My iPad just popped up this photo of two pigeons from 2004. Taken in Wellington I think, on Oriental Parade. 🐦
The neighbours we’ve been helping with dog walking for the last few weeks bought us lunch at Salt & Pepper in Ōhau. I had beer battered Terakihi, fries and salad. It was delicious, but 2 big bits of fish were more than I could eat. Leftovers tonight. 😀
The pre-dawn light really shows up the two new ponds in the paddock next door. This year’s excessive rainfall has created two large ponds. The groundwater level is so high they just can’t drain away even though it’s all sand round here.
I had no idea!
There are two types of rain, and one of them is almost impossible to forecast.
Watch the excellent 4 minute MinuteEarth video Why is Rain So Hard to Predict? about frontal rain and convective rain.
25 minute drive each way to the vet at Ōtaki. 5 minutes max at the vet for Sasha to get her monthly Arthropen shot and anal glands done. The Arthropen eases Sasha’s restlessness, helps her appetite and possibly helps her sleep all night. 🐶
3 am and I’ve drunk a cup of Premium Snowbuds white tea and eaten a Griffins Vanilla Wine biscuit or two. I’ve taken Sasha out for a pee. Maybe I could go back to sleep now, and not have more of the silly dreams I woke from… 🐶
In the last week or so I’ve noticed birds flying by, beaks stuffed full with nesting materials. Others, like the hawks and black swans, seem to be busy impressing potential mates. Today I realised the gorse bushes in a nearby paddock are in bloom. Spring is near.
Sasha’s wellness is in a good place at the moment. Here she trots smoothly along the lane, head up. 🐶
A superb explainer — What to know about monkeypox:
Monkeypox is far less dangerous than Covid–19, but a severe lack of vaccines and lingering homophobic stigma are putting the brakes on attempts to eliminate it. Siouxsie Wiles and illustrator Toby Morris explain.
I really wasn’t sure about Hacks (TV series) at first and almost didn’t bother watching after E01. I’m so glad I did though: by half way through S01 I was hooked. Next up: S02. 📺
The Spinoff is bringing such excellent journalism. I read many more stories than from any other News website. Today’s excellence — The Sunday Essay: 林 / Ling:
What’s in a name? Emma Ling Sidnam considers the meaning behind the words that make her uniquely her.
One of the hazards of a rural area. This is the main entrance to our beach. Someone’s cows have bust out…
An ‘atmospheric river’ of rain has dumped excessive water from the tropics on parts of Aotearoa New Zealand: Live wild weather updates: Nelson, Far North brace for more rain. A friend who lives north of Auckland visited on her way to Nelson where she was to start a 9 month course. That plan’s had to change as Nelson is more or less cut off by flooding and road damage.
Luckily, we’ve just had additional ‘normal’ rain this week, so it’s puddles all round. In August 2022 we’ve had almost 100 mm rain. This calendar year it’s 1063 mm.
Yumm, buttermilk hotcakes at The Gorge in Ōtaki. Delicious.
Turns out it requires special skill to take good photos of a glass paperweight, and I don’t have that skill. Anyway, here’s the paperweight I made at the workshop the other day. It has blue swirls.
Another excellent Toby Morris cartoon — The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: The Table. Follow the link for the other panels in the essay.
When I was in Whanganui the other day this interesting mural caught my eye.
When they were handing out adjectives to authors this one went back for thirds. I feel like I need a shower to wipe the muck off. Book discarded. 📚
I really enjoyed The Orville, all 3 seasons, and very much want it to be renewed. S1 took itself much less seriously, but all seasons explored some very interesting issues. One standout for me was S01E07 Majority Rule — about a society where Likes became law.
