It was … invigorating … at the beach on this winter morning. To my west the energetic waves and a definite breeze. To my east, my buddy Willow. 🐶
A Cold Day for Murder (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 1) by Dana Stabenow sets Kate on the trail of a missing Park Ranger, and the missing guy who went looking for him. 📚
I love the way Stabenow somehow makes the reader an inhabitant in the culture and landscape rather than just a tourist.
I started my Dana Stabenow Kate Shugak reread with the short story called Nooses Give
. It introduced Kate and the setting well. We learn Kate is dogged and determined, clever and sometimes ruthless.
Her constant companion Mutt, a part-Husky part-wolf, is loyally fierce. 📚
So cool; indigenous sports — How ripped ears are preserving a rare culture in Alaska:
Kakaruk says she imagines her ancestors playing the same games hundreds of years ago, watched by village elders assessing who to include in their next hunting party. Each event has its own story and background in that history.
"I have learned a lot more about my culture and the origins and background of the games. Each event has a specific meaning behind it. For example, the scissor broad jump was to tell if you could jump across the ice caps.
After finishing the latest Kate Shugak book I wasn't ready to leave the world so effectively created. I've downloaded all the books in the series to my Kindle to start again at the beginning. I began buying these books in May 2011. That should be long enough for me to have forgotten everything.
Folks who enjoy magnificent photos, astronomy, auroras, Aotearoa, I recommend you follow @iangriffin@mastodon.nz. Check out his latest amazing shot.
Flashback to #Matariki last year. Here's a panorama I shot showing the famous star cluster rising over Otago Harbour during a dawn impacted by aerosols from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga #astronomy #NewZealand
Heh heh. Star Trek: The Animated Series S02E04 (at 18 minutes):
McCoy: Anything Spock?
Spock: Negative. File … doesn't recognise these symptoms.
McCoy: Blast it Spock! Work harder! They're in the terminal stage.
Such a good book, as are all in this series! Not the Ones Dead (A Kate Shugak Investigation Book 23) by Dana Stabenow. 📚
The only thing wrong is I've finished reading and have to wait for the next in series.
White nationalists create trouble in The Park. Kate investigates. An excellent read.
Again, a fresh look reveals sexist assumptions:
A lavish burial site from the Copper Age… is not the final resting place of a young male leader, as scientists once assumed. … 'Ivory Man' is actually an 'Ivory Lady'.
Received a spam text in Messages on my Mac and had to search for how to block it. Found Block messages in Messages on Mac - Apple Support: select the conversation, choose Delete and then you can Delete and Report Spam.
Back in 2019 my two cats, Aphra and Ares, passed away.
Their sister Sophie, who lives with our friend, is still going strong at the age of 21 and a half. Her food is on the kitchen bench so the rascally Samoyeds don't eat it. She has her own 'ladder' to get up there. 🐈
The friend we visited in Wellington overnight has a 6 year old and a 7 year old — Samoyeds. They’re big. They’re cheerful. They fill up a small house. 🐶
It was weird today, driving to Waikanae to catch the train — the road was very busy in both directions, but it was all cars and small vehicles. I didn't see a big truck until the Ōtaki Expressway on-ramp.
Normally there's at least one big truck for every 4 or 5 cars. Had me a bit worried …
👍 Government launches measures to protect native biodiversity:
The Government is launching … measures to protect native wildlife and at-risk habitats, to help halt the decline of nature due to human activity …
“Aotearoa is home to natural taonga found nowhere else on earth. While some native species’ populations are improving, many are in decline. Reversing this decline and making sure our native plants and animals are healthy and resilient is a priority for our Government,” …
“63% of our native ecosystems are now threatened, and a third of our native species are threatened or at risk of extinction. It’s time we find new ways to incentivise conservation, protect our precious wildlife, and provide clearer guidance on how to identify, manage and protect biodiversity.”
Train time.
I needed to rummage round in the shed looking for something and nearly froze my hands off! Zero degrees C and a hefty frost. Luckily I found what I was looking for: the charger that came with my Apple Watch. I'd left it in the packaging and put the box in storage. I need it now for travel.
Thanks to the Sky Guide app on my iPhone, my watch now alerts me to passes of the ISS. Here the ISS came up from the southeast and passed by Crux Australis before eventually disappearing in the northeast. This is a mere 10 seconds of an approx 5 minute pass. ✨
These two used to often be in the property across our lane. These days we only see them from afar. 🐴
The stretches I started doing daily a week ago are really starting to pay off. It's much easier to get out of bed and I feel a bit 'looser' in my body. On Day 1 I could barely even get into position, now I'm starting to look at form and really feeling the stretch. 👍
I really enjoyed The Complete Blue Ridge Mountains Mysteries 1–5 by Cathy Pickens. 📚
I very much liked the main character, Avery, and the author seemed very grounded in the setting — specially interesting as it was totally unfamiliar to me. Make sense:
set in small-town South Carolina, where Cathy grew up and where her family has lived for 300 years.
