We had another week of warm winter weather here. In fact Australia collectively had its warmest winter day on record this week which probably isn’t a good thing. The Kimberley’s registered temperatures were over 41C, but our top temperature for the week was 23C which is close to perfect in my opinion.
FRI 23.8.2024
- We had our favourite Vietnamese takeaway again. I love their pork belly bao buns.
- Had a good time with the girls watching The Umbrella Academy. Once again, there were lots of laugh-out-loud moments.
SAT 24.8.2024
- I went for a coastal walk today, which you can check out in Wednesday’s post. The weather was glorious, but I regretted my clothing choice, which was a bit warm because of the conditions. I should have worn shorts instead of jeans.
- Instead of coming straight home, I went to see the exhibition at the Bayside Gallery—Prehistoric Bayside—and attended the curator’s talk. The beaches at Beaumaris and Black Rock are among the most important fossil areas in Australia, dating back 5-6 million years. The talk was fascinating. Ben Francischelli, the curator, and some interested citizen scientists found fossils at these sites. Most of the fossils are ancient marine animals, including massive killer sperm whales and sharks that are half the length of a basketball court. In the talk, Ben showed a video of finding the fossils, and I’m going to say right now that I have almost zero chance of finding a fossil as I would have no idea what to look for. When I saw the fossils in the gallery, I thought that if I saw them, I would have no idea what they were. Then, when I saw them in the videos, so encrusted with barnacles, etc, under the water, I was even more in awe of the people who can recognise them amongst all the rocks and shells.
SUN 25.8.2024
- Today I woke up bright and early (5:15 am) to volunteer at the De Castella Run. It is a 15km, 10km, 5 km run or 3km walk along Kew Boulevard. I was looking after registrations and BIB pickup. Everything went relatively smoothly, and the run was a success. The weather was perfect, which made everything more pleasant. Runners hung around afterwards and got a sausage from the BBQ or other food on site. We were back home around 10:45, so I had time to go to the gym to do my run-walk intervals before lunch. When you start that early, you feel like you’ve done a day’s work, but there’s still time to do so much more.
- Like an afternoon nap. LOL. Yes, we did.
- The big storms held off so we could get Riley out for a walk.
- We were led through a Lectio Divino exercise at church. It was such a rich time of fellowship with God and the group.
- Coming home afterwards, the storm had finally arrived, and the lightning was amazing. The night was lit up every few seconds. We couldn’t enjoy it, though; we had to get home and let Riley in. He was a bit freaked out and was barking when I walked into the apartment. Plus, he was soaking wet.
- My dad rang. They’ve been overseas and were waiting for the flight to come home.
MON 26.8.2024
- Our son was home after working on a production of Mary Poppins last week in Traralgon. It was good to catch up and sort out some admin stuff with him.
- I had my gynecology follow-up and everything looks OK for now.
- Family dinner (just the girls E had small group)
- S has had a sore foot since the Gold Coast Half-marathon but it’s improving and the physio thinks she can start running in the next couple of weeks.
TUES 27.8.2024
- I met my friend for a walk and lunch. We walked for about 1.5 hours and had lunch so we really caught up and also had a chance to chat about our plans for Paris (we will be there at the same time).
- I had yummy crispy fried chicken bao for lunch.
- Our cold sparkling water tap. I usually have it with dinner. It feels a bit special, but it is still good for me.
- I’ve been testing out having some dairy, and it hasn’t made my skin worse or seemed to have any other detrimental effects. I had a chilli hot chocolate at small group tonight, and it was good.
WED 28.8.2024
- I’ve been reading Iron Flame, and it is a ripping story. (unfortunately, this led to some later nights)
- My steam oven has an automatic cleaning cycle, which I ran for the first time yesterday. It is so easy, and now my oven is sparkling clean, next up the normal oven.
- The worms in my worm farm are multiplying and getting through a decent lot of kitchen scraps now.
THURS 29.8.2024
- I did another walk/run interval on the treadmill today and increased the speed to over 6 min/km for the running portion. It felt so good. My next run will be 30 minutes of run/walk intervals.
- E’s girlfriend came over for dinner, and they went through the dates E is working and managed to find two possible dates that would work for their 21st birthday celebration. One is even when we get back from overseas, so hopefully, that one will work for her parents. We have been trying to get them to sort it out for over a month.
How has your week been?
Comments
10 responses to “Good Things Friday”
That sounds like a great week with lots of family and running and good Vietnamese food! I love Vietnamese and could easily eat pho for breakfast every day.
I love this line: When you start that early, you feel like you’ve done a day’s work, but there’s still time to do so much more.
This is exactly why I like getting up early. You can get a lot done and then realize that it’s only 9 am and you’ve already gone for a long run, showered and worked around the house. O love that feeling. Plus, a Naomi’s a glorious thing.
The food was a big highlight of our trip to Vietnam—so good and so cheap.
Sounds like you had a really great week, Melissa! 23 is a good temp for doing things outside – 41, not so much! It’s been around 23 here lately but this weekend it’s more like 30, it’s still summer and I’m hanging on to it for dear life!
We have gone back to more wintery weather this week. Today was 16 feels like 7. Yuck!
Also an early riser, except now that I am back at work! Next Tuesday we are meeting the students and the academic year starts rolling! Being with students is really the best part of teaching so I am looking forward to that. I sent out an introductory email to them and some responded with a few sentences about themselves, so lovely.
Yu mention storms, is that thunderstorms? We have had some here in NJ, and R doesn’t like them – he is scared of thunder. But he is only 4, hopefully he grows out of it but the time he is 18 😉
Yes, thunderstorma. I’m sure R will grow out of it.
A full week with so many fun things that happened. I already admired your walk along the coastline.
Also Vietnamese food is great. I think I am going to have some tomorrow.
I love most south east Asian cuisines but I find Vietnamese is very easy to eat.
I also love Vietnamese food! It’s a cuisine that I can eat and not feel uncomfortably full from as many of the dishes are kind of lighter and many feature fresh herbs which make them extra flavorful.
Last week we had the house to ourselves while the kids were at my parents. The alone time was so nice. We saw our good friends twice as their kids were also with the grandparents. I am hoping to make that an annual tradition as long as my parents are up for it physically.
I think having that time to yourself is so refreshing. Hopefully you will be able to make it an annual thing.