I have been lazy these past few days, and more inclined to devour the book series that I'm reading than to writing a blog post. Plus, I'm not even sure that I have much to say for the months of November and December 2018. Looking at the photos I've taken doesn't help much, they are almost all of my pets and the few that aren't, seem to be of my garden. My New Year's resolution is to do more interesting things and take photos, so that I have more interesting stories to tell. Instead of the usual - going to work, taking the dog for walks, working on the garden, repeat.
There have been some less ordinary things. I had a birthday - I took the day of work, we went to the city and I got two books from a secondhand book store (books that I really wanted but didn't know existed till I saw them there, and it was awesome). I had wanted an extravagant milkshake but the place was closed, turns out quite a few places don't open on a Monday (and I had one a couple of weeks later and it didn't live up to the hype). I've been mostly eating healthy but it was my birthday so the lack of milkshake required that we go find something else sweet and fattening. I had a brownie & salted caramel ice-cream sundae, which was good but I think just lots of ice-cream would have been just as good. Next year for my birthday maybe I just ask for a tub of fancy ice-cream and watch movies on the couch!
In November we also went down South, which was great. Except for the delayed flights. Both ways. AirNZ seems to be going downhill. I got all my visiting done and spent the weekend at Colac Bay - possibly for the last time if it sells. I visited Isabel's Weaving Studio - I always used to visit here and think that one day, when I wasn't a poor student, I would buy one of her woven blankets. Which I have finally done. We went to Gemstone Beach, where I picked up pretty stones but despite having the gemstone guide that is available, I have no idea what any of my stones are. Then we ate lots of pizza and cookies. Despite bringing swimming gear, we didn't end up being brave enough to go in the water. I probably won't be back for another year, maybe it's time that Southland people come up here to visit us?
In December the only notable events included food (and I'm not just talking about Christmas). At work my nerdy science team put on another themed morning tea (pushed along by me of course) and this time it was to celebrate International Day of Soils. All the food was soil or earth themed and we had educational labels, and handed out 'I love Soil' stickers. I made a layer cake that looked like a soil profile - sort of. There were layer dips/soil profiles, edible dirt and compost, gummy worms, and a hill-country landscape. It was great, we were very pleased with our nerdy-selves.
Later in December we had a small get-together at home - it was sort of a Christmas Party but when you book things for the last weekend before Christmas most people are already away somewhere. Which turned out to be a good thing because we were meant to be having a BBQ but Nathan dropped the grill plate and it landed on the gas pipes and smashed them, so that wasn't happening. But luckily the BBQ wasn't the real reason for the get together, it was actually a Gingerbread House competition. I made a castle, and a friend made Gingerbread Jurassic Park. There were four gingerbread creations and we let a 3-year-old be the judge, so the castle won (going bigger is always better).
Then it was back to normal life. We had Christmas, we had vacation time, we had Airbnb guests. We have an endless amount of work in the garden but we are slowly taming the grass and gorse, the veggie garden is going well and I have lots of flowers to take care of. We haven't gotten very far with any of the big stuff this summer but I reckon we'll at least get the patio done and then we'll have a nice outdoor area. Maybe we'll have to get a new BBQ and have a patio party.
So that was last year. I better get going with the resolution to do more interesting things before my next update.
There have been some less ordinary things. I had a birthday - I took the day of work, we went to the city and I got two books from a secondhand book store (books that I really wanted but didn't know existed till I saw them there, and it was awesome). I had wanted an extravagant milkshake but the place was closed, turns out quite a few places don't open on a Monday (and I had one a couple of weeks later and it didn't live up to the hype). I've been mostly eating healthy but it was my birthday so the lack of milkshake required that we go find something else sweet and fattening. I had a brownie & salted caramel ice-cream sundae, which was good but I think just lots of ice-cream would have been just as good. Next year for my birthday maybe I just ask for a tub of fancy ice-cream and watch movies on the couch!
In November we also went down South, which was great. Except for the delayed flights. Both ways. AirNZ seems to be going downhill. I got all my visiting done and spent the weekend at Colac Bay - possibly for the last time if it sells. I visited Isabel's Weaving Studio - I always used to visit here and think that one day, when I wasn't a poor student, I would buy one of her woven blankets. Which I have finally done. We went to Gemstone Beach, where I picked up pretty stones but despite having the gemstone guide that is available, I have no idea what any of my stones are. Then we ate lots of pizza and cookies. Despite bringing swimming gear, we didn't end up being brave enough to go in the water. I probably won't be back for another year, maybe it's time that Southland people come up here to visit us?
In December the only notable events included food (and I'm not just talking about Christmas). At work my nerdy science team put on another themed morning tea (pushed along by me of course) and this time it was to celebrate International Day of Soils. All the food was soil or earth themed and we had educational labels, and handed out 'I love Soil' stickers. I made a layer cake that looked like a soil profile - sort of. There were layer dips/soil profiles, edible dirt and compost, gummy worms, and a hill-country landscape. It was great, we were very pleased with our nerdy-selves.
Later in December we had a small get-together at home - it was sort of a Christmas Party but when you book things for the last weekend before Christmas most people are already away somewhere. Which turned out to be a good thing because we were meant to be having a BBQ but Nathan dropped the grill plate and it landed on the gas pipes and smashed them, so that wasn't happening. But luckily the BBQ wasn't the real reason for the get together, it was actually a Gingerbread House competition. I made a castle, and a friend made Gingerbread Jurassic Park. There were four gingerbread creations and we let a 3-year-old be the judge, so the castle won (going bigger is always better).
Then it was back to normal life. We had Christmas, we had vacation time, we had Airbnb guests. We have an endless amount of work in the garden but we are slowly taming the grass and gorse, the veggie garden is going well and I have lots of flowers to take care of. We haven't gotten very far with any of the big stuff this summer but I reckon we'll at least get the patio done and then we'll have a nice outdoor area. Maybe we'll have to get a new BBQ and have a patio party.
So that was last year. I better get going with the resolution to do more interesting things before my next update.
