Sundaystills: Hands

This pair of hands control the sound systems of Mt Albert Baptist Chruch. The hands belong to Thomas, an incredible young man who I have the privilege of knowing when he volounteers with me in the creche

It was the Thai King's birthday, and devotees and royal subjects pray for his health at Rocket park.

This Thai woman has a long wooden pound and pestle as she hammers away to make papaya salad.

Thai monks at the ceremony of the King's birthday. In Thailand, all boys become monks for a period of time. It is liken to the National Service.

Here's Sam harvesting tomatoes. We grew them too late, and they look like cherry tomatoes.

It is handy to know how to sew. I was making wheat heat bags. They are great as winter looms.

Occasionally, I make foods from other places. Here I am wrapping Vietnamese Rice paper roll. You need a delicate hand, and I try my best, as my tendency to be quick and rush through with my work.
<

You see the coiled up snake at the corner in my nephew's house in Brisbane, Australia. You need brave hands to solve this problem.

The brave lady from SPCA came and caught the snake. My brave nephew is trying to be Xena's sidekick Gabrielle, is giving her a hand.

The Australian Xena is catching the snake. There are lots of snakes in Australia. I am glad there is no snakes in New Zealand.

Some brave hand took this photo. The poor animal was a rather big possum. Some people in Australia are funny, they let possums live in their attic. No wonder snakes come to the house. I don't mean my nephew, in his case, his house bordered to the bush.

Sam is like a monkey and a spider man. His hands appear to have suctions.

My grand nephew enjoying himself.

Many years ago, a group of kind children, they rescue some puppies. These are their caring hands.

Fancy meeting you here, an Kiwi Artist Wilson in the Mulu resort commissioned to paint Sarawak landscape.

A punan/penan nomadic woman holds her flute while she plays it with her nose in Mulu highlands.

Hands that is cooled down by an ice cold sprit. The comfort the hands have given the head after a loooong hike in a tropical jungle can be seen on his face.
http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/

It's amazing what our pair of hands can do. In some countries like Thailand and India, children are kidnapped and have their hands maimed and then made to beg for this cruel syndicate. My late maternal grand mother who was a devote Buddhist taught us not to emulate this evil people. They will be reborn with a worst fate that they become not only armless but legless as well.

My photos are chosen as they show some of the thing our hands do. The list is not exhaustive, I could go on, but this is a representative.

Friday Shootout: Country Roads

It was towards the end of Winter when we went, there were some holiday campers at Top Ten camping ground. Camping vans are very popular in New Zealand especially with foereign tourists.

This is a ramp where sheep are herd to a waiting truck. Talk of like sheep to the slaughter house. New Zealand used to have 14 sheep per person, now it is 12. This has dropped, but farmers are still rearing sheep as they are hardy animals. The first Sheep were landed in New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773. The Sheep population grew to 70.3 million in 1982 but has now declined to 43.1 million due to declining profits compared to other types of farming. There are 36,000 flocks of Sheep with an average flock size of 1400.
http://www.sheepworld.co.nz/SheepFarming.htm

This is a model of a Maori boat, or waka. The original Maoris were thought to come from The Great Fleet which forms part of the Māori canoe tradition. It is handed down orally from generation to generation. According to this tradition, the canoes of the Great Fleet arrived from the mythical homeland of Hawaiiki, known as the ancestral homeland, and generally considered as being somewhere in Eastern Polynesia.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjEsK6BEEFJn-jWBuNUc4Be2O_7M1TcF24Y-lac64lcBVBY60GCSZHvp1fsxoB_jm_BcHU0aVsd2TQ9zAxwrX1o1c13lreqfWOECApbVp1l-rWT0IkWWKSY9lGZ5BvjT5ZSTSq657gR44/s1600/waitomo+044_resize.jpg">
An old sturdy Gents that has last for a long time, unlike the one in Rangitoto. It is still in operation but I decided my bladder could still hold until I found a modern one. Thirty years ago, a lot of the toilet seats are made of timber. The Kiwis claim that it is the best seats in the house, as they are warm in winter. Some house proud householders even have sheep skin covering the seats. What is better than a sheep skin cover!!!!!

New Zealand is a farming country. We pride ourselves to be clean and green. Our sheep carbon foot print is low.

This is in Huntly, it used to be a coal mining town. In the town centre, they have a replica of how their town was founded. Now it has a hydro station.

Hamilton is a city, but they are not ashamed of their background and the surrounding farms. They have a statue of a farmer's family and Daisy the cow. There are a lot of farm machineries. This is where the last Prime Minister Helen Clarke came from.

The following two, is New Zealand for you, for those who are interested in tracking and getting in touch with nature.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja7ZlwSQt_-b0Jwq9ZUHOq5xv-VZkOz96k43h9CeqPkK5I-Shhg_tk_topjEcdUyYJ2j9uED3UCo81bh_WtT9ImNKfyqEdW6Zub2GyEBTea8SVSaM5arZiWK-KUW-o8U3gldYR7peDfoba/s1600/country+road+5.jpg">
Finally, we saw two donkeys and a very friendly kid.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipzpQ074jIGGAH9NLDkBo4anLJocppWwGpZm7427vQhBv3BAgxieawYujCrKWMhyphenhyphenTkdNHtQR7qnmWcpjV6fV6-uUOU5vU3brkiJzq_d0QwWq6N6FHKh5bL9ziIBRenT7WJkAYSoYLZtzGn/s1600/boy+donkey.jpg">



http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/
http://mytownmrlinky.blogspot.com/
Topic April 9 - Country Roads - by Gordon

Country Roads by John Denver

Whether this is spring or summer in your part of the country it should be a good time for us to drive those country roads in or around our towns. Can’t wait to see your photos.

of course your personal interpretation is important so do whatever makes you happy - if your actual country road is muddy pot holes - photos could be very interesting....
did you listen to the John dever song - there can be emotional interpretations also....
GingerV


This song has a special meaning for me. During my class's 28th reunion in 1999, (first one ever,) in Methodist School, Sibu Sarawak, Borneo, we invited our teachers. One of them, Miss. F who lives in Maryland. She was my guest in Singapore before we went to Borneo.

One of the boys sang,"Take me home." Little did we know, West Virgina was Miss F's home when she was little. We were all in tears when she told us about it.

We were all emotional, because these teachers gave up the comfort of 1st world living in USA, Australia, and UK, to come to the third world to teach us. We knew it was unlikely we would see them again as they were in their late 60s and ex missionary teachers do not have a lot of money, needless to say, to visit Borneo again.

Last year, they had another reunion, only one teacher came from Australia. I didn't attend, as flying from New Zealand cost a lot of dosh, which I don't have.

My photos are not of the reunion, but of a trip to the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand last winter.

Thanks, GingerV.

Save our World, Preserve old buildings, Acacia Cottage

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/

The Acacia cottage in Cornwall Park is Auckland's oldest surviving building. It was built by John Campbell in 1841. When he died at a great age in 1912 he was buried on the summit of One Tree Hill. Beside his grave is an obelisk recording his respect for the Maoris and their achievements.

It is preserved and open free of charge for the public to view. The rooms are glassed off so spectators don't cause damage by touching or sitting on the chair.

This is important for the young generations to have a first hand knowledge of how our fore fathers lived when there was no electricity, no telephone and needless to say, no internet. I must say, I lived like this in Borneo when I visited my grand parents during my holidays.

Once last year, there was a power cut in modern day Auckland. I found that I couldn't do anything. As everything in my house is powered by electricity. I couldn't cook as my stove, oven and stove top needed power. My phone was cut off, I couldn't use the computer, it was too cold to go outside, the list goes on. The police announced that because the traffic lights were not working, people were requested not to leave their houses, shops were closed because the cash registers cannot be used, the EFTPOS and Credit cards cannot be used, the list goes on. This was 2009.

My World Tuesday: Rangitoto, 600 year old volcano

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

I felt overwhelmed and greatly satisfied to have climbed a volcano which erupted from the sea in a series of dramatic explosions around 600 years ago. As I climbed on the volcanic lava rocks, on both sides of the tracks, there are vast patched of barren black hard rocks. Then I see moss, lichens , small plants and then trees to the largest Pohutukawa tree.

This is my once a life time feat, but I may change my mind. The water engineer said that when we have overseas visitors, this is one Auckland's tourist destination we will take them too. That is, provided they are fit. Go over to my other site, and see more photos and commentaries. http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2010/04/scenic-sunday-climbing-rangitito-island.html

Sundaystills: Easter

http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/

I know next Sunday is easter, so this weeks challenge is what makes you think of easter or how you celebrate easter. I realize you may need to use archives but thats o.k.

Have fun and I’ll see ya’ll next Sunday…Ed

I did my Good Friday message,http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2010/04/easter-christain-message.html and now for some fun. Most people associate Easter with Easter eggs, Easter Chicks, Easter bunnies, parties and holidays.

On Good Friday, my church Mt Albert Baptist Church combined with four others churches in a procession as they reflect while they carry the cross to other churches in the Mt Albert. I was happy to see two sets of friends I have not seen for a long time. I did not go as I wasn't prepared.

On Saturday, the water Engineer and I joined hordes of New Zealanders and tourists to a day trip to Rangitoto. I will be posting more photos in this site, and my other site.http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2010/04/scenic-sunday-climbing-rangitito-island.html

Friday Shootout: Bokeh

http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/

http://mytownmrlinky.blogspot.com/

On Good Friday our topic is 'Bokeh or Hands by T’ and Kerry the excellent player that she is looking ahead and asking, "Is there somebody out there who would like to coach us on how to get the bokeh effect, using simple digital cameras? It would be fun to know."
Kerry

DSC09261 A quick look in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh says, "In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting— "good" or "bad" bokeh, respectively. Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions."

Who can tell us more? please email the response if your not on the 'bloggerTeam' and I will continue a series of posts....
and this brings another question - should this have been two topics "Bokeh' and Hands. T let me know and I will adjust the list....

I have no clue if this is an example of Bokeh – but its got blur and color which please MY eye.

Bokeh is a focal blur.” Ginger V

I have been reading what Bokeh is, it seemed so technical that last night, I resolved I wasn't going to take part. Today is the first day of my school holidays. I was reflecting on what I have been teaching my students. A good learner never gives up, it is better to participate than never try at all. I looked at some of the fellow bloggers' post. I don't know if these qualify to be Bokeh.

Easter: The Christian Message

On Wednesday, at the Mt Albert Baptist Church ESOL class, we had a special Easter morning. We set up a visual table, and invited our Ministries Pastor, Arthur Warner to talk to our students. We served hot cross buns at morning tea.

This was an eye opening event, as we have students from many nationalities and ethnic background. We have Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus and free thinkers. We showed to them that Easter is not just about Easter Chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies.

I normally participate in the Friday Shootout meme, but this Friday, I am opting out. The challenge is too difficult for me.

Happy Easter.