Week 03/2025: An amazing week

An amazing week

Week of 13 January 2025

This week was a little better than last week, but I still found myself bursting into tears at random moments as I continued to think about Kramstable’s impending move. I have much more to say about this, not all bad. But good things happened this week too.

Walking and thinking and photographing

I spent a lot of time walking and thinking.

I had a lovely evening with a small group at the Pier Gallery where photographer Andy Hatton talked about his Dorney House exhibition and what may lie in store for the house. He has some really exciting ideas!

A man dressed in black sits on the floor in front of a black wall where there are three photos displayed
Andy talking about the Dorney House

The evening was intended to mark the final full moon rise of the exhibition, which finishes at the end of January. A ‘moonrise’ event like last month’s moonrise cruise but without the boat.

We were supposed to watch the moonrise from the deck of the Brooke Street Pier but that didn’t happen because it was too cloudy. Even so, we had a lovely quiet evening sitting by the water.

An evening sky over the water. There are clouds in the sky and a boat in the water. There are some very bright lights in the distance.
Waiting for the moonrise

Andy talking about the river and the views he’d had of it during his time at the house reminded me that I need to get out to the river more because it is such a beautiful place.

So I did.

Wide angle photo of the sunrise over the river. There are dark orange skies and hills in the backgorund
An attempted sunrise panorama
The sun rises over the river, leaving a trail of sunlight across the water
The sun rises over timtumili minanya /River Derwent
Dead shrub branches in front of the river just after sunrise
Looking for different angles
Large rocks in a body of water with a cormorant bird on oner of the rocks
Cormorant
The waning moon in a blue sky above some dead tree branches
The moon was on my left, as the sun rose on my right

An amazing time

Most school holidays, Kramstable and I have taken at least one day to go out and do something together. It’s fallen off a bit in the last year as he’s been working a lot and we’ve been on actual holidays in the school holidays. But with time running out before he leaves, we finally worked out a plan for Wednesday.

It was a great day. We drove to Richmond to Amaze.

We’d been to the previous Richmond maze many years ago (try 2013 and 2015), and some time between then and now the old maze complex was removed and a new one built.

When we arrived there was a huge group of very small children sitting on the ground.

Oh . . . .

‘You’ve come at the right time,’ said the lady selling the tickets. ‘They’re about to go.’

‘Go in?’ I asked nervously, imagining the noise from a bus load of little kids. I’ve done parent help on excursions like this. It’s very loud..

‘Oh no, they’ve been in. They’re leaving.’

The right time indeed!

We got our tickets and instructions on the puzzles, and chose the Finding Nemo challenge from a selection of several challenges, mainly because it was the only movie there I knew. And in we went.

There’s two mazes, and two puzzles to solve.

In the first maze, the hedge maze (pittosporum to be exact), there are 31 native animals hidden and the challenge is to find them all. We hoped to do this before we found the exit.

A young man with red hair tied in a bun readoing off a clipboard. He is standing in between two large hedges. He is wearing jeans shorts and a grey t-shirt and sunglasses
Kramstable checking our progress

But, of course, this didn’t happen. We found the exit then had to go back and find the ones we missed. This was a great idea in theory, as we figured we could remember our way back to the exit pretty easily.

We could not.

I felt like if I ever got trapped in one of those movies where people have to work out how to escape from a labrynth of rooms, I’d be the first one to die. I imagined myself still stuck in the maze at closing time and wondered if they would come looking for us.

After what seemed like HOURS of back tracking and going past the same tissue on the ground over and over and over again, and several times getting back to the entrance but being too stubborn to admit defeat and exit there, Kramstable came up with the idea that saved us.

The pencil will lead us, he said.

It seemed like a better plan than the one we were working to (which wasn’t actually a plan), so he held up the pencil and we followed it.

Straight to the exit.

A-freaking-mazing.

The second maze is a timber maze. It’s really cool because apparently they can change the doors that are opened and closed, making it different every time you visit. (What was that about being trapped in a cube of rooms that keep rearranging themselves?)

View looking out of a wooden maze
The wooden maze

There’s a symbol for each of the numbers 1-26 hidden around the maze. On your puzzle sheet is a phrase with the letters replaced by numbers, and you have to find the symbol for each number and then escape the maze to decode which letter each symbol stands for. Then you can crack the code and read the phrase, which is related to the movie you chose at the start.

A young man with red hair tied up in a bun walking in a wooden maze
Kramstable looking for clues

It was fun, and a lot easier than the first maze. This was good because my brain was somewhat fried after that experience!

We solved the puzzle and headed out for lunch—which we ended up having at 3 pm because the maze had taken so long!

It was a lovely day with Kramstable, and I hope we get to do something else before he leaves. I love spending time with him and I’m really going to miss those opportunities.

Summary of the week

Habit tracker

  • Go outside and exercise first thing (7 days): 7/7
  • 15 minutes morning exercise sequence (7 days): 5/7
  • Hip exercises (5 days): 4/5
  • 2 walks or bike rides or a combination (6 days): 6/6
  • Long walk (1 day): 0/1
  • Walk 8,000 steps (7 days): 7/7
  • 9.00 shutdown & dim lights (7 days): 2/7
  • Evening routine (7 days): 6/7

What did I learn this week?

The country code BS means The Bahamas. I learned this because when I was out walking on Saturday morning, I noticed a cruise ship on the way in. (Helen Spencer’s art work in this post. No more said.) My trusty marine tracker app told me it was the Seabourn Quest from BS.

A large boat on the distant horizon. The sky is pink as it is early in the morning. Golden light is caught on the boat
Seabourn Quest catching my eye

What is BS? I wondered.

Wonder no more.

I do think it’s kind of cool catching pilot boat Kelly riding out to meet the ships.

A large white cruise boat sits on the river while a small pilot boat drives towards it
Pilot bot Kelly meeting the Seabourne Quest

I also learned that hitting ‘enter’ to wake my work computer registers as an incorrect password attempt, and too many of these will lock me out of my account.

What did I notice this week?

I have an old plastic bucket in my driveway that sometimes gets filled up with rain and it’s all green and gross.

Green slimy water in a white bucket. There are black tadpoles in the water
Tadpoles

I saw tadpoles in it this week!

What was the best thing this week?

My day with Kramstable.

What am I watching this week?

Stephanie Romiszewski: Sleep Better. I have much to write about this program.

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