a sociable and interesting weekend
It's been a sociable and hot weekend and it's been great! Other than my migraine last night..
We were supposed to have two couples over for lunch yesterday but one of the guys was sick and so we abandoned the gourmet pies that L was in the middle of making and trooped over to their place with pizzas! The house was lovely and so was their view. Chatted about plans, being doctors (I'm used to this now heh), travelling, tramping, gardening etc. C was really surprised when he found out it was me who wanted to go fishing and not L! He looked surprised too. I really want to learn all the things I never got to learn from my fisherman uncle, who wasn't really that kind of fisherman. I imagine he fished with nets not lines from a little boat. I have this romantic picture of fishing in my mind, of bobbing along in a little rowboat with a picnic and a book on a warm lazy afternoon. I know the real experience is going to be quite different, for one thing, C has a kayak not a rowboat. I wonder if we are fishing from a kayak? Hmmm wait and see.
We came home and were picked up to assemble at B's and then 9 of us set off on our road trip to Oamaru in their Defender! I sat in the second row facing forwards and it was fun being on the road with the wind in our hair mitigating the heat of the day. I got very wind blown in fact and was rather sleepy from the anti motion sickness tablet i had taken. it was like being on a large family outing with the "parents" pointing out monuments and telling us where the best fish and chips was, the best ice cream was... of course we had to stop to have the "best, cheapest and largest ice cream cones" and they were ENORMOUS. I didn't finish mine. $2 for 2 large scoops! And that was the smallest.
Met N's friend when we got to Oamaru. The play was held in an old grain store in the historic precinct of Oamaru, which is off the state highway and therefore very much by-passed. None of us knew there was this slice of history so well preserved it almost felt like movie set. I enjoyed the ancient buildings and the general feel of the street, like being whisked back in time.
The play itself featured 3 performers taking on a variety of roles, using quick costume changes and only a few chests as props (and prop holders) bringing the story of the great storm of 1868 to life through the story of a young family, the Bakers, whose two little sons eventually died on a ship during the storm.
The two male performers were very energetic and tight in their performance while the girl, perhaps being the understudy (my opinion is that understudies never get enough rehearsal time) was less sure and lacked truth. still it was a full house and it was very innovative, with the audience in-the-round and action all around us. i was still sleepy from the tablet so perhaps wasn't that engage-able. enjoyable nonetheless.
then we proceed to dinner at the Last Post which used to be a post office. we had drinks on a lovely deck enjoying the setting sun before dinner. there was a nesting pair of penguins under the deck so from time to time we would catch a whiff of what people variously described as "blue cheese", "rotorua" and "something birdy". dinner itself was good too but by this time the heat, noise, smoke from someone smoking outside, dehydration and fatigue combined to give me a good pounding migraine. i couldn't really believe i was hours away from home. 1/3 into my meal i wanted to push the food away and go to bed, but i staunchly finished most of my meal and still participated in quite an interesting conversation about teachers and india.
i slept on L's shoulder most of the way home and we were dropped off home. i fell asleep very promptly.
today, still hot but a little more humid (this is welcome as it's really dry here!) and did some gardening and some watering which i should have done yesterday. the poor tomato and zucchini plants were so wilty! there's going to be a change to southerlies in the next few days so this heat is about to abate. i'm off to put the okra seedlings in the ground...
We were supposed to have two couples over for lunch yesterday but one of the guys was sick and so we abandoned the gourmet pies that L was in the middle of making and trooped over to their place with pizzas! The house was lovely and so was their view. Chatted about plans, being doctors (I'm used to this now heh), travelling, tramping, gardening etc. C was really surprised when he found out it was me who wanted to go fishing and not L! He looked surprised too. I really want to learn all the things I never got to learn from my fisherman uncle, who wasn't really that kind of fisherman. I imagine he fished with nets not lines from a little boat. I have this romantic picture of fishing in my mind, of bobbing along in a little rowboat with a picnic and a book on a warm lazy afternoon. I know the real experience is going to be quite different, for one thing, C has a kayak not a rowboat. I wonder if we are fishing from a kayak? Hmmm wait and see.
We came home and were picked up to assemble at B's and then 9 of us set off on our road trip to Oamaru in their Defender! I sat in the second row facing forwards and it was fun being on the road with the wind in our hair mitigating the heat of the day. I got very wind blown in fact and was rather sleepy from the anti motion sickness tablet i had taken. it was like being on a large family outing with the "parents" pointing out monuments and telling us where the best fish and chips was, the best ice cream was... of course we had to stop to have the "best, cheapest and largest ice cream cones" and they were ENORMOUS. I didn't finish mine. $2 for 2 large scoops! And that was the smallest.
Met N's friend when we got to Oamaru. The play was held in an old grain store in the historic precinct of Oamaru, which is off the state highway and therefore very much by-passed. None of us knew there was this slice of history so well preserved it almost felt like movie set. I enjoyed the ancient buildings and the general feel of the street, like being whisked back in time.
The play itself featured 3 performers taking on a variety of roles, using quick costume changes and only a few chests as props (and prop holders) bringing the story of the great storm of 1868 to life through the story of a young family, the Bakers, whose two little sons eventually died on a ship during the storm.
The two male performers were very energetic and tight in their performance while the girl, perhaps being the understudy (my opinion is that understudies never get enough rehearsal time) was less sure and lacked truth. still it was a full house and it was very innovative, with the audience in-the-round and action all around us. i was still sleepy from the tablet so perhaps wasn't that engage-able. enjoyable nonetheless.
then we proceed to dinner at the Last Post which used to be a post office. we had drinks on a lovely deck enjoying the setting sun before dinner. there was a nesting pair of penguins under the deck so from time to time we would catch a whiff of what people variously described as "blue cheese", "rotorua" and "something birdy". dinner itself was good too but by this time the heat, noise, smoke from someone smoking outside, dehydration and fatigue combined to give me a good pounding migraine. i couldn't really believe i was hours away from home. 1/3 into my meal i wanted to push the food away and go to bed, but i staunchly finished most of my meal and still participated in quite an interesting conversation about teachers and india.
i slept on L's shoulder most of the way home and we were dropped off home. i fell asleep very promptly.
today, still hot but a little more humid (this is welcome as it's really dry here!) and did some gardening and some watering which i should have done yesterday. the poor tomato and zucchini plants were so wilty! there's going to be a change to southerlies in the next few days so this heat is about to abate. i'm off to put the okra seedlings in the ground...