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 reading. Hence: Books I might Read.
Update, 01-Jan-2025: looks like I deleted that page since the original post …
I do, however, have a page that lists books I have read.
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 Solstices and Equinoxes, so New Year would fall on 22 June 2023 with the local winter solstice. Or on 23 June… Pondering…
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 hybrid with the regular all-black Tōrea pango Variable Oystercatcher 🐦
Mōrena. Welcome to 2023. Pahirini Chaffinch 🐦.
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 interested…
If you hate dogs look away. For the rest of us The Dogs of 2022 is four and a half minutes of delight. 🐶
Sasha had me out taking her for a walk at dawn.
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 | 21:13 | 23 September | 13:03 | 22 December | 10:48 |
| 2023 | 21 March | 10:24 | 22 June | 02:57 | 23 September | 18:50 | 22 December | 16:27 |
| 2024 | 20 March | 16:06 | 21 June | 08:50 | 23 September | 00:43 | 21 December | 22:20 |
| 2025 | 20 March | 22:01 | 21 June | 14:42 | 23 September | 06:19 | 22 December | 04:03 |
| 2026 | 21 March | 03:45 | 21 June | 20:24 | 23 September | 12:05 | 22 December | 09:50 |
| 2027 | 21 March | 09:24 | 22 June | 02:10 | 23 September | 18:01 | 22 December | 15:42 |
Source: Seasons: Dates of Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter. Note: times are for Paraparaumu, not far from Waikawa Beach.
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 around before finally having a pee at a quarter to one. 🐶
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 I’m intrigued by a few American words I’m not familiar with.
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 suffering. But will her everything be enough to stop a sick murderer?
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 totally gratuitous tech jargon, presumably aiming to make a point. 📚
Today I cleaned the used straw and shavings out of the quail run and gave the girls a fresh deep layer of bedding. 🐦
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 together to solve the mystery of her husband’s recent death.
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 herbalist, Shen Nung. According to legend, he was sitting under a native Camellia Sinensis tree, boiling a pot of water, when some leaves fell from the tree into the pot. The Emperor drunk the infusion and experienced such a wonderful state which ‘gave joy to the body and sparkle the eyes’; that moment was the genesis of when tea began to permeate itself into Chinese culture.
Oystercatcher: Ah yeah, gidday. Just sitting on my nest. You? 🐦
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, the Pleiades low near the horizon. Just beautiful.
Christmas lunch with friends: tiger prawns and chicken on the barbie; a bowl of fresh raspberries and blueberries. Plus lots of other delicious dishes, not shown. 😆
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 moments of your life matter, the thrilling ones and the mundane ones.
Via: Remember To Live - It’s All In The Details - What Is Stoicism?