Lost in Thyme

We had a great day. How could I ever have thought I didn't like Alex. We were up in the hills for hours, but only covered a very small area, going round in circles, I think. Within 5 minutes of Alex, we felt as if we were out in the wilds. It is incredibly silent with no wind, and there is only the occasional sound from birds. No wonder, when the thyme scented hills are liberally sprinkled with cyanide. It is an indiscriminate cull as anything that can stick their nose in the wee bucket, wont make it far. And anything that feeds on the body of the dead, wont make it much further. WE also thought the trail was well marked with small strips of poly bag stuck to bushes. Then we discovered that they were empty poison bags left there as warnings to let you know the poison was around. If Mary walked her dog up here these days, it might smell nice, but it would be dead.

After much talk of rolling in Thyme and trying to entice my husband with garlands in my hair, he mistook my fall from the misjudged steep climb in clipped-in shoes, as an invitation. I had already incurred his wrath in the morning by delaying our departure due to unsightly hairy legs. I spent so much time resolving the issue that I forgot my helmet. He couldn't believe I had endangered my life for an isolated cycle trip and a display of bald legs. One wonders why one bothers!!! In the end, I smelt more of rabbit poo and dead Possums anyway.

grateful for:

no head injuries.

great companionship.

no complaints about my cycling defects.

My proof readers. (better than spell check)

Sorry - that should read 'A Thyme to Weep'.

A time to Weep (chemical tears from cleaning fluids)

Soooo, busy cleaning day and no nice photo's. All I could find was this one of Finn pretending to be a pineapple.

Please don't anyone offer me a cleaning job when I get home. The first thing I heard this morning was that the manageress told Mary that I really needed to communicate with Mary. The appartment should have been cleaned yesterday - the manager had told me, and I should have told Mary. Then another lady told us we hadn't cleaned her unit properly (there was fluff in her cupboard) when we got it ready for her, and she required a thorough clean now. The other services were for ski teams and so were the two town houses we cleaned - one with 7 bedrooms. The only tidy ski teams seem to be the Japanese ones and everyone else is a minky bampot!

Spook spent some time on the evacuation plan and then went for a long run through the Sticky Forest and over the other side. It was a dampish day, but very comfy for running. He tidied the house and then nursed me back to health after 6.5hrs of cleaning which I suspect is outwith the bounds of health and safety. We are now enjoying a very nice glass of Mud House sauvignon blanc from Marlborough in New Zealand - a gift from Maggie's friend to whom I lent my tennis club key. I am almost fully healed now.

Spook and I are both off tomorrow and are thinking of going to Alex to do some Mountain Biking. I will need to treasure that journey now. Spook says the biking there is like Spain and Mary tells me that when she grew up there, she used to go up into the hills with her horse and her dog and just ride for miles. Around Wanaka, one is limited by the next landowner, but in Alex it just seems to go on forever without bounderies. She said it was a great place to go when your dog was smelly as the hills are covered in Time and the dog always smelt great when she got home. Spook and I will be able to cleanse the poo and the Jif from our pores. Not that we are planning rolling in it...........................

grateful for:

being old enough to not worry about being accused of communication difficulties.

Good wine and a big slab of extremely good chocolate cake- made by my own fair hand, but with a glass of Cathy's special Hot Choc.

a friend thinking that it was my unique sense of humour that called the hoarfrost a whorefost, when she could so easily have just thought I was a bit silly.

A time to Dance.

These photo's are from Finn and I's trip to Alex a while back.

It was raining this morning, so it was a good day for Spook to give verbal notice that he is quitting work and returning to Scotland in October. That's not the kind of thing you want to say on a beautiful day out on the Poo Plain. So I posted a photo of the plant on a day to stay.

Each week we have a deficit and a 2nd year would just be too hard. Not that we haven't learnt valuable lessons for coming home to no guaranteed jobs!! I think the biggest worry is if something more than a mild infection happened to the children and we couldn't afford to deal with it. It is at least $50 per infection, for Meg. I can see me rubbing leaves and grass into it the next time in the hope of stumbling upon a natural cure. The Doctor thinks she may be carrying a bug in her system. We certainly don't have any money for moving around and exploring any of the places we had hoped to. It has been a hard decision, but we have finally come round to believing it is the right one.

As for my high-pressured cleaning job. We went to do a service at one Unit and the man asked us if we could come back in 5 minutes. I said that we would do another and come back. Then Mary arrived at the next unit and told me that if he wasn't ready, we couldn't do it. The manager turned up and confirmed this. So I had to run across the park with the fresh laundry and tell him he could have his sheets and towels but that was it. Of course, he said I could come in and do it now. We were shouting through the door as he had lost his key, and I wasn't sure which he was struggling with most - my accent, or the withdrawal of my offer to clean his appartment so soon after it had been proffered. He said he would open the garage door so that we could talk. As time is of the absolute essence, I had rolled under the garage door, clutching my laundry bag before the garage had got above knee height, in a reversal of Indiana's dash out of the cave. I then barbled at him, that whilst I could see that it seemed unreasonable that I couldn't do his cleaning because he had asked me to wait 5 minutes, but that cleaning wasnt' that different from Lawyers measuring and charging time in 6 minute slots (courtesy of my easy reading weekend book), only a little less expensive. I apologised for the apparent lack of Highland or Kiwi hospitality, but I was now falling behind on the next clean and yes, I could have been cleaning his while explaining why I couldn't (if only I could muti-task!). I aplogised once more and said that if I had stuck in at school I could have been a lawyer and it would all be less stressful. I could see his wife reaching a shaky hand out to turn on the kettle for a much needed cup of tea, as I shot back out the garage and sprinted across to the lucky people who were getting their unit cleaned. Mary said it was wonderful to have me to explain things as the Scottish words blurred in to one another, bamboozling them, but because I was smiling, they just kind of smiled back and assumed that it was all very relevant and justifiable. She would simply have said "Sorry, can't wait. It's now or never".

It is amazing though, that there are non-cleaning people setting targets and never getting their hands dirty. But we are a good team. Sarsha will leave on the 10th of September as she has to squeeze 5 days in Fiji before going back to Oz. Mary dances every week, so we have decided that we will join her in her class one day as part of our parting of the ways. I think it is hip-hop. As I am really only qualified in Strip The Willow, it will be a new experience.

grateful for:

100% unity, as a family that coming home is the right thing to do.

Time with my family.

An amazing experience.

The Things you have to do when Desperate Housewives is Finished

I had an unexpected day off today, so read up on a few things I had been thinking about and caught up on some e-mails. Was very good and didn't lift the great easy-reading book of the weekend. Maggie phoned and we had a game of tennis in the afternoon. The first in a long time, and it took us a while to remember, that if we do what the lovely coach told us, it does work. It was fun and good to know that the lessons have given us the capacity to have a fun game, albeit outwith the lines and with more bounces than are usually allowed. It is easier to play in cooler temperatures. It could happily be a winter game here, with the dry climate.

Meg is struggling a bit with the reality of a job and had to be reminded that she has had Saturday, Sunday and Monday evening off. In reality, she has done nothing since she came home at 3.30pm and so is as well earning money on the days she goes straight to work and coming home to her tea on the table - no dishes to wash, or packed lunches to make. When she got it back in perspective, she remembered that she likes her work when she is there. Quite a few of her friends have jobs in New World, packing grocery bags after school until 8pm, or making pizza's from 5 until 10pm. One friend, who has now left (because they couldn't afford to stay!) worked in a cafe from after school until 10pm about 3 or 4 times a week. There are more 14yr olds working in this town than you would believe. I suspect that Meg's work is already very slow for the winter and that Cathy will lessen her hours anyway. I would rather that, than Meg quitting. She had said she was saving for a horse. It would be a shock to go to school, work and then have to come home to sort out the horse! Some great reality checks going on here.

John comes home to our house after school most days, and a lot at the weekend, so Finn has decided he's going to make some money by charging for his care, and use of his x-box.

grateful for:

Monday nights in.

A husband who loves mashed tatties and butter for his tea.

Day of Rest (apart from Spook)

Spook back to work today. Glorious day for sitting outside drinking coffee and reading. We would be very pleased to have a day like this in summer. Noticed people coming out into their gardens a bit more. Not that many of the houses are occupied! I read in the paper about the complaints against high power bills and people struggling to cope with such a long, hard winter. Maggies tells me it is by far the worst one in the 11yrs she has lived here. It was 10degrees last night.

John appeared after breakfast, so I managed to keep the 3 boys fed as the day went on and made scones and chocolate cake just in case. Meg made herself a poached egg. Thankgoodness for a daughter! WE all called to visit Spook up on his Plain, where he was feeling a bit lonely, and then Meg went to see The Boy in The Stripey Pyjama's. Even she was almost moved to tears. She had read the book, but the 3 dimension obviously made it a bit harder hitting. She suggested I wait until it comes out on DVD to avoid public humiliation. Finn has also read the book so I wonder if he will take the time to see the movie.

grateful for:

a good book on a sunny day. I know I should have been running up mountains and doing push-ups in the park (one sees that a lot, here), but .................

The mountain in the sunrise photo, is Treble Cone Ski Field.