Bike riding and Judy updates

After losing our bottle for bike riding when we came home from visiting Judy in hospital on Monday, the following morning we decided we really had to get back on the bikes. I needed magnesium to settle the butterflies in the belly...

But off we bravely went, out of Parkwood and down Ngarara Road to Park Road, down Park Road to the cycleway on the pavement beside Te Moana Road and then on to the cycleway beside the expressway. I didn't go at my usual top speed and because I led the way (I can see better what is in front of us) David wasn't going flat out either - not that he ever does, actually. I am the speedy one. But not on Tuesday.

So we head along and everything starts to feel more comfortable - apart from my bum which got very numb - more and more numb in spite of about 3 stops for re-circulation 😏 And about halfway to Peka Peka we came up and on to and across the road and on to the overbridge path - where we come across 4 cyclists coming towards us. All of whom apart from one were watching where they were going. But the last one, a guy, was looking all around him, taking no notice of the obstacle in front of him... I had to yell LOOK at him to get him to realise I was there with David following. Dumb-arse!

So my concern about falling off like Judy did by sliding from the tarseal into the gravel, or by being hit by a driver like Pauline had been, was overtaken by nearly being crashed into by an unobservant cyclist!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Apart from that idiot, it was a lovely ride. And putting aside my very numb bum, of course!

We did a bit of a side trip down Smithfield Road between Waikanae and Peka Peka - nostalgia time as we lived in a Smithfield Road in Whanganui when we first moved there just under 50 years ago. This wood carving caught my eye.

Our turnaround point was at Harrison's Garden Centre at Peka Peka. While David went off to use the facilities, I got the blood recirculating in my buttocks by walking around and finding the best place to take a photo of our location to send to Julia who is in the cooling temperatures of the midlands in the UK.

By the time we got back, my thighs were pretty sore, my bum was too, and I needed a rest - no stamina ... I had been going to make a vegetable pie for dinner that afternoon, using up the leftover of the vegetable and lentil stew I'd cooked the day before (see below), but once I'd made the pastry my store of energy ran out. So the pastry went in the fridge, the stew stayed there and I gave up on any dinner ... Bad wife.

And yesterday after making and delivering scones to the maintenance guys** and unloading the last load of rocks that Janet brought home, I went in to Wellington Hospital to visit Judy again. She was a bit tired so I didn't stay long, but I did get to see her half shaven head! I have a feeling she is going to be modelling herself on Pink after her piece of skull goes back in - that is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

See what I mean about her channelling Pink? Colour and style are already sorted!

I sent this to Jim for Judy's benefit...

**I owed scones to Dean because on Monday while we were heading into Wellington to see Judy for the first time, he had had to go and check that the vegetable stew on the stovetop was switched off - I couldn't remember if I had done so ... And yes, I had, but even so: aaarrrggghhh!!!

I left David at home toiling away on his Weaving Memories work, and instead of coming straight home, I went for lunch with Jim at Burger Fuel so he could catch me up on what the doctor had discussed with him, Judy and their daughter Stephanie who phoned in from Adelaide. I have a WhatsApp Group set up with some of the Zero Degrees members so I can give updates. It saves Jim from having to do multiple messages and it means Adair, Pauline, Cheryl and I can group chat ... What's not to like?

The water lillies are starting to bloom - but so is that ghastly algae on the surface of the pond outside the kitchen.

Caitlin's rose is starting to bloom in its new home. 💖💖