Red is the colour....

I’m now back home in Napier after an exhausting six weeks trying to teach creative nonfiction at a summer writing school at the University of Waikato. Boy, do I value my aimless days now that I don’t have to turn up for classes. While in Hamilton, aka Hamilhole, aka Tron, the city of the future, a friend sent me these images of graves in the old Napier cemetery. 

The red is from an Australian gum tree. I love the intensity of the colour. The fact is whenever I return to Napier I go for a wander in the old cemetery. This is when I feel I am back home. I feel centred. Everything else appears transitory and noisesome. I try and reach peace. 

These photos were taken by Jenny Horne. She is the daughter of Eric Lee-Johnson and I think she shares his remarkable photographic eye. Thanks, Jenny.