News from Nelson - April 2010

Hi all,

We are still partly moved in. We have maybe half our stuff still in the garage, as we are waiting on the wardrobes to be finished (so can't unpack our clothes), some wiring in the office to be finished which is holding up putting the rest of the furniture in place (so there are still 20 cartons of office gear in the garage not yet unpacked), the builders to move their gear out of the shed, so Jan's workshop gear is still in the garage (so we can't get cars in), and some shelves in the linen cupboard (so the linen remains packed in cartons), and Michael to get the bookshelf done so I can unpack the books.

I have added to the six cartons of kitchen stuff to be sold on TradeMe - which I will organise slowly over winter.

We have Hartmut staying here at the moment. He has been working on all sorts of projects, but especially a clever compost bin that slots together using our waste timber. We were going to 'ceremonially' add the first compost to it today, but it rained, so we will do that tomorrow morning - have a compost bin warming! Jan has a huge list of jobs that he has discussed with Hartmut, but I don't think either of them realised that the list would take a month, not a week, to complete.

We have put the range hood in place, but haven't yet sorted out the added cowling that it needs, or the stainless steel to go behind the kitchen hob. Things have been so busy that there just hasn't been time yet. Michael Bender has ordered materials for the big bookcase for the lounge, and that should be complete sometime next month. We have a front deck, but ran out of decking for the rear one, so the builders have moved on to another job for the present. We have taken the last of our eucalypt to the timber yard & hope that this will be enough... we will have to wait & see when it has run & when the builders come back to finish off.

Paul Bowe, Alan H (ex-Nelson Pine sparkies) and Alan's wife Vicky came up last weekend and helped Jan with wiring up island bench, and the garage. The wiring is pretty much done now - there are some data sockets that are incomplete, and Jan hasn't yet ordered all the string lights for the lounge, but we have done enough to get by on, probably until we are back from Europe.

We have been to a BBQ down the road at Jimu Grimmet's (on the corner of Roses Road and Rosedale Road), and we are buying our organic veges & goat feta from the Lees down the valley. Becoming part of the community :-) We have also had lots of visitors - Kathleen & Frits came out for dinner, as did John & Jo, and Alan & Vicky. We are also expecting Steph Jackson to arrive here today, and stay overnight.

Jan remains busy at work, but is off at a course today. NMIT & AUT teaching is going well for me, and I have even managed to complete my second assignment for my second-to-last CAT unit. I also have a couple of new fledgling business clients, which is very interesting work.

Jan is currently practicing for the next NSO concert. He has been enjoying the pieces, even though he hasn't had much time for practice yet. He is fully intending to make plenty of time, so some of the huge list of jobs around the house just might need to wait (making music is such an excellent use of time, and good for the soul!).

We have developed the first draft of our plans for Europe, ending at the Edersee for all the Schütte family celebrations, and including 5 days in Freiburg, three with Rainer & Regina, then heading off to see Andreas & Katrin for a few days, then a couple of days with Holger, then Edersee, then and Simone & Michael & flying out. The first draft will be with the German contingent shortly to check that you are all going to be home & available :-)

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - April 2010

Hi all,

Well, we are moved in - partly. We still have about three-quarters of our stuff down in the garage here to sort out, but we will take things quite quietly, and sort stuff out slowly over the next few weeks. We will aim to get things where we want it; and recycle the things that we no longer use. I have six cartons of kitchen stuff that is going on TradeMe as soon as the rest of our belongings are sorted!

The housewarming was a great success, and it was wonderful having so many people here to celebrate with us. Jeremy estimated at one point we had about 70 people there. We had lots of people from Roses Road come to see the house, as well as lots of friends and family. Thanks heaps to Tina & Jeremy, Mike & Birthe, Sam & Moose, Pat & Marjie, Hui-Ping, Shelley, Bertie & Warren & Tracy (and all their short people) for travelling to Nelson especially.

We moved the last of our stuff from Montrose Drive yesterday; that mostly being Jan's safe! Warren & Max came along to help, which made getting it on the trailer a five minute job. Jeremy & Jan managed to prize it off at the other end, and now the builders have said that they will help roll it into position in the basement - hopefully after Jan has had the two holes welded up on it that mean that the blasted thing is neither fire- nor water-proof.

The new carpet has been laid at Montrose Drive, and Jeremy shampooed the remaining carpets yesterday, while Tina, Jan & I cleaned the garage, weeded, harvested our pumpkins, nailed down loose deck boards & generally got the place looking tidy. The chimney is being cleaned and the grass is being cut this week. The new tenants move in this Friday.

While Tina heads home today, Jeremy, Otto & Lara are here until Saturday, so we have lots more time to enjoy their company yet. We have been to the Mapua fair, which was great. We caught up again with Warren & Trace, Max, Karen & Bertie; and Sam & Moose. Yesterday we went to lunch at Founders with Jeremy & Tina, my folks, and joining us later on, Pat, Marjie & Pat's brother Matt & wife Sarah. On Sunday avo, Rob - whom I teach with on the B.Sport & Rec at NMIT - & his wife Eileen came up to see the house. We had a very nice time sitting around & quaffing wine :-)

Yesterday Magda & Julie came out, bringing Julie's twins, Sterl & Siobhan. Julie is currently working on passing her fitness test for active fire-fighting duty; she is heading back into fulltime work now the twins are nearly 15 months old. I can't believe it has been nearly a year and a half since Sterl died, and wee Sterl is the spitting image of his dad.

I still have to organise quotes for the range hood cowling, and the stainless steel to go behind the kitchen hob bench to prevent the possibility of the gas igniting the wall - we put it off to ensure accuracy of measurement! Michael Bender will start on the big bookcase for the lounge when he gets back from holiday later this month. The builders are back tomorrow, to finish off some bits inside the house, such as architraves and handles, but mainly to get onto constructing the decks outside.

Jan is still busy at work, but he hopes to catch up with Sam today for a round of golf in the avo before Sam & Moose head back to Wellington. My students have all successfully completed their first assignments, and I am currently marking my Leadership class' first assignment. Things on my second-to-last CAT unit have been put on hold; I haven't really had time to do any more on the assignment that I have in progress. However, I will have to get onto that now as there are still two to go.

We have been to a couple of concerts - the gala performance for the new Steinway which Jan's boss Murray Sturgeon donated to the Nelson School of Music, and to the first of the Nelson Symphony concerts for the year, which Jan didn't play in (too busy with the house), with a country theme - some NZ music, Beethoven's pastoral symphony & some Weber (very enjoyable!).

We are now firming up our plans for Europe, ending at the Edersee for all the Schütte family celebrations, and including a few days in Freiburg, and visiting Rainer & Regina, then heading off to see Andreas & Katrin. We also hope to get to visit Holger, and Simone & Michael, but we haven't yet worked out how that will work! Now that we are in the house, we will spend a bit of time in planning & come back to you all with the first draft.

Jan & Sam