Hi everyone,
I just did a drive-by on www.xmasclock.com to find there are only 68 shopping days until Christmas. Where did the year go?
Camila comes to us this weekend; we are going to pick her up on Saturday morning. That will be very entertaining, I am sure! She postponed her change of address for a week as she had lots of things to do in town last week, and thought it would be easier to stay where she was. No problem!
Speaking of entertainment, our pool table is continuing to keep us occupied. My skills appear to have plateaued, but Jan is continuing to improve.
I think this weekend we will be continuing with gorse control, a bit more tree planting, and protecting some of the trees we have already planted with drums. Last weekend I went up to Wellington on Sunday, but on Saturday we went into Jan’s work and recycled some old oil drums. Jan cut the tops and bottoms out, so we can put them over our trees and foil the very, very hungry bunnies who are currently our only lawn mowers.
My masters work is continuing well – my reading list is now 460 items long though! However, I am chopping through them. I am holding to an A overall (my methodology needs work though) so all is looking good. Just got to keep chipping away at getting the work done, and not lose focus.
Jan’s Les Mis production went very well, with lots of audience and orchestra people saying they would like to do it again, despite it having been such a huge commitment. So all good. Brigitte and John came down to Nelson while the production was on, so we got them tickets to go and see it. They said that for an amateur production it was surprisingly good. I know exactly what they mean by that, as the same comment was repeated again and again by the audiences. All in all, a great success for Richard Carruthers, the show’s director, driver and creative influence.
Jan was also in Oz last week to visit a Nelson Pine plant, with his mechanical engineer, to look at how a project has gone over there. He has come back with some good ideas, despite being very tired. It was go-go-go for them both for the four days that they were away.
I managed to get my marking sorted during the study break, and have been tackling lots of Career Development things. I had meetings, training and the AGM in Wellington on Sunday & Monday for CDANZ, and came away with my head so full that I felt like I was concussed. I think I have managed to process now! However, we had a stand-out presenter at one of the training sessions, Amanda Fleming of Presenter At Large from Auckland. This woman is a great speaker, with some very interesting stories to tell and insights on personal development. If you get the chance, to go to one of her sessions, go.
Bonnie will be staying with us for a bit longer, I think: John is going to the US for a few months while he gets some business systems sorted out. No problem for Coco to retain her friend, especially as Fliss is growing increasingly frail.
Jan & I are both in Welly from 7-9 December (next CDANZ Exec meeting). I will be free on Saturday evening, so catch ups Sat night with the Hutt crowd would be great.
Congrats to Christél & Ray for being able to share cute little Lizzie with Christél’s folks! Hard to tell the puppy from the slipper :-)
Congrats to Magda who has a wonderful new job. But sad faces to Sam & Jan who lose her as her new position is in Christchurch :-(
Happy birthdays over the coming month to Hartmut, Morv, Margie, Uncle Norman, Dawnie, Lara, Justine & Jeremy!
Right – better feed the dogs :-D
Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young
