Thursday, May 29, 2025

The Wednesday with working in town

 Hi,

Okay. It started raining while I was at work. And one thing happened after another and I ended up not getting away from work until it was dark.

Rode the old GT bike home


I rode home in the dark. In the rain. And although I felt slow and invisible, people seemed to see me. It was a tough slog.  32 mins from door to door. And I am quite convinced my old bike is broken. There is no other explanation as to why it needs so much effort to pedal uphill. :-p

Sourdough

I got home. Fed the cats. Made sourdough. Ate some. And waited for Mike. In my wet shoes. I got quite cold doing this foolish thing.

Took ages to warm up once we went to bed. Poor Mike got some cold feet on him. Hahahah.

Good sleep though. And up for garage gym.  Deadlifts.  85kg.  2 reps x 4 sets. And then 100 push ups. I have entered the June push up challenge again. Yikes!

Have a great day! We're off to Chc. Spacey Jane. No Abby or Scott though. The flights did not work out for them. Jason is coming to cat sit.  Best make up the top bed for him then.  :-)

Enjoy your day.
Love,
Angela


Wednesday, May 28, 2025

The Tuesday working from home again

 Hi,

It was good to have a second day working from home. I got the sheets done for the spare bed for Jason to come and cat/house sit over Kings Birthday. Yay!

Lewis Road iced latte

Also set off RoboMop and he did the entire top floor and it looked good after that. I love RoboMop.

Cats follow the sun

My hoodie left its mark - well it is my AFL hoodie, so that is fair

Some leather cream got it off

Lunch

After work I got my old bike ready to commute into town. Pumped up tyres. Lubed it. And then it was ready. Back to get tea ready for Mike. 

We had a relaxing evening and were in bed super early. Good sleep. Up for my ride into town using only pedal power. OMG. It was like biking through treacle. Took me 19 minutes to get to work. What?

Goodness knows how long it will take getting home.

This bike feels so slow and weird.

Mike had his PT session with Quentin at home in the garage gym. He is working from home for the morning.

Have a great day!

Love,

Angela

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

The Monday working from home

 Hi,

Turns out I really do not take many photos when I work from home. Heheheh.  Let's see - how did yesterday pan out?

Busy at work (in the home office) and the weather was terrible all day. That meant I had no interest in going outside whatsoever. Neither did the cats. I opened the deck door for Smudge and she took one look at the howling wet weather and fled back to the warmth.

After work I did head to town to get some grocery shopping done. Yay for having fresh food in  the house. Mike ran with Callan after work and then I found him after shopping and we went home. He did 10k! He is on track for his 100k in May. Bit more running to go in the last 4 days of the month.

Had a great sleep. Up for PT session in the garage gym this morning as I am WFH again. Bench. 40kg 4 x 4 then squats 50kg 3 reps x 4 sets. Woot. Bench felt pretty smooth.

Now at work. And drinking some Lewis Road iced coffee.  Moxley is next to me in her crate.

Moxley sleeping in her crate

I found my bike liners - in my bike helmet!

Smudge is lurking. The washing is set to come on later this morning when hopefully some sunshine peaks out.

Have a great day!

Love,

Angela


Monday, May 26, 2025

The weekend with mountain biking in Rotorua

 Hi,

What a fabulous weekend - thank you Mike for letting me go on this adventure. And thank you Iona and Maureen for accompanying me on it.

I made a sourdough during the day Thursday and Iona finished it off while I finished work. And she also cooked up a lot of soup for our late Thursday night dinner at Waiterere.

Sourdough left for Mike

We left home after a bit of faffing with the bikes (thanks Mike for helping) and picked up Maureen and headed up with the busy traffic to Waiterere.

We're off!

At the crib in Waiterere

Got there just after 6pm and settled in. What a great wee spot. We heated up Iona's soup and enjoyed some sourdough and then explored the beach in the dark. Hahah. I had such a good sleep.

Friday morning iced latte

Up early and away just after 7am. Off to Taihape for brekkie. Then continued to Rotorua.

Taihape Soul cafe

We went straight to Planet Bike to pick up Iona;s eBike for the weekend. Ed and Lenore were amazing - they are in such a perfect spot to help all the mtn bikers. And they are so good at customer service. Helps that they know Maureen really well. She has been coming here for 20 years to bike all over the tracks.

We decided to do Forest Loop. So we headed off to the cafe for sustenance and left around 1pm or so. The Forest Loop is a very easy track all around the forest park. 34km I think we did. So good. Great views.

First hot spring on the Forest Loop

We check out the steam

Such a good ride

Happy punter

Great scenery

Iona blazing through

We collect ourselves

Back to the start of the loop and Iona dropped her bike off at Planet Bike and drove the Forester to Marg and Linz's house while Maureen and I punched in the address to Google maps and rode there. Saved us putting the bikes back on.

It is less than 5k from Planet Bike to Marg and Linz's house - but at one stage it told us to head towards Kiwi St. And there was no sign of a road - just driveways. Explored that a bit - found a house. And decided there was a paper road behind the house. So we sidled by this house. Like we were in their backyard. So weird.

Got to Marg and Linz's place and met them. They are so lovely. And their house is perfect. We had a room downstairs and settled in. And then had tea - a huge home made lasagne - vegetarian! Thank you.

Lasagne night - thank you Marg and Linz

Beautiful house

We watched Alone in the evening and then off to bed for a great sleep. Up to get ready slowly for day 2 in the park itself.

Saturday morning starts

High point views - top of Soakhole

What a fantastic day. All on grade 3 tracks (with a grade 2  at the end when we got tired). And I had such a blast.

Let's see.  We rode up Soakhole and down Tokorangi (this is where I started wooting with joy). challenge downhill. Yellow Brick Road. Bunny Jugs. Be rude not 2. Lion. New exit. Dipper x 2
New Exit (again).

Same deal to get home. Iona dropped her bike off and drove home. And Maureen and I rode home - happily riding through the back yard of that house once more.



Hey Mr T

Waiting for Mo

End of Saturday

Dinner out in Eat St

Then off to Atticus Finch in Eat St for a night out. Lovely food - lots of shared plates. So good. Then home for the rugby. Black Ferns v USA. What a fantastic game!  And off to bed after an episode of Alone to catch up with season 3.

Off to Atticus Finch

Sunday morning high point. 

Sunday saw us say goodbye to Marg and Linz. I felt very welcomed and they were such lovely hosts. Thank you.

We packed up and Iona drove to Planet Bike while Maureen and I tried a different route through the Rotorua Tree Trust. Autumn colours were stunning.

We rode up to the very top of the park. Up Hill Road. Then we did Time Warp, Split Enz (5km long mostly downhill!!) and Rollercoaster.

Then back to Planet Bike to give back the bike and say goodbye and head home. A nice easy drive back. We left the park at 12:12 and got to Maureen's place at 18:03. We had a late lunch in Tūrangi on our way.

Best weekend. So good. I learned a lot of new skills. My bike performed so well - some of the tracks felt nice and fluid. I want to take Mike back there. Thank you Maureen and Iona.

Can't wait to do it again.

Love,

Angela

Thursday, May 22, 2025

The Wednesday with work

 Hi,

What a day! Phew. Did the PT session in the morning. And busy day at work. Managed to see Mike for an iced latte. Yay! He did his cake thing.

Work iced latte

I headed home on the bus and took Mike's snapper with me. Which, you might recall, is actually mine. Mike gave me it so I could go home. He had a work function.

Bikes on

Maureen came over and we looked at getting my bike on her rack. Seems to work. So she left the rack at our place had a quick cup of tea with me and headed home.

Mike got home. Very merry. Said he had lost his Snapper so had to pay on the bus (what? He gave me my snapper!). Anyway - it was loud music night to about 10pm before he settled down.

Snort!

Up to drive in for PT with Quentin.  Squats.  60kg.  4 reps x 4 sets.

And then brekkie with the crew before driving home.

Working from home. Need to head off bang on 4pm to start out mountain biking weekend of adventure to Rotorua. Sweet!

Have a great weekend.

Love,

Angela

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

The Tuesday with work

 Hi,


I didn't mention Monday night to you. Well, we were ready to go to bed, so I was checking the front door was locked before heading down the stairs. And for some reason I just checked out the window by the door. And there was Smudge. Locked outside since Mike did the bins. She snuck out when he didn't notice. She looked at me and just opened her mouth and did her (supposedly silent) mew at me.  So I unlocked the door and in she bounded.

Hahah.

Let's see. How was Tuesday.  After PT session I did shower at work and grabbed a French Kiss cart iced latte.

French Kiss cart iced latte

Rode home after work and got to one blinking battery bar. So needed to charge the bike up. And forgot. Made tea with Mike and then assembled his cake.

Prepping the magnificent cake for TOGAF

Assembly was fairly easy

And done

Remembered I had forgotten to charge the bike so reminded myself and Mike to do it when we took his cake into town.

We did that.  Cake secured at work in location. And forgot to charge the bike.

Sourdough

Made sourdough. And went to bed. Woke up - got ready to ride in. And then remembered I hadn't charged the bike at all.

Groan. Ended up making Mike catch the bus with me (he has my Snapper) and he went for a run while I went to the gym.  Bench.  42.5 kg.  3 reps for my first set. Then 2 reps for the next 4 sets. My arms are a bit noodly.

Will have to bus home with Mike after work today. And then pack for my weekend away to Rotorua.

Have a great day!

Love,

Angela

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

The Monday at home

 Hi,


I never seem to take photos when I work from home. And yesterday was no exception. The day was fine. Worked. Cats were happy I was there. Put a wash on.

The day was miserable - rained the entire day. So the washing machine probably cost us money. Not a lot of solar.


After work I prepped tea. And when Mike got home after his run, we had dinner. Enjoyed a bath in the latter part of the evening. And off to bed.

Up for a freezing cold ride into town for gym. Brrr. Mike is WFH today. The cats will be happy again.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

Monday, May 19, 2025

The weekend with Eurovision

 Hi,

What a big weekend. And I could not put up a lot of the pics from Friday as they were a bit gruesome - Juliet's injury is still spectacular.

Thursday night I made sourdough for the weekend. And Friday saw me up early to do track clearing work up Sunny Grove with Andrew.

Sourdough for us

Track clearing with Andrew

Cute fungus

We left the car at about 9.15 and carried up loppers, spade, grubber and saws to the first high junction and then wandered back down, clearing away overgrowth on the side of the track. And overhead. Wow. It was exhausting business. And when Andrew finally said that I needed to get away, I was surprised to see almost 3 hours had gone by.  11:53am. Where did that time go? It was very satisfying.

Andrew dropped me back at their place and I jumped in the car and headed to Chillax for coffee and cheese scones and went around to visit Juliet. Met Dan properly too.



Chillax iced latte

I chatted to Juliet at her place then we went into her GP for her wound dressing. They took one look at it - conferred with a GP - and sent Juliet to ED. Oh dear. We went to get a few things from her home, said goodbye to Dan who was going to work, look after the girls and then come into ED later. I dropped Juliet off at ED and then heard back that they were pumped her full of antibiotics and keeping her for a few days to observe. Not good. But obviously she is in the best place for the nest outcome. Her injury is still very nasty looking. I hope she responds well to the treatment and gets home today.

Friday night relaxing

Waitangi park run

We were up Saturday morning for Park Run. And I pushed myself and ended up almost puking at the end. Hahah.  8 seconds outside my previous PB. But it was slow to start and windy as! Saw Simon and Becky and then Felix and Fiona from work. Very social. Mike went for another run while I sat in Joe's Garage.

Hey Felix!

Joe's Garage after our run

We had a very nice brekkie then Mike went to see about cakes in Arobake and I went to Shut up and Dance with Jessie. New instructor today. Spice Girls was the theme. Hahah. Good fun.

With Jessie after Shut Up and Dance

At Swimsuit post dancing!

Quick coffee at Swimsuit on Dixon. Mike met us and then off home. Got the house tidy for Eurovision the next morning.

Up for Eurovision nice and early after a noisy, windy night. Little did I know then why it was so noisy in the night!  Got the food all ready. And around 7am when it kicked off, the punters arrived.

Brekkie laid out

And it starts

Keen as

Iced latte

Some of the punters

Ange and Danita were first on the scene. Sarah turned up not too long after the start. Grant came! Yay! Maarten and Irina. Kara. Christine had been put to see Tilly and arrived halfway through the songs.

We all did not enjoy Austria this year and sure enough.... they were contenders through the jury judging. Australia didn't make the final. Milkshake Man got the heave ho in the semis. But when Israel got the top spot and only one vote was left, we were all rooting for Austria. And they came in clutch! Snatched the victory. And yes, the guy can sing. But it is opera. Sigh. Okay. More evidence I do not understand European tastes.

When Mike was saying goodbye to people, he glanced down the side of the house and saw the greenhouse had been destroyed by the winds overnight.

Fixing the mess the weather caused

Last harvest

So we braved the pouring rain and tidied up best we could. The plastic looks almost intact. The main thing will be if we've lost poles over the edge into the bush. We tidied it up, Mike got the last of the chillies, and we went back inside.

We did also tidy the garage so I can actually use the gym up there again. Will do that today in my lunch break.

Great weekend. So busy. And so cold and wet.

Have a great week ahead.
Love,
Angela