Central Plateau, North Island

Central Plateau, North Island
View from a friend's farm

Saturday 30 March 2013

Rain Drops on Salvias

Flowers shining brightly

Last night there was a sound, I thought the fridge was packing up, for a few seconds, then realised it was raindrops on the roof. Yes, for maybe a minute, we had rain. The bright red Salvia plants enjoyed it so much, they are even brighter today.

At Piropiro, Hugh went out many times to explore new tracks. There are so many old trees there, lichen hanging off the trunks, fallen logs to crawl over.

Here are some of his photos, taken with  his  Canon G9.

Lichen on an old tree trunk

Lichen on the tree

The well used fireplace, providing wonderful heat on a frosty morning

Fireplace that has been  used well

A grassy part of the track In the foreground is the box on his quad, with tools, spare parts, and emergency equipment. The Gopro Video  camera has its own special place there too.But not this time.

Grassy track

Tangled branches and tree trunks everywhere.

Tangled branches Tree trunks

This is the pool at the bottom of the steps, water from a stream gushes out of a huge pipe that goes under the metal road, very cold and crystal clear, but hard to get a good photo as it is surrounded by ferns and grasses.Too dark, too light, too sunny, no matter what time I wandered down there, it didn’t seem to be any better.

piropiro water pool

Tonight the night sky was glorious, tempting me with those few minutes of beauty.Do you get tired of sky photos? I could look at them every day, and marvel at how the sky looks in other parts of the world.

Night sky within a frame

Quotation of the day from Gerald De Nerval,

“Each flower is a soul opening out to nature”

Greetings from Jean

17 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Carol Mattingly said...

I thought you were going to say the noise was a muse in the frig.

Carol Mattingly said...

I meant mouse not muse.

Georgia said...

Your salvia is what my parents called Scarlet Sage. We had a large plot of it for several years when I was growing up. Thanks for inquiring about the bike. It's fine. I have to be careful of loose sand on top of the macadam streets in the neighborhood though.

Lindsjö taxar said...

Beautiful Pictures...no you never can get tired o skies. Every sunset is different. I like to photograph that, this evening was great again

Nancy J said...

I put in a comment, then blogger stopped!! Yes, a muse would help my creative areas, a mouse would like the warm fridge motor, the brief rain so welcome, Georgia, Scarlet Sage, native to Brazil, thrives in hot climates. Years ago I grew Salvia uliginosa, a blue salvia that grew to about 6 feet, long fine stems that waved in a breeze, very pretty. Take care on that bike. Cheers from Jean.p.s. I have now activated moderation on comments, so many anonymous or spam ones were happening.

Susan Heather said...

I must feed my salvia - yours look so much better.

Lovely photos of the bush and night sky.

We have had the odd shower.

Nancy J said...

What happened,?? comment moderation has not happened, so I will have to check and see what I actually did put, Cheers, Jean

Nancy J said...

Hooray, moderation is working, so your comment will not show immediately, it goes to my email, or there is a box on the blog if I open that first.Wonderful to have no more anonymous,rude, dusgusting ones, that have nothing to do with anything much here at all.And, while I am commenting on my own page, must thank you all so much for each comment, they are generous in their words, thoughtful with care, helpful in so many ways, and lighten and brighten my day every time. Greetings to all from Jean.

Barb said...

Finally a bit of rain for you. The photos from your vacation show the natural beauty of your surroundings. I never tire of the sky!

Jim said...

Beautiful photos by you both! So Hugh has a GoPro? How does he like it?
I agree with you...I can never get enough sunset photos either.
lol...Jean I can't get that song out of my head now! 'Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.....' Have a wonderful weekend!
Jim in Nova Scotia.

Nancy J said...

Jim, Hugh loves his Gopro, he has Hero2, there is a Hero3 just out, a friend said it takes much better pics,have not looked at any specs, so cannot comment on this. he has a mount for the dashboard in the vehicles, and a special one on his quad.The only thing, in the station wagon, it sometimes seems to get too much light, maybe because the car is lower than the 4WD. And it picks up the quad rattles when he goes on those metal roads. I will see if I can email you a short video.Barb, I think I could be outside looking at the sky, finding the best spot for a photo, every night, and in the early dawn as well.Hope all is improving at your place.Lovely to see you back here. Greetings from Jean.

Brian King said...

Beautiful! Red is my favorite color!

Nancy J said...

Thanks Brian, they have been fed regularly with coffee grounds, looks like they thrive on that. Cheers from Jean

Susan Heather said...

Do you use coffee grounds on all your plants?

Nancy J said...

Yes Susan, I tend to put them round any flowers, small shrubs, not on bulbs, and I know many cafes bag up the coffee grounds for the public, so it must be quite common to do this.The other planter further away from the front door had the same salvias, no coffee or perhaps not as much watering, they were a sad looking lot. We have drizzle, after some rain yesterday. Wonderful. Hope you get some too. Cheers from Jean

Ashling said...

Such intense red, a feast for eyes and soul. And thank you for sharing teh other photos; looks likea truly magical place to be.