Jo Fountain

😂

Yeah I wouldn't even call this journalism.... it's just an uncritical regurgitation of a press release

🤮

Oh yeah... and I love coffee - beans or plunger but not pods

No allergies, but white chocolate isnt chocolate... dark chocolate for the win. Not a fan of asparagus. #SecretSantaAoNZ

Sorry I can't really do this justice! It's a close up picture of some interesting yellow flowers and a smooth green leafed plant. There is a bumblebee in the middle of the photo - just small. I just loved the textural quality of it all.

Taking time to stop and enjoy the little beautiful things in nature 🌼🪴

While I might not know what day Black Friday, I would definitely make a better guess than the 2 Gen Zers on the news: "is it next Monday?"; "is it Thursday?" 🙄

Oh absolutely 💯 the good bits are still awesome 😁 I made some changes to courses this year to combat some of this and had the most fun in the classroom since 2019

I'm having to work so much harder to love teaching. The powers that be tell us all lectures must be recorded and if students don't come to class we should "make lectures more interesting"... and don't get me started on trying to assess learning in this AI age.

Stony beach in the foreground on the edge of a bay in Whakaraupō. Lyttelton port and town just visible in the background. There is evidence of a boat ramp to the right, and if you look closely, some teenage boys swimming (you can't see the screaming about the cold). Mid-ground is a hillside dotted with pine trees and homes

Due to an 'excessive leave balance' I am taking Fridays off for the rest of the year. Decided to take my first trip of the season to our boatshed.

There are worse places to be at 2pm on a warm Friday

Indeed! It's why the rest if us need to 😁

And you're a wonderful author and have been a wonderful kaiako... that's not in your bio x

My 18 yo says I have a problem and I'm in denial 😁

😆 honestly, I have over 1000 books- mostly novels. Some people are into animal rescue - I am a weekly participant in 'book rescue' (ie visiting second hand bookshops &/or thrift stores

As *someone* might say "it's not my first rodeo" 😉

Very happy with my giftee, but I wasnt already following them, so I'm now going through BlueSky and happily following a lot of other lovely humans (and their cats) also taking part, to cover my tracks #SecretSantaAoNZ

Eric looks like he might be my spirit animal

😄 I love this. Honestly, I often end up looking like this after a couple of hours weeding.... kind of end up lying down or at least crawling through to reach weeds :)

My bad. That's how I read it.

Implied it by saying if you're on the Māori roll you can vote TPM... you can vote TPM on general roll.

I have a big vegetable garden, so I spend a lot of time on that, out of necessity really. I read a lot, and have dabbled in pottery over the last five years. Im not particularly good st it, but I find it very relaxing and a nice change from my day job.

I don't wear jewellery on a regular basis - maybe earrings and a necklace if I'm 'dressing up'

Just did a stocktake of the current jewellery I'm wearing on a regular workday... absolutely nothing.

Books. But I really don't need more 😂

They do, obviously! 🙂 My two (also a black cat and a tabby) do the same.... or play chase across the bed at 2am before rumbling off down the hall

Lovely! and good luck! May the presence of AI be minimal (unless you allow that kind of thing, in which case it won't be the time-waster it's becoming for me)

The colour of the waters of Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour. That colour changes, but they are all lovely. Sometimes D'Urville Island, sometimes Manu Bay, sometimes Rārangi [if we are going with the Dulux paint colours 🙂 ] www.dulux.co.nz/colour/greens/

In NZ it basically means 'not cheddar'! Thinking of the wonderful array of cheeses I had in Burgundy. Last year Ella and I had a cheese Advent calendar and it was excellent

Yep! The border collie/bearded collie of my childhood learnt the same thing.

My current tabby cat has also learnt the word 'walk'!

No food restrictions or things I can't eat. If I were to think about ideal food gifts they would probably be:
1. Interesting cheese (but logistics in shipping/storing perhaps?)
2. Coffee beans/ground coffee from quirky small producers - the stronger the better.
3. Interesting spice mixes.