I obviously wrote this piece some time ago and somehow, it got passed over in favor of others, repeatedly. Before it gets any older, here it is.... And this one also covers some ground that I've talked about before. Oh well. After more than 430 published posts, I'm bound to have some overlap.
At 6 a.m. Allie rouses the boys and all the lights come on around the house. It's still pitch-black outside of course. These are the shortest days of the year.
Our morning starts. Breakfasts appear, lunches are made, days are discussed, plans are made, and the boys are off to school. The sun is well up now and I consider my day...
I thought for this post, I'd take you along and show you a few photos of how I spent it. Today is actually atypical since I'm not shopping for groceries. This morning I've decided to go into the city, K' Road specifically, and get some bread. Jeanne wants to make garlic soup for dinner tonight and that deserves the crustiest and densest bread I can find. In the afternoon, I generally putter about. That session of puttering often starts off with a bit of reading and then a refreshing nap in a recliner after lunch. (When did I turn into such an old geezer?)
Look at these pictures....
The first three show you what happens when the morning sun hits the wet fences and roof tops.
On the bus on the motorway with Rangitoto, the harbor bridge, and the city in sight.
I always stop here when I come to K' Rd. It's on Pitt Street, about half a block from K'.
Today I bought these two items. Julmust is a Christmas soft drink and the Stimoral is sugar-free licorice gum.
This is where I buy a round loaf of their sourdough. It's crusty and heavy as, and will stand up to being in the soup.*
*Just in case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fixHiTWKRWA&t=6s
The bakery is across K' Road from part of The Symonds Street Cemetary.
This is the wall of the Rockshop that has previously boasted (during my days here anyway) paintings of Aretha Franklin and a grieving Kiwi. (after the Mosque shooting)
This wall actually faces the portion of the cemetery I showed you in the last picture.
This is most certainly K' Road I'm walking on. Can you tell?
(Update on Oct. 31, 2020- The referendum on making cannabis legal failed)
I'm back home again.
I was hoping to melt the dust and chips that I've saved from cleaning/carving on pieces of kauri gum, and pour the liquified product into the grooves on a piece of driftwood. Create a piece of art you know. Unfortunately, the gum I melted turned out very dark and would not have looked good. I'll try again to melt it properly and keep it lighter in color. I have two more bottles of chips to experiment with.
This is a slice of the trunk of one of our kanuka trees (white tea tree) that got blown over during a storm a few years ago. Debarked, dried, sanded and shellacked.^ I was thinking of using it as a base for something, but haven't decided what that might be.
It has been a good day. I'm going inside now to slice about half the loaf of bread into bite-sized chunks for the soup. (You may have noticed that I gave you the recipe above.) It's really quite easy to make, especially after the first time. They really should have included it on the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld. What Jerry says about the soup in this clip is true of this garlic soup as well.
Enjoy!
^ Did you know? Shellacked is the British English spelling. I didn't know that.
(My computer strongly suggests that I use British spelling for everything. There are times when I exert my dominance over it and use the American spelling for words, but this time, it was just too much trouble. Besides, I've learned that it works better for me if I let it win one now and then.) -djf
(My computer strongly suggests that I use British spelling for everything. There are times when I exert my dominance over it and use the American spelling for words, but this time, it was just too much trouble. Besides, I've learned that it works better for me if I let it win one now and then.) -djf
Glad you did complete this one!! What a day full of simple pleasures!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's been sitting and gathering dust, so to speak, for a long time. It was high time to publish.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your montage of photos from the rising mist to the cemetary (spookily appropriate for Halloween!) The view from your bus of Rangitoto & the Auckland skyline are impressive too though I couldn't make out the bridge. This is something you would not see from your train ride!
ReplyDeleteAt any rate I paid attention to the details of your day as a retiree since it won't be long before I become one: I think that having structure and routine are so important - and even more so - having a purpose each day if it's nothing more than getting a phenomenal loaf of bread for that AWESOME KNEE BUCKLING Garlic soup! (by the way I loved the Soup Nazi! LOL)
The bridge may be a little hard to see because it lies right in front of Rangitoto.
ReplyDeleteRetirement is wonderful. I strongly recommend it.