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This is what I saw from my home in San Francisco. 
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This is what we saw in Seattle:
A 100% eclipse, no Sun or Moon!
Back in 2017 we did see a 92% eclipse. It got very dark, and all the birds disappeared. Then the temperature dropped rapidly. Very spooky...Comment
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After Zoe our granddaughter staying with us the last nine weeks it was time to fly home back to the North Island on the way there she took some photo's and sent them to us
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Springtime HAS arrived!
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-this little family was right behind my car when I left work the other day. If I've learned anything about Nature is you never approach animals with their young so I rode home with my backpack inside the car.
(Using the trunk would be good for nothing but squawking, flapping and pecking! -not a serene end to my working day!)Comment
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It might be winter at the moment but last week looked great, so we went for a day out drive and some lunch to Akaroa. The drive there and back was great, with very little traffic. Its been quite a while since our last visit to Akaroa, the place has certainly improved a lot with cruise ship visits every so often. We once rented a house of Yvonne friend for a few days many years ago, but after one night decided the place was haunted and left, no kidding Yvonne and myself felt bad vibes at that place. Anyway
Akaroa is a great place to visit with lots to do, an enjoyable day out.
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Hi Graham,
Akaroa looks really nice! If I were there I'd be out doing what that guy in the boat is!
I'm surprised you don't call this time of year "Autumn": doesn't your Winter start on June 21st to go along with our Summer?
Personally, I've reached a time of life when I like all the seasons: there's something good in each of them.
-then again, not having to walk around some college campus loaded with books with freezing winds sand-blasting my face probably helps this attitude a lot!Comment
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Hi Steve, you are right Autumn is Mar, April, May with Jun, Jul, Aug being winter. Spring is Sep, Oct and November
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I especially like your system of Christmas happening at the beginning of Summer vacation!
You get Christmas Day, AND you don't have to go back to school for a couple of months!
You get a bike for Christmas, AND you're allowed to ride it too!
If I could choose, I'd be a kid in New Zealand!Comment
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Hi Steve
A lot of folk take there holidays straight after New Years day. When I first came to NZ in 1973 it looked like the whole country went on holiday during that Christmas period, everything used to shut down. It was joked, that a overseas visitor was asked what he thought of NZ his reply it was closed. Times have changed, there is not so much tumbleweed rolling down the main streets like before.
Today I spent the day down at Ferrmead heritage park, made and painted some pelmets, talked to folk visiting the place, that's always interesting. On my way out fed the ducks and a lone Pukeko. The other day I had a whole heap of them surrounding the car.
Will return to finish later in the week
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Take a look at SWEET LIBERTY-on YOUTUBE. Michael Caine and Alan Alda. Good for a laugh!!Comment
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So it's Memorial Day Weekend here: time to remember those who have the suffered ultimate sacrifice everywhere and throughout history.
- and even if the Summer Solstice is still 3 weeks away it's also still the semi-official beginning of Summer.
I've drained the gas out of the snow blower and the snow shovels are properly stowed, the sun is up past 8PM every night and I'm leaving my coat at the house when I drive to work, so even if the Earth's equator really isn't perfectly crossing level with the Sun's just yet, it's at least close enough!
We had some friends over (-the same Crowd we show movies to...): nothing fancy, just some takeout out on the patio.
(-because for the first time since 2023, we can!).
Then we set a fire: once again, nothing fancy, a firepit we got at Home Depot and a branch that fell off one of our trees last Fall.
(-it's my fee for cutting it up and stacking it in the ring.)
It's almost pre-historic Cinema: -a bunch of people sitting there looking at a flickering light. The difference here is in this case the people should talk and the stories are their own. There is comedy, drama and given a little wine, maybe some music too!
-It's just life!
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A century ago, Long Island's East End had a lot of potato farms: back in those days mile long trains loaded with potatoes headed westbound to New York City, to the ports to be loaded aboard ships and to the bridges and ferries to be sent to the mainland to go all over North America. Gradually in the years after World War II, Long Island potato farms became uncompetitive with bigger ones in places like Maine and Idaho and the farms gradually went out of business.
For a couple of years there was a great deal of vacant land looking for a home. It was too far from where the jobs are to warrant building homes and really too far from the rest of the World to talk about building manufacturing, so it was desperate for a new idea.
In the 1970s someone established a little vineyard out there. Like a lot of visionaries, people thought he was a little bit crazy, but his experiment showed that the region's soil and weather were ideal for growing grapes and today there are a couple of dozen wineries Out East.
Today it is very pleasant country: rural and pretty. We spent the afternoon Out East and stopped by a couple of wineries to enjoy their products. (Thanks to my friend Rich for driving!)
It's a great time of the year: we spend all winter unable to do things like this and all of a sudden these first warm, bright days come and we get to enjoy them for a while! It's better to take advantage while we can: the seasons stop for nobody!Comment
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My daughter sent me this photo of our granddaughter yesterday taken from the Supermarket Facebook page. Its been 18 months since she left school and has been working for a local supermarket ever since, she has certainly taken to the job, clocking up a lot of hours, saving hard, got her driving license and now close to buying a campervan to go touring. Time certainly goes in quick, one minute they are in nappies the next, out in the big world doing there thing.
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I understand exactly, Graham!
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