Health update

 I thought it was time to post an update on where I'm at with my health.

1. It looks like I've developed Sjögrens syndrome, an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks glands that make moisture.  This explains my swallowing issues (which seem to be due to a dry mouth, and have gone away since I've been a bit more careful about drinking regularly).  The dental hygienist has suggested some products I can try if it gets worse.  It also explains my dry and scratchy eyes.  For that I'm now using eye drops every 1-2 hours, which helps heaps but is a pain to do!  I've been given new drops to try that might work for a bit longer, but I decided to finish off the current bottle before I open those, as they go off pretty fast.
2. It also seems that I've had a recurrence of my concussion symptoms, which is where the brain fog and nausea fit in.  There's some medical controversy as to whether this can actually happen, but my symptoms are responding to the treatment that helped with the concussion, at least.  My GP is of the opinion it doesn't much matter why this has occurred, seeing as I've found something that's helping!

Camping at Waitawa

During our Sabbatical, Martin and I are hoping to go camping every four weeks' or so.  Around 6 weeks ago we were at Ambury Park, and a few weeks after that it was our church camp.  Last week we were off again, this time to a new-to-us regional park called Waitawa.  All the extra exercise I've been doing during the Sabbatical has really improved my fitness, and it felt realistic to try for a campsite 35km away from the nearest train station :-)

 

We live in a beautiful city :-)

During the remainder of our Sabbatical Martin and I are hoping to go camping for a week each month, so last Sunday after church we headed off to Ambury Park.  My fitness has definitely improved: the first time we went there it took me 1h13; this time was 58 min cycling time, although a little more than that as we stopped near the park to buy mandarins from a family fundraising for their son's rugby boots.  Quite a treat to have extra fruit when camping - heavy things are always at a premium!

There was hardly anyone in the campsite so we put our tent a bit closer to the amenities area than usual - and right next to a stunning wee glade that stayed remarkably dry when it rained.

On the whole we had fantastic weather, but it was a bit wet on Sunday when we were getting there (and on Friday on the way home, too).  We were using our old tent, which isn't wonderfully waterproof, hence the tarp over the top for extra protection.  The photo above is from Monday morning, and you can see all our wet stuff drying on a long line at the right!

Holiday at Shakespear Regional Park

Last Thursday Martin and I headed off for a camping holiday at Shakespear Park.  It was remarkably easy to get there - biked to Avondale train station, train to town, ferry to Gulf Harbour and about 40 min bike to the campsite.  And, whilst I still have a number of concussion symptoms, this was something I can now comfortably achieve :-)

Us Avondale train station with our stuff:

Resting - on Waiheke and at home

Over ANZAC weekend Martin and I spent four nights camping at Poukaraka Flats on Waiheke Island.  It's a fairly basic Auckland Council campground in the Regional Park there, although less basic than some - there are flush toilets, and the showers are set up so the water reservoirs heat up nicely on a sunny day.  The showers also have open ceilings and are located next to some tall trees: it's quite lovely to look up into leaves and a brilliant blue sky :-)

We stayed at the same campground over ANZAC weekend last year.  Knowing the place a bit did make the break especially restful - I wasn't so interested in making sure I saw the various interesting things in the area, meaning I spent most of the time just resting.

Here we are about to get going.  Most of the kit's on Martin's bike, with just a few bits and pieces on mine.

Here are the bikes after visiting Waiheke Island's Countdown: my bike's a bit more laden, now that we have four night's groceries added to the mix.

I'd made really good time getting to the supermarket.  We'd biked to the local train station, caught the train into town and then the ferry across to Waiheke.  Last year it took me about an hour to get from the ferry at Matiatia to the supermarket in Ostend; this time it was 45 minutes :-)  However, after that things didn't go so well.  Waiheke's pretty hilly, and at the beginning of the last hill I ran out of oomph.  I've been working very hard recently, and I think I was just too tired - especially with the extra weight of groceries.

Fortunately, where I ran out of energy was by the beach right next to the beach where we'd be camping.  Martin suggested I leave my bike at the carpark and walk around the headland, and he'd bike his bike up and over then nip around the headland for my bike and bike that up and over as well.  In the end, I decided to take a somewhat longer route and walk over the headland that divides the two beaches - it was a hot day and I wanted some cover, plus it's always nice to be in the bush.  I took it pretty slowly and ended up at the campsite at exactly the same time as Martin rolled up on my bike - about an hour after we'd left the supermarket, the same time as it'd taken me to bike last year :-)

It's a glorious place to be: above is the view looking back towards the campsite from the beach at low tide.

At the right in the photo below is the headland I walked over to get to the campsite.  It's an old pa site, with lots of kumara pits.

Martin serving up dinner.  These council campsites always seem to have enough picnic tables for anyone who wants to to commandeer one, which is awfully handy.  Our tent is big enough to sleep in, but doesn't really have space for much stuff, so we kept all our groceries and other bits and pieces on the table the whole time.  Behind Martin you can see there's just a thin band of trees (which made a very effective shelter-belt) and then the sea.  It was lovely to go to sleep to the wash of the waves high on the beach :-)

Our setup.  You can see the picnic table and tent.  We kept a bike at each end of the table the whole time, which meant we could cover the table with a tarp at night or when it rained and the tarp stayed reasonably well above the stuff.  It rained a few times while we were there, but not enough to be really troublesome.

The view looking out from the beach at low tide.  You probably can't pick it in the photo, but w could see the Sky Tower slightly to the left of the small island that's roughly in the middle of the photo.  There were many brief rain showers during our stay, and Martin spent a lot of time looking out at this view watching the various bands of cloud roll in - they moved remarkably quickly!

It was so good to take time to rest.  We did one bush walk, had a couple of swims on the finest day, and listened to a 5-ish hour audio book together.  Twice Martin picked cockles for our meals :-) Other than that, I spent an awful lot of time dozing, and didn't do much else other than sit in various places watching birds.  It was so good to just 'be'.

It wasn't the cheapest of holidays, at $275 for four nights, but not too bad.  Also not too bad from a greenhouse gas point of view, being responsible for around 70kg CO2e (what the planet can absorb per person in about three weeks).  And it was so good for us both.

At home, I often find it difficult to truly rest; although I still spend much of my day lying down, I'm most often both playing Solitaire and listening to something.  But on this break I found myself quite content to just do nothing.  I've been trying to practise more of that at home, too, in the week or so that we've been back - and twice in recent days that's led to me falling asleep in the afternoon - so good :-)

Today has been my weekly Sabbath.  I'm so grateful to God for the rhythm of the week, and for every week having a day to rest and to be with God and to do the things I feel like doing.  This morning I spent time reflecting on Isaiah 30:15:

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

It comes at a time when God is trying to call the people of Israel back to him, but they're not interested.  And yet, reading those words, I'm so interested!  Being with God, rest, quietness, trust - these are the things I so often find myself longing for.

So, I thank God for the regular rhythm of weekly rest, and for regular patches of quiet in the day.  I pray for deep rest.  But, I also pray for the simplicity of purpose that I hope comes from spending time with God.  Because the other thing I was reflecting on this morning was the fleetingness of life.  I was reading these words sitting under our oak tree.  The leaves were falling - each of them has come to the end of its existence as a leaf.  Ants were crawling over me, and I killed one of them as I flicked it off my leg.  More significantly, someone we care about a lot from our church is dying - and, although he's lived a long life, it still feels like his life is being cut short as he's so actively living and growing right now.  And so I pray, in the short time that I will live, that I won't be consumed with busyness but that I will live out of a still, quiet core - that trust in God will be my strength and my guide, day to day.

A satisfying achievement :-)

Last summer I was regularly swimming at Blockhouse Bay Beach.  I would take the bus, walk down the hill and then swim.  I built up to 8 'widths' of the bay, which is about 1.2km and took me about an hour.

Then the weather got colder, and by June/July I was only staying in for about half an hour and swimming 600m.  I'd expected to be biking there (rather than busing) for these shorter swims, but I ended up going with a neighbour in her car instead.  I would swim while she walked her dogs at Craigavon Park.

Then Covid arrived in New Zealand for real.  At level 4 we weren't allowed to swim.  At level 3 we could swim in open water, but I was no longer keen to catch the bus and share everyone's germs.  So I started biking to the beach: initially swimming 4 widths, then 6, until today when I made it to 8 widths - 1.2km again :-)  I was super-pleased with myself.  Last week I swum 900m in 44 minutes; today I did 1.2km in 61 minutes.  I even kept to the same pace for the last two widths :-)

A happy Heather at the end of the swim.  It's been a gorgeous day today :-)

A very local holiday

This past weekend Martin and I had a 4-day holiday.  We'd been hoping to go camping and tramping in the Waitakere Ranges but, with overnight stays away from home not allowed at the current Covid restrictions, we hatched a new plan.  On the Thursday, Saturday and Sunday we slept in, had a late-ish breakfast then biked to Coyle Park for the day; on the Friday we still had the slow morning, but then we drove to the Waitakeres for a day walk.

Martin's bike, loaded with a surprising amount of stuff for the day:

Unexpectedly 'visiting' the Philippines

Today we went on a household excursion to Rizal Reserve.  It turns out to be named in honour of José Rizal: a Philippine nationalist who seems to have been quite the polymath!  There's a monument to him there, put up by the local Philippine community.

I'm not sure what the Philippine connection to the area is, but there's a Corregidor Place running more-or-less parallel to the park, too.

Bike camping at Ōmana

 After church last Sunday, Martin and I headed off on an adventure!

A fun day in lockdown

After a string of pretty tired days, today has been lovely :-)

It started with sourdough biscuits and gravy for breakfast (biscuits in the American sense, and the sourdough made using the pulp left over from making soy milk).

 

Holiday in Te Aroha and Auckland

A few weeks back, Martin had two weeks off.  We spent the first week staying with his Aunty and Uncle in Te Aroha.  They borrowed bikes for us to use down there and, on Martin's birthday, we rode from Waikino to Paeroa (through the Karangahake Gorge) on the Hauraki Rail Trail.  It was about 14km, broadly downhill, and we meandered through it over about 2.5 hours.

About to start.  Unfortunately the stunning weather didn't hold, and it was foggy from a bit before the gorge through to the end.

Recent happenings

A few recent bits and pieces from me...  In general, physically I'm getting stronger and stronger, although mentally I seem to have crashed quite badly over Christmas.  I'm struggling to face any 'thinky' tasks.  I was working quite hard on Just Kai stuff in the lead-up to Christmas and am hoping I've just overdone it a bit.  I'm trying to leave the thinky things alone for a while and hoping things will come right soon; it does seem a bit better today and yesterday.

But here's some of what I've been up to before and after our Taupo holiday :-)

Friends who are missionaries in Japan came to visit - and brought us yummy Japanese snacks!

A week of polo

Martin's had a blast at the world championships for bike polo in Timaru this past week!  For a glimpse of the action, check out the video below:

On my way to work

A wee article from our friend and housemate Sarah, about her commute to work.

Friday morning after a wee bit of a night out, do I cycle or take the easy route (and bus).  I know I enjoy the bike ride, once I get going, but it’s still an act of will to go for the bike option.  It’s a lovely day, and even if it’s not, I still enjoy the achievement of making it to work under my own steam.  As well as being good for me, and the environment, and my wallet, it’s also fun.

So off I go (after donning helmet and gloves), avoiding the bus on the way to the cycle path, giving way to traffic, and being given plenty of space by (most of) the cars and trucks in turn.

Up the steep hill to Grey Lynn in low gear, that makes me puff pretty hard, just like the little red engine (I think I can, I think I can), passed by a couple of other cyclists (in full on lycra) who are obviously much harder than me.  I don’t mind if the light at the top is red, then I get a rest, but not today, the light is green so I keep on going (I thought I could, I thought I could).  A friendly nod to the same man at the same bus stop, each morning he’s always there and I wonder about his story.  I’m sure I’ll never know, but it’s nice to exchange a wave.

K Road is a bit of a challenge, it pays to be alert, with pedestrians and buses and lights and traffic changing lanes last minute, but it’s no trouble.  By that point I’m well into the ride and happy I’m on the ridge, it’s all downhill from here.

On the final stretch in Albert Street, catching the green lights and down the (fun!) ramp into the car-park, a brief pause to swipe the wee card and then into the free secure bike-park.  It’s great being a cyclist, and as a bonus, I’m in good time and the shower is available so no waiting for me.  It’s just a pity the stairs are alarmed in our building so I have to take the lift!!