Corresponding mostly with friends in the US, this is a first for me – you’ve Friday already, me in France found this on Thursday at 8.30pm….. Are you in Australia?
NZ is the one continent/place I am warning everybody of – to NEVER buy me an airplane ticket, and IF they do, not to bother with a return flight…. π
This is where I’d REALLY want to go once in my life – I’ve heard so much of your glorious natural beauty, of the gentleness of people, but nobody ever offered Hero Husband or me a job…. π
I’d love to say that NZ is paradise, but in reality the natural beauty is being sold daily to the highest bidder, our waterways are increasingly polluted so we can raise dairy cows and there are so many tourists that the infrastructure can’t cope. Meanwhile homelessness and poverty are growing domestic violence is rife and we have the highest teen suicide rate in the world. My parents emigrated here in the 1960s and it was one of the most egalitarian countries in the world. Now it is amongst the most unequal. π¦
That’s sad news (to me…). OK, so I won’t save for a one-way-ticket any longer!
On a more serious note: Isn’t that really terrible? It seems we can’t go anywhere any longer and ‘all is well’…. and I DID read about your terribly high suicide rate for teens and I couldn’t believe it. Maybe we will be happier just moving back to Switzerland once we have sold our house?! I read that Zurich (where we will have to move to as it is Hero Husband’s new working place) is the second best City for its Quality of Living….. sounds OK-ish, doesn’t it?!
PS: And Auckland is third…!!! π
The Merced rankings are really interesting. They are focused on expatriate living, and produced for corporates. I guess if youβre in well-paid work (especially with an overseas-calculated salary) Auckland would be a fantastic place to live.Except for the traffic maybe. π
On a more positive mote, I hope that you will feel happier living in Zurich. Living in a place is about so much more than the kind of amenities Mercer measures β like friendships and kin.
ZΓΌrich is my home-city but I would much prefer to live in the French spoken part of Switzerland. But we mustn’t grumble….. Anywhere really would be alright. ZΓΌrich to me is already a tad too ‘business-like’. But in the end it’s always what WE make of everything. Mind over matter etc…. as you said so rightly. I have some of my family in the greater Zurich region, so that’s fine. And we have excellent transport systems. Everywhere!
Thanks. Pink is really common here — with a sort of crimson, and white. The purple ones are a bit rarer I think in NZ (or certainly around where I live).
So rich –
I tried to grow these once years ago – not everything works out and they did not (think we had too much sun in that spot at the time )
Happy Friday
I’ve never tried to grow them, but vicariously enjoy everyone else’s planting. I’d love to eventually have some, especially in this colour and white, but perhaps when I get my “forever” house.
Your rhododendrons remind me a growth area – because I think it was 07ish – my friend and I were walking through her neighborhood after a meal (two couples – only time we have ever taken a walk together – ha) and these old ranch style homes had nice landscaping and she was naming plants – and it was all Greek to me (or Latin actually) and it was the first time I heard rhododendrons! Sheltered maybe – but fast forward to now and while I am not a master Gardener and never will be – I felt so much more in the know m! Funny what a decade can bring forth!
π Iβm pretty rubbish with plant names generally. I struggle enough with the various different names for the same plant in English (e.g. rocket, arugula, rucola), but add in Latin β and here MΔori names for plants β and my head feels like exploding.
Zimmerbitch 
Corresponding mostly with friends in the US, this is a first for me – you’ve Friday already, me in France found this on Thursday at 8.30pm….. Are you in Australia?
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I’m in New Zealand; Auckland in the North Island. π
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NZ is the one continent/place I am warning everybody of – to NEVER buy me an airplane ticket, and IF they do, not to bother with a return flight…. π
This is where I’d REALLY want to go once in my life – I’ve heard so much of your glorious natural beauty, of the gentleness of people, but nobody ever offered Hero Husband or me a job…. π
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I’d love to say that NZ is paradise, but in reality the natural beauty is being sold daily to the highest bidder, our waterways are increasingly polluted so we can raise dairy cows and there are so many tourists that the infrastructure can’t cope. Meanwhile homelessness and poverty are growing domestic violence is rife and we have the highest teen suicide rate in the world. My parents emigrated here in the 1960s and it was one of the most egalitarian countries in the world. Now it is amongst the most unequal. π¦
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That’s sad news (to me…). OK, so I won’t save for a one-way-ticket any longer!
On a more serious note: Isn’t that really terrible? It seems we can’t go anywhere any longer and ‘all is well’…. and I DID read about your terribly high suicide rate for teens and I couldn’t believe it. Maybe we will be happier just moving back to Switzerland once we have sold our house?! I read that Zurich (where we will have to move to as it is Hero Husband’s new working place) is the second best City for its Quality of Living….. sounds OK-ish, doesn’t it?!
PS: And Auckland is third…!!! π
https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/quality-of-living-rankings
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The Merced rankings are really interesting. They are focused on expatriate living, and produced for corporates. I guess if youβre in well-paid work (especially with an overseas-calculated salary) Auckland would be a fantastic place to live.Except for the traffic maybe. π
On a more positive mote, I hope that you will feel happier living in Zurich. Living in a place is about so much more than the kind of amenities Mercer measures β like friendships and kin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
ZΓΌrich is my home-city but I would much prefer to live in the French spoken part of Switzerland. But we mustn’t grumble….. Anywhere really would be alright. ZΓΌrich to me is already a tad too ‘business-like’. But in the end it’s always what WE make of everything. Mind over matter etc…. as you said so rightly. I have some of my family in the greater Zurich region, so that’s fine. And we have excellent transport systems. Everywhere!
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Are those Rhododendrons, Su? How beautiful they are.
Leslie
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Yes they are. I love rhododendrons and ampleased there are so many flowering at the moment.
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That is a lovely colour too. Ours tend to be purple.
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Yup..I see more purple ones than the pink one shown!
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I’d love to have some of those pink ones…..
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Thanks Leslie. You’ve got me thinking now, but without doing a survey I think that pink, crimson and white are the most common here.
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You do see a few of the other colours but they’re mostly that common purple.
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Thatβs really interesting. I wonder if different colours grow better in different soil?
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I’m pretty sure that is the case. The purple ones must be very hard to get through our winter.
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Stunning photograph of the rhododendron! Wow!
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Thanks Peter.
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Such a rich pink rhodie! happy Friday!
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Thanks. Pink is really common here — with a sort of crimson, and white. The purple ones are a bit rarer I think in NZ (or certainly around where I live).
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Purple ones are common in USA where I live when in University there. I guess different countries we have different hybridsπ
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π
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Beautiful! Enjoy this beautiful Friday in Spring!
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Thanks so much π Wishing you a great weekend.
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So rich –
I tried to grow these once years ago – not everything works out and they did not (think we had too much sun in that spot at the time )
Happy Friday
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I’ve never tried to grow them, but vicariously enjoy everyone else’s planting. I’d love to eventually have some, especially in this colour and white, but perhaps when I get my “forever” house.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your rhododendrons remind me a growth area – because I think it was 07ish – my friend and I were walking through her neighborhood after a meal (two couples – only time we have ever taken a walk together – ha) and these old ranch style homes had nice landscaping and she was naming plants – and it was all Greek to me (or Latin actually) and it was the first time I heard rhododendrons! Sheltered maybe – but fast forward to now and while I am not a master Gardener and never will be – I felt so much more in the know m! Funny what a decade can bring forth!
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π Iβm pretty rubbish with plant names generally. I struggle enough with the various different names for the same plant in English (e.g. rocket, arugula, rucola), but add in Latin β and here MΔori names for plants β and my head feels like exploding.
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hahah – me too – and that was fun to read –
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Your rhododendron is beautiful, Su. Mine is nowhere near flowering. By the time it is ready, the hot winds will start and it will be all over.
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Thanks Tracy. It’s so sad to think that the wind will destroy the blooms. π¦
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Beautiful! And even more when you know that they grow nearly everywhere even in as lofty heights as the Himalaya! π xxxxx
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π I read that it’s the national flower of Nepal (and the state flower of West Virginia and Washington State). xxxx
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