News from Nelson – February 2008

Hi all,

Wow, the last few weeks have just flown past. I hope all is going well for all of you :-)

Jan had a great time at the Rugby Sevens, and didn't get too wet in the rain on Friday night. He was very tired when he got home though! We also went to the Sarau fair at Upper Moutere on Sunday, but didn't stay that long as it was soooo hot that we were wilting. We did swing by the land, as our neighbour - who has been grazing his rams on our place - had left the water tap on in the trough and had drained 25,000 litres of water down the hill. Needless to say, we were dropping over a few litres of water to water the trees.

Luckily we have since had a wee bit of rain, so the tank is now 100mm full from the bottom, which means that the irrigation system will now work. And at least autumn is coming!

On Waitangi Day a group of us went up Mount Arthur, which was great. I took the new camera, and then on our return, discovered a funky little piece of freeware by two guys at the University of British Columbia called Autostitch which painlessly created some wonderful panoramas for us from the photos we had taken.

We had Karen, Merrill & Colin all staying with us for Sealord Opera in the Park with Dame Kiri this past weekend. We had a great night out. Karen, Jan & I sold programmes for the Cancer Society in the gold seating area. The sound system was great, people were really well behaved, the weather couldn't have been better, the fireworks were fab. However, for those who were picnicking, I understand that the infrastructure needed some more work; they needed more toilets and food stalls, and the existing access to what there was of both was inadequate. There's always something that can be improved in all these events :-)

Hui-Ping stayed with Julie & Murray, so we all caught up for breakfast on Sunday morning at our place - and Jan's waffles; yum. We also had breakfast out on Thursday for Karen's birthday & caught up with Nicki, Dawn, Tiffany, Julie, Gilbert & his wee boys.

Karen & I had a great time together and it was wonderful to see her. She is thinking about working her way up to competing in a half Ironman. That will be a fantastic thing for her to do. She is coming down to Nelson again for the Taylor's Triathlon at the end of March, so we will get a good catch up then too.

Thanks for those of you who have sponsored either Jan or myself for the NZ Cancer Society's Relay for Life. We really appreciate it. I had a mammogram done in January, and just got called back for a more in-depth set of x-rays and ultrasound as they had found a mass which they felt needed further investigation. Luckily the mass in question is purely a cyst. However, in going through the ultrasound, they have also discovered a much larger cyst which hadn't shown up at all on the mammogram, so that is now documented as well.

Jan & I had a chat last week about our lack of progress on building plans. We thought that the road block was partly that we thought that we wanted to build a house somewhat like the house we currently have, but then all the designs that we liked were very modern. It made it very hard to work out what we wanted to do.

Then last week we went to an open home on Kina Peninsular, at PureStyle, and we think we might now have house plans. Amazing, I know. We got some very basic floor plans from the developers, and now have to investigate price; ie how much to (a) buy the plans from PureStyle & get a draughtsperson to make the changes we want and contract a builder to build it (b) get a quote from PureStyle to make the changes we want, build it it using our timber & project manage the build for us (c) get a quote from PureStyle for the plans, get a draughtsperson to make the changes we want & find out how much it would cost to use their builders/sub-contractors to do the work for us using our timber. It is all double-glazed, wool block insulated etc etc. The developer, Alan Trent, said that he has doubled the required code on all aspects of the build, which we both liked. So anyway, we will see where we get to on negotiation. The house we liked cost $700,000 to build. Ouch. If you are interested in the over-indulgence of it all, check out http://www.purestyle.com (however, I find these photos a bit too much of a 'production' - I would never have gone to see the place if we had seen these beforehand).

This weekend we are heading over to Marlborough to see where Magda is living. It will be good to catch up with her. We also plan to get a day over at the land to do some spraying now we have some water again, and to see how the eucalypts have cut up & how many railway sleepers and floorboards we now have.

Take care, lots of hugs & more next time. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – January 2 2008

Hi all,

Just a quick note this time as I am in the middle of summer school exams, assignment marking & have been asked to teach two papers this coming semester. I have decided to teach one, but I am still considering the other.

Jan is off to the Rugby Sevens in Wellington this Friday night with a team of his workmates and colleagues from around the region. He flies back to Nelson at 11am on Sunday morning, so I doubt whether he will manage to get in touch with any of you as their schedule seems to be pretty full on.

We have planned no other time away at the moment, other than a day (Monday next week) climbing Mount Arthur, which will be great. I will take the new camera!

There is also the annual Sarau fair over at Upper Moutere on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the blackcurrant crop, so if Jan has the energy after his trip to the Sevens, we may head over there & check it out.

On February 16th we have Karen & Hui-Ping, Merrill & Colin all staying with us for Sealord Opera in the Park with Dame Kiri. That should be a great night out, and I am really looking forward to it.

My Rotary club, Whakatu, are entering a team in the NZ Cancer Society's Relay for Life, a fundraiser for cancer research, education and hospice care. I volunteered, and so did Jan, so we are both going to be doing the relay. I know Jan has got very organised and emailed some of you to ask you if you would make a donation, and some of you have already done that, which is great. Any of you who would like to make a donation, flick us an email & we will send you an email with a link to do that online.

Take care, lots of hugs & more next time. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – January 2008

Hi all,

And a happy New Year to you all! Wow, it has been a busy start to the New Year.

We saw Jenny and her family on Boxing Day, out at the farm, which was great. I managed to catch a 24 hour vomiting & diarrhoea bug from Bunty, which laid me low for a few days, just when I had planned some time to play catch ups on lecture preparation & writing my final exam! But it was worth it to see Jen :-)

Jan has felt that his pile of work has been too big for him; he hasn't completed the tasks on his job list, and is also feeling under a bit of pressure.

However, we think we are coming to Europe in June. Jan may have a work trip taking him to a factory in Flensburg for a new cut-to-size saw for the MDF Plant, and, if so, I will go as well - but to London initially. If it all comes off, while Jan is busy with work, I hope to spend a week or ten days in London with Justine (hey, Justine, I have been meaning to call you & ask you & Gareth if I can come & stay!!), then go on to Germany once Jan's work is finished. We would then visit Treysa & Neu-Ulm for a week before heading home. We won't know (a) if the trip is going to happen until closer to time, and then (b) won't know exact dates until very close to time; it really depends on how the build is going at the German factory as to when we will get a departure date.

The other trip we are thinking about is a group tour of China. Some friends of ours heard about a group who toured last year for $3000/person including flights. Apparently there might be some spare capacity after the Beijing Olympics & Paralympics are over, so some friends of ours are checking it out. We will wait & see; if it proves to be cheap, we will probably try to get a booking around October or November.

The week before Christmas we went over to see the land to see the sawmiller who will be dropping our eucalyptus trees next week & turning them into floorboards & railway sleepers; and milling some old pine logs into railway sleepers as well. We plan on using the eucalypt railway sleepers to put in new garden beds here at Montrose Drive; the oils in the wood will preserve it & mean that it doesn't need any preserving treatment. Ideal for the vege garden :-)

We have bought our new camera, the Panasonic Lumix FZ-18. Jan has had a reasonable play with it, but I haven't had time to use it properly yet. Never mind, we will find some time this weekend to explore its potential. We are going to spend a bit of time doing things around the house - like hacking back the neighbour's wisteria which grows EVERYWHERE & doing some weeding.

Aside from some work in the garden and exploring the new camera, this coming weekend we are off to see the Da Vinci Machines exhibition at the Nelson Museum, having a farewell dinner with Magda & going to the land on Sunday.

Magda is off to Blenheim to live for a year or two; she has got a position at Wairau Hospital as a Registered Nurse. Aside from our friendship being slightly more long distance, I will miss our twice weekly tennis sessions. I need to find someone else to play with. The trouble is that I am fairly bad at tennis, so no one who can play well will be able to cope with my style of play (ie 'four counties tennis' - the rules are that if the ball is still moving, then you chase it regardless of which court it is in - or not in). I was starting to think that perhaps I should have some lessons (not that I hold much hope of lessons helping, it is just someone to play with!).

We saw in the New Year with Kathleen & Frits, in their new house. It was a really nice evening, but very tame; we watched a movie, drank some bubbly, ate some stollen, then did a Wasgij until 3am!

Uncle Norman is pretty frail at present; he is having to rest a lot more. He is not very patient with letting other people do things for him, or with having to ask for help. I guess it runs in the family! Last weekend I downloaded some freeware so that he could record all his old LPs and 45s as MP3s and play them on his MP3 player. We plugged in his record player & the whole process was actually pretty easy. Probably the trickiest part is synchronising the start of the record with the start of the recording, but it is easy enough to just start again if you muck it up. It makes me glad that I kept my record player... it is still safely in its carton in the garage.

Janet de Beer's husband Robert had a nasty surprise trip to hospital before Christmas; he had to have another stent (he is OK - a relief for all of us). Another friend of ours has just had to have the same treatment. It provides a bit of a reminder to keep down the fats & keep up the exercise when that starts happening to people you know.

Jan is thinking about buying a new motorbike. He wants to get one a little larger than the GN; something that will not use too much more fuel, but will give better traction in the wet and a bit more power. He looked at a BMW650 at Thunderbike two weekends ago, but doesn't think that bike is quite right for him. He needs one that gives him a fairly upright riding position. There is a Suzuki 650 V-Strom that he likes, but he hasn't managed to find one to test ride yet.

We went to the Playhouse for a dinner theatre with Trish & Wayne (ex-UWH hockey people from Chch who were up in Nelson on holiday), on the old costal highway between Nelson & Mapua. The show was the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sadly it was only two days since I had had my bug, so I wasn't really in the mood (in fact, I ended up not being able to eat any dinner & having to go & lie down in the car). However, Jan got dragged up on stage to be Brad before I bailed. I managed to get some fairly bad photos of him (one of the things driving the new camera purchase).

Jan managed to catch up with Gary & Sandra, and Gary & Karen (both while I was out of action, sadly). We both caught up with Bertie & Megs, Hui-Ping & Yi Mei; but I missed catching up with both Kel Atkinson & Wendy Sawyer. I am catching up with Kel today & hope to see Wendy next week, as I haven't seen her since her return from the UK.

In fact, Jan & I went with Hui-Ping & Yi Mei out to a new café at Cable Bay, opened by Kay Field who owns Morrison Street Café and the café at Mitre10 Mega. It is a great little café, with wonderful food. It is in a little converted cottage, has a very bachy feel, has loads of old photos of the area on the walls, and the garden is full of tables. They haven't spoiled the interior at all; it is just as you would expect a Kiwi bach to be. It is next door to the tiny motor camp at Cable Bay, 100 metres from the sea, right on the road. The place was jammed full, with carloads of people just driving out to go to the café - and not being able to fit (like the clientele for the café at Makara Beach - if it is still there).

We went to see Fiona Pears last Friday night, a jazz violinist, at the School of Music with John & Jo Fitzwater. She was a very energetic performer (she reminded me of Coco!), and very talented. She wrote a lot of the music she performed.

Tonight we are off having dinner out with Sandra & Kevin & playing a few bad games of pool. Should be a laugh. On January 29th we are going to our second 50th birthday party; Wayne Chisnall, who is married to my school & hockey compadré Wendy, is having a fairly full on bash for a large crowd. I would imagine that we won't be up for much the next day!

I don't think we will be heading away anywhere until April; my summer school class doesn't finish until the 8th of February (final exam) and then we have Karen & Hui-Ping down from Wllg on Feb 15, 16 & 17 for Sealord Opera in the Park, and on the 29th we have the Suter's Annual Degustation Dinner, which we are taking a table at. Then Karen is down again at the end of March for the Taylor's Women's Triathlon again (and I am not doing it this year, yay!).

We had thought we might be able to get away at Easter, but the Certificate in Adult Teaching foundation course will be being run then. As it looks as though I will be carrying on with part-time teaching (I have an AUT Intro to Marketing course scheduled to deliver in Semester 2 this year), I feel that I need to do the training.

Jan is collecting coins (at last we have something to put in that 600kg safe that we bought in Christchurch in 2006!). So if anyone has any old Kiwi currency that they want a home for, or if you find a bright & shiny coin, send it to Jan. He may even remember to send you back the equivalent value  :-)

Phew; I think that's all our news. I hope you manage to endure to read right to the end!

Take care, hugs, hope you are having a great 2008. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – December 2007

Hi all,

Go to http://gpsinformation.info/main/merryxmas.swf to get in the Xmas mood - or to http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1583109341 to see our board of the Business Development Company (the company CEO organised this & sent it to all the board members as a Christmas 'surprise'). Very cute - our CEO must have the same contacts as Tina & Jeremy!

Jan & I have had a busy few weeks, what with some extra Christmas functions that we have been invited to & were able to get to, going to Wellington & work.

Jan has his "end of work" BBQ on Monday for the Christmas shut, but he is back at work on Thursday for all the shut maintenance, upgrades & commissioning. I was at drinks at NMIT's Business School on Friday, and am technically off until 7 January, but will be busy preparing the lectures for the rest of the semester, have some assignment marking to do, and a course delivery proposal for Semester 1 next year to work through & decide if I want to do it. That should keep us both out of trouble.

Jan was asked to attend the Business School's prizegiving a week ago & thought he must have got a prize for having come top in the Strategic Management class. However, his name wasn't in the programme when we got there, and we found, after having got down to the second to last award, that he had won a prize for being the top performing part-time student. Not bad, eh?!

Magda graduated with her Batchelor of Nursing Friday a week ago & has just heard that she has also passed her State Finals, so is also now a fully registered nurse, a B.N with twenty years experience. I dragged out the old SLR film camera & took some photos of her in her flat hat & bat cape after the ceremony conferring her degree :-)

We had a lovely time in Wellington, staying with John & Brigitte. Tina is recovering slowly from surgery, so her birthday on Friday night was a low key, family affair. Lunch on Saturday at Clarks was great; it is amazing how quickly everyone's children are growing up. Karen looks fantastic & Sonia is pregnant! We missed Hui-Ping, Wendy & Gerry & Christél (all otherwise engaged). Karen, Jan & I slid across to the City Gallery afterwards to see the Bill Hammond exhibition, which was quite disturbing & challenging (as usual). We caught up with Hartmut & Uta for dinner & a play - Streetcar Named Desire - at Circa, then went out to Upper Hutt to see them on Sunday morning. A final trip to visit the Nelsons & we were off home once more.

I have heard from my cousin Susan in the UK, and, having been off work for quite a while, she has now finished her breast cancer treatment. She feels that the prognosis is good & expects to be getting back into work fairly soon. All a big relief.

This weekend is a weekend of catch ups with us seeing Andrew & Jennie (and Maya & Ella), John & Jo (and Bonnie), trying to catch up with Max & Karen (missed them), my family Xmas get together and then hooking up with Jenny L, Bunty & Donald on Boxing Day. We are also catching up with Bertie & Megs on Christmas eve, which will be great.

Wendy Sawyer is back in Nelson & I hope to catch up with her for lunch sometime next week, while things are a bit quiet. Kelly Atkinson & I have been trying to catch up for a coffee, but ran out of time before Xmas. I did manage to drag her along to Rotary with her Cancer Society hat on to talk to the members, and before we knew it our Rotary club was entering a team in the Cancer Society Relay for Life (yep, I am in the team), and probably selling programmes to raise funds at the Opera in the Park (yep, Jan & I too).

Coco is about to be deliriously happy for Xmas - Jo has got her friend in Florida to send some more of those delightful squeaky toys over. Coco won't know where to start - with six of them there will be far too much choice! I think we might need to get Fliss some earplugs... or perhaps just some pigs ears to take outside and gnaw.

We have booked some events for the Nelson Jazz festival which starts on 2 January, and for Kiri at Opera in the Park on Feb 15th. Jan, Karen, Hui-Ping & I all have posh seats. With champagne, blinis & smoked salmon catering. Mmmm...

We are going to organise a trip away, but are debating on whether that will be going North or South. We have some airpoints to use up, so will come back to you when we have made our decision about where we visit next.

Take care, hugs, happy New Year. Alles liebe :-)

Sam & Jan