iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Do you like Pomegranate? How about these? As big as a softball for sale in the Old Town of Lijiang, China The fruit on the left are grapes about the size of plums This place has really great soil

021

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A few pictures from the cruise on the Li River, starting from near Guilin yesterday They don't do the spectacular scenery justice

020

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Went and looked at some old pottery today. Quite a lot of it all thrown in pits. Some bloke Qin had the job done quite a while ago now. It's lasted reasonably well, considering @paulblinkhorn.bsky.social Can you identify?

140

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

First day in Beijing 30+°C Really noticed how quiet it is for a big city. The vast majority of cars are EVs & all of the scooters are too There's lots of hire bikes everywhere The traffic is really well behaved too Bikes & Scooters seem to have right of way

Rows of shared bikes & a few scooters on a street in Beijing

391

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Sitting at Wellington Airport waiting for our flight to Auckland. This is the first step on our next adventure, a three week tour in China. Tomorrow we catch a flight to Beijing via Hong Kong. We land in Beijing late Thursday night local time.

020

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

We're going to China in Sep, a tour from Beijing to Shanghai The trip was booked & paid for before the orange idiot began his war Your pic reminded me of Artvin in Eastern Turkey, even though it's in a valley not on a ridge The tower blocks behind the bridge are the University

Artvin, Eastern Turkey, looking down stream. May 2025

Artvin, Eastern Turkey, looking across to the main town and the Univerity. On the hill top on the left, directly above the yellow walled buildings with red roofs, is a statue of Kemal Ataturk striding across the landscape.

120

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

They have some previous, (not recent admittedly), experience in making military hardware for another genocidal regime. This is a Kubelwagen, equivalent to an Allied Jeep.

B&W photo of a German Army Kubelwagen light military vehicle. Two soldiers are in it, another two are standing either side of it, it is parked on grass under a tree. The soldier on the left of the vehicle is pointing forward and to the right. The picture was obtianed from Wikimedia Commons and Originates with the German BundesArchiv

030

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

A bowl full of Nasty (Nashi) pears from our little tree There are still some more on the tree, this has been its best season ever. I love them and will have one for my lunch. My wife doesn't like them, hence the name of Nasty pears in our house.

040

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

If you see this, post a photo from your device--no explanations.

010

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

39 years married today, and our love is just as strong today as it was then. It was a hot summer's day in small town NZ. 👩‍❤️‍👨💍

110

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays everyone! From my family to yours, wherever you are in the world, I hope you all have a great day. It may not be a perfect Summer's day here, but it is Christmas Day, let the feasting commence 😋

Our Christmas tree, against the window, behind is part of the garden. To the left a plaything for the cat, to the right a stereo speaker

A pink lily in our garden, leaves of the lily plant and gravel in the background

Orange Lilies from our garden, above the leaves of the plant, to the left an old railway sleeper used as part of the garden

120

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Sometimes being a bit patriotic feels good Pohutukawa in flower and the NZ flag flying from the top of the Beehive

Pohutukawa trees in flower, on the left and in the foreground. Over the trees is the Executive wing of the NZ Parliaent, called the Beehive, and flying from the top of it is the NZ flag, and beyond a clear blue sky

040

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

You can't beat Wellington on a good day, so the slogan went

Looking East over the Wellington inner city, to the port with the harbour and in the distance the eastern Hutt hills and Soames Island (Matiu) on the far right.

030

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

A piece of my wife's art, exhibited in a local gallery recently

A large vase-like art work, very dark textured clay like leatehr on the outside, opening at the top to show a light brown surface on the inside. Three buttons up the front

040

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

What do you call this then? has both Innie & Outie It's an Aussie/NZ mains plug usually called a Tapon, but by the M/F nomenclature should it be called Bi?

Black Australian/NZ mains power plug showing that another plug can be plugged into the back of this one, allowing two appliances to share one power outlet.

000

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

First day of Daylight Savings today, summer is coming. Here is a magnolia bloom in our front garden, they are taking a bit of a battering from the wind and will be gone in a few days.

A light pink Magnolia blooming the foreground. In the background more blooms and other trees & bushes.

050

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

You're a witch? Do you weigh the same as a duck? According to Sir Bedivere in Monty Python's Holy Grail witches weigh the same as a duck. When caught the witch (Connie Booth) confessed with those words!

A scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A witch (Connie Booth) has been identified as such by weighing her aganst a duck. They weigh the same, proving she is a witch, and she confesses with the words "Its a fair cop"
Connie is obscured by cloth hanging from the weighing machine

010

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

My wife recently went to visit her mother, over 500km away. She takes good pictures, here are a couple she took along the way. Here are Mt Ruapehu & Mt Ngauruhoe, volcanoes of the Central Plateau.

Mt Ruapehu, highest point in the North Island, on a sunny day, in the foreground the scrubby bush of the Central Plateau. Ruapehu is an active volcano

The almost perfect cone of Mt Ngauruhoe, snow covered volcano.
To the right is part of Mt Tongariro. In the foreground the scrubby bush of the Central plateau.

Ngauruhoe won the Oscar for best supporting Volcano in a feature film, playing Mt Doom in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

140

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

The days are getting longer, even though it's still very much winter here. It was a beautiful cloudless day and this was the sunset over the Pauatahanui inlet

Sunset, reflected in calm waters, a dark beach in the foreground and a cloudless sky above

050

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Here is a little something to brighten your day or evening. People enjoying themselves dancing to some street musicians on the 10 Arches Bridge over the Tigris River, Diyarbakir, Türkiye

030

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

I quite like this shot, for some reason it makes me think of Pink Floyd's Animals, can't imagine why Anyway, it's the central Medresse at Erzurum in Türkiye

The minarets of the central Medresse in Erzurum, in front of a cloudy sky with a sunlit edge of a cloud seeming to touch the left hand minaret

060

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Sitting in Singapore airport waiting for our flight home to NZ Had a great holiday in Türkiye We toured the East, & also had time in İstanbul. Highlights were Mt Nemrut, Göbeklitepe, Ani & the Georgian valleys As we traveled we were near 4 of Türkiye's borders, Georgia, Armenia, Iran & Syria.

Standing stones at the archeological site of Göbeklitepe, the site is 12000 years old and was deliberately buried, which preserved it.

Carved stone heads on the western terrace of Mt Nemrut lit by thr late afternoon sun. The site originally had six statues seated on stone thrones but earthquakes and time have collapsed them

Church at the ancient Armenian capital of Ani
The high cylinder topped by a conical roof ( its a dome inside) are characteristic of Armenian churches of the period (about 900 CE

Looking down into one of the Georgian valleys, very dry country with steep narrow valleys. Lots of bare rock visible and the grass is brown already even though summer had not yet begun ( late May)

180

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

This is the Western Terrace The sequence of statues is the same but the Eastern ones have the bodies and chairs together, while the Western ones are more in bits. I think the Western statues are bigger though. I also noticed square holes in the heads & body parts. No idea what for

020

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

We've been touring Eastern Türkiye. The latest spot we visited was Mt Nemrut. Quite a steep walk to get up there but WOW! This is the Eastern Terrace, that we came to first.

140

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

@paulblinkhorn.bsky.social Thought of you in the Diyarbakır museum Pottery from around the area of various prehistoric sites

140

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

This morning we visited the Dolmabahci palace and this afternoon a visit to the Çelik Ali Paşa Mosque, lunch, and a walk over the Galata bridge

030

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

First full day in İstanbul this year The graffiti on the pillar on the left almost sums it up, just change "in" to "with", so it reads, "I fell in love with İstanbul "

010

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

A little something for #blueskyartshow, Red poppies, the flower of military remembrance, growing in the #earth of Troy, site of the famous siege in ancient times.

0321

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Here's a bit of a different pic for ANZAC Day My Great Uncles' WW1 medals in their display case, with an ANZAC poppy on the case. Resting on a Turkish Kilim

A lounge room
Wooden cabinet to the left, a bookshelf to the right
in the middle a grey gas powered heater (not running) and leaning against it is a display case containing two sets of WW1 medals, on the case is an ANZAC poppy. On the floor is a Turkish Kilim (a rug) then grey carpet

070

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

This picture does have Uncle Mac in it. It was taken Aug 1917 outside the YMCA in London. Uncle is 3rd from the right at the back of the bus. He had come over as part of the 24th re-enforcements & was assigned to the Otago Infantry Battalion later.

A group of NZ WW1 Soldiers on and standing beside a horse drawn bus.
The bus driver has a top hat on and there is a lady standing with the soldiers on the ground. Many of the soldiers have a walking stick.
Notes on the back say it was taken outside the YMCA in London in Aug 1917

0100

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

One of Uncle Mac's WW1 pics for the Aussies on ANZAC Day. I think these guys are Australians by the slouch hats, but the pic is only focussed in the middle and I can't pick out any details. An officer and a Sergeant have flat officer style hats on.

A group of Austrailian(?) WW1 soldiers, a b/w picture, a Sergeant in the lower middle and an officer upper middle have officer style hats on , the rest have slouch hats worn in the Aussie style

070

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Here's Great Uncle Mac (Frank MacDonald) with a couple of his mates. Uncle is seated in the middle Uncle Mac served in WW1 on the Western Front, his brother Gordon was killed on the Somme with the NZ rifle brigade. Uncle was lucky and came home. I have their medals & photos & some other memorabilia

3 WW1 NZ soldiers, the seated one in the middle is Frank MacDonald

060

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

The funny thing is poppies also grow wild not far from Gallipoli. On the other side of the Dardanelles, on the Anatolian mainland and about opposite Gallipoli I took this picture of poppies growing wild. These poppie were growing on the site of an older battle, at Troy!

Wild poppies (red flowers) growing at Troy in Turkey

020

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Lone Pine and The Nek for an Aussie from a Kiwi. My sister is a civilian with the NZ Army & gave me ANZAC Poppies to take to Gallipoli. I placed some on the memorials. At Lone Pine I gave them to an Aussie member of our tour group to place where she thought appropriate.

The memorial to the fallen at The Nek. If you look closely you can see the ANZAC poppies I placed at the base of the memorial

020

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Coming to the end of ANZAC Day in NZ, the day we remember our war dead. 25 April 1915 Aussie & NZ forces went ashore at Gallipoli in Türkiye. The campaign was a disaster with heavy loss of life on both sides. Here are some Pics from the memorials at Gallipoli taken last year

The Memorial to the New Zealanders on the hill top of Chunik Bair. This is made of stone and bears the names of the dead on either side. In the distance on the right the Turkish flag flies over a statue of Atatürk

A Turkish cemetery and memorial. In the foreground on the left visitors, on the right red rose bushes. Grave markers receed into the distance and in the disance is a tower , the main memorial. On the left flies the Turkish flag

Lone Pine, the Australian memorial and cemetery. In the distance the main memorial. On the left a Lone Pine, and under it grave markers. There are more rows of grave markers behind where I took this picture

The Beach Cemetery, NZers and Aussies are buried here together. They died here on arrival or of wounds waiting to be evacuated to hospital ships . In the centre the main memorial, in the distance the steep country behind the beach at ANZAC cove. People are looking at the grave markers on the middle left

071

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Coming home in the evening the light was again good for photos. The picture of the jetty is almost sepia toned by the natural light. the pic in the middle is a long shot showing from the jetty round to the boats at anchor. Still obsessed with the shadows on the hills on the other side of the inlet

Jetty and boats, the sun is setting so the colour of the scene has faded to alomost sepia. Jetty on the left in the mid ground, boats on the right in the channels, muddy shore in the foreground

Wide shot of the bay, muddy foreshore stretching into the distance, calm waters reflecting the sky and distant hills, boats to the right, jetty to the left.

Boats at anchor in the inlet, a wide stretch of muddy foreshore in the foreground and in the distance the shadows on the rumpled hills

1161

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Some pictures from this morning going to work. The low angle of the morning sun really lifts these pics

Boat sheds, a small jetty and some boats on a sunny morning

looking over an orange flowering bush and a boat shed roof to a boat at anchorin the still waters. A small jetty to the right. Hills in the distance
Calm waters of the Pauahatanui inlet

Boats at anchor in the morning sun, shadows on the hill in the distance show the shape of the land

0110

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

This is a Pohutukawa tree, the NZ Christmas tree because it flowers at Christmas (Summer) It is flowering The picture was taken today, mid April (Autumn) It must like it here in this carpark

A Pohutukawa tree in flower, it has red flowers. It is growing in a garden in a carpark, behind it the sky is blue with a few small clouds

0140

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Wellington harbour from Petone foreshore today. Two pics because I liked one & my wife liked the other. Matiu/Soames Island in both Petone wharf & Wellington in the distance in the righthand one Eastbourne on the left of the lefthand pic, with the harbour entrance just left of Matiu/Soames Is.

Beach grass and sand in the foreground, waters of Wellington Harbour, in the distance Matiu/Soames Island, hills either side and the clear blue sky beyond

0120

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

It was a sunny Autumn weekend First up a rural scene, Saturday evening about 6 pm, looking over the Whitemans Valley from the Wallaceville Hill Rd, Upper Hutt, NZ. The valley floor is mostly peat swamp. The lines of bush are mainly native manuka. Dratted gorse on the right

Farmland and bush, in the distance hills and smoke rising. In the foreground on the right gorse flowering, on the left the top of a fence post. Whiteman's Valley Upper Hutt NZ

0100

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

They are a great tree. They grow fast, have lovely flowers, which smell heavenly and attract bees and nectar drinking birds. We have two of them in our front yard that are not yet 25 years old. Here they are blooming, last Sept (spring for us)

Two Pawlonia trees blooming on a sunny spring day, flowering cherry to the left, lawn in the fore ground

120

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Today was a good day for a photo Pauahatanui inlet, a couple of boats at anchor in the late afternoon sun.

Two boats at anchor in the late afternoon sun. Foreground is the muddy foreshore, background is the hill lit by the sun from the left and showing the shape of the land in the shadows. Some houses to the right hand side. Pauahatanui inlet, Porirua, NZ

1160

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

I took this picture on the way home from work today, I just love the way the low angle of the light shows each hump and hollow. It's like a crumpled blanket. This is straight off the phone, it almost has an oil painting effect about it. Anyway, Pauatahanui inlet, NZ

Low afternoon sun on the hills across the Pauahatanui inlet, showing up the humps and hollows of the land, the waters of the inlet and the beach in the foreground

070

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Its getting closer! 6 weeks untill we depart on our way to this place.

The dome and minaret of the Kilich Ali Pasha Mosque, down on the Waterfront, Istanbul. Framed by trees

070

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

From our dining room, pre-dawn, August (winter) 2015, 0645 #BlueSkyArtShow, #silhouette

Silhouette of trees, dominated by the Pawlonia to the left, looking into the foggy pre-dawn, the sky is a light purple

0291

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

A couple of contributions for the #BlueSkyArtShow, #Arch A profusion of arches in a Caravansarai in Türkiye and The entrance to the Underworld, Temple of Hades, Heiropolis

Stone arches holding up the roof of a caravansarai, people wandering about and the light coming in centre frame in the distance

Looking down on a stone archway leading to "The Underworld" greenish water outide the archway and inside too. This is the temple of Hades (Greek god of the Underworld), at Heiropolis in Türkiye

0260

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Thank you, It's an amazing place to visit. There are some other modern sculptures in there, and also some ancient pieces such as the medusa heads at the base of two columns. Here are a few more pics from our visit.

Jellyfish sculpture in the Basilica Cistern. The Jellyfish are lit from inside and the columns of the basilica cistern form a backdrop into the distance They are also lit, from below

Medusa sculpture, with its shadow on the wall, Basilca Cistern, Istanbul

Stone carved head of the Medusa, upside down to break its power, behind to the left is another medusa head, this time on it's side. They form bases for slightly shorter columns to stand on, in the Basilica Cistern Istanbul

Columns in the Basilica Cistern. Emperor Justinian had these columns brought from ancient sites to build the cistern. Here the lighting shows Greek letters on the one nearer the camera and and decorative whorls on another in the distance on the left

181

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Like and yet unlike, Basilica Cistern, Istanbul. Also originally an industrial facility, an underground water storage reservoir, built much longer ago though, about 530 CE. 📷 mine

Columns and arches in the Basilica Cistern, Istanbul, reflected in the water on the floor, lit greeny blue. Front left is a modern sculpture, columns recede into the distance.

2334

rufusredbeard.bsky.social @rufusredbeard.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Balloons are so photogenic These were in Cappadocia in Türkiye. The right hand picture brought to mind the phrase from Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy "They hung in the sky the way that bricks don't"

Hot air balloon getting ready to launch, lit by fire inside, early morning, clear blue sky in the background

A sky full of hot air balloons lifting off in Cappadocia, central foreground a green and white striped balloon is lit from the inside by its burner.

172