When I planted flaxes beside the driveway I made a big mistake, not thinking about how massive they'd get. From time to time I trim them. Before and after shots of one bush.

Bushy flax hangs across driveway.
The flax has been trimmed back on the driveway side.

We had a stack of (very heavy) concrete pavers that we kept when our rental property no longer needed them.

This week, in preparing our house for sale, I finally moved them into two spots: in front of the shed and in front of the tunnelhouse. 😅

10 Pavers placed in front of shed.
Half a dozen Pavers placed in front of the tunnelhouse .

Well, 7 years on Micro.Blog. My move in 2018 away from WordPress was a very good decision. I love this Micro.Blog community and the bloggers and creators who make it such an excellent place to blog. Thank you all.

Screenshot of intro post on 13 January 2018.

For the last few years I've tried to post something at least once per day. 😁

Before we can sell our house there's a heap of tasks to do. In the last couple of days I've been trimming flaxes. The zendo has been revealed!

Trimmed flaxes by small cedar building.

Trimming flaxes is very hard work! Cutting the leaves with a specialised flax knife is easy, but it's a lot of work to dispose of the waste.

I'm not a big fan of the romance genre, but sometimes make an exception for lesbian romance. I read Midnight Rainbows Over the Little Village (Broclington Romances Book 4) by Ella Cook. 📚

The book felt a little 'off' and I almost abandoned it part way through, but did read to the end.

I see the author lives with her husband, and perhaps that was the problem with the book for me: it was written by a straight woman who first 3 romance novels were about heterosexual couples.

Book cover: Midnight Rainbows.

Today we tried out the new restaurant Jamboree at Tatum, where I ate a pretty good:

Korean fried chicken
Served with steam rice, seaweed salad, pickel daikon.

The building and grounds have an interesting history.

The freshly renovated venue is a bit lacking in character, but the food was good.

Korean fried chicken heaped on rice, with daikon, carrot julienne and tomato quarters, all on an enamel plate.

Overall a fair read — Gale Force Danger (The Rán Hollander Mystery Series Book 2) by Lakota Grace. 📚

Rán Hollander, Investigative Consultant, returns from vacation to find her desk at the constable’s office usurped by a brash rookie cop determined to make his mark. When a dead body is discovered near Rán's childhood home, the young cop goes rogue, and chaos ensues.

Book cover: Gale Force Danger.

Today was pizza day.

Small pizza in a box.

I mainly enjoyed the movie Good Grief:

follows a man mourning the loss of his husband as his two best friends help him on his journey of grief and acceptance.

There was a bit in the middle where it felt rather bogged down, but it was a pleasing exploration of love, friendship and difficulties.

Good Grief poster.

In today's news — smoke is smoky. Large vegetation fire at Whangārei Heads triggers emergency response | RNZ News:

A large amount of smoke can be seen at Whangārei Heads. A resident in the area says it is smoky.

Screenshot of page shows a lot of smoke from a vegetation fire.

Over Christmas and New Year our fridge freezer started leaking water and storing up ice below the freezer drawer.

After we tried various troubleshooting suggestions without success, today the service person examined it and declared the drain blocked and frozen solid. Power off for a couple of days so it can thaw and drain.

Luckily we have an extra freezer in the garage, and a chilli bin with ice packs is looking after the vulnerable fridge items.

Today's grocery shop is cancelled. 😁

I enjoyed watching the kids movie Luck 🎥 :

Set in the Land of Luck, the story follows the unluckiest person, Sam Greenfield, as she must unite with a talking black cat named Bob to turn her luck around.

Favorite scene: Sam was chasing someone but had to wait for a whole fleet of cyclists to pass — on recumbent bikes.

Bob the cat was fun too.

Luck poster.

With this dreary weather the Tararua Range can be quite moody.

Monochrome photo across paddocks to mountains with wreaths of low cloud around the base.

I really recommend this book, on sale today: US$3.10. It's good for all adults, not just us older folks. Thriving Beyond Fifty (Expanded Edition): 111 Natural Strategies to Restore Your Mobility, Avoid Surgery and Stay Off Pain Pills for Good by Will Harlow. 📚

I'm 66% through, and it's superb!

Book cover: Thriving Beyond 50.

Something I learned when we sold our Wellington house — there were a million clean-up things to do, so by and large I didn't work from a plan, but just grabbed an item and did it.

Tomorrow an estate agent is visiting for an initial talk so we're focussed on making the house look tidy and clean.

For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. Waikawa Beach, with a stiff southerly. 🌊

A good read by an author whose previous books I've enjoyed. Lake Effect Murder (The Rán Hollander Mystery Series Book 1) by Lakota Grace. 📚

When Rán Hollander’s sister calls with the news that their father had a tragic accident on Lake Michigan, Rán drops everything and returns to a small town that turned its back on her years earlier. Was the death an accident, a suicide, or something much worse?

A spot of editing would have been useful to catch stray weird words and a couple of minor inconsistencies.

Book cover: Lake Effect Murder.

I really enjoyed The Six Triple Eight:

based on the 2019 magazine article "Fighting a Two-Front War", by Kevin M. Hymel, on the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black and all-female battalion, in World War II.

Very moving and well worth watching. 🎥

The Six Triple Eight poster.
The Six Triple Eight poster. Fair use.

Deb made shortbread biscuits today and they are delicious! The recipe for Shortbread Cookies says:

Homemade shortbread cookies trumps Walkers!!

And I think I agree! Walkers have been my favourites, but perhaps no longer. Yum!

Shortbread biscuits in a baking tray.

We don't yet have a start date for the house build at Ruakākā, but we expect to move perhaps mid-2025.

Now that 2024 has come to a close we're turning our thoughts to selling up here at Waikawa Beach. And so we're beginning the process of cleaning up and clearing out.

A little bit every day …