This rather ruffled looking baby bird stumbled across the deck and took refuge in the passionfruit. 🐦
These days when Sasha eats she spreads biscuits all over the floor. 🐶
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 Poodle. This was Andre. Of course I was in charge of walks etc. 🐶
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 buy Molasses at the moment. Even so, very yummy!
If you’ve never watched this 15 minute speech from 2012 then you should: Julia Gillard misogyny speech in Australian Parliament. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
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 empty yesterdays. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make today worth remembering.
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 specially enjoyed the author’s life views on topics such as worker housing, and awareness of different perspectives on life. 📚
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 somewhere, closing a door,…
T: Getting ready to watch the Netflix version of All Quiet on the Western Front .
Today’s surprise discovery 📚:
the Southern Cross [constellation] hasn’t always been ours. Thanks to a phenomenon known as precession … it formerly belonged to the northern hemisphere skies …
Source: Southern Nights: the story of New Zealand’s night sky by Naomi Arnold.
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 out of place, subtle, gradually unfolding and developing. Definitely a must-see. 🎥
Like mother like daughter — Oystercatcher adult and chick. 🐦
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 and lakes of New Zealand.
I was told these were males, probably about 20 years old. They were certainly keen to get lunch.
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 of reptiles that thrived in the age of the dinosaurs.
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 green and white gecko — Barking gecko.
Today’s Stoic thought was “memento vivere”: remember to live. I took it to heart, ignored the rain, realised I could have an outing, with Deb home to deal with Sasha and the plumber, and took off to the Ngā Manu Reserve in Waikanae. I even got to drive on the new Expressway.
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 through the entire Fujifilm AF/MF system, show you all the features, settings and controls, teach you how to use them, and I'll even share invaluable shooting tips I've learned in my 26+ years as a pro outdoor action and adventure photographer.
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 they may have filled in a few minutes but I wasn’t retaining any of the information. I slashed my list in half.
I love it when this mother and son pair come to graze in the paddock nearby.
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 — it’s a good reminder that we live in a rural area. Back in November 2017 these cows were interested to watch me bike past. 🐮
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 people, dogs and cars doing beach things. At this time of year it’s no longer ‘our’ beach. At least we get it the rest of the year.