Day 60, Level 1: (Fri 7 Aug, Omaha) Surf, Community Garden, and Gannets galore

Was all set to go for a morning walk when the biggest black cloud came over and a menacing wind. I went to the computer instead. The rain didn't come, but productivity did. 

A bit later sun and leisure blended and I took a walk to the beach around 11am. Gosh it was beautiful at the beach, and hardly a soul there. I felt like I was still in lockdown, so quiet it was. 

There was a nice surf wave to the north at the bar that has formed over recent months, a couple of surfers having a lovely play on it. It's weird because where this surf bar has built up over recent months, there has also been a build up of shells in this spot. Rather than sand, there are a whole load of shells - reminiscent of the shells that make Pink Beach pink. Perhaps in time Omaha will become pink too ...

Quite a few surfers out by the Surf Club too. I think there would have been a total of about 20 people on the beach during the hour I was down there. 

But the real fun was watching the gannets - they were out in force, dive-bombing the ocean. More later in the post. 

After my walk I checked out the local Community Garden - it's a few doors along from our place. And flourishing with lots of produce - not quite ready yet, but growing nicely. Great initiative. I picked a little bit of parsley. 

Today was a bit like 10 seasons in one day - rain, sun, wind, calm, black clouds, blue sky ... every hour was different. I was mostly working - doing MailChimp stuff. A great programme that I hadn't known before and am very glad to get to know now. Useful. Also set up a few meetings, ticked off a few tasks. 

Made a chicken avocado burger for dinner (yum) and chatted with a couple of friends - one in Oz in lockdown. 

Info all day about masks and the need to stock up on them at home. The Govt is definitely making us all buy our own so they are not left having to supply the nation and spend another small fortune. Sensible, and precautionary - but I really don't think (and hope) we're going to need them. 

Again, more ironic than ever that for 20 years I was a mask-maker - gave it away at the end of last year - and now masks are all the rage. Albeit mine were masquerade masks - but go figure! It's bizarre. I guess I could have switched/adapted to making fabric masks en masse - but that would have involved virtually no passion, just production. There are plenty of people who have taken up that mantle. I chuckle to myself and shake my head when I hear the word mask - about a hundred times a day for the last 4 months!!!

Often, when extreme precaution is taken about something it means nothing happens - especially with weather scenarios. And then the powers that be get told off about being too cautious. But if they're not precautious, and something happens, they get lambasted for not being cautious enough. 

NZ does need to be precautious - rather than staying in smug mode, thinking that we're on the other side. We are not - we're still part of the world and, although our borders are largely shut, people are still coming in. And the virus is still out there. 

We'll see where it all goes ...

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
The joy of gannets ...

Oh to be a gannet. Yesterday I posted pictures of flying fish. I have seen flying fish at Omaha but not often. 

Today was all about the flight of the birds that catch fish. The gannets are quite something to watch, and today they were right across the sky in droves. They're very majestic and playful. 

It's not that often that the gannets are around like they were today. Fly, swoop, skim the water, up high again and then - dive, splash, dinner. Repeat. Boom.

It means the fish are out there. 

Alas no luck getting a photo or video of the dive-bombing - had my eye and camera trained and at the ready. As soon as I gave my arms a rest - dive-bomb! It's more a thing for the moment than the camera!