For the Love of Orange

When we got married, the kitchen I inherited was 70’s style orange & green, with paisley-patterned wallpaper and brightly-painted cupboard doors. John is a kitchen designer so we now have a lovely large neutral-coloured kitchen.

I have always said ‘orange is not my favourite colour’, but have to appreciate the occasional gift of orange flowers, or the appearance of orange in other contexts (monarch butterflies for example!) – it really is a vibrant beautiful colour.

While away from home the other weekend, we visited a Blum showroom. They manufacture a range of furniture hardware / fittings – for the uninitiated that includes cupboard and drawer hinges and inserts but is much more than that. They talk of dynamic space kitchen planning and perfecting motion, and the showroom had some impressive examples of pull-out and lifting systems, and inner dividing systems for drawers. Guess what their theme colour is?

We will return sometime to photograph the options for John’s kitchen clients, but meanwhile I couldn’t resist these …

Lamps 1

Lamps 2

Armchair

Cushion

Tea / Coffee for Two

Appreciation

Things have been especially busy here this week with work commitments and preparing for a big out-of-town photo project this coming weekend, so as much as I have wanted to blog and quilt, there hasn’t been much time.

Thanks to those who have followed my blog; your encouragement is appreciated. 🙂 It’s quite amazing to think there are people from other parts of the world, whom I’ve never met, who are interested in what I have to share. I’m enjoying checking out your writings & photographs too,  as time allows. There are some very talented, creative, interesting & funny bloggers here on WordPress – even down to the blog titles and bylines – how do you manage to think up such unique ones?! I’m inspired.

Whither Thou Goest

This week we have been talking again about possibilities for the future, a.k.a. ‘where do we go from here?’.

I’m torn between the desire for security and stability, and the need for change because things aren’t working well as they are. We keep cycling around; economically things improve for a while so the dreams go on the back burner, then work drops off again so we have to consider other options.

One of these options is uprooting and becoming mobile in a way that combines John’s work and our budding photography business, while still allowing me to continue with my job. I’m not sure how I will handle the mobile lifestyle, however they say that when you look back on your life you’re far more likely to regret the things you didn’t do, than the things you did.

This week I have a new appreciation for Ruth (in the Bible), who for love of her mother-in-law gave up other options for her future in order to stay with and support Naomi.

In the same way, it seems right to me to support and encourage my husband & help him fulfill his dreams and potential, trusting that along the way my own will also be fulfilled. We are a team; our relationship will be strongest when we are pulling in the same direction.

“And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” – Ruth 1.16, King James Version.

I would like to know where the road leads before we start out, but that’s not possible. I have to trust God that we will make the right decisions and be guided in the right direction.

Destination Unknown

(photographed  on our honeymoon in 2005, somewhere in the South Island)

Next Time

We made a quick trip to ‘the big city’ last weekend.  We had various things on the agenda and achieved most of them, but there wasn’t as much time as I would have liked for photography, and unfortunately the best light seemed to be when we were on the move. When the warm morning light was picking out the trees in the urban environment, I would have loved to capture some of those last autumn leaves juxtaposed against the high rise buildings, but had to make do with looking, and thinking ‘next time…’. Its hard to see things you want to capture and know you don’t have time to stop this trip (and of course they won’t be there next time – the light will be different, or it will be a different season, or you won’t be back on the same street, or that person who caught your eye has moved on, or that interesting old building will have been demolished).

It reminded me of a quote I had on my old website:

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished
there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

On our one evening in the city we went for a brief walk as it was getting dark, to try to capture some of the atmosphere of the environment. As it was a cold Sunday evening there were only a few people on the street.

While photographing we heard sirens, and several fire engines blared their way past us. We didn’t realise until a few minutes later that they were heading in the direction of our hotel, a block or so away. Thankfully they didn’t stay around for long, so it must have been a false alarm.

Baptist Tabernacle

Seat Shadows

Fire Engine

Over the Hill

We live at the top of a hill, so when we go for one of our bike rides (rare at the moment as we’ve been busy with other things), whichever cycle route we take involves a hill climb to get home. The hills aren’t that steep, but neither am I very fit!

We also have a hill to drive over when we take one particular route out of the city. This view from the top was photographed a few weeks ago, when we helped Kelly & Levi shift house.

We are heading north today…

View from the Top