Miraz Jordan

I used Pages.app to make a calendar from now to August 2020 so locals know when to put their recycling bins out. If you have Pages it’s completely editable. So, if you’d like to grab the zipped file (210KB) to edit and make your own calendar, please do. Calendars are fiddly…

One of the great things about Kowhai (this one’s a Dragon’s Gold) is that they flower in winter.

Good read: Imperfect pitch

When people complain that a woman’s voice is ‘shrill’… there’s often no objective, acoustically measurable quality .…What people mostly mean … is ‘I don’t like her’, or ‘I don’t think this position should be occupied by a woman’.

Your Crippling Stress Levels Could Affect Your Dog More Than You Think 🐶

evidence that increased oxytocin (the love and bonding hormone) in female dogs results in increased interactions with their owner… This effect wasn’t seen in male dogs.

My Sasha loves her morning cuddles.

This critter’s a Gisborne cockroach that I found in my car. I quickly relocated it to the road. They can be up to 45mm long and don’t infest food. They like the wood pile and don’t spread disease. Australian imports…

This gorgeous girl belongs to neighbours to the southwest of us. This morning she was posing in early sun. What a beauty!

I don’t follow sports but this 15 minute video held my attention: Anne Audain, New Zealand’s most successful road runner | Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends

the only NZ woman to win Commonwealth Gold on the track after … 1982 … But … she never returned to NZ.

One thing that annoys me all the time about Safari on the Mac is that I click a link from another app to open in Safari and then Safari opens it in some random tab in some random Safari window, usually behind the window I regard as my operating window. Bah!

This 13 minute video on being a young female MP is worth a watch: Chlöe Swarbrick interviews Marilyn Waring

NZ Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick sits down with former National Party MP Marilyn Waring. Both became MPs when they were 23 years old, one in 2017, the other in 1975.

Here’s Batalha cathedral in Portugal. It’s splendid. Batalha Cathedral in Portugal is a place where the spirit can soar

The Siri face on my Apple Watch showed me several photos today from our 2015 visit to Batalha in Portugal. That sent me to Photos and a very pleasant spell looking at the whole collection.

Then I found my blog entry from that time, and read this.

As you exit the motorway into Batalha you can see the spires of the mainly Gothic monastery standing tall. Then you wind through the quiet streets for a few metres and there it is. The decorations and overall appearance are breathtaking. The buildings, with their arches and knobbly decorations and gargoyles, sit in the middle of a vast square.

Go inside though and the hugely tall vaulted ceilings and long views are truly awe inspiring. Tall stained glass windows are there. Decorations high and low on the tall pillars are there. Some bare stone walls are adorned only with a tiny cross.

These gorgeous buildings were created over about 150 years beginning in 1386, as thanks for the help of Mary in winning a battle.

This dazzling architectural ensemble was born out of a promise the King, João I, made in thanks for his victory at Aljubarrota, a battle fought on August 14, 1385, which assured him the throne and guaranteed independence for Portugal.

Batalha moved me. It seemed a place where the spirit could soar. The cathedral is powerful but beautiful. The outside is ornate, yet inside is modest and restrained, but with soaring spaces.

I took a fair few photos, most with the 'wrong' lens. Nevertheless, seeing these photos again fills me with joy.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal is at the centre of a vast square.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - detail.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - detail. of carvings above a door.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - gargoyle. "

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - soaring columns.

Batalha cathedral in Portugal - stained glass window.

At the beach by the Waikawa river mouth, just before high tide. The river itself is in the last few frames of the shot.

Sometimes you just want to curl up into a little ball and let the others watch over you for a while.

If you enjoy looking at photos you should read this: Interview: Photographer Spends 10 Years Capturing the Visual Symphony of Waves The photos are absolutely astonishing. I can’t begin to imagine how he made them.

That WWDC keynote was so chock full of info and stuff I can’t even remember most of it. Very happy to see what’s coming up in the new operating systems though, and that perhaps iPad will become more powerful to work with. #WWDC19

Fabulous to see in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2019 most or all are for real service to the community: women, Māori, Pacific Islands, sports and hobbies — genuine community stuff, rather than the business-focus under the National governments.

Why I love living here — not one but two videos. One shows Kāpiti Island and the South Island; the other shows the snowy-peaked Tararuas behind the beach. The recent storm really cleared the air.

This morning with the storm gone we can see more tops of the Tararua range. Now we have a day or two of fine days then I believe it’s back to storms.

Now the weather’s cleared a bit we can see the southerly storm brought a bit of snow to the higher tops of the Tararuas.