Day 61, Level 1: Hot and sticky, mocaccino milkshake, writing, PINK sheep (wine) and a milky sky

Wow what a humid day it was today. Hot and sticky. Approx. 26 degrees C. I think it's a taste of things to come this summer - and I don't much like it. I hate humid weather. Summer and sun is all lovely of course - but if given a choice between humid days and snowy ones ... I'd rather have snow! Auckland + humidity is an awful energy-sapping combo in my book. Oh well, better get used to it coz I can't go to the snow in the next few months! 

I made a milkshake - just fancied it. Espresso/chocolate (Mocaccino?) Bloody good. And enjoyed with a copper reusable straw. Delish.

 

I did a bit more writing - mainly racing related - some articles for next bulletin issue. About people and places and exciting future prospects. 

Also writing my speeches and whatnot for a function I'm co-fronting on Wednesday night - the Epsom Girls Grammar Year 13 Graduation Dinner. The Old Girls Association run it and this will my 5th as Co-President, fronting the do. There are 750+ people coming - girls and their parents. More on this in Thursday's post

Our guest speaker is a lovely girl who graduated from EGGS in 2015 - she's up to some cool things. More on that in Thursday's post too. Will post all that after the event. But in the next few days I have quite a lot of prep work to finish. Another lovely woman on our committee does all the "doing" from the organisational side of things, and she's awesome. Also her daughter. We have two mother/daughter combos on our committee and its brilliant. Am thinking this will be my last year ... but I've said that before ...! 

Next year is the OGA's 100th anniversary and we're planning a big weekend of events in March. Also production of a history of the OGA - which I'm editing. That's on my to-do list for tomorrow - edit a few more chapters! The retired archivist has written it and I'm editing. It's a hoot - wow, the things the Old Girls got up to back in the day - from entertaining the war troops to holding knees-ups at exotic cabaret venues, from knitting all manner of items as fundraisers to hosting the most bizarre and fun events. What we do these days is tame by comparison!

It's refreshing reading (editing) the text and finding out about all the fun things that everyone got involved with back in the day. It's also disheartening as, these days, it's hard to drum up people to even the most fabulous events, and fundraisers are the hardest work ever. Sigh. Such are the times.Basically, everyone is focussed on themselves. Triple sigh. 

Anyway, back to today ...

I completed and/or progressed some of my writing projects. Then packed up and headed back to Auckland. En route I called into Pym's of Milford (my sister's bar) - they were having a wine tasting by Soho, a winery with a really interesting back story. 

Tonight they were showcasing their "PINK Sheep" range - a boutique range that is a tribute to fashion designer Alexander McQueen (the self-confessed "pink sheep" of his family) who tragically ended his life way too young and in its prime. OMG his designs are outrageous, gorgeous, fabulous and outstanding. The world needs more AMcQs. Anyway, here it was tonight in wine ... excellent! (Have you seen McQueen the 2018 bio-doco on him? If not, please do, it's amazing!)

Soho's vineyards are in Marlborough, Waiheke Island (Auckland) and Central Otago and they produce a wonderful range of wines. I was one of their first customers when they first set up in 2009. Having said that, Rachael Carter, the MD, is from a longtime wine-making family and was brought up with wine. They've won multiple awards and create a huge range of really lovely wines - they are mostly all fully certified organic, and also vegan friendly. Rachael was the first person to embrace and set up a screw-cap operation here in NZ - she was poo-poo'ed at the outset, but needless to say, who's laughing now!

Soho donate a portion of every PINK Sheep wine sold to charity - each wine effectively has its own charity. Buy that wine, the portion goes to that charity; buy this one and it goes to that. They handpick the organisations they donate to and I have to say they've picked goodies. Jeez, this word charity is so outdated ... but that's another thread ...

 

I loved the PINK Sheep rose - a very light blush French style which is not often produced here in NZ. The roses made here tend to be deeper colour and with more body - but this one (made with Pinot Noir grapes) was subtle and oh-so-tasty. Yes please!

The tasting finished with their Revolver red (merlot, cabernet franc, malbec) - utterly velvety and delicious. And expensive at $100 a bottle! It was on special tonight. Definitely an occasion wine - but boy do I recommend creating an occasion to drink it! Or bugger the need for an occasion - just drink it! Superb. 

A thoroughly fabulous evening. 

Check out their wines here https://www.sohowineco.com/

And then home to unpack, greet Brett and Indi the cat. And then get on my computer to complete some stuff - and write this!

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Milky sky ...

There was a strange milky sky as I approached Auckland city (on my way home, having left the wine bar). The view of the city as you approach the Harbour Bridge from the north heading south is exquisite - it really is a world-class city view (pity about some of the other aspects of the city tho!)

The Sky Tower - lit a beautiful shade of dusky pink that I haven't seen before - loomed into the sky but was poking into a layer of cloud. The "spire" had disappeared and the whole thing was all these layers of dusky pink and black, it looked amazing. I wanted to take a photo but I was driving so all I could do was look and love. It was a beautiful and rather eerie sight. 

When I got home I looked out across the ridge - and by then, just 20 minutes later, the Sky Tower was flashing shades of red and green - suddenly it was in full-on Christmas mode. I preferred the dusky pink! Which of course was perfect for the PINK sheep wine I'd been sampling!

But in actual fact, I could barely see any of the tower at all due to low cloud. Here's a photo of that ghostly sky from our deck, with our big tree as a frame. The Sky Tower is to the right of the tall palm tree, left of centre. Usually highly visible and towering much higher than this. Hard to capture the real feel of this sky in a photo.