tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50040252024-03-13T14:11:40.202+02:00The Way I See ItJuggling the fun and chaos of family life, keeping track of four kids most of the time, working when necessary, and mountain-biking whenever possible.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.comBlogger328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-17856744164128349492009-11-18T21:56:00.000+02:002009-11-18T22:51:03.160+02:00New ExperiencesRobyn is counting the days to the school holidays now. Eleven more school days for her (the others have to wait another week after she's released). I cannot believe this year is nearly over. I realised today that somehow the whole year went by and we didn't go away as much as we usually do - somehow April and September got skipped. We'll have to rectify that next year, though with the World Cup Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-75606208045107078112009-10-27T22:35:00.000+02:002009-10-27T23:11:54.447+02:00Sigh, sick.Blech. Am thoroughly sick of being sick. Days since last bike ride: 12. Can almost see muscles atrophying while this stupid sinusitis dawdles on. I have antibiotics with the most catastrophic side-effects. They taste foul too - taking one is like swallowing an entire hospital wing. Two hospital wings, actually, since it's two tablets at a time.Life gallops on at an unnerving pace. Synchronising Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-16912185994340780872009-10-14T22:15:00.000+02:002009-10-14T22:20:17.074+02:00Love is ...... stopping to buy groceries on your way home on Monday night and picking out 'Sexy' deoderant for your nearly-40-year-old wife.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-10362209946766342712009-10-12T22:54:00.000+02:002009-10-12T23:07:28.850+02:00Rain ... vegetable patchesWe've had a lot of rain today. I blame this on our having recently purchased and installed a little sprinkler system at the kids' vegetable patches. Peter connected them up yesterday, but it's rained several times today so we've not been able to justify turning them on.I'm hoping that the addition of sprinklers to the vegetable patches holds the key to actually getting some vegetables (and herbs)Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-79886438796418566352009-10-06T08:29:00.000+02:002009-10-06T08:49:49.346+02:00Couple of picturesAnnalise - We actually didn't take any pictures on the race. There wasn't really time or energy! I often do with the kids though - wait for them to catch up and take pics. There are some thumbnails here though (taken by photographers on the course). They focus on the bikers rather than the scenery though, so you can't see too much.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-91688401476470433752009-09-20T23:23:00.000+02:002009-09-21T00:08:53.203+02:00Hill2HillToday was a momentous day for me - a hugely important point to have crossed on my journey away from Horrifically Unfit. I completed the "Half Hill2Hill" - together with my friend (we ride a lot together). The 105km Hill2Hill is THE one-day mountain-bike event of the year in the area, and the "half" is the short version of this race (around 43km). The MTB events around here are typically Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-7234413602181033742009-08-06T23:10:00.000+02:002009-08-06T23:37:32.431+02:00Poo. Also Hockey.Lisa's dog poo horror story:Had to lock Fudge in the bathroom for three hours this afternoon so that I could attend Lauren's hockey matches. She's too small to leave safely in the garden while we're out, and she can escape from the scullery no matter how much of a baricade we set up (think Mr Bean in the projection room in Mr Bean's Holiday). Not wanting to return to wee-damaged floor boards, theLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-26063555145869953202009-08-05T22:39:00.000+02:002009-08-05T23:59:18.692+02:00FudgeWe have a new puppy. Or rather, Robyn does. After months of desperate pleading, we caved in and gave Robs a Puppy Of Her Very Own for her 11th birthday. Actually, we gave her a puppy 'voucher', on the understanding that she could exchange it for a puppy of her own choice after a) we returned from our mid-year holiday, and b) she managed to find a suitable puppy. Robyn was a child on a mission, Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-27344990409984037752009-06-17T22:00:00.000+02:002009-06-17T22:26:46.825+02:00Urgh.I have a cold. Not quite enough to hamper this morning's ride (sore throat only) but at 4.37 this afternoon it suddenly thumped me rather hard.My fph* is steadily falling. Today my bike was in hospital and I had to ride a hired bike. Missed my baby, but I survived it so it was a good experience and a step out of my comfort zone in a different direction. The frame was bigger than mine, the brakes Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-74740525856021796122009-06-06T01:28:00.000+02:002009-06-06T02:40:53.264+02:00Descent from Mount EuphoriaTwo not so fun bike-riding things happened recently. The first was that cane ride I mentioned last time. We finished it totally exhausted. Totally. Everything hurt below the chin, and I could hardly move the rest of the day. I thought maybe it was just the pace of the ride. Most of the riders were Really Fit People, and my friend and I were at the back of the pack. Idly enquiring as to what Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-17556267678810168392009-05-22T22:25:00.000+02:002009-05-22T23:58:40.205+02:00Adrenaline RushMust go to bed soon as I'm getting up tomorrow (Saturday!) at 5 something in time to be picked up at 6. A friend and I are off on a bike ride with our group. This one is a 'cane ride' - as in a ride predominantly through sugar cane farms, with the emphasis on fitness and distance rather than on technical mountain biking skills. Depending on where we ride, we get a very different biking experienceLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-78629702753778456412009-04-22T23:17:00.006+02:002009-04-23T00:50:54.849+02:00And we're back ...... although you're probably not.No great way to restart a blog after a few weeks in absentia, so I'll just jump awkwardly in until I feel like going off to bed.In honour of my upcoming 40th birthday next year, I have enthusiastically embarked on a mid-life crisis. I have joined a mountain biking group and am riding once or twice a week. I am totally loving it and am possibly on the way to Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-78787047613158054432008-12-23T15:35:00.002+02:002008-12-23T16:00:06.542+02:00OoopsOK, so Sherlock figured out why it was proving so tricky to identify which type of woodpecker we had. Turns out they're Barbets (White-Eared Barbets). Luckily I figured this out before handing them over to Bird Guy this morning. Their plumage was becoming less and less like anything on the woodpecker page in our bird book!I don't feel too bad about the mistake though. Both woodpeckers and barbetsLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-14712954144724846732008-12-19T15:24:00.000+02:002008-12-23T16:32:37.739+02:00Feed the BirdsIn my other life, in some parallel (more organised, slower, balanced and well-adjusted) universe, I am one of those fun, zippy people who blog daily, or at least several times a week about events as they are unfolding.However.Almost three weeks ago, the enormous tree in our front garden split down the middle and half of it crashed spectacularly down to the ground. As always when this sort of Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-1607676071736581422008-11-29T22:20:00.005+02:002008-11-30T00:25:12.899+02:00Nearly six weeks sinceLife is currently a strange dichotomy of post-bereavement emptiness and frenetic year-end madness. Maybe this is a good thing, as a string of individual days survived eventually add up to a week, then weeks, and then months, and perhaps this is the only way to get through it. The long-term future without him still seems an impossible burden to shoulder, particularly when I think of my mom's loss Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-46648089638597289102008-11-05T10:50:00.002+02:002008-11-05T10:51:37.817+02:00HopeSo, hope for the US after all.You must be so proud!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-61291583174460108232008-11-03T23:53:00.004+02:002008-11-04T01:02:47.449+02:00Part of me is missingTwo weeks ago, Monday 20th October, my dad died.The enormity of this is impossible to describe.A huge part of me is simply gone, and only part of me is left.The initial shock is over, but this huge hollowness is left. And tears frequently leak uncontrollably from it.My dad was a pillar of my life; for him not to be here seems an error, a wrongness, of universal magnitude. Some part of me believedLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-89106703752233438192008-10-10T22:02:00.027+02:002008-10-11T15:53:06.310+02:00Wild LifeIt seems a long time since the new term began - I can't believe it's only been a week. We've hardly paused for breath, and I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to claw out a time to record some memories of our trip.Unfortunately, since wildlife is only marginally more cooperative during photo shoots than five-year-old boys, many a special moment did not result in a special photograph. Also, all too Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-58393255920669896662008-09-28T01:59:00.004+02:002008-09-28T02:53:00.369+02:00Should be PackingSo I should be packing for our trip tomorrow to the wildlife reserve.I hope this trip helps us all regroup. Lately we've been stressed, and really struggling. Ever since that robbery we experienced last year, it's been so difficult for us to feel safe and relaxed at home. Peter in particular has had a massive reaction to the incident, to the point where he would be quite happy to move to one of Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-81900606049490939412008-09-24T22:12:00.005+02:002008-10-10T22:26:37.288+02:00Good WednesdayToday was a Wednesday with a difference. It is National Heritage Day, so most of the family had the day off. Poor Robyn, who goes to a school with a percentage of boarders, had to attend school as they tend to treat public holidays as school days if they don't fall conveniently on a Monday or Friday. She enjoys school though, so was quite happy about it, especially as the day was set aside as a Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-84713088034808001812008-09-07T22:21:00.006+02:002008-09-07T22:50:36.679+02:00One!I blinked, and Stevie's first year went by. On Wednesday he turned one. Here he is enjoying his very first birthday.Cake (ahem, ultra-baby-friendly black forest) and candle ...balloons ...and pressies ...(at which point, some of the guests got a little out of hand)...and, finally, birthday tea with grandparents and friends on the Friday.Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-85922707904507711472008-09-01T10:44:00.003+02:002008-09-07T22:55:17.790+02:00NegotiationsThis weekend required tricky family negotiations, as Danny wanted to attend the soccer fun day at our church, and the girls wanted to go to the mountain bike park. We had the soccer invite a whole month ago, but in a careless moment I forgot about it and half agreed to the cycling plan a few days ago. It was complicated by the fact that neither Peter or I particularly wanted to go to the soccer Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-78471247931937597542008-08-29T21:57:00.003+02:002008-08-29T22:03:39.136+02:00Spring SoonThe results of Lauren's efforts today:Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-34106741040652631092008-08-28T22:31:00.007+02:002008-08-28T23:39:23.191+02:00Shattering End to the DayI am typing this on Peter's new baby laptop. It measures about 22 by 16 cm and is designed for elves perhaps, or people with very thin spindly fingers.One has to try to avoid requiring the backspace, shift or tab keys, otherwise - and oops it just happened again - one tends to get totally the wrong key resulting in disconcerting window behaviour such as one's entire blog post window disappearing Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5004025.post-82553646780846612912008-08-25T11:54:00.002+02:002008-08-25T12:12:35.837+02:00SleepI have become obsessed with sleep.My sleep habits are attrocious and I am determined to improve them. A perfectly ordinary day can be rendered either wonderful or wrist-slitty depending on how tired I am (at the moment, and for the last few weeks, Very).Sample evening: put kids to bed, pass out, on couch or miscellaneous children's beds, at 8.17, in clothes, with head and neck at extremely Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08491361207907482981noreply@blogger.com1