Tenacity, persistence, perseverance, determination, stubbornness … whatever words you use to describe “hanging in there” and “sheer bloody-mindedness”, this would be used to illustrate it in the picture-dictionary!

At Maraetotara Falls, Hawkes Bay, there is a gnarled and twisted totara literally growing through the rock. Some time in the the distant past, a seed dropped into a crack or hollow in the top of this rock formation, and the roots worked their way downward, splitting the rock over time and finally reaching the soil below. To me, this is the epitome of tenacity!

Just hope I don’t have to persevere for that long before my roots finally feel the soil!