Weekend

I was chatting with a good friend from Oregon the other night. He was mentioning all the photos on my blog.. I must point out to all the people who actually come here to see what we are up to that I selectively post. I don't have photos of the doctors appointments, cleaning the house, the heart ache, and the really really hard days. I mentioned this to my friend, and he wisely pointed out that things can't be all that bad if you have this many good moments to selectively post about.

well put mate

So here are some more selective photos from the past week. As I nurse a lovely white wine (villa maria sauvignon blanc from marlborough- - YUM!) I look back on a week that exhausted me and see that yes, I am living a good life full of wonderful moments.

Plus, I have this new fancy smancy camera Traveler bought me for Rowing Nationals. It takes great photos, fits in my pocket (mostly) and has a kick a** 10x zoom.


Oh I thought that photo actually showed the camera.. oh well, you can just see the mess that is my room and my fun new rowing vest shirt I wear nearly everyday.

On Saturday night we went to the Jackson Street fiesta. People here often pronouns tortilla 'tort till ya' but they seem to pronounce fiesta ok. Here were some folks who didn't even leave their house for the street party...

Traveler caught a street musician with some friends:
And this kid tried to get into the act with his magic leg...



I am afraid of magicians and clowns, so I went to watch the people playing with unicycles and fire... because I find that strangely calming and unlikely to involve much audience participation.
Then the bands started... this is a converted bus. It is an old city bus that now folds out into a stage. I LOVE THIS IDEA.... In front is a bunch of people with white clothes on that do the greatest purcusion and get everyone dancing in the street....
Then there was the 'supergroup' that includes NZ's Fat Freddy's Drop. I had a great couple dances with Traveler and enjoyed the music, lyrics, and atmosphere.
The next day we attacked the problem of the tomato crop... SALSA!!!!
And our little wee pepper plant that was growing beneath our dying xmas tree (yes I did get rid of that a few weeks ago) has produced its first pepper... and in the 2 days since picking it there have been 3 more! You wouldn't guess it, but this pepper spiced a vat of salsa single handedly. Yes, it was that spicy!!!

We also have a foal at our house. It is our neighbors, but I really enjoy watching Traveler work his horse magic with the animals.


We also took some time to hang out at the creek at the bottom of our landlord's property. I must say we very much lucked out (US meaning, not NZ meaning which I gather is more like 'i lucked out at the races and lost all my money) with securing this rental. I hope we bring them a bit of fun and joy too... we did throw some hay for them this week. I still don't know if the hay bales are less heavy here or if rowing has made me that much stronger!I did ice my ankle which has been giving me heaps of issues this year. The dr says I have very weak hips, hmmm at least ACC is covering my treament. Got to love universal health and accident coverage!


And then it was time for a few beers and salsa on our deck with the international folks staying at the big house. I know.. suffer suffer suffer:)


And since I have a month off of rowing, I had to go down to the Petone waterfront to at least walk along the water. The water was so calm and lovely and almost painful to see and not row on, but I suspect my coach has a valid point about taking a bit of rest for the body now and then.
We even got to enjoy the fine company of Linde from Holland on our walk. Our rental not only comes with a view but fine company that passes through the big house.
So yes, although my weeks are sometime difficult and my heart heavy, I am very glad that I have such wonderfully photographic moment interspersed. It could be worse and I am very very glad that it is not.

And for those of you that email and comment, I really do love hearing from people. I know my blog is a bit lame at times, but I do it so that those I left back in the States have a way of experiencing what we are experiencing first hand down under.

Much love,
Shannon

PS do excuse the typos... it is my signature voice, but I've also had a couple drinks tonight:)