News from Nelson - September 2018

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the long hiatus since updating you all: but I will go through and post the news month by month, despite the fact that the date is now January 2019.

At the beginning of September we got the terrible news that Jan's cousin Simone had been widowed. Her husband had been unwell for some time, but the news that Michael was gone was a terrible shock. Andreas and Simone are raw, but coping. We hope to see them in December when we are thinking we will go to Germany.

My work continued to be busy with this semester's students getting their projects underway: thought I would have to say that I had higher numbers of students at risk this semester than ever before. The supervisory team has been working really well, however, and are all doing a great job to lift the student game in double-quick time. We had one supervisor pull out, and the rest of us redistributed that supervisor's workload, but that seemed to work out OK.

Jan is still not enjoying his work, so has started firming up a commissioning job for German company, Dieffenbacher (which builds particle board, MDF and LVL plants and equipment). We don't know much yet about how long he is going to be away for, but he is thinking that he is likely to be away for two months at a time in the Americas, nor do we know a start date yet. Sometime in the New Year. I am not at all happy about it, but Jan is keen.

Argentina - the Pumas - played the All Blacks at Trafalgar Park here in Nelson. The Port Company had tickets which staff went into the draw for: Jan got two tickets. It was a great game. The weather was cold, but we were all dressed for it, and the crowd was partisan, but fair. We had left my little nana car over at the Port offices, so we walked to the park, then were able to simply walk back and drive home without the traffic over over 21,000 people all heading home at the same time affecting us too much. I almost lost my voice from shouting :-)

I am still working on the one year wardrobe challenge, and have rediscovered the outfit I wore to Lara's naming ceremony, which must be nearly sixteen years ago!

 Finn is growing like a weed, but still remains full of the joys of the world. He is a very happy dog to own (mind you, he has yet to hit those canine teenager times). Aunty Boo is keeping an eye on him, and keeping him in line. She runs a very good line in distraction tactics when he is misbehaving.

Jan & I had to clear out the ford closest to us a couple of times from the winter storms. Of course, all the working photos are of Jan, as someone had to take the photos...! From water level quite high with crap all over the fence...

To unblocking the drain under the ford...

To unblocking the drain on the uphill side...

To the ford going back to normal level and tidying up the last of the clumps of debris.

We got invited to a dinner at Shelley & Kevin's place, which was total foodie heaven. Shelley took on my dietary restrictions with gusto, and cooked things which I could eat, which was just bliss. A great night, with ex-Sealord colleagues Dawn (and Neil), Shelley (and Kevin), Karen & Tom, with much wine drunk! Even better, my old canteen of silver cutlery got a new home, as I realised that Shelley had the same service. My cutlery has been sitting in a carton in the back of the laundry for ages, and seeing the joy she got from using hers, it was an easy donation to make :-)

Jan went to Australia this month to attend a seminar run by his safety guru, Sidney Dekker. He said that the seminar was great, and he learned a lot. Interestingly enough he had a burst blood vessel in his eye while he was in a lecture session, seated between two paramedics who then checked him for all sorts before saying it was just one of those things. Couldn't have been in a better place for that kind of thing to have happened! He stayed with Tanja while he was there, which was nice for them both. He is currently working on his final essay for his Health & Safety course.

I have started a Maori cultural familiarisation course through CDANZ, which has been good, and have done a couple of Institute of Directors courses as well. I have been too busy at work to finalise my AJCD article changes, and realistically won't get to that until January now.

This month Jan also had an NSO concert, Opera Mania, which was be the last concert that the NSO will have at Old St John's. At long, long last the Nelson School of Music will be reopening next month. Opera Mania went well, with the Anvil chorus being repeated as an encore at the end. It was very, very good, despite a small dollop of Wagner!

My wee nana car crapped out this month: the first time it has ever broken down. The alternator died on us, on the way home (right outside the Richmond branch of the garage I use). Jan got in touch with a former colleague and he rescued us, gave us a loaner car, and we were off. However, this is making me think that it is time to start thinking about a replacement: it was first registered in 2006, now being a venerable 12 years old. I would really like an electric car, but I don't think they have the range yet for our driving requirements of up to 130km a day without a recharge. I will have to buy a second-hand electric car, which will have already lost some of its range. Also, Nelson has very few charging places - all of which you have to pay for. While I may be able to recharge, it will require an extension cord and a 'willing' power socket. Something to think about, anyway.

Plans are firming up for our German trip. It looks like it will be December. We will update everyone as we know.


Sam (& Jan)

If I had words for Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 and Gareth Farr's Ripple Effect

Yesterday I attended the opening of the refurbished Nelson School of Music, which was a delight. I found the end of the first half and second half stronger than the beginning, which was interesting in itself, with the first half having two pieces played by the New Zealand String Quartet (a Beethoven and a Bartok). 

However, the first half ended spectacularly with Gareth Farr's composition gift to the school, "Ripple Effect", played by Nelson music students alongside the New Zealand String Quartet. This made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I would buy a recording in a heartbeat. It was fabulous. What a Taonga Gareth has created for Nelson. The percussion sounded like the bells of Pikimai ringing through deepening fog to bring our ships safely to harbour...

Then into the second half, Nelson City Brass opened with the Fanfare for the Common Man; pianist Matteo Napoli with Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 alonside the Nelson Symphony Orchestra; followed by the NSO with a very polished rendition of Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 in C minor featuring the Cawthron organ, which itself has had a close to million dollar upgrade. Ha, ha: I kept wanting to sing "If I Had Words" (taken from symphony's maestoso by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley way back in 1978, and it is famous itself for loads of mondegreens, including "Sister Moonshine", "if you are not deeply moved, child", and "If I had words to make your dream come true"). A couple of videos below:





If I had words lyrics were by J. Hodge, a UK jingle writer:

If I had words 
To make a day for you 
I sing you a morning golden and new 
I would make this day 
Last for all time 
Give you a night 
Deep in moonshine 

The concert closed with the Hallelujah Chorus form Handel's Messiah, sung by the Nelson Civic Choir with the NSO. 

It was a wonderful opening for the rebuilt school, but I would like to have seen a deputation from Wakatu Marae there, particularly for the investiture of the Taonga Pūtātara. 


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - September 2017

Hi everyone,
More sad news for 2017. My Uncle Norman passed away on the first of September at 5.45pm. Both Jan and I were with him at the end. My Mother had gone away for a few days to Auckland at Izzy’s 2nd birthday (Tessa's little boy), and the day she left he started to slip away. My brother came down, and together we saw him off on his last journey. He, like my parents, donated his body to the Otago Medical School, so the undertakers will do a special medical embalming and get him transported to Otago.

We held a memorial at the village he lived at for a decade, for his friends and neighbours to remember him. A lot of them had been visiting them, including a couple of them who can no longer drive, but happily biked the ten kilometre round trip to see him. That's dedication. My sister came up for the memorial, which was nice.

I am now winding up his affairs. His will has to go through probate, and apparently there is quite a queue in the High Court at present, so this is going to take a while. And, in going through this process again, I learned something new: if you are in a long term relationship, you need to have your bank account in joint names, not simply have signing authority. This is because at death, signing authority ceases but having a joint account means that the funds are free straight away for the surviving account holder. I hadn't realised the difference: and that is much easier than waiting for probate.

Jan's birthday was a fairly quiet affair at Poppy Thai, a Thai restaurant in Richmond. The food was good, and we had quite a range of people there - including Karen and Max whom we haven't seen in quite a while, despite them living out in Cotterel Road now.

Jan's boss at the DHB resigned this month, so they asked Jan if he would take on more hours. Of course he said yes! <sigh> He has gone up to 36 hours, but, instead of doing five days, he has packed the extra hour into four days of nine hours. That means he can keep playing in the quartet on Mondays, which is nice. What is really funny though is that Jan's boss was gone for a bit over a week, then was suddenly back as a contractor. It is also really murky about whether she is still the manager or not, and no one really seems to have any oversight of the actual practices going on there. The more I hear about this organisation, the more of a management debacle it appears to be.

Jenny L came to Nelson and we caught up with her for lunch at Karanga and dropped her off at the airport (which was lovely). She had been up for a couple of family birthdays. After that we went around to Glenys and Kevin's for Kev's birthday.

We know it is cold when Bonnie and Boo curl up together... and our spring has been cold and wet this year. Though, in saying that, we think Boo likes Bonnie more than Bonnie likes Boo. When Bonnie went to the vet for the day, Boo was totally at a loose end. Quite surprising.

And, speaking of couches - well, pictures of a couch, anyway - we have finally got around to ordering two new couches for our living area. We had meant to do this the year we moved in, but not only was money tight, but we just didn't quite get around to it. The intervening eight years didn't really get us any closer, either. However, two things came together this month: I was washing the upholstery and realised that it is getting VERY thin in places, and the burgundy has gone grey where the sun has bleached it; and we got invited to a 'cost plus 10%' evening for Farmside account holders at a local furniture shop. We went in, and found a lovely L-shaped leather couch to replace two of our old ones... which then left us with needing another two seater to replace the remaining two seater, and we found that at another store. Both are on order, in chocolate brown. The two seater should be with us in 6 weeks, and the L-shaped one in 16 weeks. No rush - the old ones were 23 years old, after all :-)

The rubbish weather has brought some lovely sunrises with it, which is nice. Always a two way thing!

The NSO had a pretty ambitious programme for the spring concert, including Pictures at an Exhibition, which I managed to find illustrations for, and popped on a PowerPoint for Jan to change as the movements progressed. This concert was in the Nelson College Hall.

I got an interesting surprise at the concert's after-match function: Jan has decided to step back onto the committee as the Chair - in the same month that he has gone back up to almost full time. That will also be interesting. He is also currently in rehearsals for the Cantata Memoria in conjunction with the Nelson Civic Choir, which will be performed at Labour Weekend.
 
Again, to polish my writing I have been undertaking another MOOC over four weeks, the University of Leicester's course, Discovering Your PhD Potential. This is proving very interesting. I have got quite a few tips already. I am still plodding away on getting my academic articles written: up to draft #8 on one of them now. By crikey, I am sick of the sight of it! The other one is languishing in "not enough data collected yet" land. I am trying to get more students to answer the survey, but there is only so much I can do without creating unacceptable amounts of bias <sigh>

I am looking to the study break and spending some time with Lara, who is coming down to stay next month. It should be great fun. 

That will do us for this month: back to you in another four weeks... and hopefully everyone is well next time.


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - July 2016

Hi everyone,
At the beginning of July, Jan and I went up to Wellington to attend a leadership lecture at  Victoria Uni from a set of Fullbright scholars and Sir Peter Blake Leadership trust award recipients. It was very interesting, and hosted by my old Master's supervisor, Brad Jackson.

Jan had to come with me to be my left-hand man, as I would have been unable to have gone without his assistance :-)

We got picked up by Brigitte & John, with Otto, and had a cup of coffee and a chat at the Ibis. We walked from there down to Vic law school for the lecture (and they gave us lots of canapes). 

After the lecture we got picked up by Jeremy, and taken to see his new place. We met DeAnne, and got a chance to catch up with Lara. All in all we had a very tight schedule, but we managed to fit in lots of visits.

It was great to go to the lecture, but my arm was jangling fit to bust by the time I got back to the hotel, and by the time I got home again after the trip.

A pity we couldn't see Tina, Hartmut and Uta as well, but there was such a short time. We could perhaps have caught up with Tina for breakfast, except I had already arranged to meet Brad at Astoria for breakfast, to talk about  PhD options.

Brad thought that I should try Griffith University in Brisbane, and that I should continue to pursue the idea that I worked up for AUT, rather than undertaking my original career leadership idea. Griffith apparently has a good - and growing - global reputation. As I had not considered Griffith before, this will take some investigation. 

Brad was quite dismissive of my original career focused PhD: and I think he has a point. This is a "safe" idea that won't rattle any cages, nor will provide the amount of challenge that my sports governance one will. 

After breakfast, Jan went to meet one of the HR people at WorkSafe (New Zealand's health and safety government watchdog). He wanted to find out more about the organisation, and DeAnne had put him in touch with someone to talk to.

Despite the Wellington trip away, I have been taking things very quietly. I have read a book a day since my surgery, which has been really wonderful. 

Jan has decided to take the opportunity to become a certified electrician, and is starting his coursework this month, with his final exam being in November, and a practicum in the first week of December. He is also hopeful of getting into a health and safety certification course, NEBOSH (and I've no idea what it stands for), which will be held in September and October. He is currently on the waiting list for that.

The Nelson Symphony Orchestra had their mid-year concert: America, held in the Nelson Cathedral. This was a very interesting programme, with music that was quite expansive and sweeping. Jan has also volunteered to play in the Nelson Choir's production of Stabat Mater, and in Nayland College's school production of Annie get your Gun (with performances in the first week of August).

We caught up with Glenys & Kevin for an afternoon of eating, drinking and talking (surprise, surprise) which was very entertaining. We also had dinner with Jenny, Tracey and Erica. 

We also had a mid-winter Christmas at the Hofman's which was great: we had "three lights"; three light courses - nibbles, soup, and cake for dessert. I had made a Nigella Lawson Christmas cake last year, but the recipe makes two, so I had put one in the freezer. I pulled that out and defrosted it. We took a sugar cone, and brandy, and turned the 'bladder' of Peckhams mulled cider into a burnt caramel, clove and cinnamon heaven. The nibbles were just fantastic: all the things we don't usually eat.

And no-one was too full. It was a really good night, with lots of laughs.

I drove for the first time three weeks after my surgery. to see the hand physiotherapist, for exercises and wrist support. my surgeon had said that I was OK to drive, and despite my reservations, I drove the automatic. The hand physiotherapist told me off quite thoroughly, saying that I should not be driving until the surgeon had signed the bone off as being healed. 

However, despite the driving, I got a good report from the physiotherapist. I have good mobility and had no pain at all from the session - she was very conservative, and focused on only what I could do until I started feeling a small amount of resistance. She was very happy with my mobility and movement, and gave me three small exercises to do five times a day each. My challenge was that they all needed to be done v-e-r-y slowly! She only wants to see me once my surgeon has signed me off, which will be next month. 

After I saw the hand physiotherapist, I went to catch up with an old friend, Di, who was able to drive us around that day, while we had a good gossip, drink coffee, and acted like we were ladies of leisure. 

So once more, Jan had to drive me into work, as I started teaching on the 18th. At least in the first week, I only had two lectures, as one of my other classes didn't start until week six, and the other was online.

By the last week of the month it was six weeks after surgery, and although I hadn't seen the specialist (because he was too busy off skiing and swanning around the world to conferences), I started driving again. Much easier.

We went to Alex and Caroline's Wassail celebrations this month, pulling in all manner of English traditions including the Black Morris to bring on the fruit for the coming year. Kev the Farmer sang a couple of songs again (he has such a good voice). Glenys and Kevin came along too, and we had a good chat about our planned weekend at McLaren's Bay next month.

We caught a movie at the Gecko Theatre in Motueka - Our Kind of Traitor - which was quite good. No major twists, but a good movie. We realised that we don't go to the pictures often enough, so have made a resolution to try to get there at least once a month.

I did a bit of digging and found that Griffiths was 39th in the world for sports management, so figured they could be really worth a look. I also realised that Graham Cuskelly was a professor in the business school at Griffith, and so I emailed him, and, despite being overseas, he replied straight away. So it appears that I may have my supervisor. 

Just like that. A new home across the Tassie for my project too.

Sam (and Jan)

News from Nelson - May 2016

Hi Everyone!
The study break arrived at just the right time late last month for me to catch up on all my marking, due to losing so much time from the migraine I had. Since then I bought Dr Stanton's book, and started applying her "Stanton migraine protocol". I usually get a migraine a month, and this month only had one very small migraine (it was very light, and basically meant I went lay down for an hour). Everything else seems pretty normal now.

However, I am not eating any fruit, am limiting carbohydrates (both of those to reduce glucose), along with taking a magnesium supplement. I have hugely increased my salt - I was only eating about a quarter of what the protocol requires before I started. My taste for coffee is still missing in action.

Jan had a concert this month with the Nelson Symphony Orchestra at old St John's. It was entitled "A Night at the Opera", and featured a soprano, a spinto soprano, a tenor and a baritone, with 16 orchestral pieces taken from 10 operas. It was a really great night of music and performance. Tracy and Erica came with myself and my Mum.

I tried a new take on Uncle Eberhard's chocolate mousse recipe: I made caramel and sea salt mousse for the after party. And because it was made with dark chocolate with very little sugar, I could eat a little of it (ha, ha! Ulterior motive!).

Jan photographed this strange and spectacular rainbow from his office window:

We have had a few very spectacular dawns, which I have captured:

Some of my international research students had a lunch to celebrate their project progress thus far in the semester, which was really nice:

While I am not really feeling quite sociable as I used to - I wonder if that's an after-effect of the migraine? - we are trying to ensure we catch up with our friends. Jan feels more sociable than I do, which is a change. We caught up with the Cools's at our place for a morning tea, had a dinner with John and Aniko (who is here from Hungary) at Rose Road, and went to Tracey & Erica's for dinner with Jenny, and had a farewell dinner for John in Richmond as he has now headed back off to Europe for the winter. 

This means that Bonnie is now back with us for the winter, which is great. As John has been living down in Waimea West for the summer, Bonnie has been with him for most of the time, and we have been dogless. It was particularly awful when Jan had to be away on some training trips, and I was completely alone. 

The time is coming for a new puppy...! 


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - March 2014

Hi all,
We have both been head down & bum up for ages - with no sign of let up until after MIke's wedding, so this is likely to be a fast & furious catch up.

My folks have been going through loads of family photos from my Aunt, looking for pictures of the family. They have been discussing who is in what images, and will take a laptop with the spreadsheet and all the scans back to her to confirm the info. So many of these images I have never seen before. I am very glad they both have put aside the time to do this, because neither Jan nor I have any time at present.

Jan is flat out with work and the NSO, and I am flat out with teaching, career stuff and Masters.

We are both hoping for a break: Jan once he steps of the NSO Committee at the end of the month; me when I get my draft in at the beginning of April.

So more then.

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - February 2014

Wow - where have the days gone?! I can't believe it is February already.

More sad news this year. My cousin Susan's husband Peter died recently. He has been battling cancer. Our thoughts are with her.

Susan & Peter on their wedding day

Jan has been very busy down in the gully putting in irrigation to the orchard, which is awesome. I have been busy pulling out pig fern again. I have also been waging battle on couch grass. Three months of daily attacks now, and I am finally starting to feel like I am making ground.

The tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers are going ballistic in the garden. Once more it is that time of summer where you leave a courgette on the plant over night because it is just a tiny bit too tiny to eat, to find by the next day it has turned into a stonking great marrow. But at least we some great marrow recipes!

Speaking of marrow recipes, dice the volume of marrow/courgette with a half measure of diced mushrooms and a half measure of onions, liberally dose it with Maggi green herb stock and whirl it about on the barbecue. Delicious!

We have had Lara & Otto here to stay for a few days, just as Tina left to go to Germany. We had a great time, taking them to the Sarau Fair, Rabbit Island, shopping in town and to Founders. We had lunch with my folks at Founders Brewery (where Otto & Lara sampled the fruit juices, naturally, not the beer!).

We all took a trip on the train at Founders

Lara beside a sculpture at Founders

Otto & Lara outside the Horticulture exhibits, eating the old welcome to Nelson sign

Otto & Lara at Founders

Otto, Jan & Lara (distance) at Founders

Otto & Jan at Rabbit Island

Jan dragged out his old Märklin train set and he and Otto had lots of fun on the dining table. Maintenance was done. Switching was sorted. A very educational time was spent by both chaps. Lara did some baking, while I rode shotgun. She made a peppermint chocolate cake which was consumed very quickly - so can be considered a triumph. They also re-read all Jan's Tintin books, watched some movies and managed to get quite a few real fruit ice creams during their stay.

Otto with the train

While at the Sarau Fair they both got a henna design on their hands:

Lara's henna

Otto's henna

It was just a pleasure to have them here, and we are looking forward to them coming again. The dogs also loved the company and the extra attention. Perhaps in the winter term break... we will see what works out for Jeremy & Tina.

Otto & Bonnie, Lara & Coco

Tomorrow there is a family gathering in Germany to remember Oma Friedel, then Tina comes home on Sunday. Hopefully it is a healing time for everyone.

Jan has announced to the NSO Committee that he is stepping down as Chair at the next AGM, and stepping off the Committee. I was at the meeting, and there was lots of disappointment from the other committee members. They may persuade him to stay yet - it would make sense if he felt that he could do a 'Past-President' year. But we will wait & see.

The first two of our Niles speakers from the US have arrived, and Jan has installed them. They look fantastic. Only four more to go, and three sets of string lights, and the lounge is finished!

Two Niles speakers in the ceiling

We caught up with Sharon & Ian last weekend for a BBQ at their place and went home feeling like pâté geese. We were both so full we could hardly bend, and it was all our own fault. The food was just lovely. We had also had a fairly big night the night before at our place, as there are some German engineers visiting from Anthon in Flensburg. They came to dinner at our place along with Steve & his wife Linda. Jan barbecued, I made salads and bread, and we finished with a Cointreau chocolate mousse (Gerhard's recipe), shortbread and melon. We took the table outside and ate alongside our wilderness - and I guess tackling that lot will be our next job! A big weekend.

Eating al fresco at Roses Road

So, speaking of food (!) we have booked for the annual Suter Dinner which is a fundraiser for the Bishop Suter Art Gallery, and for the Kahurangi Long Lunch (where we will catch up with Alex & Caroline Peckham, as well as the other usual suspects).

I had a couple of days up in Auckland at the end of January, catching up with my AUT compadrés. It was a great couple of days. Learned and shared lots.

There will be a birthday party on May 24th at the Boathouse for my father. He turns 80, and we hope to make it a real trip down memory lane for him. There will be lots of people here (including our rediscovered cousin Kim and her family). If any of you can think of someone we should contact from here or overseas, please let me know.

Right, better get back to the thesis writing.

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - October 2 2013

Hi all,
I hope you are all fit and well - we seem to be boxing along here just fine. Jan has had a cold though - and spent three days off work with it, but amazingly I didn't catch it. There is a first time for everything!

We seem to have been busy here again for the past few weeks: again, I am not quite suire what has been filling our time, but we have been busy doing it.

We have had the orchard cut, our tenants are moving out at the end of November so we are looking at putting the Montrose Dr house on the market once more, and we have caught up with a few people around the country.

Jan has been to Wellington for the Naenae College reunion this weekend - and apparently many beers were imbibed! Jan went with Tina on the Friday night, and together they caught up with lots of old friends - particularly from Jan's year, as loads of his old compadrés turned up. On Saturday, Jan had brunch with Brigitte and John at Tina & Jeremy's.and caught up with Hartmut & Uta. On Saturday night Jan went to meet his year people for dinner at a Chinese Restaurant, and they finished up at Helen's mother's house in Kelson. He had a great time overall, and I am really sorry that I forgot to send him with a camera!

On Sunday, Gary & Sandra - who have been in Port Headland (Oz) for the past five years - were here on holiday, and picked up Jan from his flight home from Welly, and came to stay. Jan made a massive lasagne for dinner, which he had better freeze, because he is off to the US next week, and he will never eat 3/4s of a huge, deep lasagne dish full of pasta, mince, cheese and tomatoes, before he goes.

On Monday morning, Pat, Marjie & their brood called in for a waffle breakfast on their way home to Chch. The McLarin's drove up to Nelson on Friday, Pat flew to Welly on Friday night for the Naenae Reunion with Jan, came back on Saturday for brother Matt's 40th, then drove home Monday morning with a segue to our place for brekkie on the way. It was lovely to see them again so soon (Marjie is very trim & fit after doing a 20 week challenge. I don't envy her the effort, but it has been very worthwhile because she looks great).

The weekend before that we went to Christchurch, I went to my symposium & AGM, which was great. We stayed with Jen, Jan had lunch, morning tea & afternoon tea dates every day (including Bertie, visiting Meg, Mr Tunley and my Aunt Diana. He had a great time being a lady who lunches :-D ). We had dinner with Magda on Friday night, too.

We caught up with Jennie, Pat, Marjie, Megs (& Will), KB, Gary, Dan, Tori and all the short people. We had a great night at Pat & Marjie's, which was, of course, way too short.

  

 

We called in to see my sister on the way home - and to drop off her birthday present.

The weekend before that we had a lovely, quiet time at home, doing some tidying up and me prepping materials for the coming Career Symposium and AGM in Christchurch. We did a few jobs outside, but the weather wasn't that flash for getting out and about. We had a bit of rain and the fords were pretty full:

Dogs are well. Playing. Lying in the sun. Sleeping. All normal :-)

So, Jan is off to the US and Germany next Tuesday (5 November), and returns on 24 November. Just in time to talk at another Rotary Club about Rotary Youth Exchange with me about the two tours we have taken around the North Island.

Next concert (which Jan will miss) is Sibelius. Magda is coming to Nelson to stay though instead, so I will have the pleasure of her company instead:

That will do for now - I had better do some work!!

Jan & Sam