Whats been up and down at 78 Glenstrae this week.
Hi everyone
Well the news of the week has to be the gold medal win by Caitlin and Zoe at the Maadi Cup reggata. Fantastic for them and everyone involved and undoubtedly the highlight of Sara's week. She got to watch it live by computer feed at the Salamander Art Gallery, courtesy of Anne and Bob - the visitors to the gallery were treated to a slightly milder version of the Maadi 2005 rock band but just as enthusiatic and even more wrapped that her buddies won this year! Hey you girls and all the coaching and support team what a result - fantastic, a testament to all the dedication and hours on and off the water - congratulations from all the Young Ones!
Last weekend was an exciting one for Sara and the Rams versus Nuggets game was great. Sara got to meet up with the players after the game including the American imports and get a few photos and signatures. The neatest thing about the game was meeting our long time friends Owen and Debbie Rees outside the Westpac Stadium and finding out that their son Ash was a Ram!
Unfortunately just as we almost reached home after the game, Sara had another seizure and we literally U turned in Ferry Road and went direct to CHOC. This one lasted quite sometime and was very scary for all of us. Sara spent 2 nights in hospital (with Sue staying over) and came home late Tuesday after another blood transfusion. Her medication has been altered and hopefully she doesn't have another episode like this for a while. She has been very tired as a result all week, and it has been very quiet for all of us since other than the rowing and a visit from our friends from Pleasant Point, Bill and Maureen Wright on Thursday (Bill was the Ranger at Kerikeri when I worked in Russell).Debbie Carter visited Sara for a couple of magic healing touch sessions at the hospital and at home later in the week - thank you Debbie.
Today was a beautiful day in Chch and we just enjoyed the day in the sun and Sara walked down to Redcliffs for some fresh air- her first real exercise for some time - she really enjoyed it. The day got even better courtesy of the Crusaders (yes I had to cruise to the local tavern to check out the second half) - they still rule eh Bob, Clare and Mark! It's not too late to finally admit that if you live in Canterbury you might as well join the winning team. After all this was the 14th win in a row!
Sara currently has a very low immunity level so please don't ask to come visiting if you think your getting, have had or had recently (ie in the last week or so) any bugs or colds or been in contact with anyone with anything infectious like this. Thank you and have a good week.
TTFN
Sara Sue Rob and Kate (on a road trip to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico)
posted by Rob Young @ 10:17 PM
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19 Comments:
Guess What!!
im First!!! yessssss!!!!!!
great your having a wicked time and getting better, not so great about your seizure though. hope your getting back to a box of fluffy ducks soon though.
just back from the big maadi cup! bitter sweet that its over, kinda wana go back but as im writing this am powering my way though a pack of tim tams and can safely say im enjoying them!! (i must sound obese..)
you twizel girls rocked the socks of everyone!!! nice work!
chated to zoe yesterday or friday and they have Determination with a capital!
will you be getting back to twizel at all during your time off?
hope so, and your hats are wicked aswell (changing the topic slightly..)
ran into cheese heapz and heapz (she has a nice wee medal too i must say!)
also saw sarah too, altough our partying spirt ran out early last night so didnt get to see the sights of T-town with her,
should possibly hit ma classics books before school tomorrow(and also befor someone else beats me to being first)
get well soon my little mellowpuff!!
best wishes and hugs,
Kate xoxo
I'm second!! (And am really naffed off I didn't check in earlier and so get to be first)
Hey it was a great week in Twiz with Maadi and everything. I found myself standing next to a pile of Villa girls at C and Z's presentation, and thought 'one of these has to be the famous Cheese', but in the end didn't try to find out which one you were Cheese. I didn't want to have my imagination re-jigged by reality. You know the sort of thing: you can't read Lord of the Rings now without seeing Viggo as Aragorn (who can even remember now what they thought Aragorn looked like before they saw the films?)(I guess if you hadn't read the books before then, that's tough)
Anyway I prefer the mysterious Cyber-Cheese who could be anywhere in the Villa contingent, than a real Cheese in person at this point. I like the fact that so many of us on this blog really only know each other in cyberspace. The famous Kitimat crew for wxample (though I did go through NW BC on the Skeena a few years ago and it was fabulous!)
Glad to hear that the rest of the weekend has been better Sara. Must go and do something constructive - the ERO visit looms large this week (procrastinators of the world unite!)
cheers
Granty
Hi Sara, well as you no those two palls of yours did us all proud and won the gold medal at Maadi. What a week it was. Poor young Wayne and Val had the pleasure of house sitting at 59 Jollie Rd with the brat pack ( I had to be nice to Zoe and Caitlin for nearly 12 hours, it was an agreement with them, if I was nice they would get the gold medal) , and they did. (Did you know they have Val and Wayne round their little finger, you should see it, its great) I know you were there in spirit as we could feel your present. Old Zoe and Caitlin were brought back in in the safety boat, if zoe could have talked (yes I agree amazing) then she would have said "can I drive the boat" but she could not. You should have seen all the people from Twizel calling from the bank what a noise, and to see the support from the town and school is something I will never forget. We had a BBQ that nite at 59 Jollie with all rowers, committee and parents, then we all went to the Maadi party, well at least the young ones went and we looked on, a very good nite for all. Sunday was cleanup day and that took most of the morning but got done evenually. we then took Zoe, Caitlin, Will Spry and Lucy out in the sweep 4 for a row(think they would have had a day off). We owe Will and Shelley a big thanks for the use of their house for the brats to stay in. Its one of those small town things that everyone supports each other. When we got back to the house Allan Grant came over with a poem he had written. He read it out and gave us a copy each. You should have heard it, Val was red eyed (and more) Wayne was seen to have something in his eye to, but it was great (unbelieveable) really that anyone would actually do this for the team, I was speachless. Anyway must go, I am still on cloud 9 with what those brats managed and did for themselves, families, school and town. I could not be more proud if they were my own kids and I know that Wayne and Val feel the same. Well hope you have a good week, look after yourselves and see you later. Deno
Good luck for ERO, Twizel team - our turn next week here in Nelson. You're right, Granty - we're all out here in cyberspace connecting and all because of young Sara Young.
Have a good week Sara, Rob and Sue. Kate nearly home and a few days to mellow out and watch the world go by.
Mart got a bit excited about Didymo headline in the Timaru Herald - until he got to the article and read the date as well. Good April Fool's Joke.
Fancy you being in the paper, Sara.
Much love to you all
Jane, Mart and Zoe
Hey Sara
This is my shortest blog ever!
Was so exhausted last night didnt have any energy to blog! Sounds like you have been very very busy! Cool!
Will blog after school! Just keeping in touch to let you know havnt forgotten about ya!
Have a great day!
Your mate
Cheese
Hi Sara and the family, long time no hear from me but I'm back and pretty dangerous on crutches. Thanks for the good wishes Cynthia. Well the higlight of the week would have to be seeing Zoe & Caketin winning the gold wot an amazing thing. Most of Twizel was down lakeside shouting and yelling like crazy as the fab twosome rowed home. The hugging and crying and smiling and feeling of pride was wonderful, I had a lovely hug from Granty and one of my crutches went up and nearly knocked some poor woman into the middle of next week. There was plenty of hugs, and you know wot Sara it's true we all felt you were there too. Anyway onto more mundane things back to school today for everyone hope the ERO thing goes well.
I am making a good recovery from my op thanks for the encouraging txt Sara hopr you have a good break from the treatment take care lotse love Jacq & Jake
p.s. Jake got seventh at south island champs did well imaging if he trained!!!!!
Well there isn't much more to add that hasn't already been said about the "dynamic duo"!!! Great article in the Timaru Herald on Saturday about the girls doing it for you Sara! They truly are great mates.
Sounds as though you've had a full on week with plenty of excitement too. How thrilling to go to a Rams game-something I have always wanted to do-sweet.
However girl, with all that excitement you might have to slow down and not get too tired, you've got alot going on and sometimes the good ole body has a way of telling us to backtrack a bit and chill out.
Well I had better go back to work, you take great care of yourself. Best wishes to you all.
"Keep smiling sunshine"
Hey Sara,
Finally found some time to check the net today... I arrived at work this mornig and my office might as well have been the underneath of a huge christmas tree, all the parcels I had to unwrap... unlike Christmas though all I got was paperwork... busy, busy, busy... back to reality!
Well Twizel really turned on the weather, primo... only delays due to fog, something NZRowing in Waikato can hardly complain about... certainly kept all the North Islanders happy & provided some super-fast times on Saturday. There was some top racing, very close, keeping spectators cheering (some of us have no voice left) and nervous coaches on their bikes at bullshit point (aka the 1000m mark)... very entertaining... Villa had some fast finishes on their way to the dias, keeping us on our toes unlike the Twizel girls who led start to finish... was cool to have our silent assasins sharing the spoils with the local gals & their huge support crew for U162x.
So a busy week and I have learned a lot from it... am looking forward to having a relatively normal life for the next wee while, find some time & energy to get into some training myself... unless, argh, no rowing so I have been in the office non-stop for 9hrs... better get outta here & go get myself a feed, some sleep & a social life haha
Can't type enough to fill in all other exciting & strange events, maybe next time...
I hope you are well, feeling better, let me know when you are up to a visit (will be on my bike as wagon is being repaired after a Waikato Dio van took a corner off it - but all good training)
Ciao X N
Guess what somewhere in Cyber Space the gremlin struck and ate my letter to you.
Soo, congrats to the awesome,twosome of Twizel Girls, who pulled off a Gold. Congrats from us all here. Sara u must have just been jumping and pumping for them.
Sara, soo sorry you had another seizure this week. Hope you get back to your smiley self. Enjoy your healing touch.
I've just got back from Smithers visiting Liz T and family. Al T,has been shopping for horse and house. The horse Hogan is purchased no house yet.
Skinny skied to the Crater on Hudson Bay Mountain with Liz. I even survived the old tele skis.
Saturday nite had a real Bulkley Valley concert. The one room Drifwood Schoolhouse was really hopping. It was a sell out concert, inspite of the outhouse toilet, and one guy rode up on his horse for the event.
Today was a great day to relax and dream on the Malkow lookout. Spring is such an wonderful time here, snowy peaks, sunny warm river views. Gets one revived
Lothar and Stefan had a sunny day skiing at Shames Mtn.
Katherine has changed her plans,shes not leaving the North yet anyway. we will have our favourite chef to cook for us.
Hey Granty, I really would like to met you. Maybe on my next Twizel vacation. Sara this blogging has made us all wonder about our fellow blogsters.
love and hugs to all the youngs at Glenstrae
from Ruth Lothar Katherine and Stefan.
hey sara
im at boarding school writing this it hasnt been able to work in the past but hopefully it will now, it was soooooo AWSUM wen cait cait and zoe got the gold dont tell anyone this but (i was cheering for the twizel instead of craighead)who came 5th, i new cake and zoe could do it !!!!! i hope you got to watch it on the internet !!! im still really excited thinking about it!! im so proud of them and of you, but i must go off to do my supervisesd homework!! errrr boardings not that great and i miss all of my twizel mates, gtg luv ya lots xoxoxoxoxo
tiggy ;)
keep smiling :) x0x
hey gurl it me, gud old shaz! i know you probly dont wanna hear me goin on bout the rowing too... but you know me - of course i'm going to say something! lol it was honestly such a wicked race aye! we all cruised down in style... (yep, the hot brown van) and waited around for ages for their race (not that that was a bad thing really, coz there was lots of people I MEAN THINGS to check out lol) but yeah it was so kool i had the meanest butterflies ever while we were waiting for them to start aye and then as soon as they kicked back and took that first almighty stroke... it was mahem! little kids were screaming TWIZEL, TWIZEL, TWIZEL! all you could hear was their names, and twizel and go! and yeah stuff like that. shame you weren't there to cheer them on too aye... i'm sure you would've out cheered us all with your rather "high decibel" voice lol but yeah, it was like you were there aye and damn did they do us proud aye? sucks how zoe's cruising to craighead soon and passing on her talent to them though aye. oh well, guess that mean's they might as well start polishing that gold medal for caitlin next year at maadi when she wins the singles huh? anyways... enough about rowing! haven't really been up to much lately, we start tournament practice on friday! YAY! i can't wait... but aparantly the basketball is going to be mixed so it's gonna be like soooo gay! the boys will like fully get all the game time and they'll like hard out hog the ball and stuff... but then again, if they that does happen, then we'll win! so maybe it isn't such a bad thing after all? dunno what else i'll play, i guess i'll just see whats there and stuff. i dunno if i wanna play netball though aye. we like lost when we had you, kaysh, sarah and kirsty, so i dunno how we're going to be without you's! (um like really bad in case you were wondering)? but yeah, i dunno... guess someone's gotta lose and i guess twizel is good enough to take that priveledge? i wanna play touch too... and maybe like lawn bowls or something like incredibly amazing and so exhausting like that? lol i don't even know how to hold a bowl properly so you can count me out for that one! anyways gurl, besta be off but keep smiling :) thinking of ya! luv me xox
oh yeah... and i asked val if she had heard anything about us having a formal this year and she kinda looked at me like um?? what?? but yeah, she hasn't heard anything about it and if you're mates been invited then i don't think many people will be turning up aye. lol
sweet im outties xoxox mwah!
Hey Man
yeah well my immune system has also finally given up on me! i've got a cold! my nose is runny and my throat is sore and i sound like a man. Might b a result of all that yelling and cheering for all those other crews! we adopted random crews in each race and cheered for them when we got board!
Man there has been a bit of tension over the computer, everyone in my house reads at a different pace and i get frustrated waiting for others to finnish! ummm this is rally annyoing! i can't remeber what else there was in your blog, and there was someting i wanted to say! oh well, and the computer won't log into a 2nd time if ya know what i mean.oh i just got back in and there wasn't anything there that i could think of! wow that was a great load of pointless effort writing all that!
I feel mighty sorry for the other people in the art gallery! mmmm i just ate a marshmellow, i love not eating heatlhy stuff. Although me and zoe had a can of cake and a she had a pie and i had a donut, and we couldn't finnish it! well willis is nagging me to get off. ok well he says he 's not! well anyway i got art homework! hahahaha!
lots of love! posistive vibes coming your way!
caketin xoxox
Right bro.. this is it the ultimate lookin to Twizel. From the beginning a!
So Cait, Hols, Bridge and I got off to an early start on 25th of March. Pretty mellow ride to be honest- Hols Cait and I can never be bothered talking to each other on the way there so it was a pretty quiet ride. Chilled out and got to Twizel an hour before everyone else.. Oh Joy! Mum insisted on us unpacking ourselves in our Twizel house- 55 Maryburn to be exact.
Cait and I went to hardware shop and got some blue and white tape- and I must say.. we started a trend! Put up a few decorations on our window- just so everyone knew where we were staying! Go Villa!
After that it was down to the boatpark to rig up the remaining boats.. lucky old Nads (whoops shouldnt call her old) young Nadia rigged up all our eights before we got there! Arnt we spoiled at Villa?? That night we went to mass! Mint highlight of the week! Haha the priest is really nice though- told us at the end he wasnt going to come next week especially for the rowers as it was his week off!
So the next day- 26th of March, did a mean 4 courses with a few hours in between each of course just to get the feel of the water! So many crews on the water!Crazy! Avoided a few crashes.But had some good rows so all worth it a! Was very hot so wound up with a bit of a burn!
Ha Dads keybaord keys are making very weird noises.. so where was I? Day 3!First day of racing.. had the pair and the four, bummed out in both!! In the pair Ky and I had a good race but got caned by Rangi (who ending up getting bronze) and also Waikato Dio. So to the repechage for that one. Later on had the four came about fourth- was an average race so to the rep for that two. Stayed in the boat park til 6 trying to fix our steering on our pair, what fun. The next day had quad race and double. Double first Ky and I had our best race ever, nice and relaxed and long. Unfortunately came 2nd to Nelson- only first through to final so back to rep. Got beaten by 3 secs- the nelson girls actually got silver in the a final.. more on that later. Quad next- this really was a very gutsy effort as we rowed like absolute poo and won our heat by tankiness. Determined to improve though! Felt better when we found out our time was the same as the st mags chicks! Mint! So no rep for the quad! The next day the 29th are we up to there? Had three repechages. First up the pair- Ky and I had a good race but at the end had a bit of a steering prob but were off 1st place so didnt make it to the a final. Not too disappointed with that one though. Then the four- suggested that we might try old Cait in stroke seat to see if we could get a better combo. It worked! Cait did an awesome job and we had a way more aggressive race! But came second to st marys (who are a nice bunch of girls had a chat to them on sat night). So gutted we missed out on the final but great race so were pretty happy. Then Ky and I had a shocker in our double couldnt repeat our best race during the heats! The James Hargest girls got us by a length. Second again!! So through to B final and gutted.
The next day was one of my highlights of Maadi Cup! My day off and the Coxens race! Ill tell you what Sara was a bit of a mission to get the coxen seat for this race!
Cait and I had a 'cox-off' which involved us sitting on a seat in front of our whole squad and coxing for 30 seconds. Got a few laughs.. Cait and I waited in the toilet while they had a vote. Dead even. Hols was torn- she actually didnt know who to vote for!! Haha! But in the end she voted for me- as a lot of people did only because they thought I wouldnt win. The sympathy vote Sara. But I took it!! Ha! Cait took over role as coach and gave us a very inspiring teamtalk. I told my little ones that if they even opened their mouths id steer them off course! And it worked bud! Managed a 3rd place!! Out of 50 maybe? But im not including the quad that was in front- everyone else was in a quad! Ha the officials got very angry with me- kept on telling the girls to touch up!! So a great race- with no damage to the boat- my heart just about jumped out of my chest when I saw them just about drop the boat.. luckily I ran to the rescue and I helped the frightened coxens! haha
So what day are we? Thursday? The next day finals. Friday morn Ky and I had our pair race first. Had a good race and won our B final by 0.05 seconds. Next up the four had another good race and won our B final by 6 secs. And then.. the big race! Your girls and my girls! Was truly an awesome race a!!! The twizel chicks just carved up from the start a! And won by a couple of boat lengths. And then some other crew which I cant remeber and then us!! Wow! Cant say I wasnt a tad surprised!!! But so so happy for Lydia and Izzy! Lydia said they were coming 5th at the thousand and she was like to Izzy- "Hey should we try win a medal?" You know pretty casual! Haha so they had a mean wind at the 500m mark- and passed a couple of crews. Everyone was stoked! Our first Villa Medal!!! MINT!!!!
Next day got up early oh yeah- fog came up friday morn- racing delayed an hour and a half! Was crazy a! Then Sat morning- early and the fog hit again! Tad frustrating a! But was quite cool getting to relax for another hour and a half. The U16 8+ (Holly was in it) raced before us and came 4th- they said they had an awesome race though so that was cool.
Ky and I had our double B final- we got out front early and won it by a few lengths. Quite a cruisy race.. then the biggie in the afternoon the quad. Had three good afternoon rows leading up to this so wasnt too sure how it was going to go.. we were coming 6th at the thousand and then started moving up. Felt pretty calm and then our cox got a bit desperate at the end lol- PLEASE push me up! HAHA and we passed James Hargest to take the bronze. Getting up on the podium felt pretty good a! It was cool cos a really gopod family friend of ours gave us our medals! After that, off to mass! Yeeha! Then off to Shawtys for tea and then hit Maadi party! Ha complained to the dj about all his techno music and he got a bit annoyed! Oh! Met Glenda! Very nice woman!! She had a prime seat from her first aid room a!
Anyway I really must go Sara baby! Way past my bedtime! Didnt have a very good day today.. im in post-rowing depression (really!) Mum laughed and said it was funny because Cait is in post-rowing elation! But really feeling a tad sad. Will start training for halfmarathon later on this week.
Grantybro! guess it was fate that I was actually getting on the water during medal presentation so u wouldnt have found me anyway!! Haha
So I say goodnight!! And a big hello to Rob Sue and Kate
Love to you all
as u young ones say..
TTFN :-D
Hi Sara, Rob and Susie.
Well there is not much more I can say about the success of our "Maadi Stars" than has already been expressed by all you bloggers out there except, that as a co-coach I am a mighty proud man and I can tell you this Sara, there was'nt a day went by during the regatta that your name did'nt come up as part of our squad, the Timarau Herald can attest to that,"they did it for their team mate".
I watched most of the girls events thru the view finder of my video camera, Shaf now has the tape and is going to edit and produce a DVD similar to your Maadi 2005 one, copy for you too of course.
It was disappointing having to scratch our novies out of the U15x2 event but it was a bit risky putting Alana on the water with her back the way it was.
Kandro was brilliant in looking after the girls aches and pains with spa and massage therapy.
Val and I really enjoyed being camp Mum and Dad at Will and Shelly's fishing lodge for the week, the girls got along so well as a team and I think it paid big dividends in the overall result,not forgetting the motavational team talks, race stratagies and analysis of other crews and race times etc delivered every night by Bill Feasey.
"Go Bob" turned out to be a wizard bread maker and turned up on our doostep at sparrow fart each morning with a hot loaf.
Not hard to believe that on their first day of R&R after the regatta that the girls wanted to go for a row just for a "bit of relaxation". They soon discovered why they don't like rowing sweep oar.
Will get a copy of Granty's poem to you if someone has'nt already done so. Deno was right about it bringing a tear to certain individuals eyes but he failed to mention his own because every time I looked at him he was studying a fly speck on the ceiling.( just to stop the tears rolling down his not so tough checks ) Thanks a million Granty, you are brilliant, I think we should post your poem for everyone to read, what do you say out there bloggers????
Well Sara, hope you enjoy a bit of quality time away from the hospital routine while the boffins plan your next course of treatment.
As always, looking forward to seeing you all again but will have to wait till the Lurgy passed on to me by some rowing nutter has cleared up.
Untill then, Cheers.
Wayne
Can't wait to read the POEM.
Post the poem!
yeah post the poem...
and in the meantime I will tell you a story to keep you all entertained... this should put you off flatting in Linwood should any of you think it is a good idea (you might as well all learn from my bad experience) So... back at the beginning of term one I knew things were going to be pretty hectic, so I thought to save myself precious minutes each day I would live slap-bang directly between Kerrs Reach and The Square, then I could commute on my bike between rowing & home & work & rowing & home easy peasy... great idea.. found a flat with randoms & all was rosy. Until one weekend when I was in Twizel (luckily I missed all the action) Stu our tattooed, leather clad all-around nice guy flatmate lost himself on a bourbon bender, threatened other flatties, crashed his harley & basically lost his leg, his job & his mates... we got a new flatmate.
When I got back from Twizel on Sunday night I found out yet again that I had missed all the action. But so had the rest of the house, as they woke up Tuesday morning to find the place had been cleaned out... Our new flatmate Blair, apparently ex Bedian rower, security-conscious... although we did think he was a bit weird... had done a runner... and as it turns out bi-polar on $300 a week p-habit alternative medication, wanted by the police etc etc. My room was locked and all he got of mine was in the kitchen, he took pretty much everything bar the couch & fridge... although he did take margarine out of the fridge... I mean how much methamphetamine can you get for a tub of margarine? weirdo! So I'm shifting back to the tranquility of Puriri St this weekend... when I get my car back...
My mate Casey has just been on the holiday of her life in Nicaragua and after Linwood I reckon give it a go!!
ps. I hope you are having a great day Sara & the Youngins
XX N
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