Thursday January 8th Flat Rock

The weather has been spasmodic with some very wet days interspersed with beautiful sunny days. We have managed to get a walk to Lennox Head in finally yesterday after Minday's abortive and very wet attempt. It was great to really get some serious walking in at last and Jan and I walked back as well after we had all breakfasted in Lennox. Irene, Bill and Ron caught a taxi back. Jan and I each went off for a swim soon after returning. The water is so beautiful. Cool and refreshing. Later Irene, Bill and I went surfing and bumped into Ron in the surf too. He had had a two hour sleep after the walk!  We caught lots of waves with our boogy boards and finally got Irene to try it. She usually stands in the water because she is a bit intimidated by the surf so this was a great triumph. I love surfing with the boards. It makes me feel like a kid again and I am often laughing as I ride a wave. It is exhilarating.

We have been off visiting the little towns around here with the Byron Bay Market a must as well. I bought a meditation "perch" which helps relieve the pressure on your knees when kneeling.

Lunch at the Bangolow Hotel is a ritual which was somewhat disappointing this year.  The food was not as delicious as usual and service quite ordinary. We waited so long for dessert that when we hit the shops again they were near closing. Irene saw some lovely art work that she was tempted by but when she brought Bill back the shop was closed. Saved her hundreds of dollars as they both liked it! I bought some new shoes in a neutral tone that were reduced 20% but not as much as I would have liked. They fitted very well which is getting more and more an issue so I purchased them anyway.  Bill had stayed at the pub to watch the cricket. Bangolow is one of my favourite towns near here because it is so charming.

On Wednesday night we went to the Lennox Head hotel for a celebratory dinner for Ron's Birthday (7th January) and in a way Jan and  I ( 15 th and 14 th January). The food was excellent though the dining area was rather noisy to begin. The table beside us had two very noisy children we were glad to see leave. Ron, Bill, Irene and I shared  a dozen natural oysters and half a dozen Japanese crumbed oysters. Delicious.  I ordered the Snapper and king prawn pie which appeared huge but was not quite as large in reality. The whole plate had a covering of light as air puff pastry. A table across the way with two guys comented it was as big as my head! We had a good laugh. A jug of Sangria washed it all down. I finished with an Affogsto that had Frangelica on the side. With three scoops of ice cream it was larger than I really needed but of course I ate it all. We started the party with Champagne before leaving and I had already had a G&T so we were all in a good mood. It was a lovely conclusion to a great day and still home by 10:00 pm.

Jan and Ron

Irene and Bill in foreground.

I will need to get back to my 2/5 regime pretty soon before I burst out of my clothes. We have been doing a lot of reading and not our usual daily walking because Bill and I are resting our plantar fasciitis. Although we have surfed most days  and that is physical I doubt it is burning the calories. We are on holiday so I don't worry too much but...

Jonathan texted to ask me to continue my two days a week babysitting and I have agreed but I felt a bit conflicted. I have enjoyed the freedom from constant obligations in 2014 and had planned painting classes and language classes for 2015  as well as my one day of work and now I have to rearrange or take night classes to fit it in. I took a long walk and a swim on my own to work through my feelings about this. I want to help them get ahead and this will ease the cost of child care plus the bond with Ziggy grows ever stronger so there are lots of bonuses. Freedom is tantalising however and two full 12 hour days with Ziggy is tiring. I will need to be organised rather than drifting along as I have been. I don't want to end up on a merry-go-round of every moment packed again. I am done with that and I have been enjoying keeping so fit with four days a week at the gym. I can't see how I will keep that level up now. I will just have to work out on the weekends as well.