The bird in this image is a takahe. To be specific, its based on a photo of "Greg", the too-tame takahe which frequents the visitor center at Tiritiri Matangi. Lets just say that Greg likes to help himself to as much human food as he can get his greedy little beak on. This is not a good thing!

Today’s Gratitude Item: Silicon paper. Not only is it great for lining baking trays, it also came in handy when I was ironing our dance group costumes. Said costumes feature ribbon which was glued on but in some places, the ribbon was coming off and needed to be ironed back on. Placing the silicon paper on top of the *synthetic* fabric whilst ironing did the trick. It turns out that sewing on the ribbon is not a great option as the ribbon tends to buckle / bubble (and it takes forever to do).