Weekend Adventuring

This year has undoubtedly seen some change to how things "normally" work. One (minor) impact on my life was the submission process for my Masters thesis.
Normal process is to submit an electronic copy for digital storage, with a second hard-copy submitted in-person to be published in the University library. Once my examination was complete, including final revisions and sign-off from my advisor, I was able to submit the electronic version in May. This meant that I was technically officially finished with the degree program. However, since campus was closed until further notice due to COVID-19 at the time, I was not able to submit the hard copy.

Campus re-opened at the end of June so I was advised I could submit my hard copy in July. So this past weekend I drove up to the city so I could make a fun weekend away out of it.

I drove up Friday morning since I had to be on campus during business hours to submit the thesis. The submission event itself was really a non-event. I walked into the correct office, handed it over and walked out. But hey, officially officially done now! Plus I have a cool book on my shelf with my name on it, so worth it, right? :)

The rest of Friday was spent catching up with a couple of PhD students I became friends with, and exploring the Japan Mart to stock up on groceries. I also managed to fit in a lovely walk along the Long Bay beach reserve Saturday morning before getting back in the car to head as far South as Hamilton.

A Chinese restaurant I passed :)

Saturday's highlight was exploring part of Hamilton's botanical gardens with a friend who happily acted as my tour guide. I had heard good things about the gardens but was unaware of how much they have to offer. Due to the size, and the amount of time allocated for garden exploration, we only went through the themed gardens, but that was enough to keep us busy for quite awhile! A section of the gardens is dedicated to several theme gardens, which change over time to keep things fresh. We saw a Chinese garden, Japanese contemplation garden, English cottage garden and English Tudor garden, Italian Renaissance (my personal favorite). There were also some fascinating "Fantasy Gardens:" the Katherine Mansfield garden, Concept garden and Surrealist garden were the ones we had time to explore.

Admittedly, visiting a botanical garden in the winter means that you miss most of the beautiful flowers, but at the same time it afforded the opportunity to appreciate other aspects of the garden. AND, it reminded me how lucky I am to live on an island, that I can go walk around a botanical garden in the winter and it won't just be covered in snow!

Entrance to Chinese Scholars garden

English Cottage Garden entry

Japanese garden

Let the contemplation begin

Italian Renaissance

English Tudor garden (unsure why I took it at a weird angle...)

Kate Mansfield garden (not a real house unfortunately)

Entry to the Concept garden, based around the Magic Flute

Papageno, the birdcatcher in the Magic Flute

Tea anyone?

Surrealist garden...the arms on the "trees" moved, kind of creepily

In other news, I got to watch the tugboats bring a ship in to Port the other night :) Stay safe and well.

Winter in Taradise

Over the weekend we were blessed with some lovely sunny days so a friend and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity for some fresh air.

We started low-key with an extended version of the lake circuit at Lake Mangamahoe, which meant we stayed plenty warm due to walking but got to enjoy lovely views of our snow-covered maunga (mountain). I say "extended version" because we somehow managed to double-back on a section of the trail and walk in a big circle a couple of times. We certainly did not mind the extra walking, but were extra hungry when we followed the kiwi tradition of replenishing at a coffee shop post-adventuring.

The following day we decided to head towards the mountain, with the intention of enjoying hiking the Dawson Falls track. We expected it to be colder at the mountain, but were pleasantly surprised to find that it has snowed enough that by the time we were at the right location we were in the snow. We enjoyed the Kapuni Loop Track that goes past the falls, as well as the Wilkies Pools loop track that offers lovely mountain views and some excellent stream crossings. I have done both of these tracks numerous times, but never before in the snow! It is also the first time I have played in the snow in July, first time for everything I guess, ha!

There were some brave souls out sledding, and a few snowman attempts. My hiking buddy was safe from snowballs, as it was very crystal-ey powdery snow, a bit different from what we usually see in Missouri. I realized it has been 7 years since I have been in real snow (I have done a few hikes in the winter where there was a bit of dusting here and there but I do not think that really counts) so it felt like quite a treat.

All this adventuring successfully confused my young nieces, who could not quite grasp how auntie had been able to go play in the snow when they had just got back from swimming in the lake. :)

Life in COVID-19 Lockdown

As Troway and I were passing time in planes and airports as we traveled the world at New Year's, one of the things we discussed was our goals for this year. Some were small, some a bit more intimidating, but none of them included the events of the last couple months. We feel quite fortunate that we were able to enjoy such a long trip but still returned home to New Zealand before things got too crazy.

New Zealand did not feel much impact from the virus until March. But like all places, once it was here it began to spread so something had to change in order to curtail it.
The something is what the government Level 4 lockdown, which put the country in a socially isolated state for five weeks to allow cases to be treated and prevent increased infection rates. It was effective, but was a challenge for all in one way or another. Life is not back to "normal" yet, and I suspect will be a bit odd for some time, but I am thankful that the government chose to act early to prevent widespread infection. I am also grateful that Troway and I were at a point life-wise where we were able to get through this strange time without too much stress.

In hindsight, this year so far has shown me that you should be a little bit careful what you ask for. After the last couple years of planning a wedding, doing grad school study and still working mostly full-time, one of my goals for this year was to slow things down a bit, and re-learn how to enjoy relaxing and pursuing hobbies. I did not intend this goal to be achieved by society shutting down, but it does mean I have had lots of time for said hobbies and relaxation.

One thing I am grateful for throughout all of this is my ability to continue working. My job is considered essential and it is not a job that can be done from home, so my daily routine in terms of work was minimally disrupted (if a bit hectic and exhausting at times due to navigating new ways  of working due to isolation requirements, etc.). But when my work day was over, my only "to-do" was heading home to hang out with Troway and the cat and pursue whatever home activity tickled my fancy.
Troway has not been so lucky in regards to his daily routine. He had resigned from full-time work at the start of March to go back to school. But that all got shut down at the end of March, just as he was looking for something part-time to fill the gaps when he did not have study. Naturally nobody has been hiring lately so he has been at home, trying to study remotely where he can. Rugby was cancelled, the dojo is closed, and the fitness classes he runs are still not able to resume due to restrictions on group numbers.

What then have we done with all of this spare time? In the interests of our clothes still fitting, we set up a fitness routine. We have taken turns choosing what to do in order to keep it interesting. Troway is in charge of weights sessions (Denise's least favorite, but apparently it is good for me). Denise is in charge of motivating Troway to go for a run in case he does get a short rugby season this year (it is finally looking good on that front, they have practice this evening, albeit with limited numbers to adhere to group restrictions). Some days we chose to go for a walk and explore a new part of town. This has allowed us to observe what everyone else is up to. There is LOTS of DIY happening around town!

We have also spent a lot of time catching up on yardwork. I enjoy having a lovely garden and a good-sized yard, but that of course does mean lots of things to do to keep it that way. It is probably looking better than it ever has over the last couple of years :) I have also taken up quilting again; there are now about three projects on the go... and I am working on a proper wedding scrapbook, which is lots of fun!

The biggest change we have seen has actually been in the shift of "normal household duties." I actually commented to one of the other ladies at work that I finally understand what it is like to have a wife at home! I have hardly done housework the last six weeks, and Troway does 90% of the cooking now. It has prompted some interesting reflection and discussion on traditional roles. I am thoroughly appreciative of the fact that Troway has been home and able to take over grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, entertaining and training the cat, etc. etc. etc. 

We went for a walk in Tupare gardens over the weekend, thought it would be good to share our fall colors while those in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying spring :)

High Tea

I do not think you can ever be too old for a good tea party, and over the last few months a group of us have embraced the opportunity to use tea parties as a way to explore new recipes and socialise in a low-cost, low-key environment.

Awhile back, I had a restaurant voucher for a place that offers high teas on Sunday afternoons. I decided that sounded more fun than just going for lunch, so I invited some friends from work to go with me and see what it was all about. I am sure that as a child I had plenty of "tea parties" and as an adult I have enjoyed many a delightful cup of tea with friends, but I had never experienced a proper high tea (unless you count Japanese tea ceremonies, but that's a whole different story for another day). We dressed up in our sun dresses and prepared ourselves for an afternoon of good tea, good food and good company.

We found the bottomless pots of tea to be delightful as we got to try several options. The food was also lovely. It followed (what we learned to be) a traditional high tea menu of the following on a three-tier serving platter: bottom tier was savoury items such as ham and cucumber sandwiches, mini quiches and samosas; the middle tier had fluffy scones with jam and butter; the top tier offered sweets such as lemon squares and brownies.

We decided we were full converts to the idea of such a tea party and thought we would enjoy scheduling one every month or two. Since we fancied ourselves to be clever, we decided to take turns hosting in place of going out to restaurants or cafes. We have enjoyed three "high teas" since, and in our humble opinions are excelling at them!

We have taken turns providing the tea (which has occasionally been hot chocolate and/or hot apple cider), and we split the menu between sweet and savoury so we keep a good mix. We have, however, deviated a bit from what is probably the traditional menu, particularly with the lack of scones. But we have had a delightfully varied menu each time and are finding that with the exception of some requested favorites, we are trying new recipes every time which is quite a lot of fun for all of us. We have acquired some two-tier serving plates,which works well since we are not having scones as part of the menu :) Some favorites have been: back-wrapped maple glazed mini sausages, spinach and stuffing bites, chocolate bliss balls, jalapeno popper dip, and (a Kiwi classic), cheese roll-ups.
Our semi-regular gatherings are sadly on hold at the moment due to COVID-19, but that does mean we have lots of time to plan our recipes for next time!

Arkansas & Washington D.C. Adventures

Time-wise these posts are a bit backwards, since we went to the States before Japan, but I was more interested in posting about Japan, haha. However, I did promise to share some of our US adventures so figured I better get to it.

Planning, packing and setting off for four weeks of globe trotting takes a bit of work, but by the time we got to our departure date, we felt like we had things pretty well sorted. However, the delays that can occur with air travel are simply something you cannot plan for. Our itinerary had us on a direct flight from Auckland to Chicago, where we planned to spend a night with friends to get some pizza and explore downtown a bit (a LOOOOOONG 15 hour flight, but worth it to get so far into the US we decided). However, we had to get to Auckland first. What do you know, it was windy so our flight from New Plymouth got delayed. Normally this is little cause for concern, but we knew it was one of the busiest days of the year to fly so as the departure time kept getting pushed out we starting to feel a bit of anxiety. Airline staff assured us we had plenty of time to make our connection, but we were not 100% confident in their assurances. However, they were right, after running from one terminal to the next and all the way through the international departure area to find our gate (and me getting stopped for a random extra security screening) we made it to the gate just as they were boarding.

Highlights of Chicago included having proper deep dish pizza (so dangerously delicious), finding the bean and a giant Christmas tree, and sampling cheddar bacon popcorn!

Once we got to Little Rock, the schedule was pretty laid-back, a very welcome change to the busyness we had juggled until the trip. Other than family time and a winter Christmas with two adorable nieces, highlights included a fantastic light display at a big garden, exploring Hot Springs, tea parties with adorable little nieces, and loads of delicious food (including hot homemade cinnamon rolls sent with us on our flight to DC, which got Troway flagged at airport security for a search; the TSA fellow said lucky us getting those for an in-flight treat!).

The BBQ chef :D 

Riverfront capital view from a scenic state park overlook

Christmas at the Arkansas capital

Bathhouse row in Hot Springs

Al Capone's piano (seen at the Hot Springs Gangster Museum)

Our final 3 days in the US was spent in Washington, D.C. We stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast in a colorful, old-school neighborhood. We were pretty touristey during the day, ticking the well-known boxes of the Smithsonian, the major monuments, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves though, and found it quite awe-inspiring to visit powerful places such as the Lincoln monument, and the WWII memorial. There is something quite humbling about in the presence of a reminder of the great sacrifices others have made.

Smithsonian sea creatures

Near our bed and breakfast

Hearty American food :D  (we followed it up with funnel cake)