free knives!

I went into town today with the intention of going to Bin Inn for bulk muesli ingredients, Fresh Choice for the rest of the groceries, and Price’s Pharmacy for a bulk order of plasters, which I will be needing for a while I think.

I detoured to Warehouse first to see if they had anymore fun bright clothes for me. I was somewhat successful – got a zip-hoodie and full-length yoga pants, great additions to my wardrobe since it’s still fairly cool here, but they are – of course – black. Old habits are hard to break. I did manage to find a pink t-shirt too, so I did make some progress.

While I was digging through the clothes racks, an announcement came over the P.A. system – ‘Attention shoppers! We have at the front desk a wee little girl in a blue jumper. She has lost her Mum. Please come claim her!’ This announcement came on several times with new details each time – the wee little girl’s name is Emma, she has pigtails, she is really getting anxious. Then, a new announcement – ‘Customers! We have an in-store promotion right now! Go to the end of aisles 5&6, across from aisle 49 […huh?], to get your free stainless steel paring knife!’ Again, this announcement got interesting new details as it was repeated –my favorite was the somewhat anxious ‘Oh, and you must be over 21!’ addition toward the end.

I managed to forget today was Sunday, and was perplexed when Bin Inn was closed, especially since it said open ‘til 5 pm on Mondays - brilliant. I’m blaming my confusion on the advent of daylight savings time today, that must have been it somehow. I also forgot to stop by Price’s, but I went overboard on the first aid kit I put together for the trip – it’s called self-awareness, I am nothing if not accident-prone – so I should be okay for now.

elise vs. pavement

Things were a bit chaotic at the retreat today – full house, Jane’s birthday, family in town, etc., so I opted for a bike ride into town rather than asking to borrow the car. Everything was going along just fine until just after the one-way bridge, when I hopped off the pavement to let a car pass me comfortably since there was another one coming in the opposite direction and the road was narrow. Still alright. But then I decided I wanted to be back on the road, and – apparently – picked the wrong spot to do that. Somehow the height difference between the gravel and asphalt went from about 1 cm to 5-6 cm without me noticing, but my bike sure noticed. Next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the pavement with a heavy retro-style touring bike on top of me. A bit stunned, I still knew I needed to scrape myself off the road before the next car came around the blind curve. The next car was in fact right behind me, but for some lucky reason the guy was stopping on the side of the road anyway – I thought maybe because he’d seen my little aerial act, but when I wobbled over to his car to ask if he had any plasters learning the language!) he looked confused, and then asked, with surprise, if I’d fallen off my bike – he thought I was just sitting by the side of the road for a rest. As much as I love the valley, I do prefer to appreciate nature when I’m not sitting on soggy ground, and it really wasn’t the most picturesque location in the area anyway.

I was only a few blocks from my destination – Donna’s house, to walk into the market and then get dessert at her favorite café – so I decided to get back on the bike and head there even though I knew she’d offer me a ride after I sent her the ‘sorry, had a spill on my bike, will be a little late’ text. Things were a bit interesting since I’d landed hard enough to shear the rear brake cable and knock the tightening screw off the seat, which was now had a 360-degree range of motion.

Anyway, Donna cleaned and patched me up, I got a surprise call from Ann in the States (compliments of Pujji Call Forwarding), Donna treated me to delicious orange-almond cake and tea at a gallery café, I got some jewelry-making tools & findings at Warehouse and finally bought beads at the Bead Gallery on my third trip there, and ended up with a pretty good day overall. I know I’ll be sore tomorrow, but thanks to my Gore-Tex jacket, jeans and helmet I only need about 1.5 linear feet of plasters at the moment, and no need to test out my insurance.

magic milk

At lunch today, the guest who’s a forensic scientist, cub scout leader and trampoline coach, with neon pink/platinum blonde/black hair, was entertaining up with stories from classroom talks and science demonstrations she does. One of the science demonstrations is ‘magic milk’ – you take a plate of milk, add food coloring, and touch the surface of the milk with a toothpick coated in ‘washing-up liquid,’ a.k.a. dish soap. The food coloring ‘runs away’ from the toothpick, and if you add enough soap, it’ll just keep moving on its own. If it’s possible, I think the nine grown-ups gathered around the plate were more entertained than the kids usually are. Since food coloring isn’t common in an organic household, we only found yellow, but we’d had beetroot with lunch, so we had a stand-in for pink.

The real magic came into play when we had to move the by-now-brimming plate from the dining room table to the kitchen sink.

Two of Jane’s daughters arrived tonight for her birthday this weekend, and Arvind made his famous Pujji Pizzas (he had several pizza places in Nelson a few years after he arrived in New Zealand). The big screen returned again after a longer than usual hiatus, and we watched Miss Potter tonight, then I headed to my caravan a little early to finish up my painting for Jane.

room with a view

A guest couple who’s here right now has an 8-passenger van, so we all went on a field trip to the potter’s place again today. All of the guests now have some of the signature ‘Pujji dish line’ Paul makes.

I went along for the view again – backpacking isn’t really pottery-friendly, and also I’ve never really felt at home in potters’ studios ever since a childhood trip to a Baltimore-area studio where I managed to accidentally become a calf in a terracotta shop and we ended up taking home a wall planter which actually probably looked better in pieces than it did whole.

Paul also has guest accomodation there, aptly called ‘A Room With A View.’

dam river

Arvind drove me and the scientist guest to the studio of the potter who made the Pujji’s dishes – heavy dark green pieces with swirls in the center and gold trim. Everyone loves how they look, and they’re obviously durable since each piece gets washed about 1.5x/day on average. I went along for the outing, and because the potter’s studio was rumored to have a beautiful view.

The weather’s been lousy lately, and today was no exception, but there must have been some sun over in Golden Bay because there was beautiful ‘God Light’ over in that direction. If you’re not familiar with the made-up term, ‘God Light’ is when you get clear rays of light coming down from the sky, looking like an illustration right out of one of those religious tracts fanatics hand out on street corners.

Paul Laird, the potter, was one of the original potters in Nelson, which is now home to a large community of potters. With a view that nice, he’s got to be doing something right! Link: http://www.ceramicarist.co.nz/

For ‘fun’ later on, the scientist, Jane and I pulled stones out of the river to make a swimming hole and a path down to it. The river’s still freezing cold, so we didn’t last all that long (and I wasn’t even in the water – Jane and I were just hauling the stones that were tossed out by the scientist), but I did jump in ¾ of the way after warming up in the spa – not quite like the Antarctic swim, but close!

bead gallery

I drove the forensic scientist in to the bead gallery today – I volunteered to chauffeur because I wanted to go since I’ve decided to branch out in terms of jewelry AND clothes now. After an hour in there, I walked out without spending any money – I just got completely overwhelmed by the place! They have 10,000 different kinds of beads, plus already-made stuff – makes the Carytown bead store look spartan.

After lunch, Donna came over to take pictures of a mutual friend who’s nine months pregnant. She had her wedding here, so it was a natural setting for the pictures. Donna’s camera was acting up again, plus it was drizzling, so I helped her out with the loan of my camera, and umbrella-holding services. We ended up splitting the photographic duties about 50:50, and I spent the evening sorting through the 30+ pictures we’d taken in various outfits and sans clothing. They were really, really beautiful, although I can’t share them on here out of respect for her privacy.

more color

We had several new people arrive today – a couple, and an entrepreneur, all from the North Island. The entrepreneur came for fasting, and the couple didn’t but decided they wanted to after they arrived. I made laksa for dinner – even though it didn’t really turn out as a soup, it tasted great! At the moment, I’m 100% in charge of cooking and grocery shopping, which is fun but definitely time consuming.

I did find the time to hit Warehouse for some more colorful shirts when I went into town to shop – my wardrobe is now only 90% neutral colors! This is progress.

in and out

Dean finally left today, exactly 4 weeks after arriving for what was supposed to be a one-week fast. We’d been joking that we expected him to show up back on the doorstep a few hours after leaving, so we had a good laugh when we found his glasses on the kitchen table and I had to chase him and Arvind down en route to the airport – fortunately, they’d stopped at Donna’s house and we reached them by cell phone before I got all the way to the airport.

A forensic scientist (who’s currently working on her primary school teaching diploma and who happens to have neon pink hair) arrived today for a company-sponsored retreat, and an entrepreneur who’s quitting smoking arrived later in the afternoon for a week-long fast. Jane and Arvind were out for lunch, and I ended up having a 2-hour lunch with the scientist because we were talking so much.

I did a bunch of ironing (I have mastered it now and can iron/fold fitted sheets in just 4 minutes so they look better than they did when they came out of the package! I’m putting it on my CV) and cooked dinner tonight.

It was pretty quiet without Dean, but we’ll have 2 more guests arriving tomorrow so it’ll almost be a full house – should be fun!

We had planned to watch a movie but ended up all sitting around talking ‘til 9:30, so decided to call it an early night.

colorful day

Dean, Arnaud and I headed in to the market today. I was on a mission to find some fun jewelry – kind of weird, since my idea of jewelry creativity for the past four years was switching out the diamond studs for pearl earrings, but it’s the dawn of a new era in many ways, I suppose.

After a lot of searching, I found a paua shell necklace, and silver/paua earrings from another vendor. The necklace is pretty adventurous for me – the earrings, only vaguely outside my old comfort zone. I think I really like all of them, though.

As I was ironing this afternoon, I showed Jane the necklace and earrings and said I’d decided they would be the color in my wardrobe for now (they tease me about my ‘sensible’ neutrals…I was in minimalst packing mode when I left, and thought they’d be smart. They might be smart, but I’m quite bored of them). I was planning on going to the Warehouse yesterday, but ended up spending a little extra time at Donna’s and decided I should get back to chores, so didn’t pick up any fun clothes then. Anyway, Jane appeared with a yellow t-shirt/hoodie she’d originally picked up for her daughter the other day, and asked me to try it on and wanted me to have it if it fit. It did…and cheesy as this is, it totally brightened my day – I’ve been dancing around the house doing chores in my new bright clothes and fun jewelry.

Since tonight is Dean’s last night, Donna came over for dinner and we all dressed up.

another fast break

Today is, finally, Dean’s last day of fasting – day 26.

To celebrate, we put 26 candles in his fast-breaking fruit salad – lighting them was a tough task, and I think Dean probably got a bonus food group (wax) in there.

Earlier in the day, I dropped Dean off at Donna’s to help her set up her new Mac laptop, and went grocery shopping to practice my left-hand gear-shifting skills. I love grocery shopping in Nelson – there’s a pilot organic version of the Fresh Choice supermarket here. It’s really cool, they have organic options wherever possible and they also label foods that were sourced within 200 km of Nelson for people who care about freshness, supporting the local economy and reducing carbon-miles.

break-fast

Well, today was the big day! I had my last juice-psyllium-bentonite combo at lunch today (I made fresh OJ, my favorite!) and actually chewed something for the first time in 15 days today.

You have to go back onto foods carefully after fasting, so while everyone else dined on several courses of health food that Anna and one of the guests cooked yesterday, I had a fruit salad. It had the usual juicing fruits – kiwi, apple, pear, orange – and a special treat, persimmon.

Before my first bite (I resisted nibbling when I was cutting up the fruit!), we had a little ‘ceremony’ and everyone watched me eat the piece of persimmon I’d selected to eat first…and there was a photo, but it was blurry, so I had to re-enact it, which I happily did.

I’m really glad I fasted here – I think I’ll be a lot healthier for it, not only because of the benefits during the fast, but also because it’ll definitely change my eating habits going forward. The Pujjis was also a wonderful place to do it, and it was easier having someone else fasting at the same time. Dean has set tomorrow, his 26th day without ‘real food,’ as his absolute last day of fasting. We’ve heard that one before, but I think this time’s for real.

After dinner, I had my last required sauna – I’ve gotten pretty good at them, I hardly sweated at all when I started – and we watched ‘Broken Flowers’ on Pujji-Vision. It’s definitely the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time, but Jane traded me a shoulder massage for hair-brushing during the movie, so it at least wasn’t a total waste of time..

eagle vs. shark

We had three Japanese journalists coming to visit tonight through Tourism NZ, so the house was in a complete tailspin getting ready.

Julius the painter was doing another metallic gold coat on the massage room ceiling because the first one didn’t look right, so I kept myself busy cleaning the BBQ, polishing the copper fire pit, washing the deck, cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming and switching over rooms until that was done, then finished up all the touch-up.

The ceiling looks…kinda not so great. I liked the room better when it was all one color, but Arvind really likes the gold, so at least he’s happy! I think everyone else is of a similar opinion as me, though.

One of the guests is taking cooking lessons from the Pujjis’ friend Anna Wilde, who runs www.wildhealthfood.co.nz – check it out for some great recipes! It was torture watching them make six or so delicious-looking and –smelling dishes and not being able to eat them, but I’m not quite ready to break the fast. I’ve gotten pretty good at appreciating smells now.

I was exhausted and ready to get out of the house by the time the journalists were arriving, so I went into town with Dean to meet up with Donna and go to ‘Eagle vs. Shark’ at the cinema in Nelson. I’d heard the movie was amazing, but was a little disappointed with it – it’s sort of like the Kiwi version (with one of the guys from Flight of the Conchords) of Napoleon Dynamite, with too many similarities to that movie…and without the greatness.

We hung out at Donna’s place for a little while drinking this amazing Black Adder tea, which is made up of three things I don’t like (anise and fennel seeds and licorice) with peppermint…and yet somehow tastes delicious. I can’t decide if this is the California Roll Effect (I don’t like most of the ingredients separately, but love the combination) or if my taste buds are changing from fasting.

all that glitters...

I went for a walk up the Maitai Valley road today – after being here for 4 weeks or so, I had only been in one direction along the road so decided it was time to change that.

The road follows the river, and there are some picturesque points but I think Jane and Arvind have the prime river real estate in the valley, I haven’t found a spot along the banks that I like better than the bend just behind the house.

In between kitchen duty, I finished up the trim on the massage room so Julius could spray the metallic gold topcoat on the ceiling tonight. By the time I got in from the sauna he’d left and taken the spotlight with him (the room’s light fixture is out of commission for painting purposes), so I could only check it out with my little LED booklight. It doesn’t really look like I hoped it might, but tomorrow will be the real test.

princess/pea

Although I’m loving the cabinet space in my new caravan, and the fact that it heats up faster than the big one, I haven’t adjusted to the mattress, and the combination of not a lot of sleep and fasting killed my productivity today – I napped most of the day.

I slept in the house tonight, and tomorrow’s project is finding a mattress to replace the lumpy one that’s in there now.

Photo: interior shot of the big caravan, for old time’s sake

a different kind of painting

I painted the doors and half the trim in the massage room this morning – it’s….definitely gold. Can’t wait to see what the metallic ceiling does for the room, it’ll either be great or terrible but I don’t think in between is possible.

I was planning to head into town to do the grocery shopping before lunch, partly because we needed food and partly because I was itching to get out of the house since I’ve been within walking distance the whole past week. Arvind picked up the groceries on the way back, though, but Dean saved the day – he wanted to go into town anyway, so we borrowed the car and went to the DVD place where we picked up 6 new DVDs, to Warehouse where I got an acrylic paint set, and to Fresh Choice for organic vegetable bouillon which is kosher for fasting. That’s actually the main reason we went – we’ve been out for 2 days and that stuff tastes amazing when all you’re having other than that is sweet fruit juice. Jane says it tastes terrible when you’re not fasting – I can believe that, but it’s delicious now.

In the afternoon, Dean and I made chick pea curry – he’s passing on the fasting-guest-as-chef torch, as he’s hoping to end his fast soon. I did a bit more on the room, then jumped in the sauna before making chapatis (flat bread with a savory filling) to go with the curry for dinner.

We continued the Pujji Movie House tradition with ‘A Japanese Story,’ a film set in Western Australia. Interesting scenery, but the movie dragged a little most of the time.

Photo: An urn in the Pujji garden

baby feesh

This morning was spent painting the massage room (we’re up to 2 coats on the ceiling and walls now) and doing some housework. More juice, psyllium, bentonite as sustenance.

I had a headache this afternoon, so I went for a walk along the Tantragee Saddle loop down the road because you’re supposed to get up and get moving if you feel bad while you’re fasting. I learned my lesson last time, and wore flip-flops (‘jandals’) instead of sneakers this time, especially since it’s been raining heaps lately.

Nothing eventful on the walk – the lambs are growing, but still super cute especially when they’re feeding and their little tails flick back and forth.

Arnaud and I made baked fish, roasted yams and salad for dinner tonight. There was a little bit of excitement when we discovered a strange-looking organ attached to one fillet – Dean said it was roe, but it didn’t look like eggs to me, guess they were inside? Arnaud took to referring to it as ‘baby feesh’ and carried it around on knifetip to see if anyone wanted it cooked – not surprisingly, no takers for that one. The rest of the fish looked and smelled delicious – turbot fillets with fresh tomatoes, onions, thinly sliced carrots, garlic and lemon baked in foil packets.

After dinner, we rolled out the projector & big screen and watched ‘A Lot Like Love,’ the only DVD left out of the 6 from last week (minus an anime film no one but Oceana wanted to watch). I stayed up late enough to watch the All Blacks perform the haka before the Portugal game in the World Cup, but wasn’t dedicated enough to watch the game.

Photo: house on a hill, from Tantragee Saddle.

shades of gold

We decided on a paint color for the massage room this morning – ‘Rob Roy,’ sort of a goldenrod yellow color, with a metallic gold ceiling. Yeah, that’s right, metallic gold.

The metallic paint adds an interesting twist – it has to be applied with a spray gun so all the little mica particles aren’t lined up from brush strokes. Arvind is getting his Hungarian forklift driver friend Julius, who apparently is also handy with a spray gun, to do the metallic ceiling.

Originally, Julius planned to come tomorrow afternoon, so today’s task was to finish two coats on the ceiling and one on the walls. Bear in mind that Jane’s room took me nearly a week – yes, there was the added complication of the closet and tons of weird angles and trim on the ceiling as well as the floor, but still. Jane was supposed to help me, but the she picked up our new WOOFer Arnaud today, and he is a Frenchman who appears to be approximately 8 feet tall. Advantage: he can roller the ceiling and walls without using a ladder or extension handle. Disadvantage: he requires the larger caravan, so I have to move to the smaller one now.

After getting one coat on the ceiling and all walls by about 5 pm, we found out the gold paint is out of stock and won’t be in until Monday afternoon, so we got a bit of a break there.

I fit in a sauna and spa after making dinner, and we watched an unremarkable movie – can’t even remember the name!

and on to the next one

I finished painting Jane’s room today and Jane and Arvind got some paint test pots for the massage room, the next one on the list. We’re thinking some sort of yellow color, or possibly the same shade as upstairs, Zen. I’m kind of tired of seeing green, so I’m hoping for gold!

My big excitement for the day was that the Pujjis went shopping this evening and came home with new sheets for the caravans. I found a new (well, different) duvet cover/sham set in the house that I like better too, so my caravan is really becoming a home now.

Oceana’s decided not to stay long-term, and Jane talked to me today about staying for a 4-6 month paid internship to run the place and learn more about bodywork, yoga therapy and massage. I’m really torn – I love it here – great food, nice caravan, cozy evenings in the house hanging out w/the family and guests, tons of learning, beautiful location, enough free time, nice town, etc. – but staying in one location for 4-6 months wasn’t the plan, and I’m hesitant to do it at the beginning of the trip especially.

the eyes have it

I worked on finishing up Jane’s room today – all done except for the second coat of trim. I didn’t really feel like working on it the whole day, so I took some time off to take pictures around the place.

Donna came over for dinner tonight and brought a book and some illustrations from an iridology course she took a while ago, so that was our entertainment for the night.

happiness is...

I woke up pretty late today. The three fasters did an exercise class with Jane – more trampoline jumping, although we mixed up the music a bit and sweated to disco music this time.

I’ve been instructed not to do the stretching part of the class because I’m apparently bendy enough already, and I wasn’t feeling like doing resistance training again, so I headed back upstairs to work on painting after the jumping. I didn’t accomplish a whole lot especially since Napoleon Dynamite was on downstairs…

After dinner (beetroot and carrot juice for me and Dean, and yummy-smelling chicken curry made by Dean), we got into a philosophical discussion on happiness. I seem to get into a lot of those lately, definitely by accident – I’m not really into debating stuff like that, but I couldn’t really get out of it this time even by saying that my definition of happiness does not involve debating it.

Photo: A seal en route to Kaikoura. Not something I saw today, but he looks like he knows what happiness is.

mother blessing

I finished the two big walls in Jane’s bedroom today – the new color looks awesome, and I hope I’ll be able to see it with the new carpet, too.
Jane had friends over for a mother blessing (similar to a baby-shower), and the food looked oh-so-tempting even though I’m not even hungry – it’s definitely mental exercise.

With the exception of Jane, we all drove into town to pick out movies and buy meat for curry. We had four of us involved in the decision-making process, we wound up with four different DVDs, got up to the counter and then found out it was cheaper to rent six – so we now have a lot of movie-watching ahead of us.

The afternoon was taken up with an exercise class, a sauna and a spa. Dinner was vegetable juice for me, Dean and the doctor, and lamb leftovers for Jane and Oceana. We watched In Good Company (not that great) and Garden State (one of my favorites) after dinner.

would you rather...?

I worked on the trim painting in Jane’s room today – lots of angles and no masking tape, so it’s pretty time-consuming. Dean and I watched the food channel for a while today – for some reason, it’s fascinating when you’re fasting, really.

Jane, the fasting doctor, Dean and I attempted to play balderdash (I think- that dictionary game where you try to fool people with made-up definitions) after ‘dinner’ today, but my brain was on vacation so we switched to Sabrina’s favorite, ‘Would you rather…’ instead. They were all surprised at the ‘WYR’s I could come up with when I was supposedly braindead, so I admitted that they were actually stored up from the hours I’ve spent playing the game w/Sab.

quick lesson on fasting

My first day here, as Jane was telling me what she did, she mention she supervised fasting. Um…why do you need supervision for fasting? Isn’t it just not eating?

No, definitely not. At least not this version. So here’s how it works: Three times a day, we mix a tablespoon of bentonite (a volcanic clay, binds to impurities in the digestive tract) in a glass of water. Right before drinking it, we add a tablespoon of ground psyllium husk, a fiber. You have to add it, mix it fast, and chug it, because the whole point of psyllium is that it forms a gel really quickly. Useful in your digestive tract, gross in your mouth. Then, we have a tall glass of freshly squeezed fruit (apple, pear, pineapple, orange, kiwi or some combination thereof) or vegetable (carrot, celery and/or beetroot) juice, yum. There’s also coffee involved, but trust me when I tell you that you don’t really want to know about that.

So….why?!? Once your body stops digesting food, it can focus on cleaning out. It gets rid of stuff that’s been sitting in there for a while, and your liver & kidneys do a bit of detoxing. We do movement classes every day – basically, 20 minutes of trampoline stuff, and stretching and/or toning. Staying semi-active good for fasting, especially for the lymph system.

I’m not doing this to lose weight – if you do lose weight during the fast, you put most of it back on right after. I’m doing it because I watched other people do it and could actually see the changes, because everyone doing it said it’s pretty easy and I’m open to non-dangerous new experiences, and because our latest fasting guest is a doctor, and I’ve had a chance to find out a little more about the scientific logic behind it from her. Also, I think it’ll be a good mental exercise, and will help with eating healthier afterwards.

Oh, also – sauna time is mandatory once a day when you’re fasting. I can deal with that! I’ll also apparently be spending a fair amount of time in the spa because your body heat drops a little while fasting. Again, I can deal with spa time.

zen and the art of room painting

Today was my first official day in my new position – ‘special projects WOOFer.’ With Oceana here now, I’m off domestic duty – no more ironing, switching over rooms between guests, dishwashing, laundry, etc.

My first project is painting Jane’s bedroom. We’ve been trying out different test pots of paint for the past few days, a task complicated by the original colors of the walls (one burgundy, the others an orange-y tan), the lighting, and existing bedding, furniture and curtains.

We finally settled on a color today. Not one of the test pots, though. After we all spent some time staring at the six patches of various shades of greenish-tans on the wall, Arvind brought up some leftover paint from the meditation room, and we put that on the wall – perfect! The right color had been in the house the whole time.

So now I’m painting the room ‘Zen.’ It’s a nice light color, but it is a color – not a new-house neutral. Today’s accomplishments included patching and filling holes, sanding, dusting and priming the burgundy wall. My job’s made quite a bit easier by the fact they’re installing carpet over the flooring next week, so I can make a mess and it doesn’t matter.

Oh, I also made it through the first 24 hours of my fast. And yes, that is kind of an afterthought – it’s been surprisingly easy, although I know there’s a long way to go! The juice and psyllium cocktails give me enough energy and keep me from being hungry. The one thing is, Arvind wasn’t here for dinner and all the guests right now are fasting too, so I didn’t have to sit and watch people eat delicious-smelling food. I guess tomorrow could be a bit harder!

the last supper

First of all, happy birthday Sabrina!! Hope you enjoy being 25 the second time around, too.

This morning, I had my last breakfast for a while – Jane’s delicious homemade muesli. Lunch was leftover chickpea curry, and snack was – ok, I had lots of snacks.

But then there was dinner. I was all mentally prepared for one last delicious dinner when Arvind announced mid-afternoon that I was done with ‘real’ food. Hmm…wasn’t quite ready for that, especially having seen others eating ‘normal’ food the night before their fasts!!

I got to try a little bit of the dhal Arvind and Dean had made, and it was delicious – I’m trading Dean pctures from Sunday for the recipes he’s been jotting down during his cooking lessons, so I’ll just have to make that one…or stay a bit longer and have it here! Dean’s been doing a lot of cooking lately to learn from Arvind, which we all think is pretty amusing for a fasting guest – not only are guests not supposed to do anything remotely housework-related, but most of Arvind’s recipes involve the phrase ‘to taste’ several times, so it’s got to be tough.

Oh – in case anyone’s counting, Dean’s been here longer than the original plan of one week. He’s determined to finish the fast only when his body says he’s done, no sooner.

The new WWOOFer, Oceana, arrived today from Australia – with a few days of NZ exploration thrown in there before coming here. She’ll be taking over the housework and will probably stay relatively long-term to train in massage/.bodywork with Jane and Arvind.

golden bay of plenty

Despite good intentions, I didn’t get an early start into town today. I dragged my feet with the snooze button, didn’t know where the bike was, and wasn’t excited by the rainy weather. I procrastinated long enough to catch a ride with Jane, who was headed into town for an 8:30 meeting.

After meeting Sarah and touring her flat, we picked up a car and some maps from Apex. One of the maps advertised a boutique chocolate factory with free tastings in Blenheim, which Sarah jokingly suggested we go to for ‘old time’s sake.’ And so we did, spending most of the way down there marveling at the fact we were willingly heading back to vineyard land.

Since I decided to try out this fasting thing, and will (hopefully) be careful about what I eat afterwards, I thought today would be the perfect time to eat and drink everything bad – and lots of it. So, after the tour of the one-room ‘factory,’ and after eating a chocolate-dipped citrus rind and vanilla truffle, we bought a box of 16 merlot truffles plus two larger champagne truffles.

Next stop: the Prenzel distillery. I’d been told it was over on the other side of the town, near the vineyards on the way to Seddon, so we drove over there. And it was closed for renovations. The sign on the door directed us to another location, which was of course right over next to the chocolate factory. This necessitated the consumption of 4 truffles each. On the way there, we stopped off at New World to get soda (L&P for me) and potato chips, 1 large bag each – my choice was parmesan, garlic and olive oil. I chose We drove back, had a great tour guide./sampling lady at Prenzel, and bought 2 bottles of avocado vinaigrette, of all things – turns out Prenzel makes great flavored vinegar, rice bran oils, dessert sauces and vinaigrettes in addition to every kind of liquor you can imagine.

Then we were off in the opposite direction, heading to Golden Bay. By now we were about 2.3 of the way through the truffles, and had killed the chips and soda. We stopped in Havelock, the green-lipped mussel capital of the world (but you knew that already, right? And it’s on your list of places to go before you die?), and ordered a plate of 16 grilled mussels on the half shell with various sauces – bacon & cheese, sweet thai chili, garlic & herb and honey, ginger & soy, and a plate of whole-wheat french bread, with butter served in mussel shells. Sarah, who’d never had mussels before but was determined to try, was quite brave, and finished her half of the shellfish with enthusiasm – and, with the aid of some Speight’s (I’d chosen to pair mine with sauv blanc as a reminder of those Taylor’s Pass days).

The drive up to Golden Bay was very wind-y, and surprisingly devoid of bay views although we’d been told we’d be driving along the coast. Despite a few little hiccups with the car itself (I’m quite good at driving on the left now!), we made it there before sunset, and took in the view from a beach in Collingwood.

We finished the rest of the truffles on the way back, and I dropped Sarah and the car off in town (after getting Magnum bars too!), then met the Pujjis, Donna and her mother, and Dean at the cinema for a movie for Dean’s birthday. We saw ‘The Lives of Others,’ which I thought was exceptionally well done.

planning for a day off

If I remember to bring my cell phone with me when I’m hanging up laundry on the second floor deck, I can get enough coverage to send and receive text messages, at least with about 50% accuracy.

I remembered to bring it with me today, and received a 3-day old message from Sarah saying she had 3 days of from her job at the hotel in Nelson and asking if I wanted to go on an adventure. I thought I’d missed her, so I messaged her to tell her to let me know when she had time off next – but it turns out she’d sent it a day before her vacation, so, since Jane and Arvind told me I was overdue for a day off, we made plans to go on a day trip tomorrow.

That’s the simplified version of the story, anyway. As mentioned, the successful message rate is nowhere near 100%, and I’m not always sure which ones when through and which didn’t, so poor Sarah was pretty confused until I remembered the land line and we sorted it out over the phone.

The plan (if you’ve been following my trip so far, you’ll realize I’m using this term loosely) is to rent a car and drive to Golden Bay up north, which is supposed to be a nice drive. At least that’s what Sarah’s been telling everyone who comes to her at the hotel reception desk asking for suggestions on things to do – she heard it from someone else there.

I’m excited to drive – didn’t think I’d miss it, but it’s nice to have full control of my destination, timing, etc. – buses, relying on the kindness of others, etc. is all good a lot of the time, but I’m looking forward to the car.

photo sa(fa)ri

Donna was planning to take new pictures of Jane and Arvind for the website today, but her camera was acting up so I went in to show her how to use mine, and a few minutes later, everyone in the house was in the great room helping out.

We had a great time, and a couple of the photos (out of several hundred) will be perfect for the website. One of the guests showed a real talent for drawing Jane & Arvind out and relaxing them in front of the camera.

To change up the background a little, I asked Jane if she had any fabric to hang up behind them…as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew it was a stupid question. We raided the fabric closet, which also happens to be the Indian clothing closet, and before we knew it, we were distracted from the background issue, and we were all decked out in embroidered finery.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, I figured out the shutter timer on my camera and this is the result.

Back row: A guest, Dean, me. Middle: Donna, Jane. Front: Arvind.

lamb stalking

Donna’s done with her fast today, I think the other fasters might be a little jealous. simply from a missing-taste standpoint.

We had an amazing coconut fish curry for lunch today. I’ll definitely need to start writing down the recipes and/or taking cooking lessons.

I went for a walk today over on the Tantragee saddle, lamb-stalking again. They’re skittish little creatures, but just when I’d given up, I saw a little lamb watching me from behind a tree, closer than they usually let me get, so I sat down in a gully and waited to see what would happen. The little guy came within a foot of me a few times, then ran away each time, maybe as soon as it realized I wasn’t its mother.

We did Zen Tarot card readings after dinner for entertainment. Zen tarot cards are a nicer version of regular ones. I don’t really remember much of mine aside from something about not counting on a white knight in shining armor in my life - darn.