Good Things Friday

Today I have two weeks’ worth of good things because last Friday was a …

Public Holiday

Australia Day was last Friday which meant we had a long weekend, so we drove down to my parents at Point Lonsdale. One of my sisters and her family were also there. The weather was not hot, but it was very pleasant. We did lots of just hanging round. I did a hilly long run, up the Bellarine Rail Trail, and we had lunch outside before heading home on Sunday. Oh, and my mum and nephew bought home the golf trophy from their competition on Sunday.

My worm farm

My nifty worm farm arrived Thursday afternoon and I just had time between showers to set it up before dinner and our drive to Point Lonsdale. Once it’s running at capacity the worms should be able to process about 2 kg of food scraps, garden cuttings, shredded paper, etc each day. They got fed last Thursday and I will start feeding them small amounts more regularly today.

Sermon on the Mount Podcast

The team at the bible podcast are exploring the Sermon on the Mount this year. I did a subject on this for my Masters and I delivered a guest message on the Beatitudes during the pandemic, but I’m enjoying the chance to nerd out some more on these teachings of Jesus that have influenced diverse thinkers over the centuries.

Deutschland 86 and 89

Switching gears a little. We’ve been watching the Deutschland series on Netflix. We’ve finished 86 and have moved on to 89. Yes, our obsession with German language television continues.

Holiday Planning

It shouldn’t be any secret that I love holiday planning. We have had our Three Capes Hike booked since late 2022 and we hardly have any time to go now so I’ve been working out our pre-hike activities. We decided to spend the first weekend we are in Tasmania on the Tasman Peninsula which means with the hike, we will have pretty much done everything we want to in that area of the state. Since a lot of the accommodation is two-bedroom houses or apartments, we booked a house and invited our friends from Launceston to stay with us. They used to live around the corner from us when we lived in Canterbury and we did small group, ministry and running club with them so I’m really looking forward to catching up with them.

We also had to make a decision on what to do regarding our cancelled flights to Tel Aviv. our options were: a) get them re-routed to a European destination without incurring any extra charges or b) get a credit and lose $400. We’ve decided to fly to Paris and do a 15-day Camino Frances highlight walk. We walk the first three days from the France border over the Pyrenees to Pamplona, then the last six days from Sarria into Santiago de Compostella. We catch the train between Pamplona and Sarria stopping at Burgos and Leon on the way. So exciting! Before the walk, G will be working so I will be travelling independently in France.

And the even more amazing news … the couple that we are doing the hike in Tasmania with also happen to be flying into Paris the same day we are. That was not planned but we will probably take the opportunity to at least have dinner together that weekend before G flies to the UK for work.

Finishing up some Admin

I got an email from the accountant before Christmas requesting our tax stuff so they could do our returns. I had a few things to get together for my parents’ tax (I look after their accounts for them) and then the plan was to get ours done. It took me an hour or so to track down the last couple of bits and pieces I needed for my parents while I was down at their house. Once we were back home I started work on ours and it only took me a few hours to get it done. I thought it would take longer than that. I’m so glad to get both of those off my to-do list. I also got my budget categories sorted so they match the ones our bank uses on the forms we have to fill in each year for my husband’s company overdraft, and our budget up to date. That took longer than a few hours.

Mulching the Garden

Our neighbour ordered some mulch for their garden last weekend and realised when it arrived that they’d over-ordered. We willingly took it off their hands. This made for a decent morning’s work on a fairly warm Monday morning, but now the garden is all weeded and the mulch should keep the weeds down for a while.

Bonus Good Things

• Our dog Riley. So good and easy to look after. He sleeps away most of the day.
• Sitting outside at the Albert Park Hotel eating very good Chinese food with friends. Crab omelette, Balmain bug noodles … so many good dishes.
• Our son is in Barcelona for work this week! Hopefully, he is being sensible over there, we haven’t heard from him yet (edit: between writing that sentence and hitting the publish button he sent us a video of a bartender setting drinks alight)
• I’m on a cutback week for running this week. I always enjoy these.
• Having a good long conversation with my friend who now lives in Launceston (the one we will be seeing when we are down in Tassie)
• Riding to the new-to-me, bulk food store in Elwood. So easy and so quick, but not as many places to chain my bike up as they have in Church St and Hampton.
• We’ve been watching the Netflix television series Boy Swallows Universe, based on the book by Trent Dalton and it’s great.

How has your week been? Any highs, lows or in betweens?