I don’t see astrophotography in my future, but provided you don’t look too closely, this is pretty much the splendid view I had of last night’s lunar eclipse. It was magical, especially how early on I could hardly see any stars, but at peak the Milky Way was resplendent. 🌕
Starting to see the Earth’s shadow encroaching on the face of the moon… It’s about an hour till total eclipse now.
Trying to get serious with camera settings, tripod etc, and getting the darn thing in focus. Full moon before the eclipse starts.
I plan to watch tonight’s total lunar eclipse by eye rather than through a camera lens, but I do want to try for a couple of photos. Checking How to Photograph a Total Lunar Eclipse | PetaPixel and How to Photograph a Lunar Eclipse and Get Amazing Results to prepare. 📷
Things I’m learning about ebike racks. My car has a 1 7/8 tow ball. The E-Rack 2 I’m considering needs a 50mm ball. These sizes are different. The tongue on my hitch is rated for 60 Kg max. The rack itself weighs 21 Kg and supports 60 Kg. The two bikes weigh 45 Kg (23.5+21.5). 🚲
Reina Pepiada: Venezuelan Arepas with Chicken and Avocado
This week’s International Breakfast: Reina Pepiada: Venezuelan Arepas with Chicken and Avocado. We were able to buy the P.A.N. cornflour online. These would be great for taking for a packed lunch or on a picnic.
I love the On This Day feature in Micro.Blog. I check mine every day. I’d completely forgotten that a year ago we had an earthquake big enough that I actually left the house.
// Thanks @cleverdevil.
Thinking this might be a bike trip I could do next year: West Coast Wilderness Trail. A friend did it and said it was fabulous. The West Coast of Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island) is fabulous!
Concerned by events in [Western] Samoa: Live updates: Samoa’s political crisis deepens where the party voted out in a recent election has locked the winners out of Parliament. Samoa and Aotearoa New Zealand have very close relationships. I visited Samoa 3 times around 2000.
I enjoyed Lost to the Sea: A Cozy Mystery (Lost in Alaska Book 3) by Leigh Mayberry. Somehow the odd word choices and other ‘mistakes’ lend authenticity for me. I imagine the books are written by someone whose English differs from mine and it may not be their first language. 📚
Shocking news this afternoon that an office holder on a committee I’m on had a massive heart attack and passed away today. It can be so sudden folks — remember that. RIP.
Well, Deb’s first outing on her new ebike was a success. I helped her learn how to stop and get off — something she’d been very nervous about. The bike barely goes into my MPV as the handlebars are high and wide. There won’t be room for both bikes so we’ll have to get a carrier.
Called in to Torpedo 7 in Palmerston North to buy a chain cleaning kit for my bike and came out with the kit plus a new Trek 2021 Verve+ 2 Lowstep ebike for Deb. Oops! 🚲
Back in early April Deb and I sent off Ancestry.com DNA tests. Finally the DNA is being analysed and we should have results in mid-June.
This week I’ve been less tired, had less brain fog and less blurry vision. In the best spirit of changing several factors at once I’ve (probably) been eating better, have started taking brisk walks on alternate days and have slashed the amount of chocolate I consume. 👍
Budget Day today in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Labour Government is committed to spending money in all the right places: improving health, housing, education, jobs and addressing (child) poverty along with climate change and things like rail and industry.
On my brisk walk today I spotted this impressive ‘beach whare’. I now realise another angle would have made a better photo. Whare (pronounced roughly far-ry) is the Māori word for house or shelter.
Ugh! Waikato Hospital enters third day affected by cyber attack:
cyber experts are working to isolate the problem and reset individual computer systems as quickly as possible, but they were complex systems.
the ransomware is now under police investigation.
Our local government organisations — Councils — use a system of geographic subdivisions called ‘wards’ that allow voting. There is debate about whether to establish “Māori wards”. Reading the submissions: one person thinks this is referring to hospital wards. Another thinks it’s referring to Māori ‘wardens’ — people who have a vaguely ‘police’ role within the Māori community. 🤦🏽
Heh, first some wanted to use CQD:
dash dot dash dot | dash dash dot dash | dash dot dot
This was a political process among the notable shipping nations of those times. At first they … provisionally agreed: CQD.
CQD, in Morse code: ▬ • ▬ • ▬ ▬ • ▬ ▬ • •
