I have a jar of 'Instant Ocean Concentrate.'

The instructions read: "Just add water. (Lots and lots of water)"  

The ingredients read: Sea salt

Okay, I'll quit trying to be humorous. But I do have a jar of sea salt that I made myself from water that the boys (the best of all possible grandsons) and I collected years ago from the far north end of Muriwai Beach, New Zealand.   

I made several batches of it back when they were younger.  I sent some home as gifts and we used most of it for cooking and meals.  I even used it to cure a batch of salt-dried black olives. 

This is a glass cake pan of salt in process. I wish I had taken this picture from farther away.     

Ocean water is approximately 3.5% salt.  I would start the evaporation process by heating pans of water on the stove. I used our BBQ grill once too with good results. I learned that I could reduce the quantity of water in any given pan by 75%, and then it would be time to transfer the salt solution to a glass pan for evaporation under the sun.  

Consider this. If I halved the quantity of water in the pan, I would double the salt content to 7%. If I halved that quantity, I'd have 14% salt. I found that after that concentration was reached, I'd start to get salt precipitating out of solution onto the metal sides of the pan. This was hard to get off.  Therefore, I'd transfer the solution to our glass cake pan and evaporate the rest of the water in that way.  It didn't stick to the glass.    

These are ripe olives that I picked myself from trees in the neighborhood and packed in my own sea salt. They slowly lost moisture over time and cured and wrinkled as you see.  

I have brought this topic up because I have recently run across a business, north of us, that I greatly admire. When I tell you about them, I think you'll understand why.  

It's name is The Taipa Salt Pig. I'm not going to take pictures off their website to show you, but will provide their address. I urge you to investigate this very unique business.   

They are doing something that I would love to do.  They collect water from a beach near their home, and evaporate it, producing natural sea salt.  They also make several flavored sea salts.  

The picture below shows an avocado I am about to enjoy for lunch, sprinkled with their squid-ink salt. (It's black, but not pepper) The ink comes from Spain, I think. Years ago, I tried a can of mussels in squid ink, and liked them. This salt has an indescribable, yet mild taste, but not fishy, if that is something that worries you.  

You also see displayed the other salts I recently purchased from them. In the red-capped bottle is Togarashi Salt, which has nori flakes, chili pepper, sesame and citrus zest added to the salt. (Nori is a species of seaweed that is often used to wrap sushi.) I especially like this salt on my Sunday morning fried eggs. The other black-capped bottle of white salt is their pure sea salt.  

https://www.thetaipasaltpig.com/

I plan to try more of their flavored salts. Chili, smoked, garlic, and rosemary are among the flavors they sell.  And next year, they intend to offer 'Around the World in Forty Salts.'

You produce a unique and imaginative, product, Taipa Salt Pig. Good luck to you. You deserve it.  

-djf

Something of interest happened in September, 2024

I had been waiting for it all month. Let me explain. 

Toward the end of each month, a video comes out on YouTube which details the coming month's celestial events of interest. I learned, while watching the August edition, that the Moon would occult (Move in front of) Saturn on the 17th of  September, 2024. Well, it would when viewed from America at least. Here, in New Zealand, the two would simply come fairly close together. That was good enough for me. I had been watching the calendar ever since then and hoping that the evening of the 17th would be clear and cold, with little or no wind, and with low humidity. Picky, aren't I?

Alas, it was not be be. We had had rain, off and on, all day on the 17th and the forecast was for rainy spells during the next couple of days. That, coupled with winds that averaged 20 mph., dampened my hopes for a good photographic outcome.  

However, when I checked the conditions that night, once the Moon was high enough above the horizon clutter to photograph, I discovered that there were gaps between the clouds so I thought I might yet have a shot at seeing the pair together. And I did! 

My post this week, as you've probably surmised, is the record I made of that conjunction. (A passing of two or more celestial bodies)  Here is the first picture. I took these from our balcony. 

The Moon is about 237,000 miles away from us. Saturn is roughly 887 million miles. This picture was taken at about 83 power. If I took the Moon's picture as it actually appeared above our village, with no zoom in other words, I don't know if you'd be able to see Saturn very well. To the naked eye, it looks like a not-very-bright star. Here's a comparison. (The more negative the number, the brighter a planet looks)  Venus is -3.89, Jupiter is -2.36 and Saturn is 0.58. 

You could fit 3,500 Moons inside Saturn I read, but look how tiny Saturn appears at such a distance. This is a zoom that I did on my computer, of the first picture. I don't know what magnification it would be. Considerable. 

There are a couple of things to mention regarding this next photo. First are the wispy clouds. I was surprised that the camera was able to focus on Saturn through them.  They soon got much heavier, to the point that I couldn't even see the Moon.  The second thing, and even more interesting, is that Saturn seems to be moving higher in relation to the Moon. When I started shooting, it was at about 4 o'clock. Here, it is at 3.  

This view shows Saturn a little higher up again.  

I like this next one. Lots of clouds, and look how high against the Moon it has moved.  

This is a zoom of the photo just above. 

As you saw, clouds were getting serious in the last shot.  I was prevented from taking any more pictures for a good hour or more after that.  We even got a little drizzle. Then, finally, the sky opened up for just a minute or two, and I got a last look. The quality of Saturn's image has suffered though.  

Look how high it has moved.  It's 'moving away' from the Moon now. The 3 o'clock location was as close as it got.  

This is a zoom of the picture above.

I am enormously pleased that I got the pictures I did.  The humidity was 70% as I took these. I think had it been higher, I wouldn't be showing you this post. 

This is the site I use to track the monthly astronomical events each month. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EUfIHRXTB0&t=12s

And this one is a little gold mine of information.  With it, you can see your current night sky and find the location of any planet, the Moon, sun and many stars. You'll have to type your city into the field at the top right to get your personal sky scene.   

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/@2186223

I haven't talked at all this week about Jupiter, but I want to give you another site, just because I am in an astronomy mode at present. 

As you may already know, or remember, if you have read my Jupiter-themed posts, Jupiter has four 'Galilean' moons, named after the early astronomer who first described them. I have photographed them often. (It has over 80 other moons but they're too small to see.) 

This next site will show you where each G. moon is in real time. I find it fascinating. You can even watch them change with time, or you can change the clock and see where they were or will be. This site shows you how they look from the northern hemisphere. (Direct View)  When I look at the site, I switch to the inverted view since I'm in the southern hemisphere. 

https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html  

Since I've been talking about Jupiter, I guess I might as well show you some of my favorite photos. It documents another conjunction I witnessed that happened back on 12/29/22, my brother Wayne's birthday.   

Here is what I saw above our village that night.  Remember, the end of December means that it's the middle of summer here. (That's not the full Moon, you'll see in the next shot that it's only partially lit up.)  

Here is the partially illuminated Moon with Jupiter and its four Galilean Moons.  

It's very hard to see, but there are three moons to the right of Jupiter and one that is partially hidden on the left side. It's 444 million miles after all. I'll zoom in really close now and show you the moons.  They are slightly elongated due to camera wiggle.  

Note that these next two picture vary slightly. I took them at 9:55 and 10:05 pm.  Look in this first one, at the position of the moon to the left of Jupiter. You'll see in the second photo that it has moved closer to the planet. 

I continue to be astounded that I can see such sights.  
 

I hope that you've enjoyed this look at my night sky. I was up late last night (9/17/24) clicking away and then got up a little early this morning to shoot a few sunrise pictures.  You know how I love them.  Here are two from this morning. (9/18/24)   

Village view

I want you to notice, as you look at this picture, that it has two red arrows toward the sides. They mark the limits, north (left) and south (right) of the Sun's positions, as it moves between the solstices each year. The angles of the arrows indicate the direction in which the Sun moves as it rises. You can see this morning that we are very close to being half-way back.  

 Close up

See you next week.     -djf

 

Where shopping is an adventure

 "Give us this day, our daily bread."  

I think Jeanne and I have been singularly blessed.  We started off our married lives by spending four months in Spain. Then, during our earning years, we worked really hard for our daily bread, and truth be told, spent a good deal of time worrying about whether we'd have enough for our retirement.  As it turned out, our efforts were rewarded and we now find ourselves comfortable and once again living in a country far from home.  

One of the things that make living here in New Zealand an adventure, are the products for sale in the markets I frequent.  Jeanne is the gardener of the family, and I, the hunter, gatherer. (That means that I do most of the grocery shopping.)

Today's post will simply show you a few of the places I frequent as I gather our daily requirements. I'll start by showing you Daily Bread, in Point Chevalier. It's in an old bank building. 

I have one of their bags. 

I generally get a baguette and either a plain sour dough or what they call a 'seeded' sour dough.  

This is Da Hua. It was the first Asian market we found in Henderson and I still often shop here. 

Those are young coconuts that have a hole drilled in them and a straw attached.  

These dragon fruit look so exotic, I thought before I bought one, that their flavor would amaze me.  In fact, they are bland and therefore disappointing.  

I've talked about this stuff before, but not for a while.  This is coconut vinegar with spices added and is terrific.  

I often buy these cookies. There are lots of flavors.  The one I have at home right now is green tea.  Peanut and taro are my favorites though.  

I'll end with this one.  Salted egg yolks.  I'm not a fan of these. Actually, I don't quite know what to do with them, nor do I like the Glory cookies that are made from them. I'm showing them to you simply because I did find them very interesting and had to try a package.    

So, there it is.  A very quick look at a few stores that provide Jeanne and I with our groceries.  

See you next week.  -djf

While Arram's team warmed up, part two

Well then, after our brief hiatus from pictures of Army Bay Beach last week, when we looked at palm-produced, faux stained-glass windows, we will return to that excellent stretch of sand this week and complete our visit.   

You may recall that Allie and I were up there on the beach killing time, while Arram and his team warmed up and discussed game strategy, back at the soccer field, just 10 minutes away.  We'll be back there in time for the start of their game.  

I finished last time with a couple of shots of tiny tide-pools.  Here's a look at what the nearby cliff face looks like. 

There is a lot going on in those rocks. What formed them and produced such patterns, I haven't a clue, but they're fascinating.  

This is of course, the same area of cliff, but I've played with my edit options and highlighted the colors, just to show them to you more clearly. 

This person is meeting the fish half way.  

This lady has been feeding the sea gulls bits of her sandwich.  I missed some really good shots of the whole flock in the air, vying for the limited number of morsels.  

This is the sort of day the boys have for their game, which will start in about 15 minutes.  We're in the carpark and about to leave. 

The game started dry, but before long, a very light rain began falling, which slowly, but steadily increased. Just as the game ended, the sky opened up and it poured.  We all ran for our cars.  Allie cranked the heat up and Arram toweled off as we headed home.  -djf

Stained-Glass Windows

I was going to publish the second part of my walk on Army Bay Beach this Sunday, but changed my mind. 

It's our 51st Wedding Anniversary today and I thought that doing a 'part two' wasn't quite what I wanted. I have been taking pictures on and off for the last couple of weeks from our balcony and will share those with you instead.  

Every year in July, the tree service surgeons come to our Waitakere Gardens Retirement Village and trim our roundabout palms. They do a superlative job in my opinion. I documented their efforts in a post that I published back on the 14th.  

A couple of weeks ago, I was on our deck and noticed that this year's trimming had produced, between a few of the trees, the approximate shape of a church-like window. This is the view I saw at the time.  

Since I've long been a fan of stained-glass windows, whether in churches or elsewhere, I started watching that area and recording some of the nicer images as they developed. 

My post today then, is the series of photos I've taken of my ever-changing 'window.'   

 

I hope you enjoyed the view.  I'll be back next week with part two of my walk along Army Bay Beach.  -djf

While Arram's team warmed up...

Arram (15 year-old grandson extraordinaire) had a soccer game this past Sunday afternoon and I went along with him and Allie. It was being played in Whangaparaoa, north of Auckland. This is also the peninsula that also boasts Army Bay Beach. 

Allie, who is always thinking, and a master of multi-tasking, suggested that after we drop Arram off at the field for his team warm-up and practice, which was approximately one hour before game time, that we should use ten minutes of our wait to drive up to Army Bay for a quick beach comb. Her time management skills are well honed. I applauded her plan.

I got this little picture from Wikipedia. The blue indicates the beach. 

We had a great walk along the very windy beach before the game. The tide was mostly out, the way I like it, and I was able to see some tide pools and interesting rock formations that are inaccessible during high tide. I did find that at almost 73, my sense of balance is not what it was when I was a youngster of 60, especially when a gale is blowing. I took it very easy. I can no longer take chances and make my way out to some of the more interesting, but slippery and precarious spots on the rocks that I did the first couple of times we came to Army Bay Beach years ago.  

Still, I got some good shots, especially considering that I used my phone's camera.  I present the first batch of them to you now. I hope that you like them. 

Some of you have seen pictures from Army Bay before, but it's been a long time so I hope it's not too repetitive.  

Looking to the west,

 

to the north,

 

and to the east.

Let's walk down the beach to the west. 

Two of the most common and sought after fish are the kahawai and snapper. Their pictures, in that order, which I found on Wikipedia, are below. The snapper is by far the tastier fish.  

Whether you call it wind surfing or sailboarding, and I'm not sure of the similarities or differences between the terms, there were several guys out doing it.  They were flying!   

 

The fisherman's car. 

 

I love the patterns in the rocks here. 

Once I saw a starfish and a sea cucumber in some pools, but not today. 

That's it for today's beach stroll. I managed to keep my feet dry, not to slip, and my hearing aids protected.  in fact, the wind was so intimidating when we got out of the car that I pocketed them. What's to hear anyway, other than wind? 

On our way back to the game, we stopped momentarily in the town of Manly. While Allie bought a coke, I stayed in the car and looked at the businesses around me. There was a Manly Supermarket, and Manly Realty, Manly Pharmacy, Manly Bakery, and so on, seemingly ad infinitum. 

Later, as we drove out of town, I even spotted the signs for Manly Beach and Little Manly Beach.  I'm sure they are both very nice. What I could have probably used though was an 'Old Manly Beach.' 

That would be one that had an escalator rather than steep steps leading from the parking lot down to the beach, It would have tide pools, accessible at both high and low tides, with cool critters in them, but with no slippery rocks surrounding them. There would be interesting rock formations of course, with tide-proof benches every 100 meters or so for contemplation. The shells washed up on my 'Old Manly Beach' would all be easy to pick up. And the winds well, they'd always be just right.    

I'll definitely do a post if I ever find this beach of my dreams, you can count on that. Keep watching.     -djf

-And what do you think about free ice cream and coffee trucks always on site?  Yeah, I think so too.