Day 19, Level 2.5: To Cambridge, drinks, dinner and trainer Frank

-


Short post today. Poor wifi. 

Drove to Cambridge in pouring rain. Horse country. Gorgeous town English village style - or as close as you can get here in NZ!!  Almost 2 hours' drive. Quite nice when I arrived around 1.30pm. Went to Information Office and got lots of info - I intend to pitch an article on the area for travel mag.  Poked around the village shops - some real gems. Popped into an art gallery where the artist was painting. Had a great long chat. He’s moving to Matakana soon!  

Checked into motel. Met the rest of Ziggy syndicate crew (8 of us) and our trainer Frank and his wife Colleen for drinks at 5. Then to fab restaurant Onyx for a truly enjoyable meal and lots of yarns and insights and laughs. 

Superb. 

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Early mornings ... 

Hate them!

Trainer Frank is up at 3am most mornings. He’s in bed around 7pm. It’s such a world away from my pattern. Sometimes I’m going to bed when he is getting up!! 

A reasonably early night for us all, with full bellies - as we will be up at crack of dawn to go see our horses! Getting up at 5.30am is only for horses or bluebird ski days or flights to fab places.

Frank Ritchie - our fab trainer

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 69, Level 1: Quiz (a decade of it), Venice, opera and incredible paper dresses

-
Image
Gorgeous day. Blue sky, no wind. Not too hot. On computer or phone most of the day sorting stuff so didn't see too much of it. But it was nice to know it was there.  Quiz tonight - we did well - and came 2nd (again!) by just one point. The team that usually wins and who we battle with won again. Oh well, we did our best. We'd thought it was the last quiz for the year but the final one is next week. So we go again ... maybe next week will be our winning one, to wrap the year up. Despite the strange year of Covid and lockdowns, quiz has provided a steady and pleasant interlude to everything else. It too, shut down of course in lockdowns - but we remember the weeks we were there having fun, not the ones we weren't. Always good food, wine and camaraderie. A few wins, a few placings, and a few duds. That's the nature of life in a nutshell.  Our quizmaster is a lovely young guy who, we found out tonight, has just completed his masters with honours. Not sure what he's stud...
Read more

Day Eight - IndiCat, Emmylou, Home and Dad

-
Image
A stunning April day today, I love this time of year. It was hot. The sunset was sublime. Omaha Photo of the Day - pure beauty right there Today, the 2nd of April, is my Dad's birthday (b. 1937). In 1993 we celebrated his 56th birthday with a family dinner at his favourite Thai Restaurant. A month later he was gone. He would have turned 83 today. Cheers Dad, wish you were here. Yesterday, I talked about Little Barrier looking like it was erupting (see photos from yesterday's blog). Today, every exquisite contour of the island was more clearly visible from Omaha shores than I've seen in a very long time. The clarity was astounding. Dad used to go on occasional fishing expeditions with mates to Hauturu/Little Barrier in the '70s/'80s. One time, however, the boat's motor conked out and even fearless Dad was worried for their safety. He was a GP, well-regarded to be able to fix just about anything in the human and DIY realms, but his recounting of events of...
Read more

Day 86, Level 1: Another post! Rain! And crawdads!

-
Image
Ok so I have done another post (it's become a habit, and habits are hard to break!) But do check back about my next blog ... it's coming Oh how it rained today. On and off, all day long. Heavy rain.  The day was a mix of sunshine and rain - often in huge deluges that hit the deck like the wrath of the gods. The tanks and plants loved every drop of it! And then - by evening - blissful sunlight with golden hued clouds.  And thus is the weather these days ... It blows away the cobwebs and rubbish ...! 6.11pm SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY: "Where the Crawdads Sing" ... Now here's a book worth reading. I don't read a lot these days, mostly write.  But a friend lent me this - and it was right up my alley.  Different, refreshing, and with a fabulous sting in its tail.  A story about humanity and nature that touches on just about everything life offers.  Gentleness meets resilience. Innocence meets revenge. Oh it's a good story.  I am so looking forward to the movie ....
Read more