Our current neighbours were looking gorgeous this morning. Photo: 2 brown horses and a black horse standing in a row. The black horse has an eye problem, hence the patch.
Yesterday’s wasp sting was painful at the time, but I washed and iced it and it seemed OK. Today my arm's slightly swollen at the sting site, and a bit tender. More icing. Antihistamines were suggested but I truly despise taking them… So many wasps round here.
Moments of the day, Monday 04 February 2019
- an hour watering the garden
- alone on the beach with the dogs
- dug out a small gorse bush
- got stung by a wasp (ouch!)
- an hour mowing
- tidied items in the garage
- wrote a blog post for our community
- read some of 2 books
Last night I really enjoyed the movie Victoria & Abdul. It was a lot lighter than I expected. The excesses and racism of British ‘royal society’ of the time were ghastly, and left me as a born-English person feeling ashamed and horrified. Judi Dench was fabulous, as always.
Lunch Letdowns near Levin
Yesterday I tried out Whispers Cafe in Levin. I had a hot chocolate, with fish and chips. I'd have to say the meal was fine, but somehow it didn't work. The hot chocolate was fine, and I'd have one again. The Pan Fried Crumbed Fish served with garden salad, fries & homemade Tartare sauce was all essentially good, but somehow it didn't work. I couldn't finish the meal because it was cloying. Even though I squeezed the lemon wedge (complete with sticker!) over the fish and there was a dressing on the salad and radish in the salad, the meal needed 'zing': something sharp and tasty to make it work. Next time I visit I'll try something different from the menu.
Today we took the dogs on an outing and decided on lunch at Murrayfield Cafe, halfway between Levin and Shannon, which has outdoor seating and a cute petting zoo. I was hoping for a Thai curry. When we arrived we discovered they wouldn't allow us to have the dogs at the outdoor tables. It was too hot to leave the dogs in the car, so we drove further afield.
Highway 57 Bakery and Cafe is in Shannon. It has a pleasant courtyard (dogs allowed) and we've stopped there before for coffee. I didn't really want fish and chips a second day in a row, but that was the item on the menu I least didn't want. It also came with a salad, and I again chose a hot chocolate. Deb ordered an omelette. Deb found the omelette too greasy and didn't finish her meal. My hot chocolate was OK I guess. The crumbs on my fish had a very odd taste and the fish itself wasn't great. The chips were OK, and the tomato sauce was fine. How anyone can wreck a plain old salad is beyond me, but it was not something I wanted to eat. All in all, the best thing about that lunch was the garden.
After lunch we strolled with the dogs over to the memorial garden by the railway station. That was a brief but pleasant walk. There was a candle-shaped memorial with just one name on it in the centre of the garden. It was dedicated to a young lad who fought in the Boer War and was killed at age 20. The other stone at the entrance had multiple names on it and was a standard war memorial.
Loved this 10 minute video: Nature Mythology From Around the World
This week on Nature League, Brit and Adrian re-enact mythology tales about plants and animals from around world.
LOL, Kāpiti Coast District Council has put up ‘selfie’ posts in scenic locations. How to selfie - with Parks Officer Mark is fun. Watch to the end. 1 minute 30 seconds video.
Ares and Aphra relax in front of the house. 🐈
Watched: The Poor Man of Nippur - World’s first film in Babylonian
…a c. 3,000 year-old comic folk tale in Babylonian language. …a clay tablet from 701 BC …. tells the story of the three-fold revenge which Gimil-Ninurta wreaks on the local Mayor after the latter wrongs him.
Wonderful to step outside just before dawn to see a crescent Moon partnered up with Jupiter and Venus in the Northeast. Quick iPhone photo for the memories.
Hooray for nuns, and magic water
In 1963 our family moved from London, England to New Zealand. I recall very little about where I was born and lived to the age of 8, but today thought to search out information. It turns out, it's rather cool:
Muswell Hill is a suburban district of north London. … It is between Highgate, Hampstead Garden Village, East Finchley and Crouch End. …
The earliest records of Muswell Hill date from the 12th century. The Bishop of London … owned the area and granted 65 acres (263,000 m²) … to a newly formed order of nuns. The nuns built a chapel on the site and called it Our Lady of Muswell.
The name Muswell is believed to come from a natural spring or well (the "Mossy Well"), said to have miraculous properties. A traditional story tells that Scottish king Malcolm IV was cured of disease after drinking the water. … The River Moselle, which has its source in Muswell Hill and Highgate, derives its name from this district …
Source: Muswell Hill - Wikipedia.
When it feels more like Samoa or something than not too far from Wellington, New Zealand. Screenshot: temperature is 26 but feels like 36. Celsius.
Apparently this little critter I found on the side of the house this evening is a Small field grasshopper.
Conocephalus bilineatus is a small winged member of the conehead katydids of the genus Conocephalus and is found throughout New Zealand. It also occurs in Australia.
Read: What to do when your personal blog becomes a burden: 6 tips :
When your personal blog becomes a burden: make new rules and lose blogger guilt.
This kōtuku ngutupapa, Spoonbill, pair were on the grass today and I was able to be fairly close. Don't they look fine! And look at them showing off their spoon bills. 🐦
These three cheerful Tirairaka sitting on a log were one of two purchases from the recent Ōtaki Pottery Show. Tirairaka are also known as Piwakawaka or Fantails. We have live ones round here too. I haven't managed a photo of a live one yet. 🐦
Today it’s almost 4 weeks since the quail chicks hatched so we integrated the flock again. The trick seems to be to move everyone to fresh ground. The male’s been asserting himself over everyone.
Can you see the 3 stripy and 3 white quail in the straw in the photo? 🐦
Evidence of voyaging Polynesians settling in Aotearoa more than 700 years ago. An excavation at Mangahawea Bay on Moturua Island in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand … Carbon dating puts the first inhabitants in the area around 1300AD… Much more Polynesian, Tahitian, Rarotongan.
Sir Kim Workman on his fight for criminal justice reform When I was about 20, training to be a teacher, we visited a prison for young men. I was shocked to learn many had such terrible lives prison was the only place they had 3 meals a day and someone who noticed where they were.
Looking good, kōtuku ngutupapa, the Spoonbill! 🐦
