Active

Sam and I rode our bikes into town on Sunday to see my best bud, who just got back from a 6 week holiday in Canada, the UK and Japan. Yes, ALL the way to Wellington, as opposed to the last time we tried and had to walk from halfway along the motorway cos Sam got a flat.

The road works section of the Hutt motorway was a little hairy, but once we made the path alongside the motorway, it was all good. I especially enjoyed going round the waterfront and sharing it with the rollerbladers, other cyclists, pedestrians, joggers and those crocodile bike things. FYI the textured surface on the wooden bridges may be great for stopping walkers from slipping over, but on a bike it feels like riding across corrugated iron. Pretty sure Sam didn't notice as he has suspension on his front forks.

I forgot to reset the speedo till about Korokoro, but I estimate the journey from Kelson to Mirimar was about 25km. Not bad.

***

Not content with yesterday's effort, today I had a 30 min session with my personal trainer and then went and swam 42 laps at Huia. I did 40, but then I was at the opposite end to the spa, so I swam one more to get there, and one more after my brief spa to get back to my stuff at the other end. Turns out that I can spa at Huia even though I can't at K's place (38.5 degrees vs 42 degrees). Love the spa!

***

No baby bump yet; only 17 weeks. Give me a couple more and I'll be sticking out a bit. I've started nesting though (although I have this need to rearrange the house even when not pregnant). The cupboard under the stairs is much tidier now. Next room on the list is the spare/computer/sewing/model making room. This will be a BIG JOB.

it's my birthday soon...

I'm gonna be 32. That's old.

Mum bought my present today at the Baby Factory. I walked over to the portacots and pretended I couldn't see her buying what she bought. Kinda hard when the pressie is 4 foot high.

Mol and Kel are in the South Island doing the same trip Lauren and I did. SO JEALOUS!! I took them to the ferry this morning.

But I get to see CarolMurrayMegan in under a week, so that makes up for it.

End of term approaches...

... and I am SO ready for a break!

I have all sorts of things planned - going swimming, gym, reading, catching up with my friends who just had a baby, and visiting my Sister and family in Blenheim; YAY!

I only have 7 lessons left, two of which are tests, so that makes five... bring it on.

****
Molly and Kelly are great fun and easy to live with, despite being vegetarians in a omnivorous household. I'm gonna learn how to cook stuff with beans and tofu, and other kinds of new and interesting food type things. I don't think I could give up meat for good though, especially bacon. Mmmm, bacon. :)

****
We are going to Cafe Istanbul to celebrate the end of term. If you're out in town on Friday, look for me. I'll be the sober one :P

Boarders

Molly and Kelly arrive from Washington tomorrow. Molly is coming to teach at my school on a student teacher exchange; Kelly is tagging along for the ride to spend 4 weeks in NZ. They will be staying at our place. Expect an invitation to a welcome party sometime soon!

The first baby photo

Kinda looks like an alien, but I have been assured it has the required number of arms and legs; I even saw a stomach and bladder. Wow.

Amended due date now early Oct, so it looks as though I may just make it to the end of Term 3.

Three short things

I have a student teacher. She is great. Her degree is in combinatorics, and the topic we are doing right now is combinations and permutations: Perfect! Maybe she can replace me when I go at the end of Term Three. Right now she is teaching my Year 13s while I sit here with the laptop and update the blog.
Real professional, Mrs H!

***

Having the 13 week scan today. I have this paranoid and morbid fear that they are going to say, "oh, sorry; it died a few weeks ago". Think about it: No morning sickness, not any fatter, no sore boobs... am I actually pregnant, or is it a figment of my imagination? Scary stuff. I'll be glad when today is over.

***

It was wierd getting home last night and not having to let the dog in.

wet behind the ears

Ryan has long ears; he doesn't like them to be wet.

I gave him a bath today after a long walk and a play in the paddock below Kelson School. He got all grubby as there was still dew on the grass and it was quite long. This is the result:

Mum comes home tomorrow. I'm gonna miss having the dog at our place. Won't miss the wet paches on the carpet or the fur in my bed, on the carpet, in my food....

I think a baby may even be less work than this guy; well, at least they LEARN!!

***********

Speaking of babies, congrats to Alex and Katie on the birth of Persephone Megan Lindsay yesterday. Thanks guys for letting me share the day with you. And she was born on Megan (my niece)'s second birthday too!

I've already signed her up to the facebook group "People who have to spell their names".

**********

Oh yeah, happy birthday Megan! I know your Ma reads this blog, so please ask her to write a comment ok?

puppy sitting

Mum has been away visiting Carol and other family members less than a week, and already the puppy has got out TWICE! The first time he squeezed under the temporary mesh fence I had erected; the second time he chewed through the leash, made it behind the row of pot plants strategically positioned to block him from the fence, and then squeezed under the fence again. Thank goodness he has Mum's phone number on his tag, and that her message has her cellphone number on it. I got a message from one of the office ladies yesterday: "your Sister in Timaru called - the dog has got out, call this number to go get him..." I bet the office ladies were a bit confused as to why the call came from Timaru!

Yesterday I had my tame builder up to fix a gate across the gap between the house and the retaining wall, so now Ryan has a wee dog run at the back of the house that he can't escape from. But I bet he'll try anyway.

Next mission - a dog door. For some reason, even though the back door is left open when Ryan is inside, he has reverted to crapping on the carpet. Euuu. :P

Hormonal

So I was sitting on the couch marking my Year 13 assessments (which they all passed, might I add - yay me!) when a commercial for NZ Post came on. One where a wee girl writes a letter to her Dad and he meets her after school for ice cream.

It made me cry.

Seriously. There are incriminating splashes on one of the kids' assignments.

Damn hormones.

baby, school, fair

Thanks for all the congratulations everyone! The baby is about the size of a peanut at the moment. Expect semi-regular updates when I can be arsed. Can't wait to have an excuse to be fat!

***

School is back properly now. I have four lovely classes; Years 9, 12, 13 and 13. yes, I have two Y13 Stats classes, which means I'm teaching the whole course. THE POWER!!! Muahahaha! This may be a problem when I stop teaching some time at the end of Term 3, but for now it's cool.

***

I went to the Petone fair and bought a really lovely merino wrap cardy, and a necklace, and some earrings. All for me, so there. Here they all are in a fetching ensemble I call "what I wore to Church today". Wow, my eyes look really crooked...

Got pissed off at the crazy people who walk too slow and get in my way, but otherwise it was ok. We took our bikes down on the back of the car cos we knew the parking would be crazy, so we parked ages away and rode the rest of the way. What a good idea that was!

um, yeah...

one down, two to go

I did the Scorching Triathlon yesterday. There are still two to do, and then I will have achieved one of my NY resolutions. I will do the Naenae tri in October, but I want to do another one while its still warm. Anyone know of any tri in the near future? I can do another Scorching one; it will be good to do the same course and improve my time, but I am open to suggestions.

Anyone not have facebook? No, thought not :) You can see the pics from yesterday on my profile. I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband and great photographer to boot!

The last month

It's just over a month now since Dad died. Time flies huh?

Thankyou to everyone who supported us over the last month, with cards, food, hugs, and a listening ear. It is great to know we have such caring friends. Mmmmmwah! xxx

**********

It's a new year and time for new beginnings and the inevitable resolutions. I aim to do three triathlons this year. The first is under a week away on Wellington Anniversary day, next Monday. I'm doing the mid-length one rather than the short one I did last year. So that's 500m swim, 20km bike and 5km run. Wish me luck! The other two will be probably be Scorching Bay in March, and the Hutt tri again in October/ November.

Darcy/Ryan/puppy is still having somewhat of an identity crisis. He's been answering to Ryan for 6 months now, but I just don't like the name. I surreptitiously throw a B on the front, so he reminds me of the dog in Family Guy. Much cooler than the OC. and Bryan is Dad's middle name so that's kinda cool too.

I am currently nursing an addiction to Scrabulous, for which there seems to no cure other than riding it out till the obsession passes. Good thing it doesn't use a lot of bandwidth, or paradise would be raking in the dough by now.

I am riding my bike all over the place. Haven't made it up the hill yet, but I got halfway to the dairy the other day before I had to get off and walk. The time before, I only made it to the first corner, so any improvement is a good thing.

Right, back to facebook... Canada/US timezone is just about to hit peak playing time...

Puppy!!

Introducing our third Cavalier King Charles spaniel... Darcy. Not sure about the name yet, but I think it will grow on him.

While not exactly *replacing* Dad (he was a lot taller anyway), he will be good company for Mum, and he can protect her from burglars and other nasties by staring at them till they melt. Awww.

He's about 6 months old, and a little timid. He sure loves to snuggle though.

Christmas time, Barbeques and wine

I've always hated that lame Christmas song. Especially when Cliff Richard sings it.

Today I have been preparing for the thirty, yes - 30, people who are coming here on Tuesday. Good thing it's a pot luck barbie thingy.

I weed-eated (weed-ate?) the wasteland that we call the Deck to Nowhere. Seriously, it just sits there, separated from both the house and the courtyard. Strange. I plan to have blankets down for people to sit on once Sam mows it. The plan was to pave it in November but circumstances intervened. And the quotes were well over our budget.

Pressies are wrapped and under the tree.

Below is a close-up of two decorations that I'm sure will be talking points when the family all arrive on Christmas Day. One is a picture of not-kate and I; it was in my goodie bag at her 30th birthday. The other is a Champagne cork. The bottle was a wedding pressie from my cousin - we opened it and drank it in the lounge when we bought the house in Kelson. I tied curling ribbon on it and hung it on the tree: It ended up back in the decoration box so I put it back on again this year.

Warning! Rat photo below!

I just wanted to put this photo up cos the rats look so cute all snuggled up together. They were sleeping, but woke up when I opened the door to take the photo. Poppy is such a poser!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Me and my Dad.

Dad was an only child

He was born at the tail end of the Great Depression, in 1934, in Inglewood. His Dad – my Pop – was a schoolteacher and later a headmaster. Pop went away to war in 1939, and so Dad and his Mum Elizabeth lived a pretty meagre existence for a good part of his childhood. Elizabeth died when Dad was in his late 20s. She drowned during her daily swim in the sea at Paihia. I grew up knowing little of her, as Pop remarried and I grew up with a different Gran.

Dad was a soldier

He joined the Army as soon as he was old enough. He wanted to go to Korea, but I’m glad he didn’t. He went to Malaya and fought in the Emergency that was happening there. He didn’t like to talk about it much. He did like to tell us though, about his trips to exotic places like Bangladesh, Australia, Singapore and the States, and the shenanigans he got up to, including asking for a huge plate of cabbage from the mess when he arrived back in New Zealand from USA. I’m sure they thought he was mad, but apparently you couldn’t get cabbage in America back then.

He met Mum in the Army. She was a senior rank to him, which raised a few eyebrows back then, but he didn’t care. He swept her off her feet and into an Army House in tropical Waiouru once they were married.

When the Army Cadet unit started up in Lower Hutt in 1990, Dad told us all about how he was a School Cadet in the 40s, which sounded pretty exciting. Carol and I joined up the next week, and Dad even joined as an officer for a few years. I owe a lot to my 9 years in the Cadets. I would never be so confident as I am now if I hadn’t been to all those courses or taught all those lessons, or led all that drill on the parade ground. I will always be thankful to Mum and Dad for taking us to that first meeting in a draughty drill hall in Petone.
And “on time” to the Hall family ALWAYS means “five to ten minutes early” thanks to our military parents.


Dad was a family man

So much so, that he had two families.
He married Jean in 1956. Steven was born later in the year. Dad had always acknowledged that he was a bit of a lad, and wasn’t always around when he was needed, and eventually they divorced. Steven grew up into a fine man and we used to all go to visit Jean and Steve a few times a year for a catch up. When Steve developed cancer in 2005, Mum and Dad opened their home and hearts to have him move into our place for the last few months of his life. It was a really special time.

He married Mum in 1973. Carol arrived in 1974, I followed in 1976. Apparently when Mum was in labour with me, the doctor sent Dad home, saying it would be a while, and that he would call when it was time to come back.
He was at home, mowing the lawn when the phone rang. Mum’s voice on the other end of the line said; “Hello David… we have another daughter!”
He replied; “Who is this?”

He was a surrogate Dad to Katie (Carol’s friend), Sarah and Kirsten (my friends), and Allison, our exchange student from Chicago who stayed with us in 1990. Recently he was also Dad to Lauren, who stayed with Sam and I while on teaching exchange from Canada for four months.
He was also a loving Gramps to Megan. There will be more Grandchildren eventually, but unfortunately they won’t get to know him as Megan did.


Dad went on a big trip overseas with Mum in 2001

The planning conversation with Mum went like this:
Where do you want to go?
Chicago.
Anywhere else?
No, just Chicago.
What about England?
No, just Chicago, to see Allison and her family.
OK, but we’re going to England too because I want to go there.
OK, but only because you want to. Don’t ask me to enjoy it.

When they got back, the conversation went like this:
Where do you want to go back to?
London!


Dad was skilled with electronics

He was what is known as an ‘early adapter’, trying and embracing new technology as it came to hand. Working for Philips helped. We had a video well before most other people we knew. The cassette was two-sided like an audio tape, and popped out of a little hinged door. The technology never took off, but ‘Mr Philips’ always provided us with newer, better models as they became available.

Carol and I had a Philips version of the Walkman, before most people even knew what one was. The batteries lasted long enough to play about 3 tapes before they went flat, but damn we were cool, walking round to the dairy in the 80s with our big black foam headphones on.

When things broke, Dad was always able to fix them. He could still install and programme a video faster than any cable guy, and always knew exactly which cable went where, even over the phone, which he had to do the many times that Carol and I moved flats.

When the Defence Film Library became the Defence Video Unit he took it all in his stride. Watching him use a mouse when computers came in was hilarious, because his finger would hover over it like it was the Doomsday button, but we taught him how to play Minesweeper and Patience, and pretty soon he was using the mouse like a pro. He was pretty good at using the internet and email, and loved being able to interact with his Army buddies using SigsNet.

He could also send a text message faster than any other Septegenererian I know. Even though he held it at arms length and typed with his index finger.


Dad was great with his hands

He made a wooden rocking horse and a doll’s house for us when we were kids, and heaps of wooden toys. The wooden train he made is still at home, and Megan now plays with it. He remodelled every house he lived in, including Miro St, which has now been remodelled and redecorated at least twice in some parts.

He made Carol and I wooden boxes that sat at the end of our beds. And later, a blanket box for the end of his and Mum’s bed too. He made our garden furniture, built the pergola at the back of our house, and rebuilt the deck in 2005 with Steven and Murray. He made a beautiful changing trolley for Carol and Murray, and a trolley that he used to get himself round the house when he was still mobile. When he couldn’t do the big jobs anymore he started making holding crosses. They are all over the place; as far afield as Canada, USA, Japan and England. And even Gore.

I learned a lot of skills from Dad, and own my own tool kit and power drill. Sometimes I even let my husband use them.


Dad was firm but fair

He picked us up from parties with no questions asked; whatever the time or place, he and Mum were there to take us home. Even if there was underage drinking involved. Which there was, on quite a few occasions.

When we were old enough to drive, we got to return the favour by collecting him from the Taita RSA on ANZAC Day and Corps Days. These were the only times he ever left the seat up! Living with three women engourages a man not to do that very often.

When one of us had a boyfriend round very late at night – a BIG no-no, Dad chased him out of the house. Naked. That certainly scared the living daylights out of the would-be Romeo.


Dad was smart

He did the prize cryptic crossword every week in the paper. It became a bit of a competition between him and Peggy from Church and Jim from SigsNet. The record stands at three pens each.

He did Sudoku every morning. Mum and him would each work on their own copy after breakfast, and race each other to finish it.

He loved maths, particularly algebra. I couldn’t wait to find out what that was. When I found out, I loved it too. Now I’m a maths teacher, passing on my love of maths to my students.

He loved to watch Eggheads and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on the TV, and knew a heck of a lot about a heck of a lot of topics. Sam and Dad’s combined knowledge base was a scarily powerful combination, and they used to love watching it together when we went home for tea every Thursday for the last few years.


Dad loved to have fun

He used to take us to a local playground after Church on Sundays, to let Mum have some downtime. We loved going to Avalon Park, or Petone Foreshore, or the playground just near St James. He would push us on the swings till we were so high we could see everything around us. Or he would take us on the model trains at Petone and Avalon Parks. Dad loved going on them with us too.

He was a great rock 'n' roll dancer, and would eventually dance with me after a bit of persuasion. He would get breathless at times, but he gave it his all. He taught me how to follow, as often I would second-guess the next move and try to lead. I have great memories of dancing with him at Carol and Murray’s wedding.

He used to read to us at bedtime. Our favourite book was There’s no such thing as a dragon, but he never got to find out how it ended, as every time he got to “luckily the milkman was able to tell them which way it went”, he would collapse in laughter and tears, unable to read any further. Even in our teens and 20s we would beg Dad to read it to us, just to watch him laugh. He never got to read it to Megan, but we will do it for him when she is older.

My Dad was amazing and I’m going to miss him.

1934 - 2007

My Dad passed away this evening at 10.45pm, after the machine that was breathing for him was turned off. While not entirely unexpected, his turn for the worse was kind of sudden. He was surrounded by family and friends and not one but two Priests. Oh yes, he certainly had God on his side.

Farewell, my big strong Daddy.

Yet another busy weekend

Friday night:

Leavers' Dinner at Kaitoke Gardens. My babies are all grown up now... good old 9FH from 2003 have left the building. It's interesting that the only ones who stayed to the end of Year 13 were mostly boys (there were three girls but they didn't make the dinner). Seeya guys! I must admit I shed a few tears during the goodbye hugs and thankyous.

On the way home, Sue (another of the Deans) and I popped in to Paul's place to see if their annual family and friends Christmas party was still going. It was, and we arrived just as everyone was gathering round the piano for a singalong of Christmas classics. With pre-printed songsheets and everything; man, were they prepared! We went through all the carols and tacky santa/snow/winter/reindeer songs, then lo - a bunch of songbooks appeared from the piano stoool, and we sang our way through those too. At some stage a guitar appeared as well. We were just singing "The Midnight Hour" when we realised it *was* the midnight hour, and that the neighbours might want some sleep, so we finished up and headed home.

Saturday:

Hit the shops early to avoid the rush; needed a Santa suit for the Church Christmas Pageant (it's a trad story and a modern story running parallel to each other), and bought a dress for $20 for Sarah and Adam's wedding in 2 weeks. Bargain! Then I headed to Church to 'do a few things' to prepare for the afternoon rehearsal. I ended up 'doing a few things' for close to 4 hours! But the set looked cool, and the rehearsal went well.

When I got home, I had a quick change into the Indian gear and headed to Upper Hutt to dance in a concert. Turns out it was the Anita's School of Dance end-of-year concert, so there were lots of little poppets in tutus and tiaras wandering around. Too cute. We were special invited guests; Rani runs our group, and apparently Rani's daughter does Jazz through Anita, and Rani asked if we could join in. Something like that. I caught myself speeding on the drive home and was wondering what a cop would think if he pulled me over. I still had on a pile of makeup, a bindi, and a sparkly red and gold dance outfit. With a denim jacket on top. Nice.

Here's a shot of us rehearsing, and a posed one at the concert in the Green Room. It really was green!

Sunday:

Sang a solo in Church today. Sam even came to listen, but Dad was not well enough to come due to a bad night of breathing issues. The piece I sang is called "This is the record of John". It's a traditional piece for the second week of Advent: Prepare the Way of the Lord.

After Church I went shopping for school camp and spent around $450 on food. It filled three trolleys, and STILL managed to fit in the boot of our car cos it's so big!

Then I went back to Church for the pageant. It went off, and Dad was even able to make it, so I was really pleased. The angels got carried away and came on way too early with the wise men, but they understood my sign language and managed to get off the stage in time to lead the shepherds back on. The dancing farmers (modern shepherds) stole the show!

At the BBQ tea afterwards, people were all coming up to tell me how much they enjoyed the pageant - I guess it was worth all the stress in the end.

At 7pm I escaped to K and R's where we watched somebody Bergen (the bad ventroloquist), Madeline Khan (who sang badly), and Steve Martin (who plays the banjo quite well!) on The Muppet Show. I got a fab shoulder massage from R, and K fed me feta and herb rice crackers. Yum.

It's now after 11:30 pm. I need to go to bed now.

I came home without my undies last night

It was on the guy's stag night to-do list: I couldn't resist. And they were my nice ones - clean too, thank goodness.

I also wrote "fish loves you" on his left buttock with a permanent marker.

Going out in Welly is fun. I should do it more often.

Secret Admirers Week Rocks

I am at the computer in the staff workroom getting a very relaxing and pleasant shoulder massage from my co-wo Mihail. He has good hands.

It was arranged for me by my Secret Admirer.

This week I have had chocolate milk and V delivered to me, and three chocolate bars, and today I got a bottle of wine and some pretty flowers. Yay :) I am very spoiled.

My secret admiree has been even more spoiled this week. Every day I have left notes in her pigeonhole (saying things like "Helen is awesome" or "Helen rocks my world"), about 5 times a day. I got students to deliver Hershey's kisses to her office three times a day, I got her fav drink (coke zero) and put one in the fridge for her every day, and I got her some flowers. And two mini bottles of wine. And I made bacon and egg pie on the weekend for her lunch on Monday. Wow.

I am still being massaged. It's lovely.