Mike Riversdale

I'm a moonraker. Being Devizes born in the English county of Wiltshire, yup, I am officially a moonraker. The story goes that back in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries a gang of French brandy smugglers had dropped a few illicit barrels in Crammer pond at Southbroom, Devizes, for safe keeping. One full moon night they are at the pond with rope, rakes, and a cart as they try to gather up the barrels from the bottom of the pond. They are splashing around, using the rakes to catch onto the barrels and attempting to drag them back to land. All this noise attracts the attention of the county revenue officials, "What's all this then, what you lads up to?" Quick smart one of the smugglers replies, "Oh, officers, we're just trying to rake in that lovely round cheese from the pond.", pointing to the reflection of the full moon. "Hmmm, well you bloody yokels are very weird, so why not, ha ha ha". The story spreads and the last laugh is had on the re

I assume it's because Australia is so so old that it's coastlines have had time to grow it's soft sand beaches and to a level that makes the dunes more like massive hills.

A previous friend of mine created the phrase, "Out on the skinny branches.", for when people are being very courageous in themselves.  This feels like a walk out to the skinny branches at night. And like many of those times it is of course safe as anything and not that scary at all. Bloody feels like it before you move though.

Peaceful eh.

"He is a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away." 🤣👍👏, well done Girasoli

3 years ago the COVID got Dad. His health was compromised by the dementia and he had been sliding out of this life at a fairly rapid pace. Then the COVID popped in and got him. He was loved, respected, and a wonderful uncle to his nephews and nieces. It's funny how that last one struck me when they told me late last year, I never think about how uncles are and are meant to be, but Derek was a good 'un. I shall raise a glass of wine to him tonight and spend time thinking of him and also my relationship with my kids.

Sydney does fireworks and illuminations better than any other major city. Maybe that's because of the layout around Circular Quay with the Opera House, Botanic Gardens, CBD tower blocks, The Rocks, Harbour Bridge, and North Sydney. They're all tall and perfect to set off fireworks and/or be lit up.

It's little wonder that Sydney has been the backdrop to so many SciFi or superhero movies, it totally looks the part just by turning it's lights on.

It screams late 1980s, early 1990s sci-fi book cover by someone of fame. Or perhaps a new Asimov collection. It's actually Sydney in Australia looking down Darling Harbour , and Pyrmont Bridge . To the right is the Three International Towers , a new building with the excellent skyward pointing cranes, ending in the distinctive Crown at the end with its hotel, casino, restaurants, and Sky Deck to check out amazing views of Sydney city and beyond.

It was a hell of time to be heading back, my mood was a dark and brooding as the fog, but we had to go just one more time. Maybe this would be the last time, maybe it won't, she's a damn hard dame to predict and sometimes she doesn't know herself.

We're driving back down Te Ika-a-Māui / North Island as the sun is setting. This is the Ohaaki Thermal Kilns drying wood for fires.

What a glorious day to go on a roadtrip up Te Ika-a-Māui / North Island and get a metric tonne of photos of Mounts Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngauruhoe . Oh, and yes Ruapehu is the one you can see from Waitārere Beach on a clear day, this still boggles me.

It has a Casablanca feel about it, up in Ric's office

I don't think we need a supreme being to have created the universe as it's spectacular enough on it's own.

Almost everything I own, that is of any interest to those that will have to worry about such things when I die, is electronic and stored online. Get At Your Stuff / Account A few of the major online services companies now let you grant access to all/some of your data in the event of your death. This is the data, not the account, you can't pretend to be the dead person by logging in as them unless you know their username/password. "How do they know I'm dead Mike?", well they don't but they do know the last time you used any of their services and after a number of months of not doing so they assume you're dead. Here's a list of companies that let you tell them what/who to give access to once you're dead/no longer actively using their stuff: Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102631 Google: https://myaccount.google.com/inactive Microsoft, forget it by what I can find: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/accessing-outlook-com-onedrive-a

Whist my long legs are obviously what the eye is drawn to in this photo take time to enjoy the patterns on the sand.

Dew bubbles on a table.

Dotted all along the dunes near the beach access paths are a number of cute as seats. At sunrise and sunset they are glorious. Mind you walking on the sand at those times is even better.

Straight off the camera again, love it when nature serves up the photographic goods.

As Doris the car finally gave up the ghost and sat on the side of the road waiting to be dragged back home the universe said goodbye.

I wish I could capture more of the stars in motion as I do an astrophotograph, 1 second is too much of a tease. Tap/click the photo to open my Universe photo album and find the 1 second video of the movement.

There's photos I take that don't need editing before being published as my daily photo . There's photos where it's obvious tweaking is required, some that just need a crop, and some that take me bloody ages fart araing around to get it how I like. And then there's the rarest of the rare, the photo that can be cropped, and/or edited, and/or filtered, and each edit results in something I love. These photos are the greatest but also the most difficult, which one of these beautiful children is my favourite. I'm going to resort to your decision, as I did with Reflective Choices. WHICH ONE IS YOUR FAVOURITE? (leave a comment)

Sometimes the life choices one makes can hit you straight in the face.

If you are ever in Foxton and the De Molen windmill is open, go in and up.

If you put up a sign, "Please don't ...", they will.

Dad, mum, and the two kids.

Glorious Waitārere Beach twilight , so pink and for a special lady friend of mine. If you look very closely at the horizon you can see Mount Taranaki , a mere 170km away as the crows fly's over the ocean. Amazing eh.

Of course Rarotonga is known for it's beaches, diving, snorkelling, resorts, and so it should be. We, however, went inland, and not just on Arua Metua, but up into the hills with the  Raro Safari Tours which was quite the wee adventure on its own. Note: this is a photosphere and to open the original tap/click the photo and find it in the album .

 This https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/04/shock-of-the-old-10-painful-and-poisonous-beauty-treatments Contained this That led to this https://underpinningsmuseum.com/museum-collections/electric-corset-electropathic-belt-promotional-materials-by-harness/ And finally this https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/harness-electric-corset-with-podcast/

We didn't do this but by golly it looked like a LOT of fun. We had a bumpy precarious ride to finish with views from the Rarotongan interior waiting.

 NOT 2023 as someone pointed out to me, thanks ;) Monmouth Floods (January 2024)

I had a warm heart and nostalgic wave crash over me as I stood there in the warm Pacific water looking at this view of Koromiri in the Rarotongan lagoon. Treasure Island , by Robert Louis Stevenson was an adventure book of such exotic places that I never thought they truly existed and, if they did, there was now way I, lying on my bed as the Welsh rain tapped in the windows, was ever gonna get there. Here I am. Isn't life astounding.

Looks like it could go both ways eh, then again couldn't we all darling.

 I have always worn my watch on my right hand. With my fancy Pixel smart watch the "winder" (called the "crown") isn't something I've ever used even though it's useful - pressing it brings up apps whilst turning it scrolls through options. I always thought it was dumb, coz when I did it my left hand and arm would cover the watch face so I couldn't see what was on it. Well that's dumb eh!? And then, it struck me a week ago, oh, most/all right handed people wear their watches on the left wrist. Aha, that would mean the crown is accessible and the watch face is not covered OMG! So, I'm trying it. It. Feels. Weird. My whole body is screaming, WTF, it's on the wrong wrist. The skin doesn't know what's happening . AND THEN! I was searching for other solutions to my watch dilemma and up popped  Wear your watch this way   from Reddit user NinjaWhoSaysNi with these words: Fiddling around in settings and realized you can flip the watch so t

Right there, right then!

Substack is an online service where you post articles (like this) but also have them emailed out to subscribers that may or may not have paid. I have been such a paying subscriber to support new users of the system in their "getting off the ground" stage. It recently had a Nazi/right-wing problem and they have dealt with it in, well, an interesting yet typically Silicon Valley tech bro approach.  Over in Mastodon I saw the Substack Has A Nazi Opportunity  post from Ken White, read it, was impressed by both the argument and the easy reading style. It is the note attached at the end that I wish to draw your attention to: I use “Nazis” throughout in this post as shorthand to refer to an array of right-wing bigots and assholes with the secure knowledge that doing so will offend and annoy the people I intend to offend and annoy. I shall borrow this and use it now and for ever more, it's is perfect.