This was such a lovely 18 minute movie. Do watch! Butter Tea - New Tibetan Short Film (Losar 2026) - YouTube:
In a small Tibetan cafe in Queens, a cup of butter tea becomes a bridge between generations.
A couple of great photos of the giant wind turbine parts on their way across the motu — Kaiwaikawe wind farm convoys begin: First giant parts leave Northport - NZ Herald:
The first convoy of windfarm parts leaves Northport for the Kaiwaikawe project site, 12 kms north of Dargaville. Photo / Robyn Anderson
Look how huge they are:
Massive components for the Kaiwaikawe Wind Farm await specialist delivery on the wharf at Northport.
Today's mystery: a low flying helicopter dangling a shiny cylindrical object below, flying in odd patterns nearby.
I wouldn't have thought they'd mount a camera or other sensor like this rather than affixed to the structure of the helicopter, but who knows…
One of my favourite series continues — Death by the Dozen by D.B. Borton: 📚
When a local historian begs Cat to find the villain who stole her beloved pig — Gertie, a cupcake-loving micro-mini with a mischievous streak — Cat figures it’s a simple petnapping. Sorry, pignapping. Until the trail leads to a dead human body.
Can't wait for the Thirteen book.
We visited Harbour Keys Cafe at One Tree Point where I ate quite a bit of a huge plate of honey roasted oats with fruit and greek yoghurt.
For unknown reasons I'd thought it'd be porridge …
Now every time I see a heron within cooee of our place I wonder if it's one of 'our' herons. In this case it was at the beach close to our house. 🐦
After yesterday's dog minding our friends took us to Ainga, beside the Ruakākā Tavern, for Japanese Western Fusion food. Ruakaka Tavern and Ainga.
I ordered
Roasted plum Duck
Roast duck in plum sauce, bok choy, shitake mushroom, cinnamon, cashew nuts
which was delicious, though I suspect I anticipate enjoying duck more than I actually do enjoy it.
The others all enjoyed their meals too.
Today's mid-summer supermarket craziness: $6 per head for iceberg lettuce.
Perhaps, to be fair, lettuces are mainly grown in the places covered by the 8 weather-related States of Emergency declared in Aotearoa so far in 2026. Severe weather States of Emergency in 2026 already match last year.
I love learning about the science of tea — The Hidden Half of L-Theanine NOBODY Talks About | NEW (2026) Science Reveals What It ACTUALLY Does (18 minute video):
In this video:
- The science of ammonium toxicity and how tea plants "detox" using theanine.
- How L-theanine acts as a high-speed nitrogen storage molecule.
- Plant Stress Defense: Why insects and temperature change your tea’s chemistry, and how L-theanine stands at the center of it all.
- Tea Processing Secrets: Why green tea and yellow tea have the highest theanine levels compared to oolong, black, or white teas.
We have Boo visiting today, so took her for a walk past the paddocks beside the racecourse as far as the beach. 🐶
With an offshore wind the waves were very calm.
For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
This 20 minute video was so interesting — The Longevity Metric Nobody Is Tracking (It’s Hiding in Your Smartwatch):
We’ll cover:
- What heart rate variability actually measures
- How the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic vs parasympathetic) controls it
- Why low HRV predicts cardiovascular disease, sudden cardiac death, insulin resistance, and accelerated biological ageing
- How HRV connects to inflammation (CRP), visceral fat, and metabolic health
- What counts as a “good” HRV (RMSSD ranges explained)
- How alcohol, poor sleep, stress, and overtraining suppress vagal tone
- Science-backed ways to improve HRV — including Zone 2 cardio, VO₂ max training, breathwork, sleep optimisation, and stress regulation
- How to use HRV as a daily behaviour feedback tool (without becoming obsessive)
When you think our government has reached the bottom, they manage to dig a bigger hole.
Environment comes last as Government abolishes dedicated ministry – Greens:
“At a time when climate change is flooding our communities week after week, costing billions of dollars, lives, and livelihoods, this Government’s response is to dismantle the ministry responsible for environmental protection.
“Abolishing the Ministry to streamline consent processes for roads and mining tells you exactly what this Government values more. It is economic growth at any cost.
“Adding an ‘E’ to a new super-ministry and expecting New Zealanders to believe the environment will be looked after is fooling no one. New Zealanders deserve so much better,” said Pham.
It's been almost 2 years since I read the previous in series, mainly because of price. This book was reduced, and still a great read!
Gathering Mist: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima. 📚
Deputy Mattie Wray, formerly Mattie Cobb, is summoned to Washington’s Olympic peninsula for an urgent search and rescue mission to find a celebrity’s missing child.
This clarifies why the AI written book I read recently was so bland — Semantic ablation: Why AI writing is boring and dangerous:
When an author uses AI for "polishing" a draft, they are not seeing improvement; they are witnessing semantic ablation. The AI identifies high-entropy clusters – the precise points where unique insights and "blood" reside – and systematically replaces them with the most probable, generic token sequences. What began as a jagged, precise Romanesque structure of stone is eroded into a polished, Baroque plastic shell: it looks "clean" to the casual eye, but its structural integrity – its "ciccia" – has been ablated to favor a hollow, frictionless aesthetic.
I enjoyed Hell to Pay: A Texas Private Investigator Mystery (Iris Raines Mystery) by Denise Diana Huddle. 📚
This gritty Texas private investigator mystery is fast-paced and relentless—blending danger, corruption, dark humor, and shocking turns into an explosive ride.
The author spent decades as an investigator which lends authenticity to this fictional case but I have a major quibble about the story. I don't want to give anything away but it did taint the book for me.
Excellent 26 minute interview — Expert Feature: What happens to all that space junk? | RNZ:
What happens when satellites stop working? As the saying goes, what goes up, must come down, so will we see more space junk landing on earth? Here to help answer those questions and more, Jesse is joined by Dr Samantha Lawler, professor of astronomy at the University of Regina in Canada, and Erskine Fellow for the University of Canterbury.
Today I enjoyed a brief but pleasant walk to Raumanga Falls:
a cascading 15m waterfall.
The crickets were loud but the video didn't pick them up.
I picked up a 1cm crack in my windscreen. Today I took the car to Smith and Smith Whangārei where parking was horrendous, the staff person friendly, but booking a chip repair via the Reception tablet defeated me.
I called in to a place up the road from home and they repaired it while I waited. 👍
After brunch at One Tree Point our friend A, from Leigh, a 90 minute drive south, invited us to visit so we did.
She had made two loaves of bread: a buckwheat loaf and a spelt sourdough. Both were delicious.
My cup of tea at The Anchorage this morning came with a shortbread and glitter heart, presumably left over from Valentine's Day. Delish.
