🇳🇿🧶Holiday knitting: gifted mohair-silk and op shop linen. Deliciously soft and squishy. #shopthestash

#kai Another empty-out-the-fridge night: chicken, roasted red cabbage, mixed salad greens, sautéed jersey bennes and kūmara dressed with tahini and lemon.

#pukapuka Wot I read at the beach. A mix of crime, local, international, translated, literary and commercial fiction. Doesn’t include the 80,000 word proof reading job. S

Connections Puzzle #954 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Wordle 1,676 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,675 5/6 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

#kai. The remains of last night’s orzo salad flossied up with extra greens and some grilled yellow capsicum and spring onion, a couple of slices of kūmara and a small pile of pan-fried chicken slices.

#kai. Breakfasting on left overs.

Strands #686 “Soft skills” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵

Wordle 1,674 3/6 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Connections Puzzle #952 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪

#kai simple, beach dinner: carrot, corn and jalapeño fritters with a salad if mesclun, rocket, orzo, mint and basil, with pumpkin seeds, cashews, almonds and crispy shallots for crunch, and cranberries for a touch of tart sweetness. Yoghurt and chilli crisp as the finishing touch.

"...no NZ politician, and no appointed official may say or do anything that might conceivably incur the displeasure of the current ruler of the United States. That also means: we will not defend any international law or convention that Donald Trump has chosen to break." #nzpol

Connections Puzzle #951 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Wordle 1,673 5/6 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

#Kai a succulent Chinese meal of pork dumplings from Street Food of China in bustling Motueka. Highly recommend.

FFS. Diet culture in the hospice shop.

Connections Puzzle #950 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Wordle 1,672 5/6 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

#PukapukaDailyReaders my late check-in for 14 January: Faceless by Dunedin writer Vanda Symon. Change-of-pace reading and a quick post-project wind-down.

Connections Puzzle #949 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨

Wordle 1,671 3/6 🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

crafters will know how much work goes into something like this. currently a very decent chance of winning this piece for just NZ$25 donation.

"Terrible things are happening outside ... poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared." — Anne Frank (Jan 13, 1943)

#pukapuka Niche AoNZ literature post. just woke from the weirdest dream, in which I’d been engaged to chair four ‘meet the author’ type events with Dominic Hoey. The first was in a book shop and went smoothly. Hoey turned up with a pile of clippings about benefit cuts, UBI and artist earnings …

Wordle 1,670 3/6 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,668 3/6 🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,667 3/6 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Connections Puzzle #944 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦

Wordle 1,665 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,659 3/6 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟨🟨🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

#pukapuka Holiday reading challenge. In no particular order: Three by Valérie Perrin; This Compulsion in Us and The Mires by Tina Makereti; The Quiet People by Paul Cleave; Kindred by Octavia Butler; Yu Miri’s The End of August and Talia Marshall’s Whaea Blue.

I’m a grumpy Norwegian detective, newly diagnosed with emphysema.

🇳🇿🧶 on and off the needles in eight days (thanks to a roadie, fluffy yarn, and fat needles). A T-shirt in vintage variegated yarns – a sport-weight in linen and acrylic held with a lace-weight mohair, merino and nylon blend.

Wordle 1,654 3/6 ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,652 X/6 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 Hrrmmpph

#kai in which the small selection of platters intended as the first course somehow turned into lunch, and the chef unilaterally postponed the main event until mid-afternoon. Meri Kirihimete to one and all.

Wordle 1,650 2/6 ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Poor mama bird.

Strands #661 “Gather around” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵

Wordle 1,648 3/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,647 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,646 3/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle 1,644 3/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

#mokai. “I don’t think you quite understand,” yawned the stocky little gentleman, who was oddly overdressed for the time of day, “this basket has been seized. It has been requisitioned. It is now the property of Chonky Cat Inc.”

The Guardian is reporting on our collapsing regional towns, and when questioned, the government comes up with the dumbest quote ever: ‘the coalition government has said it will boost the economy by cutting new spending by $1bn to reduce borrowing and debt’ 🧵 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

#SecretSantaAoNZ All’s well that ends well. The giftees are happy, and I’m happy to be part of this wonderful community. Thank you Santa, thank you Elves, thank you everyone who joins – what a wonderful experience of kindness, care, good faith and aroha. 1/2

#SecretSantaAoNZ So the thing about being a Super Secret Santa is, you do get double the fun, double the sleuthing and discovery, double the looking for the perfect thing, but you also get double the waiting and double the agony. *paces nervously*

This is just to say I have opened the presents you sent in the post … Thank you, dear Santa! I’m feeling very spoiled: coffee, books, handmade decorations and a new pin (that neatly combines two interests). They’re lovely, and the coffee smells sooo good. #SecretSantaAoNZ.

"To ask the internet for knowledge and receive a series of articles that mostly remind you what your question was, then repeat the same three facts you already knew, padded out with more ad space than information."