Survived Term One

So... It has been quite a while since my last post, as several people have reminded me! Note to self, must post more regularly...

Anyway, I survived my first term of school as acting HOD maths. I'm enjoying it, but not convinced I want to take it on permanently... It was a 12-week term which was crazy long, although we did have a few days break over Easter. Geoff and I were meant to be playing the Taranaki Masters badminton tourney on the Easter Saturday, but we were informed 2 days before then that it was cancelled due to lack of numbers. It was pretty rubbish planning really, it shouldn't have been a surprise to the organisers that some people would be going away for Easter instead of playing, and it was ridiculously late to cancel! We decided to go anyway, and ended up having a really good weekend away. Our friend Kelhi and her boyfriend drove down from the North Shore and we also know Alan, one of the Taranaki players quite well. Enroute to New Plymouth on Good Friday we popped in to catch up with my friends Nicky and Neal in Eltham. Friday night Alan and his partner hosted a BBQ at their house and put on an amazing feast for us. On the Saturday Alan had hired the badminton hall and organised for a few Taranaki players to come down and give us a hit.  The afternoon/evening was pretty much spent watching rugby, soaking in the motel hot pool, ordering in a Thai take-away and enjoying a few drinks.

Despite the outdoor water ban due to the drought, we still had a good season with our veges.  The tomatoes, capsicums and chillies all thrived in the dry conditions. The flavour of some of the big beefsteak varieties was superb. Our potatoes were good this year, we grew a few different varieties and the 'purple heart' were the most spectacular. The peas and beans were also really good. The pear tree has produced loads of fruit this year, it's the first time it has really done anything since we've been living here. We did have a few failures... The pumpkins and butternut squashes were bit of a write-off, and even the courgettes weren't that flash this year.

Will's cloches did a good job of keeping the chickens out.

The chickens continue to entertain us. They really are fantastic working 'pets'. Around Easter time one of them started laying lovely marbled eggs, so we joked that she was giving us Easter eggs... Florence sometimes thinks she belongs inside with us...

We have had a few other visitors to the garden of late, although I can do without the weta! Will, however, is fascinated by them... The hedgehog was very cute, tucking in to some of the chook food. The tui isn't the sharpest photo as it was taken through the lounge window. The leftover apples have been attracting all manner of birds.

I've bought a couple more fruit trees for the 'orchard' (which sounds much grander than what it actually is!). A Black Boy peach and a nectarine. Will obliged by digging a couple of holes for me. I pleaded that my dodgy knee wasn't up to such manual labour... He was 'helped' by the girls who know that upturned soil means the possibility of worms and bugs!

 

 

I enjoyed my first week of holiday, it has been very chilled. I've been getting to the gym quite a bit, and am also still having physio on my knee. I happened to strain my lateral ligament 2 days before the first Wellington Masters badminton match of the season which was a bugger. Luckily it was a home game and they managed to get someone to fill in for me. They didn't really need me at all, beating Hawkes Bay and Taranaki comfortably. On Saturday night Will and I saw Ironman 3 in 3D at the Embassy. It was a GrabOne 'date night' deal where you got 2 movie tickets, a bottle of bubbles, any 3 sharing plates from the menu, plus a couple of kapiti icecreams. It was a really fun night. Will has been working far too hard lately so it was good for him to chill out and relax for a bit.

On Sunday I caught up with Kevin and Deidre, my Waikato badminton friends who happened to be in town. I picked them and their 2 kids up from their hotel in town and bought them back to our place for afternoon tea. It is always great to see them. Kevin used to coach me in juniors and (along with Dennis Gloyn) taught me a lot of what I know on the badminton court.

 Today has been very nice. In the morning I had a tough pilates class on the reformer machine. There were only 2 of us in the class so it was pretty much like having a personal trainer for the hour. The pilates/yoga studio at my gym is offering 7 days of unlimited classes for $10 so I've been making the most of it! I then had a 1 hour deep tissue sports massage which was amazing, followed by getting my eye-lashes tinted and brows shaped, both on a voucher deal. Earlier in the week I had also used another voucher for a manicure and pedicure, meaning I'm currently sporting dark purple toenails and sparkly pink nails! I think I'm getting a bit girlier in my old age!!!

That's all. Nice work if you made it to the end of this, I promise to go down the shorter but more frequent route next time...