On listening to LPs. (1: That Gum You Like is Back in Style)
While I was young, 1970s, LPs were the authoritative way of hearing music. Radio played stuff that was rarely interesting on account of trying to please everyone and offend none and acted as filter that only the mediocre passed with occasional freak outliers. This content was called "middle of the road" and the stations agreed. If you wanted to hear something else then 45 singles, cassette tapes and LPs could be brought. So there.
#LP

Xmas present! Fresh home grown coffee beans from my sister in Auckland. Halfway through preparation here. I'll dry the flesh for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_cherry_tea and clean and roast the beans.
#coffee #food #gardening

This Totara is about 7 years old.
I gave it a trim today. I'll let it settle for a few weeks then trim again. I think it's too tall right now at about 1m so I'll work on that.
I'll clean up the roots too. They have nice form that's obscured by the fine roots over them.
#bonsai #nz

Got this on a whim: No idea who Richard Wahnfried is but Klaus Schulze was in the credits as was an Arthur Brown too. Obviously this was not the lord of hellfire himself but I like Klaus very much so let's have a listen.
It is VERY good. I can hear Coil and other psychic dance hall bods grooving out on it.
And RW is an alias for our Klaus and that is the Arthur Brown telling us all about time and stuff.
Ahh, this would have been the best record in the world for my much missed Garth.
#LP #Coil

Working in the hills up above Oamaru and the property manager showed me the trapdoor spider nests that are there. He tickled the door with a dry grass stem but it wasn't fooled and stayed inside. "Hardly ever works and the one time it did me and my son screamed like little girls. They're pretty ugly."

I accumulate cacti. Don't know how this happens really, something to do with going for walks and finding broken off bits on the footpath. Anyway, now too big for the garden here so I'll take them to the batch in Awhitu tomorrow. Last time I did this with a San Pedro it just bolted and is really really happy.
#cacti #gardening

Found these tucked into the sleeve of a 78rpm acetate 10 inch. You could walk into a studio, pay money then hollar away and they'd give you an acetate record. I love these one-off time capsules.
78 rpm acetates aren't as robust as the pressed 78 disks and they did not last on old mechanical players unless you used the right needle , so they supplied some. What a great thing to do.

Some chooks visited the garden and are now waiting to be picked up.

From the fricken FREE bin for gosh sakes.
The notes on the back are really something quietly angry / sad. It's the "Story of The Blues" but in 5 paragraphs.
#vinyl #LP #blues

This should be so great, even the cover photo is by Lord Snowdon, the backing vocals are the Three Is and has Sly and Robbie and Ansel Collins among others with Cris Blackwell guiding it in there somewhere. Serge has had his moments too.
But is is not great.
"Relax Baby Be Cool" for example sucks. All the bad stuff is all Serge.
One last play, some neat dubbish bits so maybe I'll keep. Trying to be brutal with the collection.
#LP #vinyl