On the verge of winter

Next week the formal start of winter will pass (I prefer Winter Solstice as an appropriate beginning but nevermind). It will also bring in my year anniversary of my residence in the Cheng household. The year till today has been filled with joys and challenges, and I'm glad I have had the opportunity to live here. It is still something that I was surprised had come to pass and I'm still grateful for it.

When I came, the winter knocked me rather suddenly. This house is a lot colder than my mother's home with chillblains, numb extremities and dampness causing me all sorts of discomfort. I'm prepared this time.

This time last year was also my reinvention as a green-thumbed gardner. Now, suddenly, again, I'm gripped in a fascination with the botanical world. The wormfarm again is the provider of wonders - the tops of corncobs sprouted; potatoes scraps have too; while others come from random sources, a rosemary branch from the roadside is continuing to grow in some collected soil; an avocado seed split apart to grow a sapling; the 'dead' avocado plant I had put in the front yard has come back to life with new leaves.

Recently I have begun the pruning at one of my clients too. By the end of the month, I'll be 'graduating' two long term classes and decreasing the hours on another. It is the right choice as those students have had a long time to improve and their progress has flattened out. In a way this could be an opportunity to revitalise my roll. One of those classes felt 'stagant'. Freeing up hours and having my services readvertised to all the managers opens up the chance to have new challenges. Of course, there is the risk of my hours being permanently decreased but this has to be accepted. It was never going to be forever.

Meanwhile, Winter Solstice (June 23) and Blue Moon (30 June) celebrations are on the mind. As well as tree-planting opportunities and viewing Jupiter and Mercury in the evenings. I have had trouble keeping the activity side of things active. That is my focus for now.

Dooper

Now that the aftermath of the Trailwalker has settled, it is about time to take stock of the things. The past three weeks have seen me be sidetracked heavily by lots of little issues and events. Right now I still am a bit foggy-minded about going ahead.

My current commitments and goals for the next period will be to run sessions at AIESEC's NZ Weekend Away, plan and execute a Strange Day, reignite my physical training, get my tax and donations sorted and get a solid period of work in.

Workwise, the recent weeks have again been a rollercoaster. The financial year has finished its fifth week but my hours worked weekly have fluctuated from 6 hours (admittedly when I was ill) to a new record this week where I shot past 20 hours for the second time. The bout of statutory holidays was rather annoying and a knock to the income. My goal was to have an average of 18 hours a week but as a result of sickness and stats I'm cruising at a lowly 13.7 hours. Fortunately I've entered a boom zone. Next week will likely top this one and I'm likely to sustain 20 hour weeks for the next 6 weeks. This will be good. A certain client is likely to pay me finally too for the second time, which means I'll actually get to have the money I earned there! How novel!

My garden is taking a breather in between the summer crops winding down and the winter crops yet to emerge. The delight of the week has been chokos - and the shattering of an urban legend that said they had to be paired up (male and female) to develop fruit. This was discovered when mum noticed two hanging in the orange tree that the choko was attempting to smother. We ate one and left the other so that it might be the seed choko for another plant. I thought we were lucky - a bee from a neighbour kindly finding a male plant to do the pollination and didn't expect any more. Boy was I wrong. It is raining chokos right now! Hallelujah. We might have a pumpkin finally growing on our pumpkin plant.

With the house cooling, the mind goes to a rational strategy to survive this winter. A home without insulation, heating, extractor fan (in either kitchen or bathroom) is something of a logistical challenge to live in. There have yet to be hard decisions made as to whether to invest in insulation (we don't use a heater whose heat the insulation would retain) or a dehumidifier (which would chew up the power). I remember the good old days before I lived here. When I visited the house and marvelled at the mildew patterns on the ceiling. I think a few practical habits would reduce the problems and maybe a technological solution too.

Fitness-wise, I'm still planning. Now that my ankles survived the 100km walk, I might try them out on running on a field. I don't think I should try any road running till I have fully strengthened them and any spectre of shinsplints have disappeared. I'm going to continue my achilles tendon exercises and strength exercises on the swiss ball. Other than that, I'll have to consider things one item at a time. Swimming still seems too inconvenient.

A whole lot of peripheral issues don't really need to be thought about - I'd better get back to lesson plans.