Wasn't the long weekend great?

The blue skies and bright warm sunshine on the first two days of the three day long weekend were welcome gifts to the first summer 'holiday'.

Of course, I had the misfortune to go into a skin clinic the first thing on Saturday and come back out looking like someone had stabbed her fork in all over my face, stinging and burning, wondering the ridiculous price one pays in the name of beauty...

Anyhow, the rest of the weekend was on a bighter note. A came over for dinner on Saturday night and entered a great discussion on the definition of Auckland, over slow cooked lamb, potatoes cooked in duck fat, and French lentils. Poor him, obviously tired from his long day at the hospital spending time with his elderly grandmother, having to hear us rant in circles about how big Auckland is, where it starts and ends, where it should start and end. How wonderful it is to have friends visit from the other side of the globe, though?

D and her boyfriend have finally bought tickets to see us in February next year, and I am so excited that they will be able to see a bit of New Zealand for themselves, not just me ranting all the time about how beautiful our country is. The list of people who have bought their tickets to come to our wedding is growing steadily, and we are grateful for their commitment to us.

We spent one day totally free of our lists and responsibilities. Instead of our usual wild chase about town hopping from one diy shop to another before close time, we went outside the city into the spacious green hills in the nearby reserve parks. We met a herd of black and white cows blocking our roads several times, while tekapos and takahes walked about freely to the left and right.

The weekend ended today with a run along Tamaki Road with A, M and S. The sailing boats and Rangitoto Island in the distance is calming, though not always able to relax your burning lungs gasping for breathe. We did pretty well, though there are still very definite doubts about our 12k run next weekend. Eek!

Wishing for many more sunny days to come.