#SecretSantaAoNZ My fave animal is my cat Zelda. She's mischievous, independent and occasionally vicious. Oh, wait..🤣 Love those weird Shoebill birds. They're mad! I also love flamingos. Fave native birb is the piwauwau, rock wren. Fave mystical creature is the sock-stealing Wesma. (Where's My...)

#SecretSantaAoNZ Not a gamer. For someone with an extensive vocabulary I am woefully bad at scrabble. Quite like the Code cracker!

#SecretSantaAoNZ Music: I love Nadia Reid, Delaney Davidson, Marlon Williams, Teeks, Jordan Rakei, Tiny Ruins, most kind of modern indie stuff, The Preatures, Rufus del Sol, London Grammar, Låpsley, Enda Gallery etc etc. Also The Cure, Radiohead (The Bends is my fave album), that genre.

OMG the font!!!! As if I wasn't freaking out enough about the bloody colposcopy!

How good is fenugreek gouda, tho?

#SecretSantaAoNZ I wear mostly silver jewellery (as opposed to gold which doesn't suit my skin tone). I ❤️ Nick von K, anything Ao/NZ is cool. Love pounamu. I don't really wear necklaces but do wear earrings.

#SecretSantaAoNZ I'm a socks not slippers person. I love a comfortable house-sock! My head is remarkably small for someone with an ego this large. Ha ha, jokes.... Not really a hat wearer, tbh.

#SecretSantaAoNZ Can't remember if I've answered this one or not! No allergies, I don't like normal tea, won't drink Sauv Blanc, dont like white choc. Other than that, all bets are off!

WHAT a glorious day off I'm having. It's an absolute stunner of a hot day in Otautāhi, I had a very fine sleep in, full-body exfoliating shower, changed the sheets, hung lots of washing outside, biked up to my parents', stopped in to my brother's and the biked around Opawa & back home. About 15kms!

Paul's stunning calendars make wonderful gifts. Get in there, support local talent!

Today I've eaten my lunch at Beach Grove in Kaiapoi at the GH show home there. Mexican Chicken Salad: baby spinach, bbq'd chicken, black beans, corn, radishes, red capsicum, red onion, cucumber, coriander, jalapeños, cumin, olive oil, lemon juice. A very good time was had by my taste buds.

#SecretSantaAoNZ I collect plants, indoor and out. I collect other peoples' art. Shoes could be deemed a collection. And clothes. And makeup. And perfumes. Oops. Ha ha.

How frickin embarrassing.

I love to cook, I read literary/contemporary fiction, I garden in my small townhouse backyard yard - all pots, I aquajog when I can drag my sorry arse to the pool, and e-bike sometimes. I love art but am quite useless myself. I love fragrance that smells clean & fresh.

What's a movie you can watch over & over again? A Knight's Tale The English Patient Love, Actually The Princess Bride Friends with Benefits A Room with a View Atonement

I used to wear mostly black, but then I spent 8 years selling retirement living and the residents gave me so much shit I moved to loads of colour! Mostly bright and jewel-tones to wear, patterns rarely. My fave colour is the milky teal of the Central Otago canals and hydro lakes. 😍

Give a man a fish and someone with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about people getting free handouts. Teach a man to fish? Yeah, that person with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about that too.

I love to cook. Love Middle Eastern, Asian, Indian, Italian. Delicious. I love dark choc, can't abide white choc, ambivalent about milk choc. Love cheese. Love bread. Love anything with flavour. LOVE WINE except Sauv Blanc which can get in the bin.

Golden.

#SecretSantaAoNZ I love books, films, cooking, gardening and nice smellies. Coffee, chocolate, gourmet bits & pieces.

I share my house with the gorgeous Miss Zelda Clarke, aged 2.5 years. She's a cheeky little minx and I love her deeply.

Whittakers Brandy Snap choc is a pretty good time. I'm not normally a milk choc fan, but I can make a seasonal exception.

#SecretSantaAoNZ can't wait!

It appears that tonight is the night for every inadequately-endowed male in the greater Sydenham/Somerfield area to either let off fireworks, race their lowered RX7 around the block, or blast shitty auto-tuned American rap. Shame on their child-sized undies.

Great weather for a day off! A couple of hours in my Dad's garden hand-weeding and planting corn & radishes, annoying interaction at Dr's surgery, grocery shopping, lawn-mowing, housework, watering etc etc. Time for a shower and a lady's lie down.

Yesterday my younger brother (55) was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Too early yet to know prognosis, treatment plan etc, but in the last 24 hours I've used the stress to justify drinking on a Tues, being late for work, drinking on a Weds and eating Biscoff cheesecake. This doesn't bode well.

Ōtautahi folks: does anyone have a contact for a mobile coffee truck/cart that could do a 7.45am gig for 15 people in Kaiapoi on Tues 18 Nov? Coffee Skillz is fully booked. Your help is much appreciated!

The schadenfreude is just DELICIOUS. In situations like these I like to say 'hung like a rogue cashew'.

A movie you've seen more than seven times with a GIF.

Cool idea. Good thread.

Just had not one but TWO middle-aged men in my office mansplaining how to make the perfect coffee at me. I feel SOOOOOO privileged. F.M.F.L.

Can't even express the SQUEEEEE. Zelda just brought her comfort toy, the fluffy she came home from the SPCA with - 2.5 years ago - clomp, clomp, clomp down the stairs, miaowing with it in her mouth, so she can knead it on the couch with me. Does it GET any cuter?? 🐈‍⬛😍🥹

Best time of the year. 🍽

There is a LOT of unintelligible baseball nonsense appearing on my timeline. I guess this is how I, a kiwi, find out how many USians I follow on BSky. It's clearly the price I pay for my Trump schadenfreude addiction. 🤣

Grilled Indian spiced chicken thighs on lightly-saffroned rice, with minty cucumber yoghurt & salad. It was good. 🍽

Otautāhi folk, how's the weather where you are? Aside from the occasional gust and shower it's very calm in Sydenham. Have we got off lightly?

I've got two days off in a row tmrw and Fri - a weekend in the week, if you will - and I am SO EXCITED about it that I've already removed my makeup, changed into my inactivewear, and turned my alarm off. This new job is great, but 4 weeks in my brain is full & I need a rest.

Send me Sauvignon Blanc, STAT!

So tonight, during a 'discussion' with my mother and I, my father announced that 'you people' (aka she & I) are brainwashed by the Hamas-controlled media to erroneously believe that Palestians are being murdered en masse by Israelis. Fuck's sake. Is 80% of the western world similarly hoodwinked?

MYOHK: Make your own healthy kebab. AKA protein & low calorie veg with flavour. It's bloody good. 🍽

Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you'll never watch again, and one song you can't stand: Offal Twister It's Oh So Quiet - the caterwauling Bjørk.

I choose Emasculator! What fun! 🤣

WHAT a productive Sunday! Got up and went out to Rolleston for a work meeting that went well, but of retail, mowed the lawn & tied up my toms, planted some corn in Ted's garden, did some meal prep, and SOLD THAT BLOODY ASTRA AT LAST!!! Didn't get much but better than nowt. What a winner of a day.

Further to my earlier post Tami Nielson was SUPERB and I'm so pleased I wedged myself off the couch and went! And lovely to meet you IRL, @hungrymama.bsky.social!

cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war

I'm seeing Tami Nielson tonight in Ōtautahi. Looking forward to it while also having that 'the couch looks good' buyers' remorse I ALWAYS have when I've said yes to anything. Hopeless.

If you fancy a drive in the windy heat this afternoon, Christchurchians, I'm at our beautiful show home at 2 Benrogan Drive in Halswell til 4pm.

These people quite honestly couldn't organise a good shit. #nzpol

Pottered around in the kitchen when I got home and made beef kofte, roasted garlic hummus & tzatziki. Freakin tasty with a little salad, bread from Maihan and a sprinkling of dukkah. 🍽