Quote for the day:
“Nothing good comes cheaply, so we shouldn’t be surprised when we meet the hard while going for the best. Hard times are not quit times’. by Terry Mark
Another stunning day in paradise. I can now cross two more jobs of my to-do list and that feels pretty good: hedge number 2 cut and looking good and the garage door soap-washed ready for painting. How has your day nine been?
Thank you for your informative, entertaining and interesting posts. 🙂
Writing your life story follow-up
Following on from last night’s suggestion about writing your life story, my sister-in-law Alison posted these comments in a post this morning:
“You as the writer, are in control of your story yourself and can decide what is important to include and what to discard.
Having written the life stories of many rural Irish women and published them with their permission, I have received a number of letters from the sons of the newly bereaved family saying that they never really knew what Mum did and how grateful they were to have her story from the book to speak from at the funeral. Boys tend to talk to and do stuff with Dad, but not always that often with Mum.”
Thank you Alison. Do those words inspire you to start writing your own life story? Alison is a published writer and here is a link to her website and an overview of her books: Irish Women Speak – Alison Wickham. I can highly recommend her books, they describe the life and times of older Irish women.
Lapageria from Jan’s garden
Thank you Jan for sending me this beautiful photo. Jan & Bill have a stunningly beautifully garden outside Cambridge. Last year it was in NZ Home and Garden magazine, that how’s beautiful it is. Feel free to send through more photographs Jan.
Must admit I’m feeling pretty tired this evening. The brain is in “go slow” mode!. So that is it from me. Trust you’ve had a great day nine, and look forward to hearing about it.
Take care and stay in your bubble – GoldCard Gal 🙂
Fairly quiet day today in Tamahere, boyfriend still working away on the getting ready for the paint job. Made some savoury scones for morning tea, seems coffee breaks and lunch times take on a new meaning in these lock down days. Had a grocery delivery from the family which meant we could sit on the deck, quick visit while they had their bought from home coffee and hot cross buns while we had our tea and scones. Weird times. Will be a bit more productive tomorrow, keep well. Great garden photo Jan
Great to hear about your day “Carly of Tamahere”, thank you. Savoury scones sound pretty tasty! Hey gotta keep that boyfriend busy, have you got a long to-do list for him? 🙂
Lockdown day 10.
Dawn on the Western Front.
Farmer Pickles is cutting maize when we wake up, or rather has paused overnight and just now recommenced.
Huge machinery wiping out the scenery, just a few passes and 6 months of growing gone! Into massive wheely bins, towed behind tractors of dinosaur proportions.
This first lockdown week has seen the whole outlook to the rear of our house changed for another biannual period.
It is now a landscape of broken and battered stumps flattened by monstrous wheels, now being used as a resting waystation for the migrating geese.
Next comes ploughing, fertiliser to be spread and the sowing of winter grass.
Day break is quiet, even more so than previous days.
Being Saturday even those early walkers and dog exercisers who would be going back home to now work remotely have no need to be doing so this morning.
Perhaps the novelty of idleness is also slowly being surpassed by a resignation into boredom.
Mad noisy neighbour is up and puts and end to all of that!
It seems that the sawing, planning and thicknessing are completed and now give way to hammering and drilling.
What is being constructed we have no indication but what ever it is, when finished, might be called “Lockdown Folly”.
My task today as agreed at yesterday’s management meeting is to clean the bathroom.
This is not a task I regularly carry out, but as idleness is the root of mischief, it makes sense to become involved.
Unfamiliar in this sphere of labour, spending too much time on some aspects of the job and not enough on others is brought to my attention. I am still learning!
Lunch and a bit of R&R.
Further efforts in taming the prairie now the burning sun is not directly overhead is next.
Work has now reached mid province and is moving at pace. Irrigation of completed pasture is underway and when we can get supply of the appropriate herbicide the MOSS’s days are definitely numbered.
In the Tour De Garage it’s the final stage before the second rest day.
Team Time Trials and Team Pursuits have for me always been one of the most satisfying of competitions. They are however really difficult to perfect as it requires total commitment from the whole team, with a lot of patient practice combined with a defined strategy for the parcours to be raced.
The Gordonton team comes into today’s TTT stage with a preparation that has taken at least half an hour and stretched our welcome at several cafes.
8 riders placing 8 differing orders for coffee makes the task for our Directeur Sportif very hard, some would say almost impossible.
Never the less, we will be in the start pavilion mid way to the back of the field as is defined by our overall position. This will enable the DS to have good idea of the performances already on the results board and therefore be able to direct our efforts on course. (Scream at us!)
We are off and the Nevile “The Machine” takes us up to the speed scheduled, he is followed by a now recovered Davo and then the rest of us.
It’s a relatively flat 25Kms and we make good progress being only down by 38 seconds midway. Davo now sacrifices himself with a huge pull before swinging off and we are down to 7.
“Road Rash Rex” is the next to go when his battery is depleted but we still have a good complement and look good to finish with more than the mandatory five riders.
I am on the wheel of Dynamic Des when he punctures and swings off. This is not a bad thing because it means we no longer have to ride all over and in the middle of the road.
INEOS and BMC are the current 1&2 at the finish line with most other teams especially the Italians, not living up to expectations.
We round the last bend with just 1k to go. Our time at this point looks like we are the big movers today. Then I remember I have to turn the sprinkler off! Dilemma do I swing off and leave the team short or risk a Hamilton City Council fine.
Bugger the council, they are to busy with COVID19 to worry about me, I risk the fine.
We hit the line.
First place!
Who in their right mind would have placed money on the Gordonton team?
We will certainly need the rest day tomorrow!
Unhurried In Hamilton:
Thanks ‘Unhurried in Hamilton’. I think you’ve missed your calling – a TV commentator for the Tour? 🙂