The Tuesday that felt like Wednesday

Hi,

Yep - the days continued at the pace of a snail.  But jammed packed with so much frantic activity.  Oh well.  I did hear from Andrew and Sally and Andrew has crossed the Kaipara harbour to Dargaville.  How amazing is that?  He has two days left - maybe three - to get to Cape Reinga.

Iced coffee at Colonial

I did get brekkie with Steph yesterday - by far the highlight of the day really.  Toby got to go to dog training with Vivienne and I can tell he really loved it (see Vivienne's facebook feed for a photo!).  Pretty sure that was his highlight.

Other than that, the day passed by...

This morning I have brekkie with Fran!  Woot!  Haven't caught up with her for months.  Can't wait to see her.

Have a fantastic day!

Love,
Angela

The Monday with work making it feel like Wednesday today

Hi,

How can one day at work feel like two days?  Last night I was sorting out my day ahead and for the life of me, I thought it must be Wednesday the next day because I felt exhausted from two days at work already.  But ... no.  My boys assured me it was only Monday.

We went through old photos because we're sending a whole heap of negatives with Toby to Sydney so Scott can slowly convert them to electronic format.  Some should never have come out of the shoebox.

My Year 11 school photo.  Too funny!

Me with Michelle and Vince on my bike

Skiing in glorious 80s colours!

Anyway, I also sprayed round up over the budding weeds, trying to keep it all looking fabulous.  And Toby has dog training with Vivienne tonight.  She thought he might enjoy it, and Toby leapt at the chance.  I really need to investigate the fostering kittens with the SPCA.

Right.  Time to get stuck into work.

Have an awesome day.  Hope it feels like Tuesday to you, wherever you are!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with me and Toby

Hi,

Toby and I had such a good weekend together.  Friday night we watched Back to the Future part one.  And we slept on the floor in his bedroom like we were camping.  Mind you, I woke early (5.30am) and crept up to my bed for a snooze before waking again to read.  Toby didn't surface until 10.30am!  Hahahah.

We went around to Vivienne's and John's house and had lunch with everyone.  The day was stunning and the lunch was good fun!  Vivienne made the two of us seafood chowder and it was amazing!

The view from Vivienne and John's house on Saturday

Awesome seafood chowder from Vivienne

After lunch we watched Benjamin and John deal to the lawn before taking the dogs for a walk to see the tree where the kakas fledged.

From there, Toby and I went home and chilled out for the rest of the evening.  We watched Back to the Future Two but I slept in my own bed!

Sunday morning I was supposed to go to archery with Ange but it was a howling gale.  So I finally went for a run and then realised around 9am that the wind had died away completely and it was beautiful.  Ange picked us up and Dee, and we went to Eastbourne for brunch.  Toby really enjoyed himself.  He bought a newspaper and ate bacon and poached eggs and had a thickshake.

Iced coffee and thickshake goodness

Toby with his newspaper at the cafe

 Ange happily took me to do my messages in Lower Hutt.  I bought a lamp for the lounge that I had my eye on and I bought a bed head that Mike had liked.  Ooooohhhh.  Can't wait for the bedroom stuff to be delivered - late Feb.  That'll be a good birthday present.

Lounge looking good

Back home and I tidied a little before Mike got home around 5pm.  Earlier than I thought he would.  He enjoyed the lounge effort!  I think it is mainly because I took the Christmas tree down that it looks so good.

Anyway.  The week looms ahead.  Busy, like usual.  Kinda wish I still had the Stewart Island trip this week.  Oh well.  Never mind.  My birthday is coming and that is something to look forward to.

Have a lovely week!

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with dragon boating training

Hi,

My day at work was a bit pants.  You get that.  I did get flowers delivered at work from Mike.  He's a sweetie.

He loves me.

I also caught up with Aidan for the first time since before Christmas.  Seems as though she had a good time over the break.  Ed is here today for a few weeks, so that should be lovely.

After work I had a quick drink with Steph and Ange (thanks for the drink Steph - next brekkie is on me!) and then James gave me a lift with Celia (he thought he should take Celia, I guess!  :-p ) to dragon boating training.

Jeepers - it is hard work.  We went for a run beforehand and then spent 40 mins in the pool on the side with paddles trying to get some sort of rhythm.

Mike collected me at the end and rode his bike home while I went to work to collect my bike.

Today (Friday) is pants weather.  I drove in!  Rain and gales.  Yucky.  But warm.

Mike is off to Ruapehu this weekend.  I think Toby and I have lunch with Vivienne on Sunday.  But not much else planned.  Emerson and Duncan get back from their holiday on Sunday.

Looking forward to the weekend.  Enjoy yours!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing much

Hi,

But what a stunning day it was - weather-wise.  I forgot I had breakfast planned with some friends and had to have two breakfasts yesterday.  What a shame, eh?  Merran and Nadine had selected Lueven and changed the time from 8 to 8.30.  I sat down facing the doorway across from Merran and two minutes into our catch up (while we waited for Nadine), Aidan walked in with her colleagues for breakfast.  Funny!

Sushi for dinner

At lunch time I went out into the glorious sunshine to eat my bread roll in some peace and quiet.  People are still away on summer holiday, so there are less people in town than usual.  Nice.

I rode home and made dinner for Mike and Toby.  I promised sushi to Toby.  I still don't make beautiful looking bits of sushi.  Well, Mike's batch was better.  I seem to improve as I go along.  Toby's was the first batch and they look a little... like I used a chainsaw.  Hahah.

Mike got home and ate his sushi after riding home for the first time in about a year.  Good on him!

I sat in the sunshine on the deck, reading my book.  Such a pleasant end to the day.

Today after work is another dragon boating training session.  Ooooo.  In the pool.  It's going to be hard work.

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday back at work

Hi,

I still can't get over the work Mike's mother put into our garden over the Christmas break.  It's looking so good.  Here's to keeping it looking that way - and planting some more rengarenga to keep it tidy.

Front yard looking amazing

Wow!

We both got a lift home from work yesterday with Ange and convinced her to drop by after her supermarket shopping for a BBQ dinner.  She came with steak and sunflowers.  Made me happy!

Beautiful sunflowers

Mike tries out his new BBQ

 The BBQ worked a treat - made scrumptious steak.  Or rather - Mike made scrumptious steak on the new BBQ.  Hahahah.  Well, I am now looking forward to more enjoyable barbeques on the deck.  Especially in weather like this.

Ange stayed for a bit and we ate cheese and chocolates.  Mmmmm.  Then it was time for bed before I fell over.

Up early for my run and had a good time in the lovely morning.  Another stunning day here.

This morning is fine again in the capital

I am meeting some people I know for brekkie this morning.  Can't wait.

Have a lovely day!

Love,
Angela

The awesome Christmas

Hi,

Well, I have a lot to catch you up on, don't I?

My last day at work was Christmas Eve and I worked from home.  Apart from a flurry of activity early in the morning, it was quiet the rest of the day.  Mike and Toby went to see Star Wars with Will and enjoyed it a lot.

Mike's mother came around for Christmas Eve and we had dinner and went to sleep, excited about the day to come!

Toby was up so early - 5am!  Talk about excited.  We managed to convince him to go back to sleep for a bit.  Whether he slept or not remains a mystery.

But we were soon all up and opening presents.  Then we had to make our Christmas lunch contributions.

Christmas lunch

The day was stunning.  And the lunch was superb.  We chatted to my mother for a while to say hello.  And the phone got passed around a bit.  We left relatively early because Mike still had to pack for the trip up north and we were leaving early.

Toby and me on Christmas Day

Evidence I wore a dress

Up at 4.45am and we were away by 5.20am.  Wow!  So excited.  Toby slept and we made it to Taihape before we had breakfast.  At the slowest Maccas in New Zealand.

Peter (Lesley's father) was concerned about traffic and parking for the island visit and volunteered to drive  us to Sandspit for our trip over.  Mike rang the ferry company and they said it would be fine to get a park.  So we declined Peter's kind offer and continued through Auckland.

We had lunch in Warkworth after a lovely drive up with minimal traffic.  The signs in Auckland promised traffic delays heading north but there was no such thing.  We parked our car and ferried our luggage to the boat shed and waited for our ride.  We got on our water taxi and headed over to Kawau Island.

On the water taxi to Kawau Island

The Sampson family met us at Schoolhouse Bay wharf and we got a lift up to Peter's bach in the island car.  Wooohhh - luxury.

We pitched our tent in the backyard and Mike and I slept in there.  Brennan and Toby slept on stretchers in the new shed.  The girls slept in the second room in the house and Lesley and Wally slept in the front room.  Worked great!

And it turns out that Kawau Island is some sort of paradise.  I loved it!  The days have all blurred but it was an amazing place.  And catching up with everyone was great.  Toby just slipped back into their company like he had never been away.

Boat through the trees

We went for a late walk and spotted a wallaby.  The island was Governor Grey's residence for a while and he had exotic animals.  There are no zebras left, but wallabies are everywhere.  And possums.  And magpies.  And even kookaburras.  It was like I had been transported.

For a run over Mansion House Bay

Walking home after a run and swim at Ladys Bay

Found the iced coffees at Mansion House cafe

That's an iced chocolate for Lesley

South Cove for a picnic tea

We explored parts of the island.  We swam nearly every day.  If not at Lady's Bay, then off the wharf at Schoolhouse Bay.  We went out fishing off Peter's boat on its mooring one evening - me, Wally, Jess and Chelsea.  We caught loads of fish.  I found a nice running route through the trees and went quite a few times.  Mike walked lots - with bricks in his pack.  We visited South Cove and had a picnic tea.  We pulled apart the kitchen sink pump when it got blocked (not a lot of fun).

Toby and Brennan on the first evening's walk to Mansion House Bay

First glimpse of the forest on our first evening walk

Selfie!  @ Mansion House Bay

Posing (especially Brennan) at Mansion House Bay

Fishing on Runaway

Feet at Lady's Bay

Ladys Bay - one of our favourite spots

Pretty much I achieved my ambition of reading, eating, sleeping and swimming.  Lots of all of those things every day.

The cafe at Mansion House Bay had iced coffees and ice creams.  Mmmmm.  Worth a few visits.  Wally inflated the rubber dinghy and we played in that.  Watching Toby in that was funny.

New Years was a great evening, staying up late.  500 was a huge hit.  Charades - not so much.  We went for a late walk and Lesley found out that her legs didn't work properly after sitting all evening drinking the odd wine.  Or two!

We got a bit of painting done around the place too.  Well, some of us did.  :-)  At least it looked pretty good when we left - so we did achieve some things off Peter's wish list.

The rain started at 6am on New Years Day (Friday) and never let up.  We caught the 9.20am ferry on the Saturday and didn't get to Sandspit until midday!  We saw a lot of the island, picking up passengers.

We got caught in the traffic heading into Warkworth and stopped there for lunch.  I had an awesome iced coffee at Ginger Cafe - I'd go back there.  Eggs benny were good too!

This meant we were late leaving Auckland and therefore late all the way home.  We got into our house at 10.20pm.  And it rained the entire way.  Constantly.

Iced chocolate for Toby at Ginger Cafe in Warkworth

Me with wild hair and a great iced coffee at the Ginger Cafe

 Sunday was a blur of getting things sorted.  We went out to Queensgate and we bought some bedside tables for our bedroom.  Toby spent his vouchers at JB Hi Fi and EB Games and was very happy.  We caught up with Sally and discovered Andrew had started his North Island trip from Cape Palliser to Cape Reinga.  Wow!

Monday was lovely weather and we got the tent dried and finished the gardening that Mike's mother had started.  You can all come and visit again - the place looks great!

I made myself a home made iced coffee.  Mmmmm.

Home made iced coffee

So, that just about sums it up.  I feel a bit out of place at work today.  My head is still on Kawau Island with Wally and Lesley.  I loved our holiday there.  It will stay in my mind for a long, long time!

Love,
Angela