PREDICT WEATHER.COM

KEN RING: WEATHER BY THE MOON AUCKLAND WEATHER DIARY, JUNE 2021

June sees average rain, sunshine and temperatures. The second week is the driest with the most sunshine and is the best week for outdoor activities. The third is overall the wettest week, but most rain may fall at or near 26th. Winds are expected to average from the southwest. Atmospheric pressures may be highest around the second week. They may average for the month around 1017mbs.

For fishermen, the highest tides are around 26th. The best fishing bite-times in the east are around sunset on 8th-11th, and 23rd-25th. Chances are also good for around noon of 1st-3rd, 15th-18th, and 30th.

For gardeners, pruning is best between 1st-9th and 27th-30th (waning moon descending), and sowing is best between 14th-24th (waxing moon ascending). For preserving and longer shelf-life, pick crops or flowers on neap tide days of 4th and 18th. Always allow 24-hour error for all forecasting. (KEN RING)  PN

For future weather for any date, and the 2021 NZ Weather Almanac, see www.predictweather.com

Opinions expressed in Ponsonby News are not always the opinion of Alchemy Media Limited & Ponsonby News.

@LEYS LITTLE LIBRARY

Kia ora Ponsonby. This June, Auckland Libraries is celebrating We Read Auckland – Ka Pānui Tātau i Tāmaki Makaurau, one place, many stories – he wāhi kotahi, he kōrero rau.

Starting on 31 May and running through till 13 June, We Read Auckland – Ka Panui Tatau i Tamaki Makaurau celebrates Auckland’s readers and writers and the stories that bring us together. This free programme of exciting live and online events has something for every reader, featuring your favourite authors, reading champions and family fun at community places and libraries across Tamaki Makaurau Auckland.

Here in Ponsonby, we are celebrating We Read Auckland with a special Storytime at Dorothy Butler Children’s Bookshop. Come and listen to author (and Aucklander) Melinda Szymanik read her two new books, Moon & Sun and My Elephant is Blue, plus join us for a wee craft activity too. By the end of it you may have your very own blue elephant.

Melinda Szymanik is a writer for children and young adults. She won Children’s Choice with her picture book, The Were-Nana, at the 2009 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards, and Librarians’ Choice for her novel, A Winter’s Day in 1939, at the 2014 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards.

June also signifies that winter is truly here – as is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year on 21 June. This means it’s time to plant garlic, which will be ready to harvest on the longest day of the year. Additionally, it’s time to put into place plans for any Matariki celebrations you may be contemplating. It’s the perfect excuse to cook all those Christmas foods you want but really can’t be bothered cooking at the height of a muggy Auckland summer.

If you need inspiration for what to make, let us help with some cookbook suggestions: locally, some of my favourites are Ima Cuisine: An Israeli Mother’s Kitchen by Yael Shochat, Haikai by Monique Fiso, The Recipe: The World’s Finest Chefs and the Essential Classic Recipes for Anyone Who Loves to Cook by Josh Emett. If you want to opt for a vegan/vegetarian celebration, I can recommend Whole Again by Bronwyn Kan, Little Bird Goodness by Megan May and Two Raw Sisters by Rosa and Mago Flanagan.

If you want some more options from across the seas, I suggest anything and everything by Yotam Ottolenghi, Anna Jones and Alison Roman.

Happy mid-winter cooking; or if you are anything like me, you will browse many of these cookbooks but then go to a restaurant for dinner – all the delicious flavours with none of the washing-up.

CHLOË – COMMUNITY LIBRARY MANAGER - Pouarahi, Pataka Korero a-Hapori. Open Monday-Friday 9am-6pm; Saturday 9am-4pm; Sunday closed.  PN