Interdependence

At the local art centre there is a display about bees. This poster is at the entrance to it:

In case the print is bit small to see, here are the bullet points again:

• The bee cannot survive without humans, and we cannot survive without the bee.
• More than one third of what we eat relies on pollination AND so do billions of $$$ in export earnings.
• Bees are critically threatened by Varroa and other diseases around the globe - this is NOT reversible.

Dear innocent bee

we are in this together

alone we will die.

Singing in the rain...

We continue to be grateful every day for our lovely house in this beautiful location in Orewa.

Rain or shine God's gifts and beauty are everywhere to be seen - if we are looking!

It wasn't until I looked at this photo on the big screen that I noticed the direct sunlight on our letterbox!

Respond like a floating balloon...

Another powerful quote - this time from an 18th Century classic The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jeanne-Pierre du Caussade:

"The only condition necessary for this state of self surrender 

is the present moment in which the soul, 

light as a feather, 

fluid as water, 

innocent as a child 

responds to every movement of grace 

like a floating balloon."

Leave a little fallow corner in your heart...

Let mystery have its place in you; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the plowshare of self-examination, but leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready for any seed the winds may bring, and reserve a nook of shadow for the passing bird; keep a place in your heart for the unexpected guests, an altar for an unknown God.

-- from Amiel's Journal, translated by 

Mrs. Humphrey Ward

I read this beautiful quote in a weekly post from Abbey of the Arts. 

I Googled Amiel's Journal but didn't follow up more of what he wrote. 

And speaking of passing birds... on my Wenderholm walk recently I took dozens of photos of Fantails (which I love!) - in the hope of getting moderately good one. But these "passing birds" seemed to playing "Catch me if you can"! The best I could manage was this one - already cropped (photo not bird!!) within an inch of its life!

Beautiful Wenderholm

One of the bonuses of living in Orewa is that Wenderholm regional park is only ten minutes away. For a place to wander and experience the beauty of beach, estuary, magnificent old trees and many walking tracks up the hillside it's hard to beat. Here are a few of my "since moving to Orewa" photos. The first one taken just the other day.