Last weekend we bought rather firm kiwifruit from the grower at the Whangārei market. She gave us good tips: don't store them in the fridge, do prick each end about 4 times around the centre point to help with ripening.
Today's fruit were just right for ripeness. 😁
Who knew!? I can't use screens in a moving vehicle, so I've turned this on and may eventually find out if it works — Vehicle Motion Cues — a.k.a. Apple’s Weird Anti-Nausea Dots:
Introduced in 2024, Apple’s Vehicle Motion Cues promise to tap into your device’s accelerometer and gyroscope to reduce or, in my case, even eliminate the motion sickness felt when trying to use an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook inside a moving vehicle.
I enjoyed reading Death on the Norfolk Broads (Detective Geldard Mysteries Book 2) by Heather Peck. 📚
A farmworker spots a human arm among a crate of dead turkeys. It’s DCI Geldard’s first day with Norfolk Police, and he didn’t expect to be dealing with murder quite so soon.
It looks like an accident. But a closer inspection reveals signs of foul play
The ending felt a bit rushed and unsatisfying though.
It's disappointing to know that this still goes on: When you have a name people say is 'too hard':
Like many students with a non-English name, illustrator Hingyi Khong and I vividly recall the anxiety and awkward pause before teachers called out our names on the school roll.
"A former high school English teacher once shortened my name to a single H for an entire year," Khong says.
Half a century ago when I was at school, one of my classmates had Yagodzenski as her last name. Teachers would stumble over it and end up on "Yag". It wasn't even hard — you just had to ignore the "z".
I walked briefly along the beach off the end of Mair Road today. Before I walked down to the sand I noticed 4 ships all close together on the horizon and took a photo. I suspect they're logging ships.
Once I was down on the beach the sun made a brief appearance and lit the ships.
This was a delightful 20 minute short film on YouTube — A Friend of Dorothy - full Oscar nominated short film starring Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Fry:
Dorothy (BAFTA winner Miriam Margolyes) is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ (Alistair Nwachukwu) accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy’s daily routine of pills, prunes and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
Season 12 of The Brokenwood Mysteries was excellent! I hope there will be a Season 13. 📺
I read this book in dribs and drabs over the course of a year — Rare Tongues: The Secret Stories of Hidden Languages by Lorna Gibb. 📚
From the whistling languages of La Gomera in the Canary Islands and the Hmong people in East and Southeast Asia, to the wars and clashes in Sri Lanka and the conservation efforts in Hawaii and New Zealand, Rare Tongues draws attention to how language and culture are becoming increasingly homogenous, and what we risk losing as a result.
There were many interesting tidbits, such as:
State control is easier when you can control the words people use.
And this, which echoes word for word statements made in Aotearoa about bilingual road signs:
… those in Scotland who are angered by Gaelic on road signs. ‘Why should the majority have to put up with it? It’s a tiny group of speakers who all know English anyway’ is a common lament. ‘Why are we paying for this extra signage?’
This book was fine, and had its moments but overall just didn't grab me. I won't bother with more in the series — Augusta Hawke (Augusta Hawke Mysteries Book 1) by G.M. Malliet. 📚
In Chapter 1, I liked:
The romance novel wouldn’t get off the ground; it may have been a case of my being unable to write what I didn’t know, but my attempt described two people so insipid I couldn’t stand to be in the room with either of them for the year or more it takes to write a book.
This is so cool — Researchers use tiny radio backpacks to track elusive gecko species | RNZ News:
The northern striped gecko live on Coromandel Peninsula and are so skilled at camouflage, they weren't discovered until 1997.
University of Otago zoologist Dr Jo Monks and masters student Harriet Wills have tracked them for the past few months, by attaching small radio transmitters to their backs.
We had brunch yesterday at Jolt Cafe in Maunu. I enjoyed a bagel with cream cheese, salmon, avocado, poached egg and spinach, along with a sencha green tea.
We arrived at the Whangārei Farmers Market at 8 — latecomers, judging by the number of people already leaving with bulging bags and the crowd still browsing. There wasn't a good spot for a picture showing the numerous stalls; this was just a part.
We came home with a good haul of fruit and veg.
Off to The Whangarei Growers Market (FB link) this Saturday morning. I'm hoping to find some local EV olive oils.
will one muffin harm you? Categorically no. If you ate 3 muffins a day for a year, then yes, that wouldn’t do you much good but one muffin on a Wednesday afternoon – let it go.
Treat every meal as a fresh start. Your next choice is way more important than your last one.
Source: Dr Ruth Machin - Nutrition and health coach for women over 50, newsletter, 12 June 2026, on the perils of perfectionism. (My emphasis)
Juxtaposition of the day.
Seen through the window, goldfinches chaffinches on the lawn. 🐦
Oops, a reader has pointed out these are goldfinches.
I feel a little churlish in saying this book from a "prestigious" and "award winning author" was only OK. I was drawn to the book because it was free, and it's set around Matakana, about an hour's drive from where I live. Rings On Water (The Matakana Series Book 2) by Madeleine Eskedahl. 📚
what seems to be a straightforward case of an unfortunate death turns into a complex web of small town secrets and desire for revenge that will soon place Bill's family in danger.
I'm inclined to think a good editor could have removed a good 50% of the word "and" where sentences should have been structured differently (it really bugged me).
The tourist promo stuff about Matakana was also annoying. It made me think of the first two episodes of NCIS Sydney where they basically spent all their time pointing out they were in Australia.
The plot also needed tightening up.
The fact that I hadn't already read Book 1 of the series suggests I'd previously looked at a sample and decided against it.
Obviously, a lot of other people enjoyed this book more than I did.
This morning's beach walk was crisp (8C), but gorgeous.
So interesting! I had no idea different kinds of rice affected things this much, or how the amount of water is so important — This 37 minute video will change the how you think about Rice:
If you have ever struggled with cooking rice at home, or have ever wondered when, if, or how much you should wash your rice. It's not your fault...the way we’ve conventionally been taught how to cook rice at home is completely backwards.
Every delay to this crazy sand mining proposal is good news — Bream Bay sand mining proposal on hold as McCallum Brothers seek time - NZ Herald:
The fast-track panel has hit pause on McCallum Brothers Ltd’s application to mine sand in Bream Bay, granting the company more time to respond to submissions.
In a minute issued last week, the panel confirmed the pause from June 2 after McCallum Brothers sought extra time to address 46 submissions from invited parties – many backed by detailed material and expert evidence – allowing technical review and preparation of its response.