Two little Tauhou or Silvereye turned up on the flax this morning.
The silvereye colonised New Zealand from Australia in the 1850s … Length: 12 cm, Weight: 13 grams.
Such cute wee birds! I’m so glad they visit our garden. Planting flax bushes near the front door was smart.
This 14 minute video is very interesting: Why Do We Get Columbine So Wrong? Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since that Columbine school shooting. Apparently almost everything we ‘know’ about the shooters is incorrect.
I’m really enjoying In the Dark on The CW.
An irreverent blind woman … Murphy drifts through life in a drunken haze. …she stumbles upon a corpse that must be [her friend] Tyson’s, but it disappears … She resolves to solve the murder herself
My neighbour and I played Scrabble tonight. She’s very hard to beat, and played “amaze” for a high score. I added an ‘s' as part of “quest” on a double letter for ‘q’ and a double word for 67 points. I won the game. Her long run of only vowels helped…
One job for this month is to tidy and rearrange the garage. Meanwhile, I re-stained the tops of two deck tables and applied stain all over my new raw pine Adirondack chair. I think it’ll need another coat tomorrow. I was advised to use a rag not a brush, so did that.
Today I planted the kowhai tree Sophora Dragon’s Gold beside Aphra’s grave. I dug a hole in the sand, filled it with good compost and water, a fertiliser tab underneath, then mulched with pine shavings. Then I added 4 stakes, plastic netting and wind cloth to protect the tree.
Such a glorious day! I was sitting on the deck in the sun, thinking how uncomfortable my chair was. I’ve been pondering for ages buying an Adirondack chair. Turns out today was the day. Raw pine. Tomorrow I’ll stain it.
Thanks Happy Moose, that was a nice surprise.
Nature at risk: Damning report warns NZ environment in serious trouble
A bleak picture of the state of New Zealand’s environment has been painted by the government’s official report, Environment Aotearoa 2019.
My Netatmo wind gauge was on top of a regular fence post. That worked well until yesterday when the neighbour’s landscapers planted flax bushes beside it. Pretty soon the flaxes will block the wind. The landscapers added another post about 1.5 metres taller for me. 😀
Sunrise, from my favourite chair in the lounge.
Thank you! So many people have sent me well wishes after the sudden and unexpected passing of my sweet little cat Aphra. I really appreciate the connections and thoughts everyone.
In 2002 my sweet little cat Aphra was less than a year old. She and her brother Ares shone in the sunlight while sitting on our TV set. She’s in front. Six weeks ago she looked gorgeous in the garden. Late this afternoon she collapsed and was euthanased. My little sweetie! 🐈
Liked, whakataukī:
Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei — Seek the treasure that you value most dearly, if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.
Refuse to let obstacles get in your way while striving to reach your goals.
Quail update: Glee is now 7 weeks old and has brown markings on her back. Yesterday was quail moving day — they hate being moved, but love having new digs. A neighbour gave me rosemary cuttings. Can you see the stripy girl hiding behind the branches?
I’ve just finished re-reading Anniversary Day Saga by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She’s such a superb writer, I enjoyed it even more the second time around.
4 years ago, a bomb destroyed part of the dome protecting Armstrong, the largest city on the Moon. Now a larger threat looms
Today I discovered that 07:01 on a Sunday morning is a fantastic time to go to the supermarket. There was no traffic on State Highway 1, and pretty much no other shoppers in the supermarket. So easy and delightful. There and back in 75 minutes and half of that was driving.
I enjoyed the movie Red Joan, starring Dame Judi Dench. Interesting story based on real life. And no, science and politics can’t be divorced.
Ah, my domain registrar’s Support team have worked some magic and it appears forwarding from my old email address to the new address is working at last. Hope I haven’t missed too much in the meantime.
My domain registrar is trying to figure out why my old email address is failing to successfully forward to my new. I’ve missed about 5 days worth of emails now. Even the Support guy commented on how much spam that old address gets. I’ve had it over 20 years…