I don’t have much of a garden here at my new little place. The house was brand new when I moved in at the end of last year and the grounds were pure dirt. I still haven’t done a lot with the grounds though I do finally have good grass coverage.
My last home had a huge yard and a well established garden that I’d put a lot of work into over the years so it’s been hard starting from scratch. I have planted a few rhododendrons and other things but they have a way to go before they mature properly. About all that is really starting to look good are my patio pots so I thought I’d share a couple of pictures from my own ‘garden’ this week.
Rory is a fuchsia fan so he’s responsible for caring for those – he has a few different varieties in pots, all of which are doing beautifully. I love roses especially old fashioned ones; this one here is white though I can’t remember the name. There are lots of buds this year after a particularly successful pruning in late August. I look forward to the multitude of blooms over the next few weeks.
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*Added later at 10:05pm Friday 13 Nov.
Lori’s writing challenge
Lori over at Family Trees May Contain Nuts has issued a challenge for us to write about our favourite movie. Here goes Lori, I apologise in advance that I’m not much of a writer.
The Shawshank Redemption
Directed by Frank Darabont and from the short story by Stephen King, the 1994 film stars Morgan Freeman as Red and Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne.
**SPOILER ALERT** If you’re one of the few remaining people on the planet who haven’t seen this movie and you intend watching it one day, read no further. Do watch the movie though; it’s great.
Andy is a successful banker in the 1940s when he is convicted of the vicious murder of his wife and her lover. Andy maintains his innocence but is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine. On arrival he meets Red who is a long term prisoner. Red befriends Andy and teaches him the tricks to survival.
Andy’s financial nous is noticed by the prison’s warden who needs help to launder his ill-gotten earnings off the backs of the prison inmates. Andy creates a false identity to protect the warden and proceeds to act as the warden’s accountant for the next two decades. In return he gets to properly stock the prison library and help inmates achieve high school equivalency.
When a new prisoner comes to Shawshank, It comes to light that Andy really is innocent of the murder of his wife and her lover but the warden won’t risk losing his highly effective money man and so he buries the information and brutally disposes of the new inmate.
Over this twenty year period, we later learn that Andy has been painstakingly tunnelling from his cell using a tiny rock hammer and hiding the resulting hole behind a Rita Hayworth poster on the wall. One dark and stormy night Andy successfully makes a break for it. 
He quickly accesses the wardens illicit fortune with the false identity he created for the purpose and he heads to a small town in Mexico which he’s told Red about earlier.
It’s a few years later that Red is finally granted parole after more that 40 years inside Shawshank. He makes his way to meet Andy in Mexico and an emotional reunion follows.
The recurring themes in the movie are forgiveness, salvation and hope. Andy never loses hope in himself or in others; he does good where possible and manages to maintain his integrity throughput his imprisonment. Conversely another character in the film is a man named Brooks, who still lacks liberty even after being released as a very old man. Sadly Brooks only finds his release in suicide.
I highly recommend this thought provoking and intelligent movie. Great story, great casting, great cinematography.
Photo taken last night by Dean Purcell. 
Bluebells at my brothers place
…when a big Tui lands on the other Kowhai behind me. They’re a reasonably shy bird so aren’t as common in the city as they used to be. This was the best shot I got. They’re sometimes known as the parson bird because of their white ‘collar’. 
There are some excellent shots of Tui on Wikipedia (see 
