We didn't think much about the tree we planted at the bottom of the garden a decade or more ago. I suppose it was natives and the leaves looked nice. It's now about six metres tall and, for the first time, suddenly festooned with big berries, ranging in hue from green to orange to purplish fruit that look like elongated olives.
Turns out, it's a Tawapou -- or as the Aussies called it on Norfolk Island, Bastard Ironwood. You may fancy that you find that says a great deal about our respective countries.
It's been a good summer to gaze off the back deck. We have been accompanied for weeks by a tui who perches on the very tip of one of the pine trees and sings a distinctive song. He was there at the top of the tree on Christmas morning, which was apt and delightful.
The tui's song has evolved. It began with a two-note honk: kree-kraw, but every few days he seemed to add a note to the front, so kree-kraw became coo-kree-kraw, then kor-koo-kree-kraw. I'd pull into the driveway, step out of the car and be greeted with kor-koo-kree-kraw!
But I fear our tui may have moved on even now. I didn't hear the song today.
Yes, this is the blog of someone who's trying to be on holiday. I'm even taking a break from Media7 next week, and Simon Pound will host the last of the Summer Editions shows next week while our family stages a lightning raid on Wellington.
After that, we're back at The Classic with -- because you asked for it! -- a 47-minute show, nearly twice the duration we had in 2008. We also move then to a Thursday night slot.
That's pretty cool. I also have some thinking and organising to do for some other good things before I clock off and commit myself to the Big Day Out tomorrow. I'm quite liking the schedule: especially the strong early evening lineup in the Boiler Room giving way to a nice sit-down for Neil Young. I'm amped for Neil since I saw the recent BBC4 documentary Don't Be Denied, which really makes the case for him as an artist.
But that's tomorrow ….
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Oh alright, some starters.
There are two newish posts on Humans. Hilary Stace has a detailed look at the recommendations about autism passed to the Obama transition team. And our new blogger, proud Aspie Matt Frost, contributes a tribute to a champion of diversity.
Ferrit. A few months after Ferrit launched, a PR person asked if I could have a look at the site and perhaps write something. So I had a look, and it was a weirdly desolate experience. I couldn't work out why I'd use this website and what I wrote wasn't positive. I'm sure it's improved, and I feel for the people who lost their jobs, but it really did seem inevitable. I hope Ralph Brayham has better luck with his investment in Real Groovy.
Friends let friends copy bits, and I've really enjoyed watching Niall Ferguson's Channel 4 doco The Ascent of Money, which provides a sophisticated but highly accessible perspective on how we came to have money, what it is, and how we got in the current mess.
You can watch it on Google video and there's also a BBC Briefings lecture about the book and the series by Ferguson out there on the wires, which I've downloaded but have yet to watch.
James Fallows digests Anthony Cordesman on Gaza. It's concise.
Josh Marshall both mourns and puts in context the move by Israel's Central Elections Committee to ban Arab polical parties from contesting next month's general election.
Wikileaks has published a large cache of confidential United Nations reports and investigations, including those relating to sexual abuse by serving UN personnel in Africa. Shit to hit fan?
Let's hear it for our designer, CactusLab's Matt Buchanan, whose way-cool Tumblr theme (based on the work of Saul Bass for Hitchcock's Vertigo) was voted second overall in The Tumblr awards.
And there's Kiwi Politico, a new group blog written by people you may recognise from blog comments here and there: JafaPete, Antia, Roger Nome and Pablo (who is Paul Buchanan). I don't care muc for the name, but it looks like it'll be worth reading.