Archive
3-Jan-2016 Still on holiday!
I am still on holiday and hanging out at home, doing lots of sport, running, swimming, gym, possibly too much as my arms and legs are very tired and I have trouble getting out of bed before about 10am!
I finished reading The Razor’s Edge book by Somerset Maugham. I really enjoyed it … this review is better than I could give it:
In the evening, gone 1030pm, me and Dawn walked thru Bonnie Vale campsite to Maianbar and as it was low tide crossed the beach to the spit and walked back on the beach. I gave her a piggy back across the stream! We got back home approx 11.30pm, it was warm and we worked up a sweat.
24-Dec-2015 Christmas Eve, Marley & Presents
Forget the presents, my Christmas wish happened today: going out for a bush walk and picnic with my wife and 3 teenagers. Won’t be long before they won’t want to come. Spending time with people you care about is best, or call them on the dog-and-bone or if they are not around then spend a few minutes thinking of them. We took photos but it’s good to under-share sometimes so not posting here.
Merry Christmas all and hope there are many more to come!
6-Jun-2015 Saturday .. some joy
It seems I have been working harder & longer at work the last few months, so today it felt like a real luxury to sleep in until about 10am with my wife and have a coffee sitting out on the back deck.
After dropping Kody off at a friends place I went running, not a huge long run, just an hour on what is becoming my fave route – to Jibbon beach and up the Eric St track then back down to the beach on the Sandy track. I did it last weekend in barefeet but today I wore shoes. My running is going very well, just frightened now of doing something silly and getting injured!
Then I went swimming at the beach – which is rapidly becoming my favourite spot to swim as it’s so clear and gets deep quickly – often just 1m from the edge it seems over my head! – just to the right of the rocks and across to “Devs” (as the kids call it) and back again. The water was chilly but not too bad. Maybe 17C in the water I’d estimate. Then jogged home afterwards.
Took Chelsea driving, then went to see Kody play soccer at Heathcote.
After seeing off Dawn to work and skyping with family in the UK, I “went to the gym” over at the oval:
5 sets of:
- 50 skips with skipping rope
- 20 step ups with 15kg “sandbag” on shoulders
- 10 pushups
- 10 knees up whilst hanging from climbing frame
It’s pretty clear that doing sets of reps is a good way to do heaps more than just straight through. I felt extra virtuous as it was so cold outside (10C) .. ha ha must be going soft !
After dinner I took Chelsea out driving again, this time to Sutherland and back. Relaxed in the evening listening to alt-country playlist on Spotify.
2-May-2015 Driving in the rain
I didn’t have anything planned for today, and was looking forward to a lie in as I had been up early all week. Combined with the rain and wet weather and general speed up of corporate life, I felt like a bedraggled, drowned and wrung out rat. Unfortunately Jaz was going out at 7am to a soccer referee course way over at Norwest, a good 90mins drive away, if you don’t get lost on the way. I awoke at 06.30am and asked if she’d like me to go with her. She said Yes. Grrr. So we left, Jaz driving. We got there in time for her 9am start, and then I went to Kogarah to pick up 2 persimmon trees that Dawn and Jaz had lined up. They were both about 30cm high. Then I went to Ramsgate Farmer’s market for some veggies. Then went to Cronulla to buy some stuff from the health food shop. Had an hour at home (had to go the long way as the weir was flooded). Had a lie down and some fruit then drove out back to pick up Jaz. Unfortunately it was really raining hard and was just miserable. However she is now a fully qualified grade 4 soccer ref. We got home just in time to see Dawn before she went to work. But by then I was buggered and didn’t fancy running and it was too dark to swim.
I cooked dinner and then went to bed early 0930pm. I was lying in bed listening to the rain and frogs thinking how great it all was. Then the phone rank and it was Ko asking if I could go pick her up from a friends place and so I had to go out in the driving rain, again. However when I finally made it back into our warm dry house it was great, and I still made it to bed early. I am trying to get more sleep and find that it’s just great and I love it but rarely make it to be bed early – more times than not it is still 1130pm or later..
1-Jan-2015 New Year’s !
Last night I met Dawn after her work and we went to see the 9pm fireworks from Sydney Park near Newtown. Maybe it was way the wind was blowing but it was difficult to see them, but lots of smoke. We weren’t as impressed as in previous years. We walked into Newtown to get a coffer and/or something to eat, it’s always lively there even on New Years but this time a lot of places were closed.
I read in the paper that:
Bars and hotels citywide reported their quietest New Year’s Eve in a long time. Locals said streets were a “ghost town” on Wednesday night.
As well as Bondi, the number of visitors at pubs in Surry Hills and Leichhardt was about one-fifth of the normal New Year’s Eve crowds.
Oh well, we got a coffee anyway and drove home. Thanksfully (!!) all the kids were out so we had a hot bath and watched the midnight fireworks on TV. Luckily the kids came home in one piece soon after from being at a local beach.
Today was a late start, very hot, over 30C and quiet although all the beaches here were packed. We went to the beach 3 times today too cool off!! I did some reading and some gym work and went to a 2hr walk through the bush and along the cliffs. Then we had a family dinner in the back garden over a fire – not that it was cold – we were all sweating !!
Anyway new year’s resolutions still intact !
25-Dec-2014 Christmas Day
Being Christmas and we have no family here other than ourselves, and we were off work & School we could get up late. Kody would have preferred we got up earlier, like 6am, but it was closer to 10am. I think the older kids were ok with that! We then opened our presents, I always like to think we don’t over-do it, but then I see the pile and am not so sure. We then had a coffee, of course, and had a family group photo shoot in the garden. We went for a longish walk to the recently-done up aboriginal engravings & had a swim at Jibbon beach on the way back, all together and really lovely. Had dinner on back deck about 30secs before a big thunder & lightening store. Then Skyped my Mum and Dawn’s sister Carol in the UK and made a few other calls to family.
24-Dec-2014 Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve and the house seemed to be running off adrenaline, except Dawn of course who was working. It was the first day of my holidays and the kids despute being older teenagers, were still excited for Christmas.
Ko & Jaz drove Dawn to Sutherland station leaving approx 5.10am, then they went onto Greenhills to go surfing.
I left about 6.45am with Chelsea, although I was swimming with the people at South Cronulla – the SIPS – Shark Island Psycho Swimmers. We pretty much always swim out and around Shark Island, I would guess approx 1.5km total, depending on the conditions. The waves were BIG today out the back of the Point and out back of Shark Island. I was frankly a little scared and just did what everyone else did and came through it very happy.
The kids were waiting for me as I finished and we all had a nice breakfast together at the Barefoot on the Beach. As a sign of them growing up, I left them to go shopping at Woolies whilst I went home to do the cleaning up and wrap my final lot of presents & generally chill out whilst listening to the BBC World Service.
Later in the afternoon I went Boxing with Jaz at the beach which had emptied by then. Me, Jaz and Ko also played soccer and catch. A great time together and I really appreciated it.
22-Nov-2014 A Busy Saturday
18-Nov-2014 After Work Date Night
I went to the Gym after work and then, the same as the last few weeks, I met Dawn at Town Hall station so we could go back home together, mainly to share the car as Jazmin was using the other one.
However today, instead of going straight home, we went out to a cafe for coffee. but not an ordinary one, it was like a Japanese one, and certainly the times I have been there I was the only non-asian. It’s always very popular. Dawn ordered a Matcha tea, as per the photo, like a straight bitter espresso. They did a lot of matcha’s and green tea ice creams and things like that – lots of strange concoctions! I ordered a soy ginger chai latte. It was good and Dawn even preferred that.
Got home approx 9.30pm.
9-Nov-2014 Swim with dolphins
Dawn was at work today, so I had a quiet morning doing chores, then in the afternoon I kayaked over to the White House, but as I was injured I went for a walk instead of a run. I walked to South Cronulla along the coast path, then went for a swim round the buoy. The sea was quite rough. Amazingly a dolphin swam underneath me. To be honest when I first saw the fin and flash of grey it scared the life out of me. When I looked up I could see it breach the water with it’s fin out – really beautiful once I’d calmed down.
I then got changed and had a coffee at Grind, then walked up to Wanda beach and then back to the White House and kayaked back home. I felt quite sore & tired.
In the evening, I was fiddling around with my new phone, the Samsung Note 4. After Dawn came home I took the first selfie – below.
2-Nov-2014 Summer has arrived figuratively!
I didn’t do a lot on Saturday. Up late, chores etc but I did go swimming. It was very hot 35C and quite windy (perfect weather for bush fires, and in fact there was a fire in the Blue Mountains). I swam from the rocks at one end of Hordern’s to the wharf and back. Going was with the wind/waves and not too bad but coming back was very hard – quite a bit of up and down and water in the face. Afterwards at home when I was getting into the hammock on the back deck I had a small globule of water run out of my nose onto the floor – a clear sign summer has arrived and it made me feel very glad! I even walked the dog.
20-Oct-2014 I was a student!
and here is the id to prove it. I found Dawn’s also. It was 32 years ago … a different world and a different time. We started going out 2-3 years before – wow!
I spent most of the evening fiddling around listening to Spotify – they have a heap of great playlists – as I decided to take the night off to let my injuries heal.
19-Oct-2014 Sunday night is date night
I got up really late again … is this normal on a Sunday? Did some chores, went for a walk to Jibbon beach after finding all the bikes had flat tyres, and then had a swim. Came back for a quick breakfast abut 2pm and then went to yoga with Dawn.
We were both stuffed afterwards but went to Newtown and had a coffee. Actually Dawn had a coffee and I had a hot ginger and lemon. One of the advantages of having teenaged kids is we can leave them we we go out on a date.
Then we went to “Lentil As Anything“, it’s a vegan restaurant where the menu doesn’t have any prices, you just pay as you like. They only do a limited number of dishes, the waitress had a hand-scrawled note with 3 dishes on – an Indian plate, a Thai plate and a chick-pea tomato dish, I had the indian and Dawn the chick peas. it was awesome. But they had me at “would you like a soy chai before you sit down … ” Just my sort of place, a bit grungy but super great. As Dawn said “we’ll be back”.
Photos I took on my walk :
another
12-Oct-2014 Hot Sunday
Dawn went to work early and I got up early some 4hrs later. I had a quick swim at the beach which was great – sun was out and water was great.
I bought a short-necked turtle for Kody as part of a prize for winning best-and-fairest in the Zone OzTag competition. We had to go to Heathcote for that. Then I did a bunch of home chores. By then it was gone 1pm. I weighed myself and was shocked to see 81.6kg the heaviest for many years even though I am careful with what I eat and the exercise that I do. hmmm probably more running required.
I then went for a 2hr run to the burnt steps above little marley. That makes it 4 weeks in a row now. Afterwards I bought a better cap online as protection from for sun as it is very hot and exposed out there. Big Marley and Little Marley beaches had the best waters I have ever seen there, almost no waves, crystal clear blue water, no dangerous rips! I should have stopped for a swim but didn’t as I knew I would have a swim back home. Afterwards I died on hammock for a couple of hours.
21-Sept-2014 A Bowling Weekend
It was a funny weekend – we went bowling twice!
On Friday we went to Sylvania TenPin Bowling to celebrate Nathan’s birthday (our yoga teacher, owns the studio). Dawn said she can’t remember when she’d done it last, if ever. It was a long time since I’d been but I have definitely been with the kids a bit.Dawn wasn’t great and to be honest I wasn’t much better.
We then went to barefoot lawn bowling in South Cronulla with the W18C soccer team, mainly as a celebration for them winning the competition this year. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we both did a bit better and were still pretty evenly matched.
The girls picked up their jackets that the club paid for – see photo:
13-Sep-2014 City Day Out
It’s pretty obvious, to me at least, that a day out in the city is a weird thing for me to do, given I am there Monday to Friday and that I hate shopping, but it was a family thing. Chelsea was going to work and Kody was with friends at the Cronulla Spring Festival.
It was Dawn’s birthday on Monday and she wanted to get some clothes and things and Jazmin wanted to go also, so I tagged along. yawn. I really don’t like shopping. especially clothes shopping and even more especially when none of it is for me! However it was nice to be out with family, so that was good. They both got quite a few things so it was semi-worthwhile…
After we got back I went for a short run to Jibbon and along the beach and had a swim. The water is not quite as icy, but not really warm in any known description. Lots of bluebottles also but I went along the beach to the tucked on corner so missed them, thankfully.
On the train I started and finished reading a Kindle Singles book (ie very short, cost $3) : I Murdered My Library by Linda Grant. I found it from this article in the Guardian.
What happens when you begin to build a library in childhood and then find you have too many books? From a small collection held together by a pair of plaster of Paris horse-head bookends to books piled on stairs, and in front of each other on shelves, books cease to furnish a room and begin to overwhelm it. At the end of 2013, novelist Linda Grant moved from a rambling maisonette over four floors to a two bedroom flat with a tiny corridor-shaped study. The trauma of getting rid of thousands of books raises the question of what purpose personal libraries serve in contemporary life and the seductive lure of the Kindle. Both a memoir of a lifetime of reading and an insight into how interior décor has banished the bookcase, her account of the emotional struggle of her relationship with books asks questions about the way we live today.
I really enjoyed it and it resonated with me … I have been reading since I was about 5 years old and have had many many books, and am finally trying to part with them. I too use my Kindle a lot more now (actually the kindle app on my phone).
25-May-2014 Weekend incl Running!
This weekend was a bit like last: watched the kids play soccer, went running, went swimming, felt totally knackered both Saturday and Sunday nights. Luckily the weather was superb, warm 25C and sunny. Even the sea was approx 20C! Yesterday I ran to Maianbar whereas today I ran from Audley along Lady Carrington Drive. Unfortunately I think my injuries have left me out of practise and I was slow as. I didn’t even make it to the end as I wanted to keep it to 2hrs. Worse, I locked myself out of my car and had call home on 1800-reverse and get Jazmin to come and rescue me.
I got a solid 8hrs sleep last night even allowing for getting up at 6.45am this morning to drive to The Ridge for kids soccer.
Given Friday night and this weekend’s running, I have been thinking about running a lot. It’s a strange sport and all I can think of is Just Run – it doesn’t matter where, when or how or what you wear, eat or the speed. It’s meditative, healhty etc. Just remember : Just Run! It’s like a buddhist koan, a famous one being “before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water… after enlightenment chop wood, carry water“. Running is the same and you need the same mindset: “As a beginning runner, just run … as an Olympic athlete, just run”.
10-May-2014 Messy kids
I think this goes with the territory of getting older – I hated being told to cleanup by my mum when I was a kid (even though I wasn’t so bad), but I do find myself doing the same thing now to my kids. I am sure this happens to all adults. They take stuff out of the fridge but never put it back, they leave wet towels all over the bathroom floor … I could go on and on about all their inadequacies but I will just leave with a photo Kody’s room today …. this is quite normal. I am over it and just shut the door.
6-May-2014 Kid Vid
This post is an indication of how your kids grow up without you really realising, and they become their own selves expressing their own individuality. Jazmin (18 yrs) got it into her head to buy a snowboard. She’s barely even seen snow. She looked up a guy on gumtree, drove our car to Manly over an hour away and bought one for $50. Then they drove into the Royal National Park, and hiked in for an hour each way to Marley sand dunes and went sandboarding. Totally awesome. Here is a video of 12ys old Kody.
21-Apr-2014 Bad neck, shoulder, arm
I was up approx 10am today, and did some chores around the house, althpugh Dawn was home so did squeeze in a coffee on the back deck after we’d moved all Jazmin’s bike parts. Although my neck, shoulder arm still hurt in bed, they are ok running. So I went running with Dawn to Maianbar and back along the spit with a wade & swim then a longer swim at Hordern’s beach. My arm was still dodgy though so didn’t swim much.
Then I made dinner for the kids tonight, had breakfat (at 3pm !) then went with Dawn to the nursery at Taren Point and on to yoga. I really couldn’t do some of the poses at all due to my injury – even laying on my back on the floor (savasana) was very painful. At home the kids had eaten dinner and barely left enough for me so I made some more including for lunch.
I read this great article in the paper ( http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/19/change-your-life-stop-being-busy ):
There’s only one viable time management approach left (and even that’s only really an option for the better-off). Step one: identify what seem to be, right now, the most meaningful ways to spend your life. Step two: schedule time for those things. There is no step three. Everything else just has to fit around them – or not. Approach life like this and a lot of unimportant things won’t get done, but, crucially, a lot of important things won’t get done either. Certain friendships will be neglected; certain amazing experiences won’t be had; you won’t eat or exercise as well as you theoretically could. In an era of extreme busyness, the only conceivable way to live a meaningful life is to not do thousands of meaningful things.
“Learn to say no”: it’s such a cliche, and easy to assume it means only saying no to tedious, unfulfilling stuff. But “the biggest, trickiest lesson,” as the author Elizabeth Gilbert once put it, “is learning how to say no to things you do want to do” – stuff that matters – so that you can do a handful of things that really matter. Our only hope of beating overwhelm may be to limit, radically, what we’re willing to get whelmed by in the first place.
There is definitely more I could do on this, I keep doing extra things and the get frustrated. Days like this long weekend are perfect, not doing a lot, a run, swim, hwalthy food.
Also saw this great pic on facebook :
Kevin Tiller 
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