The Thursday with dinner out

 Hi,

After work yesterday Mike and Toby collected me from work and we got to Mama Browns nice and early.

We sat at our table, waiting for Tessa and David to arrive from their place, by bus.  And we might have ordered milkshakes and curly fries to while away the time.

My odd boys

Nice photo of them

That deteriorated fast

Toby and Tessa

David is still experiencing on-going issues with the concussion and broken back he got in November.  The poor guy.  I hope he continues to be kind to himself and ease back into things when he is up for it.  It must be a real pain for such an active person.

Dropped them home after a lovely dinner.  And headed home to watch a couple of episodes of We are Lady Parts.

I did play the chase-the-toilet-rolls-down-the-stairs game with Moxley.  Mike hadn't realised it was a thing, so he joined me.  I think Moxley might get tired of this game as I saw at least one roll give her a bit of a head butt.

The toilet roll game with Moxley

Snuggled up

Snuggled for ages

While we all watched some TV

Off to bed after chilling with Mike and Toby and up for Friday at work.  

Up for the bus into town for Friday at work for both me and Mike.  It was an electric bus.  How cool is that?    Gorgeous day.

Electric bus this morning

Friday morning stunner

Work iced latte

Without my mask

Busy day.  But weekend is coming up fast.  Park run tomorrow.  Last weekend with Toby before he heads home to Chc on Monday morning.

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday at home but at work if you know what I mean

 Hi,

Disclaimer:  slightly gory rat trap pics at the bottom.

Busy day at work yesterday (Wednesday).  And while I was finishing my last meeting, Mike left to meet Toby and Tessa at Occasional Brewer to bottle the beer they brewed two weeks ago. 

Bottling duo last night

They got in early and finished by 6pm.  Woot!  Mike said Toby and Tessa worked together like clockwork.  They have around 80 bottles from their efforts.  Toby will gift some to his mates and take the remainder back to Chc with him next week.  Another 2 weeks before they can try it.

They popped back to collect me for tea - but I was already ready for bed, having had a bath and got my pyjamas on.  I was tucking into some pasta when they arrived.  But the dropped off the beersies and headed back to out to tea somewhere.

I went to bed to read for a bit.  Then Toby and Mike got home.  We went to sleep.  Up for online PT and then I caught the bus into work for the first time in over 3 months.  Wow!

In a work now.

New curved screens at work

Saying hello face to face with all my colleagues.  I am keeping my mask on as much as possible as I do not really want to get covid ahead of my visit to Aus.

Iona has arrived.  Helen is in hospital with a wee stroke (they think).  But she is chipper and keen to get back home.  So I hope things are okay.  Waiting to hear if we can help in any way.

Mike got a mouse in our traps this morning.  He checked it at 8am and the peanut butter had been eaten again - mice aren't really heavy enough to trigger the trap every time. But at lunchtime - a mouse had come back to check for more. The force of the rat trap decapitated the little thing.  Bam!

Catch #2

Head

Body

Have a lovely Thursday everyone (if you're not a peanut butter liking mouse).  Wellington is turning it on for my first foray into the real office.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with work

 Hi,

Busy day at work - one of the late nights.  But I did cook tea for us between my second last meeting and my late meeting.  #winning

Wednesday morning in Wellington

We enjoyed our evening - we watched a new series called Lady Parts (or something like that) about a group of young Muslim women that are in a punk band.  I quite enjoyed it.  Thank you Toby for suggesting that.

Toby went out after we watched a couple of episodes to visit his mate Toby from the halls of residence last year.  He's now studying in Auckland.

Off to bed.  Slept okay.  

Up to a sunny day this morning. No rats this morning.  Mike and I might add a rat trap check into our morning routine when we are working from home.

Enjoy your day.  Mike and Toby are bottling their beer tonight.  Hope that goes well.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with ANZAC day

 Hi,

What an awesome weekend.  We got up early on Saturday for the park run.  We were running ever so slightly late to park at 40.  So we parked at the riverside car park. Janine joined us. Another gorgeous, if cool, morning.  Hardly any wind.  I wore my cycling arm warmers and it worked well. I thought I was faster for this one compared to the last one.  But it was only 30 seconds faster.  Sigh. 

Do, do, de, do.  

Popped in to see Sally and Andrew after it.  And then home.  Out for Yum Cha with Toby and Tessa ( we popped over to collect them from David's house).  Grand Century.  Toby's fave. It was amusing to everyone that there was very little for me as a vegetarian to eat.  The server would say:  spinach and corn dumpling.  And I would go:  is that vegetarian?  And they would say:  No, it has pork.

Iced latte at Joe's Garage after Yum Cha

Headed to Joe's Garage for an iced coffee after that.  Mmmm.  Sally met us after her haircut for lunch and coffee.  Dropped Tessa home and then dropped Sally home.

Back home to chill.  Lesley and Wally were busy (Wally went trail bike riding - lucky him!) so we pushed the karaoke and dinner to Sunday night.

Tessa arrived at our place so we watched some TV.  And then bed - Mike put bread on.  Fruitless, hotless, crossless loaf.  Hahah.  

Next morning we ate our way through that.  Mmmm.  Stuff around home and then off at 5.30pm for Newkor dinner with Lesley, Wally and Khemry.  

Lovely meal - I had broccoli and tofu and it was so tasty.  Finished just before 7.30 and headed up to our wee room for an hour of karaoke!

Sunday night Korean meal at Newkor

Mike and Wally belting it out at karaoke

It was such fun.  Mike and Wally did a duet of an Air Supply song (Mike swears it is only because Jim Steinman wrote it - but whatever!).  I might have stomped my feet a bit during Enter the Sandman.  Goodness knows what it sounded like in the restaurant!

Back home and into bed as I needed to get up at 5am for the dawn service.  Bit of rain so we were rugged up.

Dawn service on ANZAC day

Good, quiet, lowkey service.  Finished by 6.45am.  Back home for scrambled eggs and coffee before Mike headed to pick up Andrew and Janine for a walk to the biggest rata in the known universe.  I chilled at home.

Juliette is puppy sitting and brought wee Salty over for a play.  What an adorable wee dog.  We all fell for his charms.

We get a visit from Juliette's wee puppy she is looking after - hi Salty

Mike got home after a trip to Brewtown after their walk and we watched a movie together.  Return of the Sith.  Ooohhh.  It was good.

Up for my PT session with Quentin online.  And a home made iced latte.

Home made iced latte

Dead rat! Catch #1 (of many we hope)

Look at the critter!

We checked the rat traps - and the one outside the office actually killed one.  Wow!  So happy.

A short working week.  Phew.  Busy times though.  Have a great week.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday at work but still from home

 Hi,

Oh - I missed a day.  Hahahah.  Thursday just snuck in like a ninja and left me dazed and confused.  :-)

Now it is Friday.  Long weekend for ANZAC Day this weekend.  

It is my dinner time

Late meeting

Salad for tea

Home made burgers for tea

Last night Toby stayed for tea with us.  Home made burgers.  Yum too!  But he headed off to see Tessa quite late in the piece.  And I do not think I noticed as I was in bed.

Today is Friday - and sunny but windy here.  Mike is working from our actual workplace!  Wow.  And I am still at home.  Alone.  With the cats.

Weekend is beckoning.  We will do the park run tomorrow morning.  And go to Mike's mother's wee unit and throw the Expol down the hatch and Mike may even fit some more.  Woot!

Lesley and Wally are down - and I hope we can go out to karaoke.  That's the plan anyway.  Let's see.  Certainly we will see them, for sure.

Otherwise, not much else on.  ANZAC Day dawn service for me.  Always.

Have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday back at work

 Hi,

We've got a bit of nice weather ahead of some yucky weather - and yesterday was lovely here.  There is a chill in the air now though.

Toby went out to visit his mate Ethan during the day.  And he just got back for a quick bite for dinner before heading out to stay with Tessa.

Yesterday was stunning

We made Buddha bowls - for the first time in a while.  Turns out we do not have any quinoa.  Oh.  So we had it with brown rice.  So it was very wholesome.  Chewy and wholesome.

Dinner was pretty good

We had a bath and relaxed nice and early before bed.  

This was me on Monday enjoying the sunshine

And a pic of me when I was 18 - on my first ever rock climb at Camels Hump

We have a random pic of me climbing on the kitchen table at the moment.  This was my first ever rock climb I did with my uni.  We went to Camels Hump - which is an outcrop of very juggy rock at Mt Macedon, not far from Melbourne.  Although the climb I am on above is not the high, juggy bit.  Obviously I was hooked because I ended up climbing nearly every weekend through my uni years there.

Right.  Time for the day to start.  Have a lovely day, wherever you are.

Love,

Angela

The long weekend with Easter

 Hi,

Happy birthday to Vince today.  And it is Michael's birthday later this week too.  

What a long weekend - I do love having the 4 days off over Easter.  But now, on Tuesday morning, it is hard to remember exactly what we did.

Friday we waited at home for the sparky to come (see Mike's post about the hot water and you will know more).  But around 11am we got a call from him and he'd been out the night before and was feeling a bit sorry for himself and could he put it off a bit longer?  Well, sure.

Good Friday is a day when most things are shut.  So why the sparky suggested he come on that morning is a bit beyond me really.  So our Friday turned out a little quieter than we thought.

But we were up early on Saturday for our trapline training with Sean.  Sean  is the team lead of this trapline and has been doing this one for about 4 years.  Mike says this needs its own post.  The detailed version.

This is the short version.  Andrew was busy with work, so couldn't make it.  Mike and I headed to the Caltex at Wainuiomata to meet Sean at 8am.  We got the Erayz (dried rabbit meat stuff) and 12 eggs to the traps, and then headed to Sunny Grove to head up Whakanui track.  

Trapline training

In the stream

Typical work

Finding that thing you need

Hi viz safety first

Great view into Wellington harbour

We did our UTS (Upper Turere Stream) trapline.  10 of them.  Most of them through the stream - up either side of the bank s we walked upstream.

Got back to the car just after 3pm.  So it is a biggish day of walking.  They are all DoC200 traps.  You put in some rabbit meat and a fresh egg and make sure the trap is clean and set.

Easter Sunday saw Sally and Andrew pop around for brunch and egg rolling.  Toby made pancake and Mike made hot hot cross buns.  Then we wandered up to the street to roll the eggs down.

Waikanae beach

Ice creams

Hi Theresa

What are my family doing?

Oh please.  Just stand normally!

Sally, Toby and Tessa egg rolling

Me egg rolling

Now I can eat it

After egg rolling, we drove Toby and Tessa up through Transmission Gully to Waikanae beach for an ice cream.  We asked Theresa to join us and she turned up with Maddy and Jessie.  We also bumped into Brendan and Connor - they were up and heading to the beach for a swim as we peeled the wrappers off our ice creams.

Lovely day for it.  T shirt and shorts weather.  I even paddled!  Said goodbye to Theresa and headed back home.

Monday saw Mike sorting out stuff in the garden.

Big leaf down in our backyard

Staking the kowhai

Enjoying the sun

And I enjoyed the gorgeous weather.  :-)

Hope your Easter was good fun.

Love,

Angela