It was one of those moments that got me going back in time. A week and a bit ago (just before that ultra cold time in Christchurch) I stumbled across the very first brilliant magnolia flowers that reminded me of Maggie’s Garden Show, all those decades ago.  

This dark coloured and early flowering Magnolia tree whispered “Black Tulip” to me – one of Mark Jury’s earlier hybrids, created at Tikorangi, (Mount Taranaki). Felix Jury was a breeder for a long time and together with his son, Mark, they literally created a huge number of Magnolias.  

We both love Magnolias and Julie decided to do some research on these trees and shrubs in Canterbury… Of course, she ended up remembering the Lincoln University’s Arboretum from all those years ago. And that Arboretum used to have a rather good collection of magnolias.  

Some “Early Rose” from the 1990s (Jury Family, of course). 

The Arboretum has been lacking some maintenance, but the good news is that there were quite a few garden staff working at the weeding and restoration of all those sizeable Magnolia trees, as well as other wonderful specimens. Certainly, now is the time to find some Magnolias where you can.  

Botanic Gardens often give you the variety name so you can hunt for the pretty evergreen and deciduous Magnolia providers. Magnolia Grove, The Plant Company, Southern Woods Nursery, Little Big Tree Company, Wairere Nursery  

It’s always useful to visit The Tikorangi Garden, run by Mark and Abbie Jury. 

And if you are keen to try to breed New Varieties, that would be brilliant but pretty tricky – it involves hand-pollinating selected parent flowers to create custom hybrid crosses: harvesting the seeds in autumn and growing them out.  

Good Luck! But it’s worth the effort… 

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The Wine: Te Whare Rā (TWR) Rosé 2025, Marlborough RRP $32.00  

Te Whare Rā means ‘The House in the Sun’, and it’s made by winemakers Anna and Jason Flowerday.  

One of the oldest in Marlborough, originally planted in 1979 and today Certified Bio-gro, the vineyard is managed with a combination of organic and biodynamic practices, and all the fruit is hand-picked and hand-sorted. Small ferment batches mean a lot more attention to detail, palate weight, flavours and mouthfeel.  

This is such a delicious wine – fresh and taut, a youthful expression with aromas and flavours of peaches and pink grapefruit, cherry flesh, and cold rover stones. A dry wine with a fine tannin presence, plenty of acidity and persistent light red fruit and cherry flavours. The wine to pull for Spring and Summer 2026.  

The season:  

Warm and sunny conditions in late November and December set Marlborough vineyards up for a bumper crop. While a cool, cloudy January caused some concern, February and March delivered a settled summer, as well as an extended harvest window. Fairly low rainfall with overall yields running high. The weather delivered excellent fruit balance and flavour development across the region.  

The food:  

An aperitif style this wine is well suited to pre-meal snacks – salty crackers with cheese and tomato, lots of pepper and some salt; you could also have sweetcorn fritters with topped with sour cream and a little chilli-jam. A Minestrone or chilled soup is also a great match.

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Google's announced its latest gadgets at its "Made by Google" event  

The Pixel 11 – it has the same phone wide camera bar, but it's 40% thinner. It's got more powerful wireless charging, it's 25% faster, and boasts 30+ hours of battery. It now comes with a built in 'teleprompter' view when recording a selfie – just one of the new 'creator features'. Gemini can make phone calls for you too.  

But it's the Pixel Tag that caught my attention – finally, the Android version of the AirTag is here. It's more of a pill shape than Apple's circle. It has many of the same features —directions to the tag, a speaker to help you find it, leave behind alerts— but has a great feature that lets you use your Pixel Tag to make your phone ring when you've lost that! They'll launch in November.  

And let's file this one in the AI for good category...  

Google has effectively built Google Translate for American Sign Language. A Deaf person can sign at their phone instead of typing to do a Google search, write a text/email, or ask Gemini a question. And in a face-to-face conversation, they can sign their reply, and it appears as text for the other person to read. The video never leaves your phone for additional privacy, instead the hand, finger and arm tracking coordinates are what are sent.  

And one man in Australia found out what happens when you give an AI agent a goal... it works to complete it 

Though whatever means necessary! The agent managed to find holes in the gym booking system to book him into classes weeks out, and also managed to kick someone off a waitlist so he could get on. 

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Reacher  

A chance encounter with a distraught stranger on the Philadelphia subway draws Jack Reacher into a deadly mystery. Season 4 of the show based on Lee Child’s novels (Prime Video). 

Ricky Gervais' Alley Cats  

Outrageous misadventures run wild as feral cats cause chaos on the streets in this no-holds-barred animated comedy from Ricky Gervais (Netflix). 

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The End of Oak Street  

After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings. 

The Last House 

A family of four are suddenly sealed inside their home with no way out, and must work together to survive against both their dwindling resources and the mysterious, looming threat that is keeping them trapped. 

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Noodle soups are served throughout Southeast Asia and I just love them!    

Serves 2-4   

Ingredients 

• 200g dried thin egg noodles  
• 2 tbsp cooking oil   
• 2-3 tbsps. store-bought red or green curry paste (or make your own)  
• 1 tsp curry powder   
• 2-3 cups chicken or vegetable stock   
• 1 tsp sesame oil  
• 1 stalk lemongrass, smashed   
• 400mls coconut milk   
• Salt to taste   
• 100-200g protein – cubed chicken or firm tofu, shelled prawns or halved boiled eggs   
• Juice of one lime or half a lemon  
• Garnishes – mint leaves, beansprouts, coriander, sliced chilli   

Method 

1. Boil the egg noodles in salted water until tender, then drain and set aside.   
2. Heat oil in large pot or wok and fry curry paste and curry powder until fragrant – about 1 minute.  
3. Add stock, sesame oil, lemongrass, and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.  
4. Add the protein and simmer until cooked through. Taste and add salt if required. Add the juice of a lime or half a lemon.   
5. Divide the noodles evenly into bowls. Use a slotted spoon to share out the protein, then pour over hot broth over and garnish. Happy slurping!   

Easy homemade curry paste:   

• 2 red chillies, de-seeded & chopped  
• 6 cloves garlic   
• 1 x thumb-sized piece fresh ginger   
• ½ onion, chopped  
• ½ tsp salt  
• 2 tsps. ground coriander   
• 2 tsps. turmeric powder  
• ½ tsp shrimp oil or paste(optional)   
• 2 tbsps. cooking oil  
• 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped finely  

Blend it all together to a paste and store in a jar until needed. 

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There’s construction a couple of streets down from our place. The hi-vis crew are digging up a road. And though usually it’d be little more than a brief, passing inconvenience, at our place this week it’s been cause for a lot more excitement.   

My 18-month-old son is slowly building his vocabulary. He can’t yet say “Mum” or “mumma,” but the moment we turned the corner and spied the orange road cones a few hundred metres away, he was straining on his push chair seat belt.   

“DIG-GAH! DIG-GAH!”  

There was no chance it was a fluke. Apparently, kids find the ‘D’ sound relatively easy to make and ‘D’ words are often some of the first they can articulate. My boy started with ‘dog’ and ‘Dadda,’ and for the first few ‘diggahs’ I wasn’t totally sure if he knew what he was actually saying.   

There was a moment of clarity one morning as I was walking across Western Springs when he blurted it out —“DIG-GAH”— and I gently corrected him.   

“No! That’s a duck. You’re a silly duffer,” I said.  

Then as my eyes shifted focus, right in the far distance, hundreds of metres away in a gap between a few tree branches, I saw the familiar yellow arm of a mid-sized Komatsu excavator, waiting to dig up the Western Springs turf.   

“Oh,” I said.  

“Sorry. DIG-GAH.”  

It’s become increasingly obvious he’s absolutely fixated on heavy vehicles.   

It feels like we read ‘The Little Yellow Digger’ 10 or 12 times a day. We’re constantly refreshing the rest of our digger-related literature at the local library, and his digger matchbox toy comes everywhere.   

What is it? What’s the attraction? My theory —the Jack Tame theory of paediatric neurology which isn’t necessarily informed by actual science— is that we human beings more or less wired the same as were 50,000 years ago. And 50,000 years ago, roaming a savanna, you would never have encountered something as big and colourful and powerful as a DIGGAH.    

It’s funny, isn’t it? The old nature-nurture. It’s not like every little boy loves diggers and every little girl loves dolls and playing shop, and that there isn’t a whole heap of crossover. But even if you don’t put your thumb on the scale as a parent, your kids are gonna like what they’re gonna like. And in my limited experience, the boys have very much deferred to the boy cliches.   

My wife actually thought that among his cars and blocks and Duplo, our son should have a baby doll among his toys to play with as well. I reckon he’s picked it up about 3 times in the last year, and each of those has been to throw it across the room. So far at least, he doesn’t want to play with his baby. He wants ‘DIG-GAH.’   

At 1.42am this morning my son stirred in his bed. He cried and I went in and gently comforted him, kissing him on his cheek and rubbing his back. And he curled up and relaxed into sleep, he gently mouthed a word under his sweet breath.   

“Dig-gah.” 

Four hours later, as if picking up where he’d left off, he started babbling in his cot and fussing to get up for breakfast. As I groaned and rubbed my eyes and dragged myself from slumber, the noise from his bedroom quieted for a moment. Maybe, I thought, maybe he’s dozed off for another half an hour’s sleep.  

Then I heard it. Clear as a day. Ringing down the corridor and across the neighbourhood. 

“DIGGGGG-GAH!” 

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Bryan Adams is a rock music legend. 

With 16 albums under his belt, he’s estimated to have sold between 75 million and 100 million records and singles during his 45 year career. 

His most recent album, ‘Roll with the Punches’, harkens back to his earlier releases, with the rock sound that’s made him so popular over the years. 

And off the back of an extensive string of international dates, Adams is bringing his ‘Roll with the Punches Tour’ to New Zealand next March. 

Adams has seen major success, but his drive to create has never waned. 

“I’m not one of those people that sort of, rests on my laurels and is just sort of quite happy to go back and do the same thing over and over,” he told Jack Tame. 

“I enjoy the creativity and I really like, you know, putting songs together.” 

“I’ve still got the melodies in my head, so I gotta get them out.”  

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Emerging Kiwi musician Isla Noon has remixed and revamped her first album. 

‘Out of Body’ was released in 2025, and explored themes of identity and detachment through a combination of synth heavy electronic pop and delicate vocals. 

‘Out of Body (REDUX)’ was made in collaboration with producer Justyn Pilbrow, taking seven tracks from the original album and pushing the electronic sound harder. 

Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts on the EP. 

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"Jetting into Vanuatu across the sapphire sea and the crisp palette of lagoon blues, all the hues of your tropical holiday dreams stretch out to greet you. After taking in the delights of Port Vila, head out of town for some rewarding encounters. For a sweet burst of soft adventure, jaunt to the Mele Cascades, about 15 minutes north of town. It is a wonderland of waterfalls. A twenty minute walk through lush and fragrant native bush leads you to the most sublime 35 metre high waterfall and gin-clear rock pools."

"I highly recommend experiencing the unspoilt bliss of Lelepa Island, which looms on the west side of Efate’s Havannah Harbour. Day tours are slickly operated by Lelepa islanders, packaging a kaleidoscope of authentic experiences and insights into one magical day."

Read Mike's full article.

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