I didn't like this book at all, and ended up skipping about a third of it only to read an unsatisfying end. The book was very little about Naomi Blake and mostly about an unpleasant group of people called Simon, Tally and Jack. The Camera Never Lies (Naomi Blake Mysteries Book 2) by Jane Adams. 📚

Simon thought he’d found something real with Tally Palmer, a brilliant photographer. Then, without warning, she ended things and vanished from his life. Heartbroken and unable to move on, he starts digging for answers — tracking her, questioning old friends, even compiling a secret file.

Book cover: The Camera Never Lies.

I'm wishing I hadn't already bought the third in the series and annoyingly Amazon won't let me return that unread book for a refund.

Got up to check out the helicopter flying overhead before dawn — rather unusual, but then I realised it'd be on its way to a Dawn Parade for Anzac Day.

Then I spotted the waning crescent of the Moon in the East with Venus and what turns out to be Saturn (not seen in the photo) right below.

Moon and venus.

It's quite something when the helicopter pilot flies at eye level straight towards our lounge window and then banks at the last moment only about 50 metres away. The video doesn't show the window vibrating and the air pulsing.

I've been watching Cornwall Air 999 - Cornwall Air Ambulance and have two key take aways: I won't be climbing any more ladders, nor will I be going anywhere on a two-wheeled motor bike. 😆

This gripping documentary series follows the dedicated air ambulance crews of Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust as they race against time to save lives across the stunning landscapes of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Landed an hour or so ago in the paddock next door. Perhaps it's picnic time … 🤣

A black helicopter with spray arms attached sits in front of a wall of hay bales, with a tractor nearby.

Wow, I had no idea this was possible — Text Fragments Enable Deep Linking on Web Pages. The article explains more what deep linking is and how it works.

I encourage you to start using text fragment links when you share information from the Web—people might not realize why the experience is better, but they’ll appreciate not having to hunt for the information you’re referencing.

What a big High over the country does: a couple of days ago it was 29C (about 85F) mid-afternoon; this morning we had our first frost of the year.

Temperature readings show a high of 29.1C on 10 April 2025 and a low of 4.3C on 24 April 2025.
Red car with frost on the roof and windscreen.

With Easter over I ventured out early to the supermarket today. In the fruit and vege section the shelves were mainly empty! At first I blamed Easter but then recalled most of the country has had awful weather over the last week, so maybe it's supply chain issues.

This second book was a bit too unbelievable, a bit too glaringly obvious. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first. A Case for the Yarn Maker (Ainsley McGregor Book 2) by Candace Havens. 📚

It’s all fun and games until George Clooney, Ainsley’s Great Dane, finds Ms. Yarn’s dead body in a booth at Bless Your Art. Now the prime suspect is Mrs. Whedon, and while she’s not the easiest woman to get along with, there’s no way she’s the killer.

Book cover: A Case for the Yarn Maker.

Very readable: The Complete Travelling Cook Mysteries 📚

At just under $2 it made sense to buy this 7-book box set for the two books in the series I hadn't yet read. Totally enjoyed them too! Martin skilfully provides all the clues to the reader, but it's Jenny Starling who puts them together.

The Complete Travelling Cook Mysteries by Faith Martin. 📚

Book cover: The Complete Travelling Cook Mysteries.

A random favourite passage:

Jenny Starling turned a corner in the seventeenth-century stone-lined corridor, and came face to face with a stuffed owl. The owl, it has to be said, looked somewhat surprised. The travelling cook not so much.

See also The Jenny Starling Mysteries Books 1–4 and The Country Inn Mystery (Jenny Starling Book 7).

In this set I read:

  1. The Oxford Mystery
  2. The Teatime Mystery

How flu vaccines are created

This is interesting, about how flu vaccines are created —

Five flu vaccines are available this year - which one should you get?:

Since the 1950s, the most common way flu vaccines are made is by growing the virus in embryonated chicken eggs.

When the United States experienced an egg shortage recently, with avian influenza partly to blame, the appeal of alternative vaccine-manufacturing processes became clear.

Cell-based vaccines - grown in mammalian cells instead of eggs - are the way of the future, according to Turner.

Are they more effective? Again, no randomised trials compare the efficacy of egg-based and cell-based vaccines, but some studies have shown the latter to be slightly better at preventing illness.

Also interesting:

In healthy adults, data collated by Te Whatu Ora suggests the level of protection against confirmed influenza is between 59-66 percent.

Woke at 3 am from a ridiculous (and unpleasant) dream. Told my brain the concepts it was playing with there just don't work and to try out other ideas instead.

Made a cuppa to help settle back down.

Two Pied Stilts at the beach today: one doing yoga and the other taking a bath. 😆 🐦

Pied Stilt stands on one leg in shallow water; the other leg is bent at the knee so the two legs seems to make a figure 4; a drop of water hangs at the tip of its beak.
A pied stilt floats on the water, with its beak angled down and slightly open; splashes of water rise up from where it dipped its beak in.

Speaking as a person who does not live and has never lived in any kind of combat zone, I believe the single biggest threat to any human on this plant is climate change. Threat of climate change downgraded in defence force plan | RNZ News:

The 2025 Defence Capability Plan downgrades climate change to two mentions in a single paragraph - both about climate change posing a threat to Pacific Island countries.

The plan is a blueprint for how the government will invest $12 billion over the next four years for a "modern, combat-capable" New Zealand Defence Force.

It said New Zealand was facing "the most challenging and dangerous strategic environment in decades".

$12 billion could do so much good in this world …

So many quotable parts in the article about Mae West, but I chose this one. I had no idea Mae West was so interesting and staunch. Forgotten Hollywood: Mae West:

She refused to wear the costume department’s diamonds and wore her own real ones. “They only had fakes and I couldn’t have them next to my skin. They’d have given me a rash.”

Bit of a headache this afternoon and very slightly concerned about a bit of red in the corner of one eye, so I looked for a Favourite photo. This Kea from 2007. Possibly taken at Arthur's Pass. 🐦

NZ native parrot closeup. The kea is a large, strong-flying, olive-green parrot with scarlet underwings and a slender grey-black bill.

Watch the 8 minute video of Hannah Einbinder — it's such a powerful speech.

Via Dorothy Surrenders: My Weekend Crush:

Hannah Einbinder should be rapidly becoming your favorite outspoken queer celebrity. Not just because she is openly queer and extremely talented and very funny and, yes, hot. But because she speaks out on what she believes. Speaks passionately, speaks clearly. Does not suffer bullshit. Uses her privilege and her platform for more than just glorifying herself.

While cleaning up my hard drive I stumbled on Xena: Warrior Princess, S01E15: Warrior … Princess and it was a very fun watch.

This is one of several episodes where Lucy Lawless plays Xena, but also plays Xena playing a princess, Diana. And Diana playing Xena.

She's brilliant!

Fight scene from the episode.
Fight scene.

I do like this author. I can't believe this is already Book 4 of 5. Death in the Hills (The Malvern Mysteries Book 4) by Kate Wells. 📚

When Jude Gray and DI Binnie Khatri join a local walking group, their expectations for a peaceful outing to the Malvern Hills takes a grim turn. Arguments abound, and the hike ends in tragedy when one of the walkers is found dead in her car.

Book cover: Death in the Hills.

A tiny group of vocal feminists set back women's autonomy

As a lifelong lesbian feminist one of the things I want most in the world is for people to stop telling me who I am and how I can be.

bigger issues apart from the obvious things like everyone having nutritious food, clean water, shelter, safety and an environment that supports life

So I see it as a massive own-goal by a small but very vocal group of misguided feminists to push those in power to confine and restrict our lives. What all people should be doing, in my opinion, is pushing to open up our lives, to be able to self-determine.

This post occasioned by these recent events:

All kinds of wrong!

For hundreds of years women in my parts of the world have fought to win me the right to vote, to have a career, to choose my own course in life, to wear the clothes I choose, to take part in public life, to borrow money, to love other women … so many choices in life.

These declarations and pronouncements are a huge step back and no feminists should be supporting them.