"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

Good Things Friday

FRI 19.7.2024

  • I had my physiotherapy appointment today. The MRI results were back, and my fracture is mostly healed. I’m cleared to do some assisted jumping and also squats, lunges and deadlifts with weight. I could have started a little bit of running but the loss of strength in my foot and calf is causing issues in other parts of my feet that don’t usually bother me when I keep them constantly loaded. I’m optimistic with a bit of work I’ll soon be able to run and jump mostly painfree.
  • We tried Vivace, a new to us restaurant in Bay St Brighton. It’s Italian, and it was quite good, although it didn’t replace our favourites—Bottarga and Aromi. Vivace is a more traditional Italian and I’d like to go back and try their pasta. This was part one of G’s birthday celebrations.
  • Riley was groomed this week and he is so soft when it’s just been done. I can’t resist patting him.



SAT 20.7.2024

  • Today was an internet-free day, and also a computer, iPad, and almost iPhone-free day (I allowed phone calls and texts, which I don’t get many of, but G needed to contact me for a pickup from the station)
  • I spent the morning browsing through the Lonely Planet Great Britain book I borrowed from the library. I need to make some general plans so we can book accommodation.
  • I also put aside some of the day for cleaning because the house was a bit grotty after the migraine and hospital visit last week. Now my bath is sparkling clean and waiting for when I can hop back in. I don’t love cleaning but the result is very satisfying.
  • The girls came over, and we finished the 4000-piece puzzle. This was a hard one, but H did not relax her rule of no looking at the picture.


  • I baked—some pumpkin spice doughnuts (but cooked in muffin form because we don’t have the special tin). Then I ate one when it was still hot while watching the finale of Masterchef Australia which I’d taped from last Monday.



SUN 21.7.2024

  • We went to Sunday morning church. There were many exclamations over the fact we were at morning church because we usually go to Sunday night. We had communion! (it is every week in the mornings but only once a month in the evening and we keep on missing the once a month)
  • We caught the train to the city and got waterproof jackets for our walk. When we’ve done the multi-day walks previously we’ve gone with companies that provide jackets so we needed our own, which I think will come in handy anyway. We went with a high waterproof, good breathability, lightweight option from Patagonia. We decided to get a mid-range jacket, which I think will be worth it because they provide lifetime repairs.
  • An afternoon nap. Always a winner for me.
  • We had G’s birthday dinner with the kids and one of our friends in the evening at Entrecote. G enjoyed our last dinner there, and he wanted the kids to experience it too. They all had steak, I had a quail and duck pie this time. Such a good night!

MON 22.7.2024

  • Today was a glorious winter day, and much milder than we have had recently. I enjoyed walking to mainly music, the Opshop and back home.


  • We had two new families at mainly music.
  • There were no 2000-piece puzzles at the Opshop, but I picked up a 1000-piece puzzle, which I hope will be difficult enough. I’m also trying to increase my stock of larger jars for pantry storage and found one today.


  • We had lunch with G’s parents at Northpoint Cafe to celebrate his birthday. Then they came back to our place for coffee. It was a good opportunity to catch up.
  • I made an appointment to get my hair cut and coloured. This has been sitting on my list for months now for two reasons. The first was my increased and unexpected medical appointments and travel which has made it hard to schedule in extra things. The second is that I hate making phone calls, and the last time I got my hair cut in November, my hairdresser was away getting cancer treatment. I was dreading a possibly extra awkward phone call if things had gone bad. My medical issues are mainly resolved; we will be home for a few weeks now, and I’m completely over my hair. I decided I needed to make the call … but also realised I could just text my sister to see if Frank was back cutting. He was, and I made the call.

TUES 23.7.2024

  • I returned to the bulk store in Elwood and restocked the pantry. It had been a while. I will try to get down there more regularly so I don’t have quite as big a bag of jars to refill and carry.
  • While doing my errands, I popped into the sports shop in Brighton, which carries a lot of outdoor gear. They have some cotton/bamboo T-shirts that look and feel wonderful—more like everyday T-shirts than sports ones. I bought one to try out. They claim it wicks sweat, and I hope it dries quickly. If it does I’ll probably get a couple for travel. They also had Patagonia fleece jackets on sale, so I got one of them. I’m not a big clothes buyer, but my wardrobe has got a little run down, and this was a lovely rust colour.
  • The library. I was back there again to pick up my reserves, and while I was there, I saw a Lonely Planet book about Wales, which I picked up so G could have a look through and say yay or nay to my proposal to visit Wales in the time we have spare after the London Marathon. I’m also excited to crack into the novel I picked up—”The Time Shelter”.
  • Small group was back on after a break for the school holidays. It was a very small group but we had some good discussion.

WED 24.7.2024

  • I could finally do squats and deadlifts at my Personal Training session this morning. It was so good to work on something other than the upper body, and my foot was not sore at all.
  • I’ve been reading “Listening for the Heartbeat of God” by John Philip Newell in the mornings. Today’s quote: “Spiritual awareness, then, was about being aware of God in the midst of the change and movement and flow of life, in the rising of the morning sun, in the work and relationships of daily life, in the great struggles of society and nation, in alertness to the interior life of the soul, in times of rest and sleep and even dreaming.”

THURS 25.7.2024

  • I got my haircut! And I made my next appointment while I was there. It’s a little gift to my mid-November self.
  • For dinner I made a variation on this linguine with spicy tuna. No olives or anchovies, but added cherry tomatoes. It was so quick and yummy.

Over to you. How has your week been? Have you had some good things?


Comments

6 responses to “Good Things Friday”

  1. Riley looks so content and definitely would be hard to resist petting him!

    I can’t believe H doesn’t look at the picture while doing a puzzle. I mean, I do that for a 100 piece puzzle. And 4,000 pieces just blows my mind!

    Those doughnuts look delicious. And I’m so glad you’re seeing improvement with the fracture. Yay. I’m sure it has been hard to be patient during recovery.

    Sounds like you’ve found some really great staple pieces for your wardrobe that will last long-term and also serve a very clear purpose. Love it!

    1. No of us are allowed to look at the picture. H can be quite bossy sometimes.

  2. Oh that new puzzle looks fun. Should be difficult when not looking at the pictures, no? I am beyond amazed you did the 4000 piece one. How much I would love to join the puzzle frenzy.

    Your week sounds like a fun one with lots of things crossing of the list and many celebrations. So good.

    My week was rough with three days of migraine… light ones but so annoying. Especially since I am working the entire weekend at the trade fair and I really didnt want to go all exhausted. But here I am. I tried to take a slow Thursday. But lots of works is piling up now.

    Have a great weekend

    1. The no looking does increase the difficulty, and the puzzle has been quite difficult because the different colours are not confined to just one section.

      Sorry to hear about the migraines, that is tough. It is so hard when you have to take time off so it doesn’t get worse but nthen there is such a backlog when you start back.

  3. I’m envious of how fast you can get in with your hair stylist! I have to book so far out in advance and she has really limited hours so I end up taking the day off and making it a shouldless day since the appts are during the day. Which is not the worst thing as it pushes me to use more PTO. I end up booking my next appt at my hair appt. But then I don’t have to make any phone calls!!

    The weather was so nice here this week so I enjoyed the cooler, dry air. Now the humidity has set in. I am kind of nervous for my long run tomorrow as it will be so warm and humid but hopefully I don’t have many more really hot, humid runs. But at least I can run and I do not take that for granted!!

    1. Yes, I’m lucky to be able to get in easily, although they are always very busy when I’m there. Hot and humid weather does make running tough, although I hate the cold, my hands turn white.