Sunshine on My Shoulders

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy."  "Sunshine almost always makes me high."  Words from a great song by John Denver are what come to mind again when I look at today's posted image.

"If I had a wish that I could wish for you, I'd make a wish for sunshine all the while."

Sunshine on my shoulders

Tomatoes all in a row

Springtime in New Zealand.  Perfect for the gardener.  My son-in-law loves to do a bit of gardening and has several spots around their home that have plants well on their way.  That includes several places inside the house where herbs are growing.  These tomatoes were nursed from seed and are doing great.  Unfortunately our short visit came to an end a long time before harvest season.  Well, not completely, we did enjoy some fresh basil, cilantro and arugula in some of our food that was picked right off the plant as the meal prep started.

Tomatoes all in a row

Between a rock and a hard place

Life is full of struggles, difficulties and hardships.  However, even it the midst of such challenges, growth finds a way and beauty abounds.  In fact, it is because of the hardships that things grow stronger and even thrive.  Much like this little green sea shore plant (and no, I do not know the name of this little plant) growing in the crevice of lava rocks on a New Zealand beach across the street from my daughter's home.  A bit of beauty manifesting its strength and conquering spirit between a real rock and a hard place.

Between a rock and a hard place

Lunch View

If your are going to sit down and enjoy some good food for lunch you might as well have a good view.  This is one we had in a small town near Picton, New Zealand.

Lunch View

Homemade - both the pizza and the oven

The best part about our trip to New Zealand of course was seeing members of our family who live there.  There were a lot of other next-best things.  Including homemade pizza cooked in the homemade (brick by brick by my son-in-law), backyard pizza brick oven.  Bread, pizza, etc. cooked in the pizza oven....a taste of heaven with family alright.  Man, I sure would like another pizza like that.....

Homemade -the pizza and the oven

Sea Food Plate

I guess the traditions may be a little different in New Zealand??  We found this sea food plate and silverware outside the front of a local New Zealand sea food restaurant.  I was not quite sure what it meant at first.  Then I looked a little closer and found the plant pieces and the silverware pieces are actually embedded into the sidewalk cement at the entryway to the restaurant.  It is a permanent display so it must have some decorative or traditional meaning.  After eating the food, which was great by the way, I forgot to ask around to see if there was any meaning to this or not?  I guess you will have to make your own judgement....

Sea Food Plate

Springtime on the Beach

Just one of the many quiet beaches we encountered on our New Zealand trip.  Beautiful, quiet and outright gorgeous!  Spent some time at this one while my son-in-law and grandson climbed out onto the island in the distance.  We almost missed this one and found it only because we took a wrong turn and ended up on a dead-end road with this beach as the treat.  Of course this land is so beautiful that we could get lost anywhere and end up with a treasure.

I also just discovered the HDR FX Pro app for my iPhone and this is one of the first scenic images I have processed with this app.  All the processing in the world doesn't come close to the effect of being there.

Springtime on the Beach

New Zealand Sea Shells

Sea shells are sea shells where ever there happens to be a sea shore.  In New Zealand it is springtime and nice beach weather.  We enjoyed several days there visiting family and exploring some new places for us (heck, its all new to us since this was our first visit).  Anyway, this image is just a shot of a spot on one of the beaches we visited where the ocean waves meet the seashore.  Again, the missing parts of this image include the salty sea breeze, the warm sun on the skin, the rhythmic sound of the rolling waves and the sand between the toes.  I guess the one good thing about just seeing pictures is that you don't feel like you need a shower when you get home to wash off the sand and salt.

Enjoy!  We did!

New Zealand Sea Shells

Beach Blossom Bee and Fly

I love these New Zealand beach blossoms.  So do the honey bees.  I can't remember ever seeing honey bees at the beach so this was a first for me.  The bees were all over these flowers.

Although this image shows the bee in the middle of the flower, what happens is the bees land and begin to do whatever bees do in flowers.  Pretty soon the bee has wiggled its way down into the center of the flower and looks almost buried because the stamen are so high and plentiful.  It was fun to watch them but they just would not hold still for my camera.  I got another surprise when I looked at this picture and discovered a tiny beach fly had landed on the flower just as the shutter snapped.

Now I just need a camera that also records the salt taste in the ocean air, the soft, rhythmic pounding of the ocean waves rolling onto the beach and the feel of warm sand between the toes......

iPhone 5 camera, Filterstorm cropping, saturation, curves and sharpness adjustments, PhotoStudio vignette and frame.

Beach Blossom Bee and Fly

Beach Blossom

While vegging at the beach in Nelson, New Zealand where it is now springtime, I came upon a patch of yellow flowers.  I have no idea what these flowers blossoming in the sand are called.  However they were calling to me to take one home in my camera.  Here is one my iPhone camera picked.

Beach Blossom