I had bought bars of organic, fair trade dark and milk chocolate for
everyone from a colleague of mine, Nic John, who is starting up his own
business: Divine chocolate. I designed the wrapper, which Nic suggested
could work well if cropped to a heart-shape. So I spent Christmas eve
cutting and cropping our Christmas present wrapping.
Barb stayed with us over Christmas, and we had a pretty relaxing time. I started Christmas day with a walk up Christian's hill. The view was pretty good!
Barb, Mike, my folks, Tessa, Matty & baby Izzy arrived for Christmas present opening at Rose Road, with a waffle brunch. Donna was unfortunately working, so only joined us later on, at her family's new business at St Arnaud.
And of course we sang commercials. Because we can. Including the Kentucky Fried Chicken ad.
That was followed by lunner (has to be lunner as it was too late for lunch, but too early for dinner) up at Lake Rotoiti with Donna's family.
Barb brought up her game, Cards Against Humanity. We had a hilarious
time playing it: pants-wettingly funny. Charlie had possibly over-indulged in some of the local hop products, with the result that his attempts at reading out the cards had us in stitches. He should have perhaps borrowed my glasses, but all-in-all it was more fun without!
Jan & I took Katie & Lily to the lake for a swim - though it was QUITE cold in the lake. The sandflies were - as usual - vicious; however, we also got introduced to the concept of a roll-on deet stick which was pretty cool.
I had posted a flipbook in April of the photobook that I had made for my father, but the version that was put online only showed the left-hand pages (so not so very useful).
So I have looked around online and found a better, more magazine-like format! The more useful photobook as a flipbook can be found here:
We put Coco down at the end of August. She had a bone tumour in her elbow that, as the tumour grew, we knew would eventually weaken the bone so much that an impact would break it through the elbow joint ... and the bone did break: and then it was time to say goodbye. She is now, with her squeaky toy in her mouth, running with Fliss and Drew through the pine trees, chasing the rabbits and barking fit to bust (around "Other Bad Cuz", the squeaky)...
That left Bonnie on her own with us, until John got back from the UK. For me, it is the first time in thirty years that there is no dog in the house (for Jan only 15 years). It is very, very quiet.
I am loving my teaching, having taught pretty much a full time load in 2015. I am still seeing career clients, but have not been doing much management consultancy. I am teaching leadership, sports communications, and supervising Year 3 students in their capstone management projects. It is this latter that I so enjoy: guiding students through their research topic, question-formulation and project planning. I think we all love the process - the students as well as myself (though I think the students mostly enjoy it through their rear-vision mirrors!).
I have stepped away from most of my voluntary and community involvements. The Communications Director's role for CDANZ which I have held for the past four years came to an end this year, as I stepped of the Exec at the AGM in November.
The reason for this is that I am planning on diving back into the Post-grad pond, and doing my PhD.
Better than that, though, AUT Sports Leadership programme have asked me to undertake a bit of research, and they are paying. I have supervisors. I don't have to do any pre-doc courses, as I my Masters was apparently already at doctoral level (what pulled it down was the lack of findings of 'global significance'). So I am hard at 'think' (not 'work'... yet), trying to nut out what my question should be to fit their topic of "Changing the conversation around sports leadership using case study"... which builds on my Master's work. And planning. And curating materials. And putting together research lists.
So I am as happy as a sandboy.
However, that makes only one of us.
Jan is unsettled at work, as there has been some restructuring at the end of June and, along with a few others, his role has been dropped down a level, with the introduction of a new COO, and the splitting of his old boss's role into two: one now production-oriented, and one engineering-oriented.
Jan's new boss - the new "GM Engineering" has (a) no management skills, and (b) no engineering knowledge, so the appointment of this numpty is pretty bewildering. Mind you, he does know how to glad-hand pretty well, is great at undermining others, could put a gloss on a ...er... brown log-shaped thing, and can run-up a yarn like a true-blue car salesman.
What other skills could you possibly need to manage the engineering requirements of a multi-million dollar facility?
As a result, Jan is really struggling. Not sure what will happen yet. I don't know if a job move is going to be on the cards, either here, nationally or internationally, or if he will stay. It has been good that John is back in NZ as they has been talking a lot about the whats, hows, whys and wherefores. No idea what will come of all the talk. So watch this space.
We are on a tight budget at present, busily paying off our mortgage as fast as we can so as to give ourselves more choices when Jan starts reaching some conclusions.
I hope that he doesn't feel that we have to move away, as I am so enjoying my work... but we are a team, and the team stays together.
We will see what turns up.
Our families appear fit and well, so that is all good.
Earlier in the year, we caught up with Janet & Robert up in Auckland. Justine was home for a few weeks in mid-winter, so we caught up with her. Magda and David got engaged this year, then got married in Christchurch at the end of November. We went down to celebrate with them, and had a great time. We stayed with Jenny L, and also caught up with the Boots, Bertie and Dan & Rochelle.
Please let us know when you are coming to Nelson next. We would love to see you all.
Hartmut came to visit in September and, following some earlier conversations with Jan about bringing some light into my wardrobe, had some ideas for using LEDs.
Our wardrobes were provided with wiring for lights when we built the house five and a half years ago, but the actual lighting delivery system was not thought-through or delivered. It is one of those "one day" jobs.
However, as the more urgent "one day" jobs are being ticked off, this has now risen up the priority scale. Jan had thought about it, and he and Hartmut have talked about ideas. And now that idea has finally almost come to completion.
Hartmut found that he could buy some strings of LEDs online, and thought it would be worth trying them to see if they would work as a solution. Jan installed the first half of what was required to see if it would work, and it will work perfectly, as you can see:
We left for Brazil on the second of April, as soon as I had finished my last lecture before Easter, so as to eke out as much time away as we could.
We flew Nelson - Auckland - Santiago - Sao Paulo with Lan Chile, in the tightest packed cattle class we have yet experienced. On the Auckland - Santiago leg I sat next to a Kiwi rugby player who was playing and coaching in Argentina. He was a very well-built bloke who was so cramped in his seat that I felt sorrier for him than I felt for the two of us!
He had the aisle, and when we arrived, I warned him that we would get up a lot, and invited him to take the window seat if he would like to be undisturbed. However, the poor guy was claustrophobic (what a flight to be claustrophobic on!). So every time Jan or I needed to get up, this poor bloke had to painfully unpick himself from the seat, back out into the aisle (which was only just wide enough for the airline trolleys), and let us out, only to have to repeat the process when we came back.
He and I had a great old yarn though about coaching and leadership... thank goodness, as for some reason I had my eyes stapled open and only managed about an hour of sleep.
If you don't want to read what we did, shortcut it by watching the video:
Arriving in Sao Paulo on Friday evening, we found Ana, Camila and Beto waiting for us through customs, which was fabulous! Célia was at home, preparing dinner. So we hopped in the car and hit the lava line of red tail lights on the north-west motorway, along with what seemed like half a million other Paulistas on their way out of the city for the Easter weekend.
We were both shattered when we got to Piracicaba, but it was so great to be with the family. Célia and Beto had so, so kindly given us their bedroom (with them taking over what had been Ana's bedroom I think - I never did quite work out whose room it had been). This generosity was because Célia and Beto's room had the only air conditioner, and they thought we would be more comfortable with the ability to keep cool. Kind!
However, I don't think the end of the world would have stopped me sleeping that night.
The next day we went for a meander around Piracicaba, had lunch at a friend's restaurant along the river, did some sight-seeing (seeing the real places from Ana and Camila's Rotary presentations), had drinks at a street bar... and I was exposed to Caipirinha. Yum! Although Jan didn't like it - too limey or lemony for him - this was to prove my cocktail of choice each and every night in Brazil.
We met Ana's boyfriend, Chico, who is a lovely, gentle man. He and Ana seem well suited.
On Easter Sunday we headed back south-east to Sao Paulo to join the extended family in their Easter celebrations, which was fantastic. Thirty people gathered for a pot luck lunch served on a very slick logistics operation of trestles and seats appropriated from various uses in the house, or supplied by the attendees. Even though we hardly knew a word of Portuguese, we were so warmly embraced by the family we didn't feel a moment of awkwardness.
They even kindly celebrated my birthday, along with three others from within the family happening around the same time, which was really lovely (Jan and I had been too busy with packing and organising to bother marking my birthday, though we had had a family dinner at Krauts the weekend before).
The next day was Piracicaba for quiet walks, lunch and shopping. Camila had gone back to her Uni in Campinas to finish off some projects. We went to the Piracicaba Uni, which was very spread out park-like campus, and had lunch at the main restaurant which was open to all comers for lunch. Buccolic!
The day after we headed to Serra Negra with Beto and Celia to visit a coffee plantation in the area (fascinating), have lunch in an alpine - or as alpine as Brazil gets - resort, then to visit Célia's brother, Alessandro (sp?) in a gated community, and lastly to see the family bach. A full day, but lovely. Then another quiet day, doing laundry, walking along the Piracicaba river, visiting museums and having lunch with Beto at a riverside restaurant, and going to visit Camila's uni, flat and having pizza in Campinas.
The next day we left for Rio, having brought Camila back to Piracicaba the night before. A bit of a marathon drive for Beto - about twelve hours, with a stop at Camila's favourite motorway restaurant for us - the name of which escapes me ...beginning with 'F' like Frango or something - to finally experience what she was talking about (and it was very good).
Wow - what a blast Rio was. Such a beautiful city. Loved every minute of it - and that really felt like the holiday for all of us. We drove around Tijuca Forest National Forest on Corcovado Mountain, and visited the Chinese lookout and Christ the Redeemer. We visited Ipanema, Copacabana, and Prainha Beaches (and what I didn't know was that each beach has a different footpath mosaic pattern). We visited the Lapa steps and went to US-import restaurant, Outback, for lunch (the deep-fried onion.... mmmmmm!). We rubbernecked at houses and the riotous colour on a long and narrow drive around the hills. We took the cable car up the Sugarloaf to see the sunset across Guanabara Bay, toward Niteroi.
Then all too soon the five days were over, and Ana and Chico had to head back to their work. Beto, having driven the twelve hours there, also drove the twelve hours back, stopping at the heritage marine town of Paraty (est 1597) on the way home to Piracicaba for a late lunch, some shopping and sight-seeing, before driving on to Piracicaba.
The next day we went to Botucatu to see Ana Julia Delgado, along with Camila and Célia. It was lovely to see her again, and to meet her father (who most generously gave us some aged cachaça - the sugarcane-based alcohol that Caipirinha is made from). Ana Julia's unofficial step-mother makes amazing mosaics out of egg shell, so I took lots of photos to pass to Ellie F when I got home (Ellie is really getting creative with these now). Ana took us sight-seeing around Botucatu and we visited a coffee museum in the Uni grounds there (focus is on agriculture in that region - gorgeous, spread-out campus like Piracicaba's one). We also went up on a rise which looked like the edge of a rift valley where we could see for miles. I took lots of photos, but not quite enough to make a full panorama. This was a SERIOUSLY big view.
Finishing off that day at an all you can eat pizzeria, the next saw us head back to Sao Paulo, for some more sightseeing, a trip to all-you-can-eat beef restaurant, Fogo de Chao, and to stay at Ana and Camila's cousin Elika's apartment, which she generously lent to us. I didn't eat meat at Fogo de Chao, but there was a buffet table of salads. I made it halfway along one side before I was so full that I was in danger of doing a Roald Dahl-like exploding child.
We had a fantastic couple of days, before it was time to wedge ourselves into another tin tube and head home. Again, largely sleepless. And late. And we missed our connector in Auckland (apparently Lan Chile are habitually at least an hour late - so if you are planning a trip, go AirNZ into Argentina instead, or allow four hours between your arrival and your onward flight).
Food finds: funnily enough, mostly drinks. Abacaxi com Hortela Suco - that is,
Pineapple juice with mint. So refreshing. And Suco de Caju - this is cashew fruit, very nice. Who knew that cashew nuts are the stalk?! And, of course, Caipirinha.
The Martins sent us home with presents for the other Rotary host families, and a swag of memories. We hope they come back to New Zealand to visit soon: we were so seamlessly and warmly looked after, we have some real host responsibility to live up to.
It was the most fantastic holiday. Thank you so much, the Martins family!!!
My Uncle Eddie was always my favourite Uncle. He had some great gifts that I very much enjoyed: his sense of humour, his kindness and his ability to discuss almost anything, anywhere. I loved his passion for unearthing history, and his energy in putting time in to find out the smallest detail.
An absolute gentleman, in the truest sense of the word.
My Aunty Diana chose her husband very well :-)
He has a very special place in my heart and memory. My first boxer was named after him (our family always was weird ;-D).
I put together a video clip of him, as I did for my Aunty Jill (of my Uncle Tom), using a favourite piece of music for both of them at:
My father didn't expect to live to 80: I suspect that he thought, that like his parents, that he would make an early exit from this world.
However, the relentless shaving of seconds from the cosmological clock had him suddenly realise that he had - bewilderingly - managed an innings of 80 in May 2014.
We felt that such an important event should not go unheralded, so we threw a party, and took lots of photos.
I was at that time deep in finalising my Master's thesis, so was going to compile a photobook when I got time.
We had the photos, I was just lacking some space to devote to the task. My teaching load suddenly went ballistic as one management lecturer left one week out from the start of Semester two, 2014. I had the capacity to devote more hours to teaching as my study load had dropped, so added two more papers, and arranged to teach summer school.
As a result, there as not much headspace available for creativity, so this project slowed to an almost stop... but there was slow progress.
In May 2015, I at last finished the album. I made a video of the album, which can be viewed here:
My father was delighted to receive a hardback book for his birthday, as was our once-estranged cousin Kim.
My next little project is to make a better flipbook than the momento one that I posted on 30 April (as it only shows the left-hand pages!) of the great 80th birthday, hoping that this too will not take another year to finalise.
This is still in progress, and I will post an update as soon as it is complete!
I have been putting together a photobook for my Father's 80th birthday last year, as a present for this year's birthday. Take a look:
http://www.momento.co.nz/index/preview/id/2187122/auth/55419555dabf09.44898167?iframe=true&width=1200&height=800
Sam
This was created for Kim, to illustrate the Whipp family history, using the pictures that Aunty Jill had collected. The quality of some of the images isn't that great, due to age in some cases, as well as sometimes being due the fact that I had to zoom in quite a bit to extract head shots from the originals.
However, it provides some insight into how our family members age, and what those who came before us looked like:
Hi all,
My Uncle Tom died in January this year, after having been in some rest homes and a hospital room at Oakwoods in Richmond for a wee while.
I learned at his funeral in Mapua that his favourite piece of music was Ivan Rebroff's Evening Bells, so I made a wee movie for my Aunty Jill, using some photos that I had, the funeral and a little of the music:
Aunty Jill seemed in reasonable health, and was well looked after by my cousin Gavin and his wife Estelle. Another of my aunts, Diana, came up from Christchurch (with a friend of hers), my parents and my brother and I went. It was very nice - despite the circumstances - to see everyone and to catch up.
Hi everyone,
We have had a busy month or more since I last sent a report. To see much of it in video, watch here:
We have had Lara and Otto to stay, had our New Year's barbecue, been to the Mudcastle Christmas Party and had the Rose Road Christmas Party at Daniel & Diana's. We went up to Wellington for Christmas, and John dog-sat during his tour (very well organised!). We stayed with Brigitte and John in Wellington, and had Weinachten and Christmas lunch at Tina and Jeremy's.
Hartmut & Uta are with us at the moment, visiting us and attending the Adam Chamber Music Festival. They have been on a tour of the West Coast, and have filled their hearts with lovely places, and now that the concerts have started, get to add a musical score to remember their trip by. It is the first time that Uta has visited our house, so has been quite special.
We have the Sarau fair from mid-afternoon, which is more or less our local harvest festival. It celebrates the blackcurrant harvest. Although it is raining very, very lightly - what a blessing after a month of no rain! - I think the event will go ahead as planned. We will all go later in the day and wander around the grounds enjoying the local sights and sounds and catching up with our neighbours from further afield.
Jan, Warren and Mark (an NMIT colleague of mine) did a big day on the chainsaws and felled, split and stacked enough wood for three families for winter. Warren and his brother have, between them, a wood splitter which we were able to use. Fantastic. Otto & Lara were here at the time and helped for the day. It was a BIG workday for everyone. Mark has since been out for another session with Jan. I forgot to take any video - and some of those trees coming down sounded pretty dramatic!
When Otto & Lara were with us they went sailing with Craig and Katherine and Craig's two children, went to Tahuna beach for the day, went to Warren & Trace & Erica's, Lara made a charm bracelet with Erica - her Christmas present from us - at the Bead Gallery (while Otto helped Tracey weed the tunnel houses).
We had Magda and David to visit.We caught up with KT, KB, Bootie, Megan and Will.
We have booked our tickets for Brazil and leave NZ for Sao Paulo on 2 April, returning to Nelson on 20 April. Yay!
