The Thursday with a more chilled out day

Hi,

At least the customers decided today wasn't a critical day for anything.  Woot!  Let's hope Friday is more of the same.

I heard from my parents and things were coming back to normal.  Helicopters still buzzing around, putting out hot spots that flare up.  But otherwise, the danger seems to have passed. 

Met Becks for iced latte and ended up being quite social.  Mike and Jen also turned up.

Machete nativity scene

With relevant topical comment

With Becks

Had lunch with Andrew at Pickle and Pie and marvelled at their creamy truffle mushroom pie.  Mmmmm.

Bought the food for our tramping trip - well, for me and Vanessa anyway.  She said yes to the vegetarian options.  :-)  And the range from Back Country for us minorities look so good now.

Got my food for tramping - Vanessa and I will eat like champs.

After work, Mike and I popped into Wellington Hospital to see Ron.  He has been in there for a few days.  Infection in his heart valve.  They are pumping him full of antibiotics on a regular schedule.  He doesn't like it much.

But we got him up to date with the bushfire threat to my parents, and the police and the bird incident.  We're leaving the washing machine saga for our next visit!  Mike sorted out the tablet for him to listen to podcasts.  Woot!

Back home and into bed as it was late already.

The weather is so awful.  Rain.  Fierce wind.

Take care.  Have a good weekend.  Last day at work for me until Jan 6.  So you probably won't get another blog for a bit.

Have an awesome Christmas and NY.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with BBQ and terrible fire news from Aus

Hi,

 What a day.  It was trucking along ok.  Got a haircut even!  Got to catch up with Victor and Ed - always a highlight.

Iced latte with Victor and Ed

Victor ready for his caffeine hit

But it all turned very different to normal once the work BBQ started after work.

The BBQ itself was fine - Joe cooked up a storm on the BBQ.  I got to eat the first lot of mushrooms that came off and started the Christmas music.

Then I got a text from Mum saying their place was under threat of fires and she was scared.  Understatement from my mother, as it turns out.  I rang her and heard firsthand how close the fires were.  Dad was driving home from work but unable to pass a cordon that Mum was now inside!  He walked the last few kms.

Got news of fires threatening my parents place - with Mum inside the cordon!

I reckon I saw their place on the news feed I was watching.  Circled in red with my best editing ability.  At 8pm ish their time, the firefighters had set up base camp in their street so I figured they were as safe as they could be at that point.

So worried and feeling helpless from this distance.  I am thinking of them constantly today.  But I know the Australian firefighters try their very best and Dad will make sensible decisions. 

But it has driven home the necessity of everyone to have an emergency plan that they can put into action at a moment's notice.  Grab bag with essentials.  Food stash.  Water stash. 

I am going to reassess in the NY for our situation.

Gingerbread house that Toby and Tessa made!

Meanwhile, Toby and Tessa made a gingerbread house and an army of gingerbread people.  I got to eat one.  Yum!

Army of gingerbread people

Yum!

All sorts of decorating happened

Ummm - a codpiece?

Got an hour sleep ahead of our midnight session of Star Wars at the Roxy.  So glad we went to see it.  it is better than Last Jedi by far.  Gave us the tied up loose ends.  Good story. 

Midnight showing of Star Wars 

Two mins late!!!

Dropped Tessa off at 2.30am at her house and was in bed by 3am.  Zzzzz.

Chatting to Karen during the morning this morning to hear more about the fire situation.  I hope it has passed and my parents are either in a hotel enjoying being far from the scene, or the fires are now well away and things can return to normal.

Lots of love,
Angela

The Tuesday with our washing machine back

Hi,

The washing machine arrived.  And Mike hurried home to put it through its paces.  We are slowly making a hole in the laundry mountain.

It's like a quarry.  Slowly pulling out the rich pickings for the wash (crucial clothes, or really smelly ones!) from the masses of towels and sheets that can go in later.

The noise it makes as it ends its cycle is music to my ears.  And it only takes a short amount of time (like 90 mins) to finish.  Not 4 hours like the last washing machine.  And - the clothes are actually relatively free from water by the end.  We're hanging them out and marvelling at technology. 

Slicked back hair iced latte look

My dinner

And Mike and I drifted off to sleep to the wonderful sounds of the washing machine doing its thing.

Outside it is another matter.  Wet, wet, wet!  I can live without this weather.  I stepped outside this morning and was quite startled to feel properly cold.  Brrrrr.

The weather better hurry up and start vaguely pretending to be summer!

BBQ after work today (work one).  I have music duties.  Brruuuuuucceeee.  Hahahah.

And Star Wars midnight showing tonight.  I hope I get a nap in when I get home ahead of our midnight session.  Oohhhh.  Excited - a lot!!!  Me, Toby and Tessa are going.  Roxy cinema. 

And - that's a wrap for this morning.  Have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

Perspective is everything.  Giant iced latte?

Yesterday was an okay day.  Made even better when Mike said he got a message saying our new washing machine would be delivered on Tuesday morning.  Mike then spent the rest of the day trying to manage my (very excited) expectations.

Imagine being able to wash your clothes when you want to wash them...

OMG.  Life changing.

The rest of the day was just a cruising kind of day.  Got home with Mike.  Ate.  Lounged around. Went to bed.

Weather has packed in a bit.  Hope it comes right for Christmas and our tramp.

Have an awesome day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington

Hi,

What a weekend.  Friday saw me catch up with some of the team for an iced latte visit to Machete.  Mmmm.  Kaustubh tried a cheese scone for the first time.  And they do make some of the best scones you will find in Wellington.  Big call!  But - truth!

Kaustubh and I have an iced latte

First taste of a scone

I think he likes it

Mike was out late and enjoying himself.  But I got up early Saturday and tidied up a bit.  Mike and I headed out with Toby for the midday lunch session with Quentin and his clients.  Almost 25 of us turned up for a superb afternoon.  Quentin provided awesome platters of food and we bought our drinks.

Such a pleasant lunch.  Then I went home to save the car from turning into a pumpkin.  Took washing around to Sally and Andrew's place.  Toby got his present from them.  He also collected plums and lemons.  Back home via supermarket.

Never saw Mike again that day.  He woke me at 1am.  He was happy.

Moxley enjoying the front yard

Sunday I got up and chilled for the morning.  Then into the kitchen to make mushroom Wellington just before lunch.  That is our Christmas menu item.  So it was practise day.

The book shows me the mushroom Wellington

Saturday lunch

Ta dah!

On a plate for lunch

Turned out yummy.  Woot!  Took leftovers around to Sally and Andrew's place to do another wash.

And home.  To bed.

Up early to walk in.  Boxing session.  And now - I just want to sleep a bit.  Hahahah.

Awesome colleagues

Look what Monday morning has brought me!!!  Rachael made me a pint of iced coffee and Brooke made little gingerbread people - and they even stand up by themselves.  Perfectly formed little gingerbread people.

I am so impressed.

Have an awesome day!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with Toby's birthday

Hi,

It was such a good day for Toby's birthday.  He had stunning weather for it.  After work, I met Mike and Andrew and we collected the car and took it closer to the Portlander for our dinner.

Morning iced latte

Later in the morning iced latte

Toby and Tessa turned up and we sat down to eat a mountain of food.  Seriously.  I really wondered at our ability to get through it.  But it was almost all gone by the end.

Toby and Tessa at dinner

We had a cake from Pandoro, and Toby loved it.  I think his stomach was going to explode if he tried to squeeze anymore in.

Toby had the ribeye.  Mike had something called a New York strip (400g of thick steak).  Andrew and I shared sides (scrumptious - panko cauliflower, charred broccoli, pumpkin in maple syrup and I got a main of eggplant in tomato sauce).  Tessa had the pork belly.

It was good food.  And good company.

Sally had to miss out due to work commitments.  She's up north, helping with efforts up there.  She is amazing and I am glad New Zealand can call on people with her sorts of brains and experience to help with tasks of this sort of magnitude.

The weekend is almost here.  We have a tonne of tasks to get through.  All sorts of things from a mountain of laundry to shopping to tidying.  We have a list.  A long list.

Enjoy your weekend. 

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a Christmas tree finally

Hi,


Happy birthday to Toby today.  17.  Wow.  8.30am this morning 17 years ago he popped out.  He's a wonderful person, so we're very lucky.

Yesterday was his birthday eve.  And what a crazy evening we had.  Yes, I know.  How unusual for us, eh?  :-p

But first, I had two important iced lattes catch ups.  Woot!

Intro to iced lattes for Brooke and Lani

Rachael's selfie was rather obvious...  But she looks happy!

Me with mine!

The working day came, stomped around and trashed a few things and then departed.  Pretty typical for a Christmas crazy.  One particular kerfuffle saw a few people investigating, only to find the "bug" was actually by design.  And no one had really noticed until now.  Crisis averted.

And the team saw promotions to two of us - so yay for that!  Nice to end on a good note.

Toby and Tessa freshen up the base of the tree before putting it on the stand

As I was leaving I got a text from Mike to say - stay where you are.  Yep - those fluid plans we dream up in the Gilbert household were about to turn super fluid.  He was catching an Uber home to get the car because Toby and Tessa had walked to Aro St and bought a Christmas tree and needed a lift home.  Mike had a function after work, so he drove back in to The Terrace and met me and we swapped over.  I sat in traffic for 20 mins to get to Aro St. 

Picked up the tree and Toby and Tessa and headed home.  Decided to check the vet for kibble.  It was closed.  Decided then to get emergency kibble from the supermarket, via the petrol station as the light was on.

Bought some groceries for Mike's mission Christmas tree at work as well as the kibble.  And dinner for Tessa and Toby.

Got home and they started cooking tea for themselves.  They set out the outdoor table nicely and enjoyed their dinner out there.

I went in our room to wrap birthday presents.

I heard them decorating the tree.  It was one of the most adorable exchanges I have ever heard.  Toby would pull out a decoration, and explain the significance of it to Tessa.  I heard him say:  this one is my mother's favourite. 

Aaaawwwww.  So sweet!

Nice sunset

Decorated!

Toby's day dawns absolutely gorgeous

And I collapsed into bed.  Then couldn't sleep and read until midnight.  I am a dork!  Mike got home and came to bed and I heard him fall asleep - that's how late I was with finally getting to the land of nod.

Up early to walk in after barely 4 hours restless sleep.  I rolled over and decided to drive in.  Because:  "We will need a car in town for Toby's dinner".  My excuse to try and get another 40 mins sleep.

Worked - a bit.

Today is stunning.  Can't wait to meet everyone for dinner in town tonight.  Yay!  Oh - I need to collect the cake!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with no drama

Hi,

Wow - a normal day.  Well, normal for us.  Hahahah.  Mike had a tough day as he got absorbed in his work.  But the rest of it was fairly smooth.

I got home just after Mike and Toby and Tessa were milling around.  Mike had fired up the BBQ because - gorgeous weather!  We ate hamburgers and they were scrumptious.

And asparagus, and red pepper and mushrooms.  Mmmmm.

We sat on the couch for a bit, processing the news from Whakaari/White Island.  And then eventually went to bed.  But I had to get up and take Tessa home around 9pm.  The weather was so beautiful, Toby and I enjoyed driving around looking at Wellington at its finest.

And today continues to stun with the weather.  Yes!

We still don't have a tree up.  OMG.  What is that?  We must be channeling Kitto vibes this year.  Hahahah.  We haven't been around for a weekend yet - that's the trouble.

Anyway - the day looks great.  Let's get into it.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with drama at home

Hi,

Ok - I am going to try and capture the drama that ensued at our house yesterday so you can all imagine it in your minds.

At 11am yesterday I got a call from Toby.  He was yelling and it was hard to understand for a bit.  I managed to calm him down enough for me to determine that Smudge had caught a sparrow and proudly strutted in from the deck with it.

I had to wait until I got home to get the full details as the texting and phone calls were garbled.  But here's what did happen.

Toby was in his singlet and boxers, having just got up not long back.  And he was alternating between using his fierce voice to Smudge to say:  Drop it!  And shrieking when the bird got loose and fluttered around and the cats pounced once more on it.

The bird ended up not moving and under our heavy bookcase (which is low to the ground so not easy to see what is under there).  Toby got the cats out of the way and then tried a few things to fish it out.  But he was too squeamish.  Tessa was due soon, so he decided to leave the bird there and have a shower.

While he was in the shower, there was a knock at the door.  He must have briefly thought it was Tessa.  But no.  It was the police.  Two men, expecting a domestic dispute.  The neighbours had seen a "large man" on the deck in a dark top and heard angry shouting between two people.

Toby was quite embarrassed at this stage and explained the situation.  The police were relieved not to have a domestic to sort out and said they would get the bird.  They used the claw grabber to fish the bird out from under the bookcase, whereupon it took off out of the house through the sliding doors to freedom.

When I got home and Toby told me this story, I was absolutely trying hard not to lose the plot and roar with laughter.

But good on the neighbours for intervening.  And the police for being so nice.

Tuesday morning iced latte

Sip!

Mike tucking into his eggs

I need to do washing.  :-(  Our washing machine is still in limbo.  Apparently LG Australia are not playing nicely with the NZ side of the operations.  Mike is considering buying a second hand machine to get us through.

Or he tells me I should just buy new clothes every day.  If only I liked shopping.

I was upset to read about the Whakaari/White Island eruption with lives lost.  We visited it back in the 90s and it is such a special place.  There aren't many places where you can easily access an active volcano without a huge trek across lava plains or up massive mountains.  I hope for tales of survival, but it doesn't seem likely at this stage.  With visiting any volcano, you are entering a place that is so risky by its very nature.  Tragic.

Have a good day.  Enjoy your family and friends but don't give up on doing things that are exciting.  Even if right now, it feels a bit like that.

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Waiheke

Hi,

Friday saw me have an iced latte with Rae - good to catch up with her and hew exciting news (new job in the NY).

Enjoying iced latte with Rae

Iced latte on Friday morning

What a weekend of non-stop activities.  Started the weekend with a mad dash home after work - only to find that Toby and Tessa had tidied up already and I really only needed to re-heat the dal.  Yay!

Yep - Nepal gathering time.  The team from our Nepal trip were catching up ahead of Christmas to look at photos and share what's been happening since Sept/Oct.

Hai arrived first, with his son, Brian (who is seven this week) - Brian was a mile a minute talker.  Lucky Toby kept him fairly entertained.

Making chai tea on Friday

Bharat brought a spicy potato curry.  Tim brought strawberries and ice cream.  We had lasagne, asparagus, stollen and mountains of food.  Barb didn't make it (she was flying in from Sydney - I hope we do get to see her at some stage soon) and Anita (some clash).  But the rest of our cohort was there.

Mike is our chai wallah

People stayed and chatted for ages.  So good to hear about Bharat's Mara trip after ours.

Flowering Pohutukawa

 Anyway, we got to bed quite late, and had to get up early for our flight to Auckland.  Woot!  Drove out to the airport at 6am and on our 7.15am flight without any hassles.  Landed in Auckland and Uber to the ferry.  Got a return ticket on our phone from the accommodation person Mike spoke to during the week and we were on the water by 9.30am.

We arrived on Waiheke by 10.30am I think.  Got a normal commuter bus (502) and it rambled through the streets until we got close to our motel.

Waiheke Island Motel.  I would stay there again.  Right next to the Ostend market (Sat morning to 1pm).  We checked in (even though we were super early - so friendly there!).  Our room had a single bed in the lounge and a separate bedroom for me and Mike.  Very nice and clean.  Nice view over a valley.  Saw a kotare in the power lines outside our lounge door.

We went to the market, briefly too.  But after abandoning Toby in the room (he was shattered) Mike and I walked around to the inlet on the other side of the island.  Saw a kotare there too. 

Intense selfie effort from Mike when he was supposed to be taking my pic

What are you doing?

Another angle?

Finally - a sensible shot

OMG...  He used zoom!

Back to the room to chill ahead of a taxi ride to Onetangi Beach.  We booked dinner at Charlie Farley's and had such a nice evening meal.  I had naked burrito - and apparently they served chicken to me.  But I was so interested in watching Toby tuck into his first steak since getting his braces removed that I didn't notice.  The waiter came scurrying back, apologising and taking it away.  I got my replacement fast - I think he just picked up the wrong plate.

Gilbert selfie

After dinner we walked along Onetangi beach.  We all love this place. 

I'm too short!  Toby thinks it's hilarious.

Happy Toby!

Checking a boat on the beach

Toby jumping on the swing

Walking along the beach at Onetangi

 Caught a local bus back to Ostend.  Fell into bed.  Mike got up early Sunday for a 5.2km run.  Wow!  He is amazing.

We checked out and bussed to Oneroa.  Had brunch at Oneroa Beach Club.  Walked down to the beach.  Decided to walk to the ferry via a track (great idea, Mike) and hopped back on at 12.30pm or so to head back to Auckland.

Ubered to the Sampson's new house.  Wow!  They are now enjoying inner city living in an old villa (4 bedrooms) and look to be settling in nicely.  So good to see them all (Chelsea is in Sydney visiting Hannah).

Lesley and Wally dropped us at the airport nice and early and we chilled there, eating dinner and waiting at the gate for our (delayed) flight.

Wild weather in the rest of NZ had caused a delay to our inbound plane.  We got on at 9.30pm (an hour late) and had an easy flight to WLG.  Picked up the car and drove home.

What a great weekend!

Have a good week.  It's Toby's birthday week!

Love,
Angela