Boots and brolly

Boots and brolly is what we have been needing these last few weeks. These are mine, lying on my doormat. I thought them picturesque enough to make an etching of.

Ruby blowing a dandelion

My first lino cut.

Snow on the hills

It rained, it hailed, then it snowed. Today Dunedin feels like an alpine village. Bright sunshine but very cold with frost until lunch time.Lunchtime yesterday.
Blue skies today at noon.

It's raining..

..it's pouring, the old man is snoring...

Beijing Opening Ceremony just for a few?

I read in the newspaper that the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony was wonderful. Ten out of ten they say. I can't find a single video of it anywhere on the Internet so I guess the Chinese officials and the TV stations have sewn copyright up. I have rapidly lost interest.

Dunedin Activists March : No Public Funding for new Rugby Stadium

On Saturday a crowd of over 700 marched along the main street of Dunedin to the Octagon to protest against Council proposing to take a loan to fund a new Rugby Stadium for Dunedin.

An elderly woman marching next to me told me that she this was the first time she had ever participated in a demonstration. She said she had lots of friends who are against the stadium but who were not at the march, so she was representing them. She was carrying a hand painted sign saying 'No to the Stadium'.

Afterwards I followed a young couple down the street who had not been on the march. The man was becoming quite heated as he tried to persuade his doubtful partner that Dunedin needed the stadium. "Tauranga will get it instead of us", he said.

Deluge for NZ

 

Dunedin was on the fringe of the big storm that hit NZ this week, but we got heavy rain regardless.

A geek's world

The website is down...
Check this out .. it had me laughing out loud. Does that mean I am a geek? I don't think so.

Yolanda Kondonassis, harpist

I drew this recently at a concert by a trio that included harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. I was sitting in the front row next to two high school students who told me their teacher told them to watch the harpist's feet as a harp has seven pedals.

Andersons Bay in winter

 

Five (car) minutes from central Dunedin on an inlet from Otago Habour is Andersons Bay.

 

A causeway across the bay leads to the coast road of Otago Penninsula.

Footie fans and food

Footie fans at the Octagon. Science week was on as well in Dunedin and in the Future Food van you can see behind the footie fans I read that NZ has 0.3% of agricultural land under certified organic management. This compares to 2.7% for Australia, 3.9% in the UK and 14.2% in Austria. The chemical companies must love us.

Boaties on Otago Harbour

This group of boaties were pulling up their boat in the late afternoon yesterday. They seemed to be in a hurry and perhaps they were going to the rugby test.

Dunedin basks in the sun on 12 July

I flew back from Sydney prepared for bitter cold but it was 18C and the shuttle bus driver was in shirt sleeves. Today was just as warm which is lucky for the rugby fans here for the NZ/SA test match. City shops are decorated in black and white and Carisbrook Stadium is sold out.
Proponents of the controversial proposed new $90m rugby stadium will probably argue that this means the stadium should be built. However, a radio presenter lamented this morning that the money already spent on feasibility studies for the proposed stadium would have paid for a brand new sewerage treatment works to keep the beaches clean. The presenter also said that a University study had concluded there was a 95% chance that the stadium would be bankrupt before its first year was out. A survey to assess support for the stadium has been done. It was sent to ratepayers, but only the males. If the head of a household was a woman the survey form was not sent. That says it all really. Maybe the recession will knock the proposal on the head. I notice mortgagee sales are prominent in the local paper today.

On a happier note, the local farmers market held on Saturdays at the Railway Station goes from strength the strength. Stall holders basked in the unseasonal warmth today and shoppers dawdled, listening to the piper standing in the gardens next door. The piper was a high school girl and accompanied on the drum by her smaller sister. They were a great team.

Naidoc celebration

Children at Camdenville School in Newtown celebrate Naidoc week.

Out of the freezer

Brrr. The forecast for Dunedin is "bitter southwester with sleet and hail, clearing."
Time to escape the antarctic weather and head to Sydney.

More ceramic music

I put some more music ceramics online.

Sound Cloud

Sound Cloud, one of my ceramic pieces in the 'Handled' exhibition that opened this evening at Whiteroom at 31 Moray Place in Dunedin.

Handled

The ceramics and jewellery students are having an exhibition - it opens next Tuesday so we are all scurrying around tying up the loose ends.

20 seconds

Our eArt class project this morning was to create a 20 second video from images without restrictive copyright. Most of what I found was on US Government websites - US Dept of Agriculture for example. This is my 20 second video:

Saints stack pot

Perhaps they are not visible on this photograph, but this ceramic has images of saints on it. I made it after reading about a wealthy Russian who is collecting Russian icons from around the world and taking them back home.