Fly Agarics

 I HAVE BEEN BUSY ALL DAY AND QUITE FORGOT TO TAKE ANY PHOTOS.

BUT THIS ONE POPPED UP ON MY COMPUTER.  TWELVE YEARS AGO TODAY MY HUSBAND AND I SAW THESE TOADSTOOLS IN AN APPLE ORCHARD IN NELSON.

VERY PRETTY AND VERY DEADLY!

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS HAD AN AWESOME DAY,

MARGARET xx

Learning To Live With It

Is the world learning to live with Covid-19?  Countries are easing restrictions and opening up their borders again, yet this new disease is still with us.  It is still active, still lurking in places, still decimating some communities.

 

We had protests here yesterday (in sympathy with those in the United States) and there were no signs of social distancing or even a lot of folk wearing masks.  In other countries fine weather has resulted in masses of people flocking to local watering spots, again with little or no social distancing evident.  

Does this mean we are getting used to having Covid-19 around us? 

The economic impacts of lock-down have been horrendous and there are many many people who are suffering because of it.  

In some countries, I hear that people are sometimes forced to make a decision between risking death from the virus or dying of starvation because they cannot go to work.  Which is the greater evil?

 

Whether we like it or not, Covid-19 is here to stay.  The world has never had a disease that it has been able to totally eradicate.  

The only thing we can do is learn to live with it.  And, yes, people will continue to die from it just like they continue to die from influenza and starvation and road accidents and warfare and wild animal attacks.  Preventable deaths seem to be a part of life.

For myself, I intend to take reasonable precautions for my safety just like I always have in the past.  I cannot control all situations but I cannot allow fear to dictate to me either.

 

On a brighter note, I am getting used to living with the new Blogger format!  It has taken a few days to adjust but now I am starting to enjoy it.  It is irritating when you get used to something and then it changes, but that seems to be the way with all these technical thingies.  

Love your life and enjoy what you do J

Margaret.

A Virtual Bush Walk

Otanewainuku Forest, in the Bay of Plenty, is a great place to see original native forest with giant trees and a healthy population of indigenous birds and wildlife.

Looking up at the fronds of a punga, a tree fern

The area is relatively remote, with little cell-phone coverage, but can be accessed by car.  In 2012 some of our family gathered together here to walk the Rimu Loop Track before settling down to a picnic lunch.  

Most of this area has never been logged

The track is 1.8 km long as it winds through the bush ('bush' is what New Zealanders call their forests!), and takes around 45 minutes to walk.

Like all walkways and facilities managed by the Department of Conversation, is now out-of-bounds for the duration of our lockdown.

The Rimu Walk is only one of several tracks through this forest

In some places we could see epiphytes growing on the trees.  In earlier times these parasitic plants were often known as widow-makers, as they would sometimes fall from the tree unexpectedly with dire results for any man standing below.

You can see the epiphytes growing up in the trees

We came across several fallen trees on our walk and some of the more rotten ones had different fungi growing on them.

Fungi growing on a rotting log

This fungi was growing on a well-rotted log

There are ancient rimu trees growing here, along with rata, tawa, kamahi and rewarewa.

Trees towering above walkers on the track

Some of the birds to be found in this forest are bellbirds, tui, black robin, wood pigeon (kereru), the rare kokako, and kiwi.

This darling little Black Robin came to check us out

There was a small picnic area near the carpark and this was where our family met up after the walk.  I remember we had bacon-and-egg pie and tomato sandwiches for lunch!

Picnic area, where we ate lunch together

I hope you enjoyed this virtual bush walk.  The last couple of days I have been spending time real-walking around the outside of our house.  I am thankful we have a yard where I can do this, and not have to walk down the street at all. 

Of course, the distance is only short so I have extended it by doing things like walking around each of our cars, circling around the garden table and chairs, walking a figure-eight on the lawn section and so on.  I try and do different things each circuit – the last thing son wants is for me to wear a figure-eight track into his newly grassed lawn!

Stay happy and healthy J

Margaret.

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