Hah, haven't seen one of these nice timeline adjacencies since I left Twitter. What will drive you? This Maserati?
Our friends in Whangarei have the most beautiful Belgian Shepherd dog. About 5 years old. 🐶
We were suddenly presented with these two huge sculptures on a hill as we rounded a corner (but couldn't take photos till we were down the hill). Absolutely stunning, along with others, including the one like a deckchair. By Kaipara Harbour, and a highlight of the day.
As we crossed the Bombay Hills yesterday farmers were harvesting spring onions. What a stench! I’d hate to live downwind of that.
We had a good night in Auckland with a friend, but today we head for our ultimate destination: Whangarei. It’s only another 3 hours I believe, traffic willing.
We stopped along the Desert Road (just before the best viewing spot…) and I hauled out the good camera with the zoom lens for a couple of shots of Mt Ruapehu. Amazing to think we can sometimes see the very top of this from our kitchen window.
Huntly coal fired power station looks good. We also saw a train load of coal arriving. Time for this one to cease production.
We stopped at Oruatua on the East side of Lake Taupo for the dogs to have a walk.
Ruapehu was looking fine as we drove the Desert Road.
A couple of hours driving brought us to breakfast at Taihape. They’re still waking up here.
Quail chicks Day 7. They seem to be exchanging baby fluff for feathers. Photos: yellow chick and stripey chick looking patchy and scruffy. 🐦
Today Fliss, the 6 day old stripey quail chick, is modelling for us. What a looker! Flop’s photos didn't turn out so well. 🐦
Angel Wings. Photo: a white Royal Spoonbill takes flight from the lagoon at Waikawa Beach. 🐦
Well, at almost 11pm I’m finding it hard to believe that 2019 is about to begin. Best wishes for this new year about to launch. May we all find peace and fulfillment.
These baby quail, born 5 days ago now, remain unbearably cute. Photos: yellow chick peeking out from under mum’s wing; yellow chick makes a blade of grass look huge; watchful mum with stripy chick head-down in front of her; stripy chick head-down eating.
We went to see The Favourite recently and the film has stayed with me. It’s intense, unusual, and features Queen Anne and her two courtiers Sarah and Abigail who vie for the Queen’s attentions and the power that comes with that. All rather bizarre, but amazing acting.
Women and rebels honoured
Look what happens when you get a government that is actually working for people, rather than the rich and business: a New Year's Honours List evenly split between women and men and covering a huge swathe of social concerns.
There are scientists in there, folks who've served their communities, people who've worked for Māori, for children, for film, for women, health, fashion, people with disabilities, art, publishing, wildlife …
When I was much younger and New Zealand was much more rigid than it is today, it was against the law to say the word bullshit
in public. Famously, Tim Shadbolt, who went on to write a book called Bullshit and Jellybeans
was arrested. Now look what he's up to:
Sir Tim Shadbolt has completed his journey to respectability, from activist to a knight of the realm.
Once best known as an anti-Vietnam war protester who was arrested 33 times, including once for using the word "bullshit", Sir Tim has gone on to become the country's longest serving mayor. …
Sir Tim said the honour was a reflection of the Queen taking a more inclusive view of the sort of people who should be recognised in society.
Source: New Year Honours list revealed | RNZ News.
I like the little note about the monarchy trying to be more inclusive …
Whew. It took nearly 24 hours but I’ve finally modified the Comment form on our Community WordPress website to: remove URL field, improve some wording, add a required radio button for where the commenter usually lives. So blimmin hard!
Thank you Inoreader and BBEdit! After searching all over for a way to capture items from a single RSS feed (Word of the Day in Māori) and save them, I found I could show Read items, select all, copy and paste to BBEdit where cleanup was trivial. About 250 items saved.
Little Flop, in her third day, finds straw a bit of a challenge. Photo: yellow quail chick in straw. 🐦
