Beyond COVID-19 NZ

Horrific weather all day. Lazy morning, doing quizzes and puzzles and yakking and yarning over coffee and muesli with fruit salad and coconut yoghurt (6 of us). Late lunch at Rothko - the restaurant at Sculptureum. Warm and cosy; fantastic food and service.  Home for a siesta. Because we could. The rain never stopped. The wind never ceased. Watched TV, more yakking and yarning, grazing for dinner, a bit of wine and an early night. The perfect lazy lovely Sunday with family and friends! Photo taken yesterday - hot and sunny. Today - miserable, hasn't stopped raining and howling! SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY: Read the account of an NZ friend who has been living in Italy who flew home, arriving last week. She's now in quarantine. OMG what an amazing story. Rome to Auckland via Doha and Sydney on Qatar. For the Rome-Doha sector she was one of 4 people on the plane, and the only one her entire cabin. Security and safety measures were at every corner, and now she is in quarantine in a hotel

Sister in law's birthday today - we wished Vicki happy xxx birthday and looked out at the most dense fog all over the place. I don't recall fog like this ever, and I've been coming up for 50 years. Maybe once, perhaps twice - but this is NOT the norm. It hung around for some time. Other friends arrived, and by mid-morning we were ready for a walk and the fog was lifting. We walked to the southern end of the beach, and I have to say I tested the water many times along the way and it was ... yes, warm. I was not scared away from paddling by freezing water. Quite a few in swimming. By now the sun is shining, the fog has gone and, in shorts and t-shirts, we were absolutely boiling. It was a superb autumn day. Actually, better than summer. But still, the scene was something of an anomaly. Little Barrier Island was shrouded in fog.  The horizon played tricks. Clouds billowed in the sky. Walking back through the pathways - OMG we were all sweating ... it was so hot. Unusual weathe

Very short post today.  I packed up and headed back to Omaha around midday. Traffic not great. Weather awful. Vicki and Lyle arrived late afternoon. Brett arrived later, around 7pm. We had local oysters, whitebait fritters and Vicki's leek tart. Wine and good chat. It rained outside. Nothing much to report except that Omaha house is in great shape and ready for visitors.  The fridge is full. We will not starve. The rain came pouring down. Fills the tank. We're warm and cosy inside.  All good. An early night.  (The earliest for me for a zillion days - well, nights!) Here's a photo of the Omaha estuary. Omaha estuary

A short one today. Working, working and working. Working all day. There's not a lot I can say about that. Confidential and pretty intense. Also working hard to bring together an AGM and associated things. Plus interviews. Plus sussing my own work offerings. So I'm working pretty much 24/7 at mo, in one capacity or another.  It puts me under pressure, I have a lot to deal with.  It was Michael's 24th Birthday on 16th May but we hadn't been together to celebrate until tonight.  We got together, scoffed oysters and had a fab night out.  Bluffies, good food, nice wine and good chat. Yay. Here's Michael when he was 8yo - pic taken in Gold Coast.  Mike - You're a fabulous young man, decent and understanding.  With a good heart and good soul. And a whole lot of life nouse (and so much more to go as anyone your age does). If you know it all at your age, shit what a boring life lies ahead.  Go forth and conquer. As you are doing. Keep it up.  Your work ethic is exception

Well I had my earliest start for some time - off to my first physical meeting since lockdown. A board meeting I was taking minutes for - I do a bit of contract work in this realm. It was hard to know what the traffic was going to do - it was pretty heavy, but I managed to scoot down and around some back routes and avoid most of the lights and queues and got there with good time to spare.  This business works in the high tech space and it was a very full-on meeting. It was definitely well beyond my technical comprehension and I really had to focus. Keeping up with it all was quite a challenge as they rattled off tech-speak and concepts I couldn't, and won't ever, get my head around. I can't say I learnt heaps as most of it went over my non-techie head - but I certainly had my eyes opened to some of the complex and innovative things going on in the tech/energy/sustainability/climate  space! A small but very impressive group of individuals.   Oh I do love getting a bit of insi

Today is the day I must return home to Auckland. After TEN weeks at Omaha. Today is also the day Indi the cat decides to go off somewhere ... She's been going up to Omaha for years - and often goes walkabout, sometimes never to be seen for an entire day. But during lockdown, she barely moved from a cosy couch, comfy outdoor deck cushion or her bed on our bed. Not to mention lining up for on-tap patting. She was just always around. Today - nowhere to be seen. Who says cats don't have sixth sense? So I did some work, sorted some stuff, did some more work, waited for her to arrive. I packed up some stuff - thing is, don't really need to do too much packing up as we're going back up in a few days for the long weekend. So it was a waiting game. As long as I was back in Auckland for Quiz I could manage everything else. But I HAVE to go back to Auckland as I have a physical meeting to attend in the morning! Waiting, Working. Oh here she comes.  Put her in cat box, pack up all

It's my last day/night of "lockdown at Omaha". I've been here for almost 10 weeks! Despite everything, I've loved every moment up here. I cannot complain. It's been hard for some people, desperately bad for many. But I've laid low, taken stock and worked on a future offering that I hope has wings ... In all reality I'm used to being away on overseas trips for 4-8 weeks, and even, on occasion, 12 weeks. With or without family. So that in itself is not a big deal or straying from the norm. I'm just very glad that the timing was such that I wasn't overseas, least of all escorting someone. Feeling ultra blessed. This is certainly the longest I've ever spent at Omaha, in one hit, stay-put. And with barely seeing anyone! Oh how I've loved it.  I also love filling the house with people and laughter and love - the more the merrier. So it's great that Brett's sister Vicki, and Lyle, are coming up for Queens Birthday weekend - and Vicki&#

Oh lovely leisurely Sunday morning ... rising too early not allowed! Brett mowed the lawns. Just in time, too; the rain set in around 11am after he'd completed this much-needed job. The grass here is taking better than we thought but there are a few bare patches. The fig trees we planted last week are still alive. I've been watering them through the week. As Brett settled in and read the papers cover to cover, I watched the livestream of the Royal NZ Ballet's film of Giselle - filmed by Toa Fraser it is an incredibly beautiful evocative haunting romantic spiritual thing.  What better way to spend this gloomy morning than letting the rain fall outside while watching one of the most glorious classical ballets of all time - and yes ... I watched it in bed. Why not!? Watched it on my iPad with Indi the cat curled up by my legs as rain pattered on the roof and wind hurled it at the windows. We were warm and cosy inside.  OMG the dancing in this ballet was as fragile and utterly

Saturday = Canvas quiz via phone with Brett first thing. Shit it was very hard today, we put on a poor show! I took a true break from work today.  To do other "work" that I don't much like - the House variety! Main mission - cleaning the floors. Gave them a good once-over, vacuum, wash, scrub ... oh that sand! Ended up cleaning just about everything including skirting. Which led to a good sort out of things. Given there's not a lot of "stuff" here, it wasn't too onerous.  But given there's just 6 months of "stuff" up here, it makes you realise how utterly onerous and hideously daunting "a good sort out" of 25 years of stuff is. It's coming my way soon at home ... one of those things that must be done so your kids don't have to do it, while you're alive or dead (not sure which is worse from either point of view!) Reality is, nothing more needs to enter this Omaha house, everything we need is here, everything we don'

Boy have I got some beach photos and footage for you today! I worked all day, including completing and submitting an article on the area to the NZ Herald. I ventured to the beach around 5 o'clock. It was a great day today - without the chilly wind of the last couple of days.  The most stunning scene awaited me. It literally took my breath away. I've seen the beach almost every day since lockdown, but I think this is the most splendid it has ever been - and that's saying something! Everything came together at just the right moment - I timed it well today. The beginning of a gentle sunset, all pastel tones and glorious glows. The blues were exceptional.  Incoming tide, light reflecting off the white waves which rolled in, orange hues strewn across the sky, a few puffs of cloud, a haze hovering over the sand up the northern end (which has been there for a few days now, not quite sure what it is).  I ordered takeaways from the Pt Wells store and as I drove across the causeway t

Today's post is short.  I worked for most of the day. Thought I'd go for a beach walk mid-afternoon, But uh-oh, blowing a hideous gale. Why venture out in that sh*t? It was sheltered on my western deck so I worked from there instead. Until the sun strike in the eyes was too much. Never got to the beach today. I feel very blessed to be able to work in this fashion, as so many don't.  So many have been forced into not-work scenarios. So many have worked under duress.  So many struggling through. I've been sitting tight refining things. But believe me, my world is not about privilege. I've worked very hard for many years, compromised, sacrificed, supported and persevered through, to be where I am today. Nothing has come on a plate. And that's the glory of it, I appreciate and understand everything. I've personally never had much to rub together through the years because my life's work has mostly been in the charity realm. There's not a lot of profit in

Another beautiful day - the weather just goes on and on being utterly stunning. I think we'll forever remember Covid days as being the longest run of best weather ever - in Auckland anyway. The drought is testament to that. Today I visited two prospective accommodation options for my "Marvellous Matakana" trip I'm putting the final touches to. Both very nice and ideal, with lovely rural outlooks. They're different and one will work perfectly for the "Gentle" option and the other for the "Active" option. There are some important elements that I will not compromise on for my trips, and both options tick those boxes. No further research required. Excellent. One place is set amongst vineyards and one is a little more remote and on the river - and so today's photos are of river rather than ocean. It was so quiet and peaceful - being by a river, with no one around, on a stunning day like this, is the epitome of the word 'solitude'. The Ma

The morning began with a Zoom meeting to progress action items from last night's meeting. Lynley is Co-President of the EGGS Old Girls Assn with me, so we mulled over various conversations, suggestions and actions from the meeting. We made good progress over what ended up to be nearly two hours! Then a chat with a local operator to progress travel services stuff and polish my offering. Pricing is tricky but I'm making progress.  Walked to beach mid-afternoon - there were a few surfers about and a nice vibe, but I didn't stay long,. I wasn't dressed for the very cool wind. It was warm in the sun but ... yikes, very cool in the shade. Add wind = freezing. My dress was too summery for this occasion so whilst the weather itself is superb, an under-dressed beach walk isn't a great idea. Omaha Beach Photo of the Day - Twilight surf More work and then, upon seeing beautiful skies east and west, I headed back to the beach around 5.30pm. OMG what a picture. Pink in the cloud