Surface flooding in the yard

.

 We've had a bit of a downpour but just some surface flooding. Others were not so lucky.

July Photo-a-day Challenge with ChrissyT

I think this might serve as the 'Outdoors' theme for the July photo challenge. 

I have one or two to catch up with so might post more than one a day.. 

Takeaways

 Fish n chips for tea on a winters evening.

Railway crossing

 

A popular gathering place

 Blackstone Cafe

I'm being lazy

 Usually I take a wander down and take my own pics of the Silverstream when it is in flood. Today I've opted to take one from the Taieri Community Board page and share it.

Summer this year in New Zealand. 

I'm pretty well over it and with autumn only a couple of weeks away I think we've probably already had the best of it. February is usually a great month - it's a running joke that once the kids go back to school the good summer weather arrives. Not this year.

Smoke

Smoke from the Australian bush fires is blocking out the sun in this part of Otago.

 

Shades of grey

 

Rural Otago

 

A cuppa on the deck

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud...

 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

William Wordsworth

Swimming upstream

 on a rainy day

A walk in the park

 

Helicopter flyover

 For a magazine photoshoot apparently.

Saddle Hill

 from Bush Road

A view from the tea rooms

 

A view of the saddle

 Saddle Hill from Mosgiel

A hidden nook

 

Matariki

 A short explanation of Matariki taken from the internet.

 Matariki, also known as the Māori New Year, is a time of celebration, remembrance, and looking forward, marked by the rising of the Matariki star cluster (Pleiades) in the winter sky. It's a time for communities to gather, share stories, reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.

Winter streetscape

 

Second growth

 In all the times I've walked past this tree I've never really noticed that it is growing out of the stump of the original tree. I suppose if you see things often enough you stop 'seeing' them.