Miraz Jordan

Interesting: a successful author who doesn’t read:

I was shocked to discover that she creates whatever she reads in her mind. … When the heroine arrives, her mind generates an image of that person. My mind, sadly, does none of that.

The question I dread by Amanda Radley

Well, the official results are in from my Ancestry.com DNA test, and surprisingly, I’m not 100% English. Looks like there’s a bit of Scots (18%) and even Norwegian (10%) tossed in. Given my last name (Jordan) I actually thought there might be some mid-eastern connection, but no.

For the past year or more a tiny fatty lump on my neck that I first thought was a pimple slowly grew into a small very annoying lump. A few days ago my doctor removed the lump for me. Today Deb helped me change the dressing and took a photo of my three blue stitches.

I have two more lunar eclipse photos that aren’t too terrible. One about half way in and the other about three quarters to totality. 🌕

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). 🚲

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.

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. 👍