Beyond COVID-19 NZ

 Busy day, all day. Sorting all sorts.  Once chores were sorted, Brett and I enjoyed social time on the deck around 5pm. We then went for a beach walk - and OMG it was divine. The light was amazing. Omaha Beach was as fab as I've ever seen it. And then we tuned in for the Election results and overview.  Labour wins, Act does good. National poor. And bed beckons ... SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY: Generosity and Greed ... GENEROSITY: The true spirit and real pleasure of giving are yours when you give without condition, gain or reward. GREED: An insatiable appetite for the acquisition of material goods and money will render you insatiable for more and more and more ... unhappiness.

What a lovely morning to wake up to! I'm in Omaha.  I opened all the doors and did a bit of cleaning and sorting. The wind got up reasonably quickly, had to close the doors that face north-east. No prob, the ones that face west were as wide open as they've been in some time. No wind from that direction. Summer vibes. Truly! Onto my laptop for a few hours' work. Made a nice brunch (a "jumbo" poached egg, avocado, tomato on English muffins), and then headed to Matakana to get a few things. OMG are those jumbo eggs jumbo or what!?!? They're massive.  And then onto Lynn's place. I met Lynn at a creative soiree a few weeks ago and struck up a great connection. She's English, a Virgo, creative, and we're peas in a pod to be quite frank. It was obvious from the get-go. She and her husband recently built a house in the locale and she'd invited me around to take a look and discuss ideas around both travel and cooking. Yes please! The house is stunning, ...

Not bad weather today. But boy did the temperature drop early afternoon. Went from around 18 degrees C to 10 in a matter of minutes.  Busy productive morning in my office. Then headed to Omaha mid afternoon - the journey north to Omaha took over 2.5 hours with the traffic about as bad as I've ever encountered heading out of Auckland. Ridiculous. At 3-4pm on a Thursday, you are trying to drive north of Auckland but end up going precisely nowhere fast. Apparently the traffic was much worse going south. The whole road network is just disastrous and needs serious attention.  The further north I got the worse the weather got - but thankfully the better the traffic got! By the time I hit Warkworth and called into the supermarket for a few supplies, it was misty, dull and raining steadily. Just like it was when I'd left the area on Tuesday afternoon! The traffic from there on was simplicity. Oh if it was all like that ...  Indi was very patient in the car on what ended up t...

At least the wind and rain was absent today. Am back at home - and barely left my office! Got through a bit of work, including the dreaded GST - two months comes round very fast. Election things are heating up. I've all but switched off. I'll go and vote tomorrow.  Michael came for dinner - I made kofta meatballs in a rich and tasty tomato/mango/harissa sauce, served with pita bread and various accoutrements and salad things. It got a big thumbs-up. The sauce was a real concoction - a bit of this, bit of that. It turned out really good. The boys got stuck into the dishes and when Michael left, Brett went off and watched tv - so I skipped off to Wednesday quiz with my "second team" - Simple Minds! It's only 10 minutes away and I got there about a third of the way through. We came midfield. It was good fun. I'd left all my inks at Omaha so will do today's word (Armor !?!?) tomorrow when I get back up there later in the day, all going well. This word doesn...

Weather - utterly miserable. It rained and poured all day.  Writing and working took my mind off it. The rain never let up. I think this is the wettest, rainiest day in months, probably since February. Probably since last year, even. It was WET. The previous days were howling a gale, and today, rain rain rain. I didn't even get to the beach this stint. Packing the car to leave was a nightmare - even though the car was parked right up close to the deck/house with minimal distance to cover. The grass was saturated and I got drenched darting to the car - so much so that I had to get out the hair dryer to blow all over myself to even be able to get in the car to leave in comfort - hair, clothes, everything. It didn't make much difference, that's how wet I got.  I picked up a copy of the NZ Herald - a piece of mine appeared in the Travel Section today. An overview of some of Auckland Regional Parks. They used my photos too. Very happy. And lots of good feedback.   I left Oma...

A miserable day dawned - blowing and dull. Unpleasant, with a misty rainy feel, although it didn't actually rain until later in the afternoon. Gloomy is the word. All day long. And into the night - it's still howling a gale.  I only set foot outside to bring in the recycling bin. Otherwise ticking off more work projects. And adding more to the list. It's never-ending.  Chaired a Zoom meeting at 5pm - I do like meetings via Zoom, they somehow seem to be more efficient. And are becoming more ingrained. Why drive when you can sit at home? This one was over in an hour - which surprised me a little as it was a full agenda with lots discussed and decided. If it had been a face to face meeting, I'm sure it would have taken a fair bit longer than that, as people do tend to go on more when in person for a variety of reasons.  From a chairing perspective, I definitely prefer Zoom - everyone is looking at each other, there is no room for bamboozling or hiding, people can see thems...

Another windy blustery day. No rain, but no pleasantness, that's for sure! Couldn't have any doors open, the wind was honking from all quarters.  I had a meeting about Omaha matters at 10.30. Unlocked a few more bits of historical info. One thing I do know for sure - I will NOT have my arm twisted to go on the Omaha committee. Doing the annual newsletter as a contractor is plenty! I poached one of the fresh jumbo eggs for brunch, enjoyed with avocado and tomato. There is no doubt that egg was as good as good eggs get! After doing some more work. Yes, it's Sunday, but that's irrelevant. Day, date, time - doesn't matter as long as the three elements work for me (not  societal "norm" - which is generally anything but normal!) I reviewed a Constitution and its amendments, which I'd done an initial once-over on. Finalised and sent off my feedback. Tick. (This with my Racehorse Owners Board hat on).  The All Blacks tied with the Wallabies in the first rugby ...