Rounding up all the good things this week. I wrote that sentence last week and then got so busy, I’m now rounding up the good things from the last two weeks. These two weeks have been a little chaotic at times. We had some pretty wild weather last week, with our state experiencing the worst power outages in many years. More than 550,000 homes and businesses were without power due to damaged powerlines and poles. Then, massive transmission line towers blew down and the resulting disruption in the grid caused our biggest powerplant to trip. To protect the rest of the grid another 90,000 homes lost power due to deliberate load shedding. Amazingly, near us, there was very little damage. We had a brief burst of wild winds, a massive, but short-lived downpour and then nothing. So that’s a good thing I guess?

I have been trying to get work and home sorted ready for our trip away (GOOD THING!) but I lost 1.5 productive days to a migraine and its pre- and after-effects. The morning after I still had a residual headache and brain fog and I was trying to get some work done and G kept coming into the room and talking to me. In the end, I told him he needed to leave me alone as it was hard enough just doing the work. The good news is that I only needed to spend a few hours in bed on the first afternoon and although I wasn’t fully on top of it, was able to get up and do family dinner on Monday night. I did skip my run on Tuesday, but got to the gym on Wednesday.

I also had my annual fall while running yesterday. My last one was in January last year. The scraped knee is a bit worse than that one but I’m so glad I didn’t do worse before our trip to Tasmania. I’m hoping this means I’m all good for the next while. Anyway on to all the good things …

Successful Operation

My Dad has been struggling to walk at all for a couple of months now because of arthritis in his ankle. He saw the surgeon at the start of last week and his ankle was fused on Wednesday. The surgeon was really happy with the outcome and after a long recovery, Dad should be up and walking pretty well again. This is partially the reason for my unfinished post … I left to visit him and then didn’t have time to finish the post when I got home.

Riley Turned 9

Riley turned 9 on Valentine’s Day which makes it very easy to remember. He is still very active and runs like a crazy dog around the park, or does laps. At the moment he’s not allowed off lead at the park because he did a crazy run and pulled up with a limp last week. Maybe he needs to face the fact that he’s an old dog now. Can dogs face the facts?

I Joined the Theological Library!

This has been on my list of things to do for ages now and I finally did it. After I’d finished visiting Dad I walked up to the library. They still had all my details from when I was studying so they just had to reactivate my account and update my address. I will have to go back and pay because the reception to take payments was closed but the librarian let me borrow anyway. Yay for easy-going librarians. It was almost 5 pm by the time I left and I squeezed myself like a sardine onto the tram to get back to the train. It was lucky I got on when I did because all down the line there were disappointed people waiting at the tram stops unable to squeeze themselves in. The city was heaving with all the Tay-Tay fans heading off to Taylor Swift’s biggest audience yet—96,000 people at the MCG.

Brunch After a Long Run

Not last Sunday but the Sunday before, I did my first 22km run of this training cycle. It was so hot when I started and was a slog the whole way. I met a friend partway through, but I don’t know whether that made it easier because she was much fresher than me. Anyway, I slogged it out and completed it. I was completely wiped when I sat down at our table for brunch, but my corn fritters and juice really hit the spot.

Two Beach Days!

The run of 30+ days did eventuate and I swam in the bay twice. Monday night is family dinner night at our place so the girls were over, our son was home and his girlfriend came over too. Since it was a hot day I suggested to my younger daughter to bring her bathers and we’d go for a swim. My son and his girlfriend had plans in the afternoon to go SUP boarding but they were scuttled by a large pine tree that blew down onto the powerlines at a major intersection a couple of blocks from our house. This caused gridlock in the streets around us as traffic was diverted. This was not the day when so much of the state experienced power outages. So after we finished dinner my son and daughter, his girlfriend, G with Riley and I headed down to the beach. The weather had cooled down a little bit, but it was still mid-20s and breaking out of a rut and doing something different is so much fun. Sunset swim … thumbs up from me.

The next morning started out very warm and I had a 12 km run with a workout scheduled. It was very hard. I managed to complete the workout set but then cut the warm-down and jumped in the sea for a paddle around instead. The ovals I was running at are right next to the beach, and since I was wearing a crop top under my singlet I just stripped the singlet off and jumped in the water. I didn’t have a towel so had to wander home barefoot carrying my sneakers and socks.

Prayer course at Church

We go to a fairly informal discussion-based service in the evening at our church. To start the year we’re doing the Prayer Course. Unfortunately, we’ll be away the next few weeks but I’ll be able to watch the videos to keep up. So far … excellent and I think it will work well with my theme this year of renewal. Lent has also started, and this year I’m following Tear Fund’s Lent Series: “Following Jesus for a World Restored.” Restoration and renewal have significant overlap so I’m looking forward to being inspired and challenged in this.

Carmens Fun Run

G and my daughter both did the 10 km Carmen’s fun run on Sunday. Our daughter has been trying to get a sub 45 min for a while now but we thought this might be the time—and she nailed it 43:36. Several of our friends were also running and everyone came around for breakfast afterwards. We had muesli with fruit and yoghurt, banana bread, egg and bacon rolls, hash browns and bloody Mary’s. It was the first time we’ve used all ten seats around our outdoor table.

Our first mainly music session

After the idea was first floated at church to start a mainly music group, recruiting a team, filling in the application form and then all the preparations to get signed-off, we finally got our approval and had our first session on Monday morning. We had two families and it went well. Since then we have had two more enquiries and if they both come it means we will be already at a third of our capacity. Unfortunately, I will be away for the next two Mondays, but the team is awesome and my co-leader is the best, so I leave the group in good hands.

Making Repairs

The thingamabob that holds the excess length on my watchband in place broke a couple of weeks ago. When this happened on my previous watch I replaced it with rubber bands which I think contributed to the watch band ultimately breaking and having to order a replacement. This time I’ve superglued it back together. We’ll see how long it holds … but I’ve got plenty of superglue to keep fixing it with. Repair something instead of replacing it is on my 101 list and I guess this counts, but I have a pile of clothes that need repairing and one is a pair of 3/4 running tights that I will have to replace if I don’t fix them before colder weather comes, so I have at least one more repair to do. The good news is that I have updated my reading glasses so I’ll be able to thread the needle, plus I found where I put my sewing supplies this week when I was looking for something else.

Bonus Good Things:

• I finally rode my bike to South Melbourne Market when it was open and got some yummy salmon fillets for our dinner.
• Hemp Gold Protein Powder. I’m adding it to my porridge to bump up the protein, and unlike some other hemp protein powders, it is neither gritty nor strongly flavoured.
• After two pretty ordinary runs, I was very relieved to have two good runs last weekend. My second 22 km was much better, lower heart rate and faster pace. Clearly, the hot weather of the previous week played a massive part in my sluggishness.
• We had this Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma for one of our family dinners and it was easy and good. I made homemade pita breads to go with it that did make it a bit more work.
• I also liked this Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard and Garlic. Both of these are getting saved into our Family Recipe Book.
• Booking a few more things for our trip. I love holiday anticipation.

By the time you read this I’ll probably be on my way to, or in Tasmania. How about you? Have you got something you’re looking forward to this week? How has your week been so far?