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

The Thursday with normal stuff

Hi,

Well, after a hectic day at work, I had a lovely ride home.  The wind was a southerly, so it helped push me home.  Which is always nice, for a change!

I made dinner for Toby and myself and sorted out a few things around the house.  Mike had a tramping club something or other on and went straight from work to that.  He didn't get home until late and I was fast asleep by then.  Fortunately Toby was awake and let Mike in.  Hahah.

Mike is off to Christchurch for the day.  He's presenting something down there.  I have no idea what but I am afraid to ask, because I am sure he must have told me.  :-p

So, this weekend is huge in the Toby calendar.  He has his Halloween costume ready that his Nana helped him sort out.  He has a sleepover planned with some mates.   Tonight we're having burgers with Aidan and her boys and Sarah.  Then decorating the house tomorrow morning.  Halloween excitement on Saturday evening.

The Rugby World Cup final on Sunday morning.  And celebrations (hopefully) into a huge breakfast treat.  And Mike has some tramping club stuff on in the afternoon.  Oh - and I am working on Sunday night.  Boo!

Right.  Time for tea and the last day of the (short) working week.

Enjoy the weekend!

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing much

Hi,

Well, work was certainly a blur of activity.  The only thing that stands out in my mind is Celia coming back from the hairdresser and looking stunning.  But the funny thing was, she'd been back at her desk for a few hours before I even noticed.  And everyone had carried on conversations about it.  Yeah, guess I was a little absorbed in the work in front of me.

I took my bike home in the car because Mike had a catch up date with Josh.  I collected Toby on the way home and cooked tea for us.

Bruised finger

The only other thing of note is my middle finger has a bruise.  I think I got it weeding on Tuesday night.  Hahah.  Gardening is vicious.  I am noting the bruise changes.  It's still swollen but the bruise colour is a lovely deep red/purple/brown colour now.

Not much else to tell you.  Things are cruising along, I guess.

It's nearly November.  How did that happen?

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with skiing

Hi,

The long weekend was superb.  We had Friday night at home and due to poor weather at Ruapehu, we didn't leave at 4am to get a full days' skiing in.  No.  We slept in and left at a much better time of 7.45am.  And we had a food filled drive up.  The best!

I stopped at Farmlands in Taihape and got peach teats just for Rex.  And gumboots for me and jandals for Toby.  Great fun.

We went straight to the hot pools at Tokaanu when we got to the region.  Soaked in one of those for a while before having lunch at the Tussock pub at the bottom of the hill.

Up to the lodge around 4pm and settled into a room.  We were sharing with a woman from Auckland.  She was going to find it odd to have Mike in the bunk next to her, so she moved to another room.  Apparently she was only there because she snored.  I thought if they were foolish enough to choose Mike's snoring over hers, they were welcome to their room configuration.  I thought it was mean to make someone sleep elsewhere just because they snore.  Anyway, she moved out.

We went to sleep early because we got up at 3.15am to head down to Skotel for the rugby.  Huge game against South Africa at Twickenham in the 2016 RWC semi.  All Blacks won.  It was a tight, good game.

Back to the lodge and I got ready for skiing.  Headed up.  Trhe centennial life was access only as there was no snow in the lower mountain.  As I went up waterfall express quad, I saw a lot of patchy snow, but it was skiable.  I decided to ski waterfall T all day.  There was never a queue and the snow softened up perfectly.  There were jumps and all sorts.  I got a lot of skiing in.

Mike came up and joined me for the afternoon and we had fun together.  Doro and Pat often boarded with us too.

Selfie at the top of Waterfall Express Quad

On my favourite easy run - Waterfall T

Mike joined me, so here's a photo from further away than my arm span

Selfie of us

Male model I skied with

While Toby and Mike were in the lodge together in the morning, they carved a pumpkin.  Yes, we brought it with us.  It looked pretty good outside as the sun set.

Toby's carved pumpkin

Sunset over Mt Taranaki

Next morning we heard Australia were through to the final.  Woot!  Big game next week.  We headed away early.  Had brekkie in Ohakune at Mountain Rocks.  Good coffee.

Mt Ngaurahoe looking mighty fine

Good iced coffee at Mountain Rocks

When we got home I did some frantic ironing before we went to Aidan's place.  She baked and cooked while we chatted.  Well, I may have snoozed on her floor while Mike chatted.

I left them to it and Ange collected me for archery lessons.  Her blanket to ward off the cold was from Mosgiel Woollens.  Blast from the past.

Ange's blanket at archery came from Mosgiel Wollens

We were both on target

We both did quite well with our shooting.  Here's hoping I don't forget by next Monday evening.

Tuesday was busy.  We had an appointment at Toby's school so we dropped Toby at school and we both had breakfast at a cafe close by.  The appointment went well and we were back at work for the rest of the day.

Right.  Time for tea and to kick start the day.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with lunch with Aidan

Hi,

I seem to be coming down with a cold.  I just had one.  That seems inherently unfair.  Maybe it will come to nothing.

Yesterday I caught up with Aidan for lunch.  This lunch was different from Tuesday's lunch.  That lunch was me catching Aidan up with all my Nepal news.  This was a real lunch where we actually took turns at talking.  Hahahah!  Dumplings.  Mmmmm.

I also had a coffee date yesterday and tried really hard to avoid an iced coffee.  I got a chai latte instead.  Not quite as good.  But, it was still ok.  I have a coffee date this morning too and I think I am obliged to have an iced coffee.  What a shame, eh?

Guess what I did yesterday?  I bought tickets to see Star Wars (the new movie) at midnight on Dec 17th.  I am going to be there - at the Roxy cinema.  One of the first ones to see it.  I am so excited!  12.01 it starts.  Hahahah!  Can't wait.

The weekend is coming up fast.  We have a long weekend here in New Zealand.  Labour day.  And a huge rugby event on Sunday morning.  We're off skiing so I hope the local pub opens up at 4am.  Otherwise I will be"watching" it on my phone.  A blow by blow text feed.

We leave 4am tomorrow morning and drive up.  I am coming back early Monday morning because I have my archery class on.  Mike will come back later that day.  The weather is forecast to be pants, so I am packing my togs.

Have an awesome weekend!

Love,
Angela