Hi
everyone,
I hope
you are all well - be it spring or autumn you are experiencing at the moment.
Jan is
still practicing for the next NSO concert, which is on the 20th of this month.
He keeps exclaiming how he hates multiple flats :-)
I have
had a cold for the past four or five days which was pretty grim. I was in bed
for three and a half days & today will be my first full day up, so I am
pottering about doing some light and enjoyable things - like writing to
friends. Tina emailed that Jeremy had been unwell for ages, as have both Otto
& Lara. Jan had a sore throat for a few days, ate loads of vitamin C and
all the cough lozenges we had, and shook it off (which is great for him,
because he has lots of work on at the moment with organising his new position -
and his team - at Nelson Pine).
Our Roses
Road worklist is great - I keep adding to it. Mind you, some things are getting
crossed off, like sealing the plasterwork, planting some more trees and
installing our house water pump. Still plenty more to keep us busy though!
Now this
weekend we have a whole lot more things to add to our work list - but not at
Roses Road. We have decided to put Montrose Drive on the market. The tenants
moved out on 30 October, so we had a chat to an estate agent who is a member of
my Rotary Club and very straight (Susa's German) & have decided to market
it until Christmas & see what happens. Susa thinks we will get our price.
If you know anyone who is interested in a four bedroom plus office, 1.5 car
garage, three storey board & batten north-west facing house in Nelson with
sea views, let us know - or click & download a description of the house
with photos here. We have some outside work that needs doing (we are meeting
someone there next Tuesday to sort out the grounds), plus a good clean inside.
We also found a few minor things that were broken, which the property managers
will hopefully sort out.
A couple
of our hazelnut trees are growing like mad, one is very slow, two are middling.
It is amazing the difference in speeds from four seedlings that started at all
the same height, have had the same treatment, same planting and are all fairly
close in position. Genetics, I guess!
We had
Sharon & Ian McGuire around for afternoon tea a couple of weeks ago, along
with Kevin & Glenys Johnston from the Mudcastle. Kevin told Jan about a
whole pile of Ake Ake that had self-seeded and he was about to plough under -
did we want them? So Labour Monday saw us at the Mudcastle harvesting 30-odd
Ake Ake, a couple of Whauwhaupaku (five-finger) and some rosemary. Kevin
(another one!) Heasman had already given us some lancewoods, Ake Ake &
Whauwhaupaku, so we now have some lovely shrubs for the garden... once I get
Wayne Heine up here with a truck-load of topsoil to plant them in, that is.
We went
to Miranda Harcourt's "The Biography of my Skin" at the Theatre
Royal. It was a really good piece - part of this year's Arts Festival. We decided
that we wouldn't go and see anything else this year. There were other things we
could have seen, but nothing that burned brightly enough for us to spend 1.5
hours travelling in & out to see.
Labour
weekend we also had the Hofmans - Kathleen, Frits & John - around for
dinner. John has nearly finished his B.Eng, and made it to the final cut
interviews for a Google position last month, being flown to Sydney for the
final interviews. He missed the job, but isn't too upset by it - figures there
will be plenty of other chances. We have also caught up with John F, after he
was away in Auckland for a week. Bonnie came to stay with our two dogs for a
week while John was away, and kept Coco fairly quiet, playing night and day. It
was great for Fliss, who could then sleep as much as she liked. We also had
Ellie & Greg Fijn around with Daniel & Diana (our neighbours) for
afternoon tea, and Magda has called in too.
Last
Saturday was the Upper Moutere School fair, so we went along. It was a lovely
day, and they had loads of activities for the kid to enjoy, including climbing
/ building a stack of wooden crates (we saw a few tumbles - the kids were in
safety harness suspended from a crane, so it was safe, but quite a spectacle to
watch). We saw Bob & her sister Therese, Daniel & Diana, and one of the
flautists from the NSO (whose name escapes me - but she made a fantastic pear,
chocolate & almond cake!). Although the photo doesn't look that heavily
populated, I think the entire Upper Moutere community was there. All the school
children had tasks to do and performances to give, parents staffed the stalls,
and it was very buzzy and lively. We bought some heritage tomato plants and
some herbs to start my herb garden. Jan was surprised at the lack of produce
stalls, until I pointed out that everyone had a garden and everyone kept
chickens, so there wasn't much call for it. Lots of cakes, biscuits, bread,
jam, pickles, duck eggs, plants, jumble and BBQ food for sale though. Jan was
in heaven.
Fleur
called in yesterday on a Nelson-side-of-the-hill shopping trip with her
youngest, Lani, & picked up our Rimu TV cabinet to take it to its new home
at their place in Takaka. She & Neil took the matching bookshelf a wee
while ago. We had a quick cup of tea & a chat (which was all I was up to
anyway) before she hurtled off back over the hill with all the shopping, the
cabinet, a new mattress, a rabbit cage, a 'loaner' rabbit and Lani in the
truck. Fleur dropped back the formica dining table chairs, which we had lent
them a while ago. They managed to get some Rimu chairs, which was brilliant, so
dropped the old ones off. I have been wondering what we should do with the
dining table which is currently in the workshop. Now we have the set complete
again, we can decide if we want to keep it for something or pass it onto a new
home.
Because
Jan's concert is on our wedding anniversary, we have decided to celebrate at
home instead - we think we might go for a picnic or something similar. It will
be probably as low key as last year. But we are considering a trip away next
year instead.
My
materials have finally arrived for my Dip in Career Guidance; a huge pile of
stuff. Because of my cold I haven't had a chance to get into it, and now I have
NMIT & AUT exam marking, course finalising & all sorts on which is
taking up a lot of my time. It might be a while before I get started on my
course materials now. I got registered early so that I could take advantage of
the lull, but because of their systems, my early-birding didn't gain me any
advantage. Pity.
I still
have to get down to Christchurch to see that man about my brain (!), but have
only had one migraine since 21 August. It looks like a 100mg aspirin might be
my magic bullet; however, it may also be the 40mg beta blocker in combination.
So I have just reduced my daily beta blocker dose by a quarter and will try
that for a month & see if the migraine incidence increases. If not, I will
drop by another 1/4 next month. I have been taking my blood pressure twice each
day, so I can keep an eye out for any changes. Will keep you posted.
Our next
confirmed trip away will be to Wellington for Christmas. John is house-sitting
for us with Bonnie, so all will be well at home. We will be staying with Tina
& Jeremy, and will have Christmas Eve with Tina, Jeremy, Otto, Lara,
Brigitte & John, then see Hartmut & Uta late morning on Christmas Day.
We were hoping to come & see as many of you as we can on Christmas avo - so
let us know if you will be about, and when might suit you. On Boxing Day Tina
is planning on having a BBQ at their place, which will be good. It all sounds
very relaxed.
After
that, I have no idea when we will be away again, but it is likely to be next
year - but not before Brigitte, John and Tanja come to visit us in mid-January,
which will be great.
Congrats
to Adam who has a new job as Strategy Consultant with the Sulger-Buel Company
:-)
Take care
& alles liebe!
Sam & Jan
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