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28 September 2024: Sunrise and sunset times today and tomorrow, after the clocks go forward an hour. 😒
27 September 2024: It's 3 months to Christmas Day. Farmers in Levin has a whole Christmas shop up and running with trees, and baubles and stuff. 3 months!
27 September 2024: This really interesting 15 minute Howtown video explores nuances of measuring happiness — The happiness contest Finland keeps winning: Origins …
26 September 2024: Good news up north near Whangārei: Two hundred thousand solar panels [will] be installed to construct the 100-150MW [Ruakākā Energy Park] which would …
25 September 2024: I've spent years working on building up my sleep duration and this year am doing pretty well on it. This interesting 9 minute video by researcher …
24 September 2024: Things that puzzle froma book published around 2011: Luckily I'm old enough to remember that once upon a time we had to sign a piece of paper when …
24 September 2024: I warmed up to and enjoyed Terrors of the High Seas: Book 6 in The Dar & Kerry Series by Melissa Good. I bought it back in 2011 so this was a reread. …
24 September 2024: The Kuaka | Godwits are back after their epic journey from the top of the northern hemisphere and they're hungry. 🐦
24 September 2024: It's spring and this beautiful little Weweia | New Zealand dabchick was watching me from lake Puna o te Ora. 🐦
23 September 2024: Today Deb and I went to the gym at Paraparaumu where I had a very successful workout. Afterwards we went to Longbeach Cafe where I enjoyed delicious …
23 September 2024: If you have any affiliation with or interest in Wellington in Aotearoa, this fascinating history is well worth a read — The first Wellingtonian …
22 September 2024: So who actually did the hitting? Headline: Deer hits car. Image caption: Deer hits car. First line: Deer hits car. Later in the article: Police said …
22 September 2024: LOL: deer on the run! The [wild] deer were last seen by [animal management] officers two hours ago, and "have not been seen since". Via: Deer on …
22 September 2024: 2 years ago I blogged about enjoying this online concert: Faia Younan, so today I listened again. My favourite part starts at around 16 minutes and is …
21 September 2024: Back in June 2012 I bought a Wacom Intuos 5 Small Touch Tablet. For a few years for some reason I didn't use it but a year or two ago put it back into …
21 September 2024: Ahhh, that 3 am cup of tea really hits the spot… There may well yet be more sleep in my immediate future. Hooray for Saturdays.
20 September 2024: This was a clear and useful 15 minute video — AI Chatbots Comparison 2024 - Grace Leung from 24 August 2024: ChatGPT4, Claude Pro, Gemini …
19 September 2024: It was a foamy day at the beach.
19 September 2024: I used the Mono filter on this. It was already so 'gloomy' it didn't really make a huge change. Super high tide today with a strong push from the west …
19 September 2024: Te reo Māori needs to go digital to survive - innovator | RNZ News: A Māori tech innovator and language revitalist wants to see te reo Māori thrive …
19 September 2024: Apple’s AI feature set will expand to include localized English in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand in December, with India …
19 September 2024: The supermarket carpark was surprisingly busy for its 7 am opening time.
18 September 2024: Learning about prompt engineering for AIs. Here's an interesting (and surprising to me) conversation start with Claude: You are a tutor of the Māori …
18 September 2024: Putting aside all politics, and purely on a mechanical level, how does anyone cause a pager to explode by remote control? I totally don't understand …
18 September 2024: Today we needed this info: Restart Apple Watch: Force Apple Watch to restart Do this only if you’re unable to restart your Apple Watch. To force …
17 September 2024: It took me a long time to get into this book — I put it down several times to read others — but towards the end I kept reading late to …
17 September 2024: A year or two back someone I follow on Micro.Blog mentioned Logseq for notes etc. My curiosity piqued, I installed and have been using it since. As I …
17 September 2024: I'd like to remind folks updating their Apple devices today of the most excellent Take Control Books – Expert Advice from Leading Tech Authors. Worth …
16 September 2024: After an interesting chat today with a friend I decided to learn more about AI. There are interesting free videos around, like these: Google’s AI …
16 September 2024: Huh! Making a hash of it: The lowdown on Inland Revenue and your data: The encrypted details of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers are being given by …
15 September 2024: AI for the good of NZ birds How artificial intelligence may help NZ birds | RNZ News: A study to identify individual kākā using AI has received a funding boost of $1 million, one …
15 September 2024: A good review of a movie I really enjoyed — Review: Thelma | RNZ News: Thelma succeeds because it didn't realise it was meant to be a cosy, old …
15 September 2024: Urgh, that was a shock. I needed to add a column of fractions, like this: 1/4 1/4 1/10 1/10 1/25 1/25 1/25 I quickly realised I had not the faintest …
15 September 2024: Bit of a rare double rainbow to the southwest just after dawn this morning. 🌈
14 September 2024: Reading a Sister Agnes book is like luxuriating in a hot bath. I highlighted several sections in Shadow of Death (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 6) by …
13 September 2024: Cow relaxing in the rain.
13 September 2024: Sparrows in the rain. 🐦
13 September 2024: An amazing 9 minute video about train graphs — a ruler, paper and a pencil could prevent train crashes. How did this simple chart keep trains …
12 September 2024: The other day we visited the Silky Otter movie theatre in Palmerston North. It was excellent and we'd go again. There were two movie trailers, no …
12 September 2024: Another good read in a series I enjoy: The Man Who Kept Secrets (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 8)by Amy Vansant. 📚 When former …
11 September 2024: It was a very unusual visitor to Waikawa Beach. My friend Stephen Betts found this injured bird on the beach and took it to Wellington Zoo for care. 🐦 …
11 September 2024: In the last several decades I acquired more T-shirts than I ever needed. Most have been well-worn. Some were downgraded from 'good' or 'house' to …
10 September 2024: The central city part of Palmerston North is full of pleasant surprises. Coleman Mall had blossom trees and some quirky bollards.
09 September 2024: I ate a delicious chicken sandwich at Cafe Jacko in Palmerston North (Facebook link): Chicken Sammie* $19 - Grilled chicken on sourdough w greens …
09 September 2024: We really enjoyed Thelma (links to PDF) 🎥 : Inspired by a real-life experience of Margolin’s own grandmother, THELMA puts a clever spin on movies like …
08 September 2024: It was a pleasant enough day that Deb and I went for a little bike ride round the village. 8.5 km. Dropped a small gift off to the neighbour who had …
08 September 2024: I've very much enjoyed D. L. Keur's other series so was interested to try Night Trouble (The King & Midnight K-9 Mysteries Book 1). I'll definitely be …
07 September 2024: Huh, I'm reading a fiction book set in Arizona where they mention a curfew for young people. I just searched to see if that was part of the fiction, …
07 September 2024: A show I really enjoy — Brokenwood - the international hit with a Kiwi accent | RNZ News 📺 : But in amongst the [TV] industry's slow crumble, is …
06 September 2024: I finished Marsh Madness by Jana DeLeon, the latest in a long series of Miss Fortune books. 📚 when a group of friends decide to meet up at a B and B …
06 September 2024: I always think the 6 p.m. sunset is a bit of a milestone. Unfortunately that will all change in a couple of weeks when we fiddle with the clocks …
05 September 2024: Hooray! Te Puhi Ariki Ngawai Hono i te Po Paki, 27, to succeed her father Kiingi Tuheitia as Māori monarch: Kiingi Tuheitia's youngest child and only …
05 September 2024: For the past week or so I've had scratchy eyes, a bit of an itch on the roof of my mouth. Figuring it was hay fever, I bought eyedrops yesterday that …
05 September 2024: Important day today: Kiingi Tuheitia to be laid to rest, new Māori monarch welcomed: Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII died on Friday, aged …
05 September 2024: First time since midwinter that I've noticed the morning sun finding its way into my west-facing bedroom. Nice!
04 September 2024: This morning the river was full after heaps of rain in the hills; the tide was nearly full, with a 2.5 metre swell. When the two met at the river …
04 September 2024: Down at the beach today I thought I saw a piece of fluff blowing in the wind. Then I realised it was actually a Black-fronted Dotterel (16-18 cm; …
04 September 2024: Whoo! 🌋 : Talking about the Taliban: culture versus politics – language: a feminist guide: So, don’t tell me that as a white western feminist it’s not …
03 September 2024: Faster 110km/h speed limit to accelerate Kāpiti: A new 110km/h speed limit for the Kāpiti Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS) has been …
03 September 2024: The On This Day script on my blog today brought this amazing music back to mind. Just loving the listen: Holland Festival: Ensemble Rhoum Bakkali, …
02 September 2024: Rough weather over the last few days has thrown big driftwood onto the beach. There were also occasional Bluebottles. Not shown: the about 3 metre …
01 September 2024: I stopped reading Orleans Avenue (Remy Fontaine Thrillers Book 1) by Robin Mahle a couple of weeks ago and left myself this note: Not a very good …
01 September 2024: It seems people around Special Agent Nikki Hunt keep getting knocked off. Lost Angels (Nikki Hunt Book 3) by Stacy Green. 📚 It all gets a bit personal …
01 September 2024: One reason I'm awake at 1 a.m.: 28.66 mm rain fell since midnight. For the metric impaired that's 1.13 inches. In one hour …
31 August 2024: OK, that's a bit of fun: Your Name in Landsat 🛰️: Thanks to @chadkoh for the link.
31 August 2024: I didn't warm to A Cotswold Killing (The Cotswold Cozy Mysteries Book 1) by Rebecca Tope. 📚 The village people were weird, the main character not …
31 August 2024: We visited friends in Paekakariki for brunch today. Their dog Gracie, an 8 year old Vizsla, was permanently optimistic that food may fall from the …
30 August 2024: It's been a few months since my last burst of activity on the Lego build, but the Lego Technic Surface Space Loader is now complete. Whew. I have a …
30 August 2024: I'm really enjoying bingeing Rutherford Falls 📺 : The show uses humor, jokes, and irony to highlight the biases that are present in today's society …
29 August 2024: The Wild is a great podcast. In Ben Goldfarb: How America’s roads alter our ecology there's a fascinating part about animal crossings where the …
29 August 2024: Well, thunder and lightning! And as I typed that a huge crack of thunder overhead sounded like a massive explosion! That got the heart rate up! 💗
29 August 2024: A different view from last time of the fast flowing river carving off chunks of sand from the edge. It's only a small chunk, but that splosh is …
28 August 2024: Our little peach tree is convinced it's spring.
27 August 2024: Those earbuds were specially delivered after I queried the Fliway helpdesk. Their website hadn't told me the parcel had been passed on to Courierpost, …
27 August 2024: Being mid-winter there are few birds around. I was pleased to see the spoonbill back. It was joined by a couple of spur-winged plovers and a dozen …
27 August 2024: Our normally sluggish river is quite swift today thanks to loads of rain up in the Tararua ranges. That means it's carved a deep channel through the …
27 August 2024: Peeved. I ordered Sony earbuds on 17 August. Here we are 10 days later on 27 August 2024 and they've struggled down from Auckland to Palmerston North …
26 August 2024: Another good read: A Hymn of Death (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 5) by Alison Joseph. 📚 I didn't find the plot quite as interesting, but the author's …
26 August 2024: I keep highlighting excellent turns of phrase in the book I'm currently reading: A Hymn of Death (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 5) by Alison Joseph. The …
25 August 2024: Home made muesli A friend gave me this muesli recipe. It gives me an enjoyable and healthy breakfast every day. I add stewed apple, milk, and a couple of other things …
25 August 2024: Whew, stewed apples, made juice and made muesli all at the same time. Forgot the crucial step of tipping the still hot oats into the big bowl and …
24 August 2024: Occasionally, like yesterday, I sit for a few minutes at the picnic table by the south track to the beach and watch the world go by. (We inherited …
23 August 2024: I found One Perfect Grave (Nikki Hunt Book 2) by Stacy Green to be a good read. 📚 When the remains of two bodies are found in an open grave along a …
23 August 2024: LOL (my emphasis): Luxon’s speech was met with groans and various oral expulsions of disapproval. Via: Luxon has officially abandoned localism | The …
23 August 2024: It's almost dawn and this is my view from bed.
22 August 2024: Electricity supply crisis: What you need to know | RNZ News: New Zealand is heading towards an electricity supply crisis. … in 2023, 60% of New …
22 August 2024: When we came in to land at Palmerston North yesterday, the plane took an unusual turn out to sea because they had to hold for a few minutes. We looked …
21 August 2024: I was just listening to a podcast about the health risks to installers of engineered stone, so this article is interesting: 6 alternatives to …
21 August 2024: Only US$0.99 today. I'm excited to buy another in this series by Alison Joseph. If you're interested, jump in. A Hymn of Death (Sister Agnes Mysteries …
21 August 2024: Flying south before dawn.
20 August 2024: Our friends have a second dog: Rush, the Malinois, who's a very good boy indeed.
20 August 2024: I so wish I could have bought this gorgeous pottery goat by Fiona Tunnicliffe. I'm smitten by its expression. Just not practical at the moment though, …
20 August 2024: Random mural in downtown Whangārei.
19 August 2024: Last night our friends took us out for a delicious Thai meal at Sukjai Thai Restaurant. I enjoyed chicken Pad Kee Mao (mild) Flat rice noodles stir …
18 August 2024: The more books in this series I read the more I enjoy them. False Idols (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 4) by Alison Joseph was another great read. 📚 It …
18 August 2024: Busy day: we've been cruising around Ruakākā and One Tree Point. Visited a couple of cafes: The Bach cafe at Ruakākā Beach had a nice vibe. Here's a …
17 August 2024: Little Boo has a really nice setup. That’s quite a smorgasbord of toys.
17 August 2024: Heading north again for a long weekend …
16 August 2024: I think the last 6 weeks or so of strength and core training are paying off. When I woke up this morning I realised I'm feeling 'bigger' somehow …
15 August 2024: Having bought a set of resistance tubes, today I tried the Whole-Body Resistance Band Workout (Ages 50+). It went pretty well I think, though I need …
15 August 2024: Interesting: The Micro Blog - 🔗 Articles: Wednesday 14.Aug.2024: Guardian: Scientists find humans age dramatically in two bursts – at 44, then 60
15 August 2024: These daffodils are a bright spot on an otherwise grey day.
14 August 2024: I was initially uncertain about The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt Book 1) by Stacy Green, but the book grew on me and in the end I quite enjoyed it. 📚 …
14 August 2024: My body didn’t want to do this new strength routine today, but willpower prevailed (in the end). I haven’t done the shoulder press or …
13 August 2024: An excellent article about our crazy punitive government’s latest crazy idea: Welcome to the benefit Olympics. Rather than offer the help and …
13 August 2024: I might have seen my first aurora — rather subtle, but the iPhone brought out the colours. Thanks to Ian Griffin's tipoff post from last night. …
12 August 2024: Thriving on the internet, July 1998, with bonus cat Hah hah. I discovered this article about me from July 1998 when I was mainly training folks how to use the Internet, or their Macs, or both. Turns out …
12 August 2024: Another good read by Anne Shillolo: Goodbye Quinn's Landing (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 9). 📚 DC Holly Towns sees a bigger picture than the rest …
11 August 2024: Today's beach find was a first for me: a 2 metre Blue shark (Prionace glauca). So much bigger than the sharks that usually wash up on Waikawa Beach. …
11 August 2024: I'm finding the videos by Will Harlow clear and interesting — HT Physio – Over-Fifties Specialist Physio - YouTube: tips on reducing pain, …
10 August 2024: At the gym today I enjoyed a trip through Arches National Park while on the bike. Then when we came home there was a splendid double rainbow just at …
10 August 2024: Havoc (Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran Book 2) by Deborah J Ledford. 📚 Guns and kids are never a good mix. Add in bullying and a bank robbery, and a bit …
09 August 2024: For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society, a few small waves, with Kāpiti Island barely visible and a cloud lit by the rising sun. 🌊
09 August 2024: My dawn beach walk was delightful. I saw these bird footprints, then a horse and rider appeared behind me before going into the shallows.
08 August 2024: Today on a whim I went to see Bookworm, a New Zealand film: about a young girl named Mildred embarking on an adventure with her estranged American …
07 August 2024: Today I enjoyed a walk through the bush at Papaitonga just up the road at Ōhau. Here are two views of Lake Waiwiri. On the road out I spotted the …
06 August 2024: This fine pheasant was feeding in the paddock next door. 🐦
06 August 2024: 20 minutes before sunrise and the Tī Kouka were reflected in lake Puna o te Ora. Bright in the background, native toetoe, or more probably, invasive …
05 August 2024: I have an opinion: I believe "sixths" is the most difficult word in the English language for anyone to pronounce, even native speakers. I came across …
05 August 2024: I'd already read books 6 and 7 as standalones, but enjoyed the other 3 books in this set. Some of the situations became quite bizarre, but the series …
04 August 2024: Sometimes Deb and I go to the gym together, sometimes we go separately. Sometimes I do some weights or core work at home. This was the gym on a quiet …
03 August 2024: In the middle of the day it was warm and sunny. When I glanced up from my book, the snowy mountains were beautiful above the deck railings. At sunset …
03 August 2024: It was -3C in the early hours. Now the sun's been up for nearly 2 hours it's crept up to almost 0. The Tararua ranges have snow on the tops.
02 August 2024: Busy day preparing food: I steamed broccoli and put it in the freezer, stewed apples, made stew, made celery soup. Then of course, came dish washing. …
02 August 2024: When I prepared apples for stewing today I put the cores on the picnic table. The Tauhou | Waxeyes were very happy with that arrangement. 🐦
01 August 2024: The thing the video below can't convey is how bitter the southerly quarter wind was at the beach today. At least the wind wasn't as strong as …
01 August 2024: I finally decided half way through to abandon Murder in Time by Veronica Heley. 📚 The author writes a different series I enjoy but this story has a …
31 July 2024: Came back into the house only to find a completely unexpected visitor. 🐸 It must have come in amongst the kindling, and had gathered fluff and bits …
31 July 2024: A modest proposal – language: a feminist guide: … don’t I think that women and girls can be “just as bad” as men and boys? If that’s a general …
30 July 2024: Another in a series I enjoy, but not the strongest entrant. Murder at the Hotel (Rina Martin Murder Mystery Book 10) by Jane Adams. 📚 All the usual …
30 July 2024: Such an interesting discussion on Lingthusiasm #90, What visualizing our vowels tells us about who we are, especially: vowel spaces are linked to …
30 July 2024: Some success today when I made my own variant of Bubble and squeak for lunch. After watching a video about how to cook with stainless steel pans I …
30 July 2024: A delicious start to the day with Three Moons Oolong tea from Vietnam. Three Moons is a semi-oxidised oolong that is lightly roasted multiple times …
29 July 2024: Gym session alongside Deb this morning. She did her thing while I worked on my weights routine. Booked a session with the trainer for later in the …
28 July 2024: It's been a welcome quiet day. I went for a brief walk on the beach where I chatted with an acquaintance, D, and his sweet dog, Millie. It was a cool, …
27 July 2024: Earlier this month I sent off a bowel screening test. As expected, I received a negative result. Hooray!
26 July 2024: The final book in a series I've very much enjoyed — Honour Thy Father (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 3) by Alison Joseph. 📚 Agnes is working in a …
26 July 2024: Foxton has a strong Dutch heritage, so when I visited yesterday I ordered Pannenkoeken at the De Molen Cafe. I thought the apple would be cooked …
25 July 2024: This morning I drove to Foxton for a stroll beside the estuary. There weren't a great many birds around today, but I did spot a dozen spoonbills. …
24 July 2024: An unusual sight on the beach today: a Karetai hurukoko | Cape petrel, probably exhausted — it didn't move when I came close but managed to get …
23 July 2024: I've started watching The Law According to Lidia Poët on Netflix and it's pretty good: … loosely based on the life of Lidia Poët, the first …
23 July 2024: Today I feel so free and energised. I've taken control of this situation with the ex-friends who've been harassing me, recognised my own unique …
23 July 2024: A reward for 40 minutes weights work at the gym. 🤣
23 July 2024: You know how 'they' say you should write out the stuff in your head, making sure to use pen and paper because that's the only 'real' way. Then throw …
22 July 2024: Since 07 November 2023 we've had roughly 480mm rain, which has added about 31,000 litres to the water tank. Nevertheless, the tank that was almost …
22 July 2024: A free Mac app idea for some clever coder — I type (or paste) in a bunch of text. Now delete it all with a splendid animation of it going up in …
22 July 2024: I find I'm quite taken with Sister Agnes, having just finished Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 2) by Alison Joseph. 📚 …
21 July 2024: In good news today, Deb and I both went to the gym where I did mainly stretches, along with some lat pulldowns and rowing on the machine. This …
21 July 2024: A skill I have is to make a rule to archive unread emails that I don't want at the moment because I've asked the senders to give me time and space. …
21 July 2024: Sigh. I will need to write approximately 1 million pages whose sole destiny will be to feed a bonfire before I'm able to craft an acceptable reply to …
20 July 2024: Another in a series I enjoy — Road to Harm (Detective Fran Harman Mysteries Book 6) by Judith Cutler. 📚 Now Fran and Mark are retired they lack …
20 July 2024: Seems to me the problem is more one of using a single platform. As with farming, monoculture: risky; diversity: resilient. CrowdStrike glitch: What …
19 July 2024: Hooray for Time Machine. In an idiot move I deleted an Audio Hijack 'Session' instead of a recording. I found the sessions file at …
19 July 2024: It was probably someone on Micro.Blog who put me on to the Reasons to be Cheerful news website. It does cheer me every morning, with articles like …
18 July 2024: I enjoyed No Harm, No Foul (Detective Fran Harman Mysteries Book 5) by Judith Cutler. 📚 Fran and the team find themselves overloaded with work as they …
17 July 2024: I must say that Radio NZ specialise in "dicey" headlines: I'd love to see a whale having a cuppa. 😆
17 July 2024: Today I had brunch with my friend J at Ōtaki then we drove around 12 Km southeast to where the road to Ōtaki Forks is closed on account of a slip …
17 July 2024: It's been just the weather for the basket fungus, Ileodictyon cibarium, to appear — warmer the last couple of days, and damp with a few …
16 July 2024: Aaand, the power came back 2 minutes after my previous post. A total outage of about 1.25 hours.
16 July 2024: Hmmm, the power went off just before 6 pm and may come back on in a couple of hours, if we're lucky. Fortunately I'd already eaten dinner. The new …
16 July 2024: On the beach this morning: a (seeming giant) Spur-winged Plover next to a (truly small) Black-fronted Dotterel. 🐦 Plover: Length: 38 cm; Weight: 350 …
15 July 2024: I enjoyed Thou Shalt Not Kill (Sister Agnes Mysteries Book 1) by Alison Joseph. 📚 It strikes me that this series would probably work well on Acorn TV. …
15 July 2024: At first I wondered why the street we were walking down in Palmerston North the other day had stencils like this on all the parking spaces. Then I …
14 July 2024: It was dusk when we left the movie yesterday and birds were roosting in the big trees along the Square in Palmerston North. 🐦
13 July 2024: Deb and I watched Fly Me to the Moon at the movie theatre in Palmerston North. 🎥 It was excellent: funny, interesting, lightly romantic, well written, …
13 July 2024: With a big high still bringing us cold nights and lovely days, and no wind to speak of, the sea was so calm again this morning. Hardly any waves at …
12 July 2024: New shoes day — Orba Shoes — Women's Ghost Sneaker: Designed in New Zealand, Orba shoes are handcrafted using the finest, most renewable …
12 July 2024: I'm so naive sometimes. I had no idea individuals would have helipads on their houses. I'm shocked — Auckland residents unite against …
12 July 2024: A friend, Sophie, is currently travelling in Sweden to visit family and then on a week long knitting tour in Scotland and the Shetlands. She seems to …
12 July 2024: We Kiwis don't like to toot our own horns much but I wanted to keep this for future memories. For years I worked on behalf of the local community and …
11 July 2024: At dawn this morning there were 3 Royal Spoonbills in the ponded area of the beach where the Pied Stilts like to hang out. I was delighted, as I …
10 July 2024: I came across the weirdest thing on the beach this morning. It was about 2 metres long and to my eye looked like an octopus (or squid maybe) and a …
10 July 2024: There was another hard frost this morning, so when I visited the beach at dawn the sand was white at the base of the dunes. There was an intriguing …
10 July 2024: This was free with a newsletter signup — The Opposite of Dark (Casey Holland Mysteries Book 1) by Debra Purdy Kong. 📚 The more I read the more …
10 July 2024: So cool to see tech being used for good — Drones Are Whizzing Lifesaving Supplies Across the 'Last Mile': By land, it would take about four …
09 July 2024: I was meant to have a third intro session with a trainer at the gym this afternoon but I begged off. Yesterday I had a covid jab so my left arm's ever …
09 July 2024: Today is poop day. 😆 I've done my bit for the National Bowel Screening programme. It's easy and painless and could save me a lot of anguish. A friend …
08 July 2024: Heh, The Brokenwood Mysteries has 'storylines so good' people believe the characters are real | RNZ News: Police officer and fan of the show Bryan …
08 July 2024: It's one of those days where one weather system is taking up most of our bit of the globe.
07 July 2024: Why has it taken me so many years to realise I can add useful notes to a Kindle book. Like this one: Now I don't need to continue reading when I see …
07 July 2024: Deb and I are very much enjoying the light-hearted Frankie Drake Mysteries on Acorn: In Roaring Twenties Toronto, crime has never had it better, and …
07 July 2024: This mystery Bea has to solve pretty much on her own, her usual helpers being otherwise occupied. She still comes up trumps though. A False Alarm (The …
07 July 2024: A slightly odd one in the series, but still enjoyable. Furtive Prey (The Jessica Anderson K-9 Mysteries) by D. L. Keur 📚: a crisis of national …
07 July 2024: Sometimes these winter days are perfect: glorious sun out of a clear blue sky. 20C, no wind. I can hear the birds. Just gorgeous.
06 July 2024: Flaxes beside the garage trimmed back. Now I can try to tidy (and weedeat) the area between the garage and the fence.
06 July 2024: Got myself out in the garden earlier to do some needed weed eating. Hauled out the weedeater, only to find that when I put it away 3 weeks ago I …
05 July 2024: Cold enough this morning that we had a decent frost. The snow on the top of the mountain was no surprise. There was even frost on the beach. A bird …
04 July 2024: I didn't get to the beach today, as I was too busy with other things. Yesterday though there was a very cold and blowy southerly.
03 July 2024: All up, power was only out for 20 or 30 minutes. Phew! No need to test out my new Portable Power Station.
03 July 2024: I bought the 8 book set for less than $2, but was glad to reach the end of the first book. Some great turns of phrase but just not a terribly …
03 July 2024: Well, just talking to Deb who's driving home and everything was plunged into darkness. Three minutes later and a couple of lights came on, then …
03 July 2024: Today, with a cold southerly wind, but in the sun, I took part in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey, with poor results. blackbird : 2 magpie : 2 …
03 July 2024: Aargh! New Zealand standardised its recycling rules – why is it still so confusing?: On average, each New Zealander is estimated to have generated …
02 July 2024: Second gym session today and we did some stretches and also some work with 5 Kg or 2 Kg dumbbells. That included squats and lifts. The trainer and I …
02 July 2024: I really enjoyed the movie Wicked Little Letters 🎥: Based on a true scandal, it follows an investigation into the anonymous author of numerous crudely …
01 July 2024: Interesting definition of 'meal', AirNZ. Not sure the knife and fork will be useful.
30 June 2024: Today I took photos of Ngunguru. It's very pretty, warm and relaxing.
29 June 2024: We visited Ngunguru (Apple Maps link) today — about 30 Km from Whangārei. Gorgeous place, but I didn't take photos … Just off the …
28 June 2024: I started Murder at the Opera House (A Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mystery Book 1) by Dawn Brookes ages ago then stopped for long enough I'd forgotten …
28 June 2024: Mt Manaia from Ruakaka Beach.
27 June 2024: In Whangārei.
26 June 2024: Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman works on against a backdrop of a frustrating system. Meanwhile doggedness and persistence eventually winkle …
26 June 2024: I started out 'naming' this year Surprise. After immediately getting Covid I changed it to Spontaneity. Apparently that change didn't stick though, as …
25 June 2024: First glimpse for this year of a visiting Kererū, well hidden in the tree lucerne. Can you find it?
25 June 2024: Yesterday's mist also highlighted a large spider web in the flax.
25 June 2024: It's been misty the last couple of mornings.
24 June 2024: Sigh, somehow I skipped Book 3, so a few elements in here were a little surprising … It was another good read in a series I like. No Harm Done …
24 June 2024: There was a lot for Jorja to unravel in this book. I enjoyed the read. Knight Vision (A Jorja Knight Private Investigator Mystery Book 4) by Alice …
24 June 2024: Another excellent science-based video from MinuteFood: Dishwashers vs hand-washing: which wins? (8.5 minutes). You’ve got a pile of dirty …
23 June 2024: Goose and ducks at the Auckland Domain duck pond. We've had a great lightning visit to Auckland to celebrate two birthdays with friends. lightnin
22 June 2024: Cyclists: beware the troughs in the surface!
22 June 2024: The moment I saw these World of Wearable Art models I knew @Cheri would love them.
22 June 2024: It’ll be Gate 16 for us this morning.
21 June 2024: In June 2022 we had a 19-hour power cut and @jean suggested a small portable generator. Now, 2 years later I've finally bought a Yeti 200x Portable …
21 June 2024: Knowledge that isn't shared is not knowledge. Source: Kōkōrangi: Māori astronomer guiding crowds into the New Year.
21 June 2024: Happy New Year! Today is the June Solstice and the start of my personal new year — Day 01. It's a cold, crisp morning, the (98%) full moon is on …
20 June 2024: There was no wind this morning, though if there had been it was nominally from the east. For this west coast beach that means a very calm sea. From …
20 June 2024: Quite a find! On TVNZ+ an animated Māori language sci-fi TV Show called Tipua: Ārepa Simmons feels like her world is going crazy. Lacking all …
20 June 2024: This morning's tea: a lightly roasted oolong: Bagua Shan Siji Chun 2024: Following oxidation, compression, rolling and curing, they are gently roasted …
19 June 2024: A Google image search led me to Megabalanus, and then I found my way to Pink Barnacles (Beach Barnacles Of New Zealand) · iNaturalist NZ. Of course …
18 June 2024: This was a quick read, thanks to my enjoying this series so much. I find the main characters very appealing. A False Report by Veronica Heley 📚: Bea’s …
18 June 2024: Interesting — Should you add milk to tea?: In European salons [in the 1600s], tea was served in delicate fine bone china, easily cracked by the …
18 June 2024: What to expect from 'seal silly season': Vomiting in public. Snoozing in the middle of busy roads. Hanging out in KFC car parks, and waking up on …
18 June 2024: One of the book series I really enjoy — Detective Nikki Galena Mysteries (15 book series) by Joy Ellis is available at low cost for a few days. …
18 June 2024: How kiwi returned to Wellington We learned that in areas with no pest control, virtually 90-100% of chicks were being eaten before they could defend …
17 June 2024: Yay, Season 10 of The Brokenwood Mysteries has started on TVNZ. Episode 1: After dinosaur fossils are discovered in the foothills of Brokenwood, the …
17 June 2024: Today I attended a really interesting talk by Associate Professor Phil Battley, Zoology & Ecology Group, Massey University at the local Forest and …
16 June 2024: I wasn't really expecting to enjoy The Bea Abbot Agency Mysteries Books 1–5 box set by Veronica Heley but I was quite wrong. 📚 The characters are …
16 June 2024: There were two Tīrairaka | New Zealand fantails at the beach this morning. They're so small and I was so far away. And they flit around constantly. …
16 June 2024: Oh yeah, I always like to start off the day with a good belt of Smirnoff and lemon … Heh, no! I haven't drunk alcohol for decades now. I picked …
15 June 2024: A bit of a rainbow.
15 June 2024: That's quite an impressive weather system over Aotearoa at the moment. Via earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions.
14 June 2024: An acquaintance who lives not far away messaged me to ask if I'd like a load of good quality horsepoop for the garden. I happily said Yes, of course. …
13 June 2024: I'm continuing to simplify my life and to step back a bit from all kinds of things. I've just sent out the final edition of the Waikawa Newsletter and …
13 June 2024: At 7 am, still about 40 minutes before sunrise, I stepped on to the beach. Although there was barely any light the pair of Paradise Ducks on the …
12 June 2024: Mindblowing: I talked to people who had never seen trees! Great 11 minute video — Canadian Arctic Expedition: Snowy Owls, Ivory Gulls, and …
12 June 2024: Such a thoughtful and considered article. Everyone should read this — Weighing in on "Man or Bear": the most common question I get about my …
12 June 2024: An interesting 11 minute interview — NZ's smallest bird makes new sounds | RNZ 🐦 : A new study shows the tiny titipounamu or rifleman has the …
11 June 2024: Hmmm, a piled-river. 🤔🤔 That's a new one on me. Nicole was as hypersensitive as a piled-river. 'Oh dear,' was all she could say. Ohhhh. Kindle …
10 June 2024: There's a pile of mulch by the south track to the beach. It'll be used around some plantings to be carried out soon. With the warmth and actual rain …
10 June 2024: In March 2022 I posted about planting cabbage trees by the gate. Here's how they looked then: And here's how they look today, some 2 years later. I'm …
10 June 2024: I somewhat liked this, but not enough to read more — The Sigma Surrogate: An Electrifying Cyberpunk Thriller by JT Lawrence 📚 : As Keke races to …
09 June 2024: Today I tried making Fluffy Flapjack Pancakes. They were good and indeed very filling. I reduced the sugar to 2 tablespoons and might next time try …
08 June 2024: Although the weather is gorgeous — I've been sitting in the warm sun reading and napping — today's a real brain fog kind of day. A wee nap …
07 June 2024: This Karoro | Black-backed gull was enjoying the comforts of a clump of washed out river weed. Zoomed in, it looks like both Caspian Terns are …
07 June 2024: Today's refreshing Oolong tea — Himalayan Beauty, Nepal: a beautifully balanced, delicate and fragrant tea with a smooth, creamy texture. …
06 June 2024: This Pohowera | Banded dotterel has somewhere to be … 🐦 While this Black-fronted Dotterel is looking good …
06 June 2024: Such an interesting 6 minute video. Do watch: Sea lions - The return of a native taonga?: Up to half a tonne of big-eyed, long-whiskered, galumphing …
05 June 2024: I often show the Tararua ranges as seen from our house, but this morning thought I'd try a video from the beach where you can see so much more. I was …
05 June 2024: This 11 minute video explains how dishwashers work, and how to load them. Are you loading your dishwasher wrong?: We dug into the science of …
05 June 2024: Yesterday's beach trip revealed lots of driftwood 'mulch' near the river mouth. In it were many five-armed starfish. I also saw my first ever Hermit …
05 June 2024: BEV update. We've had our MG 4 Essence 64 for 8 months now and the nights are getting cold. It's currently 0C outside and Deb's on her way to work. …
05 June 2024: I love the challenge of the The Guardian Cryptic Crosswords; they're so hard. On first pass I may get one or two answers at most, then I worry away …
04 June 2024: This morning's tea is Bagua Shan Dong Pian. Perfect! Dong Pian is a special Taiwanese tea. It is harvested in the Winter Solstice when the weather is …
04 June 2024: I very much enjoyed The Fells (Detectives Donovan & Young Book 1) by Cath Staincliffe. 📚 I found intriguing that it's written in the present tense, …
03 June 2024: I do all my book reading on a Kindle. Today I upgraded from a Kindle Paperwhite to a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. It feels much snappier, the …
03 June 2024: There's a blue marker post on the beach that (theoretically — it's almost invisible behind beach grass) shows where one of the pedestrian tracks …
02 June 2024: Ours isn't the kind of beach that has seaweed. Except today it does, and a lot of it. Clumps of seaweed along the high tide mark. Close up on some …
02 June 2024: If you're into dogs at all this 11 minute video is a must-watch. So interesting! The Canine Rainbow and How Dogs See the World 🐶 : The first episode …
01 June 2024: Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman works on a frustrating case of stalking in Do No Harm (Detective Fran Harman Mysteries Book 2) by Judith …
01 June 2024: The cows in the paddocks next door have been yelling a lot the last couple of days. This morning they're too busy eating. 😁
31 May 2024: Different day, same (presumably) kōtuku white heron.
30 May 2024: I was so pleased to discover iCab allows AppleScript. This script in TextExpander allows me to grab the Title and URL of the front tab and copy it as …
30 May 2024: It's been a whole week since I spotted an unusual visitor to Waikawa Beach and I assumed it had left. But today I again spotted the kōtuku white heron …
30 May 2024: Yesterday afternoon I lit the fire early — there was a cold wind. This morning we have our first snow on the mountain tops.
30 May 2024: After a supermarket trip this morning I’m treating myself to breakfast at Salt and Pepper in Ōhau. Avocado and salmon smash for me.
30 May 2024: Each month I post on Waikawa News that I've sent out a Newsletter. Now I can duplicate the previous post as my starting point, thanks to the update in …
30 May 2024: A big and very welcome update to MarsEdit today with 5.2, including: The “Search” field in the main window now features a filter selection to toggle …
29 May 2024: Today’s random beach find: a large blue piece of tin.
29 May 2024: Bah, last night I realised that on 22 May 2024 I wrote about a book I'd read, but somehow managed to use the wrong title and link and book cover. I'd …
29 May 2024: Ugh, woke just after midnight and still awake in these wee hours where the world is adrift. Stress always turns up the volume on the tinnitus too. …
28 May 2024: An enjoyable read, but not riveting. A complicated case …Baskets and Beignets by Jana DeLeon 📚: Fortune has solved cold cases before, but never …
28 May 2024: Something I love about Waikawa Beach … … is the wide open space, and lack of other people.
28 May 2024: I went down to the beach before sunrise today. I love walking through the avenue of toetoe / pampas (I think it's pampas, but I can't tell the …
27 May 2024: I bought this M1 MacBook Pro in January 2021. This morning after 3 hours of use, including a couple of videos at full brightness and high volume, …
27 May 2024: Pleased to report that last night's Emergency Alert Test Message was received very loud and clear.
27 May 2024: Hah! Trivial pursuits? – language: a feminist guide: In crosswords the influence of patriarchal, racist and heteronormative values is most apparent in …
26 May 2024: We went to our nearest town this morning for some errands. Here's the main road through Levin on a sunny Sunday morning.
25 May 2024: Nicely said: Manton Reece - Audio narration in Micro.blog We want to see the personal side of someone, not just the polished brand. We want to see …
25 May 2024: This 45 minute documentary was so interesting. This Civil War Submarine Vanished for 136 Years: A Civil War submarine powered by hand cranks and lit …
25 May 2024: What a delight to start my day with Himalayan Moon Drops oolong tea from Nepal: Harvested in June 2023, … is crafted using hand-harvested …
24 May 2024: Yesterday morning I spotted a shag that was a bit different from our usual white-chested shags. The Bird ID Facebook group helped me learn that this …
23 May 2024: My day went awry in the best possible way. I cut short my bike ride to collect my Fuji X-T5 and take photos of a rare visitor to Waikawa Beach: a …
23 May 2024: Today's beach photo is toetoe reflected in a pool of water left behind by the tide.
22 May 2024: Check out this gorgeous late afternoon sun.
22 May 2024: Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman faces many challenges in Come to Harm (Detective Fran Harman Mysteries Book 1) by Judith Cutler. Menopause …
22 May 2024: I knew it was still too dark at dawn to take photos of the Pūkeko by the lake, but I did anyway. I like the effect on this shot. Fujifilm X-T5, lens: …
21 May 2024: Calm ocean on an overcast day with hardly any waves. For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊 Here was the view to the north, with dark clouds …
21 May 2024: OMG. I have shares currently worth a massive $16 in this company, and here's a screenshot from today's shareholder update. (I invested $140 …
21 May 2024: It’s totally beautiful down at the beach this morning. So glad I came out even though rain was threatened.
20 May 2024: I've seen plenty of birds on our local lake, but a model boat on Lake Puna o te Ora was a first.
20 May 2024: It's not at all uncommon to find dead fish on the beach. Usually gulls have had a feed. This poor little thing though was unusual for being intact, …
20 May 2024: Still in the beautiful Milford Sound back in March 2024. Young seals on a rock. Bush clad slopes. Waterfall down bush-clad cliff face.
19 May 2024: At the beach this morning: 3 spur-winged plovers and a pied stilt. In the next there's a spur-winged plover, a pied stilt, a black-fronted dotterel …
19 May 2024: Back on 26 March 2024 we took part in a two hour cruise on Milford Sound in Fiordland, Aotearoa. Ours was the smaller boat on the left. In an area …
19 May 2024: I went to bed horrendously early last night. That's why it's now 0230 and I'm catching up on the Micro.Blog timeline. 😁
18 May 2024: Tonight I made @alexink's Chicken Cacciatore, with a couple of modifications. This dish was new to me, but I enjoyed it. Modifications: no onion or …
18 May 2024: The Globe and Mail has Cryptic Crosswords. I'm so out of practice with them! It's taken me a day or two to get back into the swing. So nice to have a …
17 May 2024: Can't wait now for Book 5! — The Language of Power (Steerswoman Series Book 4) by Rosemary Kirstein was another excellent read, bringing our …
17 May 2024: The latest in a series I enjoy — The Man Who Came Back (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 7) by Amy Vansant was another enjoyable …
16 May 2024: Soon after sunrise today this sand 'cliff' was lit by a shaft of sunlight and reflections from the water. The cliff is probably less than a metre high …
15 May 2024: Pretty much the last sight at Wai o Tapu is one of the most spectacular: an almost fluorescent green / yellow lake, Roto Kārikitea.
15 May 2024: A favourite on my walk: this lone chestnut coloured fungus. It was the only fungus I noticed on the whole walk.
15 May 2024: The 'green' walk was the furthest and hardest at Wai o Tapu, with so many stairs. My calves were sore for days!
15 May 2024: At Wai o Tapu the Artist's Palette certainly had water and steam aplenty. I could see a red colour around the edges.
15 May 2024: Hmmm. Guess the gender of the CHAT GPT personality — Introducing GPT-4o: 24:46: BARRETT ZOPH: The reason I'm in a good mood is we are doing a …
15 May 2024: This morning's Gong Mei, 'Royal Tribute Eyebrow' white tea is perfect to start the day: Flavour: soft & sweet, floral and citrus … made famous …
14 May 2024: Good reminders in this 13 minute video: The #1 Most Important Exposure Rule You Should Follow, and How You Can Apply it in Your Photography by Dan …
14 May 2024: At Wai o Tapu some pools of mud contain unrefined crude oil!
14 May 2024: Yesterday, after our few days away, I was absolutely wiped out — had zero energy, was so sleepy. I just went with it. Today I've been a domestic …
13 May 2024: A couple of days ago I visited Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It was a warm sunny day after a cold start, and the skies were mainly clear blue. I did …
13 May 2024: We might have missed the aurora, but we were in Rotorua for the coldest morning in 50 years — Will the aurora lights be visible tonight?: At …
13 May 2024: Great news! Success for new giant wētā breeding programme: The Kiwi House now have 120 young wētā, and a second group of adults are breeding and …
12 May 2024: View from Lime Cafe, this morning’s brunch spot.
12 May 2024: On today's walk I noticed the amazing waka taua — Closing the loop on the Rotorua Lakefront Development: Waka taua is a vessel that transports …
12 May 2024: Hooray for good news: our friend is being discharged from hospital today after all. We won't be leaving till after lunch though so will be late …
12 May 2024: Yesterday took a surprising turn when the friend we drove to Rotorua with, also at Deb's conference, went to hospital with chest pains in what may …
11 May 2024: Ohhhh, folks on the Waikawa Beach Facebook group have been posting spectacular aurora photos … and I'm away up north. Darn!
11 May 2024: Made it to Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Valley.
11 May 2024: My plan for today is to visit Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, a 30 minute drive away. I'm having trouble getting started on the day though …
10 May 2024: In Rotorua the National Kiwi Hatchery is totally worth a visit. Kiwi are nocturnal so taking photos of live birds is forbidden. These taxidermied …
10 May 2024: The recently redeveloped Rotorua lakefront area is 💯 Such a beautiful space with walkways above and around the lake, native plants, rock, tiers of …
09 May 2024: Deb and I are in Rotorua for her to attend a conference and me to lounge about sightseeing. Staying at a fairly fancy hotel (Novotel) with its own …
09 May 2024: Lake Taupō from the car as we whistled past on the way to Rotorua on our first road trip with the EV. 🚗 Our range anxiety was allayed with charging …
08 May 2024: Around 0720 a fuel tanker rolled a few Km north of Waikawa Beach. In spite of detours, that effectively closed the road so traffic north and south has …
08 May 2024: Persistence finally paid off. In about 15 minutes this morning, between about 0545 and 0600, I saw 10 meteors from the Eta Aquariids — two …
07 May 2024: I found Cliff Diver: A Detective Emilia Cruz Novel by Carmen Amato to be a tough read. 📚 The setting is drug cartels, police and official corruption, …
07 May 2024: Today's beach find: this fishing hook with 3 rusty barbs. It was tangled in some weed just waiting for a horse, dog or barefoot kid to step on it. …
07 May 2024: OK Pacific Wave Appreciation Society — some gentle Waikawa Beach waves to start the day. 🌊
07 May 2024: Tiny crescent moon rising an hour before dawn.
07 May 2024: North Yorkshire Council to phase out apostrophe use on street signs: "I think we should be using apostrophes. "If you start losing things like that …
06 May 2024: Solving a 30 year old cold case is actually very hard — Murder in the Parish (DI Hillary Greene Book 20) by Faith Martin 📚: Thirty years ago, …
06 May 2024: Another enjoyable read in the series — Malice in Tarnished Spaces: (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 6) by Lakota Grace 📚 : When Pegasus …
06 May 2024: Yesterday we drove to Palmerston North and watched the excellent movie The Great Escaper starring Glenda Jackson and Michael Caine. 🎥 It was very …
05 May 2024: This morning there were 5 Black-fronted dotterels in the estuary. Black-fronted dotterels are … recognisable by the striking Y-shaped black …
05 May 2024: Just before dawn today, with clear skies, a bit of a frost and mist over the ground.
05 May 2024: Hmmm, on this day in 2023 I posted my Speedtest results (100/22). Today I tested again, with 128/13.
04 May 2024: I haven't yet listened to this Quirks and Quarks podcast episode, but other Micro.Blog dog lovers may be interested too: May 4: Quirks goes to the …
04 May 2024: Someone on Micro.Blog mentioned the iCab web browser recently. I used to use that years ago. Just paid for a licence. 😁 Bonus: Apple Pay actually …
04 May 2024: Counting on my fingers against the Topic For the last week my mind has been preoccupied by a Topic. I don't want it to be. When I walk I like my mind to be free-spirited, bopping around …
03 May 2024: It was a beautiful morning when I went for a walk in the bush at Papaitonga.
02 May 2024: We had over 18mm rain last night, and there was probably much more in the hills. Which will be why there are clumps of river weed near the river mouth …
02 May 2024: At the west end of Homer Tunnel, from a carpark below, we can see the avalanche and rockfall protection roofing, and the amazing view down the Cleddau …
01 May 2024: On our bus tour to Milford Sound we had to wait for 10 minutes to drive through the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2km-long tunnel through solid rock. This was on …
01 May 2024: Last week a friend generalised something I said then used it in a way that undermined me within a group we both belong to. There was more to it than …
01 May 2024: This morning I joined a couple of other members of the Horowhenua branch of Forest and Bird to do a bird count at Waikawa Beach estuary. We don't have …
30 April 2024: What an excellent idea from Kāpiti Coast District Council: Encouraging chatter that matters: Chatterbox seats aim to normalise a culture of chat. They …
30 April 2024: One feature of the book Tempting Fête was that every character was introduced with a reference to their race. 📚 That did effectively raise my …
30 April 2024: I bought Tempting Fête (Men Who Stitch Mysteries Book 1) by Kate Silvers partly because its designation as A Diverse Cozy Mystery intrigued me. 📚 It …
30 April 2024: After a recent excellent holiday I fell into a slight slump and finally realised the last 7 years have been intense with local community activity. I …
29 April 2024: I didn't manage to find Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks on this very clear night, even though I went to the beach to have a clear view of the western horizon. I …
29 April 2024: Deb had a social engagement in Palmerston North today so I went along for the ride. I enjoyed an excellent Chicken Teriyaki dinner and a bit of a read …
28 April 2024: An excellent movie, inspired by true stories — The Beautiful Game 🎥: Advocates to end homelessness, organize an annual tournament for Homeless …
28 April 2024: Grim reading: There's an Awkward Link Between Plastic Production And Pollution We're Not Considering: Our new research found the relationship is …
28 April 2024: Another in a series I enjoy: Silence in West Fork (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 5) by Lakota Grace. 📚 Pegasus Quincy and her former partner, …
27 April 2024: We really enjoyed the hilarious and heartwarming film The Phantom of the Open, based on a true story. 🎥 Maurice Flitcroft, a shipyard worker in the …
27 April 2024: A mere 29 Km (by road), 25 minute drive south of Waikawa Beach is Peka Peka Beach. Small waves at Peka Peka Beach with Kāpiti Island in the …
26 April 2024: Now I See You (Mountain Resort Mystery series Book 1) by Shannon Work wasn't a favourite read, though I kept with it. It uses an Omniscient viewpoint …
26 April 2024: On our bus tour to Milford Sound we stopped for photos at Monkey Creek. What’s in a name? | New Zealand Geographic: Monkey Creek … commemorates …
25 April 2024: In the last couple of days Deb and I have watched Vera S13E01 and My Life is Murder S04E01. That's some good quality telly there. 📺
25 April 2024: This week I've tracked my sleep. Estimating Sleep Stages from Apple Watch: Apple Watch contains 3-axis accelerometer signals that track motion. They …
25 April 2024: The Cascade Creek conservation campsite in Fiordland National Park was a gorgeous location. Apparently the sandflies are bad there. We just stopped …
24 April 2024: I took this shot of a mountain from near Mirror Lakes in Fiordland. I'm afraid I have no idea which mountain it is.
24 April 2024: One of my best recent purchases: Hand Warmer Wheat Bags. 60 seconds in the microwave and moments later my hands are wrapped round a toasty wheatbag. I …
23 April 2024: Darn it! I went to read Bridges to Burn (Detective Clare Mackay Book 8) by Marion Todd today, only to find I'd already read it (and given it 5 stars). …
23 April 2024: Eglinton Valley photos As promised yesterday, more photos of Eglinton Valley in Fiordland National Park. All show steep beech-clad snow-topped mountains rising from a valley …
23 April 2024: LOL Text in image: Today's marine biology lecture is on sharks. We all know them as the scary triangles of the sea, but recent research has revealed …
23 April 2024: In a series I enjoy, Standing Dead (A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery Book 8) by Margaret Mizushima was a good read. 📚 Mattie’s K-9 partner, Robo, makes a …
22 April 2024: Like all of Fiordland National Park, the Eglinton Valley was beautiful. A broad flat valley floor covered with golden tussock, with steep beech-clad …
21 April 2024: On our recent holiday we took a bus trip from Te Anau to Milford Sound where we cruised for a couple of hours up and down the Sound. Our first brief …
21 April 2024: Delighted when I opened a window at 6 am to hear a Ruru | Morepork in trees around 500 metres away. Calls are given almost exclusively at night. The …
20 April 2024: Pied Stilt (and friend). 🐦
20 April 2024: This Pied Shag kept an eye on me while drying its wings at the beach. 🐦
20 April 2024: Another gripping book in the series: The Lost Steersman (Steerswoman Series Book 3) by Rosemary Kirstein. 📚 Rowan goes exploring in more strange and …
19 April 2024: This item about Google Plus codes was really interesting: On the Navajo Nation, Accurate Mailing Addresses Save Lives. If you want to find your own …
19 April 2024: Here's some handy info for my Kiwi pals: Māori Greetings Signoffs for Letters Emails (PDF). The new one I learned today: Ngā mihi maioha : Thank you …
19 April 2024: At dawn (8 am) we waited outside our expensive but basic motel in Te Anau for the bus tour to Milford Sound. You can see in the video the sprinkling …
18 April 2024: From Queenstown we travelled to Te Anau where I was able to spend a few minutes walking round Punanga Manu | the bird sanctuary. I had a wonderful …
18 April 2024: Yesterday I took a bunch of rubbish photos at the beach. Today I applied more thought. A pair of white-faced herons was keeping an eye on my process. …
17 April 2024: This Paradise Shelduck pair stood out on the lake today. 🐦
17 April 2024: This 20 minute video was super interesting: The most important CONSONANT in English by Dr Geoff Lindsey.
16 April 2024: The rains must have brought this big clump of weed down the river and onto the beach.
16 April 2024: We spent a night in Queenstown where the countryside is very beautiful. The town itself is cramped and busy, accommodation very expensive. It's full …
15 April 2024: Today I attended a meeting near the Levin War Memorial. I've driven past plenty of times but never before taken the time to stroll around the garden. …
15 April 2024: The Cromwell Heritage Precinct has old stone buildings and a view over the Clutha River where jetskis and others were hooning around.
14 April 2024: On our holiday, between Lake Pukaki and Cromwell I just watched the scenery go by, and took a few photos from the moving car.
14 April 2024: Fungi at Waiopehu Scenic Reserve Today I wandered around Waiopehu Scenic Reserve. It's a dim, damp and cool bush walk where I spotted all sorts of fungi I can't identify. It was a …
13 April 2024: I was in the mood to read all day and lost myself in Murder Against the Odds (Warwick & Bell Crime Mysteries Book 4) by Janice Frost. 📚 It was a good, …
13 April 2024: Morning waves. For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊 Morning waves on a dull day.
12 April 2024: Murder on a Country Walk (Warwick & Bell Crime Mysteries Book 4) by Janice Frost was another enjoyable read. 📚 I like these lead characters, though in …
12 April 2024: Heaven forbid we feed kids just because they're hungry! Associate minister of education David Seymour wants a “robust, statistically significant …
12 April 2024: OK, my new endeavour: Portuguese for Beginners | Udemy. Day 1: obrigada. 🇵🇹
11 April 2024: When Waka Kotahi built the Kāpiti Expressway they installed a sealed shared path (bikes, pedestrians, horses) alongside it. Today I did a little 12 Km …
11 April 2024: I seem to be in a phase where I'm generally low level irritable and scratchy and want to shed some involvements, engagements and responsibilities (I …
11 April 2024: Oh, April 2024 Photo Challenge Day 11: sky. The sky was vibrant in scarlet for about 30 minutes this morning!
11 April 2024: This sounds interesting. As a lover of words and language in general I'd be up to give this game a go. Scrabble: Mattel launches new version of game …
10 April 2024: This morning I drove about 20 minutes to Lake Papaitonga Scenic Reserve and enjoyed a shady bush walk. The boardwalk splits around a tree. A …
10 April 2024: Another excellent Braincraft video: How to cope when life is terrible - YouTube.
10 April 2024: Aha! 2028 total solar eclipse in New Zealand: before the total eclipse [on 22 July, 2028], Aotearoa would also be treated to a small dress rehearsal …
09 April 2024: From Takapō we headed south, with a momentary stop at Lake Pukaki, so blue! I believe that's Aoraki | Mount Cook visible on the right.
09 April 2024: I'd forgotten I'd read other books by Judi Daykin, with varying enjoyment. The Wild Thyme Farm Murder (Detective Sara Hirst Book 6) was well-written …
09 April 2024: I haven't visited the beach with my camera so much lately — many of the birds have gone. Today I took the camera and captured this Tarapunga | …
08 April 2024: About 9 pm at Lake Takapō, in the Dark Sky Reserve (on 23 March 2024). This was the view from our excellent rental apartment. An almost full moon …
07 April 2024: I enjoy Anne Shillolo's murder mystery series, but Murder at Lost Lake: (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 3) had a couple of important plot points …
07 April 2024: What bliss! Lying on the outdoor couch on a warm (finally) sunny blue sky day. The distant sea faintly in the background. Bees buzzing nearby. Birds …
07 April 2024: Such a moving essay about environment: The Sunday Essay: Piercing the living waters | The Spinoff: I was promised dolphins, whales, and maybe even …
07 April 2024: Apparently in April 2022 I advised myself about having spent too little time sightseeing: It's easy to look back decades later and make judgements. A …
07 April 2024: I saw this video a couple of days ago after the huge earthquake in Taiwan and told Deb to watch it. She couldn't find it, so here it is for posterity: …
06 April 2024: Bag 3 of the Lego build complete. It required only a minor fix where I must have messed up in a previous stage. 😅
06 April 2024: I encouraged this little Southern Bell Frog out of the garage yesterday. So glad to spot a frog again — they seem to have been in short supply. …
06 April 2024: MB April Photo Challenge: windy 📷 Sasha, tail flying, on a windy day at Waikawa Beach in August 2019.
05 April 2024: Just before our tour to the Mt John observatories (photos strongly discouraged up there because of stray light). This was Lake Takapō at 8 pm with fog …
05 April 2024: Having recently visited Tekapo I was intrigued by this new murder mystery set there: Dark Sky: Murder among the stars - by Marie Connolly. But I don't …
05 April 2024: Not a new thought, but today it really hit home to me — someone on the radio said "grow the economy" and I thought: what say as a society we …
04 April 2024: Four Distinct Sleep Types: According to the team behind the study, extra effort needs to be made to educate people about the benefits of good sleep …
04 April 2024: Maybe half way between Temuka and Takapō is Fairlie, with its James MacKenzie and Dog statue. The Mackenzie District: is named after James Mackenzie, …
04 April 2024: I was doubtful about The Jenny Starling Mysteries Books 1–4 by Faith Martin at first but really rather enjoyed the books with their understated gentle …
03 April 2024: Winchester, in Te Wai Pounamu, lies between Temuka and Geraldine. We were recommended to breakfast at Mia Flora (FB link), a residence, garden shop …
03 April 2024: Today I was out the door at 7 am to visit the supermarket, then spent the whole morning making muesli, mushroom soup and beef stew. Whew! To follow, …
02 April 2024: It annoyed me while on holiday that the Sunrise/Sunset complication on my Apple Watch stopped working. I've finally fixed it thanks to Sunset / …
02 April 2024: It flows slowly, the Waikawa River, but it's still a 'flower'. 🤣 MB April Photo Challenge: flowers 📷
02 April 2024: The waves might be little in our barely moving air from the east, but they're still Pacific. For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
02 April 2024: Brooklyn 99 is perfect to (re)watch while I eat breakfast. Every single episode leaves me laughing.
02 April 2024: This sounds bad — DOC spent nearly $500,000 to kill one stoat in Fiordland until we see this: [Auckland University Professor of Conservation …
01 April 2024: At the Dark Sky Project in Takapō I bought this Great Spotted Kiwi backpack clip as a memento. Not that I saw a kiwi there, I just like to collect …
01 April 2024: I did this Online Hearing Test a few years back and have just gone through it again. Hmmm, having found my previous test results, it looks like my …
01 April 2024: Nice to see that a] the beach was still there 🤣 and that b] someone had been having a good time.
31 March 2024: I had a wonderful time away on holiday, but am thrilled to be home to my kettle that I can set to the correct temperature for my tea, and my most …
31 March 2024: Partly because it's Easter I followed official advice and arrived at Christchurch airport early to allow extra time for security. There is no security …
30 March 2024: My friend Anne and I dressed warmly against the sharp wind in Christchurch at the Travis Wetland. Me on the left in the blue jacket standing upslope …
30 March 2024: Autumn colours in Te Māra Huaota o Waipapa | the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
29 March 2024: This morning we enjoyed a pleasant walk around the 119 hectare Ōruapaeroa / Travis Wetland in Christchurch. At some points we had views of the Port …
28 March 2024: Rakaia Gorge is scenic from the lookout.
28 March 2024: Staying with a friend in Christchurch. This is one year old Felix. 🐈
27 March 2024: Athol is a tiny place about half way between Te Anau and Queenstown. It has a very convenient public toilet, a tearooms, and this interesting Memorial …
27 March 2024: Back in Takapō for the night. From the back I thought this was a car, but it turns out to be a Mustang Thunderbird touring bike.
27 March 2024: Such a cool use of the Internet: Fish Doorbell in Utrecht: … viewers around the world can watch a livestream of the camera and, when they see a …
26 March 2024: This photo probably most represents Milford Sound. Huge craggy sheer cliffs, greenery, numerous tiny or massive waterfalls.
26 March 2024: What a long day. The bus picked us up at 8 this morning for our Milford Sound Tour and after a busy day we returned at 5. A quick meal at Thai Anau …
25 March 2024: At the Te Anau bird sanctuary I spotted Takahē and Whio (Blue Duck). 🐦 Punanga Manu o Te Anau/Te Anau Bird Sanctuary Two Takahē in Te Anau. Two Whio …
25 March 2024: Spent the night in Queenstown. Today we drive 2 hours to Te Anau then tomorrow, with any luck, we visit Milford Sound for a cruise — Milford …
24 March 2024: Lake view from Earnslaw Lodge on Lake Wakatipu in Tāhuna | Queenstown, east to west.
24 March 2024: The landscapes in Mackenzie and Central are just jaw dropping.
24 March 2024: Aoraki (Mt Cook) from Lake Pukaki.
24 March 2024: I’ve never been to Cromwell on Lake Dunstan before. Stark mountains all around.
24 March 2024: Delicious breakfast at Jack Rabbit in Takapō before we drive to Queenstown.
23 March 2024: Dishes at the Dark Sky Diner were pricey, but the Fire grilled salmon served with roasted pumpkin, grilled asparagus, smoked cauliflower puree and …
23 March 2024: Filling in a few hours till our 11 pm tour — Takapō Stargazing at Mount John: The Summit Experience: start by looking at the stars with the …
23 March 2024: Lake Takapō.
23 March 2024: We're travelling in Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island) with our friend Amanda from north of Auckland. Last night's accommodation was lovely: Hall on …
22 March 2024: Waimakariri River just north of Otautahi | Christchurch. So blue! And a famous braided riverbed.
22 March 2024: So cool 🐦 : 3D printed eggs used in fairy tern rescue programme | RNZ News: Staff remove the [real] eggs, take them to incubators at Auckland Zoo, and …
21 March 2024: Hmmm, still none the wiser. Bizarre film. Asteroid City 🎥: It is Anderson's homage to popular memory and mythology about extraterrestrials and UFOs …
21 March 2024: The Outskirter's Secret (Steerswoman Series Book 2) by Rosemary Kirstein was as gripping as the first book. 📚 The world building in this series is …
21 March 2024: Fun moment: distance between where I live now and where I was born: Distance Between Cities Places On Map Distance Calculator: 18,759 km or 11,656 …
20 March 2024: Waikawa Beach, 20 March 2024. The Pacific Wave Appreciation Society appreciates even the smallest of waves. 🌊
20 March 2024: Hmm, I'm reading out a brief speech from my iPad at a Horowhenua District Council meeting today. I had the speech in Apple Notes but was worried about …
20 March 2024: I'm usually good with anagrams so was initially disappointed with my first try at Lex Friedman's By A Vowel puzzle. I was relieved that after solving …
19 March 2024: With Equinox tomorrow, I lit the first fire for 2024.
19 March 2024: Waikawa river mouth shines in the early morning.
18 March 2024: In 2 days time I will be speaking to our local District Council for no more than 5 minutes on an incredibly divisive local topic: vehicle access to …
17 March 2024: Ate dinner with friends at Samrat Indian Restaurant in Waikanae. Just like last time, the food was delicious. I had a goat curry. It was followed by a …
17 March 2024: Bag 2 of the Lego build complete, with no parts left over. 😅
17 March 2024: So quiet today — I took a nap in the sun with crickets for company. Delightful.
16 March 2024: Kāpiti Island and Te Wai Pounamu (South Island) on a clear sunny day.
16 March 2024: Hah hah — love it! Note: the title attribute reads: Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult.
15 March 2024: Whew, I've completed the first pack on my 5-pack Lego build. After discovering a leftover piece 😳 I returned to Page 11 and inserted the missing …
15 March 2024: I don't often read fantasy, but on Annie's recommendation (what Annie said goes for me too) I took a chance on The Steerswoman (Steerswoman Series …
14 March 2024: Also spotted this morning.
14 March 2024: A different kind of bird low overhead at the beach today.
13 March 2024: Hardly a challenging plot, but the movie 80 for Brady was fun. 🎥 Hard to go wrong with a cast that includes Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and …
13 March 2024: Heh, quote of the year: I speak fluent typo! 😆 cygnoir https://micro.blog/cygnoir/33360506
13 March 2024: I'm enjoying playing Lex Friedman's Lexicogs.
12 March 2024: I didn't get off to a good start with the first book in this series, but Murder at the Wedding (Rina Martin Murder Mystery Book 9) by Jane Adams was a …
11 March 2024: This mantis on our front door today may be a South African mantis. [Later] The NZ Bug Identification Facebook Group confirms this as a Praying mantis …
10 March 2024: Deb and I really enjoyed The Miracle Club 🎥 : In 1967, in a hard-knocks community in Dublin, three generations of women have one tantalizing dream: to …
10 March 2024: I picked about 5 Kg Granny Smith apples off the tree. I'm looking forward to stewing them up and eating them with my breakfast every day for quite a …
10 March 2024: I'm 69 and have never played with? built? Lego. After hearing it mentioned the other day I bought a $50 Lego Technic Surface Space Loader set and am …
09 March 2024: That custom email domain I've had trouble with for the past couple of weeks … I fiddled, deleted, started over, double-checked, waited and …
09 March 2024: Deb and I watched the excellent Australian mini-series True Colours on Netflix. 📺 It explores complex questions of culture and justice: white-man's …
09 March 2024: This page lists Custom Email Domain Availability. Since Aotearoa is included I'm stumped as to why, a week or two on, I can't make it work for a new …
09 March 2024: On the beach yesterday. 🐦 Social distancing for NZ Dotterels. NZ Dotterel looking fine. Immature red-billed gull up close.
08 March 2024: Here's a stabilised version of the birds and waves video I shared before. Many thanks to @sod for the suggestion.
08 March 2024: Something I've noticed recently is that my hand holding the camera steady is no longer 100% successful in its task. Sorry for the shakes in this …
08 March 2024: Waves? What waves? 🐦 Waikawa Beach, Aotearoa, for the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
07 March 2024: There was one Ngutupapa | Royal Spoonbill at Kuku Beach this morning. 🐦
07 March 2024: Kuku Beach Estuary is a 3.5 Km walk north along the beach, but I drove there by road this morning. A local told me there had been a lot of birds there …
06 March 2024: Chilly at the beach this dawn. We're now in one of the official Autumns. 🐦 Oystercatcher and almost grown up chick. Oystercatcher with a tasty grub, …
05 March 2024: Somehow I started reading Murder at the Willows (Rina Martin Murder Mystery Book 8) by Jane Adams forever ago and then only just came back to it. 📚 …
05 March 2024: Visit to the dental hygienist today, after too long a break. Now all my teeth feel weird … Now they're all super clean and everything I'm …
04 March 2024: Long-tailed bat the weight of a AAA battery believed to be NZ's oldest | RNZ News: A bat of at least 26 years is officially New Zealand's oldest known …
04 March 2024: Such a good read! Gone to Darkness (Sydney Rose Parnell Book 4) by Barbara Nickless was perhaps even more intense than the previous three in the …
04 March 2024: From the Good News files — Aotearoa New Zealand’s first fully electric bus network launches in Palmerston North and Ashhurst.
04 March 2024: There's actual rain (and high winds) forecast for today. 🌧️ 33.6 mm (1.3") rain forecast and winds up to 67 kph (41.6 mph).
03 March 2024: Through the window. A rather scruffy looking Starling. 🐦
02 March 2024: Half a dozen Kōurarini | European goldfinches were outside my bedroom window this morning. 🐦
01 March 2024: Not sure I've seen a dozen or more Poaka | Pied Stilt all together at our beach before. 🐦
29 February 2024: Bird footprints on the beach. 🐦
29 February 2024: Sydney is growing into civilian life, but the past still haunts her. Another good read. Ambush (Sydney Rose Parnell Book 3) by Barbara Nickless 📚 : …
29 February 2024: Because it's Leap Day I'm messing around with fonts in some apps — just to shake things up a bit.
29 February 2024: Starting the day with a bit of a shaker — GeoNet: Quake - 2024p158594 〰️: Magnitude: 4.7 Depth: 20 km
29 February 2024: Happy Leap Day folks. Enjoy the gamboling and capering. 😁 💃💃
28 February 2024: This 8 minute video is particularly interesting and useful — Your freezer is messing with your food: Freezing is an awesome way to preserve food …
27 February 2024: There is a small group of Warou | Welcome swallows who spend a proportion of their days perched on the deck railing, about 3 metres away, watching …
26 February 2024: I took this photo the other day of Kuaka | Godwits in breeding plumage. Do you like the halo? 🐦
25 February 2024: Today's bird, on Lake Te Puna a te Ora: Kuruwhengi | Australasian shoveler. 🐦 New Zealand status: Native; Conservation status: Not Threatened …
24 February 2024: The Girl Who Found Joy (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 6) by Amy Vansant. A somewhat complicated plot. Since the reader has more info …
24 February 2024: Some of my Micro.Blog pals might be interested in reading this Waikawa News blog post: Who are all those birds in the Estuary? 🐦 See photos of the 21 …
24 February 2024: Jana DeLeon has created another engaging and fun story in the Miss Fortune series with Swamp Spies. 📚 This book opens with an undercover spy mission …
23 February 2024: I very much enjoyed watching The Marvels. It was fun.
23 February 2024: We have a 20,000 litre rainwater tank that serves our house for drinking and other water. Since it was last filled by tanker at the start of November …
23 February 2024: For those who just want the pretty pictures — 🐦 A juvenile Tarapirohe | Black-fronted Tern. New Zealand status: Endemic Conservation status: …
23 February 2024: Juvenile Black-fronted Tern At this time of year we see flocks of White-fronted Terns hanging out in the estuary near the sea, but on 22 February 2024 this bird was sitting apart …
23 February 2024: Tarāpuka | Black-billed gull 🐦 : The black-billed gull is found only in New Zealand … The black-billed gull is more slender than the red-billed …
22 February 2024: West coast waves — at Waikawa Beach in Horowhenua in Aotearoa. See Jean’s west coast waves, North America.
22 February 2024: My friend Rachel has a thing or two to say about ageing and being old — A taxonomy of aging based on the elder tree: the “old” are forever the …
22 February 2024: 6 am and look at that: Venus side by side with Mars in the morning sky. ✨✨
21 February 2024: Juvenile Tarapunga | Red-billed gull, a native whose conservation status is Declining. 🐦
21 February 2024: It's a ground misty kind of morning. With Venus and sunrise.
21 February 2024: Another in a gripping series — Dead Stop (Sydney Rose Parnell Book 2) by Barbara Nickless 📚: With Denver beset by a series of monsoonlike …
20 February 2024: Spotted this roughly 5 cm grasshopper on the outside of my bedroom window this morning.
19 February 2024: First time for everything: this Blokart had come up from Ōtaki. I haven't seen one on Waikawa Beach before.
19 February 2024: Cyclone categories no longer fit for a heating planet: Increasingly strong cyclones may mean a new higher-wind-speed category needs to be created, …
18 February 2024: The swallows love hanging out on the railing by our east window, in the early evening sun. 🐦
18 February 2024: Such a good read I've preordered the next in series — Redemption (Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran Book 1) by Deborah J Ledford 📚 : a Native American …
18 February 2024: I suspect this juvenile Oystercatcher was one of the babies from early January. Its parent was looking a bit fed up, to my eye. 🐦 A little further …
17 February 2024: The movie Orion and the Dark was a delight — so creative, and also fun. It's worth a watch. 🎥 I also really liked the characters: Dark, …
17 February 2024: I visited the Ōtaki Kite Festival today. The small kites were huge compared to a normal backyard kite. But the giant kites made the small (huge) ones …
17 February 2024: This fine bulldog was a brief visitor at our place the other day. Our cat-sized waterbowl had to be refilled twice! 🐶
17 February 2024: Today's good news for conservation — Pest control reverses 'downward slide to extinction' for kiwi | RNZ News: The Fiordland tokoeka population …
17 February 2024: I used to use a Keyboard Maestro action to open my Time Machine System Preference but with some OS upgrade it stopped working properly. It would open …
16 February 2024: What the heck! 🐦
16 February 2024: Behind you!!! 🐦
16 February 2024: Black and white (and orange). Tern next to Southern Pied Oystercatcher. 🐦
16 February 2024: It was darned hot at the beach this afternoon, but I was so glad to spot baby Oystercatcher again. 🐦
15 February 2024: Big and Little: Kakīānau | Black swan and Pāpango | New Zealand scaup. 🐦 Length: 110 - 140 cm; Weight: 5 - 7 kg (male), 4 - 6 kg (female) vs Length: …
15 February 2024: Big and Little: big Taranui | Caspian Tern with little Tara | White-fronted Tern (I think …) 🐦 Length: 50 cm; Weight: 700 grams vs Length: 42 …
15 February 2024: Yet another in a series that grips me: The Gathering Storm (Detective Shona Oliver Book 4) by Lynne McEwan. 📚 DI Shona Oliver’s past and present …
15 February 2024: I highlighted many parts of Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner but the last third was draggy and weird (possibly over my head) 📚 : With cool …
15 February 2024: Something special happened last night. There I was lying with my eyes open hoping sleep would capture me. I could see a couple of stars through my …
14 February 2024: On my bike ride today I drank a can of L&P (Lemon & Paeroa, lemonade), then when I came home I drank far too many cups of tea. That's why it's …
14 February 2024: I biked 10 km beside the river in Palmerston North and I’m having a rest and enjoying the view before I head back to the car.
14 February 2024: Today's adventure: bike along the Manawatū River Park Pathway in Palmerston North then have lunch at my favourite, Mr Choi, where the chicken teriyaki …
14 February 2024: Listened to this interview yesterday — so interesting — Record-smashing Tonga volcano sheds new light on how underwater volcanoes blow: …
13 February 2024: Birds I noticed at dawn at the beach today: NZ Dotterel, Royal Spoonbill, adult pair and baby Oystercatcher. 🐦 NZ Dotterel. Royal Spoonbill. Adult …
13 February 2024: Flocks of birds in flight at the beach today. 🐦 Black swans in flight. A small flock of Rock Pigeons.
12 February 2024: I planted two Grevillea New Blood today. A stunning deep red flowering ground cover. It is a quite vigorous frost-hardy plant that flowers over a long …
12 February 2024: Thanks to @bsag I'm currently reading Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner. There are some wonderful turns of phrase … On Sunday mornings …
12 February 2024: Deb and I brunched today at Harrison's cafe and garden centre in Pekapeka. It's such a peaceful environment and the food is fine. While waiting to pay …
12 February 2024: Loved reading A Matrimonial Murder (A Temple Hill Mystery Book 2) by Meeti Shroff-Shah. For me the location and people are exotic. There's so much …
11 February 2024: There were also plenty of birds on Lake Te Puna a te Ora, including many Pāpango | New Zealand scaup. 🐦
11 February 2024: Today I noticed juvenile Karoro | Black-backed gulls 🐦.
11 February 2024: What a lovely essay: Por Por’s broth | 婆婆煲噶湯 | The Spinoff: she is painfully excited about my learning Cantonese; … 婆婆 always wants to hear my …
10 February 2024: An excellent movie. Watch it! One Life 🎥 : based on the true story of British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton as he looks back on his past efforts to …
10 February 2024: The whole article is really interesting — Of melting pots and mongrel languages: If a few soldiers, 958 years ago, had shown a bit more …
09 February 2024: Today's 'haul' — Dotterels and a Hawk in flight. 🐦
09 February 2024: I enjoyed this and may read others by this author if there are any, but somehow I never felt quite connected with the characters. Shot in the Dark …
08 February 2024: Also on the beach and in my camera's view this morning, this Matuku moana | White-faced heron. 🐦
08 February 2024: And here's my new S9 Apple Watch, a full 6 days before I expected it! 😁
08 February 2024: Success! Not only has the population of baby Oystercatchers doubled overnight, but I managed a photo or two. Like this one of the two chicks seeking …
07 February 2024: This parent Oystercatcher was very upset with me today for walking too close to its baby (maybe 10 or 15 metres away). I was getting the works! 🐦
07 February 2024: On very rare occasions an odd looking item turns up in the supermarket Fruit and Vege section. Turns out it's a Dragonfruit. I looked up what it was …
07 February 2024: This is super interesting (Waikawa Beach has a terrible erosion problem in one particular spot) — Cyclone Gabrielle: Parts of East Coast lost 10 …
07 February 2024: At the beach I saw, but didn't manage a photo of, a brand new baby Oystercatcher! Huzzah! Meanwhile, at home, Warou | Welcome swallows keep lining up …
06 February 2024: Today is one of NZ's most important days: Waitangi Day. We commemorate the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi between Māori and the British Crown in …
06 February 2024: Waitangi Day 6 Feb 2024 7:57 AM: A Ngāpuhi kaumātua says He Whakaputanga needs to be elevated in the national conscious as the "matua", the parent of …
05 February 2024: I like this series and enjoyed the fast action of The Girl Who Saw the Truth (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 5) by Amy Vansant. It …
05 February 2024: Just wanted to note this — Oxford gains dark sky park status | RNZ News: Oxford [north of Christchurch] has become the 6th New Zealand community …
05 February 2024: With a birthday (69) coming up I followed a whim the other day (unusual for me) and ordered a new Apple watch mid-cycle. Upgrading from a S7 to a S9. …
04 February 2024: Hmmm, in the first week of April Deb and I might spend a few days in Te Wai Pounamu (The South Island). Which could mean doing this — Takapō …
03 February 2024: Kawau | Pied Shags on the beach this morning. 🐦
03 February 2024: Bumper breeding season for NZ's rarest bird after disastrous season last year | RNZ News: … five fledglings already striking out on their own …
03 February 2024: Earlier this week I thought I was over Covid but just not up to par. Yesterday and today I realise I actually feel well. I have a growing spark of …
02 February 2024: I read this in two widely spaced hits: Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned eighteenth-century Europe dark by …
02 February 2024: Just in case Deb and I do ever end up travelling to the Arctic — Top Arctic Wildlife Photography Tips for the Perfect Shot: Mastering Arctic …
02 February 2024: While the Warou | Welcome swallow sat on the zendo roof the Kāhu | Hawk was out hunting. 🐦
02 February 2024: Another from an author I enjoy: Someone Rotten Riding the Rails (The Accidental Detective Book 6) by Kris Bock. 📚 Two Russian crime families have …
02 February 2024: I quite enjoyed The Birthday Girl (A Mallory Dawson Crime Thriller Book 1) by Sarah Ward. 📚 A remote island location, a devastating storm, a serial …
01 February 2024: Pied Stilt stands guard on 3 juveniles. 🐦
01 February 2024: This is such an interesting podcast episode: Werthwhile Language – The Vocal Fries Pod: Carrie and Megan talk with Dr Suzanne Wertheim about her book, …
01 February 2024: It seems I have a case of the 3am blahs. 😱
31 January 2024: Whew, drove to Pekapeka for brunch with a friend, bought a few groceries on the way home. Exhausted now.
30 January 2024: Today's other beach bird is this NZ Dotterel showing off its jewellery. 🐦
30 January 2024: Today's beach bird is … a sparrow! It had found a tasty morsel for its dinner. 🐦
30 January 2024: Lay down for a few moments … and woke an hour later! Missing out on this glorious hot and sunny day.
29 January 2024: A fairly good read, though it didn't utterly grip me — Lest We Forgive (DS Liz Moorland. Major Crimes. Book 1) by Phillipa Nefri Clark. 📚 While …
29 January 2024: There were so many birds at the estuary this morning. I went for photos of groups. No chance of photos of the flock of Dotterels — they were too …
28 January 2024: Deb made this wonderful Chicken Barley Soup (Soupe Jo) for dinner. Definitely one to have again.
28 January 2024: Still haven't regained my energy after testing clear of Covid over a week ago. Today I took recycling bins up to the road and spent half an hour doing …
27 January 2024: I finished Star Trek: Prodigy, and enjoyed it. I was a bit lukewarm for the first half dozen episodes but then it found its feet and eventually became …
27 January 2024: I didn't quite gel with Fall (Detective Harriet Foster Book 2) by Tracy Clark at first, but the book did grow on me. The political intrigue aspect …
26 January 2024: The Tea Masterclass has been fascinating. The episode I watched today particularly so: Global Tea History: Ancient Origins To Today's Tea Renaissance …
26 January 2024: Earthquakes and me and you I've lived most of my life in Aotearoa — that's 60+ years. And in this country we get earthquakes. They're frequent. Mostly we don't even know …
26 January 2024: Yesterday I sent out a community newsletter that also contained a clearly labelled opinion piece. I received two responses — one a thank you …
25 January 2024: Shaken awake at 0318 by a 5.2 quake. 〰️
24 January 2024: I had only 2 minutes at the lake this afternoon. How lucky to spot a Matuku moana | White-faced heron, Ngutupapa | Royal Spoonbill, heaps of birds …
23 January 2024: Look who's hanging out on our bathroom window today: this stick insect (about 10 cm long — 4 inches).
23 January 2024: Friends, here's an ebook bundle to sit back and enjoy. I love these books. The Complete Ellie Tappet Box Set Cruise Ship Mystery Bundle by Cheri Baker …
23 January 2024: Five climate lessons from Māori communities (that are guaranteed not to depress you) | The Spinoff: you’ll often hear the phrase “climate change is …
23 January 2024: Hey crossword-loving people, I use Daniel Jalkut's fantastic Black Ink app to do crosswords every single day on my Mac. If you're more an iOS person …
22 January 2024: A somewhat amusing read, poking gentle fun. The Dinner Lady Detectives: A charming British village cosy mystery by Hannah Hendy. 📚 Margery and …
22 January 2024: How an unknown app helped mobilise 10,000 people at Tūrangawaewae | The Spinoff: An efficiently organised pōwhiri saw 10,000 guests through the gates …
21 January 2024: I was told about this kudos for my work with Waikawa News, but now have seen it for myself (PDF). Miraz Xan Tha is my Facebook screen name. Screenshot …
21 January 2024: Back on 01 January 2024 I thought my word for this year would be surprise. Well, with Deb's gallbladder op, our travel delays, and both of us catching …
21 January 2024: Such impressive wings on this critter I found on the washing line this morning.
21 January 2024: Ten memorable quotes from te hui aa motu | The Spinoff [held Saturday 20 January 2024]: Te hui aa motu was a monumental moment in the history of …
20 January 2024: I was hooked from the first with Blood on the Tracks (Sydney Rose Parnell Book 1) by Barbara Nickless. Such a riveting read, and I've immediately …
20 January 2024: Country life: sitting in bed of a rainy Saturday, reading and wondering what the weird noise was. Glanced out the window to see a horse, no saddle or …
19 January 2024: Deb and I managed a slow 25 minute walk on the beach. We encountered 1 angry Pied Stilt who, surprisingly, did not dive-bomb us, and two angry …
19 January 2024: Disappointed to do another Covid test this morning and find I'm still positive. I'm feeling better, though still tired and with very low energy. …
18 January 2024: I read The Nugent Case (Mine for the Taking Book 1) by Torie Raben when I was in a bit of a daze, I think. More spy story than detective. It was OK, …
17 January 2024: With The Arc (DCI Ellie McVey series Book 1) by J.A. Rainbow I realised: I watch without complaint TV shows that are equally vague and 'unrealistic' …
17 January 2024: A very curious thing about those 8 DL Keur books I read. The author was a stickler for using the ® symbol after certain names, like Stetson and …
17 January 2024: I nearly stopped reading Deadly Bond (Kate Kinsella Mysteries Book 5) by Christine Green but returned to it in the end. 📚 I won't read others in the …
16 January 2024: Welcoming nightfall. At our friends place in Whangārei.
16 January 2024: I thoroughly enjoyed the The Jessica Anderson K-9 Mysteries, as I mentioned already. Dead Falls (Book 5); Troubled Pursuit (Book 6); Game Trail (Book …
16 January 2024: I'd read one of the other Daph books so knew what I was in for with this light and fluffy read. Daph On The Beach by Phillipa Nefri Clark was a little …
15 January 2024: I never know which mountain is which, in the central North Island. When we flew home the other day we had this outstanding view of Tongariro / …
15 January 2024: Deb spotted a stoat running past the quail run just before I went to feed Fliss, the Japanese Quail. I think it must have bitten her through the wire. …
14 January 2024: Three features of today in Covid-land: Deb, now somewhat better, is looking after me superbly. While still quite unwell, I've struck the 'better' …
13 January 2024: To all my many Micro.Blog pals who have wished Deb and me well with our current Covid+ status: thank you. Deb is getting better. I'm now in that phase …
13 January 2024: Amazing, my 6th anniversary at Micro.Blog. A wonderful community. Thanks everyone who created it and makes it so. I try to post here at least once …
12 January 2024: Once Deb was positive for Covid, it was inevitable that I would follow. Confirmed today. At least we managed, well-masked, to get home. 🦠 I don't feel …
12 January 2024: I’m over airports. Glad to be nearly home though. 1.25 hour flight then an hour drive. 🤞🏼
11 January 2024: The Jessica Anderson K-9 Mysteries (8 book series) has been so engrossing I've read the first 4 without writing about them 🐶 : A series about … …
11 January 2024: On 11 January 2023 I wrote about my M1 MacBook Pro: 2 years on and battery life is still phenomenal. You know what? Add another 12 months and battery …
10 January 2024: So… given Deb’s positive Covid test, we’re extending our stay with our friends in Whangārei rather than flying home. This trip is full of …
10 January 2024: Today we reverse our trip and fly Whangārei to Auckland then on to Palmerston North, then drive home. Given Deb’s unwell, I’m hoping this …
09 January 2024: Spotted this Ngungutawa | Sand Scarab larva (Pericoptus truncatus) on the beach track the other day.
09 January 2024: The Rolling Ball Clock in Whangārei is pretty special. Poor photo I'm afraid and I only had a moment to watch it work. Balls are released onto a wire …
08 January 2024: Went out to lunch at Aqua Restaurant & Bar, based in the amazing Hundertwasser Centre in Whangārei Basin. The meal was delicious. Imaginatively tiled …
08 January 2024: Our friends have several tanks with tropical fish. This one is called a Discus.
07 January 2024: Here I am with my other new BFF — a black Malinois called Rush. 🐶
07 January 2024: This is my new friend Boo, a German Spitz Mittel, keeping an eye on the world. 🐶 This shot was made with an unusual camera: the front camera on my M1 …
06 January 2024: We made it to Whangārei in the end. Whew. Much earlier in the day we flew past Taranaki maunga.
06 January 2024: We missed that connecting flight to Whangārei by 2 minutes — the doors closed as we walked into the terminal. 7 of us (random strangers) on the …
06 January 2024: Left home at 4.30 am. Drove through fog to the airport. Boarded the plane. Sat for half an hour. Debarked. Had breakfast at the cafe. Hoping to reach …
05 January 2024: Spotted on the beach today, a Taranui | Caspian tern: Although widespread now, Caspian terns remain uncommon in New Zealand, with around 1300-1400 …
05 January 2024: Wellington asks for government funding for new bird 'super sanctuary': The Puketaha fenced eco-sanctuary would be built in Wainuiomata on 3000 …
05 January 2024: Weird: I've used Keyboard Maestro for one or two decades now and it's never occurred to me before to use the Clipboard History Switcher with its …
04 January 2024: Today a baby Oystercatcher walked past really close to me. What a sweetie! 🐦
03 January 2024: With its mottled brown back and head this is definitely a baby Pied Stilt. 🐦
03 January 2024: Caught the baby oystercatchers yesterday dashing about. 🐦 (This should be an animated gif.) For users of Acorn app: Open image, then File - Add Images …
02 January 2024: Sometimes our neighbours would call and point out Oshi was down at their place (he'd escaped). Today their dog Willow decided it was her turn to make …
02 January 2024: Those baby Oystercatchers are growing! 🐦
01 January 2024: Since I have a tradition of posting a selfie on New Year's Day, here's 01 January 2024. See also 2023, 2022 and 2021.
01 January 2024: The Oystercatcher chicks are getting so grown up. Here's one with its parent. 🐦
01 January 2024: Hmmm, my 2024 smart photo album seems to be empty. Better put that right. 🤣
01 January 2024: Surprise 🌈 I read a few Micro.Blog posts where people mentioned their word of the year and thought: Oh, I don't have one this year. Then I saw …
01 January 2024: Good morning and welcome to 2024! I was up at 2.30 am to shut my bedroom window against a blustery southerly that came up and woke me. Not quite the …
31 December 2023: I cooked a variation of Spring vegetable broth with shredded chicken for dinner and it was delicious (and healthy). I used cannellini beans, broccoli …
31 December 2023: Road to Copper Hollow (Mining For Justice Book 1) by Katie Trapp was heavier on relationships than on plot, but as the lead characters were lesbians I …
31 December 2023: I quickly abandoned The Complete Maxie Reddick Mysteries Books 1–3 box set by Helen Bridgett. 🐦 I really didn't like the lead character — she …
31 December 2023: I quite enjoyed reading the 5 books in Charlotte Dean Mysteries eBook Bundle by Phillipa Nefri Clark. 🐦 You'd barely know the books are set in …
31 December 2023: I unsubbed from something and really don't like the message on the confirmation page. Seems hostile to me …
31 December 2023: I don't usually go in for yearly roundup posts but there were a lot of Special Moments in 2023.
31 December 2023: Special Moments from 2023 I don't usually go in for yearly roundup posts but there were a lot of Special Moments in 2023. I did a bunch of stuff on behalf of the community, …
30 December 2023: If you're a human being who does like dogs this will be the best 8.5 minutes of your year: We Rate Dogs: The Dogs of 2023 (Facebook). 🐶
29 December 2023: Françoise Bettencourt Meyer: L'Oréal heiress first woman to amass $100bn fortune: The net worth of Ms Bettencourt Meyers … crossed $100bn on …
29 December 2023: Hah! Apple Photos just gave me a new 2023 Year in Review Memory. More than 95% of the photos are birds! Fantastic. 🐦 This was useful: Export photos, …
29 December 2023: Well well well, for the first time since I bought my M1 MacBook Pro in January 2021 I was able to successfully use Apple Pay to make an online …
28 December 2023: Such a gorgeous summer morning with the dawn chorus, a hazy full moon setting in the west, Venus rising in the east behind pink-tinged cloud. 🐦 Your …
28 December 2023: The Matuku-hūrepo | Australasian Bittern is an extremely rare and endangered bird, but one sometimes turns up in these parts. Last night a large dark …
27 December 2023: Thanks to my many Micro.Blog pals who sent good wishes for my partner Deb's gallbladder surgery. Five days after first rolling up at the Emergency …
27 December 2023: Uh oh. Arrived at Deb's hospital room at 9 am and it seems she's been abducted by aliens. Awaiting the ransom demand!
26 December 2023: After 5 days sitting beside a hospital bed (still no op for Deb) I'm missing the beach and the bird babies. This afternoon I came home early. This …
26 December 2023: It's still dark so this photo is from a week ago. Fliss the Japanese quail turns 5 today. What a survivor. Her sister died a year ago. Fliss is still …
25 December 2023: Oh, OK, Netflix — is there something I can watch? Oooh, Star Trek: Prodigy — at last!
25 December 2023: Seeing a fair bit of this view these days as Deb waits for gallbladder removal surgery. Could be worse.
25 December 2023: Poster in the Womens Surgical Assessment Unit at Palmerston North Hospital. 😀
24 December 2023: A bit of Christmas in the Women’s Assessment Surgical Unit at Palmerston North hospital where Deb is awaiting a gallbladder removal operation.
24 December 2023: Turns out the wee 3 in 1 Foldable Wireless Charging Dock I bought myself a few months ago is invaluable for Deb in hospital. I've just taken advantage …
23 December 2023: Deb's gall bladder removal was supposed to be today: first at 11 am then shunted to 5 pm. After 5 the nurse came in and said it wouldn't be today, but …
23 December 2023: Keeping Deb company as she waits for the op to have her gallbladder removed. This dog poster is good for a smile.
23 December 2023: How cool is this! People using mobile devices with low data but needing info from a load of different Government websites (health, benefits, etc etc) …
22 December 2023: An off-duty ultrasound machine at Palmerston North Hospital. The operator was amazing, looking at what I saw as some kind of blurry moonscape and …
22 December 2023: When we left the house at 07.30 after Deb suffered a night of probably gallbladder pain, I didn't really expect to still be sitting in Palmerston …
21 December 2023: Another Oystercatcher baby! 🐦
20 December 2023: So pleased (and relieved) to see a Ngutupapa | Royal Spoonbill in the estuary again (at last). I hope more turn up soon. 🐦
20 December 2023: Not very happy with an invoice I received. Back in October we had a charger installed for our new EV. There were glitches and I was advised there …
20 December 2023: I find this just gobsmacking! I don't even know what to say … It's part awe, part disgust. It represents almost $50 per person in Aotearoa! The …
19 December 2023: Needed to renew the firstbite domain name I've had for ~25 years. Renewing several years at a time saves money. I thought about going with 10 years. …
19 December 2023: We had plenty of warning of today's scheduled 90 minute power outage, including Tips such as making a cuppa beforehand. I made a note for myself in my …
19 December 2023: Not my usual bird photo: man and dog line fishing off the beach.
18 December 2023: The 74 page Shadow Of Temptation: A Prequel To Margot Harris Mystery Series by Nora Kane didn't inspire me to go on and read more of the series. It …
18 December 2023: The 96 page Goodbye Elora Inn (A DC Holly Towns Mystery Novella) (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 8) by Anne Shillolo was a quick and easy read. Not a …
17 December 2023: Today's success: 3 oystercatcher chicks and both parents. 🐦
17 December 2023: I may have a link in MarkDown but need it in HTML, or even the Other Markdown that Dokuwiki uses. I now have a couple of Keyboard Maestro macros that …
17 December 2023: Loving the Audio Hijack Transcribe feature: watching a 3 minute instructional video about focus on my Fuji X-T5 and I could keep a written copy of …
17 December 2023: A thump, then silence — a helicopter crash nearby in August 2017 At about 1 pm on 24 August 2017 I took my lunch onto the deck here at Waikawa Beach and glanced over my shoulder at a helicopter buzzing round in the …
16 December 2023: Our new government, so smart! Minister pulls brakes on cycling and walking initatives: Simeon Brown said he told the New Zealand Transport Authority …
16 December 2023: The drizzle stopped. We hardly ever get a Mackerel sky like this.
16 December 2023: Well, that was fun — Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget where the chickens had to break in to a chicken farm, rather than out of it. Very …
16 December 2023: Woohoo, it's a cool and drizzly day, so great for staying in and relaxing. I made delicious mushroom soup for lunch. Now I plan to settle down with …
16 December 2023: A couple of days ago this Tara | White-fronted Tern was hanging out with a pal at the beach. 🐦
15 December 2023: I just can't get enough of the tiny Oystercatcher chicks. 'Caught' one today. 🐦
14 December 2023: Two months after requesting signs, finally they were installed today. Now the birds seem to have stopped nesting and are busy rearing their chicks in …
14 December 2023: It's been some time since I last went non-grocery 'shopping'. Between times I manage to forget how much I absolutely hate 'shopping'. 5 minutes in the …
14 December 2023: Sitting at the beach in the sunshine, waiting for the fellow to arrive to put up the Birds Nesting warning signs. Now that most of the birds eggs have …
14 December 2023: These Matuku moana | White-faced heron were down at the lake yesterday. 🐦 This post was originally scheduled, appeared in RSS and on the blog, but …
13 December 2023: Wow, watch the first 90 seconds of the Maiden Speech of NZ's youngest Member of Parliament Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, an amazing wahine Māori. She is …
13 December 2023: Previously I've been using Aperture Priority for my bird photos. Today I tried Shutter Speed priority. This morning I could see only 1 Oystercatcher …
13 December 2023: Another rare book-on-paper purchase this year: the delightful Critters of Aotearoa by Nicola Toki and Lily Duval. 📚 50 Bizarre But Lovable Members of …
13 December 2023: Late evening yesterday and the light was on the highest peaks of the Tararuas, where I could just discern the faintest dusting of snow.
12 December 2023: There is a railing on the deck beside a large area of glass on the east side of our house. It's popular with birds. I feel sometimes like a zoo …
12 December 2023: One of the Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher pairs has managed to produce two chicks. Made my day to see them! 🐦
12 December 2023: It's the time of year when the Spinifex develops spiky seed heads. Soon they will separate from the plant and the wind will blow them to a new place …
11 December 2023: I always enjoy books by Joy Ellis, so on a day where I felt slightly unwell and stayed in bed all day this was an engaging read: The Bag of Secrets …
11 December 2023: The helicopter moved on to spraying the lupins right beside our house.
11 December 2023: Came home from errands to find spraying by helicopter going on just behind us.
10 December 2023: Yesterday was the day to maintain our UV drinking water filtration and sterilisation system. It's an annual job. I replace the lamp and the filters, …
09 December 2023: A month ago I had a blurry photo of two Warou | Welcome swallow eggs in a nest above the zendo door. Today's photos are of two Swallow babies in the …
09 December 2023: I wanted some fun socks. Thanks to Bamboozld I now have some in bamboo: Naturally eco-friendly, antibacterial, breathable and luxuriously soft …
09 December 2023: Abandoned: Body Count (FBI-K9 Series Book 2) by Jodi Burnett. Although it was obvious in the description I failed to notice it's a heterosexual …
09 December 2023: I've been so focused on other birds recently I've ignored the little Weweia | New Zealand dabchick. They're such cuties! 🐦
08 December 2023: There's something about this series that I just love. Maybe it's the very ordinary people: Bea and Ant, checkout operator and trolley guy. The Missing …
07 December 2023: I think this little waxeye on the deck railing (and through the window) might have been a juvenile. 🐦
07 December 2023: Those baby stilts weren't visible today, but I paced out where they were yesterday and it was 65 to 130 metres from my possie. Meanwhile today I …
06 December 2023: Baxter K9 Hero by Jodi Burnett was a freebie for joining the author's mailing list. It's a prequel to a series which is probably why it was a simple …
06 December 2023: I enjoy this series, so Someone Murderous at The Midnight Motel (The Accidental Detective Book 5) by Kris Bock was a good read. 📚 when Kate’s hot …
06 December 2023: Hmmm, given: Among the early tasks of the new, three-handled broom of government is giving primacy to English names (What is ‘NZTA’? A user’s guide to …
06 December 2023: Pleased to see this brief video online — Maori MP performs haka before swearing oath to King: New Zealand politician Rawiri Waititi … and …
06 December 2023: In my quest for better photos of Pied Stilt chicks I was at the beach for a windless, cool dawn. Alas, I'm still not up to the task of good photos of …
05 December 2023: Well, we seem to have our first chicks of the season: a couple of tiny Poaka | Pied Stilt. Photos are a bit fuzzy, thanks to the heat haze, I'm …
05 December 2023: Tuned in part way through the Swearing-in Ceremony for our new Parliament. Pleased to hear some swearing their oath in Māori and sometimes another …
05 December 2023: I broke my rule today and am now paying the consequences. Walked Willow the dog to the beach and saw through binoculars two tiny fluffy Pied Stilt …
05 December 2023: Occasionally things about words get my goat, though in general I like to be positive about language change. Who the heck thought up the word …
05 December 2023: As the new government try to wind NZ back on many measures — climate and things Māori in particular — it's good to remind ourselves of the …
05 December 2023: So fantastic to see protests on the opening day of Parliament led by our new racist, colonialist government of National, ACT and NZ First. Protests …
04 December 2023: I emailed the Bird Banding office about this photo and they replied: The details that we hold for this bird: Northern New Zealand Dotterel, …
03 December 2023: We went to brunch at Field and Green in Wellington yesterday with a group of friends, most of whom we've known for decades. I enjoyed a Wilfred's …
02 December 2023: Those Glossy ibis photos I took during the week … These are the images I kept in the end. A sliver of late sunlight helped. 🐦
02 December 2023: It’s 0330 and I’ve drunk the cup of tea I just made. After hours of restless sleep with odd and annoying dreams I’ve given up. …
02 December 2023: It’s 0330 and I’ve drunk the cup of tea I just made. After hours of restless sleep with odd and annoying dreams I’ve given up. …
01 December 2023: Incredibly dumb, wasteful and offensive policy from the new government of Aotearoa — The uncertainty around how much it would cost to rebrand …
01 December 2023: I rarely buy books on paper, but the first couple of pages of Sylvia and the Birds: How The Bird Lady saved thousands of birds and how you can too by …
01 December 2023: Another darn good read — Murder At Arrow Pass (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 2) by Anne Shillolo. 📚 A catastrophic pileup on the treacherous …
01 December 2023: Absolutely fascinating 20 minute interview — Does biology trump free will?: If [testosterone hormones] were higher than average for you this …
30 November 2023: Poaka | Pied Stilt are very aggressive when it comes to defending a nest, and they seem to have a 100 metre radius for action. 🐦 Pied Stilts are …
30 November 2023: Today Golden Turtle oolong tea is perfectly suiting my mood. Very delicious. Definitely smooth and velvety. I only bought a sample pack; now ordering …
30 November 2023: Ecosia search engine now has an AI Chat feature. Gave it a whirl with this search: mac os terminal command disable Game Mode and lookee here: To …
30 November 2023: Game Mode while doing jigsaws was driving me nuts! Then I found Use Game Mode on Mac. From the Game Mode menu in the menu bar, choose Turn Game Mode …
29 November 2023: Tonight the light was better and I got smarter with camera settings so the Glossy ibis photos actually worked out. 🐦 Last night's photos were …
29 November 2023: When I made Crusty French Bread Rolls today I think I should have put the dough in a bigger bowl to rise. 🤣 The finished rolls? Not bad …
29 November 2023: Better photos from last evening were this Kuruwhengi | Australasian shoveler pair with chicks and Canada Goose with chicks. 🐦 Unfortunately Canada …
29 November 2023: Close to sunset yesterday a neighbour invited me to the wetland on their property where a very rare visitor was feeding: a Glossy ibis. Bit …
29 November 2023: Yesterday's seal that wasn't reminded me of this horse thrashing through a rough sea in June 2016. Also just driftwood, but oh-so-realistic!
28 November 2023: When I rounded the corner on the track to the beach and glimpsed this shape at a distance, I thought it was a seal on the move … But no, it …
28 November 2023: Heyyyy, check out the ring! Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher
27 November 2023: Up in Smoke (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 6) by Charlene Weir just didn't really gel for me — I even skimmed several (rather irrelevant) chapters …
27 November 2023: Waking a sleeping language – our plan to revive the speaking of ta rē Moriori: Moriori's closest linguistic relative is te reo Māori, with many …
26 November 2023: When it's a good summer it gets way too hot in the tunnelhouse. Today we installed shadecloth over the internal framing. The difference was …
26 November 2023: Yesterday, reading some of the things our new right-wing government plan to do, I felt angry. I didn't relish the prospect of feeling angry for the …
26 November 2023: Went to a community get-together yesterday afternoon where I drank 2 small glasses of no-brand lemonade. Came home, ate dinner and basically then …
24 November 2023: Mummies was quite a fun movie. Lightweight, not meaningful. The film follows three mummies from the underworld who … end up in present-day …
24 November 2023: Whew, with NCIS Sydney S01E03 they've finally got over themselves. Instead of cringeworthy "Hey hey hey, we're in Australia where they talk funny and …
24 November 2023: I knew the conservatives with their awful ideas won the recent election, so why did I torture myself reading details of their awfulness now the 3 …
24 November 2023: Too many photos! 🤣 I tried Pre-shot ES on the X-T5. 📷 This adds photos to a buffer if the shutter is pressed halfway then stores them on taking the …
23 November 2023: This sparrow sized bird didn't look quite right to be a Banded Dotterel. On checking I found they were actually Black-fronted dotterel. See more …
23 November 2023: I was concerned 2 years ago when I bought my M1 MacBook Pro that 8GB RAM wouldn't be enough. It's been no problem at all, until today, importing 511 …
23 November 2023: Every single thing about this 9 minute video is astonishing — J.S. Bach : Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 / Liene Andreta Kalnciema live at …
23 November 2023: A long read, worth every second — Goodbye, Kim Hill: a day with the doyenne of NZ radio: Unlike most, she asks questions to which she does not …
23 November 2023: First BEV fail: for some reason the car didn't charge overnight, leaving not enough juice for Deb to drive to Wellington and back for work. A long …
23 November 2023: I've been wanting to grab a photo of a Pahirini | Chaffinch for a while now. Finally one flew in while I was waving my camera around learning about …
22 November 2023: I've enjoyed previous books in this series by Alice Bienia, and this was another engrossing read: Knight In The Museum (A Jorja Knight Private …
22 November 2023: Yumm. Just like the last time I made them (a year ago, thanks On This Day): Lemon Butter Biscuits. So delish!
22 November 2023: Oliver's input into the competiton ruffled a few feathers, but saw donations to organiser Forest and Bird soar. Boosted by the publicity, the …
22 November 2023: Surprise! … 😼 A new review of archaeological evidence and human physiology strongly suggests that modern gender roles have colored our …
21 November 2023: I set a couple (literally) of settings on the new X-T5 and went out to experiment. Focus was set for bird recognition. I'm thrilled with these shots. …
21 November 2023: Today: ring shop to check my trip won't be wasted. Drive from home to Waikanae (30 mins), train to Wellington (1 hour), walk to shop (25 mins). …
21 November 2023: Whew. The 12 year olds have left the train. The sound level has dropped from maybe 100 decibels to close to zero! Great kids though. Chatty but well …
21 November 2023: The train I’m on is chock full of schoolkids who raised funds for this trip to the swimming pools in Porirua. The teacher is requiring kids to stand …
21 November 2023: I love language(s), words, pronunciations, so this 27 minute video Out of date dictionaries–with native speakers from UK/USA/Australia! was utterly …
20 November 2023: Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole is a delicious dish. I've made it twice now — the second time with a bit less salt. I use Smoked Paprika for …
20 November 2023: If any of my Wellington / Kāpiti / Horowhenua pals need a good Massage Therapist, then Natalie Waddell from Functional Bodyworks in Paraparaumu just …
20 November 2023: Where do recipe writers get their Prep times from? I reckon they must roll the dice. 10 minutes, pah! More like 40!
20 November 2023: Good words today from 12 graphs that show New Zealand isn’t doing as badly as you think | The Spinoff: There are many reasons not to be cheerful, …
19 November 2023: I made a loaf of Classic white crusty bread today. It was OK but not fantastic — the dried yeast was a bit old and it's so hard to find a warm …
19 November 2023: The way you are when you're very old you're all ages at the same time. Sometimes you might feel 5 years old. You almost never feel 95 years old. Most …
19 November 2023: Turned on the radio for a minute only to think "I know that voice!" It was my good friend Rachel: Rachel McAlpine: Is life worth living after 90? | …
19 November 2023: There's no wind, so it's a calm day and not cold. I'm enjoying listening to actual rain on the roof. And the birds chirping, of course. We badly need …
18 November 2023: We went out to dinner tonight for a change — to Hell Pizza. Yum.
18 November 2023: It's been a two nap kind of day, with a third possible too … 🥱🥱
17 November 2023: Ahhh: The Hidden Secrets of the Fn Key - TidBITS: Fn-E: Open the emoji picker
17 November 2023: I was surprised to realise I bought my Fujifilm X-T2 camera 5 years ago. I wanted to learn to take better photos. I believe I've achieved that, …
16 November 2023: This book was distinctly odd. Maybe it's a 'thing' I don't know about, a genre I don't usually read … I just don't know. I probably won't read …
16 November 2023: An unusual but very pleasing part of today was the affirmation I received that at least one person finds my contributions (of thoughts and ideas) in a …
15 November 2023: I looked for somewhere to go for a walk and decided on Horseshoe Bend Reserve at Tokomaru, about 45 minutes drive away. A pleasant little spot for a …
14 November 2023: See all those low bushes covered in yellow flowers? They're lupins and I'm highly allergic to them. November can be miserable for me as the pollen …
14 November 2023: Like @ptrck I too am very happy to see that The Brain Scoop is back. One of my favourite sciency video creators.
13 November 2023: Kansas in winter sounds brutal. I have no understanding of how anyone survives. A Cold Christmas (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 5) by Charlene Weir has …
13 November 2023: I'd missed reading this first in a series, so remedied that. The Winter Widow (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 1) by Charlene Weir explains the back story …
13 November 2023: I started Blood Orchids (Paradise Crime Mysteries, Book 1) by Toby Neal but found the interpolated inner joys of a sadist disturbing. Then I realised …
13 November 2023: When I feed my friend's chooks there's an extra scoop for the doves. 😆 🐦
12 November 2023: Haven't had one of these birds visit our garden before. I assume someone's pet canary found its freedom … 🐦
11 November 2023: It was one of those gorgeous sunsets at the beach: still, calm sea, clear sky.
11 November 2023: The chooks were singing themselves to sleep when I went to tuck them in at sunset. 🐦 Your browser does not support the audio tag.
11 November 2023: Harrisons Garden Centre is a great place for brunch on a sunny day.
11 November 2023: With that look I was glad to be on the other side of the wire today. 🐦
11 November 2023: Why has it taken so much of my life to realise that if my hands are cold I can zap a wheat pack for 60 seconds in the microwave then warm them in a …
10 November 2023: Good morning! 🐦
09 November 2023: Before and after: I cut down a couple of lupin bushes that were intruding on one of the tracks to the beach. It was a gorgeous day for it.
09 November 2023: When my little buddy Willow came to visit today I think she just wanted a quiet time. She did enjoy the beach walk but otherwise just rested and …
08 November 2023: This broken blue egg I found on the ground may have belonged to a song thrush perhaps? 🐦
07 November 2023: Today Reggie gave me 13,000 litres of pure fresh water in exchange for $368. Where the water level in the tank was previously 162 cm from the top, …
07 November 2023: This morning I emptied our 65 litres of 'emergency' water onto plants that need it. In a few hours we'll be filling our tank with 14,000 litres of …
06 November 2023: I don't watch sports, in real life or on telly, so was surprised to really enjoy Nyad 🎥: Nyad is a biography of Diana Nyad, played by Annette Bening. …
06 November 2023: New Zealand’s low-emission vehicle revolution is here | The Spinoff: In July 2023, a whopping 55% of New Zealand new vehicle registrations were low …
06 November 2023: The centre console on our MG 4 Essence 64 does this magic thing when in Reverse or just starting off. The centre console display shows an overhead …
06 November 2023: My neighbour Jan Jordan launched her memoir last night at the Ōtaki bookshop. Snorkelling the Abyss: One woman, striving to survive, fighting for …
06 November 2023: This blurry photo was the best I could do: two Warou | Welcome swallow eggs in a nest above the door of Deb's zendo. 🐦 There was simply no space to …
05 November 2023: It's not often you get to meet a Borzoi! 🐶
05 November 2023: Kawau | Pied Shag flies off. 🐦
05 November 2023: Two Karoro | Black-backed gull. 🐦
05 November 2023: The Poaka | Pied Stilt are so delicate and fragile looking. 🐦
04 November 2023: I just love these birds — they're so cute. Weweia | New Zealand dabchick. 🐦
04 November 2023: I finished reading Murder: Take Two (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 4) by Charlene Weir. 📚 It was a pleasant enough read which made us familiar with the …
03 November 2023: The app for charging our new EV after an ~170 Km return trip to Wellington shows last night's charge required ~2 Kg of CO2 emissions. I found various …
02 November 2023: Excellent! — Auckland Airport a sanctuary for engandered dotterel | RNZ News: Auckland Airport wildlife manager Lucy Hawley said the airport was …
02 November 2023: Not my most favourite thing, to come home and find a controlled burn-off going on only a few hundred metres away. Luckily the wind is blowing towards …
02 November 2023: At the lake today: duck and 6 ducklings! 😍 🐦
02 November 2023: We're starting to learn the fuel savings with our new MG 4 Essence 64 BEV. The commute previously would cost ~$150 per week in petrol. The 3 charges …
02 November 2023: 5.30 am. The sleepy eye of dawn starts to open. The birds sing it into being. 🐦 Listen to the birds
01 November 2023: I did better with the Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher, one of whom I see has been banded. 🐦
01 November 2023: At the beach I spotted a couple of Tūturiwhatu | New Zealand dotterel. Between lifting my fitover sunnies and getting my camera out I lost them in the …
31 October 2023: Just for kicks I drove up to the Lookout on Mt Victoria in Wellington. It reminded me of the absolute terror of driving that road — I used to …
31 October 2023: Wellington and Harbour from Mt Vic Lookout. Wellington city and hills. Wellington Harbour and hills, with departing cruise ship.
31 October 2023: In Wellington which is so loud and where parking breaks the bank. My annual eye test was fine, though my left eye has more floaters and the small …
30 October 2023: Today's delight: two tiny ducklings on the lake. I believe these are native Tētē-moroiti | Grey teal 🐦 : Length: 42 - 44 cm; Weight: 505 g (male); …
29 October 2023: In 2005 they blew up and sank an old Navy ship off the south coast of Wellington to form an artificial reef. The ship was towed into place. Fireworks …
29 October 2023: Throwback to January 2005: cats in our Wellington garden. 🐈 My boy Ares. Olive sits in the grasses.
29 October 2023: We’re Searching for Our Bird of the Century 🐦: Aotearoa New Zealand’s favourite election is back, and the stakes are higher than ever before. This …
29 October 2023: We finished watching Sex Education (TV series) and I was relieved that all the story lines were resolved without any really dark outcomes. 📺 What an …
29 October 2023: In my dream I was leaving a part of Waikawa Beach that had nightclubs, shops, restaurants, thinking: How weird I've lived here nearly 8 years and …
28 October 2023: This 13 minute video: I have APHANTASIA (and you may too...without realising it!), linked by Jason Kottke: Does Your Brain Picture Things? is …
27 October 2023: Seven hours from start to finish, with 3 workers being diligent, we now have our new EV charger.
27 October 2023: I like to take relatively detailed photos of significant work around our place. Fortunately several photos have been helpful for the Evnex charger …
27 October 2023: One of the things we've learned as home owners is that the project (whatever it might be) will always encounter glitches and will always cost more …
26 October 2023: This Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher pair have found their spot in the driftwood, ready for nesting. 🐦 A pair was in a similar location last year …
25 October 2023: Manu pango | Eurasian blackbird on flax. 🐦
25 October 2023: We plugged the EV in to trickle charge. After 12 hours it had gone from 29% charge to 54%. That's roughly 2% per hour. Today I drove to Levin and …
25 October 2023: If you've never benefited from Take Control books it's time to start. Buy a book now! It'll be $5 very well spent indeed. Take Control Books – Expert …
25 October 2023: Spin-off effects … we bought a new EV so that meant getting a charger installed (this week, I hope). The EV allows us to change our electricity …
24 October 2023: I couldn't imagine using my Mac without Keyboard Maestro, so this is excellent news. I see that KM tells me my Time Saved: 12 days! Stairways …
24 October 2023: Range anxiety with the new EV — having cleaned up* the corner of the garage where the charger will go, will the 5 metre cable reach? * Cleaned …
24 October 2023: Ugh, our garage has been a shambles since it was built. I need to clear out at least one corner of it for the people who'll install our Evnex charger …
24 October 2023: Whew, I suppose it's only right that it takes me many hours over several days to write my monthly Waikawa Beach Newsletter. I guess the longer it …
23 October 2023: One of my questions about the app for our new car has been answered: one person can create an account and bind to the car. The app gives them access …
23 October 2023: This was a good enough read, though a bit slow and very rainy. A Prescription for Murder (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 3) by Charlene Weir. 📚 I think I …
23 October 2023: Darn it. Up at 2 am — perfect time to see the Orionid meteor shower — but of course it’s cloudy. 😒
22 October 2023: Baby dune among spinifex, with squiggle patterns and bird tracks.
22 October 2023: The river mouth was busy with whitebaiters this morning.
22 October 2023: So handsome! 🐦 Male pheasant in splendid colours, in grass near a tree trunk.
21 October 2023: My little buddy Willow is very good at entertaining herself with a ball and her bed. 🐶
21 October 2023: MG 4 - a computer on wheels For various reasons we bought a brand new electric car before we meant to. The car is an MG 4 Essence 64. That led me to doing a lot of research and …
21 October 2023: I'm working my way through the superb video series: MG4 Tutorial - Owner's Manual, User Guide, Complete Feature Walkthrough, Every Function Explained …
20 October 2023: I was so glad I tried my first ever use of a public charger at 7 am after dropping friends at the train station. Had no idea what to do! Had to move …
19 October 2023: 3 new apps: now we have a brand new MG 4 Essence 64 EV I so far have apps and accounts for: the car itself, the EvNex home charger (not yet …
19 October 2023: At 5 am, before turning lights on to make a cuppa, I stepped outside for a few minutes. Jupiter, who had greeted me through my bedroom window, was …
18 October 2023: It beats me that 10 people will spend a collective 15+ hours digging a ditch to move water away from the vehicle entrance so they can get their …
18 October 2023: Folks interested in Waikawa Beach and its birds … take a look at this morning's Waikawa News blog post: Wrybills vs Dotterels. 🐦 Wrybills and …
17 October 2023: Respect to Maya Sharma and the others — Same-sex marriage: The lesbian activist seeking equal rights in India - BBC News 💪🏻 : Ms Sharma doesn't …
17 October 2023: Gulp. Handed over a chunk of our retirement savings today for the EV I collect tomorrow. It'll reduce our annual CO2 emissions and we'll be saving a …
16 October 2023: I love The Spinoff — they almost always make me laugh. The Greens won three electorates and what may become their highest ever vote share by …
15 October 2023: As expected for our 2023 Election, the country swung to the right so we'll have a National-led Government supported by Act. Te Pāti Māori took a few …
14 October 2023: Election Day is the one day every 3 years when no local politics are aired in media. So blissfully peaceful. In about 10 minutes though the polls …
14 October 2023: The best coverage of today’s election in NZ: Election 2023: Dogs at polling booths | The Spinoff 😆 🐶
14 October 2023: Your payment is pending confirmation wasn't an advice I expected to see … for a free book. 🤣
13 October 2023: I watched all 8 episodes of Sweet Kaaram Coffee and it was a delight. 📺 Three generations of women from one family take a road trip, so, of course, …
13 October 2023: As I walked to the beach yesterday I became aware of a beautiful scent in the air. I soon spotted the reason: it's spring and some of the Tī Kōuka | …
12 October 2023: I read 3 chapters of Dead Before Dinner (A Maddie Swallows Mystery Book 1) by Kat Bellemore then stopped and read a few other books. I did eventually …
12 October 2023: I don’t know why I never thought to do this before … Today I took several photos with my iPhone, exported the GPS data and then made a map to …
11 October 2023: Bad news: Climate outlook for Aotearoa predicts rivers in the sky, heatwaves in the sea: NZ's average air temperature has risen 1.26C since 1909, and …
11 October 2023: For 2 years some folks upset by their inability to get their motor vehicles onto the beach 24/7/365 because nature sometimes cuts off access have been …
11 October 2023: It was almost dark last night when we went to check on something in the zendo. The entrance was being guarded by this little Warou | Welcome swallow. …
10 October 2023: Kiwis (and others) buying an electric car. I found these sites very helpful: EV Beginner’s Guide Compare all electric cars available in NZ WLTP …
10 October 2023: This is a super busy week with a lot of things going on — new car will need a charger, bank stuff, insurance stuff. Meanwhile a gigantic local issue …
09 October 2023: In Aotearoa at the moment petrol's getting really expensive. With an election in a few days the government is likely to do quite a right turn and …
09 October 2023: Today we signed the papers for a new MG4 Essence 64 to be collected next week. This was the first we drove and liked it so much we didn't bother with …
09 October 2023: This 13 minute video is superb: Berkeley professor explains gender theory (includes transcript, but the video is worth watching for the imagery). What …
08 October 2023: The maunga peeked out from behind cloud as we came back across the footbridge.
08 October 2023: Today’s plan includes looking at and walking across Te Rewa Rewa bridge on the Coastal Pathway in New Plymouth, the Len Lye exhibition at the …
08 October 2023: Last night’s Chicken, cashews and veges in a potato basket dish from Siam Thai in New Plymouth was piping hot and delicious.
07 October 2023: In the Puke Ariki museum in New Plymouth: Giant White Shark. Impressive.
06 October 2023: Why you don't want to get Whooping Cough I originally published this post in 2011 on my now long-defunct KnowIt blog. I think it has value for its detailed description of my bout of Whooping …
06 October 2023: The tides the last few days left behind this wonderful houndstooth pattern in the sand. I boosted the contrast.
06 October 2023: I quite enjoyed Amazon.com: A Lesson in Murder (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Charlene Weir. 📚 I didn't figure out the guilty party, but the clues …
06 October 2023: No jab for me today. The nurse concluded I'd had the Whooping Cough booster last time I had a jab for something else, although my records weren't …
06 October 2023: About to get my free Boostrix shot: Boostrix vaccine boosts immunity against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. It was undiagnosed but I …
05 October 2023: For heaven's sake! I wasn't sure if the book I was thinking of buying was NZ$2.49 or US$2.49 (NZ$4.21) but at that price it doesn't matter. On …
04 October 2023: Got a bit caught up this morning playing with Artimator - Free AI Artwork Generator. Didn't exactly give me what I wanted after several tries, but I …
04 October 2023: The biggest problem with the recipe for Mini Gingerbread Loaf for Two is that the loaf is so quickly used up. Yesterday I got smart and doubled up. …
03 October 2023: Yay, Candice Renoir S07 is back on Acorn. I love this show. 📺
03 October 2023: I naively thought those huge optical telescopes pointed a big mirror at the sky and then took photos. I guess they do, but it's everything between …
03 October 2023: The abundance of satellites is causing the overall brightness of the sky to increase all around the globe. Some researchers have estimated that, on …
03 October 2023: 4 am and it’s cuppa tea time. We’ve both given up sleeping as gales roar around and shake the house. 💨💨
02 October 2023: We still have gales, very high tides and swells. This gull was having a hard time flying when I visited the track where vehicles enter the beach. In …
02 October 2023: Voting in our national elections opened today. I took my voter card (not required but helpful) and visited a church in Ōtaki set up for advance …
01 October 2023: A big high tide and a cold wind today at the river mouth. Here was a bit of a surge coming in, though smaller than the previous one a few minutes …
30 September 2023: Changing Gears by L A Wright held my interest. 📚 When Jen embarks on a scenic cycling tour in France, she never expects to have her life upended by …
30 September 2023: Southerly gales in the last few days brought a good layer of snow to the Tararua peaks.
30 September 2023: I really liked the patterns the tide left around this piece of driftwood.
29 September 2023: In spite of chilly weather, a cold wind, a high tide and a big swell the folks fishing for whitebait today were undaunted.
28 September 2023: Thanks to spring I'm starting to see a few chaffinches around. Not the best shot, but there's time yet …
28 September 2023: I was fairly interested in buying a S9 Apple Watch, but fell at the last hurdle — I don't care for the colours. I want one the same gorgeous …
27 September 2023: I loved this excellent book by an author whose previous books I've also really enjoyed. A Calculated Risk by Cari Hunter kept me reading. 📚 Jo has to …
27 September 2023: Woohoo: macOS Sonoma 14.0.
26 September 2023: Male pheasants are colourful and bold. The females stay more hidden. Last night though one all but knocked on our front door. Today she was poking …
25 September 2023: The Cleaner, the Cat and the Space Station (The Shantivira Book 1) by Fay Abernethy sounded interesting. The story was spoiled by the huge amount of …
25 September 2023: The sea this morning was pretty calm and a rare milky metallic blue as though it was from a glacial stream.
24 September 2023: Today I made Mushroom & Broccoli Pasta. It was quick, easy and tasty. Forgot to take a photo until I'd already eaten some.
24 September 2023: Turns out with WatchOS 10 I keep needing this: Apple Watch User Guide
24 September 2023: Since the update to WatchOS 10 my S7 watch is only charged to 80% when I put it on in the morning. I finally found where to turn off Optimised …
23 September 2023: I'm not actually doing the September Photoblogging challenge but decided to send in this photo for Date in the Life. Today is dreary, but I noticed …
22 September 2023: I actually took this photo about a week ago but forgot to post it. This is the river mouth winding across the beach shortly after sunset but before …
21 September 2023: With spring the birds are starting to show up again. Down at the lakes I spotted a black swan pair with half-grown cygnet, Pāpango | New Zealand …
21 September 2023: Ring necked doves. Photo from today, but these Barbary Doves are so tame they just hang around. Yesterday when I drove down the lane I had to stop …
21 September 2023: On one hand fantasy and romance … not my things really. On the other time travel and lesbians, and lots of interesting women. I read and pretty …
20 September 2023: Went out to lunch for a friend's 69th birthday. Eleven of us there. A couple in their early 60s and the rest older. The oldest 86. I was the only one …
20 September 2023: Little Fliss the Japanese Quail hatched on 26 December 2018. Yesterday she laid the first egg for this season. 4.5 years old and going strong! Also …
19 September 2023: I feared 'our' pair of black swans had disappeared from the small lake Puna o te Ora at the end of the road, but this morning I spotted them with a …
19 September 2023: I was lucky enough to beta read Outlaw Justice, The First Guardian, Book 1 by Cheri Baker 📚: Mars hasn't had a murder in 70 years. Until today. I …
19 September 2023: Now that iOS and iPad OS 17 are out, my first stop after updating is at Take Control Books to grab Take Control of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17.
18 September 2023: Is it within 364 days of Christmas? Why yes, yes it is. Must be time to display the Christmas chocolates then … Christmas chocolate display at …
18 September 2023: Awake at 3 am thanks to gusty gales shaking the house and rattling mysterious things outside. 💨
17 September 2023: I really enjoyed watching Nimona 🎥 In a medieval-futuristic kingdom, the citizens are protected by the Institute for Elite Knights, established by …
17 September 2023: On this day in 2015 we visited Batalha in Portugal, with its amazing Monastery. Constructed in fulfilment of a vow by King João to commemorate the …
16 September 2023: The first part of A Fine and Bitter Snow (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 12) by Dana Stabenow seemed to involve a lot of recaps of things we knew …
16 September 2023: It's cold (7C outside) and grey this morning so for a bit of cheer here's a photo I took of Lake Waimarie — only a few hundred metres from our …
15 September 2023: Around Equinox and Solstice I run a casual naked eye star watching event called Starry Time for the local community. For tonight's session I created a …
15 September 2023: One of the great things about taking my friend to the ophthalmologist in Palmerston North was that she then shouted me lunch at my favourite eatery, …
15 September 2023: My friend unexpectedly needed me to drive her to Palmerston North hospital today for an urgent and painful eye problem. Hospitals are so big and …
14 September 2023: A very handy tip for those who don't want to be blinded by a page of notes while looking at stars: iPad / Phone full red mode: put your ipad or iphone …
13 September 2023: This is a good book. The concepts about crime and treatment and punishment are interesting, but I can't cope with the ghastliness of it all and am …
13 September 2023: That classic looking over the shoulder pose. Kōtare | Sacred Kingfisher (Through a window.) 🐦
12 September 2023: I more or less binged all 16 episodes of Extraordinary Attorney Woo1. It's an absolute gem. After episode 1 I listened to the original soundtrack and …
11 September 2023: Dana Stabenow's The Singing of the Dead (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 11) was split between a crime on the campaign trail of a state senator and a …
11 September 2023: At 5 am I was making a cup of tea and looking at the starry sky when I noticed a weird small column of orange light among neighbouring houses on the …
10 September 2023: Biked along the new shared path from Otaki to the cafe at Pekapeka (10 km). All gravel so a bit nervewracking. The cafe’s the best bit. Not in my top …
10 September 2023: Out at 0520 and the sky was clear, the magpies warbling. Crux Australis was low in the southeast. Then the SkyTrain glided past — beautiful, yet so …
09 September 2023: Serendipity. 30 minutes to sunset I took a burst of 3 shots of a small plane flying past. But wait, is that a gull or something nearby? Look at this …
08 September 2023: I hope this morning's D'oh moment will fill my quota for the next few years: Oh no! All my photos are blurry! Checks lens, filter etc. Aargh! I may …
07 September 2023: Me at the beach: this glare is terrible. I wonder if it's possible to get sunglasses that go over my prescription specs? After a search: TIL there's a …
07 September 2023: The Spinoff once again demonstrates brilliance! 🤣 Plucky Foodstuffs takes bold stand against children on bikes: The new route would allow thousands of …
06 September 2023: I really enjoyed the first episode of the Korean TV show Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Fortunately I could listen in English, rather than reading …
05 September 2023: I liked Blood and Money (McBride & Tanner Book 1) by Rachel McLean pretty well. It seemed fairly straightforward. Apparently the author has written a …
05 September 2023: It was 2 minutes after sunrise when I arrived on the beach and spotted this end of a rainbow.
04 September 2023: Wow! Rarely Glimpsed Shark That Lives For Centuries Unexpectedly Surfaces in Caribbean: Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrates on Earth, …
04 September 2023: Looked out this morning to see three cows in the neighbour's property. They were supposed to be where the white one is, on the other side of the fence …
03 September 2023: Hard to believe it's 8 years since we visited Spain, Portugal, Morocco. Fátima was so memorable — a pilgrimage destination with narrow streets, …
03 September 2023: Even though it's only 10 weeks since I first read the Dana Stabenow book Midnight Come Again (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 10) I had not fully …
03 September 2023: First time I've seen the word overtourism. A very useful concept indeed. tourism agencies have spoken out against the proposed … airport at …
03 September 2023: Crepuscular rays, this morning at 15 minutes before sunrise.
02 September 2023: It's Warou | Welcome swallow time of year. We have to be careful about leaving the garage door open or they start building nests of mud in there. 🐦 …
02 September 2023: Kāhu | Hawk in flight. 🐦
02 September 2023: I have a folder of .mp3 files and want to be able to just play a random track. I spent ages finding out how to make an AppleScript to count files in a …
02 September 2023: 'Library rooficer': Dog captures hearts of many library goers 🐶: at Northcote Library, there is a dog who has captured the hearts of many. … …
01 September 2023: These days I watch the tide charts. There's a dramatic difference at Waikawa Beach between mid-lunar month (low variation) and full (super) moon (high …
31 August 2023: Willow didn't really want to do a selfie with me today. 🐶 😒
31 August 2023: (No spoilers) The NYT crossword for 30 August 2023 was a particular delight — all the Across clues tell a story.
30 August 2023: This beauty used to graze near us, now she’s further away and we don’t see her so often. 🐴
29 August 2023: The sunrise this morning was OK down by the Strathnaver lakes, Waimarie and Te Puna a te Ora (Tranquil Waters and The Wellspring of Good Health).
29 August 2023: I've been watching the NZ TV show Far North based on true events of drug smuggling. If this were a fiction it'd never get to screen as it's just too …
29 August 2023: In re-reading Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak novels I delayed Hunter's Moon (Kate Shugak Novels Book 9) because I knew it had a couple of momentous plot …
28 August 2023: Yesterday and today I planted 3 Tītoki trees and 3 Manuka. I'm hoping that the tītoki will, in time, attract the kererū who seem to have moved into …
27 August 2023: Is it spring yet?: New Zealand [has] a 2 month summer and a 2 month winter… the other 8 months are a long drawn out spring and autumn … at least from …
27 August 2023: Abandoned at 35% — with its omniscient narrator and sordid sex-based crimes there was far too much time spent within very nasty events. Dark …
26 August 2023: This series by Lynne McEwan has caught hold of me. In The Girls in the Glen (Detective Shona Oliver Book 3) I had my suspicions about the ultimate bad …
25 August 2023: Heh heh. Housebroken S01E08 at approx 7 minutes in. The Hamster(?) is reading a magazine article: It says you died. What?! I live in a third Grade …
25 August 2023: For my own reference 🚴🏼♀️ : Kāpiti Coast Trails Map Kāpiti Coast Cycling Map
24 August 2023: The second book was as gripping as the first — Dead Man Deep (Detective Shona Oliver Book 2) by Lynne McEwan. 📚 Interesting fact about …
24 August 2023: In August 2022 I spotted a Kererū at Waikawa Beach for the first time. This year there are two! I only managed a photo of one. 🐦
23 August 2023: There are still very few birds around on the beach: a white-faced heron, some black-backed gulls, a pied stilt or two and a handful of oystercatchers. …
23 August 2023: Haven't been for a dawn beach walk for a while, so that's this morning's first planned item. I wonder if a few more birds may be around?
22 August 2023: I'm also really enjoying HouseBroken, an American adult animated sitcom, where a poodle runs therapy sessions: from the perspective of the animals, …
22 August 2023: I'm enjoying watching Season 1 of the Australian crime drama Mystery Road. Detective Jay Swan [is] assigned to investigate the mysterious …
21 August 2023: A compelling read — I stayed up late for this one. In Dark Water (Detective Shona Oliver Book 1) by Lynne McEwan. Now to buy the next in series. 📚 The …
20 August 2023: Our Kāhu | Hawk keeps thwarting my attempts to take a good photo. Yesterday that included flying off just as I was waiting for it to turn around to …
20 August 2023: One of the great features of the NetNewsWire RSS reader is you can use your own stylesheet for how to display articles. I recently realised that when …
19 August 2023: Hmm, I thought, as I looked down from the lounge window. That bull looks bigger than usual. … And shouldn't he be behind the flax? Yes, yes, …
19 August 2023: This was a complicated book, and I still haven't figured out what to say about it — Deaths of Jocasta by J.M. Redmann. 📚 It was a tangled book of …
18 August 2023: A few months ago I set the Desktop Picture on my MacBook Pro to pull from my Favourites in Photos and then to change the picture randomly every 5 …
17 August 2023: It's a special day today as my good friend Willow has come to visit for a while. 🐶 If the rain holds off we'll head to the beach.
16 August 2023: Depending on rain, wind and tides, the river sometimes carves deep into the sand at the mouth. Then chunks are rather splendidly and randomly carved …
15 August 2023: I was slow to get into this book, but then I was hooked and reading solidly: Death by the Riverside (Micky Knight Mysteries Book 1) by J.M. Redmann. 📚 …
15 August 2023: When we went to Samoa I totally wanted to avoid any Roaming fees so turned off all kinds of stuff on my Phone. I regret it now, when somehow iMessages …
15 August 2023: Ohhhh, I just caught up with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E09 — the musical episode. I loved it! Just brilliant! 🖖🏼
14 August 2023: People round here go to some lengths to get their vehicles onto the beach (legally a 'road'). The river loops back on itself just now so there's …
14 August 2023: Another good read: Killing Grounds (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 8) by Dana Stabenow. The 4th of July hijinks were fun too. 📚 Cal Meany is a …
14 August 2023: Erratum: that seal photo I posted yesterday — apparently it wasn't a Kekeno | New Zealand fur seal: It appears it was a Subantarctic Fur Seal, …
13 August 2023: It's the season (August to October) when some of the driftwood on the beach turns out on closer inspection to in fact be a Kekeno | New Zealand fur …
12 August 2023: One of the things I loved about our Traditional Garden View Villa at Sinalei Resort was the almost or fully outdoor bathroom. Here was the shower. 🇼🇸 …
12 August 2023: On the plane to Samoa one of the bathrooms was painted to resemble shelves full of books. Titles included: The Importance of Aiming Origami Guide for …
12 August 2023: And, 12 hours after leaving the resort in Samoa, at a pleasant 28C, we’re finally home where it’s 0C. 🥶🇼🇸
11 August 2023: On the AIRNZ flight it took forever to get a cup of hot water I could put my green teabag in. Eventually it arrived. For a second cup I just had them …
11 August 2023: Samoa’s airport scanners must be on the older side. Had to remove shoes, and even my watch. Meanwhile the plane is delayed 45 minutes, so now we …
11 August 2023: Today we leave Sinalei Resort in Samoa and make our way home. That involves about 5.5 hours in the air, a couple of hours driving, and of course lots …
10 August 2023: Just had the best lunch ever at a surprising cafe in Apia called Rivaiv. It was like a Wellington cafe. Utterly delicious Teriyaki bowl with chicken. …
10 August 2023: There are worse places to sit and read. 🇼🇸
09 August 2023: That earthquake I felt this morning was listed at M 5.9 - Tonga. It was some distance away and moderately deep, so for me, sitting in bed, it was just …
09 August 2023: Pretty happy with this handheld shot on my iPhone of the Milky Way just by the tail of Scorpius. 🇼🇸 Stellarium screenshot.
09 August 2023: This 10 minute video will interest many I think: This town banned cars (except tiny electric ones): Zermatt, in Switzerland, bans all private cars and …
09 August 2023: It seems there's a Fish Reserve by the Piula Theological College in Samoa. There are quite a few rules about ways not to fish. I liked number 2: No …
09 August 2023: Cows, owned by families in villages, roam around the nearby countryside in Samoa. I don't think either this cow, or the Myna Birds would find anything …
09 August 2023: On Monday we went for a drive around the island of Upolo in Samoa. I've been welcomed to websites before now, hotels, houses, conferences… but never a …
09 August 2023: I see Joy Ellis as an author I enjoy but this book just didn't sit right with me. In The River's Edge (Jackman & Evans Book 10) we sometimes see …
09 August 2023: So far today major events haven’t included photos. Very small earthquake this morning. I spotted a Humpback whale playing offshore. Then I saw a …
08 August 2023: Apparently the Sopoaga Falls are about 54 metres. They’re on private land, and the owners have set up a lovely garden (with named plants) on the …
08 August 2023: Nice moves, pigeon! 🇼🇸
08 August 2023: A joke I heard today: Q: What do you call a pair of crows? A: Attempted murder. 🤣
08 August 2023: Here we have the dining fale at Sinalei Resort, the desk at reception and looking up into the ceiling at reception. Very distinctive Samoan …
07 August 2023: Between glasses with an old prescription, the snorkel mask, the water, and not really being able to see the screen on my Sony TG-80 camera I was sure …
07 August 2023: At Amanaki Bar and Restaurant in Apia, Samoa for lunch. I’ve ordered lemon cheesecake. The harbour is just across the road. 🇼🇸
06 August 2023: Coconut palms (without coconuts). 🇼🇸
06 August 2023: There are quite a few Red-vented Bulbul around the resort. They behave like sparrows, popping into the dining fale to check for crumbs. 🐦 🇼🇸
06 August 2023: Oi! I did not give you permission to take my photo! Pacific Black Skink at Sinalei Resort, Samoa. 🇼🇸
06 August 2023: It was a bit of a pain to haul my camera and large heavy lens along, but I'm so glad I did. I believe this is a Pacific Black Skink. I've seen quite a …
05 August 2023: Not entirely happy with A Death at Seascape House (A Jemima Jago Mystery Book 1) by Emma Jameson. Such a lot of miserable people and a couple of …
05 August 2023: These birds seem common around the resort. I believe this is a Miti Tai | Polynesian Triller. 🐦 🇼🇸 A rather long-tailed and long-winged bird with a …
05 August 2023: The pool is great for cooling off of course. Behind is the distinctive roof of a traditional style fale — in this case it’s the bar. 🇼🇸
05 August 2023: The resort has a friendly little dog called Princess who has recently had pups. She’s a pro at declaring herself starving. 🤣 🇼🇸
05 August 2023: This little yellow lizard was hanging around the dining fale last night. 🇼🇸
05 August 2023: This little Ve'a | Buff-banded Rail potters around on the grass at our Resort. It seems like a smaller version of a NZ Weka. 🐦 The gardens here are …
04 August 2023: Sinalei Resort in Samoa. Bit different from Waikawa Beach eh! Also, about 25C. 🇼🇸
03 August 2023: This is Bellabot which brings plates of food to the tables at the Sudima Hotel in Auckland. It takes away the empty plates too.
03 August 2023: The cloud lifted enough to show snow on the foothills near us. Brrr. 🥶
03 August 2023: Perfect weather for going somewhere else. 😆 🇼🇸
02 August 2023: I totally enjoyed the 4 episode French series The Best of Us on Acorn TV. 📺 When local star athlete Abel Guérin is found dead in a snowy field, a …
02 August 2023: Another enjoyable read from Marion Todd: A Blind Eye (Detective Clare Mackay Book 7). 📚 a local solicitor is found in his car, throat slit. DI Clare …
02 August 2023: Waikawa Beach where I live is at about 40° south of the Equator. We get a great view of the Southern Cross, but never see Ursa Major. Samoa …
01 August 2023: Last year the Blackbird couldn’t figure out how to get at the feeder. This year’s another story. 🐦
01 August 2023: The birds queue up to let me know it’s dinner time! 🐦 There is also some grumpiness about the throng at the feeder. Others, like this Waxeye, …
01 August 2023: Today I drove to Paraparaumu — the closest location for my phone provider One (was Vodafone) — and they switched me to use the eSIM in my iPhone 13 …
31 July 2023: It’s been an intensive research day for our upcoming holiday in Samoa. Put together useful travel info in one Apple Note (thanks @annahavron for …
30 July 2023: Went back to a book I started weeks ago, and recalled why I stopped reading. I'm now declaring it abandoned at 18%. Spite Your Face (Detective Carol …
30 July 2023: Breakup: … when Alaska awakens from its Arctic slumber. Snows melt. Rivers flood. Winter's secrets emerge. Kate is having an extremely bad day. …
30 July 2023: This morning Tiu | House Sparrows are enjoying hanging out on the dead panicles of the Tī kōuka | Cabbage tree only a couple of metres from my bedroom …
30 July 2023: The snow on the hills nearby has come down even lower, I think.
29 July 2023: Greedy developers are looking for ways to exploit resources the Native people should be controlling. Luckily Kate gets pulled into the whole thing by …
29 July 2023: Sometimes you glance up and wonder, where did the world go?
28 July 2023: Apparently the Library in Levin has a Friday lunchtime concert — a singalong. What a cool thing. Most folks attending seem to be older. One table of …
28 July 2023: An experimental photo. I'm hanging out in the Library in Levin while my car has a service and an annual Warrant of Fitness check. This photo was taken …
27 July 2023: A cold southerly has brought snow to the tops of the Tararua range.
26 July 2023: Season 9 of one of my favourite shows, New Zealand murder mystery series Brokenwood, has just started. This 28 minute radio interview with head writer …
26 July 2023: These golden plants at the beach are native Pīngao. Fantastic for binding sand.
26 July 2023: I have an Olympus Tough TG-870 camera that I last used in 2018 when we went snorkelling in Niue. With a holiday in Samoa coming up I've dug it out, …
25 July 2023: Apparently when a Kōtare | Sacred Kingfisher hangs around I am compelled to take photos of it. 🐦 Their beaks fascinate me.
24 July 2023: Just a little clip from the other morning of a Scaup and a Shoveler on the lake.
23 July 2023: At Harrison's Garden Shop cafe for brunch with my friend J today I noticed Bushy Tailed Tea: green tea with echinacea and lemon. Turns out to be …
22 July 2023: Another Dana Stabenow book down: Play With Fire (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 5). This one wasn't my favourite but is still a reasonable read. …
22 July 2023: Hah hah. I'd heard about the TV series Deadloch and have now watched episode 1. It's definitely over the top, part sendup of small-town cops meet …
21 July 2023: Well! Watched a recording of the Nigeria v Canada football match. Lots of yellow cards and even a red card. I’ve now in two days watched more …
21 July 2023: I wrote that word minorities in my previous post and now regret it. In my world, as a pale-skinned woman born in England and living most of my life in …
21 July 2023: Yay, Uhura! Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E06 — it's like they're getting round to telling the other stories from the Original Series … the …
20 July 2023: Who am I? I watched the first match of the 2023 Women’s World Cup Soccer, NZL v Nor. ⚽️
20 July 2023: Decades ago when I lived in Edinburgh for a bit I enjoyed Delia Smith's cooking show on TV so bought the books. Today I've referred to her fruit …
20 July 2023: We have several Barbary doves that hang around our place. This one by our gate was calling to another in a tree across the lane. 🐦
19 July 2023: A particularly interesting fragment from a podcast episode, Gayle Lemmon on making the invisible visible | Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, 22 …
19 July 2023: Dammit, there are two items on the agenda for today’s meeting of the Horowhenua District Council that particularly interest me. They’re …
19 July 2023: This is quite something: As the Women’s World Cup approaches, a clever marketing video employed the latest deepfake technology to challenge gender …
19 July 2023: Heh heh. This Nike ad featuring footballer Megan Rapinoe as a superhero is pretty cool.
18 July 2023: It's hard to take photos of Tīrairaka | New Zealand fantails — they flit and flutter so fast. Photos often end up like this. But occasionally you …
18 July 2023: Stayed up too late last night reading Dana Stabenow's A Cold Blooded Business (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 4). 📚 Kate went undercover at the oil …
18 July 2023: I know that Musk's and other multitudinous satellites are wrecking astronomy and are bad in all sorts of other ways too. This morning though, while …
17 July 2023: Blackbird. 🐦
17 July 2023: Number 169 asked for a photo. I obliged. 🐄
17 July 2023: I’m having a phase of unfollowing or blocking as relevant nincompoops and nitwits in my online life. Feels great! I wish there was some way to …
16 July 2023: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E05 continues the excellence. I'm loving this series so much. Lots of exploring the nature of who we are and how we …
16 July 2023: Wow! Dead in the Water (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 3) by Dana Stabenow went by so fast as I had to keep reading. 📚 I wouldn't last 2 seconds on …
15 July 2023: Today we moved the (very heavy) sofa bed out of the way and I cleaned all the accumulated gunge off the floor — dust, dead flies, a couple of mouldy …
15 July 2023: Dana Stabenow's consummate skill as a storyteller is evident in A Fatal Thaw (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 2). 📚 With lesser writers intensely …
14 July 2023: We went down to the Ōtaki Pottery Society Star Glaze show at the racecourse and came home with a couple of items. I bought two bowls and a mug. The …
13 July 2023: I've started entering a few photos in competitions. This is a local Capture Your Horowhenua competition. Photos are put online and also displayed in …
12 July 2023: It was … invigorating … at the beach on this winter morning. To my west the energetic waves and a definite breeze. To my east, my buddy …
12 July 2023: A Cold Day for Murder (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 1) by Dana Stabenow sets Kate on the trail of a missing Park Ranger, and the missing guy who …
12 July 2023: I started my Dana Stabenow Kate Shugak reread with the short story called Nooses Give. It introduced Kate and the setting well. We learn Kate is …
12 July 2023: So cool; indigenous sports — How ripped ears are preserving a rare culture in Alaska: Kakaruk says she imagines her ancestors playing the same …
11 July 2023: After finishing the latest Kate Shugak book I wasn't ready to leave the world so effectively created. I've downloaded all the books in the series to …
11 July 2023: Folks who enjoy magnificent photos, astronomy, auroras, Aotearoa, I recommend you follow @iangriffin@mastodon.nz. Check out his latest amazing shot. …
10 July 2023: Heh heh. Star Trek: The Animated Series S02E04 (at 18 minutes): McCoy: Anything Spock? Spock: Negative. File … doesn't recognise these symptoms. …
09 July 2023: Such a good book, as are all in this series! Not the Ones Dead (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 23) by Dana Stabenow. 📚 The only thing wrong is I've …
09 July 2023: Again, a fresh look reveals sexist assumptions: A lavish burial site from the Copper Age… is not the final resting place of a young male …
08 July 2023: Received a spam text in Messages on my Mac and had to search for how to block it. Found Block messages in Messages on Mac - Apple Support: select the …
08 July 2023: Back in 2019 my two cats, Aphra and Ares, passed away. Their sister Sophie, who lives with our friend, is still going strong at the age of 21 and a …
08 July 2023: The friend we visited in Wellington overnight has a 6 year old and a 7 year old — Samoyeds. They’re big. They’re cheerful. They fill up a …
07 July 2023: It was weird today, driving to Waikanae to catch the train — the road was very busy in both directions, but it was all cars and small vehicles. …
07 July 2023: 👍 Government launches measures to protect native biodiversity: The Government is launching … measures to protect native wildlife and at-risk …
07 July 2023: Train time.
07 July 2023: I needed to rummage round in the shed looking for something and nearly froze my hands off! Zero degrees C and a hefty frost. Luckily I found what I …
06 July 2023: Thanks to the Sky Guide app on my iPhone, my watch now alerts me to passes of the ISS. Here the ISS came up from the southeast and passed by Crux …
06 July 2023: These two used to often be in the property across our lane. These days we only see them from afar. 🐴
05 July 2023: The stretches I started doing daily a week ago are really starting to pay off. It's much easier to get out of bed and I feel a bit 'looser' in my …
05 July 2023: I really enjoyed The Complete Blue Ridge Mountains Mysteries 1–5 by Cathy Pickens. 📚 I very much liked the main character, Avery, and the author …
05 July 2023: At 8.06am [NZ time] on Friday, July 7, Earth reaches aphelion …the furthest point from the Sun in its elliptical orbit… At aphelion, Earth is about …
04 July 2023: I liked this notion in a book I'm currently reading (has local relevance): Opinions became more subtle and more difficult when mixed with knowledge …
04 July 2023: My little buddy Willow is visiting for a bit today. 🐶
03 July 2023: So cool: NASA Seals Volunteers Into Isolated Habitat For Year-Long Experiment: four volunteers entered a simulated Martian habitat … to learn more …
03 July 2023: After bookmarking a page in Micro.Blog I was stumped about how to Highlight a section. I tried for a while then gave up. Today I tried again, searched …
02 July 2023: Nuttin' — just hanging around… WOAH!
02 July 2023: More bias exposed — Women Hunt in Most Foraging Societies: narratives of 'man the hunter' and 'woman the gatherer' are crumbling in the face of new …
01 July 2023: Another excellent NativLang video (17 minutes): Why is this the most popular word order across languages? – SOV — Miraz the blog post wrote, for …
30 June 2023: I really enjoyed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season One, but Season Two is just “out of this world”. Loving this season so much. Such …
30 June 2023: Just scraped in at the end of June with my (briefer than usual) monthly Waikawa Newsletter. One of the things I like about Buttondown is that it …
29 June 2023: Glanced up from making breakfast to see our neighbour's Huntaway dog bounding through the paddock next door. Not something he's ever done before. Then …
28 June 2023: In this year's NZ Garden Bird Survey I saw (or heard) way more birds than last year: 6 sparrow, 1 fantail, 30 canada goose, 4 pheasant, 1 shag, 1 …
27 June 2023: Starting today (27 June) July 2023 will be a month where I focus on my health, in particular getting my body more flexible. I have my own stretches, …
26 June 2023: Had the most wonderful massage today with Natalie Waddell from Functional Bodyworks in Paraparaumu. My back and neck have been so stiff and sore …
25 June 2023: Whew. After 2084 Km in our car plus another 220 Km with friends in their car, it’s good to be home. We saw some great sights and had good times …
24 June 2023: I wouldn’t normally dream of posting a naked selfie, but occasionally there are mitigating circumstances … (Deb took the photos.)
24 June 2023: Today’s drive was marked with narrow winding roads to start, pouring rain, crawling past an accident, a visit to friends, roadworks, 110 Kph on …
24 June 2023: Deb bought me this wonderful Deejo folding pocket knife with tattooed blade. It’s so gorgeous!
23 June 2023: Time to head home now — a 12 hour drive. We’ll visit friends along the way and have a couple of overnight stops. Rain forecast for the rest of …
22 June 2023: Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua heritage: after death, all Māori spirits travel … to the pohutukawa tree on the headland of Te Rerenga Wairua. They …
22 June 2023: From Taipā Beach, on the East Coast in the Far North of Aotearoa. Just before dawn. Also just before I got drenched in a downpour!
22 June 2023: It was almost dark and still pouring with rain when we arrived at Taipā Beach Resort near Coopers Beach so I’m looking forward to dawn in a …
22 June 2023: Yesterday afternoon we drove through pouring rain to our booked holiday home in Coopers Beach, Northland. There was delay getting in, then the house …
21 June 2023: This corridor feels endless.
21 June 2023: Last year I decided my personal year would run from (my) Winter Solstice to (my) Winter Solstice (as nature intended). That makes today New …
21 June 2023: Today we leave Paihia in the Bay of Islands and drive about an hour north to Cooper’s Beach. Tomorrow we do a day trip up to Cape Reinga, about …
20 June 2023: Tāne Mahuta, 2000 years old, is enormous and awe inspiring.
20 June 2023: Today we plan to visit Tāne Mahuta, New Zealand’s largest known living kauri tree: Trunk girth: 13.77 m Trunk height: 17.68 m Total height: …
19 June 2023: We arrived at Opononi in the Hokianga after sunset, but the view of Hokianga Harbour from our room at The Heads is splendid.
18 June 2023: I totally recommend Thaidelight Restaurant in Taupō. The food arrived very quickly and was extremely delicious. The service was excellent and the …
18 June 2023: A private spa pool. Hooray! Maybe my multi-day headache will decide it doesn’t like hot water and will disappear.
18 June 2023: Ahhh, relaxing with a Yunnan Yellow tea, looking over Lake Taupō. The Moomaa Cafe, a bit up the line from Bulls, was very popular. The Hot Chocolate …
17 June 2023: Somehow I had missed reading Midnight Come Again (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 10) by Dana Stabenow, even though I’d read all but #23. 📚 Now …
17 June 2023: I enjoyed reading Three Dog Knight (A Jorja Knight Private Investigator Mystery Book 3) by Alice Bienia. 📚 Jorja is one unlucky detective who narrowly …
17 June 2023: Last night I was thrilled with the Starry Time session I ran down on the beach. People enjoyed learning about the objects we viewed and liked my tale …
16 June 2023: Yesterday I noticed tree felling had begun ~800 metres east of us. Incredibly, this morning it’s still 1 hour till sunrise, a brisk -3C (27F), …
15 June 2023: Went out to check out the night sky to prep for tomorrow’s Starry Time session. It was gorgeous. Two handheld 10-second iPhone shots of the …
15 June 2023: I ran out of energy and useful space in the shed so the last, small bits of firewood just got thrown in haphazardly. 4 cubic metres of firewood in the …
15 June 2023: Waikawa Beach has nice dark skies so tomorrow night I'm running a community event I've called Starry Time: a casual hour of looking at stars with the …
14 June 2023: 4 cubic metres of firewood to stack.
14 June 2023: Hanging around waiting for 4 cubic metres of firewood to be delivered. With only a couple of hours to sunset I’m unlikely to get it all into the …
13 June 2023: A bit of fun: this was meant to be a photo of the ship/s? in the distance. What I really like is the wave in the foreground.
13 June 2023: Uurgh, with my iPad erased and then easily restored by bringing it near my iPhone, it’s setting up the email accounts again that’s a …
13 June 2023: Step 2, while the non-charging iPad still has 20% battery: disconnect from iCloud, full device erase, in case I decide to sell it as is. Or in case I …
13 June 2023: Today I start with research on my iPad which isn’t charging. Tried the basic troubleshooting with cables etc, now onto cleaning out fluff from …
12 June 2023: Today I made a special trip to Wellington Zoo to see two Snow Leopards — sisters, Asha and Manju. I went past the enclosure several times which …
12 June 2023: Wellington Zoo is today’s outing.
11 June 2023: A midwinter dip in the sea with friends is not something a Miraz does … until today. 😆 A perfect day for it with blue sky, warm sun, no wind and a …
10 June 2023: Some of the first mandarins off our tree. The one I ate was delicious!
10 June 2023: Those into Tiny Homes may enjoy this writeup and photos of a tiny home right beside the main entrance to Waikawa Beach: Designer’s Two-Bedroom Tiny Is …
10 June 2023: I’ve been promising Fliss, the Japanese Quail, for ages that I’d clean out her run. Today was finally the day. I popped her in the glass …
10 June 2023: Checked the Library's ebooks and found Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Comic Issues #1-5: … shows what life is like for cadets at the galaxy's greatest …
09 June 2023: Although I never saw Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) when I was a kid watching it now reminds me of those times. All the stories were about the …
09 June 2023: One of the excellent things about today was that we paid someone to do a couple of hours weedeating, garden clearing and mulching. That would have …
08 June 2023: First day for winter of putting out food for the birds.
08 June 2023: There’s a cracker frost today!
07 June 2023: Well, bizarre! Looked at Netflix again and there’s Star Trek: The Animated Series, just as I expected but couldn’t find this morning… Was …
07 June 2023: I added the RSS — Bring Crime out of the Closet | A celebration of LGBTQ+ characters in crime fiction 📚: to examine … how LGBTQ+ characters have been …
07 June 2023: I really enjoyed Star Trek: The Animated Series S01E04 that I watched on Netflix yesterday. I’m finding the series fun and interesting. … … …
06 June 2023: Shell fish.
05 June 2023: I enjoyed reading The Dead Swede (The Sheridan County Mysteries Book 3) by Erin Lark Maples. 📚 There was a heap of terminology relevant to brewing …
04 June 2023: From this morning: Waiting outside a funny little bakery on a street corner in Waikanae to meet a friend. Olde Beach Bakery. Their donuts were good …
03 June 2023: No, the oven did not preheat to the required temperature while I was preparing ingredients, because I’d forgotten that the clock was somehow …
03 June 2023: I found this little Southern Bell Frog on the lane when I went out this morning. That’s a relief — I haven’t seen many frogs around …
02 June 2023: It’s taken me the longest time to figure this out: an AppleScript to set the date on a Post in MarsEdit. tell application "MarsEdit" make new …
02 June 2023: I absolutely loved the Icelandic movie Woman at War. 🎥 I loved the concept, the quirks, the gentle comedy and the incredibly serious topic, the …
01 June 2023: Hah! Never had much interest in Lego, but maybe I’ll visit — who knew there’s a new exhibition centre opening in Wellington? Tākina …
01 June 2023: New binos: someone turned on the light I recently withdrew a chunk of savings and bought, after much research a pair of Nikon Monarch M7 8x42 binoculars specifically for looking at birds …
01 June 2023: It pays to look up. Kōtare | Sacred Kingfisher in a neighbour’s tree. 🐦
31 May 2023: On today's beach walk I saw a large mussel shell and a couple of oystercatchers. 🐦
30 May 2023: Somehow I never watched Star Trek: The Animated Series (1974). I just watched S02E01 (by mistake, I’ll start back at Season 1 next time). …
30 May 2023: Another good read from Jana DeLeon, with some switching around of secondary characters and an intriguing plot — Fortune Teller. I enjoyed this book. …
29 May 2023: Folks on Micro.Blog mentioning places they’ve visited. For me much of Western Europe, Scandinavia, UK and Ireland, Pacific Islands. Of special …
29 May 2023: The other day LeonP wrote about blogs being viewable on any device. That led me to wonder how my blog looks on my 2018 Kindle Paperwhite. The answer …
29 May 2023: Heh, Aotearoa becomes more multicultural. Stories are legion of immigrants and visitors asked to "bring a plate" to an event who have turned up with …
29 May 2023: Hmmm: When we hear the word 'fungi', [mushrooms are] what we think of first. But … only about 10 % of fungi species produce mushrooms. And they …
29 May 2023: It's Samoa Language Week here in Aotearoa. This 25 minute documentary about traditional tattoo as service is so interesting, and moving: Tautua: Inked …
28 May 2023: Wowee: The new imitation game — … CarynAI, a bot which “replicates [Caryn Marjorie's] voice, mannerisms and personality”. Interacting with it …
28 May 2023: Another one for folks interested in language — 18 minute video about weak and strong forms of words, and how in English the positive may just …
27 May 2023: This afternoon I thought I’d try photos of sea spray. The sea was a bit rough today. B&W filter via Photos.
27 May 2023: Kei te pēhea tonu tātou? How are we really doing?
26 May 2023: If you’re at all interested in language, or in indigenous culture take 10 minutes and watch this fascinating documentary (via Kottke) — Hand …
26 May 2023: This is a very heartening good news story. Take a moment to read this non-fiction comic by Toby Morris : The Side Eye: Anahera, our neighbour. 🐦 Note: …
26 May 2023: I was already pretty cheery this morning but listening to Korolova b2b Jonas Saalbach @ Praia da Adraga, Portugal (55 minutes) just lifted me right …
26 May 2023: Ahhh, my rejoicing was premature… After a couple of minutes the left AirPod just stopped working. From memory, if I put it back in the charging case …
26 May 2023: It’s a miracle: my AirPods (1st gen) live again! Last year there were problems, fixes didn’t work, they were dead, they sat in my Must …
26 May 2023: A Micro.blog Community Library. What a great idea from @KimberlyHirsh. Time for a needs assessment! Micro.blog community, what resources do you need …
25 May 2023: Nope. No Kuaka | Godwits round here. Nope. 🐦
25 May 2023: Our beach doesn’t have rocks (unless you count chunks of pumice) but there’s plenty of driftwood. Sometimes a buried log will emerge after …
24 May 2023: Late afternoon and I was just walking from one room to another when I noticed these (perhaps juvenile) Eastern Rosellas on the flax plants nearby. I …
24 May 2023: Anna Havron is a generally smart person. I like what she has to say here — Inner Trolls and Better Angels: Being a Person, Online: I see great value …
24 May 2023: I realise Micro Camp 2023 left me on a real high — took me all day to calm down afterwards. I’m really energised by the presentations, keynote …
24 May 2023: This 9 minute video is so good and the food looks delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wide assortment of mushrooms in our …
23 May 2023: What’s that big star in the west, Deb asked. The crescent moon, I smartly replied … and Venus. 🤣
23 May 2023: There's always one who's late to the meeting… Pāpango | New Zealand scaup on Lake Puna o te Ora. 🐦
23 May 2023: A new series but another excellent police procedural from Anne Shillolo: Murder at Elk Ridge (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 1). Nice character …
22 May 2023: Pukeko at the edge of Lake Puna o te Ora. 🐦
22 May 2023: Pro tip: when Micro.Blog seemingly just refuses to publish your post — make sure it’s not set to Draft. 🤣 (Wasted a fair bit of time earlier…)
22 May 2023: Apparently this orange plastic cylinder I spotted washed up on the beach today is a Burley Pot. The idea is to put bait in it to attract fish.
22 May 2023: On this morning’s beach walk I walked in amongst a big spread of driftwood of all sizes. When I turned round I spotted this wonderful orange …
21 May 2023: Whew, I thought we’d just watched the last ever episode of Vera. In fact it was the last available episode. Vera S12E04.
21 May 2023: After the disappointing movie yesterday we had excellent Thai food at Tuk Tuk Waimea in Waikanae. I had stir fry chicken with fresh vegetables and …
21 May 2023: Micro.Blog pals — a 1 day coupon for MarsEdit! I usually only offer discounts of 10% or 20%, but in celebration of Micro.camp 2023 I’m offering a 50% …
21 May 2023: How to customise the MarsEdit Preview When you write a blog post in MarsEdit you can see a Preview right in front of you as you type. I like to arrange my windows side by side, with the …
21 May 2023: Resources for my MarsEdit presentation at Micro Camp 2023 See my presentation on YouTube. These resources go alongside my Micro Camp presentation, Take the Captain’s Chair of your Micro.Blog with the MarsEdit …
20 May 2023: We went to see the movie Aftersun 🎥 : a 2022 coming-of-age drama film … an 11-year-old girl, on holiday with her father at a Turkish resort on the eve …
20 May 2023: I’d totally forgotten that MarsEdit can do TypeWriter Scrolling in the composition window. It’s right there under the View Menu. …
20 May 2023: Just now pondering at a very shallow level, whether there’s a role at future Micro Camps for a brief pre-Camp Zoom checkin session where we can …
20 May 2023: Excellent start to Micro Camp 2023 today. Thanks to everyone who participated but especially to all those who helped organise! The sessions were …
19 May 2023: I had read this somewhere recently, but thanks to @billbennettnz for Apple satellite SOS service now live in New Zealand: NZ-based Apple iPhone 14 …
18 May 2023: Recycling — maybe not always a good thing…
18 May 2023: I love Aotearoa but this is unconscionable — The twin crises that fuelled the hostel fire: 10% of our population are so poor and stressed they can’t …
18 May 2023: Back in September 2017 I came across this little cutie on a driftwood log on the beach. The Kekeno | New Zealand Fur Seal pups often come ashore on …
18 May 2023: The MarsEdit Browser extension While checking posts from my now defunct KnowIt blog I spotted this mention of MarsEdit from 01 February 2008, emphasis from today: To post this blog …
17 May 2023: Hmmm, not entirely sure about this step in the online recipe for Crispy Chicken Nibbles… 🤔
17 May 2023: Just enjoying a pleasant lunch time on the beach with my good buddy Willow. 🐶
17 May 2023: When I was on the beach yesterday 3 Kakīānau | Black swan flew in and landed on the estuary. Here are two, with a Karoro | Black-backed gull in the …
17 May 2023: Crescent moon and Jupiter in the pre dawn sky above flax spears.
17 May 2023: So frustrating when every world map in Too HOT and HUMID to Live: Extreme Wet Bulb Events Are on the Rise cuts off Aotearoa New Zealand — either …
16 May 2023: I struck a lucky shaft of rising sunlight at the estuary this morning, with this Poaka | Pied Stilt. 🐦
16 May 2023: I haven't read this yet but want to boost Sod's link about writing good alt text for images 🔗 : Alt-texts: The Ultimate Guide is another hands-on …
16 May 2023: I haven’t been for a proper walk on the beach for the last month. Now I’m finally over the ghastly flu, it’s time to get back out …
16 May 2023: A very clear and very helpful post by Alan Jacobs about the true nature of Micro.Blog 🔗 : I wrote about the Three Paths of micro.blog. Alan Jacobs …
15 May 2023: I stayed up way too late last night, not being able to get this AppleScript (or any other technique) to work. Today I found the ‘missing …
15 May 2023: Visited with my buddy Leo today. 🐈
15 May 2023: Remember when blogs were fussily called weblogs? While checking posts from my now defunct KnowIt blog I spotted this mention of MarsEdit 1.0 from 11 …
15 May 2023: Too big for your boots, AI! I made my Micro Camp 2023 presentation video and then had the wonderful free Mac app Aiko transcribe the audio …
14 May 2023: For my Micro Camp 2023 presentation I used Apple Keynote. I wondered about accessibility for those who can’t see the screenshots. Keynote Help …
14 May 2023: A MarsEdit tip for including MB usernames in Posts: Micro.Blog automatically converts usernames to MarkDown links on posting. That can lead to …
14 May 2023: Thanks to @Danielpunkass and @Manton for the kind words about me in Core Intuition 557: …talk about Micro.camp …summarize some of the planned talks, …
14 May 2023: Apparently New Zealand Sign Language week finishes today. While I’m very interested in language and have learned various amounts of several …
13 May 2023: I don't often buy reference books, but this seemed like a must-have: Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager's Field Guide by Liv Sisson. 📚 I realised I …
13 May 2023: Same old stories: The truth is that women are perennially and perpetually angry about male violence, but every time there’s a public explosion of …
13 May 2023: Heh, this came up today on my daily check of my blog’s Surprise me page: Kea gyms!. Next weekend find out why that’s a bit of random …
13 May 2023: Two — almost 3 — a.m. I seem to have mislaid my sleep…
12 May 2023: This was a gripping read: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. 📚 Hannah’s husband just doesn’t come home from work after his boss is …
12 May 2023: This morning we had the first frost of the season, and there was snow on the high tops of the Tararua range too. Winter is nearby.
12 May 2023: How rich folks could really help poor folks in NZ We have some mega rich people in Aotearoa New Zealand, and a heap of folks who depend on food banks and the like to scrape out a hard existence. The …
12 May 2023: Good news story out of NZ today — 8 year old Josh asked the local Council for a swing for his friend in a wheelchair. the council … unfortunately …
11 May 2023: There were about 20 Kawau | Pied Shags at the edge of the sea today. And 20 more nearby but out of shot. The sea was moving in with some energy.
11 May 2023: Oops, I stumbled across the 2023 Eurovision Semi-Final 1 and thought I’d have it in the background while doing whatever else. Instead I’m …
10 May 2023: And then there’s this: Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman” Performed by Kerry Washington
10 May 2023: This poem, and video, is so powerful: AI, Ain’t I A Woman? - Joy Buolamwini. a spoken word piece that highlights the ways in which artificial …
10 May 2023: We had an old iPhone 5 with a dead battery. The phone’s so cute I wanted to keep it and use it as a radio. With a new battery and toolkit …
10 May 2023: In The Case of the Unlucky Gardener (Connie McKinnon Sailing Detective Cosy Mysteries Book 1) by Tina Mclachlan Brassington the characters bat chunks …
10 May 2023: When online form validation goes wrong In 1963 our family moved from England to Aotearoa New Zealand. Back in London our phone number was like this: CROWN42. That’s fake, just to be …
09 May 2023: It's been a while since I've posted a photo of Fliss, my one remaining Japanese Quail. 🐦
09 May 2023: Covid booster finally achieved 👍
08 May 2023: Why we perceive ourselves negatively as we age: As we get older … there is a subtle decline in memory, but we overstate it… older people blaming every …
08 May 2023: I've never seen Kosher salt in any NZ shop so looked it up, since it seems to be in most (overseas) recipes I see. Technically, kosher salt is a type …
08 May 2023: When I started working on my Micro Camp presentation about Mars Edit I checked my email archives. I started using ME in or before May 2004. …
08 May 2023: Thrilled to boost 2023 Micro Camp: Micro Camp Presenter Topics and Schedule micro.campMicro Camp …
07 May 2023: Looking at In photos: Coronation for King Charles III. Zoom in to see how a coloured collar, Charles's posture and the lines on a clerical vestment …
07 May 2023: How I thought my recovery from the ghastly flu would progress vs How my recovery from the ghastly flu is actually progressing.
07 May 2023: As usual, The Spinoff wins at commentary: The “robe of righteousness” and the “gown of salvation” were put on his heaving shoulders, while those at …
07 May 2023: Aargh. For the purposes of making screenshots for a presentation I rearranged the MarsEdit Toolbar. That moved the Send to Blog button into the …
06 May 2023: The book Little Girl Lost (Georgiana Germaine Book 1) by Cheryl Bradshaw just didn't sit right by me. 📚 The detective had some mysterious tragedy in …
06 May 2023: This morning we have gunshots at dawn … thanks to the opening of Game Bird Hunting Season, and the fact we have lakes nearby (not the lakes I …
05 May 2023: Today's new tea: Laoshan Imperial Green tea. Different from all the others I've tried. I think I like it… Laoshan Imperial Green tea.
05 May 2023: Did a speedtest on my 4G WiFi broadband connection after billbennettnz wrote about speeds. Happy with our rural residential speed (I can see the cell …
04 May 2023: Things just aren't going well for Peg, in relationships or work in Peril in Silver Nightshade (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 4) by Lakota …
04 May 2023: So far mine looks like this: I put my thoughts into words and words into action… or something… Mandaris Moore …
03 May 2023: One of the ‘features’ of living at the beach is that sometimes dead animals wash up. Presumably they’ve been washed down from one of …
03 May 2023: Flu vaccination: Nearly 600,000 people had jab in first four weeks of rollout: The flu season has started earlier this year, with… nasty strains …
02 May 2023: Woohoo, later this year we’ll be spending several days at Sinalei Reef Resort and Spa, Samoa South Pacific - Island Resort. See the video.
02 May 2023: It was a beautiful still and warm morning at the beach — 19C. Someone had cleverly stacked driftwood to make a seat. I sat there and recorded the sea …
01 May 2023: Another in a series I enjoy — Goodbye Linden Square (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 7) by Anne Shillolo. 📚 The crimes keep piling up in Port Alma — …
01 May 2023: A nice prequel short story to the Pegasus Quincy mystery series by Lakota Grace — Bad Day at Black Canyon: 📚 When Peg leaves for Arizona and her new …
01 May 2023: After 2 weeks of the flu I’m better but still nowhere near fully recovered. The coughing is reducing, thank goodness but my energy levels are …
30 April 2023: I can never remember how to tell native Toitoi apart from exotic Pampas Grass. Whichever this is down by lake Te Puna a te Ora it looks pretty fab.
29 April 2023: Whew. Deb and I have done final cleanup at the house we’ve sold, passed keys to the agent, signed papers with the lawyer. All that’s left …
29 April 2023: This ~7 minute video is a really useful explainer from MinuteFood about how a microwave oven works — what it actually does to the food inside. …
28 April 2023: The anti-woman language of gynaecology, eg the hostile uterus. Listen to the ~1 minute clip from Quirks and Quarks, A view on the womb. Leah Hazard … …
28 April 2023: Bought back in September 2020; I must have read the first book then. Totally forgot what it was about. Read the second book this week and it ranks …
28 April 2023: I walked ‘all the way’ to lake Te Puna o te Ora in the sun and fresh air and quiet this morning. (It’s less than 500 metres away.) …
28 April 2023: Autumn sunrise.
27 April 2023: One of life's eternal mysteries: if there's a duvet cover in the wash how does all the other washing end up inside it by the end?
26 April 2023: This 35 minute podcast episode is so interesting. Pet lovers, tune in! Death in the Afternoon: INTERVIEW: Uncovering Pet Death’s Greatest …
26 April 2023: Well, that's unusual: two sizeable quakes within moments of one another. The pheasants were busy with their special earthquake alarm calls. 〰️ A 5.7 …
26 April 2023: Reading Persons Unknown (Manon Bradshaw, Book 2) by Susie Steiner was how I imagine white water rafting would be. You dip a toe in the river not sure …
25 April 2023: Fire in Broken Water (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 3) by Lakota Grace was a thoroughly good read from an author and in a setting I enjoy. 📚 …
24 April 2023: Woohoo, a proper holiday (with friends) coming up later this year. There is an island or two below that red dot… 🇼🇸
24 April 2023: This was another gripping read from Tracy Clark: Runner (A Chicago Mystery Book 4). It's a great shame there are only 4 books in the series. It's a …
23 April 2023: Seems a bit woo-woo but sometime last night while I was asleep my little battlers announced to my brain that they’d defeated whatever infection …
22 April 2023: Took me a few starts but in the end I enjoyed Poodle Versus The Mob (Cottage Country Cozy Mysteries Book 2) by Anne Shillolo well enough. 📚 Zora …
22 April 2023: I enjoyed reading Murder Among The Roses (Maybridge Murder Mysteries Book 1) by Liz Fielding. 📚 Abby is horrified to discover the bones of a baby …
21 April 2023: In Murder Never Retires (DI Hillary Greene Book 12) by Faith Martin our favourite DI is back on the job but in a different role. 📚 20 years ago … Anna …
20 April 2023: Today, while my sore throat morphs into a cough, I’m resting up, mainly reading, dozing and answering urgent last minute calls from our lawyer …
20 April 2023: Today had a visit from our favourite Kōtare | Sacred Kingfisher. 🐦
20 April 2023: Another excellent mystery from Faith Martin — Murder at Work (DI Hillary Greene Book 11) 📚: Michael Ivers was a gambler and a notorious womaniser … …
20 April 2023: I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the novella Catnip & Brimstone by Jessica Nickelsen. 📚 Nine-year-old Beth and her tabby kitten …
19 April 2023: A couple of photos from the other day of one of my favourites: the Tūturiwhatu | New Zealand dotterel. On close inspection, I see this one has a …
18 April 2023: Turns out I’ve been wrong for at least 5 days now in my belief that Fliss had stopped laying for the season. Quail only lay when there’s …
18 April 2023: On This Day reminded me that in 2018 and 2020 I did an online hearing test. So here's another. I attribute where there is improvement at 500 and 1K to …
18 April 2023: Hmmm, yesterday I was tired and my throat was a bit scratchy. Today, after sleeping poorly, I’m still tired and my throat is more scratchy… But …
18 April 2023: Started this book so long ago I’d forgotten what was going on. Picked it up and finished it with some enjoyment. The Country Inn Mystery (Jenny …
17 April 2023: I tossed out some apples that weren’t good enough to cook. This morning a black bunny and a grey bunny were enjoying fruit for breakfast in the …
17 April 2023: Got up to make a [second] cup of tea and found this going on outside. Seneca: Moral letters to Lucilius/Letter 101: begin at once to live, and count …
16 April 2023: I was really hooked in to the 5 books in Detective Hillary Greene Books 6–10 box set by Faith Martin. 📚 Book 10 suggested an unwelcome change but I …
16 April 2023: I quite enjoyed reading What You Don’t See (A Cass Raines Mystery Book 3) by Tracy Clark. 📚 Vonda Allen … Everybody adores her. Except the …
15 April 2023: On the beach this morning was a sizeable flock of Tara | White-fronted Tern. The photo shows about 1/3 of the flock. Nearby was a pair of the much …
14 April 2023: I attended the same school as murderer Juliette Hulme (Anne Perry) but over a decade later. My friend Rachel though was in the same class and writes …
14 April 2023: Hmmm, apparently flights from Auckland to Kathmandu take approximately 18 hours…
14 April 2023: Whew, it took 8.5 episodes of hogwash and bunkum but finally Picard S03 is at a place where I’m not just waiting for the whole thing to be over. …
14 April 2023: On my beach walk yesterday I came across this wonderful orange fungus in the dunes. So big!
13 April 2023: Today's dinner was Tangy Braised Chickpeas — thanks to @tracydurnell for the link. It was delicious.
12 April 2023: I didn’t watch the video but really enjoyed listening to Troy Kingi’s music: Black Sea Golden Ladder – The Visual Album.
12 April 2023: Spam has got weird. After a flurry of folks offering me wealth there’s now a stream of messages quoting (I suppose) passages from old texts — …
12 April 2023: 40 mm rain or so in the last couple of days (25 mm in the last 7 hours) has been enough to bring back the paddock puddle. I expect it won’t last …
12 April 2023: Useful — Define Your Own Principles: Do you have your own rules for life, your set of principles you steadfastly stick to in any situation and can …
12 April 2023: Not surprising the rain woke me: 13.5 mm per hour is a decent fall!
11 April 2023: A couple of days ago when I walked on the beach at dawn these folks were down floundering. Mt Ruapehu in the background.
10 April 2023: I keep thinking maybe I can hear thunder — or some loud truck nearby on this public holiday. Given this sky in the southwest, I suspect it’s …
10 April 2023: Wow, big day today: I’m really in the money! 🤣
09 April 2023: A walk today at Kitchener Park right next to Manfeild Race track near Feilding was accompanied by the roar and whine of racing cars and motorbikes. So …
09 April 2023: Thanks to the Eastern Rosellas who alerted me that the apples on my Granny Smith tree were ripe.
08 April 2023: This set of decals is now on the wardrobe door by my bed. From Top left, clockwise: Me and Sasha, Sasha and Oshi, Olive, Harriette. Centre: Aphra and …
08 April 2023: Our neighbours are taking down some pine trees that are about 30 years old. They’re a bit unstable apparently. I guess all the birds that use …
08 April 2023: 10 hours of sleep! It’s a miracle!
07 April 2023: A thoughtful and interesting essay: Don’t fret about students using ChatGPT to cheat – AI is a bigger threat to educational equality: AI tools also …
06 April 2023: That was a fun movie: Desconectados: Victoria is addicted to the internet and work, and has bad relationships with her teenage kids … Her life …
06 April 2023: Aha, plane mystery solved: Classic Fighters Omaka Airshow 2023. Wow, I’m not any kind of vehicle nerd, but there’s an impressive lineup at …
06 April 2023: That’s a worry — while I was posting my previous item another 9 planes went past in formation! Photo shows 4 of them. Has our whole airforce gone …
06 April 2023: I was way too slow going out to check on the unusual aircraft noise. It turned out to be 7 planes in formation! Since NZ has 11 T–6C Texan II …
05 April 2023: I remember the day back in 2002 when Ares and Aphra first discovered there was World beyond the front door. 🐈
05 April 2023: Had my flu shot. Asked for the Covid booster too but they only do them on Fridays… Booked that one for 28 April.
04 April 2023: This was simple to make and very tasty: Black Beans and Brown Rice. Will cook it again.
04 April 2023: I can't exactly pinpoint where this tree felling is taking place. It may be about 700 metres to the southeast of our house. The bottom of the slope …
04 April 2023: Airing out the cobweb.
04 April 2023: I was briefly awake at 1130 pm last night. Through the open window I could hear not only the sea, but also a Ruru | Morepork. That’s the first …
03 April 2023: Great explanation — The core of karakia: Karakia is karakia. You’ve got ka - it ignites - ra - connectivity and kia is the essence of your …
03 April 2023: Guess the problem (watch the video). I'm torn between good coverage and wrecking the night sky. Mobile coverage across the country with SpaceX: We're …
03 April 2023: Our local Council livestream meetings then make the recordings available. After sitting through a few hours that didn’t interest me I emailed …
03 April 2023: Over on the Micro.Blog Help site @manton has provided a list of 20 allowed file extensions for Micro.Blog file uploads. File type upload was a problem …
02 April 2023: Bit of an ethical dilemma today, in a post on another blog. I linked to an 8 minute radio interview. Their copyright says I can link but not publish …
02 April 2023: The entertainment at the Kimbolton Sculpture Festival was excellent. It continued all day with a lot of variety. Very short clips below of a swing …
02 April 2023: Kimbolton is a 90 minute drive northish from Waikawa Beach. At their Sculpture Festival they knew how to entertain, kids especially. Lots of food …
02 April 2023: The Sunday Essay: Confessions of a cryptic addict There is, however, no disputing the pleasures cryptic puzzles bring. Astle says when a clue is …
01 April 2023: At the Kimbolton Sculpture Festival were this horse head made from motorbike parts, stag made of horse shoes and bull made from bicycle tires.
31 March 2023: Wait … is that a UFO?
31 March 2023: Well, well, well. This 6 minute video is so interesting: What Are The Different Types Of Cinnamon?: Did you know there are different types of …
31 March 2023: Nice: Words from the land of the long white cloud: New Zealand English additions to the OED: In its latest update, the OED is putting the spotlight …
30 March 2023: Just checking the recipe for the chicken wings I want to cook shortly for dinner: Honey and ginger chicken wings | Jamie Oliver recipes: place in the …
29 March 2023: Further back there seems to be some tree felling going on. That may well be on a different property — it gets a bit confusing round here.
29 March 2023: It’s all go round here today, in the teeth of a cold southerly. The farmer next door is harvesting a crop that is probably maize. The harvester …
29 March 2023: I knew it was chilly this morning, with a cold wind, and that way down south there were snow warnings for the mountains. Still, I was very surprised …
29 March 2023: What, you've never seen a rabbit eating a peach? Well you have now. 🐇 Wild black rabbit on grass eating a peach.
28 March 2023: Visited a neighbour not far from us the other day. They had this wonderful small log with orange fungi in their garden. Weird, in Photos the orange is …
28 March 2023: I write a monthly newsletter for our local community. A kind resident made this wonderful cartoon on an extremely topical and important issue and I've …
28 March 2023: So many people have said such kind and generous things about Sasha — too many for me to list all. Thank you so much for your thoughts and kind words. …
27 March 2023: Sasha in August 2008, aged about 18 months. Such a beauty! 🐶 Sasha said Goodbye to everyone today. Thanks to all blog pals who left kind and caring …
27 March 2023: Sasha does a selfie. 🐶
27 March 2023: Just out for a stroll. 🐦 Peihana | Pheasant.
27 March 2023: Sasha says: Thanks — breakfast was the best! 🐶
26 March 2023: Out to it at the end of the day. Sasha. 🐶
26 March 2023: Sasha, aged 16 and a quarter. Her back legs, well all her legs, are having trouble supporting her. Breakfast was a bit of a problem this morning. 🐶 …
25 March 2023: Look at this little poppet, back in February 2007 when she was just 3 months old. Sasha's come a long way in the last 16 years! 🐶
25 March 2023: Sasha, aged 16 and a bit, was out to it on her rug, until I poked my phone in her face. 🐶
24 March 2023: I’m so thrilled. Look at this shot I got tonight (iPhone 13 Pro) at our wee star viewing. Crescent Moon with Venus and bird. Below that cloud, …
24 March 2023: Crescent Moon and Venus. @odd
24 March 2023: Sasha in her crate earlier today. 🐶
24 March 2023: I prefer my own company to groups, so what induced me to organise a community Star Viewing tonight? These are things I’m hoping we can find / …
24 March 2023: The sleepy eye of morning.
23 March 2023: Back in January I made Crusty French Bread Rolls and results weren’t great. I tried again today, with the mixer, and they’re my most …
23 March 2023: This is the time of year for the couple of Yucca gloriosa in the dunes to flower. The long lens in the first photo makes distant hills look really …
22 March 2023: Thinking about that 1.5C global warming number … it seems so tiny, yet its effects are huge. We need to find a Consequences Score (CS) and start to …
22 March 2023: Every morning I check earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions to see what’s going on with weather around Aotearoa New …
21 March 2023: Watched B5 S01E03, Born to the Purple, with its love, intrigues, machinations, wiles, compulsion, slavery, compassion and forgiveness. B5️⃣
21 March 2023: BTW: Sasha has to stand on the carpet now to eat her meals as otherwise her legs slide out from under her. She no longer has sufficient strength in …
21 March 2023: Sasha told me at length that breakfast didn’t meet her requirements. Only after I added some of the expensive gourmet wet food did she consent …
21 March 2023: Thanks to a crossword I have now heard of three Impressionist painters: Marie Bracquemond, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. Lovely!
20 March 2023: Watched B5 S01E02, Soul Hunter. Interesting ideas about how different cultures can view something from opposing perspectives. We learned some …
20 March 2023: And I say again: “Sea levels are rising. We gotta deal with climate change.” 🐦
20 March 2023: Watching Lingthusiasm: Bringing stories to life in Auslan - Interview with Gabrielle Hodge. I have utmost respect for sign language interpreters who …
20 March 2023: Oh Siri … sometimes you drive me pineapples! Me: Hey Siri, add Vanilla Wine Biscuits to the Groceries List. Siri: OK, I’ve added chocolate to …
20 March 2023: Somehow on my Babylon 5 rewatch I completely forgot to start with the pilot, The Gathering. The ambassadors arrive, the Station Commander is accused …
19 March 2023: Whew, Babylon 5 rewatch, S01E01, “Midnight on the Firing Line”. There’s a huge amount happening in the universe and we’re …
19 March 2023: Today’s lunch included a very rich yet delicious Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole via @mbkriegh. I halved the cheese and sauce parts of the recipe …
18 March 2023: Good news today. Oxford English Dictionary adds more Māori words: The Oxford English Dictionary updates every three months … 47 new New Zealand words …
18 March 2023: Deb picked up Thai Takeaway on her way home last night from Thai Tara in Johnsonville. I had Ginger and Vegetable Stir Fry with chicken, mild and it …
17 March 2023: A good read: Borrowed Time (A Cass Raines Mystery Book 2) by Tracy Clark. 🐦 It could be murder. But why would anyone kill a dying man? Cass’s …
17 March 2023: Usually I eat my breakfast while listening to the latest episode of Sasha’s “My life as a dog” podcast. Amazingly, it autoplays, …
16 March 2023: Today’s tea Moonlight Pavilion: You’ll notice the aromas undulate between floral, buttery and vegetal, with a pleasant astringency at …
16 March 2023: A fascinating 1 hour podcast episode — After an initial discussion between the hosts about whale vocalisations, Megan and Carrie talk with Rachel E. …
16 March 2023: Had this Soft Scrambled Japanese Tamago today. It’s quick, easy, delicious: whisk together eggs, mirin, sugar, and soy. Add … along with butter …
15 March 2023: This is an extreme crop of a photo at nearby Lake Puna o te Ora: two birds shaking, with water droplets spraying around them. The birds are likely …
15 March 2023: Today’s tea is golden yellow and delicious. Amber Hojicha roasted green tea: This special Hojicha tea is made with sencha leaves which are …
15 March 2023: Morning is the youth of the day, when everything is bright, fresh, and easy of attainment; we feel strong … all our faculties are completely at our …
14 March 2023: It’s been that kind of day.
14 March 2023: I was just getting nicely lined up on this Makipai | Australian Magpie at the beach — hoping it would sing — when it flew away! 🐦
14 March 2023: By 0650 the sun was rising. The paddock below the sunrise, with cows lying quietly in the autumn mist.
14 March 2023: It’s just before 6am and a chilly 7C as I take Sasha for her walk. Everything’s dark. There are stars in the clear sky, washed out by a …
13 March 2023: Today’s tea — White Moonlight: This is a fun, fragrant, light-bodied white tea with an intricate cascade of notes… I like this one. It is …
13 March 2023: Yesterday I made Deep dish apple pie. I bought the pastry. Everyone said it was delicious. Prepping 2 Kg apples took forever as they came off the tree …
12 March 2023: Aargh. I’ve been making Traditional deep dish apple pie, with ready made pastry. It’s taken all afternoon! I didn’t realise …
12 March 2023: This odd looking thing is a Red Kiwifruit: This fruit has a deliciously sweet berry-tinged flavour and vibrant red flesh … the distinctive red flesh …
11 March 2023: Courtesy of Anne Shillolo’s newsletter I downloaded her Murder At Aspen Creek prequel novella for free. It was a quick and enjoyable read — …
11 March 2023: I’m going to stop reading A Space Girl from Earth (The Kyroibi Trilogy Book 1) by Christina McMullen. I’m not the target audience and …
10 March 2023: Another fascinating interview: Ann-Helén Laestadiu: Sami, the reindeer people: Stolen is the story of a young Sámi girl’s coming of age. It is …
10 March 2023: Fascinating interview: Angela Saini on the origins of patriarchy - A Podcast of One’s Own with Julia Gillard: Her latest book, The Patriarchs: …
10 March 2023: At 6 am I shone the torch into the quail run to check on lonely Fliss the quail. I spotted this Leopard Slug - Limax Maximus leaving the food dish: …
09 March 2023: The books in this series by Kris Bock are good reads: Someone Missing from Malapais Mountain (Book 4 in The Accidental Detective series). The mystery …
09 March 2023: I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to make this little Keyboard Maestro macro to convert a Markdown link to an HTML link… I’ve …
09 March 2023: Change the date format in Alpine Theme After installing the Alpine Theme on two hosted Micro.Blogs, I was extremely keen to change the date format. That took me ages as I blundered around …
08 March 2023: The annoying thing about cooking Foolproof slow roast chicken is I’m starving and there’s more than an hour of cooking left to go…
08 March 2023: Hah! Against Copyediting: Is It Time to Abolish the Other Department of Corrections?: I was less the advocate of adventurous commas or …
08 March 2023: Life with Sasha 🐶 these days: I start to do a thing… Sasha: Ohhh I really need to go out right now. … We walk aimlessly, or sit or just stand. 😵💫
08 March 2023: Dates on Micro.Blog bug me. I changed the theme on my blog and now see this date format: 1:11 PM, Mar 6. I hate it. The trouble is, to get my …
07 March 2023: I always enjoy a visit from the Eastern Rosellas. 🐦
07 March 2023: I saved out half a dozen photos of the Wrybills I watched yesterday, but this one stood out as my favourite. 🐦
06 March 2023: Thanks to @tracydurnell for linking to the recipe for Southern Buttermilk Biscuits. Friends have invited me to dinner so I experimented with making …
06 March 2023: Those Ngutuparore, Wrybill are so cute. They came within about 3 metres of me as I sat on the sand. And they run so fast (see the second half of the …
06 March 2023: Probably not technically on Micro.Blog, but I love following @Words@social.vivaldi.net because of the gorgeous daily fox photos. Followed them on …
06 March 2023: I haven’t looked through all ~150 photos I took of 3 Ngutuparore, Wrybill at the beach just now, but this shot clearly shows its bill curves to …
05 March 2023: Another very enjoyable read from Kris Bock: Someone Cruel in Coyote Creek (The Accidental Detective Book 3) 📚 Kate … receives a message claiming …
05 March 2023: I popped up the road for a quick treat today. Yum!
05 March 2023: June 2012 we went zip lining in Rotorua. I coped by clutching the safety straps so tight. The first person in this video is the guide who helped me …
05 March 2023: Heh, I was looking for a different photo but came across this one from September 2003. Remember the Iomega Zip Drives? I probably took this photo to …
04 March 2023: RIP my Japanese Quail Glee, which leaves only one now, little Fliss, the striped one. Glee was full of zip, until she wasn't. 🐦 Baby Glee hatched on …
04 March 2023: I enjoyed watching Britt-Marie Was Here 🎥: The plot follows the titular protagonist Britt-Marie, a 63-year-old homemaker … who leaves her cheating …
04 March 2023: Well, at least one of us is asleep at 1.30 a.m. 🐶
04 March 2023: Oh 1.30 a.m. I’m getting to know you all too well. 🥱
03 March 2023: I'd completely forgotten about this almost 2 minute video: Rosario Procession, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Sunday 13 September 2015.
03 March 2023: I'm moving 2 Publii sites to a single Micro.Blog site via Mars Edit I tried Publii static site builder for over a year. Now I’m moving two sites (what a mistake!) to a single site on Micro.Blog, which means …
03 March 2023: This Ring-Necked Dove was totally unfazed when Sasha and I walked past less than 2 metres away. They’re so friendly. 🐶 🐦 Now I understand why …
02 March 2023: I was enthralled by the sample: this was an immediate buy and a fantastic read. You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner. 📚 Themes of …
02 March 2023: Jana DeLeon somehow manages to keep her Miss Fortune books fresh and interesting. Clue Krewe (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 24) was another very …
02 March 2023: Hmmm, after wondering what had gone so wrong that everything Micro.Blog was down I tried Down for Everyone or Just Me which said it was just me. …
01 March 2023: This is one of my favourite trees around here — a neighbour’s tī kōuka | cabbage tree on a slightly misty morning. 🌴
28 February 2023: A wee shake just to keep us on our toes. 〰️ M4.6, 46 Km deep. Update: later settled at M4.8, 28 Km deep.
28 February 2023: Dja reckon? Gonna rain?
28 February 2023: Cool! 9 minute video from Tom Scott: This is “impossible”, but New Zealand is trying anyway.: common wisdom is that, once an invasive species is …
27 February 2023: This is one of the Spinifex plants volunteers put in 4 months ago on a severely eroded part of our beach. The weather’s been perfect for plant …
26 February 2023: This mama pheasant was guarding a bevy of her babies. She stood her ground for a long time. 🐦
26 February 2023: Another photo from times gone by. 20 September 2015, a suit of armour in the hotel at Santa Cruz de Mudela. In the Region of La Mancha, this is half …
26 February 2023: Once I was used to the noirish language I enjoyed the adventure of Tropical Punch (Bubbles in Space Book 1) by S.C. Jensen. 📚 Does she like her job? …
25 February 2023: Excellent 5 minute linguistics video: Do New Zealand and Northern England have the same vowels?!
25 February 2023: And another: Gaudi Cathedral, Barcelona, Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus.
25 February 2023: And another: Gaudi Cathedral, Barcelona, Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus.
25 February 2023: I may have a cold so am laying low today. This photo from the archives, 02 September 2015: part of the amazing and fantastical Gaudi Cathedral in …
24 February 2023: Nearly 2 weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle, more than 50 people still unaccounted for, communities and food growing land wrecked by flood and silt and …
23 February 2023: This makes for very sobering reading: New Zealand Historic Weather Events Catalogue. So many huge storms that have caused enormous damage.
23 February 2023: Once I finished procrastinating I steeled myself to cook Chana masala with cumin rice … only to find I don’t have enough of the ingredients. …
23 February 2023: It’s Census time (07 March) and our forms were delivered yesterday. We can complete it on paper or online. The online 2018 Census had the lowest …
22 February 2023: I always enjoy a visit from an Eastern Rosella. 🐦
22 February 2023: Cyclone Gabrielle that wrought so much destruction in the north and east of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island didn’t affect us directly, …
21 February 2023: Apparently I walked about 11 Km (nearly 7 miles) yesterday on Kāpiti Island. Today I’m feeling it! I feel I should be fitter than that!
21 February 2023: Why women are especially vulnerable after a disaster: there is years of evidence here and overseas that family harm increases after a disaster and …
21 February 2023: This little green cutie is the Korimako | Bellbird 🐦 : Bellbirds are green with a short, curved bill, slightly forked tail, and noisy whirring, fast …
21 February 2023: One of our more colourful birds, the Tīeke | North Island saddleback. 🐦 North Island saddlebacks have striking black plumage, a rufous chestnut …
21 February 2023: Easy to photograph are Weka as they hang around on the ground looking for opportunities to break into bags to steal food. 🐦
21 February 2023: I wasn’t up to the challenge of photographing birds in dense dappled foliage. This is a Kākāriki | Red-crowned parakeet on Kāpiti Island. 🐦
21 February 2023: I asked Makewera, one of the Kāpiti Island guides, what these were. He told me they’re the fruit of the Kohekohe tree. notable for having …
20 February 2023: I had an excellent trip to Kāpiti Island today. I heard tons of birds but seeing them was a challenge with the dense dappled foliage. Luckily this …
19 February 2023: Well, that was a mistake — to watch Star Trek Picard S03E01 today. Now I have to wait a whole week to see episode 2! Pretty blimmin’ good! 🖖🏼
19 February 2023: I enjoyed the lightweight and mildly humorous sci-fi Independent Living (EarthCent Universe Book 1) by E. M. Foner. 📚 a group of retirees leaving …
19 February 2023: OK, the plan for tomorrow is to visit Kapiti Island on a day trip. Making sure my camera batteries are charged! I expect to see lots of birds.
18 February 2023: 0215 and Sasha 🐶 took me a long way down the lane before she had a pee. It’s a beautiful night though, still and not cold. The stars were so …
17 February 2023: There is so much about this book that makes it unlikely I would enjoy it — romance genre, sports, genius level maths…. I was riveted: Simply …
16 February 2023: Apparently, Kāpiti Coast earthquake upgraded to magnitude 6.3 〰️: A strong earthquake centred off the Kāpiti Coast on Wednesday night has been …
15 February 2023: I’m still shaking. This M6.1 quake started with a really loud noise followed by enough shaking to get me out of the house. No damage though. 〰️
15 February 2023: Thanks to @Cheri for mentioning Racing Hearts by Alex Washoe. I kept reading even when other things demanded my attention. 📚 a grumpy/sunshine …
15 February 2023: We had minor wind and rain. Elsewhere in Aotearoa NZ homes, towns, roads are devastated by Ex Cyclone Gabrielle. Then this — Auckland’s emergency pet …
14 February 2023: I really enjoyed this Australian light cozy mystery. A gentle fun read: Till Daph Do Us Part (Daphne Jones Mysteries) by Phillipa Nefri Clark. 📚 …
14 February 2023: My friend Chris makes the very best Afghan biscuits. It’s rare for me to buy Afghans anywhere that are as delicious.
14 February 2023: Amazing: we’re under a Strong Wind Warning here in Horowhenua yet it’s barely a bad weather day as yet. A bit grey, almost no wind, a few drops of …
14 February 2023: Deb gave me these SealSkinz Waterproof All Weather Ultra Grip Knitted Gloves for my 68th birthday. I’ll be using them as photography gloves, …
13 February 2023: Part way through a game of Carcassonne yesterday. A friend was teaching 4 of us how to play. I happened to win, thanks in large part to a farmer who …
12 February 2023: This wētā made itself big and scary when I mowed the lawn today at the house we’re selling in Ōtaki. I was accordingly cautious and kept my …
11 February 2023: We went to a friend’s 80th birthday BBQ. One of her guests had done this amazing job icing chocolate cupcakes as if they were roses. So clever! …
11 February 2023: While organising some papers I found this copy of the September 1945 letter to mum advising her that dad had been freed from the Japanese Prisoner of …
11 February 2023: The Top 5 Dogs of the Week! makes me tear up every week.
10 February 2023: ROFL: Poker Face S01E03 and the racist, fascist, sexist, homophobic MAGA dog! Natasha Lyonne is hilarious.
10 February 2023: My car problem could be the transmission, but the mechanic with decades of experience who took it for a drive thinks it’s a sensor problem. …
10 February 2023: Taking my 19 year old car in to get Dash error lights checked out. Could be an easy fix loose wire, or, my Internet research tells me, it could be …
10 February 2023: There is one single reason why I pay the NYT for games and that is to be able to do the fortnightly Acrostic. This morning I was greeted with this …
09 February 2023: Sasha seems happier now she’s had about 3 months worth of woolly coat shaved off. Plus the weather’s a bit cooler. She slept well last …
08 February 2023: I pretty much enjoyed The Unsound Theory (STAR Academy Book 1) by Emilia Zeeland. It’s a YA book — the main characters were in their late teens. …
08 February 2023: How to look 10 years younger in 90 minutes. Yesterday and today. 🐶 The same dog after being groomed.
07 February 2023: Somewhere in there is a dog. Just wait till tomorrow! 🐶
07 February 2023: Tuturiwhatu, Banded dotterels in the multiverse… 🐦
07 February 2023: I’m pretty sure this is a female Kuruwhengi | Australasian shoveler with her 3 babies on our nearby lake. 🐦 A medium-sized dabbling duck with a …
06 February 2023: Here’s one for the pen and pencil fans… Actually, it’s a recycled plastic fence post, about 1.5 metres long (a yard and a half), washed up …
06 February 2023: This, my friends, is almost certainly a Hemideina crassidens — Wellington tree wētā. It had made itself comfy on our neighbour’s outdoor chair. …
06 February 2023: Busy day: walk the dog (15 minutes these days) walk on the beach — took a load of photos brunch with a good friend, followed by a 15 minute walk at a …
05 February 2023: I find it interesting that the Google Alert I have in place for Waikawa Beach found me an item about Kai Iwi beach. No mention of Waikawa in the …
05 February 2023: The invitation words that always fill me with terror 😱: bring a plate to share
05 February 2023: Today’s tea is a rich golden colour. Thyolo White Peony: To create this tea, each pluck is three leaves and a bud. Gathered together, the …
04 February 2023: A pair of Eastern Rosellas has been taunting me for weeks now. Today I finally “caught” them. 🐦
04 February 2023: Not actually a floor mop. Sasha on the floor in the early morning. I’ve finally been able to get her in for a groom next week. 🐶
03 February 2023: Early in the piece I didn’t think my first loaf of bread made with our new Kitchenaid mixer would work out very well, but it looks fine fresh …
03 February 2023: This was a simple read — an easily solved murder mystery, a bit of romance. Always on Duty: Companion Novella (A Klondike Mystery) by D. B. McNicol. 📚 …
02 February 2023: These clouds seem rather opinionated. ☁︎
02 February 2023: I’m not a Royal watcher, but Princess Anne seems like the pick of the bunch. Princess Royal to visit New Zealand: Princess Anne is travelling …
02 February 2023: Today’s tea: Yunnan Yellow — It has a heady and exotic fruity and floral aroma, a thick mouthfeel with intense marmalade and papaya notes and …
02 February 2023: Sasha on another barky morning. Surely she can’t know it’s the anniversary of her brother Oshi going away and never coming home again… 🐶 …
01 February 2023: Apparently, according to Sasha 🐶, 01 February is The Day of Barking. Not sure if this is a National or even International event. In any case, …
01 February 2023: Today’s tea: Kyobancha This soothing tea is perfect for a cold day or as a night-time tea. March 2021 harvest.
31 January 2023: I’ve tried a couple of times to give blood, but they won’t let me. That could change — Ban on blood donation … likely to be lifted: A ban …
31 January 2023: Ooooh, I never knew this Backing Up MarsEdit: MarsEdit stores all its data in a folder in your home folder. To open the MarsEdit data folder, hold the …
31 January 2023: The unusual mystery writer conceit in Secret Sleuth Box Set (Books 1–2) by Patricia McLinn took a bit of getting used to, but the books were a …
31 January 2023: Enjoyed the hunt in Graves On The Fens (DI Nikki Galena Series Book 14) by Joy Ellis. 📚 It arrives in the morning. An old-fashioned airmail envelope …
31 January 2023: Today’s tea: Himalayan Evergreen Autumn, Nepal: Grown at 1850m, these leaves were hand-plucked on the sunny morning of 30 October 2021, then …
30 January 2023: My friend Chris called and said she was watching the Matuku-hūrepo | Australasian bittern nearby so I rushed down to join her. My first time seeing …
30 January 2023: I’m copying 325 blog posts from Publii to Micro.Blog via MarsEdit. AppleScript helps a lot. I was stuck on choosing the right blog. …
29 January 2023: On 20 September 2013 there was an enormous thunderclap right above our house in Wellington. Next day when I was walking the dogs I noticed a tree only …
29 January 2023: There is thunder rumbling round. So glad Sasha can no longer hear it (and react to it with terror).
29 January 2023: Fascinating read The sense-defying magic of the Pitcairn Islands: Pitcairn is so high and solitary that there is nothing out there but the Pacific. …
28 January 2023: Soooo clever: chose the theme Anatole for the new site. Downloaded the theme Arabica so I could easily search the files for stuff I wanted to change. …
28 January 2023: I’ve been active on Micro.Blog for 5 years, modified my theme a few times. Feedback on a new blog: setting up a new Micro.Blog account is hard, …
28 January 2023: 9 inches of rain in 24 hours! Auckland flooding: Auckland is under a state of emergency after being battered by torrential rain, with more than 230 …
27 January 2023: Back on 05 December 2021 I thought I’d try Publii for my Waikawa Beach blog. It works adequately, but I really truly miss being able to work …
27 January 2023: Woohoo. We’ve just ordered a Kitchenaid Artisan Stand Mixer - KSM160. That should help a bit with our cooking explorations. Bread products here …
26 January 2023: This is Sasha, out on a walk with me specifically for the purpose of her having a pee… I guess I'll be carrying her back inside again. 9.3 Kg… 🐶
26 January 2023: You know what Plugin I’d like Micro.Blog to have? Something that puts a small banner at the top of the Timeline and says: Since midnight you …
26 January 2023: Whew, writing this 1700 word article for my Waikawa News site has actually taken weeks, including research. It should help inform local discussions to …
25 January 2023: Whew. First I did research that took at least a week. Then I spent at least another week trying to write a big article for my Waikawa Beach blog. …
25 January 2023: In written Māori macrons over vowels indicate a lengthened sound. I’m pleased to say that these days I aim to use macrons correctly. In earlier, …
25 January 2023: Apparently Seneca had thoughts on personal blogging 😆: They asked him what was the object of all this study applied to an art that would reach but …
24 January 2023: This may finally explain why I had to eventually give up trying to post faulty earbuds to Amazon — vapes confiscated from checked-in flight baggage: …
24 January 2023: Today’s walk was 6.6 Km at Mangaone Walkway: follows an old bush tramway in low hill country east of Waikanae. A very enjoyable easy walk …
23 January 2023: We heard a really loud sneeze just outside the door. When I looked though, there was no-one there. Sometimes the cows in the paddock next door cough, …
22 January 2023: The first stick insect of the season has set itself up inside the open window but on the outside of the insect screen.
22 January 2023: We’re on the move — about 4 cm so far this year thanks to a slow-slip earthquake. Not all earthquakes are short sharp shocks. GeoNet: …
22 January 2023: 98 second video shows a bit of what our recently resigned Prime Minister endured: Glimpse into the kind of daily abuse Jacinda Ardern had to weather. …
21 January 2023: Maybe this is why Apple Pay never works on my M1 MacBook Pro: With an M1 Mac, the most likely reason is you enabled its Reduced Security mode to …
21 January 2023: Today we visited the Ōtaki Pottery Show, which had a lot of craft goods for sale and a great many visitors. My photo shows only a small part of the …
21 January 2023: I use a Global Macro Palette in Keyboard Maestro to give me quick click access to some of my macros. The palette is usually collapsed but expands on …
20 January 2023: Today in Keyboard Maestro actions I discovered “Switch” instead of nested “If…Then” actions. There are 3 Facebook pages I …
20 January 2023: I was thinking we need a plainer and more powerful word than the clinical and remote misogyny. It’s all academic and posh with its Greek roots. …
20 January 2023: Re the resignation of PM Jacinda Ardern: it is becoming more challenging for women to be taken seriously… "Particularly if they are younger and …
19 January 2023: Nice: neighbours over the mountains. South Wairarapa and Carterton’s night skies will know be known under the collective name, ‘Wairarapa …
19 January 2023: In her term as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: encountered a major biosecurity incursion, a domestic terror event, a major natural disaster, a global …
19 January 2023: Hand mixed because we don’t have a kitchen mixer (yet), but I’m trying to make Crusty French Bread Rolls. Not optimistic at the moment …
19 January 2023: Sasha’s long overdue a haircut. 🐶
18 January 2023: I’m not sure what happened on the mountains this evening — I suspect it was a gap between clouds that threw sun onto one level of the hills …
18 January 2023: A particularly interesting segment of Quirks & Quarks podcast talks about how eyes work — fascinating stuff! Dec 31: Our annual holiday question …
18 January 2023: A photo achievement I’m pleased with: getting a clear shot of this dragonfly on the wing. This one was in focus; the other 20 or so …
18 January 2023: This Matuku moana | White-faced heron saw me watching and kindly fished up something out of the lake for me. 🐦
17 January 2023: Deb and I brunched at Bush Street Cafe. Deb’s coffee was great, my green tea was good. The food was delicious. I had the Caprese Toastie. And …
17 January 2023: My lying brain In a few weeks I turn 68. These days I’m only too aware of how this 68 year old body doesn’t always meet my expectations. Of course, …
17 January 2023: Yesterday I hiked Sledge Track, an hour’s drive away. I found it harder than the claimed “easy walk”, doing the 5 Km out-and-back to …
16 January 2023: Terrible photo, but it was what I could get. I thought 2 rabbits were playing in the lane way ahead of me. Then I realised one was too long in the …
16 January 2023: And another view of the day before sunrise.
16 January 2023: Look at this gorgeous morning — 20 minutes before sunrise.
15 January 2023: Bored now. My little buddy Leo. 🐈
15 January 2023: Applescript to tidy Black Ink crossword app windows: tell application "Black Ink" set baseFrame to bounds of window 1 repeat with thisWindow in …
15 January 2023: Just one reason @danielpunkass is a favourite app developer — I emailed asking for a way to tidy up Black Ink crossword windows scattered all over my …
14 January 2023: After a few hours the baling machine comes along, sweeps up the cut grass, then rolls it into big round bales, wraps them up and poops them out every …
14 January 2023: Today the farmer next door was spinning the mowed grass into piles ready for baling.
13 January 2023: As usual I was concerned when I went out that Sasha would be stressed. I came home to this! 🐶💤
13 January 2023: I’m so ‘something’ that my friend Chris has now seen the extremely cryptic and Nationally Critical Matuku-hūrepo, Australasian …
13 January 2023: This article is chock full of useful info for all users: The real secrets of iOS and accessibility.
12 January 2023: The farmer next door is mowing today.
11 January 2023: I missed the focus on this but still wanted to post this adult and two baby Oystercatchers. 🐦
11 January 2023: Heh, followed a link on a webpage to this address: https://b-ok.cc (I’ve added invisible characters to ‘break’ it …
11 January 2023: Whew, I’ve struggled my way through Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Translated (in 1862) by George Long. The language is dense so it’s …
11 January 2023: This post from 11 January 2022 took me by surprise today: It’s a year since I ordered my M1 MacBook Pro. I was just thinking yesterday how much I …
10 January 2023: This rather ruffled looking baby bird stumbled across the deck and took refuge in the passionfruit. 🐦
10 January 2023: These days when Sasha eats she spreads biscuits all over the floor. 🐶
09 January 2023: Just found this printed photo in the archives. When I was a teen back in the late 60’s and early 70s I begged my parents to get us a Miniature …
09 January 2023: Today I tried making Dorset apple traybake and it was delicious. We only had plain flour, not self-raising, the vanilla essence ran out, and we can’t …
09 January 2023: If you’ve never watched this 15 minute speech from 2012 then you should: Julia Gillard misogyny speech in Australian Parliament. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
09 January 2023: Sometimes it’s an old movie that brings the thought for the day: Pile up enough tomorrows and you’ll find you’ve collected nothing but a lot of …
08 January 2023: I enjoyed reading Mountain Town Murder: Jackson Hole Moose’s Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery #1 by Sue Pepper and may well read more of the series. I …
08 January 2023: I just love timeline adjacencies! M: The one downside of weekends in a house with many people? Noise. There’s always someone doing something, walking …
07 January 2023: Today’s surprise discovery 📚: the Southern Cross [constellation] hasn’t always been ours. Thanks to a phenomenon known as precession … it …
07 January 2023: Deb and I went to see the most excellent A Man Called Otto. At the same time sad, funny, and heartwarming, the movie was beautifully done. Not a thing …
07 January 2023: Like mother like daughter — Oystercatcher adult and chick. 🐦
06 January 2023: Noon was feeding time at Ngā Manu for the Longfin Eels: The longfin eel is one of the largest eels in the world and it is found only in the rivers …
06 January 2023: This Tuatara at Ngā Manu Reserve kept its back to me. Tuatara are a rare reptile found only in New Zealand. They are the last survivors of an order …
05 January 2023: Can't believe how knackered I am after today's outing (and last night's poor sleep)! One photo from today's visit to Ngā Manu Reserve, Waikanae: this …
05 January 2023: Today’s Stoic thought was “memento vivere”: remember to live. I took it to heart, ignored the rain, realised I could have an outing, …
05 January 2023: I learned so much from Dan Bailey's book about the Fuji X series cameras that his new Fujifilm Autofocus Course was an instant buy. I'll walk you …
04 January 2023: In a clean-up moment I admitted to myself that most of the sciency YouTube videos I was subscribed to via RSS I was no longer really enjoying. Also …
04 January 2023: I love it when this mother and son pair come to graze in the paddock nearby.
03 January 2023: There’s a big block of land nearby that almost always has cows in it. Whenever I bike past I get a whiff of cow poop. I actually like that — …
02 January 2023: Did a short beach walk: almost no birds — one pair of nesting Oystercatchers are hanging in there. Instead, as always at this time of year, loads of …
02 January 2023: Keyboard Maestro is a super useful Mac app Keyboard Maestro is one of the must-have, first installed apps on my Mac. Why? Because it does so much for me: little things, bigger things, things …
01 January 2023: I don’t do reading lists and goals and all that, but have thought maybe I should deliberately include some additional variety in my 2023 …
01 January 2023: It seems I’m making a tradition of posting a selfie on 01 January each year. See 2022 and 2021. So, here’s 01 January 2023.
01 January 2023: I started this Gregorian Calendar 2023 year with a dawn visit to the beach. But I was thinking I’d like to align my personal year with the …
01 January 2023: For the first time ever I tried recording video with my Fuji X-T2. This shifty looking character is either a South Island Pied Oystercatcher or a …
01 January 2023: Mōrena. Welcome to 2023. Pahirini Chaffinch 🐦.
31 December 2022: I’ve found The Happiness Lab podcast invaluable. Now Dr Laurie Santos has created The Science of Well-Being for Teens. Parents, you may be …
31 December 2022: If you hate dogs look away. For the rest of us The Dogs of 2022 is four and a half minutes of delight. 🐶
31 December 2022: Sasha had me out taking her for a walk at dawn.
30 December 2022: Solstice and Equinox dates for the next few years Since I just looked this up for myself. Year March equinox June solstice September equinox December solstice 2022 21 March 04:33 21 June …
30 December 2022: I didn’t have my watch with me, but I got to spend maybe 20 minutes out admiring the warm, still, partly cloudy night while Sasha walked us …
29 December 2022: Another book from an author I quite like: The New Teacher (The Sheridan County Mysteries Book 1) by Erin Lark Maples. 📚 The story flows well, and …
29 December 2022: Hmmm, The Raven’s Mark by Christie J Newport just wasn’t really my thing. 📚 Beth must break all the rules to stop any more girls from …
29 December 2022: I quite enjoyed Knight Trials by Alice Bienia, though it felt a little tangled in parts. One page that sticks in my mind was a couple of paras of …
28 December 2022: Today I cleaned the used straw and shavings out of the quail run and gave the girls a fresh deep layer of bedding. 🐦
27 December 2022: This was a really good TV series. I hope we’ll get a Season Two. Darby and Joan 📺 : A retired Australian detective and an English nurse work …
27 December 2022: Why herbal tea isn’t actually tea | The Tea Curator: Tea is said to have been first discovered in China way back in 2737BC by Emperor, scholar and …
26 December 2022: Oystercatcher: Ah yeah, gidday. Just sitting on my nest. You? 🐦
26 December 2022: The positive about taking Sasha out for a pee at 2 am was the gorgeous bright stars. Mars was prominent by Taurus. Orion and Sirius were ahead of us, …
25 December 2022: Christmas lunch with friends: tiger prawns and chicken on the barbie; a bowl of fresh raspberries and blueberries. Plus lots of other delicious …
25 December 2022: memento mori [is] remembering death so you don’t waste the time you have in life. Memento vivere, remember to live … is making the details of the …
24 December 2022: Superb article: Inside Wikipedia’s great macron war: In 2007, New Zealand got … its first street name with a macron: Kōkiri Place … the mayor of …
24 December 2022: Today I updated an old post which also meant I ended up finding, re-editing and re-exporting photos from my collection. It made me realise how much …
23 December 2022: 4 years ago I wanted Micro.Blog to help me write more Update: thanks to @artkavanagh for pointing out that I'm just shy of 5 years, not 4! Hah, on 13 January 2018 I wrote on my new Micro.Blog with a link …
23 December 2022: Excited to subscribe to en clair podcast: … a casebook of forensic linguistic cases, literary detection, and language mysteries. It also looks at …
23 December 2022: Always a welcome web page: Winners of the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
23 December 2022: More good sense from @annahavron — Schedule ONE Daily Thing, That is Not Work-Related: With a daily routine that a) incorporates at least one thing …
22 December 2022: The beach was very calm this morning — almost no waves. Kāpiti Island in the background.
21 December 2022: I made 30 Minute Easy Dinner Rolls (1/3 recipe) and Mushroom soup for dinner. Left out the cream from the soup and it was still yummy. Quick and easy …
21 December 2022: Yesterday Deb brought me this wonderful and delicious treat: a yuzu tart (lemon meringue pie) from Origami in Cuba Street.
21 December 2022: I’m really enjoying this new-to-me podcast: Subtitle: A podcast about languages and the people who speak them. Fascinating episodes.
21 December 2022: Just thinking about how my ideal Christmas Day would look — in a campervan or cabin, by water — river, lake or sea — with plenty of supplies and far …
20 December 2022: No-one wants too much detail on this, but for the last week Sasha’s been having some 💩 problems. I think things are improving. Let’s just …
20 December 2022: Yesterday afternoon. I’m choosing to believe this wasn’t commentary on the lateness of dinner. 😆 🐶
19 December 2022: Oooh, pretty clouds. And someone up the road’s getting a good dump of rain.
19 December 2022: @help Seems like today I can’t get more than ~30 posts on the Timeline (Safari on web). There’s no Show More button or anything… Is it …
19 December 2022: Hmmm, had to dig deep in the memory for this. I’m trying Suzume Sparrow Kukicha, roasted green tea: made entirely from stems of summer harvest …
19 December 2022: I was already uncomfortable with Karen as a general term of abuse. Now I learn that Space Karen refers to Elon Musk, who is behaving badly. This goes …
19 December 2022: Low sun, dark sky, cabbage trees and flax spears. Ahhh morning.
18 December 2022: The Kiwi barbie: Craig from Horowhenua District Council cooks saussies on a BBQ in a trailer, under an umbrella, in the rain, for the opening of the …
17 December 2022: Interesting! I think I’ve struck this (but ended up just typing in the number): Beware When Pasting Phone Numbers Copied from Contacts - …
17 December 2022: Sasha tells me it’s breakfast time. 🐶
16 December 2022: People go on at length about how to make a cup of coffee, but no-one talks about tea… I was thrilled to discover The Tea Curator, with detailed posts …
16 December 2022: The newly completed toilet block at Waikawa Beach (replacing a 50- to 60- year old facility) also has fresh new signage — in Te Reo Māori and English …
16 December 2022: So important! Go and read and act on New Year’s Resolution: Make Information Accessible, for Those Who Survive You: My opinions here come from …
16 December 2022: CareHQ virtual GP Note for future me (and other Kiwis): CareHQ is a virtual GP consultation service that is open 7am–7pm, 7 days a week. You meet with a New …
15 December 2022: The Yellowhammers are singing a lot these days. This one was singing just by the house. Photo from January this year. 🐦
15 December 2022: 28 October 2018 I planted lemon thyme by the dog yard. Today, 15 December 2022, it looks and smells fabulous! A bit of watering and weeding from time …
14 December 2022: I’m 26% of the way through The Cardiff Killings (DI Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller Book 1) by Gaynor Torrance but have decided to read no further. …
14 December 2022: It’s barely 9 am and the Levin clock tower tells me it’s already 26C (79F). It’s gonna be a hot one today.
13 December 2022: Hmmm, I think one Kołaczki at the front maybe looks like the ones the real cook made. Some ‘squares’ were too small so I didn’t even …
13 December 2022: Sasha winning at Hunt The Anchovy on her 16th birthday. 🐶
13 December 2022: Listening to Kismet (1967). I hadn’t realised there were quite so many famous songs in this one show. I first heard “Stranger in …
13 December 2022: One of the fantastic features of MarsEdit is easily finding and fixing old posts. When I checked my On This Day page today a few photos from 2018 had …
12 December 2022: Not off to a good start cooking Kołaczki — ignored the timer for a moment to finish an email reply and burnt the pot with apricot filling. 😒
12 December 2022: Sasha, aged 15 years 364 days, snoozing. 🥰 🐶
12 December 2022: This is the kind of conversation I love on Micro.Blog.
12 December 2022: My current music fave is Korolova from Ukraine. I’m working my way through listening to all her music videos. Her music stays with me during the …
11 December 2022: I enjoyed reading Knight Blind (Jorja Knight Private Investigator Mystery Series Book 1) by Alice Bienia. Jorja is relatable, and gradually reveals …
11 December 2022: Deb and I have been watching and enjoying Three Pines but it’s a bit grim and intense. The story lines tend to include the atrocities of the …
11 December 2022: This is such a bird-filled time of year. All the birds come and sit on the flaxes by the house. This Kōurarini European goldfinch was just outside the …
10 December 2022: Yay. Waikawa Blueberries is open again. Time for real fruit icecream, fresh blueberries and award winning olive oil. Yum!
10 December 2022: A greeting to the day: He kore, he kore He pō, he pō He ao, he ao Takiri mai te ata Korihi te manu Tino awatea Ka ao, ka ao Ka awatea Tihei Mouri Ora …
09 December 2022: Another good story and an enjoyable read. The Girl Who Lost Him (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 4) by Amy Vansant. 📚
09 December 2022: I quite enjoyed The Sled Dog (The Sheridan County Mysteries Book 2) by Erin Lark Maples: After the race, [Elizabeth] discovers an abandoned, injured …
09 December 2022: Mystery lift sign in Montserrat, Spain. No people if the lift is already occupied by bats…? // @designatednerd
09 December 2022: Listening to the most excellent The Ink Spots: Swing High Swing Low. 🎶
09 December 2022: I heard a noise this morning I couldn’t quite make out. I thought maybe it was a hawk but it was too close and repeated too often without …
08 December 2022: I’m so used to adding images to my blog posts by using Command 3 in MarsEdit I’ve had to write a Keyboard Maestro macro to use Command 3 …
08 December 2022: This kind of attention to detail and insistence on making things smooth and easy for the user is why Daniel Jalkut’s software is best-in-class. …
08 December 2022: Sasha, hanging out on the grass. 🐶
08 December 2022: This is exactly why you should give MarsEdit a try: MarsEdit’s role as a blogger’s best friend. From: MarsEdit 5: Microposting, Markdown Highlighting, …
07 December 2022: swear words around the world … lack 'approximants' – sounds made by bringing our lips, teeth, hard palate or tongue close … without making contact … …
07 December 2022: I’ve taken the extremely rare step of filing a dispute with my bank about the defective earbuds. Amazon have promised a refund when they receive …
07 December 2022: I’ve spent hours trying to return faulty earbuds Amazon shipped me. I’ve driven 3 times to the Post Office, spent hours researching… I was …
07 December 2022: I heard these [Kuihi Canada Geese](https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/canada-goose) coming way before I could see them.
06 December 2022: Folks, you might like to see Take care for the Pied Stilt chicks about the baby birds currently trying to survive on our beach. Includes fantastic …
06 December 2022: Thanks to the global Light pollution map I now know the sky where I live is almost as dark as it can get, at Class 2. On a clear night I can see the …
06 December 2022: The other morning on the beach I spotted a group of Kuaka Godwit doing their thing then realised one bird looked quite different. I believe this is a …
06 December 2022: For Micro Monday I suggest @Denny who lives a low impact life, cycles, is interested in how we live in the world in harmony with nature. He also has …
05 December 2022: This was my Sasha when she was only a couple of months old. 🐶
05 December 2022: One of these things is not like the others… Turns out the printed product manual for our UV water filter and purification system contains an incorrect …
05 December 2022: A powerful essay — Where women were cloaked in shame: We Iranian women … have been ashamed of talking about what’s been done to us, and … so scared …
05 December 2022: Kiwis, a reminder that this time of year ramps up family violence. Gift A Safe Night at Women’s Refuge and help a woman and kids escape family …
05 December 2022: Wow, 3 years today since I got my beautiful kirituhi tattoo. Still loving it! Birds, sea and cabbage tree.
04 December 2022: Thrilled with this photo from my beach walk today: Kuaka Godwit. 🐦
04 December 2022: Our friends (and neighbours) are sneaky — they had a big party today for their 30th anniversary. None of us knew they were actually getting married! …
03 December 2022: I really enjoyed this Lingthusiasm podcast episode. Question formats are surprisingly interesting in English and other languages. Who questions the …
03 December 2022: A few months ago we had Bird of the Year, now it’s New Zealand Bug of the Year 2023: Aotearoa is home to over 20,000 species of insects and …
02 December 2022: Hmmm, that quake came in two parts — I just knew it was going to get bigger. About a minute long. All good — just a shake — another day in the life of …
02 December 2022: Huh, I thought (cooking) salt was salt, but it turns out there are different types with different characteristics. Which salt is best for cooking?: …
02 December 2022: Thanks to @gregmoore and @mtt I now have the Recoleta font on my Kindle. 📚 How to Install Custom Fonts on Your Kindle
02 December 2022: As I use my Mac and iPhone and websites and apps and whatnot I realise that the more ‘security’ I have to pass through the less I pay …
02 December 2022: I had simply never registered that Z keyboard command in Photos.app and have spent a lot of time over the months trying to use the slider control to …
02 December 2022: Morning dog. Sasha, only a few days away from her 16th birthday. 🐶
01 December 2022: A couple of weeks ago I paid Amazon ~$20 on top of purchase price to ship me a pair of new earbuds. They were defective. Turns out I can’t ship …
30 November 2022: I have supervisors. A couple of little Warou, Welcome swallow spend the day sitting on the rail by the lounge. Such cuties! 🐦
30 November 2022: And for today’s yoga session we have a simple little neck twist with head tuck. 🐦
30 November 2022: Weird thing, but Aotearoa New Zealand Law says that beaches are roads. Land Transport Act 1998: In Part 1, the Interpretation, it says: “road …
29 November 2022: While one Kāhu | Hawk was flying around, another was relaxing on a fencepost. 🐦
29 November 2022: With the flax spears opening Tūī | Tui are visiting to feed. 🐦
28 November 2022: I’m outta here! 🐦
28 November 2022: My old girl Sasha, eating her dinner last night. 🐶
28 November 2022: Listening to what I think is a Korimako | Bellbird this morning. 😍
27 November 2022: This makes me happy. I’ve now sent out 10 issues of a local monthly community newsletter I write (Buttondown is great for this). My subscriber …
27 November 2022: A new skill I’ve learned today: How To Compare Two Images. Makes a web page with a slider to compare two images. See Compare 2016 and 2019 …
27 November 2022: We had 300 grams of mushrooms that were getting a bit old, so I experimented with making Mushroom soup. That was easy and delicious. I only wish …
27 November 2022: Flax spears in late sun.
26 November 2022: Not Boss at parking!
26 November 2022: When I want to learn how to best use my Apple stuff I turn to the utterly excellent Take Control Books. For a few days they are on sale: 50% off. …
26 November 2022: I just watched Why Am I Craving Sweets? | Serving Up Science: When we eat foods that contain lots of fat and sugar, it’s the natural chemical …
25 November 2022: Aaargh! I’m sitting here feeling peckish and wondering what to make for dinner. Meanwhile all my US blogpals are posting photos of Thanksgiving …
25 November 2022: I’m not in the habit of posting photos of public toilets, but March 2022 just before demolition of the ~70 year old building: 1. a row of 3 …
24 November 2022: The first time I’ve heard the Pīpīwharauroa | Shining cuckoo at Waikawa Beach. I’ve never seen one. It has the most annoying call: Voice: …
23 November 2022: Mighty disappointed that the right earbud on the pair that arrived today just won’t work in spite of charging, pairing and unpairing, resetting …
23 November 2022: Took far too long to find out if a flashing white light meant the earbuds were charging or charged. Charging the headphones: Flashing white: Charging …
23 November 2022: On 16 November 2022 I ordered two items from Amazon that I couldn’t buy from Aotearoa New Zealand (out of stock or wrong size / colour or just …
22 November 2022: Researching the topic: vehicles erode beaches. It seems fairly clear that vehicles cause damage to beaches and their structures (eg dunes), bird, …
22 November 2022: These MinuteFood videos are enjoyable and very interesting. I recommend you give them a try. Today’s watch: Why do some leftovers suck?. Rule of …
22 November 2022: I was a bit mired in a couple of books that just weren’t grabbing me. I turned to Something Deadly on Desert Drive (The Accidental Detective …
21 November 2022: I’ve always very much enjoyed SEAL Team (TV series). This Season 6 though has been truly special. No spoilers, but a few episodes have left me …
21 November 2022: Whew, I passed the squirrel test. We don’t have squirrels in Aotearoa New Zealand. I guess that top square that I only noticed when resizing …
20 November 2022: I didn’t know I could do this: Bring Yourself Recurring Joy with Apple’s New Lock Screen Photo Shuffle. Now in place. 😀
20 November 2022: The taste test left me really wishing I hadn’t halved the recipe! I hope there are some left for this afternoon’s visitors…
20 November 2022: One of the quirks of halving a recipe is ending up needing half an egg. Luckily, as I have Japanese Quail, this is no problem. 4 quail eggs …
19 November 2022: I try to avoid grumbling here but I slept poorly last night and I’m suffering hayfever symptoms — itchy eyes, nose, throat. Today I’m also …
19 November 2022: With about 70 mm rain in the past two days, our old friend the puddle in the paddock next door is back. Clearly the water table hasn’t dropped …
18 November 2022: After getting far too hot this morning weeding and mulching along the driveway I biked 5 minutes to the beach and went for a dip in the sea. This is …
17 November 2022: The native grasses beside our driveway have grown well. I had boards around the area so I could weedeat easily, but today removed the boards so I can …
16 November 2022: It took longer than I expected to mulch this bit of garden on a steep bank by the lane.
15 November 2022: A year ago I complained about publishers (incorrectly) guessing which Amazon store I’ll buy books from. I solved this annoyance with Keyboard …
15 November 2022: To be fair, I’m not the target audience for The Valentine Voyage: Book Six: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries by Lizzie Josephson. The main genre is het …
14 November 2022: 10 cubic metres of pine mulch will keep us busy over the summer.
13 November 2022: I read I Bury Dead People: A Hilarious Cosy Mystery by PJ Vye. I quite enjoyed it though the credibility of the unravelling didn’t really sit right …
12 November 2022: For the first time in my life I watched a rugby match (on the telly). Saw the Kiwi women’s team the Black Ferns win against the English in the …
12 November 2022: Whew, the rain stayed away for the community picnic we organised. A good number of people turned up — maybe 40? And we invited our two new Horowhenua …
11 November 2022: I’ll see your 1 and raise you 300. Auckland suburb raises solidarity flag after homophobic incidents: 🏳️🌈 I suggested: if they’re upset …
11 November 2022: Sasha looks good after her groom. 🐶
11 November 2022: Sasha was a good girl, quietly waiting while I hung out the washing. 🐶
11 November 2022: Excellent: Anna Havron’s Inner Trolls and Better Angels: Being a Person, Online: I see great value in sites that post personal observations. …
10 November 2022: Another in a series whose characters are so appealing: The Missing Babysitter Mystery (The Supermarket Mysteries Book 3) by Rachel Ward. 📚 a body …
10 November 2022: Crime, and also lesbian romance; I enjoyed Goslyn County by A.M. McKnight. 📚 While investigating three burglaries, Goslyn PD Detective Olivia Winston …
09 November 2022: I’m not a sports fan myself, but this level of success for women’s sport is phenomenal — Eden Park sells out for Black Ferns’ Rugby …
09 November 2022: Yesterday on a radio show the host welcomed a guest, Anjum Rahman, with “As-salamu alaikum”, a greeting seldom heard here. It could be …
08 November 2022: Those eggs I saw on the beach the other day weren’t from an Oystercatcher, but rather this dedicated gorgeous Pied Stilt. Such delicate …
08 November 2022: Four of the half dozen black swans at the lake this morning. 🐦
08 November 2022: For Micro Monday I’d very much recommend @annahavron who writes intelligent, thoughtful articles about life, but who also posts cool photos of cats, …
07 November 2022: We have 3 flavours of the food Sasha used to eat (recently). Last night and this morning she wouldn’t eat anything. Sigh. Finally I relented and …
07 November 2022: Volume up! 0900 on a Sunday morning (yesterday): the sounds of silence. Listen for the birds. One of the things I love about where I live. What does …
07 November 2022: Many thanks to @cheri who pointed out this superb 33 minute mini-documentary on Angela Lansbury’s life and work: Proud to be a Gay Icon: Angela …
06 November 2022: Restricted Area Please Keep Out.
06 November 2022: The lawn at the house we’re selling looked terrible a few days after someone we hired mowed it. This weather just makes grass grow! Today I took …
05 November 2022: I nearly stepped on this clutch of 5 Oystercatcher eggs on the beach. The birds lay them in the sand near a bit of driftwood. I was actually looking …
05 November 2022: There’s spam and then there’s ham. Supermarket ham, to be precise: Made in New Zealand from imported and local ingredients. Pork …
04 November 2022: As it was set in Aotearoa New Zealand, I had high hopes for this book but was sadly disappointed. The Long Island Iced Tea Goodbye (Career Crisis Café …
03 November 2022: Sasha and I had differing ideas about why we went out just before bedtime. The outing did not include peeing after all. Since it did include sitting, …
03 November 2022: Absolutely worth a listen — Hannah Gadsby on redefining comedy in A Podcast of One’s Own with Julia Gillard: Hannah Gadsby is an Australian …
03 November 2022: Note to future me: when Publii refuses to complete syncing this may help — Website not syncing completely - Publii Forum: remove file …
02 November 2022: Aw heck. S03E10 of My Life Is Murder seems to be the last. It was a darn good show. 📺 follows the adventures of fearless private investigator Alexa …
02 November 2022: This book’s title made me dubious about whether I should bother but I was hooked from the first paragraph. It was an excellent read: Something …
01 November 2022: A pair of Canada Geese on the lake. 🐦
01 November 2022: Yay, my new glasses are ready to be collected and it so happens Tuesdays are the day I can make a trip to Wellington. With any luck I’ll have …
31 October 2022: Here’s a new one on me: a blackmail scam that appeared in my RSS reader, courtesy of the email address Feedbin provides that I use for …
31 October 2022: The Woman King was impressive and powerful: textured, moving, absorbing, heart-breaking and thought-provoking, and inspired by true events. 🎥 the …
31 October 2022: Thanks to @cheri who drew my attention to this wonderful rap video a couple of weeks ago: Rock Wren for Bird of the Year. And look who won! Bird of …
30 October 2022: Wrong way, Sasha! 🐶
30 October 2022: Yesterday I visited my little buddy Leo, who has a play loft he likes to hang out in. Even though he’s an old boy now he’s nimble on the …
29 October 2022: Halfway I considered skipping ahead to see who the culprit was, but I persevered to the end. Buried Identity by Rosaleen Flanagan just wasn’t my …
29 October 2022: Oh, this is new: Kindle Rewards Beta. I buy a lot of Kindle books, most for less than $5. This could add up though.
29 October 2022: More conscious than ever that Sasha’s time with us is dwindling I’m trying to remember to take more photos. We no longer have …
28 October 2022: I must be learning … It’s unusually early in the season for me to realise that no, I’m not getting a cold, but instead have the start of …
28 October 2022: So here I was waiting for my toast to pop when I read the packet on the “Canadian” Brunswick sardines that would go on the top. Turns out …
28 October 2022: Three of the 4 chooks I’m looking after for a few days. They’re a bit grumpy that I haven’t let them out yet I think. 🐓
27 October 2022: The sunset became even better. By the time I returned the chooks were all tucked up on their roosts. 🐓
27 October 2022: I’m looking after a friend’s chooks, and I’m supposed to shut them up for the night. Unfortunately the two who were in bed got out …
27 October 2022: It’s baby rabbit time of year. 🐰
26 October 2022: Oops.
26 October 2022: It’s likely my lack of knowledge or understanding of Indian culture coloured my response, but I found this book melodramatic and overdone. It …
25 October 2022: The Spinoff (news site) consistently reminds me of its excellence. Who is the new British prime minister? This month: Rishi Sunak is factual. Funny. …
25 October 2022: Heh, “WARNING STRANGE DOG”. 🐶
25 October 2022: Yay, Pages 116 & following of Take Control of Ventura – Take Control Books actually explain in a way I can understand what Passkeys are and how …
25 October 2022: Nice to get a mention in macOS Ventura - New Features: Autocorrect supports three new languages: English (New Zealand)…
25 October 2022: All I can say is it’s a good thing there wasn’t any oncoming traffic. 😆 s l o w r o a d s
24 October 2022: Very much enjoying watching S10 of Doc Martin 📺: The villagers eventually discover his fear of blood, and the frequent and debilitating bouts of …
23 October 2022: The Man Who Died Twice: (The Thursday Murder Club 2) by Richard Osman continues the adventures of the Thursday Murder Club. Still amusing, its novelty …
22 October 2022: Very uncomfortable topic for a cozy mystery, but I like this series and its characters who are very real: The Missing Pets Mystery (The Supermarket …
22 October 2022: Gathering rosebuds: carpe diem: “carpe diem” [is] usually translated as “seize the day”, but it’s a lot more than that: “carpe” could also mean …
21 October 2022: I made myself teriyaki chicken bowl for lunch. It was pretty good.
21 October 2022: I’ve been reading some Horace Odes. Ponder this: What may be tomorrow, take care not to ask – whatever kind of day Fortune brings, put it down …
20 October 2022: Since a friend introduced me, I’ve enjoyed Daily Organics Summer Kombucha. Now I’ve bought a Scoby from them and am about to try making my …
19 October 2022: Spring! Spotted today at the local pond, a duck with, I believe, 10 ducklings. Look at those little mites! 🐦
19 October 2022: An often used TextExpander snippet grabs title and URL from Safari. Tab groups upset it. Updated: tell application “Safari” set theName to …
18 October 2022: Another good read from an author I enjoy: Goodbye Sky Field (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 6) by Anne Shillolo. 📚 DC Holly Towns is working on a …
18 October 2022: I love Welcome Swallows: they’re small, colourful, fast and generally cute. This one came to sit on our deck railing. Photos through a window. 🐦 …
18 October 2022: LOL: Underbirds are go! Aotearoa New Zealand’s Bird of the Year competition has started. I think this year I might vote for the Ruru — I thought …
18 October 2022: Pleased with myself that today I checked my camera settings before getting click-happy on the shutter. This morning there were about 15 Kuaka feeding …
17 October 2022: We have some large, though pale, Kiwifruit (from the shops) at the moment. Yum. Note for people outside NZ: a Kiwi is a] a bird b] a person. A …
17 October 2022: Excellent practical steps — How To Use Stoicism To Remove False Impressions : apply calm reason to the assumptions And throw away what is obviously …
16 October 2022: Last year I gathered half a dozen delicious apples from my Granny Smith tree. Right now new blossoms are coming in.
16 October 2022: A gorgeous morning at the beach, where the sea was gently lapping tiny waves just like on a tropical island. Kāpiti Island in the background.
15 October 2022: From one part of the beach this view of cloud snugging round the Tararuas.
14 October 2022: I was heading to the deck when I pulled up short. A California Quail (a rare and occasional visitor in these parts) was hanging out on our deck …
14 October 2022: A Day In The Life Photo Challenge 2022. Taken at 08:40 at Waikawa Beach, Horowhenua, Aotearoa. Flowering Ti Kouka (Cabbage tree).
13 October 2022: I tried Mini Apple Pancakes Recipe. Turned out I didn’t have Greek Yoghurt so used 1 tablespoon Sour Cream instead. Sugar, egg, cinnamon and …
13 October 2022: Hmmm, looked up a crossword answer (a music track I’d never heard of). Now enjoying a blast from the past with Tracy Chapman, Annie Lennox, …
12 October 2022: I’ve come to like this series, and with some very interrupted sleeps I read my way through these fairly quickly. They’re good …
12 October 2022: I made French toast today for the first time and served it with icing sugar, sliced banana and maple syrup. It was pretty good. It was a great way to …
12 October 2022: I’m looking forward to A Day in the Life of Micro.blog Photo Challenge. Now to figure out when it starts in my timezone (Aotearoa New Zealand) … …
11 October 2022: I’ve owned Jigsaw Puzzle Epic for years, used to play, fell out of it for a few years, and now do a puzzle or two per day. Thank goodness for …
10 October 2022: Our tenant has left the house we’ve been renting out and the estate agent is now in charge of selling it. One of today’s jobs was to …
09 October 2022: One of our local ring-necked doves was hanging round by the house this morning. Very convenient! 🐦
09 October 2022: At least my good old point and shoot iPhone captured this small flock of Canada Geese flying by. Good way to avoid operator error.
09 October 2022: Out of 30 or so photos of Kuaka (Godwits) this is probably the only one where the bird was actually in focus. So annoyed with myself for mucking up …
09 October 2022: This is not the splendid photo of a Godwit I imagined I was taking on the beach this morning. With a 1/9 second shutter speed how could it be? I must …
08 October 2022: This morning’s job, with other community volunteers: plant thousands of young spinifex plants at the base of the dunes, to help retain and build …
07 October 2022: After peeling, coring and slicing a bunch of apples the other day for Easy Apple Crisp, I bought a device that does it all. That arrived today. I have …
06 October 2022: Today’s polar blast makes me very thankful for my wonderful warm down jacket.
06 October 2022: I’ve really tried (for a couple of months now) to like Airshow, but have given in and reverted to Overcast. I need to have more control over …
06 October 2022: I’m guessing I originally watched Andromeda week by week on actual TV back when it was new: The series premiered on October 2, 2000, and ended …
05 October 2022: On getting specs that are correctly tuned for me Yesterday I had an hour-long eye exam with Anne Matheson and then maybe an hour with Roger Sercombe, Dispensing Optician, who helped me choose frames …
04 October 2022: My favourite optometrist dilated my eyes so now my screen’s blurry. I was also surprised to learn my sunglasses are progressives not …
04 October 2022: I’ve always suffered from cold hands and feet. Recently some of my fingertips sometimes go white and numb. It has a name: Raynaud’s …
04 October 2022: Excellent 33 minute podcast episode: Nerd Out! The Happiness of Being a Fan: Really love a TV show; … sci fi movie; or celebrity? We’re often too …
03 October 2022: The quail run needed a refresh so yesterday I took out old straw and pine shavings and macrocarpa twigs. Today I went and bought more pine shavings, …
02 October 2022: Excited to see on my beach walk this morning that the first Kuaka (Godwits) have returned from their sojourn in the Arctic.
01 October 2022: I love these occasional Micro.Blog timeline adjacencies. // @jayeless @Burk
01 October 2022: Note to future self: don’t use this angle to take photos of food. Today I cooked Easy Apple Crisp and it was totally delish! Thanks to …
01 October 2022: Booked in for early November: Waimangu Volcanic Valley, walk down the valley and 45 minute cruise around the tranquil waters of Lake Rotomahana. …
01 October 2022: In Aotearoa there are 67 threatened [bird] species - about 30% of the country’s bird population … due to the introduction of rats, cats and …
30 September 2022: I’d seen it before, but watching Pitch Perfect 3 was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours on a cool grey Friday afternoon. 🎥
30 September 2022: One freshly groomed dog. Sasha 🐶
29 September 2022: A bit of rain overnight meant it was a good time to weed this patch of garden along the lane. I haven’t finished yet, but am about half done. …
29 September 2022: Well, that was a damn good read! The Missing Checkout Girl Mystery by Rachel Ward. Great characters, a story that kept me reading. 📚 Checkout girl …
28 September 2022: This morning Sasha wanted to snack on a little grass. 🐶
28 September 2022: The book Timber City Masks (Royce Madison Mysteries Book 1) by Kieran York kept me reading but it seemed to have been marinated, and for too long, in …
28 September 2022: Read the standard marketing blurb about a name change for my phone and Internet provider — yawn. Then perked up when I saw they had also written their …
27 September 2022: Things are moving along suddenly. Signed with a real estate agent this morning to sell the property we’ve been renting out. It’s time to …
27 September 2022: Nice language use (disgorges, chthonic, skerricks, fragments, glean, tidbits): Every now and then, the Earth disgorges clues to their nature: tiny …
26 September 2022: If I sit out in the sun to read my Kindle Paperwhite (2018) sometimes refuses to turn the page. I’d persuaded myself I needed a denim blue …
26 September 2022: How would anyone even know this is the home page of the Horowhenua District Council?
25 September 2022: This morning I’m in that weird haze of “what time is it really?” as last night we changed the clocks. Ahead: changing the time on …
24 September 2022: Hah, I hate stereotypes about older people. However … 7 of us at brunch, aged between 64 and maybe 76. First topic of chat: eyesight problems. …
24 September 2022: We drove to Wellington today to help a friend celebrate her birthday at Field & Green. I had smashed peas and avocado with smoked salmon. Very …
24 September 2022: Fascinating 45 minute documentary from the most excellent Caitlin Doughty: The Forgotten Disaster of the SS Eastland (1915 in Chicago, 844 dead): A …
23 September 2022: Painters are working almost next door. Meanwhile our bathroom ceiling (~4 m2) is flaking. Last painted July 2019. Today Leon came and prepped the job. …
22 September 2022: Well a 5.8 quake is one way to be woken while just drifting off to sleep. All good. No damage etc. another day another quake in New Zealand. 〰️
22 September 2022: This 50 minute concert was a delight: Faia Younan I فايا يونان. From the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation.
21 September 2022: Massively enjoyable: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Humorous, great characters (old folks in a seniors village, where ‘giving a talk …
20 September 2022: Equinox egg. First quail egg of the season. Such clever girls! 🐦
20 September 2022: Every second of the Royal Funeral is designed to reinforce status and power. The organisation of the event dwarfs something like the Olympic Games. …
20 September 2022: Dipping into The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II - BBC. Spot the Mountie (with horse), and the Kiwi soldier.
19 September 2022: This recipe looked easy and delicious and it was, but fiery hot. Next time I’ll use only 1/3 the spices I think. 🔥🔥🔥 Delicious chickpea spinach …
18 September 2022: I’ve read as much as I’m going to of Life in the Shallows The wetlands of Aotearoa New Zealand. The book is excellent (it’s just due …
18 September 2022: Sasha on the grass. 🐶
17 September 2022: A nice treat after a few errands. Chocolate ice cream at Brown Acres. Yum.
16 September 2022: A neighbour has a couple of sheep on his property, and recently lambs have appeared too. They weren’t very keen on my taking their photo.
16 September 2022: New Watch OS9 feature that I love: Save a Custom Timer — swipe left on the timer and tap the Star. I use 2 minute and 3 minute timers all day when I …
16 September 2022: A bit of 7 am drama today as the Rescue Helicopter landed at the beach entrance where apparently there were 4 cop cars. Rumour has it the cops are …
15 September 2022: Some of the most hilarious and clever scientific names have been applied to spiders or insects … a spider named Apopyllus now, a beetle named Agra …
15 September 2022: Blood in Tavasci Marsh (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 2) by Lakota Grace was a great follow-on to Book 1. I like the setting and the …
15 September 2022: I very much enjoyed Appalachian Mountain Mysteries Box Set by Lynda McDaniel. I’d already read Book 1. Book 2 was a bit preachy and put me …
14 September 2022: This is intriguing. I typed my previous post in BBEdit on Mac then copied and pasted to iPhone. Look what BBEdit did with the facepalm emoji — turned …
14 September 2022: On Monday I happened to be there when our rubbish bin was emptied. Of course, it would have been a better video if it hadn’t taken me so long to …
13 September 2022: I’ve discovered I really enjoy Andalusian music. Here’s an almost 2 hour joy: Andalusian Echoes: Abir el Abed & Amsterdam Andalusian …
12 September 2022: I visited Palmerston North today and looked at the aviaries in the public gardens. This Cockatiel was a good-looking bird.
11 September 2022: I really enjoyed spending the day reading Death In Copper Town (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 1) by Lakota Grace. It’s very readable, …
10 September 2022: ROFL — Police respond to ‘racist’ flag in Wānaka, find Klingon insignia: Police responding to reports of a racist flag [at] a Wānaka …
10 September 2022: Aha! I wondered about this after grating the Havarti — How to Grate Soft Cheese: Place wrapped cheese in the freezer. Only keep the cheese in the …
10 September 2022: Today I made Roasted Cauliflower and Cheese Mini Frittatas. They were pretty delicious. The recipe lists red wine vinegar in its ingredients, but …
09 September 2022: The commander had to issue the “Fire” command 96 times! Clouds of smoke filled the air as the shots bounced around re-echoing off the …
09 September 2022: Here it comes (video): Queen Elizabeth II Death Gun Salute to mark her passing. At 1 round every 10 seconds (my guess), 96 guns must take ~16 minutes. …
09 September 2022: Wow — The Queen’s death: All you need to know about what happens next: There will be a 96 gun salute starting at 6pm, Friday night on the Wellington …
09 September 2022: Today’s neighbours include some who are beefier than usual.
09 September 2022: An interesting little snippet: Queen Elizabeth Sent the First-Ever Royal Email in 1976!: On March 26, 1976, the Queen visited the Royal Signals and …
09 September 2022: I’m no Monarchist but this is still a huge moment: Queen Elizabeth II … has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years. her eldest …
08 September 2022: I was weeding a patch of driveway garden when a Green and Golden Bell frog appeared. It moved away. Moments later, when I moved some greenery aside to …
07 September 2022: The local rabbits must have had a working bee overnight. For months there’s been a hole in the bank, presumably leading to a burrow. This …
06 September 2022: The mountains have a touch of snow today, thanks to an icy wind straight off the Antarctic. Fujifilm Astia film simulation. Trying for a …
06 September 2022: The Orville S03 seemed different from the first 2 seasons so I went back and rewatched those seasons recently. I enjoyed them as much as the first …
06 September 2022: The neighbour’s pine tree is loaded with pollen. Ah-choo!
06 September 2022: OK, Celebrate Tongan Language Week: There are only 17 letters in the ‘alafapeti faka-Tonga: A E F H I K L M N NG O P S T U V ‘ The ‘alafapeti …
05 September 2022: Fascinating: Scientists Discover That a Surprising Factor Improved The Effects of Ketamine in Mice: ketamine worked better when administered by males …
04 September 2022: An almost pastoral idyllic scene as a cow relaxes by the shore of the rainwater lake in the paddock next door.
04 September 2022: Spotted on today’s trip to the supermarket: Wakachangi Beer. I suppose the ‘humour’ is supposed to somehow neutralise the use of a …
03 September 2022: Good grief! I was listening to some Andalusian Arabic music and wondered about an instrument that sometimes sounds like a cross between a duck …
02 September 2022: The movie Master Cheng, aka A Spice for Life, was an absolute delight. A Chinese man and his young son arrive in a tiny village in the north of …
02 September 2022: Sasha: Excuse me. I’m pretty sure it’s Anchovy time. 🐶 [Because she’s blind, she doesn’t know she’s not actually …
02 September 2022: Excellent 7.5 minute video: Where does the name “black hole” come from?: …used to be called “gravitationally completely collapsed …
01 September 2022: With the wet Winter and now Spring all the grass and weeds and whatnot are growing. I spent an hour and a half weedeating today. One small portion was …
01 September 2022: Lynda McDaniel kept me reading avidly in A Life for a Life (Appalachian Mountain Mysteries Book 1): Laurel Falls, N.C. … looked like heaven to …
01 September 2022: Jana DeLeon manages to keep her Miss Fortune series fresh, not just repeating plots. In Swamp Spirits (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 23) one minor …
01 September 2022: A good and well-written read: The Sheriff’s Wife (The Sheridan County Mysteries) by Erin Lark Maples: When she stumbles over a body on a …
01 September 2022: Recently read a 2-book freebie with Cooking Up Trouble (The Fun Cruise Mystery Series, A Sweet Romantic Cozy Mystery 1) and Undercover On The Calypso: …
31 August 2022: This is one of 3 ring-decked doves that hang out on our lane. They let me get so close. 🐦
31 August 2022: Mother and son napping in the late afternoon sun. 🐴
30 August 2022: Loved Seasons 1 & 2 and really looking forward to S3 — My Life is Murder is Lucy Lawless’s love letter to Auckland: It’s not often a series about …
29 August 2022: Finally a duck came to explore the temporary pond on the paddock next door. Didn’t stay long though. 🐦
29 August 2022: An important woman who helped bring the Māori language to the forefront — Remembering Hana Te Hemara’s Māori language petition, 50 years on: Hana Te …
28 August 2022: I’ve used MarsEdit for >18 years now. (Back in the day it belonged to Brent Simmons.) You’d think I’d know it pretty well. …
28 August 2022: My iPad just popped up this photo of two pigeons from 2004. Taken in Wellington I think, on Oriental Parade. 🐦
28 August 2022: The good friends we’ve been helping with dog walking for the last few weeks bought us lunch at Salt & Pepper in Ōhau. I had beer battered …
27 August 2022: The pre-dawn light really shows up the two new ponds in the paddock next door. This year’s excessive rainfall has created two large ponds. The …
26 August 2022: This was fun: Medieval Hip Hop Mixtape — Bardcore / Medieval Style Instrumental Cover.
26 August 2022: I had no idea! There are two types of rain, and one of them is almost impossible to forecast. Watch the excellent 4 minute MinuteEarth video Why is …
26 August 2022: 25 minute drive each way to the vet at Ōtaki. 5 minutes max at the vet for Sasha to get her monthly Arthropen shot and anal glands done. The Arthropen …
25 August 2022: 3 am and I’ve drunk a cup of Premium Snowbuds white tea and eaten a Griffins Vanilla Wine biscuit or two. I’ve taken Sasha out for a pee. …
24 August 2022: In the last week or so I’ve noticed birds flying by, beaks stuffed full with nesting materials. Others, like the hawks and black swans, seem to …
23 August 2022: Sasha’s wellness is in a good place at the moment. Here she trots smoothly along the lane, head up. 🐶
22 August 2022: A superb explainer — What to know about monkeypox: Monkeypox is far less dangerous than Covid–19, but a severe lack of vaccines and lingering …
22 August 2022: I really wasn’t sure about Hacks (TV series) at first and almost didn’t bother watching after E01. I’m so glad I did though: by half …
21 August 2022: The Spinoff is bringing such excellent journalism. I read many more stories than from any other News website. Today’s excellence — The Sunday …
20 August 2022: One of the hazards of a rural area. This is the main entrance to our beach. Someone’s cows have bust out…
19 August 2022: An ‘atmospheric river’ of rain has dumped excessive water from the tropics on parts of Aotearoa New Zealand: Live wild weather updates: …
18 August 2022: Yumm, buttermilk hotcakes at The Gorge in Ōtaki. Delicious.
17 August 2022: Turns out it requires special skill to take good photos of a glass paperweight, and I don’t have that skill. Anyway, here’s the …
17 August 2022: Another excellent Toby Morris cartoon — The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: The Table. Follow the link for the other panels in the essay.
16 August 2022: When I was in Whanganui the other day this interesting mural caught my eye.
16 August 2022: When they were handing out adjectives to authors this one went back for thirds. I feel like I need a shower to wipe the muck off. Book discarded. 📚
16 August 2022: I really enjoyed The Orville, all 3 seasons, and very much want it to be renewed. S1 took itself much less seriously, but all seasons explored some …
16 August 2022: Ahhh — why episodes in The Orville S3 were so much longer than in Seasons 1 & 2: the show moved from Fox to Hulu — The Orville: …Season 4 Renewal …
15 August 2022: Hooray! Maybe it is okay to not pursue potential and just be okay with being. Why must there be a reason for everything? Winnie Lim » on leading a …
14 August 2022: I’m finding I really enjoy this author. The quirky English has come to be a feature. The Season of Killing: (Lost in Alaska Book 5). In …
14 August 2022: First time ever I’ve seen a Kererū at Waikawa Beach. They do live 4 Km away (as the bird flies) but have never been down here before as far as I …
13 August 2022: At the Make a paperweight workshop in Whanganui the glassworking area is on the bottom floor. The central furnace at 1100C is a vat of molten glass. …
13 August 2022: Today I’m in Whanganui for a 30 minute glassmaking workshop. First a cup of kawakawa fire tea at the cafe next door.
13 August 2022: It’s very bracing this morning, with an overnight low of –3C, and a good frost. There’s even ice on the puddles that developed in …
12 August 2022: On a mid-winter day with no wind, clear blue skies and warm sun the sea was lapping gently against the shore as though it was a tropical island.
12 August 2022: At dawn, in the frost, I saw a beautiful full moon setting behind the lake at the end of the road.
12 August 2022: Beach mushroom.
11 August 2022: Don’t start listening to this if you’re supposed to be doing something else… 2Cellos - live at Sydney Opera House [Full Concert].
10 August 2022: Nearby land is very productive. As I drive I see teams working hard, picking veges in freezing cold or pouring rain. Many are probably seasonal …
09 August 2022: Yes, Autocorrect, I was in fact trying to buy Harraways Rolled Goats at the supermarket! Or was it Rolled Boats? 🤣
08 August 2022: A short, easy read. Shadow Council Book 1: Money Makes it Deadlier by Julie C. Gilbert. Not sure I’ll read more though, given they all seem to …
08 August 2022: We’ve now had enough rain that the paddock by the speed bump, that turns into a bit of a lake when it’s wet, has actually overflowed onto …
07 August 2022: Deb and I watched and enjoyed Falling For Figaro. No surprises in the plot, but great landscapes and singing. A perfectly pleasant way to fill a slow …
07 August 2022: Woken by heavy rain. Time for a cuppa. So glad it didn’t wake Sasha as then I might have had to take her out in it for a pee.
06 August 2022: That time in September 2015 when we went on a camel trek in Morocco. Thanks iPad for the memory.
06 August 2022: I’ve enjoyed this free 7-day email course — Discard Your Anxiety: A clear and practical Stoic pathway to start making immediate progress with …
06 August 2022: Interesting news today — Joffe Books Acquires Two Novels by Māori Writer Renée:  Otaki-based Renée is a much-loved and prolific writer … in her …
06 August 2022: Anna Havron gives us more interesting food for thought in Don’t Hold a Job, Hold an Office Instead: What if you thought of your jobs and your roles …
05 August 2022: Another enjoyable read in the series: Flame and Fortune (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 22). Not nearly as many hijinks, but that works. Take a drink at …
05 August 2022: Interesting article: The Human Mind Is Not Meant to Be Awake After Midnight, Scientists Warn: our attention to negative stimuli is unusually …
04 August 2022: My little friend Willow likes to keep one paw elevated while she eats. 🐶
04 August 2022: Our resident Kingfisher is so photogenic. 🐦
04 August 2022: About 10 days ago I reported a bloated dead sheep on the beach to Greater Wellington Regional Council, as it was in their area of responsibility. …
03 August 2022: This was intriguing and enjoyable music: DakhaBrakha - Full Performance (Live on KEXP). A group from Ukraine. Interesting listening to their rap. …
03 August 2022: Excellent Nichelle Nichols cartoon for August 3, 2022 from Kiwi cartoonist Sharon Murdoch. 🖖🏼
02 August 2022: Heh, November 1999, when I had long hair and thought having the camera automatically date stamp photos was a good thing.
01 August 2022: A nearby hill / mountain had a hat on this morning. Also, I’m messing around with edits to the image.
31 July 2022: This year so far, according to my rain gauge, we’ve had more rain than in the whole of 2020 or 2019 and we’ll soon exceed the whole of …
31 July 2022: Whew! Some server problem meant that for the last week or two I’ve completed the WSJ crossword on the web. That was a nasty experience. Finally …
30 July 2022: 186+ mystery books I've loved I read a lot of mysteries. Some are mediocre — I abandon the ones that are too rubbish — while others are good, or even excellent. I’ve now …
30 July 2022: Such an impressive channel! Anyone at all interested in languages will find this video fascinating: What Makes Papuan Languages So Unique?: Melanesia …
30 July 2022: Then I moved right along to Close to the Edge (Detective Sarah Burke Book 7) by Elizabeth Gunn because I knew it’d be a good read, and it was. 📚 …
30 July 2022: I raced through Close to Home (Detective Sarah Burke Book 6) by Elizabeth Gunn. She’s an excellent author who tells a good story. 📚 The victim …
30 July 2022: After a few days I can say that using a feedreader is the best and easiest way to catch up with the overnight Micro.Blog timeline. Thanks to @todor …
29 July 2022: December 2008: flamingos at Honolulu Zoo. What on earth is that one at the back doing with its neck?! 🐦
28 July 2022: This cabbage tree serves me as a kind of a high groundwater indicator. Normally it’s several metres from the water in the lake, but with all the …
27 July 2022: Hang in there! 🐦
27 July 2022: My thanks to whoever on my timeline mentioned enjoying Only Murders in the Building. I’m loving it so much! 📺
26 July 2022: Such a lovely short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Free Fiction Monday: Star: On the night Anna’s boyfriend tried to kill her, Anna’s badly injured …
26 July 2022: This is useful: Create Your Own Acceptance Mantra: The purpose of an acceptance mantra is to act as a sort of trigger. It can be used as part of a …
25 July 2022: Loved @Cheri’s latest book: Death at Dagger Cove (Butterfly Island Mysteries Book 2) by Cheri Baker. I’ll confess I read an advance copy, …
25 July 2022: The UP! 3D printer blog post originally published in November 2011 Note: the article below was originally published on my now defunct KnowIt blog in November 2011. Links have been updated or adapted, or may be broken. …
25 July 2022: Looks like it was November 2011 when I was sent a 3D printer to test out and write about on my KnowIt blog (now defunct). Now the iPad stand I printed …
24 July 2022: The storms we had this month must have ripped out someone’s pine plantation. The beach is strewn with dozens of young pine trees, roots and all. …
23 July 2022: This is very interesting. Giving it a whirl: Use AssistiveTouch for Customizable Shortcuts on the iPhone and iPad - TidBITS.
23 July 2022: Another excellent read from a good author: Closing Ranks (Detective Sarah Burke Book 5) by Elizabeth Gunn. To solve a current crime Sarah has to delve …
23 July 2022: I like to add Titles to my Photos in the Photos app on Mac, but half the time what I type gets eaten up. Pasting works fine though, which led me in …
22 July 2022: I wanted a messenger style bag to carry my camera with its big lens when I walk on the beach to take bird photos. I found what turned out to be a …
21 July 2022: Darn! So intent on measuring out 710 mls from a 750 ml bottle of milk I totally forgot I was supposed to heat the milk before adding it to the rice! …
21 July 2022: This is a great little story — Taranaki man’s e-bike wheelchair carries his wife to see the sea: he explained how he made some clever …
20 July 2022: Yesterday I sponged a patch of matted hair on the back of Sasha’s neck and found an open wound (the size of a small finger nail). No idea how it …
20 July 2022: I read Micro.Blog via Safari on Mac (mainly). Every morning it’s the same thing to catch up on the timeline: refresh, scroll, scroll, click the …
19 July 2022: The first third of Murder on Sea (Rina Martin Murder Mystery Book 1) was a bit annoying and not really my thing. I was considering reading something …
19 July 2022: Finally had my second booster Covid jab. Hurt a bit going in but feels good being better protected. 😎
18 July 2022: Just amazed at the cleverness of NYTimes Sunday, July 17, 2022 Crossword Puzzle: Note: Players seek to combine one or more of the cards they hold …
18 July 2022: Really enjoying listening to Sona Jobarteh & Band (1 hour): Sona Jobarteh is the first female Kora virtuoso to come from a west African Griot …
18 July 2022: Heh, the Spinoff are spending a week talking about a huge deal in the lives of over half the people in the world who are over about 12, and which is …
17 July 2022: Two free books I abandoned: Ambassador 1: Seeing Red by Patty Jansen. Should have been obvious it’d be all politics but that’s just not …
17 July 2022: Some very grim topics in Under Violent Skies (Detective Sara Hirst Book 1) are probably why I started the book months ago but only picked it up again …
17 July 2022: It’s not too surprising that I really enjoyed Old Bones Lie (Detective Clare Mackay Book 6 by Marion Todd, given I’ve enjoyed the previous …
17 July 2022: I wanted to like this writer who lives mainly in Aotearoa New Zealand, but the book simply missed its mark. It just didn’t quite work for me. …
17 July 2022: It’s 3.45 am and I’ve had a cup of tea and a biscuit after being awake for a couple of hours already. It’s that …
17 July 2022: I’ve suggested our library buy this. It looks really interesting and is relevant around here. Life in the Shallows: How wetlands work, what …
16 July 2022: Sasha, mostly blind, stopped at the white line on the road then tiptoed carefully across. Next she ended up on one side of the ‘Give Way’ …
15 July 2022: Planning a trip out for dinner tonight to nearby Shannon, a 35 minute drive away. Including say 1 hour to eat that’s a 2.25 hour trip and I can …
15 July 2022: Silver and gold: this morning Sasha and I made it all the way to the lakes (approx 500 metres away). Looking southwest I saw the setting silver almost …
15 July 2022: We’ve achieved a point where Sasha’s food, meds and the cool temperatures mean she trots happily along on our brief walks. I wanted to …
14 July 2022: The setting Supermoon at dawn.
14 July 2022: Sasha won’t go down to the dog yard any more so she now gets half a dozen ‘walks’ per day for toileting. I stopped to take a photo …
13 July 2022: It was a bit impressive down by the sea at high tide this morning. It’s winter so lots of rain, gales, high tides and big swells out in the open …
13 July 2022: Nice! Amber Clyde: never take criticism to heart from somebody you wouldn’t go to for advice. Via This is what the future of New Zealand looks like: …
13 July 2022: I’m always a bit suspicious when military helicopters fly over in gangs. Today it was a gang of three, right overhead.
13 July 2022: On Mangawhero Forest Walk I spotted these really really white fungi on a tree trunk.
13 July 2022: Rimu Walk and Mangawhero Forest Walk at Ohakune share a common entrance. I enjoyed both. Both are easy walks. On the Forest Walk I came face to face …
13 July 2022: Ohakune is a town just below the very popular Turoa skifield. Next to a walk I was about to do I found this memorial stone and info about Mollie, an …
13 July 2022: I was surprised how much I enjoyed the 1 hour 40 minute concert Loreena McKennitt - Nights From The Alhambra. Generally for me a little Celtic music …
12 July 2022: My handmade leather iPhone sleeve by @aa was so excellent (it’s serving me beautifully) that I ordered a leather wrist strap for my camera with …
12 July 2022: Ridge Track at Whakapapa is a short little trail that climbs up behind the Chateau offering views. In the last the snowy cone of Mt Taranaki is just …
12 July 2022: Chateau Tongariro at Whakapapa is an impressive building, seeming to sit alone on the landscape. It’s certainly comfortable in the lounge where …
11 July 2022: The Taranaki Falls Track The Taranaki Falls Track is a 6 Km loop on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. It passes through both native forest and open land. The Falls spill through solid …
10 July 2022: In December 2008 I taught 3 WordPress courses over a weekend as part of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa Pacific New Media Outreach program. …
10 July 2022: Mounds Walk at Tongariro was another short track, with several information boards. After a few minutes there’s a view across the landscape. The …
10 July 2022: The Tawhai Falls Track was very short but led to a really nice waterfall. Midwinter and two young men were wrapped in towels having just been for a …
09 July 2022: 9 kinds of fungi on Silica Rapids walk I don’t know anything much about fungi, except I like to look at them. The Silica Rapids walk was bounteous when it came to fungi. I don’t …
09 July 2022: My Silica Rapids walk I think the Silica Rapids walk at Tongariro was my favourite, even though the weather was a bit dull and drizzly. Native forest, alpine bogs, streams. …
09 July 2022: Why is it anyone wants to live in Auckland? Three news items in a row in my feed this morning: a home shot at, a stabbing, and a woman dies after an …
07 July 2022: My Lake Rotokura walk Lake Rotokura is near Waiouru and is an easy ~30 minute walk, although there were a few fallen logs to clamber over. There were several interesting …
07 July 2022: Before I went off walking I relaced my boots. In my photo the right boot is the old way (how they came from the shop). The left boot shows the new, …
07 July 2022: It’s not fair to laugh at a dog who’s old, blind, mainly deaf, frail, etc, but sometimes I have to: Sasha was looking intently at the gap …
07 July 2022: We have to accept the little facts of life. Bland indifference is a start, but cheerful whistling is even better. Source: Accepting The Little Facts …
07 July 2022: Woohoo, the book I co-wrote in 2006 is still earning me royalties. What shall I do with my 17 cents, I wonder?
07 July 2022: This 22 minute doco is a delight: Inside the wonderful world of Hairy Maclary creator Lynley Dodd. What Kiwi doesn’t know the immortal words: …
06 July 2022: I somehow got this free: A Dealer Dead Ahead (Law & Carter Cozy Mysteries Book 1). I read it to the end but didn’t care for it a whole lot. …
06 July 2022: My Tongariro National Park visit — summary Last weekend I visited Tongariro National Park to do some short walks. The winter weather was very obliging and I had a wonderful time. My favourite …
06 July 2022: Took me a while to get to this, but then I really enjoyed The Murderer’s Son (Jackman & Evans Book 1) by Joy Ellis. Of course. Ellis is an …
05 July 2022: These fungi on the Mangawhero Forest Walk at Ohakune were very white.
05 July 2022: I rounded a corner on a trail and saw a dark lump on this branch. Then I realised it had a short tail. Then I saw the eyes and pointed beak that told …
05 July 2022: It only takes 3 and a half hours to drive home, and that includes a detour to a track. I should visit this area more often: stunning scenery, amazing …
04 July 2022: One of my favourite photos from today’s Taranaki Falls track — steps just beyond the Falls.
04 July 2022: From the road to Whakapapa — look leftish and there’s Ngauruhoe; look rightish and there’s Ruapehu.
04 July 2022: That was me, though at ~1200 metres, not the tippy-top: MetService: To anyone standing on top of Mt. Ruapehu right now, there is not a single cloud …
04 July 2022: Well that was a … relief. Things aren’t always so … convenient at 1200 meters altitude.
04 July 2022: Today’s plan is to drive to Whakapapa again, walk to Taranaki Falls — 6 Km loop, then Ridge Track — 1.4 Km return. Still thinking of …
04 July 2022: Useful words: Accept that the present moment is rarely unbearable. … Accept that the past is gone and isn’t coming back. … Accept that the future …
03 July 2022: Caution road sign: Kiwi crossing at night. With Mt Ruapehu in the background.
03 July 2022: Silica Rapids walk could be named Fungus walk. I came across black, brown, white, blue, chestnut and even gold coloured fungi. These were pretty …
03 July 2022: Silica Rapids on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. It was a fabulous walk through varied mountain landscapes.
03 July 2022: My plan for today is to visit the Silica Rapids Walk and Punaruku Falls near Whakapapa Village. I won’t walk the loop, just there and back. …
02 July 2022: Mount Ruapehu appears across Lake Rotokura. I had a lovely 75 minute walk there but saw only a very few birds.
02 July 2022: As I neared Waiouru snow-covered Mt Ruapehu made an appearance.
02 July 2022: Today’s destination: Tongariro National Park: Home to three active volcanic mountains, and iconic and majestic landscapes, Tongariro National …
02 July 2022: On the plus side: I did manage about 5-6 hours sleep and only one of Sasha’s 3 poops in the middle of the night was indoors. [yawn] Turns out we …
01 July 2022: Tomorrow I head off to Tongariro National Park for a few days of easy short walks and some lounging around. Should be fun, though chilly.
01 July 2022: Side eye. (Kingfisher) 🐦
30 June 2022: I just watched Soul and found it remarkable. Uplifting, clever, funny. Loved hearing the Kiwi actor Rachel House as Terry the accountant. Visually it …
29 June 2022: A genre I usually avoid is (heterosexual) romance, but Kristine Kathryn Rusch is such a skilled writer that I really enjoyed The Perfect Man: …
28 June 2022: I just rewatched How to Self-Publish A Novel from @Cheri in Micro Camp 2022 (17 minutes). This is such an excellent presentation, and packed full with …
28 June 2022: The government just opened up second Covid booster shots for the over-50s. I was astonished to get an appointment so quickly. Off for my boost this …
27 June 2022: Today I’m watching a bunch of videos, like this one: How to use Back button auto focus with Fujifilm camera as another step in getting to know …
27 June 2022: Waxeye stack. 🐦
26 June 2022: An article that everyone should read: The Sunday Essay: My breasts and me.
26 June 2022: We went to see Elvis (2022 film) this morning. It’s an intense movie and we all came out quite sombre. Austin Butler did a magnificent job …
26 June 2022: I did my NZ Garden Bird Survey on Saturday and saw: 6 sparrows, 3 magpies, 3 swallows, 3 waxeyes, 1 fantail, 1 blackbird, 1 kingfisher, 1 hawk, 1 …
25 June 2022: We visited the Pottery Expo at Ōtaki Racecourse today. I bought this Sea and Sky bowl by Janice McDonagh. I’ll put it in the garden somewhere as …
25 June 2022: A note for men in the US. Listen up! With the catastrophic Roe vs Wade decision you must support all women in your life. You ALSO need to tackle men: …
24 June 2022: I had no idea there are 43 different blood types! From Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 Jun 2022. most people are aware of the four main blood groups, A, B, …
24 June 2022: Mānawatia a Matariki! “Matariki is about celebrating who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.”
23 June 2022: Sasha, aged 15 and a half enjoys: walks, food, treats, bonus rabbit poop on walks, an occasional cuddle, napping. Today we did a ‘long’ …
22 June 2022: Nice! “Don’t buy presents. Be present.” Mānawatia a Matariki! Tips for how to celebrate if you don’t know where to start.
22 June 2022: Just did that thing where you write a comprehensive email, check something in an archived email before sending then close the wrong window without …
22 June 2022: Help on a small project I was feeling dispirited about has arrived from an unexpected quarter. What a boost that gives! I want to get an informational …
22 June 2022: First snow of the season on the nearby Tararuas. Brrr.
21 June 2022: I had errands in Palmerston North today so treated myself to a Chicken Teriyaki lunch at Mr Choi’s. As always, it was utterly delicious! It …
20 June 2022: Tomorrow brings us Winter Solstice. The good news is daylight hours start increasing. The bad news is now the weather will be stink till something …
20 June 2022: Storms like the ones that filled the first couple of weeks of June for us bring loads of stuff onto the beach: driftwood, weed from the river, but …
20 June 2022: Yesterday’s excellent movie — Whina: Dame Whina Cooper was a Māori matriarch who worked tirelessly to improve the rights of her people, …
19 June 2022: This Eastern Rosella announced herself and then stuck around long enough for me to take some photos. 🐦 Updated with better quality photo.
19 June 2022: This little Piwakawaka was flitting round me, then landed close enough for me to be able to take a couple of iPhone photos. 🐦
19 June 2022: To celebrate Deb’s upcoming birthday we went with friends to Soprano Ristorante. Pricey but delicious food. We all had different dishes and each …
18 June 2022: The river mouth was looking pretty good at dawn today.
17 June 2022: I cooked Quick Vanilla Rice Pudding while Deb was driving home. Yummm! She’d better hurry up and get here or there won’t be any left. 🤩
17 June 2022: In a quest for variety and expanding horizons I’m listening to new-to-me music each day. I go to YouTube and search for ‘traditional music …
16 June 2022: Our new Matariki national holiday, the country's first public holiday centred on Māori culture, is being celebrated on Friday 24 June this year. The …
16 June 2022: My Merrell Siren Traveller 3 Women’s Trail Shoes are my favourites, but only 7 months after purchase the stitching on the seam near the toe is …
16 June 2022: I must say, 1Password has always worked brilliantly and easily for me … until the latest version (8). Now it’s an utter pain in the bum and I …
15 June 2022: Goodnight Moon.
14 June 2022: Hooray for web searches. This solved my Quick Look ‘gone wrong’ problem: macOS 12 Monterey Quick Look preview not working? Try this …
14 June 2022: Whew. After 18.75 hours power has been restored. Now charging all the things. 😀 And looking into @jean’s suggestion of a portable power station …
14 June 2022: The power didn’t come back on overnight so that’s 15 hours now and counting. At least the thunderstorms have stopped and the gales have …
13 June 2022: 4 hours ago in mid afternoon we had yet another big thunderstorm. That’s when the power went off. Still in the dark… I sure would like a cup of …
13 June 2022: I was a bit surprised to find I really enjoyed listening to Tatar Folk Music, especially the track at 14:53 — Kirfiklere. Tatarstan … traditional …
13 June 2022: We get maybe two thunderstorms a year round here. Except for this month where intermittent storms have been rolling through for 5 days and nights now. …
12 June 2022: Signed up for a month of Disney+ to watch a few things. Finally saw and enjoyed and felt moved by Turning Red. One highlight for me: the amazing and …
12 June 2022: A couple of weeks ago I discovered, installed, paid for Grocery App: A smart shopping list, recipe manager, meal planner and inventory tracker for …
12 June 2022: This is a wonderful story for a Sunday morning — The Sunday Essay: A never-ending pot of curry: As a child in India, Perzen Patel wished for a bowl …
11 June 2022: I wanted the ‘exoticism’ of this book set in rural Sri Lanka, but the book itself just didn’t grab me. The Body in the Paddy Field …
11 June 2022: About 2 hours after high tide, with an open sea swell of 5 metres, and westerly gales so strong they just about knocked me off my feet while I took …
10 June 2022: Look who was groomed today! Sasha so clean and tidy. 🐶
10 June 2022: Rachel McAlpine on growing old: You know so much! From reading, hearing, viewing, and being there. … But which items swell up to become massively …
10 June 2022: Did you know I went to Mars? You can too: Mars Photo Booth - NASA Mars. 🤣
10 June 2022: We’re getting a lot of these at the moment. ⛈
09 June 2022: Today’s order of business. ⛈
09 June 2022: HIP (on Acorn TV, French) is a really fun show. It’s another where a solo mum of several children solves crimes while wrangling family. …
09 June 2022: Hmmm, this video by Jan Wegener, mainly about bird photography, had some very useful info: Take SHARPER Images with ANY camera! No More BLURRY Photos! …
09 June 2022: I quickly glazed over while looking at About the security of passkeys - Apple Support. Can anyone point me to a “What the heck are Passkeys?, …
08 June 2022: Today I helped a very smart friend set up a new Mac laptop with touch ID button. When it came to adding a fingerprint, she’d had a problem …
07 June 2022: Deb and I enjoyed watching the all too brief Season One of Annika. No word if there’ll be another season, so fingers crossed. Annika is a …
07 June 2022: Soon after I spent up large on a Fujinon XF100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR zoom lens for taking photos of birds, Fuji have come out with an even bigger …
07 June 2022: Thank you sunrise, light shower and iPhone for this early morning rainbow. 😀
07 June 2022: Realised when I opened my MacBook Pro this morning that WWDC keynote was live. Tuned in as I do every year. Actually closed the tab again within 30 …
06 June 2022: Today’s main feature: a splitting headache, eased in the end by a one hour deep sleep in the afternoon. 🤕
05 June 2022: Gorgeous 5 Km beach walk to start my Sunday. Thanks to all those on my overnight Micro.Blog timeline who mentioned going for a walk: it helped get me …
04 June 2022: 10 years ago I bought a Wacom Intuos 5 graphics tablet, upgrading from previous versions. Not for graphics, but because after a rough time getting …
03 June 2022: The sun was low behind me; the hawk circling high in front of me. 🐦
02 June 2022: Sasha has never really been the most cuddly dog. She seems to be changing her ways though. 🐶
02 June 2022: Fears cultural significance of Matariki may be lost: Matariki … is a period of solemn reflection, followed by a celebration of the present and …
01 June 2022: Leigh Mayberry has very quirky language in her books, but still I usually enjoy them. Murderous Profits (Lost in Alaska Book 7). Looks like I skipped …
01 June 2022: A couple of mornings ago I was making breakfast when I noticed the top half of the quail run door was open. I rushed out to check on the two girls, …
31 May 2022: Hey Kiwis, if you visit EECA’s tyre pressure tool it tells you what the tire pressure should be for your car. Enter your number plate and the …
31 May 2022: 10 minute video: Koko Ibaraki is a world class pole dancer at 50: pole dancing remains a challenging feat of stamina, flexibility and an incredible …
31 May 2022: Keyboard Maestro helps with so much on my Mac. Sometimes I want to have the Clipboard contents in front of me, so I made a macro. I put the clipboard …
31 May 2022: What a wonderful way to start a Tuesday morning! So energising! 2.25 hours of Barcelona Gipsy balKan Orchestra Live in Apolo 2019 - Sandra Sangiao …
30 May 2022: The problem with buying a tray of 30 eggs from the farm gate shop is when you’re trying to manage a single trip from the car to the house with …
30 May 2022: I enjoy this series, and just read the final 4 stories: Rachel Prince Cruise Ship Mysteries: Books 1-10. That is one unlucky cruise ship! 😆
30 May 2022: Loving this morning’s random listen: Andalusian Spanish Arabic Music: الأنْدَلُس - YouTube.
29 May 2022: I glimpsed this juvenile Kōtare, Sacred Kingfisher through the window, managed a couple of shots and then it took off. I love my 100–400 zoom …
29 May 2022: It’s been a busy Sunday. Among other things, I cleaned out the old straw and sawdust from the quail run and topped up with a fresh coating. The …
29 May 2022: I’ve signed up for this 30 minute New Zealand Glassworks Make a Paperweight Workshop for August. Deb did it back in June 2018 as a birthday …
28 May 2022: Today we saw an Air Force Heritage Flight of New Zealand flypast: the superlative Supermarine Spitfire and three modern Beechcraft T–6C Texan …
27 May 2022: Today, for the second time in our lives, we have become mortgage-free. We have no debt and everything that comes in now is ours. 🥳
27 May 2022: I changed an account password today. Do you think I was too hasty?
26 May 2022: What an amazing resource. Thank you @scojjac I’m exploring Arabic: Language Transfer (languagetransfer.org) Fantastic audio course that teaches …
26 May 2022: The upside of ending up in Apple Music was I rediscovered a piece of music I adore: Ramirez: Misa Criolla (5 songs, 21 minutes): Ariel Ramírez (4 …
26 May 2022: Utterly bewildered that to share with my family an app I’d just bought on the App Store I had to go to iTunes/Music‼️⁉️ I’ve been using …
25 May 2022: Fungi season: I suspect this is a fly agaric (Amanita muscaria). I like to see fungi but never know what they are. Found just across the road from our …
25 May 2022: Sharon Murdoch’s excellent cartoon today: Forty kororā/little blue penguins found dead on a Far North beach. FORTY (MORE) REASONS TO FIGHT …
25 May 2022: A few years ago I bought a Korg Nanokey 2 keyboard. I can’t play… Today I finally labelled the keys and began to learn to play Mary Had A Little …
25 May 2022: Since I suggested today’s Challenge word (mountain) — I can never remember which mountain is which in the central North Island of Aotearoa New …
25 May 2022: This morning’s new-to-me music: Siberian Altai Turkic Traditional Music. I like it.
24 May 2022: Mum. Mum. Mum. Mum. Spoonbill parenting… Seen at the beach this morning: a juvenile Spoonbill with its parents. 🐦
23 May 2022: When I didn’t leave quickly enough one of the adult swans warned me off. I left. 🐦
23 May 2022: I think this little fantail lives in the bushes near our gate. 🐦
23 May 2022: No-one on the lake was very happy about me emerging from behind a bush to take an iPhone photo of the two black swans and their remaining 3 cygnets. 🐦
23 May 2022: This morning’s very enjoyable sound track, Afghani music: Daud Khan Sadozai - live - 2013.
22 May 2022: Hah! I always have such a feeling of achievement when I wrestle with both logic and regular expressions and win in the end. Today I amended a Keyboard …
21 May 2022: At 67 I’m neither geriatric nor elderly, but am having an issue with unintended weight loss. In December 2020 I was ~59 Kg — a good weight for …
21 May 2022: At last! Eastern Rosellas have been taunting me. I’ve heard their chattering at various times recently, then they’d shoot past and my …
20 May 2022: It’s been a bit of a morning. 24mm rain between 4 and 8 am, wind gusts up to 62Kph, thunder, lots of lightning, and a mini tornado a few Km down the …
19 May 2022: Toutouwai, North Island Robin at Bushy Park. These little birds are such cuties, and so tame! 🐦
19 May 2022: At Bushy Park near Whanganui, this huge Northern Rātā: Height 39m; Diameter 3.72m; Girth 11.70m. Detail shows a plant growing on the tree.
18 May 2022: Given it’ll be winter, and ski season, I jumped in while a room was available and booked my next long weekend holiday for early July at …
18 May 2022: The Veronica Loop Track in Egmont National Park is ~3.5 Km long, with an elevation gain of ~240 metres. This ‘moderately challenging’ …
18 May 2022: Feature request @help : after editing a Post via the web interface can we have a link to go straight to the published post please?
18 May 2022: Actual Kiwi (the birds) are rare in Aotearoa New Zealand and sadly hard to find. At least on Taranaki Mounga, although I didn’t see or hear any, …
18 May 2022: An OK read: Death by Windmill: A Mother’s Day Murder in Amsterdam (Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) by Jennifer S. Alderson 📚. This …
18 May 2022: Not great. It all seems very stuffy, old-fashioned and rather unlikely. The Death of Amelia Marsh (Sally Nimitz Mysteries Book 1) by MaryJo Dawson 📚. …
17 May 2022: I’m only just this minute home from holiday, but look at these wonderful tiny pink fungi I saw at Bushy Park near Whanganui.
16 May 2022: Steps going up Veronica Loop Track with Taranaki Maunga rising up behind. Don’t know why it’s sideways. I’ll correct that in a day …
16 May 2022: The almost 4 Km Veronica Loop Track at North Egmont National Park took me a bit over 2 hours and left me beyond knackered! The first half was steps …
15 May 2022: They’re serious about not letting dogs into Egmont National Park. 🐶
15 May 2022: You get the best views from half way up the mountain at 1150 metres (probably, if it’s not pouring with rain).
15 May 2022: I was hoping to walk a couple of 1–4 Km trails today at Egmont National Park, Te Papakura o Taranaki. However, this region’s under a Heavy Rain …
14 May 2022: Mountain shaped ginger chicken at Siam Thai restaurant in New Plymouth. Super delicious.
14 May 2022: Taranaki mounga is enormous! Very imposing from the surrounding countryside.
13 May 2022: Here’s one of our friendly neighbourhood horses enjoying the warmth of dark ground on a chilly morning.
13 May 2022: The first episode of CW ☛ Naomi was very interesting and enjoyable. Thanks to Winding up season 1 of Naomi - Old Ain’t Dead for cluing me in to …
12 May 2022: That ‘pimple’ centre screen is where I’ll be this coming weekend. 😀
12 May 2022: I have a rare holiday coming up: 4 days visiting Egmont National Park for some short walks, sightseeing and photos. Guess I’d better pack rain gear. 😒 …
11 May 2022: Sasha, still under the influence of post-surgery opiates. 🐶
11 May 2022: I’ve been a little on tenterhooks this morning as Sasha went in for dental surgery. The vet says all’s well. She took out 14 teeth! which …
11 May 2022: Hah! Picard S02E09: “We have to super urgently go there and do that. We’ll just stop every couple of minutes and explore our feelings for …
11 May 2022: This is why I can’t donate blood: perhaps you lived in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s so you’re at risk for passing on bovine spongiform …
10 May 2022: It took a rather ridiculous and surprisingly exhausting 2 hours to assemble this garden cart today. Trundles nicely though.
10 May 2022: A flock of about 20 cyclists went past while I was walking Sasha this morning. About 20 older people enjoying the fresh air. 🚴🏼
10 May 2022: Interesting short video. Ever wondered what happens to milk at the factory?: In this video, Glen explains what happens to milk at the factory. He …
09 May 2022: The Tīrairaka, New Zealand fantail is a tricky bird to photograph and I’m still on a quest to get excellent photos. It flitters and flutters and …
09 May 2022: It may be 3 months since Oshi passed away, but Sasha has finally stepped into his ‘shoes’ with the ‘it’s dinnertime’ …
09 May 2022: I was trying to take photos of the elusive fantails who were flittering just outside the window. What I did get were these European Goldfinches, with …
09 May 2022: I’ve used the wonderful Pastebot for Mac for the longest time but for some reason only today learned how to use sequential paste. 🤷🏼
08 May 2022: There’s something about the opening of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that grabbed me right by my childhood viewings in the 60s of the Original …
08 May 2022: In its second year my Granny Smith apple tree produced 7 apples. One fell off early in the season. I ate one recently. These 5 weigh 1 Kg in total. …
08 May 2022: That was a treat! Deb made a delicious omelette for breakfast. Yum.
08 May 2022: This was an enjoyable read: Death on the Danube: A New Year’s Murder in Budapest (Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) 📚: Carl, her …
08 May 2022: This detail intrigues me: Two officers from the helicopter ran to the scene and took the seven youths into custody before they could get away. Seven …
07 May 2022: Striding. 🐦
07 May 2022: Skating! This little New Zealand dotterel turns out to be banded, when I zoom in. They’re very small, fast birds: 25 cm and about 150 grams. Perfect …
06 May 2022: I’m surprised I finished reading Murder by the Book (A Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery 1) by Lauren Elliott. It seemed confused and rushed, …
06 May 2022: I very nearly stopped watching Grace and Frankie in the middle of Season 7. It had been so long since the previous episodes aired and it dragged a …
05 May 2022: Misty morning. Cobweb. Flax spear.
05 May 2022: Naughty little House sparrows sitting on the roof (pooping in the gutter that supplies our drinking water). 🐦 Update: the photo I exported at Medium …
04 May 2022: Hey southern hemisphere types: do some sky watching over the next few mornings before dawn: The Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower Is About to Light Up The …
04 May 2022: Meanwhile, the Australian coots were having a bit of a dust-up (volume up). 🐦
04 May 2022: To my delight, this morning’s walk brought me two Kakīānau, Black swans with 4 cygnets, already swimming. 🐦
03 May 2022: Sasha 🐶 was not a cooperative model today, either before grooming or after.
02 May 2022: Not too bad to while away a few hours: A Welsh Murder Mystery Box Set Books 1–4 by Cathy Ace 📚: women of the WISE Enquiries Agency turned their backs …
01 May 2022: The Alton Brown Shepherd’s Pie I cooked tonight was delicious. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
01 May 2022: [Accidentally, while cooking] confirmed the smoke alarm still works. 👍
01 May 2022: Touching. Pied Stilt. 🐦
30 April 2022: Kāpiti Island rises from the dawn mist.
30 April 2022: This Karoro, Black-backed gull was keeping a close eye on me this morning. 🐦
29 April 2022: I did a heap of things today that I wanted to do. Some are unfinished, and that’s fine. The sky was blue, the sun warm, the day was still. The …
29 April 2022: Fake puppies!: Police urge potential new pet owners to be wary following an influx of scams involving fake puppies and cryptocurrency. … potential …
29 April 2022: This post by @gregmoore reminded me of this day back in 2003 when Aphra 🐈, on top of the shower, was wondering if there was a yet higher place to …
29 April 2022: Aotearoa New Zealand is right in the middle of a giant high today, giving us cold clear nights and warm blue sky days. And no wind! 🤩 earth :: a …
28 April 2022: Things fell into place today for Deb and me to eat dinner out. We visited for the first time Nanyang Flavours in Shannon, a 35 minute drive from home, …
28 April 2022: Nothing special: just a photo from when I was walking Sasha 🐶 back along the lane to home, on a perfect morning. Blue skies, warm sun, not a breath of …
27 April 2022: This was such an interesting episode of Lingthusiasm: What it means for a language to be official. It’s way more complicated than I’d ever …
27 April 2022: Hah! Scifi writers note: to write a character who is… expert… Give them a deep, intense hatred of some oddly specific …
26 April 2022: Deb did a clean out and found an old iPhone 5. It’s so tiny! Look at it next to my iPhone 13 Pro Max.
26 April 2022: A friend and I drove to Foxton today to visit the Ans Westra photo exhibition. I specially loved her photo of this young Māori girl (not named) who is …
25 April 2022: Pukeko at the lake. 🐦
24 April 2022: Our dog groomer has come down with Shingles. Ouch! That means we need to find an alternative groomer for Sasha 🐶 who’s about due for a trim. 😒
24 April 2022: Something I’d like is more information in the list of Micro.Bloggers I’m following (micro.blog/[name]/following) @help. Useful would be: …
23 April 2022: Amazon have made a change I really dislike. When I look at a page of listings my eye now sees first in giant red letters a (supposed) discount amount …
22 April 2022: On a day where I seem to be feeling a bit off-colour I’ve really enjoyed eating some Celery soup. Really easy and quick to make, once …
21 April 2022: Tonight I made Roast cod on spiced Puy lentils — delicious. There was no cod available so I cooked a fish I’d never heard of before: Elephant …
21 April 2022: This month I am finally doing a chore I really have trouble getting to: selling stuff I no longer require. So far this month I’ve sold an Apple …
21 April 2022: This is interesting: The streets have eyes, including the bit that says: One of the problems is the [facial recognition] software doesn’t …
20 April 2022: Aaargh, Candice Renoir quickly became one of my favourite shows on Acorn TV. Just finished Season 4 which ended with a major event! I know 8 seasons …
20 April 2022: I think I’ve realised why my Netatmo rain gauge sometimes stops working. At this time of year we get little rain. When I go to investigate the …
19 April 2022: I’m so much enjoying Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery. Only a couple of episodes left to watch and I’m having trouble not just bingeing …
19 April 2022: Breakfast time for Sasha. 🐶
18 April 2022: I’m especially fond of waterfalls and have just discovered: the New Zealand Waterfalls website. 🤩
17 April 2022: Sasha 🐶 very obligingly naps in the car while I water the front lawn of our rental property. We could do with some decent rain! Maybe Thursday will …
17 April 2022: I enjoyed Murder at Sugar Rush Beach (Detectives Preddy & Harris Book 3) by Paula Lennon 📚: Detective Preddy hoped for a quiet start to the new …
16 April 2022: Looked out the front door and spotted these two young pheasants moseying about. 🐦 They scurried off when they saw me though.
15 April 2022: I’ve been having a great Easter Friday, doing crosswords, watching videos, and during daylight, enjoying warm sun and fresh air. Also cooked Red …
15 April 2022: In case it’s useful for someone else — I wanted to be able to grab the title and URL of an article I was viewing in NetNewsWire and make a …
15 April 2022: I find recipes on the Internet then try out some of them. I’m forever converting measures of ingredients. This is useful and 🤯: Cooking Weights …
15 April 2022: Wow. This 10 minute video An Interview with a Professional Jump Roper is quite something. Sometimes Tori Boggs and her rope are both moving so fast I …
14 April 2022: The pre-dawn sky is delightful. Look east to see Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn. On the 24th the Moon will join in. Check Stellarium Web Online Star …
13 April 2022: Whew. Finished watching Season 1 of Bel Air. That was quite an ending! Side note: I can’t get over the absolute wealth on display. It’s …
13 April 2022: Update on Sasha 🐶. Her ultrasound today went well. Her liver looks like you’d expect for a 15 year old dog, with no evidence of tumours or …
12 April 2022: This seems to be a busy week — it’s rushing by. One of my errands today though was to get this year’s flu shot. ✔︎
11 April 2022: Sasha, 15 and a half 🐶, is on her way to the doggy dentist (ie the vet) this morning for tooth surgery so we took a precautionary photo…
10 April 2022: I enjoy this author’s books and this was no exception: Striking Range: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima 📚: Deputy Mattie and …
10 April 2022: En Pointe. South Island Pied Oystercatcher. 🐦
10 April 2022: We don’t often see starfish on our beach which doesn’t have the rockpools they may more usually be found in. This morning though I saw one …
09 April 2022: In February 2022 @patrickrhone linked to the Meat/Less newsletter course. I’d wanted to reduce the amount of meat I eat and took up one …
09 April 2022: Back in January of 2022 a huge branch from a 40 year old pine tree on a neighbour’s property fell down for no apparent reason. Last month they cut …
08 April 2022: New midwinter public holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand In the Northern hemisphere Christmas in December is a midwinter holiday, bringing hope and the renewal of the light when life is dark and cold. In the …
07 April 2022: The information switch The other day I was reading a book set on a cruise ship on the Rhine in Germany. At one point the characters did some interesting sightseeing tour and …
07 April 2022: Whiled away a day with Death of a Blogger: A Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mystery Novella by Dawn Brookes 📚: a gossip blogger joins a tour party with …
06 April 2022: I’m a bit ambivalent about Murder in Midwinter (Oxford Dog Walker Crime Thrillers Book 2) by Annie Dalton with Maria Dalton 📚. An interesting concept …
05 April 2022: It feels like it’s been forever since I took a healthy dog to the vet for routine stuff. 🐶 Sasha’s teeth need some attention, so …
05 April 2022: Interesting: Trying to Keep Aging Neurons Healthy and Growing: That set me on a tentative and then growing effort to become creative in the ways I …
05 April 2022: Unknown Baby Girl, a short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is very powerful. As always from this author, a superbly written story. Read for free …
04 April 2022: I enjoyed These Little Lies (Detective Inspector Siv Drummond Book 1) by Gretta Mulrooney 📚. A new police procedural series from a British author I …
04 April 2022: Deb, leaving for work, told me to get out of bed and look at the sunrise. it was worth it. 😎
03 April 2022: Deb and I enjoyed Dream Horse 🎬 : the true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by Welsh bartender Jan Vokes. With very little money …
03 April 2022: I like to do my beach walks at dawn, when the sun just catches the tips of the waves.
02 April 2022: We see some excellent sights from our lounge window, like the two Air Force Hercules aircraft that just flew past really low. Air Force marks 85 years …
02 April 2022: Another in a series I enjoy: Close to Death by Elizabeth Gunn 📚. Detective Sarah Burke is called out to a mass shooting in a quiet residential street …
02 April 2022: Scenes from this morning’s dawn walk.
02 April 2022: A hard but powerful read: This is How You Died | The Order of the Good Death: A physician who worked on the frontline during the Covid-19 pandemic …
01 April 2022: My first attempt at a Chocolate Mini Loaf Cake, which thought it was maybe a volcano! Tasted good though!
01 April 2022: I can’t believe how many times I need to correct a Post or Reply after publishing. Thank you so much @manton for making it easy to do that! 🙌🏼
01 April 2022: A big walk for Sasha 🐶 these days is to go all the way to the speedsigns, 500 metres away. On our early morning walk today we rounded a bend in the …
31 March 2022: Ready for some feelgood, with dogs? the dogs had to learn about 80 new behaviors before they [could] get their paws on the wheel of an actual car. … …
31 March 2022: An even better morning display today at 0644: low in the eastern sky a crescent Moon, right beside mighty Jupiter. Arrayed above them, Venus, Saturn …
30 March 2022: This is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s smallest birds, often heard but seldom seen. I got lucky a few months back. Riroriro, Grey Warbler 🐦 : Length: …
30 March 2022: I had Keen shoes that were new many years ago, were demoted to dog walking several years ago and finally to gardening. This year they fell to bits. …
30 March 2022: This is bizarre: it’s not quite 5 am, pitch dark and I’ve been hearing a loud motorbike roaring around for 5 minutes or more. They may be on the beach …
29 March 2022: I had low expectations for what turned out to be an excellent book. Murder on Port Meadow (Oxford Dog Walker Crime Thrillers Book 1) by Annie Dalton …
29 March 2022: Has Apple Maps always had this? Just today I discovered Guides, and that I can add places to a Guide I’ve created. Very handy for a trip to Palmerston …
29 March 2022: At 6 am I remembered Mars, Venus and Saturn were to be close together in the morning sky. I popped outside and found the Moon hanging out too. …
28 March 2022: I’ve been listening to and enjoying @Matti’s excellent podcasts, The Early Riser and The Puppycast. That’s probably why I found myself speaking into …
28 March 2022: Just experimented with Drafts transcribing a brief Voice Memo I made. Not bad at all. The hardest thing was getting the Voice Memo into Drafts. …
27 March 2022: I suppose articles like Escape from Kyiv are ten a penny just now. It moved me deeply though. And made me think about how NZ is so remote I …
27 March 2022: I’m not given to sharing Wordle results, but today’s was very unusual: Wordle 281 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
26 March 2022: Abandoned 40% through: A Deadly Course (Sugarbury Falls Mysteries Book 1) by Diane Weiner 📚. Amateur detectives leap to various conclusions. I think I …
26 March 2022: I abandoned Aged for Murder (A Tuscan Vineyard Cozy Mystery—Book 1) by Fiona Grace 📚 about 33% through. The write-up didn’t make clear …
26 March 2022: I quite enjoyed Murder Under the Palms (Detectives Preddy & Harris Book 2) by Paula Lennon 📚. It was a little slow though.
26 March 2022: I bought myself an autumn day treat while out and about this morning. A very delicious real fruit blackberry icecream cone at the nearby blueberry …
25 March 2022: Hah, remembering this day in 2020 when global Covid cases numbered less than 500,000.
25 March 2022: I don’t often listen to music but this morning I’ve been captivated by Deva Mahal. For example this just released All Your Ships Have …
24 March 2022: I’ve had this M1 MacBook Pro for over a year now. Today after 9 hours of use the battery has ‘already’ dropped to 50% charge from …
24 March 2022: Up, up, down, down. 🐦 Canada Geese, on the wing.
23 March 2022: These ring-necked pheasants are very common round here. They’re splendid birds, but also kind of incredible. That eye belongs in a cartoon. 🐦
23 March 2022: My new favourite — Shedunnit: a storytelling podcast that unravels the mysteries behind classic detective stories. I’ve listened to 3 episodes …
22 March 2022: We see Kingfishers around here quite often — usually in the garden. I didn’t really expect to see this little one on the beach yesterday. 🐦 …
21 March 2022: I spent an age today making a Big List of Waikawa Beach Birds. Counting only live birds, not those washed up on the beach, there are over 50! 🐦
21 March 2022: These Rock pigeons, although common everywhere, are actually not that easy to find at Waikawa Beach. 🐦 I first spotted them a few months ago, but it …
21 March 2022: This spammer failed to trick the detection engines by using these intriguing font forms. However, I do like the overall look. Must have been a big job …
21 March 2022: These two annoyingly distant Spur-winged Plovers were at the beach this morning. I’ve been wanting to get photos of them, but am a bit …
21 March 2022: A few small shakes overnight, 2 very close and shallow 〰️: Sun Mar 20 2022 8:28 PM: 15 km south-east of Seddon; M4.5; Depth: 10 km. Sun Mar 20 2022 …
21 March 2022: My good friend, neighbour and no relation, Dr Jan Jordan, has just published a huge book she’s been working on for several years: Women, Rape …
20 March 2022: I was never really very fond of gulls, but I’m coming to quite like the ones at Waikawa Beach. Tarapunga, Red-billed gull. 🐦
19 March 2022: The Kuaka, Godwits were being very obliging this morning.
19 March 2022: I really enjoyed The Girl Who Killed You (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 3) by Amy Vansant 📚: Shee quickly tracks [a missing] boy to a …
19 March 2022: Waikawa Beach at 9 am on a cool, clear, sunny, still morning. Paradise.
18 March 2022: After completely draining the batteries on my original Airpods and case as a problem solving step (I hope), today I thought it’d be good to run …
17 March 2022: Sasha getting back to basics. 🐶
17 March 2022: Some kind of spacecraft launching gantry? No. Pouring concrete at the new subdivision, starting an hour+ before sunrise at 6 am! Photo at 7 am, just …
16 March 2022: This is now my official preferred scrambled egg dish: Soft Scrambled Japanese Tamago Rice Bowl. Totally yum!
16 March 2022: The garden shop down the road has had Cabbage Trees on sale for a while now. I’ve already planted 14 in various spots but today I bought another 7 and …
15 March 2022: In the next-door-paddock-but-one the farmer grows corn or maize. Today was harvesting day. One machine harvested the maize and blew it through a chute …
15 March 2022: Another really good read in the Goodbye series: Goodbye Lake Street by Anne Shillolo 📚: Police and a secret group of citizen investigators are locked …
14 March 2022: OK. A] Add a video to Micro.Blog: click the upload button, write text, Post. 👍 B] Add a video to a static blog via Publii: log in to YouTube, upload …
14 March 2022: The public toilets at Waikawa Beach were built around 50 or 60 years ago. They’re now in a state of decay. Today builders started demolishing …
14 March 2022: This morning on the beach I was lucky enough to get a decent shot of this Tuturiwhatu, Banded dotterel 🐦: Length: 20 cm; Weight: 60 g A small compact …
13 March 2022: Someone recently was asking about women podcasters (unless I imagined that…). Here are two that are utterly superb: The Happiness Lab Podcast with …
13 March 2022: Two photos from a couple of days ago of a Kawau, Pied Shag at the beach. 🐦 Length: 65 - 85 cm; Weight: 1.3 - 2.1 kg; A large, relatively slim …shag … …
13 March 2022: This new channel was an instant subscribe: MinuteFood: MinuteFood serves up the science of what we cook, eat, and drink - all with the goal of …
13 March 2022: Many thanks to all those who worked so hard to bring us Micro Camp, and to all the presenters and those who joined in the chats etc. It was excellent!
13 March 2022: Proof that space and time are the same thing. 😆 Referring to the Micro camp online sessions I said I like the space between them. What I meant was the …
12 March 2022: On 03 March 2022 we had turf laid at the rental property we own. It must be watered daily. That water comes from a roughly 9,000 litre rainwater tank …
12 March 2022: About 5 Km away is an organic Blueberry Farm that also has olive trees and makes award winning olive oil. This morning I stopped there and bought oil, …
11 March 2022: A new favourite photo: a Kuaka Godwit at the edge of the sea today. 🐦
10 March 2022: A View to Die For by Cheri Baker 📚: When a wealthy painter is murdered at the luxurious Londonian hotel, Paul and his new partner Andrew Kim take on …
10 March 2022: Me: I wonder if I can Base64 encode text somehow on my Mac? Keyboard Maestro: I got you with one click: manual:Filters [Keyboard Maestro Wiki]. Of …
10 March 2022: Sasha was groomed yesterday. Here she is eating dinner. 😀 🐶
09 March 2022: I avoid driving my car because a] CO2 and b] petrol costs. Today I put 2/3 of a tank in: ~40 litres for almost NZ$120. The price is hovering round $3 …
09 March 2022: I’d love to see this as a movie! Great article! How Death Positive Women Kickstarted a Civil War: By October [1846 in Portugal], two …
09 March 2022: I think I’ll be watching this. It looks fun. Apollo 10 1/2 📺
08 March 2022: Before I could plant these 3 cabbage trees I spent a couple of hours over several days digging out lupins, gorse and blackberry, weedeating, gathering …
07 March 2022: Sometime I want to bike along this trail myself. Really interesting article today: Lake Dunstan Trail: 55,000 more riders than expected in first year. …
06 March 2022: Busy day but it started with a dawn beach walk and an encounter with Taranui, Caspian terns. 🐦
05 March 2022: Only 2.5 minutes in on this 12 minute video and I’ve already learned a really useful tip about longer night exposures. How to capture the night …
05 March 2022: It’s roughly new moon, very little wind, and a 0.3 metre low tide almost 2 hours before this photo. With our gently sloping beach there was a vast …
04 March 2022: I almost missed seeing this brilliant scarlet sunset.
04 March 2022: This is a very thoughtful piece by Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Spinoff : Aotearoa is different now who reflects on the recent occupation of NZ’s …
04 March 2022: Enjoyed Broken Places (A Cass Raines Mystery Book 1) by Tracy Clark 📚: Cass Raines took a bullet in the line of duty… Now, the Chicago PD has one …
03 March 2022: 6 years ago we bought a property we’ve been renting out. The grass at the front was terrible. After a year or two we had it taken out and …
02 March 2022: The other day I found several jellyfish on the beach, mainly brown and dead looking. This 15 cm specimen was an impressive translucent red. The …
02 March 2022: Some of the (male) illegal occupiers are berating Police for advancing when there are women and children in the protest. Well, a] women can look after …
02 March 2022: At long last Police seem to be actually working on clearing the occupiers at NZ’s Parliament: Live: Anti-mandate protest enters 23rd day as …
01 March 2022: Sometimes folks fish off the beach with a kontiki — a motorised thing that takes hooks and lines up to 4 Km. Today a fellow had rods and reels set up …
01 March 2022: This is an amazing thing. Not sure I’d be brave enough to do this ‘walk’ in Fife, in the south-east of Scotland: The Elie Chainwalk …
28 February 2022: The Carrot & Coriander Soup I made tonight was delicious and really easy and quick. Next time I may try adding just a hint of ginger. Forgot a …
28 February 2022: Sometimes Sasha likes to rearrange the rugs and towels in her crate. 🐶 Today things went a bit awry… until I finally gave her a hand to sort it out. …
28 February 2022: Sand scarab 1: “Man, I was so drunk last night I nearly forgot the way home.” Sand scarab 2: “You were drunk… It took me 3 hours just to get in the …
27 February 2022: Sasha 🐶 enjoyed being one of the humans when we went with friends to Tuktuk Waikanae for Thai food lunch. Top down isn’t my preferred angle for …
26 February 2022: Swallows nest above the door to Deb’s zendo. Today we took the nests down (and won’t let them return) and cleaned masses of bird poop off …
25 February 2022: Gotta say: way back in the mists of time I enjoyed watching Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Which led me to watch the currently screening …
25 February 2022: Wowee, this was so delicious I didn’t think to take a photo. Quick and easy too: 20-Minute Chickpea Soup. Yum!
25 February 2022: In normal life I weedeated around the raspberry canes, as well as other spots. In abnormal life, NZ’s Covid case numbers doubled for the second …
24 February 2022: I think my immediate dislike of the narrator got me off to a bad start. I so much wanted to like this Australian book 📚 but it just kind of annoyed …
24 February 2022: After a rest I planted the other 4 cabbage trees. Now I just hope they actually grow.
24 February 2022: The other day I bought 7 cabbage tree plants at $3 each. Mostly they looked a bit sickly which is probably why they were so cheap. Today so far …
24 February 2022: This 40 minute podcast episode is seriously interesting for anyone who uses written English: Why Does the Letter “A” Look That Way?: …
23 February 2022: The mistakes we learn from: if a plant will get wide, plant it further from the border. A few years ago I planted flax bushes along the drive. I …
23 February 2022: Aha, learned something: Overwintering Parks in New Zealand | The Butterfly Musketeers 🦋: The overwintering stage in New Zealand starts in April or …
22 February 2022: Love this: Scientists Attached Tracking Devices to Magpies 🐦: Within 10 minutes … we witnessed an adult female … trying to remove the harness off of …
22 February 2022: Finally refreshed the straw and shavings in the front part of the quail run. 🐦 Put the soiled straw round nearby vege garden. Trimmed back flax plant …
22 February 2022: This is a very informative article: The Wellington protest is testing police independence and public tolerance – are there lessons from Canada’s …
21 February 2022: As usual, our load of firewood had a few bits that would be unlikely to fit in our woodburner. In the past I’ve chopped them up with an axe …
20 February 2022: I very much enjoyed Murder in Montego Bay (Detectives Preddy & Harris Book 1) by Paula Lennon 📚. Set in Jamaica and featuring Jamaican dialect was …
20 February 2022: OK, that’s some heavy rain right there.
19 February 2022: We live at Waikawa Beach. Travel to the two closest centres, Ōtaki and Levin, means using State Highway 1. There is no alternative. That stretch of …
19 February 2022: Folks have rights: get drunk drive vehicles smoke work in an office remain unvaxed work in proximity with other humans and responsibilities to obey …
19 February 2022: After Oshi 🐶 died I spent heaps of time going through my Photo Library finding and labelling photos of him. Then I created an album of …
18 February 2022: No photo, but today for the first and maybe only time in my life I came across a Briard 🐶: a French breed of large shepherd dog, traditionally used …
18 February 2022: This little 4 minute silent video is so powerful and thought-provoking: When the Giant Cruise Ships Came to Town: The [cruise ships] that pull into …
17 February 2022: I enoyed Safe (Merrow & Clarke Book 1) by Jane Adams 📚, though the frequently mentioned Organised Crime Gang torture was a hard read. Now 17 year …
17 February 2022: Yesterday + 2.25 hours work = today.
16 February 2022: Big congrats today to Dylan and Jeremy: NZ duo involved in music for major Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer: New Zealanders Jeremy …
15 February 2022: Weird that while Sasha was sick she didn’t snore. 🐶 Now she’s better she’s back, full throttle. Maybe she’s more relaxed now…
15 February 2022: Finished Straight Up (A Ruby Steele Mystery—Book 4) by Mia Gold 📚. I quite enjoyed it but there are things that strain credulity. [on a group …
15 February 2022: Pleasing dog news 🐶 : Sasha’s eye ulcer is almost healed. Some vascularisation that would worry the vet in another dog, but since Sasha’s …
14 February 2022: I tend to see ngutupapa, Royal Spoonbills on the beach solitary, in pairs or even three at a time. Today is the first time I’ve seen a flock of …
14 February 2022: I wonder why four military helicopters are flying south in formation? Going to help clear protesters overstaying their visit to Parliament?
13 February 2022: Cancelling the reservations I made for the bike tour in April. I just don’t want to do that any more. I may instead do some random …
13 February 2022: Many thanks to @cheri for the excellent idea of delaying the birthday I’m not in the mood for! I’ve made myself an IOU. I feel better …
13 February 2022: I slept an unbelievable 10 unbroken hours last night! Didn’t even have to get up to pee. Hope I’m not sick… 7 hours or less is more usual …
12 February 2022: Birthdays aren’t really a big thing for me but I’ve never felt less inspired by one (soon) than this year. I guess there’s a few …
12 February 2022: It’s a rainy Saturday and my wonderful partner made delicious pikelets. Yumm!
12 February 2022: The very essence of Kiwi: while the French police are readying water cannons against protestors our police are deploying lawn sprinklers to get …
12 February 2022: While I enjoyed the first 2 books in the series this third one just didn’t gel with me. Too Close to Kill (Detective Sarah Burke mystery and …
11 February 2022: Friends gave us a Leptospermum scoparium Red Damask as a remembrance of Oshi 🐶. Today I planted it on ‘Cemetery Hill’, a hillock where the …
10 February 2022: Sigh. Hundreds of times over the last x years, lift Apple Watch say: “Hey Siri, set timer [x] minutes”. Siri sets timer. Today: “Hey …
10 February 2022: Today more than 56,000 people received Covid booster shots while up to a couple of thousand protestors opposed to “Covid–19 vaccine …
09 February 2022: Crunch, crunch, crunch. 🐶
08 February 2022: The vet’s pleased with how Sasha’s 🐶 sore eye is coming along and we continue with drops. We’re now also giving Gabapentin for …
08 February 2022: Someone had fun writing this headline and teaser. Filling the big hole in Wairoa’s dental service
07 February 2022: I’m working back through my photo library finding all my photos of Sasha and Oshi and labelling them. The further back I get, the worse the …
07 February 2022: 31 December 2009. “Yes, quite comfortable, thank you. Why do you ask?” 🐶
07 February 2022: Heard a snippet of this then sought it out. Magnificent! Prefer it to the song! Leonard Cohen … poetic reading of Simon’s “Sound Of Silence.” The …
06 February 2022: I enjoyed Death by the Thames (Tyrone Swift Detective Book 9) by Gretta Mulrooney 📚: Respectable, dull Sam Goddard is found dead in the River Thames …
06 February 2022: Suffer insomnia? Sasha’s 🐶 proven tips for best sleeping position. January 2014 and February 2022 — proof of effectiveness.
06 February 2022: As I work through my photo library I find photos typical of Oshi 🐶. They make me feel fond and happy, rather than sad. He loved to roll around, …
05 February 2022: I was towelling Sasha 🐶 off after her last pee in today’s pouring rain — she’s so good and reluctantly lets me do it. When Oshi was here …
05 February 2022: This sticker I spotted on a car in 2016 gave me a laugh just now as I work though my Photo Library labelling photos of Sasha and Oshi.
05 February 2022: Love it! Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett with “Mama’s Rap” (1989). Fabulous!
04 February 2022: First time Sasha 🐶 has been home completely alone: 2.5 hours this evening. I shouldn’t have left her. 😒 Poor thing must have been ultra …
04 February 2022: I think we won’t need to water the garden this weekend. 💦
03 February 2022: And to keep our run of vet visits going, today we took Sasha in for what Mary the vet thinks is a “Melting Ulcer” on Sasha’s left …
03 February 2022: Thank you so much to the many many people who sent well wishes for Oshi 🐶 and to us. I really appreciate that I have Micro.Blog pals around the world …
03 February 2022: I firmly believe publication to be an essential step in the proofreading process…
03 February 2022: It’s new Monarch Butterfly day. The chrysalises are hatching. Life goes on. 🦋
03 February 2022: Stories of Oshi One day in February 2007 I had a brief errand in Ngauranga Gorge. Deb decided to come with me but wanted me to drop her off at the Animates pet store. …
02 February 2022: When we saw Oshi 🐶 this afternoon he was benefiting from heavy duty pain relief for his total kidney failure. I’m not sure he recognised us but …
01 February 2022: Thanks to the 36 people who joined in on my little Daylight Poll the other day. It was fun to learn that my day length in Waikawa Beach, Aotearoa New …
01 February 2022: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 58 Manga Pirau Street. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 176 m2 floor, 985 m2 Land.
01 February 2022: Tundra Courage by Brenda Bowie Wise 📚: While on a village trip to watch her students demonstrate their [nursing] skills, Meara encounters a victim of …
01 February 2022: Oshi 🐶 update: he didn’t improve since yesterday’s vet visit. Now he’s at the vet for an overnight stay with monitoring, tests, …
31 January 2022: Oshi 🐶 update: he’s had pain relief, anti-nausea shot and if he’s not a great deal better by tomorrow he’ll have a hospital visit …
31 January 2022: Things you realise too late: after Mary the vet ascertained Oshi 🐶 needed to poop I should have taken him to the dog park for 10 minutes rather than …
30 January 2022: Our 15 year old dog Oshi has always loved food. 🐶 For the last 2 or 3 days though I’ve been coaxing him to eat, with almost no success. …
30 January 2022: Deb and I have been watching some Acorn TV together. Vera’s great but can be so sad. Agatha Raisin was lightweight fun as was Queens of Mystery. …
30 January 2022: Seems I bought this 📚 7 years ago but only just finished reading Innocent in Las Vegas (Tiffany Black Mysteries Book 1). Tiffany Black is determined …
29 January 2022: When Canada Geese, Oystercatchers or Pied Stilts fly over you know all about it, thanks to the racket they make. 🐦 With other birds you hear the …
28 January 2022: It's a while since I read others in this series so the style of Murder in Pembrokeshire (Tyrone Swift Detective Book 8) by Gretta Mulrooney was a …
28 January 2022: New fave TV quote. Legends of Tomorrow S07E10, ~20 minutes in: Sarah: I always used to know what the next move was, now … I don’t know, …
28 January 2022: Having trouble with my posts taking ages to show up on the timeline — for example, one from 2022-01-28 9:13 am hasn’t shown up while other folks …
28 January 2022: Quick poll of Micro.Bloggers, with my answers: where are you? (Waikawa Beach, Aotearoa New Zealand) date? 28 January 2022 sunrise? 06:22 sunset? …
27 January 2022: Today’s discovery: a 2012 Māori language scifi book — Ngā Waituhi o Rēhua by Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira. 📚 4 teenagers live on Rēhua, a planet …
27 January 2022: It was pretty nice this morning at sunrise.
27 January 2022: The Wow Waikawa! Photo Fest: community and heart Last year I devised a community event called the Wow Waikawa! Photo Fest and asked a friend to help organise it. Today I submitted the final project …
26 January 2022: New Zealand retains top spot in global anti-corruption rankings Good to see: The 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index released by global anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International, ranks New Zealand …
25 January 2022: The amazing Kuaka, Godwit flies between Aotearoa New Zealand and the Arctic every year to feed and breed. 🐦 They are a similar size to the more …
24 January 2022: Enjoyed very much: Murder Across the Lines (Warwick & Bell Crime Mysteries Book 2) by Janice Frost. 📚 At a busy crossing in Lincoln city a …
24 January 2022: Our dog Sasha, who’s 15, is pretty much blind. 🐶 She does not approve of the massive rearrangement of the furniture. What’s more I’m …
24 January 2022: It’s ~6 years since we moved to Waikawa Beach and yesterday we finally achieved the ‘right’ arrangement of furniture in the living …
24 January 2022: Another in an excellent series: Goodbye Haldane Hill (A DC Holly Towns Murder Mystery) by Anne Shillolo. 📚 the body of a young woman in Haldane Hill …
23 January 2022: Sasha was a reluctant participant in this selfie. 🐶
22 January 2022: Came across this photo of Harriette the Fox Terrier from back in 2004 when she was about 14. Taken at the top of Mt Victoria, Matairangi, in …
22 January 2022: The other day I took photos of a Karoro, Southern black-backed gull as it flew by. Hand held. Pretty pleased with the results. 🐦 Black-backed gulls …
21 January 2022: Dr Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford does excellent monthly night sky updates. She includes how the sky will look for us …
21 January 2022: Excellent article: Love letter to the electric bike 🚴🏼♀️: New Zealand imports of new e-bikes … are on track to outstrip imports of new cars. For …
20 January 2022: This is a really interesting 30 minute video about concussion — Why I stopped watching football: I discovered so many awful truths about football …
20 January 2022: This is a learning site I want to explore more: BBC Bitesize. For example, my Physics education was over 50 years ago and I suspect things have …
19 January 2022: I really enjoyed At Close Range (Detective Sarah Burke Book 2) by Elizabeth Gunn. 📚 … a double homicide in a rich neighborhood. While the property …
19 January 2022: Eating oneself out of house and home… The multitudinous Monarch caterpillars have stripped every leaf from the Swan Plants and now, in desperation, …
18 January 2022: Tonga may not get comms back any time soon: Tonga’s undersea cable could take weeks to repair: The cable carries … internet and phone …
18 January 2022: Tonga is tiny islands in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. It’s no surprise that a huge volcanic eruption on the doorstep of the capital cut …
17 January 2022: Many thanks to Batch Resize Images Quickly in the OS X Terminal for giving me a quick and perfectly adequate way to make thumbnails for a web page …
17 January 2022: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 75 Strathnaver Drive; Offers over $849,000; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 95m2 floor area, 8794m2 land area, 2 garages.
17 January 2022: I haven’t spotted any Pukeko at the lakes recently so was glad to see a couple at sunrise today. 🐦
16 January 2022: Fiji to Tonga is 800 Km! Turn up the volume and watch this video clip of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption as heard in Fiji. Must …
16 January 2022: It seems the Hunga eruption in Tonga was a one-in–1000-year event: Radiocarbon dating suggested one major eruption of this scale occurred about …
16 January 2022: I very much enjoyed the Swedish book Still Waters (Sandhamn Murders Book 1) by Viveca Sten (Author), Marlaine Delargy (Translator) 📚 On a hot July …
15 January 2022: Watch these videos at Stunning satellite animations of extremely powerful volcanic eruption in Tonga. That’s amazing stuff. Hunga Tonga-Hunga …
15 January 2022: What’s that repeated thumping / booming we asked one another as we ate dinner outside. It sounded like maybe the army shelling nearby. The …
15 January 2022: Kee-yah!
15 January 2022: On our Swan Plants some Monarch caterpillars are thriving. Meanwhile, the gory scene in the second photo shows a Paper Wasp devouring a young …
14 January 2022: This proved very handy today when I had 32 photos to deal with: Create a Contact Sheet of Thumbnails with Automator in Mac OS X. Slightly outdated, …
14 January 2022: How lucky was I to get this shot of a Greenfinch on a moving flax spear! The flax spear was waving around all over the place, yet on this one shot the …
13 January 2022: I know others have felt unwell for a day after their Covid booster. I’m not quite up to par after yesterday’s jab, but it’s mainly …
13 January 2022: Murder mystery with a huge helping of travel writing: Destination: Maui (Destination Murder Mysteries Book 1) by Ann Shepphird. 📚 I liked it well …
13 January 2022: I borrowed on paper from the Library Backyard Bird Photography: How to Attract Birds to Your Home and Create Beautiful Photographs, 2014, by Mathew …
13 January 2022: Wow, this 28 minute film is entrancing: Hargila 🐦 : Through the efforts of a remarkable conservation leader, Dr. Purnima Devi Barman … the …
12 January 2022: As all us ‘rich’ folks get Covid jabs 1, 2 and 3, The World Health Organisation now says that Africa (the entire continent of 1.3 …
12 January 2022: Covid boosted. 💉
12 January 2022: If you enjoy reading mystery stories by excellent authors then you may be interested in Make 100 Mystery Stories: Crimes Collide: 100 Mystery Short …
11 January 2022: Little Yellowhammer on a flax spear, singin' away!
11 January 2022: Errands in Levin today. As we drove north past the consecutive rail and river bridges and round a bend we passed a petrol tanker stationary on the …
11 January 2022: It’s a year since I ordered my M1 MacBook Pro. I was worried about moving from a 15“ to a 13” screen. Took me forever to get used to …
10 January 2022: Having recently bought mini loaf tins I thought I should actually use them. Found and cooked this: Mini Gingerbread Loaf for Two. It was delicious! …
10 January 2022: I’ve seen a few Spur-winged plovers around recently but haven’t had a chance to take a photo of them yet. This picture from October 2018 …
10 January 2022: For sale: 10 Arthur Street, Waikawa Beach: Offers Over $709,000; 2 bedrooms; 1 bathroom; 70m2 floor area; 809m2 land area.
09 January 2022: Interesting: Risk of Death For Female Patients Is Much Higher if Surgeon Is a Man, Study Reveals. It’d be interesting to know data for …
09 January 2022: Sometimes I try reading romance, but it’s unsatisfying like when hot chocolate is all froth… When Love Wins by Sherryl Hancock. 📚 Tyler has …
09 January 2022: This photo from February 2020 turns out the be the only one I have of a Goldfinch. 😒 Poor little mite flew into our window and was stunned. 🐦 Need to …
08 January 2022: So pleased with my new zoom lens. Juvenile Starling on a flax spear; rabbit on the grass.
08 January 2022: Hey @g see how you get on with this Applescript you asked for. Copy the contents into Script Editor and see if it works for what you want. I bet …
08 January 2022: I chose dawn today to bike round the village. Slightly chilly but perfect conditions, with no wind. The river was super low, despite it being 2 hours …
07 January 2022: Enjoyed, in spite of numerous typos: Unknown Victim (Gina Santoro Mysteries Book 1) by Kay Hadashi. 📚 Rookie Police Officer Gina Santoro … makes a …
07 January 2022: Last night I met that rare and elusive beast, 8 hours good sleep. 😴 It’s life-changing! 💪🏼
06 January 2022: I got lucky today: Wordle 200 3/6 🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
05 January 2022: Tonight we visited our weekender neighbours. Amy, the vet assistant, brought Doodlebug, the rescue guinea pig to the beach for a holiday. I got a …
05 January 2022: Oh my! ❤️🔥Katharine Hepburn as a boy in 1935’s Sylvia Scarlett 🎥: as she chops off her hair she declares, “I won’t be a girl. I won’t be weak, …
05 January 2022: Some folks are so desperate to get their vehicles onto the beach they’ll even drive through a high tide.
05 January 2022: Well, today I achieved variety, with breakfast anyway. Someone accidentally switched the locations of ground chilli and cinnamon in the pantry and I …
05 January 2022: This morning we’re heading out to a Waikanae Estuary Bird Tour. It’s only a 40 minute drive south. Mik will show you where to find …
05 January 2022: I wasn’t entirely sure about Close to Her (Detective Sarah Burke mystery and suspense Book 1) by Elizabeth Gunn at first. Then I loved it and am …
04 January 2022: Today I kayaked 2 Km upriver. It was sunny and peaceful. After watching some ‘how to paddle’ videos I think my paddling technique has …
03 January 2022: I’m learning a heap of useful info from the free videos from The Cornell Lab Bird Academy. Here’s one example: Inside Birding: Size & …
03 January 2022: I have a huge job ahead of me over the next unknown amount of time. I’ve been very poor at labelling the photos in my Apple Photos.app …
02 January 2022: With temps in the high 20sC we took the for us unusual step of going down to the beach for a “swim”. For me that means jumping over waves. …
02 January 2022: It was a perfect sunset last night. I found I could even see the Makara Wind Farm (via binoculars) some 100 Km away. In the third photo most of the …
01 January 2022: I love that BBEdit can compare documents and I can selectively copy text between windows.
01 January 2022: I have a lot to learn about taking photos of shags in trees. Just look at this dork though! 😆 🐦 Try zooming in.
01 January 2022: This is for @Cheri. Deb and I both looked at this Facebook Post and couldn’t figure out at first why someone wanted to give away half a bathroom …
01 January 2022: I don’t post my daily selfies, but did on 01 January 2021. So here’s my New Year’s Day 2022 selfie. 😀 On the beach at dawn, waiting for sunrise to see …
31 December 2021: I don’t do reviews, resolutions or plans these days — not sure I ever did really anyway. But this evening the thought popped into my head that I …
31 December 2021: Every year a local couple mount a huge display of Christmas Lights on their house. The lights tell a story as Santa and elves move around delivering …
31 December 2021: Initial results of my new zoom lens are very pleasing. Two different Oystercatcher chicks at the beach. 🐦
31 December 2021: I hadn’t realised just how ginormous my new zoom lens is compared to the old. Camera: Fuji X-T2. Old lens: Fujifilm XC 50–230mm …
30 December 2021: Trip to Wellington today. Photo of the Wellington waterfront on a nice summer’s day from a 9th floor apartment on Oriental Bay.
30 December 2021: Haere rā, e hoa. RIP, Alana.
29 December 2021: Hmmm, this book didn’t quite gel with me: Nookie (Alex Dixon Humorous Mysteries Book 1) by Katrina Kyle. 📚 Alex Dixon has problems. …
29 December 2021: For a while now I’ve been eying up the Fujifilm XF 100–400mm F4.5–5.6 lens to attach to my Fuji X-T2 camera. I was planning on …
28 December 2021: Out of nowhere the other day, I wondered what a Mint Julep tasted like. I don’t drink alcohol so made a Virgin Mint Julep. It was easy and …
28 December 2021: The other day on a whim I bought a couple of mini loaf tins. Today I baked White Bread Mini Yeast Loaf. I brushed on egg white to make a shiny crust. …
27 December 2021: Today I noticed the Australian coots on our nearby little lake have babies. 🐦 When I arrived with my camera they hurried off, but a couple of …
27 December 2021: A very useful read: 😀 Baking and baked goods are a perennial source of US/UK miscommunication—in large part because most of our current baking/eating …
27 December 2021: Yesterday I learned a good lesson about getting the right light for photos of birds on a lake. 🐦 I went back in the afternoon and managed to …
26 December 2021: At the lake this morning, I was unsuccessful in my attempts to take a good photo of the New Zealand Dabchick. I did manage to capture a photo of the …
26 December 2021: The introduced Green and Golden Bell Frogs down at the lake this morning were making a racket: Waaaahhhhh woof woof. 🐸
25 December 2021: The Oystercatchers were protecting eggs recently. Now we have a fluffy grey baby to watch out for! 🐦
25 December 2021: Caught in the act! This Banded Dotterel, Tuturiwhatu, found something yummy! 🐦
25 December 2021: Many beach birds are quite big really: Gulls, Terns Oystercatchers, Pied Stilts. The ‘nationally vulnerable’ Tuturiwhatu or Banded …
25 December 2021: Royal Spoonbill, feeding, flanked by two Pied Stilts, with a Black-backed Gull in the background. 🐦
25 December 2021: Merry Christmas, folks. At 7.30 am the beach was for the birds, including this group of Black Swans. Can you spot the odd one out — the …
24 December 2021: It’s so trivial, but this “Enter This Side” sign at the store’s exit, irritates me every time. Unless they consider …
23 December 2021: Remembering Alana Bowman. RIP.
23 December 2021: Word's out about the railing! Today a Warou, Welcome Swallow, opted for the full photo shoot, even including the over-the-shoulder pose! 🐦 …
23 December 2021: Vehicles on the beach is a hot topic where I live, so this is interesting: Vehicle access to popular Auckland beach to close over holidays A permit …
23 December 2021: We seem to have our very own house Sparrow. This little cutie likes to sit on the railing outside the east door to our deck from the lounge and either …
22 December 2021: Noone tends the grass verges along our private lane but I hate when they get too overgrown, so today I tidied things a bit with the weedeater. An …
21 December 2021: Today the farmer came and picked up the bales of hay. That was a two tractor job.
21 December 2021: This is cool. 5.5 minute video. Folks who write detective fic with high tech elements would like this. Comes under Linguistics! Hidden background …
21 December 2021: A couple of days ago the farmer next door mowed the cow paddock. Later he came back with his tractor and spinner to flip the grass and rake it into …
20 December 2021: Every single time I use Regular Expressions in BBEdit I just want to shout out my joy! Before and after screenshots.
19 December 2021: Today I made Courgette frittatas for breakfast. They were pretty good. Fresh courgettes from the tunnel house and a very small stick of finely chopped …
19 December 2021: In the last 2 weeks we’ve had almost 200 mm rain (over 7 inches), and variously heat, high winds from several quarters, still days, cool grey …
18 December 2021: The Royal Spoonbill was also a little wind-ruffled, while at least one of the nearby ducks was keeping a close watch on me.
18 December 2021: Annoying: I put my bike on its side stand so I could take photos of a Royal Spoonbill at the lake. A big gust of wind blew my bike over (it’s …
18 December 2021: Rats! Apple Watch Locking: Other issues that can impact sensor performance include wrist tattoos. Thanks to an inconvenient mosquito bite overnight …
17 December 2021: My friend Alana, and fellow Xena fan, gave me this fridge magnet many many years ago. Alana is very much in my thoughts at the moment.
16 December 2021: That was a cool little 20 minute film: Little Miss Sumo. It’s worth a watch (Netflix) 🎬: The premise revolves around the 20-year-old sumo …
16 December 2021: I’m glad these girls get to expand horizons: When I first came to New Zealand, I didn’t know what sport was …because I’m a …
16 December 2021: Uh oh: Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield has confirmed the country’s first case of the Omicron variant has been found at a MIQ …
16 December 2021: Hooray for the NZ Invertebrate ID group on Facebook. I now know this insect is a Bush gadfly (Scaptia adrel). It was hanging out on the wall of our …
16 December 2021: I have two Japanese quail. Today, less than 2 Km from our house, I spotted a not-very-often-seen-round-here California Quail. 🐦 Pretty …
15 December 2021: I enjoyed A Mumbai Murder Mystery by Meeti Shroff-Shah. 📚 Some great turns of phrase, insight into a culture I’m not familiar with. So much food …
15 December 2021: This was long overdue but today I finally took all the dirty straw out of the quail run and added fresh straw and pine shavings. 🐦 That all …
14 December 2021: Some publishers use a service that detects which Amazon Store a newsletter reader might want to use and sends me incorrectly to Amazon Australia when …
14 December 2021: Love this music! Dufay is famous for being the first really major Renaissance composer and breaking from the medieval traditions, … his isorhythmic …
13 December 2021: Oshi, 🐶 aged 15, is arthritic, has a heart murmur and doesn’t see so well. He can now walk ~500 metres max, and still enjoys peeing on …
13 December 2021: Sasha, 🐶 aged 15, is pretty much blind and almost deaf, arthritic and has weak legs. I have to lift her up and down steps, on and off the bed. Her …
13 December 2021: Sasha and Oshi turn 15 today! 🎉 They had some extra treats in their breakfast. Here are some silly birthday photos. 😀
13 December 2021: Happily noted: Nichelle Nichols played the role of Nyota Uhura on Star Trek: The Original Series. 🖖🏼 Recently, Astronaut Appearance …
12 December 2021: From a couple of days ago: Thrush on a fence post.
11 December 2021: I enjoy Anne Shillolo’s Port Alma mysteries very much. Unfortunately, I found Frozen Fear, part of a different series, somewhat annoying. I …
11 December 2021: Peekaboo. Cloud over the Tararuas.
11 December 2021: At the start of this week we had almost 100 mm rain over 2 or 3 days, with associated flooding around the place. Now there’s another 100 mm …
10 December 2021: The Welcome Swallow, on the other hand, just seemed inscrutable.
10 December 2021: This waxeye on the flax spear was a bit grumpy looking.
10 December 2021: This little Yellowhammer was also busy singing out loud on a flax bush yesterday. 🐦
09 December 2021: A late afternoon songster, this European greenfinch. 🐦 😀
09 December 2021: Time flies! Thought I should get ready to be able to easily type 2023 now we’re soon to be in 2022. Found my TextExpander snippet of y3 still …
08 December 2021: It was time to replace lamp and filters on our Puretec HYBRID-G9 UV water treatment unit. I watched a maintenance video and noted 35 steps then took …
08 December 2021: We had 100 mm rain (4 inches) in the last 2–3 days. I’ve written about it with photos on the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association blog: A …
07 December 2021: With all the rain the last couple of days this wild baby rabbit found a sheltered spot under the overhang of the quail palace roof. Handy nibbles …
06 December 2021: I went out when it wasn’t raining quite so hard to check on things in this area. There was heaps more rain in the mountains than here so the …
06 December 2021: This boy Oshi 🐶 has no manners — he barges in, pushes himself around, generally has no regard for anyone else. Except when he’s on my bed. Then …
06 December 2021: I’m finding the Publii documentation to be excellent. Clear, well laid out, comprehensive.
05 December 2021: I’m giving Publii a try, with good results so far: Publii is an open-source static site generator for every skill level, from beginner to …
05 December 2021: Yesterday a starling flew right in through the open door and fetched up in the corner of the kitchen. It was not happy. It looked like it could …
05 December 2021: The forecast is for a heap of rain in the next few days. We’ll see how much actually arrives. At least it’ll help fill the water tank.
04 December 2021: I recently took a deep breath and bought an iPhone 13 Pro Max. Then I wanted to protect it properly with a leather sleeve. After some missteps I …
03 December 2021: There are days when the sea is so calm I could be enjoying a tropical Pacific atoll. Very soothing!
03 December 2021: I made a smart choice today: was boiling with rage about something going on locally, selected an appropriate person to chat with about it. She cooled …
02 December 2021: XKCD’s Edge Cake is particularly excellent. For those who don’t know: hover to get additional text.
02 December 2021: Love, love, love the “dog who looks like Patrick Stewart”: Dogs That Look Like Celebrities 🖖🏼
02 December 2021: Ever since I discovered the New York Times Acrostic I’ve been doing one per day, starting with the first in the archive. Sadly, that binge means …
01 December 2021: Your place or mine?
01 December 2021: For Sale: 38 Manga Pirau Street, Waikawa Beach: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 80m2 floor area, 809m2 land area.
30 November 2021: Yet another brilliant animated cartoon-style explainer (maybe 30 seconds) — this time about Antimicrobial Resistance from Dr Siouxsie Wiles and Toby …
30 November 2021: Centuries of colonisation, racism and neglect have put Māori in a very bad position. Now (as always) they fight back: Low Māori vax rates not …
30 November 2021: 7.15 am. This is the hour or two when the dogs check in every 15 minutes or so in case it’s breakfast time. 🐶 They have another 45 minutes to …
29 November 2021: One of the tracks to the beach that I use has flaxes either side of the entrance. Sometimes the leaves grow right across the track. I couldn’t …
28 November 2021: I don’t always find the lead character endearing, but I enjoyed The Rachel Prince Mystery Series: Books 4–6 by Dawn Brookes 📚: a …
28 November 2021: Keeping tempers cool at Waikawa: Community irefighting.
28 November 2021: There are several interesting points in Declining Eyesight Could Be Given a Boost by Short Morning Doses of Seeing Red, including: Longer wavelengths …
27 November 2021: Hmmm, now we’re getting a handle on Covid Delta, this from WHO: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Source: …
26 November 2021: Our Swan Plant had one microscopic Monarch caterpillar on it when a friend offered to bring some of her surplus caterpillars round. Of course I …
25 November 2021: Because I was sitting quietly on a log, the Pied Stilt came closer, checking me out.
25 November 2021: Pied Stilt, strutting her stuff. 🐦
25 November 2021: Saw these little birds at the beach today. Thought they were one thing, but a search eventually told me they are New Zealand dotterels. One photo has …
25 November 2021: My brain doesn’t do well with pictures that replace words: on the cooktop it always takes me time to figure out which knob controls which …
24 November 2021: Near the beach is a house being built from the outside in. After laying the floor they put up door jambs and installed the doors. Next come the …
24 November 2021: It was stunning at the beach before 7 am today. In the photo, about one third of the way across the horizon from the right, you can just make out Mt …
23 November 2021: Blackbird.
23 November 2021: For no special reason, a photo from August 2012, at Ha’atafu resort in Tonga. Reading.
22 November 2021: How do these adjacencies happen so often? Is this really just a coincidence? No one talks about ravens then suddenly @cheri and @hollyhoneychurch both …
21 November 2021: Well, well, well: Kobayashi Maru 🖖🏼📺
21 November 2021: Misremembering Something May Be Evidence That Your Memory Is Actually Working 🤔: people tend to remember the general gist of an item … while …
20 November 2021: The Grey warbler, Riroriro has a very distinctive song that I’ve often heard. I’d never seen the bird though until today. Very excited to …
20 November 2021: Happened to have camera in hand when I saw this Tui on the flaxes.
20 November 2021: Ahhhh, mystery solved. I wondered why my author friend @cheri kept leaving out words in her blog posts. Now I know to blame Reader mode on Safari, …
20 November 2021: Blood moon November 2021 notes I caught some glimpses of the eclipse last night, between cloud. Just after 10 pm, it looked just like this, in binoculars. My couple of photos were …
19 November 2021: I managed to see the almost total lunar eclipse in spite of loads of cloud. Pretty darned special, particularly with good binoculars. Took two bad …
19 November 2021: Absent-mindedly opened Camera app on my phone instead of the Covid–19 Tracer app to record a visit. Camera kindly offered to open the correct …
18 November 2021: My Granny Smith apple tree should produce a good crop this year.
17 November 2021: LOL juxtapositions. On Netflix: The Flash with Dash and Lily.
17 November 2021: I’ve really enjoyed this series. Just finished 3rd Tango: (Schock Sisters Mystery Series) by Misty Evans and Adrienne Giordano. 📚 Looks like the …
17 November 2021: Hmmm, hope this URL works. I keep a diary / journal /TODO thing in a file on my Mac using OmniOutliner (OO). I’ve created a calendar document …
16 November 2021: These maps are really interesting: Ancient Earth globe. For example, 240 million years ago Aotearoa New Zealand was situated close to the South Pole. …
16 November 2021: I really enjoyed this 45 minute doco: No one had ever asked the journalist and broadcaster why he drank, but when he stopped everyone asked him why …
16 November 2021: This is handy: Apple has quietly added a new tool in macOS Monterey for measuring your device’s Internet connectivity quality. You can simply call …
15 November 2021: From a neighbour’s place, a view across to the Tararuas. Our house is the pale building on the right, our garage the pale building on the left.
14 November 2021: New shoes day: Merrell Siren Traveller 3. Great shoes! designed for women’s feet.
14 November 2021: I found 2nd Strike: Book 2 of 3: Schock Sisters Mystery Series by Misty Evans and Adrienne Giordano as compelling as Book 1. 📚 Now on to Book 3. …
14 November 2021: I really enjoyed Juniper 🎬 : a self-destructive teenager is … asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother … the crazy time they spend …
13 November 2021: There are special bars across our footbridge designed to stop motorbikes from getting onto the bridge. What they actually do is make it very hard for …
13 November 2021: This test of @manton’s script: Micro.blog via AppleScript has worked well. 😀 Thanks Manton.
12 November 2021: For sale 18 Henham Lane, Waikawa Beach: Bareland, 22155 m².
12 November 2021: Intense and very readable: 1st Shock: A Schock Sisters Private Investigator Mystery by Misty Evans and Adrienne Giordano. 📚 Elite forensic sculptor …
11 November 2021: Sometimes our military helicopters like to do a little bit of formation flying — directly overhead.
11 November 2021: Until this year we always said “If Oshi won’t eat, we know there’s a problem”. 🐶 This year it’s been …
10 November 2021: Today I was looking at the Coastal Risk Screening Tool and suddenly recalled seeing the tsunami siren in Niue. That whole coral island is at least 25 …
09 November 2021: Breakfast … with friends.
08 November 2021: This grew on me: The Rachel Prince Mystery Series: Books 1–3 by Dawn Brookes 📚 The language is kind of prissy, but I got used to it …
08 November 2021: It was too hot for all of us by the time I took the dogs to the beach this morning. But boy it was a stunning day!
07 November 2021: A bit of an earthquake 〰️ just to keep us on our toes. Not far away but quite deep. Magnitude: 5.4 Depth: 189 km
07 November 2021: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 13 Holly Way. 2.01ha Land.
06 November 2021: We really enjoyed The Starling 🎬 As if Lilly’s troubles weren’t bad enough, a starling whose nest is in a tree in her backyard …
06 November 2021: Wowee: parrots have names and use their own and one another’s names too. They learn the names in the nest. How a Parrot Learns Its Name in the …
06 November 2021: These are my special friends for a few days while their mum takes a break.
05 November 2021: The majority opinion was in favour of an afternoon nap. Who was I to stand agin them? 😴
05 November 2021: From 2018: a small boat being launched off Waikawa Beach. // @odd
05 November 2021: With a barely perceptible easterly this morning our West Coast sea had almost no waves at all. So still and quiet!
05 November 2021: I love my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I was worried it would be too large, but it feels great in the hand and the camera is performing nicely. The blue is …
04 November 2021: For Sale: 53a Reay Mackay Grove, Waikawa Beach This house will be visible from our place.
04 November 2021: Our unfriendly roads An email to NZTA today: For exercise and also to do my bit to reduce car use and save putting some CO2 into the atmosphere I biked from my home at …
04 November 2021: For Sale: 8 Sand Dune Grove, Waikawa Beach.
03 November 2021: That time when setting up a new watch led me to discover my phone was set to use Icelandic as a secondary language…
02 November 2021: I’ve finally found my perfect use case for the Apple Pencil on iPad: solving crossword puzzles that otherwise must be printed out, for example, …
02 November 2021: Every November the tree lupins Lupinus arboreus come into full flower and play havoc with my allergies. I get itchy throat, nose, eyes along with …
01 November 2021: I’m booked on a bike tour for next April. The company will now require Covid vaccination certificates for all participants. Seems like a good …
01 November 2021: I like the idea that after my death my body could become compost, feeding plants that nourish and protect animals, continuing the cycle of life. I …
01 November 2021: Last night Sasha 🐶 had to go out about midnight then started being restless again, wandering round the house. I put on a little solar powered lamp as …
31 October 2021: Lying awake in the night sped me through this very good read: Next in Line (Detective Clare Mackay Book 5) by Marion Todd 📚 Clare wonders why …
31 October 2021: We had a difficult night with Sasha the dog 🐶 who is almost 15, pretty much blind, and hard of hearing. It may be a signal she has dementia. She was …
30 October 2021: An author, some of whose books I enjoy, wants to be helpful and send customers to the ‘right’ Amazon Store, based on geolocation. …
29 October 2021: A pleasant read: Swamp Sweets (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 21) by Jana DeLeon 📚
29 October 2021: My favourite time, when cabbage trees flower — those white panicles. Their perfume is utterly gorgeous.
29 October 2021: Cows in the mist.
29 October 2021: Don’t Choose Extinction: At least we had an asteroid. What’s your excuse?
28 October 2021: I had an idea, worked on it with a friend and today we’re launching a summer photo event for Waikawa Beach: Wow Waikawa! Folks submit photos that show …
28 October 2021: Feature request, @manton — today, using the web interface, I hit Post instead of Add Photo. Then I had to go back and mess about to add the pic. …
28 October 2021: This 5 minute video was really interesting: Why Some Fruits Won’t Ripen On Your Counter: Trying to ripen some fruits on your kitchen counter is …
27 October 2021: Tonight the mountain peak directly east of us was absolutely luminous in the sunset.
27 October 2021: Wow. A word puzzle led me to discover Yma Sumac, 1932-2008, a Peruvian singer with a range of at least four and a half octaves. Listen to Yma Sumac …
26 October 2021: My Granny Smith Apple tree is covered in blossom. That’s good for the bees. 🐝
26 October 2021: macOS Monterey Day. Version 12.0.1. 🎉
26 October 2021: I like this Wind Turbine Wall idea: Designed to be as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional, this “kinetic wall” is made up of an array of …
25 October 2021: I love TextExpander. Used it for years. Setting up a new email address for the local Association. I type the trigger and now I can choose the old …
25 October 2021: Apple Mail is OK, but I’ve sent emails from the wrong account because Mail chose the sender on my behalf. I need to be more in charge. This tip …
24 October 2021: A brilliant book by a favourite author: Unbreakable by Cari Hunter. 📚 Dr. Grace Kendal never stands a chance. The injured woman comes out of nowhere, …
24 October 2021: Short on sleep this morning, so my brain cells are groggy. Not convenient when I have a committee meeting for Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association to …
24 October 2021: I’m slowly learning that as I get older my body is less able to handle sugar. At a friend’s birthday party last night I drank ~500 mls of …
23 October 2021: Is this new in Find My? When I checked on Deb’s progress as she drove home last night I got a Live view where the blue dot moved in real time. …
22 October 2021: Darn it! Spent ages hunting for the ‘right’ sleeve for my new iPhone 13 Pro Max. Recalled years ago I had a nice sleeve from Pack and …
21 October 2021: I need to listen again to this invaluable 45 minute podcast: You Can’t Always Want What You Like why our brains don’t encourage us to do things that …
21 October 2021: Five quail eggs in a box. Four of them, as usual, weigh 11 grams. The other one weighs 15 grams! Last time this happened the larger one was a …
20 October 2021: Sunset / moonrise straight out of the iPhone. 3x telephoto.
20 October 2021: The other thing to arrive in the mail today was my new iPhone 13 Pro Max (blue). Setting it up between various other activities…
20 October 2021: This was one of two good things to arrive in the mail this morning: Letter advising “no evidence of breast cancer” after a recent routine …
19 October 2021: I want to include this photo in a (mainly birds 🤓) quiz. Trying to decide which one of these military helicopters it is. Hmmm, I’m thinking …
18 October 2021: Another excellent read from a favourite author: Fear on the Fens: (DI Nikki Galena Series Book 13) by Joy Ellis 📚 [they] must find a man who’s been …
17 October 2021: The dogs don’t like it when the grass in the dog yard gets too long. 🐶 It must tickle their bottoms or something and then they poop on …
16 October 2021: I spotted this small yellowish-green bird on a flax spear but couldn’t make out what it was. I took a couple of photos through the window, but …
15 October 2021: It’s duckling season. 😀
15 October 2021: One reason I’m looking forward to an extremely high Covid vaccination rate in Aotearoa New Zealand is so the flood of [everything] encouraging …
15 October 2021: Mysteries featuring black lesbians, with a touch of romance, are few and far between. Smoke Before Fire by A.M. McKnight 📚 I give this developing …
15 October 2021: Yay, Apple are finally thinking about shipping me the iPhone I ordered a month ago. Selling some shares to cover the cost. Bought Applecare for this …
14 October 2021: Today I was rung by someone from LINZ who asked if I could put the broken marker post I reported yesterday back in the ground. When I dug into the …
13 October 2021: Waikawa Beach, 3 properties for sale: 13 Drake Street 27 Sarah Street 33 Sarah Street
13 October 2021: Way back in February 2017 I noticed small white posts appearing around the place — as in the background of this selfie. The closeup shows more …
12 October 2021: Another excellent read: What They Knew: (Detective Clare Mackay 4) by Marion Todd 📚: there’s a strong chance that there’s a …
12 October 2021: Apparently critics really didn’t like Q-Force. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed it: Queer Force (Q-Force) [is] a group of undervalued LGBT …
12 October 2021: 3 am: Sasha 🐶, on my bed: I need to go out … Ohh noo, it’s raining out there … back on the bed instead. I’m awake, read, settle back to …
11 October 2021: Heh: Bird of the Year: Bats join the competition Including the mammals in the Bird of the Year competition is certainly setting the bat amongst the …
11 October 2021: My 🐈 buddy Leo has an excellent view from his spot on the sofa. This was taken yesterday.
10 October 2021: My 🐈 buddy Leo’s family have a spa pool they urged me to use. That’s a nice way to begin a cool and grey Sunday. Ahhhh.
10 October 2021: I really enjoy this writer. Goodbye Sea Angel: A Port Alma Murder Mystery by Anne Shillolo 📚 was another great read: DC Holly Towns takes an …
09 October 2021: My buddy Leo was relaxing in the play loft today. 🐈 I enticed him down the steps though.
09 October 2021: It was high tide when I took the dogs to the beach, so we had to negotiate our way through driftwood.
08 October 2021: I’m visiting my buddy Leo today. 🐈
08 October 2021: Finally, yesterday, the part of our shared private lane closest to the road was resurfaced. The existing surface was scraped off, shingle laid and …
07 October 2021: By the time I came home this morning the part of our driveway from the garage out past the gate had been completed. Thanks to the rain it’s all …
07 October 2021: Every couple of years I get a free mammogram with BreastScreen Aotearoa. It’s 10 minutes of having my breasts squished and squashed …
06 October 2021: Today workers scraped off the bottom part of our driveway and started spreading fresh shingle from the garage to the gate area. Tomorrow they finish …
06 October 2021: Lone kowhai flower.
06 October 2021: These are ‘before’ shots from today of the road end of our private lane. Tomorrow a contractor will scrape off the top, add fresh base …
05 October 2021: Hah! Hands off our Hairy Maclary! (wonderful kids book): this mistake has been calcifying for … 40 years. The Scots have thought Hairy’s theirs for …
05 October 2021: Spammers don’t discriminate. Here’s the latest ‘Nigerian princess’ email, this time in Te Reo Māori.
05 October 2021: This 5 minute video was intriguing — I thought the Schmid Peoplemover was impossible: An elevator that can go smoothly from horizontal to vertical …
04 October 2021: After much fruitless messing about trying to crop photos to a circle in Acorn I checked Help and found: Acorn: Clipping to a Shape Layer. Brilliant. A …
04 October 2021: Oh, the New York Times Acrostic for April 1, 2018 was excellent fun and a joy to solve. So clever!
03 October 2021: I’m far from a frog expert, but my Internet searches suggest this is a Green and Golden Bell Frog that was in our long grass.
03 October 2021: Excellent! Sexual violence prevention programme: Minister for the prevention of family and sexual violence… said one of the first priorities would be …
03 October 2021: I really enjoyed Cold Deal (Kina McKevie Private Detective Book 1) by Lisa Ambrose. 📚 It kept me reading past bedtime. I hope the next in the …
02 October 2021: Good grief! USPS won’t carry mail to NZ for a while: … “unavailability of transportation”. “refrain from mailing items … …
01 October 2021: Glee and Fliss, the Japanese Quail, are now back in their outdoor run. 🐦 They don’t care for change much so were very cautious and …
30 September 2021: The quail have been living in our garage since mid-July when we went away for two weeks. 🐦 Now the worst of the winter and spring weather is …
29 September 2021: Earthquake prone building.
28 September 2021: Woohoo! Wowee! ‘Babylon 5’ Reboot in Development at The CW From Original Series Creator J. Michael Straczynski Source: Variety Thanks @alexsavin for …
28 September 2021: It was a chilly morning with a cool wind from the south. Then when I took the dogs to the beach I got the full force of the southerly, and it was …
27 September 2021: On this day in 2015, 25 September, we were in Morocco, trekking through the desert by camel to stay overnight in a Berber camp. That was an amazing …
26 September 2021: Noooo! When you finish Full Bodied (A Ruby Steele Mystery—Book 3) by Mia Gold 📚, knowing there’s a Book 4, so you go straight to …
26 September 2021: At 2 am today we put our clocks forward an hour. [Insert all the usual gripes about Daylight Saving.] At least now we really are on the way to summer! …
25 September 2021: Somehow Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 didn’t really grab me. I’m so glad I stuck with it though as I’m finding Season 2 hilarious. …
25 September 2021: Micro.Blog Mac app request for @help : If I’m adding a bunch of photos it’d be good if the app could remember my previous selection in the …
25 September 2021: Each year the Horowhenua District Council supplies thousands of spinifex and pīngao plants which volunteers then plant to protect and advance the sand …
24 September 2021: This series keeps me reading well past my going to sleep time! I really enjoyed Extra Dirty (A Ruby Steele Mystery—Book 2) by Mia Gold 📚: A …
23 September 2021: Dog grooming day for Oshi and Sasha 🐶 — before and after.
23 September 2021: Today’s dilemma: I have to take the dogs to the groomer very soon. I’m supposed to walk them first. It’s rainy and windy. Take them …
22 September 2021: Tonight I made Roast cod on spiced Puy lentils | delicious. magazine, using Monk Fish as that’s what I could get. Pretty good!
22 September 2021: Oh dear. I ate too much chocolate cake. First time trying this recipe: Six-Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake | Moosewood Restaurant & Recipes. Super …
21 September 2021: Here’s my GPS feature request: give me driving directions but let me choose that they only kick in when I’m ~10Km from my destination. I …
20 September 2021: I really enjoyed On the Rocks (A Ruby Steele Mystery—Book 1) by Mia Gold 📚: Welcome to the Bahamian world of Ruby Steele … her local dive bar, … her …
20 September 2021: There are 5 properties on our little lane. 3 have houses, one has a ramshackle ‘container’ set up to weekend in. The other has today …
19 September 2021: With the thought that my iPhone is my most often used camera I’ve decided to go big and upgrade from iPhone 11 to iPhone 13 Pro Max. Yesterday I …
18 September 2021: Canada geese flying at dusk.
18 September 2021: Another thing I keep forgetting how to do: How to Save Voice Memos on the Mac as Audio Files: [drag the voice memo from the left column of the …
17 September 2021: I quite like cheese, but just in a casual way. I’m surprised at how interested I am by this excellent 45 minute long video. I’m watching …
16 September 2021: In the last couple of weeks we’ve had a load of rain (even more in the hills), gales and some high seas. This has cut off the access for …
15 September 2021: At nearly 15 Oshi now seems to consider himself able to come home alone from the beach. 🐶 The only problem was he forgot to tell me that’s what …
15 September 2021: Cool, I was hoping for a new Apple Watch. The cycling workout features in Series 7 and other features are very appealing. I’ll be upgrading from …
14 September 2021: Action at the bird feeder. Sparrows and Waxeyes. 🐦 Who knew sparrows had tongues!!!
14 September 2021: We really enjoyed the movie Happiest Season 🏳️🌈: the film follows a woman who struggles to come out to her conservative parents while she and her …
14 September 2021: I need to remember this: Not to capture but to create — The Power of Abbreviation in Photography: A tutorial on why you should abbreviate your …
13 September 2021: We’ve had 20mm rain today down here at Waikawa Beach at the coast. I imagine that up in the hills there’s been a great deal more. …
12 September 2021: There are only about 150-200 Kotuku, White herons in Aotearoa New Zealand and they are rarely seen beyond their breeding ground on the South Island. …
12 September 2021: On a shop window we passed last night — no clothing? 😳
12 September 2021: Happy that one of my favourite podcasts is back from summer break: Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald | CBC Radio: presents the people behind the …
11 September 2021: When I was a kid Aotearoa New Zealand had 3 million people and 60 million sheep. Now we have 5 million people and dairying has replaced most of the …
11 September 2021: I’m on a quest to take photos of all the birds we see round here. 🐦 I’m also longing for the rather costly 100-400mm zoom lens, but …
10 September 2021: I was down at the lakes today, bracing against strong wind gusts, trying to get photos of the Australian Shovelers on the other side of the water. A …
09 September 2021: Such a sad tale: The Scam | Loading Docs 2021 | The Spinoff - YouTube: The ultimate scam lures an elderly beekeeper around the world, from Greymouth …
09 September 2021: I drove to Raumati South and biked along Te Ara o Whareroa – Paekākāriki.NZ Te Ara o Whareroa is mostly flat with a nice, flowing sealed track …
08 September 2021: Experimenting with my camera. I saw part of the mountains lit while the rest was dark. This may have used the Acros film simulation. [Doesn’t …
08 September 2021: This was a fascinating 13 minutes: How Much Of You Is Alive?: You’re alive right now… at least I’m pretty sure you are. But you’re not TOTALLY alive. …
08 September 2021: This 10 minute movie was lovely: When Long Distance Works: Long (first-date) story short: She asks her to her best friend’s wedding. The … series …
07 September 2021: I read and enjoyed The Chase: (The Diving Series Book 15) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 📚 I backed the Kickstarter and received an early copy. The first …
07 September 2021: It’s typical spring weather today: rainy, windy, changeable, cool. So I dug around and found 4 photos from this day in 2018 when we were on …
06 September 2021: I’ve used BBEdit for years now. It’s fabulous for working with and processing text. Today I whisked up an Applescript that numbers …
06 September 2021: Today I happened upon these recipes I want to try: My Everyday Green Smoothie Cheese Scones Rainbow Vegetarian Pad Thai with Peanuts and Basil Pasta …
05 September 2021: They’re far from perfect but they beat any of my previous attempts to catch a hawk in flight by a mile. 🐦 I’m reading and learning from …
05 September 2021: Pushed myself today on my bike: rode to the intersection with State Highway 1, 9.2 Km away. Total return ~19 Km. 🚴🏼♀️ Some head winds were a …
05 September 2021: I often bike around Waikawa Beach on a ~9 Km circuit. Yesterday I went beyond this slightly for a ~12 Km circuit and turned the battery on my electric …
04 September 2021: After @cheri’s photo of Dutch Apple Pancake, with its perfectly placed apple slices, I decided to have another go at making it. Again, …
04 September 2021: I bought my Fuji X-T2 camera a few years back with the intention of growing into it. 📷 That growth has been given a big nudge this week with my …
03 September 2021: At the river mouth this morning: looking left and looking right.
02 September 2021: Cuties from the deck this evening. Baby rabbits from a burrow in the paddock next door. Welcome Swallow, Warou, on the Zendo roof. 🐦 🐇 You have to …
02 September 2021: I only recently discovered the free Merlin Bird ID app and it works well (for photos, not so much sounds) even here in NZ. 🐦 users answer a few …
02 September 2021: Apparently I keep forgetting how to do this: Rename flags In the Mail app on your Mac, click the arrow next to the Flagged mailbox in the Mail …
01 September 2021: Formation flying.
01 September 2021: Black-backed gull.
01 September 2021: Gull flying with bivalve in its beak.
01 September 2021: (Mount) Taranaki.
01 September 2021: Whitebaiter with (Mount) Ruapehu and bird.
31 August 2021: Excited: I’ve booked on the West Coast Wilderness bike tour for April 2022. We bike through unbelievable scenery, from wild coastlines to lush …
31 August 2021: Hmmm, downloaded free samples of two Kindle books: The Odyssey by Homer (Author), Emily Wilson (translator) and The Iliad by Homer (Author), Caroline …
31 August 2021: I was a teen when I read the Iliad and the Odyssey. The ‘teeth’ of this quote have always remained with me. Today I found the source (my …
31 August 2021: Cooking the recipe OK, you’ve bought ingredients, rewritten the recipe and you’re ready. You’ve set up your workspace, got the pots out, found the …
31 August 2021: I like the author, the book’s well written, but I need to stop reading as the grisly bits are infiltrating my brain and my dreams: Beware the …
31 August 2021: Kiwis: if you’d like to make a donation to Afghan refugees arriving soon in Aotearoa New Zealand this GiveALittle page might be of interest.
31 August 2021: Hey @help I’ve seen an interesting bug in the web interface — see screenshot. The Reply box multiplies. It’s the morning. I reply to …
30 August 2021: Get ready to cook As A Reluctant Cook I’d regularly get really stressed while cooking. That still happens sometimes, but a bit of prep goes a long way to making …
29 August 2021: It rained a lot the last couple of days, but was relatively warm. Those conditions probably created this very white low cloud in the valleys of the …
29 August 2021: I was pondering how Delta won’t be the last variant we deal with… What next? 🦠 For those who don’t know their Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, …
29 August 2021: Spammers crack me up sometimes — ‘sping’⁉️From our Waikawa Beach community blog: Hello, You misspelled the word “sping” On …
29 August 2021: Watched and loved CODA. 🎬 coming-of-age comedy-drama film that follows a hearing teenage girl who is a child of deaf adults (CODA for short). This …
28 August 2021: Find an easy recipe Following on from A Reluctant Cook, I started my exploration of cooking by searching the Internet for a recipe I thought I might like. I’m happy …
27 August 2021: A Reluctant Cook Although I’ve always enjoyed eating delicious food I’ve also always disliked cooking. I never learned how to cook, though I could muster …
27 August 2021: Finally another International Breakfast: Mini Dutch Apple Pancakes (the recipe website is abominable!). This was so delicious. Will definitely make …
27 August 2021: Cool! And 75!!! Two dogs … among the first to go to a new refuge for animals affected by domestic violence, have been reunited with their owners. …
27 August 2021: Very nice! My advice (for what it’s worth) for success and happiness: Compete with yourself and root for everybody else. Source: Candice …
26 August 2021: Our community Facebook group is OK, useful; the moderators great. A member, whose avatar shows a middle-aged white guy, posted an appalling anti-woman …
26 August 2021: We want the dogs to get used to their new soft crate so we just put it up in the lounge, added a few treats and dog blankets and ignored it. Oshi ate …
25 August 2021: The MB web timeline jams photos together unpleasantly (Before screenshot). I wanted them spaced (After). I use Safari on Mac so I made a stylesheet …
25 August 2021: Today I walked on the other side of the Waikawa River, heading north. After floundering through undergrowth to avoid a wet-weather lake I eventually …
25 August 2021: Uh oh. Hamilton Zoo animals are bored in shutdown: animals often look around confused at how quiet the Zoo is …. We spend a lot of time making sure …
25 August 2021: The dogs are of an age where they pee in the house if we’re out for too long (eg 2 hours). 🐶 We took to crating them to prevent that but the …
25 August 2021: I watched Ije: The Journey. Its subject matter turned out to be hard, but the unravelling and the perspectives were interesting. Chioma travels from …
24 August 2021: Undermined: A Gay Mystery (Daniel Owen Welsh Mysteries Book 1) by Ripley Hayes. 📚 An unusual book for me to read, featuring male lead characters. A …
24 August 2021: Another good read from this author: Goodbye Calais Club: (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 2) by Anne Shillolo. 📚 Disappointed I have to wait for the …
24 August 2021: I quite enjoyed The Complete Monica Noble Murder Mysteries, a 3 book set, by Faith Martin 📚. I had to take a break after book 2 as they’re a …
24 August 2021: Whew! I’ve clicked Submit on a funding application for a fun photo project to run in our community over summer / Christmas. Having the idea in …
24 August 2021: The dogs prescription came in 🐶: Veterinary exclusive Hills prescription diet Kidney Care clinical nutrition improves & lengthens quality of life …
23 August 2021: Very pleased that the government has, as widely expected, announced the whole country will stay in Level 4 shutdown until at least midnight Friday …
23 August 2021: A quick report on our new 4G internet connection: good riddance to VDSL! We now both speed along at the same time on the interwebs and Deb can even do …
23 August 2021: Whew! Was about to start submitting a prepared funding application whose leisurely timeline began in October when I spotted the statement : …
23 August 2021: I don’t know that The Daily Mail is a news site to trust… but, I think this article is worth a look. After the 9/11 attack most news sites went …
23 August 2021: For our last holiday adventure we ate a magnificent dinner at Plato, a restaurant set in an unlikely, deserted, industrial part of Dunedin. My …
23 August 2021: I already wrote a little about the Royal Albatross Centre, but wrapping up our recent holiday, here’s more. We viewed the birds from a hide, …
22 August 2021: We arrived in Ōtepoti, Dunedin, in miserable weather. We were hungry so we parked near The Octagon, and after some wandering, found ourselves at The …
22 August 2021: It’s a rare occurrence for me, but last night I slept 8 hours without interruption and the sleep quality was good. Today I feel as though I …
21 August 2021: A darn good read: Project Charon 1: Re-entry by Patty Jansen: Tina needs money, and needs it fast. Another creditor is impossible to find. That …
21 August 2021: I so much enjoyed Project Charon 1: Re-Entry, by Patty Jansen — one of the books in the Cosmic Visionaries StoryBundle! I’ll definitely be …
21 August 2021: People have assumed that attention and executive functions decline with age… our large study indicates that critical elements … actually improve …
21 August 2021: The Catlins portion of our holiday ended with Purakaunui Falls: a short walk from a car park area through impressive podocarp and beech forest. We …
21 August 2021: Just signed up for this inexpensive course: Joy of Birdwatching | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab.
21 August 2021: Vroom vroom. 🚀 Today’s the day! Before the postie came: VDSL modem: DOWNLOAD Kbps 10799, UPLOAD Kbps 693. After the postie: 4G modem: DOWNLOAD …
20 August 2021: As probably everyone expected, Aotearoa New Zealand as a whole stays in Level 4 shutdown till midnight Tuesday. There are now 3 community cases in …
19 August 2021: On 10 February 1982 I spent the afternoon in a second story cafe in Bodø, Norway, watching rain showers pass across the harbour. I was thrilled to be …
19 August 2021: It’s almost exactly 40 years since I sat on a train in Norway travelling from Oslo in the south to Bodø in the Arctic Circle. I have a few …
19 August 2021: I’m not always happy with what our Labour government is doing or has done, but as I watch our Prime Minister speaking at a Covid press …
19 August 2021: Nice quote about space opera: Or is it mostly just that space opera is so gosh-darn cool? The ships…the technology…the planets…the ray guns and laser …
19 August 2021: In The Catlins, Nugget Point, Tokata has a lighthouse, a spectacular view and rocks that resemble gold nuggets. It was really windy up there, with …
18 August 2021: Currently rationing the bird food for the Waxeyes. I was intending to buy more today but with the Covid shutdown the shop is closed and I …
18 August 2021: Heh, healthy Kiwis. 😀 People are panic buying because of the lockdown, but: According to Foodstuffs, bananas and broccoli are top of the list of what …
18 August 2021: After another thunderstorm around 5.30 am the power has come back on. Immediately made a cup of tea. Thanks to the lines workers out in this awful …
18 August 2021: Woken at 0330 by loud torrential rain (now stopped). I’d like a cup of tea but the power’s still out. 😢
17 August 2021: Thunderstorm took our power out. 😒 Good thing we’ve got the fire going.
17 August 2021: Aotearoa New Zealand today has a case of Covid in the community that can’t be linked to the border. Precautionary assumption is that it’s …
17 August 2021: Feature request or suggestion @help : put some of the info from or even just the link to Exporting from Micro.blog - Getting started - Micro.blog Help …
17 August 2021: OK, today Vodafone rang me about our Internet upgrade. — Maybe our days of VDSL slow Internet are over — A new 4G modem is on its way. By the end of …
17 August 2021: At Roaring Bay rare Yellow-eyed Penguins come and go at dawn and dusk. We spotted two. 🐦 A much more distant view than on the Milford Wanderer …
17 August 2021: The Seascape Accommodation in Kaka Point, The Catlins was a superb place to stay. Gorgeous units with a super view, directly across a not very busy …
16 August 2021: My two Japanese quail are clearly independent thinkers, having produced these first eggs of the season. Thing is, we have 10.5 hours of daylight today …
16 August 2021: Hmmm, I see there’s an OS update to 11.5.2. Updating…
16 August 2021: BTW: not looking for troubleshooting tips or anything on my Mac randomly rebooting. It’s more just a record.
16 August 2021: Nice views of Tautuku Bay from Florence Hill Lookout in The Catlins. 3Km southwest of Papatowai, a short gravel road leads to sweeping Tautuku Bay, …
16 August 2021: My M1 MacBook Pro just randomly restarted itself (3rd time so far in the last month), losing the Micro.Blog post (brief text and 3 photos) I’d …
16 August 2021: Lake Wilkie was nice from the viewing point at the top, but at eye level it was spectacular. formed after the last ice age when water became trapped …
16 August 2021: Geneticists have … found evidence that natural selection more than 10,000 years ago probably provided a genetic basis for the dog coat patterns we …
15 August 2021: Thank you for your Micro Camp talk @amit I really enjoyed it. Great story about the donkey! And 👍 the shoutout to us Kiwis.
15 August 2021: Had a magical wildlife encounter today when this White-faced heron, matuku moana followed me home from my dog walk and hung out on our deck for half …
15 August 2021: Fungus on a tree at Lake Waiwiri, Papaitonga.
15 August 2021: Tautuku Estuary was another brief walk, but wow was it a stunner! The first sight of the broad expanse of golden reeds was breathtaking. Tautuku is a …
14 August 2021: 22% through and I was considering abandoning When Murder Comes Home (Aileen and Callan Murder Mysteries Book 1) by Shana Frost. 📚 Then this para …
14 August 2021: On 28 June 2021 in The Catlins we started with a visit to McLean Falls. I loved the native forest, and the 22 metre cascade waterfall was well worth …
14 August 2021: My Micro Camp presentation is now available at Open for Inspection 🔍. There are also a few support files.
14 August 2021: Uh oh. I’m up now on Micro Camp! 🤞🏼
13 August 2021: Yet another excellent book in a series by a favourite author: Warn Me When It’s Time (Charlie Mack Motown Mystery Book 6) by Cheryl A Head. 📚 …
13 August 2021: In the Catlins we passed through Waikawa, spotted a couple of Kereru on a power line and took a photo of Māngai Piri, Niagara Falls: … named by a …
13 August 2021: Graphic photo warning — dog skin lesion Our dog Oshi is nearly 15 and having various health problems, including arthritis and an ulcerated eye. He gets eyedrops 4-6 times per day and will …
13 August 2021: Many Māori were raised with the knowledge that the first person to see the islands, Kuramārōtini, called out from her waka, “He ao! He ao! He …
13 August 2021: One of life’s odd quirks — I just posted about watching Wellington Paranormal. In today’s local paper is an item that one of the lead …
12 August 2021: I’ve been attending weekly line dancing classes for months now and things are clicking quite well. I realise this is one of my favourites at the …
12 August 2021: I’ve been drafting a funding application for a summer photo project for the community. It’s hard work! Now looking for something to watch …
12 August 2021: Wooo. Maybe our days of VDSL slow Internet are over… An email today from the ISP: modern, superfast, reliable Wireless Broadband that runs over our …
12 August 2021: On a whim the other day I bought TextSniper - Capture and extract any text from your Mac’s screen | images. I just tried it on the Curio Bay …
12 August 2021: We visited the Curio Bay petrified forest. 180 million year old trees! Photo of me by my friend Chris. petrified wood like this is incredibly rare. …
12 August 2021: Invercargill to Dunedin via the coastal Catlins route with no side trips is only about 250 Km. We spent 4 days on the drive because those scenic side …
11 August 2021: I spotted a headline recently that the Wellington Paranormal TV show was mystifying Americans. Just started watching on The CW and finding it …
11 August 2021: In Invercargill we stayed the night at Quest Apartment Hotel where the bathroom was the size our cabin on the Milford Wanderer had been. Whew! It was …
11 August 2021: At Glowing Sky merino shop I discovered the glories of a Merino Tube Neck/Ear Warmer. This beats a scarf in so many ways and is so warm. Wish …
11 August 2021: On the last day of our Rakiura Cruise some went for a brief walk in the morning, but I stayed and packed. After lunch we docked at Oban in Halfmoon …
11 August 2021: Managing a blind, elderly dog is a whole new learning experience. TIL unfamiliar places make Sasha anxious so she needs to be on the lead. Plus I need …
11 August 2021: Today my friend Jan and I walked the dogs on the north side of the river, with a glimpse of snowy mountain peak. I liked a mossy tree. Poor old …
10 August 2021: Today I tried this Hungarian recipe: Pogácsa. I didn’t have enough white flour so used wholemeal to make up the amount. They were very …
10 August 2021: Camo cow.
10 August 2021: Late in the last afternoon of our Rakiura Cruise we did a 1 hour easy walk at the Whaler’s Base in Paterson Inlet. The golden hour light was …
10 August 2021: 10 August 2020: Oshi has an ulcerated left eye 10 August 2021: Oshi has an ulcerated right eye… Chlorsig/Chlorafast drops to be administered 4 to 6 …
10 August 2021: The icy blast from the last couple of days has moved on, leaving snow not only on the high peaks of the Tararuas (happens several times each year) but …
10 August 2021: 6.55 am and at only a few minutes to sunrise it’s light enough out to see distinctly. We’re definitely on the way out of winter and on the …
09 August 2021: Hmmm, second time in a week my M1 MacBook Pro has frozen and restarted itself while I was writing in Apple Mail. All standard up-to-date release …
09 August 2021: The country’s in the teeth of a southerly storm, with many high altitude roads closed for snow. At 3.30 am I really thought the house might lift …
08 August 2021: Some of us opted for the slow easy walk on Ulva Island. Our guide, Gabriel, shared a lot of info. We spotted Kiwi and Penguin tracks on a pristine …
08 August 2021: On the last full day of our trip Sandy King and Detector Gadget (and her other trainee dog, Mawson) came aboard the Milford Wanderer. Sandy talked …
08 August 2021: Careless writing: Women, on the other hand, can sometimes not work … These cultural expectations condemn them to be a burden… They won’t be …
08 August 2021: Hmmm, I’ve abandoned Blood in the Bayou: A Bone-Chilling FBI Thriller by CM Sutter just under half way through. There was too much point of view …
08 August 2021: On Sunday 25 July 2021 we were moored at Paterson Inlet, Rakiura, ready for two more adventures. But first: the sunrise.
08 August 2021: Good thing I’m proof-watching my Micro Camp video! There’s stuff I need to fix yet, but what do you call a verbal typo/autocorrect? …
07 August 2021: After motoring north for 6 hours, late Saturday afternoon we were taken by local guide Bevan for a walk (1 hour each way along a gentle grassy track) …
06 August 2021: On Day 3 of the cruise I opted to relax aboard the Milford Wanderer in the morning while others went walking. In the afternoon I enjoyed a tender ride …
06 August 2021: Both our (old) dogs lost weight during their 2 week kennel stay. After I queried for issues the owner sent me back a very useful and extremely …
05 August 2021: Pikihatiti or Port Pegasus, with its 5 metres of rain per year, is near the southern tip of Rakiura. I said I’d give it a go to walk up the 230 …
05 August 2021: Had to get up around 3 am to let Oshi out then was awake for a bit. I was just wondering about getting back to sleep when there was a very loud and …
04 August 2021: I’m excited to be a presenter at Micro Camp 2021 and now I’m back from holiday I’m getting into the preparation. My topic will be …
04 August 2021: At Abraham’s Bosom beach on Rakiura I learned about the Turpentine Shrub (will keep fires burning), spotted a paua shell, and was intrigued by …
04 August 2021: Once we were aboard the Milford Wanderer we motored off to Port Adventure where we landed for a brief beach walk at Oyster Bay and Abraham’s Bosom. …
03 August 2021: My credit card expired this month so I now have a new card. Now visiting services that hold my card number and updating the details — about 15 of …
03 August 2021: On the Rakiura cruise expeditions from the Milford Wanderer always started with a tender ride, piloted by Gibby. The tender hung from the stern of the …
03 August 2021: This large item was on the beach today — a shark fin?
02 August 2021: Our Rakiura Cruise was aboard the Milford Wanderer. The crew soon told us the sails are just for show! The cabins are tiny: 2 narrow bunks with a mini …
01 August 2021: The holiday was utterly fabulous, but I’m also thrilled to be home in my own bed, with clean clothes, slippers on. Now for a good night’s …
01 August 2021: In a visit to Otago Museum I learned the extinct Moa came in various sizes. The giant moa is in the photo. The male is small. When I stood level with …
01 August 2021: Heh. Dunedin Airport.
01 August 2021: This is the abundant but declining NZ native tarapunga, red-billed gull. 🐦
31 July 2021: For the final adventure of our holiday we visited the Royal Albatross Centre on Otago Peninsula. 🐦 the only mainland breeding colony of Northern …
30 July 2021: Behind you!
29 July 2021: Nugget Point Tokata had stunning landscape, along with its lighthouse.
29 July 2021: Purakaunui Falls rewards the use of the 27mm lens.
29 July 2021: Also at Roaring Bay last evening this huge black blob in the grass — a resting sealion.
29 July 2021: McLean Falls was wonderful for both the falls and the amazing “shrubland and fern and moss-rich tall forest”. If I lived nearby I’d …
29 July 2021: The Tautuku Estuary boardwalk was a surprise — walking out into a sea of golden reeds. I think I heard a Fernbird.
29 July 2021: Yesterday we visited Lake Wilkie — Mirror Lake. The view from above was good, but down on the boardwalk there were stunning reflections.
28 July 2021: Today at dusk at Roaring Bay we were thrilled to spot two yellow-eyed penguins on the beach. Heavily cropped photo. 🐦 Yellow-eyed penguins / …
28 July 2021: The view from our front door for a couple of days. Guess we’ll cope…
27 July 2021: Catlins Day One: lighthouse, Jurassic fossil forest This morning we picked up a rental car, squeezed in ourselves and our luggage, picked up groceries and squeezed them in too and headed from …
27 July 2021: The Waipapā lighthouse was built of rimu and totara. It was automated in the 1970s.
27 July 2021: Rakiura Cruise, Day Four The morning of the fourth day featured a 6 hour cruise to Paterson Inlet. The previous night I took Sealegs pills and was somewhat anticipating a …
27 July 2021: On Ulva Island, Rakiura, Aotearoa New Zealand, with its pristine golden beaches: kiwi tracks and penguin tracks. And always watch out for seals and …
26 July 2021: Rakiura Cruise, Day Three, afternoon After lunch the tender went out twice for about 30 or 40 minutes at a time. With 28 passengers, the tender can hold half at any time. This was an …
26 July 2021: Here’s my new profile pic: a cheeky little South Island robin on Ulva Island. It was so dark in the bush I had to crank the camera to ISO 12800.
26 July 2021: A delight of the day was to see two yellow-eyed penguins swimming by the boat (no photo). They look like floating sticks until they lift their heads …
26 July 2021: Well, I can thoroughly recommend Thai Thai on Spey Street in Invercargill for a delicious meal. I ate a delicious cashew, chicken and vegetable …
26 July 2021: Back on dry land but may well be offline the next few days too.
26 July 2021: Yesterday’s late afternoon view.
25 July 2021: This sunrise at Ulva Island is a lie, sadly. The long exposure has really saturated the colours.
25 July 2021: Typical bush clad hillside The day we were anchored near Disappointment Cove I took these shots from the boat. These were my second attempt — I learned from the first …
25 July 2021: Sea lions, get yer sea lions here!
25 July 2021: Rakiura Cruise, Day Three, morning Wow, I slept well! I woke feeling quite stiff and achey though and decided to spend the morning on the Milford Wanderer. Quite a few opted to go on …
25 July 2021: Rakiura Cruise Day Two Whew, what a day! After breakfast of boiled egg, hash brown, tomato, sausage, plus as much toast, cereal and fruit as we wanted, the anchor came up …
25 July 2021: Rakiura Cruise, Day Zero To start with we needed to travel from home to Invercargill. That meant setting off with our friends in the car at about 0915. We drove ~100 Km to …
25 July 2021: Rakiura Cruise, Day One highlight Rakiura Cruise, Day One: one highlight was the teenage male sealion that came up on the beach at Port Adventure, where oysters were first harvested …
24 July 2021: No connection in this mud!
21 July 2021: 46 degrees 36 minutes 54 seconds south.
20 July 2021: I really enjoyed this Canadian story: Goodbye Port Alma (A DC Holly Towns Murder Mystery) by Anne Shillolo. 📚 DC Holly Towns is on the team that has …
20 July 2021: The Kaikoura Ranges were looking snowy today.
20 July 2021: Wellington airport features these birds from Lord of the Rings.
19 July 2021: Photo by Willow’s mum — with the whole back seat to spread out on, three dogs decided to create a tight little dog puddle. Willow at front, …
19 July 2021: Hmmm: Around 95% of NZ’s sheep meat and 87% of beef is exported, and what’s left for locals is sold at a premium. If a housewife in the …
18 July 2021: Happened upon a cassette tape recording I made in 1976 of my mother’s parents. Fascinating to hear how they speak. Grandad, born in Islington, …
18 July 2021: Yesterday’s storm (for us, at least) was nowhere near what we expected. Some strongish winds, about 17 mm rain (not the 60-90 mm forecast). The …
18 July 2021: Heard something today that jogged my memory about NZ’s infamous Six o’clock Swill. From December 1917 to October 1967 pubs closed at 6 pm: …
17 July 2021: We tried a new restaurant last night: Ōtaki Kitchen at 30 Main Street, Ōtaki. Service was great and food excellent. I had the Roast fish (Blue …
16 July 2021: Hey @jack Way back in March you mentioned the Johnny Decimal system. Thanks so much for that. It has allowed me to finally sort out my beyond chaotic …
16 July 2021: Heh 🐈 🐶 🍽: New Zealand has the highest per capita rate of cat ownership of any country in the world, with 41% of households owning cats and 34% …
15 July 2021: Spotted ‘the’ Kingfisher today — perching on top of the tunnelhouse. Managed a photo through the window, but when I went outside it flew …
15 July 2021: Damn good read, so well put together! The Case of the Fond Farewell (Ellie Tappet Cruise Ship Mysteries Book 6) by Cheri Baker. 📚 When tragedy …
15 July 2021: Niue reaches herd immunity, with 97% of eligible population vaccinated: Niue … vaccinated almost 100% of its eligible population. The Pacific …
14 July 2021: A big storm is forecast for this weekend — gales and loads of rain. Plus it’s midwinter and we’ve had some solid frosts and we’re …
14 July 2021: The forecast rainfall for this weekend has already reduced by ~20 mm, thank goodness. Still way high though.
13 July 2021: According to this crazy forecast we might get 144 mm (about 5.7 inches) of rain over 4 days this coming weekend! I imagine in the end we’ll …
13 July 2021: Knockout (A Holly Hands Mystery—Book 1) by Mia Gold had a very strong start. 📚 A new and original character and compelling premise. I found it …
13 July 2021: Vaccinating a load of people in a city is one thing. But how do you vaccinate a handful of people on a tiny tropical atoll 500 Km from the nearest …
12 July 2021: And … ✔️
12 July 2021: Just waiting for COVID vaccine shot #2. It’s busy but we get to sit while we wait.
11 July 2021: This week for our International Breakfast Deb cooked New Orleans-Style Beignets. Very yummy!
11 July 2021: Today Deb and I attended a Stacking Rings Workshop in Wellington. We made textured or twisted rings from copper or silver. It was quite interesting …
10 July 2021: The best thing ever! We Are Lady Parts 📺 We ended up binging. Hilarious! Excellent! Nida Manzoor’s anarchic and irreverent music comedy about a …
10 July 2021: After our Rakiura Cruise later this month we’ll visit The Catlins, New Zealand for a few days. We’ve already booked a Royal Albatross Tour at …
09 July 2021: We’re heading later this month to Rakiura, a Dark Sky Sanctuary so now I need to discover how to take photos of the Aurora Australis. These may …
09 July 2021: This was a pretty good read: Old Sins, Long Memories by Angela Arney. 📚 Meet Dr Lizzie Browne. After her divorce she moves to a small coastal town …
09 July 2021: I forget I have a 27mm prime lens for my Fuji X-T2. I also have a wriggly dog and a dog who refused to open his eyes. 🐶 Nevertheless, Sasha (x3) and …
09 July 2021: Heh, the telephoto lens makes Kāpiti Island look like you could wade out to it — it’s actually 20Km away. A shot of birds in the estuary at …
08 July 2021: I’m getting quite excited: at the end of the month the Milford Wanderer will be our home for 6 nights as we sail round Rakiura. Designed along the …
08 July 2021: How to maintain your speaking voice As I get older I’ve become a little concerned about my voice. Sometimes when I try to call the dogs on the beach my voice ‘cracks’ …
07 July 2021: Our new splashback installed. It’s a colour called Resene Koru to match our feature walls. Tricky with reflections… Really gives the kitchen a …
07 July 2021: I love these little cuties. More waxeyes at the bird feeder.
07 July 2021: Get! Scram! Clear off!
07 July 2021: This is a ‘before’ of our oven and wall and rangehood. Soon there should be an ‘after’.
07 July 2021: Aha: an explanation of the planes: RNZAF carrying out low-flying around Manawatū, Rangitikei & Whanganui | NZDF tactical flying exercise … a …
07 July 2021: We live not too far really from a military airfield (60 Km direct). I happened to be taking photos of the birds at the feeder, heard a noise, looked …
07 July 2021: Sometimes at the supermarket I see workers with big trolleys assembling customer orders for delivery. This approach is utterly astonishing: How many …
07 July 2021: I think this is my third night in a row of restless and broken sleep. I’ve been having a good run of sleep lately after working on it, so this is …
06 July 2021: SexualHarassment is a bit of a problem by Sharon Murdoch.
06 July 2021: This started well, became a bit suss and then by 66% through was annoying: Last Call (The Janet Black Mystery Series Book 1) by Libby Kirsch 📚 I read …
06 July 2021: Fascinating: Who’s eating New Zealand?: New Zealand produces enough food to feed about 40 million people but given our population is just 5 …
05 July 2021: Today’s International Breakfast was Drop Scones/Scotch Pancakes. I had problems — I had the griddle too hot (the recipe didn’t specify) and we …
05 July 2021: Watching line dance tutorials. I can understand why the instructor wants to face the camera, but then I get very confused: I need to move in the …
04 July 2021: Someone gave me 18 header images for our community website but at 2400x560 instead of the 1200x280 I needed. I copied all images to a new folder then …
04 July 2021: Rabbit ears.
04 July 2021: Hmm, I read The Uniform (Detective Helen Carter Book 1) by Jodie Lawrance. 📚 Set in Edinburgh in the 1970s the relentless grimness makes this a bit …
03 July 2021: Wall decal dots are very cool — I have several in different sizes on the walls. We’re investigating a community art project for summer that …
02 July 2021: I enjoyed Lowcountry Box Set (A Liz Talbot Mystery) by Susan M Boyer. 📚 I’m not usually into ghosts but this was an inoffensive plot device much …
02 July 2021: The river at Waikawa Beach was pretty high the other day after loads of rain — it had been higher than this photo shows. Then today it was really …
02 July 2021: The little silvereyes sure do love the birdfood! 🐦
02 July 2021: In the traditional Māori calendar New Year falls at mid-winter. From next year it’ll be a public holiday: will celebrate Matariki as a public …
02 July 2021: The frost lingered in shaded spots on the beach, and the track back to the car brought a great view of a snowy peak in the Tararuas.
02 July 2021: The dogs were right of course! It’s chilly but fabulous down at the beach.
02 July 2021: The dogs are giving me their full-strength ‘take us to the beach' glares even though it’s only 2C at the moment and the ground is mainly still …
01 July 2021: I’m so pleased to be able to say that today I spent some time sitting on the front deck in the sun reading. It’s silent apart from …
01 July 2021: Playing ball with a blind dog on the beach Sometimes over the years Sasha 🐶 has had fun chasing a ball along the beach. This photo from 2019 shows her chasing a ball I’d rolled …
30 June 2021: I try not to get too hung up about language change, but the total loss of a perfectly good word upsets me. I don’t want the word ‘fact' to …
29 June 2021: Having procured pine shavings today I replaced some of the dirty straw in the quail run with a nice deep layer of shavings. I hope Glee and Fliss …
29 June 2021: Well, all the smart birds were snugged up in their little beds while I was trying to watch for them today. Wind, rain, cold are not conducive to bird …
29 June 2021: Even though the weather’s rotten I’m doing my bit this afternoon for the NZ Garden Bird Survey. There are worse things to do on a cold rainy day …
29 June 2021: And here we have what seems to have become a daily power cut post. 🤨
28 June 2021: Yay. 😒 Winds gusting to almost 80 Kph and the power’s gone out. I presume a line has come down somewhere. Outage looks quite widespread.
28 June 2021: So much rain over the weekend localised flooding closed a couple of roads. The Waikawa Beach river’s running very swift — we had 43mm rain (1.6 …
27 June 2021: Lovely! Loaded up the dishwasher, turned it on and a moment later there was a loud pop and the house went dark. It was just us — the dishwasher seems …
27 June 2021: Last night we drove to Palmerston North to celebrate Deb’s recent birthday. Arranged Marriage provided delicious meals from the Kerala region of …
26 June 2021: On this cool, grey, rainy day we had our 15th International Breakfast : Churros. Yum! They were light and airy fingerfood. As usual we had to …
25 June 2021: It’s a Big Cuddle day for Oshi. 🐶
25 June 2021: Hmmm, coming later in 2021 is NCIS: Hawaii: NCIS: Hawaii stars Vanessa Lachey as Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant, Yasmine Al-Bustami as Lucy, …
25 June 2021: I check the global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions every morning. Today’s map shows an amazing air stream that flows down from the …
25 June 2021: What a great short read: Send in the Bugs. The Michelangelos Need Cleaning. The team washed [Night’s] hair with Pseudomonas stutzeri CONC11, a …
24 June 2021: The local Canada Geese seem to be stirred up by the full moon. They’re flying around honking mightily. Volume up.
24 June 2021: I watched the documentary Lift Like A Girl On a busy, noisy high-traffic street corner in Alexandria, Egypt, a seemingly vacant corner lot surrounded …
24 June 2021: I can understand why an online film festival like Doc Edge Festival 2021 needs to know my birthdate but why on earth was I required to select a …
24 June 2021: I thought I’d give Arepa de Queso a try. I had a few glitches, like forgetting the oil till a later step, having the heat too high so it’s …
23 June 2021: I suspect this is a slightly more distant neighbour’s cat. Such a beauty! A very hasty photo through the window as it turned back for a moment …
23 June 2021: Dammit. A Covid+ traveller spent time in Wellington last weekend, so now Wellington region has to move to Alert Level 2. Luckily we live outside the …
22 June 2021: This 6 minute Tom Scott video is well worth a watch: History forgot these old fireworks. We recreated them. Around the old mining areas of North …
22 June 2021: A Kiwi Covid shot part 1 Yesterday I was wiped out by the time I got home. I drove to Levin to drop my car off for new tires, a window fix and a few other minor repairs. Then …
21 June 2021: OK, COVID vaccine part one ✅ Part 2 on 12 July.
20 June 2021: We have some splendid Kāhu Swamp harrier around us. They soar past our lounge window, wings spread and sometimes sit on fence posts. Today I glanced …
19 June 2021: Ambivalent about Pineapple Lies: (Pineapple Port Mysteries 1) by Amy Vansant. 📚 The mystery solving seems to involve mainly having some random notion …
19 June 2021: Deb and I have been really enjoying (re)watching Scott & Bailey, a British police procedural series. The three lead characters are compelling, and …
19 June 2021: The best kind of little free community library: The Good Dog Library at the dog park in Levin. 🐶 Love it!
18 June 2021: I’m enjoying this author’s books, including The Girl Who Was Forgotten: (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 2) by Amy Vansant. …
18 June 2021: Hooray, just got confirmation after an online booking request: my first Pfizer Covid shot is scheduled for Monday 21 June. 😎 Deb had her second shot …
17 June 2021: The excellent 2 hour Indian movie Skater Girl brought tears to my eyes several times. The lead character, teenaged Prerna, finds freedom on a …
17 June 2021: Ugh. We sold a laptop with a troubled history — described as accurately as we could. We believed it was working fine. 3 weeks after purchase the buyer …
17 June 2021: This 2-minute video is about the stars of Māori New Year, Matariki, which happens at this time of year. ✨ How to find the Matariki star cluster …
16 June 2021: The new bike rack arrived and I put it on my car. I checked a few videos about how to do it as the manual helpfully only had pictures without words. …
15 June 2021: Global Extinction of Languages Is Threatening … Human Knowledge: Among 12,495 medicinal uses for plants in indigenous communities … over 75% of those …
15 June 2021: Brunched with a friend at Rosetta Cafe in Raumati South. The Big Brekkie (1/2 size) meal was superb: sourdough toast, roasted tomato, pan-fried …
14 June 2021: When we drove to Levin in the rain today we were delayed by yet another accident near Ōhau. Fortunately this was a simple nose-to-tail so emergency …
13 June 2021: This was a darn good read: The Girl Who Wants: (The Shee McQueen Mystery Thriller Series Book 1) by Amy Vansant. 📚 Shee’s quest to recover the life …
13 June 2021: This week’s International Breakfast was a risky experiment we won’t repeat. The recipe was more of a memory aid for the writer and we didn’t have …
12 June 2021: Today we went to Paraparaumu for a Line-dancing social. The songs in red were Beginner level (that’s us). There were about 60 people there, …
11 June 2021: Hmmm, I enjoyed Mousse and Murder (An Alaskan Diner Mystery Book 1) by Elizabeth Logan. 📚 It strained my credulity a bit though. There seemed …
10 June 2021: We had to call on Reggie, our local water guy, to fill our drinking water tank today. I couldn’t tell whether we had one week’s water left …
10 June 2021: Took my car through the carwash for what may be the first time in the 5 or 6 years I’ve owned it. The carwash and blow dry led me to the interesting …
10 June 2021: Researchers explored Māori storytelling in spoken word, weaving and carving and found: Polynesian narratives … include voyaging into Antarctic waters …
09 June 2021: Once I finally got myself and the correct gear (nearly left the paddle behind) out on the river I really enjoyed it. I’d forgotten how serene it …
09 June 2021: I really have been meaning to take my kayak out again and today’s weather leaves me with no excuse. I see it’s been almost exactly a year …
09 June 2021: Blue beach morning.
09 June 2021: Ordered a tank of water as our rainwater tank is worryingly low. We need 30mm rain every week to cover our needs and forecast rain just keeps on not …
08 June 2021: First time in my life, I cleaned my bike chain. It’s a messy business, but I think it went OK. 🚴🏼
08 June 2021: Ooooh, multiple timers! Yay!
08 June 2021: I use Siri quite a lot — on-device processing should be a big help. Siri quite often can’t help me when I’m out and about round here because of …
08 June 2021: Whew, sitting up in bed watching the WWDC 2021 Keynote. Sasha the dog is asleep on the bed. I’m realising just how very pongy she is‼️ 👃🏼Good …
08 June 2021: The 5 am start for the WWDC 2021 keynote is always a challenge. 🥱
07 June 2021: We had an unusual event at Waikawa Beach this weekend: the launch of a Little Free Library created by a couple of members of the community. …
07 June 2021: Well, that was an interesting experiment. M1 MacBook Pro. I exported my Health data from iPhone. Then I opened the 1.7GB(!!!!) XML file into BBEdit. …
07 June 2021: A sea misty morning at the beach today.
06 June 2021: This week’s delicious International Breakfast was Mandazi African Donuts. Although deep fried, they weren’t oily or greasy. They were perfect, …
05 June 2021: My friend Anne writes cogently, coherently and interestingly about the Miss Silver mysteries by Patricia Wentworth. Some smart lit crit in there, and …
04 June 2021: Whew! A busy day doing various tasks for our local Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association: emails, blog posts, some admin stuff, update the list of …
03 June 2021: As I watch The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life and learn about so many male thinkers I have a nagging …
03 June 2021: Ha ha ha ha ha… The Mitchells vs. the Machines movie was weird, hilarious, bizarre, moving. I loved all the, I don’t even know what to call …
02 June 2021: Look who I found while weeding. I think it must be a Brown Tree frog - Litoria ewingii: They all have a white stripe along the jawline from the …
02 June 2021: Whew, listed my old S3 Apple Watch for sale. People seem to still be buying them used.
02 June 2021: At first I was excited by the new Aotearoa Astrotourism Academy. Then I looked more closely at the instructors and the programme: there is no Māori …
02 June 2021: Eight black swans: two parents and 6 almost fully grown cygnets. It’s amazing all six babies survived to this age. Soon though they’ll …
02 June 2021: This one was a bit disappointing: A Simple Case of Murder (Lost in Alaska Book 4) by Leigh Mayberry. 📚 Pretty much everything was out of the Police …
01 June 2021: Today’s International Breakfast, Greek omelet, was delicious. We didn’t have oregano so used mixed herbs. I’d reduce the herbs next time. …
31 May 2021: This was so delicious and easy to cook. I used chicken stock rather than plain water. Curried cauliflower & lentil soup recipe | BBC Good Food 🍜 …
31 May 2021: This morning I told Deb we’d probably have to buy a tanker of drinking water soon. With only 1.8 mm rain forecast today and hardly any for the …
30 May 2021: Another good read: Next of Kin (DI Sarah Quinn Mystery Book 5) by Maureen Carter. 📚 Lisa Webb is beaten and left to drown … the latest victim of a …
30 May 2021: Interesting: a successful author who doesn’t read: I was shocked to discover that she creates whatever she reads in her mind. … When the heroine …
29 May 2021: Well, the official results are in from my Ancestry.com DNA test, and surprisingly, I’m not 100% English. Looks like there’s a bit of Scots (18%) …
28 May 2021: For the past year or more a tiny fatty lump on my neck that I first thought was a pimple slowly grew into a small very annoying lump. A few days ago …
27 May 2021: I have two more lunar eclipse photos that aren’t too terrible. One about half way in and the other about three quarters to totality. 🌕
27 May 2021: I don’t see astrophotography in my future, but provided you don’t look too closely, this is pretty much the splendid view I had of last night’s …
26 May 2021: Starting to see the Earth’s shadow encroaching on the face of the moon… It’s about an hour till total eclipse now.
26 May 2021: Trying to get serious with camera settings, tripod etc, and getting the darn thing in focus. Full moon before the eclipse starts.
26 May 2021: I plan to watch tonight’s total lunar eclipse by eye rather than through a camera lens, but I do want to try for a couple of photos. Checking …
25 May 2021: Things I’m learning about ebike racks. My car has a 1 7/8 tow ball. The E-Rack 2 I’m considering needs a 50mm ball. These sizes are …
25 May 2021: Reina Pepiada: Venezuelan Arepas with Chicken and Avocado This week’s International Breakfast: Reina Pepiada: Venezuelan Arepas with Chicken and Avocado. We were able to buy the P.A.N. cornflour online. …
25 May 2021: I love the On This Day feature in Micro.Blog. I check mine every day. I’d completely forgotten that a year ago we had an earthquake big enough that I …
24 May 2021: Thinking this might be a bike trip I could do next year: West Coast Wilderness Trail. A friend did it and said it was fabulous. The West Coast of Te …
24 May 2021: Concerned by events in [Western] Samoa: Live updates: Samoa’s political crisis deepens where the party voted out in a recent election has locked …
24 May 2021: I enjoyed Lost to the Sea: A Cozy Mystery (Lost in Alaska Book 3) by Leigh Mayberry. Somehow the odd word choices and other ‘mistakes’ lend …
23 May 2021: Shocking news this afternoon that an office holder on a committee I’m on had a massive heart attack and passed away today. It can be so sudden …
23 May 2021: Well, Deb’s first outing on her new ebike was a success. I helped her learn how to stop and get off — something she’d been very nervous about. …
22 May 2021: Called in to Torpedo 7 in Palmerston North to buy a chain cleaning kit for my bike and came out with the kit plus a new Trek 2021 Verve+ 2 Lowstep …
21 May 2021: Back in early April Deb and I sent off Ancestry.com DNA tests. Finally the DNA is being analysed and we should have results in mid-June.
21 May 2021: This week I’ve been less tired, had less brain fog and less blurry vision. In the best spirit of changing several factors at once I’ve (probably) been …
20 May 2021: Budget Day today in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Labour Government is committed to spending money in all the right places: improving health, housing, …
20 May 2021: On my brisk walk today I spotted this impressive ‘beach whare’. I now realise another angle would have made a better photo. Whare (pronounced roughly …
20 May 2021: Ugh! Waikato Hospital enters third day affected by cyber attack: cyber experts are working to isolate the problem and reset individual computer …
19 May 2021: Our local government organisations — Councils — use a system of geographic subdivisions called ‘wards’ that allow voting. There is debate about …
19 May 2021: Heh, first some wanted to use CQD: dash dot dash dot | dash dash dot dash | dash dot dot This was a political process among the notable shipping …
19 May 2021: Fascinating 25 minute The Allusionist podcast episode: SOS: SOS is a really versatile distress call. You … can tap it out in Morse code; you can honk …
19 May 2021: 🧐 💭 What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life: The heart of compassion is the sprout of humaneness. The heart of shame is the sprout of …
18 May 2021: Another Leigh Mayberry cozy enjoyed, with its endearingly odd language: A Killer Vacation: A Cozy Mystery (Lost in Alaska Book 2) 📚: Paul Coleman …
18 May 2021: Today’s village - beach loop walk added resistance training into the mix, courtesy of winds gusting up to 78 Kph at our place, probably more on …
18 May 2021: 👍: Wellington dogs to swap plastic tags for metal 🐶: Wellington’s wagging goodbye to plastic registration tags for dogs in a bid to cut down on …
17 May 2021: Super busy day today. We had 17.5 mm rain: hooray! I’m making progress at line dancing: hooray! Arrangements to launch the new local Little Free …
17 May 2021: I listened with great interest to Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Confucius the other day then found my way to the free course at edX The Path to …
16 May 2021: The 15 year old dogs have trained me to walk at a slow dawdle, with frequent stops, for max 20 minutes. Today I left them at home and did a brisk 40 …
15 May 2021: We enjoyed watching Uncle Frank 🎬: Set in the 1970s, Uncle Frank is a road movie about a gay man who confronts his past.
15 May 2021: The privately owned lane we live along (with 4 other parties) needs resurfacing. We had a meeting today to discuss the quotes we’ve had and after some …
14 May 2021: Soo… we had our first real frost of the year. Mid-May seems a bit early. 🤷🏻♀️ Temperature bottomed out around -1.8C. Paddocks next door show the …
13 May 2021: I enjoyed reading A Cold Day for Murder: A Cozy Mystery (Lost in Alaska Book 1) by Leigh Mayberry and am embarking on the next in series. Numerous …
13 May 2021: Ordered Airtags. After a week or two they were picked up by the courier in China. Nothing, nothing, nothing. 5 days later they’re in Auckland. …
13 May 2021: Concerned when I watched The Flash S07E09. One of the bad-guys, giving people nightmares, had a fullface tattoo. The original screenshot was way too …
13 May 2021: Brain-explody: Comparing the world’s most well known locations with NZ’s latitude | WeatherWatch. (Using latitude co-ordinates only) Well known …
12 May 2021: Already got back the results of my routine blood tests. All good apparently. ✔️
12 May 2021: This is an excellent time of year for taking photos of the neighbour’s gorgeous horse.
12 May 2021: The farmer next door runs hundreds of cows, and 4 sheep. Sometimes random animals also turn up — one year it was a Kunekune pig. This year it seems to …
12 May 2021: I hoped the doctor would remove a small annoying sebaceous cyst for me today, but instead she checked it and made an appointment two weeks away for …
11 May 2021: Uh oh, I take that back. Now the 2016 MacBook Pro can’t load Amazon.com either…
11 May 2021: Hmmm, currently my M1 MacBook Pro refuses to load Amazon.com despite extensive troubleshooting. 2016 MacBook Pro though has no problem with it. Still …
11 May 2021: This was enjoyable 📚: Frightfully Fortune (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 20) a dead man gallops through the park on a black stallion and slides to a …
11 May 2021: I’m unhappy when I spot random bits of plastic, rope or other stuff on our beach, but we have nothing like this level of pollution: The Beach Where …
11 May 2021: 💪🏼 ♀ Motherhood on the Battlefield of Death | The Order of the Good Death: For Mesoamerican people childbirth was considered a form of battle, …
10 May 2021: On 05 May I posted about a neighbouring property for sale: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 146 Strathnaver Drive. When we drove past this afternoon it had a …
09 May 2021: Korean Banchan Our International Breakfast this week was Korean Banchan — Steamed White Rice, Gyeran Jjim, Sigumchi Namul, Pan-Fried Tofu with Dipping Sauce, …
09 May 2021: Predicted tracks for the LongMarch5B CZ-5B rocket body reentry are narrowing down. Our house is right under one of them (blue line). 09 May 2021 03:26 …
08 May 2021: Sunrise at about 7.00 this morning was a very intense red.
07 May 2021: Pausing by the river to sit in the sun and fresh air for a bit.
07 May 2021: I enjoyed Dying Bad (DI Sarah Quinn Mystery Book 3) by Maureen Carter. I especially like the way the lead character abbreviates and makes more or less …
06 May 2021: Each time the chain comes off my bike I’m that bit more adept at putting it back on. Apparently this chain falling off thing is more of a …
06 May 2021: My first attempt at cooking crepes was a definite ‘learning experience’ (ie failure). The pan should have been hotter, the crepe thinner. We also …
06 May 2021: I want to give a huge shoutout to @danielpunkass A recent version of Black Ink let subscribers get the NY Times crossword. It mostly didn’t work …
05 May 2021: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 146 Strathnaver Drive: 2 bedrooms; 1 bathroom; 50m2 floor area; 3464m2 land area. Buyer Enquiry Over $695,000 Neighbours of …
05 May 2021: Of course … yesterday I had a new spare house key cut. Today I found the one that had gone missing. 🧐
05 May 2021: This is a superb 8 minute documentary: The typeface that told the stories of Chinese New Zealanders: this set of heavy lead typeface has a …
05 May 2021: Indeed! If Aotearoa is serious about creating a future that young people can see themselves in, it’s time to divest from a very peculiar, and often …
04 May 2021: Whew! Drama in our house this morning as Deb spilled half a glass of plain water on her MacBook Pro. Draining, drying, airing. That machine has been a …
04 May 2021: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 61-63 Manga Pirau Street: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 70m2 floor area; 827m2 land area. Two immediate beachfront sections. …
03 May 2021: At line dancing class today I was thinking about how learning goes: new new new new new new new new new 🥵 new 🤯 new 🥵 new new familiar 🤩 new new new …
02 May 2021: I was moaning recently about listing a 2012 MacBook Pro and a 2013 MacBook Pro on our NZ auction website. Actually there were almost no stupid …
02 May 2021: The Ozzies so often do such great movies. Three Summers (Netflix) was brilliantly done: very funny, excellent messages slipped in sublimely, some good …
02 May 2021: This is an amazing explanation of how combustion engines work, with superb animations. I thought I understood the basics, but this step through of how …
02 May 2021: Later this month we Kiwis can see a total lunar eclipse. I wrote about it on the blog for the local Waikawa Beach community: Look up! — There’s a …
02 May 2021: Gallo Pinto (Costa Rican Beans and Rice) This week’s International Breakfast was Gallo Pinto (Costa Rican Beans and Rice). We didn’t have the Salsa Lizano, so made do with …
02 May 2021: Oh crikey. A local asked me to visit to chat about an (excellent) arts project he’d like to do. I knew he’d written some poems once. I’m …
02 May 2021: Doing errands in Palmerston North yesterday I briskly walked a few blocks and was tired. I realise my daily dawdle with our dogs in their 15th year …
01 May 2021: Wow, the photography on The Year Earth Changed on TV+ is stunning! Photo of capybara. It’s so heartening the world had a moment to breathe …
01 May 2021: Hmmm, I finished Blood Stained (Detective Claudia Nunn Book 1) by Rebecca Bradley. While I kept reading to the end it didn’t sit well with me. …
01 May 2021: Yesterday I had to pick Deb up from the commuter train at Waikanae. Here it is arriving.
30 April 2021: A new item on my list of things I aim to do: Lake Dunstan Cycle Trail | Central Otago: The 55km Lake Dunstan Trail takes you from Smith’s Way, just …
30 April 2021: A nice thing to learn: Rakiura is the Maori name for Stewart Island. It translates as the Land of the Glowing Skies. We’ll be visiting later …
30 April 2021: I’m uncomfortable about Aotearoa New Zealand becoming the “Lord of the Rings” country, attracting tourists with hobbit holes etc. After all, the …
30 April 2021: Whew, heart pounding. A sudden loud noise like a heavy truck right beside me; milliseconds later a quake that rattled loose items. 〰️ Quake - …
29 April 2021: At a mere 5 minutes per week the That’s What They Say podcast is one anybody can fit in. The episode The language it is a-changin’ from 25 April …
28 April 2021: I’m selling a 2012 MacBook Pro and a 2013 MacBook Pro. Forgot to take photos until it was almost dark and the screens caught random blips of …
27 April 2021: I thoroughly enjoyed reading @cheri’s latest cozy: The Case of the Red Phantom. With voices from beyond the watery grave, this is quite a …
27 April 2021: Strange — I had my flu shot almost two weeks ago, but today’s the day I feel that maybe slightly fluey feeling I often get a couple of days after the …
26 April 2021: I really enjoyed The Woman on the Cliff crime thriller by Janice Frost. This plot went to some pretty unexpected places, and the flashback timeline …
25 April 2021: Thought-provoking! What Do Doctors Owe To The Dead People They Dissect? If thinking of a dead body as a patient seemed strange at first, I’ve begun …
25 April 2021: Lablabi (Chickpea Soup) This week’s international breakfast was Lablabi (Chickpea Soup) - Traditional Tunisian Recipe. Even without the caraway it was very delicious. A …
25 April 2021: Darn! We’re making another International Breakfast today and somehow ground caraway fell off the shopping list (it was on the list, but fell out …
24 April 2021: And in today’s Wikipedia search failure… The page “Lorena Light-Footed Woman” does not exist. Link to “Lorena, Light-Footed Woman” page. …
24 April 2021: A good watch: the 30 minute documentary Lorena, Light-Footed Woman. Tarahumara woman Lorena runs ultramarathons in her sandals and skirt with T-shirt. …
24 April 2021: It’s a ghastly cover and a sadistic crime, but I enjoyed reading Mother Love (DI Sarah Quinn Mystery Book 2) by Maureen Carter. 📚 …
24 April 2021: Never had so many problems before ordering from the Apple website, but have finally achieved it. I just wish I could use Apple Pay. Out of the 20 or …
23 April 2021: I’ve been meaning to clean up the quail run a bit. Today I scraped out some of the poop and old straw etc and added some fresh straw. I need to buy …
23 April 2021: As I thought: As for strapping an AirTag to a pet, Drance says, “If people do that, they just have to make sure that their moving pet gets into range …
22 April 2021: I enjoy watching The Rookie. Interestingly, S03E10, Man of Honor, gives us 3 separate storylines of men supporting women in achieving the goal the …
22 April 2021: This 35 minute interview was so interesting: Lisa Genova: The science of memory and the art of forgetting. I liked this bit: Our brains have a very …
21 April 2021: Hooray! — Massive health sector overhaul explained — Aotearoa New Zealand population is ~5 million. Our system is far too complicated … We simply do …
21 April 2021: Hanging out at the local Library — Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō — after finishing errands while waiting for groomed dogs to be ready. It’s a …
20 April 2021: The night before grooming. Sasha’s a little unfocused, but Oshi’s looking his cutest. 🐶
20 April 2021: I visited the international Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in Palmerston North. Amazing photos. Such dedication to the art (hours …
20 April 2021: I had the best ever chicken teriyaki at Mr Choi Sushi Bar, 364 Main Street, in Palmerston North. Looked pretty suss but was busy with a variety of …
20 April 2021: Excellent and powerful article re TV: Vegas keeps the Māori warrior-gangster trope alive for another generation by Leonie Hayden. Infinite quotable …
20 April 2021: Yay … 😰 75% chance of major Alpine Fault earthquake in next 50 years NZ’s Alpine Fault has a 75% chance of causing a major quake … within the …
20 April 2021: Note for future me, and others in a similar situation: after extensive troubleshooting for why pressing Play on an TV+ episode just led to a …
19 April 2021: Today I visited this fine fellow for a few minutes, as his people are away. Would not look at the camera. 🤷🏻♀️ 🐈
18 April 2021: I abandoned Coffin Cove (Coffin Cove Mysteries Book 1) by Jackie Elliott about half way through. It didn’t hang together well, had way too much …
18 April 2021: Excellent: A Question of Despair (DI Sarah Quinn Mystery Book 1) by Maureen Carter. It was well-written, held my interest so I read it pretty quickly, …
18 April 2021: Palak Paneer Paratha Our International Breakfast this week is Paratha from India. We made Palak Paneer Paratha. There was too much just for breakfast, so I guess lunch is …
17 April 2021: The neighbour I visited yesterday had this wonderful large orange fungus growing on one of his pine trees.
17 April 2021: Daring Fireball, John Gruber: Crazed Gun Owner Kills 8 at FedEx Warehouse in Indianapolis: So seven people get blood clots after getting the J&J …
16 April 2021: Other Monarchs have hatched unobserved, but here’s one I spotted this morning, still fresh out of the chrysalis.
16 April 2021: This statement is gobsmacking: ACC must do better to speed up fossil fuel divestment: We balance our responsibility to invest in an ethical and …
16 April 2021: Early to bed last night with the blahs, so I watched Work It — a teenage dance film. I liked the notion of the geek girl who couldn’t dance — that’d …
15 April 2021: Glad I reserved my day after the flu shot for blobbing. I didn’t sleep so well — loads of weird dreams — and am feeling a bit blah today. My …
15 April 2021: Wow. Kati Kariko Helped Shield the World From the Coronavirus: She needed grants to pursue ideas that seemed wild and fanciful. She did not get them… …
14 April 2021: This year’s flu shot done. ✔️ Apparently it has extra ‘goodies’ to stimulate the immune response in over 65s so my arm might be quite sore. Thanks …
14 April 2021: Starting the day with heavy rain, thunder and lightning.
13 April 2021: The other surprise today was the first Monarch Butterfly to emerge from its chrysalis. Such an amazing natural process! 🦋
13 April 2021: While driving past the lake at the end of our road today I was surprised to see our local black swan pair have 6 moderately large cygnets. That’s the …
12 April 2021: Busy day! I’m getting better at line dancing, hooray! The easiest dances are OK with me. Every new dance has me falling over my feet, but I know …
11 April 2021: We really enjoyed Concrete Cowboy 🎬, though we had to turn on subtitles. a fictionalization of the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club an urban …
11 April 2021: The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture by Gail Carriger was a really interesting read. Thanks to @cheri for the …
11 April 2021: Permanently retiring a 2012 MacBook Pro and a 2013 MacBook Pro. This time I’m remembering to follow the instructions at What to do before you sell, …
11 April 2021: Our boy Oshi 🐶 always has to be at the centre of things. If we’re patting Sasha he inserts himself. Your Dog May Get Jealous Even if It Just …
11 April 2021: This is interesting: Here’s Why Our Brains Solve Problems by Adding Things, Not Removing: The first thing that comes to our minds is, what can …
11 April 2021: We enjoyed Thunder Force 🎬: two childhood friends invent a way to become superheroes in a world where criminals have developed superpowers. It was …
10 April 2021: 41 gun salute! Wow. A 41-gun salute will be held in Wellington at midday tomorrow in honour of Prince Philip. www.rnz.co.nz When we lived in …
10 April 2021: With the Covid vaccine still a couple of months away for me, and winter approaching, it’s time for my free flu shot. Booked for Wednesday. Mind …
10 April 2021: We suddenly have new neighbours in our little lane. This extremely tiny ‘tiny house’ turned up today. Presumably for weekenders rather than permanent …
09 April 2021: Deb has a complex family and decided to do a DNA test from Ancestry.com.au. I’m keeping her company. Today we spit into the little plastic tubes and …
08 April 2021: After 1,000 Km my 1 year old electric bike was due thorough maintenance. Dropped it off with the bike guy in Raumati South, then had the most …
07 April 2021: I put the spare key to my bicycle battery in A Very Safe Place. Don’t know where that is? Funnily enough, neither do I… And somehow the very act …
07 April 2021: Sasha and Oshi are preparing for the synchronised napping competition in the next doggie Olympics. I think they’re in with a good chance! 🐶 Oshi …
07 April 2021: With autumn heading towards winter we’ve cleared nearly everything out of our tunnelhouse. In future we aren’t going to plant directly in the …
06 April 2021: My Sasha has a dream. 🐶
06 April 2021: I’m all caught up on watching For All Mankind on TV+. It was compelling viewing. So glad to know a Season 3 is on the cards.
05 April 2021: I always have tinnitus. It’s worse when I’m tired. When I’m stressed I don’t get back to sleep after waking in the night. That makes me tired …
05 April 2021: Glee the Japanese Quail decided to sit on eggs a couple of weeks ago. Her sister Fliss helps occasionally. I thought they’d pretty much stopped …
04 April 2021: It’s a miracle! About 10 hours of sleep and I’m not even sick. Amazing. Normally I’m pretty happy if I can get it up to 8 hours. Hooray …
03 April 2021: In getting ahead of things: I’ve changed the analogue kitchen clock, toothbrush clock, 2 cameras, oven clock. Yet to change: the car clock.
03 April 2021: I’ve been watching, and enjoying, S01 of For All Mankind. So much smoking and drinking! I’m amazed the astronauts were able to pass any of their …
03 April 2021: Today’s a day where I wish I had a Klingon Cloaking Device. I want to be invisible to the world — go for a bike ride without anyone noticing me, …
03 April 2021: Tomorrow’s the day to put the clocks back in Aotearoa New Zealand: Daylight saving ends when clocks go back by 1 hour at 3am on 4 April 2021. …
02 April 2021: I’m remembering that I stopped watching The Flash somewhere in Season 6. I’ve started Season 7, but it’s utterly underwhelming — pretty …
02 April 2021: Just before dawn was too dark for a selfie, but I took one anyway. Apart from missing a day last week, I still do a selfie each day for my own album. …
01 April 2021: LOL: Supergirl Recap Episode 601 as Kara points out, “Only four of us can fly.” Which I think is selling themselves a little short. I think maybe …
01 April 2021: I loved this 20 minute video — it was such fun. The more I see Janelle Monae perform the more gorgeous I think she is. I love to see her perform.
01 April 2021: This poor fellow next door has been in my line of vision for quite a while — maybe since yesterday — without moving. Today I checked on him and he …
01 April 2021: So well deserved: How Siouxsie Wiles became ‘the Covid lady’, then New Zealander of the year: microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles was named New …
01 April 2021: One of the two lakes at the end of the road was looking so blue this morning!
31 March 2021: Drove a 2-hour round trip (+ time for a couple of quick errands) and took the dogs along. They used to be really good in the car — we’d forget …
30 March 2021: Waikawa Beach for sale: 4/17 Strathnaver Drive: Asking price $450,000; 0.50ha Bare Land. Deadline Sale, closing 11am Tuesday 20th April, 2021 (unless …
30 March 2021: I really enjoyed on Netflix the documentary A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman. I’ve long been a fan of Wallace and Gromit and think Chicken …
30 March 2021: I try to keep this blog positive but need to vent a bit today about logins. In the good old days you’d use a username and password to log into a …
30 March 2021: hey @help has something changed with the Micro.Blog Mac app? This ‘No more posts’ button wasn’t actually telling the truth when I encountered it …
30 March 2021: Our friend Willow is visiting for the day. However, Willow, Oshi and Sasha were reluctant to cooperate for a quick photo. 🐶
29 March 2021: Today was the fifth line dancing class I’ve attended and I’m starting to get the hang of it. I wasn’t exhausted from the mental effort at the …
29 March 2021: Taumarunui has this striking Moa sculpture at the south end of town. It’s made of small bits of wood — like driftwood, but they aren’t very …
28 March 2021: 450 Km to drive home today. We plan to go down through National Park again but then through Whanganui rather than Waiouru. Just for a change. Meeting …
28 March 2021: I’d forgotten … Hamilton, home of hot air Balloons.
27 March 2021: On a group outing to Sky City Casino in Hamilton. I’m not a gambler and find the appeal mystifying really. The occasional Lotto ticket or a bet on a …
27 March 2021: It’s only a two hour drive from Manunui to Hamilton. First stop Taumarunui for breakfast though.
26 March 2021: Taumarunui, population ~4,500, has a decent Thai restaurant, unlike Levin, population ~20,000. Tom Kha Gai soup FTW.
26 March 2021: Correction: Mahoe Motel is in Manunui, 3 Km south of Taumaranui.
26 March 2021: Kiwi as! Mahoe Motel, Taumarunui.
25 March 2021: A wonderful news story: Auckland Zoo has welcomed 4 new baby Galapagos tortoises. Just look at these little cuties! Galapagos tortoises are …
25 March 2021: Regular Expressions — a 2007 intro When @odd mentioned he should learn about Regular Expressions I recalled I once wrote an introductory tutorial for Mac users. Here it is in all its …
25 March 2021: Mm, hmm. Opening a 27MB file into BBEdit on my M1 MacBook Pro: “Oh no! Spinning beach…” Done. Scroll, scroll, find. Smooth as butter.
24 March 2021: This was an interesting 5 minute video: Why Shakespeare Could Never Have Been French: Shakespeare sounds a certain way. Why? And why could it only …
24 March 2021: Autumn brings morning mists. It’s actually a lovely way to start the day.
23 March 2021: Ful Medames This week’s International Breakfast was our version of an Egyptian meal: Ful Medames: Ful medames is pre-Ottoman and pre-Islamic. It is …
23 March 2021: 12 months ago today Aotearoa New Zealand went into Level 3 shutdown, preparing for Level 4 in 2 days. This year I’m noticing the (late) Monarch …
23 March 2021: Stunning morning at the beach, still, sunny, no-one around. The sea really was that amazing milky silvery mirror blue.
22 March 2021: Yay! On Wednesday I learn how to make crossword puzzles.
22 March 2021: I was thinking of visiting the Zoo when we make a quick family-related trip soon to Hamilton, and noticed they have Fishing Cats I wanted to see. Then …
22 March 2021: Hey @JohnPhilpin A year ago today you visited me at Waikawa Beach: miraz.me/2020/03/2… 😎
21 March 2021: Almost 48 hours since a sudden new allergy to Nurofen (probably) made my face swell up. Finally the puffiness around my eyes has almost gone. Plus, …
21 March 2021: I quite enjoyed Detective Hillary Greene Books 1–5 box set by Faith Martin. There’s something about the female characters and their …
21 March 2021: For the longest time I thought we had Banded dotterels at Waikawa Beach but after close investigation I now think they are the very similar Wrybills. …
21 March 2021: Really enjoyed Moxie at Netflix: Fed up with the sexist and toxic status quo at her high school, a shy 16-year-old finds inspiration from her …
20 March 2021: Hmmm, for decades I’ve used Nurofen to help with headaches. Last night I had quite an allergic reaction that we attribute to Nurofen: swollen …
20 March 2021: I should have taken some photos of the Pukeko chicks at the nearby lake a couple of weeks ago when they were fluffier. Look at these ridiculous gangly …
19 March 2021: Bumblebee, meet pollen.
19 March 2021: It’s not often we see one of these around here. They didn’t stay long. And I’ve never noticed the “Highway Patrol” text on the car …
19 March 2021: A few years ago now I spotted a cop in Wellington who looked like he should have had a note from mum to be off school… So this is good: NZ’s …
18 March 2021: In the middle of this year we hope to be cruising with friends round Rakiura (Stewart Island) at the southern tip of Aotearoa New Zealand. After that …
18 March 2021: I have now learned the correct way to put the chain back on my bike. Now I need to learn how to remove the chain guard, which would make it easier.
17 March 2021: I learned Latin for 2 years at school. It’s invaluable for understanding English (and some other languages). However, that understanding could …
17 March 2021: Yucca in the dunes with Kāpiti Island beyond.
17 March 2021: Oshi eating. 🐶 He’s doing fine now! Even came and lined up for breakfast like he’s supposed to, rather than me having to tempt him off his …
17 March 2021: Thanks to a word puzzle, today I learned about Machicolation: a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or …
16 March 2021: Oshi update 🐶: he’s still not quite 100% but he’s so much more himself — played with his stuffed duck after dinner, scrunched up the bedding to …
16 March 2021: The Monarch caterpillars seemed to arrive late in the season, but they’re growing nicely on our swan plants. Some pretty long and chunky …
16 March 2021: Teishoku Traditional Japanese Breakfast This week’s International Breakfast was a version of Teishoku Traditional Japanese Breakfast. It was delicious, though a bit of a faff to make. …
16 March 2021: Huh!!! One ‘s’!! Just deserts uses this, relatively uncommon, noun form of desert, which may mean “deserved reward or punishment” (usually used in …
16 March 2021: I was intrigued to learn about Complete Knot List | Alphabetical list of all Knots | Animated Knots by Grog, especially since I had to store a length …
15 March 2021: My ‘technique' for giving dogs pills is 99% torture and 1% luck. 😧 🐶
15 March 2021: Mini Oshi update 🐶: Had to really coax him to eat breakfast. Booked an X-Ray. Drove to vet, put Oshi on the ground and he strolled around the carpark …
15 March 2021: On safety, and the freedom to walk home: When words fail us. 🔗
15 March 2021: Two years ago today, the terror attack in Christchurch — Muslim community to pray in private on anniversary of attacks.
14 March 2021: So, what's up with Oshi? 🐶 For the last few days we've been struggling with what's wrong with Oshi. Last weekend we thought his bottom was worrying him so when Sasha had to get …
14 March 2021: Waikawa Beach recently sold, apparently ~$950,000 — 13 Strathnaver Drive. 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, Floor area: 96 m², Land area: 2083 …
14 March 2021: It’s one of those fabulous autumn days: cold start, clear sky, warm sun (cooler breeze), waves as gentle as a holiday on a tropical island.
14 March 2021: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 111 Strathnaver Drive. Asking price $895,000 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 177m² Floor, 0.36ha Land. 111 Strathnaver Drive for …
13 March 2021: We’ve seen mysterious lights up in the hills at dawn. I finally grabbed the binoculars (and then my zoom lens) for a daylight look. Turns out …
13 March 2021: Oshi update: his symptoms are puzzling. We’ve come home with Rilexine® Palatable tablets - Easy to give tasty antibiotics | Virbac and advice on …
13 March 2021: Oshi still seems pretty unhappy and uncomfortable. We have another appointment with the vet booked for lunchtime. 🐶
12 March 2021: Oshi’s latest medication: APOQUEL® (oclacitinib tablet) Allergy Medicine for Dogs: If your dog is scratching, licking, or chewing like crazy, …
12 March 2021: Hooray! : NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover @NASAPersevere: Mission scientists worked with a Navajo (or Diné) engineer on the team … to seek the …
12 March 2021: We had an unexpected visit to the vet this morning to sort out Oshi’s ‘bottom' problem. We came home with a week’s worth of Apoquel anti-itch …
11 March 2021: Looks like I’ll be getting my Covid vaccine sometime around mid-year: When, how and where do you get your Covid-19 vaccine? NZ roll-out details …
11 March 2021: Funds are tight this year so I’ll be closing down my separate lovewaikawabeach.nz blog as the domain name and Micro.Blog sub expire. Things I …
11 March 2021: For Sale: 60 Sarah St, Waikawa Beach. Enquiries over $650,000. 2 Beds; 1 Bath; 70m² Floor; 988m² Land. 60 Sarah Street for sale.
10 March 2021: I made a big mistake this morning: with my phone beside the dog food bowls I played a podcast episode while I organised food. Sasha got a fit of the …
10 March 2021: 🤯🤯🤯🤯 Aaaargh! Internet / computer networking is utterly beyond my capabilities. The more I read how-to’s and reviews of products the more my head …
09 March 2021: Russian Sweet Cheese Pancakes Syrniki This weeks International Breakfast (at lunchtime) was Russian Sweet Cheese Pancakes Syrniki (Made with Curd Cheese), which we made with Ricotta, …
09 March 2021: Cool 4-minute video: Why Real Explosions Don’t Look Like Movie Explosions.
09 March 2021: The whole article is an easy and interesting read, but especially: I’m glad I didn’t give up 10 years ago to fit someone else’s idea of what a …
08 March 2021: It seems late in the season for it, but we finally have Monarch Butterfly caterpillars on our Swan Plants.
08 March 2021: On the property just past our neighbours there’s building work happening. I suspect they’re laying a concrete floor today. This is the …
07 March 2021: Excellent! Lucy Lawless bringing My Life Is Murder local spin-off to TVNZ a contemporary mystery drama with a compelling female lead who is …
07 March 2021: We watched the amazing and very moving documentary Sherpa: explores some of the Sherpa culture and their spiritual relationship with [Everest], as …
07 March 2021: This very long read is riveting and thought-provoking: Deliverance From 27,000 Feet. 5 Sherpas surrounded the frozen corpse. They swung axes at the …
06 March 2021: Yesterday Waikawa Beach was under a Beach and Marine Threat Warning, while parts of the northeast of Aotearoa New Zealand were under a Tsunami …
06 March 2021: I’ve signed up for a free crossword puzzle creating class as mentioned at Puzzle 25: Animal Crackers. Not until April, but should be interesting.
05 March 2021: At the start of Fortune Funhouse (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 19) by Jana DeLeon I thought some plot tropes were wearing thin. However, this proved …
05 March 2021: My friend Jan took this photo of Sasha and Oshi. 🐶
05 March 2021: This map from RadioNZ shows better where the three quakes have been. We only felt the first, but there are tsunami and coastal inundation warnings for …
05 March 2021: Shaky times: the first earthquake around 0230 today was offshore New Zealand. Since then though have been two more huge earthquakes much further away …
05 March 2021: That far away shake certainly woke us all up! It started with long light shaking then wound up to long strong shaking. In the morning I need to check …
04 March 2021: A power cut last week led our Belling 60cm Freestanding Double Oven to misbehave: clock blinked, hob worked, top oven worked. The bottom oven though …
03 March 2021: Cool: symptoms of ‘the UK variant’ of Covid-19 in several languages, including Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi as well as Māori, Sāmoan and Tongan.
03 March 2021: Last night we drove to Feilding with friends for dinner at Amayjen. It was our friend Jan’s birthday. Food was great, service was great. It was …
03 March 2021: Grooming day for Sasha and Oshi (and, not shown, me). Oshi refused to look at the camera, but Sasha’s a very obliging girl. 🐶
02 March 2021: Swedish Breakfast As we continue our weekly International Breakfast series … last week it was Mexican Huevos Rancheros and this week Swedish Rye Crispbread with …
02 March 2021: It’s annoying to come home from a brief walk and find I have to brush piripiri out of Sasha’s coat. Nasty little things, these burrs. 🐶 At least …
01 March 2021: Today I attended a line dancing class for the first time and learned: I have no sense of rhythm I can count to 1 It was fun though. I’m the one …
28 February 2021: Finished reading Secrets on the Fens by Joy Ellis, one of my favourite authors. Another excellent read! 📚 the bodies of two young people are …
28 February 2021: It’s the last day of meteorological summer and blimmin hot. My temperature gauge that I don’t trust says 27C. A neighbour’s (1 Km …
28 February 2021: For the last day of the photo challenge I thought I’d look up one of the first digital photos I took — with a Fujifilm DX-5. From November 1997 my …
27 February 2021: The farmer seems to be seeding the paddocks next door — perhaps with grass as he usually keeps dry stock (beef) on there. This year too he mowed those …
27 February 2021: Round here the male pheasants enjoy pompasetting their finest colours and longest tail feathers. #27
26 February 2021: Ahhh, finally figured out what I keep doing while reading Kindle in bed that changes the font size: pinch out to make text bigger; pinch in to make it …
26 February 2021: I pretty much enjoyed The Rings of Grissom: Tales of a Former Space Janitor by Julia Huni, but I preferred the preceding Space Janitor stories. …
26 February 2021: Yesterday I took some polystyrene beans out of this dog bed so it’s not so solid and high. One of Oshi’s favourite things is to scrabble …
25 February 2021: I never knew real sourdough was a very different thing from mass produced bread, but this excellent interview clarified things for me: Andrew Whitley: …
25 February 2021: The beach code: protect the native plants that hold dunes together by keeping to the tracks. Europeans planted exotic marram grass because cattle …
24 February 2021: Aha! We’re at Batwoman S02E05 and it’s really cranking. I’m coming to very much like Alice, and the other characters. Some very nice …
24 February 2021: Micro.Blog Feature request: while we wait for some kind of timeline position sync across devices, how about giving us some kind of widget to instantly …
24 February 2021: Ah, today I have a chance to revisit one of my baby Japanese Quail. Here she is sitting on a plastic lid filled with water, and stones, so she can’t …
23 February 2021: Yesterday we went for a little walk at Papaitonga Scenic Reserve, only 20 minutes drive from here. The lake and the surrounding wetland and lush …
23 February 2021: Māori facial tattoos (tā moko) are very special with huge ancestral and spiritual significance. But the custom nearly disappeared after Europeans …
23 February 2021: Paradise!
23 February 2021: Banana: Not a banana: #23
22 February 2021: We watched and enjoyed News of the World, with Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. It’s an appropriately slow-moving, thoughtful story set in Texas in …
22 February 2021: Some people have a lot of trouble with how to spell my name. The z at the end drifts all over the place, and sometimes is even silent! Sometimes I …
21 February 2021: In September 2018 we were holidaying in Niue, where I tried a little snorkelling (with a full-face mask). I love the colours / colors in this photo. …
20 February 2021: We enjoyed watching Finding ‘Ohana. No surprises, of course — it was a kind of junior Indiana Jones — but it did seem respectful of Hawai’ian …
20 February 2021: Took out my laptop at a cafe to fill in an hour waiting for my bike’s gears to be fixed. Panicked when I saw it had only 40% charge. Then I …
20 February 2021: I’m feeding a friend’s chooks for a few days. From her place this morning I spotted this low cloud covering a sliver of blue sky above the …
19 February 2021: In Aotearoa New Zealand it’s a challenge for our native fauna to stay alive under the onslaught from exotic pests such as stoats, cats, possums, …
18 February 2021: Here’s a picture from my recent Photo Workshop day at Pūkaha Mt Bruce. The battery on my Fuji X-T2 died about 6 hours in, but my iPhone still …
18 February 2021: For NZ$100 we bought this 1,000 litre plastic tank from the local licorice factory. It was used to ship vegetable derived glycerine for use in their …
18 February 2021: This is a perfect day to be at home. Blue sky and sunshine, a little birdsong and an occasional cicada, otherwise quiet, no wind. Paradise. #18
18 February 2021: Out of nowhere this morning I started humming The Tornados - Telstar (1962) a hit from my youth. I was 7 years old when this came out and it was only …
17 February 2021: Glad I gave S2 of Batwoman a try after struggling through S1. Alice is less mad, gruesome and sadistic and more interesting and appealing. …
17 February 2021: I was having difficulties sending some texts on my new Mac. Turned out I needed to check the settings on my iPhone. I also logged out of Messages, …
17 February 2021: Our unexpected visitors last night had spent 5 hours on a 3-hour ferry trip from the South Island. Fierce gales left most passengers vomiting …
17 February 2021: From earlier this year. Our river is tidal, but on this day it was really still. Looking southwestish towards the sea. #17
16 February 2021: The erudite amongst us may know this is a very fine Giant Galapagos Tortoise — a huge animal I loved seeing at the zoo in Honolulu back in December …
15 February 2021: It’s one of those mornings where the sea is almost mill-pond calm. The damp sand caught Sasha’s reflection as I looked towards Kāpiti …
14 February 2021: Well New Zealand has a community Covid case today so: Auckland moves to alert level 3, rest of New Zealand to level 2 for a few days. Tricky virus!
14 February 2021: I enjoyed reading Spoils of the Dead (Liam Campbell Book 5) by Dana Stabenow. I love her descriptions of Alaska and the life there. 📚 the …
14 February 2021: Around 2001 compassion led us to adopt Olive the cat when her owners moved overseas from next door. However, we made a huge number of mistakes with …
13 February 2021: I was out of the house by 6 am for the Photography Workshop at Pūkaha Wildlife centre. Home by 7 pm. Made hundreds of photos, many not successful. I …
13 February 2021: Here’s a green gecko to make up for my blue. Look at those ‘teeth’!
13 February 2021: Hmm. That wasn’t the Tui brewery in my last post. It was simply a Fonterra milk factory. 🤦🏽♀️
13 February 2021: This is the brewery in Pahiatua where they make Tui beer. (I think) #13: make
12 February 2021: As my friend Rachel so rightly pointed out: It’s a good day : because I woke up :) Ageism is death!
12 February 2021: I just wrote this to a friend and realised it belongs here too: One of my latest philosophies: every wake-up is a fresh start. It was going to be …
12 February 2021: Well, this is so sporg : tomorrow I drive to Pūkaha Wildlife Reserve for a photography workshop. It’s only 42 Km away as the tūī flies, but I have to …
11 February 2021: On the way home one of my favourite things about living in the country: I had to stop and wait for a herd of cows to cross the road. Paddock on one …
11 February 2021: My dentist office has this handy X-ray machine stowed against the wall. Today I had a crown put on one tooth — a very quick visit, with only a little …
10 February 2021: Apart from my normal backup external hard drive, I’ve accumulated 4 drives over the years which contain assorted uncatalogued stuff, often duplicated. …
10 February 2021: Ferries cross the notorious waters of Cook Strait between Aotearoa New Zealand’s North and South Islands. In 1978 at age 15 Meda McKenzie swam …
09 February 2021: This is not the right time of year (🌞😎) to find muddy things in Aotearoa New Zealand, so for today’s photo prompt this portion of Mud Cake will …
09 February 2021: Unfortunately people bring trail bikes and quad bikes onto the beach and they like to do ‘donuts’. It seems the sand scarabs have been getting …
08 February 2021: It takes ages but I’ve got time… I like setting up a new Mac afresh as it gives me the chance to reevaluate settings and apps, and even what …
08 February 2021: Ricotta Pancakes Inspired by @flish cooking meals from different countries and wanting a weekly ‘date’ with Deb, we’re having an International …
08 February 2021: This year is … different. I haven’t seen or heard a frog in our garden for a while. A Southern Bell Frog, Litoria raniformis, would often jump …
07 February 2021: After exhausting myself washing down the east side of our house I was craving a strong brew of gunpowder green tea. Clean wall on the left half and …
06 February 2021: “Sport" is pretty much the antonym of “Miraz”, but once in a while I take my kayak a little way up Waikawa Stream. That’s the closest I ever get …
05 February 2021: I was worried I’d been too heavy handed with the marmite on my sandwich, but it worked out OK in the end. White bread with butter, marmite, …
05 February 2021: Given how much time it spends on my lap, and the care and attention I lavish on it, I think it’s fair to claim my MacBook Pro as one of my most …
05 February 2021: I’ve been using the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font | Braille Institute for a while now and really like it: it focuses on letterform distinction to …
04 February 2021: A new mid-winter public holiday for Aotearoa New Zealand: Matariki holiday date announced: The first annual Matariki public holiday will be …
04 February 2021: I’m finding Season 2 of Batwoman much less gross than Season 1 and am enjoying the play of attitudes towards an ordinary parolee vs superhero. I …
04 February 2021: Two sides of the stick. This fine girl was on our front door at dawn. Quite long — I didn’t measure, but perhaps a hand span or length.
04 February 2021: My Japanese Quail are fantastic layers. With at least 12 hours of daylight they each lay one egg every day. Impossible to get 2 birds and 2 eggs in …
03 February 2021: This morning’s inversion layer looked pretty good moments before sunrise.
03 February 2021: Can animals really predict earthquakes? data showed that the animals were unusually restless hours (up to 20 hours!) before earthquakes occurred and …
03 February 2021: Using a 2012 MacBook Pro while I wait for my new one. I didn’t install anything that isn’t essential. I had to have 1Password, TextExpander, …
03 February 2021: Woohoo, my new MacBook Pro is closer. Can’t wait to get set up on the new machine so I can stop using this temporary 2012 model and then figure …
03 February 2021: The weedspraying getup, backpack, long-sleeved shirt etc are hot, heavy, make me breathe hard and sweat a lot — horrible! But protecting myself from …
02 February 2021: Tonight I actually thought to come down to the beach to watch the sunset. Picnic table is working well.
02 February 2021: Morning Beverage: Premium China White Snowbuds, in the sun, on the deck. #2
01 February 2021: There are several baby rabbits that live near our front door. They just don’t seem to be getting bigger and are fairly tame. I’m calling this …
01 February 2021: I was reminded that I bought my electric bike exactly one year ago. So far I’ve ridden it for 880 Km, and it’s fallen over only twice, …
01 February 2021: Oh, well said! — Anniversary days are vestiges of occasions now disregarded and obscure. Let’s replace them with something positive and relevant for …
01 February 2021: I was saying to Deb that Anniversary Days are colonial and should go. Now: Why NZ’s outdated regional anniversaries should be ditched: Wellington – …
01 February 2021: February 2021 Photoblogging Challenge: #1 close up — sand scarab tracks. 📷
31 January 2021: I am deeply suspicious about that number of unread messages in my email InBox.
31 January 2021: A very happy blue morning at the beach. A (rare for this summer) perfectly blue sky, no wind, tiny waves. Kāpiti Island in the distance. Air so clear …
30 January 2021: We watched and enjoyed Alaska Is a Drag. 🎬 It’s an off-beat, curious but intriguing movie about a gay guy and his twin sister in Alaska who …
30 January 2021: Good to see this: Tailor-made hijab now part of NZ Police uniform for Muslim female officers: Females of the Muslim faith, if they choose to wear the …
30 January 2021: I’ve just enjoyed another excellent Kat Voyzey Mystery from @cheri: Cutting the Track! Cheri’s craft is really maturing. If I was in a pickle …
30 January 2021: OK, as a dog owner I have something to say to other dog owners. If your dog comes up to mine to ‘play’ and I know my dog probably …
30 January 2021: I enjoyed All Together Now, a happy-ending movie about a super-angelic homeless teen, the tragedy that takes her off-course, and how her community …
29 January 2021: At last they’ve stopped polishing my new MacBook Pro and now they’re lovingly handcrafting the box.
29 January 2021: Today the electrician wired in the UV filter we had installed just before Christmas. He cut out a section of the house’s baseboards (replaced …
28 January 2021: Our garage was put up about 4 years ago and the personal access door lock has been a pain ever since. We just left it unlocked most of the time. Now …
27 January 2021: Good news about our dishwasher: a 2-hour empty hotwash followed by a 2-hour hotwash with cleaner might have sorted the problems. The 2-hour hotwash …
27 January 2021: Fascinating 25 minute video about how Aotearoa New Zealand uses genome sequencing data to guide policy and public response to Covid-19 in almost …
26 January 2021: On Sunday I used Drafts Pro on my iPad to take notes at a meeting. I’d started the note on my Mac. Somehow what I wrote on the iPad just …
26 January 2021: In today’s dumb move: our dishwasher has been failing to clean the dishes. Step one is to buy a cleaner and run it through. I bought the cleaner …
26 January 2021: I haven’t had a pan au chocolat for a very long time. This is a great size for a mug of tea too. Yum. Thanks The Gorge in Ōtaki.
25 January 2021: Every summer our beach community runs a Sand Sculpture competition, with categories for little kids, older kids, families. While the littlies make …
25 January 2021: I often long for the ‘good old days' when I could just enter a username and password to log on to a website.
25 January 2021: My gorgeous Sasha. 🐶
25 January 2021: The Kiwi accent [is] one of the most variable accents in the world… “Over the last 120 years every single vowel has changed its articulation, which I …
24 January 2021: There is so much to Wow about and to quote in this article: Scooped: The history of ice cream in New Zealand. Just go and read it! Includes how ice …
24 January 2021: Reminder to self — when my new M1 MacBook Pro eventually arrives, install this: Hush: Noiseless Browsing for Safari.
23 January 2021: We really enjoyed So My Grandma’s a Lesbian!, another Spanish movie: When Eva’s grandmother decides to marry her best friend, Celia, Eva …
23 January 2021: Using algorithms, machine learning, and satellite technology for good: A New Method Has Been Enlisted to Help Save Elephants, And It Involves Space: …
23 January 2021: I enjoyed Holy Camp! a bizarre Spanish comedy musical: two 17-year-old girls spend summer at the camp they have attended since they were little. Both …
23 January 2021: Good point: only the impossible problems make their way to the [leader’s desk]. Everything that’s clean and easy? That gets decided down lower …
22 January 2021: The Ōtaki Festival of Pots opened today, and I bought a garden ornament of 3 birds on driftwood: a Tūī, a Kereru and a Piwakawaka. Now we need to work …
21 January 2021: I’ve never before paid the slightest attention to the inauguration of any US President, but today I watched the event live on the web. I’m so …
20 January 2021: I frequently admire our neighbour’s large Tīkouka or cabbage tree. What a fine specimen!
20 January 2021: Something to keep in mind — You Are Dying Every Day: It’s easy to see death as this thing that lies off in the distant future. …We think of dying as …
19 January 2021: The Shoreline movie theatre in Waikanae is one of those small ones with two-seater couches. Since our last visit they have installed (presumably) …
19 January 2021: What an excellent movie! A Call to Spy: inspired by the true stories of three women who worked as spies in Churchill’s Secret Army. Their …
19 January 2021: Processing: I’m imagining some factory worker in China polishing the Apple logo, dusting off the chips, inspecting the connections, tightening the …
18 January 2021: What I currently miss most from my 2016 MacBook Pro: using my fingerprint to unlock 1Password. I’m so sick of typing the unlock password, and …
18 January 2021: Somehow I blocked all cookies in Safari on my 2012 MacBook Pro and couldn’t log in to anywhere. Before I figured it out I switched to Firefox. …
18 January 2021: I’m using my ‘new' old 2012 MacBook Pro while I wait for my new M1 model to be shipped. Even though I’m doing only a few things on it, it still …
18 January 2021: I came to very much enjoy The Complete Tyrone Swift Mysteries seven gripping crime thrillers by Gretta Mulrooney after some initial skepticism. That …
18 January 2021: Waiting for a routine vet check. 🐶
17 January 2021: Our visiting friends have now left on the next stage of their motorcycle tour. These two bikes looked pretty good in our garage though.
17 January 2021: After the tide had gone down and the heavy rain stopped my friend with the tractor took the old picnic table onto the beach and along to where the …
17 January 2021: We inherited a picnic table but never use it — we have another better one. A neighbour has an ancient tractor he uses to take his boat to the beach. …
16 January 2021: Phew, short on sleep, and with visiting friends to consider, I forgot to take a suitable photo of Lake Papaitonga when we had a brief walk there …
15 January 2021: Whew, with visitors arriving shortly, my room has had its most thorough clean in ages. I even pulled furniture out to vacuum and wet mop behind. And I …
15 January 2021: Ahh, photos… Here’s one reason the food at Ha’atafu Resort in Tonga was fabulous: staff caught fresh fish in the morning. We all ate together at …
15 January 2021: I had totally misremembered this photo taken in 2012 at Ha’atafu Resort in Tonga. This may be the best solution for avoiding screen glare and device …
15 January 2021: Folks, @cheri’s Kat Voyzey series is one of my favourites and now there’s the Kat Voyzey Flash Sale. The first book is even free! a …
14 January 2021: Here are Oshi and Sasha after grooming. Oshi wasn’t being cooperative again. Check out the before. 🐶
14 January 2021: With my computer screen full of unwanted horizontal lines, it’s hard to see photos properly. However, if you think this tree is out of focus, …
14 January 2021: Yesterday the Kohitere Forest walk fitted perfectly into my afternoon. Finding the address to start from was super hard: it’s on the left a few metres …
14 January 2021: On today’s agenda: getting a filling in a top left tooth and part one of a crown at top right, at the back. 🦷 $$$$ 🥵 Ugh, visits to the dentist …
13 January 2021: Near the top of the hill I have a phone signal. Here I turn around whether I reached the top or not. 1 hour back to the car after I’ve had lunch. Not …
13 January 2021: I want user-centred guides to trails: you want a 1 hour easy walk? Try Walk X. A steep walk needing superfit? Try Walk Q. Don’t have a mountain …
13 January 2021: Probably anyone old enough to remember computer manuals will recall the earliest versions: File menu - New, makes a new doc; Save, saves the doc; …
13 January 2021: I rarely change my blog design, but @odd inspired me today. Before and after shots. The new text links to @odd’s comment on my blog anniversary …
13 January 2021: Thanks to all for the affirmations on my Micro.Blog third anniversary. 😊 This is truly a wonderful community and my decision to move my blogging here …
13 January 2021: Apparently this is my 3 year anniversary of posting on Micro.Blog. What a good choice that was! Thanks On This Day for the clue. // @cleverdevil
13 January 2021: A while back the Council erected (needless and incorrect) speed signs nearby then removed the signs but left the posts. Now some wag has added a …
12 January 2021: Whew. That 20 minute drive home from the supermarket took me around 4.25 hours thanks to the road being closed. I spent a chunk of the time in the …
12 January 2021: After listening to the whole of the latest Core Intuition without getting noticeably closer to home I turned back and am ensconced in the library. The …
12 January 2021: Second time in just a few weeks that my trip home from the supermarket takes hours. 😒 SH1 ŌHAU, MANAWATŪ-WHANGANUI - CRASH - UPDATE… - Waka …
12 January 2021: John Gruber’s turn of phrase here really made me laugh — Why Parler Is Likely to Fold: Always seemed pretty obvious that the minds behind …
11 January 2021: Intriguing to find sand sculpting like this on dry sand up the beach rather than by the water.
11 January 2021: At first I thought this was an old banana peel discarded on the beach. Then I noticed the teeth! I don’t know what the fish used to be.
11 January 2021: hey @jean I enjoyed Voyager Revisited | Organics Are So Revolting (Episode 21) with Shelly Brisbin. I’d never noticed the first name form of …
11 January 2021: This photo should show how my MacBook Pro screen has horizontal lines where the same stuff on my iPad doesn’t. First time I’ve used Sidecar. The …
11 January 2021: Usually I’d be very excited about ordering a new MacBook Pro. But, I’d hoped to wait until the 15" model M1 was available, presumably …
10 January 2021: These two were about to get dinner and not being very co-operative. However, they’re due for a groom in a few days and I wanted a ‘before' shot. …
10 January 2021: We enjoyed the final episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3. Great visuals and action, satisfying story wrap-up. It’s been such a good season …
10 January 2021: Interesting SciShow video: Tapputi-Belatekallim: The First Chemical Engineer: > A perfumer from Ancient Babylon named Tapputi-Belatekallim is …
10 January 2021: Last night we went with friends for dinner at Longbeach Cafe in Waikanae. Then we took a short sunset stroll on the beach. The sea was so calm. …
08 January 2021: Such an interesting and practical podcast episode: Dump Your Inner Drill Sergeant: why being a nasty drill sergeant to ourselves is less effective …
07 January 2021: Sasha had a vet checkup as we’ve had a few small concerns about her health. 🐶 She’s to join Oshi in taking Carprieve for arthritis and I have …
07 January 2021: Re the US riots in progress in DC right now: there are huge numbers of law enforcement there. Why don’t they start arresting the folks who are …
06 January 2021: We really enjoyed our 2 hour Whanganui River Cruise aboard the coal-fired steam-powered paddle boat Waimarie. Recommended! Watch out for soot. Photos: …
06 January 2021: Off for a river cruise on a paddle boat steamer in Whanganui.
05 January 2021: I really dislike crime shows and thriller books which feature serial killers and prolonged scenes (or any scenes) of torture and cruelty. That’s …
05 January 2021: I say I’ve never been on a cruise, but … in 1963 we emigrated from England. We travelled as 5 members of only a dozen or so passengers on a …
05 January 2021: Excited: our big trip for 2021 is confirmed: in July a five night Rakiura (Stewart Island) cruise with 30 other passengers. Stewart Island Tours. …
05 January 2021: Uh oh. As of yesterday (intermittently) I need to know MacBook Pro Display Problems: Horizontal Lines: If your MBP has blacked-out, grayed-out, …
04 January 2021: Double-tap hack for launching the Covid barcode scanning app on iPhone — slightly embarrassed I had to watch and learn all the steps, but a great …
04 January 2021: Well, that’s interesting. If you press the Listen icon in Google Translate you hear the text at (probably) normal speed. That being too fast, …
03 January 2021: This seems a rather handy guide: Here’s How to Watch The Most Spectacular Meteor Showers of 2021. ☄️
03 January 2021: We’ve so much enjoyed Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. There is one nail-biting episode left to go. Can they fix the problems? Deal with the …
03 January 2021: I haven’t posted any photos of my two remaining Japanese quail for a bit, so here are Fliss and Glee. 🐦
03 January 2021: Woohoo, booked a birthday treat for myself in February: Wildlife Photography Workshop at Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, a 2 hour drive away. …
02 January 2021: I’ve been hearing a bird with a call that sounds like a piercing ‘pee you, pee you’. It’s taken me a while to track it down, but apparently …
02 January 2021: Yay! I combined Mars Edit, AppleScript, Keyboard Maestro and BBEdit to establish that yes, indeed, I posted at least once per day during 2020. For …
01 January 2021: Strine as! The Merger was extremely funny and infinitely more enjoyable than I expected. If you don’t speak Australian you’ll probably need …
01 January 2021: I still take a selfie every day, but rarely post them here. Here’s my New Year’s Day selfie for Friday 01 January 2021 though.
31 December 2020: Concluded my year by watching the just past full moon rising golden from behind a hillock. What a gorgeous way to transition to a new day, a new year, …
31 December 2020: I was down at the lake taking photos of the Royal Spoonbills when this Matuku, White-faced heron, arrived. 🐦
31 December 2020: Unless you actively hate dogs I’m certain this video from WeRateDogs will bring you 7 minutes of joy: The Dogs of 2020: in a year filled with so much …
30 December 2020: Pohutukawa or Rata in flower — I can’t tell the two types of tree apart. Also, this morning, I planted a tiny Kowhai tree. Fingers crossed it can …
29 December 2020: Flax bushes are great. Birds, native and exotic, feed on the flowers. But the fibrous, stringy, tough leaves are hard to cut with a knife. They are …
29 December 2020: This is a great round-up post from feminist academic, Debbie Cameron: Not unprecedented: 2020. Her posts are always informative and thought-provoking.
28 December 2020: Ahh, rewatched Warehouse 13 S01E01. It’s a fun show and I’m looking forward to watching more. a team of field agents retrieve artifacts …
28 December 2020: The great thing about summer this year is that I don’t have to get up super-early to take the dogs out before it gets too hot for them. Oh, and …
27 December 2020: After reading several comments from Micro.Bloggers and this review I Wish “Wonder Woman 1984” Had Been About Wonder Woman, I’ve put my plans to see …
27 December 2020: Humans Used to Sleep in Two Shifts, And Maybe We Should Start It Again: 💤 > Some believe sleep disorders, like sleep maintenance insomnia, are …
27 December 2020: Wow, I’ve kept a log every day for over a year. Usually that kind of thing falls apart fairly quickly. I’ve also posted on Micro.Blog at least …
26 December 2020: Oh boy, reading with a sharp eye a book by an American author and discovering innumerable fine and subtle potential distinctions between American …
25 December 2020: We really enjoyed Netflix ☛ The Grizzlies. 🎬 Based on a true story, … depicts a youth lacrosse team set up to help combat an onslaught of youth …
25 December 2020: Three desserts from Christmas lunch.
24 December 2020: Yesterday we took the red car through the touch-free carwash in Palmerston North.
24 December 2020: Yesterday I visited the Wildbase Recovery in Palmerston North and saw this Kākā. The facility is amazing, helping wild birds recover and recuperate …
23 December 2020: These ducklings in the gardens in Palmerston North were very bold. 🐦
22 December 2020: The hunt in the next door paddock. Rabbit on the left eats grass. Wild ginger cat on the right lies in wait. 🐇 🐈 The dash for safety … was successful.
22 December 2020: Our favourite dog pal Willow is visiting for the day. 🐶
22 December 2020: Milk.
21 December 2020: Hey @macgenie all good with you? Haven’t seen you on Micro.Blog for a few days… Just checking in…
21 December 2020: Another superb Aussie movie: Ride Like a Girl 🎬: Michelle Payne … became the first woman to ride the winner of the Melbourne Cup in 2015. Features …
21 December 2020: Tonight, Jupiter And Saturn Will Appear Closer Than They’ve Been in 800 Years: > Jupiter and Saturn … between 16-25 December they’ll be …
20 December 2020: In a hilarious rabbit hole today I learned about Ruffles and flourishes 📯🥁and how Hail to the Chief came to be. Loved this: [President] Polk was not …
20 December 2020: We came home near sunset last night. Just before driving into the village we spotted this lit up Christmas tree in a paddock. Well done that farmer!
19 December 2020: Somehow we organised two meals out on one day. For the first time ever I had beignets. Delicious. At Quarter Acre restaurant in Manakau about 7Km from …
19 December 2020: Brunch with 10 longtime friends at Field & Green in Wellington. I had a very delicious Smashed peas & avocado, with lemon, Parmesan, poached …
19 December 2020: Found this illegal fire on the beach this morning. Presumably still burning after last night. I covered it with sand as best I could.
18 December 2020: We enjoyed watching The Prom. Music, dancing, feel good, lesbians, happy ending. There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours. It was also a smidge …
18 December 2020: OK, fellow Star Trek (Original Series) fans, give this a try: Star Force: Sci-Fisolation. LOL 🖖🏼 Read up about it at Star Force: the surprise smash …
17 December 2020: … Writing the monthly-ish community newsletter. But first I have to make sure the community blog posts are up-to-date so the newsletter can refer to …
17 December 2020: Ages ago I used to have a bank account with ASB / Bank Direct. Today they called and said they needed to pay me $11.94 for incorrectly taken account …
17 December 2020: Oh dear, Fiji — Severe Cyclone Yasa (Cat5) expected to make landfall in Fiji late today one of the most powerful [cyclones] on record in the South …
16 December 2020: If you wondered about that red car stuck on our beach (Sometimes people drive along the beach), read how things worked out at A bit of an odyssey. …
16 December 2020: Thank you @NetNewsWire for allowing me to Undo Mark All (feeds) Read when I intended to simply apply it to only one feed. Whew!
16 December 2020: Here’s one for @macgenie and others: “Hey Siri, what does a guinea pig sound like?” Apple’s Siri can now make animal sounds like a duck quacking …
15 December 2020: Ah, ‘tis the season of the Christmas bunny. Falalalalah lah lah lah lah.
15 December 2020: In the maw of the monster.
15 December 2020: Neck bending competition this way! 🐦 Pied shags by the river.
15 December 2020: Today the dogs and I drove to the village, crossed the footbridge and walked down beside the river to view the abandoned sunk car. The view along the …
14 December 2020: Flossing for a dentist visit tomorrow. Months ago, during Shutdown, a bit of tooth fell off a filling at the back — no pain or anything. …
14 December 2020: Here’s the longer story about that Oystercatcher egg. The dogs and I were walking from the beach track to the river when I almost stepped on an …
14 December 2020: Variable oystercatcher / tōrea pango — bird and egg. Eggs bigger than a hen’s egg; birds smaller than a hen. (Bird weight 720 grams — 25.4 …
13 December 2020: From: Semicolon: How a misunderstood punctuation mark can improve your writing, enrich your reading and even change your life ‘You can never revise …
13 December 2020: From Semicolon… Having a more advanced knowledge of a language provides a wonderful opportunity to be welcoming and constructive, if you prioritise …
13 December 2020: From Semicolon… The semicolon represents a way to slow down, to stop,**** and to think; it measures time more… ****A stop without stopping …
13 December 2020: I had so much fun reading Semicolon: How a misunderstood punctuation mark can improve your writing, enrich your reading and even change your life by …
12 December 2020: I had no idea! 🎬 How New Zealand’s film industry boomed during the pandemic: > According to the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage, …
12 December 2020: There are worse places to be stuck in traffic than beside a vineyard.
12 December 2020: My trip home from the supermarket today includes an hour or two wait because the only road is blocked. 😒
11 December 2020: Link: Truncating only posts with titles on Micro.blog - The Jayeless Micro Blog Micro.blog Help has a guide to showing truncated posts on your front …
11 December 2020: Excellent movie: Misbehaviour. I was 15 when this happened, 50 years ago! 🎬 1970 Miss World took place in London, hosted by the US comedian Bob Hope …
11 December 2020: I’m so much enjoying the daily readings of Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation of Beowulf. Some readers are better than others, but what a …
10 December 2020: I really enjoyed The Complete Merry & Neal Mysteries 6 gripping crime thrillers by Janice Frost. Well-written, they held my interest through all …
09 December 2020: Yes, you do want to watch this. A Canadian teenager … won a major scientific competition for an electrifying YouTube video in which she brilliantly …
09 December 2020: Guess what! Female birds sing too. We’ve Been Ignoring Female Birdsong for Centuries: > Birdsong has historically been described as a male …
09 December 2020: If nothing else, this must-listen, wonderful 32 minute interview will explain how a semicolon shut down bars in Boston, US, and led to all-night …
09 December 2020: I’m totally a fan of vaccines, but was suspicious about the speed of potential Covid-19 vaccines perhaps making them unsafe. These two items have …
08 December 2020: The Maiden Statement by new Green MP Teanau Tuiono was funny and inspiring. He pointed out that the lifts in the Beehive look like the Tardis and the …
08 December 2020: I found this photo of me at Massey Memorial, 27 March 1989, just after I moved to Wellington. One of two times in my life I’ve had a perm.
07 December 2020: At high tide the estuary was full. A bunch of the shags that normally hang out in the trees near the footbridge instead chose to hang out by the …
06 December 2020: Our household water (rainwater) is now filtered to remove particles and then passed through a UV filter light to kill bacteria, thanks to the Puretec …
05 December 2020: Kiwis: I only just discovered Safe Night. Let’s spread the word and help women get a safe night free of family violence in this dangerous …
04 December 2020: The Tribe is a Spanish comedy. It had some adult themes but was fun. Good dancing too. The human resources director of a massive corporation fires 300 …
04 December 2020: Sometimes people drive along the beach, which is legally a road for historical reasons, and through the usually shallow river. Sometimes it …
03 December 2020: Absolutely magnificent: Rawiri Waititi Maiden Statement. In a very powerful speech, he insisted that Te Tiriti o Waitangi must be honoured, …
03 December 2020: So relieved — I’m a ‘daytime sleepy’: Not Just Morning Larks And Night Owls: >The 6 chronotypes … include the established morning and evening …
02 December 2020: I really enjoyed chatting with @macgenie on the Voyager Revisited podcast 20: Voyager’s Lower Decks about Good Shepherd, Season 6, Episode 20. …
01 December 2020: Ahhh, the pack’s complete. Sasha and Oshi welcomed Deb home from work last night. 🐶
01 December 2020: Disappointed that this seems to be only in the RSS feed and not the web version — Strong winds, heavy rain causing havoc in Wellington: Three …
30 November 2020: This Spanish movie was on thin ice with its premise, but it was very funny. Everyone was odd. 🎬 Lo nunca visto. The village of Fuentejuela de Arriba …
30 November 2020: Covid bust one of our major News media companies. The new owner writes: Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: Stuff’s day of reckoning: …we haven’t always …
29 November 2020: So Holiday Rush wasn’t great. The highlight was Sonequa Martin-Green. The children of the family were obnoxious. Better script and editing would …
29 November 2020: Spanish? Basque? Swiss? A fictional Castillian village located in Basque Country tries to become part of Switzerland in this rather funny movie The …
29 November 2020: Now this is a Miss [placename] pageant I could support: > the Miss Navajo Nation pageant, in which contestants must butcher a sheep and cook over …
29 November 2020: The genius of genomics: The revolution that helped NZ quash Covid-19: > scientists worked late into the night to match the genetic signature of the …
28 November 2020: My Mac Control Centre showed me this photo I took in Niue on 25 August 2016. It really seemed shareworthy. Taken with my Olympus Stylus TG-870.
28 November 2020: This was a fun Spanish movie — Netflix ☛ Holy Goalie 🎬. Their monastery is to be turned into a luxury hotel, but a few football matches could save …
27 November 2020: Excellent! I really really enjoyed this Spanish movie. 🎬 Thi Mai, rumbo a Vietnam Along with her two friends, a determined woman travels to Vietnam …
27 November 2020: I enjoyed the Christmas movie Santa Girl: When Santa’s daughter, Cassie, gets a chance to experience the real world by attending college, will she …
26 November 2020: Yay: New Zealand Government to declare a climate emergency The Government will declare a climate emergency … Climate Change Minister James Shaw said. …
26 November 2020: I’ve updated my post Countries of follow on Micro.Blog. I think I follow folks from 25 different countries on Micro.Blog.
26 November 2020: A reminder for future me: to get a list of who I’m following on Micro.Blog, given my site is hosted by MB: log in on the web visit …
26 November 2020: Fascinating — why vaccine trials don’t need to take years. A Clinical Trials Expert Explains Why We Should Feel Optimistic About COVID Vaccines: …
26 November 2020: While watching Rene Ritchie: 8GB vs 16GB for M1 Mac — The TRUTH About RAM! I suddenly flashed back to those days of using Ram Doubler. Remember that?
26 November 2020: Oshi, my little shining light this morning. 🐶
26 November 2020: The sappy holiday movie My Christmas Inn was pretty anodyne. 🎬 It reminded me a lot of the much better Christmas Under Wraps where a doctor visits a …
25 November 2020: You know, I really enjoyed reading an advance copy of The Case of the Lady in the Luggage by @Cheri. And it turns out I loved reading the published …
25 November 2020: I’m just loving the Crash Course Linguistics series. It’s superbly presented, clear and includes signed languages as well as spoken …
24 November 2020: These black clouds are looking pretty darned threatening.
24 November 2020: Note to future me: this Kungfood Teriyaki Chicken was delicious. Also: no onion. 😀 This Japanese-inspired meal has a generous portion of flavourful, …
24 November 2020: The small victories in life are important — Thankfulness for Tiny Triumphs: > We’d be helpless in so many ways if we weren’t victorious in …
24 November 2020: Still with Christmas movies, I watched A New York Christmas Wedding. Makes a change to see lesbians finding love in a sappy seasonal movie. a lesbian …
23 November 2020: Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky around Christmas: We’re About to Witness a Super-Rare Planetary Alignment Not Seen in 800 Years. …
23 November 2020: I hope this Radio NZ interview video is available beyond NZ. Take 30 minutes to watch: Dolly Parton: ‘I’m proud to be an example for a strong …
23 November 2020: I spent an hour today weedeating a metre wide strip on either side of the first leg of our private lane. Hard work.
23 November 2020: Kiwis: Tradespeople: Trading stereotypes for a job well done: A directory of women and gender diverse people working in the trades in Aotearoa New …
23 November 2020: Heh, why we don’t blow stuff up with marshmallows, even though they have more energy than TNT: Dangerous Marshmallows?!: Burning a marshmallow …
22 November 2020: The movie Netflix ☛ Joyful Noise starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton had plenty of great music. We enjoyed it. In the film, two strong-minded …
22 November 2020: Lingthusiasm Episode 50: Climbing the sonority mountain from A to P was particularly interesting, introducing linguistic concepts and terms I’d …
22 November 2020: Many thanks to @manton whose change to the Mac Micro.Blog app to ensure the New Post window doesn’t slip behind other windows now allows me to use a …
21 November 2020: I spent $10 on a 1 metre arm extender aka selfie stick and climbed the ladder. I was able to take a photo along the gutter and determine that it is …
21 November 2020: I like this: What if instead of trying to be some unassailable force of moral good in the world, each of us just tried to be a little bit better …
21 November 2020: I wish Mac Safari had a kind of ‘workspace’ concept. I have a window with a bunch of tabs re things I’m still working on. I opened a …
21 November 2020: I loved this cozy mystery: The Case of the Lady in the Luggage by Cheri Baker, @Cheri 📚. After reading an advance copy I said: what a fabulous read! …
20 November 2020: I just watched Netflix ☛ Star Trek Next Generation S07E15 Lower Decks, on the recommendation of @macgenie . It’s interesting when shows take …
20 November 2020: It was lovely at the beach this morning. The remnant lake in the estuary was calm and clear.
20 November 2020: I was particularly touched yesterday to receive a very unexpected Amazon gift card from a generous person. I see several new books in the future of my …
20 November 2020: Over the last 6 weeks I’ve rewatched all of Rizzoli & Isles. It’s such a great show! I love the interactions between the characters, and …
19 November 2020: The other day, after the ferry from Auckland Central had arrived at Tiritiri Matangi island, I looked into the clear water beside the wharf. There …
18 November 2020: An interesting 14 minute video: Ace of Hearts: finding a home on the asexual spectrum. It includes terms new to me such as demisexual, panromantic and …
18 November 2020: I’ve had my Kindle Paperwhite since January 2013 and it’s been wonderful. I use it heaps. Lately it’s felt a bit slow though and the …
18 November 2020: 17 November 2019: the first day of the Covid era: Today Marks a Year of Covid-19: the first documented case of Covid-19 was a 55-year-old person …
18 November 2020: It’s heaving down with rain right now. A few minutes ago as the dogs and I returned from our walk the first gentle drops started. It’s …
18 November 2020: Hey @martinfeld Your Lounge Rumination about gendered food and drink was very interesting. Back around 1980 in smalltown Aotearoa New Zealand friends …
18 November 2020: Hmmm, I was ~19 when I couldn’t retrieve the name of the street I lived on … Trouble retrieving words? You are not alone: > Silence. Long …
17 November 2020: Hmmm, another potential Scrabble word: dyspnea dyspnea — the feeling of having shortness of breath
17 November 2020: I’m thrilled to see that my young Granny Smith apple tree is producing fruit this year.
17 November 2020: The first thing that struck me about Big Sur was the awful awful awful black menu bar. Thanks to Take Control of Big Sur I learned how to fix it: Go …
16 November 2020: We flew right by the Marlborough Sounds today on our approach to Wellington Airport. Looking pretty good!
15 November 2020: On Tiritiri Matangi island this pohutukawa tree is part of the remnants of native forest that survived vegetation clearing for farming. This tree is …
15 November 2020: Bookmark for myself: Postcards from Aotearoa: Biking into the past on Ōpōtiki’s dunes trail - Stuff.co.nz
14 November 2020: The best was saved to last. My first ever good view of a Ruru (morepork). It’s not common to see them in the daylight.
14 November 2020: Boarding the ferry for the 75 minute trip to Tiritiri Matangi.
14 November 2020: Auckland Skytower last night plus fireworks. Perhaps for Diwali.
14 November 2020: Good to see recognition for the first inhabitants: Murriyang telescope Australia’s …Parkes radio telescope has been given a new traditional …
13 November 2020: Hmm. Papakura pub. Rodeo on TV, Christmas songs on the speakers.
13 November 2020: So, 12.18GB huh? On my slow internet that’s a long download.
13 November 2020: Darn it. An unexplained community case of Covid-19 in Auckland means this isn’t a great time to be heading up that way to visit friends and …
12 November 2020: Also, a handy way on MacOSX to use Terminal to get the size of a directory quickly: du -sh /directory/path
12 November 2020: Heh, discovered an old archive of ReadItLater / Pocket files. Briefly looked at a few. I no longer care about that stuff. Trashed. All 1.3GB!
12 November 2020: We have a 50 metre driveway from the gate to the house. Today finally it wasn’t rainy or windy and I was able to spray all the wretched grass …
11 November 2020: Mistake number 1: buying frozen veges as a just-in-case back in April. Mistake number 2: actually cooking something with the frozen veg. Yuk! …
11 November 2020: Weird reviews: on checking what others thought of my next book purchase, one review gave 1 star while highly recommending the book and loving the …
11 November 2020: I really enjoyed reading Murder Among Friends by Janice Frost 📚: The victim ran a group at university teaching men how to pick up women. Jane and …
10 November 2020: Watched the movie Operation Christmas Drop. It’s a lightweight enjoyable romcom. Utterly predictable but a pleasant way to spend 95 minutes. Set in …
09 November 2020: Informing yourself about the aftermath of recent events? Did you know that the ‘math’ part originally referred to mowing a field? The …
09 November 2020: From last night: cabbage trees and flaxes against a 9 pm sky. iPhone 11.
08 November 2020: This morning’s breakfast was porridge that included home grown strawberries and locally produced honey (glass jar). The cashews come from the …
08 November 2020: Booked a day trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island | Bird sanctuary & walking tours for an upcoming visit to Auckland. birdlife native forest …
08 November 2020: Another excellent Aussie movie. Rams: Two estranged brothers… raise separate flocks of sheep descended from their family’s prized bloodline. … A rare …
07 November 2020: Sometimes being asked for an opinion can inflate the ego nicely — it can add just a little buzz to the day. 07
07 November 2020: Today we had our (very high) gutter vacuumed — last done in February. I also drained the first flush diverter — last drained and cleaned last week. …
06 November 2020: In Aotearoa New Zealand’s two referenda, Official referendum results: End of Life Choice: 65.1% pro; 33.7% against. Cannabis legislation: 48.4% pro; …
06 November 2020: It takes 3 weeks after Aotearoa New Zealand’s General Election for all votes to be counted. Results have changed very slightly — 2020 General Election …
06 November 2020: Steroid shot procured so my itchy eyes, nose, throat and head fog should soon be sorted. The doctor was more friendly than in the past. The reception …
06 November 2020: It was puzzling why my first ‘blinking LED’ circuit wasn’t working so I rechecked everything, then resorted to swapping out parts. Must have …
05 November 2020: It’s been a busy day with weedeating, weeding, cutting down a stray large lupin in a seldom visited corner of the property, dog walking, …
05 November 2020: Hey @manton I just want to say how often I find I need to edit a typo in my replies. Thank you so much for making that possible!
05 November 2020: It’s spring, damp and warm, so everything is growing. A lot of weeding and the like means I have to stoop. It’s kind of hard on the back. …
05 November 2020: This is peak hayfever time for me, and symptoms are starting to crank up. Trying to book for the nurse to give me a steroid shot, as that has helped …
05 November 2020: Deb’s no longer using my old 2012 MacBook Pro, so last night I wiped it, installed Catalina 10.15.7 via Internet Recovery, and am setting it up …
05 November 2020: Guy Fawkes Day be damned. Today is Parihaka Day: Parihaka, 5 November 1881: more than 1,500 volunteers and members of the Constabulary Field Force …
04 November 2020: In bed and wondering why some silly fool is letting off fireworks nearby. Then I remembered it’s almost Guy Fawkes night and the general public are …
04 November 2020: I’ve long wanted to own some Apple shares, but $$$$$. Now however, I do, or at least 0.15 of 1 share. Thanks to Sharesies allowing people to buy …
04 November 2020: I spotted this beetle on a railing near the house. It’s bright green with a reddish stripe down its back. After web searching I’ve …
03 November 2020: I’m holding a thought for all my US pals on this eve of such a significant election. For all of you, and also for us in the rest of the world, I …
03 November 2020: Wow, I was visiting the NZ Parliament website and came across a broken link. I clicked their email address which brought up a usefully pre-filled …
03 November 2020: Xena: Warrior Princess was filmed in NZ, for a US audience. One effect was that the sun rose or set in the ‘wrong’ direction (in the many speeded up …
03 November 2020: My favourite visitor is here today. 😎🐩
02 November 2020: The NZ Prime Minister has announced her new Cabinet, including more Māori than ever. Hooray! In the Press Conference, when journalists asked some of …
02 November 2020: Excellent: NZ’s May 2021 Census: will collect data on gender and sexual identity … [with] questions on a person’s sex at birth, gender identity …
02 November 2020: First time in months I took my ‘big' Fuji X-T2 with zoom lens to the beach; first time ever I saw 9 Royal Spoonbills together (I had hoped for 2). …
01 November 2020: Aotearoa New Zealand has a lot going for it. One of those things is most definitely not its incredibly dreary National Anthem. Though the linked video …
01 November 2020: Kristine Kathryn Rusch is absolutely my favourite sci-fi writer, but in a shocking first I was bored by Thieves: A Diving Novel. It was part of a …
31 October 2020: Hooray! Greens accept Labour’s offer for ‘cooperation agreement’: James Shaw … Climate Change Minister and Associate Environment …
31 October 2020: In a world where there are millions of statues of men, there is now one more of a woman. ‘Hands-on activist’: Statue of Hilda Ross: Dame …
31 October 2020: Excellent: even though Labour won our election outright, they’re bringing the Greens on board with a couple of Minister positions using their …
31 October 2020: When bots are used to fight for good: More than 200,000 abusive tweets towards female candidates during elections: a tweet goes through … filters … …
31 October 2020: It’s meant to rain today — we already had a brief but heavy fall around 4 am. As I look east I see very dark cloud over the hills, and some …
30 October 2020: The day has all but disappeared and many tasks remain undone. Read an excellent book though whose details I can’t reveal at the moment so that …
30 October 2020: Cannabis will remain illegal in Aotearoa New Zealand. That means that instead of state control on quality and distribution, it will remain in the …
30 October 2020: Disappointing result on cannabis law reform. Final results could change as remaining votes are counted: The euthanasia referendum has passed the …
29 October 2020: Amazing video: Interviews with Titanic Survivors done in 1979 about the events of 1912.
29 October 2020: Lining Figures are also available in Apple Pages, as the screenshots attest. Art Kavanagh wrote: I just posted “Lining figures” in …
28 October 2020: I've found some old archive DVDs and am importing them to my MacBook Pro. This video from December 2000 shows my then 16 year old Blue Burmese and 10 …
28 October 2020: Woohoo, after I suggested our local Library buy this, the Library replied 📚: … Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley. The library has …
27 October 2020: Oh yes, my favourite crime show trope (along with ‘enhance’, of course): zoom in on the security camera footage, zoom, zoom, zoom a bit …
26 October 2020: One for the Scrabblers: tmesis — separation of parts of a compound word by the intervention of one or more words For example, …
25 October 2020: Last night, while watching Discovery, I had a new experience of my own: shimmering at the top and right edges of my vision in both eyes. No pain, no …
24 October 2020: M4.5 quake 〰️: 30 km north-west of Levin Heard it more than felt it.
24 October 2020: For a holiday in March 2021, my draft itinerary is Day 1: Drive with bike from home to Paeroa: 6 hours. Day 2: Bike Paeroa to Waihi: 6-7 hours …
23 October 2020: I’m looking into options for a small holiday early next year. It’s so frustrating when websites make it difficult to find the prices. I …
23 October 2020: I’ve suggested to our local Library that they buy Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley 📚: A new, feminist translation of …
22 October 2020: It’s time to sell my (not very) old bike — I just don’t ride it now I have an electric bike. The Avanti Cadent ER 2 is so light though! And …
22 October 2020: Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris: Covid-19 and the Swiss cheese system: Twenty years ago, James Reason, a professor of psychology at the University …
21 October 2020: Multitasking. Watching NASA Live | NASA (starts now): Live coverage of OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touch-and-go (TAG) maneuver to collect sample on …
21 October 2020: Election 2020: ‘Historical high’ - New Zealand Parliament readies for more diversity NZ’s first African, Latin American and Sri …
21 October 2020: Excellent video: Why Doesn’t All Thunder Sound The Same?: We’ve all experienced thunder, but what ARE all those claps, booms, and …
20 October 2020: Today’s dog walk was in the forest across the river. We stopped by the shag colony and listened to the shags while the river flowed placidly by. 🐶
19 October 2020: Looking for something else I saw one of NZ’s most famous and best-loved TV ads: Bugger. A series of farming mishaps each provoke the laconic …
19 October 2020: Bug report from Micro.Blog 2.0 on Mac: the New Post window ends up behind the main window after switching apps. New Post Switch to [app] to copy …
19 October 2020: Zeptoseconds: Scientists have measured … the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule. … 247 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is a …
19 October 2020: Our election has significantly increased diversity in our 120 seat Parliament: All eyes on Māori MPs after an impressive battle (15 people) New …
19 October 2020: Sharon Murdoch draws 👍 political cartoons. Our Prime Minister as author: The Second Book: OK, so the first one had a birth, a terrorist attack, a …
18 October 2020: All ♀ should know — World Menopause Day is 18 October. Breaking the taboo: Women mixing menopause with martinis as a call for change: 30+ potential …
18 October 2020: This Paradise shelduck pair were calling in the cow paddock next door.
18 October 2020: Pleased by strong themes of hope, trust, a leap of faith, and working together in Star Trek Discovery S03E01. (On Netflix in Aotearoa New Zealand.) …
17 October 2020: With most votes counted, that’s a decisive and historic win for Jacinda Ardern, Labour and the Greens. It takes 2 weeks for Special Votes to be …
17 October 2020: The Wairarapa candidate, Kieran McAnulty, who seems likely to win the seat for Labour actually used the word “streuth” in his interview. I …
17 October 2020: Polls in Aotearoa New Zealand closed just over an hour ago. Almost 2 million people voted early, which leaves maybe 1.5 million who may have voted …
17 October 2020: I thought this ad for hearing loss services was very cleverly done.
16 October 2020: Every month or so I drain the first flush diverter and clean the filter inside. This 60 litre tank fills with the first ‘flush’ of dirty water off the …
16 October 2020: The expat Kiwis coming home They’re midwives, nurses, teachers, CEOs, engineering professionals, people who work in … all the industries the country …
15 October 2020: In Good News: Lizard hunting kicks off Wellington roading project: Before work gets underway … native lizards … in a slumber through winter will be …
15 October 2020: Heh, dogs keep their owners humble: Sorry, But Dogs May Prefer The Faces of Other Dogs to Those of Humans 🐶: new research suggests … that dogs' …
15 October 2020: Home-grown tunnelhouse strawberries and store-bought Icelandic Vanilla Bean yoghurt. Yumm.
15 October 2020: Even more hilarious than usual: xkcd.com: Dialect Quiz wood mage wand. longwich 😂
14 October 2020: Moose, a big horse who used to be our neighbour left a few months ago. At least, I thought he was big till I met this giant, Bosley, on the beach …
14 October 2020: At this time of year the tī, aka cabbage tree, aka Cordyline, produces beautifully scented panicles. It’s the most gorgeous perfume. Photo: …
13 October 2020: I think Netflix ☛ Away was a remarkable series. While no-one has actually travelled to Mars yet, it felt totally realistic. By the last few episodes …
13 October 2020: Thanks @macgenie for the thoughtful discussion on Voyager Revisited | Neelix Has Had It With Your Condescending Attitude (Episode 18). Was just …
13 October 2020: Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway to appear in Star Trek cartoon: 👍 Kate Mulgrew is joining a new Nickelodeon series called Star Trek: Prodigy …
13 October 2020: Put together Deb’s new bookshelves. Easy! Carefully followed the more complex instructions for the kitset desk. Just near the end wondered why …
12 October 2020: I’d never heard of autoethnography before, @martinfeld. An interesting episode. Good to hear too of your long history with the German Language. …
12 October 2020: Every Monday I receive an email reminding me to fill out a survey for Flutracking.net | Tracking Influenza Across Australia and New Zealand. It takes …
12 October 2020: The General Election in Aotearoa New Zealand is on, with voting closing in a few days time. If you happen to want to know more about our Mixed Member …
11 October 2020: I’m starting to investigate a possible trip sometime to Rēkohu / Chatham Islands, a part of Aotearoa New Zealand that’s a 2-hour plane …
11 October 2020: Gave the quail a bit of a treat today: fresh straw and macrocarpa ‘roofing’. That white plastic tray was the best $2 I ever spent at a school fair.
10 October 2020: The book Open Season: Book One of the critically-acclaimed Seasons Mystery Series by Maryann Miller was an odd read that left me feeling …
10 October 2020: Hardy whitebaiters When 15 August and the start of the whitebaiting season rolls around it is still winter. Frosty mornings aren't unusual and the river water will be …
09 October 2020: Daybreak cows in the frost.
09 October 2020: Hey @help A bug report from Micro.Blog 2.0 on Mac: the New Post window ends up behind the main window after switching apps with Command Tab. New …
09 October 2020: Sex toys are one thing between consenting adults, but Internet-connected sex toys sound like a Very Bad Idea™ indeed! This smart vibrator can be …
08 October 2020: Not quite the first strawberries of the season, but close. Yumm. Grown in the tunnelhouse.
08 October 2020: Today’s highlight of the trip to the beach for a dog walk: a duck crossing the road followed by 8 or 10 tiny tiny ducklings. No photo — they …
08 October 2020: OK, this looks like it should be a fun watch: The 355 - Official Trailer 🎬: When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands [4 female agents from …
07 October 2020: The other day in the dog park at Levin I heard a Tūī in the tree right next to me. This clip starts with other birds, then the Tūī comes in. In the …
06 October 2020: Also on Lambton Quay, 6 chaps moving a very heavy looking and very large object up Plimmer Steps. Amazingly, the two behind the object had not been …
06 October 2020: At Plimmer Steps on Lambton Quay, John Plimmer with his dog Fritz.
06 October 2020: Seen on Lambton Quay in Wellington.
06 October 2020: My very good friend Prof. Jan Jordan (no relation, delay via Covid) gives her inaugural lecture: “The Price of being ‘Friends of Harvey': Men, Power …
05 October 2020: Today I was a good citizen and voted in the Aotearoa New Zealand general election. Polling closes on 17 October.
05 October 2020: With summer coming, I had a window open overnight. This morning I can hear a rooster nearby. 😎
04 October 2020: We’ve been really enjoying Netflix ☛ Away 📺: Away follows the first crewed expedition to Mars … The series is described as being “about hope, …
04 October 2020: Today’s weird beach rubbish find: fluorescent light tube.
03 October 2020: Party colours in Aotearoa. It’s so confusing seeing news about US elections because their right-wingers are associated with red and lefties with …
03 October 2020: In Aotearoa everyone gets 2 votes: vote for a specific person to represent the electorate vote for a particular party to be in government. Once …
03 October 2020: In 2020 we also vote on two referenda in Aotearoa: give people with a terminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying. whether the …
03 October 2020: Aotearoa is holding a General Election on Saturday 10 October 2020. We received info by mail a few days ago and can vote from now. I’ve cut out my …
02 October 2020: Hah, nice quote: If anyone tells you that such a person speaks ill of you, don’t make excuses about what is said of you, but answer: “He …
01 October 2020: I should have known that the excellent NetNewsWire 5.1 would allow me to ‘Always Use Reader View’ for a feed where I need it. 🥳 Thanks @brentsimmons
01 October 2020: Window cleaning didn’t take long (outsides only). It needs a good quality sheepskin and blade, a dash of water and a drop of dishwashing liquid. …
01 October 2020: Window cleaning is on the agenda today. After this week’s storm it’s like looking through a fog. It’s probably a mix of salt and …
30 September 2020: Our dogs don’t like it when the grass in their yard gets too long. Perhaps it tickles their bottoms… It also makes it harder to find and pick up …
29 September 2020: Past me was pretty smart and bought all the episodes of Rizzoli and Isles. I’d forgotten that they’re pretty fun. A good thing to watch at the …
29 September 2020: Hilarious, when all 3 telcos here don’t take the racist s**t 1 customer wants to throw: Uh oh, they’ve used the word “normal”. Christmas …
29 September 2020: While looking for something else I found this pigeon photo from May 2004. 🐦
29 September 2020: Hey @macgenie Pheromones Defeat Death Ray! was an excellent episode of Voyager Revisited. I’m not sure I fully appreciated Bride of Chaotica …
29 September 2020: Given up on trying to sleep while the house shakes and the wind roars. I was having weird dreams when I did sleep anyway. Trembling dogs on the bed …
28 September 2020: Heh, watching (and laughing heaps) the black comedy Avenue 5 📺: On board the interplanetary cruise ship a momentary loss of artificial gravity … …
28 September 2020: Apparently today’s grooming session has caused Sasha to feel a little blurry. 🐶
28 September 2020: Decades ago mum mentioned something from her childhood called a “flower lee pone”. She couldn’t recall more about it. ❓❓Mystery solved today …
27 September 2020: Tomorrow is grooming day for the dogs so today Oshi and Sasha had their ears and tail brushed. ‘Before’ photo. 🐶
26 September 2020: It is an absolute mystery to me why I read Driftwood and Death (Innisstead Sands Cozy Mysteries Book 1) to the end and why I didn’t get my money …
26 September 2020: Last night we enjoyed Netflix ☛ Enola Holmes: 🎬 …the youngest sibling in the famous Holmes family. … a free-wheeling, strong-willed, and …
26 September 2020: We visited Wellington for a friend’s birthday brunch. One thing I do not miss at all is battling the wind to simply make progress walking along …
25 September 2020: Grrr, logic failure! For the last two weeks I’ve been gradually moving dog meal times in readiness for Sunday’s change to Daylight Savings Time. …
25 September 2020: Pizza for lunch!
24 September 2020: The river at the footbridge was muddy, full and swiftly flowing after the last few days rain in the hills. Volume up for the birds.
23 September 2020: So cool! Track tohorā southern right whales on their journeys. this particular population of tohorā have recovered well from whaling from the early …
23 September 2020: Cool: The Loop of Life coffin is grown from mycelium, the root network of mushrooms. … hay or hemp is placed in a wooden box-shaped mold. Fungus is …
22 September 2020: Darn it, I finished reading Hanging Falls: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima. 📚 An excellent read!
22 September 2020: Sometimes I hate reading a really good book such as Hanging Falls: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima. 📚 The more I read, the closer I …
21 September 2020: Clockwork quail. In 2018 and 2019 my Coturnix quail laid their first egg for the season on 21 September. Today, 21 September 2020, they kept the trend …
21 September 2020: If I were in a different country I might worry… A military helicopter came from the north (where the base is) did a slow circuit north of the village …
21 September 2020: I couldn’t really get close enough and only had my iPhone with me, but that white speck around middle photo is a Royal Spoonbill. So glad to see …
21 September 2020: Our View of Space Is Becoming Blurrier the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope … sits in the Atacama desert [which] has warmed …
20 September 2020: After a week of westerly gales, cloud, rain etc the beach this morning was absolutely stunning.
20 September 2020: The Equinox | MetService Blog: Equinox is on Wednesday, but due to refraction+width of sun the equilux (day with 12 hours of daylight) occurs today …
19 September 2020: One of the podcasts I really enjoy is Mothers of Invention, about climate justice. The episode We Are The People Of The Beans had a particularly …
18 September 2020: Ambivalent about Murder The Boys (Detective Kate Power Mystery Book 1) by Judith Cutler 📚. The bad guy was obvious to the reader but not the Detective …
17 September 2020: I finally got around to watching (and enjoying) Booksmart. It was both moving and funny. It stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as two …
17 September 2020: First time this season I’ve spotted ‘our’ kōtare (kingfisher).
17 September 2020: Wow. I updated to Apple Safari v14, then visited @cheri’s website and followed a link to one other site. Then I looked at Safari’s Privacy …
16 September 2020: Kiwis: TVNZ ☛ Origins is superb! Scotty Morrison explores the origins of the Māori people, visiting the Wairau Bar site which could be the first …
16 September 2020: Unfortunately this Common skink I found in the garden was very dead, but I was thrilled nevertheless. This proves that the extremely rare flashes of …
16 September 2020: I don’t know if it was the 5 am-ness, but today’s Apple Event just filled me with yawns. I feel like I know the script off by heart — change it …
16 September 2020: Ahhh, spring. Westerly gales all week, including gusts last night to 87 Kph and a thunderstorm at bedtime.
15 September 2020: I enjoyed reading The Death of an Ambitious Woman (Chief Ruth Murphy Mysteries) by Barbara Ross 📚: the murder of one ambitious woman forces another …
15 September 2020: This unusual driftwood made me think of a planet and satellite moon. The two tree bases weren’t just accidentally connected but actually grown …
14 September 2020: Back in 2011 I came across this Porsche Spyder and an admirer on Oriental Parade in Wellington. Quite a car!
14 September 2020: Oshi’s latest game: go out the wide open side door, through the gate and wait mournfully in front of the closed front door.
13 September 2020: A looong book, and not for the page count: Corpse Way (The Yorkshire Dales Mysteries Book 1) by Susan Parry. 📚 Ground through 70% then page-flipped …
12 September 2020: It’s been chilly and rainy the last few days which means the Tararua range has snow covered peaks, some of which we see from the east-facing …
11 September 2020: Nothing much happening at Foxton Estuary when I biked around up there today. Felt bad my grilled fish (blue cod) and chips contributed foil, …
10 September 2020: When I go out I give the dogs 3 instructions: no barking, no peeing, no pooping. I don’t know about the barking, but they both forgot the ‘no peeing' …
10 September 2020: A friend needed a lift to an appointment so we followed up with lunch at Salt and Pepper at Ōhau. I had a very delicious potato rosti stack with …
10 September 2020: I was feeling grumpy about our cool weather with persistent drizzle, and looking fondly at old September holiday photos in warm places. After seeing …
09 September 2020: Clocks go back on 27 September. Today I start moving dog meal times to ~3 minutes later each day. I wish we’d dump this whole daylight savings …
09 September 2020: Many thanks to all those who mentioned enjoying TV+ ☛ Ted Lasso. 📺 Two episodes today cheered me right up on a day of cold wind, grey skies and …
09 September 2020: Today’s racism realisation (thanks Crossword clue): The Lone Ranger was not Lone: The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who …
09 September 2020: Such an interesting interview (41 minutes): Georgie Harman on women and mental health: Julia Gillard talks to Georgie Harman, CEO of Beyond Blue, …
08 September 2020: Another excellent read: Find Me When I’m Lost (A Charlie Mack Motown Mystery Book 5) by Cheryl A. Head. 📚 Charlie Mack is hired by her …
08 September 2020: A nice story to start the day: Scientists Clone an Endangered Przewalski’s Horse For The First Time: What makes Kurt even more exciting is that …
07 September 2020: The calves in the paddock next door are so young the farmer still brings them a small tank of milk every day.
07 September 2020: Sometime in the past someone’s pet black rabbit must have escaped. This wild cutie is often near our place. I didn’t even notice the more usual …
06 September 2020: Families! 🤯 My partner was adopted very young. She grew up with one younger brother. 30 years ago she found 4 more younger brothers from her birth …
06 September 2020: This ~10 minute video was way more interesting than I expected — the science and tech behind taking balloons and a human up to 25,000 feet: I WAS …
05 September 2020: This happened just up the road from us (about 16 Km along the beach). Locals stunned as enormous whale washes up on beach in Levin The whale was …
05 September 2020: Last night we watched Palm Beach, an Australian film from 2019 🎬: A reunion party is being held at Palm Beach in Sydney by a group of lifelong …
04 September 2020: The river has created almost an oxbow in its lazy loop between throat and sea. It’s whitebaiting season so a few folks are out with their …
03 September 2020: Hmm, 5.7 but 64 Km deep and not too close: Strong earthquake occurred 10 km west of St Arnaud. Bit of a shake as I was going to sleep. 〰️
03 September 2020: Success: 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep. I’ve been working on my sleep for a couple of years now and am starting to see and feel improvements. It …
03 September 2020: Ahhh, this is the time of year when the sun rises before 7 am. It feels like the year is really actually heading towards summer. I’m looking …
02 September 2020: I really enjoyed most of the stories in Voices Carry and Other Stories of Women and Crime by Dayle A. Dermatis. 📚 I didn’t finish the first …
02 September 2020: Amazing. According to Ancient Earth globe, 260 million years ago Wellington, New Zealand (close enough to where I live now) was located at the South …
02 September 2020: Day Two of spring and the peach tree is already in sync. Blossoms appearing.
02 September 2020: Timezones! (I assume.) I diligently posted at least once each day for #mbaug photo challenge, and used that tag so I could easily collect the posts. …
01 September 2020: Another excellent read: Tracking Game: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima. 📚 Two brutal murders, a menacing band of poachers, and a …
01 September 2020: The fingers of the sea.
31 August 2020: For Micro Monday let me recommend @GeneticJen who is writing a magificent must-read series on Women in tech history. So far: Margaret Hamilton Grace …
31 August 2020: As always with love it is inexplicable. I just love Spain. The 4 weeks we spent travelling there in 2015 were too brief. I also love waterfalls. The …
30 August 2020: On 04 November 2012 we made a wonderful discovery: an empty section at Waikawa Beach. By mid-January 2013 it belonged to us and we’ve been …
29 August 2020: Sometimes after a hard day you just flake out. My boy Ares, a few years ago now. 🐈 #mbaug
29 August 2020: I very much enjoyed Pretty Little Horses (an Abby Maxon mystery novel) by Annie Reed. 📚 Gripping ending kept me up late reading. The copy editor needs …
28 August 2020: Enjoyed Gators and Garters (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 18) by Jana Deleon. 📚 This story felt more like hanging out with old friends. Didn’t …
28 August 2020: Living here is great for my emotions. Today’s special boost: the black swan pair with the five thriving cygnets. #mbaug
27 August 2020: This is what Aotearoa New Zealand wants: man who carried out mosque attacks in Christchurch on 15 March 2019 … sentenced to life in prison without …
27 August 2020: In 2008 I visited Hawai’i briefly and took a guided tour up Mauna Kea to visit the observatories. I had no idea at the time that it is sacred …
27 August 2020: International Day of the Dog 2020, you say. 🐶 Importing some old photos and just found this, appropriately. On High Street in Christchurch, Aotearoa …
27 August 2020: ‘Yod dropping’! How do you pronounce emu? the evolution of emu to EE-mooh was an example of yod dropping. some words ending in that /u/ vowel in …
27 August 2020: Cool: Auckland Zoo welcomes first rhino birth in 20 years The baby girl rhino was born on August 14 and is the first child of 30-year-old southern …
26 August 2020: A superb 8 minute doco: Wahine Warrior about a woman who learned to hunt to feed herself and kids and now is teaching other women. Reinventing …
26 August 2020: When Olive 🐈 was about 3 years old her owners, our next door neighbours, moved overseas and she came to live with us. Here she is in December …
25 August 2020: A special visitor today: a Barbary dove, symbol of hope. #mbaug
24 August 2020: In early October 2011 we spent a weekend in Melbourne, Australia. It's a lovely city, as cities go. I loved this art work: Three Businessmen Who …
24 August 2020: Good news on Oshi’s eye 🐶: the ulcer is down to about 20% of the surface. Previous photo from a couple of weeks ago it was about 75%. The vet also …
24 August 2020: It doesn’t snow in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, but it did on 15 August 2011. Pretty frosty. Pretty pretty too. ❄️ #mbaug These photos from …
23 August 2020: I enjoy the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries by Margaret Mizushima. 📚 Burning Ridge really held my attention and was a great read. On a rugged Colorado …
23 August 2020: Sorry I didn’t respond sooner @PaulGit re your question about Shangai topiary. The photo info is below. We were only in Shanghai for a day or two. I …
23 August 2020: Graceful: this humpback whale cutting through the water beside our boat on a whale watching trip in Tonga. #mbaug
22 August 2020: Today I was one of a dozen volunteers who planted out 3,000 spinifex and 500 pingao plants at Waikawa Beach. They help retain the dunes and build the …
22 August 2020: Wait… that’s a funny looking chook! 🐓
22 August 2020: My friend’s chooks, who I’m feeding for the weekend, enjoy a little art critique in their home. 🐓
21 August 2020: Well, today is less than 4 months since a friend of the last 2 or 3 decades was diagnosed with cancer. Today she passed away — the first of our larger …
21 August 2020: Without a doubt Walkers Shortbread is the best shortbread. Excellent flavour and the perfect amount of crunch. So glad to be able to buy these again. …
21 August 2020: This (free) Wu Fei track put me so much in mind of Bear McCreary’s work on Battlestar Galactica Gulibita: I knew this song as Why Is The Rose …
20 August 2020: Yay, it is properly raining. We haven’t had much rain for a while, and there’s about 40 mm forecast over the next few days. 🤞🏼 40 mm would …
20 August 2020: I really enjoyed chatting with @martinfeld, who managed to draw thoughts from me I didn't even realise I had. Listen in to save the planet. Heh. For …
20 August 2020: You may need to change direction to get to the next interesting point in your journey. #mbaug
19 August 2020: I bought the Mysterious Women story bundle. I really enjoyed Paper Bullets by Annie Reed. Well written, easy to read, held my attention. One simple …
19 August 2020: In August 2015 we spent a couple of days in Shanghai. They had amazing topiary. I’d give this a gold ribbon. #mbaug Topiary of dolphins and …
19 August 2020: Today’s newly learned word to save up for Scrabble: Xiphoid — Shaped like a sword, gladiate.
18 August 2020: “Our” black swans have so far managed to keep all 5 cygnets alive. Perhaps the alarm calls even as I was still quite far away are an element of their …
18 August 2020: Grids everywhere. Before Covid-19 Wellington used to be a destination for summer cruise ships which berthed beside the logs for export and opposite …
18 August 2020: This fern is growing its own grid. #mbaug
17 August 2020: Oshi saw his vet Mary today, who confirmed he’s having a huge problem with his eye. She’s testing his swollen lymph nodes, but he may soon be …
17 August 2020: This cuddly little bundle went on to become my boy Ares. Photo from March 2002 before he was even 3 months old and came to live with us. 🐈 #mbaug
17 August 2020: ROFL: “Well I’m Australian and you’re wrong.” A favourite quote from Martin Feld. 39. International Mac Nerds with Special Guests Andrew …
17 August 2020: So, our election has been delayed by 4 weeks. It’s the Prime Minister’s decision, but so glad to hear she first conferred with all the …
17 August 2020: In other news: Sasha enjoys some sunshine. 🐶
17 August 2020: I’m feeling very unsettled today. News soon about if our General Election scheduled for 19 September will be postponed. Worried about Oshi 🐶 …
16 August 2020: One of the things I love about cameras (even the iPhone 4S in this case) is their ability to freeze the moving, to catch the water in the blowholes so …
16 August 2020: This article has a clear explanation — Why Does Some Rain Fall Harder Than Other Rain? : When clouds are thin and the air is moving slowly, you get …
16 August 2020: Half an hour till dawn and the Moon and Venus are leading the way for the sun.
15 August 2020: I’d read this before, but enjoyed it again. An alternate universe novella by Kristine Kathryn Rush: Recovering Apollo 8 📚: Richard dedicates …
15 August 2020: Another excellent read from a favourite author: Judge Me When I’m Wrong (A Charlie Mack Motown Mystery Book 4) 📚 I wondered where this was going …
15 August 2020: This silhouette from looking southwest at sunset, earlier this year. #mbaug
14 August 2020: Question to US sports and/or Star Trek fans. A crossword clue and answer was: “College player sitting out a year: Redshirt”. On Star Trek redshirts on …
14 August 2020: My Honda del Sol was first backed into by a very apologetic neighbour. One time a fire engine took off a corner. Various folks crashed into it, …
14 August 2020: Back in 1998 I bought a brand-new to me second hand Honda del Sol sports car. Within a week it had been damaged — only 1 among many incidents (18, I …
13 August 2020: As expected, I very much enjoyed Catch Me When I’m Falling (A Charlie Mack Motown Mystery Book 3) 📚: Someone is murdering the homeless in …
13 August 2020: Waimangu Volcanic Valley is only a few Km out of Rotorua and a favourite spot. We spent only an hour there. 😒Sometime I want to go back with a picnic …
13 August 2020: Last weekend we visited Rotorua, ~5 hours drive north of here. The Redwoods Treewalk was a highlight. 9-20 metres above the forest floor, this …
13 August 2020: Seal season Waikawa Beach is littered with driftwood all year. Sometimes it turns up in the form of a thick mulch of tiny fragments. Mainly though it's variously …
13 August 2020: I love watching the dawn filter in. #mbaug
12 August 2020: Genomic Study Reveals NZ’s Tuatara Is Like No Other Animal According to new sequencing of the tuatara’s entire genome … this strange …
12 August 2020: Well, the klaxon sound blaring from my phone just before 7 a.m. certainly took me by surprise. Today most of Aotearoa New Zealand moves back to …
11 August 2020: Poor old Oshi is home and resting comfortably after his surgery today. 🐶 4 teeth were extracted. His eye has a bad ulcer, probably related to the …
11 August 2020: On the other hand, the overnight camel trek in Morocco in 2015 was a pretty unusual mode of transport. Sunrise gave me a great shot.
11 August 2020: In October 2002 we took a tour on a mini submarine in Vanuatu. It was a tiny boat with a glass ‘bell’ below water. Definitely the most unusual …
10 August 2020: A couple of weeks ago Sasha had Xrays and minor surgery. This week is Oshi’s turn. He’s pretty poorly: an ulcerated eye, rotten tooth and …
10 August 2020: I’m excited to see this video series: Dianna’s Intro Physics Class. I’ve long wanted an intro course for adults. I last learned …
10 August 2020: Marc Chagall window, Reims Cathedral, May 1982. Photo of an old bad photo on paper. #mbaug
09 August 2020: In Rotorua on the Sulphur Lake sculpture trail (PDF), Rory McDougall: Ghost Soldier: For the soldiers who returned in spirit. … I try to achieve the …
09 August 2020: I’ll write separately about the Redwood Treetop walk in Rotorua, but at night they fill the forest with amazing lights, including these ‘fireflies' …
08 August 2020: Another view of some of the thermal pools at Polynesian Spa, with lake beyond.
08 August 2020: One of the delights of the Polynesian thermal pools in Rotorua is being able to look out over the lake while soaking.
08 August 2020: Rotorua has many fine views, such as these trees in Government Gardens. #mbaug It’s a pleasure to be in Rotorua for a day or two, especially …
07 August 2020: Daytripping. Mt Ruapehu. #mbaug
07 August 2020: Am working my way through the NY Times Acrostic archive. Nearly 20 years on and I’m so aware of 11 September 2001. Like early 2020 it was a …
07 August 2020: I rarely check texts before I send (I really should) so this autocorrected exchange with my partner while out in town was weird‼️ D: just getting …
06 August 2020: I really enjoyed Netflix ☛ Quartet 🎬: takes place in Beecham House, a retirement home for former professional musicians, patterned after the …
06 August 2020: Bisect. #mbaug
05 August 2020: At the supermarket I spotted this unlabeled tray of weird objects in the fruit department. Turns out they are called Red Dragonfruit. Maybe next time …
05 August 2020: At Ototoka Beach there was a small waterfall, maybe 3 or 4 metres high. It was enough for a good flow. #mbaug
04 August 2020: This 7 minute video makes a whole lot clear about our Aotearoa New Zealand earthquakes, and is easy to follow: New Zealand’s Twisted Plate …
04 August 2020: 34 weeks! The full pollen season in New Zealand is approximately 34 weeks long and varies in its timings each year - It begins in July or August with …
04 August 2020: We used to live near the top of Mt Victoria in Wellington, beside the Town Belt. Hundreds of pine trees were planted there in a 1930s Work Programme. …
04 August 2020: More photos from our visit to Ototoka Beach near Whanganui. The road takes you to the top of the cliffs, then there’s an easy walk down to the …
04 August 2020: We watched NZIFF ☛ The County 🎬: full of feisty female energy … sprinkled with rousing ‘you go girl!’ comic moments. I suspect the reviewer saw some …
03 August 2020: And in today’s superb news: ‘our' swans at the lake a couple of hundred metres away have 5 babies. 🥳 🐦 I thought I’d sneaked up, but no… Two of …
03 August 2020: Remind me why anyone wants to live in Auckland … Volcanic Auckland: Which type of eruption happens where? 🌋: For the elevated region immediately to …
03 August 2020: That church in my photo? Hooray for Google Street View: Église Saint-Roch du Muret.Almost 40 years on and it looks just the same…
03 August 2020: Waaay back in April 1982 my friend Janet had a VW Bug. We and 2 friends drove from Hamburg, through France and Andorra to Madrid and Valencia and back …
03 August 2020: We watched NZIFF ☛ Some Kind of Heaven 🎬: American documentary film — a stylized portrait of four residents living within The Villages (retirement …
03 August 2020: I enjoyed From Beer to Eternity (A Chloe Jackson, Sea Glass Saloon Mystery) by Sherry Harris to ~80% through 📚: A whip smart librarian’s fresh start …
03 August 2020: We made a 300 Km round trip to Ototaka Beach near Whanganui. The cliffs are 1–2 million years old, show sea level change and include shell fossils. It …
02 August 2020: We really enjoyed the NZIFF Australian film ☛ Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) 🎬 🏳️🌈: a girl awkwardly angles for the attention of …
02 August 2020: Floating in the air near treetops, this Microlight flyer near Whanganui. At first I thought it was a parachute but saw no plane that would have …
01 August 2020: We were up and out early today. We were the first customers for the day at our favourite local Fruit and Veg shop, Garden of York in Levin. They grow …
01 August 2020: We were up by dawn and watched this splendid sunrise. Yesterday’s was sheer vermilion; today’s more fiery orange. #mbaug
31 July 2020: We really enjoyed Mi Vida 🎬: Defying family expectations, 63-year-old hairdresser Lou travels to start a new life in the Spanish port city of Cádiz, …
31 July 2020: We started our Film Festival with Steelers: The World’s First Gay Rugby Club, directed by Eammon Ashton-Atkinson 🎬 🏳️🌈: we meet one of the newer …
31 July 2020: An upside of Covid-19: the New Zealand International Film Festival 2020 has gone online (NZ credit card required). 🎬 I plan to watch a few movies. …
31 July 2020: In the Muslim calendar it is Eid al-Adha when an animal, usually a sheep, is sacrificed ritually to commemorate God’s intervention before …
31 July 2020: I very much enjoyed reading Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. 📚 The book cover may be execrable, but the book itself was interesting and …
31 July 2020: Vermilion sky at sunrise, and a blackbird (I think) welcoming the dawn.
31 July 2020: Yay, my favourite author, Kristine Rusch, has early copies of her next books on Kickstarter 📚: Boss, main character of Diving Universe … finally! …
30 July 2020: Started watching TVNZ ☛ Rebecka Martinsson: Arctic Murders 📺: When a childhood friend suddenly dies Rebecka Martinsson returns home to the north of …
30 July 2020: Usually my photos of Kapiti Island are taken from Waikawa Beach, 20 Km north of here. Today we’re up close from Waikanae Beach.
29 July 2020: Just before sunset I noticed this creeping inversion layer. Odd, with cows lost in the mist.
29 July 2020: Somehow I’ve never read any works by New Zealand crime writer Dame Ngaio Marsh (1895 – 1982) … known as one of the “Queens of Crime”… …
29 July 2020: Why women policymakers are better at fighting the pandemic | World Economic Forum: COVID-19 outcomes are systematically and significantly better in …
29 July 2020: Heh, my name is on board the Perseverance rover on its way to Mars 🚀: 3 fingernail-sized chips affixed to the upper-left corner of a placard feature …
28 July 2020: It’s been far too long since I last used our cold press juicer. Today’s mix: carrot, Granny Smith apple, celery, ginger, lime, orange. …
28 July 2020: Applescript to copy info from MarsEdit Micro.Blogger @hutaffe asked: Is there a MarsEdit plugin or something that helps to quickly share a Link and title with some highlighted text for …
27 July 2020: Aotearoa New Zealand has an election on Saturday 19 September 2020, so now all the nutters and conspiracy theorists are coming out to play — Covid-19 …
27 July 2020: We watched The Kitchen: the wives of Irish mobsters, take over organized crime operations in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen in the late 1970s, …
27 July 2020: Sasha had her stitches out today. The vet’s happy with how the wound is looking. 🐶 Sasha’s still slightly irritated by the wound but is coping …
26 July 2020: World Science Fiction Convention hosted by NZ: 10 years of planning have gone into New Zealand’s first time hosting the World Science Fiction …
26 July 2020: Our slightly more distant neighbour is now grazing his gorgeous part-Arab horse and its friend in the paddock right opposite our gate. I’m …
25 July 2020: Somehow the big load of firewood looks pretty small once it’s stacked in the firewood shed. We bought from the usual place, but this might be …
25 July 2020: A former MP tells: I wake in the night shaking We can argue that women should be safe to walk streets at night, go into men’s hotel rooms, …
24 July 2020: My job for this afternoon and tomorrow is to store 4 cubic metres of firewood — a mix of pine, macrocarpa and douglas fir — in the firewood shed. Half …
24 July 2020: This praying mantis was on the garage door today. Apparently this isn’t the native mantis, but an invasive South African mantis. 🐜
23 July 2020: Ugh, this wind drives me crazy. Mid-40s Kph speed, and gusts up to as much as 79 Kph! The noise alone is annoying, and then the house shakes. …
23 July 2020: This year I’ve read and pretty much enjoyed the Nichelle Clarke Crime Thrillers, books 1 to 6, by Lyndee Walker. 📚 They had their moments though …
23 July 2020: I love so much that I can write text on my Mac, copy, and then paste on my iPhone without any other steps in the middle. Makes it so much easier to …
23 July 2020: Over the last few weeks I’ve watched Seasons 1 to 3 of One Day at a Time (2017 TV series). 📺 I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been funny and …
22 July 2020: Less than 2mm when they hatch, sunfish can grow to more than three metres long, four metres tall and weigh over 2,000kg, which is roughly equivalent …
22 July 2020: ROFLMAO 🤣: Breaking: there is one new case of a disgraced politician in New Zealand. Toby Manhire writes hilariously on our rash of politicians in …
22 July 2020: At sunset the the horses come out to play on the beach.
22 July 2020: My wishlist for Micro.Blog: a way to load new posts but keep my place in the timeline. Every morning I have endless scrolling to see what folks …
22 July 2020: The high-pitched Riroriro or Grey Warbler at start and end, ducks and magpies. Sorry about the background which is either or both of slight wind and …
21 July 2020: The weather forecaster reminded us that it snowed on 15 August 2011 in Wellington (extremely rare). We lived in Wellington then, at the top of Mt …
21 July 2020: Next step on the Kindle: find the books I have read and remove from the device. Then finish or remove the books I’ve read only part of. Then start the …
21 July 2020: My Kindle’s a mess. My bad habit is to start a sample book and just stop in the middle because I don’t like the book. Or I read to the end …
20 July 2020: This Micro Monday I suggest @garciabuxton , Catholic, wife, mom, editrix. Ex-newsperson. Californian by birth, Midwesterner by choice. Sometimes posts …
20 July 2020: So thrilled to have @jsonbecker on board at @Custom . 😁 He’s underway adding useful info for Plug-In developers! Building Micro.blog Custom …
20 July 2020: The beach was so calm when we went down just after sunrise. I took a brief video looking southwest to Kāpiti Island and another looking north to Mt …
20 July 2020: Was outside early and spotted Jupiter and Saturn in the west. Also took this photo (L to R) of Pleiades, Taurus, Venus, Orion, Sirius. Orion’s …
19 July 2020: We watched Netflix ☛ Urzila Carlson: Overqualified Loser. Not entirely my taste in comedy but some good laughs. Best quip: I’ve reached the …
19 July 2020: In what world does this extract from our new oven’s manual make sense? The numbers aren’t in sequence and even the functions aren’t …
19 July 2020: As I see the Taruruas I realise I really like living beside hills. I spent 25 years growing up in Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand. The Canterbury …
18 July 2020: Taking 5 metres (depth) of the seabed must have an effect: consider whether 50 million tonnes of the South Taranaki Bight seabed can be mined each …
18 July 2020: Wow. We have good friends in Whangārei — they live at the top of a hill: 220 millimetres [8.66 inches] of rain fell in Whangārei from 7pm last night …
17 July 2020: If this is a boring flat rectangle, I think take-up will be slow. If a clever designer makes an attractive ‘badge of honour' lapel pin though… a …
17 July 2020: Excellent: Netflix ☛ One Day at a Time, S3E3, abuelita has made a ‘bouquet list’: Do you mean a bucket list? No, that makes no sense. It is a …
16 July 2020: I was somewhat entertained by Netflix ☛ Warrior Nun Warrior Nun revolves around the story of a 19-year-old woman who wakes up in a morgue with a new …
16 July 2020: Sasha’s throat Xray didn’t show anything to worry about. She has a little throat inflammation. The benign but growing cyst was removed from her …
16 July 2020: Our dogs are brachycephalic which means flatter faces and shorter noses, breathing problems. Sasha snores a lot and has increasing episodes of …
15 July 2020: Hmm, I just watched a preview of a movie about Marie Curie which includes her saying “My science could cure cancer”. When I was a kid in the 1960s …
15 July 2020: Nessie Hill encourages us all to be science communicators in this 10 minute video: How to Convince Others to Wear a Mask. She talks about methods that …
15 July 2020: Hey @martinfeld I listen to and enjoy most of the Lounge Ruminations. 😀 On #33 start at 6:15 you say: “the crucial element of a conversation is the …
15 July 2020: Interesting: Why Older People Really Eschew Technology The assumption that seniors are “alienated” by technology…ignores the essence of her research: …
14 July 2020: I cleaned the window so I could see the Tauhou better. The more I watch them, the more I love them. Look at this little cutie! 🐦
14 July 2020: All on for Mars: The United Arab Emirates is about to launch its first mission to Mars. It will be the Arab world’s first flight to another …
14 July 2020: a detailed DNA analysis of the genomes of more than 800 Polynesians and Native Americans, both modern and prehistoric, [shows] evidence of contact … …
14 July 2020: Oh, there was a blast from my youth, when the good music was! The Shangri-Las ‘Leader Of The Pack’ .
14 July 2020: Many thanks to @agilelisa for introducing me to musicians Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei. I found this enjoyable 30 minute video: Abigail Washburn and Wu …
14 July 2020: If you enjoy both nature and words then this 22 minute episode of Brit Garner’s Nature League is for you: Nurse Sharks and Other Strange Names …
13 July 2020: Matariki is the time when Māori celebrate the new year. The Matariki star cluster is known to many of us as Pleiades. 🌟 Now the year turns and we look …
13 July 2020: This Micro Monday I suggest @kimberlyhirsh , a space mermaid sparkle goth who also is a doctoral candidate in information and library science. Nice …
13 July 2020: By lunchtime the Tauhou had completely emptied one feeder and the other was disappearing quickly. I bought more ‘cakes' and decided to only put food …
12 July 2020: This applies to Covid-19 testing done in Aotearoa New Zealand, but tests elsewhere may well use the same methods: Coronavirus testing - how does it …
12 July 2020: One bird at the new feeder was bullying the others away so I added another feeder yesterday. We now have a flock of about 15 feeding! Egads! They are …
11 July 2020: This may be handy for other users of the fabulous NetNewsWire RSS reader from @brentsimmons — an Applescript to grab an article summary and its …
11 July 2020: We enjoyed Netflix ☛ The Old Guard with Charlize Theron, even though I’m a bit over superheroes. This had some nice gentle touches on various …
11 July 2020: Seems I bought Kindle ☛ Barbara Marr Mysteries Boxed Set back in January 2015 for $0.95, read part and stopped. Picked it up again, read a bit more, …
11 July 2020: These drongos make me angry. Aotearoa New Zealand has no community transmission of Covid-19 because we all put in the effort to achieve that. Arrivals …
11 July 2020: For those following along with my shifting my Time Machine backup to a new hard drive: I set my MacBook Pro to backup to the new drive around 8pm. …
11 July 2020: Hmmm, Love Notes: A Mimi Patterson/Gianna Maglione Mystery by Penny Mickelbury just wasn’t very good. Biggest flaw was lack of ‘breaks’ between two …
10 July 2020: And finally, after something like 32 hours of preparing to copy the backup from one drive to another, then copying about 750GB out of 950GB, I got an …
10 July 2020: Woohoo, after about 28 hours of ‘preparing’ finally my backup is copying to a new hard drive. Estimate for copying 1TB is ‘about a day’.
10 July 2020: No fire without smoke And there at dawn, from behind the low hill, a thick column of grey smoke pushes up towards the sky, becoming thicker after about 20 metres and then …
10 July 2020: After 5 years work, Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Dark Sky Park is near Whakatū (Nelson) at the top of the South Island: International Dark Sky …
09 July 2020: Another excellent (re)read of a Cari Hunter book: A Quiet Death (Dark Peak Book 3). 📚 Very difficult subject matter: sex trafficking, but …
09 July 2020: I bought a new 4TB portable hard drive to replace the 1TB model that no longer seem sufficient for Time Machine backups. I’m now about 5 hours …
09 July 2020: I think Tauhou are one of my favourite birds. I put up a bird feeder near the front door a couple of days ago, and three have been visiting off and on …
08 July 2020: Kiwis, and others with an interest in Te Reo Māori, the podcast: Everyday Māori has mainly short episodes with very clear and useful info. Helping …
07 July 2020: Well, that was an interesting 28 minutes: Allusionist 118. Survival: Bequest Europeans … imposed cisgender monogamous heterosexuality on Māori as if …
07 July 2020: Another excellent (re)read: Cold to the Touch by Cari Hunter. 📚 how can she investigate a crime when no one cares about the victim? And how …
06 July 2020: This Micro Monday I suggest @vanessa who often walks with her dog in some very lovely places.
06 July 2020: We drove to Wellington yesterday. Just north of Peka Peka traffic slowed and we passed several each of cop cars, ambulances and fire engines. It …
05 July 2020: The Daily Quake. 〰️ Just a little ‘wave’ preceded by a sort of click then clunk like a door closing. Weak earthquake occurred 15 km north-west of …
04 July 2020: Perspective matters so much. Scared to Death had passages describing a female victim from the male captor’s perspective, including his sexual arousal. …
04 July 2020: No Good Reason (The Dark Peak Series Book 1) by Cari Hunter was a darn good mystery story. As it was apparently the first time I read it. I was …
04 July 2020: Ok, I got a bit ranty but some days the injustice is just too much. ♀
04 July 2020: Pink hair has nothing to do with online abuse! Dr Siouxsie Wiles is an Associate Professor and head of the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the …
04 July 2020: Aotearoa New Zealand has now had 41 consecutive months in which the temperature has not slipped more than 0.5ᵒC below the long-term (1981-2010) …
04 July 2020: Oh dear, I can see why this spammer needs to blackmail folks. Sorry your ‘a' key isn’t working fellow, but I won’t be sending you any hush …
03 July 2020: Today I finally managed a shot of the goose that lives along the road a bit.
03 July 2020: My favourite notice at the vet clinic.
03 July 2020: My camera feels so wrong with the 16–50mm zoom, but here are two photos of snow on more southern parts of the Tararuas. One at 16mm and the other …
03 July 2020: I really needed to have known this after taking a longish call on my Apple Watch this morning: Switch a call from your Apple Watch to your iPhone: …
02 July 2020: Yesterday the stiff southerly was evident in the cabbage tree leaves. Today, now the cloud has cleared away, some peaks of the Tararuas are showing …
02 July 2020: “While socks last”.
02 July 2020: The Kindle book ‘Lethal Suds (Abigail Kinsman Mysteries Book 1)’ has taught me that every author needs someone to take a look at their book before …
02 July 2020: Last week I read The Crossing Places: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 1. I was ambivalent about it as I read, but really didn’t get on with the …
02 July 2020: Hmmm, Scared to Death was a book I read to the end, but I’m not sure I’ll buy any others in the series. The murder mystery was fine, but …
02 July 2020: Volume down for the annoying wind noise. Southerly sand storm at the beach today. The dogs still had fun. 🐶
02 July 2020: I absolutely adore the massive vocabulary of the English language. I love words in general. So sometimes a word in a book trips me up. Twice an author …
02 July 2020: Well the good thing about having to get up to let Sasha out at 1 am is that I was able to load more wood into the wood burner. With a freezing …
01 July 2020: I need to be careful what I read in the hours before bed. Scared to Death (Detective Kay Hunter murder mystery series Book 1) is a thriller with too …
01 July 2020: Today I learned that Quiet parks are a thing. Wilderness Quiet Parks are large pristine areas offering exceptional sonic beauty and opportunities for …
30 June 2020: I watched the first 40 minutes (the lecture) of this. Its fascinating stuff: Kelly Wright: Raciolinguistic profiling: Passing for American means …
30 June 2020: 5 years ago this basic Westinghouse Saturn electric oven with spiral elements was brand new. Today we’ve replaced it with a Belling dual oven with …
30 June 2020: Today I spent an hour watching the front yard as my part in the Aotearoa New Zealand Garden Bird Survey. Something happens each year when I do this — …
30 June 2020: Cold southerly at the beach this morning. For once I took my camera. Photo of Kuaka (Godwits), which usually return to the Arctic for our winter, but …
30 June 2020: This Micro Monday I suggest @jennifermjones , a local reporter who lives with her dog in the deepest darkest Southwest of Scotland and has a dailyish …
30 June 2020: We Dig Dinosaurs was great. Host Emily Graslie does a fabulous job and has so much fun. Cretaceous … T. rex dominated the planet … what happened to …
29 June 2020: I knew mid-book in Lies to Tell: An utterly gripping Scottish crime thriller (Detective Clare Mackay Book 3) by Marion Todd who the bad guy was. I was …
28 June 2020: Turns out Aotearoa New Zealand is just the tippy tops of the lost continent of Zealandia: only 6% of the continent is above sea level. That part …
27 June 2020: We abandoned Ad Astra half way through and switched to Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga which was way more fun. 🎬 Singing, dancing, …
27 June 2020: Our broadband died this morning. After 40 minutes on the phone to a very pleasant person in India Ive been given 100GB free data to hotspot from my …
27 June 2020: 27-Jun-20: daily quake. 〰️ 4.9 near Rotorua, but quite deep. Shook us around slightly. I thought it would have been one of the Levin quakes.
26 June 2020: Ive become the fun police and have reported this nearby smoke nuisance to the local Council. This green waste burnoff means I have to keep all doors …
26 June 2020: I didnt realise how poor this photo was — it makes Sashas eyes look really weird. Anyway, freshly groomed dogs looking fantastic. 🐶 And while they …
26 June 2020: It seems this year I need a section called My Daily Earthquake. There are so many quakes this year and so many nearby. When Fri Jun 26 2020 6:52 AM …
25 June 2020: Sigh, sexist assumptions… : 2,600-year-old Scythian remains … considered to be male because with him were … an axe, a bow, arrows,… But the …
25 June 2020: I was surprised by how profoundly moving this was, both the views of the ‘audience' and the music itself: Barcelona Opera House Reopens With a Concert …
24 June 2020: The terror of the turn Some mornings it can be terrifying trying to get across the road with the steady stream of truck and car traffic between the hours of 05.45 and 9 am. …
23 June 2020: I thoroughly enjoyed the feel-good Netflix movie Feel the Beat 📺: a 2020 American family dance comedy-drama film Fairly standard plot, but lots of …
23 June 2020: First time in an extremely long time that Ive watched ISS go overhead. Experimented with night mode: iPhone 11, with 10 second exposure. The ISS is …
23 June 2020: Hmmm, apparently my Move It Mondays are inevitably followed by Too-Tired Tuesdays! 🥱
23 June 2020: A day when the breeze, if any, is easterly so while the sea isn’t quite glass, it’s just really gentle. Large in the background Kāpiti Island. About …
23 June 2020: Well the WWDC20 keynote was cool. I’ll be ready for a new Mac laptop in a year or two so that’ll fit nicely with machines that use the new chip.
23 June 2020: 🤣 “Historic Day”, ‘undisclosed location’ … that looks like an underground bunker beneath the pool.
23 June 2020: Glad to see in the 2020 WWDC Apple have made much more effort to have women presenters.
22 June 2020: I recently decided on Move It Mondays to start my week off right. Today was so gorgeous I took the kayak to the river and paddled for an hour. Im …
22 June 2020: This Micro Monday I suggest @danielpunkass, creator of MarsEdit and Black Ink, podcaster with @manton at Core Intuition and all-round thoughtful …
22 June 2020: Was that Venus looking in while I did my morning stretches? Starwalk said Yes. And it turns out Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto were all together in the …
21 June 2020: We have new neighbours. Neighhh. 🐴 👏
20 June 2020: Emily Graslie is one of my favourite YouTube video presenters. Now shes part of the Prehistoric road trip which turns out to be not just video, but a …
20 June 2020: Today we drove to Feilding for Deb’s birthday lunch at the Amayjen restaurant, and excellent food it was too. I ate amazingly tender, …
20 June 2020: Down in the dunes this morning, this wonderful fungus.
19 June 2020: Rain glorious rain! It rained for more than 24 hours. Yesterday alone brought nearly 40 mm. The water tank is overflowing and the garden sure needed …
19 June 2020: Sleepy as last nights good shake left me awake for more than an hour. At 7.5 magnitude and only 33 Km deep its a good thing the quake originated about …
18 June 2020: I did not know this: The combined gravitational pull of the Sun, Saturn, Jupiter and other planets cause the shape of the Earth’s orbit to vary from …
18 June 2020: And on motorcycling: two keen motorcycling women friends (each has 2 or 3 large bikes) married back in February 2014. They rode their bikes to the …
18 June 2020: A conversation with @Strandlines about gendered protective gear reminded me of a Letter to the Editor I wrote in 1972, when I was 17 and rode a …
17 June 2020: Such a fascinating and provocative 40 minute interview: Caroline Criado Perez: Invisible Women. Maybe health workers would like the safety of PPE that …
17 June 2020: Last night Oshi drove me crazy with almost continuous barking for about 90 minutes when I went to bed. 👿 Today I may know why: one dead quail and one …
17 June 2020: Do you know about MyNoise? I use the iOS apps, but also listen on my Mac sometimes (as now). A library of customisable sounds to help with focus, …
16 June 2020: I enjoyed Margaret Mizushima: Hunting Hour 📚: a girl has gone missing from the junior high … police dog Robo … his highly trained …
16 June 2020: This Micro Monday I’d suggest you follow @cheri , author of some excellent cozy mysteries and other books.
16 June 2020: I love watching the signers on Government briefings. The signer just now seems particularly expressive in face and body as well as gesture. …
16 June 2020: I know, slightly, the author of the NZ Health and Disability System Review, so am not surprised that measures to counteract systemic racism are …
16 June 2020: Excellent! Aotearoa New Zealand has free health care for all but the system was run down over a long time by conservative governments and was a …
16 June 2020: Awww, after 50+ years Diego gets to go home: Diego the giant Galapagos tortoise whose tireless efforts are credited with almost single-handedly …
16 June 2020: Good read: Seven of Nine Was Always Queer: 📺 🖖 🏳️🌈 So much of what Seven does on Voyager is to break down the binaries that exist in Janeway’s and …
15 June 2020: The person who bought my old Fuji X-M1 camera body very kindly shared some links and tips about updating firmware on the newer Fuji X-T2 I now have. I …
14 June 2020: I could see it was cold out (-2C) when I woke at 4.30. Dawn showed the frost that went with the low temps. Note too the very high pressure: 1038 mbar.
13 June 2020: This good-looking fellow was resting his head on the fork of the tree beside him … until I took out my phone for a photo. Very handsome though anyway. …
12 June 2020: What would it feel like, I wonder, to scan the TV and movie listings in something like TV+ or Netflix, and to see 99% of the offerings showing …
12 June 2020: Ive been watching the TV+ series Dear… Its uplifting and inspiring. Each episode looks at the life of a well-known person, and interweaves extracts …
11 June 2020: Just rewatched the 14 minute SciShow video There Are More Than Two Human Sexes which so clearly explains why XX and XY are just the extremes on a …
10 June 2020: Niue The World’s First ‘Dark Sky Nation’ 🇳🇺 the International Dark-Sky Association … announced an important world-first … the tiny …
10 June 2020: Geraldine farmers go to bat for endangered species [farmers] planned to cut down a row of willows at their property near Geraldine until they …
10 June 2020: Fungi at the beach — a benefit of driftwood. Sometimes I think Ive learned nothing about taking photos over the last decade. Then I realise in the …
09 June 2020: A huge downside to committing to learning a bunch of songs / waiata in the Māori language / Te Reo Māori: Ive had several of them in my head on a …
09 June 2020: Kiwi company Lanaco makes wool face masks, used in bushfires and for Covid-19. They even bred sheep specially, to get the wool just right. Now …
09 June 2020: Warm fronts? Cold fronts? This 5.5 minute video from the UK MetOffice explains well: What are weather fronts?. 🌦 It was linked from a free course I’ve …
08 June 2020: For Micro Monday let me recommend @dejus , a Kiwi living in the US who keeps us entertained with his wonderful photos: Flock Friday, Throwback …
08 June 2020: What fabulous news for Aotearoa New Zealand re Covid-19 today: 🦠 active cases: Zero 28 February to 08 June 2020: confirmed cases: 1154 total …
08 June 2020: Waiata #4 to learn: Ko Mātou Ko mātou, te rōpū mahi e Ko mātou, te rōpū mahi e Ka papaki noa Ka titiro noa …
07 June 2020: We really enjoyed watching Netflix ☛ Space Force 📺 Space Force is a workplace comedy series that centers on a group of people tasked with …
07 June 2020: Hmmm, Feedbin has been down for hours now. I’m missing my RSS feeds…
07 June 2020: Waiata #3 to learn: E toru ngā mea E toru ngā mea Ngā mea nunui E kī ana Te Paipera Whakapono Tūmanako Ko te mea nui Ko …
07 June 2020: At 13.5 Oshi has developed arthritis so now visits the vet quite often. 🐶 He has 1/2 a Carprieve anti-inflammatory pill with each meal, has had 4 …
07 June 2020: I read Bullets and Beads (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 17) by Jana DeLeon. 📚 Can Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie manage to evade the killers long …
07 June 2020: In 2010 I bought a basic Avanti bike that served me well. In 2018 I bought a much better bike so this was relegated to towing the dog trailer. Now I …
06 June 2020: At last, haircut day. Before (with 3 months growth) and after. Really enjoyed chatting with my hairdresser too. Turns out we both dislike the same …
05 June 2020: I just don’t like the look of these clouds…
05 June 2020: Waiata #2 The next waiata I want to learn is Hokihoki tonu mai: Hokihoki tonu mai - Again and again she returns Te wairua o te tau - the spirit of my …
04 June 2020: This 2.5 minute video is really cool. Now I know why no-one would ever put on flop-flips to zag-zig down the road to look through some brac-a-bric: …
04 June 2020: I’m watching an excellent free course called Finding Purpose and Meaning In Life Just came across this supremely relevant-for-these-times quote …
03 June 2020: Ohhh, absolutely ROTFFL hilarious: Netflix ☛ Hannah Gadsby: Douglas. Definitely NSFW. She is so so very clever: all the strands so beautifully woven …
03 June 2020: Waiata #1 I want to continue extending my knowledge of Māori language and culture. My current effort is to learn the waiata Tūtira mai …
03 June 2020: Wow, it’s 4 years since I listed anything on TradeMe. I hate selling stuff, but have several items that need to be exchanged for space and $: my …
03 June 2020: This week I’m on a free learning binge. Currently watching: Robin DiAngelo on topics such as Deconstructing White Privilege and Debunking the …
02 June 2020: I noticed this patch of iceplant among the Spinifex at the beach this morning. Not sure if its the native plant or an invasive.
01 June 2020: Terminology can be such a pain. The intersection of State Highway 1 and Waikawa Beach Road is a problem. It feels dangerous and its difficult to make …
31 May 2020: Some here might like to look at the four drone photos of Waikawa Beach posted by a local on Twitter today. He likely used a Phantom 4 Pro with 20 …
31 May 2020: Oshi gets close, while Sasha has that classic over-the-shoulder look. 🐶
31 May 2020: Babylon 5 1994–1998, one of my all-time favourites. Set on a future space station, with a 5-season arc, it reached its peak in Seasons 3 and 4 with …
31 May 2020: This aftershock woke me: 4.7 at almost 11pm last night. 〰️ A bit worrying, but I soon went back to sleep.
30 May 2020: Oooh, Apple TV+ has ordered: “Hedy Lamarr,” a new eight-episode limited series Lamarr was an actor and inventor, major contributor to the spread …
30 May 2020: Safari (Mac) helps me see a problem website better. Sharesies is excellent but the text is too small and some text is too pale. I set Safari > …
30 May 2020: Eureka 2006–2012 was a ‘hidden’ town of fictional science geniuses and their crazy inventions. Each episode featured a mysterious …
29 May 2020: In Aotearoa New Zealand now it seems surreal to keep on with distancing, sanitiser etc, because: 7th day in a row, no new cases of COVID-19 in NZ. …
29 May 2020: Ive lived in Aotearoa New Zealand for ~57 years and never heard of “Moving Day” till now. Mind you, when I was a kid NZ had 60 million sheep and 3 …
29 May 2020: Warehouse 13 2009–2014 was a fun show about retrieving and storing artifacts with dangerous powers, like Ivan Pavlov’s bell. Included Jaime …
29 May 2020: Ohhh, Im not even half way through Legends of Tomorrow 514 and may not be able to finish because Im laughing too hard. Now the writers have finally …
28 May 2020: I’ve decided my own June challege — I’ve just decided to have a No-Apostrophe June (starting now). I believe the apostrophe is redundant and should …
28 May 2020: Sanctuary 2008–2011 starred Amanda Tapping (of Stargate fame). The Sanctuary helped and sometimes contained Abnormals, extraordinarily powerful …
27 May 2020: Lovely: Out a 10 minute short movie on Disney+. 🍿🌈 a young gay man who has not yet come out to his parents unexpectedly has his mind magically …
27 May 2020: It was a stunning morning, so my friend Chris and I drove our electric bikes to Peka Peka and rode 16Km on the shared track beside the Kāpiti …
27 May 2020: In Star Trek: Voyager 1995–2001 Captain Kathryn Janeway leads her crew home from the Delta Quadrant. She’s not someone to go up against. …
27 May 2020: Waaaay back on 29 February I ordered this bike bag from AliExpress. Then Covid-19 happened. Tracking gave weird info. Today, 3 months later it finally …
27 May 2020: There are two of these plants in the dunes and each year I forget their name — it’s a Yucca. Last year it flowered in April, so the May …
27 May 2020: The X-Rite Color Challenge and Hue Test was interesting, and I was pleased with my score of 4 (where 0 is best).
26 May 2020: Well, I definitely enjoyed Onward, which surprised me a little. Two brothers go on a quest for magic to bring back their dead father. Nice touch with …
26 May 2020: I’m declaring an earthquake emoji: 〰️
26 May 2020: One of the ways to stop smaller ornaments falling off shelves in an earthquake is Museum Wax. It’s really just a soft wax. Put a small dob on …
26 May 2020: We’ve been having aftershocks, most not noticeable. This 5.2 got me up though. Two tiny things fell off the shelf. 〰️
26 May 2020: Xena 1995–2001: a formidable warrior, reformed baddie. Had an intense relationship with Gabrielle, a bard who grew into a warrior. Outrageous fight …
26 May 2020: I enjoy starting my day with a Tom Scott video, like this 5 minute explainer: Ə: The Most Common Vowel in English.
25 May 2020: Watched Mulan which was fun. It’s based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan — a young woman who takes her father’s place in the Chinese Imperial …
25 May 2020: Buffy 1997–2003 was glorious. It introduced creative language use and a young woman who literally fought demons — her own and those of others. …
25 May 2020: M5.8 quake nearby really shook things up I was doing a crossword on my MacBook Pro when with no warning at all the house started to really shake. This was a big earthquake: it felt big and …
25 May 2020: Alert for aftershocks now. There have been a few minor shocks since then ~3.6 that we haven’t felt, though the pheasants have been squawking. 〰️
25 May 2020: Thanks for all good wishes. Earthquake was sourced about 33Km away, 37Km deep, mag 5.8. Our house is on 6 metre deep poles so shakes even when the …
25 May 2020: SUCH a big earthquake I actually left the house. Minor things fell off shelves. All ok. More later. Shaking… 〰️
24 May 2020: Next week’s Micro.Blog Challenge is about Artwork and drawings — our own or others. I don’t draw, and think instead I’ll do a post a …
24 May 2020: Miss Fortune Mysteries by Jana DeLeon. This series remains fresh and humorous, even though there are now 17 novels. CIA assassin in hiding, Fortune …
23 May 2020: I have a final Book recommendations challenge item coming tomorrow. 📚 But here’s a bonus author recommendation: Micro.Blog’s very own …
23 May 2020: Actually just watched an ad (for Ecosa mattresses) all the way through, instead of skipping, because it was entertaining. Featured a woman who’s …
23 May 2020: This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. One thing every single human being alive has in common: we’re growing older. This book explores …
22 May 2020: My pal Rachel McAlpine, writer, podcaster and blogger, contributed this very interesting 17 minute video to the #M365May online conference: Old people …
22 May 2020: We thought we spotted 3 sheep in the next door paddock but one. Unusual for a cow farm, but not unheard of. But they didn’t look right. …
22 May 2020: Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the Course of Human Cultures. We can count up to 3 innately, but beyond that it’s all fuzzy. Some …
21 May 2020: We watched Captain America: The First Avenger over 2 nights and it wasn’t bad. Great to spot Agent Carter too. We’ve got the free trial of …
21 May 2020: Clam Consternation Everyone comments on how many rubber gloves wash up on Waikawa Beach. There's a strong suspicion amongst locals that the gloves and frequent large …
21 May 2020: I watched Batwoman, reluctantly, because of Ruby Rose. The show was too dark and gruesome for my taste. So I’m partly sad and partly relieved …
21 May 2020: I’ve been part of only a very few Zoom calls and everyone else knows more than me about using Zoom. That’s why I’m reading Take Control of …
21 May 2020: Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal by Joe Kissell harness the power of the Unix underpinnings of macOS! … become comfortable working …
20 May 2020: Last week I thought we had a frost. This morning we definitely did!
20 May 2020: The Retrieval Artist Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Mystery and Sci-Fi all wrapped up in space with a superb cast. One of my all-time favourite …
20 May 2020: Dawn is on its way.
19 May 2020: Tl;dr: the website Free Online OCR does a fantastic job extracting text from screenshots. I really really dislike the service called Issuu. Many …
19 May 2020: The Renegat by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Sci-Fi. One of my all-time favourite authors, this particular novel is brilliant. A ship of misfits and …
18 May 2020: Every 6 weeks or so I move the quail to a new spot. Here they are, near the house. It was a major effort to move the run uphill, but we got there in …
18 May 2020: Book recommendations challenge. 📚 I’m being totally self-indulgent and hopping in a time machine. From 2006: WordPress 2: Visual QuickStart …
17 May 2020: We watched Fisherman’s Friends, an excellent British film based on a true story. 🍿 … about a group of Cornish fishermen from Port Isaac who were …
17 May 2020: We watched and thoroughly enjoyed The Half of It, a movie about love and friendship. 🍿 It’s a very different story about a nerdy student, Ellie, …
17 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Violet sky in Niue. 📷
16 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Indigo. Pukeko. 📷
16 May 2020: I watched the first episode of The Bionic Woman which dates all the way back to 14 January 1976! 📺 I was struck by just how many men were taking …
16 May 2020: We’ve been watching Miss Scarlet and the Duke. 📺 It has potential but doesn’t seem to quite gel. Scarlet is whiny and unappealing. Writing or actor? I …
15 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Blue. 📷
14 May 2020: Oh hooray! Years ago the National (conservative) government cut adult education to shreds. Our Labour government, in today’s Budget, are …
14 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Green. 📷
14 May 2020: With confirmed daily new cases of Covid-19 in single digits or 0 for 4 weeks now, today Aotearoa New Zealand drops to Alert Level 2. Most businesses …
14 May 2020: Sunrise to the Northeast of me, neighbour’s house to the Southwest. I glanced out to see the neighbour’s house ‘ablaze’ with the sunrise. …
13 May 2020: Ahhh, the Legends of Tomorrow episode Freaks and Greeks was good fun. Plenty of leading women, and a whole load of women characters working together. …
13 May 2020: My favourite news item of the day: Aotearoa New Zealand Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield: “it’s safe to pat dogs”. …
13 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Yellow. 📷
12 May 2020: Apart from it being dark by the time the delivery driver tried to find our place, our first online & delivery supermarket order went well. I think …
12 May 2020: Took a little drive to Paraparaumu today to pick up the frozen dog food brand I prefer. I enjoyed the jaunt — 30 to 40 minutes each way, and stopped …
12 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Orange. 📷
11 May 2020: Photos: Colour-A-Day Challenge: Red. 📷
11 May 2020: Good news for us: interest in fresh New Zealand produce is surging in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. “… no problems with ports or Customs clearance. …
10 May 2020: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata. He tāngata. He tāngata. — What is the most important thing in the world? It is people. It is people. It is …
09 May 2020: Wow! Dolly Parton is quite something: singer and philanthropist: 100 million books given away for free … It is now one of the largest literacy …
09 May 2020: Seven: “You have assimilated enough for one day. You have also provided invaluable assistance to the Voyager crew. You have exceeded …
08 May 2020: Clean and sweet smelling dogs. 😀 🐶 I retook the photo of Sasha because she did a giant yawn. I didn’t realise in the second photo she was sticking her …
08 May 2020: Two shaggy dogs have been dropped off at the groomers. 🐶
08 May 2020: “Ever since my first day on the job as a Starfleet Captain, I swore I’d never let myself get caught in one of these Godforsaken paradoxes. …
07 May 2020: Wow, just watched episode 1 of The Andy Griffith Show. Ron Howard, aged about 6! I used to watch that show as a kid. Turns out RH is a year older than …
07 May 2020: Finally replaced our 45 litre emergency water supply with fresh, bleached, drinking water. You’re supposed to do it each year…
07 May 2020: It’s been ages since I last used Screenflow. It just took me several hours to make a 40-second ‘movie' for my friend’s birthday Zoom …
07 May 2020: I’ve had problems with motivation the last few days. Today I’m trying to shake things up a bit. Already done the daily stretches and about …
07 May 2020: Curbs happen. Sometimes when you least expect it. – Suzan Davis: Drop Physical, Mental and Spiritual Flab through Inline Skating. 💬
06 May 2020: The last few days we’ve had cloud, rain, and even the occasional thunderclap, and a rainbow. 🌈 Today’s blue sky reveals why the wind is so …
06 May 2020: At last. We had actual rain for a few days — almost 68 mm all up. That’s nearly 4,500 litres in the household water tank. 💧
06 May 2020: Buffy: If the apocalypse comes, beep me. 💬
05 May 2020: So good to read this from our Police Commissioner about community checkpoints: our approach has been driven by a desire to maintain the trust and …
05 May 2020: Lao Ma: Nothing is soft as water. Yet, who can withstand the raging flood? 💬
05 May 2020: Usually Ravel’s Bolero drives me to be elsewhere, but this video is not only astonishingly creative but also utterly enjoyable: Juilliard …
04 May 2020: Thank you @brentsimmons for Undo Mark Older as Unread in NetNewsWire! My finger slipped. Phew!
04 May 2020: Our tunnelhouse is still producing capsicums and aubergine. Small, but still perfectly good. These will go in tonight’s dinner.
04 May 2020: Delenn of the Minbari: Withdraw or be destroyed! Earth Force: Negative! Do not force us to engage. Delenn: Why not? Only one human captain has ever …
03 May 2020: I’d like to thank @macgenie for allowing me to chat with her on Voyager Revisited episode 14 B’Elanna Torres: 50% Klingon, 100% Engineer. 🖖🏼 …
03 May 2020: I haven’t read these books yet, but am downloading a few: 13 Legally Free Digital Queer Books for Your Quarantine Needs. 📚 Maybe there’s …
03 May 2020: Aussies tend to make great telly (and movies) and My Life Is Murder, starring my favourite, Lucy Lawless, is no exception: crime comedy-drama … …
03 May 2020: Thanks to the many folks who said they were looking into or already using Kiva to help business people with small loans, eg $25. I see I’ve been …
02 May 2020: Aotearoa New Zealand is in a lucky position to trace the virus spread around the country: NZ’s first Covid-19 case … on 28 February - a person …
02 May 2020: For years now I’ve been lending money to individual business women in need via Kiva, usually $25 at a time. So far I’ve lent to women in 29 …
02 May 2020: We’ve had a bit more than 100 mm rain in the first 4 months of the year. The forecast for the next 3 days is for another 100 mm. Wouldn’t that …
01 May 2020: I really enjoyed Frozen II. 🍿Great plot, music and animations. A favourite: the singing reindeer. Also 👍: Throughout the production of the film, …
01 May 2020: Hmmm, at 13.5 it seems Oshi and Sasha are now officially in old age. 🐶 The vet confirmed Oshi has arthritis, so now he’s on pain pills. With any …
30 April 2020: Finally finished Take Control of Apple Watch. I recommend it, even if you think you know all about your watch. For example, I just turned on Fall …
30 April 2020: A septic tank deals with our waste and that’s fine by me. More houses should be independent in that way. The tank needs regular servicing …
29 April 2020: A specially good reason to ride my bike around the village today. Blue skies, sunshine…
29 April 2020: Every day I check my On This Day page. Today I found two mistakes: a missing word in a 12 month old post and a typo in a two year old post. I can’t …
28 April 2020: This angel is guarding a gate in the neighbourhood. A cheerful addition.
27 April 2020: As we move down one Alert Level in Aotearoa New Zealand things are looking good. New confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been in single digits for 2 …
27 April 2020: I’ve been reading Jeff Carlson’s excellent Take Control of Apple Watch and picked up a few tips in spite of wearing a watch for several years now. …
27 April 2020: These two videos might be helpful for some of us: Relieve tight shoulders with self-massage! and Relieve neck pain and tension with self-massage.
26 April 2020: Tonight’s viewing: Avengers: Endgame. Hard to believe this was one of the highest grossing films of all time. 🥱 😴
26 April 2020: Last night we watched 2 movies, Outsourced and Greenfingers. Both were lightweight and enjoyable. Outsourced sees an American sent to India where he …
25 April 2020: This is the ‘south track' to the beach. Nice, eh!
24 April 2020: This Thrush was hanging round near the kitchen window this morning. 🐦
23 April 2020: Back on 29 February 2020 I ordered a bag to go on my bike’s carrier. It took them a while to ship it, but eventually it was put on a plane which …
23 April 2020: Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is so good in press conferences. Journalist asks a great question and gets a detailed, helpful answer. Journalist …
23 April 2020: Buying — it’s a bargain! The Mysterious Women StoryBundle Curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: … favorite female authors together into this …
23 April 2020: Personal submission to Horowhenua District Council Annual Plan 2020/2021 Key projects: … connecting shared pathways…With a recent steep rise in the popularity of electric bikes, and recognising the extreme …
22 April 2020: Flax leaves (and those from toitoi and cabbage trees) are a nightmare when I weedeat around the plants. Leaves wrap themselves around the weedeater …
21 April 2020: I’ve just discovered the NY Times Acrostic puzzles and I just love them. Can’t get enough. They’re a much better challenge than the …
21 April 2020: They were lost and now are found… I’m gradually cleaning up the overgrown tunnelhouse. Found 2 huge yellow and rotting cucumbers in a dark …
20 April 2020: Great news today that Aotearoa New Zealand’s transmission rate for Covid-19 is R0.48. A week from today we move down from Alert Level 4 to a …
20 April 2020: I was just pondering an approach like this the other day: 🐶 the experimental project, which is seeking to establish whether the dogs can reliably …
20 April 2020: Glad to be part of of FluTracking: 😷 to develop a system that can provide: Community level influenza-like illness surveillance Consistent …
19 April 2020: The second Ilsa Evans book in the Nell Forrest series and equally enjoyed: Ill-Gotten Gains 📚 A minor act of cemetery vandalism lands … Nell Forrest …
19 April 2020: On the edge of the estuary, these grasses / rushes caught my attention today. Very textured.
19 April 2020: I’m loving being able to see and edit the Pages on my 3 different Micro.Blogs with the alpha of MarsEdit 4.4. It’s soooo easy and works …
19 April 2020: June Almeida peered into her electron microscope in 1964, she saw a round, grey dot covered in tiny spokes …would become known as the coronavirus. …
18 April 2020: Thanks to ‘On This Day’ I found that 2 years ago I did an online hearing test. Today I tried it again. Looks like there might be a decline in the low …
18 April 2020: Oh happy day! The alpha of Mars Edit shows my pages from 3 Micro.Blog blogs as well as a WordPress blog where I’ve always been able to see them. …
17 April 2020: As you were… This Covid–19 version of Waikawa Beach, with roads empty of cars, vans and trucks, is how some longtime locals remember the good old days: …
17 April 2020: 👍 decisive action. On the chart the red line is the model for how many Covid-19 cases Aotearoa New Zealand could have had. The black line is the …
16 April 2020: Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes high quality sci-fi. Recommended: Diving Series is 1/2 off! First novel in the series, Diving into the Wreck, is free …
16 April 2020: I really enjoyed reading Nefarious Doings by Australian Ilsa Evans. Engaging text and character, wonderful dry humour. The whole Australian (stands in …
15 April 2020: Thanks to John McWhorter in the excellent Lexicon Valley podcast episode The Many Meanings of Too for playing part of this wonderful track Cow Cow …
15 April 2020: I hopped out of bed and spotted this pheasant watching me from the rail of the dog yard fence. I quickly grabbed this shot through a rather dirty …
14 April 2020: I did sleep last night but with winds gusting up to 80+ Kph it wasn’t a good sleep by any means. Our house is on 6 metre piles and shakes even …
13 April 2020: I just finished reading Nichelle Clarke Crime Thrillers, Books 1–3 by LynDee Walker, and enjoyed the books enough to buy the next box set. The …
13 April 2020: The farmer next door runs dairy (not by us) and beef (over our fence). Today though there were 4 sheep in his next-but-one paddock.
12 April 2020: While looking for something else I came upon this photo I took in 2013. Oystercatcher. 🐦
12 April 2020: Two very surprising finds in the news: first name only and lack of upper case for Queen Elizabeth and Pope Francis. I’ve never seen either simply …
12 April 2020: I’m glad homeless people will have (temporary) houses, but what bugs me about this is the phrase ‘homeless community’. No-one should be homeless …
12 April 2020: Emily Graslie works for the Chicago Field Museum and is one of my favourite YouTubers. She has such a lovely manner. If you like birds watch her 8 …
11 April 2020: This ‘fountain’ in our back yard was courtesy of the warning light on our septic tank. First I jiggled the pipe that makes a stuck pump run and …
11 April 2020: This is such a clear explanation: How Privacy-Friendly Contact Tracing Can Help Stop the Spread of Covid-19 Nicky Case, working with security & …
10 April 2020: There was a bit of a swell in the sea today. First walk on the beach together with Deb in ages.
09 April 2020: Apparently the farmer’s tractor, with post hole digger attached, is the place for all the cool cats to hang out today.
08 April 2020: 👍 👍 Maybe handy: Axel Scheffler has illustrated a digital book for primary school age children, free for anyone to read on screen or print out, about …
07 April 2020: Waaaaay back on 13 February 2020 (about a lifetime ago now) I ordered a pair of neoprene booties from AliExpress. Today they finally arrrived, but I …
06 April 2020: A bubble of one's own When things happen at Waikawa Beach the caring side of the community really shines through. A few weeks ago numerous black-backed gulls were found …
06 April 2020: I’ll see your cat Paladin on the railing @dejus and raise you a dog on a tower of beds. Oshi. 🐶
05 April 2020: The Levin New World supermarket had things well-organised this morning. Just as I was wishing I’d brought some water while waiting in line a …
05 April 2020: Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is amazing. Relaxed, authoritative, really knows her stuff. Patient, kind, has a sense of humour, trustworthy. …
05 April 2020: Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, says statistics suggest we have only 25% Covid-19 infections as modelling predicted. 1,000 against 4,000. Swift …
05 April 2020: New supermarket rules.
05 April 2020: I’ve been queuing for 40 minutes since the supermarket opened and have just reached the sign telling me it’ll be about an hour wait from here. Glad I …
04 April 2020: A great read: Slanging match slang is not and never has been an exclusively male preserve. But each generation of critics has presented young women’s …
03 April 2020: I keep intending and forgetting to go to the beach to watch the sun set. Tonight I finally made it.
03 April 2020: So rewarding to do a cryptic crossword again (it’s been a while). The intuitive leaps, the anagrams… I was rusty… Thanks to Black Ink for the …
02 April 2020: I looked up at the end of a photography training video to see the sun had set and the sky looked gorgeous. Trees silhouetted against a darkening sky.
02 April 2020: Self isolation Day 6 (or maybe 7 or 8): a beach walk with dogs. Looking south and looking north.
01 April 2020: My partner Deb’s current commute.
01 April 2020: Ugh, today is my least favourite day of any year: April Fools Day. I hope there’s no stupid stuff this year, of all times.
31 March 2020: First full day of my partner working from our 70 square metre home was revealing. I thought her job was a lot of writing papers and some meetings. …
31 March 2020: This is our temporary new neighbour. Sadly, she’s alone in her paddock, but she seems very calm. A friend told me she’s an elderly horse.
30 March 2020: Passionfruit flower.
30 March 2020: A tranquil river on a peaceful day.
29 March 2020: Well, Aotearoa New Zealand has had its first Covid-19 death: an older person with underlying health vulnerabilities. 😒
29 March 2020: This is great news for the future: Virtual consultations very effective - doctor A family doctor using virtual consultations … says it works so well …
29 March 2020: Fascinating. See what happens in an epidemic if more or less people self-isolate. Even a few breaking the rules can prolong everything hugely. …
28 March 2020: With pouring rain and a cold southerly, today I lit the fire for the first time this year. Just a little one, for an hour or so, but it sure cheered …
27 March 2020: How many times can the media, on behalf of the public ask if it’s “alright to drive to the beach or park for a walk” and for the PM to say “Yes, but …
27 March 2020: The anatomy of our society This pandemic lays bare the anatomy of our society. Our response to the imminent threat of mass deaths from Covid-19 is to ask: What is essential to …
27 March 2020: I had a very anxious 10 minutes this morning when I went to wake up my MacBook Pro and couldn’t get it going. It was plugged in and asleep …
26 March 2020: What great news! Christchurch mosque attacks: Gunman pleads guilty to all charges The man [accused of 2019] Christchurch mosque attacks … pleaded …
26 March 2020: Recently added items at the Department of Obsolete Phrases: Cooee, anyone home? While you were out… I was hoping I’d catch you at home.
25 March 2020: When our lives go sideways When World War 2 broke out my parents were in their early 20s. Dad was sent off to war and ended up in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp for 3+ years. I …
24 March 2020: Ah, finally someone has broached the subject we don’t want to think about. In Aotearoa New Zealand we always expect an earthquake. What say we have a …
24 March 2020: So very pleased to hear our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, switching from the word ‘lockdown’ to ‘shutdown’. Lockdown connotes house arrest and …
24 March 2020: Capons! Who knew I knew that word!? One of the things I love about @danielpunkass Black Ink - Solve Crossword Puzzles With Style is that it drags …
23 March 2020: Aotearoa New Zealand is now pretty much in lockdown. Level 3 alert, but in 2 days time, Level 4 where businesses are closed and we must stay home. …
23 March 2020: Supermarket limits.
23 March 2020: NZ’s leading health professionals and relevant scientists are all saying we should go to Level 4 lockdown right now. We have 66 cases at the …
23 March 2020: OK, this morning I’ve had my seasonal flu shot. The road was quieter than usual.
22 March 2020: Hmmm, 11pm and I ought to be asleep.
22 March 2020: Went with a friend to a cafe for breakfast this morning. Cafe capacity has been reduced(?) to 80 and we had to sign a register on arrival. Fair enough …
22 March 2020: I love the rare occasion when I meet online pals in real life. @JohnPhilpin visited today and I enjoyed our chat. Here we are giving each other space …
22 March 2020: This 7 minute doco is something for our cat lovers: Fishing Cat: The Cat That Hunts Underwater. 🐈 Life in the mangroves of South Asia is difficult, …
21 March 2020: My favourite quote, now we’ve learned folks 70+ should stay home: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters: …
20 March 2020: Some fisher lost this, presumably crab pot.
19 March 2020: The last numerous episodes of Legends of Tomorrow have been irritatingly sidetracked by silly old Constantine (pah!). S05E07 Romeo v Juliet, Dawn of …
19 March 2020: So, Aotearoa New Zealand’s borders are closed to all except returning Kiwis. The ban applies to people not product, and those staffing freight …
19 March 2020: Earlier I noticed Oshi licking rather than drinking from the dogs water fountain. Then I realised that since there was a scheduled power outage, he …
18 March 2020: About blimmin time!! Parliament removes abortion from Crimes Act - Beehive.govt.nz Abortion has been removed from the Crimes Act under a new law …
18 March 2020: This photo isn’t specially great, but it marks a first for me: analyse what I wanted to capture, think about camera settings, then shoot. The sun in …
18 March 2020: Did a grocery run — the supermarket featured emptied shelves, busy shelf stackers and overflowing trolleys. Then I treated myself to Hell Pizza. Ate …
18 March 2020: Detailed, useful scientific information: Siouxsie Wiles: How testing for Covid-19 works How the process runs, why NZ is not testing everyone who …
18 March 2020: It’s an absolute gorgeous day today. Blue sky, sunshine and clear. And the beach for kilometers is empty except for the birds and us.
17 March 2020: Wow! NZ has created a huge Economic package to fight COVID-19. the most significant peace-time economic plan … to cushion the impact of COVID-19 …. …
17 March 2020: I haven’t read this free ebook, but the Take Control series is stunningly good Take Control of Working from Home Temporarily by Glenn Fleishman. …
17 March 2020: Heh, my partner and I often have a phonecall while she drives to or from work. I’ve realised ‘car metadata’ such as noise from turn signals, reversing …
16 March 2020: If you have school-age kids you might want to watch this 4 minute video with them: How to to create a super-powered virus fighting soap from Dr …
16 March 2020: Every few weeks I move the quail to a new spot on the flat area of grass below the house. Today Flop managed to escape in the process, but I caught …
15 March 2020: Normally I’d tell people Facebook would be the last place to get reliable info. But when the 18 minute video is our wonderful PM, Jacinda …
15 March 2020: Kiwis: this is a very well written explainer: How to run a country in a pandemic Rules of Parliament include no options for MPs voting remotely. What …
15 March 2020: I set the old iPad up again to see how the ginger kitten in the garage is doing. Something was off and it took over 1,000 photos! Whittled them down …
15 March 2020: If you or someone you know is transgender or non-binary then this is a must-watch 12 minute video about transgender rights at the end of life and …
14 March 2020: NZ derives significant income from tourism and the last decade or two has really pushed tourism. Covid-19 will hit our economy hard.
14 March 2020: So pleased we have a sensible government, and an excellent Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Watch today’s COVID-19 announcements. NZ has 6 confirmed …
14 March 2020: Hmm. 3 health questions but only requires action if the “answer” (singular) is “yes”. Do all 3 need to be true or only one? Deb was in Australia 14 …
14 March 2020: With autumn come the early morning inversion layers. What a difference the moment of sunrise from behind the mountains makes.
13 March 2020: Arrived home from a bike ride to hear a weird noise in the garage. On investigation I found a confused Thrush bashing itself against the windows …
13 March 2020: I’ve been working my way happily through the RNZ podcast series Elemental. The episode on Thulium - the most laborious of the lanthanoids was …
13 March 2020: In Aotearoa New Zealand the clocks go back an hour on Sunday 05 April this year. I’ve started the process of feeding the dogs 3 minutes later each …
12 March 2020: A recycling idea that failed The folks at Waikawa Beach are keen recyclers. The Horowhenua District Council a few months ago switched us from one crate for everything, collected …
12 March 2020: 14,000 litres of clean fresh water to fill our tank. Now we have a declared drought and with no real rain forecast and a pandemic to consider, it was …
12 March 2020: Whew! I took a photo at the beach but at home my iPhone 11 refused to turn on. This worked: Quickly press and release volume up button. Quickly press …
12 March 2020: Every day I check the wind flow map for Aotearoa New Zealand and our little spot on it. Today shows the wind from the south being split and then …
11 March 2020: Hmmm, I find Batwoman grim and very hard with all the torture and whatnot. Yet the episode Grinning from Ear to Ear was an interesting exploration of …
10 March 2020: And lo, two trim and tidy dogs. 🐶 Sasha and Oshi after the groom.
10 March 2020: Shaggy dogs before grooming today. 🐶 Bonus photo from March 2007 when they were only a few months old and Oshi’s face was all black.
09 March 2020: Good to see this plan to make NZ predator free by 2050 Department of Conservation … goals for Predator Free 2050… focus on … possums, … rats, stoats, …
09 March 2020: This 300 page PDF by a pro photographer was definitely worth the US$13 I paid for it: Secrets To Stunning Wildlife Photography I’m looking …
09 March 2020: At last I know what makes some of the tracks on the beach. Sand scarab beetle Pericoptus truncatus is the largest of the New Zealand native scarab …
09 March 2020: I should remember this when I’m so often tired: Ringing in ears keeps brain more at attention, less at rest with chronic tinnitus, the precuneus is …
08 March 2020: Watching Charlie’s Angels 2019. It’s a lightweight undemanding movie for a Sunday evening.
07 March 2020: The literal tail ends of the RNZAF Black Falcons on their way to the Wellington Pride Parade. I think these must be the T-6C Texan II.
07 March 2020: Oshi approves of the new rug for the front door. The rug should add a bit of colour for winter. 🐶
06 March 2020: Last night I set up my old iPad Air 2 with a motion sensor app in the garage and caught a million pics of the ginger kitten before the battery died. …
05 March 2020: 3-yearly cervical smear. ✅ Tetanus booster shot. ✅ Shingles vaccine. ✅ Breakfast at Taper. ✅ Now it’s time for a cuppa and to enjoy the …
04 March 2020: Flight. Helicopter. Hawk.
04 March 2020: The transformative power of a 3-letter word I was so concerned by an article in the Horowhenua Chronicle today I immediately wrote a Letter to the Editor. We have a group of refugees coming to …
04 March 2020: This is exciting, scary stuff: using non-printing zero-width characters to hide information, perhaps as a digital watermark. BTW: BBEdit displays the …
03 March 2020: Every year the Māoriland indigenous Film festival is in Ōtaki, just down the road. Every year I end up not going. 😒 For this year I’ve just booked …
03 March 2020: This cute little 6-month old Tibetan Terrier was waiting for his mums to order their lunch at the cafe in Shannon where I was eating. Thought …
03 March 2020: Aotearoa New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the world. I’ve been invited to take part in the free, voluntary screening …
03 March 2020: This was our Fox Terrier, Harriette, back in 2004. She definitely shed. You could bathe her and brush her and then she’d shake and a cloud of …
03 March 2020: Drat. Much-needed dog groom cancelled last minute because of a death in the groomer’s family. The great thing about Shih Tzu x Lhasa Apso dogs is they …
02 March 2020: Next time someone asks why a woman didn’t just leave a violent relationship this is one compelling answer: The Family Violence Death Review …
02 March 2020: Aha! 10 minutes later and the farmer’s turned up to feed out hay. No wonder the steers are all so excited.
02 March 2020: I don’t know what set off the steers in the next door paddock but they suddenly all decided to hoot and holler their way to a gathering.
02 March 2020: I really enjoyed the movie 3 Generations. Teenager Ray realizes and pursues his true identity as male and his mother, lesbian grandmother and absent …
02 March 2020: This grubby, shaggy, smelly girl (and her equally everything brother) will be groomed this week. 🐶 Today I need to do the pre-groom ears and tail …
02 March 2020: Portrait mode helps me see this 2-metre Kowhai I planted amongst the bracken etc. Now wondering if I should add wind protection and a sturdier stake.
02 March 2020: In the superb (free) The Science of Well-Being Course sometimes an aspect of vision is used to demonstrate how our mind’s intuitions can be …
01 March 2020: Woohoo. I happened to post a photo on 31 January, so even though I haven’t yet done the ‘vision' post I’ve gained the 30-day photo challenge …
01 March 2020: Success, the tiny stray / feral ginger kitten trapped in the neighbour’s garage ran straight into my cat carry crate … and then popped straight …
01 March 2020: Time to leap into a gorgeous new day.
29 February 2020: Hey @Bix Apparently one can manipulate images on a Mac via Terminal with SIPS. Try “mac command line SIPS” in your search engine for instructions. May …
29 February 2020: Re my last: Ever since my first day on the job as a Starfleet Captain, I swore I’d never let myself get caught in one of these Godforsaken …
29 February 2020: Today is where I realise I should have stuck with NZ time for the photo challenge instead of trying to do it a ‘day behind' to match others. Today is …
29 February 2020: Our neighbour’s house is slightly below ours. These marquees on their lawn are ready for their daughter’s beach wedding today (when it has …
28 February 2020: Kiwis — want to know about vaccinations we can / should have? See New Zealand Immunisation Schedule. Wish I’d known to have a Whooping Cough vaccine …
28 February 2020: This 20 minute discussion between 2 doctors is a must listen: I’m a grown-up. What vaccines do I need? I’d already booked for my free Shingles …
28 February 2020: This is pleasing. Not only do we sometimes get 4 or 6 hours of free electricity with Genesis, but we get an annual refund too. Electra is pleased to …
28 February 2020: I’ve only just downloaded, but am keen to read Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal. If you’ve never used the command line to do …
28 February 2020: Downloaded Tot notes app to try it out. The website doesn’t want to work in Safari on my Mac so I had to use Firefox. The Help file gave me …
28 February 2020: These two have been together (and with us) for a little over 13 years now. Sasha and Oshi. 🐶
27 February 2020: For some this is their weekend escape. For me it’s pretty much daily enjoyment. Beach, sea, Kāpiti Island.
26 February 2020: This little cutie stunned herself flying into our window. I believe she’s a juvenile European Goldfinch. Now she’s sitting on the grass, …
26 February 2020: This is amazing! Russian Multiplication: A Different Way to Multiply. Video, 7 minutes. In Russian multiplication you can multiply any two numbers …
26 February 2020: This speedbump doesn’t seem much of a hurdle, but I have to bike over / round 3 of them each way to the village and back, and another to leave …
26 February 2020: Messing about with my camera at the beach at sunrise with ground mist.
25 February 2020: Yesterday, while savouring my bike ride, I noticed this lovely tree by the footbridge, rustling in the breeze. Perhaps someone who knows their trees …
25 February 2020: Katherine Johnson, key black female mathematician for NASA’s Apollo flights died 24 February 2020 at 101 years. RIP. calculated precise …
25 February 2020: I wasn’t seeing double today. The single skinny ginger cat that’s been hanging around is now two skinny gingers. Probably strays, or …
25 February 2020: Hmmm, that moment when you think your partner’s at work but Find her in Wellington Harbour on the Interislander Ferry route. Something I should know? …
24 February 2020: I was experimenting with camera settings. In the foreground are a juvenile and an adult black-backed gull. In the distance is a dredge keeping station …
23 February 2020: Not my photo: Nicolas Janberg. When I lived in Dūsseldorf it was a real spectacle in April 1976 to see the new Oberkassel Bridge move 50 metres: … …
22 February 2020: Progress just doesn’t go in straight lines.
21 February 2020: I was watering, when a grey ‘leaf’ on a flax stalk moved. On closer inspection I found a moth, about 5 cm long. Maybe it’s a Dasypodia …
21 February 2020: The bark on this driftwood (now in our garden) looks like scales.
20 February 2020: The dogs and I love having plenty of space for our walks.
19 February 2020: Interesting times ahead One of the delights of Waikawa Beach is that there are no commercial services: no cafe or coffee cart, no vege shops or dairies to bring visitors, …
19 February 2020: Some people oppose the use of 1080 for poisoning the many introduced predators that eradicate our native birds. They should visit Kāpiti Island and …
19 February 2020: This is more of a saved bookmark for me: Proper Technique for Paddling a Kayak. The proper technique for paddling a kayak …. By developing good …
18 February 2020: I don’t go tramping in the bush, but the easily accessible forests and bush are silent. There’s no city / traffic noise, to be sure, but …
18 February 2020: Another interesting Tom Scott video: Sentences Computers Can’t Understand, But Humans Can. Humans can work out the ‘it’ in a sentence like “I …
18 February 2020: The takahē is a very cool bird. Of only 418 in the world two live on Kāpiti Island. They’re big (about 3 Kg) and were thought extinct for 50 …
17 February 2020: After a weekend of wandering the trails on Kāpiti Island looking for birds I find today I need a rest. Here are a Korimako (Bellbird) and a Toutouwai …
16 February 2020: North Island Robins are so obliging. They come down to the track to get the insects you disturb by walking around. They’re bold and they stick …
16 February 2020: When the bird you’re trying to get a photo of is high in a tree so you’re craning your neck for a while, it’s easy to lose your balance …
16 February 2020: Can you see Australia? Me either. It’s over there somewhere though, several thousand kilometers away. Taken on today’s walk to the top of a loop track …
16 February 2020: The bird life on the Kapiti Island Nature Reserve is phenomenal. That’s what can happen when predators are removed. The forest is loud when native …
16 February 2020: This Kereru sat quietly on an eye level branch about a metre away from me. They’re large and beautiful birds which live about 4km from us at home but …
15 February 2020: Luckily it’s a warm day for a trip to Kapiti Island. The boat ride took 10 minutes.
15 February 2020: On Kapiti Island the hills are covered with bush and there are so many birds! This weka was hanging round the picnic table.
15 February 2020: Looking south from our deck we can see the neighbour’s house, and the hill that marks the boundary between Horowhenua and Kāpiti. Apart from the …
14 February 2020: Thank you so much to all the many folks who’ve sent birthday wishes. What a wonderful thing to wake up to on this sunny and warm summer day. …
13 February 2020: This time last year I came to watch the sunset the evening before my 64th birthday. I decided to do it again as I turn 65 tomorrow. It’s a great way …
13 February 2020: After listening to an interview on a podcast, I decided to try this free course The Science of Well-Being by Yale University. Others may be interested …
13 February 2020: Weather willing, our weekend destination is Kāpiti Island. I hope to walk to the top, and to see interesting native birds, including Little Spotted …
13 February 2020: There comes a time when a cone no longer has a strong attachment to its tree.
12 February 2020: Luckily my kayak fits in the car. I drove to the footbridge today where the water was green, rather than brown for a change. Then I kayaked upriver …
12 February 2020: Today’s beach rubbish haul was an odd collection: polystyrene, a cassette from a typewriter(?), rubber hose from a motor vehicle.
12 February 2020: The river mouth is a vast plain of sand and water. It’s around 10 hectares or 26 acres of beach playground.
11 February 2020: You might think I took this photo yesterday BEFORE I filled the rabbit hole and stuck in a board to block it, but no, this is from this morning!
11 February 2020: At the all-purpose entrance to our beach is sign overload. The two small signs below the speed limit sign were placed there illegally by a disgruntled …
11 February 2020: This Cynthia Erivo - “Stand Up” - Oscars 2020 Performance is just magnificent! From the motion picture HARRIET, the Original Song …
10 February 2020: I always love seeing this. Landskein.
10 February 2020: When there’s a lull in activity and I fancy sitting at the picnic table on the deck, the last thing I want is an active paper wasp nest …
09 February 2020: RGB. 🐶
09 February 2020: Contrast: tire marks and smooth sand. I’m so glad the tide comes up each day to wash away the infernal tire tracks.
08 February 2020: Watched an excellent Australian movie: Top End Wedding: The film stars Miranda Tapsell as Lauren, a lawyer planning to wed her fiancé in her hometown …
08 February 2020: In 2002 Deb and I visited Vanuatu for a holiday. We travelled to Mount Yasur, an easily accessible active volcano on Tanna Island. As it became dark …
08 February 2020: 🤯 : ‘ard’ is a real suffix in the english language just like ‘ly’ or ‘ify’, … ‘ard’ means ‘too much’ or ‘too easily’ ‘mustard’ is something that is …
07 February 2020: We very rarely get seaweed of any kind on our beach, but today there was a small patch of this plant. Is it perhaps sea lettuce?
06 February 2020: Darn, this was from Monday and I’ve forgotten what site I was on. Whenever I have to choose New Zealand from a drop down list I type ‘N’ and …
06 February 2020: I like things on my computer to be ‘just so’. Most windows should be tucked up to the top left corner, for example. (Micro.Blog inhabits top right.) I …
05 February 2020: Oshi’s had his duck since he first came to live with us at age 3 months. He ignores it most of the time, but sometimes runs round whimpering …
05 February 2020: These interesting fungi were hanging out in the strawberry patch.
05 February 2020: Every morning Sasha jumps on the bed for a cuddle. Then she settles down in her favourite spot at the foot. 🐶
04 February 2020: It took me a stupid amount of time to find this small photo. My new electric bike isn’t the first one I’ve owned. Back in around 2007 I …
04 February 2020: It’s rare for there to be absolutely no wind. This sand dune reflection is actually from 2017.
03 February 2020: That’s what I wanted. Tired at the end of the day but had the urge to go for a little bike ride. eBike FTW. 9.02 km round the local area. …
03 February 2020: I read and very much enjoyed Triana Moore, Space Janitor: The Complete Humorous Sci Fi Mystery Series by Julia Huni. The stories were interesting and …
03 February 2020: It’s not just me and folks I know: How employers are freezing the over 50s out of the job market: the “more suitable candidates” …
03 February 2020: This sight has dominated our local summer. A dreary landscape. Grey skies, drizzly mist. I’m sick of it!
03 February 2020: Odd but pleasing dreams: a stunningly iridescent blue butterfly 3 times the size of a Monarch, that I then realised was a bird. A large tan brown …
02 February 2020: Although I did my best to clean our gutter recently it was seeming to overflow when we had any actual rain. I got the professionals in. Martyn came …
02 February 2020: I took my new bike for a ride beyond the village on to the ‘open' road. 13 Km all up. I started with an extra loop where I stopped and chatted with …
01 February 2020: Turns out buying this Gepida Reptila 800 electric bike took most of the day. I’ve had one quick 8.6 Km ride and it’ll be great. I test rode …
31 January 2020: Nice: Picard S1E2: people are working on a formerly Borg cube and a sign says: “This facility has gone 5843 days without an assimilation”. LOL
31 January 2020: Not only is Kristine Kathryn Rusch my favourite author in the sci-fi genre, but she also writes extremely good posts about the business of being a …
31 January 2020: Good news for Waikawa Beach: we’re to get a new road: Three of New Zealand’s top 100 dangerous intersections are along this route. In the five …
30 January 2020: This was a truly interesting 25 minute video with two of my favourite YouTubers: What should museums do with their dead?. Many museums house …
29 January 2020: I am so glad to see a little sun after a week of unrelenting drizzle. My mood lifted almost immediately.
29 January 2020: At Taper cafe in Levin I had my first ever (onion-free) quesadilla. It was so delicious! At a nearby table an older woman collapsed out of her chair. …
28 January 2020: It’s mid-summer, theoretically. We’re having day after day after day after day of cool, grey drizzle and it gets me down. The odd day of …
27 January 2020: I just loved The Case of the Karaoke Killer by @cheri . It flowed very smoothly and the story was completely believable. I think Ellie is a very …
26 January 2020: Here are some views from the motorcycle level of the numerous cars on the ground floor. So many cars: tiny and enormous, a gangster car with bullet …
26 January 2020: Then look at this 1895 Benz Velo.
26 January 2020: The Southward Car Museum has something for everyone, even those not interested in vehicles. Look at this motorcycle with tank treads, for example. Or …
25 January 2020: This 5.4 quake 67Km deep shook us awake. There was a gentler one 4 hours ago, just to get us in the mood. Moderate earthquake occurred 45 km …
25 January 2020: Oh, and Legends of Tomorrow Episode 501 was bizarre, chaotic fun, but can I really hope that Constantine (who I really dislike) is actually gone now? …
25 January 2020: I’ve been lukewarm on Arrow TV show for a bit; skipped a few eps here and there. 💤 Now the Crisis crossover has rebooted everything I really enjoyed …
25 January 2020: Our motorcycling friends from up north are visiting. Breakfast at Taper in Levin. They had just washed roadworks dirt off their bikes.
25 January 2020: Late last year volunteers planted Spinifex (silvery) and Pingao (golden) in the dunes. They are growing well.
24 January 2020: Hmmm, the new intern seems to be hindering rather than helping at Deb’s office today: our dog Oshi on the lap of Laurette. 🐶 Later… morning tea …
24 January 2020: Arrrgh! I should have set a timer. I put 12 quail eggs on to hard boil, meaning to turn the element down later. The noise of the clothes dryer stopped …
23 January 2020: This morning when I took my daily selfie something odd happened (apart from somehow the flash being on — I retook the photo without it). I recalled a …
22 January 2020: This relatively small dragonfly got itself stuck between two sliding doors. Luckily closing the door didn’t kill it as I feared. Then it was reluctant …
21 January 2020: Heh, love it “Batwoman” Adds Another Lesbian Character and a Major Coming Out Storyline: A woman does not get kicked out of the most prestigious …
21 January 2020: Today I paddled maybe 1Km upstream from the Waikawa Beach footbridge, past the shag colony. Then I went down ~500 metres past the bridge and finally …
21 January 2020: I’ve been working slowly on an extended project: tidy and sort the garage and another shed, toss junk, give away stuff, sell stuff. Organise. Locate …
21 January 2020: I tried something a bit different on a stunning morning alone at the beach. This 360 degree video starts and ends looking east towards the sun. Then I …
20 January 2020: Today was the first time in months that I’ve biked the dogs in their trailer to a walking spot. Today was the trees across the footbridge where it was …
19 January 2020: The river’s been fairly low and still the last few days. Perhaps that’s because it’s the time of year when we don’t get any rain. I …
18 January 2020: Was out with a close friend / client at coffee this morning when she mentioned she was being spammed via her WordPress contact form. I investigated …
17 January 2020: Yesterday morning’s recording was of a Skylark (I think). Very low tide and slight Easterly meant the sea was quiet and the iPhone could actually pick …
17 January 2020: At the Waikawa Beach estuary this moning. Pied Stilt birdcall, with a view of the river mouth and the bird itself. Very low tide (the sea is a hum in …
16 January 2020: Wind, tide and a fickle Waikawa Stream After flowing west from the Tararuas the Waikawa Stream makes a sudden southward turn about 400 metres from shore. It meanders parallel to the coast …
16 January 2020: It can pay to be friends with the owner of your favourite cafe. Taper in Levin now offer White Tea as well as black and herbal. Decent chocolate chip …
16 January 2020: When I watered the tunnelhouse this morning I was surprised to find this frog on a tomato plant, about a metre or more off the ground.
15 January 2020: Branch, boat, horses … bird.
15 January 2020: A couple of years ago I ordered a down jacket and vest from Wear on Earth: Custom made down jackets and vests right here in Christchurch, New …
15 January 2020: Nothing odd about an overnight low of 3C if it was mid-winter! But it’s mid-summer. 🥶
14 January 2020: These days we tap a button and a photo instantly appears. Back in the day a tintype photo took a lot of patience and messing about. Watch this …
14 January 2020: I haven’t been to the beach for a few days, but this morning’s visit was splendid. No wind, deep blue sky and ocean, clear air. And this fine …
13 January 2020: I have a few HTML files I’d like to be able to access from other devices. They’re really only for me. Meanwhile, GitHub has been a mystery …
12 January 2020: Magpies can be clowns. Spot the one hanging upside down, but twisting round to check me out. Moments later they were singing full throat together.
12 January 2020: Most of the wild rabbits round here are brownish-grey. There’s at least one black one though, presumably decended from some escapee pet. The black one …
12 January 2020: This morning we visited Te Horo Beach, a 26 Km 30 minute drive by road or a mere 11 Km along the beach south of us. It’s a rare ecological …
12 January 2020: I didn’t manage the best photo, but I was so excited to meet a Saluki for the first time in my life. 3 years old and they can’t get him to eat …
11 January 2020: I biked round to the village today. It’s a tiny trip: 5.5 Km return, but stops me from getting completely out of the cycling way. The river was …
10 January 2020: Visit to Foxton Estuary; White-faced Heron.
10 January 2020: A visit to Foxton Estuary; 4 Canada Geese all in a row.
09 January 2020: If you’re a Kiwi (I was granted citizenship in 2004) and meet a few residency requirements, then when you turn 65 you receive a Super Gold Card. …
08 January 2020: This shocks me: A local Kāpiti Focus Group formed early in 2019 to advocate for a cycleway, walkway and bridleway on the Ōtaki to North of …
07 January 2020: NetNewsWire on my iPad is so fast! So smooth and easy to use. Thanks @brentsimmons
06 January 2020: What a great podcast episode! Lady Bam Podcast with Mary McDonnell - Episode 11 - Kate Mulgrew starship captain and president of the universe walk …
06 January 2020: I’m sick of the westerly wind today. Why is NZ so windy? The “Roaring Forties" is the belt of wind at latitude 40 south… the Southern …
06 January 2020: Tonight’s light meal of flounder, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, camembert and mashed potato (not shown) had a large percentage of local produce. …
05 January 2020: Some here may be curious to see half a dozen Drone photos, January 2020 of where I live at Waikawa Beach. In the low-res, small photo attached to this …
05 January 2020: missionaries’ early accounts of enthusiasm for learning to read and write in Māori were not exaggerated. Tangata whenua were keenly interested in new …
04 January 2020: Lines in the sand.
03 January 2020: By my calculations the nearly 20Km stretch of road between Ōtaki and Levin was affected by 7 vehicle crashes during 2019; several involved fatalities. …
02 January 2020: The Australians are doing it very very hard with the bushfires. I feel sad for the many people who have lost everything. Our NZ problem is the smoke. …
01 January 2020: The spinifex is starting to produce seed heads. I love when they tumble down the beach in the breeze.
31 December 2019: This passage about fighting in NZ in the early decades of the 1800s struck me: Those encounters showed that, while possession of a few muskets could …
30 December 2019: This pied shag was swimming beneath the footbridge this afternoon. I was struck by its fanned out tail, perhaps providing stability.
30 December 2019: This morning I attended a close friend’s mother’s funeral. The mother was a much-loved elder of her church and the congregation laid on …
29 December 2019: We only did a tiny bike ride: 3 Km, but it was a start. It’s more than a year since Deb has been on her bike and she needs to ease in. I may go out …
28 December 2019: I’m not an author but am an avid reader of fiction by Kristine Kathryn Rusch who also blogs about the Business of writing. Her post The Future …
27 December 2019: We watched the British comedy Swimming with Men. It was odd, but after a bit became funny in a strange kind of way. When accountant Eric [has a …
27 December 2019: I found a Huhu Beetle down by the garage. They’re big. If a huhu beetle lands on the hair of a person … scissors must be used for extraction. …
27 December 2019: This morning at the beach I liked these clouds. Looking pretty much due West. (Hello Australia! 👋🏼)
26 December 2019: In mid-winter at Waikawa Beach we have 8 hours of daylight and I don’t fare so well. I need my daylight and sunshine to thrive. So Murmansk at …
25 December 2019: Secret Santa went down well. A present for everyone, including the dogs. Christmas with Kiwis.
25 December 2019: A bountiful dessert. Christmas with Kiwis. Cheesecake, fruit salad, semifreddo, chocolate spheres.
25 December 2019: Wine and a board game before dessert. Christmas with Kiwis.
25 December 2019: Christmas with Kiwis. Dinner with friends. Everyone brought delicious food to share.
25 December 2019: Deb’s been cooking Slow Roasted Pork Belly as our contribution to a shared lunch with 4 friends. She’s also made Chocolate mousse domes …
25 December 2019: I was surprised to see someone out ‘surfing’ the 30 cm ‘waves’ at 6.30 this morning. Christmas with Kiwis.
25 December 2019: Strawberries fresh from the tunnel house make a fine addition to breakfast. Christmas with Kiwis.
25 December 2019: Fellow Kiwis, Aussies and other southern hemispherians: let’s show our fellow northern Microbloggers what our Christmas is like. Blog your day. …
25 December 2019: Dog walk at 6 am as it’ll get too hot later. It’s only 10C at this time of day though so merino cardigan, merino jersey and possum merino hat are a …
25 December 2019: And just for kicks, this was 10 minutes later and includes a distant rooster.
25 December 2019: Dawn at 5 am on Christmas Day at Waikawa Beach in Aotearoa New Zealand. For those missing bird song.
25 December 2019: Our friends have a ‘Christmas Tree’. It’s a flax spear with lights and decoration trinkets. Christmas in Aotearoa New Zealand.
25 December 2019: Dawn at 5 am on Christmas Day. Waikawa Beach, Aotearoa New Zealand. A sound file of birdsong is coming but taking forever to upload from my phone.
24 December 2019: It’ll soon be time to start a 2020 folder on my computer. Random memory: when I was 11 my sister turned 20. I thought I would never be that old …
23 December 2019: I enjoyed The Case of the Missing Finger. It was a nice, light read with an interesting turn or two. @Cheri
22 December 2019: Summer solstice today with 16+ hours of daylight. Now things should actually warm up for a few months. // @jhull
22 December 2019: We went to see The Good Liar last night. It’s hard to say anything about it without giving away plot points. The movie is full of twists, and of …
21 December 2019: Thanks to @shindakun and the clearly written tutorial at Adding Webmentions To micro.blog I believe I’ve now successfully added Webmentions to …
21 December 2019: E rima ngā kuaka. There were 5 Godwits by the sea this morning.
20 December 2019: Interesting to see this: Bachcare fined for removing negative comments in online reviews. I worked for them for a while. They have awful employment …
20 December 2019: A few years ago I bought a 12-year old car. I had a new console put in for GPS, radio and to use my phone while driving. It’s terrible. Mostly …
19 December 2019: Huh, Netflix have some wizardy that prevents either a still screen capture or a screen capture video. Disabling Javascript just stops Netflix from …
19 December 2019: When I started watching Virgin River a few days ago I found it pleasant enough. Then after a couple of episodes I found myself more or less …
18 December 2019: Countries of follow on Micro.Blog I deliberately try to follow diverse people on Micro.Blog. Occasionally I unfollow someone if I find their posts just don't really interest me. …
18 December 2019: Sigh. This seems to be my TV-watching life at the moment. 😣 Maybe it’s just that everyone’s at the beach for the holidays and our …
17 December 2019: I think every Kiwi knows there used to be giant birds called Moa in New Zealand. They went extinct about 500 years ago. What I didn’t know was …
16 December 2019: The other day I posted a Dawn Chorus. Here’s a 6 pm chorus at the end of a busy day.
16 December 2019: Odd life experience: I had my documents checked today so I can receive Superannuation from February 2020. I went straight from that office to help …
16 December 2019: Former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, hosts a very interesting podcast called A Podcast of One’s Own . In each episode Julia leads …
15 December 2019: We don’t often hear about the Moriori, so this is interesting. Moriori: Still setting the record straight: the first Moriori ancestors… arrived …
15 December 2019: The Wall Street Journal crossword for 14 December 2019 had some excellent puns. Of course, the absolute best way for a Mac user to solve it is with …
15 December 2019: Life lessons from Star Trek: Voyager: Our situation is deperate. When faced with desperate circumstances, we must adapt. Seven of Nine, Demon, …
14 December 2019: Our Māori language teacher shared this delightful sentiment: Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere te kārohirohi i mua i tōu …
14 December 2019: Best nuns ever: The Kung Fu Nuns of the Drukpa Order: train in kung fu and meditate … prepares them for their real duty: helping others. teach …
13 December 2019: Guess which two dogs named Sasha and Oshi had their 13th birthday today. Special treats were enjoyed. 🐶
12 December 2019: Just rewatched Star Trek: Voyager S04E14, Message in a Bottle. I’d forgotten how hilarious this episode is — perhaps one of the funniest of all. …
12 December 2019: It’s the time of year when Warou, Welcome Swallows, swoop around the house, sometimes coming in and either getting ‘stuck’ in a …
12 December 2019: Taper Cafe in Levin (opposite the Mall) is owned by friends. This is my first visit. Great ambience. Excellent food choices.
12 December 2019: Whew, felt like I had a huge and unachievable list of things to do today. I’ve checked off most and now just have one biggie to do: supermarket …
12 December 2019: Let the fun times begin People don't come to Waikawa Beach for the shopping, the coffee, or the nightlife. We are blessed to be free of all of those things. Instead visitors …
12 December 2019: I enjoy listening to @hollyhoneychurch Late Night Harp. I select the file in the Finder and play it from Quick Look. If I select something else …
12 December 2019: I woke at 5 to a full moon setting. The dawn chorus was loud. Not sure if I can export from Voice Recorder direct to M.B. …
12 December 2019: So interesting. 10 minutes: Barbara Cox, the matriarch of New Zealand football New Zealand has come a long way in its treatment of female athletes, …
11 December 2019: Everybody loves the flax flowers. Starlings are enjoying them. But I think my favourites are the little native Tauhou who prefer to feed upside down. …
11 December 2019: These heroes deserve the highest honour we give out in New Zealand. it was super gassy … consistently the ash was falling, the helicopter was …
11 December 2019: I’ve been attending a useful yoga class. Although the instructor gives clear explanations of what to do, I’m finding the Yoga Journal to be a …
11 December 2019: I’m a little peeved that the BatWoman episode of Crisis on Infinite Earths was very light on BatWoman and heavy on all kinds of men — Arrow, …
11 December 2019: If you’re a 👩🏽 and watching Crisis on Infinite Earths then you may enjoy the Autostraddle recaps as much as I do. Great fun. I guess non-👩🏽 may enjoy …
11 December 2019: This bunch of weeds is supposed to be a shingle driveway leading from the house to the garage. It was very still this morning with a hot day forecast …
10 December 2019: Today’s Bird On The Flax is the humble Sparrow. 🐦 House sparrows were introduced to NZ first in the mid 1860s. They soon became abundant and were …
10 December 2019: At last! For the longest time I’ve been annoyed by Safari Reader using white text on a dark background. Today, finally, I searched. Click the …
10 December 2019: Whakaari, aka White Island, erupted yesterday: 5 dead , 34 injured, 8 missing. There is no hope the missing have survived. ”2 groups on the island - …
09 December 2019: Yup, that’s New Zealand: if we’re not having earthquakes or breathing Australian bushfire smoke, then maybe we’re having a volcanic …
09 December 2019: Fortunately it was easy to get my refund from the Levin Stihl shop. I asked for the guy I dealt with last time. He saw the problem and the $120 refund …
09 December 2019: About 10 days ago I had our weedeater repaired and serviced. The cost was eye-watering, but I was busy, stressed or unwell or something and didn’t …
09 December 2019: Thanks for the latest Trek podcast @macgenie . As a non-American I had absolutely no idea about the LA Gangs stuff. My only knowledge of LA gangs is …
08 December 2019: Now that lupin season is almost finished, thank goodness, it’s Tui on the flax flowers season. This Tui appeared after today’s 25mm of …
08 December 2019: Deb made Mary Berry’s scones today and they were wonderful. Very light. She had to use quail eggs as we didn’t have any hen eggs.
08 December 2019: Our friend Willow came to visit for a few hours today. 🐶 Meanwhile, everyone was looking at me, including Oshi and Sasha.
08 December 2019: Interesting note about growing older: researchers found big shifts occurred in the readings of multiple proteins around age 34, age 60 and age 78. …
07 December 2019: A photo on my watch reminded me that in the first part of December 2008 I was in Hawai’i to teach some WordPress courses. I loved the zoo. Photos: Me …
07 December 2019: This morning I woke from an unpleasant dream feeling slightly bewildered and anxious. I know dreams are just the brain sorting and assessing, but I …
05 December 2019: Today I visited Sian in Porirua for my kirituhi. We chatted, then Sian drew a beautiful work in felt pen. I approved and she went ahead with inking. …
05 December 2019: Down in Porirua some of the pohutukawa are starting to flower. A sign that Christmas is close.
05 December 2019: Thanks to @bix for the pointer to this interesting article. I was specially caught by this sentence: The ability to disregard the opinions from the …
05 December 2019: I only ever learned our awful national anthem, God Defend New Zealand, in English. These days many sing it in Te Reo. Here’s verse 1: E Ihowā …
04 December 2019: Why a photo of my left forearm, wrist and hand? (In some languages they would all be the same word) With any luck, this is a Before photo. Updates to …
04 December 2019: Black Ink 2: another superb Mac app from @danielpunkass! If you love words, you’ll love this. I’m now a fan of the free Wall Street Journal …
03 December 2019: Moreover, many native English speakers pronounce the Māori word ‘ngai’ as just ‘nai’, but that initial sound should move the tongue way back, tip down …
03 December 2019: Pronunciation fascinates me: exactly where do tongue, lips etc go to sound out words? English speakers put their tongue tip just behind the top teeth …
03 December 2019: As always, the latest NativLang video (10 minutes) is extremely interesting: What English does - but most languages can’t: English has unusual …
02 December 2019: Usually in New Zealand when a house rolls and shakes around like this it’s because of an earthquake. Today it was the delivery truck refining the …
02 December 2019: Some mornings you spot the house delivery truck.
01 December 2019: It’s the time of year when everything in the garden has had a growth spurt and these horrible grass seeds get into my socks and stab me. …
30 November 2019: The other day I prepared a new bit of garden to extend an existing length beside the drive. Today I bought a dozen Coprosma Hawera, a native …
30 November 2019: When I dug into the mulch pile today this frog bounded out. I thought it had pale specks, but realised later that’s just mulch. It’s …
29 November 2019: I live in a fantastic place, but between dreary spring weather and having a lot of obligations I’d kind of forgotten to enjoy it. Today, summer …
29 November 2019: I really truly hope this is simply bad wording: But those on the other side of the argument – like sexual violence advocates including some lawyers – …
29 November 2019: I came out specifically to attend a yoga class and do other errands. I want to do yoga and need to. Today though it turns out the right thing for me …
29 November 2019: Not much. You?
28 November 2019: Her hum: so woebegone. She needed company to feel secure. We brought our alto and bass into the mix, weaving a rich, complex sound that echoed around …
28 November 2019: A CSS stylesheet is made up of rules. Each rule includes a Selector, and some Declarations. Each Declaration contains a Property: Value pair. To make …
27 November 2019: This (partly animated) brief non-fiction comic by Toby Morris is so worth reading: The Side Eye: The Trap Life. When we left Wellington about 5 years …
27 November 2019: I find myself frequently listening to one or other (or several) of @hollyhoneychurch harp tracks at Lateniteharp. I’ve probably listened to more harp …
27 November 2019: My reward for an hour of weeding: rich Kāpiti Triple Chocolate Ice Cream and homegrown strawberries. Yum! Rich and velvety chocolate flavoured ice …
26 November 2019: My Dad and I were probably too much alike: I didn’t get on well with him after I was about 15. Today I found a couple of photos of him. He was born in …
26 November 2019: In 1990 I worked in Adult Literacy. I raised funds to attend a Conference in Edmonton, then sent a report to an MP who contributed (who had also been …
26 November 2019: Good thing I have no scheduled activities for the rest of the day. 31 minutes into a 20 minute hold my call was answered, I said what I need, then was …
26 November 2019: If I’d known beforehand I’d be on hold for 20 minutes I wouldn’t have finished the crossword first. At least the music mix is pretty good. I …
25 November 2019: If I climb above the second rung on a ladder I don’t feel at all secure. The only way to get this photo showing we need more gutter cleaning was …
25 November 2019: Quote of the day: Life will become more and more interesting when you are past 60. What you have accumulated in your mind until then will blossom. …
24 November 2019: On a bleak and drizzly Sunday afternoon I enjoyed the excellent company of my partner while we watched Poms, Late Night and Cracker Jack. I really …
24 November 2019: Excellent! Te Reo Māori support: Microsoft Translator supports more than 60 languages… the free application can translate te reo Māori text into …
23 November 2019: For anyone wondering why the air is so hazy today that we can’t even see the Tararuas clearly: The sky is particularly hazy … today due to the smoke …
23 November 2019: Shih Tzu puppies can dramatically change colour as they grow. Take this little woebegone mite at only ~3 months of age: dark face and body. And at age …
22 November 2019: Half my mouth is numb after a trip to the dentist. Sometimes if I hum it can be comforting. As I get older I have less and less tolerance for dentist …
22 November 2019: Ahhh, breakfast, the most important meal of the day … except for dinner! 🐶
22 November 2019: Did I break my feed with the umlaut problem in my earlier post? The more recent post about my tattoo isn’t showing up… // @help
22 November 2019: When I was 30 I had a rose tattoed on my hip. Times were different back in 1985 and as a school teacher I didn’t think I could have a visible …
22 November 2019: Something I see often now, the phrase: The proof will be in the pudding. In the old days the phrase was “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. …
21 November 2019: The choice was murky. She was extremely selective, but one chocolate was rumoured to taste superb, while the other looked so much more appealing. …
21 November 2019: A hollow tube came in so handy for extracting 20,000 litres of rotten water from the tank. mbnov 21-Nov-19: hollow
21 November 2019: Why 20,000 litres of water had to go Our house has beside it a concrete tank with around 20,000 litres capacity. Rainwater comes off the roof, through a first flush diverter that helps …
20 November 2019: Today our currently full 20,000 litre rainwater tank will be emptied. 😢 Then it’ll be vacuumed, cleaned, vacuumed a second time, cleaned, …
19 November 2019: The TV show Stumptown started strong. 6 episodes in it’s definitely one of my favourites. How can a show be so excellent from minute one?
19 November 2019: Dark sky, green paddocks, low sun. Straight from the iPhone.
19 November 2019: The dogs were supposed to be groomed last week but it was postponed at the last minute. Today, finally, they’ve been bathed and trimmed. Before: …
19 November 2019: If you’re having a bad day, or even if you’re not, and don’t hate dogs then look at this 6 minute video: Heroic labrador helps save …
19 November 2019: We’ve been trying to ameliorate the bad smell from our drinking water for a couple of weeks. It did abate, but we also got the water properly …
19 November 2019: Geese by Lake Horowhenua in Levin.
19 November 2019: Actually, this is my first time using a laundromat. Luckily someone helped me avoid trying to wash in the dryer. 🤭I need better instructions.
19 November 2019: Community BBQ struck a chord The Waikawa Beach village has been filling up for decades. It's well-established with its 250 houses. An urban area, sections are smaller and houses …
18 November 2019: Not something I expected to find on the beach this morning.
18 November 2019: The chef did a superb job in this build: Mushroom Hash at Cafe Royal in the centre of Palmerston North where I had errands this morning. Very …
17 November 2019: Today’s job was to climb a ladder to see what was in our gutter (that feeds our drinking water tank). Then to attach a gutter cleaner nozzle and …
17 November 2019: One of the superb things about going through old Micro.Blog posts with Mars Edit to fix missing alt text is the reminders of posts past. Ahhh, baby …
16 November 2019: As I get older I become more selective about pretty much everything. I don’t want to spend time, money, energy on things that aren’t really what …
15 November 2019: In the wee hours we had gusts of wind over 60 Kph, pouring rain loud on the tin roof, thunder, lightning. The dogs were extremely anxious and kept me …
15 November 2019: The Waikawa River flows out to sea at our beach. Not far east two streams converge. At the confluence, crystal clear Waikawa stream from the hills …
14 November 2019: These are astonishing figures for our tiny country. Space sector contributes $1.7 billion to NZ economy 🚀: Space …Total employment … 12,000 jobs. …
14 November 2019: We orbited the star for a while topping up with warm energy, then I headed out into cold space. A memory of the touch of her hand on mine made me wish …
14 November 2019: There are a handful of Barbary Doves around here. You can tell them by the distinctive ring of black feathers on their neck. They were brought to New …
14 November 2019: NZ Euthanasia bill passes final vote, goes to referendum Parliament has passed a bill legalising voluntary euthanasia in a historic vote. It will …
13 November 2019: After buying a years-overdue water filter replacement for under the kitchen sink, I was able to replace it myself. Luckily I double-checked …
12 November 2019: Full moon rising 12-Nov-19.
12 November 2019: I also forgot to post this short video of two horses who graze nearby enjoying a little ‘it’s raining’ hijinks.
12 November 2019: Somehow yesterday passed without my posting these two photos of our dogs on the grooming table. Luckily they were willing to stay put while I took …
12 November 2019: There’s a wingsuit training wind tunnel in Stockholm. Tom Scott tried it out in this 5 minute video: I Almost Learned To Fly In The …
11 November 2019: A volunteer job I do is to keep my local community in touch with what’s going on. I write posts for the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association’s blog …
11 November 2019: I don’t recall who recommended A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea, but I was hooked …
11 November 2019: My Siri Watch face reminded me that on 13 November 2005 the decommissioned navy frigate Wellington, F69, was sunk close to where I lived at the time. …
10 November 2019: The stories I most enjoy are adventures in space. I watched Star Trek as a kid and kept watching even to current times. I never got into Star Wars …
09 November 2019: My teeth are far too sensitive to cold. That makes ice cream tricky — I have to bypass my teeth and get it further back in my mouth to melt. It also …
09 November 2019: There are many things today that aren’t going my way. Luckily I am making progress on the automation I’m developing.
09 November 2019: I hate when gifs are too fast, but perhaps this one is too slow. How to find the water quality data I want thanks to the Web Inspector. I end up with …
09 November 2019: I went to a heap of trouble to make a 10 second video showing the annoying clicking, scrolling and hovering required to get the water quality data I …
09 November 2019: Each summer Horizons Regional Council monitors water quality at various locations. They display the result as ‘green’, ‘orange' or ‘red’ for whether …
09 November 2019: In the last couple of days I’ve listened to some excellent Kim Hill interviews. Julie Morrison: how dogs can help court witnesses Cave Diver …
08 November 2019: It was all happening tonight. We went next door for dinner. The Google camera car drove along our lane just after we arrived. Then a 4.1 earthquake …
08 November 2019: I was pondering today the narrow use of star as adjective. Star pupil. 👍 Star CEO, star cow, star car, star cat, star hat … hmmm. ❌ mbnov 08-Nov-19: …
08 November 2019: Birds at the beach. 🐦 Godwits and Gull. Black Swans and ducks. Pied Shag. A flock of Black-backed Gulls and perhaps other birds. Just a bit of photo …
08 November 2019: I had a bit of photo fun at the beach this morning. Dogs: Sasha and Oshi. 🐶
08 November 2019: Ahhh, a very handy tip: TipBITS: Quickly Access App Updates in iOS 13 on the Home screen, tap and hold the App Store icon and choose Updates from the …
08 November 2019: Now this is clever. A subset of the population isn’t online, and some of them are older people, a group that advocacy organisation Grey Power serves. …
07 November 2019: Key lime pie! Hey Mark! Do you fancy some? What do you mean, you can’t get it round here? That cafe down the street has the best pie I’ve …
07 November 2019: A good start: … optimistic a day would come soon when Māori were no longer pulled over in a car simply because police were suspicious they had done …
07 November 2019: One of the local pheasants was posing beautifully. I took a photo through the window to avoid frightening it. Then I tried opening the door for a …
06 November 2019: You have to be careful where you stick your hands while weeding at this time of year — the manuka are in bloom and the bees love them. Also in bloom …
06 November 2019: Feedback to Apple today re Siri obliterating an in-progress timer: This keeps catching me out: I use Siri to set perhaps a 30 minute timer on my …
06 November 2019: Nearby are 2 lakes. Sometimes there’s deafening croaking. I believe it’s the introduced Southern Bell frog. The sound’s loudest at the eastern …
06 November 2019: When it comes to professionals, paid to write, and editors, paid to edit, I get picky and persnickety about the details of writing. How on earth can …
06 November 2019: I was excited to try out Icro for Mac — the feature list has things like saving your reading position and boy, I want that so much! Unfortunately the …
05 November 2019: They dig holes and burrows, dig up plants, eat new shoots. But these mainly baby rabbits are boinging all over the grass, being far too cute. Most are …
05 November 2019: Forget Guy Fawkes; here’s something we could be remembering in New Zealand every 05 November: 5 November is 138 years since 1600 armed troops …
05 November 2019: I’m getting a few things done around the place — slowly. Today I planted the Granny Smith apple tree, and emptied one compost frame into the …
05 November 2019: I often post photos taken from our house. Here’s one taken of our house from the street. It’s the more distant, white-coloured and …
05 November 2019: Mother or villain? How Māori women offenders are portrayed in news reporting Pākehā women are portrayed as harmless fraudsters and drug addicts, …
04 November 2019: Guy Fawkes' backyard fireworks: Will they stay or will they go? Fireworks went on sale on Saturday and Fire and Emergency spokesman Mike Shaw said …
04 November 2019: This season of the Flash has taken a disconcerting turn with the whole notion of The Flash having to die to save the world. In Ep 604 he comes up with …
04 November 2019: My quest to buy chemicals to treat our drinking water tank was unsuccessful — they just sold out (or whatever). I’ll try elsewhere tomorrow. …
04 November 2019: For days I’ve been troubleshooting why our shower stinks like a toilet when we run hot water. There could be many reasons. But, today I noticed …
04 November 2019: Folks with school-age kids will definitely want to show them this 7 minute video: In Your Face Explosive Chemistry!!. Watch the scientist light her …
03 November 2019: After creating numerous files named ‘kupu-xxx.txt’ I had BBEdit run through the folder to remove the ‘jxzq’ and a couple of new lines from each file …
03 November 2019: I have a .txt file ~6,000 lines long and wanted to split it into separate files. Each section begins with ‘jxzq’. After endless Man reading and web …
03 November 2019: In autumn we dug up a small lime tree that had never thrived and put it in a pot. We also bought a Granny Smith apple and a dwarf nectarine tree. All …
03 November 2019: Seafood isn’t something I fancy, but some love it. At the beach today a vehicle came along and stopped by the water’s edge. A couple carried a …
02 November 2019: A couple of months ago we bought a young dwarf nectarine tree. It lived in the tunnelhouse over winter but needs to be planted. I’ve marked out …
02 November 2019: As always, @cheri has incisive words of wisdom: Did I move my story forward today? Did I have fun doing it? Her advice is for writing, but would …
02 November 2019: How Sleep Cleans Toxins From the Brain During non-REM sleep, neurons start to synchronize, turning on and off at the same time. …That meant less …
01 November 2019: This is when the lupins bloom, and I’m highly allergic. I get itchy mouth, nose, eyes. I get brain fog, tiredness, blurry vision. Last year I …
01 November 2019: Micro.Blog at 4 feet! I love such happenstance Timeline juxtapositions.
31 October 2019: 45 min doco every Kiwi should watch: NZ Wars: Stories of Waitara. Another Mihingarangi Forbes tour de force. oral histories, state of the art …
30 October 2019: It’s nearly time for the Council to monitor the river at the footbridge for E.Coli, as they do each summer. I wondered why my bookmark kept …
30 October 2019: A gorgeous morning at the beach. Kāpiti Island to the southwest under a clear blue sky; a dead snapper (I think); recently planted Spinifex are …
30 October 2019: 🤣 “Batwoman” Keeps Getting Gayer and Queering Superhero Tropes - Autostraddle This week she meets Batwoman for the first time. To keep …
29 October 2019: Me too!: 1/3 of NZers eliminate or cut down on eating meat - research: survey of more than 1000 people: 31% … limiting meat intake over past year, …
29 October 2019: Hah, this 7.5 minute video by Tom Scott is very interesting: This Video Is Sponsored By ███ VPN. Perhaps you don’t need that VPN after all.
29 October 2019: There was a bit of a westerly breeze as we went onto the beach this morning. Sasha and Oshi headed off, while I stopped a moment to catch the sand …
28 October 2019: Strathnaver Labour Weekend 2019 BBQ was a hit [Oops — I posted this to the wrong blog, but will leave it here as well. It was supposed to be over at …
28 October 2019: I believe these to be juvenile Black-backed Gulls, especially as they breed on Kāpiti Island only ~20 Km away.
28 October 2019: At #16 I’m still enjoying the Miss Fortune Series by Jana DeLeon. Swamp Santa: A Christmas gala, caroling, and a sleigh ride are on the agenda. …
27 October 2019: Whew. 😅 The community BBQ a small group of us organised went off really well. 65 said they’d come and at least 50 turned up. There was enough …
26 October 2019: Wild rabbits are a pest in New Zealand, but they’re also very cute. Especially tiny Spring baby bunnies just outside the front door. So cute! 🐇 …
25 October 2019: A small group of us are organising a BBQ for our neighbourhood this Labour Weekend. ~60 are attending! Another ~15 gave apologies. Council gave a …
24 October 2019: Dogs, eh! 🐶 Sasha flops, Oshi looks cute.
24 October 2019: In October 2007 I was lucky to attend a release of 130 juvenile tuatara into Zealandia Sanctuary in Wellington. They had come from Stephens Island. It …
24 October 2019: 👍 Papa Reo project will digitise 25 years worth of te reo Māori archives. … create a te reo digital dataset large enough to be used for machine …
23 October 2019: I’m really enjoying the TV series All Rise. It’s a courtroom drama that features people with skill and heart delivering justice rather …
23 October 2019: As we arrived at the beach today a small flock of half a dozen birds startled. I was very excited — they are the first arrivals this season of the …
23 October 2019: Down at the beach this morning we upset a Pied Stilt who was presumably nesting nearby. 🐦
23 October 2019: We’re now 3 episodes in on Batwoman and I’m definitely enjoying it. I liked Batwoman a lot during the first two episodes, but I made the …
22 October 2019: Today I attended a yoga class at the Wananga o Raukawa in Ōtaki. That’s a Māori institution of learning. I was initially puzzled by the sign for …
22 October 2019: The lupins are in full bloom — in the dunes and everywhere. Not so good for us hayfeverish types.
22 October 2019: Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s sci-fi perfectly matches my tastes. Her novel, The Renegat is absolutely brilliant. She weaves together two timelines and a …
21 October 2019: Today’s garden haul will contribute well to this week’s dinners: celery, carrots, silver beet, parsley, quail eggs, strawberries. The …
20 October 2019: Hmmm, that was interesting. The Laundromat, starring Meryl Streep. The film follows Ellen Martin (Streep), whose dream vacation takes a wrong turn …
19 October 2019: I don’t think I’ve ever watched any of the other Spiderman movies, but I enjoyed Into the Spiderverse. Clever, and with humour.
19 October 2019: Interesting: the 40 minute Netflix movie Ladies First a 2017 Indian documentary on the life of archer, Deepika Kumari. … it chronicles her journey …
18 October 2019: Oshi and his duck have been together since we first brought him home. The duck’s a bit the worse for wear. It’s been buried and dug up …
17 October 2019: Growing Waikawa Beach In the earliest times of course, the dunes of Waikawa Beach were covered with native plants. They were perfectly adapted for the climate and …
16 October 2019: It’s always good to get an all-clear after a mammogram.
15 October 2019: Humans left Africa a very long time ago … and ended up in New Zealand, the last place on earth to be inhabited. From Africa To Aotearoa Our Story — 25 …
15 October 2019: A colonial view has Māori accidentally sailing to New Zealand about 800 years ago, when there is evidence to show they were expert navigators and …
15 October 2019: It’s too early in the season really, and we haven’t yet had steady warm sunny days. Today though I picked strawberries, carrots, silver …
14 October 2019: Woohoo.
14 October 2019: There was a male Chaffinch singing on the flax right by the front door.
13 October 2019: The tunnelhouse is coming along slowly. Today we set up an automated watering system for 4 pots: tomatoes, broccoli and zucchini. We have far too many …
12 October 2019: As usual with all the books in the Take Control series, Take Control of Apple Mail was well worth reading. I haven’t used Apple Mail before and …
12 October 2019: Turns out I maligned Apple Mail for something I did. At some point I set up a Keyboard command to use ⌘V for “Paste and Match Style”. That prevented …
12 October 2019: Read: There’s a Depressing Difference Between The Sewage of Wealthy Areas And Poorer Ones chemicals in wastewater reflect the social, …
11 October 2019: Chocolate is an important feature of my daily life. I know I’m unwell (just a cold, but urgh) when I don’t even want to eat any. 🍫
10 October 2019: I’m experimenting with Catalina. I’m trying out via voice control.😺 with a bit of practice this could be quite easy.
09 October 2019: The neighbours got their macrocarpa tree (I think) hedge trimmed today.
09 October 2019: Hey @manton @help Is it just me? Yesterday I upgraded to release Catalina (no betas), and I have the latest Micro.Blog app on Mac. I can only get the …
08 October 2019: In New Zealand ’Women aged between 45 and 69 years can get a free mammogram every 2 years’. Mine came around today. It’s odd stripping off shirt etc …
08 October 2019: Before the Kindle Heh, back in December 2005 I wrote this blog post (lightly edited): Here's a quick list of items I need to sell. It all works. Panasonic TV: …
08 October 2019: There are a few Barbary doves, aka ring-necked doves, in this area. I’m pleased there are some near us. This little one was outside our property …
08 October 2019: I like this use of emoji to show the weather forecast.
07 October 2019: Yesterday I picked and ate the first strawberry of the season (delicious ) from our tunnel house (the one at the bottom of the photo). The slaters had …
06 October 2019: As if anyone needs another good reason to use MarsEdit for working with blog posts. I know I have some posts without proper alt text for the photos. …
06 October 2019: I’ve been doing a selfie per day for several years now — just for my private photo album. Last week I got an iPhone 11. The Portrait setting is …
06 October 2019: Thank goodness for the On This Day page on my blog (and checking it). Deb, who’s really sick with a terrible cold, and I had both forgotten …
06 October 2019: Back in the day a lot of the native plants around New Zealand’s beaches were cleared, leading to all kinds of problems. The local Council bought …
05 October 2019: A Takfox Phone Holster for my iPhone 11 arrived. At NZ$20 + shipping the price was acceptable. It has a ‘flange' that makes it seem big, but the phone …
05 October 2019: St John’s Ambulance was doing free blood pressure checks. Mine was 140/80. But they need ageism training: “How many years young are you?”, “You …
04 October 2019: Really interesting 26 minute interview with Geena Davis: A report by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 15 years in the making, has just …
03 October 2019: What makes dogs so special and successful? Love. Dogs fall in love much more easily than people …evidence indicates dogs can form new loving …
03 October 2019: Oshi and Sasha were just gone! 🐶 I’d stopped to take a photo of a snow-topped Tararua peak, picked up a discarded plastic bottle, turned around, …
03 October 2019: Whew!: How to switch between list view and honeycomb app grid on Apple Watch From your watch face, press the home button once to open the app screen. …
02 October 2019: Slomo video is fun. The audio on such videos is excruciating though. It was stupid hard to remove the audio: I eventually imported to iMovie, muted …
02 October 2019: When a day becomes ’gritty’ a trip to localish cafe Salt and Pepper for lunch can give it a lift. Mushroom and bacon pasta, with green tea.
02 October 2019: I’ve used the Spark email app for the last year or more — very happily. The last while though it’s been using ridiculous resources on my Mac so …
01 October 2019: This 11 minute video is so interesting: Money Is A Technological Fiction (The Invention of $$$) the history of money, from physical barter to …
01 October 2019: Shares for a new Mac My MacBook Pro is about 2 years old now. That means that by 2022 at the latest I’ll want to buy a new one. That could cost around NZ$6,000. I …
30 September 2019: Kiwis: there are 6 interviews in this Matangireia series. So far I’ve watched the first, with Metiria Turei. Definitely worth the 45 minutes.
30 September 2019: I’m starting to feel like the neighbourhood complainer… I’ve just emailed our Council to find out who to discuss the neighbours very smoky …
30 September 2019: The last 6 weeks or so were a bit bumpy: Deb had a health issue, now in hand, I had a cold that knocked me a bit, then we had a week’s wonderful …
29 September 2019: The fallacy of the ‘perfect human’ I was struck the other day by these words from Vint Cerf: Anyone, no matter their disability, doesn’t wake up thinking they are disabled. They know …
28 September 2019: For years I’ve used a leather holster for my phone. The linked holsters are superbly made and worth their price. However, I can’t afford …
28 September 2019: Good start: Countdown ends firework sales Countdown supermarket is to stop selling fireworks. The announcement follows a recent customer survey, …
27 September 2019: Mattel Is Releasing the First Gender-Neutral Doll The doll can be a boy, a girl, neither or both, and Mattel, which calls this the world’s first …
27 September 2019: Fascinating: “Mother” No Longer Means “Woman” Despite UK law already recognising McConnell as male “in all circumstances” …
27 September 2019: So many people sent good wishes about Ares that I can’t even list you all. Thank you everyone. I love this Micro.Blog community.
26 September 2019: Thanks to all those Ares fans who have sent us good wishes over the last few days. 🐈 He is at rest now. RIP Best Cat in the World.
26 September 2019: Today is dedicated to Ares. 🐈 Other tasks have been pushed aside. In March 2002 he was a tiny kitten — the first photo below was taken at about 10 …
25 September 2019: Ahh, apparently the side effects of Metacam in cats include: decreased appetite, lethargy, … and weight loss… Your cat also may … experience …
25 September 2019: This morning brought me a 40mm S5 Apple Watch with Pride Sport Loop. I’ve decided to call it Hinenui-i-te-pō: custodian of the threshold …
25 September 2019: It turns out Oshi can cry, growl, yip, bark for 5 hours straight if put in the crate overnight. Maybe longer, but I just couldn’t stand it any more. …
24 September 2019: My almost-18, ailing boy Ares, sat on my lap for maybe an hour today, then suddenly had a huge seizure (first ever). 🐈 He frothed, panted and yowled. …
24 September 2019: Ohhh, I made a big mistake. 🤢 I want some lines in a ToDo list in BBEdit to sort by prefixing a special character. The manual: sort lines of text in …
23 September 2019: This 46 min video made me realise I’ve seen signers at conferences translating speech to sign, but I’ve never seen them translate sign to …
23 September 2019: A Study in Honor - a great read! I really enjoyed reading A Study in Honor: A Novel (The Janet Watson Chronicles) by Claire O’Dell. I loved this book. Right from the sample, I …
23 September 2019: Instant quiz: does my sub to Bear Pro expire in February or September? Please folks, if you’re responsible for ‘writing’ dates, …
23 September 2019: I haven’t seen any porcupine fish on our beach for a while. This is quite a little one. A gull was having a good go at it.
23 September 2019: Those golden sand, sun drenched beaches up north are all very well, but I’ve missed our beach. 🐶
22 September 2019: Other peoples cats must sit still for photos… Ares doesn’t. iPhone 7 takes a while to focus etc. 🐈 Today Ares is inside on a chair. The last photo …
22 September 2019: We really enjoyed Gentleman Jack: Set in 1832 in Yorkshire, it … is based on the collected diaries of Anne Lister (1791-1840), … documenting a …
21 September 2019: Today is Saturday 21 September 2019 and the quail have produced the first egg of the season. 🐦🥚 We have 12 hours and 02 minutes of sun today. Last …
20 September 2019: Queenstown has a horrendous housing cost / shortage problem. Workers can’t afford to live there. He was even aware of hotels closing entire …
20 September 2019: As we drove north from Whangārei last weekend we saw numerous seemingly wild turkeys beside the road. Near Te Kao this crew on the grass verge were …
20 September 2019: Link: the hilarious 2019 Comedy Wildlife finalist photos. Some guaranteed laughs here. Click an image to view large then use arrow keys (Mac) to …
20 September 2019: Deb has an errand in Kelburn in Wellington so dogs and I came too. I forgot how terrible parking is. We ended up at Beach Babylon in Oriental Bay for …
19 September 2019: First contacts hapū and iwi who encountered Europeans were often willing and able participants in the trade that quickly developed. … Māori women …
19 September 2019: Puhoi is just north of Auckland. Bohemians arrived in 1863 and ‘settled’ the ‘waste land’ that in reality belonged to Māori (as did everything …
19 September 2019: The map below may not be 100% accurate, but shows the ~2,300Km Deb and I travelled in the last week. From Waikawa Beach to Putaruru, Whangārei, Cape …
19 September 2019: Up in Helena Bay, north of Whangārei, is an amazing art gallery and cafe. While visiting I spotted these gorgeous deejo pocket knives. The problem is …
18 September 2019: In Tirau, near Cambridge, they make the most of corrugated iron. Not the best angle on the first photo unfortunately. It’s a sheep.
18 September 2019: Cambridge, where we stopped for breakfast, is the horse breeding capital of NZ. The plaques in the footpath makes that clear. Plenty of money in these …
17 September 2019: Today we drove across to the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, with a brief stop at Waiau Falls in amongst native bush. Now we’re in Drury, just …
16 September 2019: Coromandel township is bordered by mangrove swamps. It looks out into the Hauraki Gulf. There are numerous small and large islands in the Gulf, and …
16 September 2019: Having completed the planned portion of our week away we are now on our way home, via unplanned stops. First up, we’re visiting Coromandel, on …
15 September 2019: Cape Rēinga is at the northernmost tip of mainland New Zealand. According to Māori tradition it’s where the spirits of the dead depart by …
15 September 2019: Hmmm, NZ’s first capital: The first Russell was located at Okiato, 8km from present-day Russell, in May 1840. Russell was originally called …
15 September 2019: Yesterday we lunched under 90 year old Pohutukawa trees at Russell, NZ’s original European capital. Māori traded energetically with the newcomers …
15 September 2019: We stayed the night at Pukenui, less than an hour’s drive from Cape Reinga. The Far North is very scenic. I’m glad to say my friend has brought her …
14 September 2019: The Helena Bay Art Gallery and cafe has numerous gorgeous works and a fabulous view.
13 September 2019: The Puhoi Pub is a shock to the senses. Every square inch of wall space is occupied.
13 September 2019: Still not quite over my cold so a couple of hours in the car leaves me feeling ‘stuffy’. Time for a Chocolate cupcake and green tea at Bombay Hills …
13 September 2019: There was a horrible thing yesterday, just north of Taupō. 😭 🐈 A small dark shape bolted across SH1 ahead of us, hit the rear wheel of the car in …
13 September 2019: After an overnight stop with family in Putaruru, today we head for Whangārei, 350 Km, via Warkworth, north of Auckland. Yesterday’s Desert Road …
12 September 2019: The hot pool at Tokaanu was a welcome break in our trip. Ahhh.
12 September 2019: We’ve been driving through sheep country. The paddocks are full of little lambs. It’s lovely.
11 September 2019: I love this kind of info: figures showed that occasional napping – once or twice a week – was associated with a lower risk of heart attack, heart …
11 September 2019: Waikawa Ways #1 I was invited to write a column for the monthly Ōtaki Today newspaper. My first column was published today: Waikawa bounty reveals the detritus of the …
11 September 2019: OK, I’ve decided on a present for myself. I have a big birthday coming up in 5 months. I wanted to get a tattoo, but can’t decide what design I …
10 September 2019: I only just read Death By Team Building, Kat Voyzey Mysteries Book 3 by @cheri . 📚 As expected, it was a fun read, with some good misdirection …
10 September 2019: My good pal Rachel, 79 years old, has created a podcast: How To Be Old: we can’t imagine ourselves being older, let alone very old. … We still feel …
10 September 2019: When I moved a plank by the quail run I found this huge (~9cm) slug. It’s apparently a Limax maximus, or tiger slug: Limax maximus is the …
10 September 2019: I sat for a while on the deck with my face to the warm sun. The silence was full of a dozen different bird calls and the distant hum of a weedeater. …
10 September 2019: Ares 🐈 is still hanging on. He likes to join me when I’m out in the garden, so while I moved the quail he found a good spot under the peach …
09 September 2019: I’m still getting over this horrid cold, so basically stuck in the house. This time a year ago though we were on holiday in Niue. Here’s …
08 September 2019: Feeling rather grotty, and was wondering if in spite of this season’s flu shot perhaps it’s flu not a cold. However, A cold or the flu? …
08 September 2019: Wow: “Cellphones … Today … are made from about 75 different elements, almost three-quarters of the periodic table.” That may include tantalum …
07 September 2019: Something I figured out this week: if you strive for a virtuous goal it is likely that some who are petty, narrow minded and mean spirited may try to …
06 September 2019: Struck down today by an icky cold. Had to be vertical for some appointments. Finally horizontal for a few hours. That’s so much better.
06 September 2019: I forget between times how some people are petty, narrow-minded and mean-spirited, so it’s always a shock. Luckily I’ve learned over time …
05 September 2019: Strive for something of great value! For my Māori language course I had to write 200 words for an assessment. Here's what I wrote. Note: there may be errors — we'll see what …
05 September 2019: It’s been years since I made the dogs wear their raincoats. The coats did keep the dogs a bit drier though on today’s rainy walk. 🐶
05 September 2019: Great news: Micro.blog test blogs Micro.blog now lets you create a free test blog for your account with a URL like username-test.micro.blog. There’s …
04 September 2019: Cook Islands to change name to remove any association with Captain Cook The tiny Pacific nation of Cook Islands plans to change its name to drop the …
04 September 2019: Several things have left me feeling grumpy this morning. However, I’ve just been given an interview appointment time next week for a 6-month …
04 September 2019: Turns out sleeping in smoke filled sheets is a terrible idea. I have a sore throat now and am awake way too early. These sheets will be washed again …
03 September 2019: Today started clear, sunny and splendid. With 3 days of rain forecast I washed all my bedding and hung it out to dry, anticipating that gorgeous fresh …
03 September 2019: When they were puppies Sasha and Oshi used to play chasing every day. It usually involved Sasha staying in one place and Oshi hooning. Now at almost …
03 September 2019: Remember our 5 cygnets from July? Unfortunately we’re down to two — but they’re looking good!
02 September 2019: That radiosonde I found last week — I have more info: That balloon was released from Hobart Airport on the 27th December, 2018 … Andrew Winchester | …
02 September 2019: Ugh: …expectant parents … can pay $140 to take a course about “informed consent” and “natural immunity,” run by … Authentic …
01 September 2019: I wondered what the dogs were looking at, in the dark, in the dog yard, so investigated. It turned out to be a hedgehog. There aren’t very many …
01 September 2019: Sometimes in the early morning when the sand is fresh and undisturbed you can see that wildlife has been enjoying the beach overnight. I’m not …
31 August 2019: Otaihanga crash A person involved in a single-vehicle crash is understood to have left the vehicle, and has been hit by another vehicle. Initial …
31 August 2019: The dogs had to wait in the car while we ate with our friends. So afterwards we took the dogs for an extremely brief comfort stop on the Wellington …
31 August 2019: Our drive back from our friend Helen D’s birthday brunch in Wellington was 2 hours instead of 1.5. So glad we got to crawl past 2 accidents …
30 August 2019: This month’s most unusual beach find: an Australian Bureau of Meteorology Radiosonde. Serial number: N4610489. Approx GPS: -40.697469, …
29 August 2019: Thanks @smokey for pointing to this post by @vasta. Loved it! Beacons of virtual proximity: When I look at that list of green dots in Slack… I see …
29 August 2019: New Zealand isn’t very dog friendly and dogs aren’t allowed in cafes. I was delighted to see this one come into the cafe where I was eating breakfast. …
28 August 2019: I was weeding today, at our rental property in Ōtaki, when this worm came along. It scrunched itself up when it saw me. Even so, it was about the …
28 August 2019: This 12 minute video is very interesting and thought-provoking: Our Food System is Rigged The way we eat is unsustainable for the climate. …We need …
27 August 2019: Plaque at Ōtaki Beach: The stone monument at Ōtaki Beach, shaped like a bow of a ship…commemorates two significant shipwrecks along the Ōtaki …
26 August 2019: We used to live at the top of Mt Victoria in Wellington. There was a toilet block and scruffy bit of grass nearby. A photo from 2014 shows this empty …
25 August 2019: Getting excited about a trip “Up North" next month, which will include Te Rerenga Wairua / Cape Reinga. I’ve visited once before, in August …
25 August 2019: We enjoyed Blinded by the Light very much. It’s a 2-hour British feel-good movie based on a true story. … the coming-of-age story of Javed, a …
24 August 2019: In 2016 we escaped New Zealand’s August with a week in Niue 🇳🇺 . This photo is in a cave at the north tip of the island. The blue is utterly …
24 August 2019: After his visit to the vet yesterday Ares the cat is doing better today. He was given hydration, antibiotics and pain relief. Must keep that trio in …
24 August 2019: Heh, my favourite NativLang is back with this 10 minute video today: Gvprtskvni - how is this even a word, Georgian!? Starting from one clustery word, …
23 August 2019: Ares the elderly cat is now down to 4.52Kg. In July it was 4.6. He now has antibiotics and pain relief and has had a hydrating treatment too. His …
23 August 2019: My numerous attempts today to photograph Ares have all come to nothing much. These are the best two. He’s an old boy. Off to the vet today as …
22 August 2019: I’m getting a new crown on a tooth. Last week the new crown didn’t fit. Today a new one arrived … and didn’t fit. Numb face again and a bit fed up. …
22 August 2019: In August 2012 we escaped NZ’s worst time of year and were enjoying warm sun in Tonga. One highlight was a day trip on a tiny boat to watch …
21 August 2019: New socks day is always a good day. If I were mega-rich I’d have new socks every month.
21 August 2019: The diggers working behind our house disappeared a couple of days ago so I investigated an odd noise. The farmer next door is spreading lime or …
20 August 2019: I was unsure at first about the Australian TV Series, Pulse but it grew on me. 8 episodes. the story of Frankie … Inspired by the man who saved her …
20 August 2019: One of the most-used helper apps on my Mac is PopClip: PopClip appears when you select text with your mouse. Instantly copy and paste, and access …
19 August 2019: At sunset in a clear sky tonight I could see 3 maunga (mountains) on the horizon: Ruapehu, Taranaki, Tapuae-o-Uenuku. I always forget how many bits of …
19 August 2019: Last night was a bit chilly — it got down to about -1.3C here at sea level. There was a good frost, and the nearby Tararua peaks were snowy. By this …
18 August 2019: I’m really enjoying reading the book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. Currently reading about emoji and their roles in …
17 August 2019: We had errands in Palmerston North today and took the dogs with us. At Animates we found a do-it-yourself dog wash, $10 for 10 minutes. Given that …
17 August 2019: I’m feeding a friend’s chooks for a few days. She has 3 ‘new’ girls — the black and white ones, and two old girls — the big white ones. 🐔
16 August 2019: Feeding a friend’s chooks for a couple of days. One (new) chook was on the wrong side of the fence, to everyone’s great consternation. I …
16 August 2019: On 'taking a wife' The English language, like probably most languages, is a slippery thing. Words don't always mean what you think they mean. Take, for example, the …
15 August 2019: LOL: D.E.B.S. (2004 film) was amusing. Shades of Charlie’s Angels, Buffy, Desert Hearts. The big award for graduation was a ‘Mary Jane’. The big bad …
15 August 2019: I watched and enjoyed the movie 28 Days. It’s from 2000 and lead Sandra Bullock looks a whole lot younger. When Gwen crashes a car while drunk …
15 August 2019: Help! I simply cannot get @cleverdevil On This Day script to produce any entries on my page at miraz.me/odt . The key bit I have is: …
15 August 2019: The verdict from one person on the opening day of whitebaiting season was: “slim pickings”. NZ whitebait are juveniles of 5 galaxiid species which …
14 August 2019: Numb face, aching jaw. 40 minutes at the dentist to get the new crown put on but there was some problem and it didn’t fit. Ah well, at least …
14 August 2019: How does an empty bottle of Finlandia vodka of Finland come to end up on a beach in New Zealand, I ask myself.
13 August 2019: One of my Mac’s must-have apps is Keyboard Maestro because it’s in use all-day every day, working so I don’t have to. Today v9 has …
13 August 2019: Oops. I was actually using my hand to try to shade the phone from the sun, but I actually like the effect. River mouth after days of rain and somewhat …
13 August 2019: Interesting sand ‘cliff' left behind by today’s tide. It’s actually less than a metre high. Check out Sasha’s tail as an indicator …
13 August 2019: A very interesting 16 minute video: how 2 kinds of echolocation — passive and active — can help build a picture of the world around us. How Blind …
12 August 2019: Woohoo, NetNewsWire for Mac is now in beta release. If you read RSS feeds and have a Mac give it a try. It’s a ~massive~ 5MB download. 😀 If you …
12 August 2019: Every day I like to do a free puzzle from Jigsaw Puzzles Epic. Some days I don’t finish and save it for later. While I play I listen to some of …
11 August 2019: I’m watching Newton’s Law on Netflix and am enjoying it. It’s a lightweight series about a lawyer. And it actually fits with @macgenie …
10 August 2019: This Southern Bell frog didn’t actually need the support I was about to offer when I found her on the grasses in the garden. Recently I’ve …
10 August 2019: I enjoyed Season 1 of Another Life, in spite of some very hokey moments and some icky ‘horror' bits. I’ll watch Season 2, if there is one. There …
09 August 2019: So, Determination, @macgenie. In 2004 and 2019 I visited Tāne Mahuta, a Kauri tree 2,000 years old and part of the Māori creation story. Two millennia …
08 August 2019: How did I get ahead of myself? Cabbage trees like to grow in groups. Family, @macgenie Can you see the young ones?
08 August 2019: Oh dear. Watched Io, a post-apocalyptic SciFi movie on Netflix. I did watch to the end but it was hard going. ‘Meaningful’, with many unsatisfactory …
08 August 2019: In other places people admire fresh snow. I admire fresh sand.
07 August 2019: Wow, imagine a parrot that stands as tall as your hips! World’s largest parrot found in Central Otago: Named Heracles inexpectatus to reflect …
07 August 2019: Well, @macgenie , I think it’s relaxing to look at horses. I finally got up close to the neighbour’s white girl and her companion. I …
07 August 2019: I make too many assumptions in a day. One is that the text I have oh-so-carefully typed will remain unchanged. But no, autocorrect, so often so …
07 August 2019: I’m always happy to glance out of the window and spot the neighbour’s white horse next door. 🐎
06 August 2019: OK. Siri gave me a great laugh. Verbal exchange: Set timer for 20 minutes. Siri: “Done.“ But look what she also wrote: “I see you shiver with antici … …
06 August 2019: Many folks here pick up rubbish from the beach. My haul today was mainly all kinds of plastic, plus a glass jar & rusted lid, chair foam, a bag of …
05 August 2019: It was stormy overnight but today is splendid. Photo: cabbage tree (Ti Kouka) and, ummm, oak?
04 August 2019: Glad to find Season 4 of Veronica Mars. Really enjoying having the show back, especially now all those main characters are adults. I’d happily …
04 August 2019: On Sundays we get the dog grooming table out so Deb can iron her work clothes for the week. We also brush ears and tails on the dogs. Here’s …
03 August 2019: So pleased Season 2 of Derry Girls has arrived on Netflix. Disappointed there are only 6 episodes and we’ve already laughed our way through three of …
03 August 2019: Crazy: I have only 10% free space on iCloud and thought I might upgrade. The only upgrade choice is from my current 200GB to 2TB. The price goes from …
03 August 2019: In 2014 I went to Mars (well, my name did). In 2020 I’m going back again. You can too. This is a cool thing that NASA does, and it’s even …
02 August 2019: Sometimes dead animals wash up on our beach (3 goats right now) and I report them to the Council. I only just discovered that in Apple Maps (and …
02 August 2019: Found this in a folder labelled screenshots. Date: 14 June 2011. Obviously the dogs had just been groomed. I’m so impressed by Oshi’s …
01 August 2019: And of course I should have waited to take that photo of the snowy peaks of the Tararuas. Sunset…
01 August 2019: The Tararua peaks were dusted with snow overnight.
01 August 2019: “Just bite together normally and hold for 2 minutes.” Except, after 45 minutes in the dentist chair and with half my face numb, my lower jaw aching …
01 August 2019: It was very chilly overnight so Sasha and Oshi had to huddle up for warmth. 🐶
31 July 2019: In English we put spaces between words. It turns out, we have 6th century Irish monks to thank for that. Listen to The Allusionist, Episode 9, The …
31 July 2019: Over several sessions I watched Jupiter Ascending (2 hours). It’s about a woman, set in space. It’s massively overblown, weird, creative. …
30 July 2019: Car crash at the corner on 30 July 2019 Two cars crashed on the highway at Manakau, near the intersection of Waikawa Beach Rd, about 8.40am on …
30 July 2019: Started watching the Netflix series, Another Life: … follows the story of an astronaut and a space crew, who are on a mission to investigate the …
30 July 2019: In the last couple of weeks I seem to have got behind on everything. I’m finally starting to sort that out, for indoors stuff anyway. The rainy …
30 July 2019: Bukbukbukbuk. Why are the pheasants doing their earthquake warning? … shake shake. Oh.
29 July 2019: The sea was fairly calm this morning, but still quite noisy. This video is not too long after sunrise, looking southwest to Kāpiti Island. Volume up a …
28 July 2019: Today was quail moving day. Flop obliged with a photo. 🐦
27 July 2019: Today we went with friends to Foxton Estuary, where, unlike last time, there were few birds. A white-faced heron came very close though (cropped …
26 July 2019: Came home after dinner out having left the bathroom window open and a light on in the house. Found this large insect on the wall. From the tip of one …
26 July 2019: Good grief! I just sent out our Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association monthly Newsletter by Buttondown for the first time (switched from Mailchimp, …
25 July 2019: Whew. Second day in a row where I’ve been sitting in the midday sun listening to a podcast and woken up when it finished. 💤💤💤
25 July 2019: The diggers next door have moved to behind our house. They’re now ~140 metres away. Our house shakes several times an hour while they work. …
25 July 2019: Well, that woke me up! Light earthquake occurred 15 km north-west of Levin: www.geonet.org.nz/earthquak…
24 July 2019: I found a trailer that would actually play. Looks great! Star Trek: Picard - Official Teaser. Not long to wait. 🖖🏼
24 July 2019: The Te Waiohua people, who gave Auckland its original name of Tāmaki Makaurau, settled there about 1100 AD. Moa still roamed scrublands and Rangitoto …
24 July 2019: Today there were 2 black swans and only 4 cygnets. One has disappeared. 😒
23 July 2019: It’s been a very weird day. My partner was shocked to learn she has an older half-brother who just ‘found’ her. And also that some family members died …
23 July 2019: Our bathroom is tiny. When the house was built 5 years ago they used the wrong kind of paint and now there are water streaks from condensation, and a …
22 July 2019: Who knew Kiwis had so many guns?! Obviously, quite a few have more than 1. Police said 2143 people handed in 3275 firearms, and 7827 parts and …
21 July 2019: My cat Ares is 17.5 now and fading. He’s lost some or all of his sight or gone a bit doolally recently, losing his way and bumping into things. …
20 July 2019: We thought one of ‘our’ black swans from the lake had been killed — a neighbour saw a dead swan on the beach and one of ‘our’ pair was …
20 July 2019: In March 2017 we bought a plastic tunnel house. It’s about 8 square metres and is working well for us. Now in mid-winter we’re starting to …
19 July 2019: Ugh: the size of the global dairy herd hasn’t changed much over the years. But every year for the past 15 years 21,803 dairy farmers close …
19 July 2019: I thought I spotted a dog emerging from the dunes. But No! It was the first seal pup of the season. I scrambled to leash the dogs and get the camera …
19 July 2019: NZ and the Moon Landing 🇳🇿🚀: NZ had to wait a bit longer … to see the moon landing in 1969. We didn’t have a direct satellite link … so a …
18 July 2019: The Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association website runs on self-hosted WordPress. Folks can sign up to receive new posts by email. The trouble is, …
18 July 2019: Usually the Eastern Rosellas turn up and then fly away before I can get to my camera. Today I got lucky. a brightly coloured, broad-tailed parakeet …
17 July 2019: Go on: give us a treat. Pleeeease. 🐶 Ares is being a good boy too. 🐈
17 July 2019: Watched the 2.25 hour Luc Besson movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. The plot was a bit thin, the creativity, visuals and special …
17 July 2019: The annual eye check, and cataracts Today at my annual optometrist visit I learned several things: My eyes are very healthy. My prescription has fluctuated slightly again, but not …
17 July 2019: Last night we had 21mm of today’s forecast 5mm of rain. At one point it was so loud on our tin roof that Sasha came on the bed for a cuddle. …
17 July 2019: Some of the neighbour’s earthworks appear a little precarious.
16 July 2019: I’m a huge fan of dark skies, and am lucky enough to be able to clearly see the Milky Way (and the Clouds of Magellan) from our house. So this …
16 July 2019: 100 metres from our boundary our neighbour-but-one has subdivided 3 sections. Diggers are moving 8,000 m3 of soil (it’s all sand really). Work …
16 July 2019: It’s a great day to stay in by the fire. 🌧
15 July 2019: It was dog grooming day today. We have a before and an after. 🐶
15 July 2019: Listening to the end of the cricket. First time in my life to pay attention. My partner Deb filled me in on the excitement as she left for work. 🏏
14 July 2019: I’ve had a bit of the blahs this week, for no particular reason. Then my partner Deb reminded me I’m always a bit gloomy in winter. I respond …
14 July 2019: Damp and warm, there are plenty of these wonderful basket fungus around at the moment.
13 July 2019: I ended up almost binge watching the TV show Rita on Netflix, it was so good! One amazing thing is that the ending was superb. So often endings can be …
13 July 2019: The river mouth shone in the morning sun. Meanwhile the sea, rarely mill-pond calm, showed its usual energy.
12 July 2019: This week’s SciShow Talk Show Over-Apologizing Less with Vanessa Hill is one for our guinea pig lovers. The interview with Nessy Hill is …
11 July 2019: Good grief, Frogfish are astonishing creatures. This 8 minute video reveals all: Frogfish Have The Fastest Bite In the World Frogfish ambush and …
11 July 2019: It’s been a while since I biked the dogs to the beach. On this mid-winter day that feels more like summer, it was a good opportunity to combine …
10 July 2019: I visited our neighbours to the west again and took a photo of our house — the whitish rectangle in the middle of the photo (not the foreground …
09 July 2019: My online pal Virginia talked up Rita so now I’m watching it. She’s right: it’s a great TV show. Rita’s a rebel, an anarchist, and …
09 July 2019: Halide is a superb iOS app for taking photos. Except for random times when I’m ‘clicking' away and it fails to save my photos. Like today, after …
08 July 2019: In the 70s and 80s I spent a decade teaching teenagers at Ashburton College. It was an S68 plan school. With an opening roll of ~1600 each year it was …
08 July 2019: There’s a colony of pied shags by the river. Photo from last year. Today I recorded them screeching. In the video see the tiny white dots in the …
08 July 2019: I spotted this Southern Bell frog on a tire in the garden this morning. Always happy to find frogs in the garden.
08 July 2019: emoji in our digital messages is similar to the way we use gestures when we talk. … celebrate that emoji are creating a richer form of online …
08 July 2019: Good to see local Councils asking the Government to ban private fireworks: Local government leaders are calling for a ban on the sale of fireworks …
07 July 2019: Ares is such a good boy. 🐈
06 July 2019: And in other dog photos, my girl Sasha joined me in my morning selfie today. 🐶
06 July 2019: Look, I don’t know the original source for this photo, but I found it from a link to Dana Schwartz. Since I saw it this morning though, I …
05 July 2019: From the setting up of the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association in 1974, before women were people too 😳: Present: 27 Ratepaying residents, whose …
05 July 2019: I have two new daily tasks that are working well so far: delete a physical item and delete a digital item. I usually delete more than 1. 😀 So far I’ve …
05 July 2019: It’s not easy to get a photo when my boy Ares is on my lap. Persistence paid off today though. 🐈 One of his eyes is dark, but at least you can …
05 July 2019: Add a header image to your blog
04 July 2019: Interesting about quiet fireworks: quiet fireworks can actually be more colourful. All fireworks are a balance between “colour-producing material in …
04 July 2019: Why was I surprised to learn that schools for deaf or blind people were originally set up by religious folks to ‘save souls’? I also never knew …
04 July 2019: I watched the movie Full Out. It’s simple and positive, and based on a true story of Ariana Berlin, a top-level athlete injured in a car crash …
03 July 2019: Hmmm, things that are a bad idea: letting WordPress create a URL that includes an emoji. I realised just after I’d pressed Publish. Thank …
03 July 2019: I'm annoyed with Siri and the approach to Timers I use Timers all the time, especially in the kitchen. I mostly trigger a timer with Siri on my watch. Yesterday I set a timer so the meal I was making …
03 July 2019: If I ever thought about a gong it’d be to picture someone hitting a huge metal disc very hard. The Otherworldly Sounds of a Giant Gong shows a …
02 July 2019: Fabulous to see local company Omeo Technology has received funding for development. If I needed a wheelchair (and had the eye-watering $$$) I’d use …
02 July 2019: Finally did my part for the annual Garden Bird Survey. I saw or heard a dozen starlings, 2 fantails, 1 pheasant, 5 magpies, 8 ducks, 2 sparrows, 1 …
02 July 2019: Gorge cafe in Ōtaki had a good menu, including some locally produced meats. We had the hotcakes and they were delicious. The coffee and hot chocolate …
02 July 2019: Gorge on Riverbank Road in Ōtaki is a Wellington style cafe. Unfortunately it’s also large and not insulated. Needs a fire. Blimmin cold on this 8C …
02 July 2019: Hooo. “New Zealand has been confirmed as the primary location for the $1.5 billion-production of The Lord of the Rings TV series.” Good news for our …
01 July 2019: Here’s my job for a few hours this afternoon. I made the mistake of buying firewood earlier this year from a random guy on Facebook. …
01 July 2019: Tip for Apple users. Next time @help announces Micro.Blog down time, you can use Siri to work out when that will be. “Hey Siri: what’s the time …
01 July 2019: Watched The DUFF. It wasn’t bad. I’m far from the target audience, but it was largely inoffensive and had a good message for teens. …
30 June 2019: In a 1 KM stretch of Strathnaver Drive there are 3 speed bumps. As they’re designed to do they slow down cars and trucks. Quad bikes, …
30 June 2019: My latest Micro.Blog tutorial: Add number of available pages to the pagination. Page numbering with links to older and newer posts.
29 June 2019: At 12 and a half Sasha and Oshi don’t play so much these days. Today they had a bit of fun though. 🐶
29 June 2019: Dashed out on the deck with the iPhone on noticing the dramatic sunrise today. View north to the sunrise itself and southwest behind the house.
28 June 2019: A new tutorial. I was sidetracked in the middle, then lost track a bit, but I wanted to finish it today. Let me know if you see any problems with it. …
28 June 2019: And now, the amazing Kereru. Also probably in Wellington and with a Canon EOS 300D. Some live only 4KM away at Manakau (as the kereru flies), but not …
28 June 2019: I also managed this photo I like of a magpie. Also probably in Wellington and with a Canon EOS 300D.
28 June 2019: Rediscovered (and imported to Photos) 1400 images from 2005. Found these two of a gull, probably in Wellington. Taken with a Canon EOS 300D.
28 June 2019: I really enjoyed the movie Gifted. I even shed a tear. 7-year old Mary is a maths prodigy who lives with her uncle. Her best friends are an adult …
26 June 2019: I have a new goal to go down to the beach and watch the sunset at some point each week. Tonight I took my eclipse glasses with me and tried them out …
26 June 2019: The Library & Cultural centre in Levin offers Tai Chi classes starting Monday. $6 per 90-minute session. May pay for me to give it a try. I did …
26 June 2019: I should have made a screenshot… Next time… Booked a dental checkup online. They texted a 5 digit code. Safari just knew about it and made it …
26 June 2019: About 12 years ago I experienced my first bout of sporadic back pain: the muscles in my lower back do something that makes such extreme activities as …
26 June 2019: Watched and largely enjoyed: Dangal, 2 hours, based on a true story. A father forces his unwilling daughters to become wrestlers to fulfil his own …
25 June 2019: I’m really enjoying the podcast series Elemental from Radio NZ. It should be available worldwide. In honour of the Year of the Periodic Table …
25 June 2019: I watched and enjoyed the movie Mary Kom, based on the true story of the Indian 6-time World Amateur Boxing champion. The movie was simple, a bit …
24 June 2019: For Micro Monday I’d like to suggest @kulturnation who writes in both English and German, who has pleasing photos of nature and who is interested in …
23 June 2019: Oshi is snug by the fire on this dreary day. 🐶
23 June 2019: Riveting 10 minute video: Could You Be a Chimera? We like to think of our DNA as a unique marker of our identity … but we’re all Mosaics, and …
23 June 2019: Bionic HTML The other day I wrote a post about my relationship with Markdown and HTML. Half a dozen people responded with thoughts about their own relationship …
22 June 2019: We drove 45 minutes to Linton where there’s a military camp and (who knew?) the Manawatū Prison. And one entrance to the new He Ara Kotahi …
21 June 2019: And in today’s episode of ‘a bad worker always blames their tools’ I will say that Markdown has never been my thing. I vastly prefer HTML …
20 June 2019: Potentially remarkable; just poor writing: The range of one male [cat] was found to cover 3,000 hectares, from elevations of 300 to 2,500 metres … It …
20 June 2019: Handy Applescript for MarsEdit — Get title and link in Markdown: tell application “MarsEdit” set newLink to "" set newLink to …
19 June 2019: I’m starting to wish we had a view of the sea from here. Dashed down to the beach with 3 minutes to spare to watch the sunset. Ngā maunga, the …
19 June 2019: Such a stunning day. Disappointed I have to go out and do errands.
18 June 2019: It’s winter so Mike the farmer feeds out hay to the steers in the paddock next door. They always come running when they see the tractor.
18 June 2019: Couldn’t for the life of me figure out where “Page 2 of 12” was coming from in my blog pagination. I was looking behind the scenes at theme …
18 June 2019: Here are Oshi and Sasha in February 2007 when they were 3 months old. That black and tan scoundrel turned into the white and tan Oshi scoundrel. Such …
18 June 2019: Sasha has always been much longer than Oshi. When they were 3 months old she was like a puppy, whereas he resembled in almost all ways a guinea pig. …
18 June 2019: Thanks so much @macgenie for interviewing me again on Micro Monday and talking about customising Micro.Blog. Episode 64: Customise Your Microblog. And …
16 June 2019: There were also the giant tortoises, hundreds of years old, a Komodo Dragon missing a foot, and pink flamingos. I’m so glad my photography …
16 June 2019: A fond memory: way back in December 2008 I visited Honolulu Zoo — an amazing place. I saw this Secretary Bird and Crowned Cranes. What astonishing …
15 June 2019: WOW!!! Re Apollo moon landing: On the seamstresses who wove the computer memory by hand Apollo computers had a total 73 KB memory. … hired …
15 June 2019: Excellent: The Postcards Guide to Braille!. Go take a look. Bonus fun fact: Braille is originally based on Night writing (or sonography), a tactile …
15 June 2019: Waiting for my Skype meeting participant… Drums fingers… Meanwhile they messaged me: Where are you? We switched to Zoom. Today Skype just utterly …
14 June 2019: For heaven’s sake! I can’t board a flight with an almost microscopic pocket knife, but A person, who potentially exposed hundreds of …
14 June 2019: I’m extremely excited to announce my new project How to customise Micro.Blog, including such oft-requested tutorials as: Add a favicon Change …
13 June 2019: This little 2.5 minute video is interesting: Ōtaki River Bridge This new bridge across the Ōtaki River is part of the Expressway build. 300 tonnes, …
13 June 2019: Last year I studied entry level Te Reo Māori (Māori language) at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. Today I received my certificate. Reckon I could get into …
13 June 2019: It was a cool and dreary damp morning today so I lit the fire. Oshi went in his little ‘pod’ right beside the woodburner. Ares has his special …
12 June 2019: Interesting 2.5 minute video: The One-Lane Bridge Shared By Cars And Trains Near Hindon, on the South Island of New Zealand, there’s one of only two …
12 June 2019: Kāpiti Island at dawn.
11 June 2019: The Waikawa Stream flows west towards the sea but then turns south across the beach. A 1991 rock groyne has submerged and a 2012 rock groyne at almost …
11 June 2019: Here’s a tip for setting up the Micro.Blog Mac app with more than one account. Go to Prefs for the first one and click the + button. Login with …
10 June 2019: I used Pages.app to make a calendar from now to August 2020 so locals know when to put their recycling bins out. If you have Pages it’s completely …
09 June 2019: One of the great things about Kowhai (this one’s a Dragon’s Gold) is that they flower in winter.
08 June 2019: Good read: Imperfect pitch When people complain that a woman’s voice is ‘shrill’… there’s often no objective, acoustically measurable quality .…What …
07 June 2019: Your Crippling Stress Levels Could Affect Your Dog More Than You Think 🐶 evidence that increased oxytocin (the love and bonding hormone) in female …
06 June 2019: This critter’s a Gisborne cockroach that I found in my car. I quickly relocated it to the road. They can be up to 45mm long and don’t …
06 June 2019: This gorgeous girl belongs to neighbours to the southwest of us. This morning she was posing in early sun. What a beauty!
06 June 2019: I don’t follow sports but this 15 minute video held my attention: Anne Audain, New Zealand’s most successful road runner | Scratched: …
06 June 2019: One thing that annoys me all the time about Safari on the Mac is that I click a link from another app to open in Safari and then Safari opens it in …
06 June 2019: This 13 minute video on being a young female MP is worth a watch: Chlöe Swarbrick interviews Marilyn Waring NZ Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick sits …
05 June 2019: Here’s Batalha cathedral in Portugal. It’s splendid. Batalha Cathedral in Portugal is a place where the spirit can soar
05 June 2019: Batalha Cathedral in Portugal is a place where the spirit can soar The Siri face on my Apple Watch showed me several photos today from our 2015 visit to Batalha in Portugal. That sent me to Photos and a very pleasant …
05 June 2019: I love how MarsEdit saves my work as I go along. While switching between apps in a long complex post I accidentally Quit MarsEdit. No problem — on …
05 June 2019: At the beach by the Waikawa river mouth, just before high tide. The river itself is in the last few frames of the shot.
05 June 2019: Sometimes you just want to curl up into a little ball and let the others watch over you for a while.
05 June 2019: If you enjoy looking at photos you should read this: Interview: Photographer Spends 10 Years Capturing the Visual Symphony of Waves The photos are …
04 June 2019: That WWDC keynote was so chock full of info and stuff I can’t even remember most of it. Very happy to see what’s coming up in the new …
03 June 2019: Fabulous to see in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2019 most or all are for real service to the community: women, Māori, Pacific Islands, sports …
03 June 2019: Why I love living here — not one but two videos. One shows Kāpiti Island and the South Island; the other shows the snowy-peaked Tararuas behind the …
03 June 2019: This morning with the storm gone we can see more tops of the Tararua range. Now we have a day or two of fine days then I believe it’s back to …
02 June 2019: Now the weather’s cleared a bit we can see the southerly storm brought a bit of snow to the higher tops of the Tararuas.
02 June 2019: Be smart with MarsEdit Arrange windows — I'm making a lot of posts on another Micro.Blog blog just now. Of course I'm using MarsEdit, because I'm smart. 😀 I'm a …
02 June 2019: Hooray for Dana Stabenow! A reasonably priced Kindle book in a favourite series AND I’m allowed to order it, even though I’m in New …
02 June 2019: Even the dogs don’t really want to be on the beach when it’s a roaring southerly off the Antarctic and only 7C. Because they’re small dogs …
01 June 2019: Our first winter storm didn’t waste a second, even starting on the last day of autumn. Tonight it’s a bit grim out there: cold, blustery …
01 June 2019: At least once a week I have reason to be glad of A Better Finder Rename. Bulk rename files, in part or in whole.
01 June 2019: 3 minute video: Spoken word poem about racism in New Zealand ‘Yesterday I was African, today I am lost’, New Zealand student Takunda Muzondiwa tells …
01 June 2019: I’ve started working on a new writing project of my own devising and have been throwing myself into it with enthusiasm. I doubt it’ll earn me …
01 June 2019: First day of Winter; first winter fire. Oshi has the prime spot by the woodburner. Ares is on a chair by me. Sasha prefers things a little cooler. 🐈 🐶
31 May 2019: Those who don’t live in a monarchy might find this calendar of upcoming 21-gun salutes in Wellington amusing. Locals might find them interesting …
31 May 2019: Back in the early oughts I wrote articles on stuff. I just rediscovered a link to one on my old blog. The WiseWomen mailing list and website was a …
31 May 2019: If you enjoy a big laugh, are even faintly interested in language, spelling, writing, then treat yourself to The very logical reasons why we should …
30 May 2019: I forgot to watch the Budget so saw only the last 10 minutes. 😒 However, it seems the Government is putting money to mental health, child wellbeing, …
30 May 2019: The quail are fine, but it feels like the universe is out to get them. Overnight some uncontrolled dog tried to dig under the cage. There’s a …
30 May 2019: Looks like we have a few days coming up that’ll fill the water tank, give the garden a good wetting and be fairly windy but no too cold.
29 May 2019: Kiwis: I love the wall dots from HappyMoose and now the price has dropped a heap: we used to charge $29.95 for a set of four 15x15cm wall dots. Now …
29 May 2019: Sunset’s gift.
29 May 2019: Tom Scott’s latest NZ video: Testing A Zip Line That Goes Round Corners (5 mins) is another good one. I had fun with Rotorua’s Canopy Tours …
29 May 2019: Overnight gales opened up the quail runs and I feared the worst at dawn when I saw the problem. Glee was sitting just outside and scuttled back in …
28 May 2019: Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors is a brilliant documentary, full of science, motion capture, 3D printing, laser scanning, genetics, forensic …
28 May 2019: Two new pest traps installed: Peanut butter on mousetrap inside catproof box for inside the Cat Palace. Egg inside weasel / stoat trap. 🤞
27 May 2019: The dogs have reason to be glad I use Keyboard Maestro.
27 May 2019: This Micro Monday I’d like to suggest you follow these folks currently in Aotearoa New Zealand 🇳🇿. Because they’re Kiwis, so you know …
27 May 2019: This is very disturbing — look at the videos: Samsung’s Creepy New AI Can Generate Talking Deepfakes From a Single Image.
27 May 2019: NZ’s first known war dog to receive posthumous medal 🐶 Ceaser left this country … in February 1916. The dog carried a satchel on his back …
26 May 2019: Whew. Now I’ve made 100 days for my longest move streak I can relax if I break it.
26 May 2019: Cropped and auto-enhanced, but these two quail photos are from the NatureWatch Camera I just set up, using a Raspberry Pi Zero. Very happy with these …
26 May 2019: Excited that @brentsimmons has put up an early version of the NetNewsWire 5 RSS reader. It’s been a long time since I last used it but it feels …
25 May 2019: This selfie isn’t up to much but it was one of the first (handheld in low light) shots with my new Raspberry Pi Zero W and 5MP camera. The gear …
25 May 2019: And so they should! British newspaper The Guardian announced a style guide change. From now on, they will prioritise terms such as ‘climate …
25 May 2019: Stoats, the quail killers About 1,000 years ago the only land mammals in New Zealand were bats. Then Māori arrived, maybe around 1200AD and brought with them kurī …
25 May 2019: In 2016 I made a video of one of my original quail crowing. Unlike California Quail who seem to say Chicago, Chicago! the Japanese Quail say Look at …
24 May 2019: A couple of minutes in to Brooklyn Nine-Nine S01E01 I thought I’d hate the show, but so many people said such good things about it I stuck with …
24 May 2019: The stoat, or maybe weasel, that killed 3 quail was very angry when I trapped it between a bucket and the side of the cage. See for yourself, in this …
24 May 2019: After @crossingthethreshold posted a photo of a road it made me think of this favourite zebra crossing I saw in Redondela, Galicia, Spain.
24 May 2019: This thing is a stoat. An angry stoat, trapped in a plastic bucket behind wire. Unfortunately, as I was on my own, it escaped. This morning it killed …
24 May 2019: GLAAD: Movies Are Getting Better For Lesbian and Gay Characters, Staying Terrible for Trans and LGBTQ Kids’ Characters 20 LGBTQ-inclusive films were …
23 May 2019: I’ve really enjoyed watching Seal Team and am glad to see it’s been renewed for a third season. I like that they explore the relationships of …
23 May 2019: On the hunt for quail When I checked the quail today one was dead — Felicia, the great mother who hatched the babies this year. Judging by the mutilated corpse this wasn’t …
23 May 2019: While I was hunting for an escaped quail an Eastern Rosella made a brief appearance to laugh at me then flew off. Still hunting the escapee. 😱
23 May 2019: Someone requested a page listing Kiwis on Micro.Blog. Tada! @billbennettnz @dejus @herself @JacksonOfTrades @Jax @tones @yorrike Let me know if you …
22 May 2019: Green tea at the Levin Mall cafe was mediocre. The teapot & cup combo was rather charming though.
22 May 2019: My favourite sci-fi author’s Kickstarter has already reached 500+% of its goal with 8 days left to go and the stretch goal rewards are amazing. …
22 May 2019: Wellington is notorious for its steep hills. Many of those hills have paths, stairs and steps, which is apparently a niche interest for some who …
22 May 2019: Oshi and Sasha are all freshly groomed. 🐶
22 May 2019: Shaggy dogs on their way to be groomed. Oshi and Sasha are ready for a trim. 🐶
22 May 2019: Read: The Korean Way of Tea My experience and appreciation for tea and the art and etiquette of tea truly blossomed after that experience.
22 May 2019: Rain today as at 7 am: 0.9mm. Rain forecast for most days this week: 0.
21 May 2019: I’m a very linear person: A to B to C. When I run training sessions that’s the kind of approach I take. Maybe it drives some people crazy? …
20 May 2019: Lingthusiasm Episode 32 (33 minute audio) reveals how some languages require you to say how you know something… 🤯 languages, like Syuba, [where] …
19 May 2019: Beach find: this large feather, probably from a black-backed gull. Photo shows the feather resting on a 15” MacBook Pro for size.
19 May 2019: It was Quail moving day today. I like to move them to a fresh patch every few weeks. The two runs are now near the tunnelhouse again. There’s …
19 May 2019: I haven’t had time to read any of this site yet, but anticipate much to enjoy: Rejected Princesses this site imagines what if we made animated …
19 May 2019: Interesting article from Don Norman, 83-year-old author of the industry bible Design of Everyday Things and a former Apple VP: The world is designed …
18 May 2019: The outdoor module of my Netatmo weather station appeared to have come back to life. After 3 hours outdoors though it just stopped again. The new one …
18 May 2019: For the last week the Netatmo outdoor module sat at the recommended distance failing to connect to the base station. Today the new weather station …
18 May 2019: This 30 minute video had a lot of interesting stuff in it: Cybersecurity and a hacker called Alien | SciShow Talk Show Jeremy Smith and Sherri …
18 May 2019: Uh oh. Open my online banking to find a pending transaction for a service I no longer need. When I moved my Love Waikawa Beach website from WordPress …
18 May 2019: Well done, The Big Bang Theory — nicely brought to a close. 👏🏼👏🏼
17 May 2019: I was suspicious about my wind gauge as it seemed to be at odds with various other sources. Teetered atop a step ladder and fence post and determined …
16 May 2019: Oshi and I had the place to ourselves last night. I washed nearly all the dog beds. Today he didn’t even wait for me to zip this one up before …
16 May 2019: Caster Semenya and the myth of testosterone: An extremely fascinating 50 minute discussion about sex, gender, identity, chromosomes, testosterone, …
16 May 2019: Today I learned the woman who wrote Mary Poppins was born and raised in Australia: P.L Travers — the girl who dreamt up Mary Poppins. She also stood …
16 May 2019: Excellent video series by nativlang: Thoth’s Pill - History of Writing Systems In this series, we’ll see the birth and evolution of …
16 May 2019: 6 minute video: The First 3D Colour X-Rays University of Canterbury team …are using detector equipment originally developed for the Large Hadron …
15 May 2019: Too Fast, Too Black, Too African: On Caster Semenya she ran smack into the global matrices of power … for being too fast, too quick … how does it …
15 May 2019: Sasha update: she’s staying at the vet’s overnight for observation with a saline drip for dehydration, and blood work. Bloods have already come back …
14 May 2019: It’s been a bit miserable today, what with the lack of sleep and also being a bit unwell. It’s been a worse day for Sasha though who …
14 May 2019: It’s nearly 4 am. I should be asleep. Instead I’ve been woken every hour or so by Sasha the dog needing to go out. I’ve cleaned up two lots of dog …
13 May 2019: With a swell of up to 2.5 metres, high tide and sunset coinciding, I biked down to the beach with my camera. These photos straight from the camera.
13 May 2019: Recommended reading: the extremely interesting and superbly written This is our story: A qualitative research report on living with dementia. tells …
13 May 2019: Last night we watched and enjoyed Wine Country: When a group of longtime girlfriends goes to Napa for the weekend to celebrate their friend’s …
12 May 2019: My Netatmo outdoor module is on the fritz. Because I’m in New Zealand I can’t buy a replacement module but have to buy a new station. Tonight, in the …
12 May 2019: Ate a delicious dinner with long-time friends at Thistle Inn in Thorndon for one friend’s 70th birthday. Entree: Crumbed eggplant, roast red …
10 May 2019: Someone on Micro.Blog recently mentioned ToDoist. After a few days use I’m finding it helpful for getting on with useful stuff in my day.
10 May 2019: Bloke takes dogs for a swim in the river, finds moa prints: fossilised moa footprints millions of years old. Seven clear footprints were found, …
10 May 2019: What it means to live in NZ. In the last 24 hours… batteries ordered from a .co.nz site can’t be shipped to NZ. Netatmo replacement module …
09 May 2019: Sasha enjoys chasing the ball on the beach. The thing is, her eyesight isn’t the best, so I have to be careful how I roll the ball. Even then, …
09 May 2019: My favourite sci-fi author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is doing a special Kickstarter for her next novel in the Diving Universe. Dive in.
08 May 2019: I’m learning lots about Māori from Taringa!. In Episode 36 of Taringa!, at ~ 23' 30" in, there’s an interesting 3 minute discussion …
08 May 2019: Ares after a couple of days at the vet hospital for observation— he’s lost 500 grams since last July, and after his sister died unexpectedly I …
07 May 2019: “But the proof is in the pudding” — I try not to be pedantic about such things these days, but this one always bugs me a bit. Puts me in mind of …
07 May 2019: The Brain-Eating Amoebas of Kerosene Creek — a 4 minute video from Tom Scott that features Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles. Kerosene Creek is a …
06 May 2019: We’re still enjoying the last of the produce from our tunnelhouse: capsicum, aubergine, chili.
06 May 2019: The sea today was the pale grey of a glacier-fed river.
06 May 2019: Heh. Annoyed by Hover repeatedly emailing me about a domain I intentionally let expire, I discovered their excellent expiry notification settings.
05 May 2019: Foxton is proud of its Dutch heritage. We ate poffertjes at the cafe. They were a little disappointing though — we’ve had better at Bulls. These …
05 May 2019: Manawatu Estuary is a RAMSAR bird sanctuary and a great spot for a stroll. Today there were probably 500+ birds there. We spotted a couple of hundred …
05 May 2019: My Siri watch face reminded me today about our Fox Terrier who died 12 years ago now. These two photos are from May 2004. She had so much hair! You …
05 May 2019: Interesting 12 minute video: How To Drink Coffee In Space Cups only work in gravity, and drinking coffee through a straw loses the aroma, so astronaut …
04 May 2019: Well, two entirely different Fierce Girls are interesting: podcast, Australian . TV show webseries, NZ, Canada. From athletes to aviators, scientists …
04 May 2019: Why not move a community group's website to FB? The other day I learned a sister organisation was thinking of closing down their website and moving to Facebook. This troubled me so much I decided to …
04 May 2019: Tom Scott’s latest video shows how GPS isn’t accurate enough for the Auckland container port’s automated cranes, so they have their …
04 May 2019: Having sung the praises of the Netatmo recently, the outside sensor promptly failed. 😒 After much research I contacted the Helpdesk and followed their …
03 May 2019: Heh, fellow Kiwis: blocked by the NZ Herald paywall? Try Inspect Element in the browser…
03 May 2019: Since his sister died so unexpectedly 3 weeks ago I took Ares for a precautionary checkup at the vet. Plus he’s lost a little weight and has a …
03 May 2019: Whew, just spent an hour writing a case for why a sister community organisation should NOT dump its website and move to Facebook. I was sticking my …
03 May 2019: Venus and crescent moon at dawn.
03 May 2019: Thanks to @patrickrhone for linking to this: Rural Studio’s $20K House has such innovative design that it’s changing the entire housing system–from …
02 May 2019: This should not be: the [fishing] company claims it cannot afford to pay workers the living wage, which is due to increase to $21.15 in September. … …
02 May 2019: One of the things I love about getting up early is watching Venus lead in the dawn.
01 May 2019: This year New Zealand’s road toll is dreadfully high already— 136 fatalities so far this year. Sharon Murdoch, cartoonist extraordinaire, sums …
30 April 2019: It’s a rare day when you find even a strand of seaweed on Waikawa Beach. After yesterday’s storm though there are clumps of it every 10 or 20 …
30 April 2019: Every morning Sasha likes to come on the bed for a big cuddle. Usually Oshi pushes in, but today he was elsewhere. 🐶
29 April 2019: Catching up on reading. Take Control of Siri has added considerably to the uses I’ll make of Siri. Some capabilities are extraordinary, eg, Photos app …
29 April 2019: Today’s forecast was for almost 21mm rain — and very welcome too. Actual rain to 2pm-ish: 43mm. That gives us nearly 3,000 litres of water in …
29 April 2019: Interesting item about human composting (rather than burial or cremation): Microbes … work within a large vessel … that fits a single body along with …
29 April 2019: It seems New Zealand’s roads have been particularly deadly this month. April began with … a crash that killed five people from the same family. … The …
29 April 2019: The first really solid rainfall in several months. There’s about 30 mm forecast for today.
28 April 2019: In January we drove north to visit friends in Whangārei. We rounded a corner on the road north of Auckland and there was a pair of huge sculptures on …
27 April 2019: Such an interesting episode of Death in the Afternoon: Maggots Holding High Carnival: The American Civil War left roughly 700,000 dead … With …
27 April 2019: There are plenty of -isms in the world, but the only one that affects all of us, especially if we’re lucky enough to survive, is ageism. Ashton …
27 April 2019: I really enjoyed the Indian movie Bucket List. 40 year old Madhura looks after her family, but the heart of a 20-year old killed in an accident …
27 April 2019: Now that Ares is a lonesome kitty I’m trying to spend more time with him. This is very tricky with our dogs. Here’s Ares on the bed this morning. 🐈
26 April 2019: Well, thanks to the superb Take Control Of Your Browser book I’ve installed 2 handy browser extensions, checked / changed a few settings and …
26 April 2019: Well, by Page 25 of Take Control Of Your Browser I’ve already learned 2 useful new tips, and I’m no stranger to the Mac and its ways. Take …
26 April 2019: Take Control Of Your Browser Hooray! : Take Control of Your Browser, by veteran tech writer Robyn Weisman, helps you discover your browser’s hidden talents, increase browsing …
26 April 2019: Someone’s been reading the wrong book about how to craft front page headlines…
25 April 2019: I enjoyed the 2019 Indian film Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga this morning. The title translates as “How I felt when I saw that girl”. the story of …
24 April 2019: I was just thinking yesterday we hadn’t had a decent earthquake in a while. So at 4.30 this morning there was a 4.8, shallow, less than 100 km …
24 April 2019: Oshi and Sasha enjoyed their visit to the beach this morning. I spent a while taking photos of Fishing vessel 63018 Clam Legend working very near the …
24 April 2019: Thanks to @tones for the Time Ball link. Just to amplify: the tribe’s history was passed down … by the women … using a … time ball. New brides …
24 April 2019: Our local paper has the most thrilling headlines. Tomorrow is Anzac Day, hence the emphasis on soldiers.
23 April 2019: I’ve been watching Homecoming: a film by Beyoncé. It’s an amazing show. She has more energy in her little finger than I have for a whole year!
23 April 2019: Thanks to one of my favourite apps Hazel and its ‘sweep’ function, when I deleted the troublesome app trial, all its tentacles went too.
23 April 2019: I hope they don’t really mean this! Zero privacy from spam? Mind you, they’ve already made me restart my Mac for the trial, create a login for …
22 April 2019: Oshi, of course, is waiting for his dinner still (ie biscuits in a bowl on the floor).
22 April 2019: It wasn’t meant to be a canine Easter egg hunt, but what else can you do when you spill a whole scoop of biscuits on the floor? 🐶
22 April 2019: I really enjoyed listening to @macgenie and Brianna Wu discuss Voyager’s Equinox double episode on 3 You Can’t Underestimate Seven. In fact, I’m …
22 April 2019: Two little Tauhou or Silvereye turned up on the flax this morning. The silvereye colonised New Zealand from Australia in the 1850s … Length: 12 cm, …
21 April 2019: This 14 minute video is very interesting: Why Do We Get Columbine So Wrong? Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since that Columbine school …
21 April 2019: I’m really enjoying In the Dark on The CW. An irreverent blind woman … Murphy drifts through life in a drunken haze. …she stumbles upon a …
20 April 2019: My friend Jan and I played Scrabble tonight. She’s very hard to beat, and played “amaze” for a high score. I added an ‘s' as part of “quest” on …
20 April 2019: One job for this month is to tidy and rearrange the garage. Meanwhile, I re-stained the tops of two deck tables and applied stain all over my new raw …
19 April 2019: Today I planted the kowhai tree Sophora Dragon’s Gold beside Aphra’s grave. I dug a hole in the sand, filled it with good compost and water, a …
18 April 2019: Such a glorious day! I was sitting on the deck in the sun, thinking how uncomfortable my chair was. I’ve been pondering for ages buying an …
18 April 2019: Thanks Happy Moose, that was a nice surprise.
18 April 2019: Nature at risk: Damning report warns NZ environment in serious trouble A bleak picture of the state of New Zealand’s environment has been …
18 April 2019: My Netatmo wind gauge was on top of a regular fence post. That worked well until yesterday when the neighbour’s landscapers planted flax bushes …
17 April 2019: Sunrise, from my favourite chair in the lounge.
16 April 2019: Thank you! So many people have sent me well wishes after the sudden and unexpected passing of my sweet little cat Aphra. I really appreciate the …
15 April 2019: In 2002 my sweet little cat Aphra was less than a year old. She and her brother Ares shone in the sunlight while sitting on our TV set. She’s in …
15 April 2019: Liked, whakataukī: Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei — Seek the treasure that you value most dearly, if you bow your …
15 April 2019: Quail update: Glee is now 7 weeks old and has brown markings on her back. Yesterday was quail moving day — they hate being moved, but love having new …
14 April 2019: I’ve just finished re-reading Anniversary Day Saga by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She’s such a superb writer, I enjoyed it even more the second time …
14 April 2019: Today I discovered that 07:01 on a Sunday morning is a fantastic time to go to the supermarket. There was no traffic on State Highway 1, and pretty …
13 April 2019: I enjoyed the movie Red Joan, starring Dame Judi Dench. Interesting story based on real life. And no, science and politics can’t be divorced.
11 April 2019: Ah, my domain registrar’s Support team have worked some magic and it appears forwarding from my old email address to the new address is working …
11 April 2019: My domain registrar is trying to figure out why my old email address is failing to successfully forward to my new. I’ve missed about 5 days worth of …
10 April 2019: Busy reading a jargon-filled (appropriately) geomorphological assessment of our river and shoreline, making notes and ‘translating’ into plain …
10 April 2019: I’ve changed my main email address and it sure is quiet while the forwarder from the old address isn’t working. 🧐 Currently trying to get …
10 April 2019: The dogs visited the vet in Ōtaki today for their annual checkup and shots (all good). We took the opportunity to walk a bit along the Ōtaki riverbank …
09 April 2019: Why kiwi and moa became flightless Researchers discovered new evidence of what made some of NZ’s iconic birds, such as the kiwi and extinct …
09 April 2019: Study Shows Our Cats Do Know Their Names most of the time cats can indeed distinguish between their names being said and other words, even if they …
09 April 2019: I had enough stain left in the tin for 3 outdoor chairs. Now I need to buy more for the tables. This should help them weather winter.
09 April 2019: Occasionally exchange rate fluctuations work in my favour. Siteground renewed automatically an account I wanted to cancel. Thanks to exchange rate …
08 April 2019: 4 Pied shags, kawau had attitude on the beach this morning. By lucky chance I managed some photos I just love. Pied shags weigh 1 to 2 Kg, and are …
07 April 2019: At sunset tonight the Tararuas shone red below a pink-clouded sky. This photo straight out of the camera.
07 April 2019: A friend caught several Snapper from his sea kayak this morning and gave us one. It was delicious cooked on the BBQ with lemon and butter, baked …
07 April 2019: The neighbours are having landscaping done on the area across our boundary. Now I need to try to clear a strip beside the fence on our side. …
06 April 2019: Scientist finds link to ancient home of Māori A Northland scientist has … pinpointed the origin of early Māori artefacts found in New Zealand to a …
06 April 2019: It’s been so long since I last lit the fire I’d forgotten how. Now, finally, it seems to have caught. It’s been a cool day today.
06 April 2019: Video (11 minutes): Grass Roots: the women of Hikurangi Enterprises Grass Roots looks at the wāhine behind Hikurangi Enterprises, a cannabis co-op …
06 April 2019: If this forecast holds true (unlikely — we usually get less rain than forecast) it’ll add nearly 4,000 litres to our rainwater tank. At an average use …
05 April 2019: I’m so relieved — Siteground renewed web hosting automatically for me 2 weeks before I expected it. NZ$350 at stake. I actually wanted to cancel …
05 April 2019: Oh, time to start paying attention to Apple Pay, as it is now available with Westpac in New Zealand. Will I be able to use it in small-town New …
04 April 2019: In 2.5 hours in Levin waiting for my car’s new windscreen to be installed I: had a flu shot, visited my dental hygienist, and discovered that to …
03 April 2019: Our dog Sasha loves to chase a ball. This cool early morning on the beach she had a heap of energy. Her eyesight’s poor so I have to be sure …
03 April 2019: Our barking dog got me outside at 0524, just in time to see a sliver of moon rise below Venus over the Tararuas into a clear sky filled with stars. …
02 April 2019: This year I’m learning Te Reo Māori by distance from Te Wananga o Raukawa. I’m really enjoying hearing and reading fairy tales. So far: …
01 April 2019: Christchurch mosque attacks: Some Muslim women are still too scared to wear a hijab in public and school children fearing for their mothers' safety …
01 April 2019: Clair, 60, says the streets are her home. She eats at a bus stop, wanders the CBD, and sleeps on the ground by the railway line … She says NZ’s …
01 April 2019: Why Women’s Voices Are Getting Deeper This video dives into why women’s voices are getting deeper, a phenomenon that spans research in 1950s …
31 March 2019: A bit of gardening — hard yakka A bit of our property beside our lane has always been a struggle. The rabbits dig numerous holes, it’s steep (75° according to my iPhone level) …
31 March 2019: A fan of space opera? I’m buying The 2019 Space Opera Bundle, curated by Dean Wesley Smith: “Space, the final frontier.”. I love the work …
30 March 2019: This little Chaffinch came and sat on the flax. Photos through a window. Chaffinches are the commonest and most widespread of New Zealand’s …
30 March 2019: Every Kiwi over the age of 35 well knows this feelgood #1 track from 1984: Poi E - Patea Maori Club. Watch it for the haircuts, the break dancing, the …
30 March 2019: Not airforce and not an Orion We live not very far from an Air Base so seeing military craft flying low is pretty common. The other day I spotted one I hadn’t seen before. …
29 March 2019: Interesting read: Personal blogs: the elements of structure
29 March 2019: And, indeed, the weed-spraying has already started next door. I’m a little surprised they spray even with cows in the same paddock. …
29 March 2019: I’d say this is the helicopter that is going to spray gorse and lupins in the paddock next door to us soon. The pilot gave me a cheery wave as they …
29 March 2019: Darn it! Last night as friends and I drove to Levin for dinner a truck passed going the other way. Next moment a loud thump left this chip in my …
29 March 2019: Recently this plane flew low on its way south. Royal NZ Air Force Z3546. Update: it’s a DC3. More info to come. My research leads to: Lockheed …
28 March 2019: Crikey! I’m often overwhelmed with 1 acre and no cows. Chatted with our neighbour: he looks after 800 acres, 350 milking cows, a bunch of other …
28 March 2019: Some mornings, when you live next to a beef and dairy farm, you wake up to find two young steers tromping around in your yard.
28 March 2019: The first video episode of Lingthusiasm was really interesting: Why do we gesture when we talk?. I had no idea there was so much to gesturing. If …
27 March 2019: Whew, I’m still completing the move of my Love Waikawa Beach community focused website to Micro.blog from its previous WordPress home, but if …
27 March 2019: Scientists Discover Signs of New Neurons Developing Even in Adult Brains Human beings grow new brain cells throughout their late adult life, a new …
27 March 2019: The Gender Spectrum Collection: Stock Photos Beyond the Binary The Gender Spectrum Collection is a stock photo library featuring images of trans and …
26 March 2019: Oh, turns out there were only 23 videos in the whole playlist. Unfortunately it didn’t cover including images (I really want to be able to use a …
26 March 2019: I’ve been watching the Introduction to Hugo videos from Mike Dane and am up to #22. They’re really good. Problems so far: typos (mine) working …
26 March 2019: Sometimes the dogs and I are lucky and we have the 10 Km of beach between Ōtaki and Kuku all to ourselves. To be honest: I think I saw a couple of …
26 March 2019: Yesterday with cleaning, dog walking, mowing, mulching, planting, watering I did 300% of my daily move goal. Today I’m only too aware!
25 March 2019: Returning from the beach, we saw these excellent textured clouds in the east.
25 March 2019: I don’t want to lose my rights, but at the end of the day, this is actually not about a part of society losing its rights. It’s about the …
25 March 2019: A start on customising a Micro.Blog theme I want to customise the theme for my Micro.Blog hosted Love Waikawa Beach community website. This has set me on the track of first, several hours of …
24 March 2019: Are you a weapon? Pat yourself down. Another excellent cartoon from Sharon Murdoch subsequent to the Christchurch NZ shooting attack that killed or …
24 March 2019: Why Time moves faster as we age Days seemed to last longer in your youth because the young mind receives more images during one day than the same …
23 March 2019: We live at the beach so things rust and degrade quickly. That includes items like the cheap toilet roll holder that fell apart a week or two ago. …
22 March 2019: It’s been ages since I went for a bike ride, but today seemed like a good day for it. Here’s my bike at the all-purpose entrance to the …
21 March 2019: Prior attacks in New Zealand: 1881 … Crown troops invaded … Parihaka and decimated the village. 1864, Crown troops set fire to a whare karakia …
20 March 2019: There were a couple of really noisy magpies by the house this evening. This one sat on a driftwood sculpture. Meanwhile my 17 year old cat, Aphra, was …
20 March 2019: Wow, a group of 3 low-flying Hercules aircraft just passed overhead, all trailing smoke. Someone else got this quick video: …
20 March 2019: Roughly once a week I go to Ōtaki where we own a house we rent out to a long-term tenant. It’s my job to mow the small lawn round the back and …
19 March 2019: Catherine Trundle: believing oneself to be non-racist is now simply not enough. We have to be anti-racist, and that requires … publicly rejecting …
19 March 2019: Dame Anne Salmond: white supremacy is a black strand woven through our history as a nation. … it’s not the only legacy we have. From the outset, …
18 March 2019: Apologies for the duplication. I just reposted two posts from this morning, but this time to the correct blog. The other blog will disappear again …
18 March 2019: What a gorgeous morning! Clear skies, inversion layer over the paddocks, sun about to rise.
18 March 2019: Mondays I check the level in our rainwater tank. It doesn’t rain much in the summer months here. I drop a plastic cup on a string till it …
18 March 2019: Some background: I was brought up Church of England but as a teenager rejected that and am not religious at all. I believe in people’s freedom …
18 March 2019: My reading suggests Islam is very pragmatic: Fasting is obligatory for every physically & mentally capable mature Muslim. Children (& some …
18 March 2019: I thought to start to educate myself about some of my fellow Kiwis: The Arabic word “Islam” literally means “submission” to the one true God (Allah) …
18 March 2019: You get them all posed, then one looks away. Photo: my dogs Sasha and Oshi on the back seat of the car, with guest Willow beside them. 🐶
18 March 2019: OK, I’ve now sent two posts to / from the wrong blog! Must be time to cancel that blog under my account and put it in its own account. I …
17 March 2019: Yes. “they are us and we are them”.
17 March 2019: I was shocked to learn it’s legal in NZ for civilians to own automatic weapons. No civilian should have them. The gunman responsible for the …
16 March 2019: Our Prime Minister speaks of shared values Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern speaks the heart of New Zealand: These [attackers] are people who I would describe as having extremist views that …
16 March 2019: Our dog Oshi, outside: woof. Guest Willow: WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF. Me: Picks up Willow and brings her in. “Hush. No barking.” Oshi: …
16 March 2019: These beautiful white fungi appeared in the vege garden yesterday. Today they’re past their best.
15 March 2019: Ugh. Police have been dealing with 2 shootings at 2 mosques in Christchurch We can confirm there have been a number of fatalities. We cannot at …
15 March 2019: This is appalling, wherever in the world it takes place. It’s almost inconceivable that it would happen in New Zealand though. Armed police …
15 March 2019: Well! Space port ‘could be feasible’ in NZ in 10 years it’s a serious possibility that New Zealand could be the launch site for …
15 March 2019: Wow! Fascinating video: Polishing a Pink Mega Diamond by Periodic Table of Videos. This 13 minute video looks at how diamonds are cut and polished. …
14 March 2019: This year I’m still learning Te Reo Māori, but with much more enjoyment. Instead of a night-class it’s distance learning. Since I …
14 March 2019: Today’s beach walk netted me several kinds of wildlife. 1] A gang of pukeko who strolled across the road in front of my car. 3 remained by the …
13 March 2019: Now, 25 years later, I need two hands to count the number of fictional women who inspire me — the likes of Captain Marvel, Captain Kathryn Janeway, …
13 March 2019: In that very first episode of Xena Warrior Princess in 1995 I anxiously held my breath. I was waiting for the inevitable disappointing moment when a …
13 March 2019: As a kid I loved sci-fi and space. I grew up with Star Trek: The Original Series. I followed all the US space missions, including the first landing on …
13 March 2019: I remain impressed with TV Show Supergirl. S4E14 has real-life politics and personal struggles. Examples: How does Agent Alex do her duty and protect …
12 March 2019: I heard a large plane, looked up and spotted this Royal New Zealand Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft flying very low very nearby. I whipped out my …
12 March 2019: We live on the south side of where the Waikawa River flows into the sea. We seldom walk on the north side, but today was such a day. The landscape …
12 March 2019: It was a nice surprise to get a shout-out on Episode 52 of the Micro Monday Podcast. Quail FTW! Photos: the newest Quail chick, Glee, hatched on 24 …
12 March 2019: I hope we don’t have any really shaky earthquakes between now and mid-winter. I tried a new stacking approach to our 3 cubic metres of firewood. Let’s …
11 March 2019: Mystery helicopter moves The Ohakea Air Base is about 60 Km north-ish of us, if you fly a straight line. That would take an NH90 Helicopter about 15 minutes at moderate speed. …
11 March 2019: Handy: 14 Siri Tricks You Can Use Right Now. I frequently use some already, but new to me: retrieve passwords, translate, dictionary, find friends, …
11 March 2019: Yesterday’s late afternoon trip to the beach netted me these 3 iPhone photos: Shining sea with boat in the distance. Driftwood and dark …
10 March 2019: I’m so much enjoying The Orville TV show. I forget I’m not watching Star Trek. In the latest ep I was expecting a last-second beam out, but hey, it’s …
10 March 2019: One more on NZ history, at Kindle Loc 2625: Contact [with] foreigners began with Abel Tasman in 1642, but so briefly, and then with such a long …
10 March 2019: I’m reading Tangata Whenua: A History to learn more about the history of Aotearoa New Zealand. 📚 I may cite snippets, such as this one …
09 March 2019: A very interesting 5 minute video: Why are All Voice Assistants Female? So why are all voice assistants female then? There’s science behind it, but …
08 March 2019: I have too many domain names, too many websites and too many email addresses. That’s bad for the bank balance. I need to figure out how to trim …
08 March 2019: The first mistake I made with my Japanese Quail was to buy a rabbit hutch and run to house them. A raised house was reached by a ramp, and a wire run …
07 March 2019: Today I caught baby Glee ‘in the wild’, ie, in their house, and she posed nicely. Quail have no prey sense and no homing instinct. You have to keep …
07 March 2019: Some bizarre cropping afflicted that photo yesterday of 10-day old quail chick Glee, getting even more white feathers. So, here she is again, this …
06 March 2019: I enjoyed Captain Marvel. It had humanity, humour and heart along with the fights and chases and whatnot. I’ve left feeling ‘warm’. 😻
06 March 2019: Quail chick Glee is getting more white feathers by the day. 10 days old and does not like me picking her up! 🐦
06 March 2019: Well, I finally sent out the community newsletter for February. Now to start on the March issue. We had a glitch around approvals. A surprisingly …
05 March 2019: While I’ve run out of day before I’ve run out of things I planned or hoped to do, I feel pretty pleased with what I have achieved today. 👍
05 March 2019: My quail are Coturnix Coturnix as in the photo of the bird in the hand below. 🐦 They’re similar to, but not the same as, California Quail, with …
04 March 2019: Glee's feathers are coming along nicely. 🐦
03 March 2019: To get a decent photo of quail chick Glee, now 7 days old, I had to grab her then hold the squirmer in one hand while snapping shots with the other. I …
03 March 2019: Hard to believe it’s taken this long for women to be acknowledged like this: shearer Emily Welch won the first Golden Shears event for women …
02 March 2019: Ironic really, when you’re at a dead stop in the now usual congestion. 90 minutes to reach Otaki. Normally a 15 minute drive. The sign says: …
01 March 2019: I was about to hammer in stakes to support frost cloth when I spotted this large Paper Wasp nest only a few centimetres away. Fly spray dealt to them …
01 March 2019: This is my friend Willow whose people are dealing with a family emergency today. After a morning on her own, I’m allowed to take her for a walk then …
01 March 2019: What a splendid morning at the beach!
01 March 2019: I think someone mentioned the other day that there aren't enough cat photos round here? Aphra. 😀 🐈
28 February 2019: This is a good start: Auckland Council will be lobbying the government to stop the sale of private fireworks. Last year Fire and Emergency received …
27 February 2019: Is it possible to have too many photos of a baby quail? Here's baby Glee at 3 days. 🐦
27 February 2019: I’d forgotten how big a pile 15 cubic metres of mulch makes. Most went down by the gate, a (too) small portion arrived at the top of the drive, …
27 February 2019: Pleased to see baby Quail, Glee, up and about this morning, strolling through the chick food. This is Day Three. Last night wasn’t so cold and I …
26 February 2019: Quail chick Glee, 2 days old, is thriving. 🐦
26 February 2019: Brrrr: that's a chilly summer morning: 3.4C.
25 February 2019: Little Glee is an excellent quail chick. She’s 1 day old and looking strong and healthy. Her wonderful mother, Felicia, is looking after her …
24 February 2019: Periodic Videos comes up trumps again: Diamonds Uncut The Professor looks at uncut diamonds of all shapes and sizes. 10 minute video showing …
24 February 2019: Quail mystery solved. Two eggs from 06 February have hatched. The two from 05 February are still there, and someone had laid a new egg! I doubt the …
24 February 2019: Little quail chick Glee is up and about and pecking for food. Three of the original 4 eggs remain. So where did this wee dead chick come from? Was …
24 February 2019: I was investigating what looked like a hard boiled quail egg beside mother Felicia when she moved. Welcome to the world baby quail Glee! 🐦
24 February 2019: Ahhh, starting the day with my favourite morning tea, China Snowbuds quality white tea buds from the Fujian province in China. The taste is dry and …
23 February 2019: Well, we were meant to go to Kāpiti Island (nature reserve) tomorrow for an overnight stay but the trip’s been cancelled because the weather …
22 February 2019: So glad the Mothers of Invention podcast is back for Season 2. Join former Irish President Mary Robinson and comedian Maeve Higgins in this uplifting …
22 February 2019: A high-ranking female Viking warrior Luckily genetic analysis has overridden the sexism of a bunch of archaeologists who assumed that a Viking warrior must be male because they thought …
21 February 2019: Dashed off to brush my teeth during the long ads in an online TV show. Had a sudden memory of the first 40 or so years of my life when if you weren’t …
20 February 2019: Last week I watched the sun set over our beach. This morning I watched a full moon set over the beach. The dogs and I arrived just in time.
19 February 2019: Excellent 7 minute video from Tom Scott: Why Denmark Is .07 Seconds Behind The World Measuring time is a complicated thing. Computers, banks, and …
18 February 2019: Fascinating, thought-provoking 20 minute video: What is the Oldest Mummy in the World? The Ask A Mortician videos are always so interesting.
18 February 2019: Today's quail update: sometimes a bird will lay an egg that has no shell around the internal protective membrane (Photo 1). Last week's unusually …
17 February 2019: This unusual (to me) dead fish on the beach this morning may be a Black Oreo Dory. large-eyed, silvery, deep-bodied, laterally compressed, and …
15 February 2019: I’ve spent much of the day in bed as I’ve been feeling odd all day — a bit dizzy perhaps. On a rare trip ‘out’ I saw and heard baby quail Flop …
14 February 2019: There were interesting clouds at dusk tonight — braided and wave-like.
14 February 2019: Today’s XKCD comic has to be one of my favourites.
14 February 2019: Many thanks for the birthday wishes @brentsimmons, @yorrike, @pratik, @aclaman, @dejus, @macgenie and @cheri. I feel proud to have made it to 64, …
13 February 2019: It seemed fitting on the eve of my 64th birthday to go down to the beach and watch the sun set. It was a gorgeous evening!
13 February 2019: Felicia is a very dedicated mother. She's sitting on 5 eggs I've left with her. In a couple of weeks they *might* hatch. 🐦
13 February 2019: Hen egg vs quail egg. The last hen eggs we bought are jumbo size. In the photo I put a regular size Coturnix quail egg next to the smallest of the …
13 February 2019: Found: The women mathematicians responsible for calculating ballistics tables for missiles being used by allied forces in World War 2. (The …
12 February 2019: Also on the beach today this probable green-lipped mussel, with brown ‘beard’.
12 February 2019: I haven’t seen any penguins on our beach — until today with this dead one. 😒 Someone had marked its location with a driftwood cross of sorts. The bird …
11 February 2019: Florence and Felicia are two of last year’s quail. One of them laid the middle egg in the photo of 3 eggs. It’s a normal size for a quail …
10 February 2019: Today I separated the quail into two groups in separate runs. Poor little baby Flop has been badly bullied by Fatima, the male, meanwhile her mother …
09 February 2019: Clever Siri. I said: “Hey Siri, remind me to move the lime tree in Autumn”. Siri scheduled my reminder for 09:00 on 21 March this year. …
08 February 2019: The beach was looking a bit gorgeous this morning. I had just dug in those sticks to help mark the track. In the distance is Kāpiti Island, which …
08 February 2019: Yesterday this fishing vessel was working *really* close to shore. A good swimmer could have easily reached it. Apparently they can come as close as …
06 February 2019: How to get list bullets on the Home Page with Marfa theme The other day I wrote a post with a list in it. Mysteriously, it showed up on the Home Page of my Micro.blog-based blog without any list bullets. I …
05 February 2019: At our beach we sometimes get Bluebottle jellies and By The Wind sailors, but I haven't before seen these small clear jellies. There weren't loads of …
05 February 2019: Our current neighbours were looking gorgeous this morning. Photo: 2 brown horses and a black horse standing in a row. The black horse has an eye …
05 February 2019: Yesterday’s wasp sting was painful at the time, but I washed and iced it and it seemed OK. Today my arm's slightly swollen at the sting site, and a …
04 February 2019: Moments of the day, Monday 04 February 2019 an hour watering the garden alone on the beach with the dogs dug out a small gorse bush got stung by a …
03 February 2019: Last night I really enjoyed the movie Victoria & Abdul. It was a lot lighter than I expected. The excesses and racism of British ‘royal society’ …
02 February 2019: Lunch Letdowns near Levin Yesterday I tried out Whispers Cafe in Levin. I had a hot chocolate, with fish and chips. I'd have to say the meal was fine, but somehow it didn't …
02 February 2019: Loved this 10 minute video: Nature Mythology From Around the World This week on Nature League, Brit and Adrian re-enact mythology tales about plants …
01 February 2019: LOL, Kāpiti Coast District Council has put up ‘selfie’ posts in scenic locations. How to selfie - with Parks Officer Mark is fun. Watch to the end. 1 …
31 January 2019: Ares and Aphra relax in front of the house. 🐈
31 January 2019: Watched: The Poor Man of Nippur - World’s first film in Babylonian …a c. 3,000 year-old comic folk tale in Babylonian language. …a clay tablet …
31 January 2019: Wonderful to step outside just before dawn to see a crescent Moon partnered up with Jupiter and Venus in the Northeast. Quick iPhone photo for the …
30 January 2019: Hooray for nuns, and magic water In 1963 our family moved from London, England to New Zealand. I recall very little about where I was born and lived to the age of 8, but today thought …
29 January 2019: When it feels more like Samoa or something than not too far from Wellington, New Zealand. Screenshot: temperature is 26 but feels like 36. Celsius.
24 January 2019: Apparently this little critter I found on the side of the house this evening is a Small field grasshopper. Conocephalus bilineatus is a small winged …
24 January 2019: Read: What to do when your personal blog becomes a burden: 6 tips : When your personal blog becomes a burden: make new rules and lose blogger guilt. …
24 January 2019: This kōtuku ngutupapa, Spoonbill, pair were on the grass today and I was able to be fairly close. Don't they look fine! And look at them showing off …
23 January 2019: These three cheerful Tirairaka sitting on a log were one of two purchases from the recent Ōtaki Pottery Show. Tirairaka are also known as Piwakawaka …
21 January 2019: Today it’s almost 4 weeks since the quail chicks hatched so we integrated the flock again. The trick seems to be to move everyone to fresh …
19 January 2019: Evidence of voyaging Polynesians settling in Aotearoa more than 700 years ago. An excavation at Mangahawea Bay on Moturua Island in the Bay of …
19 January 2019: Sir Kim Workman on his fight for criminal justice reform When I was about 20, training to be a teacher, we visited a prison for young men. I was …
18 January 2019: Looking good, kōtuku ngutupapa, the Spoonbill! 🐦
17 January 2019: Clearly the shutter speed was too slow when I took photos of these horses being ridden along the beach this morning. I rather like the blurry leg (and …
16 January 2019: The minute quantities along with the enormous prices are mind-boggling in this 10 minute video: Milking the Thorium Cow - Periodic Table of Videos
16 January 2019: A dog walk in the trees across the river got us a view of the shag colony, where there are baby shags. I think this is a juvenile Little Shag. Look at …
16 January 2019: As time has passed there are 2 things that frustrate me enormously in the Micro.Blog Mac app: I can’t zoom images and when I choose to Reply I …
16 January 2019: 4 years of daily selfies, and counting… Somewhere around 01 January 2015 I realised that of the thousands of photos in my albums only a handful had me in them. I decided to take a selfie …
16 January 2019: Bad error messages can kill companies: An Amazon suspension message lists an item along with a tangentially related category of infraction, like …
15 January 2019: Susan Bennett was the original voice for Apple’s Siri, the first AI assistant on a cell phone. It was 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, of reading …
14 January 2019: When men won't even let women relieve themselves… People without a safe place to go to the bathroom can die because of unsanitary conditions. A 2016 study in India found that women who defecate in the …
14 January 2019: So sad women have to endure this: 18 year old refugee woman Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun renounced Islam, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. …
13 January 2019: We had a delicious and reasonably priced meal at Prah Ta Pang in Waikanae last night. I chose E4. Guireau Chha (Stir Fry Rice Noodle) Chicken, pork or …
12 January 2019: We went to see Bohemian Rhapsody tonight. Initially a bit reluctant, I really enjoyed it. And, of course, the music was excellent.
12 January 2019: A new word I learned today: enchiridion — a book containing essential information on a subject. Thanks to Micro.wiki.
12 January 2019: What a good thing: On the websites of many New Zealand companies women can now access information about the services offered by Women’s Refuge …
11 January 2019: I seem to be answering a lot of these challenges lately: all the squares with cars or roads or whatever. I just want to say: damn it, I don’t …
11 January 2019: Something I learned yesterday when asked to publish a community notice about a missing cat: not only can cats get asthma, but sometimes they use …
10 January 2019: 6 conventional blogging tips that may make sense for personal blogs: certain time-honoured tips apply to every blog, including personal bloggers. …
10 January 2019: Because women are overlooked & unsupported, & because her work is excellent, I’ve set up my first Patreon sub. BrainCraft science videos …
10 January 2019: Women are routinely erased from history, but occasionally they resurface: more evidence female monastics were not only literate, but also prolific …
10 January 2019: When I was a kid, back in the 60s, you could drive a long way and scarcely see another car. We had one short stretch like that yesterday on our drive …
09 January 2019: Hard to believe that just over 12 hours ago we were in Whangārei. The drive home was smooth, in spite of diverting via Rotorua. We were lucky …
09 January 2019: Today we set off for home. It’s a bit over 700 Km, or 10 hours driving. Chances are we’ll stop overnight somewhere. With dogs in the car …
08 January 2019: At AH Reed park in Whangārei there is a merely 500 year old Kauri tree. There’s also an obligatory shoe cleaning station, on account of …
08 January 2019: The Otuihau Whangārei waterfall is 26.3m high and falls over basalt cliffs.
08 January 2019: Yesterday at the Whangarei Kiwi House and Museum I saw an actual Brown Kiwi feeding. The need for dark and quiet meant no photos allowed. This …
07 January 2019: Giant Kokopu at the Whangarei Kiwi House and Museum. A coastal species of fish endemic to New Zealand.
07 January 2019: 3 baby and 2 adult Oystercatchers at Uretiti Beach near Whangarei. 🐦
07 January 2019: Photo: looking at Hen and Chicken Islands from Uretiti dog beach near Marsden Point (on the Bream Bay coast). It's an East Coast beach.
07 January 2019: 10 blogging guidelines that don’t apply to personal blogs You are blogging to express yourself, make friends, develop your own ideas, learn about …
06 January 2019: The Hokianga Harbour is astonishingly beautiful.
06 January 2019: A single photo just can’t show how huge Tāne Mahuta is.
06 January 2019: Today we aim to visit Tāne Mahuta, a tree that stood on this land for 1,000 years before people arrived and is still standing strong.
06 January 2019: www.radionz.co.nz Stewart Island named a Dark Sky Sanctuary
05 January 2019: The Whangarei Basin is a lovely spot on a very hot Saturday morning. The market stalls had variety.
05 January 2019: Hah, haven't seen one of these nice timeline adjacencies since I left Twitter. What will drive you? This Maserati?
05 January 2019: Our friends in Whangarei have the most beautiful Belgian Shepherd dog. About 5 years old. 🐶
04 January 2019: We were suddenly presented with these two huge sculptures on a hill as we rounded a corner (but couldn't take photos till we were down the hill). …
04 January 2019: As we crossed the Bombay Hills yesterday farmers were harvesting spring onions. What a stench! I’d hate to live downwind of that.
04 January 2019: We had a good night in Auckland with a friend, but today we head for our ultimate destination: Whangarei. It’s only another 3 hours I believe, …
03 January 2019: We stopped along the Desert Road (just before the best viewing spot…) and I hauled out the good camera with the zoom lens for a couple of shots …
03 January 2019: Huntly coal fired power station looks good. We also saw a train load of coal arriving. Time for this one to cease production.
03 January 2019: We stopped at Oruatua on the East side of Lake Taupo for the dogs to have a walk.
03 January 2019: Ruapehu was looking fine as we drove the Desert Road.
03 January 2019: A couple of hours driving brought us to breakfast at Taihape. They’re still waking up here.
02 January 2019: Quail chicks Day 7. They seem to be exchanging baby fluff for feathers. Photos: yellow chick and stripey chick looking patchy and scruffy. 🐦
01 January 2019: Today Fliss, the 6 day old stripey quail chick, is modelling for us. What a looker! Flop’s photos didn't turn out so well. 🐦
01 January 2019: Angel Wings. Photo: a white Royal Spoonbill takes flight from the lagoon at Waikawa Beach. 🐦
31 December 2018: Well, at almost 11pm I’m finding it hard to believe that 2019 is about to begin. Best wishes for this new year about to launch. May we all find peace …
31 December 2018: These baby quail, born 5 days ago now, remain unbearably cute. Photos: yellow chick peeking out from under mum’s wing; yellow chick makes a …
31 December 2018: We went to see The Favourite recently and the film has stayed with me. It’s intense, unusual, and features Queen Anne and her two courtiers …
31 December 2018: Women and rebels honoured Look what happens when you get a government that is actually working for people, rather than the rich and business: a New Year's Honours List evenly …
30 December 2018: Whew. It took nearly 24 hours but I’ve finally modified the Comment form on our Community WordPress website to: remove URL field, improve some …
29 December 2018: Thank you Inoreader and BBEdit! After searching all over for a way to capture items from a single RSS feed (Word of the Day in Māori) and save them, I …
28 December 2018: Little Flop, in her third day, finds straw a bit of a challenge. Photo: yellow quail chick in straw. 🐦
28 December 2018: Little Fliss, in her third day, is so photogenic. Photo: stripy baby Japanese quail. 🐦
26 December 2018: A few hours later: Mother quail, Felicia, and babies Fliss and Flop are doing fine.
26 December 2018: Birds can change sex Sex Reversal in Chickens Kept in Small and Backyard Flocks - eXtension tells us (of chickens): How does spontaneous sex reversal occur? Typically, …
26 December 2018: The MOST exciting thing: we unexpectedly have 2 baby quail! Especially unexpected since the adults are all female (but apparently birds can change …
25 December 2018: Dark mode was so hyped that I switched to it immediately on installing Mojave when it was released. I really really tried to like it but have found …
25 December 2018: Are you familiar with earth — a visualization of global weather conditions? I visit daily. The screenshot below shows a ‘river’ of …
25 December 2018: This Micro Monday I’d like to mention @smokey who is thoughtful, generous, interesting, and a pillar of this community.
24 December 2018: As a contribution to our shared lunch with friends tomorrow I’ve made Lemon Butter Biscuits and Gingerbread Dinosaurs. Unfortunately Halide, …
24 December 2018: The Levin dog park, next to Lake Horowhenua, is splendid: 50,000 square metres (12 acres), fully fenced, large and small open areas, shaded areas, …
22 December 2018: A “hidden figure” in the development of GPS technology has officially been honored …. Mathematician Dr. Gladys West was recognized for doing the …
22 December 2018: The pause point It’s 4.45 am on summer solstice. I have been awake an hour already. Sunrise will come soon, bringing more than 16 hours of daylight. I sip my tea — a …
22 December 2018: Nice: 16 hours and 12 minutes of daylight today.
21 December 2018: After several fatalities recently, we have new signs between Waikawa Beach Road and Levin on State Highway 1. “Keep left, high crash …
20 December 2018: Today’s Te Reo Māori quirk: tātahi is the beach. You don’t put a ‘te’ in front of it, just like you wouldn’t put a ‘the’ in front of …
20 December 2018: So, any thoughts about what’s heading our way and how long it’ll take to get here?
20 December 2018: Interesting word of the week, bdelloid: From the Ancient Greek βδέλλα (bdella, "leech"). That bd combination at …
20 December 2018: Your New Social Credit Score: A powerful 3 minute video about a possible, even likely, future. I specially like: “If you’re a citizen of …
19 December 2018: We like the horses down the road. Moose has recently joined the other two. When he's standing right beside them you can see what a big fellow he is. …
19 December 2018: Drat! Last week’s sutures from a trivial excision came out today. Except for one that resisted. Now I have 4 new sutures in the middle of my …
17 December 2018: This Micro Monday I’d like to recommend @Pip for her photos with strong and interesting shapes and @tgray for his photos, often of cats.
17 December 2018: At sunrise today there was a nice little inversion layer over the paddock next door. Photo: 2 black and white steers grazing in a misty paddock with …
16 December 2018: One of the delights of Te Reo Māori is that it doesn’t have to suffer apostrophes. But what I was really going to say was “Good on …
16 December 2018: This morning’s beach theme: black-backed gulls and an oystercatcher on the wet sand with Kāpiti Island in the background.
14 December 2018: I really enjoyed Elseworlds parts 1 & 2 under the show names of Flash and Arrow. But part 3, under the name of Supergirl, was all about the boys, …
14 December 2018: These starlings, I think, have given themselves orange heads by dipping into the flax flowers. Photos: starlings on flowering flax spears; flowering …
14 December 2018: And again it’s thundery weather. These are my favourite clouds today.
14 December 2018: One of the best parts of this story about a homeless man in hospital in Brazil: The pups were eager, but also patient — settling at the doorway to …
13 December 2018: There’s thunder in the air. Photo: low and dark clouds.
13 December 2018: The farmer next door is baling hay a couple of paddocks over. Hooray for a zoom lens. Photos: tractor and baling machine collecting hay, wrapping it …
13 December 2018: Jean @macgenie was kind enough to send me a copy of The Sun. By the looks of these amazing night sky photos by Marc Toso there’s some good …
11 December 2018: Dogs are great! Pets are being trained to detect invasive fish: “The dogs sniffed 17-samples …holding their nose by the sample … for long enough they …
11 December 2018: On this morning’s beach walk we saw (photos) two horses, and a fishing boat. The sea was very calm.
10 December 2018: Bush Giant Dragonflies often come into the house at this time of year and generally can’t find their way out again. I rescued this one (2 …
09 December 2018: In summer the dogs and I head to the beach early. It’s too hot for them by 8 am on a sunny day. Today we saw (photos) one person (a regular) …
08 December 2018: Sounds mysterious Aha, I knew it! Well, I didn't or I wouldn't have had to look it up. What I did know was that the speaker's accent had vowels that sounded very 'pure' …
07 December 2018: The 200 funniest words in English: That sounds funny — the science behind why certain words make us laugh. Not a family-friendly list. The surprise …
06 December 2018: Driving past the lake this morning I caught a quick glimpse of a baby pūkeko: a tiny ball of fluff on legs. No photo, I’m afraid, but here are 2 …
06 December 2018: What a great story, and with a surprising New Zealand connection: The Hopeful Story of a Doomed Fox, a 7 minute video from NPR’s Skunk Bear. The …
05 December 2018: I had an hour today with Karen, a Clinical Massage Practitioner. It turns out all the time I’ve spent using a weedeater recently (darn this warm …
05 December 2018: $95 worth of high-quality beef mince, stir-fry and steak from my favourite Green Meadows Beef. A pleasing gift was the unexpected free pack of venison …
05 December 2018: Oshi will be 12 next week. He finds 6.45am far too early to be awake. Photo: Oshi the dog yawning while sitting on my lap.
05 December 2018: Hey, a new comet, and fairly easy to spot: “On Dec. 16th, Comet 46P/Wirtanen will approach Earth less than 1.5 million km away–making it one of the 10 …
04 December 2018: When you glance out the window and spot someone lurking behind the flax bush only a few metres away… Photos: brown and white and black and white …
04 December 2018: These beauties are straight from our tunnel house. Photo: 6 red strawberries.
04 December 2018: One of my favourite loose-leaf teas is Premium China Snowbuds, a delicate white tea. Today for the first time I actually carefully followed the …
30 November 2018: Hayfever sounds fairly innocent: oh, you sneeze a lot. In reality it’s like a permanent bad cold: runny nose, sneezing, severely itchy throat, …
30 November 2018: In November lupin bushes are very pretty, loaded with bright yellow flowers … whose pollen flies straight into my eyes, nose and throat, and maybe …
30 November 2018: We had an early start at the beach this morning. Sasha caught today’s moment of sunshine. Photo: small black dog by a driftwood log on the beach, lit …
25 November 2018: Geese fly in those gorgeous wedge-shaped skeins… but not this gang of 35 rebels. They were all over the place as they flew past today: clumps, lines, …
25 November 2018: The fishing vessel Perseverance 66110 was our companion at the beach this morning. Photo: fishing boat near shore, small waves breaking.
24 November 2018: The paddocks next door usually have Friesian (probably) steers. The farmer keeps his dairy herd elsewhere. Today the herd appears to have grown by one …
23 November 2018: Caught this beauty just after coming home from dinner out. Photo: full red-tinged moon rising above paddocks.
23 November 2018: I love the hawks that soar around here, hunting. Today, for the first time, and through a window, I managed an OK photo of one.
22 November 2018: The bird in the range hood I came home from shopping to hear extremely loud and continuous bird chirps in the corner of the kitchen. Odd. Outside: no birds. Inside: loud chirps. …
22 November 2018: Interesting: in this 8 minute audio we hear how beatboxers make sounds, some of which are unlike any used in human language. The Quirks & Quarks …
21 November 2018: Interesting: “Sometimes, numbers on sites like YouTube and Twitter jump up and down subscriber counts lag, like-counts bounce… Why is it so hard for …
21 November 2018: Wow, even though I knew the outcome was good, this video of a rescue of 3 people + 2 dogs by helicopter from the California fires was gut-clenching: …
20 November 2018: The farmer next door is ploughing the paddock. The crop will probably be feed for the cows who are usually in there.
17 November 2018: Wahine Rongonui: Dame Whina Cooper This year I've been studying Te Reo Māori, the Māori language, through Te Wananga o Aotearoa. As we come to the end of the year we have to …
14 November 2018: Those two scruffy dogs have finally had a bath and a trim. You can see their eyes again! Photos: freshly groomed small dogs.
14 November 2018: Looking south towards Kāpiti Island on a gorgeous morning. Meanwhile, what were these 2 scoundrels up to? Photos: view from the beach towards Kāpiti …
13 November 2018: I don’t often use cash, but today’s bonus was to receive an Armistice Day centennial coin in change. Photos: New Zealand 50 cent piece …
13 November 2018: Oshi and Sasha had a great run on the beach this morning. Photos: Oshi running; Sasha running.
11 November 2018: Today I made a new veggie patch and planted self-sown tomatoes and celery. Emptied and moved 2 compost bins to fill an old large crate. Old tires …
10 November 2018: In truth, sleeping dogs: Oshi and Sasha.
10 November 2018: Yellowhammer: “The colourful yellowhammer is a common inhabitant of open country throughout much of New Zealand. Introduced from Britain by …
10 November 2018: Cabbage trees, tī kōuka.
10 November 2018: This morning‘s haul of 5 strawberries from the tunnel house.
09 November 2018: From the iPhone 7, a delicate fungus I spotted in the garden this morning.
07 November 2018: Kiwis: sick of fireworks? A new petition to cease retail sales. Sign by 30 November 2018.
07 November 2018: Interesting: in that big earthquake last week the P waves arrived first, with the S waves later. “This computer simulation shows how the …
06 November 2018: Who knew … apparently there’s a town in France, Le Quesnoy, that the Kiwis liberated near the end of World War 1. They remember and celebrate …
04 November 2018: I don’t fuss about regular folks writing ‘poorly’, but professionals is another matter. Radio NZ and the misplaced ‘tomorrow ‘: “The Wellington City …
04 November 2018: Urgh, this wind is a definite incentive to stay in bed. 💨
03 November 2018: On my Micro.blog site styling the photos also affected my avatar at the top of the page. This CSS fixed that: img#avatar {margin-top:0; …
03 November 2018: On my Micro.blog site I didn’t like my photos being smooshed together. This CSS has helped: img {margin-top:1.5em; background-color: #ffffff; …
03 November 2018: The map mystery Whenever a Kiwi spots a world map in the background of some News broadcast, our eye is inevitably drawn to the space where New Zealand should be. All …
02 November 2018: I was wondering how much CO2 I save by making hyperlocal trips on my bike. This handy CO2 calculator is useful: The approximate CO2 per litre of …
02 November 2018: On strong role models in film and tv — we need more Here's an excellent research-based 7 minute video from BrainCraft about how important role models are: How Dana Scully Changed Science — …
01 November 2018: Sunset, and I glanced up at the now cloud-free Tararuas to see snow on the peaks. No wonder it’s so chilly outside. Photos: pink sunset colours …
01 November 2018: That scary rain on the roof sound It's common in New Zealand for houses to have a tin roof. In our case that's long-run Colorsteel. So when it rains heavily it can get quite noisy. …
31 October 2018: Today’s beach observation: an intact sand dollar.
31 October 2018: This morning I stood on the deck and took photos of some of our household and neighbours. Photos: 2 black cats; brown horse eating grass with a pine …
30 October 2018: Don’t mean to harp on it, but that earthquake was BIG and LONG. I’m actually shaking still. A couple of tiny items fell off a shelf and no …
30 October 2018: Wow. If you never hear from me again it’s because I didn’t follow the rule about “Long and strong get gone”. Very big earthquake and …
30 October 2018: I enjoy the posts from @YellowCottage . They’re a great Micro Monday follow if you enjoy photos and brief videos of cats, posts about bees, and …
30 October 2018: Two fine looking horses were ridden past me on the beach this morning. 2 minutes and 14 seconds later one had lost its rider in the sea and was …
30 October 2018: What the heck! I always watch the Apple Events live (at 5 am, urgh!), but this next one’s at 3 am New Zealand time! Guess I’ll just be …
11 September 2018: Snorkelling at Utuko Reef again yesterday I just snapped loads of pictures. Between contact lenses, mask and being underwater it can be hard to see …
07 September 2018: Utuko Reef.
06 September 2018: Utuko Reef from Crazy Unga Cafe. 🗺🇳🇺
05 September 2018: Getting closer. The flight to Niue takes almost 3.5 hours. We cross the dateline so we arrive yesterday. 🗺 🇳🇺
11 August 2018: Sitting out in the sun with my little Aphra. 🐈
22 June 2018: Woohoo. First (frosty) sunrise on the way to mid-summer.
20 June 2018: This has become one of my favourite recipes: easy and quick to make, delicious to eat. I don’t eat onion so use celery instead. Red lentil, …
21 May 2018: The Netflix animated programme called Spirit is just lovely for kids — features 3 girls, probably ~13, having adventures with horses in Arizona. …
13 May 2018: I’m not actually a big fan of cutesy stuff, but these Salt and Pepper shakers had a certain appeal.
01 May 2018: Sometimes we gets mats of small pieces of driftwood. Nice sharp edges on this one.
29 April 2018: The answer to a question you may not have asked: no, you can’t eat olives straight from the tree. Straight off the tree, they are bitter, very bitter …
18 April 2018: My favourite noise isn't the whistling in my ears I’m working on overcoming tinnitus and improving sleep at the moment. After a professional hearing test last week, today I tried this Online …
11 April 2018: There was a brief gap in the clouds so I was able to see a light dusting of snow on the Tararuas. That's because the wind today is coming straight …
10 April 2018: The thunderstorm at midnight really upset Sasha. Now, at nearly 9 am it's just rain and maybe dull rumbles, but she’s still unhappy, trembling and …
09 April 2018: I love how the wind smooths and ripples the sand overnight. It was rippling the river water too.
09 April 2018: There were a lot of birds at the river mouth this morning: Black backed gulls and White-fronted terns in particular. These were just some of them. 🐦
08 April 2018: On cooler mornings at dawn we can see the top of Mt Ruapehu, 164 Km away, from home. Kei te harikoa ahau. (Makes me happy.)
07 April 2018: A Keyboard Maestro macro to help me learn long placenames I’m using Anki flashcards to help me learn Te Reo Māori, but some longer placenames are giving me a lot of trouble. I’ve devised a …
06 April 2018: Oversize vehicles are common on the stretch of road between Ōtaki and Levin, but I haven't spotted a huge concrete beam (presumably) before.
05 April 2018: Allbirds with Over Under Lacing and Ian’s Secure Knot.
05 April 2018: With a new pair of Kotare Mint Allbirds shoes on my feet I was very glad to find I still had Ian's Shoelace Site in my bookmarks. Now to find the …
04 April 2018: This piece of driftwood caught my eye this morning.
02 April 2018: Today was rather satisfying. Now April has arrived I seem to be finally settling into a useful pattern of activity. I did a bit of weeding and …
01 April 2018: Waikawa Beach photos from a drone A professional operator with his own DJI Inspire v1 drone visited today and took a few photos of our property and the area nearby. I was very lucky …
30 March 2018: Then the sun came up.
30 March 2018: I love these misty autumn mornings. Such beautiful colours in the greenery. Can't decide which of the exposures I like better.
29 March 2018: Aphra rarely allows me to catch her or pick her up, but tonight she let her guard down. 🐈
27 March 2018: A gorgeous dog walk at the beach this morning. Kawau, Pied Shags: ready, set, go go go.
26 March 2018: Now the dog yard is secure, though unfinished, I need to start beautifying it. Step 1: replant and mulch one of the small trees that had to be moved. …
23 March 2018: Oshi in his new $8 dog cave (on the dog bed, on the rug, on the carpet, on the floor…).
22 March 2018: Come on, Apple, give us Kiwis a choice New Zealand has at least two official languages: English and Māori. The English we speak and write isn't *exactly* the same as Australian or British, …
22 March 2018: The dogs are very happy in their new playground. 🐶
22 March 2018: Something is wrong. I heard it rain in the night. The ground is wet. But the rain gauge shows no rain.
22 March 2018: Noooo. Yesterday I missed my Activity ring by 8 points simply because I forgot to check before I went to bed. Darn it.
21 March 2018: The dog yard is sufficiently complete to put it to the test. Refinements will come (gates, handrail on the ramp, properly blocking up known gaps). It …
21 March 2018: Fish heads on the beach.
20 March 2018: The dog yard has a way to go yet, but it’s definitely getting there. The deck on the house needs some rails and a step. There will be gates.
19 March 2018: Progress on the dog yard.
17 March 2018: Buddies: Sasha and Ares. Hard to believe Sasha (and her brother Oshi) used to chase Ares every single time she could when we lived in Wellington. 🐶 🐈 …
16 March 2018: The dog yard now has most of its posts. Still to come: rails and 2 gates. 🐶
16 March 2018: The secure dog yard is underway. 🐶
15 March 2018: At last, tomorrow the fencing guy comes to build a secure dog yard to keep these two scallywags from running away. Hooray! 🐶
14 March 2018: A benefit of a sudden unexpected trip to Wellington was a few moments with this harbour view. Sick partner now safely home and in bed.
12 March 2018: Nearly missed the whole of a gorgeous sunset. Luckily I caught the tail end.
11 March 2018: Ruapehu and Tongariro from the Desert Rd. Then a late lunch at Bulls, where you can’t forget where you are.
11 March 2018: Huka Falls was amazing as always. So much water!
11 March 2018: This motel has its own thermal mineral pool. A 10 minute bathe is a great way to start the day.
10 March 2018: The pipe bands keep coming in the street parade. Wellington Police brought their dog. 50 bands apparently. National comps.
10 March 2018: Rotorua seems an unlikely place for a pipe band competition, but there we are.
10 March 2018: Ready for a breakfast cruise on the Lake Rotorua paddleboat.
09 March 2018: Clear water springs at Hangarua.
09 March 2018: Mighty redwoods at Hangarua.
09 March 2018: Looking out over Lake Rotorua from Mt Nongotaha.
08 March 2018: Single lane stop and go around roadworks on the Desert Road. Which was open today because rain stopped the road closure intended to let them repair …
08 March 2018: Taihape’s humorous loo signage.
08 March 2018: Doing all my Internetting before a 7 hour scheduled power outage.
08 March 2018: Middle of the night. There’s a loose pipe banging and the house is shaking a bit in the wind. But the last, long, shake was definitely an earthquake. …
07 March 2018: The latest new house on the block is a Totalspan steel frame build. So glad we can't see this new house from our place, thanks to a hill. We've had so …
07 March 2018: Looks like today will be an indoor day and that the water tank will be full again.
06 March 2018: Enjoyed the first session of the Te Reo Māori course I'm doing this year with Te Wananga o Aotearoa. 3 hours in the evening — not my best time of day, …
06 March 2018: Cosmic Rays are heading our way This is … interesting … … radiation from deep space is not only intensifying, but also doing so faster than previously predicted. …
06 March 2018: Ahhh, what a way to start the day, with Rare Kenya Silver Tip white tea: From the Kenyan plantations in Africa this is a most delicate tea — the …
05 March 2018: I enjoy watching short science videos while I eat breakfast. The new Nature League is already great: Brit …goes through characteristics of life on …
04 March 2018: Safe journeys, kuaka A few Kuaka visit our beach every year, but now it’s time for them to leave: 🐦 With the changing of the season, the first godwits have started …
03 March 2018: Patterns in the sand at the Waiorongomai Stream.
02 March 2018: Down at Waikanae for dinner.
02 March 2018: Friday morning breakfast videos Ahhh, Friday morning videos to watch while I eat breakfast (today: quail eggs, ham, black rice and cheese): Physics Girl: What is the Magic Russian …
01 March 2018: When about 50 Canada Geese fly right overhead. 🐦
28 February 2018: There's a flock of about 50 Canada Geese (and a rabbit) just hanging out in the next paddock but one. 🐦
27 February 2018: It took me several hours of reading about 500 pages of PDF and writing 4,000 words over 3 blog posts to work out my response to the Council’s …
22 February 2018: Nice to see Royal Spoonbills around after the storm. 🐦
21 February 2018: Really enjoyed Black Panther tonight. Themes of leadership, loyalty, responsibility, culture were so interesting. And of course the tech was glorious. …
20 February 2018: After a very still day, in the last 10 minutes Ex Tropical Cyclone Gita has started to make itself felt at our place (white dot on the map). Winds …
18 February 2018: Getting dark and the local pheasants start squawking. Moments later (as expected with such an efficient early warning system) a magnitude 5.0 …
15 February 2018: Discovering possibility and hope again Ohhh, Star Trek Discovery was a blimmin good story, beautifully told. And that reminder of the Original Series stirs up so much for me. I watched it …
14 February 2018: I stopped drinking tea and coffee in about 1981. Over time though I’ve become a green tea drinker, lately switching from bags to a variety of …
14 February 2018: This package arrived in the mail today and the Contents Description had me stumped: “aluminium pack, cotton coaster, Iron filters”. What the heck! …
13 February 2018: Our thoughts with Tonga This morning, as the day dawns, I look outside and everything is the same as it was yesterday. At the same time it is dawn in Tonga. Thanks to a …
11 February 2018: Yes! 23mm of rain today and counting. That should have added 1500 litres of water to our house tank. I love this direct relationship with the water we …
11 February 2018: I was wearing thick work gloves when I pulled a tall weed this evening. Good thing too as I disturbed a rather angry wasp that managed to sting my …
11 February 2018: From a better angle I can see that kite is a stingray.
11 February 2018: Monster kite at the Ōtaki Kite Festival.
11 February 2018: A rich vocabulary to describe exchange and sharing I love finding out things like this about other languages: A village in the northern Malay Peninsula … Comprising just 280 people, the …
09 February 2018: This evening when I arrived home that little Silvereye was back and waiting by the door. I had to almost pick it up before it moved. Great opportunity …
09 February 2018: Dawn I stand on the deck at 6 AM as pink tinges the clouds near the horizon in the East. Between the clouds and me there are duelling roosters about a …
08 February 2018: I think this Silvereye must have been very young. It let me get very close this afternoon before flying away.
04 February 2018: Spots before my eyes In the last few years my eyes have been a little unpredictable — I feel as though I just can't see right. Frequent eye tests let me know I should be …
04 February 2018: Spinifex is wonderful stuff: it helps hold the sand dunes together and build new dunes. At this time of year the spiky seedheads are blown around by …
04 February 2018: An overnight low of 5C is a bit of a shock to the system after a month or so of the temperatures never dropping below 15 or 20.
03 February 2018: I started the day feeling a bit overwhelmed with so many things to do. Now I’ve done a random bunch of smaller things and feel better. Whew. 😅
02 February 2018: Hard to believe Ares and Aphra turn 16 tomorrow. Here’s the two of them at about 6 months sitting on the TV. Then Aphra in her ’pod’ and …
01 February 2018: Well, good morning Moon. You may no longer be blood red, but you’re still super! Nice to see you after all that cloud.
31 January 2018: Locals have done a grand job moving driftwood to protect young dunes and clumps of dune grasses from trailbikes and other vehicles.
30 January 2018: Landskein: the weaving & braiding of horizon lines Sometime last year I came across a word to describe layers of misty mountains. Fabulous! I thought. I'll remember that. And promptly forgot it. Today …
27 January 2018: 3 year old Ursula is a beautiful bonus at my generous host’s house. 🐈
27 January 2018: I’m enjoying Rachel McAlpine’s Summer Writing School. Here we are at lunchtime enjoying the fresh air. Somehow I look much taller than Rachel, …
26 January 2018: I was telling someone about this fantastic 14 minute YouTube documentary today and nearly couldn't find it again — The Challenge of True Solitude: You …
25 January 2018: The rural life: this morning Scotty, the septic tank guy, stopped by to see why our tank’s warning light was on. Luckily it was an easy fix and …
24 January 2018: Stopped at a cafe and my Dark Skies T-shirt sparked a good conversation which even touched on the lunar eclipse on 31 January. 👍🏼 At least we can see …
23 January 2018: Sasha and I found a tennis ball on the beach this morning. It was too hot to chase it for long though.
18 January 2018: It’s good to see a mum hanging out with her kids. Monarch Butterfly and Swan Plant.
17 January 2018: This cute little Tauhou, Silver-Eye was stunned on the doorstep when I came home. After a few moments recovery it flew away happily. 🐦
15 January 2018: Given the 27C heat today and anomalously warm sea temperatures I did something I never do and went for a “swim” (aka floating and bobbing …
15 January 2018: The Kuaka, Bartailed Godwits fly non-stop from the Arctic to feed during our summer. Some are kind enough to visit our beach.
15 January 2018: "Well, Goodbye!” Kuaka, Bartailed Godwit and Karoro, Black-backed Gull
15 January 2018: Sun rays.
14 January 2018: Today this novice kayaker braved the reach just north of the footbridge — a 20 minute paddle upstream from the vehicle entrance. I went as far …
14 January 2018: I want 2018 to be a year of renewal for me. I've signed up for a Te Reo Māori course at Te Wananga o Aotearoa: Te Ara Reo Māori (He Pī ka Pao). I'll …
14 January 2018: Matuku Moana, White-faced Heron on Waikawa Stream. A kayak’s great: you can get quite close.
13 January 2018: Deep in the red The tip of the black arrow in the picture below — that's where we live. Drought maps January 2018. Source: niwa.co.nz/research-subject/drought. …
13 January 2018: A fresh start in 2018. In which I stop posting on my nearly 20 year old WordPress blog and take up at Micro.blog.
12 January 2018: Excited that at last our swan plants have Monarch Butterfly caterpillars!
12 January 2018: Water issues a fluid topic in Horowhenua Egads, but there's a lot to talk about with water in Horowhenua. The Horowhenua Chronicle issue Wednesday, 10 January 2018: Front page top: Lake …
12 January 2018: Dog walk at Ōtaki estuary for a change. 🐶
11 January 2018: Bought myself a UE Megaboom Bluetooth speaker. First impression of sound: WOW!
10 January 2018: Kea gyms! Smart birds… A kea gym offers the birds several objects they can play with or take apart to distract them from danger or causing damage. Kea …
09 January 2018: 2018 may become the year of renewal for me. Experimenting with new apps, new approaches, new plans. 🐥
06 January 2018: Earthquake or wind gusts? The trouble with this wind is not being sure whether the house is shaking because of the wind gusts or an earthquake. 〰️ This one turned out to be an …
06 January 2018: 26mm rain to 06 January 2018 26mm rain to 06 January 2018 is a start. Now we'd like some more please, as this won't have broken the drought.
05 January 2018: It’s so frustrating to buy an iTunes movie, connect to a friend’s projector for a relaxing evening, and be told the movie is protected and …