The Monday that kept going and going

Hi,

Even from this distance on Tuesday morning, my Monday seemed to take two days to finish.  What's with that?

Let's see?  What happened?

Well, work was busy.  But I did get away into the secret garden (which isn't really very secret - just quiet) for my lunch.  Just a chill out in the sunshine.

It was such a warm day.  Phew!

I rode home and got tea ready for Toby before heading off to his school for an information session.  Trouble is, I read the gumpf on the chair before it started and understood it all completely.  If only they'd handed out that gumpf before, we wouldn't have needed this session.  Did I make up a word?  Gumpf?

Anyhow.  I sat through the presentation and it was good.  Backed up the gumpf nicely.  I headed home and Mike eventually got on his flight from AKL to WLG.  After delays.  He wasn't overly happy.

He finally got home around 10pm.  I was pretty sleepy by then.  But he dropped off Christine's birthday present on her birthday - and that counted for a lot for me.  Thanks Mike.

Leanne (Matt's partner) posted a photo of me jumping into the harbour.  There is it, below!  Evidence.

Me jumping into the harbour - courtesy of Leanne

After work today I am presenting a talk on Nepal for the Meetup group with Philippa.  To get some punters for September for Bharat's trip.  Mike and Toby will come with me to Southern Cross.  7pm.

Ok.  I need a huge drink of water and then a cup of tea.

Have an great day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with dragon boating

Hi,

Well, it turns out that dragon boating race day is so much fun that it gives me a reason to look forward to next summer.  I loved it so much.

Friday night Isaac arrived for his weekend stay.  I was busy getting my gear ready for the race day the next day.

Up early Saturday and Mike dropped me off at Macs Brewery where our tent was out on the concrete in front.  We were all very excited about the big day.  The day was mostly clear, and warm enough.  But a big swell meant Celia had her work cut out for her with the trim of the boat.  The organisers had their hands full with seven capsizes during the day.  They reduced boats to 16 paddlers for one race (I missed out) and then rest of the day it was 18 paddlers.  Celia was re-jigging the boat constantly.  She did well.  We never capsized!

Sunning between heats

My singlet

Lining up for a race

Jumping into the harbour fun!

After our last heat, a few of us jumped into the harbour.  That's me, climbing out up the ladder.  My ears are full of water now though.  it was quite high - and I only jumped from the first position.

We came third, two seconds and a first in our heats.  Made it to the grand final.  Capsizes meant we were delayed a fair bit for our race.

The big race was such fun.  I was very excited.  We did our fastest time on the day in the final.  As it should be.  But we came fifth - but only by half a boat length from the second place finishers.  It was a tight final.  Results are here:  Results

Toby had a party organised so I had to head home.  I was looking ta a walk with my huge bag, but Mike got a hold of Aidan and she kindly came and collected me from the waterfront and drove me home.  I'm a lucky woman because by that stage my sports bag was feeling pretty heavy.  It might not have been super comfortable by the time I walked home.  Thanks Aidan.

There were 9 13 year old boys in Toby's room.  We gave them pizzas and chips and they watched stupid schlock horror movies.

Next morning I was up early to go grocery shopping to get them some breakfast.  Then off to archery with Ange!  First time shooting for me for about 6 weeks.  I had such fun.

Caffiend iced coffee after archery

I did ok for my first time back for ages

Back home and Mike had a neighbours BBQ at our place.  We chatted for a while to Brendan and then Arthur and Barbara.  I then took Isaac home and popped in to see Ange for a cup of tea.

The day disappeared in a blur, really.  But I am free of dragon boat commitments, and triathlons.  Time to start training for Round Taupo.

Good morning Wellington!

This morning I took the bus into work with Toby. Mike has every second Monday in Auckland and left for the airport super early this morning.

I have a school information meeting tonight.  And it's Christine's birthday today - so I hope to pop in to see her.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with dragon boating

Hi,

Happy birthday to Mike's mother for tomorrow.  Yay!

Well, it was our last training session last night before our big day on Saturday.  Work was busy and I stayed back a bit to get some extra stuff done.  Before I knew it, it was time to wander down to the lagoon.  The sea was a little choppy but it was warm enough for me to just wear my singlet.

Mike and Toby collected me from training and I picked up my bike and we went home.  I was cold in my wet gear by then so the boys endured the heater on in the car just for me.

At home I tidied a bit before standing in a hot shower for ages.  Turns out that perhaps I had got chilled quite a bit.  Tomorrow is supposed to be fairly warm.  22C.  So I'll need to slather on the sunscreen.

Sunrise this morning

Josh came and collected Lulu just after 9pm.  So the house was a lot quieter without her in it.  We enjoyed looking after her.  The house needs a good lux now though.

Off to bed and I slept really well.  Woke up at 1am and changed my alarm to a later sleep in instead of a run.  Hahah.

But my ride in this morning was lovely.  The boys seemed to be stuck to their beds so I hope they did manage to get up eventually.

The weekend looms and it is a big day tomorrow for the dragon boat race day.  Huge!  Hopefully it all works really well for us.  We start at 9.10am for our first race and if we get into the big final, it's a 4.40pm last race for us.

Toby is having a party for no reason other than he wants to.  Some mates are coming around for some scary movies.  I think it's a Halloween theme.  Starts Saturday night, although Isaac is coming tonight for the entire weekend.

Sunday we have nothing on - although Toby's party is an all night thing, so there might be some morning effort needed.

Right.  Time to start the day.

Have a great weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing much

Hi,

Well, work was work.  Normal stuff - nothing too crazy about it.  I enjoyed my ride home though.  The weather has been settled the last few days after some slightly less pleasant weather.  I got home and Toby had already walked Lulu.  I meant to make tea, but I got distracted by the Sky and telescope magazine that had arrived in the post.

Mike arrived to catch me still reading on the couch.  But we swapped places and I cooked tea while he read about the two faces of the Moon.  We ate tea and I am unsure where the evening went but I was fast asleep fairly early.  my Fitbit says I had 9 hours sleep.  It exaggerates.  But it was a good sleep.  Lulu seems to have switched to our sleeping patterns a bit more now.  Not Josh's early morning routine!

My ride into work was beautiful today.  I was so close to crashing as I craned my neck to catch a glimpse on every twist and turn on the ride down the hill.  Wondering if the next glimpse was a better view than the last.

The harbour this morning on my ride into work

But I made it to work in one piece.  Yay!

I popped into Facebook and I normally ignore all the new stuff they show me.  Well, maybe I did noticed the announcement on Tuesday that it was autumn.  I do love autumn after all.  But this morning I did see that today I have been friends with Aidan for 6 years on Facebook.  It has been a bit longer than that in real life.  8 years last month.  Even if social media says otherwise.  Hahahah.

Happy this occurred!  Well worth celebrating.

The results are out for the Kapiti Women's Triathlon and I came in the top 10 of cycle ride times. KWT  Ok - most of the other women also had to swim before they got on their bike.  So it isn't quite as impressive as it seems.  Our team (me and Phillipa) came in 4th in our category.  Not too shabby at all!  But if I train a bit for next year, I might be able to do better overall with a better run time.  That seems like a good goal!  Plus the Round Taupo!  Ooossshhh!

Wadestown hit the news yesterday:  School pick up didn't go to plan
 That would be a huge shock!  Hope everyone was ok.

Right.  Time for the day to kick off in earnest.  Enjoy your day.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with dragon boating training

Hi,

What a long, busy day yesterday.  Started super early.  Lulu woke us up at some crazy hour.  Then I rode into work really early and had breakfast with Steph and Bronwyn at the Colonial.  Mmmmm.  Bacon butty and iced coffee.

Colonial iced coffee goodness

From there, it was just madness.  A new starter in the team meant lots of talking from me through the day in various meetings or other.

Finally I left and rode home.  Cooked tea for everyone, but I left before Mike got home.  Back to work to get my dragon boating kit and then down to the harbour.  The wind was a southerly and it was cold waiting for a boat.  But the water itself was so warm.  Lovely out there.  Mike came down to see us off.

Then back home and I think I crashed into bed.  Lulu only woke us up once I think.  And then again early this morning - but so did Toby.  Hahah.

Toby enjoys walking Lulu.  He walks her twice a day - first thing and when he gets home from school.

I watched her hunt and eat two cicadas yesterday.  She's funny.

I must tell Karen about seeing a wee cavoodle.  Toby and I were leaving his appointment on Monday when a man left carrying a dog in a wee wire cage.  Toby asked him if it was a cavoodle and the man was astonished.  Said Toby really knew his dogs and he was the first person to guess the right sort of dog.  He looked a lot like York!

Right.  Time to start the day.  Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend that had the KWT

Hi,

Just how much can you jam into a weekend?  What a crazy weekend of absolute fun.  Caught up with a bunch of people for lunch and found an iced coffee.  But I was underwhelmed.

Friday lunch time - iced coffee was a bit average though

Back home and we watched an episode of X Files before bed.  Saturday was busy.  In the morning I went to the induction meeting at the archery club and then grabbed some lunch with Ange.  I got so cold in the wind that I couldn't even have an iced coffee.

Grabbed my helmet and gloves and jacket from work and Ange dropped me home.  I got my bike ready and headed to register at Raumati for the race the next day.  Mike and Toby went to Jaana and Stephen's place for lunch and to play.  Toby loved being with Luca and wee Finn.

At Raumati I collected our team pack and then jumped on my bike to ride the course.  It was a fierce head wind but I did ok.  Glad to get on the road bike for the first time in a year.

Toby plays with Luca

Then I got to Jaana's house and collected the boys after a wee play myself.  Gorgeous kids.  And we grabbed Nanados on the way home.  Mmmm.

Off to bed early and Philippa arrived just after midnight so it made it easier the next morning.

We're branded with our team number

Mike drove us up there.  We left home at 6.55am and we were at Raumati in good time.  Easily got a car park close by.  Found space in our rack.  Relaxed before the race kicked off.

The briefing was at 8.30 but Philippa wasn't in the water until 9.45am.   We had to wait for the Sprint race to get well underway and that delayed things.

And wave F is the final wave.  I'm not getting any younger (they start in order of age groups) so Philippa was in the last wave to start the swim.  She had some trouble with swallowing sea water which put her off her swimming game for a few minutes.  But as her Nepal trip showed, she reached deep and continued and nailed it.  Ran out of the water and up the beach and tagged me.  I was off on my cycle leg.

The sky over Kapiti looks impressive

I fuel up as Philippa gets ready to start her swim

Waiting for Philippa to tag me

Coming back from my ride - I think I look happy but it might just be a grimace as I suck in breaths!

In the cycle leg, I overtook loads and no one overtook me.  It might have helped that I was in wave F and most of the gun cyclists were ahead of me.  But I was chuffed to overtake a car on the way back.  Hahah.  Not sure if that is frowned upon or not, but I overtook on the right, so I figure it was fine.  The car driver was obviously unsure about passing cyclists on their left and they were going quite slow.  Slower than me, anyway!

Changing over to the run leg was tough work and I found running the 4 km really hard.  Especially as I find the cycle leg so easy in comparison.  But Mike and Philippa seem to think I did it in under an hour.

Whatever it was, I had a ball.  I love this race.  I hope Philippa did too.  It's an excuse to get out and have some goal.  And the people are so friendly.  Ari and Emma chatted to me as we waited for our swimmers to arrive.  They made my morning a lot more fun.

We drove back into town once I had recovered enough and went around to Chocolate Fish for a well deserved iced coffee and lunch.

Sprawled on a bean bag after the race at Chocolate Fish

Amazing view - and the harbour also looks ok.

I spent the afternoon relaxing.  Grocery shopping and ironing (that wasn't the relaxing part, by the way).  And slept really well.

One more weekend of craziness coming.  Dragon boat final this Saturday.  Oohhhhh.  Then summer madness quietens down.

But what a hoot.  And Vivienne looks like she had a great time on the Tongariro Crossing.  Awesome weekend all round.

Have a great week ahead.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with dragon boating training

Hi,

Well, work was work.  Busy.  Ever so slightly feeling a little out of control.  But nothing like the dragon boating after work.  That was a feeling of being on a roller coaster - but way wetter.

So, Celia drove me to the car park where we all park.  We warmed up and reshuffled the boat due to people not showing up.  Hopped in and mucked around in the lagoon for a while.  We weren't allowed out straight away as the rescue boat was checking conditions.  Then, the rescue boat wouldn't start.

So, we practised our starts up and down the lagoon.  Might have been a good thing.  We did get a lot in compared to usual.

Anyhow, eventually, with all the boats milling about in the lagoon, they approached us and asked us to be the first boat out.  We'd check conditions and they'd make the assessment.  I guess if we sank, the bright yellow singlets would assist in scooping us out of the water.  Hahah.

Anyhow, we went out into the harbour and immediately hooked into the large swell.  We paddled up to the sheltered start line outside Fergs and then did a start.  Turned around and then Pete asked if people were happy to stay out.  I let out a huge woot, because I was totally happy with the roller coaster effect.  You pay good money for this on the Gold Coast!

But then Pete asked if anyone was unhappy to be out there, and I heard at least one wee voice.  So I felt sorry for them.  Maybe that crazy gene of mine that likes being slightly scared was taking over.  Oops.  But we stayed out, and they called the other boats out.  No one got swamped, although we did take on a lot of water.

Had a ball!  I was sad when the hooter went and we came back to the lagoon.  Oh well.  We have two more sessions on the water next week and then the big race next Saturday.

This weekend is more fun!  BBQs and the Kapiti Womens Triathlon.  I am in a team with Philippa from our Nepal trip.  She is doing the swim leg, and I am cycling and running.  I want to go under an hour for my two legs.  I need to hammer the bike leg in order to give me some leeway with the running leg.  Running isn't really my strong point.  55 minutes would be super nice.  Let's see, eh?  I am hoping Mike will come to watch me (and Toby) and time my splits.  The official timings don't show splits.  Just the final time for the team.

Right.  Time to start the day.  Have a great weekend.

Love,
Angela