Another busy month is behind us, and we are both feeling like there isn't a lot of light at the end of the tunnel, which is worrying.
While Semester 1 is over for me, Semester 2 is looming, and I have been asked to mentor a new lecturer, which has added to my workload. I am also still mentoring full year students right through the break, as well as hammering away at the PhD. Jan keeps saying that his workload only gets bigger each day he goes into the office, and he is having to do far too much administration, rather than the hands on work that he was promised. I know how that feels too!
Jan played in the concert opening the upgraded School of Music (it took five years to get the earthquake strengthening up to code - and there is a separate post on this), and then soon after had an NSO concert, all of which has kept him pretty darned busy in his 'downtime'. And then there is the current course he is doing for his Post-Grad Cert...however, in a rare moment of quiet on a Sunday afternoon, the dogs and Jan can be found enjoying some peace.
Tania's surgery seems to have gone well and she has now moved into radiotherapy treatment. The reports on clear margins and the progress made seem very positive, which is very encouraging. Tina has done a stellar job as Tan's advocate. Thank goodness she was able to be there.
My mother is well too - and long may all that last. She is still driving out to have lunch with us a couple of times a month, and we have been catching up with other members of the family in between in Nelson for family birthdays and celebrations.
The neighbour has finally milled all of the pine plantation at the end of the valley. The image below shows the view of the last dozen trees being felled, taken from halfway up our driveway.
John has started his tour around North America on his trusty old Norton Commando and almost immediately ran into engine trouble. However, the network of past customers, friends and vintage bike afficionados have seen him right and off, enjoying the views up the east coast of America and into Canada.
We caught up with Jenny L this month when she was up in Nelson; and with Tracey, Erica and H.
Hartmut and Uta came to stay on their way down to the island to attend a conference in Queenstown. It was lovely to see them both. They came for a few days on their way down, then called in for a few days on their way back. Hartmut left us with some of his skillful woodworking - both Jan and I are the lucky recipients of some gorgeous turned pens.
I have been rationalising some of our stuff around the house: I got rid of a whole load of old kitchen stuff to the Salvation Army shop in Nelson. However, I have also been doing a little bit of purchasing. I was reading that cheap china is often cheap because the clay itself may have heavy metals contamination... and once it loses its glaze, it can contaminate whatever it is used for. So I dumped our crappy old cups and bought new porcelain ones on sale at Farmers for $2 each. Then I decided that 17 years was enough time to wait for bedside tables, and ordered two flatpack ones from 1-day deals for $49 each. I hope when they arrive they aren't too junky!
As usual, we have been lucky enough to see some spectactular sunrises and sunsets:
In October I will be presenting some research at the CDANZ Conference in Wellington, so hope to catch up with some Welly people then (though I am only there for two nights).
Hope to catch up with you all again soon
Sam (& Jan)
No comments:
Post a Comment