When life sends you lemons ;-)

A bit over a week ago we were in Te Aroha, on holiday with Martin's aunty and uncle.  Their lemon tree was hugely laden with fruit and they sent us home with a big bag :-)  I already had plenty of lemon juice and zest in the freezer, so wasn't initially sure what to do with them.  In the end I made a few jars of Moroccan preserved lemons and a batch of lemon and grapefruit sauce - some for me and some of which will be Christmas presents.

I love the vibrant yellow in the jars :-)

The holiday in Te Aroha was mixed.  As ever, we were made super-welcome, which is always greatly appreciated.

However I was very wiped out with a chest and sinus infection, so the excursions we'd planned for the week didn't happen.  Aunty Elspeth had borrowed bikes for us both and we'd hoped to bike through Karangahake Gorge as well as maybe explore a bit around Te Aroha, but we only ended up riding them once for what ended up being a mildly disastrous excursion.  Nothing dreadful, but I over-exerted myself and got quite nauseous so turned back, promptly had an asthma attack, was given a lift home by a passing motorist and then got a migraine.  After that we stuck to short walks!

On our last day we did manage a lovely wander through the Te Aroha Domain, including hearing (although not seeing) a small but deafening flock of kākā in the bush and soaking our feet in a delicious hot pool in the park.

My cold continues to be a problem.  I've been sick over a month now and am currently half-way through my second course of antibiotics (as well as doing various supportive things, like twice-daily sinus rinses and lots of resting).  The GP says that, once infections get into your sinuses, they can be quite hard to shift: if these antibiotics don't sort it she wants me to see an ear, nose and throat specialist for more hard-core intervention.  I'd just like to have some energy back!  I have better days and many times have thought I was finally on the mend, only for it to get worse again.  It's different from CFS tiredness in that my body still moves fine (I've been biking to my GP appointments, for example, which continues to surprise me), but it's still a drag!