Sunday, Sunday

“When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realise I should have been more specific.”

Good Morning...Sun 16th, 6.19, +5.3dg. We have a big fat yellow full moon out.. email alert said snow overnight and snow through today... not seeing that as I look out the window. Yesterday was a lovely sunny day.. one of those sort of days my Mother always said, when the Nor'west was blowing in ChCh in the winter, you could wash your blankets and put them out on the line.. we hit 17dg outside yesterday... mid Feb !!! so I put the sheets out on the washing line, scrumbly, there is nothing quite like the fragrance of sheets off the line, especially as they are dried on an inside line all winter. Did my Saturday morning job... I am hating it... and the cash was used in a green exchange for handyman work the husband did for me last week.. a positive I suppose but really hating the job. Quick trip to the Lidl on my bicycle and then home to watch the pre-recorded Women's SG from Sochi. Wow what carnage, but a brilliant result. Was reading today that as the games are now halfway through the big nations are doing medal counts and fingers are already starting to be pointed. What a shame it is that they cannot just rejoice in the fact that their athletes are out there with the best there is on the world stage, rather than worrying about the return for money spent. Sport. Today the Men's SG is scheduled to start in half an hour so I need running shoes on today. My German guests leave this morning, hopefully in a timely exit, and I have a family of four coming in from Holland for a week. School is back on Monday so back into the routine of littles through the door as well as Conversation and guests.. should have been a ballerina as am getting so good at doing pirouettes!!! Happy Sunday... Looking for podiums from the big guns in the Austrian team. 

Ahhh Austria...

What a crazy amount of DNF's in the Women's Super G... course set by the Austrian Coach....  Quietly smiling for the Gold and Bronze medal... well done Fenninger and Hosp. A girl has to support someone and with no New Zealanders running in these disciplines then it is Austria all the way.

KRASNAYA POLYANA - Anna FENNINGER (AUT) took gold in the ladies super G on Saturday. The 24-year-old won Austria's fourth Olympic gold in the event, finishing ahead of Maria HOEFL-RIESCH (GER) and teammate Nicole HOSP (AUT). 

It was a first Olympic medal for FENNINGER, the 2011 super combined champion, as she finished in 1 minute and 25.52 seconds. Her previous best Olympic performance was 16th in the same event at the Vancouver 2010 Games.

On a course set by Austrian alpine skiing coach Florian WINKLER (AUT), the big guns watched on and learned as eight of the first 11 starters failed to finish the course. The tight, steep turns are typical of WINKLER's designs.

"It's such a difficult track but I have to give praise to the coach who set the course because you have to be so tactical," said FENNINGER. 

Teammate HOSP continued her scorching form at the Games, setting the pace with a blistering bottom section. The Sochi 2014 super combined silver medallist was followed down the course by FENNINGER, after Tina WEIRATHER (LIE) pulled out at the start gate, succumbing to a training-run injury.

FENNINGER finished on the podium in each of the first three world cup super G races this season and she brought that form to the Rosa Khutor slope. She was ahead of HOSP from the first intermediate split.

An Austrian one-two looked a possibility as HOEFL-RIESCH, the last of the top seeds to start, was down at the first and second splits. The three-time Olympic gold medallist produced a flawless middle section, however, to take the lead on the third split. A mistake on the final jump prevented the German from adding super G gold to the super combined gold she won on Monday.

"This is my 10th (Olympic and world championship) medal and my first silver. Of course, gold would have been better, but I'm still very proud, especially because it was on such a difficult course," HOEFL-RIESCH said.  

Despite the fact only one of the top seven seeds failed to finish (Elisabeth GOERGL, AUT), the course and conditions remained under the spotlight.

WINKLER was unapologetic about the course he had set.

"It was our goal for the course [to be difficult]. I was surprised by the amount of girls who skied out. It was a day of mistakes for many," said the Austrian, having watched two of his charges claim gold and bronze, the second time this has happened in the ladies Olympic super G.

Valentines Day ...

Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster.

Good Evening... Fri 14th, 19.58, +5.0dg. A beautiful full moon has just popped up over the top of the Hoch Joch... clear sky, full moon, looks brilliant. Happy Valentines that was, hope it was a happy day if it is something you celebrate. Today has been a cool sort of day, but they say the skiing was wonderful. We woke to snow on the ground and a broken high overcast here at the house so the mountain would have been super. Forecasting a right royal bobby dazzler for tomorrow, so hopefully for my young guests it is a good skiing day. I spent a good part of the day at the computer sorting papers on prepositions, tenses and grammar work for a variety of people who come to me. School goes back on Monday so littles tuition will resume.. in amongst the Conversation groups I am now in a pattern of guests in the house without a break for the next two and a half weeks... it will take some serious fine tuning for me to come out of this in one piece. Off to my beloved Saturday cleaning job tomorrow... Not so smiley face. I will miss the Women's Super G tomorrow morning 8am, as I missed the Men's Combined today, and Sunday I will not have the opportunity to see the Mens Super G either as I have a change over. Bring in the DVD recorder. The young couple up in the Dachboden at the mo are lovely, and have gone out for a Valentines celebration... sweet!! I am in for an early retirement to muster the strength for tomorrow. Happy 14th Feb. 

Just saying....

Long day...

“If I saw you hitchhiking, I’d smile and return your thumb’s up, just for you doing such a great job of being a positive roadside influence.” - 

this is totally indicative of my current state of mind at the moment... 
Good Evening... Thurs 13th, 19.06, +5.2dg. Day dawned a bright shiny button and by late afternoon we had incoming bad weather from Switzerland that has delivered a dusting up top.. maybe more overnight. Sunshine in through the windows was super. Forecasting fine for a couple of days collapsing Sunday. I am currently doing a countdown on my watch... I have to sit up until 23.00 - 23.30 for my incoming guests... not really ideal I say under my breath. What to do to fill in the hours. Mani sorted and final coat in a bit. Spent the morning, until quite late into the morning, on the chair mentally supporting ‪#‎teamwells‬. I imagine they are full of all sorts of emotions, but hope that the biggest one is pride for gaining selection into the NZ Olympic team, followed by the thrill of competing in an inaugural event at the 2014 Olympics, and third by doing the best at the moment as two remarkably skilled and dedicated young men. Looking forward to the next phase of their competition when all three brothers will be in action in the half pipe. The rest of my day or rather afternoon was spent carting rubbish to the re-cycler and then 12 empty apfelsaft bottles up to the refund machine. I am well miffed at the moment as I am semi crippled with a fat knee... water back on my wretched knee, so am a hobbler, big time. And, FYI it is jolly darn uncomfortable as it doesn't like to bend. So.. tomorrow am imagining it will be a slow start, but no luxury of swanning around as have Conversation girls at 10 and tuition at 15.00. I also imagine a relatively early night!! I think there will be two very achey heads in the Taihape region tomorrow!! For all of it... have a happy one

#teamwells

Not really a coffee and conversation group at all !!

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

Good evening from here... Wed 12th, 21.31, +0.6dg. Not a very stable weather forecast... this comes from a girl who thought she would plug the boot bag in early this morning and pop up to the mountain office for a couple of hours... Yeah, right!! By daylight it was snowing... beautiful fat lazy silent flakes... there is nothing quite like it. Snow stopped by 11.00 and I went out to shovel because it is good for me, because the mailman had left huge compressed prints in the snow, which turn to ice later, and I also had a conversation group coming in later in the afternoon. Done and dusted with relative ease as the snow was so fluffy and dry. Popped off down to the Lidl to do a few comestibles with my trusty nana trolley and did the long circuit as I thought the walk would do me good. Am experiencing quite a few problems with my right knee since I started going back downstairs every morning to try and get some discipline back into my life... the bloody thing now grumbles at me all the time especially with all the stairs in the house and all the long distance walking. Do or die. The skiing would have been out of this world this afternoon but could not take advantage as I had the Wednesday group at 16.00... they came armed, not with weapons but with bottles... this process initially started, and was advertised as Coffee and Conversation, so somewhere the lines have been blurred.. like really blurred!!! The end result of one hours conversation is a littered table... they were going on out after they left me and wanted me to join them, I figured discretion is the better part of valour in my case. Fire lit, and another glass of something as I watched the doubles figure skating from Sochi. Lovely. Have got a new conversation group starting up on Mondays at 10.00am .. much safer time as it will be water or coffee, so my week is now fairly well spoken for. Tomorrow I have a group of four arriving from England ETA 23.30... my poor little eyes will be out on stalks waiting for them at that hour. Hospitality !! Thursday is a Moochie day while I wait for my guests ...  ..... and then another conversation and senior tuition Friday. Joy to the world.