Thoughts on erectile dysfunction in Dinosaurs & other absurd notions

I've had a lovely day today. Today we had Anna's second birthday party. Well to be more specific, its Anna's second 4th birthday party. You see, she had one on the actual day & this one so that her Rainbow Connection friends could come. I ended up doing more than I sort of envisaged. You see, someone had to go to the supermarket & blow up all the balloons I guess. I'm not really into hordes of screaming kids round my knees, but I must admit that it felt pretty good.

Its my last night here. I'm feeling sad because I am leaving two wonderful familys behind me & I have no way of knowing when I will see them again. Whispa & I have had a wonderful time. She has just absolutely blossomed under all the attention from the little ones & she loves them as well especially when they are gentle. She sits there & gravely accepts all the attention they can offer. Anna & I have had some lovely walks in the park together. I shall miss those. I suspect that Whispa will miss gravely trotting along behind a little girl as well, so I guess we will be a little bit sad together.

We had a lovely little silly session tonight as well. Both the kids are into dinosaurs, complete with sound effects. I was accorded the privilege of being awarded my own dinosaur. Sadly though, he had a wonky wing. Well, to be precise, when I was presented with him, he was missing a wing. I think he may have even been a mythological creature, not a dinosaur, but for the purposes of the game it didnt really matter. What did matter, however, was that being minus one wing made it terribly difficult for him to fly. In fact, it put us at a serious disadvantage. casting quickly around, I found the missing appendage on the floor. Success at last ! But no, it turns out that the wing was decidedly wonky, refusing to stay erect on its own. Not knowing any saurian equivalents to Viagra, we retreated from the field of battle, bloodied but unbowed.

I wont be staying at Waimate either on the way home. Regrettable because I was rather looking forward to catching up with Leonie & Bob, but still, every cloud has its silver lining, in that it means I can be that little bit further down the road when I stop. I'm planning on carrying on to Christchurch & staying at a pet friendly motel there. will make it that much less distance to cover for Picton & give me time for a catch up with Pete before I catch the ferry back across the straights.

It will be good to finally be on the same bit of dirt as Dori. It will be good to finally get home as well. I miss my little puddytats, I miss my own bed & i miss my home. Coupled with that, I have also had a good rest & recharge time & now feel ready to start a whole new life together. I dont know what sort of life it will be. Thats the exciting/scary part. I am facing a whole new existence with a new outlook & a new & exciting girlfriend. It's going to be a little scary for both of us I guess, but its going to be a hell of a ride...

Beating around bushes & other stuff..

I have been doing a bit of this lately & in all fairness to those concerned I should really stop it. Those concerned, are myself, the new lady in my life, & anyone bored enough to actually read what I write here. Yes folks, you read it right. The old fellow has a new romantic interest in life. gather round, pull up a bean bag & a sardine sandwich & I'll tell you the tale.

Its not a very long one. Dori & I met on the internet. Yes folks thats right, an internet romance. It didnt take us very long to discover a mutual spark that went beyond just getting to know each other as friends. Talking via Skype has only brought out a much greater depth of feeling than either of us ever thought could be possible. We haven't actually physically met yet, but we already feel that we have known each other half a life time. We are both really looking forward to our first meeting when I return home in a few days time.

We both have an awful lot in common. I'm not going to bore you with details, but we both feel that we are kindred spirits enough to be happy together & I know we will. So be happy for us. We have both been through the mill a bit & lost partners/spouses. I thijnk we deserve our place in the sun now, so look forward to hearing about us. I'm sure the ride will be interesting.

A new years starts.

Well, I saw the new year in, as you know, in Invercargill. It was good, apart from being pretty much as far as it is possible to be away from home, so the trip back to Dunedin was sort of like theb start of the long run home.

I'm staying with Sean & his family at the moment & enjoying it. Taking Anna for a walk every morning to the park & being really very silly. its a good release. Also it means that for the first time in her 4 year life, I have been able to share her birthday with her. That means a lot to me, & I thoroughly enjoyed it. The little dog is enjoying being here & is becoming very protective with the kids which is lovely to see. She even went in & gave them both a kiss goodnight the other night.

The whole trip has been a wonderful healing process for me. Although I did much of my grieving while Jude was still alive, the time away has given me breathing space & imbued me with a new firm sense of direction & a fresh sense of purpose. I know now where my life is heading & what I want to do now. So I'm staying here till Monday. Sunday will see Anna's big birthday party. Monday will see me & the little dog on the road home. I will be a lot more relaxed thiis time. My first stop will be at Waimate to stay a night with some old friends there. I will probably cross on the ferry sometime Tuesday night, then will stay in Upper Hutt the next night. Then on to Greytown for the final night of my holiday with Janet & her man. Then heigh ho for home.

Im ready to be home now. There are big things happening in my life, with promise of even bigger things to come. I'm ready for it now. My life is holding a lot of promise of things to come. That is of course if it all doesnt come to a shuddering halt in December like the Mayans reckon.... Happy New Year

New Year with Madz

One of the nice things about travelling is that you get to meet new people & go places you haven't been before. Sounds a bit obvious I know, but I don't look at going someplace you have been half a zillion times before as travelling. I just look at it as going some place to do something. To me, travelling is going to new places & meeting new people. Therefore, by my definition, I am travelling. This leg of the trip is the first bit that I have truly done on my own & its been an uplifting & exhilarating experience. I had almost forgotten what it is like to be truly free on the road. Not that I didn't enjoy travelling with Jude. A lot of my really good memories of her involve the trips & travelling that we did together. But still, being on my own is a whole new experience. Well, nearly on my own. I still have a little travelling mate to consider. She travels very well. She has figured out a cosy little nest in behind the passengers seat where she can stretch out & be comfortable & not get thrown around at all & lays there with her head on the center console only coming out for a sniff when I slow down.

So, here I am at Madz' place in Invercargill. I have never been further south than Balclutha on SH1 before, so it was new ground. I stopped at Gore for lunch & me & the dog shared a lovely steak & onion toasted sammy & chips. Lovely just sitting on the pavement chatting to people as they walked by. So on to Invercargill.

Madz is lovely. Aside from an 18 year old daughter, she also has an 18 month old as well. Also there is a seemingly endless stream of her daughters friends in & out of the house which is great. They are all wonderfully polite young adults, some of them even calling me "sir" I havent been called that in a long time. One of them even elected to stay & have a few drinks with Madz & I rather than go partying. We had a most interesting talk about anarchy versus self determination that I think came out ahead on points in. At the very least, I hope he has gone away with something to think about. In a nice way of course.

So we saw the new year in with the aid of some rum & coke, & the net, so my new friend that I have could join us on line. This morning, I decided to take my dog for a nice long walk along the railway embankment. Thats when I found out that Invercargill weather is like the little girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead. When it is good, it is very very good & when it is bad it is horrid. We had beautiful weather yesterday. Lovely & sunny. I thought that I would be able to go out & have a good vigorous walk to shake off the post alcohol blues, but no. No more than 5 minutes in, the wind came up & a cold southerly front with rain started moving in so we came home. A descision that the little dog was more than in agreance with. Madz is going to do a nice roast of pork for new years lunch today. I'm looking forward to it. Tomorrow i will head back to Dunedin to spend time with my eldest son. I am looking forward to it. It marks the start of the long road home & the beginning of a whole new life for me.