Wow, another few weeks have whizzed past, and here we are halfway through November already.
Amazingly green around here at the moment, and when I go outside first thing in the morning all you can smell is the bush - it takes me right back to my earliest tramping days in the third form. Just lovely! Had some late winter squalls come through in October, but they were very brief (as you can see - only lasted about ten minutes, then it was blue sky again, until the next one came through):
When I dropped Jan off to work a couple of weeks ago, I realised that Nelson Pine's gardens are maturing really nicely; the natives are looking very nice. I took a few quick photos and stitched them to remind me of what we are aiming for on our bank at Roses Road.
I managed to Skype with Jan a couple of times while he was in the US. He was looking pretty tired, but he managed to do the main task while he was in Chicago - buy Coco some more squeaky toys! Below is a shot of him at Streeters Bar in Chicago, with a couple of the other guys from New Zealand: and of course, they managed to find some women...
And amazing what a screen dump will do; it has captured Mr Kuwilsky wearing a tie:
In the background behind me above is my colleague Nic J (if your eyes are good enough. Hah, now that's a test for us all, isn't it!).
Jan is halfway through his trip already, having arrived in Germany last Friday evening NZT. He was shattered, having only slept for a couple of hours of his 9 hour flight, but was picked up from the train by Holger, taken to visit Dieter and Gudrun, Anne, then off to Oma's overnight. On early Sunday NZT he travelled down to Ulm to Aunt Uta. Thomas, Bettina and Svenja are there, so he got to spend some time with them too - an unexpected bonus! He said it was great to see everyone, and that they were all in good health (and that Svenja has a gap-toothed smile as her adult teeth are coming in - man, she is six already). I so want to be there - but next time!
It was Dawn's birthday today, and I went to join the throng of celebrators at Jellyfish (where Flax used to be at the Mapua Wharf complex). I had some lovely tomato soup for lunch - a perfect pick as it clouded over as we lunched and was raining a little by the end. Not cold, but damp. Dawn has big news - she and Neil are getting married next year. He is such a nice man - I am so pleased for them both! (terrible photo quality as I was facing right into the light).
Doug & Morv are off to Auckland - a big change for them. At least it looks like the test-run / holiday is persuading Katie that a northward shift mightn't be all bad.
I have just finished marking my last student assignment for the year, but am halfway through an online course on Emotional Intelligence (yeah, yeah, I know: that AND my Masters - like there isn't already enough going on. All I can say is that it was an opportunity, OK?!).
Currently I am transcribing recordings. My supervisor thinks I may be trying to be a bit too accurate with it as 15 minutes of recording is taking about 4 hours to transcribe. I don't know how you can be roughly accurate with transcription; I think it is an either correct or incorrect transcription... isn't it? Never mind, back to the grind - and everyone talks about the hellhole that transcription is, so at least I am in good company! Every other researcher on the planet!
Speaking of my supervisor, Brad is changing Unis next year - going to return to Victoria Uni to head up the School of Government there. So for the last semester of my Masters I will have to have another supervisor acting as my Primary Supervisor. Luckily it will be someone whom I have already had some contact with, Liliana Erakovic, who teaches strategic management using the Harvard case method - which is a real bonus. And yes, for you Kiwis, the Erakovic name is indeed the same family: Liliana is Marina's mother.
I have become a Lorde junkie in the past few weeks: I keep listening to Lux 400, Royal, The Love Club, and Bravado over and over. Anyone would think I was sixteen. Also just finished reading the Two Brothers by Ben Elton (thanks for the loan, McLarins!). Great book, I really enjoyed it.
The one advantage of having lots of transcription to do is that other, horrible jobs suddenly look quite appealing. So I have also been spending an hour in our gully each day, pulling out pig fern. For those of you who don't know about pig fern, it is a fern that starts with a very small aspect, but if left untended for a couple of years, it turns into this giant bionic monster that covers your land with huge canopies and kills your grass. All I can say is that at least it doesn't have prickles, unlike gorse, supplejack and blackberry (other noxious pests our forefathers cunningly imported to our little South Pacific paradise).
Montrose Drive is going on the market again in December. I think we have decided that this time it goes: that the price drops until it is sold.
We are aiming to come to Wellington briefly at Christmas, but have so far not been able to get a house/dog sitter. Everyone has plans! How mean is that? I will keep trying... we might be able to get the dogs into the kennels, perhaps, but I no longer know any of the people who run the local ones. There is a place out in Wakefield, so I might go and visit them and see what they are like (at least I do know someone who took their dog there).
Happy birthday to Justine :-D
Right, I think that is all for now. Take care, and we will catch up with you all in due course!
Sam (and Jan)
