Overall a fair read — Gale Force Danger (The Rán Hollander Mystery Series Book 2) by Lakota Grace. 📚
Rán Hollander, Investigative Consultant, returns from vacation to find her desk at the constable’s office usurped by a brash rookie cop determined to make his mark. When a dead body is discovered near Rán's childhood home, the young cop goes rogue, and chaos ensues.
Today was pizza day.
I mainly enjoyed the movie Good Grief:
follows a man mourning the loss of his husband as his two best friends help him on his journey of grief and acceptance.
There was a bit in the middle where it felt rather bogged down, but it was a pleasing exploration of love, friendship and difficulties.
In today's news — smoke is smoky. Large vegetation fire at Whangārei Heads triggers emergency response | RNZ News:
A large amount of smoke can be seen at Whangārei Heads. A resident in the area says it is smoky.
Over Christmas and New Year our fridge freezer started leaking water and storing up ice below the freezer drawer.
After we tried various troubleshooting suggestions without success, today the service person examined it and declared the drain blocked and frozen solid. Power off for a couple of days so it can thaw and drain.
Luckily we have an extra freezer in the garage, and a chilli bin with ice packs is looking after the vulnerable fridge items.
Today's grocery shop is cancelled. 😁
I enjoyed watching the kids movie Luck 🎥 :
Set in the Land of Luck, the story follows the unluckiest person, Sam Greenfield, as she must unite with a talking black cat named Bob to turn her luck around.
Favorite scene: Sam was chasing someone but had to wait for a whole fleet of cyclists to pass — on recumbent bikes.
Bob the cat was fun too.
With this dreary weather the Tararua Range can be quite moody.
I really recommend this book, on sale today: US$3.10. It's good for all adults, not just us older folks. Thriving Beyond Fifty (Expanded Edition): 111 Natural Strategies to Restore Your Mobility, Avoid Surgery and Stay Off Pain Pills for Good by Will Harlow. 📚
I'm 66% through, and it's superb!
Something I learned when we sold our Wellington house — there were a million clean-up things to do, so by and large I didn't work from a plan, but just grabbed an item and did it.
Tomorrow an estate agent is visiting for an initial talk so we're focussed on making the house look tidy and clean.
For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. Waikawa Beach, with a stiff southerly. 🌊
A good read by an author whose previous books I've enjoyed. Lake Effect Murder (The Rán Hollander Mystery Series Book 1) by Lakota Grace. 📚
When Rán Hollander’s sister calls with the news that their father had a tragic accident on Lake Michigan, Rán drops everything and returns to a small town that turned its back on her years earlier. Was the death an accident, a suicide, or something much worse?
A spot of editing would have been useful to catch stray weird words and a couple of minor inconsistencies.
I really enjoyed The Six Triple Eight:
based on the 2019 magazine article "Fighting a Two-Front War", by Kevin M. Hymel, on the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black and all-female battalion, in World War II.
Very moving and well worth watching. 🎥
Deb made shortbread biscuits today and they are delicious! The recipe for Shortbread Cookies says:
Homemade shortbread cookies trumps Walkers!!
And I think I agree! Walkers have been my favourites, but perhaps no longer. Yum!
We don't yet have a start date for the house build at Ruakākā, but we expect to move perhaps mid-2025.
Now that 2024 has come to a close we're turning our thoughts to selling up here at Waikawa Beach. And so we're beginning the process of cleaning up and clearing out.
A little bit every day …
By the end of the 11-book Sister Joan series I was sad to leave this world, though the last book dwelt rather on outright Evil. The Sister Joan Mysteries Books 9–11 by Veronica Black. 📚
After a shaky start in Book One I did enjoy this series very much.
We watched A Remarkable Place to Die:
a New Zealand-Australian crime drama series [that] follows Detective Anais Mallory on the homicide beat in Queenstown and as she also uncovers more about her sister's mysterious death.
Come for the amazing NZ scenery. Stay for the amazing scenery.
Many thanks to Alan Jacobs for putting me on to the most excellent Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Loads of good puns, superb nail-biting action and lots of laughs. 🎥
It features the return of the villainous penguin Feathers McGraw from The Wrong Trousers (1993), who takes revenge on Wallace and Gromit by reprogramming their robotic garden gnome.
Spotted one of these in the wild the other day and it intrigued me enough to look it up — JPOD | Jayco:
The J-Pod is a lightweight trailer perfect for couple’s or single’s wanting a short break. It can be towed behind your average sedan or small SUV
Bonus apostrophes free of charge. 😆
In this 10 minute video Will Harlow, a physiotherapist, explains the science of why we lose height as we age (spinal changes and also posture) and provides 3 simple exercises to help regain some height. Regain Your Height and Confidence with 3 Simple Moves (50+).
Excellent as always!
Things are getting more complicated in the 4th book of an enjoyable series — Parallax: Halcyone Space, book 4 by LJ Cohen. 📚
knowledge brings new threats and Halcyone's crew is drawn more deeply into a conspiracy that threatens to destroy Ithaka and reignite a galactic war when they uncover the hidden power brokers who have been quietly manipulating the Commonwealth for decades.
