After cleaning up for today's Open Home we enjoyed a delicious pizza at the Old Courthouse Eatery:

Chicken, mushroom, blue cheese, sun-dried tomato.

Pizza on a plate.

I have a strong suspicion I'm coming down with a cold. Meanwhile, to the southeast, more snowy peaks.

A view across paddocks with big round hay bales, cattle, trees, to snow clad hill tops.

Hah! Looking through some old emails and found this from March 1997 with my first ever domain name (and I still use it!):

key:firstbite.co.nz [digits obscured]

This is your first official test message with your new domain name.

You are now know to cyberspace

Firstbite.co.nz test message.

We knew it was darned cold this morning, but seeing the nearby snowy mountain tops from the main street in Levin really brought it home.

An intersection in a town with snowy hills in the background.

I'm using the iCab browser for some research and often want to capture the page title and URL for my notes. Claude AI very helpfully gave me an AppleScript I trigger with Keyboard Maestro.

The guts of it:

tell application "iCab"
	tell front window
			set pageURL to url of current tab
			set pageTitle to name of current tab
			set clipboardText to pageTitle & return & pageURL
			set the clipboard to clipboardText
	end tell
end tell 
The Applescript in a screenshot.

Interesting article — What's protein, why do we need it, and how do you get more?:

The average adult needs about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight - so a person who weighs 80kg needs about 65g of protein per day. … We also need more protein as we age - about 1.5g compared to 0.8g.

Our fancy new bathroom scales have revealed I don't get enough protein, so I'm working on that.

This was a good 17 minute watch, NZ MP, Willie Jackson at the Oxford Union Debates.

One fun moment, about the guy who really kicked off colonisation here:

Q: So in terms of Captain Cook, hugely well known in New Zealand, but … Is he known in terms of modern Britain?

A: I would say not, certainly not in the way that he is in Aotearoa. A few years ago we were planning an exhibition about Cook here at the British Museum and we did a survey amongst audiences of how many people recognised the name Captain Cook and most people thought we were actually talking about Captain Kirk from Star Trek.

Do you laugh or do you cry?

The books in this series are ones I really enjoy. Murder At Mount Ida (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 5) by Anne Shillolo. 📚

Two days. A bomber on the loose and a killer who’s not afraid of heights.

I'll definitely read more in this series.

Book cover: Murder at Mount Ida.

A bit rough out there today. For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊

Yay. This cafe has just opened only 7 Km from our new house. Sounds good. Oregano Eat and Drink One Tree Point | Cafe & Restaurant in Marsden Cove, Whangarei:

Nestled in the scenic beauty of One Tree Point, Whangarei, Oregano Eat and Drink invites you to indulge in a truly European dining experience.

I watch all the Will Harlow videos and do at least some of the exercises. The ONLY Exercise You Need for Stronger Arms Over 50 is one I've done parts of but never as a whole unit.

Screenshot from video shows a man seated and holding dumbbells near his shoulders. There is also a list of steps in the exercise.

Sit down in your chair and hold one weight in each hand
Keep a straight back and point your thumbs forward
Raise both hands up to shoulder height like a bicep curl
Twist your elbows outwards
Move into a press by pushing your arms up as high as you can above your head
Slowly reverse the movements to starting position

Heavy edits on this photo from the builder of our new home. I lightened shadows, straightened the image, and casually 'magic-removed' two workers from the left side, so the post looks a bit odd. 🏡

View through a sliding door to a fence with trees beyond.

This is the main bedroom with gib stopping complete. This will roughly be the view from the bed.

Met a friend at Lock Up at 52B Marine Parade, Paraparaumu, for brunch. The toasted cheese gem (no photo) was delicious. I was taken with the cheerful teapot.

An elegant teapot decorated with colourful curvy and geometric shapes.

Another build update for our new house. 🏡

I think the photo from the builder shows Gib stopping and plastering progress.

Looking through the dining and family room area.

With the door at the end slid back and 'doubled up' it really shows the effect of having tinted windows.

We get to see a bit of greenery around the place too, with trees nearby.

Spotted from / at the supermarket car park today.

Rainbow portion against a dark sky.
Sticker on a small car reads: If you think this is slow wait until we go uphill.

🤣

Bonus supermarket activity: I got to pat a lovely wee patient dog that was a cross between Poodle and Lowchen.

Another in an easy reading series I enjoy — Killer at the County Show (The Malvern Mysteries Book 5) by Kate Wells. 📚

Tensions are high at the Three Counties Show when accusations of cheating add fuel to a longstanding feud. For Jude Gray, whose only hope was to not make a fool of herself showing her Kerry Hill sheep, farming life has never been so dramatic.

You always know Jude's close to solving the mystery when she sets off without telling anyone where she's going. 😆

Book cover: Killer at the County Show.

A simple but delicious fried eggs on toast at Cafe 66 in Ōtaki.

Fried eggs on toast.

We decamped there during our Open Home today and discussed still to be decided details about our new house: where should the washing line go? Where should the toilet roll holders go? Do we want any extra concrete (eg paths) laid? Is the arrangement of shelves and rails in the walk in wardrobe as we want it?

Aaaargh!

Detectives Leo and Shan make a good team against a sweltering Yorkshire summer in Fire on the Fells (Detectives Donovan & Young Book 2) by Cath Staincliffe. 📚

beneath the façade, dark secrets smoulder. It’s only a question of which was worth killing for.

The series is a good read.

Book cover: Fire on the Fells.

Hmmm, tailor-made suits — Shane Ave Suits (my emphasis):

In designing your suit, you will have over 500+ fabrics to choose from. You will also have the opportunity to choose your own styles, linings, shirt collars and cuffs. You can even personalise your lining to have an entirely unique design!

OMG: I'd be dead. I'm more of a this one or that one girl.

The builder on our new house tells us: 🏡

This week all the Gib fixing has been completed and now the guys have started Plastering. [After the plaster dries, the workers] will start the Finishing Lines and Hanging Interior Doors.

Apparently, Finishing Lines are the Architraves around the door frames and the Skirting around the floor.

The builder's photo shows a bathroom.

A bathroom has been lined with gib. A stepladder stands in the middle of the floor. Various pipe stubs and gaps in the flooring show where shower, basin, toilet will be placed.

OMG: we're going to have a house! That we'll live in! It's getting real.