Celebrate Spring at Kuirau Park market on Saturday mornings in Rotorua, New Zealand.

 To celebrate spring I took my husband Graham to Kuirau Park to eat samosas.
 
 We usually eat them with our feet paddling in the warm thermal foot baths but they were cold. 

But we still had a good time walking and eating. 
I love the vegetarian samosas.

 He loves the meat ones. 
 We go to the first stand you come to when you approach the park from the entrance nearest the hospital, because we  think they are nicer. 
 
 We also buy fruit and veges.

 People offer to pose for me or I ask them.  I like to see families out together having fun. 

 When you think about your own childhood the happy times that stand out are when you are going on family outings together and doing  fun things like eating. 
My favourites were picnicing and pine cone collecting in the country near lakes. 
Camping and koura hunting at Kinloch were always good times. 

 
I met this person a few weeks after she emailed me after reading one of my articles in the  Rotorua Weekender about my Australian wild life adventures.


What an attractive display of vegetable soaps she has.



Her sister rescues wild life in Queensland. 
She gave me a lavender soap which was very nice.

 I also took photos of people who visited her stand. 

 She introduced me to other stand people.

 

And other stall holders like the popcorn man introduced themselves. 

He gives out free handfuls of popcorn as testers. 

 Then we went for a walk around the park looking for Spring Flowers. 

 Magnificent magnolia's are in the Kuirau park surrounding the market.

 I think the council do a really good job of all our flower beds  and gardens in Rotorua. 
We are lucky to have a council who are so supportive of the beautiful gardens.
This is one of the reasons we have won most beautiful city in New Zealand awards for a number of years. 

 This bridge has a Wisteria draped over it and is stunning when it comes out
 I will be back to photograph it then. 
 So watch this space. 

The swallow are flying all around here at the moment collecting mud for their nests.
 It's hard to get a good shot of them because they are such quick flyers. 
   
   Celebrate Spring everyone

 Eat nice food go for walks and appreciate nature at this time.

 Celebrate spring with me by coming to a drop in art class for a couple of hours Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday mornings. from 9.30 am. 
Make a mosaic flower for your garden with a special class. 
Phone 346-34535 
or email jkeen@clear.net.nz

Creative Quote of the day

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime.
 Never make a negative decision in the low time. 
Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. 
Wait. 
Be patient.
 The storm will pass. 
The spring will come. Robert H. Schuller

Spring celebrations in the Rotorua Tree Trust with Cherry Trees, Tui's and Daffodils.

 I have a top that matches the cherry trees and it's great to go up to the Rotorua Tree Trust with my camera and take shots of the daffodils as well as the Tui. 

This is the cherry blossom where all the Tui are at the moment in the Rotorua Tree Trust Garden

Aren't they beautiful?

  I love them 

Graham resting against a Tui tree, soaking up the nice vibes and the spring sun with the Tui chortling overhead.


 During Spring I go for walks and take my husband on dates to celebrate and be grateful. 

The flowers are gorgeous and birds are building nests. 
It's a time of renewal,  love, faith and hope. 
Organise your own mini Spring Festival with food, making art and writing poetry. 


 Celebrate Spring with me by coming to a painting, mosaic or bead making class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday mornings. 
Phone  07 3463435 
jkeen@clear.net.nz 

374 Clayton Road. Rotorua 
Drop in creativity classes are fun. 


PS I'm planning my next  date with my husband  now, I hope it's fine because it involves birds and boardwalks. 

Day of the Dead Parrot

 Last Thursday morning a Rosella slammed

into my bumper.

Blinded by the fog

It bounced on the road like a beach ball.

I turned back hoping it wouldn't be squashed by a yellow logging  truck. 

Dodging cars, I picked it up and placed it onto my denim hat.

 It lay there looking as though it was resting  

 

Its chest was warm and I was hoping I could I hear its heart
 Its feathers were as soft as my possom skin pillow, where I felt like laying my head.
 I wanted to have it at home with me and to not leave it abandoned and lonely on the road.

 Even though I was sad, I couldn't stop admiring its beauty

 I'm always hoping to entice Lorikeets down from the Cedars with birds seed so I can get a closer look, instead of  just an occasional flash.

And here was one spring gift

"Be careful what you wish for when you ask for the tinderbox to be opened."

                            

Walking and watching the Tui drink and chime 

in the cherry blossoms of  the Japanese garden,

swooping over sticks, with names of loved ones. 

 Tell me you don't believe in miracles 

"But for the grace of God 

there go I"

says Granny in one  ear

   Always have clean underwear

 in your top drawer

 in case you

 go suddenly, says Nana in the other 

 It made me smile even though the occasion was sombre

The Galleries in Hamilton crammed with  bird 

 sculptures and pictures held

no crosses that day as a memorial for my dead parrot  

 I would be making one of my own. 

                       

 

On the way home in the heavy Waikato rain and fog with the

 wipers clicking and the subliminal slimming tape droning on I felt its  peaceful spirit float around me

This small rainbow body on my back seat

 had nothing to fear about having clean underwear

Its feathers were still bright  

Serendipity

This rainbow of hope  is 

buried under the lemon tree  in my Japanese Peace garden. 

The lemons will grow bigger, brighter and more juicy now and its spirit will live on. 

Long live and God bless the Rainbow

Here is my one of my favourite poems
Can you turn a sad event  into a poem? 
Try it. It can be cathartic and a good way to express your emotions. 
                                         

For a Five-year-old – Fleur Adcock

A snail is climbing up the window-sill
Into your room, after a night of rain.
You call me in to see, and I explain
That it would be unkind to leave it there:
It might crawl to the floor; we must take care
That no one squashes it. You understand,
And carry it outside, with a careful hand,
To eat a daffodil.

I see, then, that a kind of faith prevails:
Your gentleness is moulded still by words
From me, who have trapped mice and shot wild birds,
From me, who drowned your kittens, who betrayed
Your closest relatives, who purveyed
The harshest kind of truth to many another.
But that is how things are: I am your mother,
And we are kind to snails.


Creative Quote of the Day

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.  
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Decorate and write out your favourite poem in my studio on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday  mornings.




Phone Janet Keen 346-3435 or email jkeen@clear.net.nz for details
Chinese, Japanese  and Korean people welcome.

Weekend at Kinloch

My parents own a bach at Kinloch and Graham and I went down last  weekend.  

This is it. It's a bit fuzzy. 

This is the view I was greeted with on Sunday morning. 

This man lives there with these enormous dogs.

 They are beautiful. 

 I really wanted to go down and pat those dogs. 

Next time I  see him and them I  am going to have a photo shoot with them.

 They are gorgeous and friendly.  

All the people on the bikes patted them and they were wagging their big fluffy tails.  

I specifically went down to Kinloch to try to get a really good scaup shot. It looks like this was the only one as I've had a malfunction which means I have to go down again soon.

They are my favourite little ducks. 

 

Hundreds of them live there plus Dabchicks, Mallards and a few swans. 

That marina used to be a lovely idyllic place that was all natural with wooden jetties.

 Then they came in with big concrete overkill pillars and a total million dollar make over and somehow it has lost its charm. 

 But it's still a good place to get some wild duck shots.

The bach looks out over the marina and also has a view of the lake.

This is the view of the beach that is three minutes walk from the bach. 

In summer it is amazing  for swimming. 

You can launch your dinghy off the beach. 

I have a dinghy with a motor. 

I think I should launch it next time I go there and do some adventuring and on the water photography. 

 These blossom trees line the beach and they are apples and plums. 
I love blossoms at this time of the year. 

 Beautiful white colour

 

I love taking photos of blossoms with the background blurry. 

Five minutes walk from the bach you can go to the marina entrance and a willow tree is a perfect perch for shags. 

This is my series of shag shots.

 Shag sitting

 

Shag Stretching 

 
   
Shag preparing for flight



 Shag taking off.

  Shag in Flight 

It was a nice, peaceful weekend away.
 We did a lot of walking, Graham read the Herald and had some R and R. 
I did some sketching towards my "1000 sketches of womens faces in  three years" project. 
I also did some  writing and some photography. 

 We went shopping for groceries first and I bought a small work by an artist in my favourite Taupo Gallery called Verge. 
 I featured this in my newspaper column. 

 We went to the hot pools at DeBretts  on Saturday night after going out to the  Thai Lotus Restaurant, but the food wasn't as good as it usually is. 

 I love these pools, I have been going there since the age of four. 
 They are fabulous  lit up at night time.
It is an excellent place to take the family especially if you want an exhilerating water slide.
 I took my father there once with Graham and talk about scare the living daylights out of you. 

Taupo as a town has a good energetic successful vibe to it.

I always enjoy going there for a change of scenery and being only and hour and a quarters drive away from Rotorua makes it very pleasant. 

 Creative Quote of the Day
I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read - they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting.
Russell Banks

Travelling as a way of improving you art and creativity

Most people who know me would realise after a while  that I'd really like to be out of Rotorua and New Zealand travelling the world teaching and making  art and mosaics.
It's no secret.  
My husband is the one who knows this the most.

The challenge is how to do it, while still remaining married and with a limited amount of money. 
 There is a gap between the wanting and the getting. 
 Dwelling on the problem is counter productive and not the solution. In this year of faith I'm having faith that it will happen some time. 
 

I want to be around inspiring, goal setting, achieving, professional   and travelling people because associating with them is inspiring and helps with achieving  travel goals. 

 Last week I went out to Ohau Channel to take some shots of birds and a church.
 I shot the church; it was a rainy, grey day. 
The thought of going home and tidying my studio didn't really appeal to me.

So I said to myself. 
What would happen if I just kept on driving? 
The thought if it was exciting.
It felt like an adventure, akin to travelling somewhere in another country. 
So I kept on going and I pulled in at Te Puke and explored the $2.00 shop there. 

  I bought some beads for my bead mosaics. 
Then carried on to Pacifica Nursary in Papamoa. 
I bought a rose shaped ring with a fake diamond in the middle of it and had a cup of tea. 

Then I went to the Mount and looked at four art galleries. 
The last one I went to I bought some tags of art I like with women, encouraging words and animals. 

By this time I was pretty tired so I made my way home but stopped at Bayfair for another cup of tea.
I also ate a banana.
While I was in the cafe I  saw an old man wheeling his wife in a wheelcheer; they would have been around 80. 
She looked in pain and he looked like he was resigned to looking after her. 

It brought tears to my eyes which I hid with my napkin.
 It was like a window into the future. 
I'll be too old to travel by then I thought. Best to do it now. 

Anyway I got over it quickly and drove home, trying not to imagine myself being stuck in a wheelchair or some old age persons home. Old age is not for the faint hearted.
 These years of my life are supposed to be the best and they are fast running out.

Travelling out of town if you are a born adventurer is a good thing for your art and creativity.

 

 This week I'm going to Hamilton and the Waikato Art Museum plus some galleries. I'll see if I  can meet up with the Director who is a friend of mine.
 It will be fun  and I will feel like a traveller

I am considering hopping on a plane and going down to Wellington for two or three days of gallery viewing. 
 Going down on a Friday and returning on a Monday. 
I was wanting to do the train trip and write on it but decided it would take too long especially since I would need to drive to Hamilton. 
The Wellington art galleris are funky and on a nice day Wellington is beautiful. 

 You have to be grateful  and remember to smell the roses because there are plenty of places to go to within driving distance of Rotorua. 
 It's very central and this is one of the best things about living here. It's easy to get out for a change of scenery.
You always come back refreshed and invigorated.

 Creative Quote of the Day
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
Samuel Johnson


 


 




 

Spring in Rotorua is great for A Rotorua lakefront walk to Sulphur Point.

       Take your camera

  For a walk along the lake front and capture nature in Rotorua

    An easy and pleasant walk

      Take shots of the little things  things that most people would     overlook  look like Manuka flowers and Five Finger seeds.

Take shots of birds interacting, they have social times  just like us and the pecking order is very pronounced. 

You'll return home afterwards and feel really happy because of the exercise and fresh air and it will help with your creative art and writing. 

It may help with your de-cluttering and spring cleaning if that's what you are into. 

Creative Quote of the day

I don't know much about creative writing programs. But they're not telling the truth if they don't teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer. Doris Lessing

Cherry Tree Blossoms and Tui at the Tree Trust Garden in Rotorua

     The soft misty early morning light with cherry tree blossoms.

Spring cleaning in the studio can be a tedious existence.
I always know  the perfect antidote to it and it’s walking amongst nature up at the Rotorua Tree Trust with my camera.

 The quest for the perfect Tui in the Cherry tree shot is the allure.
The numbers of them in there all becoming intoxicated with the nectar and fighting for the best trees are staggering.
I have never seen so many on one area ever.

 These shots are what I took last year and I was happy with them
 But since then I've learned about the light
I have a more expensive if not expansive lens and my taste for a what a Tui shot can be has been so altered that I no longer think they are the best I can do.
it's always a challenge and persistence pays. 
You've got to take a lot of shots before you get a good one in my experience. 
Its all about the light.

I always return to the cleaning and decluttering the studio with a renewed sense of optimism for around five minutes after  I have arrived back from an outing. 

Mother Teresa – the More You Have… 

The more you have, the more you are occupied. The less you have, the more free you are.