Long Bay Beach, part one

Allie announced to us this morning that after lunch, we had to make the most of the day and go...somewhere.  Long Bay beach was decided on. It's been ages since we were all here together. The last time, we got hung up in the parking lot for 45 minutes as the boys played with the resident ducks. 

Today, they were nowhere in sight and I doubt that the boys would have been as interested even if they had been. We headed straight for the beach.  

I always feel excitement when we arrive at any beach.  They have often laid out treasures for me to find. Just like an Easter egg hunt except that what I pick up is always full of sand and might smell funny.    

 I'm thankful that Jeanne is up and around again. She is treating her knee with great care.

It's just a bit chilly today when the sun is hidden.  Not too bad though.

That's right, spread your wings and bask in the sun. 

They're looking for crab's. 

I'm looking at rocks. 
If I were really rich, I'd hire a geologist to come along when we go to the beach. 

This shot shows how some of the rock is eroding and the shapes being produced.

What would it be like to live up there? 

"Ahh, mum, can't we put up the Slip N Slide in the yard again? Please? 
We'll be more careful. Billy wasn't hurt that bad. The trees stopped him half way down. 

Come on mum, we'll face it nice and safe this time, toward the street. Okay?"   

Today's Summit Acres healthy-living tip,

Never mow your lawn while intoxicated. 

No, this isn't Bodega Bay ( Location for The Birds, Alfred Hichcock) 
There is a guy feeding bread up on the dune and the seagulls are going nuts. I only captured a portion of the birds in the air. They are all around me. 

Part two of our trip to the beach will be coming up shortly...                         -djf

Three lamps, Ponsonby

It was 9 a.m. The temperature was about 60 degrees and the sky was blue. It was time for me to jump on a bus and go somewhere. I decided on Ponsonby. I've done other posts about this area, but I have not covered it all, by a long shot. Here is another instalment. 

The old Ponsonby Post Office stands on a historic corner. 

(This building reminds me a little of the Town Hall in Auckland, shown below, which was supposed to look like a ship)

Wow, look at how that's maintained. 

Quick facts

Hip, residential Ponsonby is known for shopping and dining, with stylish boutiques, independent bookshops and trendy cafes along Ponsonby Road. The foodie scene ranges from gourmet taco trucks and burger stands in the market-like space of Ponsonby Central to upscale gastropubs and seafood bistros. Small galleries showcase Kiwi crafts and edgy modern art, while buzzing bars specialize in craft beers and cocktails. (taken from the Google Maps page.)

This meeting of streets was/is known as "The Three Lamps."

There is today's three lamps. 

Always appreciated...The mens' public restroom. The whole thing was tiled, top to bottom, and was clean as. 

Ponsonby has plenty of historic buildings, but it has some modern as well. 

This is the Ley's Institute. Today it houses the Ponsonby Library, meeting rooms, and a gymnasium.

 Inside the library.

 I judge the worth of each new library I encounter by whether or not I find a book by P. G. Wodehouse on its shelves.  This one passed.
This particular book is an early Wodehouse, published in 1909. The story behind it is complicated. Rather than try to tell you about it, I've provided a link if you're interested. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swoop!

 One nice thing about being old(er) is that I have acquired the nerve to act on my impulses to explore old buildings. There was no sign saying I couldn't snoop a bit so I did. 

 This is the largest meeting room up here and it was full of people taking a first-aid class. 

The view from the top of the stairs. It feels good just to look at all that symmetry and neatness. 

This is the gymnasium and it was locked up. 

This building was originally Ponsonby's Fire Hall.  Today is is a pricey steakhouse. A one pound Angus t-bone will cost you $98. This guy was setting the tables along the sidewalk. 

 A modest little house, but look how cool it is.

It's a pizza place. 

https://www.paneevino.co.nz/

I've really enjoyed walking around Ponsonby today and sharing it with you.       -djf

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And one of the nicest things about writing a blog is that one gets to put whatever one wants into it. Within reason of course.  

I have decided to exercise that ability to choose and place by providing you today with a number quotations from the writings of P. G. Wodehouse. (October 15, 1881 - February 14, 1975)  Finding the book set me off, I guess. 

Many of you already know how much I have enjoyed his work. You might not share my opinion. 

His last quotation below says it all I think. His writing has done that for me. At least momentarily. And it has reminded me to thank our Creator for putting such people on earth to help the rest of us. 

“She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Carry on, Jeeves

[I'm] as broke as the ten commandments.”
― P. G. Wodehouse

“Unlike the male codfish which, suddenly finding itself the parent of three million five hundred thousand little codfish, cheerfully resolves to love them all, the British aristocracy is apt to look with a somewhat jaundiced eye on its younger sons.”
― P.G.Wodehouse

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.”
― P.G. Wodehouse

“At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies.”
― P.G. Wodehouse , Uneasy Money

“I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters

“Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of Tolstoy's Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day's work strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby into the city's reservoir, he turns to the cupboards, only to find the vodka bottle empty.”
― P.G. Wodehouse , The Best of Wodehouse: An Anthology

“Beginning with a critique of my own limbs, which she said, justly enough, were nothing to write home about, this girl went on to dissect my manners, morals, intellect, general physique, and method of eating asparagus with such acerbity that by the time she had finished the best you could say of Bertram was that, so far as was known, he had never actually committed murder or set fire to an orphan asylum.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves

“He groaned slightly and winced like Prometheus watching his vulture dropping in for lunch.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Big Money

“Golf, like measles, should be caught young.”
― Wodehouse

“What are the chances of a cobra biting Harold, Jeeves?"
"Slight, I should imagine, sir. And in such an event, knowing the boy as intimately as I do, my anxiety would be entirely for the snake.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves

“The object of all good literature is to purge the soul of its petty troubles.― P.G. Wodehouse

I Am Delighted or, How I amused myself today by playing once again with acorns.

I started an experiment last fall; you know, in March, and on September 22,  the official first day of spring in this southern hemisphere, I completed it. As I mentioned in my header, I am delighted with the results of this six month long study of the pin oak acorn. 

I imagine that I hear groans out there among those of you who have bravely followed my posts all these years. A rolling of the eyes and a shaking of the heads complete the outward signs you exhibit and a sinking feeling is endured internally. 

"So stop with these blasted acorns already!" you grumble. "We don't care about them. They don't grow where we live, and even if they did, we wouldn't pick them and we certainly wouldn't eat them. Knock it off!"

Well, the problem is that I am fascinated by them and I haven't done much experimenting yet with these little pin oak nuts. Since it's my post and I get to choose the topics, I'm going to write this one, for my own enjoyment at least, if no one elses'. 

And, since this was an experiment, I really should be writing a paper on it. Consider that, as you complain. I've listed what should be in a properly written scientific paper just below. (and Allie could give me pointers besides)

• Prepare the figures and tables.
• Write the Methods.
• Write up the Results.
• Write the Discussion. Finalise the Results and Discussion before writing the introduction. ...
• Write a clear Conclusion.
• Write a compelling introduction.
• Write the Abstract.
• Compose a concise and descriptive Title. 

Just think what you'd have to wade through if I actually did all that!  I'm going to make it much easier on you by just telling you what I learned. Although, you might notice that I did compose a concise, descriptive, and very snappy title. (though unsuitable for a scientific paper) 

I did not find big numbers of pin oak acorns. The summer was dry, but then they all are here, so I don't know if the small pin oak acorn crop was due to that variable, or if there was another reason. The English oak trees did as well as ever so who knows? I didn't intend to pick many in any event, so it really didn't matter. 

I picked those nuts directly off the trees. They were rinsed clean, dried in the sun, and stored in the plastic tray that you see in the photo. 

My first step today was to open a number of them. I considered using a hammer, but reasoned that my left thumb and forefinger would not fare well using that method, so I decided to use the pliers you see instead.  It worked great. It wasn't long before I could predict just how much force to give it to pop the shell.  The only trouble was that it was slow going. I'd squeeze the pliers just so, hear the shell pop and then have to put down the pliers and use my fingers to separate the shell pieces and remove the nut.  

Once it was out of the shell, I'd place it in a bowl of water to soften, so I could more easily grind them. Once ground, I'd soak them further in water to remove the tannins and then dry the acorn meal. 

If I had lived a few thousand years ago, and had to process a lot of these, because that determined if my family would eat or not today, one at a time would not be an efficient way of getting dinner. There had to be a better way. 

I soon noticed that as I placed each nut in the water, bits would float to the surface. These bits were pieces of skin or shell. The meat of the nut always sank to the bottom of the bowl. Aha!

I used the wrench a little differently with the next acorn. I squeezed it hard, and crushed the nut completely. Then, I threw it into the bowl of water. The crushed nutmeat parts sank and the shell parts floated to the surface, nice as you please.  I continued. There were a couple of acorns whose nutmeat and shell stuck together a bit when I put them into the water, but this was not a problem. After I had done several, I just squeezed the entire mass of nuts between my fingers for a moment or two and swished the water around and all the stuck pieces separated. The nutmeats when down and the shells floated up. That was the secret!

Early man needed to be productive. He, or more probably she, would not have used a pliers. She could have used a rock to simply crush up a quantity of these pin oak acorns. She'd then, I'm guessing, throw the whole works into a container of water, skim off the shells and skin that floated, and continue soaking the partially crushed nutmeats until they no longer tasted bitter.   

I was delighted. I now understood that processing large quantities of them would be fairly easy. Smash 'em up and let the water do all the work! Yes, these are small acorns. But they are seven percent protein and provide lots of carbs and fat. These could definitely sustain people, even if they had been stored for six months. 

I intend to continue to store the remaining nuts and see if they'll last a full year. My guess it that they will.  

Finally, I studied how successful I had been in preserving them. Did many rot? I opened up about 40 of them today and found that two were rotten. Very dry, but black and unappetising. That's not too bad.

The bowl on the left holds the shells I had skimmed out of the water in the bowl on the right. 

Also note that this retired Safety Director wore eye protection.  

Consider what a treasure all the types of acorns must have been in the past. Quality nutrition available every year that even the smallest child could help harvest. 
..................................................................................................................................................        
Okay, that wasn't so bad now, was it? Since you liked it after all, even if you won't admit it, I can now announce that another acorn treat is in store for you. Yes!  I found somebody in Henderson selling acorn starch jelly!  It's true. I'll tell you all about it some time when you least expect it...                                  -djf

Municipal Depot

It was in the early 1980's that I first began to travel to furniture shows. Probably the biggest back then was the one held in High Point, North Carolina. It was there that I saw an example of what could be done with old industrial buildings. 

I spent time in a huge cotton fabric mill that had been converted into furniture showroom spaces, restaurants and social areas. It had been all brick and the architects, when designing the new spaces within the old, had retained as much of the old look as possible. The brick work had been cleaned up and now added to the nostalgic charm of the place. I loved that building. When I got the chance to get out of our own showroom for a while, for a break or a meal, I scurried up and down the brick walled corridors, passageways and levels, always finding a new cool view around the next corner.  

I was reminded of my times there when I entered Auckland's old Municipal Depot and visited the kava room that I featured in a post not long ago.  Today's post will show you a little more of what has been done to reclaim that which should not be wasted. 

One of the restaurants that has moved in to what was the main entrance. 

The entire depot covers a block-long area.

This is now one of the main entrances. It is also connected to a carpark on one end. 

Corridors of retail spaces go in all directions. 

 The base of the chimney... (I know that it looks as though it stops at the top of the picture but it doesn't.) 

This is the rest of it viewed from a corner.  

 This corridor leads to the carpark.

 A ramp up to the upper levels. I'll probably do a future post about the celebrities identified on this walk. 

This is a central open area that houses cafes on two sides.
I have arrived to take pictures in the early afternoon when few people are around. I discovered that most businesses in the Depot open after 2 p.m. and stay late.

I first became interested in the Depot area because of the kava room. At the very back of the Municipal Depot though, over in one corner, I discovered another reason to visit this complex. This little taproom serving one of my very favorite beverages is nestled under the roof. I discovered when I stuck my head in the door that the local business men know this place.  I felt an immediate kinship with the guys in suits who were sitting around the tables. I wondered what sort of businesses they were playing hooky from.       -djf