...between the rail and the river...

I really struggled with this photo challenge…until while Picasa-ing through the photo library, I came across  this shot of one of the last one-way bridges on State Highway 1, between Kaikoura and Blenheim – kinda strange to think that, in 2005, there were still one-way bridges on the national ‘one end t’other’ highway…it’s now been replaced by a new dual carriage-way bridge but I think that the railway (running on the level above the road) still uses this bridge…

We were driving back from my sister’s wedding in Dunedin – you can see the Otago Property Press reflected in the windscreen – we’d picked up one of these as it our wont when travelling and stumbled across the little whaling cottage I mentioned in the Paths photo challenge and that we bought spur of the moment…

Every year, the true celebration, as per the weekly photo challenge from a few weeks back, of spring is when the punga explode into life…around the time that this challenge was posted the punga all around the house were all straggly and brown, looking pretty much like they were all dying….every year we go through the same angst, wondering if they are all dying and then, almost overnight, they explode into life with glorious fascinators for green reaching for the skies…

Although, here, it is (apparently!!) summer, Winter is the theme of this week’s WordPress photo challenge…our winter this year was more wet than anything – we’re just below the Central Plateau snow line but even then we only got snow twice last winter…it was as cold as it looks here – the driveway is a big heat soak (we only heard about heat exchanger heating systems the week after we laid it down) and a sure sign that it is really cold outside is when the snow settles on it with out melting as it did soon after this pic was taken.

…but the next day was beautiful: great contrats of blue skies and white ground…

…and not everyone was upset by the cold…of course, the flip side of this is that it kinda sux to be a big black dog in summer…

More photo challenge catch-up in bound…

I can, I can, of course, I can…a steam engine climbs the Raurimu Spiral…

This week’s photo challenge leads off…

“As far back as I can remember, I have loved taking and looking at photographs of doorways, paths, windows, and roads – these kinds of images have always invited me in and encouraged my mind to wander. What’s beyond that ornate door? Whose window is that? Where would I end up if I continued on that road? These are what I call ‘pictures of possibility.’

I often do this…look at a side road or a farm track and wonder where it goes, what it might be like to explore one day , or maybe live along somewhere; or look at a window and wonder about the people who might live or work behind it…in this case, a steam engine on the Raurimu Spiral – commercial rail traffic here is all diesel-electric but occasionally a restored steam train will come along on a special outing – the steam plume is great for tracking the path of the Spiral which from here climbs through two tunnels and a complete 360 to emerge some one hundred and forty metres higher on the Central Plateau….in addition to the whole days gone by thing, I remember taking this picture and wondering about the people on the train…who were…where were they going…what little back stories filled each carriage…

Sometimes we come inside when we’ve left the TV on and there will be Kirk, perched in front of the screen attentively following every movement…He’s quite picky about what he watches, his favourites being ‘It’s Me Or The Dog!‘, ‘Country Calendar‘ and ‘The Dog Show‘ and only when there’s sheep or other dogs on the screen…he doesn’t get excited, just sits and watches…I often wonder what he’s thinking…what’s a Kirk’s-eye view of the world…?