Autumn Sunshine

What a beautiful day of weather again. A leisurely awakening, a little housework and lawn mowing, then on to meet a friend for brunch. Arabica in Petone is going from strength to strength, reminding me more of its early days as The Screaming Turtle. The owner is hands-on and very focussed on customer satisfaction. The chicken and kumara salad was very tasty. I'm into tea for 2012, but apparently for the fussy coffee drinker the java is of a high standard. Next, we popped into The Lighthouse to check the schedule and quite by chance discovered a recommended movie was starting in three minutes. Just enough time to get a glass of wine and settle into our seats. We had the whole place to ourselves - perfect. The Women on the 6th Floor is a french movie. It's set in the 60s, so as well as a charming story there is also some great fashion and decor. I saw lots of nice things to buy while strolling Jackson Street - boots, shoes, handbags - but the lure of oak won and I now have a gorgeous new tea trolley. None of today was planned, it all just unfolded in the serendipitous way that the best of days do.

Bliss

Friday night is here. The weather forecast continues to be excellent. A friend has lent me the latest House and Garden, and there is an article about a Petone house I have passed and admired in Patrick Street. Daylight saving ends this weekend and I will sleep for an extra hour. Life is good.

Autumn Weather

Loving it!

Brave, Bravo

Just home from another brilliant show presented by the Stagecraft theatre society at The Gryphon Theatre, Guznee Street. The production is called The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in Her Sleep. It is very funny and written by a New Zealand playwright. The cast were superb and having the lead played by a work colleague just adds to the fun.The play runs until Saturday - go and see it!

A Morning at the Rec

In all the time I have lived in the Hutt, I had never set foot on the Hutt Recreation grounds. Too be honest, before starting at the new school I didn't even know where it was. It was out of use last year as it was being upgraded for the World Rugby Cup. This year 'Athletics Day' was held there. I have to say, it makes an excellent venue - loads of space and a real sense of occasion about the event. Quite the nicest sports day - and I've seen a few. The weather was perfect, just as our lovely autumns tend to be. And so the term rolls on, like the rest of my life, at a dizzying pace.

Finished

After a morning spent lounging with the Sunday paper, I decided some action was required to make good use of the sunny day. Finishing the fence painting seemed a good idea. It turned out to be much less fun than anticipated, with the wind gusting my hair so that I could hardly see what I was doing. Not to be beaten, I came up with the perfect solution - phone a friend. Luckily for me he couldn't think up something convincing he was already doing, so with two workers on the go the panels are now all finished and the post caps have their top coat.

Supermarketing

This is not one of my favourite tasks, but once I arrived at Pak'nSave I soon started to enjoy myself. Supermarketing is a great chance for a Paleo lifestyler to feel smug and superior. It's lovely to marvel at the crap others load into their trolleys to feed themselves instead of actual food. It's quite alarming that many are raising their children on it, too. Loaded up with my fruits, veges, nuts and meats, there was time to have a quick read of the Women's mags while waiting at the checkout - interestingly one has Prince Harry dating a Brazilian bombshell, and one says he's getting jiggy with a Monaco princess. My receipt gives me 25c off petrol and we are stocked up for another fortnight.