Eggs

I sent a text:  We are having scramblers sunday tea 6.30. Want to join us? BYOE.

Eggs are delicious in so many ways.  When I was at school I had two (soft-boiled) eggs every morning with one piece of toast.  On Sunday teas we almost always had scrambled eggs on toast.  The Bird Man's favourite cafe food is Eggs Benedict.
Eggs add exquisite thickness to custard and zabaglione and will homogenise butter when beaten in, trapping air and creating lightness and richness to flour-based breads (ie cakes). Then there's the pavlova and cheese soufflé, nougat and turkish delight... heavenly!

There's something very primal for me about my reaction to an egg.
I can feel the texture with my memory's fingertips right now.  Matt, smooth, slightly oily surface. By just looking at an egg, I can almost feel it in my hand... rounded, cool, heavy, precious... My hand Knows Egg.
It probably goes back to the dawn of primate conciousness.

Eggs are very handy.  A portable, defendable, waterproof parcel of protein and fat.  In spring they are relatively easy to acquire for a climbing, sharp-eyed binocular creature with opposable thumbs, and that's a time when seeds and nuts have yet to be produced, and meat is warily skinny.  The previous long winter has made food especially precious ~ eggs make the difference between life and death.  I think they must be in our genes.

Wonderful eggs...

Traditional designs from Romania.

Live a Life That Matters

Hawkes Bay Farm.
Image from http://www.jblaskyphotography.com/

Live a Life That Matters

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, days.
All the things that you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from,
or on what side of the tracks you lived.
At the end, whether you were beautiful or brilliant, male or female,
and your skin colour won't matter.

So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter is not your memories,
but the memories that live in those who loved you.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

~ author unknown


My post today is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend Craig Large 6 July 1989 - 7 February 2013.

BioBlitz at Miranda

Wiki says: BioBlitz or bioblitz  "an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists and volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a short, usually 24 hour, time. There is a public component to many BioBlitzes, with the goal of getting the public interested in biodiversity."

The first BioBlitz was in 1996 ~ only sixteen years ago, at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in the USA and about 1000 different species was found.

One is being held at Miranda! Will as many species be found?  Will more species be found?

This BioBlitz is organised by the Miranda Naturalists' Trust  for 28 February starting at 6 in the morning and finishing at midnight.

People (anyone) are invited to come and participate.

They can come to watch as the number of species identified grows throughout the day, the speci-mometer rises, and the gigantic species location map in the marquee is slowly filled in.  They can look down a microscope, identify teenyweeny things from bacteria to burrowing mud crab eggs, or go out into the area to gather things from saltmarsh vegetation to sandhoppers.

They can see Jody the vet flamboyantly perform fascinating dissections, and throughout the day hear the 'Ted' talks presented by experts that will cover topics like how and why ornithologists mist-net small birds, and the wonders of wader bird migration between New Zealand and Alaska.

There will also be informative guided walks both day and night, and an opportunity to explore the Shorebird Education Centre and learn about the birds, plants and other creatures, and the unique geography of the Miranda Chenier Plain.

There will also be a certain hobbling Artist-in-Residence there, who will be working with specimens that are brought in from the field, painting as fast as her little hands can go, watercolour botanical and zoological artworks, which will be available to purchase.

K M Steeds.   Diary of a Naturalist 2009 (detail)

More information about the BioBlitz

Zic Zazou

I'm still alive!  But it takes a lot out of one sitting around being waiting on hand and foot clumping around on crutches and having to wait for someone else to do things for me getting in and out of the bath.

Until normal service is resumed, here's a little light entertainment.  Carmen from Zic Zazou.

Aftermas and the Queen

Well, what a wonderful afternoon it was!  The sun shone, and the light breeze kept the temperature down.  Lots of lovely friends-and-relations arrived bringing sunhats and suncream, plates of delicious food and bottles of chilled drinks, and we all had a lovely time in the garden.

Around 4ish the elderly Matamata contingent started making polite noises about being taken home so I went up to the house to collect my car keys and sunglasses, came down the front steps, and ... whoops, halfway down I somehow stepped awkwardly, painfully rolled over on my left ankle, and went down to the ground with a crash and a number of loud exclamations that seemed to spontaneously emanate from me with no control whatsoever!  

Within seconds hundreds of people appeared around me with soothing voices, concerned faces, frozen peas, pillows, glasses of water and finally a fireman's lift to the couch inside. 

Granny and friend were whisked back to Matamata by oldest son and partner, and the consensus by the remaining guests was that I should get the ankle checked out at the emergency doctor.  A short car trip, a gentle but brief examination by the doctor and three ankle x-rays later, I had parted with the usual dosh and was being shown how to put on my 'moonboot'.  (These days you get the choice of plaster or a terminator-style black boot that is encrusted with velcro straps and has the great advantage that you can take it off to shower or sleep, albeit taking 15 minutes.)

Moon-booted.

So now I sit ensconced on the couch most of the day.  I can get around on the crutches, but as the other leg's a bit sore I am trying to keep off that one too.  It's a bit frustrating not to be able to carry anything in my hands but I had the brilliant idea of using a shoulder-bag for essentials like hairbrush, phone and diary, and son J. has fixed some little wheels to a small side-table so I can 'carry' my laptop to the printer or dishes back to the kitchen. 

As soon as the swelling has gone down I can get off this couch, toddle out to the studio and get back to my usual occupation - painting.  

I had intended to have catch-up visits with lots of old friends this summer, so now that might involve them coming here instead.  However, as it's my left ankle that is broken, and my car's an automatic, I may actually be able to run drive before I can walk!

In the meantime I shall enjoy lying in state and being attended by my menials.  Just call me Queen of Sheba.

Garden Party Weather

I know (from blogs I've been reading) that almost the whole of the rest of the world is thigh-deep in snow.  So I'd thought I'd bring those poor cold souls some of our sunshine.

I live about 10 minutes from the sea in an area which is known throughout New Zealand to have one of the best surf beaches, and some of the most pleasant climate.

 The image below shows the end third of the Mount Maunganui (Mong-ga-noo-ee) peninsula, with the extinct volcano Mauao ('Caught by the Rays of the Sun') and pine-clad Matakana Island behind.

To the left hand side of the peninsula is a sheltered estuary and these waters are popular for yachting and provide the water views from the city of Tauranga.
The right hand side is the open ocean side and obviously has the surf beach.
The narrow bit between the Mauao volcano and Matakana Island has to be dredged and provides the only access into the busy Tauranga harbour and port for all the container vessels, fishing boats, yachts and huge cruise liners.
Large vessels can only come in and out at high tide.

As you can imagine, it is quite an impressive sight to watch a tall cruise liner negotiate the narrow gap.

 Anyway, back to the sunshine...

About a month after Christmas we usually have our 'Aftermas' party.
This is a sort of 'Come Again Christmas'.  We invite friends and relations, sit in the garden (weather permitting) and talk and drink and eat all afternoon.

I thought I should have a look at the long-range forecast to see if this lovely warm weather we've been having for three weeks already will continue.  Looks like it will!

Who Are You, Anyway?

I've just had two minutes great fun.  I've just been over at Jules's blog defining myself in ten steps.  But the fun part is I had to use definitions that are not the usual ones.

Pop over.  She's only a click away here.