This morning, through the slightly open door, I watched one of the baby herons (who have now left home) hang out on next door's roof. Then a couple of Pukeko strolled around the garden. 🐦
I really like the effect caused by the very narrow view I had between the doorframe and the edge of the door.
In this rather picaresque novel Blue takes a couple of decades to find herself — Finding the Grain by Wynn Malone. 📚
The tornado that ripped through Blue Riley’s family farm tore her teenage life apart, killing her parents in her last month of high school, forcing her to abandon her home in Alabama and face an uncertain future.
Not my usual genre, I found it a bit long but enjoyed it well enough.
That little doohickey in the middle of the shower head is a flow limiter thingy. The other day the plumber removed it and now my shower has more satisfactory pressure. 😁
I removed the disk from the other shower head too.
wrote:
After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian 📚
Cat Sebastian’s work unfailingly delights me …
I found the book on Amazon.com on my iPad where I'm not logged in. OK, $6.99 …
I switched to my Mac, where I am logged in, and now it costs $8.11. What the heck!
The paperback is the same cost in both cases. If it was an exchange rate thing between US$ and NZ$ the higher price would be around $12.
Update: Ohhh, wait a minute — Amazon collect 15% GST (Goods and Services Tax). That would bring it to $8.04. Close to $8.11. So maybe that's it! 💡
My special glass teacup is a slippery thing, especially when being washed. It also explodes into many shards when it bursts from my wet and soapy hands. 😢 The explosion was very musical though.
We had low flow shower heads installed when we built our house — great for water conservation, but after 3 months of showers being frustratingly not quite strong enough I asked about it.
The plumber removed a tiny plastic flow restrictor from inside the shower head. I have yet to test it …
Not just a smart watch! Smart watches give family violence victims 'a sense of protection' | RNZ News:
A smart watch that doubles as an alarm for women at risk of family violence is helping to reduce police callouts.…
It looks like any other smart watch but this one comes with a discreet SOS button which silently connects to a monitoring team who can listen to what is happening and if needed, call the police.
Hooray for the 8x iPhone zoom that allowed me to capture this Spoonbill feeding in Ruakākā River. It's the first Spoonbill I've seen up here. 🐦
After a few very hot and sweaty days I thought some new bike clothing would be a good idea. My shorts and top from Silversky arrived today and I already love them! They fit perfectly and feel great. 🚵🏻♀️
Kiwi designed in Wellington N.Z. and precision crafted using high quality premium cycle clothing fabrics.
Pockets! The shorts and top both have pockets, with zips. I can fit my phone in a pocket.
Sizing! The website has smart sizing, like this:
A 62kg women at 168cm tall will wear size X-SMALL (equivalent to NZ size 10-12). Model pictured in video preview is wearing size X-SMALL.
Yesterday evening the very late sunlight was really red.
It's been a while since the last Jana DeLeon book but Coeds and Cattails didn't disappoint. 📚
The team have to track down who killed a very unpopular snitch before the daughter of a friend is unjustly accused.
Some gripping and funny scenes, as always in these books, but less OTT than recently.
Fancy reading something cheerful? 🐈 46,000 Knitted Mice Donated to Rescue Cats:
Woman’s Weekly magazine … invited readers to create woolen mice for rescue cats living in shelters across the UK—and the response enor-mice.
Using the free pattern provided …[volunteers] stitched a monumental 46,506 woolen rodents …
[Previous] Successes include donations of: 6,000 hats for people experiencing homelessness; 3,000 blankets for children in Ukraine; 6,651 knitted baby vests for Fuel Poverty; and 2,000 blankets for Battersea Dogs & Cats Homes.
Our new lawn is all of 13m2, so we laid out just under $100 for a push lawn mower. I haven't used one of them for decades.
In the heat of yesterday afternoon, I biked to the beach on the south side of the river mouth and took a short walk. Loads of people were on the beach and in the water.
On the horizon a trail of ships headed past Tuturu | Sail Rock towards the port.
For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊
Today I looked up when I started going to the gym: around July 2024.
In the last 18 months I've made enormous progress, gradually increasing both the weights I work with and the variety of exercises I do.
I hadn't planned for 2025 to have a focus on health but it seems to have worked out that way. 👍
Cat Caliban delves into the events and culture of the 60s in this cold case — Eleven Hours to Murder (The Cat Caliban Mysteries Book 11): by D.B. Borton. 📚
Back in the summer of ’69, rebellious teen Leila Perle secretly boarded a bus to Woodstock, and never came home.
What really happened at the legendary music festival — if the missing girl even made it there at all?
Another good read.
Huge commotion at the heron nest just now as the adult chased off a potentially marauding hawk! 🐦
Pleased to see a hawk, but not if it's going after baby herons!
I was checking out the baby White-faced Herons. 🐦 …
… when one took off …
… and flew …
… a short distance.
Well done baby heron!
Yesterday I took a different route on the way home from the gym: via One Tree Point Road and McEwan Road before heading back down Marsden Point Road. 🚵🏽♀️
That ride was about 9Km and was blissfully free of trucks roaring past.
When I visit Fitness on my iPhone I can see a map of my route.
