Day 6 - birthday bubble....

WOW, yesterday was crazy, I was quite wobbly and unsettled and have been having very interrupted sleep. I read a great post over night, which unfortunately I can't find the link to now, but it was GOLD. It was emphatic that you must slow down, and sort a solid foundation before you can resume. We have not had any pause. It has been manic since ISO started.... So a day off today to just be in our birthday bubble is awesome. 

We started the day with a yummy brunch of bacon and egg croissants. I relaxed morning, then a most marvellous thing... 'incident prevention patrol' so out we went for a police approved drive. How lucky to have the chance for a picnic up the top of the forest... 

Oh my goodness, food tastes so good outside. 

How awesome is this bear down Riccarton Road West... quite some effort has gone into this... 

What a true highlight in the day... a family facetime across Aotearoa, to really 'celebrate virtually' with Grant. It was so fun, and we really must do it a lot more often. Thank you family xoxoxox

The day rounded out beautifully with drinks on the driveway with our neighbours down the front, then round the side for drinks with our neighbours from the back and the side... So many happy things are coming out of this ISO. Laughter, aroha, fun and good times... 

And a sky shot, just for fun... when we were having challenges with the driveway selfie...

Happy birthday Grant, one to remember for sure. 

Day 5 wobbles... or shakes... or what on earth is that feeling...

WOW what a day. I feel slightly discombobulated today...
I started the day with a run, and only a few metres in I was aware of a niggling ankle and realise I really have gone too hard, too fast. So I had to back it off a lot and walked the steps, then run the loop back to the steps. Even though I was slower, I managed four loops then ran back home, so it's all progress. 
All too soon, it was the start of the working week and we dived headlong into meetings. It really is challenging, working as normal when my bubble buddy is home and not working. I was very excited to check on his progress in a break - truly we are going to be able to eat of the garage floor by the end of this time in ISO.

My garden bench space has never looked so good. New shelves and draws for my nature's collections, and florist papers, and ribbons... agh a thing of beauty. But nothing like the next find, which I didn't even know I had... This is a small log book of my Dads. (Dad passed on 1 June 1997.) 

The entries on this page are on the day of my birthday. See the note - Annual leave. Dad and Mum took my brother to Aunty Margarets in Pounawea and on the way home, I arrived... hence having Balclutha on my birth certificate despite never living there. To see his handwriting after all these years was surreal. He had such distinctive handwriting, and I loved the way he formed his numbers... He was methodical, precise and took real pride in his work. Agh so many memories right here. What a taonga. 

Dinner was a real, delicious treat, fish pie. Bit of a disaster, absolutely destroyed the first batch of spinach - burnt to a crisp while I was concentrating in a meeting... but got there eventually. Boiling the pot with baking soda and a ton of elbow grease and it is almost as good as new... 

Now for my next job... I found all of the coconut yoghurt jars I have been storing! Peeling off the labels, they are all about to go into the dishwasher and I am going to sort the pantry like never before... watch this space. 

Birthday cake baked, out of the often, ready for decorating tomorrow... 

And, finally, when the rest of the world is putting bears in windows... I'm putting bears on the line. We live a long way off the road so no point putting bears up. But today we found bags of the kids soft toys. Many loads through the washing machine later and they are all out there drying... 

So, the end of day five, feeling calmer, now that I have settled and captured the day. Lots to be grateful for indeed... 

Day 4 - staying at home

I really do think there is a slight concern that I am a little too excited to be staying at home. It is Sunday night of the first week of 'staying at home' and I don't have a suitcase out, a car, hotel or flight booked.... squeeeeee... I am staying home. I can just hear you all laughing, I wonder how long this will last. I too wonder how long this will last, but for now I am enjoying every moment of it. Today started with a bit of a sleep in, then out to the garden we went. For the longest time we have been meaning to tidy the bank. 

What a clearing we have made. It is so nice to begin to see the stone walls again. It's hard to believe that when we shifted in this bank was almost bare. The plants really had got away, so it was pruning and trimming til the chainsaw came out, then things got very real. 

I have almost no flowers out at the moment so it was awesome to pick a couple of branches and succulents to have some flowers with Mum's photo at the entrance. 

After a night soaking, I gave this old bottle of Dad's a scrub up and googled how to get a cork out of a bottle. Good old YouTube solved my problem. 

I inserted the plastic bag into the bottle, tipped it up and blew air into the bag. Carefully twisting to trap the cork in the folds of the bag then a great deal of effort to extract... and pop, out it came!  I wonder how many new things I can learn over this home time!  Love this new vase to add to my collection. 

I had a couple of hours working online again, then back out to see the tremendous clearing Grant had made. WOW - it is looking soooo good. 

A walk around the section after the clean up made us realise we have enough work here to last us a very long time indeed...

I love the colour of these cyclamen, a sure sign of autumn approaching, and I am also loving the brilliant autumn tones of cornus florida rainbow, thanks for the recommendation Leigh. 

The only slight blimp today... my phone reminding me that we should be checking into our hotel in Honululu... oh well... we can look forward to that all over again when the world is a safer place to be. 

Day 3 - first Saturday in our bubble

WOW what a day. I can hardly believe how much has happened in one day. Inspired by a post by my dear cousin from St Kilda, Melbourne, I dreamt of joining in a stair challenge. 

Up early and off I set to the stairs between McFadden Drive and Joe Brown Drive, just down the road. My first attempt was three laps... up the 87 steps, round the block, up again and again. I set myself the goal of three laps, so was delighted to achieve that on my first attempt. It bought back so many memories of our biggest winner challenge with Trevor back in 2009. I so remember when he would get us to do shuttle runs up and down, up and down. 

So, now, I've set myself a goal of achieving 10 laps by the end of lockdown. 

As the saying goes, the greatest views come after the toughest climb. I went up the top and stood for a few minutes looking down over the main highway into Dunedin, and not a vehicle in sight. We sure are staying home. 

Home for a truly stunning brunch... and probably needing another stair run after this lot. So grateful I remembered I had the croissants from Gabi's fundraiser. 

Bacon, banana, coconut yoghurt, blackberries and maple syrup.... YUMMO!

Another highlight... today marks the end of C25, the latest eight week challenge. After 8 weeks without coffee, this sure was an incredible treat!

A couple of hours working this afternoon on a blogpost was fun. Rach and I worked through a new approach. We made great progress and have a further catch up tomorrow afternoon. 

Finding a courier parcel in the mailbox was a wonderful treat. The tulip bulbs I ordered from the viewing day arrived. The sun was out, so what a wonderful chance for a bit of a clean up and a plant up. 

Rocking the covid19 look, I only wore this mask for a short time while I was handling the potting mix. I really don't know how people where them for long periods of time. It is so hot and uncomfortable. 

We were just cleaning up for the day when we heard our lovely neighbours chatting and an impromptu wine in the sun unfolded. After 8 weeks without alcohol, this was such an incredible treat indeed. It really is so awesome to see how this virus is positively impacting. We had an awesome catch up, all staying in our bubbles, across the drives. Looking forward to many more of these great fun, catchups. 

Another awesome discovery in the clean up was a bunch of soft toys, all thoroughly washed and hung out to dry for L's next visit. 

As the sun sets on day three, we do indeed have so very much to be grateful for. 

Day 2 - home in our bubbles

Agh yuss, I awoke early, had my drink of lemon in water and off I went. I must be physically tired... Today felt so much harder, I felt I was going so much faster. And indeed a 23 second improvement. I think tomorrow might be rest day. 

Home for a stretch, shower and breakfast and into a day of literally back to back online meetings. I am slightly concerned that we have had two days of full on intense online meetings. I kind of wish we took time to reset. So I am super excited that I have logged off for today, signed off for work for a while. 

Highlights in day included a fabulous session with colleagues working through a process, a deep process for ensuring our work meets needs. Thank you R, C and C.

Another highlight included a great reading and a new framework to explore. Thanks K.

Yet another highlight was working with M on our little bit of humour and fun for next Wednesday. 

Now, what about the rest of my bubble. Well... I am truly amazed at how much can happen in a day. Awesome work G.

Jasmine trimmed

basement tidied

Games and toys of yesteryear discovered...

And tonight... a walk around the garden and great new learning. Our Akebia Quinata - Chocolate vine is literally covering in pods this year. I opened one and it looked very like a passionfruit. 

Googling it and wow - so much new learning. 

Now... I must sign on and head to movie night with Netflix. 

Stay safe and well, and stay at home.