Hooray for the 8x iPhone zoom that allowed me to capture this Spoonbill feeding in Ruakākā River. It's the first Spoonbill I've seen up here. 🐦
After a few very hot and sweaty days I thought some new bike clothing would be a good idea. My shorts and top from Silversky arrived today and I already love them! They fit perfectly and feel great. 🚵🏻♀️
Kiwi designed in Wellington N.Z. and precision crafted using high quality premium cycle clothing fabrics.
Pockets! The shorts and top both have pockets, with zips. I can fit my phone in a pocket.
Sizing! The website has smart sizing, like this:
A 62kg women at 168cm tall will wear size X-SMALL (equivalent to NZ size 10-12). Model pictured in video preview is wearing size X-SMALL.
Yesterday evening the very late sunlight was really red.
It's been a while since the last Jana DeLeon book but Coeds and Cattails didn't disappoint. 📚
The team have to track down who killed a very unpopular snitch before the daughter of a friend is unjustly accused.
Some gripping and funny scenes, as always in these books, but less OTT than recently.
Fancy reading something cheerful? 🐈 46,000 Knitted Mice Donated to Rescue Cats:
Woman’s Weekly magazine … invited readers to create woolen mice for rescue cats living in shelters across the UK—and the response enor-mice.
Using the free pattern provided …[volunteers] stitched a monumental 46,506 woolen rodents …
[Previous] Successes include donations of: 6,000 hats for people experiencing homelessness; 3,000 blankets for children in Ukraine; 6,651 knitted baby vests for Fuel Poverty; and 2,000 blankets for Battersea Dogs & Cats Homes.
Our new lawn is all of 13m2, so we laid out just under $100 for a push lawn mower. I haven't used one of them for decades.
In the heat of yesterday afternoon, I biked to the beach on the south side of the river mouth and took a short walk. Loads of people were on the beach and in the water.
On the horizon a trail of ships headed past Tuturu | Sail Rock towards the port.
For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
Today I looked up when I started going to the gym: around July 2024.
In the last 18 months I've made enormous progress, gradually increasing both the weights I work with and the variety of exercises I do.
I hadn't planned for 2025 to have a focus on health but it seems to have worked out that way. 👍
Cat Caliban delves into the events and culture of the 60s in this cold case — Eleven Hours to Murder (The Cat Caliban Mysteries Book 11): by D.B. Borton. 📚
Back in the summer of ’69, rebellious teen Leila Perle secretly boarded a bus to Woodstock, and never came home.
What really happened at the legendary music festival — if the missing girl even made it there at all?
Another good read.
Huge commotion at the heron nest just now as the adult chased off a potentially marauding hawk! 🐦
Pleased to see a hawk, but not if it's going after baby herons!
I was checking out the baby White-faced Herons. 🐦 …
… when one took off …
… and flew …
… a short distance.
Well done baby heron!
Yesterday I took a different route on the way home from the gym: via One Tree Point Road and McEwan Road before heading back down Marsden Point Road. 🚵🏽♀️
That ride was about 9Km and was blissfully free of trucks roaring past.
When I visit Fitness on my iPhone I can see a map of my route.
Hey, all you North Americans, please stop eating so many hamburgers! We Kiwis want to be able to afford to eat NZ grown beef too! price of beef mince soars by 18%:
"New Zealand exports most of our beef, 80-odd percent, and … the most volume is going over to the United States, where their cattle herd is at sort of multi-decade lows.
"… they're short of this lean trim product, … so our local retailers are having to pay more to get hold of that product because they're competing against global buyers and that's really pushing those mince prices up.
I've enjoyed this author's murder mysteries, but this time there's no murder. The hunt is on for a book and a family member. An unusual read, with a tinge of My Fair Lady about it in the friendship between Griff and Lina. The Mystery of the Missing Book (The Antique Shop Mysteries Book 1) by Judith Cutler. 📚
Lina is finding her feet in the antiques trade, working alongside her eccentric mentor Griff. Attending a bustling local fair, Lina makes a thrilling discovery: a single page from a rare medieval manuscript.
Our new landscaping is almost done. The guys add final touches today.
Today I incorporated an approx 13 Km bike ride into my trip to the gym. Port Marsden Road (SH15) was OK, apart from the backwash from the dozen or so mainly logging trucks that roared past relatively close.
Next time I'll try avoiding SH15 by going along One Tree Point Road and McEwan Road.
Old bike: AHHH SHIIIINGGGLE ROADDDD!
New bike: Shingle, what shingle? 🚵🏻♀️ 😁
Hello to the new family member: Gepida Berig. Sadly, my beloved Gepida Reptila was excellent for tarseal and concrete but the new Berig gravel bike will give me a better ride on the many very rough shingle and potholey paths around here and further afield. 🚵🏽♀️
Big day: at least one of the two baby white-faced Herons will fly today. Calisthenics have been underway. 🐦
