I listened with great interest to Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Confucius the other day then found my way to the free course at edX The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life.

All part of my quest to be an actively decent human being.

Screenshot from The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life.

The 15 year old dogs have trained me to walk at a slow dawdle, with frequent stops, for max 20 minutes. Today I left them at home and did a brisk 40 minute walk, 3.6 Km round the road to the village and back across the beach. I need to build walking fitness.

My route on a map.

We enjoyed watching Uncle Frank 🎬:

Set in the 1970s, Uncle Frank is a road movie about a gay man who confronts his past.

Uncle Frank movie poster.

The privately owned lane we live along (with 4 other parties) needs resurfacing. We had a meeting today to discuss the quotes we’ve had and after some discussion all agreed on the middle-range option for the common area we all use. Not so hard…

Soo… we had our first real frost of the year. Mid-May seems a bit early. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Temperature bottomed out around -1.8C. Paddocks next door show the white coating.

Graph shows temperature reached below -1C.Paddock with coat of frost. Another paddock with coat of frost.

I enjoyed reading A Cold Day for Murder: A Cozy Mystery (Lost in Alaska Book 1) by Leigh Mayberry and am embarking on the next in series.

Numerous language oddities (missing words, wrong words) but with no info about the author I’m thinking maybe it’s an Alaskan thing? 📚

A Cold Day for Murder book cover.

Ordered Airtags. After a week or two they were picked up by the courier in China. Nothing, nothing, nothing. 5 days later they’re in Auckland. Probably be with me by noon Monday. Now to find or make a decent case.

Courier tracking.

Concerned when I watched The Flash S07E09. One of the bad-guys, giving people nightmares, had a fullface tattoo. The original screenshot was way too dark, but with huge overexposure it’s visible. Thing is, it very much resembles Māori tā moko. It’s cultural misappropriation!

Screenshot from The Flash S07E09. Adjusted screenshot from The Flash S07E09.

Brain-explody: Comparing the world’s most well known locations with NZ’s latitude | WeatherWatch.

(Using latitude co-ordinates only)

  • Well known international locations on a map of NZ.

  • How close are you to the South Pole and Tropics compared to other well known places?

Well known international locations on a map of New Zealand.&10;(Using latitude co-ordinates only)How close are you to the South Pole and Tropics compared to other well known places? &10;(Using latitude co-ordinates only)&10;

Already got back the results of my routine blood tests. All good apparently. ✔️

This is an excellent time of year for taking photos of the neighbour’s gorgeous horse.

Grey and white horse amongst brown and green bracken.

The farmer next door runs hundreds of cows, and 4 sheep. Sometimes random animals also turn up — one year it was a Kunekune pig. This year it seems to be a deer. It looks fairly young.

Pale coloured deer with small horns in a paddock. Pale coloured deer with small horns in a paddock.

I hoped the doctor would remove a small annoying sebaceous cyst for me today, but instead she checked it and made an appointment two weeks away for the removal. Then she sent me for routine blood tests because it’s been a while, apparently. Right next door, and only a brief wait.

The blood testing area.

Uh oh, I take that back. Now the 2016 MacBook Pro can’t load Amazon.com either…

Hmmm, currently my M1 MacBook Pro refuses to load Amazon.com despite extensive troubleshooting. 2016 MacBook Pro though has no problem with it. Still investigating… (I had thought I’d sell this old Mac, but now I’m not so sure…)

This was enjoyable 📚: Frightfully Fortune (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 20)

a dead man gallops through the park on a black stallion and slides to a decapitated stop right in front of Swamp Team 3… another festival is about to be turned on its head

I think the series is fading.

Frightfully Fortune book cover.

I’m unhappy when I spot random bits of plastic, rope or other stuff on our beach, but we have nothing like this level of pollution: The Beach Where Lego Keeps Washing Up. Apparently studies have shown Lego in a marine environment could last 1300 years!

💪🏼 ♀ Motherhood on the Battlefield of Death | The Order of the Good Death:

For Mesoamerican people childbirth was considered a form of battle, therefore, women who gave birth were revered as heroes and great warriors.

On 05 May I posted about a neighbouring property for sale: Waikawa Beach For Sale: 146 Strathnaver Drive. When we drove past this afternoon it had a Sold sign on it. 5 days. Not bad.

Korean Banchan

Our International Breakfast this week was Korean Banchan — Steamed White Rice, Gyeran Jjim, Sigumchi Namul, Pan-Fried Tofu with Dipping Sauce, miso soup. We invited neighbours to share with us. It was very filling and tasty.

Whisked eggs in a bowl and miso soup heating in a saucepan. Tofu being sliced on a board. Tofu coooking in a pan. All the items on a table. A plate full of food.