Hello Shortest Day

Tonight is the Winter Solstice here in New Zealand, making this the shortest day and tonight the longest night.  It takes about a month for us to notice that the days are getting longer, but there is a psychological boost when you know that the Shortest Day has passed.  In the South Island, particularly right down south where I now live, we have many very dull, cold, dreary days when the sun doesn't shine.  This time last year, I was in France, and missed 2 months of winter.  This year, I have to suck it up and be here.

The up side of winter (and there IS one) is that I was able to take these photos of roses in the Queens Park gardens -

These are the images I have chosen for my final Photography 1 asssignment, have printed them out at 8" x 10" size.  They are being exhibited (along with my classmates' photos) on the ground floor of our campus building.  Apparently, the exhibition is attracting favourable comments from staff and students.

Warning...contains actual quilted matter

Sample quilt made this weekend for the upcoming landscape class that I'm teaching.

Happy birthday, Queenie

This was the last long weekend we have until late October.  Of course, it's not really the Queen's birthday this weekend, but we like to pretend it is.

I spent quite a bit of time taking photographs in and around Invercargill.  It's pretty flat here so the city lacks dramatic landscapes - I had to make the best of what I could find.   Here's some of my favourites -

 I tried out my telephoto lens for the first time at Bluff.

 There were some quite strange clouds on the way back.

 Looking at Riverton bridge.

 Windsurfers at Colac Bay

 The pond by the aviary in Queen's Park

Roof of the winter gardens

The fountain at Queen's Park.