The dogs are of an age where they pee in the house if we’re out for too long (eg 2 hours). 🐶 We took to crating them to prevent that but the crate is now housing quail in the garage for the worst of winter. We’ve bought the dogs a new soft crate; consternation prevails!
I watched Ije: The Journey. Its subject matter turned out to be hard, but the unravelling and the perspectives were interesting.
Chioma travels from Nigeria to the US to aide her sister Anya who is being charged with the murder of three men including her own husband.
Undermined: A Gay Mystery (Daniel Owen Welsh Mysteries Book 1) by Ripley Hayes. 📚
An unusual book for me to read, featuring male lead characters. A single, surprisingly graphic, sex scene. Leaned more to romance than mystery, but I did enjoy it.
Another good read from this author: Goodbye Calais Club: (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 2) by Anne Shillolo. 📚
Disappointed I have to wait for the third book in the series.
there’s no way Holly can investigate on her own. Or is there?
I quite enjoyed The Complete Monica Noble Murder Mysteries, a 3 book set, by Faith Martin 📚. I had to take a break after book 2 as they’re a little cloying.
A fairly easy read with a woman who has an eye for detail. Interesting acknowledgment of inappropriate attraction too.
Whew! I’ve clicked Submit on a funding application for a fun photo project to run in our community over summer / Christmas. Having the idea in the first place was simple — the funding application was a lot of work. Not sure when we’ll hear back. 🤞🏼
The dogs prescription came in 🐶:
Veterinary exclusive Hills prescription diet Kidney Care clinical nutrition improves & lengthens quality of life
Now we gradually introduce the new biscuits over the next few weeks.
Roughly 2 x the cost of their regular biscuits… 💸
Very pleased that the government has, as widely expected, announced the whole country will stay in Level 4 shutdown until at least midnight Friday (Auckland for longer) thanks to the Delta variant of Covid running through the community. As expected, numbers are increasing still.
A quick report on our new 4G internet connection: good riddance to VDSL! We now both speed along at the same time on the interwebs and Deb can even do Zoom calls from her zendo (home office / meditation room). We’re happy!
Whew! Was about to start submitting a prepared funding application whose leisurely timeline began in October when I spotted the statement : “Note: Round 1 projects cannot begin before November 2021”.
Quickly pushed all October activities (prep mainly) into November.
I don’t know that The Daily Mail is a news site to trust… but, I think this article is worth a look. After the 9/11 attack most news sites went text-only to even be able to deliver info. This article has screenshots: 9/11 and how readers followed drama with no Facebook or Twitter
For our last holiday adventure we ate a magnificent dinner at Plato, a restaurant set in an unlikely, deserted, industrial part of Dunedin. My panfried hapuka photo doesn’t do the food justice by any means. The restaurant is quirky, full of knick knacks; the food spectacular. ☺︎



I already wrote a little about the Royal Albatross Centre, but wrapping up our recent holiday, here’s more. We viewed the birds from a hide, through glass. Several adults swooped right past the window and huge chicks were just outside. Older chicks weigh more than adults. 🐦




We arrived in Ōtepoti, Dunedin, in miserable weather. We were hungry so we parked near The Octagon, and after some wandering, found ourselves at The Perc Cafe.
I enjoyed a very delicious green pea and ham soup with bread.
We returned the next day for coffees and snacks.
It’s a rare occurrence for me, but last night I slept 8 hours without interruption and the sleep quality was good. Today I feel as though I could do anything!
A darn good read: Project Charon 1: Re-entry by Patty Jansen:
Tina needs money, and needs it fast. Another creditor is impossible to find. That leaves her one option: to return to the world she fled fifteen years ago and Kelso Space Station
📚
Well written, unusual, gripping.
I so much enjoyed Project Charon 1: Re-Entry, by Patty Jansen — one of the books in the Cosmic Visionaries StoryBundle! I’ll definitely be buying Book 2 in the series. If you enjoy space opera take a look at the bundle, available for another 18 days (ummm, to ~08 September 2021)
People have assumed that attention and executive functions decline with age… our large study indicates that critical elements … actually improve during aging, likely because we practice these skills throughout our life.
The Catlins portion of our holiday ended with Purakaunui Falls:
a short walk from a car park area through impressive podocarp and beech forest.
We did stop to look at a couple of fossils in limestone but that wasn’t very impressive. Next stop: Dunedin, Ōtepoti.




Just signed up for this inexpensive course: Joy of Birdwatching | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab.