A new day for the National Day Calender?

Okay, how many of you know when National College Football Day is? How about National Hunting and Fishing Day? 

You don't? 

I think National Days of this or that are fun and I want to add a new one to the calender. Well, My calender at least, and maybe yours. More about that in a minute. But first, to get you in the mood, I'd like to mention that...

Since our household has a scientific background, we like

• National Pi Day...............March 14th at 1:59 am and 1:59 pm.  (3.14159....) **
• National Pi Approximation Day ...July 22 or better, the 22nd of July ( 22/7 )
• National Mole Day .........Between 6:02 am and 6:02 pm on Oct. 23rd. (6.02 10/23) ^^ 

And everybody seems to like

• National Talk Like a Pirate Day......September 19th   Ahhrrrrrrr.  And on that day we can say Arram's name like a pirate.  Ahhrrrrrram!

Then, there is 

• National Blueberry Cheesecake Day.................................................May 26
• National Happiness Happens Day......................................................Aug. 8
• National Chocolate Day.....................................................................Oct. 28

You can do your own research for any special days that you're interested in at http://nationaldaycalendar.com/calendar-at-a-glance/

Today, I announce, using this post, that I have nominated a new day to the calender of national days, at the website above. I want to declare that I have nominated January 17th as the official date for the 'National Eat Like a Kiwi Day.' Take note here. I did not say 'Eat a Kiwi' Day. Big difference. (I did send in the appropriate 'paperwork' to the website above. Whether it gets accepted and is added to the calender of National Days I just don't know, but wouldn't it be fun if it was?) 

This day will be celebrated from now on as the day each year when non-Kiwis everywhere can eat as though they were lucky enough to be residents of New Zealand.

Now, you probably don't know what Kiwis eat. As an aid to assist you therefore in planning a set of meals for the day, I have prepared a menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, (don't call is supper, whatever you do) and for the two 'teas' of the day.  My menu will obviously not list things such as Weet-bix, the most popular breakfast cereal in New Zealand, because you don't have any. My menus will be things you can find on your shelves or in your local store.  

Breakfast (brekki): about 7:30 am

Baked beans on toast.  Any brand of baked beans will do.  Warm them in the microwave and pour some on pieces of buttered toast.  

Amiri and Arram love this and have had asked for it the last two days in a row. 

Morning Tea: about 10:30 am

A flat white coffee and a muffin of some sort. 

A flat white can be approximated. It's made here by adding frothed milk to expresso.

(a flat white is quite a strong cup of coffee)

Make some very strong coffee. Here is an easy way.  
Mix about a cup and a half of of cold water and a heaping scoop of ground coffee. Let is stand overnight. Filter the grounds. Fill a coffee cup about half full of this for your flat white. 

Put some milk in a sauce pan and heat it to hot, but NOT boiling.  
Whip it hard with a whisk until you have a foamy layer with tiny bubbles. Pour gently over the coffee. Add sugar to taste. It'll be close enough.

If you're a kid, morning tea might be an instant breakfast type of milk drink and fairy bread. (white bread, no crusts, buttered and sprinkled with 'sprinkles'.)

Lunch: about 12:30 pm

A toastie and salad

Toastie ingredients:  a hard-fried egg

                                 ham

                                 slices of tomato 

                                 cheese 

                                 slices of avocado 

                                 slices of canned boiled                                  beets (not pickled)

Assemble the ingredients you like between slices of any bread, buttered on the outside, and use your panini press, sandwich press, or George Foreman Grill, etc. to cook it. Jeanne uses our waffle maker to make great toasties. You could use a frying pan, but the toastie needs to be pressed down firmly.

My strong recommendation is for you to be brave and select beets as one of your choices and the egg as another.  They're not in every Kiwi toastie it's true, but they seem to be at the core of Kiwi sandwich culinary culture.  

Salad ingredients:  a mixture of salad greens found in any market

                               pieces of tomato

                               a bit of oil/vinegar dressing

Afternoon Tea: about 3:30 pm

Tea and another baked something or

Fresh fruit like a kiwi or a
Granola bar  

If you're a kid, a juice box, and/or maybe a cheese/jam fold-over

(Cheese/jam fold-over...spread a piece of bread with jam, put cheese on one half of it and fold over the other side.)

Dinner: about 6-6:30 pm

Fish and chips

Either bread your choice of fish fillets or make a batter to dip them; either pan fry or deep fry the fish. Bake an oven tray of frozen french fries.  Tartar sauce and ketchup. 

Oh, one last thing. Eat Like a Kiwi Day also means that you have to eat using the continental style of table manners. That's right, you've got to keep your fork in your left hand and your knife in your right....here, this might help...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyuC950XCTI  (it's only about a minute long)

There you have it.  A typical Kiwi menu for the day, eaten like a Kiwi. Not too exotic, was it? You've just celebrated National Eat Like a Kiwi Day.  Good on Ya.  

..................................................................................................................................................

Explanations of symbols **and ^^  (warning: boring, nerdy part of the post)

....small voice in head.................Geez Doug, what if they think ALL of it is boring?
....another voice, also in head......I know, but I'm 63, I ought to be able to write whatever I want in my own post.
....svih........Ya but, come on. This next math stuff is dumb. Nobody cares about it.
....av,aih.....Ah, but the thing is, I'm writing this post as much for myself as for anybody else..and if I like it,...
            ......And besides, Amiri was telling Arram at breakfast this morning how big a trillion is...THEY get it..
            ......THEY think it's cool...That's good enough for me...So, quiet down and let me finish this thing.....
....svih........Ya know, back in Wakefield, in the '60's, you could get beat up for liking math....
....av,aih...............yeah, I know. ...............................
....svih........So why do you talk about it now?.........
....av,aih.....Because Henderson in '15 is not Wakefield in the '60's. 
             .....Did you know some parents have criticised Summerland Primary for too much play-time at school?
             .....Many of the immigrant families here value education above all else.
             .... That NZ is ranked 4th or 7th in education IN THE WORLD (depending on which report you read)
             .....And the U.S. is 22nd or 27th, in the same reports?
....svih........Okay, write what you want, but it's little wonder your readership isn't increasing....
....av,aih.....Hhmmph...

**  National Pi Day (Pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter)

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day date format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π.^[2] In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day.^[3]

Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (22/7 in the day/month date format), since the fraction ²²⁄₇ is a common approximation of π, which is accurate to two decimal places and dates from Archimedes.^[4]

The earliest known official or large-scale celebration of Pi Day was organised by Larry Shaw in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium,^[5] where Shaw worked as a physicist,^[6] with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, then consuming fruit pies.^[7] The Exploratorium continues to hold Pi Day celebrations.^[8]

In the year 2015, Pi Day had special significance on 3/14/15 (mm/dd/yy date format) at 9:26:53 a.m. and also at p.m., with the date and time representing the first 10 digits of π.^[13] That same second also contained a precise instant corresponding to all of the digits of π.^{[14]  (think about that! -djf)}

We also like Pi Day because Bhai (pronounced Pie) is Arram's nick-name for Amiri.  It means 'older brother' in Urdu.  

The boys, especially Amiri like knowing about Pi because he likes math and has been learning about decimals. You may recall that for Pi, the decimals after the whole number 3, continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. Pi has been computed to over a TRILLION decimal places.  

^^ National Mole Day  (A mole is a basic measuring unit in Chemistry)

Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists, chemistry students and chemistry enthusiasts on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM,^[1][2][3] making the date 6:02 10/23 in the American style of writing dates. The time and date are derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×10²³, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance.

Mole Day originated in an article in The Science Teacher in the early 1980s.^[4] Inspired by this article, Maurice Oehler, now a retired high school chemistry teacher from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, founded the National Mole Day Foundation (NMDF) on May 15, 1991.^[4]

Many high schools around the United States, South Africa, Australia and in Canada celebrate Mole Day as a way to get their students interested in chemistry, with various activities often related to chemistry or moles. (abbreviated mol )

This little jar of sea salt from Muriwai Beach contains as close as I could measure, using our kitchen scale, set to grams, to 1 mole of NaCl units. I can't call them molecules, because Na and Cl form an ionic compound, not a molecule. In this jar, there are about 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power of salt units.  

602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 units is a lot of salt.

I have to admit that as a chemistry student at NMU, I was never enthusiastic about moles. A three hour long chem lab each week, especially when I took organic chemistry, was not my favorite way to spend an afternoon. This was before calculators were invented and all computations for how much of this to add to how much of that, had to be done with paper and pencil or on my slide rule.  

Now  that I am separated by a life time from those days, I can safely appreciate moles.  

Oh, and I'll let you know if they accept my nomination for National Eat Like a Kiwi Day. -djf

Update, moments before publishing this.  I learned after sending in the appropriate information, that if my day is accepted, I can purchase one of three packages. The cost ranges from $1,500.00 to $4,000.00. I still hope that my day is accepted, but no longer expect it to become an "official" day.  Oh well.  For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.

John Greenleaf Whittier

100 year anniversary of ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day was celebrated in Henderson with a short parade and speeches at the RSA building.  Rather than try to explain it myself, here is a link which will do it properly. 

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzac-day/introduction

My portion is to show you the photos I took.  

I don't know the symbolism of the burro and the 1915-look clothing, but these little beasts were no doubt used widely during the war.  

The day started overcast but cleared somewhat by the time of the ceremony at the RSA. You can certainly tell that fall is upon us.

There was also a dawn ceremony on the 25th.  This is celebrated as a Monday holiday also so no school or work tomorrow.  

Jeanne just read on the weather site that we have a gale coming in tomorrow which could at times be damaging. We'll stay close to home.          -djf

Welcome to the Club

I wrote this in about 2012, and recently did some editing. I think it's ready now. Of course, with my own writing, I'm getting easier to please all the time. 

My New Membership

I apparently joined a club recently. I say ‘apparently’ because I hadn’t intended to join anything. I made no applications, signed nothing and swore not a single oath. I bought neither identifying baseball cap nor polo shirt with a logo. I attend  no monthly meetings, I pay no dues (except of a non-monetary kind I’ll explain later), and I don’t have to worry about getting elected to some post that all of the older members are sick of holding.

New guys in most clubs are generally gung-ho when they join and are easy marks to be saddled with ‘elected’ officer positions. When a guy boasts to me that he’s only been in the club for a year and he’s already the vice-president, I have to mentally shake my head. He’ll wise up before long. Why do you suppose I was elected President of our local Fire Department so soon after joining?

Actually it’s taken me a while to recognize that I did in fact join this club. I’ve already explained that since I took none of the above normal club-joining actions, I had no reason to think that I had been admitted to this one, and in good standing, by all appearances.

I had been going about my business of living my semi-retired life style when other club members started in various unobtrusive ways to let me know that I was now one of them and to make me feel welcome.

I’ve been wondering too, if I’m correct in calling it a ‘club.’ Maybe I should call it a ‘lodge.’ I’ve always liked the sound of that word. It seems to have pleasant connotations. But it could just as well be called a fraternity, a council, or a gang I suppose. I’ve considered asking a member about it when one of our little discussions occurs, but I don’t think the other members would agree on what it should be called. It appears that this club is pretty loosely organized and although I’m slowly learning some of the rules that govern member-to-member interactions, I doubt that this club has a written constitution or by-laws.

By the way, I’ve always loved the names that have been invented for a ‘collective group of nouns.’ In other words, it tickles me that a group of crows is called a ‘murder’ of crows. Or that a group of barracudas is a ‘battery'. I think that the members of this club I've just joined should be termed a ‘grumble’ of members, although the people I’ve met have done lots more than just complain; but I digress.

The occurrence that finally settled in my mind that I am indeed a new member was when, as I stood waiting for my pizza to be made up at Papa Murphey’s the other day, an old guy standing nearby, also waiting for his, edged closer to me and said, “I like to add cut-up green and yellow beans to my pizzas. Cut ‘em about so long”, indicating 3/4 inch with his fingers. I commented that I had never thought of putting any sort of beans on a pizza, but that I thought it was an interesting idea. “Try it sometime”, he said knowingly as he stepped forward to claim his pizza as his name, Jerry, was called.

I have to admit that I perceived Jerry as an 'old' guy. He was clearly older than I was but I thought that guys that old probably had names like ‘Horace’ or ‘Farley’, or something similar. That his name was Jerry threw me a little and I began to realize that he was probably not that much my senior.

This meeting and bit of conversation followed a similar give-and-take that had happened about a week earlier at the Budget Dollar Cash Liquidators, at which I was a new and very enthusiastic shopper.

I had just entered the store and stopped first, as I always did, at the shelves that contain the unusual beverages that this store sells. There was an old guy standing in front of the same shelves, slowly scanning the dozens of unique looking bottles, cans, and boxes of drinks. When he saw me, he said, “Forgot my glasses and I haven’t found the coconut water that I like.”
“Oh,” I replied, feeling an immediate bond with this guy for our shared passion, “I buy it all the time. They keep the stuff I like, Vita-Coco, over on another shelf. Its 49 cents a box. Unless you’d rather have this brand that has lime added,” and I hauled down a can from a high shelf. I had fortunately remembered to bring my own reading glasses along that day and kept them perched on the top of my head when not in use.

“Naw” he grumbled, “I don’t like that lime in it at all. It’s a big can I know, but they want 99 cents for that one and the lime is too strong. Hides the taste of the coconut”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “I’ll show you where the other ones are if you want…right over here…”

There have been numerous other incidents. The old guys sitting outside Elmer’s raising funds for the Viet Nam Vets, or the Disabled Vets, or the American Legion, spot me coming at a distance. They know somehow that I’m good for a couple of bucks, and they greet me with a smile while I’m still some distance out. (I guess they must have all remembered their glasses.) They thank me for my donation with a “thanks” that I think has a slightly different intonation that what they use on other folks. Kind of like they know me; like we share something.

Finally, I remember the old guy that first asked me for help at the Holiday Gas Station’s pumps. He said he wanted to buy gas using his credit card and, not having done it before, wondered if I’d mind showing him how it’s done. I was glad to help of course, but surprised to have been approached. Usually, one does not strike up conversations with strangers at a gas station.

All these incidents taken together got me thinking. I looked at myself in the mirror the morning after my conversation with Jerry a little more closely than I usually do and with a different mind-set. Because of the genes I inherited from my mother, my hair is still thick and black. No sign of thinning or grey. My face though is well-lined and my neck is starting to resemble that of a turkey, with more loose skin than I like. I used to be fairly broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted. I don’t think that my shoulders have changed much, but with the passage of time, I’d have to now admit that my waist is at least as broad as my shoulders are and possibly a bit broader, depending on the angle. I have somehow become pear-shaped.

I had to admit to myself in front of the mirror that morning, that despite the dark stuff on top, I am an old guy. In other words, a duffer, an old fart, a geezer. I just hadn’t realized it before and it took several meetings with the other members of my new club to realize that I had at some point, crossed the line.

Actually, I rather like it. I don’t mind having to pay the dues of wrinkles and extra pounds to belong to this club; at least, not yet anyway. I find myself looking forward to the next time another ‘old guy’ or ‘old woman’ for that matter, begins a conversation with me.

As a matter of fact, my first discussion with an old woman happened just yesterday and centered on the fact that she could not find the expiration date on a bag of rotini that we were both considering at my favorite store. Since I did again have my reading glasses available, I was able to tell her that the important date was in 2013. I felt a kinship to her as we each selected a bag, and went our separate ways down the aisles.

Now that I know that I’m one of them, I will be ready to acknowledge my membership by approaching other members as I shop, pump gas, sit in a doctor’s office, or do any of the other sorts of things my type is likely to do.

They say that there are only two things that we all have to do; that is of course, to pay taxes and to die. And before most of us die, we get old, so keep this little narrative in mind.

If you are going about your business sometime, and somebody old wants to talk to you about pizza or coconut water or who-knows-what, take the hint. You’ve made it, my friend. You’re one of us. Welcome to the club.

Postscript from New Zealand:  It's three years later and I'm even more firmly entrenched in the club. Here, we male club members have a sort of unofficial uniform. It consists of  floppy hat, sun glasses, shirt, shorts and shoes. Many of us pull a 'trolley' for the shopping that we do. Many of us often have grandchildren in tow, although who tows who is sometimes in question. We members often meet each other at playgrounds and schools and supermarkets. We seem to be the majority of passengers on most of the city buses.*  Life is pretty good.

Earlier today, as Jeanne and I left the house to pick the boys up after school, I  wobbled just a bit as we stepped onto the sidewalk and cut Jeanne off.  She then suggested changing the name of our group to a  'stumble'(of geezers), rather than the 'grumble' I had coined originally. I see her point. I seem to do some of each lately.                          

After-thought and addition to this post:  Actually, there are quite a few more names for groups of geezers that are descriptive, at least part of the time anyway.  Consider a bumbling, crumbling, fumbling, humbling, mumbling, and rumbling of geezers,

BTW, are all of you continuing to read those 'side-bar' bits? I update those now and then, so at least scan them quickly once in a while for something new.

*At age 65, bus and train rides are free and ferries are discounted. Oh boy!        -djf

Why you don't want to fall down a blowhole

We recently took another trip to Muriwai Beach. This beach has it all.  When I got out of the car in the parking lot the very first time we visited, my jaw dropped and I reached for my camera. You can see a volcanic flow, stopped in time above the parking lot.The entire cliff face is at least 200 feet high

I wish I had a better picture of this, but you can see the lava flowing up and outward.

Muriwai is actually two beaches. The southern has 8 foot tall pillow-lava boulders strewn around and the northern (that we generally go to) is about a mile and a half long. Separating the two are the gannet colony rocks, a sea cave and the blow hole that I'm going to show you today.

As you notice, the sign doesn't specifically warn against falling down the blow hole, but after watching how hard the water spouts through it, most people would agree that it's a good idea not to.  

Oh, it's just a docile little ornamental hole in the rock

Yeah, right, docile. It was hard to time the shot perfectly. This is about 1/2 the size of the full blow out.

And now a little closer look.  Unfortunately, about a year ago, a guy did fall in it.  He didn't survive.  

All quiet here. From this angle you can see a 'shelf' about eight feet down, at the back of the hole, but it's probably slick with sea weed.

Here it comes...this is a split second before it really explodes...

Faster than the eye can follow, hundreds of gallons crash through it

Anyone inside would have been hammered against the side

These shots were taken at about 3/4 high tide. At high tide, it would have been that much worse.


Muriwai seems to be a place where something exciting is always happening. Not long ago, I sent out a story entitled Escape from Muriwai.  

Well, this time, Allie and I and the boys were standing in the surf, just splashing around.  As a little larger than average wave came in, we were surprised to see a 50-ish woman 'surfer' come along with it, tumbling as the wave broke.  Allie grabbed Arram out of the way and I got a hold on Amiri's arm and supported him while the woman came to rest at our feet. She looked quite embarrassed and apologised over and over.  She might have bowled the boys over had things been a little different.  She had just a little three foot long floaty board so she did not have the skills a real surfer would have.

Here are two last pictures, looking northward                    -djf

New North Head, deeper into the darkness. Warning: mummies were encountered, don't look at pictures 8 and 9 if you are easily terrified.

Several weeks ago, Allie took the boys and I to North Head. Jeanne was suffering from both her cough and a sore foot at the time, so she opted out of this adventure.

The last time we were there, Jeanne and I found a beautiful little hidden beach that almost no one goes to, located just below one of the gun emplacements on the edge of the cliff facing Rangitoto. We planned to spend the afternoon on the sand.  

And we did, mostly.  But I got bored after a bit....

While the boys and Allie continued to play in the water, I took a walk and discovered a new and very exciting set of tunnels. I think these are some of the best ones yet. I had no idea these were here.

I actually entered this tunnel system from the point of the last picture of this series. This picture just below is where I ended, turned around, and re-traced my steps through them to the ocean level again.

Here we go. 

There are eighteen steps to go down.

This is looking back up the steps.

We're looking down the tunnel again. I'm always impressed how well this camera does in low light conditions. Thanks again Mike and Kim.

We're come to the corner and are looking back towards the stairs.  Can you see that the slope is quite steep?

Looking forward again, notice the tracks in the floor.  Probably used a cart to carry ammo. I did not bring a headlamp this time so most of the pictures from here on will be with flash providing the light, otherwise, you'd see nothing at all.

The passages go in several directions. Ammunition rooms and places to gather, eat meals,etc. We'll explore to the right.  

Warning: we encountered mummies in one of the farthest corners of a passage.  I would have preferred to show you the mummies by lamp light rather than my flash.

I know, scary, huh?

Worst case scenario: You are deep under ground in an unexplored maze of tunnels when you come upon mummies....and then they start to walk toward you, moaning hideously....

Beyond the mummies tombs, the passage gets very narrow.  That's Allie following the boys through.  They are navigating by the light on her phone. (Brighter than I thought it might be.)

Here, one of the boys is approaching a corner that is illuminated by light from a distant opening.

We're almost out now, moving through one of the older tunnels.

That last rough-cut tunnel ended in the back corner of this little bunker.

As you see, we are right at the water's edge here. It's low tide right now so the water will soon be up to the wall. There is Auckland in the distance.  

Later, back at the beach again, the boys have discovered a tide pool that is raised up on a platform of lava and formed into a bit of a grotto by the rock covering it. 

What a place, what an afternoon.              -djf