Baby-food diet?

I have vaguely (very vaguely) heard that there is a mini-craze out there called the baby-food diet. I haven 't pursued those vague thoughts but imagine it is something to do with eating small amounts of pureed food - correct? Ah well, it doesn't matter if I am wrong.

I find myself on an imposed "baby-food" diet currently. I had some dental work done yesterday - I am sure you don't want all of the ghastly details but basically it involved cutting of gums, scraping (lots of scraping) and then stitching. Sounds horrible huh? Well it was! I spent the entire appointment with my eyes shut to avoid seeing what instruments were entering my mouth.

Now the procedure itself is over and done with but I have stitches in my gums on both sides of the mouth - and strict instructions to not use my molars for eating. Hence my baby-food diet. Today I had porridge for breakfast (the sultanas were a little tricky to squish), soup and dunked toast for lunch and scrambled eggs for dinner. I can see I could get sick of this pretty quickly. In fact I am already craving a nice steak but I am sure that is due to the fact I know I can't have it (unless I puree it and I am sure that would not be the culinary experience I am after).

I am planning a green curry with fish for dinner tomorrow night as that should be nice and mushy to eat.

I guess there may be an unexpected positive out of this experience - there is a chance I could lose that extra kilo or so that has been hanging around for a while.

Attitude!

Life has had its ups and downs in recent times. For a while there was some mid-level stress in my life with one of my sons looking for work and my other son's girlfriend looking to change jobs. I've been doing what I can to help both of them with the result about ten days ago that my son started his new job and my other son's girlfriend being offered a suitable job. That was a relief and I could feel myself relaxing. That no-stress feeling lasted for two days. I should have known it was too good to be true.


I'm not going to go into the latest cause for my stress - those who are close to me know the story and are horrified. This blog post is more about attitude and how I am coping with it.


For a few days I went through the whole gamut of emotions - disbelief, anger, betrayal and sadness. I could feel the stress of the situation dragging me down, my energy levels dropped, I started drinking more than was good for me, my mind was completely consumed with trying to figure out what to do. In short I felt like my life had been ruined. My friends and family all tried their best to provide advice and support through these days and I am really grateful for that. After talking with a lawyer and understanding the process and likely outcome from a legal perspective I made the decision to turn the stress off.

I have steps that I need to take involving accountants, valuers and lawyers and I am working my way through them. But I absolutely refuse to let the actions of one person to affect me as a person. What is happening to me may be correct from a legal perspective but it's immoral. Promises were made to me on numerous occasions and I trusted that those promises would be kept. For those promises to be broken is an abuse of that trust. I know that when this mess is over with I will still be a person of integrity. I certainly can't say the same for him.

The big question for me ongoing will be how will I know if I can trust others. Should I stop trusting people altogether. I think not. That's not the way for me to live my life. Certainly I will protect my assets (when I have some again) to ensure I don't end up in this particular situation again.

So how am I now? Fantastic actually. Soon to be broke and potentially homeless but, you know, that's ok. I am fit, healthy, happy and, most importantly of all, I am a good person.

Another tramping adventure

Sorry for the gap between postings. Life has been busier than ever for me but lots of fun.

Last weekend I went off on another tramping adventure. The tramping part of the weekend was easy. In fact the track we walked was one I have been on previously - about 30 years ago. Back in those days it was called the Five Mile Track (no reflection on how long it actually was) and was pretty rough and ready. The track is in the Rimutaka Forest Park and goes in to the Orongorongo River. As teenagers we would carry in as much beer as we could and stay overnight in a hut by the river, drinking and sitting around the fire.
These days it's more civilised - the track is very well-formed with many bridges over the various creeks along the way. And the beer has been replaced with red wine. The area is close to Wellington and therefore very popular with day-walkers, families as well as more serious trampers who carry on to do more serious walks.

So, last weekend we walked in on Sunday which was a gorgeous sunny day - still cold though. We found the hut fairly easily - just a small matter of crossing the river three times to get to it. With wet boots and the temperature dropping our priority was to gather firewood (there was none left in the hut from previous occupants - not helpful), get a fire going and get some dinner underway. The hut has an open fire which is not particularly efficient so we had a pretty cold first night in the hut. Warm when standing right in front of the fire and freezing when you took a step or two back.

Here's a picture of the hut - pretty basic huh? And, you know, I swear that it's the same hut we used to stay in 30 years ago. The hut used to be privately owned but it's now one of the huts owned by the Department of Conservation and can be booked online ($25 / night - what a bargain!)


Monday was another fine day and, seeking cellphone coverage, we decided to go for a wander up the hill behind the hut. Of course there was no track to follow so it was matter of finding the best path through the trees, scrub, rocks, etc. It was a great walk and I think we climbed about 400 metres before we could get service on our cellphones. I checked the weather forecast which showed that bad weather was on its way. The view from up on the hill was fantastic - we could see right across Wellington harbour and the south coast. The view was well worth the walk.

On returning to the hut another firewood expedition was required. With a good stock of firewood loaded into the hut we settled down to a warm evening sipping red wine in front of the fire. Overnight the rain started and it had settled into steady rain and bitterly cold south-easterly winds by morning. With the risk of the river rising it was time to pack up, clean the hut and head for home. Our walk out started with several river crossings so the rest of the walk was completed with sodden boots and socks.

Once we made it back to the carpark it was time for me to head to the city and get to work. One of the great things about living in Wellington is that walks like these are so close to home and are very achievable for all ages, etc of people. As long as the river isn't up we'll be back in to the same hut next weekend for another night - and hopefully the firewood we stashed will still be there!