Entries from November 2008 ↓

Well, we’ve gone from seedling to tiny plant … still only 1 though! And look at it this morning – it wants to have a flower already!!! Must be very advanced for it’s age because it doesn’t have others to compete with!

It’s not that I’m a political fanatic, nor particularly interested in the election results rolling out of the booths tonight … I’m just stuck here at work in front of my computer for the OHMYGOD 6th night running – YIKES. We’ve got a big release tomorrow and having given up the first part of the 15 days I needed to do my work for it to help out my new staff member I was left with 8 days in which to get it done. I couldn’t just leave her sitting there could I? And I couldn’t NOT do the fully effort like I normally do. And I had to get her up to speed enough to help me out this week, which she has done which is FANTASTIC but I still have lots of loose ends to finish. I think I’ve been surviving on about 6 hours sleep a night, and fitful sleeps at that, but have been getting quite a bit done from 8pm – 11 or 12pm after going home for a couple of hours each everning for some dinner. Sometimes I get a bit scared that I won’t be able to go back to concentrating in an office full of people during the day after treating myself to quiet nights. My eyes are beginning to develop quite large bags under them so I can’t wait for tomorrow to be over. So, polling booths have been closed for an hour 40 and we’re at National 48.7% and Labour 31.2% with what looks like (on the bar graph on stuff.co.nz) about a quarter counted.

Whoa! Just had massive lightening strike that spiked the power in the office then a really lound crash of thunder right above our building that set off all the girls screaming (and the Mister a little bit) and lots of mad Ctrl+S’ing! Now it’s freezing and pouring down.

Midland Park … tree is quite a bit tinier than the Rockefeller giant!

Wore the right clothes and badge to work today – just absorbing all the news now (6pmish).

And no, I didn’t plant orange stuff all around my desk for the photo – it’s naturally like that and it’s not until I see photos like this that I realise just how much orange there is – no wonder it’s the first thing everyone comments on when they come into the room!

Went to the last Nikau dinner last night. At least the plane ride back from Blenheim yesterday evening was much smoother so we actually felt in the mood to eat. On the way saw some of the wreckage from the winds on Saturday – this half-a-tree in the garden outside the Council for starters.

So, Sunday 4:

Fried sardine, white bean, olive & preserved lemon salad
Baked fresh goats cheese, leeks, hazelnuts and rocket
Braised lamb shoulder with saffron, mint, peas & broad beans
Grapefruit eclairs & caramel sauce

(Yick fishy sardines but yummy salad with the olives picked out, goats cheese actually very nice considering I favour feta, lamb was a bit too much meat and by the time this course came I had been eying up the eclairs and definitely wanted to save room for them and my GOD they were worth the wait – cream was tangy and caramel sauce divine.)

CUTENESS ALERT!!

It was *so* great to see him and his parents who are doing a fine job of raising him at the weekend, despite the hellish ride in a tin can of a plane that rocked and rolled and plummeted in some of the worst winds we’ve had this year to get to Blenheim.