Māori facial tattoos (tā moko) are very special with huge ancestral and spiritual significance. But the custom nearly disappeared after Europeans arrived. Older photographic techniques also made them invisible. The Puaki - Ta Moko Exhibition in Foxton was so interesting! 📷
Paradise!
We watched and enjoyed News of the World, with Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. It’s an appropriately slow-moving, thoughtful story set in Texas in 1870.
While tough to see the incredibly hard and dangerous life of that time, the mass slaughter of bison, it was a really good movie.
Some people have a lot of trouble with how to spell my name. The z at the end drifts all over the place, and sometimes is even silent! Sometimes I even get called Shiraz! It’s OK. “Hey you” works as well. 🤣
In September 2018 we were holidaying in Niue, where I tried a little snorkelling (with a full-face mask). I love the colours / colors in this photo.
We enjoyed watching Finding ‘Ohana. No surprises, of course — it was a kind of junior Indiana Jones — but it did seem respectful of Hawai’ian culture. Interesting to see how much there is in common with Māori language and culture. ‘Ohana = Whānau.
Took out my laptop at a cafe to fill in an hour waiting for my bike’s gears to be fixed. Panicked when I saw it had only 40% charge. Then I remembered this is my new M1 MacBook Pro where one charge lasts almost 2 days. 40% was plenty. Amazing battery life on this new machine.
I’m feeding a friend’s chooks for a few days. From her place this morning I spotted this low cloud covering a sliver of blue sky above the Tararuas. The paddocks are brown because it’s very dry and technically summer.
In Aotearoa New Zealand it’s a challenge for our native fauna to stay alive under the onslaught from exotic pests such as stoats, cats, possums, rabbits, hedgehogs, humans and numerous other animals. This pair of native Pateke ducks are lucky to live in a sanctuary.
Here’s a picture from my recent Photo Workshop day at Pūkaha Mt Bruce. The battery on my Fuji X-T2 died about 6 hours in, but my iPhone still managed this Tieke (Saddleback) which was being fed mealworms very close to us.
For NZ$100 we bought this 1,000 litre plastic tank from the local licorice factory. It was used to ship vegetable derived glycerine for use in their factory. We’ll be using it to help keep our vegie gardens watered once we decide where to put it and how best to hook it up.
This is a perfect day to be at home. Blue sky and sunshine, a little birdsong and an occasional cicada, otherwise quiet, no wind. Paradise.
Out of nowhere this morning I started humming The Tornados - Telstar (1962) a hit from my youth. I was 7 years old when this came out and it was only 5 years since Sputnik had been launched. Investigating that led me to another childhood favourite: The Shadows - Apache (1964). 🎶
Glad I gave S2 of Batwoman a try after struggling through S1. Alice is less mad, gruesome and sadistic and more interesting and appealing. Batwoman’s backstory is superb. I love the way they’re dealing with contemporary issues. I’m really enjoying S2 so far.
I was having difficulties sending some texts on my new Mac. Turned out I needed to check the settings on my iPhone. I also logged out of Messages, restarted the app and logged in again. So many little details to sort out when setting up from scratch.
Our unexpected visitors last night had spent 5 hours on a 3-hour ferry trip from the South Island. Fierce gales left most passengers vomiting apparently. Not as bad though as those travelling the other way: Ferry berths after strong winds cause 12-hour delay.
From earlier this year. Our river is tidal, but on this day it was really still. Looking southwestish towards the sea.
The erudite amongst us may know this is a very fine Giant Galapagos Tortoise — a huge animal I loved seeing at the zoo in Honolulu back in December 2008. It’s a wonderful zoo I’d happily visit again, even though I’m usually ambivalent about zoos.
