How do you measure the days...

I've been listening to the theme song to Rent a lot lately. Originally it reminded me of road trips with my club volleyball team at Northwestern. Driving through the midwest to find small out of the way gyms at various Big Ten universities .

Then it reminded me of some of the harder parts of last year and how I was counting the days until I could journey into parenthood.

Today, well all that seems a really long time ago. Today I measure my days with weather forecasts and by checking my new favourite site.

Here is a sample of my morning hit today.
I think it has scenic value even if you aren't trying to guess whether its rowable. It also shows how the days are clearly getting shorter here. Tonight I was rowing in the dark at 6 pm.

Day out with the boys

Today my favourite young boys took me and Traveler out for an adventure. There was an amazing river to play in with the strangest pale green water. I just loved the water....The big boys played with a fly fishing rod. I really ought to give that a go sometime soon. But I think it could be as addictive as rowing - which still eats up most of my time - and one is wise to limit the number of obsessions at a time I reckon.
And of course there were many many birds to feed.


And this beast which somehow was connected to Lord of the Rings (so many things here are - though some really stretch it)....

The Hill Road

There is an infamous road near here. It is one of my favourite spots. I never miss an opportunity to drive it. Today our friends ventured on it for the first time .... perfect timing as the sun was setting over the South Island and illuminating Kapiti Coast with that magical light the occurs just before sunset.


It is a place begging for proposals, tourist photo opps, date night drives, and in this case a bit of stand up comedy.
But this is the photo that captures my world at the moment.
There is a possibility of a move in my future and it is weighing me down. I can barely look forward into the future. I just want to stay here in the home that I am building for myself. But everywhere I look, all the people I love here are eagerly looking toward their own futures.. they are growing up, shifting house, changing jobs, building families, moving on... I know that staying still won't allow me to have any extra time with them or here, because it all will change. It always does. But I am just not yet ready to shake up my world at this moment. I just want to quietly be in it for awhile, a good long while, after all it took to get myself here. But the future freaks me out so much that I can barely even experience the moment any more.

wainuiomata day

This week I was greeted on my drive to town by a rainbow arcing into Somes Island. My camera is broken so I was only able to capture it with my phone camera - but look closely and you can just make out the rainbow. What a treat after a week of storms - in the sea, in my heart, and in my head.

We were driving to Wainuiomata to buy some chicken feed. People often put down this area of Wellington... but it reminds me of home. There is just something very 'grove' like about this valley. I mean really, we pulled over to text the friend who told us about the animal feed shop and a lady pulls over to ask if we're okay. We say what is happening, and she has us follow her to a nearby shop taht sells chicken feed. Not only that but the shop hands open the store 5 minutes early because they see us waiting outside. So cool! Then on the way back we paused to take in the view from the lookout.

palmy loo

Every once in awhile my business travel leads to something unexpected. For me it was searching for a public toilet for ages because I overlooked this building as 'way too nice' to be a loo.



Inside was an additional surprise - a room for mothers to breastfeed, make up a bottle, or just chill if needed. The rest of the facilities for us non-mothers wasn't too shabby either!

somes island

We had a visitor from NYC recently and that gave us the excuse to finally go to Somes Island. I've rowed out to this island, and even around it once, but never actually set foot on it before. The impact of humans is very clear here, but it is a special way to get to see the harbour