Cat's new career as a detective is developing nicely as she solves a decades old murder with almost no clues to work with. Nine Burned Lives (The Cat Caliban Mysteries Book 9) by D.B. Borton also has a very nice twist or two. 📚
Cat Caliban never expected her golden years to be quite so eventful. She races into a burning house to rescue a litter of kittens, only to stumble across a charred human skull.
Mid packing — after an interruption where they spent ages trying to get the van unstuck from soft sand in front our house. Eventually, with the help of several muscly blokes and a 4-wheel drive ute, they managed to free it.
The chaos before the packers arrive.
Today we have three classes of goods: we take them personally in the cars; we use them over the weekend and then they go in the truck; they get packed ready for the truck.
Our neighbour up north has sent an inspirational photo, saying the photo doesn't do the view justice.
They're on a slight hill. We won't see Mt Manaia as they do.
The concept of Death Of A Ghostwriter (Wye Valley Widows Book 1) by Gaynor Torrance was interesting: a chap dies and it turns out 3 current wives are notified … 📚
The execution though wasn't satisfying. I think the book needed a really good editor to bring it into line. Some parts were repetitive, some read like a book for kids. There was a strong narrator voice that felt like telling about the story rather than being engaged.
We don't actually leave for a few days but I decided just before sunset on a sunny and relatively warm afternoon would be a good time to do a farewell visit to the beach.
My bird photography skills have rusted over winter. 😒 🐦
It's pretty chilly this morning.
Our racist government
The English we speak in Aotearoa differs from English in other countries because, in part, our vocabulary contains numerous words sourced from the Māori language. Attempting to remove words sourced from Māori makes as much sense as attempting to remove words sourced from French or Latin.
Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal:
An Education Ministry report shows [Education Minister Erica ] Stanford decided in October last year to exclude all Māori words except for characters' names from any new books in the Education Ministry's Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series.
The paper showed the decision was driven by concern Māori words were confusing for children learning to read English though evidence of that was mixed.
Another very big milestone with our new house today. 🏡 At 11 am the building inspector visited for the final inspection and by 2.30 pm we had the Code of Compliance certificate.
Next, of course, we received our final invoice from the building company, and now we're fully paid up.
🥳
There's a big list of items the movers won't take that we need to either dispose of or take in the cars.
While we don't need to worry about military weapons, black powder, arsenic or formaldehyde, we do have aerosols, a few bottles of alcohol, boxes of matches, herbicides, essential oils …
I eventually realised that Ellie's infuriating inability to stand up for herself in Book One was because the author left plenty of scope for character development. Ellie Quicke Mysteries Books 1–7 by Veronica Heley. 📚
Meet Ellie Quicke. Devoted cat lady, tea addict, recent widow — and now amateur sleuth!
Over the course of the 7 books I came to really enjoy the series and have happily discovered there are more to read.
Chlöe Swarbrick, one of our excellent politicians, in her Green Party AGM Speech 2025:
human beings are strongest when we define ourselves by who we are and what we stand for, not what we are in opposition to.
We stand for love. We stand for peace. We stand for justice. For people and planet.
We build the world that we want in our daily lives.
It was quite a crowd yesterday in our little house, with 14 people crammed in over drinks and nibbles. Just as well another half dozen couldn't make it as the weather was too horrid to be able to flow out onto the deck.
It was a good get together, and gratifying to help a few neighbours connect.
Clean, tidy and rather empty. Waiting for guests for farewell drinks.
First!
For me, the scariest part of our move north is the 1 to 2 hour drive along the motorway through Auckland.
I tried Google Maps street view but it failed me at a crucial point.
Then I thought to try YouTube and found an excellent video that I was able to run at half speed in crucial parts.
It's a random photo kind of day, like this one of Oshi and Sasha from December 2018. 🐶
In today's Northern Advocate (07 August 2025) I was struck by these two articles. Different countries and all that, but still…
On Page 3 (after 2 pages of ads for fridges):
Census data shows an ongoing trend of increasing homelessness in New Zealand, with 4122 people living without shelter in 2013, 3624 people in 2018 and 4965 in 2023.
On Page 21, a confiscated superyacht:
The 106m Amadea has a helipad, pool, jacuzzi, gym, spa, beauty salon and eight staterooms that can accommodate 16 guests …
The yacht, … valued at more than US$300 million …
We weren't expecting these landscaping rocks in the garden, but they're a very nice addition. 🏡
We're also taking up a couple of bags of pumice and a few small bits of driftwood collected over the years from Waikawa Beach.
I wonder how they curve that wooden edging?
The Joy of Tech doesn't always resonate with me, but this … We are better than this!