Catherine

Stallholders sitting behind stalls full of colourful zines, stickers and original artworks. There are lots of people looking at the stalls.

The Zinefest at the School of Architecture on Vivian Street in Pōneke is super cool. We had a blast buying zines, stickers & having little portraits drawn. Love the creativity ❤️ #wellingtonzinefest

Apparently all the older teachers were horrified but the younger ones promptly followed suit 😆

My Dad (NZer) taught at Harrow School in the 70s. In the heatwave of ‘76 he rocked up in shorts, knee-high socks & short-sleeved top with academic gown overtop. It led to the institution of ‘summer dress’ for the whole school in summer months, lol.

Hey Hutt folks, you may miss it when voting, but please don’t vote for Suzanne Levy! She sounds fine, but OOPS she runs the TERF organisation Speak Up For Women.

Thank you! That has boosted spirits big time 😆

Didn’t realise this was a thing! Hoping it spreads to our part of Lower Hutt where we trap along the river as there are large patches 🙏

An upset male tree wētā in my gloved hand, biting hard on the glove with its large mandibles

They looked like they were having a great time (and also puzzled by the woman in the bushes. Again.) Found this beauty too, who bit me with vigour as I gently re-homed him.

Two photos side-by-side. On the left is a tree trunk smothered in ivy and on the right the ivy has been removed from the tree

I’m always doing something weird when @fromthemorgue.bsky.social is out walking his adorable dogs. Today I was removing ivy that’s smothering trees down by the awa. Little point doing predator removal if we’re not also restoring habitat #predatorfreenz

Book cover for Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris

If flowers are your thing - @zarakesterton.bsky.social, Tori Champion and I run a growing network on Women and Flowers. This month Michele Leggott and @deleifd.bsky.social are speaking about their beautiful book Groundwork. Details below or email womenandflowersnetwork@gmail.com to join us!🌷

Wellkiwis virus graph for 2025. Shows confirmed cases of influenza, covid, rhinovirus, RSV & other viruses and they were at their peak in second week of August.

Here’s the latest Wellington Wellkiwis tracking. My daughter had influenza B 2 weeks ago, looks like that’s (hopefully) starting to drop

Oooh, this looks fabulous. Can’t wait to buy a copy!

A baby seal with beautiful big eyes on the edge of the waterfront

A baby seal sitting on the waterfront. It is wet as it has just jumped out of the water.

Wish I could post videos here. Saw this cute baby seal swimming on the waterfront. It saw me, and then hopped on to a rock and clambered up towards me. I moved very quickly.

Sweet, all in good time! We know there’s a lot going on with moving building etc. But I’m enjoying this side of the book w/o the pressure of deadlines - it’s v cool to still make new discoveries 😆

A hand-coloured plate from Thomas Kirk’s book ‘The Forest Flora of New Zealand’. It shows a plant coastal maire plant specimen with very large green leaves that has been coloured using watercolour. There is a note to the right in Emily Cumming Harris’s handwriting that says “Owing to the paper being thin and highly glazed, the leaves which cover a large surface will not take the paint well, and consequently have a striped and unfinished appearance.”

A hand-coloured lithograph of a titoki plant specimen, that has been coloured using watercolour. The leaves are green, the outer part of the berries are brown and the betties themselves are bright red with black seeds in the middle.

A hand-coloured lithograph that shows a specimen of kōwhai, with its leaves, seed pod and flowers. The flowers are a brilliant yellow.

Public thank you to @chaneyz85.bsky.social for being awesome at her job and helping us make a big research discovery! #findingmissingbooks #emilycummingharris

Just read this with our youngest - one of my fav childhood books. I didn’t realise there are puzzles/clues on *every* page - we spent 2 weeks figuring them all out & have 3 pages of notes 🤓

Both v good responses. I’m not going to give him the courtesy of a reply, he knew exactly what he was doing. Just needed to vent somewhere as I’m not known for exercising self restraint, lol

Mahi-adjacent. Sent him something that I’d spent many hours working on, that he wanted a copy of. For free. Taken aback by the rudeness as much as anything else!

There’s so many replies I have drafted in my head! But he doesn’t deserve a reply. Not putting any energy towards someone who has been so damn rude.

Ngā mihi. This is what people feel comfortable expressing in public now eh.

It’s so effing rude eh. Won’t email him ever again.

Sent an email today using ‘mōrena’ & ‘ngā mihi’. Received this reply: “Please note I am not Maori, so your greeting is not appreciated. What’s wrong with Hello or Hi etc, and regards etc. I think this PC token use of Maori is unwarranted.”
🫠 (He knows I whakapapa Māori too)

Seven white birds on long thin legs standing on a rocky river bed, with their heads tucked under their wings

In need of tōhu & good news stories, so was pleased to see 7 kōtuku ngutupapa / royal spoonbills along the awa this morning. Usually only see 2 or 3 #teawakairangi #predatorfreenz

A red fungus with four ‘tentacles’ with black goo smeared on them. It has a hole in the centre.

It looks even weirder today! #aotearoa #fungus

A red fungus with five outstretched ‘arms’, resembling a starfish, with a hole in the centre. This specimen is smaller than the palm of my hand.

First time finding Devil’s Fingers fungus / Clathrus archeri / octopus stinkhorn, thanks to a hot tip from a friend ahead of all the heavy rain. Tiny, alien-looking & very smelly

‘Imagine being a killer bee. Ooh I’m glad I’m not a killer bee’ 🎶

Might have also taught youngest that lyrics to Addison Rae’s ‘Diet Pepsi’ include ‘losing all my MnMs in the backseat’. She’s gonna explode when she finds out it’s ‘innocence’ & not chocolate 😂

A friend of a friend thought Shona Laing’s song was ‘Glad I’m not a killer bee’ (Glad I’m not a Kennedy) 🐝🤭

Two white basket fungi growing next to each other. They are shaped like a mesh ball with a lattice pattern.

A large basket fungus specimen growing out of the ground. It is white and has a lattice-like shape.

Found some very cool specimens of Tūtae kēhua / basket fungus / Ileodictyon cibarium while checking our Predator Free trapline along the awa this morning
#predatorfree #teawakairangi

Two apple trees growing in Lower Hutt came from cuttings from Isaac Newton’s tree - the one that inspired his theory of gravity: www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...

Groundwork is in excellent company at Te Āmiki in the National Library, right next to @carenwilton.bsky.social 😆 #emilycummingharris #botanicalart #womenartists