I wanted to like this writer who lives mainly in Aotearoa New Zealand, but the book simply missed its mark. It just didn’t quite work for me. Death at Grenstead House (Madeleine Brooks Mysteries) by Tannis Laidlaw. I’m unlikely to read more. 📚
It’s 3.45 am and I’ve had a cup of tea and a biscuit after being awake for a couple of hours already. It’s that ‘untethered’ time in the middle of the night when all the unreal things come out to play. Maybe I can sleep now. Thanks for the interlude, Micro.Blog Timeline.
I’ve suggested our library buy this. It looks really interesting and is relevant around here. Life in the Shallows:
How wetlands work, what lives there, and what we can do to protect them
This whole coast was once wetlands, most now drained. A few remain, including nearby.
Sasha, mostly blind, stopped at the white line on the road then tiptoed carefully across. Next she ended up on one side of the ‘Give Way’ triangle and walked carefully along the line. The world can bewilder her. 🐶
Planning a trip out for dinner tonight to nearby Shannon, a 35 minute drive away. Including say 1 hour to eat that’s a 2.25 hour trip and I can (just) leave Sasha that long. Now, how to schedule her dinner and post-dinner walk? Old dogs can be complicated… 🐶
Silver and gold: this morning Sasha and I made it all the way to the lakes (approx 500 metres away). Looking southwest I saw the setting silver almost full moon. Looking northeast I saw golden reflections of the soon to rise sun.
We’ve achieved a point where Sasha’s food, meds and the cool temperatures mean she trots happily along on our brief walks. I wanted to capture that this morning. Because she’s blind she goes off-course a lot. 🐶
The setting Supermoon at dawn.
Sasha won’t go down to the dog yard any more so she now gets half a dozen ‘walks’ per day for toileting. I stopped to take a photo of the setting Super Moon and also Sasha this morning so she spent the time circling me. Not helpful. 🐶
It was a bit impressive down by the sea at high tide this morning. It’s winter so lots of rain, gales, high tides and big swells out in the open sea are only to be expected… Check out this foam mountain though.
Nice! Amber Clyde:
never take criticism to heart from somebody you wouldn’t go to for advice.
Via This is what the future of New Zealand looks like: Meet the 2022 Y25
I’m always a bit suspicious when military helicopters fly over in gangs. Today it was a gang of three, right overhead.
On Mangawhero Forest Walk I spotted these really really white fungi on a tree trunk.
Rimu Walk and Mangawhero Forest Walk at Ohakune share a common entrance. I enjoyed both. Both are easy walks. On the Forest Walk I came face to face with a Ruru, usually only around at night. No photo of the bird, sadly, only the branch it was sitting on. I was too slow! 🐦
Ohakune is a town just below the very popular Turoa skifield. Next to a walk I was about to do I found this memorial stone and info about Mollie, an ill-fated circus elephant who died there in 1957, aged 13, poisoned by eating the plant Tutu. 😿
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the 1 hour 40 minute concert Loreena McKennitt - Nights From The Alhambra. Generally for me a little Celtic music goes an extremely long way. Much seemed to have middle-Eastern influences though. Some instruments I enjoyed but didn’t recognise.
My handmade leather iPhone sleeve by @aa was so excellent (it’s serving me beautifully) that I ordered a leather wrist strap for my camera with big heavy zoom lens. The strap arrived today and is exactly what I wanted.
Ridge Track at Whakapapa is a short little trail that climbs up behind the Chateau offering views. In the last the snowy cone of Mt Taranaki is just visible.
Chateau Tongariro at Whakapapa is an impressive building, seeming to sit alone on the landscape. It’s certainly comfortable in the lounge where you can get tea and alcohol and smaller or bigger meals with a view. Meals are expensive though.
The Taranaki Falls Track
The Taranaki Falls Track is a 6 Km loop on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. It passes through both native forest and open land. The Falls spill through solid rock. Snow-topped mountains Ruapehu and neighbour Ngauruhoe appear of course, but also Taranaki, closer to home. And more fungi!
