Senses working overtime #581

1 Messy week

Photo by Pier Monzon on Unsplash

Thanks to a two-day trip to Hamilton, two days at school and a day off with a seasonal cold (like a tap running, it was).

2 Watching: FIFA World Cup 2026

Photo by obayda PH on Unsplash

This week, it cranked up to 6 games a day for the third and final round of pool games.

3 Listening: Mike Nesmith - Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash

I managed to find a copy at a record fair in Waipukurau during the week. The inside of the gatefold cover is a bit damaged, but this has been a really hard album to find, and it was only $15. I call that a bargain.

The album's big moment was Some of Shelly's Blues.

4 Reading: Mojo Magazine #338

5 Constant companion this week: Tissue box

Overtime: Maya Angelou

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

Senses working overtime #580

1 Tough week of medical dramas...

Photo from Unsplash

...with Keegan having his (successful) back operation, Fanfa her root canal, and the Minister of Defense his on-going hospitalisation in New Plymouth, and now Waikato.

2 Watching: FIFA World Cup 2026

 

Four games a day of top football action! Welcome to heaven.

3 Reading: Ringo - A Fab Life by Tom Doyle

I struggled to eek out some quality reading time this week but this excellent biography continued to hold my interest. Luckily, Ringo's alcohol/drugs fueled years were dispensed with reasonably adroitly.

4 Celebrated: Macca's 84th birthday...

...on June 18 with Now and Then (the video is great too but have tissues ready) and my favourite track on The Boys of Dungeon Lane - Home to Us. 

5 Listening: Billy Thorpe - Solo

Overtime: Thornton Wilder

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.

Basically, the motto of this blog!

Senses working overtime #579

1 FIFA World Cup 2026

And we're off in sparkling fashion, thanks to Shakira's amazing performance.

2 Watched - Long Promised Road 

I know I mentioned this one a few weeks ago, but I was interrupted and finished watching it while Jacky was in New Plymouth.

It's quite an emotional experience watching a frail and often anxious Brian Wilson being driven around some of his old haunts. There's always a price to pay.

3 Reading: Ringo - A Fab Life by Tom Doyle

Really getting into this version of Ringo's story set out in 70 bite size themed chapters - gear!!

4 Watching: Lays' FIFA World Cup 2026 bandwagon advert 

YEEHAR!!!

5 Watching: Rip the script!

Awesome football celebration from Nike. I love football!

Overtime: World cup players motto from Basil King

Be bold - and mighty forces will come to your aid.

Senses working overtime #578

1 Reading: The Little Book of Arsenal

Some great quotes in the book, like Martin Keown's, 'Second in the league might be good enough somewhere else, but not at Arsenal'.

2 Listening: Stan Getz - Captain Marvel

This 1972 album by Stan Getz was an excellent acquisition from The Little Red Bookshop this week.

3 Missing Grace

Sadly, this week we said goodbye to Grace. 

Compared to humans, our pets (cats, dogs and horses), have a much shorter lifespan. Grace has been a much-loved part of our family since Red Phoenix Farm around 13 years ago, so it was an especially hard week. Be assured, as a kindhearted and lovely looking girl, she'll be catnip to all those boy horses in horse heaven.

4 Reading: Ringo: A Fab Life - Tom Doyle  

5 Viewing: Sleeping Dogs

I'm showing this to my Year 10 class as part of a unit on the dystopian genre. The film is very prescient, and it holds up remarkably well for a film made in 1977 (trailer is here). 

Overtime: Don Howe (Arsenal manager in 1971 - the league and FA Cup double year)

Above all we were blessed with a backbone of men with character who demanded excellence from others.