Good morning Speck,
How are you today? Hopefully not too shaken up from the frisbee work-out last night?? I’m a little bit tender in some slightly unusual places, but otherwise feeling pretty good. Did I mention that I bought a heart-rate monitor so that I can monitor how I’m going with the exercise and not exceed the doctor’s recommendations?? Well, I did. And I’ve used it a bit on my bike (which is now as you know set-up with the stationary bike trainer in the lounge room – it rocks), where at first I found it impossible to stay in the target range of around 140 bpm but have since worked out you can only just peddle a little with low resistance (so I’m aiming for longer at less intensity). But was hard to use at frisbee because really I€™m reacting to what is happening on the field, and its not necessarily easy to focus on what my heart rate is doing.
Last night: total workout time 1 hour 45 minutes with an average heart rate of 162. I think that is a little high, I saw the monitor peak at about 184 a few times, but I really don’t know how you can exercise without getting your heart rate up. And my resting heart rate hovers around 92 upwards to 100 anyway. I figure that as long as I feel ok myself, and don’t push it too hard, you should be all ok. If you’re not getting enough blood or whatever, then I’m sure I’ll be feeling pretty crappy too. And I felt fine. So. Hope you enjoyed it. My back is surprisingly fine this morning. Last time I went it was a bit achey the next day. I am famished today though. I have just eaten a huge serve of spanakopita for breakfast but still need something else. Forgot to chuck more fruit in my bag for work this morning. I brought a bunch with me yesterday but seem to have eaten it all already.
What else is happening? Well, since I went last to visit B & M at Bellingen/Repton, I’ve been doing some more investigation on the type and make of pram I think we’ll be after. Not that I’m obsessed with buying baby stuff – in fact I would almost say the opposite – no big urges to go out and get stuff for you yet, but I am starting to think about it with some encouragement. In the pram department, Mountain Buggy is looking like a winner at this stage – your dad was convinced from the get-go, especially seeing how well it handled with a fully grown adult in it at B & M’s house! I’ve used one over rough ground with M at the markets, and it was easy to steer with one hand over gravel, and we both are pretty active, so it sounds like a go. Went and looked at them at DJs the other day, and compared to a few others, and we both liked the Mountain Buggy the best. I went shopping last friday in town and stared intently at all the prams going by, and watched how easy they were to use, what the people using them had draped over them to keep stuff on, whether they had storage, whether they fit on the escalators, and all that stuff. I chatted to a few people while trying on shoes and the like to get their opinions. All good stuff.
At frisbee last night out of the 5 girls on my team who were there, three of the other 4 apart from me have little babies, and all of them have mountain buggies and couldn€™t speak more highly of them. I think that such volume of positive accolades is a winner. Now your dad and I just need to decide whether we need some of the accessories like the bassinet etc. Again, everyone I€™ve spoken to about it who has had it says that while its kinda expensive especially as you€™ll only use it for a little while, it was really fantastic when they had it. So we€™ll see. And I think as we€™re going to New Zealand for a wedding soon, we might be able to pick it up a little cheaper, and I think they sell some attachments there that you can€™t get in Australia, like the car seat clip thingy that allows you to attach some brands of baby seats straight from the car into the pram bit. Might be kinda handy.
So. As you can see whilst I don€™t obsess about baby goods and the like, get me started on a path and I can become quite excited and interested and no-doubt bore those around me to tears on the subject. I€™ll have to keep that to a minimum if you€™re to have a sane mother with rational, normal friends and family (read €“ non-baby obsessed and living in the real world) to help her through the first bit of when you come along. Otherwise they all might run screaming very quickly.
Anyway, hope you€™re well. It€™s a little cooler today (hopefully) so maybe it will be a bit more comfortable for you down there.
Love mum
Dear Speck
U will be surprised to know that right at this minute I can’t find yr Mum the recipe for jam drops that she used the last time she was up here mucking about in my kitchen – ah bliss to have that happening, it was fun! – AND i can’t find yr mum’s email either….where is the bloody thing? So… I’ve looked up Grandma’s tried n true book n found a substitute; Mum will probably sniff her nose at this as she’s already in love with the other recipe because she had a pregnant-with-you-n-remembering-Grandma moment which caused her to make the said jam drops – plus some sensational raspberries crammed into a jar aping raspberry jam but really just pure raspberry…. still…here goes:
1. Use Madeira mixture (foundation mixture for all small cakes)
2. Raspberry Cakes:
Slightly half fill greased patty cases or containers. Place 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry jam i centre. Cover with madeira mixture. Bake 20 minutes. Cover with white icing. Plac tiny touch of raspberry jam in centre.
Madeira Mixture:
Cream 4 oz butter n 4 oz sugar together until white, add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, beat in 2 eggs thoroughly one at a time, then add 1/4 cup milk slowly, add 6 oz sifted self-raising flour and 1 teaspoon cornflour (sifted twice). Sifted flour and milk may be added alternately. Bake in containeers for about 15 to 20 minutes (half-filled) The yolks may be separated from the whites of the eggs in the above madeira mixture and the whites, stiffly beaten, are folded in at the last.
Now speckle I’m off to text yr mum on her mobile phone n tell her where to find her recipe for tomorrow.
Odd how the world out here works now. People once used to write messages or recipes like this on paper n put them in square bits of paper folded up to make containers (things called envelopes) n stick on the outside of them other small bits of paper with serrated edges n interesting little pictures (called ‘stamps’) n take them to a building where other people would push bits of rubber carved into shapes into trays of ink n push the rubber bits onto the small serrated bits of paper to make black marks (also called ‘stamps’) n put them in canvas bags with other folded up square bits of paper n drive them to the airport n fly them to other cities before putting them in groups in other bags to go into a person’s special bicycle or motorbike bag to be cycled or driven to a little wooden box or metal container perched on a stick or on a paling of a front fence; people like yr mum used to come out of their front door n walk to the little box n lift its lid n take out the folded square bit of paper n rip it apart to get the bit of paper inside….. n read it. Can you imagine it Speck? Yr mum n I should keep a few of them to show you sometime when you get a bit bigger! Must fly now little one.
Love Grandma
s
[…] We use a beautiful, much-loved Mountain Buggy pram for you. Which we deliberated over, and did a lot of research on (see above) before we bought it (in NZ on holiday, as it was cheaper there. Yes, we carted it […]