As expected!

Well, it had to happen. Those lovely flowers on the michalea tree had to come down. The tree is very large, and is covered in flowers the size of a stretched hand. The picture to the left shows some of the petals on the ground. Last weekend the ground was clear, but some wind and rain has helped cover the lawn with wet, soggy, white petals. Frustrating thing is that there's more flowers still to come down than there is already on the ground!

The weather is definitelty changing. The cherry trees are in bloom on the driveway and we have the usual tui's visiting for the nectar. I managed a quick shot of one today, but the light was fading so it's not the best, but it should give you an idea of the bird and the colour of the cherry tree blossom. We have other cherry trees on the west of the house, but these are mi=uch lighter in colour and are no where near as advanced with their blooms.

Work has continued today with the bedroom renovations. The old gib is off the walls, one interior wall has been modified to remove an interior window and the insulation has been added. New gib will be added soon and then we'll be on with the painting!

I couldn't help but notice some workings on some of the internal framing. Measurements in feet and inches! Much more difficult to do the calculations, yet, in many ways, the workmanship and finished results seemed so much better. I also noticed some unpleasant things in the framing. There's obviously been some ants living in our home as well as us. It also looks like there was a lot of them!! No ants there now, and the gaps are filled with insulation which, with the doubke glazing has made a huge difference to the quietness of the room. Progress is defintiely being made. Roll on the next step ;-)

On Campus

Photographs of the campus are required for the new Institute prospectus, so Friday afternoon saw a few of us armed with cameras out and about on one of the campuses taking shots. I found the exercise quite difficult as my mind was on some dificulties we'd experienced the previous day with some networking equipment. Nevertheless, I continued to walk around the campus which, when you take time to look at it carefully is very pleasant indeed. I think this was the trick really. Walk around the campus to see what was there first of all without being trigger happy and snapping away at anything and everything and then hoping for the best. The light was lovely, a bit harsh in some areas, but it really set off the colours of the buildings a treat- well I thought so anyway! The idea was to accentuate or emphasise aspects of the architecture on campus. So where to start? Of what should we take pictures?

The first image in this post shows the oldest building on campus, and perhaps the most photogenic and pleasing to the eye. However, this building isn't used by the students. It acts as the office block for the Institute's executive team. For the prospectus it would be better to get some images of the building, or features of buildings with which the students were likely to come into contact. This I found very difficult.

Should I concentrate on shape, and if I did, should I be looking for detail, or overall impression? The windows to the left on a slight curve and decreasing in size looked like it had potential, but is it pleasing to the eye? Is it sufficiently engaging or interesting?

All up I suppose it was about an hour walking around the campus and taking shots. All it's done is given me a desire to walk around the campus again, but at different times of the day. Anyway, if you'd like to see some more images from the walk, then please have a squiz here. Comments are welcome :-)

Has spring sprung?

We're still lighting the fire as it's quite cool in the evenings. It's certainly milder than it has been, and now we're noticing some of the spring blooms appearing in the garden. Daffodils are out and look quite lovely in the morning light. The something rather nice about early morning and early evening light. It reminds me of Kodachrome images - slightly underexposed and right in colour.

The michalea tree continues to look spectacular, but is losing leaves and petals. With recent rain we now have a soggy composting mess on the grass. Such a contrast between the beauty of the flowers in the tree and the rotting compost on the lawn!