Catherine

A huge Northern rātā tree in full bloom, with clusters of bright red flowers

This morning I went on a rātā-viewing walk run by the Wellington Botanical Society & the tree outside St Paul’s Church on Waiwhetu Road is *incredible*! Well worth a visit if you’re obsessed with Metrosideros robusta

I have a collection of her hand-coloured books here in Pōneke Wellington - would love to show them to you if you’re ever around these parts 😊

I spy 3 Emily Cumming Harris hand-coloured lithographs 😆

An image comprising three photographs, each of a hand holding the book ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ set against different coloured metrosideros flowers: bright red rātā, pink pōhutukawa and yellow pōhutukawa

Are you searching for a great Christmas present for the #Aotearoa art lover or natural history enthusiast in your life? Our pukapuka explores #colonialhistory, #women’shistory, #botanicalart, #comets, #NZpoetry & #eclipses

Aw thanks so much Sue! 🥰

Book cover of ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ and text advertising a free author talk at Unity Books, Wellington, 6pm, Wednesday 26 November

11 lithograph books from 1890 laid on a table. Some of the botanical plates have been hand-coloured by Emily Harris using watercolour paints

A delicate sketch of a brown butterfly perched on a stem of forget-me-not-flowers, with handwritten text above & below it. This card is dated 1826 and is pasted in a Georgian and Victorian scrapbook that belonged to Emily Cumming Harris’s aunt, who lived in England.

Tonight we’re giving an author talk at Unity Books Wellington at 6pm! Our presentation features our favourite research moments, artwork by Emily Cumming Harris & we're bringing our collection of rare hand-coloured books from the 1890s to display. www.facebook.com/share/1FN2pX...

My sister has long covid & had to give up her job a few years ago. She’s started making & selling sweet little peg angels & prints: felt.co.nz/shop/mrs-mac ❤️ #christmasnz #secretsanta #handmade #aotearoachristmas

A yellow flowering pōhutukawa tree in bloom with the fire station building behind it

Close up of the fuzzy yellow flowers in bloom on a pōhutukawa tree

The yellow pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa ‘Aurea’) behind Chaffers New World in Wellington is in full bloom. Covered in bees this morning 💛

A sunset, with golden sky on the horizon and waves of pink cloud above

Walked up to the stopbank after seeing your post, thanks!

A hand holding a bunch of aquilegia flowers that range in colour from pink, red, yellow, pale yellow, lilac and dark purple

Grew a rainbow of aquilegia 🌈

The book ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ held up in front of Taranaki Mounga, which has white snow on its peak

New Plymouth people - Michele & I are giving a talk about some of our book research highlights. 6pm, Wed 5 Nov, Taranaki Research Centre. Come say hi! #taranaki #botanicalart #newplymouth

An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out like the rays of a sun

An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out like the rays of a sun

An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out in different directions, with the tallest specimen in the middle pointing upwards

A striking arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page. They are centred around a middy-type specimen in the centre

Was excited to come across these elegant pressed fern specimens in a file I looked through today, c.late 1800s/early 1900s. But I miss the time when I could order a file from NZ Archives & view it 45 mins later. Takes 3 days now.

I’ve been searching for the kōwhai pattern for years - that is such an incredible score! 😍

Tautoko that. Hope that Mele Tonga-Grant stays in too, only 1 vote ahead. Local elections are such a weird mixed bag

Mostly good results eh, though I do not understand who keeps voting for Barratt and *far* too many people voted for Levy

3 copies of the book ‘He Puāwai’ with beautiful coloured flowers on the front cover

Such a stunning pukapuka! Am at the launch at Unity Books for ‘He Puāwai’ by @theobrominated.bsky.social 🌸🌼🪻Perfect Christmas present

Stallholders sitting behind stalls full of colourful zines, stickers and original artworks. There are lots of people looking at the stalls.

The Zinefest at the School of Architecture on Vivian Street in Pōneke is super cool. We had a blast buying zines, stickers & having little portraits drawn. Love the creativity ❤️ #wellingtonzinefest

Apparently all the older teachers were horrified but the younger ones promptly followed suit 😆

My Dad (NZer) taught at Harrow School in the 70s. In the heatwave of ‘76 he rocked up in shorts, knee-high socks & short-sleeved top with academic gown overtop. It led to the institution of ‘summer dress’ for the whole school in summer months, lol.

Hey Hutt folks, you may miss it when voting, but please don’t vote for Suzanne Levy! She sounds fine, but OOPS she runs the TERF organisation Speak Up For Women.

Thank you! That has boosted spirits big time 😆

Didn’t realise this was a thing! Hoping it spreads to our part of Lower Hutt where we trap along the river as there are large patches 🙏

An upset male tree wētā in my gloved hand, biting hard on the glove with its large mandibles

They looked like they were having a great time (and also puzzled by the woman in the bushes. Again.) Found this beauty too, who bit me with vigour as I gently re-homed him.

Two photos side-by-side. On the left is a tree trunk smothered in ivy and on the right the ivy has been removed from the tree

I’m always doing something weird when @fromthemorgue.bsky.social is out walking his adorable dogs. Today I was removing ivy that’s smothering trees down by the awa. Little point doing predator removal if we’re not also restoring habitat #predatorfreenz

Book cover for Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris

If flowers are your thing - @zarakesterton.bsky.social, Tori Champion and I run a growing network on Women and Flowers. This month Michele Leggott and @deleifd.bsky.social are speaking about their beautiful book Groundwork. Details below or email womenandflowersnetwork@gmail.com to join us!🌷

Wellkiwis virus graph for 2025. Shows confirmed cases of influenza, covid, rhinovirus, RSV & other viruses and they were at their peak in second week of August.

Here’s the latest Wellington Wellkiwis tracking. My daughter had influenza B 2 weeks ago, looks like that’s (hopefully) starting to drop

Oooh, this looks fabulous. Can’t wait to buy a copy!

A baby seal with beautiful big eyes on the edge of the waterfront

A baby seal sitting on the waterfront. It is wet as it has just jumped out of the water.

Wish I could post videos here. Saw this cute baby seal swimming on the waterfront. It saw me, and then hopped on to a rock and clambered up towards me. I moved very quickly.

Sweet, all in good time! We know there’s a lot going on with moving building etc. But I’m enjoying this side of the book w/o the pressure of deadlines - it’s v cool to still make new discoveries 😆

A hand-coloured plate from Thomas Kirk’s book ‘The Forest Flora of New Zealand’. It shows a plant coastal maire plant specimen with very large green leaves that has been coloured using watercolour. There is a note to the right in Emily Cumming Harris’s handwriting that says “Owing to the paper being thin and highly glazed, the leaves which cover a large surface will not take the paint well, and consequently have a striped and unfinished appearance.”

A hand-coloured lithograph of a titoki plant specimen, that has been coloured using watercolour. The leaves are green, the outer part of the berries are brown and the betties themselves are bright red with black seeds in the middle.

A hand-coloured lithograph that shows a specimen of kōwhai, with its leaves, seed pod and flowers. The flowers are a brilliant yellow.

Public thank you to @chaneyz85.bsky.social for being awesome at her job and helping us make a big research discovery! #findingmissingbooks #emilycummingharris