Stillness

I intended to take the day driving home.  I went down side roads if I thought there might be something interesting to see.  I went into Hanmer Springs for an early lunch.  It was a huge serving and the lady kindly boxed it up and that was my dinner.  I still managed to miss the little turn off where you get a view looking down on the Waiau River and the mountains as background.  Something for another trip.  The snow I saw on Monday was melted from the side of the road.  An hour from home I came around a bend and saw the main blip.  I had to do a u turn and pull into an are off the road to walk back for the photo.  A dog started barking so I guess someone lives there.  
The extra is barbed wire of course and the grey shrub in the background  is Matagouri which has very sharp needles on it.  So sharp Maori used the needles for tatooing.  (May be true, I have been listening to history podcasts and a lot of things I once thought of as facts are really myths)

Side Of The Road          Lucinda Williams


  . . .   I walked out in a field,
The grass was high, it brushed against my legs.
I just stood and looked out at the open space,
And a farmhouse out a-ways.
And I wondered about the people who live there.
And I wondered if they were happy and content.
Were there children and a man and a wife?
Did she love him and take her hair down at night? . . .