Happy Birthday Auckland

This weekend is Auckland's 175th birthday, with our waterfront venues pumped up for tomorrows big sailing regatta. The wharfs are open to the public, lots of audio-visuals of our city founding fathers (& mothers).
Josie and I popped down to see the preview for tomorrows big events, but first a light breakfast at the art gallery and a look around.

So we eventually walked to the bottom end of Queen St to see what was happening on the wharf, the displays, the open access to one of our navy patrol boats, horse & cart rides, some police motorbikes that the public could have photos on (as would I, had I shaved my legs) and of course a market for t-shirt sellers etc. I would guess the ice cream man did well today, and tomorrow would probably make a months worth of sales. Other wharfs also had events, be we ran out of time to visit them.

A fun morning outing, but I was sweating under this heat, and the wig didn't help keep me cool.


So if your in Auckland, get down and celebrate our city's birthday,
and if you can't be here, I hope you're having a great weekend.

Girls can do mens work

But it's their shop, so I'll let the nice boys continue changing the tyres.
Plus I don't want my dress to get dirty, or my daughters lace top.
Sorry about the photo, the young man doing the tyres was quite busy, so it was a quick jump in to shot, then out the way again.

This morning was another rush job as I woke around 8.15.
Quick shave, smudge of foundation, mashed on some mascara and ran out the door at 8.30 am for a coffee.
The outfit you see above, is the same outfit I left the front door in, walked in easy view of 4 neighbours, 3 of which already had their curtains pulled open for the day, and down to my car about 15 meters away from the door. Some days I come home from my outings, dressed the same way.
If they don't know about my little hobby, they should see their optician before they drive their cars.
The young woman across the road is a healer & clairvoyant, wife thinks she might have already spoken to my ghosts, but I personally doubt it, my ghosts are very private.

Sorry, side tracked again, yes coffee, and while having my coffee a very pretty young lady came in to the shop, she had hair like mine and a lovely red sun dress. Did I mention how pretty her hair looked? anyway a bit latter 2 other ladies came in with similar dark straight hair. So with us 4 girls all having similar hair, and the prettiest in a sun dress, who gave me a lovely smile, I felt like I was in heaven (would have loved to have spent the whole day chill'n, chatting and having girl time with them, but all turned out well as my girls also wanted some shopping time with me).

Other news, my 15 year old has given up her paper round that I helped with, so now wife is pressurizing me to return to Taekwondo as an alternative exercise program. It's been about 25 years since my last grading and my exercise preference is now to relax on a board and wait for a good wave after my Christmas experience.
So do I buy a Taekwondo outfit or a surf board (or plan C, sign up for a Uni course in writing apps)?

Saturday

it started with an early swim at the pools.

The woman on the till was a bit surprised, mind you, dressed semi-feminine I probably would have been more suitable for cafe dining in Ponsonby (the extrovertly gay center of Auckland).
Actually my light blue girls top is, this season, being sold at our major department shop (Farmers trading company) in the mens section - tagged as S, M or L rather than mine which has a size 14 tag on it.
Or maybe it was the tight black jeans I was wearing, but didn't boys wear them in the 50's. I remember a photo of my dad, with his motorbike mates, they all had Skinnys on.

Feeling good Sunday, feels like I have some muscles back on my arms & shoulders again, not quite Mr Universe, but still competitive with most 20 year old males. 
In my fleeting burst of fitness enthusiasm I even Googled the Dojos in my area. In reality, my youngest daughter has already learned everything I can teach her, so it would be nice to get her in to proper training and a refresher wouldn't hurt me either. 
Taekwondo is probably the most popular martial art in NewZealand (and my favorite), with Karate second. MMA is rapidly catching up as the younger generation choice.

Saturday also included Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch having a Transgender awareness parade as Leelah Alcorn from Ohio, took her own life as she struggled to find acceptance and support of her gender identity. It was part of a global campaign to highlight the struggles of transgender people. 

First proper girl time for 2015

Firstly, lets just say, on New Years Eve, with thousands of young girls running and jumping up main street at The Mount, in tiny tops, while drunk, I was expecting some classic "costume failures".
While this was not to be, the hot 40 year old sitting adjacent to my wife and I, had forgotten to put undies on, and was showing us her very pretty lunch box. Somehow it got burned in to my memory and I'll always smile more at the thought of dessert now.
Did a bit of surfing while at the beach, all these years being married and looking after kids I had forgotten what fun surfing used to be. The waves were only hitting about 4 feet,but it did take me back to the days of being single and carefree. Wife says I should get back in to it, especially as the wet suit still fits, wonder if she meant buy an old station wagon (1966 HD Holden with mattress in the back) with a roof rack and a board

Back in Auckland, it's so hot by 11 am my makeup is starting to melt, but it's nice to show off my summer dress. Checked the hardware shop for a special light bulb, had McDonalds coffee.
Such a beautiful day I wanted to see the Auckland water front, and all the people from the cruise liner.
I ended up having brunch at The Viaduct, a restaurant called The Foodstore while watching the hundreds of tourists visiting our city.
I had to get some groceries on the way home and nearly ended up having to catch a toddler standing in a shopping trolley while her mum disappeared to the other side of the shop - I might be crazy, but not as crazy as this mother. While the mother in question was pretty, I think I had the better (aka slimmer), more feminine body, and that fact makes me happy.

3 pancakes, but was full after 1, wish you were here to help me finish the other 2.