Cycling to Pencarrow Lighthouse

It's been several years since my 101 in 1001 project began and ended. One activity I never ticked off the list was #13: Walk/cycle to the Pencarrow lighthouse and have a picnic. It's something I'd done years ago (both walking and cycling) but, even though it's relatively close to home, had never repeated. When an opportunity came up this week to cycle to the lighthouse with a group of friends, I grabbed it. We packed a picnic lunch and set out from Burdan's Gate in Eastbourne.

The ride is a flat 7.5 km each way, taking roughly 25 minutes to get there on a gravel road. There are actually two lighthouses at Pencarrow. The original lighthouse up on the ridge was built in 1858 but, due to its altitude, was occasionally shrouded in fog. From memory, there is a grave of a young girl (perhaps 8 years old) near the lighthouse, creating a very rich history. The steep path up to this lighthouse can only be reached on foot and  is currently out of action.

Looking north towards both lighthouses

The second lighthouse was built on the shore in 1906 to supplement the first. Small 12v halogen lamps now provide the light, which can be seen from up to 16 nautical miles away. It has been automated since 1960. The power supply is from solar powered batteries, vastly different and more efficient to the original set up from a century ago.

We had a picnic lunch, seeking shelter behind the bottom lighthouse. It can be really windy and exposed so watch the weather forecast before setting out and allow yourself a couple of hours if you are cycling and longer if you walk. The easterly view across Wellington Harbour is quite novel if you've never seen the city from this direction.

Pencarrow Lighthouse

That's where this blog post was meant to finish - as a happy ending to what was a relaxing and long overdue summer break.

Shortly after leaving the lighthouse to head back to Eastbourne, there is a cattle or stock stop along the road. I'd dismounted and walked my bike over it on the way there but felt braver going back and decided to ride over it instead. Bad decision. I came off my bike and ended up underneath it. My sunglasses broke and left a nasty, deep gash above my left eyebrow and quite a bit of blood on and around me. My left shoulder was wrenched against the side of the bridge, and I had to pull myself back and up not knowing if anything was dislocated or broken. I had packed a travel first-aid kit and a friend did a great job of using all the bits and pieces to disinfect grazes, bind up my head wound and later create a makeshift sling for my arm ... but we were still 7 km out from the car park.

Cycling wasn't an option for me so I walked while my partner pushed my bike alongside his and my friends went for help. Help didn't arrive as vehicle access is apparently only allowed on that road with a permit (the wedding party that drove past us must have had one) or an ambulance. Having neither, I trudged along for an hour and was surprised that not one single walker, runner or cyclist stopped and asked if I was ok all the way back to the gate. By this time I had quite a bit of blood on my face and body and was nursing an ice pack from the picnic lunch against my bandaged arm. It's not like most people could have done anything for me but I found it interesting that I didn't get a second look. Hmm.

After five hours in Hutt Hospital Emergency Department, I was discharged with an immobile left arm in a strong sling resulting from a moved shoulder joint, a glued and taped up head wound (hooray for no stitches!), a tetanus shot, a prescription for pain meds and instructions for physio rehab. No using my left arm means no return to work for me this week and cancelling various plans.

So this post was written painstakingly slowly on my phone and finished with one hand on my laptop. I'm tired, sore and generally gluggy but doing ok. It could have been so much worse though and I'm thankful nothing was broken or stitched.

I just know that I would have stopped and asked if I could help if I saw someone injured approaching. Definitely. With no hesitation. No doubt about it.

Wellington Food Show 2011

On a dreary Wednesday afternoon, I received a phone call from the lovely Karen at Menumania. Would I like tickets for the Wellington Food Show this weekend? Wow, would I ever! I'd been keen to revisit this mecca for local foodies ever since going to the very first Wellington Food Show ten years ago. Somehow, it became one of those events I'd go to 'another time'. Not any more!

Naturally, we chose the busiest time to arrive: Saturday lunch time. To my delight, I found whole stalls dedicated to each of the basic food groups: chocolate, cheese and coffee! There were also plenty of competitions to enter, allowing me to feed my inner competition junkie. @muffinmum had tipped me off that there was a stall selling waffles so I finally got to complete another 101 in 1001 activity: #89 - Eat waffles for breakfast/brunch, thanks to the Golden Malted stand. Yummy!

I spent some time with the lovely folk from Flight coffee and learned all about some different brewing methods. I sampled a Brazilian coffee bean brewed in three different ways: siphon, Chemex and the V360, time time blending the Brazilian beans with a Guatemalan dark roast. This one appealed most to my strong, dark, Italian coffee palette. On my next town day, I am definitely going to head to Memphis Belle Coffee House and try one for real.

We tasted so much food and wine that when we saw daylight through the windows, we thought we'd made it back to the beginning again only to discover that we were just halfway around the stadium! There was so much on offer that we left after about three hours feeling absolutely full, as well as sampling wines from several different vineyards. I chatted to the delightful Annabelle White about a breakfast event I attended with her several years ago and we both drooled over the latest Kenwood products on display. I finished the day with coffee from Caffe L'affare and came home with a bag full of goodies.

Here are some of my other delicious discoveries of the day:

• Donovans Chocolates. Rich and creamy, I especially liked their dark 80% cocoa bar, dark peppermint 80% cocoa bar and milk chocolate bar. These would make a yummy gift.
• Silk Road Foods. Fresh meals and sauces, locally made and ready to heat up. We bought pouches of butter chicken and Moroccan chicken stew to stock up our freezer.
• Rileys butterscotch vodka cream. This slipped down very nicely.

Wellingtonian foodies, if you haven't been yet, make sure you get down to Westpac Stadium on Sunday and catch the last day of the show.

Good Friday brunch

The long weekend has begun. Bring on the chocolate!

It was so lovely to sleep in for a while this morning. Of course, our kitten decided that it was time for us to wake up and play with her at 6.15 am (as per usual). I think her idea of a long weekend is enjoying having us at home for several days in a row with the sole purpose of playing with and entertaining her.

Later this morning, we had some friends over for a Good Friday brunch. We made buttermilk pancakes (soooooo yummy!) and we had hot cross buns with freshly ground coffee. It was great to catch up with a friend visiting from Germany. She is a specialist pastry chef and I am looking forward to gleaning as much baking expertise as I can muster from her during her stay.

This is the first of my 101 in 1001 activities I have belatedly picked up: #39 - Host a brunch for friends. I'm loving this Easter break!

Day 1001

Today's the day! It is 1001 days since I started my 101 in 1001 project. What a ride it has been!

In June 2008, I came across the Day Zero website and browsed a few blogs that people had linked to. "What an ambitious project!" I thought, never seriously considering taking part myself. I was interested to see that people had set themselves big goals and small ones, one-off and ongoing. I began toying with the idea of starting the project myself but quickly discounted it. I didn't think I could come up with 101 activities for a list like this. Jeepers, how short sighted was I?

I sat down and started brainstorming. About 60 activity ideas 'fell' out of my head within the first half hour. The list kept forming but I thought I'd make it a private project. Why? Probably fear of failure - it's hard to admit things might not have gone right when you're a perfectionist. I quickly abandoned that idea, started rearranging my blog to incorporate the project and went public. Best decision I made!

My 'official' tally shows 80 activities completed. According to #100, that leaves me with $800 saved to spend how I please. I toyed with the idea of using this money to buy the art prints on my list (#24 - a Michael McCormack painting/print of Island Bay, #98 - Vettriano’s The Singing Butler and #99 - Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night) but thought it sounded a bit like cheating. I've been eyeing up some more kitchen goodies, namely a breadmaker, a food processor and a good set of knives. It might be a while before I actually get around to buying them but they're on my wishlist.

Would I do it again? Absolutely - just not for a while. There is still some unfinished business from this list that I want to attend to first, some of which I already have definite plans for and others which I'll make happen in time. I'm not going to lament over the activities I didn't complete during this time. Instead, I want to celebrate all the things I did achieve and manage to do for myself. I'll keep rolling over the remaining activities and continue to blog about them as I tick another off my list.

For everyone who has come along for the journey, or even worked on their own list, thank you for your support, comments, encouragement and questions. Being part of an online project like this has been an amazing way to get to know bloggers from around the globe and the Twitterverse. Woo hoo - it's time to celebrate!

Sorting out resources

OK, we're getting down to the nitty gritty. Two 101 in 1001 activities I have attempted on several occasions (and this one, too) have been hanging over my head for far too long. #44: Sort out/purge my teaching resources and #45 Sort out/organise my MEd resources aren't as easy as they sound. Part of these tasks have also been psychological; I know I'm no longer a teacher in the traditional sense (and don't wish to be) but I still possess the magpie instinct that many (or most) teachers have. "This might come in handy one day."

This weekend, I was at the stage of re-sorting the stuff I'd already sorted and put away in boxes on previous occasions. I'd kept too much stuff 'just in case' and needed to purge it for once and for all. In among all my notes and resources, I came across this quote:

"In order to move forward, we need to leave something behind."
Michael Pohl

So very true! With renewed vigour, I extracted copious amounts of by-products of trees which are now destined for recycling. Some things made it to the bin; others went in my 'take to work' pile - and only things that I know I will actually use or refer to. My nephew was thrilled with the collection of fancy stickers. gel pens and colourful note paper that he acquired.

Confessions:

• I still couldn't quite bring myself to throw out my curriculum documents. I know they're (almost) obsolete with a new curriculum, but I'll wait until I can say the first half of this sentence without the word in brackets before disposing of them altogether.
• A few poetry books and thinking resources are still in my boxes. Just because.
• Because I can access the majority of my research resources digitally if I need them (they're well-referenced), most of the paper copies of readings are now headed for the recycling bin. However, I couldn't get rid of my course books of readings yet, 'just in case' I'm ever silly enough to start the PhD that is lurking at the very back of my mind.
• I have been looking for my gun stapler for a looooong time. I'd been told that you're not a teacher if you don't have a gun stapler. There is nothing that a gun stapler (or a glue gun) cannot do! Although I'm no longer a teacher, I still really, really wanted my gun stapler. I found it in the final box of stuff I was sorting. I am now ready to take on the world!

Recipe book

Like most cooks and bakers, I have built up quite a collection of recipes over the years. While I am not the type who is attracted to buying massive tomes featuring glossy images of perfect meals that I'll never realistically cook for myself, I have still managed to collect a number of recipe books and screeds of loose leaf recipes from endless sources. I have been looking for free online recipe organisers which allow me to submit my own recipes to a private collection, then sort by meal type, ingredients, time etc ... a bit like the awesome Dinner Spinner but entirely personalised. Doesn't that sound useful? Turns out that such a tool doesn't exist (or perhaps I just haven't found it yet?).

Plan B was to type all of my recipes into a master Word file, hit 'print' and then collate them into a ubiquitous ring binder with dividers for each meal type. Not quite as sexy but incredibly functional. Even though it took far, far longer than I ever imagined it would, my recipes are now finally sorted into a master folder of sorts and my recipe books are neatly arranged on one shelf. How long they stay that ordered is another matter ...

I'm slowly ticking off the remaining 101 in 1001 activities on my list: #46 - Organise recipes.

Ongoing goals

The end of my Project 101 in 1001 is near! I have already conceded that I won't complete all the activities on my list before my official finishing date of 29 March 2011. That's ok, as I will keep working towards them - they are still things I want to do.

In nearing the end, it's time to evaluate some of the ongoing goals and activities that I set for the whole duration of the project. Here's a roundup of those activities.

#1: Read at least one book per month
This has been a most enjoyable goal. Although it seems like a relatively simple goal, some months have seen me left with very little time to read for pleasure.

#7: Blog at least three times per week
I have managed to do this across all three of my blogs (including Project 365) and will aim to continue for the foreseeable future.

#12: Play the piano at least once a month
I long for the day when I can retrieve my piano from my parents' music studio and have space for it in my own home. In the meantime, I have made do by playing for short stints when I visit for family dinners.

#48: Find something to be happy and thankful for each day
OK, so it's not yet the end of the month and I still have some days to go, but I think on balance I have achieved this goal, even when times have been tough. Given recent events, I have soooooo much to be happy and thankful for.

#100: Put aside $10 for each goal achieved
This money has built up. Although I haven't finished the whole project yet, I have managed to transfer $10 for each activity completed into my savings account - the total currently sits at $750 and growing. Now, what to spend it on to reward myself ...?

Valentine's Day at the zoo

It's been a long time since I've visited a zoo. I went a few times back 2000, one of them being while I was in San Diego. Naturally, a visit to San Diego Zoo was on the agenda. I had been as a teenager and was keen to go again and see what was new, having heard much about their world renown breeding programme. Actually, I was really disappointed. Most of the enclosures were tiny and unstimulating. Things may well be different now but I was certainly surprised at the time. Wild Animal Park, on the other hand, was fantastic. Huge open spaces and authentically recreated habitats (as well as a zoo can manage to do this). I see it has undergone a name change but hope the intent of the original breeding and education programmes are still the foundation for this amazing place.

As few months later, as a teacher, I took a class of 7-8 year olds to Wellington Zoo as part of a school trip. We had 120 young children with us and I was determined to not 'lose' one girl who had a habit of disappearing on every school trip she had been on since she started school three years earlier. There was no way she'd be able to escape me - she would be in the group of children I was supervising and permanently glued to my hand; I would be the first teacher to return to school having not lost Carmen. I did quite well for the first hour or so. We wandered around to the back of the zoo and went up to the giraffe enclosure, where one of my girls got to feed a giraffe by hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red coat way over by the tigers on the other side of the enclosure. Carmen. Yes, I'd 'lost' her after all. Luckily, I managed to retrieve her quickly before too many others noticed. Her excuse for disappearing? "I wanted to see the tigers." Indeed.

Last week, we won a competition to spend Valentine's Night at the zoo. Perfect timing to help me finish another 101 in 1001 activity, #38 - Go to the zoo and a really unique way to celebrate Valentine's Day! Yesterday brought drizzle and humidity, leaving a cool, overcast evening but I was determined we'd still go. We grabbed jackets, walking shoes and a picnic dinner.

Some of the animals had gone to bed early so we didn't get to see any tigers, lions, meerkats or chimpanzees, but we met lots of other lovely critters along the way and got to feed the giraffes. Here are just a few of the folk we met on a special Valentine's night at the zoo.

A pelican gobbles down some fish for dinner

A noisy lemur makes his presence known from afar

Mayalsian sun bear entertains the crowd

Giraffes feeding in their 'bedroom'

The youngest giraffe pops up for something to eat

Baboon - alpha male

This little blue penguin settles in for the night

Two months to go

Wow, just two months until my 101 in 1001 project officially wraps up on 29 March 2011! The countdown is on. I realised on New Year's Day that I wasn't going to complete everything on the list by the due date but am still keen to keep going with the activities afterwards. That decision still stands. I have 70 activities full completed and several more ongoing goals which will be done by the end of March. That's a grand total of 17 more than where I was at  ten months ago. Here's a roundup of where I'm at with two months to go.

Ongoing goals that I'm confident I will complete

• #1: Read at least one book per month - yep, all good.
• #7: Blog at least three times per week - ditto.
• #12: Play the piano at least once a month - getting better with this one.
• #44: Sort out/purge my teaching resources - a little bit more to do here.
• #45: Sort out/organise my MEd resources - same thing.
• #46: Organise recipes - nearly done.
• #48: Find something to be happy and thankful for each day - a good thing to remind myself of each day
• #100: Put aside $10 for each goal achieved - I'm up to $700 and thinking about how to spend it.

Slightly bigger ongoing goals that I think will make it

• #2: Complete two cross-stitch embroideries - nearly there - about another month to go on my current project.

Small goals that should be easy enough for me to complete

• #8: Send flowers to someone
• #73: Take a train ride - and I don't mean just a commuter train ride.
• #76: Knit something - I'm going to visit knitsch when she opens up her yarn shop at the end of February.
• #82: Make home-made sushi - a friend is going to show me how.
• #89: Eat waffles for breakfast/brunch - still looking for a cafe that serves waffles.

 Medium-sized goals that I should be able to manage (with some effort)

• #11: Visit Somes Island - just waiting for a sunny day when we are not too busy.
• #13: Walk/cycle to the Pencarrow lighthouse and have a picnic - might make this one weekend.
• #23: Fly a kite - we just bought one for my sweetie's nephew's birthday and it made me think about flying it with him.
• #25: Go berry picking - might be running out of time for this one.
• #38: Go to the zoo - I need to grab my nephew on a sunny day and go with him.
• #39: Host a brunch for friends - it just might not be at our place.
• #40: Visit Karori Wildlife Sanctuary - weather and time permitting
• #70: Host a girls’ craft session - anyone keen? 
• #24, #98, #99: Buy artwork/prints - still not sure whether I'll wait until I have walls first. It would be cheating to spend my 101 money on achieving more goals ...

Big(ish) goals that I'd really like to do but realistically won't be able to finish

• #9: Swim with dolphins
• #19: Lose 12 kg - still going with this one. Hope to keep on track but probably won't make the whole 12 kg.
• #32: Add at least two more countries’ stamps to my passport - the second stamp is just not going to happen by the end of March.
• #50: Ride in a hot air balloon

Goals I'm going to put on hold

• #3: Buy a house - probably not.
• #101 - definitely won't happen by the end of March, if at all.

So, according to my calculations, that means I will easily complete another nine activities, am likely to do five, will possibly do all or some of eleven more, and will have six left incomplete by the due date. That's going to have to do - I'll keep going after 29 March 201, though, as they are still things I'd like to do.

How's your 101 in 1001 list going? Or are you working on another project?

Welcome to 2011

Happy new year! Buon anno a tutti! Welcome, 2011.

Here we are at the start of another year. So many options, so many possibilities. True, today is just another day like any other, but there is something so incredibly exciting about moving into a new year and everything it promises. I can tell it's going to be a good one!

We saw in the new year in quiet style, staying at the Bolton Hotel in Wellington overnight. We had been given a voucher from my sweetie's family and decided to put it and a bottle of Moët et Chandon to good use. Success!

Like any other year, 2010 had its ups and downs but overall was a great year for me. 2011 is going to be even better! Like every other year, there will be no new year's resolutions for me; I can choose to do something or change my life any day of the year, thank you.

My 101 in 1001 project is due to wrap up in a few months. I know I won't finish every activity on my lits before then but they are all things I still want to do so I'll see where things are at on 29 March and continue with my list until it is complete.

I need to start thinking about what I'm going to spend the money I have put aside after completing each activity on. Spending is not my forte. I had already decided when I first made up my list on 1 July 2008 that it would be spent entirely on something I want, and not necessarily need. I have a couple of ideas ... suggestions welcome. In fact, if I did make anything that resembled a new year's resolution, it would be to spend money on myself in 2011.

So, what does the new year hold for you? What are your hopes and plans? I hope 2011 is as wonderful for you as it is going to be for me.

Post-Christmas post

Another Christmas is done and dusted and the madness that was Christmas shopping has now turned into Boxing Day and summer sales. We overindulged on food and festivity as we juggled Christmas between both of our immediate families and my extended whanau. Wellington turned on a pearler of a day with warm, calm and sunny weather.

We started off with breakfast at my parents' place and opening presents with my almost-3-year-old nephew. Isn't Christmas so much more fun when there are little ones around? He was beside himself with the excitement of opening presents but, just like the cliché goes, was literally more interested in the packaging for one present than what was inside it. A trip to the beach after breakfast to play with his new bucket and spade ended at high tide. Thankfully there was a park across the road with a red swing (like he requested) and slides to play on in the sun before going home again and watching him chase bubbles around the back yard. A sunny Christmas Day was the perfect opportunity for this 101 in 1001 activity, #34 - Blow bubbles on a sunny day.

The rest of the day saw us work slowly but surely through mountains of food and presents, some of which we are still trying to polish off now. It's amazing how we can still be eating chocolate pie, pavlova, tiramisu and chocolate truffles two days after Christmas. Lots of bubbly and a backyard pétanque tournament finished the day off nicely and Boxing Day was spent eating even more ... long lazy days!

How was your day? And how are you recovering now? I hope your Christmas was as wonderful and fortunate as ours.

Sunset

A beautiful evening + my sweetie + Christmas Eve + beach + sunset = 101 in 1001 #36 - Watch the sun set with someone special.

Just walking in the rain

The Christmas madness continues but there is light on the horizon. We are pretty much done with our Christmas shopping and most of the presents are wrapped and ready. Despite promises that this would be the busiest day for shopping, being the last weekend before Christmas, things weren't too crazy out there and we even managed to survive a dash around the supermarket relatively unscathed.

Maybe the rain had something to do with it? It's raining pretty hard today but still warm, if a little humid - the perfect opportunity for a 101 in 1001 activity: #54 - Walk/dance in the rain. The experience wasn't quite as luxurious or carefree as I'd imagined it to be (and I didn't dance - it was a supermarket carpark the week before Christmas, after all!) but is probably my only chance to walk in warm rain and not have to care about getting wet.

To mark the occasion, here is a musical interlude:

Ukulele party

You may have noticed I've had an ongoing affair with playing the ukulele this year. A colleague and I set up a ukulele orchestra at work a few months ago. We were essentially a group of beginners with one or two people who had some guitar or ukulele experience. Those of us who lacked said experience made up for it in enthusiasm. It was up to me to make the rest happen. We got started with some simple C and D-redemption songs (if you get lost, you can just play C or D at the right time and redeem yourself) and moved on from there. Since then, my purple ukulele has been running red hot and I've been playing several times a week.

This has been an open-ended goal on my 101 in 1001 list - a bit naughty, really. After all, how do you actually measure something like #92 - Learn how to play the ukulele? (Or maybe that's the teacher in me being far too fussy with defining learning outcomes?) So, here's how I'm qualifying success in having achieved this goal:

• I have steadily progressed in my playing. I'm now strong enough to start songs and lead a group.
• I have developed some mighty fine callouses on my left fingertips. (Actually, I'm less than thrilled with that.)
• I'm now strumming correctly with the tips of my fingers instead of my thumb (most of the time).
• My chord progressions are much smoother. In the early days, I was ok at playing some individual chords but struggled to change to another. That's so much better now.
• I no longer need to look at the chords I am playing most of the time. (OK, they're still pretty basic chords, but that's good enough for me!)
• I have led a ukulele orchestra for nearly six months now and will continue next year. In fact, we totally rocked our staff Christmas party today by playing a 20 minute set! I'm hoping to gather more ukulele enthusiasts for when we start up again in the new year.

Woo hoo!

Third birthday

Whose third birthday? Mine! Well, Café Chick's. Three years ago today, I set up this blog and started the journey of Café Chick. She and I have had a lot of fun both blogging and on Twitter. At the start, I had no idea where  either of us would end up. I still don't know where we're going but am loving the ride.

My 101 in 1001 project is in its final few months and I'm trying to wrap up as many activities as practical before 29 March 2011. I have completed 19 activities in 2010 and made progress with several ongoing goals. I did a bit of a roundup of progress when I reached the one year to go mark back in March and am pleased to report that it's still ticking along nicely.

Look at the state of my Clustr map! That's over 21,000 visits during the past twelve months from 145 different countries. It's been lovely to have your company. Alas, as with each birthday/anniversary, the map will archive tomorrow and all my lovely red dots will disappear. Hopefully they will be repopulated in a different combination during the upcoming year - I'll need your help with that.

Café Chick's visitors

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone in the blogosphere for joining me on my journey. I'll be around for a long time to come so hope you'll continue to pop in regularly for good coffee and fresh baking.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and I first got to know each other back in 1998. I was in my second year of teaching and vividly recall one of my students telling me in animated tones about a book his mother was reading to him at night. It was about a boy and his friends who went to a school specially for wizards and witches and they had all these adventures and ... I'm not exaggerating when I say that this boy determinedly never showed excitement about anything; he was one of the most 'in control' students I have ever come across, and so his manner immediately got my attention. Anything that could get him talking animatedly had to be good.

Fast forward a few months and we held a Book Week at our school, involving an exciting week with stacks of book-related activities and culminating in a big event on the Friday when staff and students all came to school dressed as book characters. We invited notable Wellingtonions and New Zealanders to read stories to our classes. I was thrilled when Sir Michael Hardie Boys (who was Governor General at the time) asked if he could read The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate by Margaret Mahy to a class! Another guest, Mark Blumsky (Wellington mayor at the time) arrived with a book he had bought at Los Angeles airport and excitedly read all the way back to Wellington. The book? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which we were already reading together in class.

We raced through the first three novels in the series and even my most reluctant readers fell in love with the world of Hogwarts. The children (and teachers) couldn't get enough of the books and we eagerly anticipated the fourth installment in the series being released: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Unfortunately for my younger readers, the length of the novels doubled at that stage and the reading level rose considerably. The most determined continued with support. I couldn't help myself and raced ahead of my class. (There has to be some advantage to being an adult reader among a bunch of 8-year-olds.)

And then the movies started to be released. We keenly anticipated the first. Would it be any good? What would the characters look like? And Hogwarts itself? For me, the ultimate test would be the enchanted ceiling in the great dining hall. It passed, but I haven't been overly enthralled with any of the movies since then, preferring to get back to the books.

I really struggled to get through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment in a series I thoroughly enjoyed. After repeatedly hearing that it was the best of them all, albeit a bit slow to start, I finally finished reading it in three stages. Admittedly, this didn't help me much with continuity but I preferred to pick up where I left off rather than re-read some chapters. For me, the story just went on and on with endless chases for horcruxes and hallows, resulting in some huge battles and an extensive body count; I lose interest when things get like that. Things did manage to resolve in the last fifty or so pages, so we got there in the end. For me, none of the books was quite as 'magical' (no pun intended) as the first in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which set the scene for everything else to come.

I can't help but wonder if the characters of the novel evolved more into the actors who played them in the movies, rather than the other way around. For example, Hermione. She was initially portrayed as being a girlie-swot mudblood, born of Muggle parents who were dentists. This led to her ironcally having huge front teeth. However, once the movies got going and Hermione assumed a glamour-puss look à la Emma Watson, all mention of her oversized teeth disappeared.

And so, here we are at the end of a twelve-year relationship. I'm a little sad but ready to say goodbye. 101 in 1001 activity #67 - Read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was about far more than reading a single book; it was finding closure with a literary tale that started in the early days of my career and followed me ever since. Love or hate the books, there's no doubting that J K Rowling's greatest achievement has been inspiring a generation of children to love reading - I've seen it first hand and will always admire her for that. Potter fever is once again about to sweep the movie world. I'll probably see the final two movies in time, but it's the series of books that will hold my memories and loyalty.

Scarecrows' big day out

This afternoon we drove over to the Wairarapa to check out the roadside scarecrows, part of the Scarecrows' Big Day Out happening yesterday. This 101 in 1001 activity only comes around once a year, so I was glad we had a sunny day and some time spare in order to complete #49 - Go to the Scarecrow Festival in Gladstone. Although we'd missed the Gladstone School fair and scarecrow scamper yesterday, we had lots of fun driving around the area to see the roadside scarecrows at people's gates.

The design for the roadside scarecrows are left to the imagination of each household. They are a combination of funny, clever and creative and we enjoyed driving along the country roads, slowing down as we neared another driveway, then jumping out of the car to take photos of the folk we encountered. Even the local pub got into the act with a very unfortunate incident involving Santa Claus and too much of the sponsors' product!

Here are some photo highlights from our day:

Chilled out

Shearer's quarters

Taking a breather

Too much beer in the sun for Santa!

Wheelie!

Not fast enough

Three-course meal

It's no secret that I love to bake. However, I cook because we have to eat. It doesn't give me anywhere near as much pleasure as baking does and is far more of a chore for me. I've been intending to work on another one of my 101 in 1001 activities for a long time: #75 - Cook a three-course meal for someone. It required both time and inclination, neither of which has seemed to happen concurrently until recently. Last weekend, I finally had the inclination and started planning my menu. Tonight, I made it happen.

In typical Café Chick style, I decided not to do anything by halves and make everything from scratch. Make no mistake: I'm not cut out for Masterchef. For one thing, I'm a slow cook. I'm not good at working out how long it will take something to do and the guidelines given in recipes are totally random when it comes to me. I can whip up a quick basic meal at night but take little satisfaction from it. Also, I have varying levels of success when cooking something for the first time. Tonight, for my three-course meal, I tried four new recipes. What was I thinking?!

So, what was on the menu? I was keen to try making something with prawns and our entrée ended up being a version of grilled prawns marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic. For our main course, I made gnocchi with a tomato-based sauce.They were not small and elegant like you'd expect but the taste and texture were right. As always, this is an incredibly filling dish. The ciabatta I made to go with it unfortunately ended up being grilled, rather than baked (mental note: don't cook two courses in one oven at the same time!) but luckily I had made three loaves and we managed to resurrect one enough to enjoy with dinner. (By the way, I loved using the dough hook on my lovely new Kenwood mixer for the first time - it worked perfectly!) Then, for dessert, I made chocolate banana crepes with chocolate and kahlua sauce.

Most of the recipes came courtesy of my iPod touch and I haven't found the same sites on the web so unfortunately can't link to them directly. However, they have now been saved as favourites, which I can add to my ongoing recipe book.

I'd be keen to try making each of these recipes again, but perhaps not all on the same day. Besides, I'm sure it will be easier next time ...!

Ukulele days

It's time for an update on my 101 in 1001 project. After all, time is ticking away and it's only another five or so months until I'm due to finish. Following on from my 1 year to go roundup, I've made some progress. Two goals that go hand-in-hand are my modified goals: #17 - Start a ukulele orchestra and #18 - Create ukulele orchestra wiki. I can assure you these have been lots of fun.

A couple of months ago, a colleague and I set up a ukulele orchestra at work. We tentatively asked for an expression of interest and, once we had six responses, started getting together for weekly lunchtime practices. It has really taken off! We now average 10-12 people coming each time and have more than 20 people in the group, including our CEO who went out and bought a ukulele specially. Wow!

To communicate, share music, and keep everybody up-to-date with what's going on, I have set up a simple wiki. For privacy reasons, I won't post the link to it. It's basic but functional and I have really enjoyed putting it together, adding and updating content when I get a chance to.

My ukulele playing has really come along, especially in recent weeks during which time I've been playing almost every day. After having so much fun at the Wellington Ukulele Summer Fiesta earlier this year, a group of us are going to join in with the Ukulele Spring Spectacular at the Botanic Gardens Sound Shell this Sunday. Yep, lots of ukulele madness going on lately!

I realise that my third ukulele activity, #92 - Learn to play the ukulele, is open-ended. I'll keep it 'open' for now and perhaps tick it off later in the year once I have improved a bit more. I'm getting there. :-)

Qui tutto bene!

Qui tutto bene!

(Here, all is well)

It's one of my favourite sayings. Qui tutto bene! All is well. Even when things don't seem to be going to well at the time, I still like how the saying rolls off the tongue. One of my ongoing 101 in 1001 activities is #48 - Find something to be happy and thankful for each day. While I don't make a conscious attempt to record (or even think about) something positive every single day, I'd like to think that my thoughts are tending towards appreciating the simple pleasures that makes life great.

Here are some of my #48s at the moment - and there are plenty more in my life:

• I baked orange chocolate cupcakes for a pot luck dinner with friends at the weekend. I'll try out a new recipe for ganache fudge another time and see if I can turn it into some sort of decoration.
• We are having lots of fun with our ukulele orchestra at work. In fact, it makes Tuesday the best day of the working week.
• My new camera is awesome!
• I'm still enjoying Zumba.
• Wellington on a Plate started this weekend and I have booked in for a few of the festival events: Cupcakes and Cocktails, Discovering Artisan Cheese, and Making Great Patisserie with WelTec. Bellissimo! 
•  In among some hideously cold and wintry weather, we are already being teased with some beautiful spring days. That means that spring flowers are not too far away.
• I have just landed the job of my dreams - I have been waiting to make lemonade for a looooong time! :-)

What are you happy and thankful for right now?