The Thursday with my birthday

 Hi,

Well - turns out the best day of February so far was the day of my birthday.  An absolute cracker of a day.  No wind.  Clear skies.

Chatted to Mum and Dad before lunch.  Mum looked well - she had used my present of a facial the day before at a local spa.  She is looking forward (okay - probably with mixed feelings) to her operation on her hip on Feb 25th.  She has a few checks beforehand to pass before the surgery proceeds.  But fingers crossed it all goes ahead.  She will recover well and be amazed at how much better she will feel.  If she needs me though - I am off to visit!

Moxley enjoying the sunshine

Ange came around after work and dropped off our hedge trimmer.  (As a side note:  we had forgotten she had it, and thought we needed to buy one again.  So now we are super keen to take to the garden with our hedge trimmer!  Excited!).  And she also said goodbye to us.  She has moved out of the house and into Danita's place until she leaves on Sunday morning on the ferry to start her year at Otago Uni.  And I could not be more proud to know someone right now.  Wow!  I wish her all the best.  She is amazing and the little critters of Aotearoa could not be luckier that she will study how to help them thrive here.  Go Ange!

Saying goodbye to Ange as she grasps life by the scruff and wrestles it to her liking

I then got to open the presents Mike got me.  He did well.  I got containers for the things we usually have on the windowsill above the kitchen sink.  Soap, sanitiser and dishwashing liquid.  As well as a fancy compost container.  See the bottom of the post for a picture of how it looks today (Fri).

My presents

After opening presents (thanks Mike) we went to The Botanist for my birthday dinner.  Such a gorgeous evening and I did think of Fran because she lives just around the corner from there.  :-)

Lovely meal.  I also had two virgin sangrias.  Yummy.  Ate far too much - as did Mike.  

At The Botanist for birthday dinner

Virgin sangria.  Tastes great without wine in it.

Tropical beach weather

Chatted to Toby and Tessa while we looked at Lyall Bay after the dinner.  That was a perfect way to finish our meal.  Enjoying the view and chatting to them.

Look at Lyall Bay!

Drove back to visit Wally, Hannah and Jason on Grant Rd.  Spent an hour or two with a nice cup of tea chatting away to them all.

Sigh.  I have missed them.  Covid has kept us apart within NZ as much as it has kept me apart from my family in Australia.  But - it will be much better soon.  

Left them and headed home, up the hill.  Fell into bed.  Slept restlessly because I discovered the bottom sheet wrapped around me at one point.  Oops.

Mike has sorted out our windowsill mess

Best solar day so far was yesterday - my birthday!

Up for work.  Busy day before heading off for a fantastic weekend kayaking down the Whanganui river.  Tom, Elly, Callan, Stacey, Theresa (and her friend Claire, whom I do not know - yet!) and me and Mike.  Big group of us.  It's going to be a lot of fun.  And thank you to Janine who will come look after the cats in our absence.

Have a good weekend.  Enjoy your Friday.

Love,

Angela