Thursday, July 10, 2025

The Wednesday with not much

 Hi,

I rode into work at lunch time from home and it wasn't too bad for traffic. Settled into my desk. And continued working. Main thing was for a coffee catch up with Barb before she goes to France for 6 weeks. Juliet and Kirsty joined in - great to hear what everyone has been doing.

Moxley enjoyed my working from home in the morning to sleep in the crate

Rode home and fed the cats and myself.  Watched a series on Amazon Prime with Alice Roberts.  Decided I may as well be in bed as on the couch. So tucked myself into bed to watch it. And fell so asleep that I only caught about 5 mins of a few episodes. Woke up - she was in a different town in a different time period. So yeah. Got to start those episodes again.

Up to drive in Thursday morning for my 7.30 - 8.30 hour session - taking Mike's spot really. Wrapped squats. 72.5kg.  3 reps x 4 sets. Then some narrow grip bench - 32.5kg.  5 reps x 4 sets.

Thursday morning PT

Post PT iced latte at home

Drove home. Cats are happy I am back. Cleaners should be here today so I thought I would WFH to watch out for them. I do not really like it when we keep them downstairs all day for when the cleaners come. They probably don't care too much. Hahah.

Mike gets home tonight. Yay! Looking forward to seeing him. 

Weekend is coming. Haircut for me. Bit of rugby! Go Black Ferns! Go All Blacks. Trap line. yep - busy weekend.

Love,

Angela

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

The Tuesday with dinner in Lower Hutt

 Hi,

Yesterday I bussed in for gym. Did my hour PT session with Quentin. Dead lifts.  92.5kg 2 reps x 4 sets.

Early bus ride

Iced latte with Hope

I got an iced latte with Hope - so that was good to catch up with her. She is just back from an awesome holiday in Europe.

I was supposed to ride home. But at the end of the day I just wanted to get home. So I bussed back home. Fed the cats. And jumped in the car to head to 40WLW for dinner.

Wallaby stew.  Well - I have to say it was pretty good. Would eat again. Thank you for the invitation. Any wallaby in a stew in NZ is a good use of a wallaby. Sorry to the strict vegetarians out there.

Wouldn't wanna be a wallaby

Sourdough

I got home and got the oven ready to bake. So it was a long night for me. It turned out ok. And I set it to cool and went straight to bed. Zzzzz.

Black fronted dotterel this morning

Up to ride in. And decided with all the things on the go, I would work from home this morning. Get my washing hung out. Be at home for my perishable delivery (I hope). And get my PT session done with Quentin in the garage. Bench. 40kg.  5 reps x 4 sets. Oosshh.

I do have a coffee date in the afternoon with Barb before she heads away next week to France for her hols. Hence the need to ride in.

I am wondering if I can squeeze in a Spin class at 17.30.  Hmmm. Let's see.

Have a lovely day.

Love,

Angela


Tuesday, July 8, 2025

The Monday with working from home and spin finally

 Hi,

It was good to work from home yesterday. The cats were happy. I went upstairs to find it was only 15C so I turned on all the heaters and we were all pleased to be in 20C before too long.

Cats on the blanket on the couch

Cold upstairs

Grocery drop came

Sunrise

Spin

I decided to go to Spin after work. The training weekend has scared me into action. When it got to 5pm and I fed the cats, it was hard to drag myself out of the house. But I was glad I did it. Parked on Thorndon Quay and headed in for 6:05pm Spin. It was the same instructor we used to have. And another one was in the class as a punter (she has gone to Les Mills as an instructor though!). They have just split the 1 hour group ride Monday session into 2 30 mins classes. So we have options.

The gym at Thorndon was heaving with people at 6pm. But it had emptied out a tad when we finished. I reckon I can go to Spin and then find a treadmill upstairs and go for a run. That is now my new Monday evening routine.

Cats together

Got home and had dinner. Buddha bowl. Cats were happy and sat together on a blanket directly under the heat pump. I made dough for bread.

Tonight I will ride home on the old pedal power bike. Yikes. Not looking forward to that slog up the hill. Jump in the car and head to Lower Hutt for wallaby stew. Hahahah. How funny. I think Alistair and Vicky sent a meat pack of wild meat to Sally and Andrew for Andrew's retirement. So we get to taste wallaby now.

I will let you all know.

Have an awesome day. Lovely winter day here in Wellington. No wind. Crisp.

Love,

Angela

Monday, July 7, 2025

The weekend in Blenheim and Mike in Sydney

 Hi,

What a big weekend. Mike is now in Sydney. HE flew out super early Saturday morning and spent the weekend with Karen and Scott and the dogs.  :-)   Now he is at work in the Sydney office after spending last night in a very fancy looking hotel.

Meanwhile, I was up super early Friday morning to drive our car to the airport. It had a date with the overnight undercover car parking until I got back Sunday evening. 


Car parked at the airport

Waiting at the SoundsAir gate

On the 7am flight.  It left a little late as they needed extra fuel. The weather meant a low cloud ceiling in Blenheim so they wanted fuel to circle until it cleared, if needs be.

It did not need it.

I see my bag on the trolley

Iona picked me up and took me home to see Col, Twigg and have brekkie.  Brought over a sourdough that Mike made for us. Mmmmm.

My sourdough

Friday weather was a bit terrible. So we only went for a short walk with Twigg around the river.

Is it Spring?

Waterways back to close to normal

Spring water meets Taylor River water

Walking with Twigg


Iona and Col had messages.  Twigg to the vet (she might need some toes taken off - and she need s her teeth cleaned - all under general - but separately). The garage door people came to sort that out. The heat pump people came to sort that out. Col had to go to work.

Goodness. Frantic.

Watched some TV with Iona.  And then bed.

Up for some fun Saturday. We drove to Wither Hills car park and met Nicola there at 8.30am. But the wee footbridge was gone after the recent floods. The creek wasn't too high so we jumped over and hauled the bikes across.  A woman helped me first from the other side after we had said other people were crossing ok there. So she and her partner and dog went over.  Aww - people are nice.


The bridge is washed out at Wither Hills

Had to jump this and haul bikes over

From here we rode along Mapp Track a bit - then down Dry Hills road to Whale Trail. Then up to the top of Redwood pass - just to the south of Blenheim. Bit of a climb. The weather was ok.  Kept my jacket on with a merino layer. But - it was ok. Iona and Nicola were much better on the climb than me.

I have work to do.

Rode back the short way and said goodbye to Nicola and off home.

Finished

Warm and dry

Col had to work! Short notice on Friday night. And was she cross. There was so much rugby to watch. Waaaaah. But Iona and I made sure to watch as much as possible. I enjoyed the Back Ferns versus the Black Ferns XV team. Wow. Great game. Shows the depth in the country that we can field two teams and have a cracker of a game.

Then we watched Scotland v Māori All Blacks. Wow. Another amazing game. Go Scotland! They won! It was a thriller.

Then, we turned off the tablet casting the Sky rugby to the TV. And could not get it working. So we watched a movie until the delayed broadcast on free to air. The all Blacks v France in Dunedin. Also a great game. And the All Blacks were both lucky and unlucky. 3 tries disallowed. And really...?  Should they have been? You need to rewatched the replay on super slow motion to figure it out.  I am not sure that sort of thing was the reason TMO exists. But - guess  it is hard to draw the line.

Col got home to watch the last half with us.

Sunday training

Up more leisurely Sunday morning. Iona made oaty pancakes. Mmmmm. Then Nicola got there at 10am and we rode off to the Wither Hills Farm Park. Tackled a wee hill. Then locked up the bikes and did a rogaine course in the low hills above the MTB park.


Spring challenge account featured us from last year

Back home to do a few things around the house. The bed had arrived since the last time I was there and was "recovering" from its ordeal in the cardboard box.  I did try the shower out a few times. Very good.


Putting up the peg board

Cold Chisel

We put up the peg board in the garage. I held a cold chisel and sent non cryptic clues to Mike on the chat. Hahah.


The new bed

Then we relaxed in the house before my flight. Got Uber Eats delivered for tea - The Tamarind. Delicious food.

Peg flax weaving

Country Calendar

At the airport

Car wash time

Iona dropped me at the airport. I was very early for my 8.40pm flight home. But the flight was super fast. Got into the car at the airport and used our car wash voucher that was not far off expiry and had to be at the Z at the airport. Car is now clean.

Got home. Fed the cats. And went to bed!

Awesome weekend. So busy. Good fun. Thank you.

Missing Mike though.  I hope he has a great work week in Sydney.

Enjoy your week ahead.

Love,

Angela

Thursday, July 3, 2025

The Wednesday with a huge bike ride for me and a presentation for Mike

 Hi,

We got away to lunch with Callan. Mike is trying a different lunch place each day at the moment. It was a significant birthday for Callan.  He said his nephews were cooking dinner for him. Awww.

Iced latte with Callan at La Cloche

During the day I got a parcel from Shoshana in Dunedin. She gave me my sourdough starter last July. Well, I had so many parcels to unwrap.

Letter


Her letter was so funny. She has quite the mighty brain. Thank you. After my day, it really made me feel special.

Shoshana - you are lovely

Mike had his presentation after work - at work. While I waited for my bike ride to kick off, I snuck in to listen to about 10 mins of it.  Saw all our friends there supporting Mike.  Wally. Grant. Greg. Gabe. And I think Becks even got in after I left. What I saw was amazing. Well done, Mike.


Wind turbine

Abbie picked me and Barb up from work in her very fancy Kia EV.  With a bike rack that takes 4 bikes vertically. Swallowed all 3 bikes easily.

Parked in Holloway Road and met Abbie's friend Rose. Then off up to the turbine.  My light lasted 1 hour 45 mins before it cut out. But I already saw the red light on it and had my backup light on my handlebars ready to go.

It was so scary. And also - so good.  I walked around every hairpin. Everyone was so kind and patient and encouraging. Thank you so much!


My legs showing up by my bike light

View from the top

Rose, me, Barb and Abbie

Abbie dropped us off home and I fed the cats and went to bed. Mike got in late from his evening out after the presentation.

Up to bus in this morning. PT session using the SSB.  40kg squats. 5 reps x 4 sets. Then off to work brekkie.

Brekkie this morning

Flying to Blenheim tomorrow for spring challenge training. Woot!

Mike is off sick today. Poor Mike. Hope he is okay.

Love,

Angela

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

The Tuesday with a fabulous birthday dinner

 Hi,

Happy birthday to Andrew and Callan today. And anyone else having a birthday today too, for that matter. 

Yesterday we went out for lunch with Celia to see Becks at something Vanilla something cafe next to MoJ. So good to see her - and catch up with Celia.

After work, I bumped into Abbie as I was waiting for Mike to finish his work and she convinced me and Barb to ride home instead of walking on Wed night. So I have that to look forward to today.

Abbie asking me to go for a MTB ride

Loretta for birthday dinner

Mike and I walked to Loretta and Sally and Andrew were already at the table. What a lovely place. Great service. Great food. We will definitely go back. Mike talked through his presentation as light dinner conversation - hahahah. He is presenting tonight (Wed) so it was good practise.

Walked with Sally and Andrew back to our work where we said goodbye and we went in to grab bike bits and pieces for me.  I needed to ride my good MTB eBike to work - so needed helmet, gloves, lights.

Uber home and fed the cats and into bed. Good sleep but goodness knows what we did as the bed was trashed when we woke up. No duvet. No wonder I was snuggling into Moxley (she was under the sheets - probably also trying to stay warm) and Mike was trying to protect her by cuddling me and keeping a wee space free.

Up for Mike to bus in for his session with Quentin. And me to ride in on my lovely bike. So nice. Here's hoping I can handle the trails at night with Abbie and Barb.

Hope your day is a good one.

Love,

Angela

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

The Monday with work

 Hi,

And just like that - it is July.

These cats are so funny. Got up from my desk to do something and found them both close to each other in the sun in our bedroom. Surely this is their choice and they do not mind each other's company?

They both chose this spot

Home made

Dentist visit

After work Mike dropped me off at the train station and I went to the dentist for a check. All good. And then I walked home. Good for spring training.

Mike got home after dinner with Sally and Andrew and a pick up from Wainuiomata for his mate Neil in Dunedin. 

Sounds dodgy! Hahahah.  It was a hard drive I think.

Off to bed. And up for a pedal power ride into work. Gorgeous day. But a bit cold.

Off to PT session now.

Take care!

Love,

Angela