I think this is the same Dotterel chick I took a photo of a couple of days ago. Today I spotted its one or two siblings (they move so fast I just wasn't sure if it was 2 chicks or 3). 🐦

Dotterel chick on sand.

Cooking Tip: Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:

It’s easy to make perfect, easy to peel, hard boiled eggs with no green ring.

That was fun, with such excellent and well-known musical pieces — The Magic Flute:

a 2022 German musical fantasy film directed by Florian Sigl and written by Andrew Lowery, based on the 1791 opera of the same name by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. … Seventeen arias from The Magic Flute are featured in the film, performed by the individual actors.

The Magic Flute poster.

Today I made this Creamy Body Wash:

  • 50 g hot water
  • 25 g coconut oil
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
  • 200 g water – additional
  • 100 g liquid castile soap
  • 30-50 drops essential oils

I used 25 drops lemon, 15 lavender, 15 bergamot.

Tomorrow I get to see how it turned out.

Another enjoyable adventure with this young group of friends — Ithaka Rising: Halcyone Space, book 2 by LJ Cohen. 📚

When Barre's brother Jem disappears, Barre and Ro race to find him before he sells his future and risks his mind for a black market neural implant.

Book cover: Ithaka rising.

Look at all that fluff! I think this Barbary Dove was just a youngster. 🐦

Barbary dove with white and brown feathers and what looks like chick down.

The forecast for the next few days at Ruakākā and Waikawa Beach shows a bit of difference. 🥵

Ruakākā temperatures - daytime high 20s Celsius - vs Waikawa Beach - below 20 C.

I enjoy a bit of heat!

A month ago Cheri posted a no-knead bread recipe; today I finally tried baking it.

Crusty ✔︎; easy to make ✔︎. It didn't rise a whole lot and was a little doughy but it tastes great all the same.

Maybe next time I'll give it longer in the first stage of preparation.

Round loaf of cooked bread.

Three of 5 well-grown Black swan cygnets on lake Puna o te Ora. 🐦

3 large cygnets with brown feathers float on a small lake.

I enjoyed the movie Space Oddity. 🎥

Alex is going to Mars — it was a dream he and his big brother had. But then Daisy comes along …

Space Oddity poster.

This littlie was hopping / fluttering along the beach. 🐦

Small sparrow-like bird with spiky hairdo.

Research and a bit of guessing led me to believe it is a Kairaka | Eurasian skylark:

A small brown and creamy-buff bird with off-white underparts, streaked breast and throat, variegated brown upperparts, a sturdy horn-coloured bill that is yellow-brown at the base, and pink legs and feet with a long slightly curved hind toe. Adults have a faint mask of pale feathers around and behind the eye, and a small streaked crest on the hind crown that is raised when alert.

I tried this Vegetable Lo Mein recipe and was very pleased with how it came out.

I couldn't get snow peas or chow mein noodles, but random noodles worked fine. I added snow pea shoots.

Easy to cook and delicious.

Bowl of vege lo mein.

OK, this excellent word puzzle is going in my daily puzzle set: Gisnep | Daily Quote Puzzle.

Screenshot of a word puzzle where you have to fgure out a quote from letters and empty squares provided.

Via: Lynneguist List.

The Poaka | Pied Stilt babies can only be seen from quite far away. There are 3 here, between their parent and the log. 🐦

Pied stilt chicks behind parent, just entering a pond.

Here's a very cropped view.

Stilt babies closer, as they enter the pond.

This Tūturiwhatu | New Zealand dotterel parent is keeping a very close eye on me. 🐦

Dotterel adult.

Why? because I was taking photos (at some distance) of its baby.

Tiny dotterel chick.

Good grief! Hanging out in the public library while my car's serviced. My phone has no signal so I'm using the free WiFi. When I try to do Lex's word games I get this notice:

URL blocked: newly observed domain.

Weird notification as I hotspot on my MacBook Pro from my iPhone:

Low Battery Do you want to disconnect from Naida Phone?
Low Battery Do you want to disconnect from Naida Phone?

My iPhone charge is 100%; my MacBook Pro charge is 92%. Huh?

Sand scarab closeup.
Sand Scarab.

 

Sand scarab track weaves all over the sand, circles round a few times, as though the scarab was very drunk.
Man, that party last night was a blast!

Recently hatched Oystercatcher sticking close to mum. 🐦

Baby Oystercatcher on the beach, close to an adult.

This little mite hopped away from our front door when I went out. Eventually it found a spot in a pile of shingle. Sparrow presumably. 🐦

Baby sparrow.