The Wednesday working from home

 Hi,

Mike got a bit worse and actually finished work early and fell asleep in seconds. He lost his voice too. It is like having an adolescent boy back in the house. Hahah.

I realised today when I put rubbish outside that I have not been out the front door since Sunday evening. Also - I think it is up to day 5 of the heat pump on continuously.

Hmmm. Stupid flu. Mind you, I seem a fair bit better than Mike. Let's see eh?

Hope your day is a good one. At least the cats are happy we are home.

Kayaking like we were born to it

Love,

Angela

The post catching up on things

 Hi,

Mike and I have been so sick. We just slept on Monday and I also was in bed for most of Tuesday. Today (Wed) we are both at work (WFH though) and the flu drugs have kicked in. But still a bit under the weather.

Quick update on the weekend. I went rafting with Kara on Saturday. But due to low river conditions, they changed it to inflatable kayaks. A lot of fun. Hard work. Kara and I got stranded on many rocks and dumped out twice. One team punctured their kayak. And we didn't get back until 3.30pm. We thought we'd be back at 1pm.

Mike met us at Kara's and we got takeaways. Then home to bed. Mike was a bit sick - but he had climbed Mt Kau Kau!

Sunday saw Mike in bed. And I went out to the rugby with Maureen collecting me and Elly and taking us to Newtown to watch with WomenNZSports. Black Ferns v Aus. And the Aussies got smashed.

But when I got home, I got sick. So crazy. And Monday we both just stayed in bed sleeping. This is my worst flu in 20 years (I remember trying to look after baby Toby and just falling asleep). Terrible.

Hopefully back to normal blogging function soon.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with lots of work stuff on

 Hi,

Big day yesterday with planning for the quarter. My last one with this squad - after just over 4 years. Oh well. Onto a different part of the business next.

Morning Moxley

Wed morning gym

We had lunch pizza courtesy of the BA manager because our one was away on leave. But she made sure we got cake and gave us a message - so yay for that. Things are changing quite a bit at work right now.

After planning tea

Most of us headed over to Rosies for tea. And we had to sit outside in the cold. But we were wrapped up enough it did not matter too much.

From there, some of us went with Hope to move her car from Clifton Terrace to Tory St. Her partner has an apartment across from Harvey Norman with car parking. So I took Adnan and Hope in a drive across town. Dragged off some much fancier car at a set of lights. Hope drives a wee Suzuki Swift. We did not get to meet her bf - he was working and in a meeting so she stayed with her car and Adnan and I joined the others at Witching Hour.

In the Witching Hour

Let's go!

And done!

Jo was the captain of our team. Me, Joe, Ben and Jo. With Anne, Caitlin, Adnan and Hope in the other group. Turns out Ben is great at golf - awesome putting game. He got 35 over the 13 holes. I got 44. Joe 47 and Jo 52. The last hole was diabolical. Hahah.

Go Joe!

UV light

Golfing fun

Caught the bus home as the #4 was coming in a minute. Mike was missing in action until after 10pm. He got home then and we tucked into bed for the night.

Up to bus in for gym this morning. We worked out together. Deads. Me on 80kg. 3 reps x 4 sets. And Mike on 110kg. 4 reps x 4 sets. Boom!

Sally and Andrew had a flight to Nelson to sort out house stuff cancelled last night. So they headed back home. And we had already arranged someone to pick up their avos from their doorstep. So they got home - and no avos. Avos are a hot commodity. They hope to fly over this morning. 

And I have bike maintenance to do tomorrow. Brakes then my spoke. Sigh.

Bus ride in this morning

Kara has her birthday on Saturday. I am going rafting with her. Then rugby watching with Maureen on the Sunday afternoon.

Have a great weekend too!

Love,

Angela

 Hi,

Ok - the perils of working from home is: no pics. Yeah, a boring day working from home when the cats avoided me because it was far warmer in other rooms of the house. So not even a chance to really take pics of them.

Busy week continues at work. And I am still enjoying the high from the weekend's fun. I did get to the garage gym yesterday and did 40kg bench - 2 reps x 5 sets. And I just tried 50kg to see how heavy it was. Just to see if I could lift it off the rack. It moved - a cm or two. Felt heavy. But let's see how I go.

Right. Time for gym with Quentin now. Tell you about it soon.

Back from gym now. Bench today. 45kg. Yeah. Well. I did 1 rep x 2 sets. Then failed on my 3rd set attempt at a rep. Did 5 eccentric reps (the one where Quentin helps you back up with the weight) and managed 3 sets of that.

Then it was into shoulder destroying territory. And wow - are my shoulders pumped right now. I walked back to work from the gym and met Mike coming in on the bus. He had got his lunch from Woolworths and brought my lunchbox from home. Yay! He also got me Lewis Road iced latte for work.

Lewis Road at work.

Mike and I want to run after work. Not really together. He will run his race and I will run mine. But after that, 6pm at Bivouac for the tramping club night he has organised.

Then ride home for me. Feed the cats. Get tea ready. And do it all again.

Have a brilliant day!

Love,

Angela

The weekend with some spring challenge training

 Hi,

What an epic weekend. It was so good. And Mike got up to his own fun with a trip down to Chc to see Toby and everyone. It was David's birthday so he was down too. They had a great time.

Mike dropped me at the airport - we left work in town at 1630 and I was at the check in gate for Sounds Air by 1650. Sweet - ta Mike!

Ticket in hand

Lovely easy flight over in the dark. Iona collected me and we were back at Iona and Col's place in no time. 

And arrived

Up Friday morning to gorgeous but freezing conditions. Nicola delayed her drive to us by 20 mins to let the ground thaw out a bit more. So it was probably hovering just above zero by the time we started riding from home to the Wither Hills.

We went up the Taylor River and as we cut across the hospital, I dropped into Urgent Care to pay my bill from the weekend in Feb 2023 when I cut open my foot. The receptionist was great. I said "How are you" and she said "Probably better than you". And I said "Well, no actually. I am good - and here to pay a bill". She might gave thought I had broken something as I was decked out in my bike gear. But she was relieved to only have bill payment to transact. Hahah.

Phew.

Continued to Wither Hills and along the Mapp track towards the Cob Cottage. Almost made it up all the hills.  :-|

About 10 - 11km of riding.

Spring challenge training is on!

Transition to walking

Got to almost the end and there was a road closure. But that did not deter us as we were about to lock up the bikes and walk up to Mt Vernon. Twice!

Yes. We walked up the ride from the end to the top, down the zigzag route to the toilet stop. Then up the middle to the skyline. We ate some food while a trail runner ran by us. Then back up to Mt Vernon and down the ridge to our bikes. About 11km of walking - but a lot of elevation.

Up

and up

At the top

Back on our bikes and around to the road (did they say Dry Fields??) and navigated the school traffic and roundabouts before getting to the safety of the river track.

Riding back

To discover Col had made date scones - so good

Got home to find Col had made date scones. Mmmmm.

Home made

Driving to Nelson

Readers - I did not get up for Park Run. Far too cold for me. 8.30am before I roused from slumber. And had oaty pancakes for brekkie. Mmm.

Then we carried the ladder around to Robyn's house and I got up on her roof to clear the gutters. Great fun rummaging around up there.

Back home to pack (I just shoved it all in) and said goodbye to Col. She was excited to stay and watch the rugby.

Drove to Nicola's house and got the bikes and gear transferred to their double cab ute. Met Charlotte (it is her bike I am riding). And then we were off. Maybe around 1400.

Bikes in  back

I see our house

Hello Brent!

Popped into Torpedo7 - they are closing down. Bought some things. Continued to Upper Moutere and the Harakeke Hill cottage

Skull island - I want to SUP out there

Got there just on dusk. Sewttled in. Watched TV. Had a very nice tea (ta Iona). And wasn't long out of bed. So warm.

Our house for the night

Packing in the morning

Off at 8.25am the next morning to Kaiteriteri. 40 min by car. Stopped at a coffee cart on the way. Got to the MTB park at 9:10am and met people. Emma and Lisa were running it. About 9 women all up. We got split into two groups - 4 of us with Lisa. We also had Jade with us - she is doing her Duke of Ed in Year 11 in Akl.

What are they doing?

Ok - got them

We had over 3 hours of tuition. So good. Lisa checked out bikes. Taught us A,B,C,D.

A - air in tyres. Should feel like a ripe banana when you push down on it. All 3 of our bikes were hard apples. So we let air out.

B - brakes. Yeah - they need to work well.

C - chain. Lisa lubes and cleans her chain every ride.

D - drop test. Pick your bike up 5 cm and drop onto its tyres. Listen out for anything loose.

Then we rode in a circle to check we could use gears. We were all good. And then we had a slow race in a straight line. Who could ride the slowest using the lowest gear and brakes. Wow! Revelation.

At about 10:45am we started up the hill. Up the access track to the top of  Cruise Control. Did some training at the start of Tank - which was a 4WD track where we were. We practised body position a lot here.

Then did some downhill on Glade Running. Back up to the hub and practised corners at the top of Swamp Monster. We finished at 12:45 - eating into Lisa's lunchbreak. 

It was such a well-run morning. Lisa was kind and patient and encouraging. I learned so much. Thank you!

Lunch after the course at Riweka

By now I was starving. Off to Riweka for lunch - very nice. Then continued to Blenheim. Back at Nicola's by 1600. Thank you for driving us all the way there and back, Nicola. 

Iced latte was so good

Hello again

At the airport

Back to Iona and Col's for a quick tea and change of clothes and then off to the airport for my 7pm flight to Wellington.

We took off early at 6:50pm. We landed at 7:15pm and turns out Mike's flight was delayed and I actually ended up waiting for 2 mins for him to get off his plane!

Monday morning in Wellington

Lisa ensures I know the correct boss-mode position

Got washing on and fell into bed. Up to a gorgeous morning here. Did some housework this morning. All the cats' kitty litter got changed. And washing hung out.

Busy week ahead.

Hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with work stuff

 Hi,

Mike is stretching a lot to try and sort out his adductor muscle that is playing up. Pigeon pose is the main stretch. After he did this, he ran slowly on the treadmill for 3k and it was fine. So long as he does not reach out in a stride it seems fine. So slowly and often to get him back on track for his Forest Gump 500. (500 miles running this year).

Pigeon pose - or Snail pose as I am calling it

French Kiss iced latte

Evenings are flying by

Rode home after work and avoided any rain. It was cold - but dry. Mike was already home by then and I walked in to have tea.

We had a #busfuss in the street again. A bus got stuck at the hairpin and then other buses came down and couldn't get past it. And couldn't reverse. It was quite the pile on. 

Tow truck had to come.

And then we went to bed. I slept much better having avoided a late iced latte. Hahah.

Up for PT session in the garage gym. 50kg squats.  5 reps x 4 sets. WFH today. Will leave a tad early to collect Mike and head to the airport for my flight to Blenheim. We have Wheel Women training this Sunday in Motueka. OMG. Until I looked at my calendar I thought I was packing for a general Blenheim spring challenge training weekend. Lucky they are kinda the same. Cycling and tramping. I just took out my wetsuit. No paddle training this weekend.

Mike is off to see Toby this weekend. Awww. I want to see him too! But I am glad Mike will be there. They will have lots of fun.

Have a great weekend.

Happy July 4th to y'all.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with work

 Hi,

Winter is here. Like, so here it is only a high of 9C today in Wellington. Brrr.

Yesterday was cold too - but windy and rainy along with it. But it did clear up through the day. We met up with Khemry and Kyle for lunch to plan more of our Mt Hutt weekend. And Chenda was there - but with someone else! Hahah. We did say hello.

Work iced latte

And an afternoon one with Celia

And as I type this, and realise I had an iced latte late in the afternoon with Celia, I know why I was wide awake at 10pm. Hahahah.

Good to see Celia - we went to Cuckoo and enjoyed a late coffee. 

I rode home to be there in time for the TV stand man. But he never showed. Mike got home and we had leftovers for tea. He had his lunch that he had left in the fridge at home. And I had leftovers from some night this week. 

I had a bath while Mike tidied up. I know this because when I woke up and went upstairs - the kitchen was spotless. Thanks Mike!

Gave him a coffee and rode in for my PT session with Quentin. Deadlifts. 77.5kg. 3 reps x 5 sets. Boom! Was moving very easily. Not too easily as Mike said. Just - easily.

Work looms. With that high of 9C forecast. Might be a chilly ride home.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela