Miraz Jordan

Ahhh, what a way to start the day, with Rare Kenya Silver Tip white tea:

From the Kenyan plantations in Africa this is a most delicate tea — the uppermost bud carefully hand picked for brewing.

I enjoy watching short science videos while I eat breakfast. The new Nature League is already great:

Brit …goes through characteristics of life on Earth, including importance of carbon.

A few Kuaka visit our beach every year, but now it’s time for them to leave: 🐦

With the changing of the season, the first godwits have started leaving … for their long flight to Alaska.

… their 17,000km-long migration to the breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra is the longest known non-stop journey for any bird.

In fact, I think I haven’t seen any on the beach for a while now.

Patterns in the sand at the Waiorongomai Stream.

Down at Waikanae for dinner.

Ahhh, Friday morning videos to watch while I eat breakfast (today: quail eggs, ham, black rice and cheese):

• Physics Girl: What is the Magic Russian Diamond?
• Emily Graslie: Water beetle HYPE. Learn more about these adorable little scuba divers.
• Braincraft: You know that distracting half-of-a-conversation you overhear? And you absolutely must know the other half? That's called a halfalogue. 👀
• NativLang: I animated the tale of "Ancient" Chinese! Here's how scholars pieced together what it sounded like... using a unique linguistic tradition older than Western proto-language reconstruction!

When about 50 Canada Geese fly right overhead. 🐦

There's a flock of about 50 Canada Geese (and a rabbit) just hanging out in the next paddock but one. 🐦

It took me several hours of reading about 500 pages of PDF and writing 4,000 words over 3 blog posts to work out my response to the Council’s Long-Term Plan proposals which I can now express in 1 word: NO!

Nice to see Royal Spoonbills around after the storm. 🐦

Really enjoyed Black Panther tonight. Themes of leadership, loyalty, responsibility, culture were so interesting. And of course the tech was glorious. Loved the surprises. Loved that women had such powerful roles. 🎥

After a very still day, in the last 10 minutes Ex Tropical Cyclone Gita has started to make itself felt at our place (white dot on the map). Winds gusting over 60 Kph just now, but forecast to increase. I can still see patches of blue sky though…

Getting dark and the local pheasants start squawking. Moments later (as expected with such an efficient early warning system) a magnitude 5.0 earthquake gives us a bit of a shake. Those pheasants are so reliable. 〰️

Ohhh, Star Trek Discovery was a blimmin good story, beautifully told. And that reminder of the Original Series stirs up so much for me. I watched it as a kid at the time of Apollo missions and moon landings and discovery and hope and excitement. The world was new to this kid and there was so much possibility in the universe.

Actual space exploration and sci-fi space shows help us move out and beyond and be bigger than the petty mundanities of our daily lives.

Star Trek has been there, a constant element in my life. I realise I have such a deep attachment to it. That mention, and the original theme music, all but brought me to tears.

It may sound silly to attribute anything much to a TV show, but really, it has touched me deeply. I so hope there will be a Discovery Season Two. 🖖🏼

I stopped drinking tea and coffee in about 1981. Over time though I’ve become a green tea drinker, lately switching from bags to a variety of loose leaf teas. There are so many flavours to explore, from the subtlety of an AnJi to the gutsiness of a Gunpowder.

This package arrived in the mail today and the Contents Description had me stumped: “aluminium pack, cotton coaster, Iron filters”. What the heck! Turns out it was the green and white teas I’d ordered, with tea sieve and free coaster. Whew.

This morning, as the day dawns, I look outside and everything is the same as it was yesterday. At the same time it is dawn in Tonga. Thanks to a direct hit from Tropical Cyclone Gita overnight, for them everything will have changed. Trees and buildings flattened, power out, wreckage everywhere. 5 years ago we visited. This famous tree in the capital is now gone apparently.

Yes! 23mm of rain today and counting. That should have added 1500 litres of water to our house tank. I love this direct relationship with the water we use every day. It rains: we get to shower, cook, wash, make hot drinks etc.

I was wearing thick work gloves when I pulled a tall weed this evening. Good thing too as I disturbed a rather angry wasp that managed to sting my finger through the glove. I suspect things could have been worse. Just a bit sore now. I applied vinegar and it helped.

From a better angle I can see that kite is a stingray.