Pip's Squeaks

Gratitude #27

2010-03-20T20:16:00.003+13:00

Today I'm grateful for a walk in the sun, and for cheerful taxi drivers. I'm grateful for cauliflower cheese and salad from the garden. I'm grateful for an afternoon spent reading, and for scanned honeymoon photos. I am grateful for yet again feeling a little bit better.

Oh, and I'm especially glad for the gift of a book written by a dear friend, arriving in the mail.

Gratitude #26

2010-03-19T22:34:00.002+13:00

Yet another good day. I am grateful for drinks after work. It seems such a small thing - feeling well enough to relax with my colleagues. Not so long ago I couldn't relax, let alone sit there socialising and drinking Riesling. Laugh? Joke? All possible again. Plus my laptop no longer falls off my lap when I'm sitting here.

It possible I may, indeed, be starting to get a little better.

Gratitude #25

2010-03-18T18:50:00.002+13:00

Today I am grateful for good meetings, and for writing a paper for our project board. I'm grateful that I'm enough of an interesting case that the two optometrists I've seen since the surgery discuss me at their get-togethers.

If I don't get better it won't be from the lack of exploring all avenues!

Gratitude #24

2010-03-17T19:29:00.003+13:00

Today I am grateful for a whole day of meetings, for conversation on the bus, for the particular warmth of an autumn sun, for Pinot Noir, for homemade chicken pie, for central heating, and for feeling today that I might, honestly, be a little better. Just a little, but I'll take it.

Gratitude #23

2010-03-16T19:26:00.003+13:00

Apparently, according to my psychologist, I have gotten better. This is the same psych who commented today that she could see how I ran marathons. Apparently I am very determined. I am grateful to her for telling me over and over again how well I am doing. I am grateful for actually feeling slightly better today. I am extremely grateful for The Lacuna. I am grateful that it didn't rain on me today. I am grateful that the cyclone seems to be missing Suva, and that my colleague who is there at the moment is therefore ok.

I'm grateful for quite a lot today. This is one of the better days.

Gratitude #22

2010-03-15T20:40:00.003+13:00

Today I'm grateful for a good massage, a full day at work, lunch with a friend, and the last vestiges of a gold sunset over the Western hills as I caught a bus home. It was a beautiful evening, very much appreciated as I walked from the bus stop home. Perfect for some night cycling, and trail running. I promised myself that when I'm over all this I'll go for a run up in those same hills, on an autumn night just like this.

Oh, and I'm also grateful for reading on the bus, for the bus coming a little early, and for Hamish having dinner ready pretty much as I was walking in the door.

Gratitude #21

2010-03-14T16:39:00.002+13:00

Today I am grateful for reading again. I bought Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna just before Christmas, but it's been too difficult for me to read. Skimming through blogs is about all I've had the concentration levels for. Today I've managed to read for shortish periods at a time, without having to struggle too much.

Hamish and I also took a huge load of stuff off to the Tip Shop and landfill. We stopped for berry icecream at the Happy Valley icecream parlour, and then bought some more test pots from Resene. We had lunch at Bordeaux then stopped in at Glengarrys to check out their cider range.

Resene Tea looks rather nice in the hallway, so I think we have a winner, and the cider wasn't bad either!

Gratitude #20

2010-03-13T22:34:00.002+13:00

Today I'm grateful for smoochy, sleepy cats. Now that it's starting to get cool Gaffer and Ede have rediscovered the underside of the duvet.

I'm also grateful for not getting wet during my walk to Newtown, and for the lovely taxi driver who took me home. I'm glad I was able to make his day simply by giving him my supermarket petrol voucher, It wasn't like we were going to use it!

Tissy Takes Over the Kitty House

2010-03-13T16:00:00.003+13:00

Gaffer has quite literally been in bed all day. Oh - no - he just got up. He's been there since snuggling in with me some time during the night. Oh to be a cat!

Gratitude #19

2010-03-12T18:31:00.000+13:00

Today I'm glad I was inside when the big storm hit. Watching it approach was just mind blowing.

Gratitude #18

2010-03-11T17:49:00.003+13:00

Splore Tree of Life

Today I am grateful for a massage, gifted to me by a friend. I am amazed and thrilled that I managed to lie face down for nearly an hour on the table, and also thrilled that my back, neck and shoulder muscles seemed to want to loosen up.

The feeling of well being lasted till mid-afternoon, and I had one of the better days I've had in a while. I seem to be repeating the pattern of a bad day followed by a couple of good ones. I am grateful for good days!

Gratitude #17

2010-03-10T18:05:00.003+13:00

Clouds over Wellington a few nights ago.

I'm grateful for another good night's sleep and another day of beautiful weather. Is that getting repetitive yet? I'm grateful Ede decided to curl up in bed with me last night. I'm grateful for the rug Fi gave us which has replaced the ugly grey carpet in the spare bedroom. I'm grateful for Hamish, and for Hamish ordering Indian.

I'm grateful for the ability to read blogs, so as to live vicariously through the lives of others.

Gratitutude #16

2010-03-09T19:10:00.001+13:00

Today I am grateful for memories of running along Oriental Bay on hot summer days, and jumping into Oriental Bay to cool off afterwards.

Gratitude #15

2010-03-08T18:27:00.001+13:00

Today I'm grateful for not feeling as bad today as I'd expected, given that I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm also grateful for a good appointment with my GP, for a tasty pasta meal, for not having put on any weight and for another stunning early winter day.

Gratitude #14

2010-03-07T18:42:00.003+13:00

I'm grateful for another good day.

I'm grateful for another sleep in. Hamish and I then drove into town to the Cuba Street apartment of some former Auckland friends of ours. On the way we bought apartment-warming cup cakes.

We sat around for a few hours talking, drinking tea and playing with their Ragdoll cats. After a tour of the pool, spa, sun deck and gym facilities we said our goodbyes. I'd been tracking an auction for a wardrobe on Trademe, but lost that. Just as well, as I promptly walked into Pixel Ink and discovered that they were now selling the Flox Robin print I've been lusting after for weeks. Hamish also decided to buy a print he has been eyeing up, so the store made a nice sale at the end of their day.

We stopped into Duke Carvell's for some small plates, a beer and a glass of Rose in the sun, all excellent. From there it was off home for some down time on the sofa.

It's been a great, sunny, warm yet cool autumn day.

Gratitude #13

2010-03-06T18:52:00.003+13:00

Today I'm grateful for a sleep in. I'm grateful for a phone call from Hamish's mother. I'm grateful for Jo coming to pick me up, and our two and a half hour long walk from the Brooklyn wind turbine along the Sanctuary fenceline, then back along a gravel road and a narrow bush singletrack to the turbine again. Afterwards we sat in the sun in a peaceful bushy courtyard out the back of the cafe in Brooklyn. I had a big, cold orange juice and a salad with crunchy, salty duck.

Afterwards Jo and I tracked our trainer, Dave, found the Taupo Ironman, as he finished the bike and started on the run. I spent the rest of the afternoon tracking him, as he finally finished in a little over ten and a half hours.

Today I am also grateful that Hamish is on his way home.

Today has been a good day.

Gratitude #12

2010-03-05T18:32:00.001+13:00

Today I'm grateful for the chance to try Phototherapy, or Syntonics. I'm grateful that my diplopia seem to have, in the case of the vertical, disappeared, and in the case of the horizontal, greatly reduced.

Hopefully all of this will finally start to make a difference.

Gratitude #11

2010-03-04T18:49:00.002+13:00

Today I'm grateful for making my way through a full day at work. I'm grateful again for a beautiful late summer/early winter day. I'm grateful that Hamish is gaving a good time in Sydney, that my cold is easing up, and that Tissy woke me when she came in at 3a.m. so that I could catch her mouse and take it outside. I'm grateful for the fact that I already have plans for both days this weekend.

Gratitude #10

2010-03-03T16:47:00.000+13:00

Today I am grateful for a stunning day. I am grateful this cold is abating. I am grateful for a good session with the neuropsych where she reinforced for me how well I was doing. I am extremely grateful for discovering Tiramisu flavoured Toffee Pops, though I suspect this will become a dangerous passion!

Gratitude #9

2010-03-02T14:56:00.002+13:00

Today I am grateful that I still have enough of a sense of smell to be able to locate and remove the rotting mouse from under the bed. I am grateful for long hot showers, for getting home on the bus without my eustacian tubes exploding, and for being tucked up in bed.

Read Write Poem Prompt #116

2010-03-01T17:04:00.003+13:00

Original Image Here

Carnival
At midnight
The carnival
fell to bed.
The ferris wheel
driver slumped
leg dangly over the
side of a faded
red car.
The mirror maze
man draped curtains
over twenty four
panes of glass
then another over
himself and lay
on the floor
to sleep.
In the haunted
house the ghouls
hushed their howling
and hung blinking
in the half light.

Under the even
ticking of a rusting
sky clock, the
silhouette of a
small girl with
candy floss in her
hand chased a
balloon through
the carnival's
dreams.

Gratitude #8

2010-03-01T17:01:00.002+13:00

Today I'm grateful for having money to throw at this balance problem. Appointment number one with a new optometrist out of the way today, and another two hours of testing due on Friday.

Gratitude #7

2010-02-28T16:17:00.003+13:00

Today I'm grateful that this cold hasn't blocked my ears too badly. I'm very, very grateful for throat lozenges. I'm grateful that my house is still on this hill and hasn't been felled by an earth quake, and I'm grateful that the city below me hasn't been washed away by a tsunami.

Gratitude #6

2010-02-27T18:16:00.002+13:00

Today I am grateful for a lie in. I am grateful for a stunning late summer/early autumn day. I am grateful for time spent in the garden, and for a huge pile of stuff in the hallway ready to be taken to the tip shop. Clearing out feels good!

I am grateful for Mavericks pizza, stone fruit, and Whittakers Dark Ghana chocolate.

Most of all though, I am grateful for a small patch of calm.

Splore 2010

2010-02-26T21:54:00.001+13:00

Photo Blog 97 - Splore Sunset
Originally uploaded by nshgraph

The evenings were THAT beautiful.