My new friend

I get the best baby sitting gigs.  This time it is Smudge, the family's new kitten.  It's the most laid back little cat I've ever come across, spent half an hour exploring the house, finally decided a cushion on the couch in front of the heater is the top spot - and went to sleep.  Maybe she didn't like being awakened by a camera poked in her face.  But no doubt she will get used to it.

I returned from a week in Taranaki a few days  ago.  I helped to celebrate my baby daughter turning 40!  For some reason that made me older than my oldest son turning 50 recently.  The mind works in mysterious ways.  The nights were cold with fresh snow on the mountain although cloud passed in front of it every time I pointed my camera in its direction.  I'll be back down there in mid July when there will be more snow and more photographic opportunities.  I never tire of trying to capture the beauty of that mountain.

It must be the crisp, cold air that makes for such lovely sunsets in Taranaki.  I was out the back of my daughter's house taking photos when she told me to go around the front, the sunset was even better in that direction. 

 

 Back yard view

 Front yard view

My friend, Chris and I take off for our annual mid-winter break later this week.  This year we have decided to visit the Wairarapa, the southern most part of the North Island.  A fair way from home, about 770 kms (around 480 miles) and probably a whole lot colder but we will pack our winter woollies.