Ah, you gotta make the best of life while you're young. Right now, weekend (Wet Willie)

Wie geht's?

We tend to pack a great deal into our weekends.

Saturday: 

• Trimmed the smoke tree so that the birds stop spreading guano over my car bonnet 
• Erected some scaffolding that we got from Jade last weekend
• Used the scaffolding to repair some guttering that has been pesky since we arrived at Maple Grove three years ago
• Moved some garden furniture and planter boxes into my music room Zen garden
• Repaired a trough that had a faulty ballcock last weekend but at that point I had to cobble together a repair. During the week I bought another joiner and put that on. So far so good.
• Wrote some posts for Goo Goo G'Joob blog - Grateful Dead albums and a Paul Kantner album (somehow that blog has gone viral with thousands of people reading my posts)
• Went for a 6k walk along the Tuki Tuki river walkway - this time a big loop that we hadn't done before. That added 7,000 steps to my step counter (18,000 for the day is a 2022 record). 
• After the walk we enjoyed sharing a three pepper chicken Subway, two cookies and an ice tea.
• After returning home and put all the winter wood boxes away until next autumn.
• Adjusted the watering systems to the three garden areas around the house.

Sunday:

• Repotted a plant that was looking a bit wilty, moved a few things into pots that weren't growing where they were - a lemon tree and a jasmine.
• Cleaned and water blasted the back door area where the wood boxes had lived
• Caught up on the morning's Premier League action - exciting Leeds last gasp victory against the scousers at Anfield! (Arsenal in action at 3am Monday morning - so that was an early start - 5 nil to the gunners!!)
• Also caught up with the NBA world series - Houston Astros vs the Philadelphia Phillies - game two. One all now.
• Family zoom as usual on a Sunday - Adam and Jade joined us, Samantha was at a Halloween party and Keegan was unavailable.
• Walked the dogs in Waipukurau and did another 10,000 step day. Phew.

I'm an early riser and while Jacky and I don't muck about, that list is ridiculous!

Love and peace - Wozza

Stay under the tree line, and you might be alright, I'm a treetop flyer (Stephen Stills)

Wie geht's?

We had a great excuse to get outside and fix up the Tree House on Maple Grove. That translated to: get rid of the blackberry around it; chop off dead tree branches; have a big burn up, and it wasn't just because of the sunny hot days on this recent Labour Weekend. 

The main reason was around Asher and Jade coming to stay for a few days and us looking after Asher for a day while Jade was working.

Nothing like a young child's perspective of things to change your own. It was Asher who commented on the blackberry tendrils outside his tree house window. I wouldn't have bothered but having seen it I couldn't unsee it.

After watching him lean out, Jacky's concern for Asher falling out of his windows meant I added a wooden rail to preclude that eventuality.

Asher then negotiated his way up and down the ladder with aplomb, finding toys for his new toy box and suggesting to Mema (Jacky) that a rug would be a good idea.

He's only three and a half but he knows what he's about.

Love and peace - Papa (me)

The road we're travelin' has been unravelin', sunny days were never meant to last (Molly Tuttle)

Wie geht's?

Currently, I'm feeling uninspired by the book I'm reading and the television show I'm watching. It's a bit of a slump, a meh period.

I realise I'm not going to love everything I read or watch - same with music, but I need to feel inspired from time to time.

The book is Tom Sharpe's Wilt, the TV programme is Quantico on Disney+.

Partly the problem with TV is that streaming's voracious need for content has meant a dilution of quality. Take a look at all those shows on Netflix and Disney+ and all the other platforms. Scary.

The problem with music is that pretty much everything is now available to us on Spotify and so it's much harder now to find the diamonds on the soles of the shoes.

Rotten Tomatoes is a good place to check critical receptions of movies and TV shows. The 46% audience score was a warning, but the 70% indicated hope so, I loaded it up.

Quality is interesting - it's in the eye of the beholder and so every individual's concept of quality is on a different continuum. To know you like something means you have to experience the meh from time to time.

Seems to me a lot of 'product' is in that middle ground. That 46% is spot on.

That's where I am now with Wilt and Quantico (Jacky seems to be liking it so we'll persist). With Wilt I'm waiting for something to happen and it better happen soon because Dicken's Martin Chuzzlewit is nudging my arm.

Love and peace - Wozza

Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain (Gerry Marsden)

Tukituki River on the right.

Wie geht's?

The joy of walking has been a topic for me a few times before.

The study break has given me a great opportunity to walk with Jacky. I cherish those moments.

At work, I walk around the Hastings' Mitre 10 Sports' Park each lunchtime. Or, at least, that's my aim, weather and meetings allowing. I enjoy that - it's a chance to appreciate life while taking a break from work and getting exercise. My current record is 21 minutes around the park. But it's no where as good as walking with Jacky.

Paradoxically, living in the country doesn't allow for much walking. Generally, roadsides are dangerous with cars travelling at speed, and there are often no tracks or footpaths. We do walk to the local Four Square in Takapau but that's not very far away and various dogs line the route.

So, most days during the break we have driven the 12 minutes to Waipukarau to use the walking/cycling track beside the river. We've tried both directions and settled on a 30 minute there and back to the area by the recycling centre. 

Our pace matches well, although Jacky can walk faster than I can. Her top speed is my slow jog! So, like much in life (and marriage), we compromise and settle into a great rhythm and zip along nicely. 

With the study break now finished, it's back to lunch time walks and the cross trainer when I can, until December.

But, I'll miss our daily walks.

Love and peace - Wozza

Me and Jenny, twinklin' like crystal and pennies (Carly Simon)

Wie geht's?

A recent article that I bookmarked on platonic male friendships asked the rhetorical question: ever feel like you were fated to be friends with someone?

Well yes, I have.

At school, once in a year group you hardly ever knew kids in the year above or below. It's the way it goes when students are groups according to age. Maybe this silo-ing of friendship groups still happens.

In The Beatles the age range between John/Paul/George was three years. John was two years older than Paul, three years older than George. That combo only happened because Paul was introduced to John by a friend, and Paul and George were school friends, otherwise John wouldn't normally meet George. Ringo came along later. Fate.

At M.A.G.S., in my first School Certificate year (a.k.a. 5th form or Year 11 in new money) I was in class with boys of my year like Mike Budd, Vernon Kingstone and Peter Cahill who had failed School C the year before and had to repeat the year - that's how I met Loo Loo's brother Brian who was a year older than me.

In turn, when I failed School C, boys in the year below me caught up with me - that's how I met Greg Knowles. Fate.

So, unusually, my friendship group was spread over three years thanks to my ineptitude a sitting School C and the way M.A.G.S. organised their classes. 

While looking at Facebook posts by guys following M.A.G.S's 100 year anniversary, I was again reminded of this friendship phenomenon. I recognised very few boys in the other years beyond that three year spread. 

That phrase about brothers from different mothers really applies to Greg and me - our shared history and thoughts about music so closely align that I'm sure Kevy things we sneak a peak at each other's reviews before we hit publish.

At Auckland University, Greg and I fortuitiously met a different bunch of people (Loo Loo was the conduit), some of whom have become life-long amigos. As a consequence K Simms, G Knowles, L Wood and I have had an easy friendship for well over 40 something years now.  

That article included an analysis of the writer's male friendship group that largely resonated with our own three male amigo interactions:

A substantial amount of my interaction with male friends involves talking shit with one another: jokes, fake insults, gossip, arguments about songs. This might seem impersonal, unemotional, but in fact the digs that Sean and I deliver to each other are based on the particulars of decades of playful banter; each fresh debate with Ehren about a new album advances a conversation we’ve been engaged in since 1994. And interspersed with these rituals are real revelations about our own lives, our partners, our dreams, our families.

There you go. Fate.

Love and peace - Wozza

Look over the horizon, see the sun shining down on you (The OJays)

Wie geht's?

The count down is on to a month's holiday at the end of Term 4, that includes Christmas and New Year's Eve while in the U.A.E., the U.K., and the U.S.A. (a lot of uniteds in there huh).

The Californian bit will be with Samantha and Andrew and hopefully we can take in either a National Baseball League or National Football League game in January 2023.

 Some NFL maybe - either the LA Rams or San Francisco 49ers. I'm keen to sample the atmosphere and see how it compares to British football; the Giants game was great to witness a few years ago but the atmosphere was very polite.

American Football has been a passion for many years. Admittedly, I've had shifting allegiances over the years. As a teenager it was the New York Giants, but when the Sivaks moved in next door to us in Wakefield I couldn't help following the Pitsburgh Steelers because that was where they were from.

The Green Bay Packers also appealed to me for a while in a romantic way - all that cheese head/Lambeau Field/frozen tundra stuff. There was a great picture on my wall for years with the caption something like - it's the fourth quarter, it's fourth down and it's 4 below - what do you do?

Having fallen in love with San Francisco, I also have an interest in the 49ers. That extends to  other SF teams too - the Giants and the Golden State Warriors.

While the Steelers have had a disappointing start to the current season (fan for life yunnerstan), the 49ers look to be the real deal this time out. During their recent victory over the LA Rams I found myself cheering enthusiastically for the 49ers win. Jacky told me off for upsetting Rey.

An Arsenal game in late December is also high on my list. Potentially, that will be another big highlight of our northern expedition.

Love and peace - Wozza

Hey boys, I think I'm getting old, sitting by the fire when the weather is cold (Hamilton County Bluegrass Band)

First of Rocktober 2022. Cake by DLG.

Wie geht's?

Pop quiz: What do these people have in common?

Caroline Kennedy, Stephen Fry; Spike Lee; Sid Vicious; Melanie Griffith; Frances McDormand; Wozza.

You got it - all celebrated their 65th turn around the sun in 2022. Well, Sid didn't as he died along the way but you get my drift.

Yes! The day has arrived when I've reached that age when NZ considers me a senior citizen. Quite sobering really. Especially when my mother-in-law calls me with advice on the Gold card benefits. Thanks Pat. I appreciate the thought (main takeaway - Google 'Gold card').

If I wanted to, I could retire from work, stay home all day listening to records and reading books. Hmmm.

Sounds good, but then, what would I do on my weekends? Actually, weekends would disappear.

I'm sure there will eventually come a time, but in the meantime - thanks but no thanks. Work is how I roll. I still love my job and while that's happening I hope to remain gainfully employed.

Love and peace - Wozza