Competitors

We were late to bed last night as S and I relaxed after all the dramas (with word processing and then printing) had been successfully negotiated, disempowered, solved, or tolerated. She is exhausted, more emotionally than physically, but also cognitively. For the last weeks she has spent long hours concentrating on her writing and reading it; today she has not wanted to try and concentrate on reading for pleasure.

The boys and their mother were here last night (and until late this afternoon). Last evening I took the boys down for a swim. The water was superbly warm, as the sun had been shining brightly on the full tide, and we went at about an hour and a half after high tide. It was one of those swims where if one lay in the surface water it was blissfully warm. Only 18 inches lower, it was cold. The boys loved it.

Later we were all entertained as C read her boys a story, which quite caught us all up, wanting to know what was going to happen to the youngest son of the Irish king, especially as he had no boots and never had. Good ness and kindness prevailed, as indeed it should.

This morning the boys and I were awake early. They just wanted to play quietly, so I went out for what I expected to be a longish run beside the beach. Soon after I got by the beach, I saw herons and what I believed (correctly) were a few kuaka (godwits). Despite having on my road shoes rather than my mudflat shoes (retired road shoes!), I went out as far as I could and got this photo. At which point the camera told me that the memory card was full.

My current attitude to running and photography showed; I went back and (after a shower) had breakfast. A quiet day as everyone was still a bit in need of a rest. C and the boys have left, and we return to the city in the morning for S to hand in her thesis.