The weekend with a bit of this and a bit of that

Hi,

What a lovely lazy weekend with not a lot on.  Let's see if I can recall what we got up to.  Nope.  Can't remember!  Heheheh.

Saturday was wet and a bit windy so Mike and I piked from a mountain bike ride with Andrew.  Mike had already been up and out and about for hours by the time Andrew called.  Mike saw Jackie off at Paraparaumu airport - such as it was.  He was pleased to have seen Jackie and also had breakfast with Josh, Aidan and the boys.  Even scored extra coffee! 

Meanwhile I got up at home and made Toby bacon for his breakfast.  It made him very happy.

We went to see The Avengers movie with Sally and Andrew.  Well, Toby and I did while Mike worked at Sally and Andrew's place.  I loved the movie.  Great fun.  Then we got Indian takeaway (Maharajas - yum!) and finally went home.

Sunday was a much brighter day.  However, we were still in bed when Andrew arrived for the mountain bike ride so we piked again.  We did get ready and go for a walk in the mountain bike park though and it made me wish I was on my bike!  Maybe next weekend?

Back home and we tidied the lounge based on ideas Josh and Aidan gave Mike.  Less clutter was the aim and I think we achieved it.  We shall see how it goes.

Then Sarah arrived with Benjamin and Vivienne for a cup of tea and a chat about Onslow College.  That whiled away the afternoon nicely.  Then we were off to Sally and Andrew's again for tea.  Phew!  Are they sick of us yet?

This morning's ride down the hill was lovely - the wind has died away and the sky was blue.  The air is cold but it was a nice ride along the waterfront to the client's site this morning.  Very pleasant.  Hope it stays like this for a few days.

I seem to have a migraine starting this morning.  Odd.  I haven't had one since I don't know when.  Maybe a good cup of tea will sort it out!  Right about ... now!

Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with nothing

Hi,

I got to ride home with Mike yesterday after work.  That was very pleasant.  It was a head wind but not too bad and we made good time.  Kevin stayed for dinner and it was a Toby favourite - chicken schnitzels (but not as good as Grandy makes).

Today is Friday!  Yay!  Our weekend is filling up with activities as per usual.  Weed mat on the newly created clay bank outside our bedrooms.  Bike riding with Andrew.  Sam's Gully walk with Simon.  Normal cleaning duties.

It was stonking down rain this morning but we rode into work in a clear spell.  It is now starting to stonk down rain again.  But we're dry!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Angela

Battling Picasa

I've just spent the last hour and a half trying to beat Picasa into submission.

Picasa won.  I failed.

Here is the simple task I set myself:
Merge the 80 photos from my phone, and the 100 photos from Angela's phone, into one Picasa album.

10 mins, 15 tops I thought.

From memory, here are the steps I went through.

Google+ has this great feature where every photo you take is automatically synched up to a private album in your Picasa account.  Perfect.  So all our photos are in Picasa already.  All I need to do is give Angela contribute access to my Tongariro Crossing album, and she can then drop her photos into that album.  Easy.

So my first task is to share my album with Angela.

Okay, this can't be hard.

A bit of googling around points me at the 'edit visibility' link on the home page of Picasa.  No, that's not it.  This only lets me set broad-brush access - private, limited to anyone with the link or public.

So I go into the album itself.  Could it be 'Album properties'?  No, that gives me the same broad-brush options as before.

Aha - it could be 'G+ Share'?  Even though I don't want to share through Google+?  I go into here and it appears completely wrong - because I can only share with circles, apparently.  But after 15min or so of googling I discover that the 'share with' box, with circles to add and remove, actually lets you type into it too.  All well and good.  I enter Angela's name, and we appear to be getting somewhere.

Now Angela's name appears on the right-hand side of the screen, under 'people I've shared with'.  All well and good.  (But why can't I add people directly to this list?!).  And by myself (I've got used to the fact that the UI is obtuse and irrational now) I notice a little icon, about 5px high, that looks like an up-arrow.  'Press to allow Angela to contribute photos' the tool tip says.  Hooray!  So I press it.  It changes a shade ever so slightly, which apparently indicates she can contribute photos now.

My cross/frustrated face.  Angela took this.  I won't even start on what I had to do to get this pic from her account to a blog entry I authored.

OK, about 45 min down.  First task done.  Second task must be dead easy - go in as Angela, and open the album that has been shared with her.

I expected the album to turn up right under Angela's picasa account.  'All my albums shared with me', that sort of thing.  Doesn't seem to be jumping out at me?  I google some more.  No, Picasa doesn't work like that.  You get an email sent to you, and if you don't have that email, you'll never, ever find the album.  okay then, here's an email from Google+ giving her access to the album.  But trouble is, it turns up in Google+, with no way of uploading photos.  Bit more googling to work this out.  Someone else says she can go into my picasaweb home page - http://picasaweb.google.com/mrgilbe1 - and there it will be.  But this advice is old... (a lot of picasa advice is pre-G+ and just doesn't work anymore). Go to that URL and you are handily diverted to my Google+ photos page, again with no way of contributing to any albums from here.

So Angela can contribute to my album - but any attempt to get to a picasa page that actually gives her an 'upload' or 'copy' button is grabbed hold of and thrown across to Google+.

More googling.

Someone else has found that when you hit the 'G+ Share' button, there is a small link at the very bottom that is labelled 'share via email only'.  This actually means, 'Share without all that Google+ shite getting in the way'.  At last!  I can put in Angela's email address, and I can even click to allow her to contribute, straight from this dialog.  Wonderful.  I fill in the dialog and at last, Angela gets an email that gives her a real picasa link that really shows my photos and really gives her an 'add photos' link.

Right, we're up to about 1 hour 15 now.  Two tasks down. The third and hopefully simplest of all to go.  Copy Angela's photos across to my album.

Picasa lets you copy photos to multiple albums, and Angela has access to my album to contribute to.  So presumably this means she can just take her 80-odd photos and copy them across to my album.

I really presumed a lot, going into this, didn't I?!

If Angela tries to copy photos to another album - she gets a list of her albums.  Albums she can contribute to are no-where in sight.

If on the other hand she starts at my album, she can load photos all right - from the hard drive of the machine she's working on.  Not picasa.  Aaaaargh!!!  So what we're looking at is, to get photos copied from one picasa album to another, she needs to first download them to a PC hard drive - all couple of gigs of them - and then upload them again.  Surely not!!  Surely!!!

At 1 hour 35 I gave up.

There might well be a way to do this.  I have no idea.  I am beaten.

The Wednesday with ANZAC Day

Hi,

How nice to get a day off in the middle of the week, despite the slightly discombobulating feel of it all.  Is it Monday now?  Hahahah.

I woke up at 4.45am yesterday and went into town for the dawn service.  Jack's Dad, John, decided to come along as well so I was outside his house at 5.10am tooting the horn for him to come to the car.  No - I am joking.  A quiet text to let him know I was there was all that was necessary.

Despite being close to twenty minutes before the kick off we were hard pressed to find a good viewing place.  We were to the side of the cenotaph and could see the back of the band really well.  But it was a lovely service and I am glad I went.

Back home and tried desperately to convince the boys that they really did want to leave the house and have a picnic somewhere on such a nice day.  To no avail.  So I read.  Mike cooked breakfast and the day disappeared in laziness.  Not too bad, really.  Toby went to play with Alex in the afternoon.

And now we have two days left in the week.  Despite the feeling of Monday-itis I have.  Have a wonderful short week!

Love,
Angela

A long weekend in Queensland

Brent was having his 40th and we were invited. In the end, it was just me that travelled across, leaving Toby and Angela behind - sadly, money, time and clashes with Angela's sister's graduation (that was cancelled in the end) all conspired against us all going.  So I made up my mind to have enough fun for the 3 of us, and bring back memories and photos to talk Angela and Toby's ears off.

After an early start and an uneventful flight, reminiscent of my Sydney adventures last year, I was driving north in a rented Hyundai.  The rental company had neglected to give me a map.  Could I find Brent and Jill's house?  I picked the right off-ramp, picked the right arterials to wend my way through, and got within 1km of their house before I had to ring for assistance.  Pretty happy about that, I was!

It was great to see Brent and Jill again.  They're the sort of friends that you can arrive after a couple of years apart, and just start right back where you left off.  They have a new baby now - Harrison, who is 6 months old but should only be 4 months old, since he couldn't be bothered hanging about inside Jill and popped out early.  He is one very cute and bubbly and happy baby. His older brother Jack has grown a lot, and is hitting the Terrible Twos which I remember well with Toby.  No concept of 'later' or 'do this first to get this' or anything like that.  He is causing his parents lots of grief.  But his charm and happy personality lets him get away with it.

Jack

We chatted about all the things we'd been up to over the last 18 months, since Brent came to my 40th.  We spent a lot of time in Brent's shed, which is nicely set up for building model RC cars.  The current project, he's building a 4wd from scratch, with chassis rails cut down from box alloy and bent using a jig consisting of his vice plus pencil marks on the workbench.  His (woodworking) electric planer and thicknesser were involved in the finishing touches.  Brent assures me that Alu alloy is soft enough to get away with this!  I'd have loved to see the sparks that would have made!

Jill especially has it hard right now with both boys at the wrong ages.  I've seen this before, though with just Toby we didn't experience it.  I kept reassuring them that once you get out the other side - in a couple of years say - it gets easier rather than harder.  Our friends who were all at their wits end a few years ago now generally have pairs of siblings who play together and look after each other and are less work than Toby is by himself.  I've also noticed that they learn negotiation and compromise and plain arguing skills far better than I did as a (virtually) only child, and better than Toby is now.  So it all gets better - ok?

So - Brent and Jill's plan was to head south to Surfers for a well earned 1 week holiday.  I'd be there for just a couple of days, but they would be staying on with their family.

Brent and I set off with a shopping list for some food for the week - just to start us off so we had essentials to start us off.  Of course, we also had to go elsewhere - Trade Tools (great shop!) for electric drill parts, McDonalds for icecreams, the tip to get rid of some lawn clippings, McDonalds for icecreams (again!), pharmacy for cheap ventolin for me.  Then we finally hit the supermarket and collected pizzas for dinner.

Over pizza and beers I learned some sad news - our friends Colin and Jane have split up (some time ago).  They are trying to resolve things amicably but it sounds pretty hard.  I feel for them both.  I better have a chat to Colin.

Saturday dawned bright and early, and the epic packing adventure began.  Bassinnettes and cots and suitcases and crates of food and boxes of nappies began leaving the house, getting stacked up on the porch and then loaded onto Brent's ute and the back of Jill's Pathfinder.  Juggled around Jack's swimming lesson and Harrison's morning routine.  Disaster was eventually averted when Harrison's only dummy was found.  Eventually we were all done with the mountain of gear that a toddler and a baby need, and off we set, the 3 adults in 3 cars.  I wound up the Hyundai's stereo to 11 and sang gustily all the way from Brisbane to Surfers.

I followed Brent in, and we found the accommodation without much bother.  Waiting for us were Brent's mum and dad, Lesley and Bruce, who I seem to only ever meet up with in Australia in spite of them living in Central Otago.  Also, up from Canberra were Brent's sister Eleanor and her teenage kids Mike and Rachel.

We were all staying in a large, pleasant house with a big living/dining area - so large that it had a TV at each end that you could watch on two different channels and not bother each other - and several rooms.  I lost count how many.  It was quite a strange place in some ways though - it showed clear signs of some slightly dodgy DIY work, with wonky tiles, crooked kitchen cabinets, and missing wallboards with bookcases strategically placed to hide this.  But perhaps the strangest thing was the 'extra' bathroom - a shower and toilet, outside with no doors or walls:

We unpacked our mountain of stuff, and lounged around the pool for a while catching up.  Then it ticked towards dinner time.  While Eleanor and her kids chatted to friends who were visiting, the rest of us were off to the German Beer Hall where I had been just 18 months ago for my 40th.  Jill fearlessly launched into the unrelenting Surfers traffic and did two trips to get the seven of us there.  The German Beer Hall is always great.  We chatted away over Jaegerschitzel and Sauerkraut and Steins of Lowenbrau.  Jill took the kids and Brent's parents home, and left Brent and I to finish our steins at our leisure.  Eventually we were the only ones left, so we left the proprieter to close up, and headed next door to an irish pub.  This was a somewhat surreal place, with a decidedly average, but enthusiastic band with an older girl on bass, an older bloke on guitar and vocals, and a fairly rocking younger guy on lead guitar.  We figured he may have ended up on the band as their love child, brought up touring from irish pub to lounge bar, playing guitar before he could walk.  Maybe.  Either that or he was a ring-in after answering an ad.  One or the other.

It was also very sparsely attended.  An Irish pub, on a Saturday night, in Surfers Paradise, with few uninterested patrons?  'Can't organise a pissup in a brewery' comes to mind.  'Can't fill an Irish Pub in Surfers Paradise on a Saturday Night' has a similar ring to it.

A couple of women from WA tried to catch our eyes and we chatted away for a while.  They were... interesting.  Not really in a good way.  Brent wasn't having a bar of it.  I humoured them for a while before decided to try our luck elsewhere.

Off we headed to a dooof-dooof-dooof place across the road.  The pedantic bouncer, who looked about 12, insisted on ID'ing us.  I could have been his dad.  Tosser.  But the place was pretty good on the inside.  Loud rock from a great live band who actually looked like they were having fun, and were playing note-perfect covers from all sorts of eras and styles as long as it was LOUD and ROCKING.  We were probably the oldest people there, but it didn't matter too much.  We had some beers and chatted and waited for the band to play Hunnas (they never did).

Eventually we decided to call it a night.  Off we headed and I decided our first stop needed to be the beach - you can't come all this way and not go to the beach!  And then, you can't go to the beach and not swim!!  The water was beautiful and warm, as I waded in.  Brent was standing back and seemed puzzled that I was doing this.  Perhaps he thought I should have taken my pants off first or something.

Then it was time to squelch our way back home.  Took about 20 min or so to walk back south through the main drag of Surfers, then back into the 'burbs where our house was.  It was a beautiful night (of course) and we chatted away about this and that as we wandered.

Sunday was a quiet day for me, as I was feeling a little, er, jetlagged.  The girls headed off to shopping and left me, Brent and Bruce in charge of Jack.  Who promptly fell asleep for hours, so that wasn't a hard stretch.  I did some unanticpated washing, seeing as my pants were unaccountably wet and sandy, and we relaxed by the pool and read and talked in the lounge.

The girls (and young Mike) were back around 5pm with mountains of groceries for the week.  I was promptly put in charge of the bbq, which was a daunting prospect.  But I did ok I think.  The sausages had some char but weren't burned, Rachel's vegetarian sausages weren't too cross-contaminated, the medium rare steak was medium rare.  Job done.

Monday saw me up bright and early - still on New Zealand time so at 5:30am I was out by the pool checking emails and getting eaten by sandflies.   Today was going to be hinterland - Tamborine Mountain - day.  We loaded up 3 cars and headed north-west.  Now, signposts are few and far between up this way, and the maps are pretty unclear.  (That one I linked to is the clearest I've seen - but like all the others doesn't make it clear where the main highway 95 actually goes through the town). It doesn't help that Mt Tamborine, the hill, is nowhere near Tamborine Mountain, the town.  Or that the town is so sparsely populated that it's not really recognisable as one.  Navigation is not the easiest, and my last trip up here I never managed to find the things I was looking for.  And this was proved as we tried to re-group at the Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk.  Our car (me, Brent and Bruce) were the last to leave and the first to arrive.  Brent gave Jill a ring and found her driving around the outer suburbs of Tamborine Mountain. I managed to direct her in and she was soon on the right road.  Eleanor pulled up just afterwards.

By the time we'd all got into the right place it was nearing lunchtime, so on the advice of the Skywalk staff we headed to Cedar Falls for a picnic.  Now, this is probably 900m from the Skywalk.  And we managed to get lost again!  Only Eleanor ended up in the right place.  We overshot the place completely, and Jill ended up in Thunderbird Park.  But eventually we were all in the right place at the right time and tucking into yummy picnic salad and leftover BBQ meat, eyed warily by the massive goannas that were lurking about.

We went for a wander down to the waterfalls that Cedar Falls were famous for.  Very gorgeous they were too.  Mike, Rachel and their friend Elliot (who had turned up sometime the previous night) couldn't resist the swimming holes at the base of the falls and jumped in.  I was very tempted too.  But I'd done my swimming for the trip the other night...

Soon we wandered back up the hill to the skywalk.  Very good wee walk it was too.  I've been on a few of these skywalks now, from the little bridge down the road from my place at Otari Wilton Bush to the one in the Otways.  This one was probably the most spectacular.  The ongoing battle between invading eucalypts and rainforest cedars, palms, conifers and orchids, versus eucalypts, was pretty visible.  Lots of birdlife as well.  A long way from the usual dry, sparse countryside you associate with Australia.

The skywalk itself was in several parts - a long catwalk that took you high through a small gully, a gravel track looping back to uncover the understory underneath the catwalk, then a cantilevered viewing spot with a 'rocking the cantilever strictly prohibited' sign at the end.  Which we followed.  Mostly.

Alas, time was ticking away and my flight was that evening.  Time to head home.  After regretful goodbyes I was driving back to Brisbane airport.

1,722 km to Cairns.  Australia is big!

What a great holiday!  Brent and Jill's hospitality showed no bounds as always, and it was great to meet Harrison and catch up with Jack, who's turning into a proper wee boy.  Brisbane is close and not too dear to get to if we look for specials.  We need to get back soon, as a family!

The Monday with no Mike and then some Mike

Hi,

Our new nanny (Kevin) worked out really well on the first day.  Hooray!  I rode home and started dinner and chatted away to him.  He'd even tidied up so there are no complaints from me!

Toby and I had a relaxing evening and then went to bed.  I groggily woke up when Mike got home at 1.45am!  His plane had been delayed!  Anyhow, this morning Mike was full of news from his weekend.  So much so that he missed his bus and had to drive in for an 8am meeting in Courtney Place!  Hahahah.

I rode down the hill and although it is quite windy, I hit 60km/hr for the first time.  My legs were pedalling furiously and I didn't touch the brake on several curves.  Guess that made all the difference!

Cubs tonight.  We have an ANZAC theme!

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with no Mike

Hi,

What an action packed weekend.  Mike is still away in Brisbane (due back midnight tonight) so Toby and I had a lot of fun together.  First up - a haircut for Toby.  Yay!  He needed it.  Alex joined us (and played DS while the haircut was taking place) then we met Sally and Andrew for Armageddon.  Toby has been looking forward to this for ages.

Armageddon was heaving and quite possibly something I should have attended when I was twenty years old.  I'm not too sure I appreciated it quite as much chasing Toby and Alex around.  Sally and Andrew were done in thirty minutes.

After they left, we watched an episode of Justice League of America on a big screen on stage 1 and then we went back into the hall where I was surprised to discover hoards more young kids were out in force.  I could hardly move.  I convinced the boys it was a good time for lunch and we escaped to Chicago next door.

Back into the fray once more but only for a short time.  We called Yingjie at 2.15pm to collect us.  I am glad we went.  But I am also glad it is on every two years!  Recovery time.

Home for a playdate with Toby and Alex and then Toby went to Jack's birthday party.  A movie night at Jack's house.  I got an invitation to John and Christine's place and had yummy roast beef.  I watched an episode of Game of Thrones with Christine and I rather suspect Mike will enjoy the series.  Collected Toby and fell into bed!

Sunday we were up early-ish.  I made pancakes for Toby and he was very happy about that.  I dropped Toby off at Sally and Andrew's place and had two hours of tramping club van training.  The day was glorious.

Back for lunch and then shopping for DVDs (Toby's birthday voucher) and groceries and home. 

Today is the first day of term 2 and we have a nanny starting today.  Kevin will collect the boys at 4pm and bring them home.  Feed them and make sure their homework gets done and have a bit of fun.  I hope it works out well.

Enjoy the week!
Love,
Angela

The Friday with no Mike

Hi,

Mike left at 4am this morning for Brisbane and I had Toby drop off duties.  The morning is an absolute cracker of a day!  Glorious autumn.  More please.

Busy weekend.  Haircut for Toby.  Armageddon.  Jack's birthday.  Van driving practise (tramping club van).  Mike is due back Monday at midnight.  Miss him already.

Have a wonderful weekend. 
Love,
Angela

Happy birthday Vince

Hi,

I just wrote down the date and realised it is Vince's birthday.  Yay.  And it is Michael's birthday over the weekend too.  So happy birthday to him too.

Vince way back in October 2000

Have fun together this weekend, Ma, Dad and Shona.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with tramping club for Mike

Hi,

Mike and I rode home together yesterday which was very nice.  I had a late afternoon meeting at the office so we left at 1730 together.  Well, it was 1740 by the time we left the building giving us only twenty minutes to get Toby before he turned into a pumpkin at Skids.  We made it with one minute to spare!  Lucky we had that tail wind.

We had tea (yummy pasta - Toby has asked for it again) and then Mike left for tramping club night and we were both fast asleep by the time he got home.

The ride in this morning was on roads left wet by recent rain.  It is supposed to clear by the afternoon apparently.

I have to meet Kevin at home at 1730 today - he is the one that will collect Toby and Alex during term time from the bus stop and bring them home to do homework. 

The jackhammer people haven't finished as yet.  Mike reckons (with his vast experience at digging up concrete slabs) that they are two thirds the way through.  Good luck to them!

Mike will pack for his early flight to Brisbane tomorrow.  He is away for Brent's 40th birthday until very late on Monday (technically early Tuesday).  It leaves me and Toby with a few things to sort out.  Armageddon on Saturday.  Haircut for Toby somewhere then.  Van driving practise for me (for tramping club).  And Toby has Jack's party to attend on Saturday evening.  Cool!

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Cub planning

Hi,

I rode home and found Wally picking up a phone left behind by one of the kids so I had a nice hug from him.  The house was denuded of children - apart from our own.  Mike's mother had held the fort gamely.  The jackhammer men hadn't worked all day, so it had been relatively peaceful.

I cooked tea and Mike got home just as it was dished out. Perfect timing.  We ate and then I went off to Cub planning.  It all went well - I have great Cub leaders to rely on!

Home and fell into bed and was asleep in seconds.  Sorry Mike.  He read for a bit apparently.

Up the morning and a later morning than usual because Mike was still feeling the after effects of his migraine.  So I gave him a helping hand to make sure the morning went smoothly.  And we rode in together which was really nice!

The day is lovely, if cool.  The jackhammer men say they might finish today.  Wow!  And all is right with the world.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with a movie in Waikanae and Sampson children

Hi,

Our house is fizzing with activity.  We are getting the concrete pad out the back finally lifted so there are workmen with jackhammers there.  There are various Sampson children visiting from Auckland.  And Mike - possibly in bed with a migraine.  Ouch!

Last night I left work and collected Josh and drove to Waikanae.  I even managed to score some tea so I was very pleased at that outcome.  We went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with Aidan and Jackie and it was great fun.  The cinema is very cute - two seater wee couches and only about 40 in a cinema I guess.  I didn't count but it can't have been much more than that.  And possibly Aidan was the youngest person there!  Hahahah.

I enjoyed the drive home - the only cloudy sky was over Waikanae.  Wellington itself was clear.  I almost wish I wasn't driving so I could have tilted back my head to watch the night sky.  Benefits of a convertible.  But I sang myself hoarse as I negotiated the roads back home.  Fun!

At home, I found Jessica and Brennan almost tucked up in bed.  And pretty soon I was too!

The ride in this morning was lovely.  The roads were dry and everything was quiet and peaceful.  I do hope Mike comes right.

Have a marvellous day.
Love,
Angela

The weekend with tramping for Mike and no alone time for me

Hi,

Well, my weekend (cunningly engineered by me) to myself came to naught when Toby kicked up a fuss at going tramping on Saturday morning.  He is usually fine but I guess the thought of me staying home doing not-very-much meant he focussed on that rather than tramping with his dad.  Mike got pretty cross at this (understandably) and went off to have a good time despite the poor beginning.

Meanwhile, Toby and I tidied the house (oooo - I bet Toby never realised the fun he was in for), and tidied, and tidied.  Heheheh.  I did head into town mid afternoon though as I had arranged a movie date with Sally, Vivienne and Christine.  And now Toby too.  Luckily it was a movie vaguely suitable for Toby.  I finally got to see The Hunger Games and I thought they did very well with the book.  The tweaks from the book plot weren't too difficult to overlook and it was done very well.  Hopefully the success of this movie means they will make the others in the series (it's a trilogy).

Toby and I then went to Joe's Garage for dinner after the movie.  I have been hanging out for an iced coffee there for weeks now.  It was great.  I had chicken caesar salad (with anchovies - of course I want the optional anchovies!) and Toby had a chicken burger.

Back home to bed and up on Sunday at 10am!  Woo hoo!  We know how to sleep in.  Forget I woke at 5.30am - I did go back to sleep so it was all okay.  Read for most of the day and then off to Sally and Andrew's place for tea.  Mike arrived with Andrew and Benjamin and they had a good time tramping.

Tonight I am off to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with Aidan and Jackie in Waikanae.  I drove in for a quick getaway.  Here's hoping traffic is okay.  I'll collect Josh (the babysitter) from his work on the way.  Well, that is the plan.

Other plans seem a bit more fluid.  Apparently Sampson children will be at our house today and tomorrow.  It sounds as though their parents are driving things up to Auckland and back in preparation for renting out their house as it hasn't sold yet.  I think one of Mike's parents might arrive to nominally supervise.  I hope it all sorts itself out.

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with something

Hi,

Yes - it was the second Thursday of the month so I had user group to attend.  It was a very successful session - I think we broke attendance records.  Mike came along with me so we had Benjamin looking after Toby.  It all went very well.

Oh - if you are on the email list for the blog, you will have been receiving late night emails from the blog.  Mike is putting up all our old Meet the Gilberts posts into the Good Morning one.  It has definitely been weird reading about my thoughts from 1997 and 1998!  How funny.  And my writing style seems to have changed over the intervening years.  Who'd have thought?  Just ignore them if you like.  If you only read the blog via a browser, then take a look back through the timeline on the right hand side.  You can see entries for 1997 and 1998!  Pre Toby times.

This morning (Friday) is gorgeousness personified.  Can you say that about the weather, do you think?  Anyhow, my ride down the hill was fun, fun, fun!  There is a hint of frost in the air.  Autumnal frosts have been absent so far but this morning definitely indicated the possibility of a frost soon.  The tips of my fingers were a little cold by the time I got into work and my legs were chilled.

Mike and Toby are off tramping this weekend while I stay home.  I rather fancy popping into a day spa, but I probably should have booked that in a while back.  But I do have a movie date!  Yay!  Hunger Games here I come.

Hope you have a great weekend!
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing

Hi,

Well, nothing much for me and Toby.  I rode home to collect wee Toby and we ate a nice dinner and I finally finished the Christmas blog and we went to bed.  Pretty much it.  Mike went from work to tramping club and rode home for the first time in weeks!  I think he remembered that he liked it.

It is so wet here this morning.  We drove in because I have the user group session tonight and Mike is coming for the first time in ages (a week of firsts for Mike obviously).  Benjamin will look after Toby for a few hours tonight.  But despite driving I still got wet.  My feet feel damp and my trousers are damp.  Should be dry by, oh, maybe around about 3pm!  Hahahah.

Have  a wonderful day!  Stay dry if you're in Wellington!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with nothing

Hi,

Mike had a tramping club celebratory dinner last night after work so I rode home and collected Toby from Skids (like old times) and we walked back home from Wadestown School, same as it ever was.  It was nice.  Just as it is nice to recall taking him to daycare on the bus in Thorndon when he was four.

Toby and I ate dinner and then he watched TV while I caught up with homework.  Homework for Cubs.  Homework I should have done over Easter but procrastinated.  All done (well, almost all done).

To bed and read for a bit until Mike came home just before 9pm.  We chatted for a bit and he did a bit of homework too.

Toby had rock climbing for Skids yesterday.  Says it went quite well.  He got to the top the first time, but the second time he found a big gap and couldn't get around it.  Heheheh.  Yep - I know how that feels!

Mike may be coming down with my cold now.  Oops.  I told him not to kiss me, but he didn't listen.  In fact, I think he upped the kissing routine to get greater immunity.  Or so he told me!

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Easter with nothing

Hi,

What a great way to spend your Easter.  At home, with nothing planned.  Wow!  What a novelty.  And to top it all off, the weather was fantastic.  After the doom and gloom of the forecast for Easter in the week leading up to it too.  Hahah.

Good Friday saw us tidying up around the house.  Toby had a sleepover with Alex on Thursday night and we didn't see him until late Friday.  We wandered around to Vivienne and John's place for tea and Mike stayed late drinking red wine with his sister and brother-in-law.  Well, so did Toby and I!  Except for the drinking bit.

Next morning was a bit seedy for Mike.  But I got him showered and in the car for the drive up to Waikawa beach to see a work colleague.  Adam has a section there and was giving it the annual mow and we ate a nice picnic lunch (bought from the heaving Waikanae supermarket) and wandered down to the beach for a bit.

Back in the car around 3pm to Waikanae to visit the Tabors.  They invited us to stay for tea so we obliged them.  They cook great food, so if you ever get the invitation, take them up on it!  Yummy barbequed kebabs!  Home to collapse into bed.

Sunday morning off to church with Toby and Christine and Tom.  This was mainly to rectify the emotional damage done by the last sermon Toby heard.  We attended the earthquake safe Anglican church on the corner of Pitt St (I wanted the Presbyterian one but it turns out it needs earthquake strengthening so Christine saw that as a good sign we'd chosen the right church).  The minister was a lovely woman and the kids loved the family service.

Home to get ready to go to family lunch at Sally and Andrew's place.  Not via the supermarket as it was shut for Easter Sunday.  The confusing directions I gave Mike meant we fortunately drove right past La Cloche - open for Easter trading.  Got lots of baguettes and yummy cheese and off to lunch!  Lunch was great!  Seeing everyone was wonderful.  There were loads of people there so I hardly got around everyone to say hello.  The weather was lovely again.  How boring.  Hahahahah.  Christine and John arrived after lunch with Tom for an Easter Egg hunt.  Col, Mike and I had hidden about 30 eggs around the garden.  Col was especially good at hiding them because she got a load well after the kids had gone through hunting for them!

Monday was a stay-at-home day (apart from some grocery shopping for me).  We tidied some more and Mike worked on tramping club stuff while I read lots.  Will came over for a play date so Toby was very happy.

Back to work now.  I seem to have caught yet another cold.  I am hoping I fight this off super fast - it feels exactly like the last one I had a month ago!  I can either blame Aidan T or Mike's mother for this one I think.  I like to know the provenance of any cold I get.  Somehow it makes it more satisfying to determine its possible origin!

Have a wonderful (short) week!
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with no karate

Hi,

Wednesday was slightly damp.  Got wet riding in and got wet riding home.  But not soaked!  Yay!  I did have a very nice cup of tea (okay - I had a hot chocolate) with Aidan T in the morning.  I hadn't seen her for what seemed like ages so we chatted away for quite a bit. 

As I was preparing to ride up to karate after work, I got a phone call from Mike at home saying Toby was having a night off from karate.  Okay.  Rode home and had dinner with the boys instead.  Very nice to have nothing to do.

Today is the last working day of the week.  The sun is shining!  What a marvellous day!
Have a great Easter!  Eat a lot of chocolate (but not too much - that would spoil it).

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with the last day of Cubs for the term

Hi,

I rode home to sort out pre-Cubs stuff and enjoyed the ride.  The weather has turned to a southerly but last night it was still pretty calm.  The rain that soaked me was coming straight down.  Vertical rain.  I always like vertical rain in Wellington for the novelty value.

Mike's mother had sorted out tea for Toby and all I had to do was eat myself and get us into Cubs gear.  Then we were off with Jack to Cubs.  What a full-on evening and it all went very well.  I was in the kitchen and made two batches of truffles.  The Cubs rolled them into balls and in coconut and were very happy with their truffles.

Baloo (Jo) took them through egg decorating which sounded a bit more fraught.  They had to pierce the egg and blow out the contents.  Seems like a lot of egg smashing went on!

That was followed by an Easter Egg hunt which was well received!  Then we invested two Cubs and Baloo and gave out a gold whero and a home help badge.  Great end of the term!

Mike was out for a work function and it sounds like they were on the winning team until the last round where they plummeted to fourth place.  Pants for them!

This morning (Wednesday) is rather damp.  It still doesn't seem too cold despite the forecast galeforce southerlies.  Brrr.  Maybe it is gathering force in the Cook Strait still?  I got a bit wet coming in, but nothing too alarming.  My hair may dry into a funny hairdo though.

Short working week this week!  Good Friday.  Very nice.  Hot cross buns bought and ready to go!

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with nothing

Hi,

It was Mike's father's birthday yesterday and we got to say happy birthday to him (briefly) when he came to pick up Mike's mother from our house.  With Alex's grandmother off unexpectedly early to China, Mike's mother is doing the Toby/Alex pickup.  Thank goodness!  Hopefully next term we get Kevin in (a previous Skids carer) to do the pickups! 

I rode home yesterday in lovely conditions, except I forgot my bike shoes with cleats.  I had to ride in sneakers and I don't enjoy it with the little pedals.  So it was a slow ride up the hill.  But I did still beat Mike home.  He took the bus.  I thought he'd romp in.  Perhaps he was a little late leaving work compared to me, but only by a few minutes.  And I beat him home by that much.

Tonight is the last Cub night for the term.  Mike is at a work function (go Mike!) and we're doing three activities and investing a leader and some Cubs.  My goodness.  It'll be all go, go, go!  Egg decorating, truffle making and Easter egg hunting.  Let me guess what will generate the most excitement?

The ride in was great this morning - back to full daylight!  At least for a few weeks before the winter sun means dark mornings again...  And if I work late - dark rides home.  My speedo is reading zero for a lot of the time at the moment.  I need to fix that.  It is slightly disconcerting to be hurtling down the hill, tyres whirring, eyes streaming, to glance down and see you're doing 0 km/hr.  Hahahah.  Must ride faster.

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with tramping

Hi,

Our Friday was very pleasant - Mike and I caught the bus home together and we had dinner and packed for my tramping weekend.

Up early on Saturday and John nipped past to collect me and take me to the train station with Vivienne and Benjamin.  Ta John!  We hopped into the club van after meeting all the punters (well, almost all).  We collected Andrew along the way in Yingjie's place and another punter called Margaret from Upper Hutt.

The tramping was great fun!  The weather held out and we didn't get wet at all.  Vivienne and I stopped to get out our jackets at one stage and the rain promptly stopped.  We walked in about 1 kilometre to the road end as the ford was washed out and the club van might not respond well to being dropped off the ford into a big hole!  We headed up a hill almost immediately and eventually had lunch on the top.  After a bit of up and down along the ridge at the top we started along down part to the hut.  Took at 4.5 hours into Sayers Hut and we claimed the bunks. 

There was a seven year old boy there when we got there with his family bagging huts.  Sayers was his 40th Tararua hut!  Wow!  It was my second!  We got some firewood and started dinner early.  I was pretty sleepy and was in bed by 8.15pm!  My sleep was fitful and I heard Vivienne bang the wall and mutter "rats" at one point.  Heheheh.  Benjamin slept in the bivvy bag for its first use!  Good on him!

Up and had my horrible breakfast!  Powered milk on Weetbix.  Yuck.  Not having that breakfast again.  One girl had boiled eggs (pre boiled) and I like that idea!  We were away by 9.30am!  The climb up was hard going!  Phew!  But once back up on the tops it was fine!  At the van by 2pm and enjoying the drive back in the sunshine and with a pleasantly tired body.

Mike and Toby had fun over the weekend.  Toby was just getting back from swimming and we got him dressed in his school uniform and away for the Easter service at St John's in town.  Home by 8.30pm and to bed!  I was asleep by the time Mike got back from dropping his mother off!

The week looms ahead - but a short one due to Easter.  Toby's holidays start then too for two weeks!

Have a great week!
Love,
Angela