Choosing Good-ness

There have been a lot of things happen lately that have reminded me (like the all night really loud party over the back fence)...that we get to make new choices every day, over & over again. Will we choose the good or will we be crabby and slack? 

Will we choose kindness & grace or will we be rude & grating.

 Will we celebrate ourselves & who we are & go with the challenges that turn up in our path or will we sit down and I say..."I can't"

I'm not enough?

This boy, is now a young man...

he is making his own way in life & he is making choices everyday.

He has had some interesting challenges, hard ones.

They say that exercise can make all the difference in working with depression. 

 And he's come so far, so far in fact, that he ran 47 kilometres on saturday: up three peaks & down the other side. Many ran in teams, some biked & others walked but he ran the whole way on his own, for himself..streaking past me to the finish, so fast I nearly missed my own son. 

I thought I'd seen a ninja at first & then, quick as anything he was suddenly at the finish line... 

done.

A whole packet of gingernuts, orange juice & two cans of coconut water were the scientifically calculated fuel for such a journey (of 6 1/2 hours)...and an awful lot of water!
Things like house keys were forgotten in the hustle to prepare for the day.
A few seconds from here he said "I have to go now" & fell in the window!

Rob had some time off this week.
Time to work on our house, watch a boy finish his challenge & take me away for a night to Taupo.

Kaitiaki told me about a hot pool at Reporoa, half way between Taupo & Rotorua.
This is it: Butcher's Pool. Open all the time. No charge...just glorious hot water bubbling through the sandy bottom of the pool day & night; refreshing, replenishing & soothing all souls who come to bath. A magnificent place to watch the night sky fill with stars.

We stayed here at The Cottage Mews.
Everything about this place is delightful & best of all it is so reasonably priced.

We heard about a new French cafe in town...and we found it.
As we sat enjoying our coffee we realised that we were the only English speaking patrons in the place.

Taupo is very touristy & pretty much there for the lake.
A lot of people love to holiday here.

We loved all the op-shops!!

And the signs!

A volcanic plateau means lots of available stone lying around.
This lovely carved stone seat really appealed to me..

I wanted to know what it felt like to be hugged by a rock?

We loved this plaque. An excellent tenet for marriage we reckon.

And the creation was beautiful.

Solid, meaningful

& colourful.

The latest Good magazine arrived in our letterbox not long ago.
It's truly fabulous. I read bits to Rob & then we chatted about all kinds of stuff..it's a thought provoking magazine. Would anyone fancy one do you think? Next week we just might have a simple giveaway. It could be sent anywhere & I know that many of you don't get to catch up with this Kiwi classic.
I'll show you some more bits of the inside & then you can decide.

These water droplets on English Garden were watered on by me...there's not a skerrick falling from the sky just now.

This tall salvia loves the summer months & is very useful for height & vibrant colour.

I wonder if I blow hard will I find lettuces all around my garden soon?

A week or two ago I discovered the infiltration of the cupboard moth...you guessed it, in the pantry cupboard!
I decided to salvage the cashews & put them to soak overnight, then I remembered a recipe I had seen for a raw cashew "cheesecake". It tastes so good you never want to stop eating it! Best thing about it is that it's actually a really good for you too.

You can find the recipe in the kitchen blog just here.

Would you look at what I found in the Hospice shop in Taupo!

I'll tell you more about it soon.

So lovely to have you visit...thank you for popping in!

Do hope that your week is truly peachy & not at all pants!

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥