The other day Deb cleared and planted one vegetable bed. Today I added mulch and netting to keep the wild rabbits out.
Darn it — I backed the car into a low fence at an unfamiliar location today. Luckily it's done minimal damage, but Grrr. 🚗
Nice one! When getting nowhere with the lackeys, go instead straight to the boss:
The Iwi Chairs Forum has penned a letter to King Charles III, urging the monarch to intervene over state actions in relation to te ao Māori. “Your new coalition government … has promised to attack Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of our whānau … We seek your intervention to ensure that the government does not diminish the Crown’s honour. Please remind them to respect their responsibility to act as an honourable partner on your behalf.
Sleep update: Deb left the house around 0430 to drive to Wellington airport for an early flight. I enjoyed a cuppa and 2 hours additional sleep, moving me from woefully inadequate to merely inadequate.
I predict more daytime sleep. 😀
Drat. For no particular reason it was one of those nights where I was asleep not very much and awake far too much. I ended up finishing my book, but the day is starting with much yawning. 🥱
We've had our Mazda CX3 for 9 or 10 years now. The other day we received a Rearview Camera Safety Recall
, so today I drove the 1 hour to Palmerston North to have the camera checked. With this advice:
We do require at least half a day to carry out the recall.
I took breakfast and a cuppa and my laptop, prepared to wait.
In fact it took 20 minutes to determine there was no problem and wrap extra tape round the wires.
I was home by 1015, after grocery shopping, glad to have the rest of the day for myself.
Can you even see the two almost microscopic Dotterel chicks? 🐦
One is dead-centre, the other diagonally down and to the right. I've left the landscape in to help show just how tiny they are. You can really only spot them when they move.
The Oystercatcher chick had strayed further from its parents today. 🐦
I usually can't bear to read the Government's Press Releases, but this is welcome news … Government announces [end] of greyhound racing in New Zealand:
While fewer dogs are dying, injury rates, while down slightly, have plateaued and remain unacceptably high …
A bill to make the necessary changes … will be introduced to Parliament in 2025. …
“A key task will be the rehoming of the estimated 2,900 racing greyhounds in New Zealand.
I must have had an effective session at the gym yesterday — all the muscles I worked are (good) sore. 😁
A kiwi 'christmas' parade:
We still have Santa who comes along with us to celebrate, but we recognise Hineraumati as our summer maiden, who opens up our summer time for us as iwi Māori. For us the big thing was to have our own pūrākau [stories] included in the celebrations we have here in Whangaroa.
Via: In photos: Hineraumati Parade sweeps through Far North town of Kāeo.
Every couple of days I plug a 4TB drive into my MacBook Pro and use Time Machine to run a backup. Over recent weeks though it's failed repeatedly somewhere in the process.
Today I gave in and reluctantly erased the drive to start fresh.
After an hour or so: 30% backed up, so far.
This is a slim book in the way a surgeon's scalpel is slim — and equally effective Understanding Te Tiriti. 📚
A handbook of basic facts about Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
No 200 page academic treatise, this book cuts right to the point, clarifying what led to Te Tiriti, what it says and what that means.
Buy it, read it, if you are in any way engaged with Aotearoa.
My Granny Smith apple tree is on track to produce a good crop this year.
I'm going to miss this tree when we move.
The corner of the deck railing is the super popular spot for birds this year. This Yellowhammer sang me a nice tune. 🐦
I think this is the same Dotterel chick I took a photo of a couple of days ago. Today I spotted its one or two siblings (they move so fast I just wasn't sure if it was 2 chicks or 3). 🐦
Cooking Tip: Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:
It’s easy to make perfect, easy to peel, hard boiled eggs with no green ring.
That was fun, with such excellent and well-known musical pieces — The Magic Flute:
a 2022 German musical fantasy film directed by Florian Sigl and written by Andrew Lowery, based on the 1791 opera of the same name by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. … Seventeen arias from The Magic Flute are featured in the film, performed by the individual actors.
Today I made this Creamy Body Wash:
- 50 g hot water
- 25 g coconut oil
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 200 g water – additional
- 100 g liquid castile soap
- 30-50 drops essential oils
I used 25 drops lemon, 15 lavender, 15 bergamot.
Tomorrow I get to see how it turned out.
Another enjoyable adventure with this young group of friends — Ithaka Rising: Halcyone Space, book 2 by LJ Cohen. 📚
When Barre's brother Jem disappears, Barre and Ro race to find him before he sells his future and risks his mind for a black market neural implant.
