I did do the Post Shop and grocery run this morning on my trusty two wheeled steed. I needed to post my letters to my grand-daughters and also post Rafer’s birthday present. Nothing unusual there until it came time to pay the postage for Rafer’s present. The cost of postage far out weighed the cost of the present. I don’t mind paying for good service, but not when sending anything across the ditch seems to take forever! I’m going to note how many weeks it takes. There was a time when posting across the ditch would be a matter of days – now it’s a matter of weeks!! From my experience I can send things to Ireland quicker than to Australia. Seems crazy. Has anyone else had this experience?
With that job done and still getting over the shock of the cost of postage, it was then onto PAK’nSAVE – until I saw the queue!! “Oh where is there a good café?” I thought to myself – that would make this trip so much more pleasurable. Thank goodness Countdown was just across the round-about and with no queue.
Lovely surprise cycling home
With my panniers full it was home time. Called in to have a quick chat with Denise – making sure we kept our distance. Then off cycling along the river path and cycleway – which is always a pleasure. Passed a couple of large patches of daffodils just starting to flower – always makes me smile. Peddling up the little hill from Cobham Drive bridge my day got a whole lot better when over to the right amongst the trees, I saw two familiar figures out walking their beloved dog Doogie. Ollie and Vicky my ex-next-door neighbours. It was soo good catching up with them – the conversation and connection lifted my spirits, thank you Ollie and Vicky.
Paralympics Swimming
This afternoon I watched Sophie Pascoe swim 100m breaststroke – what a beautiful swimmer. She came 2nd in her heat by 400th of a second and is racing in the medal race tonight.
After her event was the mixed 4 x 50 m freestyle relay. What a fascinating event this was. Each team had to have two women and two men and their impairment category couldn’t add up to any more than 20 points. Each competitor has an impairment category, the lower the category number the greater the impairment. While it was a freestyle event, swimmers could use any stroke they liked, some swimmers had no arms so they were lying on their back and moving their legs up and down together – bit like a dolphin; others had one arm, or one leg, some dived into the pool, other swimmers started in the pool, all depending on their impairment. It was a great watch and so interesting.
I’ve never had the opportunity to watch the Paralympics before and very thankful that I can now. Mind you the viewing times are ideal for us here in New Zealand, only five hours difference. Have any of you been involved with or supported a Paralympian? They seem to be very focused and determined people not letting their impairment stop them from achieving their goals – quite inspirational.
Family Favourite – Patricia’s Lemon Spaghetti
I can vouch for Patricia’s lemon spaghetti, it is delicious. A simple dish with not many ingredients. The pasta is only lightly coated in a sauce.
- 350g dried spaghetti*
- juice of 2 large lemons
- 50g butter
- 150ml fresh cream
- 100g grated, Parmesan cheese
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tblspns finely chopped parsley
- Cook spaghetti in rapidly boiling, salted water.
- As pasta cooks put lemon juice, butter and cream into a saucepan, bring to a boil, drop heat and simmer for a few minutes.
- Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain pasta, return to pan, mix lemon sauce through the pasta, stir in cheese and parsley and serve immediately.
Dingbats
Are these dingbats getting easier? They are book titles. See below for answers.
COVID Update
These are the numbers as at 9 am, 26 August, 2021. Still increasing!
| New cases reported during the past 24 hours | 68 |
| At the border | 37 |
| In the community | 277 |
| Under investigation/other | 0 |
| Total | 314 |
Dingbat answers
- The Witches
- Little Women
- Farewell to Arms
- Kidnapped
How was your day?
How was your day nine today? What did you get up to today?
That is it until tomorrow night. Take care out there – GoldCard Gal 🙂
Neighbourhood scenes
This afternoon as I was emptying my compost bin and spreading it around my gardens I snapped the odd photograph or two.
thanks again for the updates and lovely to read from Rafer. I too am loving getting back on my bike but having some difficulty in staying in my 5 k boundary. After a 29 k ride yesterday, I was wondering what sort of story I could cook up if stopped by our good police patrol. Sorry officer but I have been going round in circles for the last hour!!!! I am so pleased to see them out around the streets just checking that all is well. On one of my longer walks near Te Rapa- there were several police cars attending to a very scary street racer doing burnouts on the straight.
Stay safe and happy. cheers MJ
Well done ‘Margie of Knightsbridge’. Fancy doing burnouts during the day! Take care 🙂
Noted your mention of the post delays to Australia. In my experience this past year especially, all my mail takes weeks if not months to arrive in Melbourne .I made enquiry locally (Cromwell ) and was told all mail is flown into Sydney from Sth Island. Because of backlogs due to multiple lockdowns in Australia…our family enduring their 6tj in 18 months, mail is generally DELAYED!!
This morning I spent an hour online purchasing postage to allow me to post a parcel I managed all the transactions online, because unlike you Heather, our Post Shop is inside a Paper Plus store. It is closed under level 4 and so I needed to be inovative.
Can I say it worked a treat and I will use the service again … I used NZ Post this time. Blairs Anna uses a website called ” Pass the parcel ‘ a courier company. Anna has just told me that under level 4 they possible won’t collect and certainly won’t accept parcels to be dropped into a Depot currently. So much to consider in this current season. However so grateful to have accomplished my mission in time for this evening’s post.
Love the photos especially Heather Thanks for the sweetness of hearing from you daily.
Thank you ‘Carol of Cromwell’. Good to hear about your postage experiences sound much worse than mine. Will check out that Pass the Parcel website, surely it can’t be as bad as NZ Post? Take care 🙂
Wonderful photos from your beautiful garden Heather, and I will certainly try Patricia’s Lemon Spaghetti dish sounds delicious. The competitors at the paralympics are amazing. I watched a young man with no arms swim in a back stroke race, he was like a fish, he came third but as he had to hit the wall with his head he really could have come in second, however he was absolutely delighted with his place. What an inspiration these sports people are to us all. Click and Collect for us this morning, but did manage to get in a little bike ride before lunch and now the rain so very content to light the fire now.
Thank you ‘Carly of Tamahere’. ‘Patricia on Vardon’ recipe seems to be very popular – good luck let us know how you get on with it. Thank you for your landscape photos from yesterday, will be using them today. 🙂
We loved seeing you yesterday too! It made our day. I am looking forward to this lockdown being over.
I am going to instruct my chef to try the lemon spaghetti recipe, it looks yum!
Amanda, who you know, was originally supposed to be competing in these Paralympics – and we had planned on being there to support her. Of course, COVID threw a spanner in our plans.
Thanks for your blog Heather. xx
Thanks Vicki. Thought your ‘chef’ may try the recipe. That’s right, what event was Amanda going to compete in? Happy studying 🙂
It was wonderful spontaneously seeing you today. You always make our day. Great photos. Love.
Thanks Oliver, I believe you now have a new recipe to try! Take care and we’ll catchup soon for cake and coffee 🙂
I love your asparagus fern. I must see if i can find one for my garden. Your garden is looking fabulous. I will send you a photo of the raised vege garden Brad has made for me, while we have been in lockdown
Thanks Floss. Loved the raised vege garden foto – Brad always does beautiful work – you’re very lucky! 🙂
What beautiful pics! Went for my first bike ride today!
Thanks Maureen, glad you got out on your bike. Wonderful sense of freedom eh? 🙂