The Friendly Friday Photographic challenge is about community and interacting with other bloggers, sharing everyday photographs of things from our world and is hosted by bloggers Amanda, here at ‘StPA’ (Something to Ponder About) and Sandy at The Sandy Chronicles.
Welcome back to the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge
With the new year, we welcome new host Sandy, to the Friendly Friday team. Sandy blogs at The Sandy Chronicles and is already busy planning some fun prompts for us.
Please note the Friendly Friday PhotoChallengeswill run for one week, from Friday to the following Thursday, when the new weekly prompt is released.
New to Friendly Friday?Unsure of what Friendly Friday is all about?
Scroll down to find out more.
Friendly Friday Weekly Prompt
The prompt for this week is
‘All in a Row‘
It might be photos of birds gathered on a wire, food, natural features like rocks, or people waiting in a queue, even friends lined up for a photo.
You are only limited by your imagination.
Maroochy river boats all in a row
Bloggers have until next Thursday to publish a post relating to the prompt, with a link back to Something to Ponder About.
Technology is usually reliable however Blogger Pingbacks have been known to fail. Thus, it would be great if you could post a comment below, so we can find your Friendly Friday Photo entry!
Sandy will post the next weekly prompt at her blog – The Sandy Chronicles so be sure to check her blog next Friday.
Here is some of my interpretations, of the prompt, to get your imagination ticking over:
Sunset over Machinery
Schnauzers- All in a Row
What is Friendly Friday?
The weekly prompt is a guide and somewhat of a challenge, for you. It is meant to inspire, not to limit or constrain. The host bloggers would like everyone to participate as they see fit. Photos can be new or something from your albums, that the prompt has inspired in you.
You don’t need to be a ‘pro’ to join in with Friendly Friday, either. Mobile, Point and Shoot or SLR photography is perfectly acceptable.
Your blog doesn’t even have to be about photography in order to participate. We welcome your entries. Have a little fun!
For those who have been following this, or my blog, A Home by the Sea, the weekly theme will come as no surprise as I have been working towards this all throughout 2019.
Theme for Friendly Friday This Week
MOVING
The theme ‘Moving’ might mean new beginnings – the end of one chapter in your life and the start of another.
The end of one journey and the start of another.
Moving might mean moving on, or moving away.
Tearful Goodbyes or Happy Welcome Homes.
Moving might mean a mode of transport – trains, buses, boats or cars.
Norrheimsund, Norway
Moving means change, something we face in everyday life.
Change brings new opportunities and may be exciting for some.
Your interpretation of the theme might be some kind of speed blur or special effects with camera shutter speeds.
What is your interpretation of the theme of Moving?
Show me in photos – I would love to see what you make of it!
Scroll down to find more detailed instructions on joining in with this photography challenge.
Join the Team at Friendly Friday
My co-host Snow and I are also looking for another blogger to help host Friendy Friday for 2020. As a host you would need to:
Choose the Friendly Friday theme
Publish two posts a month, or less on negotiation
Visit the participant’s blogs and respond to the Friendly Friday comments on your blog post
Liaise with other co-hosts
Sounds Easy?
It is – and you get to meet and chat with other bloggers from all around the world.
If this sounds like you, please let Amanda or Snow know via our contact pages.
November Friendly Friday Photo Challenge
I am very grateful for Manja from Manja Mexi Mexcessive for stepping up to Host the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge for me, during my very busy month of November. Thanks so much, Manja!
Post a comment below and include a ‘Friendly Friday- Moving’ ping-back in your post, so others can find your entry.
Publish a new ‘Friendly Friday – ‘Moving,’ post including a URL link to this post, tagging the post, ‘Friendly Friday’ Add the Photo Challenge logo, too, if you wish.
Copy the published url into the comments below, so other readers can visit your blog.
Visit other Friendly Friday entries by following the links. It’s fun!
Follow the host blogs to see future prompts.
Please note there is no deadlines for any Friendly Friday challenge.
A Time Warp to the Victorian Era – in Christchurch
The best way to see Hagley Park, the Botanic Gardens and the Avon river in Christchurch, New Zealand, is not on foot but by boat.
This is seriously one of the most serene and relaxing things I’ve done. Punting at the Antigua sheds at Christchurch is something, like the city itself, very English. By way of contrast, the weather was anything but English; we were blessed with the most beautiful winter’s day – it was indeed quite cool but sunny and clear.
A Punt is a flat bottomed boat that does not have a keel. Typically, a punt is approximately 21 feet (6 metres) long and 3 feet (1 metre) wide. It should be propelled by means of a pole – about 16 foot (5 metres) long. The punt and consequently, the passengers sit very low in the water, although at no time do the passenger feel in any danger and I did not even get my feet or anything else wet.
The abridged version is “To punt without losing your balance, getting wet, wetting your passengers, while keeping the trip smooth and making sure that the passengers enjoy the ride, is something requires expertise indeed. Punting originated as a means of fishing, dredging, carrying and transporting all kinds of materials.
Punting boat
In other words, the punt was originally a work boat. The punting style consisted of starting at the bow, where the operator dropped the pole to the bottom, leaned on it, and then ran after it, pushing the boat under his feet. It was a method that often left the novice clinging to their pole while the punt drifted away in solitary splendour.
Pleasure punts were unknown prior to 1860 and found in Nelson and Christchurch and a couple of places in England.
A time warp would take me back to the days when men were gentlemen, women genteel, Bota hats, hats and gloves, but it was not necessary to build a time machine,as I simply took a Punt ride to Victorian splendour in the heart of Christchurch.
There are two Punting routes to choose from, one passing through the river as it goes through the main part of the city and the other, which is close to the hop on hop off point of the city trams, just a short stroll past the entrance to the museum and Botanic Gardens.
There you will find Antiqua Boat sheds, which is the starting point for the Gardens punts and Hagley Park. I only hope the historic Boat sheds, which appear to have changed little since early last century have not been ruined by the earthquakes.
We were also blessed to have the punt all to ourselves, not having to share with anyone else except Andrew, “Mr Gondolier” or should it be “Mr Punter”?!!!
Along the way, we all had to duck our heads as we went under a very low road bridge, and Andrew maintained the perfect balance whilst undergoing this manoeuvre.
Andrew, a University dropout with a flare for business, and a love of history and stories, has turned this tourist attraction into a successful part of his thriving business empire. He does not have to work, but does so he claims, “because he loves his job” and who wouldn’t: even in the rain, the guests are protected with blankets and large football umbrellas from the elements.
The ride through the Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park, a 50 acre green zone in the middle of the CBD which is never to be built on, the legacy of a pioneer settler, is a dream for those who appreciate and love nature. Also a wonderful area for environmental oxygen carbon dioxide exchange, a green zone in the metropolis, although Christchurch could hardly be called a metropolis. Just a nice sized city, really.
You also pass by the curators house and herb garden. The punts themselves are very comfortable and Andrew has blankets to keep you warm on cooler days.
Other creatures enjoying the Avon will be the endemic ducks, swans, and other aquatic life, the Daffodil garden which is really a lawn, as the daffodils are not mass planted but erupt from beneath the soil anywhere to the point that they mow a path through the daffodils in spring. They would be a bright point in the city’s current misery, as I feel sure that they would be in full bloom at this moment. (We were a few weeks early for the daffodils and the earthquake and for that I am truly grateful. (But right on time for the Lambing) A few brave early plants showing their blossoms amongst the grass are seen here, before the mower gets to them…..
The daffodil garden shortly to be cropped by the mower…. .
No motor pervades this almost spiritual atmosphere, the water is shallow and clear, rocks form the bottom of the river, and the excellent and entertaining commentary given by Andrew, pertinent and interesting. Near the end of the ride, you get a good view of the Curator’s house, and adjacent herb garden, seen on our approach to the Punting on the Park Attraction.
“Some days you are the statue, and some days the pigeon….” one of my favorite sayings, so I had to take a photo of one of the important people in Christchurch history, which WordPress has seen to delete from my media library as it is from 10 years ago.
This was definitely a day where I was the pigeon, on top of the world as I knew it then, and felt that in finding a new relaxing pastime, in a foreign city, discovered something new about myself. Surely that is something to ponder about….. even on a punt….
You must be logged in to post a comment.