We decided to go upmarket on the light over the kitchen island in our new build. 🏡
Months ago a lighting shop had a big sale and we bought this flash lamp.
So pleasing to see it in place.
A small success at the gym today. I use a leg curl machine similar to the one in this video: Lying hamstring curl with weight machine.
The first time I tried a couple of months ago I couldn't do even one with the minimum 5 Kg weight.
Today I graduated to 5 sets of 6 reps at 5 Kg and 6 reps at 10 Kg.
Roughly 10,000 Km away there has been a huge earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula:
Wednesday's magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the coast of far eastern Russia is one of the largest in years, raising fears of a tsunami around the Pacific.
That's brought us a tsunami warning for the entire coast of Aotearoa. It's due to strike around midnight.
Hmmm, the builder's photo of the Family Room on our new build is interesting. The space is 3.6 metres wide. 🏡
I'm incapable of visualising how our 3-seater sofa, couple of chairs and some side tables can be arranged in any useful way.
OneNZ (Internet and phone provider) have *generously* waived the fee for cancelling Internet with less than 4 weeks notice because the WiFi we currently use isn't available at our new address so we're switching to fibre, and staying with OneNZ.
Beautiful light at dawn this morning. A view through the bedroom window, past the garage, to nearby trees.
Things are coming together very quickly as our new house is in the final stages of being built. 🏡
The builder hadn't specifically mentioned adding a load of topsoil to the property, but it seems that's happening. And presumably it'll be grassed once the soil has been smoothed off.
I've been watching videos about food forests on the YouTube channel Byron Grows.
We're going to have an approx 15 m2 food forest at our new place. 🏡 That's rather exciting.
A food forest, also called a forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature.
I smiled as I picked up Eight Miles to Death (The Cat Caliban Mysteries Book 8) by D.B. Borton because I know I can rely on this series to be entertaining and enjoyable. 📚
Meet Cat. Retired housewife. Budding private investigator. Reluctant parachutist.
Cat investigates the present day WASP who flew huge, big and little planes for the US in WWII while suffering sexism, sabotage and lack of recognition.
A good read.
The Canada Geese round here need a bit of practice in Vee flying. 😆
I've been drinking more milk lately and mentioned to Deb my concerns about the small mountain of plastic bottles going into the recycling.
Yesterday Deb found this bottle of locally produced Udderly Organic milk in a glass bottle we can get refilled. 🥳
Shame we're moving away soon.
Another super cold morning with heavy frost then a blue sky day. Deb drove us into Wellington for brunch with friends, which was enjoyable.
After 5 hours out of the house though I was just knackered.
Enjoyed a brief afternoon nap then maybe a really early night.
More photos from the builder, who tells us carpet is going in next week. We have a fancy letterbox, and fans in some rooms. 🏡
I heard a funny story yesterday. My sister's 79 and once a week drives to the supermarket and library. I guess occasionally she may visit the doctor or dentist.
She recently had to get all 4 tires on her car replaced — not because they were worn out, but because they'd perished from lack of use. 🤣
Big tick: On the very first page of the Te Tai Tokerau Regional Accessibility Strategy (PDF) is a list of alternative formats:
This initiative includes Whangārei District Council where we'll be living soon.
Awake at 0232 pondering on identity and how it's altered by a death in the family.
And feeling powerless in a world run by madmen.
Hooray for a Bagua Shan Shiji Chun Oolong tea. ☕️
Thanks to a huge High over the country yesterday and today we've had the hardest frosts I think I've ever seen here. So cold!
I'm boggled. I just created a web app in 3 minutes … with Claude doing all the work. It's not quite as explodey and flamey as I'd wish, but wow!
Last year I blogged about wanting an app where:
I type (or paste) in a bunch of text. Now delete it all with a splendid animation of it going up in flames.
Claude made my personal app happen!
A quick iPhone snap never does it justice but there was a gorgeous golden sliver of moon low on the horizon beneath bright Venus on this very cold morning (probably around 0C). 🥶
Turns out my brother, who I hadn't actually seen or spoken to since Mum died back in 2013, died earlier today, aged 77.
The message pointed out that recently he
was very accepting of the news that he had very little time left, acknowledging it was to be expected after 60 years of smoking
Odd. I used to be 3 of 3. Now I guess I'm 3 of 2 …