Macro Monday: Tree with yellow flowers

At our One Tree Hill park, I saw this tree with yellow flowers.

Does anyone know what tree it is?

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Family Ukulele Music Festival 2009 Auckland.

Ukulele Festival 2009,a free, fun, family day out guaranteed to put a smile on your face and was held on at the Mt Smart Stadium in Penrose, Auckland.

Some of my school kids took part in this Kiwileles, a 1300 strong massed ukulele orchestra. There was a great line up of local and international ukulele artists including Tongan virtuoso Sione Aleki and the ever-popular Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra.

When Deborah was young, I bought from a flea market a little ukulele. She used to strum it and pretend it was a guitar. Today, she is the only of my kids who is musically inclined.

Cala Lilies at Mt Albert Volcanoes

Lilies have a special place in my heart. I found this clump while I was climbing the slope of Mt Albert. My eldest daughter Deborah will remember why.

sundaystills. horses

We went horse riding with friends. Do you see a horse without a rider? That was my horse. I wasn't confident to ride three hours up and down the ravines, and crossing rivers. I came back in a little farm buggy after we reached the beach.






I spy a parent helping her child ride a horse in a country road.
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nScWyFpFyOY/SwdOxmhv6TI/AAAAAAAAIBk/GKdAkLYNVPI/s1600/horse+trotting.jpg">

I have to borrow this winning horse photo from the Alexandria Trotting site because I don't have a photo of a horse for this.
I only went to the trotting once with a visitor, we didn't bet on the horses. My friend told me that a friend's dad is a jockey. Trotting doesn't seem to be as much fun as the races. When the Australian Melbourne cup is run, almost every office in New Zealand runs a sweepstack. I have never won once.

The following photos were taken when it wasn't a trotting night. I went to a restaurant at the same premises, and made use of the opportunity to take these photos.






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Sunday Stills, the next challenge: The Hardest Challenge Yet!!!
Posted in Sunday Stills Challenge of the Week, the next challenge with tags Sunday Stills on November 15, 2009 by Ed

Up till now its been pretty easy but I think I’ll really challenge ya’ll this week….HORSES!!

I know, most of ya’ll have never seen one before and it will be difficult to find at least one but I have a feeling if you just look you will not have a problem…:-))

See ya’ll next week…Ed

Friday Shoot out: My Town's Premier Attraction.

Mt Eden is most frequented volcano and tour buses bring hordes of tourists. There is a 360 degrees panorama. You can drive all the way up to the summit. We often climb up the summit along the grassy slopes.

Until recently, the council rented the land out for farmers to graze their cows. But the cows had be grazing newly planted trees, and the Maoris protest that a sacred land should not have cow pats defacing their land. So the cows are off the mountain.

You cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge to the North, and you can go to another volcano , Mt Victoria. For the adventurous like my daughter, you can bungy jump off the bridge, and the semi adventurous like me, you can climb on the bridge and feel the gale blowing your hair.

http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/
To the brave who are not scared that the 600 year old volcano might blow up again, you can take a ferry and go to our youngest volcano. Rangitoto. Climbing the summit of Rangitoto, you are rewarded with the best view in town. You see the heights of Auckland's volcanoes, the sky scrapers, and the urban sprawl. Aucklanders try to make the pilgrimage once in their life time. I made that 30 years ago, and would like to go again for the kids. At that time, the slope facing the mainland is full of vegetation, and other side side is still volcanic rocks.

Apparently the Maoris saw the eruption and called it bloodied sky. rangi meaning sky, toto meaning blood.

Kent in Montana (http://tresoaks.blogspot.com/) chose My Town's Premier attaction for this weeks topic. He tells us, "Since we all live in such different places, I thought a good theme might be to show what your hometown is most noted for. For example, the town where I grew up is Greensburg, Kansas, the town now most famous for being blown away by a tornado in May of 2007. So a photo set of tornado damage, or maybe some of the incredible rebuilding effort would be appropriate. Before the tornado though, this little town was most noted for having "The World's Largest Hand Dug Well". It was advertised on billboard signs, and even on the city signs as you entered town along highway 54. So that would be the picture I'd use if I still lived there. All towns have something they are known for. I guess a picture of a big apple might suffice if you live in New York City. Or if you lived in Atlanta, the 'Big Chicken' would work.The way to inspire yourself is to think, "If someone local saw your picture, would they recognize the subject as being from your hometown"? Happy shooting this week, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's hometown." Kent..

Auckland's Premier attraction will have to be her volcanic field. There are over forty craters in Auckland. While most are mountains on the land of various structure and height, there are islands and lakes.

Rangitoto last erupted only 600 years ago, and it's symmetrical shape can be seen on top of other volcanoes like Mt Eden, Mt Albert, Mt Roskill, Mt Hodson, and along the water front.

I have made numerous posts of Auckland city, both in this site, and in my other site,http://http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com Do visit them, because I am very proud of this city. or visit http://www.aucklandnz.com/

My world Tuesday:Lion Safari.

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

We used to have a lion safari in Auckland, but not anymore.

There is the Zion Wildlife Gardens, situated 20 minutes north of Whangarei, in the North Island of New Zealand. In May this year, senior keeper Dalu Mncube mauled to death.

People are wondering the wisdom in keeping such big cats in captivity. Some even went to the extent of banning all zoos. Of course, I would not go this far. It is different watching a video. Many zoos are quite humane. The Singapore Zoo is really good.

Greenlane Hospital

http://chimneysofmalaysia.blogspot.com/

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2009/01/auckland-hospital.html

In the Auckland area, the hospitals have chimneys. I used to work for the Auckland Hospital and I asked what the chimneys were for. I was told that they were used to burn all the bloodied cotton bandages and swathe. As for the body parts, they were sent to the city incinerator.