Geese by Lake Horowhenua in Levin.
Actually, this is my first time using a laundromat. Luckily someone helped me avoid trying to wash in the dryer. 🤭I need better instructions.
Community BBQ struck a chord
The Waikawa Beach village has been filling up for decades. It's well-established with its 250 houses. An urban area, sections are smaller and houses are close together. That's an ideal setup for casual conversations with neighbours — a solid foundation for a strong community.
The much newer Strathnaver area though is founded on two streets and a couple of private lanes. About 100 properties are scattered along a total length of some 3.5 Km. In such a rural residential area sections are bigger and houses more spread out so it's harder for neighbours to meet casually. That can be a little isolating.
What's more this is a rapidly developing area. A couple of dozen new houses have popped up recently or are being planned. Many people are new to the area.
Which is what led a group of neighbours to apply to Horowhenua District Council for a $250 grant from the Events Fund to run a BBQ for everyone in the Strathnaver area over Labour Weekend.
This really struck a chord. About 60 people attended and the response, before and after was very enthusiastic. Another 15 or so expressed regret that prior commitments kept them away. Several people have asked if this could be an annual event.
Local producer Woody's Farm supplied gluten-free sausages — pork, beef and goat. Vegan salads and falafel provided options for those who don't eat meat. A local couple allowed us to use the grassy area by their lake.
Others provided labour to word the flier, buy the groceries, make salads, bring BBQs, do the cooking, set-up and take-down and clean up.
This team effort of planning and execution was worth it! So many people were thrilled to get to meet their neighbours. Or in their words:
A big thank you for a well run arvo much appreciated a great turnout again thanks for the effort I know folk enjoyed.
Thank you and the team for a really enjoyable afternoon yesterday! So well organised, yummy food/salads etc and a great way to get to know/keep in touch with others.
It was great to meet up with a few new people. Thanks so much for organising it, such a lovely idea!
I didn't realise it would be a feast!
Having ‘vegan options' on the flier is what made me attend. If that hadn't been on there I probably would have ignored it.
Originally published in Ōtaki Today, November 2019, page 26.
Not something I expected to find on the beach this morning.
The chef did a superb job in this build: Mushroom Hash at Cafe Royal in the centre of Palmerston North where I had errands this morning. Very delicious too. Unfortunately, and no fault of the food, another of my teeth fell to bits while eating (pic).
mbnov 18-Nov-19: build
Today’s job was to climb a ladder to see what was in our gutter (that feeds our drinking water tank). Then to attach a gutter cleaner nozzle and hose to a long pole and try to wash out the gunk. Much gunk, much cold shower! Now I want torrential rain to finish the job for me.
One of the superb things about going through old Micro.Blog posts with Mars Edit to fix missing alt text is the reminders of posts past. Ahhh, baby quail… Another superb thing is how easy Mars Edit makes working with Micro.Blog posts. // @danielpunkass
mbnov 17-Nov-19: superb
As I get older I become more selective about pretty much everything. I don’t want to spend time, money, energy on things that aren’t really what I want. And for some purchases I’m more aware than ever that I may have them for the rest of my life.
mbnov 16-Nov-19: selective
In the wee hours we had gusts of wind over 60 Kph, pouring rain loud on the tin roof, thunder, lightning. The dogs were extremely anxious and kept me awake for a couple of hours. In the end I brought them up on the bed where they stayed. Today I’m really sleepy though. 🐶 🥱😴
The Waikawa River flows out to sea at our beach. Not far east two streams converge. At the confluence, crystal clear Waikawa stream from the hills behind North Manakau is joined by murky Waiauti water from the hills behind South Manakau.
mbnov 15-Nov-19: murky
These are astonishing figures for our tiny country. Space sector contributes $1.7 billion to NZ economy 🚀:
Space …Total employment … 12,000 jobs.
total estimated revenue of the space economy was $1.75 billion in 2018-19, representing 0.27% of global space economy revenues.
We orbited the star for a while topping up with warm energy, then I headed out into cold space. A memory of the touch of her hand on mine made me wish it had been possible to stay but I just wasn’t able to. I put the pounamu on its cord around my neck…
mbnov Week 2.
There are a handful of Barbary Doves around here. You can tell them by the distinctive ring of black feathers on their neck. They were brought to New Zealand 150 years ago.
mbnov 14-Nov-19: neck
NZ Euthanasia bill passes final vote, goes to referendum
Parliament has passed a bill legalising voluntary euthanasia in a historic vote.
It will now go to a public referendum alongside next year’s general election for a final test.
About time!
After buying a years-overdue water filter replacement for under the kitchen sink, I was able to replace it myself. Luckily I double-checked instructions after putting it in: check direction of flow. Usability trap: flow direction is inverse to text direction. 😫
mbnov 13-Nov-19: able
Full moon rising 12-Nov-19.
I also forgot to post this short video of two horses who graze nearby enjoying a little ‘it’s raining’ hijinks.
Somehow yesterday passed without my posting these two photos of our dogs on the grooming table. Luckily they were willing to stay put while I took several photos. 🐶
Sasha and Oshi will be 13 years old on 13 December.
mbnov 12-Nov-19: stay
There’s a wingsuit training wind tunnel in Stockholm. Tom Scott tried it out in this 5 minute video: I Almost Learned To Fly In The World’s Only Wingsuit Tunnel. Wingsuit flying looks very hard!
A volunteer job I do is to keep my local community in touch with what’s going on. I write posts for the Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association’s blog and newsletter, update my own community Micro.Blog, Twitter feed and a local FB page. It’s very satisfying.
mbnov 11-Nov-19: touch