Clutching at Ferns.

There is still a faded fern on Finn's face which will need to be scrubbed off tomorrow morning if I am not to look like I have a neglected child.

As far as I know, Spook is currently winging his way to Canada via Los Angeles. I last heard from him as he was heading out for a wander round Christchurch, having spent the night in a backpackers for young party people. He was probably just taking to the skies as we were climbing a hill out of Roxburgh on the way to Alexandra from the south, and a terrible burning smell assailed our nostrils. We had been listening to loud music and I had failed to hear that I was revving the engine harder than the car could drive on account of it's very dodgy clutch. We pulled over as the car behind was flashing lights and he told us we had smoke belching out the exhaust. We had to creep up every hill from there on in silent anticipation of blowing the clutch completely and take a big run at the hills when we could. We were still about 90mins from Wanaka, so every kilometre closer was a boost to our morale. It was good that Spook didn't know this, to add to his dismay. I will put the car into the garage tomorrow. It is Spooks great pleasure that he doesn't have the tools to fix such things! We knew it was on the way out and just pushed our luck. The children and I still managed to appreciate the amazing view accross to the timeless lands of Maniototo in the distance - but we couldn't risk stopping for a photo.

It is a little weird not having Spook here, but at least I have the electric blanket. We have a busy-ish week, with some work for me, Meg has her sustainability day out tomorrow, there's rugby training twice and a game at Cromwell on Saturday, I promised to try to manage 3 runs while Spooks away, and I have to get my boobs squashed in the scanner on Thursday. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but the last appointment got cancelled as someone stole the lead, which comes from the bus and plugs into a lampost and so the bus was without electricity. I notice they are still using the same system and therefore still at the mercy of whatever high-jinks go on in town of a night.

It is a beautiful, starry night, so I wonder it the cold spell is back. I have a consignment of wood coming on Tuesday and will have to stack it in a place that looks like it belongs to me. The neighbour and I are working through the pile of gathered wood from opposite ends and it wont be long before we meet in the middle. The heat pump is a good bonus, but you can't beat that fire.

grateful for:

my new queens size electric blanket which replaces the single ones Spook and I had on the bed, creating a very icy border between us. It was Spooks job to bridge that gap, so I think he will probably be even more grateful than me.

Meg making the tea tonight. (cheesy pasta)

Cheap grocery shopping in Dunedin.