreams in the night
Of Time long past:
And, was it sadness or delight,
Each day a shadow onward cast
Which made us wish it yet might last--
That Time long past.
There is regret, almost remorse,
For Time long past.
'Tis like a child's belovèd corse
A father watches, till at last
Beauty is like remembrance, cast
From Time long past."
--Percy Bysshe Shelley

Credit to Tauranga City Libraries for the original photo, c. 1910.

Sunset

"As I searched for inspiration
I pondered in deep thought

The sky was marbled and smeared
Like a painter and his canvas
Its fiery blaze caught my eye
formation of an eagle of clouds
it seemed complex and marbleized
yet it seemed to hypnotise
an inspirational pen
to write its poem
you now have read"

--Manasseh Bailey

Ode to Autumn

"The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on."

-- Emily Dickinson

By Candlelight

Here's another part of Easter that I got to witness - the Easter Vigil by candlelight. A beautiful, moving experience - even if it did leave me a little tired afterwards!

The Sound of Summer's End

My favourite image of the Jazz Festival - a fantastic way to bid farewell to summer! Easter is the final public holiday (save for ANZAC Day and Queen's Birthday) until Labour Weekend in October and people have certainly been making the most of it. It truly is an amazing sight to see people of all ages dancing in the streets. Happy Easter to all!