Hi,
What a strange weekend. Friday evening started oddly when I rode to the ferry terminal to collect the car from there. Mike was tramping at the top of the South Island and had taken the club van. So I grabbed the car and collected Aidan and Toby on the way home. Toby and I dropped Aidan off at home just as her boys walked there. Perfect timing. And Toby and I went home via Burger Wisconsin to relax with a movie.
Saturday we were up and off to Toyworld in the morning to get a present for Dabao. It was his birthday party on Sunday afternoon. Toby went out in a t shirt and shorts and said he'd be fine when I asked about a jersey. But as we walked around outside in town, he asked me for my jersey. And I caved in and gave it to him. I do have more insulation I suppose.
Got the present and grabbed some groceries and back home. Aidan and Ed dropped the boys off for an afternoon of gaming while I made dinner. Well, actually, I sat on the couch and read a lot. The dinner was roast chicken so it wasn't exactly hands-on.
Aidan and Ed got back and we chatted away. Close to tea time the boys all went to the park. Toby went in his pyjama shorts. Yes, really! Dinner was eventually ready and we ate. It was good, but the dessert was a huge hit. Eton mess. Yep. Set to become a Tabor favourite I think.
Once it was just the two of us again, Toby and I relaxed on the couches reading for a bit and then went to bed for more of the same.
Sunday we were up and I went to the market with Vivienne and Ramble. Got a few things. Enjoyed the fish buying process. Wandered around a bit. Back home and Sally and Andrew called. They popped in for lunch. Which was good because I was half intending to go to their house to collect the bouncy castle. But 1) they weren't there (they had been in Nelson) and 2) the bouncy castle wasn't there. And we ate leftovers from the night before. The fridge is looking much better now.
Dropped Toby off at the party. Dabao was turning 5 years old. So Toby was by far the oldest kid there. It was a lovely party but I escaped and went home to iron. Did a bit of housework as well.
Toby got home and we had tea and finished watching the Friday night movie. Off to bed and Mike got home but I was comatose. I feel like I haven't seen him. But we'll catch up tonight.
Have a wonderful week. Last day of March today. Crazy.
Love,
Angela
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Mid Goulter (very steep)
Punters: Mike Gilbert, Helen Bennett, Jenn Zhu, Clare Denny, Edd Lucas
"Hmm, maybe my hatchback wouldn't make it here after all," I finally admitted, at about a quarter to midnight. Whilst it's a 'gravel road' on the map, the road to Lake Chalice is a lot more like a goat track than a road. It's narrow, steep, winding and rough. For once I was grateful to be in a big van with the weight of many punters and their packs holding the back wheels firmly onto the road.
It had already been a long day and a long night. My job was to collect the vans; a minor crisis at work at just the wrong time meant I was late and rushed, but we all made it onto the ferry in good time. As we sailed south, we three leaders worked out the logistics of dropoff and pickup. Emily's trip was straightforward; she was heading to Lake Chalice, then returning to Lake Chalice. Katy needed a dropoff at some random road-end on the way, then pickup from another random road-end. I was heading to Lake Chalice but needed someone to collect my group to save an interminable walk down a road that may be gravel, might be 4WD, could be navigable in a van...
So some 8 hours after we started our journey, the Lake Chalice car park suddenly appeared through the darkness. We unloaded and headed off in the dark to Lake Chalice Hut, which we were reliably informed was somewhere down the track. It was a beautiful night and perfect conditions for a bit of night walking. Soon we found that our informants were correct - just 30 min down an easy track we found a spacious, tidy hut. Emily and her group turned up about half an hour later - this was Emily's first full trip driving the van and she sure picked a tough trip for it!
We all fitted just nicely into the hut, since two of us decided it was such a nice night that sleeping outside was the best thing for it. The new day dawned fine and crisp, but we were all flavours of Easy trampers so there was no hurry. After a suitably relaxed beginning to the day, we set off on our respective journeys. Emily's group were daywalking up Old Man ridge, to the north. We were loping southwest down the valley to Mid Goulter Hut, about 5 DOC hours away; then heading back to the lake chalice car park on the Sunday by climbing out of the valley and returning along the ridgeline. The track in looked really gorgeous on the map, following the shores of Lake Chalice itself and then down beside the Goulter River. But alas, this was somewhat deceiving. The lakeshore and river were steepsided, so the track followed the terraces and spurs a short distance from the water. Still very pleasant but lake- and riverside, not so much. Soon we arrived at the head of the lake, where a short path took us down to the river fan that fed into the lake. Beautiful it was too. Next time I'll walk down the river fan and pick the track up at the lake head.
After stops for photos we carried on down the meandering track. Up and down, side to side we went, and this is where we discovered what the difference is between the long dashed lines and the short dashed lines on the topo map. This was a short-dashed-line route, which was new territory for some of our group! Instead of a smooth gravel track we had a rooty, bumpy, sloping path. So sloping that our left legs were much more tired than our right legs by the end of the day! Water ran a little low for some as we saw the Goulter river much less often than we expected. Still, the track was quite lovely, wending its way through some trees, then gaining a little height in places to change ecosystems into... some other sorts of trees. (Where was Illona when you needed her?!). The weather was superb as it always is in Nelson-Malborough.
One thing about following a river is that there aren't that many bearings to really know how far it is to go. The track wended and wound up and down spurs and gullies and over side creeks... it seemed never ending. But sure enough, in late afternoon a big sign welcoming us to Mid Goulter loomed at us, to the relief of many tired left legs.
Mid Goulter is a funny sort of hut. Like Lake Chalice hut it's an 8-bunk, but unlike Lake Chalice it is small and poky, and has a dearth of windows. Still, it's relatively modern, warm and weather tight, and has a delightful history of being nurtured by a couple of old guys over the years who at one point even winched it up into a sunnier spot and rotated it 90 degrees to give it a better outlook. But our little group of 5 were a tight fit, and we had to carefully choreograph moving about inside.
Dinner was cooked on Jenn's fantastic JetBoil. I am now sold on Jetboil. The inner German in me is deeply satisfied at its perfect, efficient design, optimised for boiling water with its integrated, neoprene-wrapped 1L container. However my stove broke when I tried to use it, so we had to press the JetBoil into service doing unnatural things such as cooking a billy full of stew. With a bit of balancing and jury rigging we fashioned a tripod for it, and though the JetBoil Engineering team would be crying and knashing their teeth at the chaotic inefficiency of it all, it did a fantastic job at heating the contents of a 30 year old, well panelbeaten WTMC billy as well.
The hut water supply was the nearby Goulter river, and the sign in the hut sternly warned us to BOIL (for 3 minutes) OR STERILISE the contents of the river before daring to consume it. Most of us respected this but this river is one of the clearest, crispest and most beautiful I've seen, especially outside the hut - bank to bank, completely clear and transparent and flowing languidly. I took my chances. As did Helen, who declared that her time living on a farm in the Waikato had hardened her stomach to anything.
Next day we were off relatively early for an EM group - there was a ferry leaving and we didn't want to miss it. And we knew that the day started with an uphill slog. Ominously, the signpost pointing us up the hill had no estimated time - either they didn't want to discourage us, or it all depended on whether or not you even made it up the hill! But there was nothing for it but to set off. Clare had damaged her ankle on the lopsided route in, so we split into two parties - Jenn, Edd and Helen heading off first, followed by Clare and I.
And steadily uphill it certainly was. Perversely I actually quite like steep uphill; if you've got to get to the top of a hill, then let me rip the bandaid off and slog up there quickly, rather than interminably climb slowly for hours. Well - rip the bandaid off this certainly did. Up and up we climbed, through lowland forest giving way to scrub, in turn giving way to alpine plants and bare rock and scree. With a bit of scrambling and 3 points of contact climbing we were relieved to see Edd coming back to report we were nearly there. We traversed across the face of the tallest peak, glad we didn't have to summit it - turned out that Helen and Jenn had in fact missed the turn and had ended up at the top! The view was certainly worth it though.
Suddenly the track jarringly ended on a gravel road - and surreally, an older couple were there walking their dog. We said hello and they reported that the road end was just 15 min back down the road. Joy! After a bit of a rest and a bite to eat, we set off again. Sure enough there was the road end and (I still can't work out how they did this) there were the dog walkers, back at their van. Wonderfully, they had a big jerry can of water that they were happy to share with us!
There's nothing fun about walking down a gravel road, even one as picturesque as this one. So we were ecstatic to see a familiar looking van appear over the rise as we walked. Thanks, Tracey and Joe! We were wondering if the van would make it, because on the map the road changes from 'gravel' to '4wd only' after lake chalice. But it's actually in better nick past the lake chalice car park - if you made it that far then going on is no worries at all.
We were done! After an uneventful drive back to Picton we met the other van at the Toot and Whistle and relaxed and swapped stories on the ferry. The Richmond Ranges are now near the top of my favourite places to go. This is definitely not the last time I'm going to stay in Lake Chalice hut, that's for sure.
"Hmm, maybe my hatchback wouldn't make it here after all," I finally admitted, at about a quarter to midnight. Whilst it's a 'gravel road' on the map, the road to Lake Chalice is a lot more like a goat track than a road. It's narrow, steep, winding and rough. For once I was grateful to be in a big van with the weight of many punters and their packs holding the back wheels firmly onto the road.
It had already been a long day and a long night. My job was to collect the vans; a minor crisis at work at just the wrong time meant I was late and rushed, but we all made it onto the ferry in good time. As we sailed south, we three leaders worked out the logistics of dropoff and pickup. Emily's trip was straightforward; she was heading to Lake Chalice, then returning to Lake Chalice. Katy needed a dropoff at some random road-end on the way, then pickup from another random road-end. I was heading to Lake Chalice but needed someone to collect my group to save an interminable walk down a road that may be gravel, might be 4WD, could be navigable in a van...
So some 8 hours after we started our journey, the Lake Chalice car park suddenly appeared through the darkness. We unloaded and headed off in the dark to Lake Chalice Hut, which we were reliably informed was somewhere down the track. It was a beautiful night and perfect conditions for a bit of night walking. Soon we found that our informants were correct - just 30 min down an easy track we found a spacious, tidy hut. Emily and her group turned up about half an hour later - this was Emily's first full trip driving the van and she sure picked a tough trip for it!
We all fitted just nicely into the hut, since two of us decided it was such a nice night that sleeping outside was the best thing for it. The new day dawned fine and crisp, but we were all flavours of Easy trampers so there was no hurry. After a suitably relaxed beginning to the day, we set off on our respective journeys. Emily's group were daywalking up Old Man ridge, to the north. We were loping southwest down the valley to Mid Goulter Hut, about 5 DOC hours away; then heading back to the lake chalice car park on the Sunday by climbing out of the valley and returning along the ridgeline. The track in looked really gorgeous on the map, following the shores of Lake Chalice itself and then down beside the Goulter River. But alas, this was somewhat deceiving. The lakeshore and river were steepsided, so the track followed the terraces and spurs a short distance from the water. Still very pleasant but lake- and riverside, not so much. Soon we arrived at the head of the lake, where a short path took us down to the river fan that fed into the lake. Beautiful it was too. Next time I'll walk down the river fan and pick the track up at the lake head.
After stops for photos we carried on down the meandering track. Up and down, side to side we went, and this is where we discovered what the difference is between the long dashed lines and the short dashed lines on the topo map. This was a short-dashed-line route, which was new territory for some of our group! Instead of a smooth gravel track we had a rooty, bumpy, sloping path. So sloping that our left legs were much more tired than our right legs by the end of the day! Water ran a little low for some as we saw the Goulter river much less often than we expected. Still, the track was quite lovely, wending its way through some trees, then gaining a little height in places to change ecosystems into... some other sorts of trees. (Where was Illona when you needed her?!). The weather was superb as it always is in Nelson-Malborough.
One thing about following a river is that there aren't that many bearings to really know how far it is to go. The track wended and wound up and down spurs and gullies and over side creeks... it seemed never ending. But sure enough, in late afternoon a big sign welcoming us to Mid Goulter loomed at us, to the relief of many tired left legs.
Mid Goulter is a funny sort of hut. Like Lake Chalice hut it's an 8-bunk, but unlike Lake Chalice it is small and poky, and has a dearth of windows. Still, it's relatively modern, warm and weather tight, and has a delightful history of being nurtured by a couple of old guys over the years who at one point even winched it up into a sunnier spot and rotated it 90 degrees to give it a better outlook. But our little group of 5 were a tight fit, and we had to carefully choreograph moving about inside.
Dinner was cooked on Jenn's fantastic JetBoil. I am now sold on Jetboil. The inner German in me is deeply satisfied at its perfect, efficient design, optimised for boiling water with its integrated, neoprene-wrapped 1L container. However my stove broke when I tried to use it, so we had to press the JetBoil into service doing unnatural things such as cooking a billy full of stew. With a bit of balancing and jury rigging we fashioned a tripod for it, and though the JetBoil Engineering team would be crying and knashing their teeth at the chaotic inefficiency of it all, it did a fantastic job at heating the contents of a 30 year old, well panelbeaten WTMC billy as well.
The hut water supply was the nearby Goulter river, and the sign in the hut sternly warned us to BOIL (for 3 minutes) OR STERILISE the contents of the river before daring to consume it. Most of us respected this but this river is one of the clearest, crispest and most beautiful I've seen, especially outside the hut - bank to bank, completely clear and transparent and flowing languidly. I took my chances. As did Helen, who declared that her time living on a farm in the Waikato had hardened her stomach to anything.
Next day we were off relatively early for an EM group - there was a ferry leaving and we didn't want to miss it. And we knew that the day started with an uphill slog. Ominously, the signpost pointing us up the hill had no estimated time - either they didn't want to discourage us, or it all depended on whether or not you even made it up the hill! But there was nothing for it but to set off. Clare had damaged her ankle on the lopsided route in, so we split into two parties - Jenn, Edd and Helen heading off first, followed by Clare and I.
And steadily uphill it certainly was. Perversely I actually quite like steep uphill; if you've got to get to the top of a hill, then let me rip the bandaid off and slog up there quickly, rather than interminably climb slowly for hours. Well - rip the bandaid off this certainly did. Up and up we climbed, through lowland forest giving way to scrub, in turn giving way to alpine plants and bare rock and scree. With a bit of scrambling and 3 points of contact climbing we were relieved to see Edd coming back to report we were nearly there. We traversed across the face of the tallest peak, glad we didn't have to summit it - turned out that Helen and Jenn had in fact missed the turn and had ended up at the top! The view was certainly worth it though.
Suddenly the track jarringly ended on a gravel road - and surreally, an older couple were there walking their dog. We said hello and they reported that the road end was just 15 min back down the road. Joy! After a bit of a rest and a bite to eat, we set off again. Sure enough there was the road end and (I still can't work out how they did this) there were the dog walkers, back at their van. Wonderfully, they had a big jerry can of water that they were happy to share with us!
There's nothing fun about walking down a gravel road, even one as picturesque as this one. So we were ecstatic to see a familiar looking van appear over the rise as we walked. Thanks, Tracey and Joe! We were wondering if the van would make it, because on the map the road changes from 'gravel' to '4wd only' after lake chalice. But it's actually in better nick past the lake chalice car park - if you made it that far then going on is no worries at all.
We were done! After an uneventful drive back to Picton we met the other van at the Toot and Whistle and relaxed and swapped stories on the ferry. The Richmond Ranges are now near the top of my favourite places to go. This is definitely not the last time I'm going to stay in Lake Chalice hut, that's for sure.
Friday, March 28, 2014
The Thursday with parent teacher interviews
Hi,
Mike and I left work at 4.30 and got stuck in traffic through to Kilbirnie. Why is the traffic so bad at 4.30pm? Weird. Anyhow, we picked up Toby's sports bag that he left on the school bus two weeks ago. Hooray! Then we scoffed Burger King before the school interviews. This is my first Burger King in almost 20 years. I got a moldy bun back when I tried it the first time. But I was starving. It was ok - but pretty much in the same league as Maccas. Best avoided.
The interviews went well. The teachers seem to think Toby is a good kid in class. We have some techniques to try to get him a little more organised. Let's see how that goes.
Back home and I dropped Benjamin off and headed back home. Mike and Toby went jogging and I read in bed. I put Toby to bed while Mike packed for his tramping weekend down south. I fell asleep before Mike came to bed. Pretty sure I was reading again too.
Have a wonderful weekend,. Frankly, it can't come soon enough for me.
Love,
Angela
Mike and I left work at 4.30 and got stuck in traffic through to Kilbirnie. Why is the traffic so bad at 4.30pm? Weird. Anyhow, we picked up Toby's sports bag that he left on the school bus two weeks ago. Hooray! Then we scoffed Burger King before the school interviews. This is my first Burger King in almost 20 years. I got a moldy bun back when I tried it the first time. But I was starving. It was ok - but pretty much in the same league as Maccas. Best avoided.
The interviews went well. The teachers seem to think Toby is a good kid in class. We have some techniques to try to get him a little more organised. Let's see how that goes.
Back home and I dropped Benjamin off and headed back home. Mike and Toby went jogging and I read in bed. I put Toby to bed while Mike packed for his tramping weekend down south. I fell asleep before Mike came to bed. Pretty sure I was reading again too.
Have a wonderful weekend,. Frankly, it can't come soon enough for me.
Love,
Angela
Thursday, March 27, 2014
The Wednesday with nothing much
Hi,
I had a lovely ride to the library and a pleasant walk home with Toby. He got a book out of the library full of useless facts. I heard quite a lot of them as we walked home. Did you know that there are more plastic flamingos in the U.S. than real flamingos? Well, now you and I both know that. Not terribly sure how useful that is. I also now know what different countries like to eat for their Christmas dinner. And I am kinda glad I am not Bulgarian. Hahahah.
As I was pondering what to cook for tea and Toby was doing his homework, I realised there was nothing to cook and we really should have gone grocery shopping the night before. So I ordered Indian takeaways and Mike vowed to collect them on his way home.
When I hung up after ordering, Christine rang and was headed over so I asked her to stay for tea. Mike finally arrived with the food after allowing it to sit and have the flavours blend even more than intended by the original chefs. It was all tasty. Good to catch up with Christine too.
I went grocery shopping after doing some laundry and tidying. Mike and Toby went for a job and they jogged easily for 2.5 km. Mike said Toby is really good at it. They are going to go every night. Their aim is for 5km. Oooooo. They are beating me already with my Couch to 5k programme.
Had a great sleep and time to start the day. Benjamin is coming after school because we have the parent teacher interviews. Something like ten interviews, lasting five minutes each, scattered over some different rooms, spanning two hours (we have some gaps). It's going to be odd.
Enjoy the day!
Love,
Angela
I had a lovely ride to the library and a pleasant walk home with Toby. He got a book out of the library full of useless facts. I heard quite a lot of them as we walked home. Did you know that there are more plastic flamingos in the U.S. than real flamingos? Well, now you and I both know that. Not terribly sure how useful that is. I also now know what different countries like to eat for their Christmas dinner. And I am kinda glad I am not Bulgarian. Hahahah.
As I was pondering what to cook for tea and Toby was doing his homework, I realised there was nothing to cook and we really should have gone grocery shopping the night before. So I ordered Indian takeaways and Mike vowed to collect them on his way home.
When I hung up after ordering, Christine rang and was headed over so I asked her to stay for tea. Mike finally arrived with the food after allowing it to sit and have the flavours blend even more than intended by the original chefs. It was all tasty. Good to catch up with Christine too.
I went grocery shopping after doing some laundry and tidying. Mike and Toby went for a job and they jogged easily for 2.5 km. Mike said Toby is really good at it. They are going to go every night. Their aim is for 5km. Oooooo. They are beating me already with my Couch to 5k programme.
Had a great sleep and time to start the day. Benjamin is coming after school because we have the parent teacher interviews. Something like ten interviews, lasting five minutes each, scattered over some different rooms, spanning two hours (we have some gaps). It's going to be odd.
Enjoy the day!
Love,
Angela
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The Tuesday with nothing much
Hi,
I rode home yesterday in lovely conditions, although a slight southerly meant there was a chill in the air. But it was sunny. I got out for an iced coffee at Mixed Business in the morning with a colleague (Maryanne).
Meandered through the hectic day and left on time and enjoyed my ride to the library. Collected Toby and drove home. I started dinner but wasn't feeling super well. Toby was really good with his homework. He even started his science project unprompted. He made a dinosaur nest out of modelling clay and put cracked eggs into it with baby dinosaur footprints. It was cute.
He cracked four eggs and then after he'd finished his model he beat them lightly and then asked for an omelette as an after school snack. Mike got home around then and I made the omelette and helped Mike with the home made pizza. But I didn't feel well so I went to bed.
Today I feel just fine. I got up early and went for my run. Had fun. Saw Saturn high in the sky looking mighty fine.
Rode to work with dry roads despite the overnight rain. Good! Still a cool southerly, but not very strong.
Have a fantastic day!
Love,
Angela
I rode home yesterday in lovely conditions, although a slight southerly meant there was a chill in the air. But it was sunny. I got out for an iced coffee at Mixed Business in the morning with a colleague (Maryanne).
 |
| I like their iced coffees |
Meandered through the hectic day and left on time and enjoyed my ride to the library. Collected Toby and drove home. I started dinner but wasn't feeling super well. Toby was really good with his homework. He even started his science project unprompted. He made a dinosaur nest out of modelling clay and put cracked eggs into it with baby dinosaur footprints. It was cute.
He cracked four eggs and then after he'd finished his model he beat them lightly and then asked for an omelette as an after school snack. Mike got home around then and I made the omelette and helped Mike with the home made pizza. But I didn't feel well so I went to bed.
Today I feel just fine. I got up early and went for my run. Had fun. Saw Saturn high in the sky looking mighty fine.
Rode to work with dry roads despite the overnight rain. Good! Still a cool southerly, but not very strong.
Have a fantastic day!
Love,
Angela
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The Monday with crazy work and robots on Mars
Hi,
Well, after a manic Monday at work, I drove to the library to collect Toby (he forgot to get off in town and come to our work). I swapped him with Mike and left for my dental appointment. Yes, my teeth are in great shape. Nice pink gums apparently. Yes - that's always a sign you've seen the hygienist for a good teeth scraping and gum raking exercise. Loving my smile right now because I've earned it!
Then I scarpered to Shed 6 for the talk by Charles Elachi (director of JPL) on Mars exploration (and beyond). I got there around 6.15 and I was lucky to get in. Mike had saved me a seat otherwise I would be queuing with the 200 people that failed to get in. It was a free event and yet seated. There were grumpy crowd scenes the likes of which Wellington never sees. We tried to save Duncan's seat, but they closed the venue and we had to give them away. Duncan missed out and Toby was devastated. Toby had been so good - he even went to talk to the door staff to say he was saving them for his friend. And they let Toby out to scour the queue for him. But it all came to naught. It is character building for Toby to be crushed by life. Right?
Anyhow, the talk was great fun! He has his talk down-pat. Great slides. Great fun facts. Landing curiosity on Mars within its 2 km radius target was like hitting a hole in one from Los Angeles with the cup in New Zealand. And if the cup was moving at 60,000 miles per hour. (Because Mars is moving in space). He explained how there is liquid water on frozen satellites of Saturn. As the satellite moves around Saturn the tides pump the satellite with its pull. That melts the ice through energy. Like when you bend a thin piece of metal back and forth till it breaks. The metal gets hot - just like the frozen satellite. That was a cool description. He talked about manned Mars missions and what needs to be sorted out still. Landing on Mars with tonnes of gear will need a new engineering technique. If you drove your car all day at top speed, without stopping ever, it would take you 170 years to get to Mars.
Anyhow - time for work. Have a lovely day!
Love,
Angela
Well, after a manic Monday at work, I drove to the library to collect Toby (he forgot to get off in town and come to our work). I swapped him with Mike and left for my dental appointment. Yes, my teeth are in great shape. Nice pink gums apparently. Yes - that's always a sign you've seen the hygienist for a good teeth scraping and gum raking exercise. Loving my smile right now because I've earned it!
Then I scarpered to Shed 6 for the talk by Charles Elachi (director of JPL) on Mars exploration (and beyond). I got there around 6.15 and I was lucky to get in. Mike had saved me a seat otherwise I would be queuing with the 200 people that failed to get in. It was a free event and yet seated. There were grumpy crowd scenes the likes of which Wellington never sees. We tried to save Duncan's seat, but they closed the venue and we had to give them away. Duncan missed out and Toby was devastated. Toby had been so good - he even went to talk to the door staff to say he was saving them for his friend. And they let Toby out to scour the queue for him. But it all came to naught. It is character building for Toby to be crushed by life. Right?
Anyhow, the talk was great fun! He has his talk down-pat. Great slides. Great fun facts. Landing curiosity on Mars within its 2 km radius target was like hitting a hole in one from Los Angeles with the cup in New Zealand. And if the cup was moving at 60,000 miles per hour. (Because Mars is moving in space). He explained how there is liquid water on frozen satellites of Saturn. As the satellite moves around Saturn the tides pump the satellite with its pull. That melts the ice through energy. Like when you bend a thin piece of metal back and forth till it breaks. The metal gets hot - just like the frozen satellite. That was a cool description. He talked about manned Mars missions and what needs to be sorted out still. Landing on Mars with tonnes of gear will need a new engineering technique. If you drove your car all day at top speed, without stopping ever, it would take you 170 years to get to Mars.
Anyhow - time for work. Have a lovely day!
Love,
Angela
Monday, March 24, 2014
The weekend with date night
Hi,
What a lovely, relaxing weekend. I could do with more of those at the end of each week. Very pleasant. Friday night we had Hayley come around for dinner. She is a little gluten intolerant so we found some gluten free lasagne and made two lots of lasagne. Gluten free and glutinous. Emerson and Duncan came direct from school with Toby so they were all there when I got home. Aidan joined us after she dropped Josh off at Battle Hill for his Scout weekend camping.
We sat around chatting for a while. Aidan had some good advice for Hayley and her PhD work. Great fun! I loved the cheese board. Mmmmmm.
Saturday morning Mike got up and ferried me and Toby breakfast. That was yummy. Marmite on toast. Eventually we got out of bed. We had some tasks to do during the day. We arranged a sleep over for Toby with Isaac so Mike and I could go out on date night. There was a movie we were keen to see, and I rather fancied dinner at Capitol again. Capitol was as good as ever. I had pea and ham risotto and it was scrumptious. Followed by their signature soft centered chocolate pudding. Yum!
Back home to bed and up early to collect Toby from town where Isaac was off to Hebrew school lessons. Back home and Mike found all sorts of excuses not to go to work. He gardened and did all sorts of things. Eventually he went to work, only to come back when the people collected the firewood.
I read a lot of the day, punctuated by housework. And some some inexplicable urge to make banana cake. I don't bake very often. I accidentally left out baking powder when I put the cake in the oven. I figured it was important so I fished the cake out, sprinkled baking powder over and folded in. Noted the sides were already starting to cook. Maybe this was too late to add the baking powder? Oh well, in it went. Burned my fingers handling the tin. When I put it back in I nearly spilled the whole runny lot over the front of the oven. Grabbed the tin with my fingers to catch it. Bit hot.
I got up early for my run this morning. Lovely morning for it. Venus looked stunning.
Have a wonderful week. We're off to hear a chap talk about building the robots that landed on Mars. Curiosity. 6.30pm tonight at Shed 6. Free. Should be quite good! Right after my dental appointment.
Love,
Angela
What a lovely, relaxing weekend. I could do with more of those at the end of each week. Very pleasant. Friday night we had Hayley come around for dinner. She is a little gluten intolerant so we found some gluten free lasagne and made two lots of lasagne. Gluten free and glutinous. Emerson and Duncan came direct from school with Toby so they were all there when I got home. Aidan joined us after she dropped Josh off at Battle Hill for his Scout weekend camping.
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| Mike and Hayley |
We sat around chatting for a while. Aidan had some good advice for Hayley and her PhD work. Great fun! I loved the cheese board. Mmmmmm.
Saturday morning Mike got up and ferried me and Toby breakfast. That was yummy. Marmite on toast. Eventually we got out of bed. We had some tasks to do during the day. We arranged a sleep over for Toby with Isaac so Mike and I could go out on date night. There was a movie we were keen to see, and I rather fancied dinner at Capitol again. Capitol was as good as ever. I had pea and ham risotto and it was scrumptious. Followed by their signature soft centered chocolate pudding. Yum!
Back home to bed and up early to collect Toby from town where Isaac was off to Hebrew school lessons. Back home and Mike found all sorts of excuses not to go to work. He gardened and did all sorts of things. Eventually he went to work, only to come back when the people collected the firewood.
I read a lot of the day, punctuated by housework. And some some inexplicable urge to make banana cake. I don't bake very often. I accidentally left out baking powder when I put the cake in the oven. I figured it was important so I fished the cake out, sprinkled baking powder over and folded in. Noted the sides were already starting to cook. Maybe this was too late to add the baking powder? Oh well, in it went. Burned my fingers handling the tin. When I put it back in I nearly spilled the whole runny lot over the front of the oven. Grabbed the tin with my fingers to catch it. Bit hot.
I don't actually own cake tins as such. I have silicon tins. Which aren't tins at all. And because I only use them every five years or so, putting something that feels like rubber into a hot oven feels wrong. Like it will melt. Silicon means wobbly. Hence the cake tin almost throwing the cake mixture out when I only put half back on the hot oven shelf. I don't have a lot of hope for this cake. Mike is going to try it today. The anticipation is likely to be far more delicious than the cake.
Yep. This is why I don't bake. Perhaps I need affirmation every five years or so.
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| Cake cooking nicely |
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| It looks ok |
I got up early for my run this morning. Lovely morning for it. Venus looked stunning.
Have a wonderful week. We're off to hear a chap talk about building the robots that landed on Mars. Curiosity. 6.30pm tonight at Shed 6. Free. Should be quite good! Right after my dental appointment.
Love,
Angela
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