A Quiet Day

The heading would seem to imply that most of my days here are not quiet which is far from the truth. Croquet and Petanque could hardly be described as riotous passtimes, nor could cycling, visiting friends (the sort I have anyway) or any of the other things I do. All in all it's a busy life but a quiet one - generally speaking!

Today I had no commitments other than having the car serviced so I decided, as it was a beautiful but not too warm morning, I would go for a cycle. I would take the car to the garage just over 5 k away at Puketapu and cycle from there to Taradale via the Ototara Pa (about which I will blog one day) and back home. Only about 18k but exercise my heart would appreciate because of all the hills. It hasn't had too much challenging exercise since I came back to N Z. This afternoon I cycled to get the car so managed another few fairly good hill cycle climbs to exercise the heart some more.

Near the Pa is the Napier Golf Club. In its grounds adjacent to the road are two statues carved from solid trees which had had to be felled.
I had coffee and did a crossword at The Café Gecko (a lizard which will be the subject of yet another blog) in Taradale. I hadn't noticed it before. The service was very friendly and the coffee good so I'll be back.

Arrived home for lunch, finished my book sitting in the sun and then cycled for the car. On the way I saw a Skylark which I managed to photograph and heard yet another Yellowhammer which I didn't manage to see despite his obvious close proximity to me
and saw a baby Song Thrush whose Mum was nearby.

After I'd collected the car I went to Napier. This evening I started by watching the News: news that will donimate TVOne for the rest of the evening.