The Monday with archery and Vivienne's birthday

Hi,

What a great way to end any day.  I drove out to Lower Hutt with the silver car jammed full of rubbish for Sally and Andrew's skip.  Went to my archery lesson and had a great time.  "Perfection" I think was a word bandied about at one point.  The coach may have been prone to exaggeration, but I really enjoyed myself.  So did Ange.  We're joining the club!

That was our last lesson in our beginners course.  Now we join up and go down as often as we can for practise.

My trusty bow

The scoring

Ange takes aim!

I popped in to Sally and Andrew's place to dump rubbish and got a cup of tea.  It seems ages since we've just enjoyed each other's company.  Something to remedy in the next few months!

Right.  Time for tea.  Jurica (my work tea date) is working from home today, so we're synchronising our tea times.

Have a brilliant day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington

Hi,

Happy birthday to Vivienne!

Ok - I still can't believe I saw a hot air balloon over the valley from our house.  Someone mentioned a school fair was on at the weekend, so maybe they had "rides" up in the tethered balloon.  No idea.  But what a treat to see one there!

Hot air balloon weather

On Friday the Rugby World Cup parade went through Lambton Quay.  Maryanne got us seats in the cafe at Whitcoulls and I had an iced coffee and watched the All Blacks and staff drive down with the cup.

RWC parade

Iced coffee while waiting for the parade

Back home and we all crashed into bed.  Mike and Toby were up early for their haircut.  I pottered around tidying.

Around 2pm we stopped off at Will's house to drop off Toby for a sleepover, but no one was home.  So we collected Josh and dropped Mike and him off at the brew session.  I then dropped Toby off at Will's and then lay on the couch at Josh's house reading.  The purpose was to look after the boys, but actually, I hardly saw them.  I played with Lulu a bit though.

Went down to collect Josh and dropped him home and then we all parked near the KFC and walked to Christine's house via New World for some much needed cheese.  It was the fireworks in town and Christine has a good view.  There were road closures so we had to park ages away.

View from Christine's place

Guy Fawkes celebrations at Christine's house

Andrew playing

 We ate our way through cheese and butter chicken and watched the fireworks.  Pam (Tom's grandmother) dropped us off at our car on the way home and we crawled through traffic until we hit the motorway.  Dropped Andrew home and then crashed into bed.

Sunday morning I was up fairly early and got a text from Aidan saying she was making me breakfast and I only had a few minutes to get there.  She insisted I could jump in the car in my pyjamas, but I refused.  Going without a shower was bad enough.  I threw on some clothes and turned up.  She has been sick (again) recently, so it was up to me the handle the food.  Bagels and smoked salmon.  Yum!  We chatted away for a bit before her need for a nap overpowered her vocalisation centre.

I went back home and Mike took off for his tramping work.  I tidied up downstairs.  I still have a bit of work to do in Toby's room, but it is much better now.

We cleared out loads of rubbish from years of build up.  At least 6 rubbish bags.  Quite good.  Mike is pleased.  We still have a bit of work to do.  Anyone want a piano?  That would make our room a little bit easier to maneuver around in.  Want me to bring one up, Roz, in a few weekends time?  I could hitch it to the back.  :-)

Have a great week ahead.  Enjoy it.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a bit of a flood

Hi,

You know something?  When Wellington turns on a good day, it really is a wonderful place to be.  And although it might have taken me almost ten years to admit, I think the scant number of good days really do make up for the numerous bad days.

Yesterday started out in rain and freezing cold.  And ended in a glorious night for Guy Fawkes.

Mike had a social function after work, so at 8.45pm I texted him to see if he really did want a lift home because I was almost asleep.  He said yes, so I shouted out to Toby that I was off and would be back within 30 minutes and it was time for his going to be routine.  Including a bath.

Off I went.  Collected Mike.  Fortunately had to drop a colleague off at his place, which meant we didn't go to collect my bike from town and spend a wee while there.

Because, when I got back, Toby was on the couch upstairs still fully clothed, enjoying the fireworks around the place.  I casually mentioned why he didn't have a bath.  Well, he looked at me with fear in his eyes and ran down the stairs so fast!  Mike followed right on his heels.

Yes.  We spent a lot of time getting all our towels and clearing out the spare room of furniture.  The dehumidifier is on.  We'll see how it looks tonight.

Wellington on Thursday morning

Replacement Serge

Right.  Time to get started.  Weekend looks good.  Bit busy.\

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with brewing by Mike

Hi,

Well, after another aborted mission to Toby's appointment, we both went grocery shopping and bought yummy things to make us happy.  Fruit, mainly.  Fresh strawberries.  Mmmmm.

I had fun when I got back to my desk from loads of meetings.  A treasure hunt on my desk from Nick.  He was the wonderful person that organised the Melbourne Cup sweep at work.  And I got second.  He hid my winnings on my desk and I eventually found it.

First clue

Second clue

Third clue

Fourth clue

Not that clue!

Sixth clue

Found it!  My gambling winnings!

My sleeping boys.  Who do you think left the dribble on the pillow?

Mike was out late bottling his brew with workmates.  He had fun, I think.  And now he has a stash.

Had a cold ride in this morning.  We've had a blast from winter.

Right.  I'm off to brekkie with some colleagues.

Have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday that totally felt like a Wednesday

Hi,

Oh - my poor brain.  It even thinks today is Thursday, despite it being Wednesday.  It is, I know, I checked.  Twice!  So yesterday was always Wednesday.  I got so confused in the morning because I got organised while looking at my Wednesday meetings and appointments.  And before I knew it, my PC (which happened to know it really was Tuesday) told me I had an important meeting in 15 minutes (at 8am) that confused me no end because didn't my calendar say my first appointment was 9.30am?  Oooohhhh.

I had lunch with Aidan, which was lovely.  It was so windy walking over to her work.  At one point it was hard to keep traction!  I must have looked windswept and interesting while having lunch in her building.  But she never seemed to laugh uncontrollably every time she looked at me, so perhaps the hair had settled down a bit.  And walking back to work obviously blew my hair in the other direction, furiously.  So, maybe there was no net gain effect.

I got home and Mike wasn't far behind me.  I cooked butter chicken from scratch and the boys loved it.  Well, Mike loved it.  It was spicier than my usual attempt.  I was heavy handed with the chili.

Melbourne Cup day!  Yay!  It snuck up on me though.

Our two horses in the sweep

I picked a horse in the sweep at work and it came second!  Woot!  Mike's horse is still running.

Watching the Melbourne Cup at home!

Right.  Time to start the day.  With tea.

Have a marvellous day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with archery

Hi,

Toby turned up at work after school in order for logistics to work for me getting to archery.  But Mike changed the plans at the last minute and Ange just took me out for the lesson.

Such fun!  I love it.  We had a lot of fun with the windy weather.  But I never lost an arrow - they all hit the target.  Ooossshhh!

Ange finds the gold

Ange was on fire - her arrows flew true.  We figure there must be a saying in there somewhere.  Something meaningful for a life lesson.

Ange dropped me home and I fell into a coma when I went to bed.  I barely woke when Mike came to bed.

Right.  Been busy already.

Have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with Halloween and Gora rugby world cup win

Hi,

Well, it was a fabulous weekend really.  Even if I feel like it was very short.  Friday night was busy for some reason.  Oh, I remember.  I collected burgers and took them around to Aidan's house.  Sarah was there and they chatted away for a few hours before we left.  Toby enjoyed catching up with the boys.  But Emerson was really coming down with something.  Very blocked up.

But Saturday we got up and prepped for Halloween.  Toby's favourite day of the year.  Well, possibly Christmas might just sneak in front.

Duncan horsing around

I got some groceries in and I collected Duncan from his mother's house and we got ready for the evening fun.  Emerson was too sick to make it.  We had a few visitors for lollies.

Second pumpkin carving

Prepared to greet the trick or treaters

Some cute visitors

Lollies from a horse

The boys set off to explore the options in the neighbourhood for treats and ended up walking quite a few kilometres.  But they got lots of loot, so they were happy.

Back home and they got into our bed to watch a movie on television before Duncan went to sleep and Mike and Toby watched a scarier movie.

We got up early to watch the rugby.  Andrew arrived at about 5.20am and sat on our bed with us.  I woke Duncan in the dying seconds with my screams of delight when a try was scored that put the match beyond losing.  But that was the 79th minute.  Those Australians can get out of jail.

I dropped Duncan home and got a first breakfast from Aidan.  And fresh muffins.  Back home via the supermarket and another breakfast.  Andrew headed home.  We were all pretty stoked with the result.

In the afternoon, Mike sorted out the lawn and then we went for a lovely walk up Te Ahimairangi hill.  Wonderful views.

Walking shadow

Mike working

Gorgeous day over Wellington harbour

Looking south

I had to stay up late for work.  So this morning I am a little less than at my peak.  More like some saddle halfway up the hill.

Right.  Time to get stuck in.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela