Yet another month gone - long post

I can't believe that it is the end of March already!

Easter Break
We spent Easter with our friends in Little River, Banks Peninsula. I can't remember ever having such lovely weather as we did this Easter, it was fantastic except for Saturday when it rained.

On Easter Sunday they had family come out for a barbecue and this time we had a new generation join us, their great great granddaughter just 3 weeks old. I always like to catch up with their family, having known them all for what seems like years now.

Grandad was out fossicking down the bottom of his section and he came back with a birds nest that had fallen out of a tree. We think it was that of a Wood Pigeon as they love the area. If it was that of a Wood Pigeon I am amazed at the size of it. It is amazing how birds make their nests and what they find to us


Grandad loves to grow Sunflowers and on this one he has made a face

On Easter Saturday it was my birthday and a friend sent me this information which I thought was really very interesting and worth recording:

Do you realize how early Easter is this year? As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 24). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Found out a couple of things you might be interested in! Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. Here's the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!).And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier ! Here's the facts: 1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!). 2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

So there we are!

On Easter Monday we all went for a day trip over to Akaroa. The weather was just stunning and breathtaking. It is years since we have been over to Akaroa and I was blown away at the many changes that have taken place and the number of new properties that have been built. My, it was busy and parking was at a premium. There are so many eateries and bars there but we chose to have the good old fresh fish and chips and we weren't disappointed either. On the way home we stopped off at the Hilltop where I was able to take a photo of Banks Peninsula.

If you don't have a panoramic lens this is a good way to take a panoramic photo that my brother showed me. You focus on the same place on the horizon and at the start of your scenery, take your photo. Keeping your camera focused on the same line, slowly move your arms to take the next station and so on until you have completed.

To get the photo joined up there is a program called Photo Stitch. Mine came with my Canon software and it stitches all the sections together for you lining up automatically.

That is how I took this photo and the one on my header


Signs of Autumn


Playing around with aperture setting on my camera


Last, but not least, a photo of ME with my two dogs Peggy and Lady!