And now heavy rain and lightning. ⚡️
The forecast was for heavy rain and thunderstorms. Well the slight rain evaporated as soon as it hit the ground but now at least we have dark clouds and thunder.
Woolworths is building a new supermarket just behind the shopping centre.
4D. I thought long and hard about how to describe this amazing book, and 4-dimensional was what I decided on. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel: 📚
a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again
This book is funny, sad, complicated, and deeply textured. There are no easy answers, but in a family founded on love and what will be best for a child, somehow they muddle through.
The language was clever too. I saved half a dozen selections. Here's one:
Everyone’s someone else sometimes. Everyone transforms.
Two of these were today's find in a rare Op Shop visit. Claude tells me what it's called:
Tennis set or tennis plate is the name you’ll often see in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The idea was that you could hold your plate and cup in one hand and chat at a tennis party.
It's perfect for the table beside my chair, to hold a small teapot and tea glass.
Back in May 2021 I reported on my heritage according to Ancestry.com:
Looks like there’s a bit of Scots (18%) and even Norwegian (10%) tossed in.
Now, 5 years later, they've refined their reporting and results better match my expectation: my ancestors largely came from the south of England.
I so much enjoy this author and this series. I almost hate reading them because then it'll be finished. 😆 Murder at River Ranch (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 8) by Anne Shillolo. 📚
An experienced ranch employee is lying dead in the barn, and three youths who were attending a spring riding camp are standing nearby, one clutching a shovel.
Are the teenagers suspects or witnesses?
Went for an early brisk walk along the river, which was very enjoyable. Someone was out on their stand up paddle board.
Abandoned for sexism and the male protagonist's attitudes and actions to the female mission partner — The Complete Genesis Earth Trilogy by Joe Vasicek. 📚
when his scientist parents open a wormhole and discover signs of intelligent life on the other side, Michael is the only planetologist young enough to voyage to the alien star.
He is not alone. Terra, his mission partner, is no more of an adult than he is.
The first person narrative adds force to the boy's invasion of the girl's privacy. I left the book where he was intimidating and threatening physical violence. I don't need to read that.
While early voting opened a week ago, our local booth only opened today. At least 70 other people and I all thought arriving within a few minutes of opening time would mean we'd be the only one there. 🤣
Had to queue for 20 minutes but otherwise it was all smooth.
I hope we kick the current lot out.
Heh, I commonly don't respond to surveys. This one was too good to pass up, since the chain of events so far is: 1] ask for support 2] receive automated email that my request was received 3] survey asking about my experience.
I cheerfully gave it the lowest possible ranking and explained why.
Deb and I drove to Mt Parihaka in central Whangārei and walked up to the lookout from the nearest parking spot. A very pleasant outing.
An ancient volcano, the Parihaka Scenic Reserve was once reputedly the site of the largest pā in New Zealand.
Photos…
Restoration of the Parihaka name returned mana (pride and honour) to the maunga (mountain) and its hapū (tribespeople). … this event [gained] symbolic recognition [with] a kohatu whakamaumahara, a commemoration stone.
Unfortunately every career comes to an end, but the series has been excellent and this was a good finale. MURDER MOST FINAL (DI Hillary Greene Book 23) by Faith Martin. 📚
This is the case that Hillary’s boss, Superintendent Rollo Sale, has never been able to forget. Now he’s about to retire, he asks the cold case team to pull out all the stops. This could be Hillary Greene’s final investigation.
The first strawberry from the food forest this spring. Yum.
Deb's very happy with the spring garden, including the budding magnolia and the red manuka.
A bit relieved to have finished Poison Point (Wild Blue Air Mysteries Book 1) by Sabine Frisch: 📚
When Barry Barton books a flight to his new cottage on Poison Point, Elle gets a close look at the man who's become the most hated person in Blind Cove.
It was a bit repetitive and quite unlikely. At one point I checked the author was actually a human and not an AI. It just grated on me somewhat. Book 2 won't be in my future.
On my Mac, while I listen to podcasts, I enjoy doing jigsaws from Kristanix Games:
Over 20,000 beautiful, HD photographs, in more than 400 different packs!
Get a new free puzzle daily!
New puzzle packs added regularly!
And for this, my graphics tablet makes a world of difference for moving pieces. With a recent update though the tablet stopped working.
I emailed support, received a friendly reply within a couple of hours, and now the problem's been fixed.
Quick, easy effective.
If you're into Jigsaws, Mahjong, Sudoku, Solitaire or WordSearch, I totally recommend these.
Tūturiwhatu | NZ Dotterels are small birds, about twice the size of a sparrow, but way heavier. Dotterel: Length: 25 cm; Weight: 146 g vs Sparrow: Length: 15 cm; Weight: 28 g. 🐦
New Zealand dotterels are found on or near the coast around much of the North Island.
So this afternoon when I realised the 'leaf' blowing along the beach was in fact a Dotterel chick, you can imagine just how tiny it was (well, 3 of them actually). I kept my distance.
I'm still hoping to see one of these birds for myself one day, especially since they're literally just down the road — Saving Tara-iti shell by shell: 🐦
On an overcast winter's day at Bream Bay, about 20 people are doing something that, at first glance, seems a little odd.
They are shovelling shells into hessian sacks and moving them from one part of the beach to another. But the painstaking work has a purpose: creating safe places for tara-iti, New Zealand fairy tern, to nest.
There are only about 45 of the birds left, making the subspecies one of New Zealand's rarest endemic breeding bird.
I biked to the racecourse entrance to the beach and did a walk. Being a holiday there were a bunch of people fishing, kayaking, lying or walking on the sand and going in the water. My video doesn't show them. 😆
For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊