Miraz Jordan

We learned of a new cafe in Levin, opened just a month ago, so we visited today for lunch: Old Courthouse Eatery.

Deb's coffee was apparently good; my hot chocolate was good. We both had bagels — in my case with halloumi, pesto and mushrooms. All very enjoyable.

We'll definitely be back.

Having just finished Book 7 in the series by Melissa Good, I moved on to Storm Surge: Part 1: Book 8 in the Dar & Kerry Series (Dar and Kerry Series 10) where I kept thinking I must have missed something …

It's right there in the link: even though it's named Book 8 it's actually Book 10.

A large part of the book deals with Dar and Kerry's part in assisting after the events of September 11, 2001. Frenetic! But also interesting.

Yesterday there were visitors at the place across the lane — it's a bit higher than our house. Around 10.15 pm their headlights as they left lit up my bedroom wall, with shadows from the cabbage trees outside dancing in the breeze.

First, we're all good, no damage etc. Second: shaken awake by a fierce 5.8 quake this morning. That was quite something! 〰️

A few highlights from today: Deb made delicious pikelets; I wore my shorts for the first time this season and did my weight training on the deck.

My outdoor temperature sensor has died, but a neighbour's unit, about 1 Km away, says it's currently 19.3C and earlier reached 20C. Summery.

An AppleScript to save a post selected in MarsEdit to a file in the Downloads folder. Use at your own risk. Let me know if you improve on it. 😁

-- very rough starter; use at your own risk
-- 04 October 2024
-- takes details from a post selected in MarsEdit and saves the post to a file in the Downloads folder
tell application “MarsEdit”
set newLink to ""
set newTitle to ""
set myPost to ""
set myDate to ""
set newLink to (permalink of selected post) as text
set myDate to (published date of selected post)

set newTitle to (title of selected post) as text
set myPost to (body of selected post) as text

set the clipboard to newLink & return & newTitle & return & myPost & return & "Published on: " & myDate

end tell
– thanks to Claude.io for the file saving portion below
set fileName to newTitle & “.txt” – Change this to your desired file name
tell application “Finder”
set downloadsFolder to (path to downloads folder) as text
set filePath to downloadsFolder & fileName
end tell
try
set clipboardContent to the clipboard
set fileRef to open for access file filePath with write permission
write clipboardContent to fileRef
close access fileRef

display dialog "Clipboard content saved to " & fileName & " in Downloads folder." buttons {"OK"} default button "OK"

on error errMsg
display dialog “Error: " & errMsg buttons {“OK”} default button “OK” with icon stop
end try

Ages ago I watched the first episode of Schitt's Creek and immediately saw it wasn't for me. After about 10 different people, over the years, said how brilliant it was I relented. The first season was definitely iffy, but now, I'm loving it. So funny! All the characters and actors are so good.

On 03 June 2024 the Beach Access post by the north track off Reay Mackay Grove is gradually disappearing. Note how the sand comes up to just below the bottom S.

On 01 October 2024 that bottom S has almost been buried.

Here it was on 15 July 2020 when it was installed.

Census data has revealed one in 20 New Zealand adults identify as LGBTIQ+ - or part of the rainbow communities.

For the first time ever, the 2023 Census collected data about gender, sexual identity and variations of sex characteristics.

The LGBTIQ+ or rainbow population includes people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, intersex, or have other "minority genders or sexual identities", StatsNZ said.

Via: Census 2023: First-ever Census data on NZ's rainbow communities released.

Bit of a rattle this afternoon. 〰️

Down at lake Puna o te Ora today the Southern Bell Frogs were in full voice.

And as I listened to the recording, I realised the birds were busy chirping too.

A quote for the day from my friend Debra, who is not only working hard at her own job, but putting a lot of effort into the local community:

I'm trying to get some change because it's all too annoying!

That's an excellent reason to try to change things. 😁

About half an hour before sunrise I noticed a sliver of yellow crescent moon rising above the hills.

The birds were welcoming dawn with their chorus (volume up).

Finally seen my first comet: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), approx 90 minutes before dawn. Couldn't see it with naked eye but binoculars were great.

Nice to see horses on the beach today. For a while now it's been tricky for them to gain access, thanks to changes in terrain. Today: 3 riders, two on beautiful Arab horses.

Sometimes they ride flat out, like this person in 2016.

When we first came here a fellow used to train his horses.