Long time level 1 and back to 4

September 5, 2021

Can it really have been nearly 5 months since I last wrote?  I suppose so.

Well- that was nearly 5 months at level 1.  August 17th, 2021 NZ found a case of delta and we went back to level 1.  What does a level change mean?  It means I'm behind on documenting what the last level was like.

Since my last post I've moved to Silverdale just north of Auckland, and 2 days before lockdown to CBD Auckland.

I had a few things I wanted from my time in Silverdale: I wanted to have a nice view from where I worked and I wanted to heal.  I realized with my first day of working why I wanted a nice view: my eyesight deteriorated greatly during work from home and having rarely focused my eyes on anything far away.  So- I needed something interesting to look up and out at.  A friend told me something interesting: that focusing on far away landscape helps with big picture thinking.  I'm hoping I find with time that it had.

I don't know if I had mentioned that I got sciatica around January time period.  I also had pulled a muscle in my shoulder at lyra, but that has long since healed.  I wanted to spend time concentrating on stretching for my sciatica and journaling and giving old wounds time to bubble up, get processed and be done with.  I had seen a physical therapist/ acupuncturist for the issues with my leg.  I went to get a massage and it was so painful.  She suggested I go to a chiropractor, as many have in the past.  Well- this time I broke down and did it.  I found someone who was the spitting image of someone I was close to who has died.  I've never told the chiropractor this, but they even act similarly and dress similarly.

So- 5 months with getting to watch the sunrise with a beautiful view.  I decided to start shopping at a fruit and veggie store so that I'd buy and eat more veggies.  So- this was a period of cooking a lot for myself and possibly eating healthier than I ever have.  I even took photos of my food so in a few years time I could remind myself.  Well- I guess I'll be sharing that with you now, dear readers.

I tell myself I'll walk down to the beach every day.  Doesn't quite happen but I take a picture of myself each time I'm there so I can see later how many trips I really did take and I'll share a subset.

I was renting the guest wing of a house, right above the garage.  It was out in the middle of nowhere and yet I ended up feeling like I lived in a bit of a fishbowl with the large windows and the garage below, where the place would rattle when a car door was shut.

And here's some evidence of my early-on veggie rich eating.  I decided a good trick for myself was to do most of my shopping at a fruit & veggie store so I'd buy more veggies and more interesting ones.  I was buying a lot of okra.

My move-in process was to go back down and visit Jacqueline and get some of my stuff in different weekends.  Jacqueline sets up a glamping weekend for a friend of hers and her kids.  Jacqueline does really know how to make things look special.

And back up for the not quite daily walks.

Sunrises most every day as my first meeting many mornings is at 6 am.  I never would have thought I'd see a sunrise again in my life and now I've seen more than I've seen sunsets!

I binge watch Vikings at the suggestion of my hairdresser.  I went to a party in Auckland with a friend I had made at Ignition and I decided I wanted make up like bladerunner/Vikings.  I watch some videos and then decide to try myself and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Went back down to Tokoroa to celebrate our birthdays.  We took a trip to Napier to go wine tasting.

The AirBnB looked very nice in photos and was very different in person.  This is the first time that has happened.  There was a larger cleaning fee than any place I've stayed and the place needed cleaning before we got there.  We got there right after the rain and there were some very nice views outdoors.  Unfortunately you had to be outside standing up to see the views.

There was a gorgeous little pathway between houses and a very friendly kitten.  This was the best part of the place we stayed.

Here's evidence that it was quite weird.  Those chairs looked white in the photos as the photos were so whitewashed to make things look clean. And that odd tarp wasn't in the photos and it looked like it was hiding something like a dead body or a hole in the wall.  Chairs were falling apart with screws sticking out.

I have learned since: if things aren't up-to-par, complain immediately and leave immediately.  It just felt like such a hassle and we didn't want to ruin our time there.  I complained after we returned.

We made it to a gorgeous light event.

And the next day: wine tasting!  Lovely sunny day.  We watched a wine tour and were so glad we weren't on the tour: the guide droned on and on and knocked over an e-bike on the way out with the tour van.

Here we are at Black Barn, where I had gone to see their light art months before.

And onto Craggy Range which has an absolutely gorgeous and magnificent view.

We ate lunch there and I had one of the best meals I've had in a very long time.  Or possibly ever.

We went to an overlook to watch the sunset.  Funny: from my memory we didn't see a sunset, but this clearly looks like a sunset.  I suppose we were spoiled with many gorgeous sunsets before.  We found kittens at the top of that hill and tried to convince them to come to us.  If they had I suppose we'd have a couple of new kittens.  It was getting dark and cold so we had to give up on the kittens.

Another winery for another lovely lunch.  The atmosphere at this winery was lovely and we saw many other interesting people enjoying the day out.  We saw a lovely family with a couple and their daughter, their dynamic was lovely and Jacqueline and I talked about it.  We saw a fabulous older woman, another large group table.  So nice to have a lovely leisurely lunch with other people doing the same and enjoying themselves.

I think this was the sunrise from our AirBnB.  Or sunset and then sunrise.

Bales and bales of second hand clothing.

Back up to Silverdale and another visit to Brick Bay to see its amazing sculpture garden.

From inside the giant Jay head.  It had been so lovely last time calling my Burning Man adventure buddy that I called him again from inside the head.  Unfortunately it had gotten quite beat up since the last time I visited the head.  The second visit wasn't quite as amazing as the first.  You can't force reliving moments even though I seem to keep trying.

Gumbo!  Got my friends recipe and I've eaten quite a lot of gumbo in the past few months.  I freeze it and then am super excited to find it later.

We had a girls outing to "The Happy Place", the "world's most instagrammable place" and wanted to go to the Van Gogh exhibit the same day but it was sold out.  The most instagrammable place calls for dressing up which for me often means attempting something with makeup, wigs and putting more things on my head.

Of the people I know, only Jacqueline knows how to take such amazing photos that make us look like we are the ones in the know having all the fun.

The most amazing looking brunch the next day.

Night out on my own to a ball.  Quite stressful as I discover once I'm there that I don't have my driver's license as I tried to go without a purse.  Do I drive home and look for the license?  How do I pay for parking?  I message Jacqueline and she's there.  We figure I can pay with credit card (which I didn't bring) via my phone.  Jacqueline gives me her number so I can pay for the parking.  I did spend at least a half an hour in that parking lot trying to figure things out.  It would have been easy enough to have just given up: I didn't know a soul there.  If it had been San Francisco I could rest assured that I'd run into someone I knew.  Auckland- highly unlikely.

The lovely spa where she convinces me I should try a chiropractor for my sciatica.

We make it to Van Gogh Alive another weekend.  Another excuse to get dressed up and go out.

The little kids playing in the light were adorable.

I read in the Herald there is a walk in clinic for getting the covid vaccine, so I drive the hour up there to get there right when they open.  I'm turned away, not caring at all that it was publicized to be walk-in.  I was willing to sit there all day.  I decided I needed to make something momentous out of the day and decide on driving to the very tip of the north island.  I realized during the drive I did have a blanket, a blow up mattress and water in the car.  I did think about staying in the car overnight but opted for a 12 hour drive that day instead.  I haven't had the stamina for that again but that day I did.  I picked some other random stop shown by maps which was a secluded beach where I almost couldn't get out of and there was no cell reception.  There was one other car there and I did a short search for the people to help me get out of the sand.  I tried again with the car and then was able to get out of the sand though my wheels did spin a bit.

I find a bunch of wild chickens and roosters having some kind of a party. And I watch them a bit.  I stop by the Kawakawa toilets.

I psych myself out the whole drove talking about how I'm going to the very tip and how it will be like being on the edge of the world, so when I'm there I'm very nervous but make myself walk to the lighthouse.  As I walked the narrow path to the lighthouse I looked at people at the lighthouse and told myself "gravity works" several times over, trying not to imagine a giant gust of wind sweeping me off the cliff.  When I get there I cling to the highthouse.  I see two couples, the first set looking to leave.  I run up the these two women and ask if I can walk back with them, telling them I'm nervous and they happily oblige.  Turns out they lived not too far from there and also decided to come on a lark. 

I was too nervous to take as many photos as I would have liked.  I also got there in time for sunset but it was too cloudy that day so no sunset for me.

Take a trip down south again as I have an appointment for my first covid shot.  I had only planned to be in New Zealand another 3 months so kept my same doctor and apparently was able to get my first vaccination before I would have in Auckland.  It called for a day out in Hamilton.

Reminds me of, "Sorry: the lifestyle you ordered is out of stock."

I go to see Tim Minchin in concert.  I remind myself I will likely know no one and look around the room seeing all my potential new friends.  I've also by this time started regular West Coast Swing dancing again.  I went to a workshop, left to go to the concert, and then came back for the end of the dance night.  That night driving home was the worst storm I've ever driven in and if there were a place to pull over I would have.  Everyone else seemed comfortable driving way faster than I did even though visibility was incredibly terrible.  After that I thought twice about going out when it was raining.  But something I did note over the winter in Auckland: during the night there was often extremely heavy rain and during the day there were often sunny patches of day.

Cauliflower patties that I had gotten the recipe from at a silent retreat.  Old recipes were coming to mind during this time as I mainly ate from home because it felt like a bother to leave.

Went on a women's vacation for women who might not have people to travel with.  Toured old mines, made pottery, sat in the hot tub, met lovely people.

Back down to Tokoroa for a good friend's big birthday party, complete with so many lovely people to meet.  It is a pleasure and an honor to meet the good friends of great people.

A night out at a spa, trying out red eyeliner.

Finally!  I go to visit the Google office and look how damn excited I am.  I don't know if they'll let me in, but they do and they bring me a coffee.  I video chat with coworkers and I'm surprised how darn happy that all makes me.

Trip down to Napier for their winter Art Deco weekend.  We had planned to go for the Art Deco festival but it had been cancelled due to covid.

Complete with wine tasting and the best wine tour ever.  The whole group got along splendidly and I even got a text from one of them at 11pm asking where we were but we were done for the night after going to a disappointing art deco event.

We stop by Taupo on the way back and discover we are there right in time for a light festival, and it is free.  AND I know some of the pieces having seen them many times before (such as SF, burning man, and other light events in New Zealand.)

We made "fairy lights".

We went by a lovely spa as my car is getting serviced with a recall.  No kids allowed.  Lovely place to go.

And back to Silverdale.

My pottery arrives!  My first piece I open and look at I love so much and covet.  The other two look meh and weird to me.  Funnily enough, the wonky looking one in the photo is the one I absolutely adore.

Another light event, this time in Takapuna.  Took some convincing to get myself out there, but, as I tell myself, who knows how my life will be shaped by going to this event.  I thought I might run into someone I like from dance.  I run into someone I avoid at dance instead.  :D  And I'm grateful to see he's there with someone who looks lovely.

I take my niece and nephew to see a Weta exhibit, thinking it is going to be mostly Lord of the Rings stuff.  Instead we start with a horror movie.  I hadn't even thought that it might be too much for kids.  It was pretty amazing, though, especially since we were encouraged to touch things.

Extremely realistic looking slumbering artist and my nieces' hand as she has a hard time believing he isn't real.

Back to another retreat at Mana.  This time a restorative and yin yoga and renewal retreat.  It comes right before I'm to leave to go back to the US so it seems perfect timing.  I can't do the walks that I had done the first time, though, with my sciatica.

I find the hammocks again and spend a few minutes in them.

Find an interesting cafe on the way home.

Another ball, this time with friends I made the first time I went to Mana (who aren't into photos).  So- of course- wig and other stuff on my head.  I got approached so many times with this outfit.  I think having lights on ones head really makes a difference.  And I suppose a huge shiny dress that sparkles helps too.  This was right at the time covid delta was spreading unknowingly in Auckland and luckily we did not go to any of the bars that were places of interest though they were just short blocks away.

And: I move to the city!  It was going to be for my last 2 weeks here but days before my flight was cancelled, so I quickly changed accommodation from a hotel to apartment hotels.  Which was great because the apartment hotel has everything I'd need....  The second day I'm here New Zealand goes into level 4 lockdown as they find a community outbreak of covid delta.

During lock down I re-find PicsArt and have fun with photos.

And I better publish this because we may change lockdown levels in a few days and I only want to be one level behind in my blog.

If you made it all the way down here your name just might be Kevin.  You can let me know if it isn't.  :D