A patch of blue

Not for the first time, I woke abruptly about 15 minutes before the sun rose. On coming out into the main room where I could see out to the east, I saw a grand dawn sky heralding the rising of the sun. Grabbed the nearest camera and went to the cliff edge and took a few shots. This was the best of the bunch.

Then changed and went out for a run, mainly to get the Saturday Herald to read with my breakfast. Habit. After all that, I did the letters from the full day of clinical work yesterday, and in the middle of the day S and I drove to the other side of New Zealand. Not that it's very far at this point. A lovely drive through small country roads, to the Kaipara Nursery.

Quite some time ago, S had ordered a virgilia tree (chosen because it is fast growing and attracts the birds and bees) from them and they reserved it for her and then insisted on growing it bigger and stronger before letting her (us) collect it. Today was the day for that. They have a cafe, and we had our lunch there. Perfectly pleasant food. Very nice coffee (I bought some beans), and excellent Plum Sauce.

My mother used to make plum sauce when we were on the farm; Dad had a substantial orchard. Bottled plums and plum sauce made sure that none went to waste. Years later, S made plum sauce which was spicier than the childhood version, and very much liked. Since leaving the old villa 11 years ago we haven't had such things. Today, I realised what we have been missing. Made up for it by buying a bottle or two.

Then we collected the virgilia, a beautiful magnolia S took a fancy to, plus a few other plants, and headed back. The Kaipara Harbour was striking in the late afternoon sun; my one photo didn't do it justice.

On the way back S spotted a hawk sitting in a roadside paddock, feasting quietly. I found a place to turn around and drove back. It was still there. I stopped the car. It was still there. I lowered the window before getting the camera ready and (of course) it flew away. We were close, and it was showing such beautiful colours. I guess I learned. Get the camera ready first.

After getting back, I toddled down to the mudflats to see if there were any birds. Only a couple of heron, and a number of very flighty kotare. Not a good day for birds, but a great start with this dawn sky.