Unfortunately we don't see this view from our house. On the other hand, it's only a 2 minute walk up a small incline behind our house to reach this viewpoint.
This 7 minute video from MinuteFood explains why bread gets hard as it stales, thanks to retrogradation, while cookies / biscuits go soft. A good watch. The REAL reason bread goes stale.
Most of Knight Shadow (Jorja Knight Mystery Series Book 8) by Alice Bienia was interesting and enjoyable. 📚
When her boss sends her to check on an old army buddy displaced by a fire, Jorja leaps at the chance—only to find him dead in a downtown alley.
Several chapters at the end though, after things were more or less resolved, were confusing and felt like a rushed afterthought.
About 10 minutes drive from our house is Wilson’s Dam:
created as a water supply reservoir for [Ruakākā] and now regularly stocked by Fish and Game with both rainbow and brown trout.
I don't fish but visited to see if there were any birds around. There weren't really.
It was a gorgeous spot though and would be a wonderful place to take a book and a picnic and while away some time.
Scrub your boots on the way in, to help prevent the spread of diseases that harm kauri trees.
Māori were the first people to arrive and settle all over Aotearoa somewhere around the year 1200-ish.
Thank goodness people (usually) word their signage more carefully these days than this plaque from 1992:
The museum wax I needed and was looking for yesterday for a project turned up today, of course. 😆
Meanwhile, I've discovered a photo I've been looking for for a while. Here, a photo of a very old photo — my maternal grandmother, age 84 when I visited her in London in 1976. I'd last seen her in 1963.
Black swans and mallard ducks on the nearby Dune Lake. 🐦
A few weeks ago in this video, From Osteopenia to Ninja Warrior at 73!! Ginny's Unique Formula for Aging Strong! I came across the concept of a Dead Hang
where you hold onto a bar above your head and just support your body weight. It apparently:
is good for the brain, decompresses the spine and improves grip strength.
My first few attempts went nowhere but now I can support my weight for about 10 seconds. I like the spinal stretch.
Today's entertainment: with putting our clocks forward an hour the Northland Emergency System tested the tsunami sirens: a whoop whoop sound followed by a voice saying "Test Only".
The nearest siren is ~600 metres away in a straight line.
Technically, we're in a safe area, if there is a tsunami.
Daybreak at an east coast beach.
Cows and gulls in a paddock opposite the shopping centre.
On our drive to the gym today we spotted a farmer using a large drone, presumably spraying the gorse on his property. It was pretty big — about as big as a medium size suitcase. It may well have been one of these: P150 - Airborne Solutions.
First time I've seen this use, or a drone that size.
I enjoyed The Sydney Mysteries — three gripping crime thrillers by Jean Bedford. 📚
Anna Southwood never meant to become a private investigator. But after her charming, corrupt ex-husband turns up dead in a locked car on a remote mountain track — and leaves her a small fortune of dirty money — Anna figures she might as well put it to use doing some good.
It's also enjoyable to read books set in the southern hemisphere.
Bream Bay is undoubtedly beautiful, especially on a sunny morning.
I watched the South African movie, Valley of a Thousand Hills, a lesbian story, but didn't get the light, happy, 90 minutes I'd been hoping for.
This reviewer, Blessing Chinwendu Nwankwo, makes a nice point:
Valley of a Thousand Hills … gives a good representation of the queer community—the experimentation, the struggle of coming out, and the societal stigmatisation. The film is a decent watch, and if you are not impressed with the story, you will love the view of the hills.
For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
The 8x optical zoom on the iPhone 17 Pro is quite something. 🐦
The bitterest of teas
While baristas train to make 20 kinds of coffee, 99.9% of the tea available in cafes and restaurants in Aotearoa is prepared by shoving a teabag (or two) or leaves in a pot or cup, adding boiling water and serving.
I've learned to extract the tea strainer or bag very soon after the drink is served. Then I just grit my teeth and swallow an inferior drink.
Today's green tea though was so undrinkable I sent it back.
As tea steeps for longer it becomes more bitter. More leaves make it stronger too. The cup I poured was awful.
Then I looked in the strainer I'd removed from the two-cup pot. There were enough tea leaves for the 15 or 20 people at the table!
You can tell it’s spring. A pukeko family of 2 adults and 3 chicks on the grass not far from our house, and a pair of white-faced herons nesting in the tree closest to us. 🐦
Meanwhile, someone was exercising their horse on the racetrack just behind the entrance to the beach.
