Chooks and pretty lights

The new 'baby' chooks seem to be getting bigger by the day. These photos were taken a few weeks ago and even since then they are now a lot bigger with a few more millimetres of comb on the tops of their heads. The combs are starting to redden up too. They are very cute and rather entertaining.

 

 

It's hard to think that in the not so distant future they'll look like these fine specimens! The 'old girls' are starting to tolerate the newbies a bit more. They'll only take a swipe at them and try and peck them if the new girls get to close to them while they are trying to eat.

 

 

 

While on the subject of birds, we get fairly regular visits from a pair of Eastern Rosellas. We usually hear them before we see them! I took the first shot of one of them in the Pohutukawa tree by our kitchen window, then Will took the bottom pic of it in our cherry tree. I hope it wasn't stripping the young buds off it!

 

 

To round off the garden news, our Cleopatra magnolia is putting on a second show for us which is very cool. The flowers are pinker and not as dark as the first lot, but still very impressive.

 

Will and I try to have fairly regular date nights, and we've been on bit of a roll the last few weeks with one most weeks. Usually we try to do something nice on a Wednesday night, often with vouchers and deals I've picked up. I do like my bargins, plus it means we get to try lots of different food places... Last Wednesday we started with an antipasto platter at Veni Vidi Vici, before visiting the Lux light festival which is an annual event in Wellington. It was very cool, lots of installations in the laneways leading to the waterfront, and then along the waterfront itself. I put Will in charge of the camera for the night and he got some great shots.

 

 

A lot of the installations were interactive. If you yelled into the one below at either end it changed the colour and intensity of the light. Good to watch, but the downside was lots of yelling and shrieking kids!

 

The boatsheds were my favourite. So pretty!

 

It was a beautiful night, remarkably calm and still for Wellington, resulting in awesome reflections.

 

This one was a sound and light show which you controlled by pulling on a handle

 

 

At the very end we came across a couple of girls wearing light dresses, which were Will's favourite (might have been the cute girls inside the dresses!). The photos are quite freaky because it doesn't look like there is anybody inside the dresses.

 

 

After we had spent a couple of hours walking around we warmed up with wood-fired pizza and a drink at Electric Avenue. It was a lovely way to spend the evening together as the next day i was off to Hamilton for the Masters Badminton Nationals.

 

Nationals were fun, even if I didn't do as well as I have in previous years. The calibre of the entries this year was pretty impressive. It was great being able to spend some time with mum and dad. I (along with a couple of my teammates) stayed there Thursday night before joining the rest of our group in a motel for Friday and Saturday night. Mum and dad were amazing. They watched my matches and also acted as a taxi service, taking us to and from the stadium and also out to the airport when we flew out on Sunday.

 

This was my last tournament with Geoff for quite some time, and unfortunately it didn't end well... During the third set of our last pool match he went down in a heap with a torn calf. I went with him in the ambulance to the hospital where he got checked out. It's really not what he needed 4 days before he flies out to the UK on a one-way ticket... Oh well, at least it wasn't his achilles or he probably wouldn't be allowed to fly. The doctor was really good and has written a letter for the airline saying that if at all possible he should have his leg elevated for the long-haul flight... It would be great if it did result in an upgrade. It was sad saying goodbye, but I'm looking forward to catching up in the UK when we are over at Christmas.