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!

Back on two wheels

The most exciting thing to happen in the past week is that I am back on my bike!

I've had a year off my bike while waiting for a tendon in my elbow to heal. It's been a very frustrating year and I have been itching to get back on the saddle and I'm now there.

For those who don't know, I have a road bike and, in the past, have cycled to work two or three times a week. That may sound a bit lame and maybe even lazy but, in my defence, it is 32 kilometres from home to work - a decent distance! The funny thing is, it takes me about an hour to cycle to work (I have been trying to crack the one-hour but haven't yet managed it - today it took me 1 hour 1 minute and 30 seconds!) while it takes at least 45 minutes on the train. By the time I have driven or walked to the train station, waited for a train and then walked from the station to walk there is very little difference in time.

Anyway, my next goal is to get out on the new mountain bike I bought. I've never ridden off-road but how hard could it be, right?

Tramping trip report

For the past 3 days I have been off in the wilds of New Zealand tramping in the Tararua Forest Park. This was my first time out tramping for 6 years so our route was carefully selected to not be too onerous.

Saturday dawned sunny and fine as we drove up towards Masterton. Our route was a loop but not back to same carpark so we dropped a car off at our destination and we were dropped off at The Pines - the turnoff to The Pines is just short of Masterton. The walk into Mitre Flats Hut was through native forest and followed the Waingawa River. The path itself on this walk is clear enough to follow and a little rugged in places. Lots of little ups and downs and small creeks to cross. It took us about 3 hours to walk to the hut so we were there by about 3 in the afternoon. The hut is designed to sleep 14 and most of the beds were taken when we arrived. We quickly nabbed two spots and then settled down and chatted with others at the hut. The hut is serviced so there were gas cookers which made dinner preparation easy. We had managed to carry in some wine and a good measure of Cointreau so the evening was fun. By the time everyone headed to bed others had turned up to the hut and it was starting to rain. We counted over 20 people so it was pretty snug although a few people slept outside. In retrospect those sleeping outside probably got the best night's sleep as there was an extremely loud snorer in the hut.

Sunday dawned to constant rain and the sight of a helicopter heading into the hills - potentially off to look for lost trampers. After a good breakfast of porridge and cups of tea we got ourselves sorted and headed off to Atiwhakatu Hut in the rain. The track had a couple of decent climbs and was pretty rugged in places. After the last big climb and descent we stopped for some hot soup. While it was wet it certainly wasn't cold as long as we kept moving. After our soup stop I felt a bit chilled so put my fleece hat back - which was really lucky as about 15 minutes down the track I somehow managed to trip or slip (still not sure which) and did a magnificent face plant. I landed fair and square on my nose and forehead. It was one of those moments when you just need to lay there for a minute and assess the damage done. My tramping companion was with me pretty quickly and checked me out. Lucky for me the path at that point was dirt and wood rather than rocks. Within a few minutes we were back walking - me with a decent headache and a nice bump forming. Anyway, the walk between huts took us about three hours and we pretty wet by the time we got there. The hut looked flasher than Mitre Flats but had no cooking facilities which was a shame. For a while we thought we would have the hut to ourselves but a group of school girls and their teachers turned up. They were pretty wet and cold as they had been right up on the tops in the wind as well as the rain. So again we had a full hut but it was fun - very amusing listening to a group of 15 year old girls chatting. The best thing about that night was that we didn't need to contend with a snorer - yay!

This morning (Monday) it dawned...... well..... wet. Never mind. Again we had a good filling breakfast and cup of tea before heading off down the path to the carpark. The walk was an easy one - pretty flat for the majority of it. It rained the whole way back to the car but a nice dry change of clothes awaited us. It only took us about an hour and a half to walk out - we were walking pretty briskly. I think the idea of getting home to a soak in the spa spurred us on.

I loved the whole weekend - except for maybe the face plant bit. It's highlighted the need for a few changes in equipment which I will get onto as I am sure this won't be the last time I head for the hills. The purpose of this trip was to help get me back into tramping so now we can start to plan for some more serious walks.