It’s nearly 4 am. I should be asleep. Instead I’ve been woken every hour or so by Sasha the dog needing to go out. I’ve cleaned up two lots of dog poop from where I haven’t got up. Given in and made a cup of tea.

With a swell of up to 2.5 metres, high tide and sunset coinciding, I biked down to the beach with my camera. These photos straight from the camera.

Orange sky with waves in the foreground. Orange sky with sun sinking below the horizon and waves like shelving in the foreground. Big waves in the foreground, with orange sky.Sea in foreground, dramatic orange sky, sea spray rising high on the horizon.

Recommended reading: the extremely interesting and superbly written This is our story: A qualitative research report on living with dementia.

tells the story of diverse lives and experiences of New Zealanders living with dementia, explores what it means to them to live well.

Last night we watched and enjoyed Wine Country:

When a group of longtime girlfriends goes to Napa for the weekend to celebrate their friend’s 50th birthday, tensions from the past boil over.

My Netatmo outdoor module is on the fritz. Because I’m in New Zealand I can’t buy a replacement module but have to buy a new station. Tonight, in the pouring rain, the rain gauge shows zero rainfall! What next?

Ate a delicious dinner with long-time friends at Thistle Inn in Thorndon for one friend’s 70th birthday.

Entree: Crumbed eggplant, roast red pepper pesto & grilled haloumi.

Main: Oven baked Mudfish, crushed potato, spinach mushrooms, capers & butter sauce.

Crumbed eggplant, roast red pepper pesto & grilled haloumi. Oven baked fish, crushed potato, spinach mushrooms, capers & butter sauce.

Someone on Micro.Blog recently mentioned ToDoist. After a few days use I’m finding it helpful for getting on with useful stuff in my day.

Bloke takes dogs for a swim in the river, finds moa prints:

fossilised moa footprints millions of years old.

Seven clear footprints were found, each about 30cm by 30cm, and an action, preservation and excavation plan for the footprints was immediately prepared.

Photo.

The moa footprints in the river. Photo: Kane Fleury.

What it means to live in NZ. In the last 24 hours…

  • batteries ordered from a .co.nz site can’t be shipped to NZ.
  • Netatmo replacement module isn’t sold in NZ.
  • Kindle book available in US doesn’t exist for NZ.

Screenshot from an email saying batteries can’t be shipped to NZ.Screenshot from an email saying module not sold in NZ.Screenshot from Amazon page showing Kindle version of book not available in NZ.

Sasha enjoys chasing the ball on the beach. The thing is, her eyesight isn’t the best, so I have to be careful how I roll the ball. Even then, she can lose track. It’s what comes next that cracks me up. See the diagram. 🐶

Black dog lying on the beach with a ball between her paws. Diagram shows the ball rolls straight ahead, but the dog veers off at right angles when she loses sight of the ball.

My favourite sci-fi author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is doing a special Kickstarter for her next novel in the Diving Universe. Dive in.

The Renegat, Diving Universe novel, book cover.

I’m learning lots about Māori from Taringa!. In Episode 36 of Taringa!, at ~ 23' 30" in, there’s an interesting 3 minute discussion about how Māori kept fire going: embers in a buried log.

Ares after a couple of days at the vet hospital for observation— he’s lost 500 grams since last July, and after his sister died unexpectedly I thought he should have a checkup. Possible early kidney or liver problems. I’m not really choking him, just making sure he was facing out. 🐈

Black cat on my lap and facing the camera.

“But the proof is in the pudding” — I try not to be pedantic about such things these days, but this one always bugs me a bit. Puts me in mind of when I was a kid and the Christmas Pudding had threepenny bits in it… (and a drop of ?% proof brandy).

The Brain-Eating Amoebas of Kerosene Creek — a 4 minute video from Tom Scott that features Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles.

Kerosene Creek is a natural hot spring near Rotorua. Warning: don’t put your head under water…”brain-eating amoebas", naegleria fowleri, are real…

We’re still enjoying the last of the produce from our tunnelhouse: capsicum, aubergine, chili.

Two red capsicums, an aubergine, and a red chili.

The sea today was the pale grey of a glacier-fed river.

Pale grey sea, calm, with a fishing boat one one side.

Heh. Annoyed by Hover repeatedly emailing me about a domain I intentionally let expire, I discovered their excellent expiry notification settings.

Settings in Hover that allow repeated reminders before and after expiration at various intervals.

Foxton is proud of its Dutch heritage. We ate poffertjes at the cafe. They were a little disappointing though — we’ve had better at Bulls. These were a little heavy.

Poffertjes at Foxton, with lemon, icing sugar and golden syrup.

Manawatu Estuary is a RAMSAR bird sanctuary and a great spot for a stroll. Today there were probably 500+ birds there. We spotted a couple of hundred Canada Geese, more than a dozen Royal Spoonbills, numerous Pied Stilts, ducks, a lone shag.

Royal Spoonbills in front and Canada Geese behind.Pied stilts in front of a grassy area. Royal Spoonbills on the left amd Pied Stilts on the right.Some of the big flock of Canada Geese. Panorama showing the big flock of Canada Geese, Royal Spoonbills and others.