ANZAC

A few days ago this was emailed to me

from England.

This Peter Peryer was my grandfather's

brother.

Below is a photo of Turkish machine gunners

at Tel el Sheria.

This battle was after Gallipoli.

Eels

All of my life I have been scared of eels.

Don't know why, I can handle spiders and cockroaches,

but eels and snakes give me the shivers.

It may have something to do with the way that

they can come out of the water onto land.

The blackness of them is a factor as well.

And the silver bellies. And the pink gums with their

little stubby sandpaper teeth. And they can live in mud.

Today however, I went with a friend and a quantity

of dog food, and watched while he fed his friends,

these muscular animals.

He stroked them and looked into their eyes.

Looming Mythic Mountain

This was the view of Mt Taranaki from my sitting room

a couple of evenings ago.

Coincidentally, if there is such a thing,

I have been reading Bright Star, a biography

of Beatrice Hill Tinsley written by

Christine Cole Catley. It is breathtakingly

good .

Christine Cole Catley who went to New Plymouth Girls High

as did Tinsley, later wrote the centennial history of that school.

In her biography of Beatrice Hill Tinsley she describes Mt Taranaki as that 'looming mythic mountain.'

Beatrice Hill Tinsley was well on her way

to becoming one of the great astronomers

of our age, until melanoma cut her down at the early age of 40.

Rock, Back Beach

A photo from Back Beach,

one of my favourite haunts

on the coast here.

Luckily it is only a few

minutes drive from where

I am sitting.

In this photo I recognise

one of my favourite themes:

just how big is the object that I am

looking at.

I don't do this deliberately,

I just can't help it.

Unfortunately in this case

the barnacles undermine the illusion.