Birdseye views

On a clear day, a flight from Wellington to Nelson offers wonderful views of the terrain below. The plane is small and flies low enough for good visibility.

The plane takes 40 passengers  plus hostess

Leaving Wellington

Leaving the north island

South island, heading for Nelson

The photos were taken by my seat neighbour, a young Dutch woman on a two year work visa. She was snapping photos out of the window so I handed her my phone and she took a few for me as well.

Pomegranate

I planted a pomegranate last autumn. It likes its garden spot and has produced a good lot of growth. Now it has a single flower.

Does a pomegranate need fertilising I wonder, or will this flower become a fruit regardless? 

Another heat wave

Hotter than hot, that's what it is for most of south eastern Australia today. Luckily for me I live near the cooling coast but even here it is hot, not only hot but very humid which makes the heat oppressive. I don't know how folks without air conditioning manage. Sometimes they don't, mortality rates rise during heatwaves.

I write this at 7:30 am.  Fans are whirring, the breadmaker has been transferred to a shelf outside as it generates so much heat and I sit reading that insects are disappearing and wondering at the foolishness of the human race.

Breadmaker on a shelf outside

Blueberries

Blueberries taste so sweet when they are from your own garden

My blueberry bush is still tiny, but over the past two weeks whenever I've walked by I have eaten a few blueberries. Today there was a whole handful ready for picking.

Small bushes planted on poor sandy soil can be  surprisingly productive. I planted a loganberry vine 18 months ago. Last summer it bore about 20 fruit but this year it was covered with fruit. I had so many loganberries I made a kilo of them into jam.

Loganberries

Loganberry jam

The lady with the brolly

The heatwave has passed thankfully and today is cool and wet. The lady with the brolly came for an early morning walk with me today.

Heat wave

It is 35.3C at 10:30am. What is this heat good for? Painting and varnishing picture frames, that's what. My frame dried so quickly I could rehang the painting within the hour.

Painted and varnished ...

... and hung.