Well, that was a damn good read! The Missing Checkout Girl Mystery by Rachel Ward. Great characters, a story that kept me reading. 📚

Checkout girl Bea Jordan is determined to find out what happened to her friend. … And the only person who will help is Ant Thompson, the new guy. But he’s so useless he can’t even mop up a broken bottle of sauce.

Book cover: The Missing Checkout Girl Mystery.

This morning Sasha wanted to snack on a little grass. 🐶

Small old black dog standing on grass.

The book Timber City Masks (Royce Madison Mysteries Book 1) by Kieran York kept me reading but it seemed to have been marinated, and for too long, in the Poetry Thesaurus. 📚

Eyes never just “met” but would ‘seam’, ‘bridge’, ‘lock’, ‘lace’, ‘target’, ‘tether’, ‘collide’ …

Screen Shot, with text: In the meantime, there was a murderer out there, Royce mulled. Scrambling clues belonged to an interlocking puzzle. Royce's eyes refused to clamp shut. Shakily, she prowled the facts. Apocryphal facts haphazardly stacked. Until the murder was solved, everyone was in danger.
Book cover: Timber City Masks.

Read the standard marketing blurb about a name change for my phone and Internet provider — yawn. Then perked up when I saw they had also written their email in Te Reo Māori. 👍

Screen Shot of email showing both English and Māori languages.

Things are moving along suddenly. Signed with a real estate agent this morning to sell the property we’ve been renting out. It’s time to cash up the retirement savings.

Also booked a visit to my longtime (former) optometrist for next week. New frames and lenses in my future.

Nice language use (disgorges, chthonic, skerricks, fragments, glean, tidbits):

Every now and then, the Earth disgorges clues to their nature: tiny chthonic diamonds encasing skerricks of rare mineral. From these tiny fragments we can glean tidbits of information about our planet’s interior.

From: Diamond From 660 Kilometers Below Earth’s Surface Reveals a Water-Rich Environment

If I sit out in the sun to read my Kindle Paperwhite (2018) sometimes refuses to turn the page. I’d persuaded myself I needed a denim blue All-new Kindle (2022 release). Unfortunately it turned out what I needed was to force a hard restart of my Kindle… My wallet is relieved. 📚

How would anyone even know this is the home page of the Horowhenua District Council?

Web page fully covered in notices and alerts that need to be closed before you can see the page itself.

This morning I’m in that weird haze of “what time is it really?” as last night we changed the clocks. Ahead: changing the time on oven clock, kitchen clock, 2 cameras, car, toothbrush clock, towel rail (reset — it doesn’t have a clock as such), and the other one I always forget…

Hah, I hate stereotypes about older people. However … 7 of us at brunch, aged between 64 and maybe 76. First topic of chat: eyesight problems. Followed by discussion of hearing problems and forgetfulness. Sigh.

We drove to Wellington today to help a friend celebrate her birthday at Field & Green. I had smashed peas and avocado with smoked salmon. Very delicious.

Smashed peas and avocado with smoked salmon.

Fascinating 45 minute documentary from the most excellent Caitlin Doughty: The Forgotten Disaster of the SS Eastland (1915 in Chicago, 844 dead):

A massive ship, an unthinkable tragedy, a chance to make sure the victims of the SS Eastland aren’t lost to time.

Screen Shot from The Forgotten Disaster of the SS Eastland shows a sketch of a large boat listing to port.

Painters are working almost next door. Meanwhile our bathroom ceiling (~4 m2) is flaking. Last painted July 2019. Today Leon came and prepped the job. In a couple of days he’ll do the painting. Great, quick work! 👍

Well a 5.8 quake is one way to be woken while just drifting off to sleep. All good. No damage etc. another day another quake in New Zealand. 〰️

Screenshot of 5.8 quake shaking map.

This 50 minute concert was a delight: Faia Younan I فايا يونان. From the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation.

Screen Shot of a female singer.

Massively enjoyable: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Humorous, great characters (old folks in a seniors village, where ‘giving a talk on tablets’ has a whole other meaning). Well worth reading. 📚

Book cover: The Thursday Murder Club.
Screen Shot of the section where tablets meaning computers is not understood.

Equinox egg. First quail egg of the season. Such clever girls! 🐦

Small egg balanced on a plastic cup.

Every second of the Royal Funeral is designed to reinforce status and power. The organisation of the event dwarfs something like the Olympic Games. And who knew there’s a Royal Trumpeter and a Royal Drum Horse?! Let alone the Royal Company of Archers.

This recipe looked easy and delicious and it was, but fiery hot. Next time I’ll use only 1/3 the spices I think. 🔥🔥🔥

Delicious chickpea spinach curry | Food with Chetna.

Delicious chickpea spinach curry.