Alpine Gardens

February is a wonderful time to stop at the top of Arthur's Pass to visit the extensive alpine gardens there.  I am not sure what the top flowers are but the lower picture is of a Celmisia.  These plants would both be native to New Zealand as the gardens are just a natural feature of the alpine environment.

Flowering Forest Trees

These pictures are of the Southern Rata which flower in summer and were photographed in Arthurs Pass in the South Island.  They are very large trees which some years are more conspicuous than others - this was a particularly good year.

Mount Cook and Glaciers

Two more pictures I took from a small plane flying over the Southern Alps.  The glaciers and their "U" shaped valleys were spectacular as was this close view of Mount Cook.  It was fun to actually land on the Tasman Glacier in the ski plane - I had no idea how big the glacier really was until we were up there.

The Southern Alps of New Zealand

I thought winter was a good time to show you these pictures of the Southern Alps.  There is a fault line running the full length of these alps and the scientists say that the next major earthquake is about due.  I hope I am not around when it ruptures.  These pictures are of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman.

Some Bizarre Okinawan Pots

One has to admire the workmanship on the Dragon Pot but it is really not to my taste. Neither are the "Funerary Urns" under the tree.  I guess it is no different to the local undertaker's collection of coffins.

Finished Pots

These are not the same pots as shown in the image in my last blog but would have been fired in a similar place.  The boat was one of the pots in our Mitsukoshi exhibition in Japan so is now in the hands of a Japanese collector.

More Kiln Pictures

In Japan they always put up these Gohei prayer flags to designate the sacred area at the front of the kiln and Fijii Sensei showed us how to make them.  We had some great firings so they must have helped to bring us good luck.  The lower picture is of the set of shelves in front of the first stack and a few of the pots on the floor right beside the fire grate.