The boys are back

We have our two boys home from their travels. Hugh returns after a year of gadding about London and Stuttgart and Ben after his whiz bang four-week trip to smooch with his girlfriend in London, Paris and Rome etc...

Funny enough both of them ended up with the new Harry Potter book as reading material for the long haul around the globe and both had finished it on arrival in Auckland. We really do live of the other side of the world down here! So, anyway, their respective sisters have now purloined the books for the next reading. I don’t buy books and would have been happy to wait for my hold to come up in the library in a month or two. To tell the truth I haven’t actually read the 6th one yet – so no rush.

Ben now has to settle in to another semester at varsity, while Hugh decides what to do next. At least Ben came home with his luggage. Hugh lost his on the way over to Germany a year ago and this time he lost one bag on the domestic flight between Stuttgart and Berlin and then lost his guitar on the fight to Auckland. There have been a few phones calls made and hopefully they will turn up soon. Funny enough Ben also bought a guitar home, a baby travel guitar -VTG100N – his 6th! It’s rather cute, but I don’t really see the need for so many.

Ben did rather well with his present buying – although he did mention that having three siblings made it a bit of an onerous chore. I got a lovely black silk scarf from Rome. Zoë, a scarf and a multi coloured sweatshirt from Camden markets. Jed a t-shirt that looks like it says Coco cola but actually says cool fucker(!). Jack got a t- shirt, a shirt, and a wooden sword from the Tower of London. And a bottle of whisky for his dad. A lot of effort for a wee holiday.

What's a girl to do?

Sighhhhhh….Not a sigh, not a sigh! Life is just so.………..tiring at times.

All is well! I am well, kids are well, husband is well.

It is winter, however, and a cracker winter it is, with frost almost every morning for weeks. But oh gosh, I feel quite discombobulated. There is definitely something missing and I’m not sure what it is. Do I need a career change, a new hobby? I seem to be just drifting along - crankily – not enjoying very much about a pretty relaxed and peaceful existence. I’m very grateful to be here and Dunedin, New Zealand is a lovely place and all that – but what is the point exactly?

Hopefully it is just winter blues time and there will be a ‘point’ around the corner.

Pointless moan out of the way…My new gym is turning out to be very successful. I’m liking the attention I get each time I’m there (3 x weekly for 5 weeks so far!) – ‘everyone knows my name’. And find that I push that little bit harder when someone is watching me. I had a set of measurements done today and all is going nicely – no weight loss (which is NOT the point of it all, says Jo vehemently!) but cm loss in all the pertinent areas, so I’m toning up baby!

I was really pleased that I managed to keep my gym visits regular over the school holidays – either I was a BAD mother or I was super organised and dedicated :-) I’m liking fitting visits into my normal day hours too, rather than the 6am sessions at my last gym – why did I do that? I just didn’t think I had the time elsewhere. But it’s pretty regular now. Mondays 5pm, Wednesdays 9am and Fridays 1.45pm. Plus cardio sessions in between, if I need a little time out from home. Of course I also have karate: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. So I’m keeping the body at it’s maximum tiredness rating most of the time.

Maybe it’s time for my favourite winter (and so aptly named) pick-me-up?

A boy and his girl

I have been so busy lately - no time to blog - school holidays, children, work, new gym - just go, go, go. Nothing much to say anyway.

Here are some more shots of my boy and his girl in various spots around Europe. He is tripping around the English country side at the mo and then has another week in London before he comes home.

Can you pick the spots visited so far?

My first-born baby has flown to England to see his girlfriend. He is literally on the other side of the world from me now! He rang last night and all is well – if expensive. He only has four weeks to explore London, Paris and Rome. Then it will be straight back into his varsity work.

Ben’s girlie, Imogen, is working in England for a year between finishing school and going to university. Ben has missed her immensely and so gathered his dosh and flew over in his mid-year break. Madness for only four weeks – but young love is so impetuous.


Oh, by the way, we are now two up in the America’s Cup Race! Go team New Zealand!

Brrrr.

The Mid Winter Ball has been cancelled. I’m pleased! I have a shitty head cold and feel miserable. Snow has hit the South and the road out to the Castle is windy and steep. They have postponed it until next month, so that’s all good.

I couldn’t drive all the way home last night from my night shift on the Bookbus. There was a late freeze and the hill down to my house was covered with black ice and four vehicles that had skidded into weird positions. I ended up abandoning the car, standing and doing road-stopping duties for 30 minutes to stop other cars, and then trudging home through the snow.

We retrieved the car late this afternoon, but I think it will freeze again tonight and we will be walking to church in the morning. Yaah for electric blankets is all I can say.
Jack hitting a tree

Mid Winter Beach Training

Had a great weekend in Timaru. Four hours training on Saturday at the dojo and then three hours the next morning on the beach starting at 8am. We saw the sun rise as we ran along Caroline Bay and although the day started with a heavy frost the sunny day that followed meant we didn’t get too cold. Even the obligatory dip in the water wasn’t too bad. They weren’t hard out training sessions, more a social gathering with a little training thrown in. I was hoping to spar with people from a different dojo, but no luck.

I have a Mid Winter Ball this weekend and the dress I always wear is sleeveless. This is not good as I have massive bruises on both arms (I forget to get out of the way). Seán has suggested that I buy some long evening gloves as otherwise people might think that I am a battered wife :-)

Umm?

Me, me and me...do I ever know what I want, how to get it or what to do? Nope...

Thx to Karl for the quiz link.

Gym gone

It’s goodbye to my gym of five years! My membership has just run out and instead of renewing it I have looked around and am trying a new gym. It’s a little more expensive, but has the advantage of only allowing 12 members to be there at a time and having three personal trainers on the floor all the time.

It specialises in tweaking peoples’ pain problems and promises that if they can’t fix it they will at least make it better. With a guarantee that if after 3 months and no improvement they will refund your fee and pay for you to go to another gym consultation.

The down side is that I will miss the 24-hour access my last gym offered. It was also quite a small gym and at my preferred 6am start time often has only 3-4 people there, but you had to pay heaps extra for personal training.

My justification (to the family budget) is that at this time in my life (old!), and with karate being my main focus, I need to manage my body really well – work out the niggles and get it into tip-top shape.

Apart from that decision, that took far too much energy up in looking at new gyms and trying to compare pricing plans that are all different, I have also signed up for a computing course. I only work three days a week and up until the start of this year I have had library studies (and tennis) to take up my time. I thought I would have this year off after gaining my Library diploma, but instead I found myself wallowing in self pity, eating and generally just wasting all that lovely free time. And so, six months into 2007 I have been re-evaluating what I do and am trying to fill in some of the blanks.

Boot it.

The boots are fantastic and here’s a funny thing. After having to order my right size and waiting a week for them to arrive I raced down before work last night to find that they were too big! Tried on the ones I had tried on last week, a size smaller, and they were perfect!! What are my feet doing to me?

I wore them out of the shop to work for the evening, back on this morning for a spot of shopping/visiting and they are so cozy and comfortable, like slippers, as they should be for $329 (NZ).


They have a nifty green strip on the sole, for what purpose I can’t imagine. All we can come up with is that the wee flash of green will keep people behind diverted from watching my bum?

Next on the shopping list are a couple of winterish skirts to go with my lovely boots :-)

Just no time to do anything!

It’s been one of those months when everyone near me needs things and either: I have no needs, I have forgotten to need them or I am too tired to think about needing them because there is no time or space for them. I don’t want to get pissed about it so I’m subliminally rejecting needy thoughts before they get to the surface…because I am cool, fine, okey-dokey and life (apart from one thing) is pretty damn fine (no, two things…).

Anyway, my dad is finally out of nut ward and back in his own home, looking amazingly normal. Drugs are wonderful things. I am way into the tough love thing with him and have reached the point of saying (not quite to his face, but to anyone else who listens) that if he can’t stand on his own two feet well, I’m not propping him up anymore. No daily call or visit, no grocery run, no endless head nods and murmured sympathies over imaginary ills and woes. Nah! He’s a grown up and he either sorts his shit out or gets himself into a rest home where someone is paid to sort it. NOT MY JOB! Yaah for caring daughters, not.

My daughter has not stopped coughing for six weeks. And this isn’t a wee cough or a tickle or even a bark every now and then. It is a constant every breath cough. To the point the last few days that she has been getting pins and needles up her arms and over her face as a result of a lack of/excess (?) of oxygen. She is currently using a local anesthetic via a nebuliser every 4 hours. This numbs her mouth and throat and gives her 90 minutes relief from coughing. All she has done for the past three weeks is cough and sleep. She is exhausted and nothing else has worked. No cough mix, no inhaler and the chest x-ray is clear. But is just goes on, and on, and on.

She is in the middle of school exams and has to sit in a room alone to do them, as she is too distracting for the other girls. This morning she sat in the sick room numbing her throat (which also means no food or drink for 3 hours as she can’t swallow in case it goes into her lungs!) so that she could deliver her English speech! Madness. The doctor is stumped and I think we will be off to a respiratory specialist early next week.

The only bright spot for me this week is that I am going to buy a pair of boots tonight on my way to work (ugh, yes I work on a Friday night!). I have what is politely called a pair of ‘well developed calves’ (WDC) or just plain fat legs really! Darling husband says they are athlete’s legs and this is true. I have run many a mile to get them in this shape, but that is no consolation when sitting in a shoe shop red-faced with embarrassment and exhaustion from trying on multiple pairs of knee high boots that just will not bloody do up! So I have ordered in some specially made for ladies with ‘WDC’ and hope to pick them up in about 30 minutes. Just black I fear, and flat heeled, but I want to wear them everyday to work. They look vaguely like biker boots as they have buckles on the side where the gusset is that allows me to fit the damn things. I hope they are as comfortable as the ones I tried on before ordering them in…

Intimacy issues

You know you have intimacy problems when you get really, really, really, shitty at your husband for taking music off a new CD and not asking if it was OK.

His response to my curt “Shouldn’t you ask before you take that?” Was, “Take what?” “My music.” “Since when is it yours and not ours?” he asks patiently. “Since always!” was my snappy comeback.

I am totally pathetic – but it IS mine and I DON'T like sharing!

Snip snip

Snippets today…

• Baby-sat Phoebe today, for eight hours. Exhausting! She’s seven months old and perfect in everyway, but such a lot of work – and my back!

• Took my father out of his, seemingly permanent, residence in the psych ward for a quick trip to a barbershop and then to a shoe shop for slippers (his are wearing out, funny enough). This was almost as exhausting as babysitting Phoebe - which I was doing simultaneously. I had to put on his seat belt, and he shuffles so slowly that I think Phoebe would beat him just rolling along (she’s not crawling yet – she would win hands down then).

• Visited my Aunty Val, taking Phoebe to show her off! Was forced to eat a piece of fudge that I didn’t need.

• Had six people home (Phoebe’s home) for lunch, who only came because I was there. This including both husbands! Sausage rolls and pancakes – weird food, but all that was there.

• Missed a karate class because husband was at a lecture, one son was at ice hockey, one son at rugby practice and we just ran out of transport options.

• Gave my daughter a glass of Port today after school in my everlasting efforts to find something to curb her whooping cough. We are into the fifth week of what is expected to be a 12-16 week cough. Poor Zoë is exhausted and I am frustrated that nothing works. We are all so tired of her coughing. I timed her today and she coughs 8-10 time a minute!

• Ate an entire bag of chips while feeding Phoebe.

If this seems to be all about Phoebe – well it is – I am a besotted God Mother :-)

Marae Visit

We learnt a new song ‘E rere te manu’ and a couple of haka ‘Hau kiwi’ and ‘Tenei te ruru’, went for walks, ate and slept. The fantastic weather meant that we were able to have all of our practices in front of the wharenui (meeting house).
The sleeping arrangements were rows of mattresses lined up in the wharenui and anyone sleeps anywhere. The children looked like a big heap of puppies playing, laughing and reading before they settled down for the night.

There was a compulsory performance at night. I got away lightly with singing a chorus to one of Seán’s Gaelic song ‘An poc ar buile’ while Jack showed off a few of his new karate moves. Others sung, told stories and showed string games.

Seán’s parents had a great time and fitted in well. Kaumatua (elders) are very respected in the Maori world and they were always included and deferred too. They got special beds raised up of the floor and chairs were always brought out for them while we were lounging on the floor. They were not excluded from the performance either and come up with an Irish blessing they had sung at our wedding.
The Otakou Marae is situated at the end of the Otago peninsula and commands a glorious view of the harbour entrance.

Dull old week in Dunners

Just so little happening, work is busy but life isn’t. My life is taken up with lots of crappola, but just nothing to get excited about.

My father is back in hospital. He’s been in, out, in and then to a rest home and then back into the psych. ward over the last five months. My brother is over from Australia this week so we are having a family conference this afternoon, with the doctors, to see what can be done with a depressed old man. I am so tired of it/him and there seems to be no light at the end of this particular tunnel.

My parents-in-law are down for the weekend arriving tomorrow. They are the same age as dad, but fit and healthy. What they don’t know is that they are going to be staying on a marae with us overnight on Saturday! Our waiata (singing) group is going to learn a few new songs and by staying at Otakou Marae we will be infused with Maori culture and hopefully the songs will have more meaning for us.

It's not easy being green...

I'm at the back - 4th from the left - still in yellow :-)

What’s to say? Very, very pleased it is over. I don’t think it was actually harder than my 5th kyu grading but I was far more nervous about it all. Nights spent doing kata, kihon, yakusoku and self defenses in my head (which is really tricky!) It took about 2 1/2 hours. No one was grading above us so we (the four going for 4th kyu) were the last on the floor.

I was pleased to arrive home to a hot bubble bath, but I must remember to stretch next time. Really sore legs for about three days: Odd muscles that got heavily used in the fitness and cardio routines rather than in karate. Made walking for the next few days a bit of a challenge.

That was my last grading with no fighting required. I am now a green belt and from here on in there will always be sparring at the end of each grading. I attended my first official sparring class last night and it’s not so much fun having them hit back at you. I got a couple of kicks to the head that made my ears pop and my jaw still can’t chew hard on one side. I have bruising on my knees, upper arms and chest. My back is sore and I feel quite fragile. This was an easy class (“Don’t hurt the new green belts, we don’t want to frighten them off”). Whew! I worry that I might burst into tears if I get hurt too much :-s

I got told off for; hitting too hard (It’s about technique not strength), not kicking hard enough, for being hit in the head (I wasn’t blocking) and for grabbing a kick (I wouldn’t have been able to if they weren’t being ‘gentle’) I can’t seem to win – not that it’s about winning. Sigh, it’s the first class though. So I’ll have to suck it up, keep my mouth shut, my guard up and try not to cry.
Seido Dunedin - Those that graded and some of those who watched. I'm at the back 4th from the right. My son, Jack, my husband, Seán, my daughter, Zoë, my step-son, Joseph, and my step-daughter, Lorna, are all in the picture as well. Another son, Jed, was at the grading but had to rush off to rugby before the pix was taken.

Mini break

On top of Mount Iron

I’m just back from a four-day mini break up around Central Otago. We stayed two nights in Wanaka at a spa pool complex. There were seven pools (apparently all different temperatures) set in an outdoor area with an additional two swimming pools. It was heaven for my sore legs (karate – another story). We had several sessions in the pools, day, night – even in the rain at one point. I could only stay in the hot pools for about 10 minutes and then I have to cool off in the bigger pools.
Lake Wanaka

It’s between seasons so the town was really relaxed and quiet. The autumn colours were fantastic and the weather mild and sunny. It was just such a luxury to have time to nothing and nothing to do in it. Wanaka is an area that I am very familiar with – lots of family holidays over the years – so now I can just visit with nothing more to do than stroll along the lake front, wander up a hill or two, sit and have a coffee with a book and a roaring fire and feel no pressure to have to explore or see and do anything. It was fabulous.Lake Wanaka

We spent another night over the hills in Queenstown. It was misty and grey most of the time here, but we found warm spots to sit and relax in. It became a necessity for a place to have an open fire before we would go in. On Tuesday night I stopped for a port at a bar and the fire was so huge and so hot we could only sit in front of it for a few minutes before retreating to another chair. By Wednesday we had enlarged our requirements to needing; stone work, an open roaring fire, and a sofa that is well enough lit to read by (Hotel rooms are crap to read in!) We found the perfect spot for lunch in Clyde – an old Post Office that is now a café. It had all we wanted for that last wee luxurious time of eating, reading and coffeeing before heading home to the family.Diamond Lake

Arriving at work...

...is a little less exciting. A monstrosity built in the seventies (I think). It's pretty crap inside as well.My entrance is in through the Lower basement - where the buses are parked.
It's dark and, as you can see, I walk past trash to enter my office.
The office is overrun with books - not too surprising, I suppose :-) And can you see the pipe running across the top? It drains some slight plumbing problem, further up the building, and when it rains you'd think there was a stream running through the place - or maybe a urinal?

Walking to work

These are a few of the buildings that I walk past every day on my way to work. I have a ten-minute drive and then a ten-minute walk, right through the centre of Dunedin. It was a misty, chilly, autumn morning this morning. Coats required, but not hats and gloves yet.
Dunedin
Prison
Law Courts
Railway Station
St Paul's Cathedral
Town Hall

How high can you piss up a wall?

I have been in this house for seventeen years. My second son, Jed, was born a few months after moving in. This is our inbuilt height chart. The marks are ground into the wood with ball-point pen. I stopped letting the kids record me when they noticed a slight decrease in height – uh uhh I worked hard to get to my lofty 5’ 5 1/2”.
Jed has just topped 6” and is inordinately proud of it. So much so that he wound some insulation tape around the beam, and called it ‘The Jed Line’. I found this quite funny. Jed’s stepfather did not and was annoyed by it. He tops six foot too, so it wasn’t an inferiority thing. He thought it might ‘damage the wood’ and ‘make it hard to paint’. We all burst into hysterical laughter at this statement, seeing that it is ruined already and it NEVER gets painted. He was not amused.Jed, being the most amenable member of this family, asks Seán if he wants him to take it down - this after me arguing for 5 minutes (on his behalf) that it should stay. Seán say 'Yes please' and Jed calmly unwinds it and puts in in the bin. This boy should join the UN.

Rise and shiny

Is this reality blogging? Thanks to Jessica, Karl, and Hilly, et al.

Interesting idea for some inane reason - let's not do our navels next , huh?

This morning - 9.30am - school holiday sleep-in - woken by mad father wanting a new library book - I don't wanna get up!