Randomosity

I'm feeling a bit tired this week so I have just picked 

some random photos to post and will share them with 

Five on Friday and Friday Foto Friends.

My GKB playing at Shantytown on the West Coast. 

I will one day do a post on Shantytown as  promised

 but just now my head is not in the right space.

Some cute coffee mugs I was given during the past year that have been sitting in their gift wrapping. I finally decided they could go on a shelf in the kitchen along with one or two others I have.

New Zealand won the America'sCup yacht race this year and yesterday there was a parade in the city to show it off to the proud locals. It has been paraded through several of the bigger cities during the past week and ours was the final one. DIL was  in town and took this picture, the young captain is just obscured by the trophy. Unfortunately my GKB has been a bit under the weather so we didn't venture in this time.

Talking about the weather, we have just had an arctic blast travel the length of the country and  so we had a bit of a snowfall. Not much here but it has been heavy throughout the rest of the country and because most of our city is built on hills it was covered. Once again we haven't been out taking photos, decided it was best to stay home and keep warm. My GKB just took this nonsense one of our picnic table in the yard.

Because it has been so cold I have been doing jigsaws, a good winter pursuit. I just finished this one and today put it away and started on another one. When I finished I had two pieces left over, it wasn't until after I took this photo that  saw the hole in the middle. 

I fixed that but still had another piece left over from a totally different puzzle. Weird.

My GKB seems to be besotted with starlings, he finds the markings on them quite fascinating. This one was spotted (in more ways than one) on a neighbour's chimney pot, feathers ruffled to ward off the cold. Isn't he a beauty?

And seeing as starlings are critters I think I would also like to join Eileen for Saturday's Critters.

Photos for Five on Friday

Five totally unrelated photo's just so I can join in

 Five on Friday over at FAST

and Friday Foto Friends at Breathing in Grace.

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The firebox in the engine of a steam train.

A bumper crop of feijoas.

Protest manikins outside the entrance to

 the Pike River Mine, West Coast, New Zealand.

A starling's egg in the grass.

Posh fish n chips for tea.

Bird dance

My GKB was out practising with his new 

camera about a week ago and took this photo.

The bottom one is cropped to see the dancing bird more easily.

I'm pretty sure it is a starling.

As you can see too, the buds were quite fat on the tree, 

it's been very mild up until this last week 

but now I have had enough of winter :)

plovers, blackbirds and starlings...

I have just climbed off the bike. I am going to sleep at the computer, well I feel like I am. Today we have been into the city to look for new carpet for the hallway so the GKB and I have both pounded the city pavements, it was cooler there than at home too. Decided to get new vinyl for the kitchen but now have the samples at home and don't like the colour of the vinyl, maybe it will grow on me, maybe. It doesn't really go with the carpet samples.

My sister is in the air on the way over from Aussie, we're picking her up at the airport in the morning. She wants to walk the country block and see the alpacas down the road, so we will get in at least one walk while she is here.

Late in the afternoon I took a walk around our block and surprisingly saw a pair of plovers in a playground, along with the usual blackbirds and starlings, all after the worms and grubs in the grass. I've never seen plovers over this way before. Then another half hour or so on the bike and I have had it. So it has all been concrete and pavements today apart from some time out in what passes for a garden at my place. I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to get out in the sun after a mixed week of storms, hail, snow, and brilliant sunny days. The brilliant sunny part quite often happened after I had gone to work in the afternoon.

Anyway, bed calls, so goodnight all.