Sulphur Bay Wildlife Refuge

The Rotorua Walkway included a walk through Sulphur Bay Wildlife Refuge.  I never seen so many birds in one place.

Rotorua Walkway New Zealand

This is some of the scenery from the Rotorua Walkway on Lake Rotorua.  These pictures were taken in February 2014 at summertime.

Hobbits like to eat "Cabbage" and so do Rabbits

Hobbits and Rabbits have several things in common and eating cabbage is one of them. Of course J.R.R. Tolkien made a distinction that Hobbits dwell "...in very well-appointed holes (none of your wet, smelly rabbit holes, mind you)."  Hobbits do have the long rabbit looking feet but the similarity ends there.  Hobbits are distantly related to humans and resemble humans in their dress, mannerisms, gardening and so forth.  There was one rabbit from a different childhood tale, Peter Rabbit who ate like a Hobbit!

"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter ... Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who  were good little bunnies, went down  the lane to gather blackberries; But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the gate! First he ate some lettuces and some  French beans; and then he ate some radishes And then, feeling rather sick, he  went to look for some parsley. But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr.  McGregor!.."
Quote from "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Helen Potter (1866 - 1943).



Helen Beatrix Potter was born in 1866, in South Kensington, London. She was an English Victorian artist and author of children's stories, creator of such winsome and nattily attired characters as Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, and of course Peter Rabbit. Her father was a wealthy investor. Potter lived a secure childhood at home, with her younger brother Bertram. She wrote "The Tale of Peter Rabbit".

Ah, Sunflowers in Middle Earth's Garden

 

I took these pictures in February 2014 at The Shire from The Hobbit film set.  It is summer time in New Zealand. Sunflowers were planted in most of the gardens and in front of some of the Hobbit holes.  The sun was shinning bright and blue clouds set a picturesque backdrop.  The gardens were fresh, green, and bright with an array of colorful flowers. The sunflowers were the tallest and most appealing with their black eyes.





Ah! Sun-flower

By William Blake 1757–1827 

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travellers journey is done. 

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: 

Arise from their graves and aspire, 

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

"Hanging Out the Wash" at The Shire

Hobbits did not have washing machines and clothes dryers so you will see clothes lines all over The Shire.  Some had a clothes line across the windows or on top of their hobbit dwelling. The top picture shows the clothes hanging on the grassy roof not too far from the chimney. As a small child, my mother washed and hung out the clothes to dry. My grandmother had an old washing machine that you had to place the clothes through a roller to squeeze out the water.  At age 4, my hand got stuck in that roller and I still have a scare on my left hand where the roller ripped off the skin. She dried the clothes by hanging them out on a line in the sun.  It is rare to see that now days.

Children's Express Theatre Performs at Allegro

 The Children's  Express Theatre performed 'Lost Treasure of Shipwreck Bay' for the residents of Allegro in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was a full house with people lined up outside the doors trying to watch.  The audience loved the play and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the children and youth.  This is the third performance the Express Theatre has performed at Allegro within the past 12 months.  Last September, the Express Theatre performed "That Dastardly Dirty Darlene".  It was about the town of Dirt Clod and the town's bully "Dirty Darlene". 

 

At Christmas 2013, the Children's Express Theatre performed "Charlie Browns Christmas" and it brought back memories for many of the audience since Charlie Brown comic strips have been in newspaper comics for 52 years. 



In September, we will start rehearsing for a new Christmas play and will be returning to Allegro to celebrate another Christmas season with them.

Children's Express Theatre Presents "Lost Treasure of Shipwreck Bay"

 

 The Children's Express Theatre of St. Augustine performs "The Lost Treasure of Shipwreck Bay."  The play is an 5 act slapstick comedy that takes place on a Caribbean island.  Captain Chris P. Cooky is the proprietor of an island excursion company.  He is assisted by colorful locals (Coco Banana, Pearl Shellfish, Brad Krumbs) in searching for his long-lost family fortune. His great-great granddaddy's ship was carrying the treasure when it wrecked on Shipwreck Bay near an crumbling lighthouse. The play's theme is 'The Way of Love' base on I Corinthians 13.  These young actors have demonstrated love for others in giving their time, effort and hard work in rehearsing for a month to perform this play for children within our community at VBS and they will be performing for Allegro Assisting Living residents.

The Way of Love

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."   

Rotorua Lake, Lake of Black Swans

Rotorua, a Maori word meaning literally "second lake", was originally settled by the Maori of the Te Arawa tribe.  Rotorua is the heartland of New Zealand Maori culture.  Lake Rotorua is the largest of the 16 lakes in the Rotorua district.  Mokoia Island is on the lake and for centuries been occupied by various tribes. The lake is a treasure of wildlife, particularly black swans. 
There are seven species of swans in the world, all pure white except for the Australian black swan and the South American black-necked swan. The black swan was introduced as a game bird from Australia to New Zealand in the 1860s but also probably reached New Zealand naturally and are considered a native bird.

Sonnets of Edna St. Vincent Millay
From Fatal Interview

"O ailing Love, compose your struggling wing!
Confess you mortal; be content to die.
How better dead, than be this awkward thing
Dragging in dust its feathers of the sky;
Hitching and rearing, plunging beak to loam,
Upturned, disheveled, uttering a weak sound
Less proud than of the gull that rakes the foam,
Less kind than of the hawk that scours the ground.
While yet your awful beauty, even at bay,
Beats off the impious eye, the outstretched hand,
And what your hue or fashion none can say,
Vanish, be fled, leave me a wingless land . . .
Save where one moment down the quiet tide
Fades a white swan, with a black swan beside."

—  Edna St Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism and her many love affairs.

Mamaroneck, NY, 1914, by Arnold Genthe.

 

On her death, The New York Times described her as "an idol of the younger generation during the glorious early days of Greenwich Village...One of the greatest American poets of her time." Thomas Hardy said that America had two great attractions: the skyscraper and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Lake Taupo - North Island's Heart of Blue and Turquoise Pearly Glimmer

Traveling to Lake Taupo we stopped and had tea at The Fat Trout Café. The lake  is the North Island’s heart according to Māori legend. It is  the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand. It has a perimeter of approximately 193 kilometres and a deepest point of 186 metres. Lake Taupo lies in a caldera created by a super volcanic eruption which occurred approximately 26,500 years ago. According to geological records, the volcano has erupted 28 times in the last 27,000 years but is now considered to be dormant.

The Hobbit's Middle-Earth Flower and Vegetable Garden

The Hobbit film set is home to a rustic year-round, working vegetable garden that one would expect to find in middle earth.  I took these pictures in February so these are their summer crops with plenty of sunflowers scattered throughout including colorful varieties of squash, tomatoes, corn, pumpkin and gourds. The Hobbits had an extensive agricultural system in the Shire but were not industrialized. The shire has rambling dirt paths and seasonal flowers, vegetables and fruit trees behind picket fences. There is well water near the garden as well as a working table, crates, woven baskets for gathering crops, saw horses, birdhouses, and make shift poles for supporting plant vines. Every item looked authentic including a scarecrow standing by its lonesome in a field of wildflowers.

This is the older version of the scarecrow from Lord of the Rings with Frodo and Sam in the field.

The Party Tree at The Shire

There was a specially large pavilion, so big that the tree that grew in the field was right inside it, and stood proudly near one end, at the head of the chief table. Lanterns were hung on all its branches." (LOTR, Book I, Chapter I, page 38)

On the right side of the field, there were wild flowers growing on the slope and a beautiful child was picking flowers.  Picking flowers is not permitted but her mother could not resist taking her picture and neither could I. 

"The only brew for the brave and true...comes from the Green Dragon!"

During the Hobbiton Film set tour, we visited the Green Dragon Inn and received free brew.  I tried a glass of apple cider and it was cold, tasty and wonderful after a hot summer 2 hour tour.

 

The Green Dragon Inn was frequented by Hobbits from both Bywater and the neighboring settlement of Hobbiton. The Hobbit Frodo Baggins regularly visited the inn as did his friends Sam Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. Throughout the movie and the book, the inn is referenced to as a "great" place. One such example in when Merry and Pippin refer to the Inn in The Return of the King (film) when they are singing on a table at Edoras. Specifically, they sing "The Green Dragon (song)"

"Oh you can search far and wide,
You can drink the whole town dry,
But you'll never find a beer so brown,

Oh you'll never find a beer so brown,

As the one we drink in our hometown,
As the one we drink in our hometown. You can keep your fancy ales,
You can drink them by the flagon,
But the only brew for the brave and true...
..Comes from the Green Dragon!!"