In 2008 I visited Hawai’i briefly and took a guided tour up Mauna Kea to visit the observatories. I had no idea at the time that it is sacred indigenous land. I hope the indigenous people can overcome the plans to build more telescopes, desecrating their land.
International Day of the Dog 2020, you say. 🐶 Importing some old photos and just found this, appropriately. On High Street in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand (2009, before the huge earthquake of 2011): Corgis on High, a public artwork. I hope they’re still there.
‘Yod dropping’! How do you pronounce emu?
the evolution of emu to EE-mooh was an example of yod dropping.
some words ending in that /u/ vowel in English (e.g. “blue”, “rude”) were once pronounced with a palatal — /rjud, blju/ — but are now not. This … is yod dropping"
Cool: Auckland Zoo welcomes first rhino birth in 20 years
The baby girl rhino was born on August 14 and is the first child of 30-year-old southern white rhino, Jamila.
… after a 16-month pregnancy, with the newborn tipping the scales at a healthy 65 kilograms.
A superb 8 minute doco: Wahine Warrior about a woman who learned to hunt to feed herself and kids and now is teaching other women.
Reinventing herself to help other wahine escape the same life of welfare and abuse, she enriches them with hunting skills to live off the land.
When Olive 🐈 was about 3 years old her owners, our next door neighbours, moved overseas and she came to live with us. Here she is in December 2003. I learned the value of persistence from Olive. She was relentless in pursuing her goals. It would drive me bonkers!
In early October 2011 we spent a weekend in Melbourne, Australia. It's a lovely city, as cities go. I loved this art work: Three Businessmen Who Brought Their Own Lunch: Batman, Swanston And Hoddle.
(Been looking for my Melbourne photos for days…)
Good news on Oshi’s eye 🐶: the ulcer is down to about 20% of the surface. Previous photo from a couple of weeks ago it was about 75%. The vet also commented that Oshi seems more with it than last time. We continue with eye drops. so glad he’s coming right.
It doesn’t snow in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, but it did on 15 August 2011. Pretty frosty. Pretty pretty too. ❄️
These photos from our old house on Mt Victoria. Front deck, and back yard.
I enjoy the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries by Margaret Mizushima. 📚 Burning Ridge really held my attention and was a great read.
On a rugged Colorado mountain ridge, Mattie Cobb and her police dog partner Robo make a grisly discovery—and become the targets of a ruthless killer.
Sorry I didn’t respond sooner @PaulGit re your question about Shangai topiary. The photo info is below. We were only in Shanghai for a day or two. I have absolutely no idea where I was! Hope this helps.
Graceful: this humpback whale cutting through the water beside our boat on a whale watching trip in Tonga.
Today I was one of a dozen volunteers who planted out 3,000 spinifex and 500 pingao plants at Waikawa Beach. They help retain the dunes and build the coast. One chap with a powered auger dug holes. We took plants from the root trainers, dropped them in the holes and covered them.
Wait… that’s a funny looking chook! 🐓
My friend’s chooks, who I’m feeding for the weekend, enjoy a little art critique in their home. 🐓
Well, today is less than 4 months since a friend of the last 2 or 3 decades was diagnosed with cancer. Today she passed away — the first of our larger ‘Brunch Group’. She was a few days short of her 71st birthday. We’re all of that kind of age I guess. Sad news. Haere rā Helen.
Without a doubt Walkers Shortbread is the best shortbread. Excellent flavour and the perfect amount of crunch. So glad to be able to buy these again. 🏴
This (free) Wu Fei track put me so much in mind of Bear McCreary’s work on Battlestar Galactica Gulibita:
I knew this song as Why Is The Rose So Red (花儿为什么这样红) from childhood. As far as I can find out, the melody is adapted from a Tajik folk song.
🎶
Yay, it is properly raining. We haven’t had much rain for a while, and there’s about 40 mm forecast over the next few days. 🤞🏼 40 mm would give us about 2,600 litres in the rainwater tank.