Sam (& Jan in the USA)
Showing posts with label November. Show all posts
Showing posts with label November. Show all posts
21 November 2019
05 December 2017
News from Nelson - November 2017
Hi all,
Hopefully the year has been kind to you all: things are starting to return to normal for us, though we have been - as usual - fairly busy.
We began the month with the CDANZ Conference in Auckland as detailed in our October newsletter), and ended it with the SMAANZ Conference on the Gold Coast. We stayed with Tanja and Tony in Tan's new appartment in Bulimba: wow, what a great place, with awesome views. I had several days on the Gold Coast, commuting for the first couple, then staying for the last couple. Lars and Ann came up from Sydney on Friday night, and we spent some time with them over the weekend. Tanja and Jan spent some time together while I was away for the days. Some photos of our trip follow.
We spent some time in Brisbane, touring the city and the river; as well as a dinner and drinks at Q1 Skypoint on the Gold Coast, and a meander along the beach. We also went to Caloundra for the day on the Sunday before we came home, to see Ann's grandparents. There was a great thunderstorm that came through on our last night which gave us some fabulously moody photos. We got so well looked after we were almost tempted to stay :-)
On the plane I watched half of the second series of "Head of the Lake" on the way over, and the other half on the way back. This second series was set in Sydney, rather than in and around Queenstown. It was OK, but didn't quite hang together. I probably wouldn't bother watching a third series, unless it got rave reviews.
It was a total month of parties. Dawnie had her usual Guy Fawkes BBQ, which was great fun, followed later in the month by her birthday party at The Boat Shed, Mapua.
We had Glenys and Kevin's for Kevin's birthday dinner, which was a late night out (needless to say! It is always a late and hilarious night at the Mudcastle).
Tracey is moving into town next month: she has sold her share of Cotterel Road to Max & Karen who will now both farm full time. Erica will be going to Nelson Intermediate in 2018 - crikey, intermediate age already! - and Trace will be reinventing herself. Exciting times! We all had fish and salad one night with Tracey, Erica, Max, Karen, Jenny and John: on the first night that John was back in the country. Jenny was up for a family weekend, so it all worked out very neatly.
We caught up with the Cools's again: they came around for dessert and a movie (Hot Fuzz). It is amazing how quickly the year gets away on you though: we only live ten kilometres apart, but it is surprising how hard it can be to co-ordinate diaries.
Daniel turned 50, and had a big shindig up in his new shed. We caught up with our builder, Glenn, and his new partner (Beth) and some people from SA who are new to the district, and are beekeepers. A good night out, and a fair catch up with the neighbours. Margot and Michele told us that they are moving because Susie Lees is planning on moving back in with her new man - from the UK, aparently. That will be interesting.
Jan had the NSO Christmas BBQ at Eleanor’s place in Heron Grove, behind the old Templemore Gardens farm. They have a lovely house with a gorgeous English/Australian garden, designed for lots of shade, but all I could see was lots of work in keeping it beautiful! We took along things that I could eat - coleslaw, hummus, cucumber and broccoli, and marinated chicken. We were there in the garden for three hours... the time just melted away.
The Kanuka is flowering gorgeously.
Gorgeous sunrises again: and not much rain at all. It was so dry that we decided to put off planting most of our vege plants until we got back from Oz.
Jan has been getting the vege gardens ready for the summer, while
considering that offer he was made that I mentioned last month.
Negotiations have progressed to the point where contracts have been
signed, and he has done a couple of hand-over days on his free Mondays.
He finishes at the DHB just before Christmas, and goes to Port Nelson as
Safety Advisor, starting the week before Christmas. He is looking
forward to the change.
The little nana car hit 200000ks:
Along with John, Nadine from Ulm has come to stay too, and will help out John with the first couple of tours as a driver. It is lovely to see her again. She is in the spare room, and John is in the laundry!
I wound up my teaching, marking and results for the semester, and had the decks clear before heading off over the Tassie. There is still some admin to do next month, but I am pretty much done and dusted for the year, aside from supervising three full year project students who will continue their projects over summer, and attending graduation. That means I can get stuck into my PhD, which has been sadly neglected... largely due to the personal toll this year has taken with family illness and deaths.
This month's MOOC was a FutureLearn University of Reading course, "An Intermediate Guide to Writing", which was part two of the MOOC I did last month. It wasn't bad... and again, I learned something new. And then I managed to fit in another one to help me finish off my journal article: How to Write a Scientific Paper course, by l'Ecole Polytechnique on the Cousera platform. It too was free :-)
Boo looking after my Fluevogs:
And some people wear sunglasses inside!
'til next month!
Sam (& Jan)
Hopefully the year has been kind to you all: things are starting to return to normal for us, though we have been - as usual - fairly busy.
We began the month with the CDANZ Conference in Auckland as detailed in our October newsletter), and ended it with the SMAANZ Conference on the Gold Coast. We stayed with Tanja and Tony in Tan's new appartment in Bulimba: wow, what a great place, with awesome views. I had several days on the Gold Coast, commuting for the first couple, then staying for the last couple. Lars and Ann came up from Sydney on Friday night, and we spent some time with them over the weekend. Tanja and Jan spent some time together while I was away for the days. Some photos of our trip follow.
We spent some time in Brisbane, touring the city and the river; as well as a dinner and drinks at Q1 Skypoint on the Gold Coast, and a meander along the beach. We also went to Caloundra for the day on the Sunday before we came home, to see Ann's grandparents. There was a great thunderstorm that came through on our last night which gave us some fabulously moody photos. We got so well looked after we were almost tempted to stay :-)
It was a total month of parties. Dawnie had her usual Guy Fawkes BBQ, which was great fun, followed later in the month by her birthday party at The Boat Shed, Mapua.
We had Glenys and Kevin's for Kevin's birthday dinner, which was a late night out (needless to say! It is always a late and hilarious night at the Mudcastle).
Tracey is moving into town next month: she has sold her share of Cotterel Road to Max & Karen who will now both farm full time. Erica will be going to Nelson Intermediate in 2018 - crikey, intermediate age already! - and Trace will be reinventing herself. Exciting times! We all had fish and salad one night with Tracey, Erica, Max, Karen, Jenny and John: on the first night that John was back in the country. Jenny was up for a family weekend, so it all worked out very neatly.
We caught up with the Cools's again: they came around for dessert and a movie (Hot Fuzz). It is amazing how quickly the year gets away on you though: we only live ten kilometres apart, but it is surprising how hard it can be to co-ordinate diaries.
Daniel turned 50, and had a big shindig up in his new shed. We caught up with our builder, Glenn, and his new partner (Beth) and some people from SA who are new to the district, and are beekeepers. A good night out, and a fair catch up with the neighbours. Margot and Michele told us that they are moving because Susie Lees is planning on moving back in with her new man - from the UK, aparently. That will be interesting.
Jan had the NSO Christmas BBQ at Eleanor’s place in Heron Grove, behind the old Templemore Gardens farm. They have a lovely house with a gorgeous English/Australian garden, designed for lots of shade, but all I could see was lots of work in keeping it beautiful! We took along things that I could eat - coleslaw, hummus, cucumber and broccoli, and marinated chicken. We were there in the garden for three hours... the time just melted away.
The Kanuka is flowering gorgeously.
Gorgeous sunrises again: and not much rain at all. It was so dry that we decided to put off planting most of our vege plants until we got back from Oz.
The little nana car hit 200000ks:
Along with John, Nadine from Ulm has come to stay too, and will help out John with the first couple of tours as a driver. It is lovely to see her again. She is in the spare room, and John is in the laundry!
I wound up my teaching, marking and results for the semester, and had the decks clear before heading off over the Tassie. There is still some admin to do next month, but I am pretty much done and dusted for the year, aside from supervising three full year project students who will continue their projects over summer, and attending graduation. That means I can get stuck into my PhD, which has been sadly neglected... largely due to the personal toll this year has taken with family illness and deaths.
This month's MOOC was a FutureLearn University of Reading course, "An Intermediate Guide to Writing", which was part two of the MOOC I did last month. It wasn't bad... and again, I learned something new. And then I managed to fit in another one to help me finish off my journal article: How to Write a Scientific Paper course, by l'Ecole Polytechnique on the Cousera platform. It too was free :-)
Boo looking after my Fluevogs:
And some people wear sunglasses inside!
'til next month!
Sam (& Jan)
01 December 2016
News from Nelson - November 2016
Hello everyone,
Welcome to our November edition of our family news!
And yes, surprisingly, it was yet another busy month :-)
Justine was still just here at the beginning of November, and we went to meet Betty and Peter at 8 a.m. for breakfast at the Monaco Mercure Kitchen. I had an omelette, and Justine had eggs benedict (so, after angsting at Panama kitchen between banana pancakes and eggs benedict - and settling for banana pancakes - she managed to fit them both into one short Nelson stay anyway).
Well done, her!
Breakfast is my easiest meal out now: easy to get veg, eggs and no carbs or sugar (providing you don't have their yoghurt. I have been horrified how much sugar is in 'unsweetened' yoghurt!). Man - I am sounding like the food police... however, it is now so, so close to 180 days without a migraine that I am being a bit careful.
I know overall it won't matter at all, but I really want to crack 6 months migraine-free. Then I can go back to my Doctor and the Specialist with some good, persuasive data about why their medications are pointless at this stage, as the Stanton Migraine Protocol is proving more than adequate.
Dawn had a Guy Fawkes party at her place recently, and we both cooked in the sun, AND cooked from the flames! I met up with some older Sealord hands whom I hadn't seen for a long time, which was great, and heard about Shelly & Kevin's plans for 'retirement' (no, they haven't got time to retire!).
There's nothing like a Kermit onesie to enjoy a Guy Fawkes party!
Of course the world now has a cookie monster in the White House. Who knew that a nation could be so stupid? Ah well. The Brits were also nutcases earlier this year. The power of human stupidity never fails to surprise.
And then we got an earthquake. Boy: that was a long quake. I was up. I had been unable to sleep and had finally given up and gone to do some writing. I had just turned my PC on, when the rolling started. I got under the desk. The rolling continued. I held my finger on the PC off button just in case of a short. I vaguely heard a voice, but was just hanging on under my desk, until I heard Jan yelling, asking where I was.
We had no damage at all in our house: not even a glass fell over.
Wow. The people in Kaikoura and Waiau had a VERY rude awakening for that rock and roll to have been so strong where we live, hundreds of kilometres away. We have been watching the news updates with interest, but it is going to be another long haul like Christchurch to put everything back together again. Years. There have been a lot of aftershocks, but not bad where we are.
At the beginning of this month the semester ended, and exams started at NMIT and AUT. I finished teaching in week one, then climbed into marking and preparing papers for moderation. Our results meeting was on the 30th, and I had everything complete (thanks to the trusty whiteboard to plan my marking load!).
My last NMIT tasks are done for the year. Well, almost. I have a small group of research students who want to start their projects over the summer (about five) so I will do a bit of supervising. That will lighten my load for semester one, and hopefully, I can get these students to help others in the class as they will be further ahead in their projects. Paying it forward.
Jan spent the last week in November in Wellington completing a block course for his electrical certification, and caught up with Brigitte, John, Tina & Otto while there:
Not only has Jan completed all his training for the year - his NEBOSH courses and exams, and his electrical courses and exams - but he has a new job. He starts next month with the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board as a Health & Safety Advisor for the maintenance team. He is very excited about the change, and really looking forward to the learning that will come from the new role.
I have at last managed to pull together all our photos from our Brazil trip - almost two years ago now - and have finally started to put all the photos together in an album. I am still tinkering with it, but hope to send it to print before two years have gone by in April. I have also sent Magda's album to print which she should have received by now.
We had Holger, Dieter, Gudrun and Hartmut come to stay for a few days. It was fantastic to be able to repay some of the wonderful hospitality we have had in Germany from these guys. We took them to the Founder's Brewery for some beer platters, had a BBQ at home, had a waffle breakfast the next day, then headed up the hill to see the view from Christian’s place. Hartmut, Gudrun & I walked up and Hartmut & I walked back.
We went to Kaiteriteri and walked along the beach, then went to the Shorefront Café to have coffee, beer, and water. We sat for probably two hours watching the view and talking. Just lovely.
We drove across to Marahau around the coast, and walked the first distance into the park – to the very first beach after the estuary crossing, where Justine, Jan and I stopped a couple of years ago; sat and enjoyed the view, and the peace. Watched the dotterels and the variegated oyster catchers.
We had a picnic on the side of the road in Marahau, all of leftovers from our first night’s BBQ.
They had been going to do the Farewell Spit Eco Tour, but unfortunately it was booked out – a group of 30 tourists come through for Tuesday morning (the day they were going to do it) - so they had to skip it. A real shame.
So we did a day trip into Golden Bay instead. We stopped at Hawkes lookout on the Motueka side, the Harwood's lookout on the Golden Bay side, then went through to Anatoki Salmon and both Jan and Holger caught a salmon.
We had both salmons smoked for lunch, then drove through to Collingwood, and had a picnic in the tussock by the sea. We stopped at Rosy Glow and - very restrainedly - bought three chocolates, which we divvied up and ate at the Wharariki cliffs.
We went to the farm at Puponga, and looked up to Farewell Spit, and had a coffee on the verandah.
A lovely day. Hartmut & I spent a lot of time talking about anthroposophy, and I learned a lot. They took us out to Jellyfish for a farewell dinner:
They were gone all too soon to head down the West Coast and to Christchurch to fly out.
Jan & my mother went to the last NSO concert of the year on the 26th, and said it was a great send off for the summer break. Jan enjoyed catching up with his muso mates as he has not been playing since June in order to attend all the required classes for his electrician's ticket.
John should be back with us early in December, which will be great (actually, both Jan & I are hanging out for someone else to cook!!). Bonnie will be super-excited to see him again, too, I am sure. John is staying with us until January sometime, then will head off back to the Waimea West cottage for the remainder of the summer season, with Bonnie.
However, we won't be dogless. On Boxing Day we go to pick up our new/old fur baby: an older Boxer bitch called Boo. That will be exciting!
We will be in Welly very briefly for Tina's shindig on the 17th - which should be really great fun.
Jan starts at his new job on 19th December. He will more than likely have a new cellphone number, so we will advise as soon as we know what that is.
Happy birthdays to Christina, Janet, Joe, Camila, Kamal, Tina, Carl, Cherry, Christél and Wayne this month!
Sam (& Jan)
Welcome to our November edition of our family news!
And yes, surprisingly, it was yet another busy month :-)
Justine was still just here at the beginning of November, and we went to meet Betty and Peter at 8 a.m. for breakfast at the Monaco Mercure Kitchen. I had an omelette, and Justine had eggs benedict (so, after angsting at Panama kitchen between banana pancakes and eggs benedict - and settling for banana pancakes - she managed to fit them both into one short Nelson stay anyway).
Well done, her!
Breakfast is my easiest meal out now: easy to get veg, eggs and no carbs or sugar (providing you don't have their yoghurt. I have been horrified how much sugar is in 'unsweetened' yoghurt!). Man - I am sounding like the food police... however, it is now so, so close to 180 days without a migraine that I am being a bit careful.
I know overall it won't matter at all, but I really want to crack 6 months migraine-free. Then I can go back to my Doctor and the Specialist with some good, persuasive data about why their medications are pointless at this stage, as the Stanton Migraine Protocol is proving more than adequate.
Dawn had a Guy Fawkes party at her place recently, and we both cooked in the sun, AND cooked from the flames! I met up with some older Sealord hands whom I hadn't seen for a long time, which was great, and heard about Shelly & Kevin's plans for 'retirement' (no, they haven't got time to retire!).
There's nothing like a Kermit onesie to enjoy a Guy Fawkes party!
Of course the world now has a cookie monster in the White House. Who knew that a nation could be so stupid? Ah well. The Brits were also nutcases earlier this year. The power of human stupidity never fails to surprise.
And then we got an earthquake. Boy: that was a long quake. I was up. I had been unable to sleep and had finally given up and gone to do some writing. I had just turned my PC on, when the rolling started. I got under the desk. The rolling continued. I held my finger on the PC off button just in case of a short. I vaguely heard a voice, but was just hanging on under my desk, until I heard Jan yelling, asking where I was.
We had no damage at all in our house: not even a glass fell over.
Wow. The people in Kaikoura and Waiau had a VERY rude awakening for that rock and roll to have been so strong where we live, hundreds of kilometres away. We have been watching the news updates with interest, but it is going to be another long haul like Christchurch to put everything back together again. Years. There have been a lot of aftershocks, but not bad where we are.
At the beginning of this month the semester ended, and exams started at NMIT and AUT. I finished teaching in week one, then climbed into marking and preparing papers for moderation. Our results meeting was on the 30th, and I had everything complete (thanks to the trusty whiteboard to plan my marking load!).
My last NMIT tasks are done for the year. Well, almost. I have a small group of research students who want to start their projects over the summer (about five) so I will do a bit of supervising. That will lighten my load for semester one, and hopefully, I can get these students to help others in the class as they will be further ahead in their projects. Paying it forward.
Jan spent the last week in November in Wellington completing a block course for his electrical certification, and caught up with Brigitte, John, Tina & Otto while there:
Not only has Jan completed all his training for the year - his NEBOSH courses and exams, and his electrical courses and exams - but he has a new job. He starts next month with the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board as a Health & Safety Advisor for the maintenance team. He is very excited about the change, and really looking forward to the learning that will come from the new role.
I have at last managed to pull together all our photos from our Brazil trip - almost two years ago now - and have finally started to put all the photos together in an album. I am still tinkering with it, but hope to send it to print before two years have gone by in April. I have also sent Magda's album to print which she should have received by now.
We had Holger, Dieter, Gudrun and Hartmut come to stay for a few days. It was fantastic to be able to repay some of the wonderful hospitality we have had in Germany from these guys. We took them to the Founder's Brewery for some beer platters, had a BBQ at home, had a waffle breakfast the next day, then headed up the hill to see the view from Christian’s place. Hartmut, Gudrun & I walked up and Hartmut & I walked back.
We went to Kaiteriteri and walked along the beach, then went to the Shorefront Café to have coffee, beer, and water. We sat for probably two hours watching the view and talking. Just lovely.
We drove across to Marahau around the coast, and walked the first distance into the park – to the very first beach after the estuary crossing, where Justine, Jan and I stopped a couple of years ago; sat and enjoyed the view, and the peace. Watched the dotterels and the variegated oyster catchers.
We had a picnic on the side of the road in Marahau, all of leftovers from our first night’s BBQ.
They had been going to do the Farewell Spit Eco Tour, but unfortunately it was booked out – a group of 30 tourists come through for Tuesday morning (the day they were going to do it) - so they had to skip it. A real shame.
So we did a day trip into Golden Bay instead. We stopped at Hawkes lookout on the Motueka side, the Harwood's lookout on the Golden Bay side, then went through to Anatoki Salmon and both Jan and Holger caught a salmon.
We had both salmons smoked for lunch, then drove through to Collingwood, and had a picnic in the tussock by the sea. We stopped at Rosy Glow and - very restrainedly - bought three chocolates, which we divvied up and ate at the Wharariki cliffs.
We went to the farm at Puponga, and looked up to Farewell Spit, and had a coffee on the verandah.
A lovely day. Hartmut & I spent a lot of time talking about anthroposophy, and I learned a lot. They took us out to Jellyfish for a farewell dinner:
They were gone all too soon to head down the West Coast and to Christchurch to fly out.
Jan & my mother went to the last NSO concert of the year on the 26th, and said it was a great send off for the summer break. Jan enjoyed catching up with his muso mates as he has not been playing since June in order to attend all the required classes for his electrician's ticket.
John should be back with us early in December, which will be great (actually, both Jan & I are hanging out for someone else to cook!!). Bonnie will be super-excited to see him again, too, I am sure. John is staying with us until January sometime, then will head off back to the Waimea West cottage for the remainder of the summer season, with Bonnie.
However, we won't be dogless. On Boxing Day we go to pick up our new/old fur baby: an older Boxer bitch called Boo. That will be exciting!
We will be in Welly very briefly for Tina's shindig on the 17th - which should be really great fun.
Jan starts at his new job on 19th December. He will more than likely have a new cellphone number, so we will advise as soon as we know what that is.
Happy birthdays to Christina, Janet, Joe, Camila, Kamal, Tina, Carl, Cherry, Christél and Wayne this month!
Sam (& Jan)
28 November 2016
Alterative routes south with the closure of SH1, the East Coast road through Kaikoura
There is a great set of alternative route travel instructions for South Island travel while the Kaikoura road is closed at http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/86866445/How-to-travel-around-the-South-Island-following-the-earthquake?cid=facebook.post.86866445
The road is likely to be closed for at least 6 months.
Sam (& Jan)
The road is likely to be closed for at least 6 months.
Sam (& Jan)
- Reference: Downes, Siobhan (November 2016). How to travel around the South Island following the earthquake. Retrieved 28 November 2016 from http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/86866445/How-to-travel-around-the-South-Island-following-the-earthquake?cid=facebook.post.86866445
29 November 2014
26 November 2014
News from Nelson - Nov 2 2014
Amy H did a stellar job of filming our wedding anniversary celebrations
Check it out at
Sam
Check it out at
Sam
19 November 2014
News from Nelson - November 2014
Hi everyone,
Hope you are all well.
The last few weeks seem to have flown by. I have been up in Auckland at the CDANZ symposium and AGM. I just got back last night and am pretty bushed. I am supposed to be marking right now, but my head isn't in the right space, so I thought I would drop all of you an email instead.
John F is back, and is cooking again. Yay! Bonnie was very excited about John arriving, but took some time to migrate away from sleeping beside Coco at night. Now she is back with John each night, and now Coco sneaky-feets onto the bed with us so she has 'pack' to sleep beside. If I wake up and notice a canine invasion, I send her back to bed pretty sharpish. Jan is a whole lot softer than that.
We helped out at the Big Beach Cleanup with Nelson Pine a few weeks ago & got a reasonable haul of junk from around the cycle way. Jan has been building a new garden bed to the west of the house, which will be great for tomatoes, we hope. While progress is slow due to all the other things we have on at the moment, each week there is a bit more done.
Katherine's 1920s party was interesting (Craig L's new partner): I went as a bit of a middle class matron and was the only non-flapper there. Someone said to me "Oh, yeah - that's right: there were ordinary people too" (!). I felt like a bit of a nit anyway, and that certainly didn't make me feel any more comfortable. Jan wore his tux and a red fedora (which was a little large so looked more like a stetson). He also had a machine gun which he had a bit of fun with for a while. We had a good catch up with a few NMIT old hands.
Last weekend was Dawn's birthday party, which John also came along to. There was lots of lovely food (including lots of vege things), and it was really nice to catch up with everyone again so soon after Dawn & Neil's house-warming.
We have caught up with Warren & Tracey at least once a week since they have been here, which has been great. Wonderful to have them so close, but we are also a bit cautious in case we spend too much time hanging out with them and overload them (which would be bad :-( ).
This weekend is our Anniversary BBQ which should also be great fun. And there will be no costumery for it (with the loathing that I have for it being so recently reinforced!). There are a few out-of-towners coming in, which will be great, including DJ & Dilani and Jenny L. We are catching up with the Boots on Friday night at Warren & Tracey's for drinks as they are in Nelson this weekend for a family function of their own.
We will be in Welly for Xmas, then Lara & Otto are coming for a few days from the end of December to the beginning of January. I think Hartmut & Uta will be coming down to us next January or February for a visit and to take in some of the Adam Chamber Music Festival. Then next April we aim to be in Brazil (back to Kiwiland in time for Beck's wedding if we can manage it), and we will both be up in Auckland in May for my graduation.
I will write more after the weekend and post some pictures.
Keep well!
Sam (& Jan)
Hope you are all well.
The last few weeks seem to have flown by. I have been up in Auckland at the CDANZ symposium and AGM. I just got back last night and am pretty bushed. I am supposed to be marking right now, but my head isn't in the right space, so I thought I would drop all of you an email instead.
John F is back, and is cooking again. Yay! Bonnie was very excited about John arriving, but took some time to migrate away from sleeping beside Coco at night. Now she is back with John each night, and now Coco sneaky-feets onto the bed with us so she has 'pack' to sleep beside. If I wake up and notice a canine invasion, I send her back to bed pretty sharpish. Jan is a whole lot softer than that.
Katherine's 1920s party was interesting (Craig L's new partner): I went as a bit of a middle class matron and was the only non-flapper there. Someone said to me "Oh, yeah - that's right: there were ordinary people too" (!). I felt like a bit of a nit anyway, and that certainly didn't make me feel any more comfortable. Jan wore his tux and a red fedora (which was a little large so looked more like a stetson). He also had a machine gun which he had a bit of fun with for a while. We had a good catch up with a few NMIT old hands.
Last weekend was Dawn's birthday party, which John also came along to. There was lots of lovely food (including lots of vege things), and it was really nice to catch up with everyone again so soon after Dawn & Neil's house-warming.
We have caught up with Warren & Tracey at least once a week since they have been here, which has been great. Wonderful to have them so close, but we are also a bit cautious in case we spend too much time hanging out with them and overload them (which would be bad :-( ).
This weekend is our Anniversary BBQ which should also be great fun. And there will be no costumery for it (with the loathing that I have for it being so recently reinforced!). There are a few out-of-towners coming in, which will be great, including DJ & Dilani and Jenny L. We are catching up with the Boots on Friday night at Warren & Tracey's for drinks as they are in Nelson this weekend for a family function of their own.
We will be in Welly for Xmas, then Lara & Otto are coming for a few days from the end of December to the beginning of January. I think Hartmut & Uta will be coming down to us next January or February for a visit and to take in some of the Adam Chamber Music Festival. Then next April we aim to be in Brazil (back to Kiwiland in time for Beck's wedding if we can manage it), and we will both be up in Auckland in May for my graduation.
I will write more after the weekend and post some pictures.
Keep well!
Sam (& Jan)
#LikeAGuy - what does it mean to clean like a guy? Jack Laurence
As a parody of the Proctor & Gamble Always brand "#LikeAGirl", Jack Laurence made "#LikeAGuy". I like it. Particularly the "Babe? Do I..."
Check it out at
Sam
Check it out at
Sam
10 November 2014
Lego Imagine Ads
Evan x (Evan's Blog) is a fan of Lego's ads. He posted their "Imagine" ads - see the compiled image below. The concept was by Jung von Matt; images by The Scope.
Can you figure out what they are? How many of them can you get?
Can you figure out what they are? How many of them can you get?
Sam
- Reference: Sheline, Evan (27 March 2012). Lego ad: Imagine (HQ images). Retrieved 31 October 2014 from http://evansheline.com/tag/cartoon-characters/
18 November 2013
News from Nelson - November 2013
Hi all,
Wow, another few weeks have whizzed past, and here we are halfway through November already.
Amazingly green around here at the moment, and when I go outside first thing in the morning all you can smell is the bush - it takes me right back to my earliest tramping days in the third form. Just lovely! Had some late winter squalls come through in October, but they were very brief (as you can see - only lasted about ten minutes, then it was blue sky again, until the next one came through):
When I dropped Jan off to work a couple of weeks ago, I realised that Nelson Pine's gardens are maturing really nicely; the natives are looking very nice. I took a few quick photos and stitched them to remind me of what we are aiming for on our bank at Roses Road.
I managed to Skype with Jan a couple of times while he was in the US. He was looking pretty tired, but he managed to do the main task while he was in Chicago - buy Coco some more squeaky toys! Below is a shot of him at Streeters Bar in Chicago, with a couple of the other guys from New Zealand: and of course, they managed to find some women...
And amazing what a screen dump will do; it has captured Mr Kuwilsky wearing a tie:
In the background behind me above is my colleague Nic J (if your eyes are good enough. Hah, now that's a test for us all, isn't it!).
Jan is halfway through his trip already, having arrived in Germany last Friday evening NZT. He was shattered, having only slept for a couple of hours of his 9 hour flight, but was picked up from the train by Holger, taken to visit Dieter and Gudrun, Anne, then off to Oma's overnight. On early Sunday NZT he travelled down to Ulm to Aunt Uta. Thomas, Bettina and Svenja are there, so he got to spend some time with them too - an unexpected bonus! He said it was great to see everyone, and that they were all in good health (and that Svenja has a gap-toothed smile as her adult teeth are coming in - man, she is six already). I so want to be there - but next time!
It was Dawn's birthday today, and I went to join the throng of celebrators at Jellyfish (where Flax used to be at the Mapua Wharf complex). I had some lovely tomato soup for lunch - a perfect pick as it clouded over as we lunched and was raining a little by the end. Not cold, but damp. Dawn has big news - she and Neil are getting married next year. He is such a nice man - I am so pleased for them both! (terrible photo quality as I was facing right into the light).
Doug & Morv are off to Auckland - a big change for them. At least it looks like the test-run / holiday is persuading Katie that a northward shift mightn't be all bad.
I have just finished marking my last student assignment for the year, but am halfway through an online course on Emotional Intelligence (yeah, yeah, I know: that AND my Masters - like there isn't already enough going on. All I can say is that it was an opportunity, OK?!).
Currently I am transcribing recordings. My supervisor thinks I may be trying to be a bit too accurate with it as 15 minutes of recording is taking about 4 hours to transcribe. I don't know how you can be roughly accurate with transcription; I think it is an either correct or incorrect transcription... isn't it? Never mind, back to the grind - and everyone talks about the hellhole that transcription is, so at least I am in good company! Every other researcher on the planet!
Speaking of my supervisor, Brad is changing Unis next year - going to return to Victoria Uni to head up the School of Government there. So for the last semester of my Masters I will have to have another supervisor acting as my Primary Supervisor. Luckily it will be someone whom I have already had some contact with, Liliana Erakovic, who teaches strategic management using the Harvard case method - which is a real bonus. And yes, for you Kiwis, the Erakovic name is indeed the same family: Liliana is Marina's mother.
I have become a Lorde junkie in the past few weeks: I keep listening to Lux 400, Royal, The Love Club, and Bravado over and over. Anyone would think I was sixteen. Also just finished reading the Two Brothers by Ben Elton (thanks for the loan, McLarins!). Great book, I really enjoyed it.
The one advantage of having lots of transcription to do is that other, horrible jobs suddenly look quite appealing. So I have also been spending an hour in our gully each day, pulling out pig fern. For those of you who don't know about pig fern, it is a fern that starts with a very small aspect, but if left untended for a couple of years, it turns into this giant bionic monster that covers your land with huge canopies and kills your grass. All I can say is that at least it doesn't have prickles, unlike gorse, supplejack and blackberry (other noxious pests our forefathers cunningly imported to our little South Pacific paradise).
Montrose Drive is going on the market again in December. I think we have decided that this time it goes: that the price drops until it is sold.
We are aiming to come to Wellington briefly at Christmas, but have so far not been able to get a house/dog sitter. Everyone has plans! How mean is that? I will keep trying... we might be able to get the dogs into the kennels, perhaps, but I no longer know any of the people who run the local ones. There is a place out in Wakefield, so I might go and visit them and see what they are like (at least I do know someone who took their dog there).
Happy birthday to Justine :-D
Right, I think that is all for now. Take care, and we will catch up with you all in due course!
Sam (and Jan)
Wow, another few weeks have whizzed past, and here we are halfway through November already.
Amazingly green around here at the moment, and when I go outside first thing in the morning all you can smell is the bush - it takes me right back to my earliest tramping days in the third form. Just lovely! Had some late winter squalls come through in October, but they were very brief (as you can see - only lasted about ten minutes, then it was blue sky again, until the next one came through):
When I dropped Jan off to work a couple of weeks ago, I realised that Nelson Pine's gardens are maturing really nicely; the natives are looking very nice. I took a few quick photos and stitched them to remind me of what we are aiming for on our bank at Roses Road.
I managed to Skype with Jan a couple of times while he was in the US. He was looking pretty tired, but he managed to do the main task while he was in Chicago - buy Coco some more squeaky toys! Below is a shot of him at Streeters Bar in Chicago, with a couple of the other guys from New Zealand: and of course, they managed to find some women...
And amazing what a screen dump will do; it has captured Mr Kuwilsky wearing a tie:
In the background behind me above is my colleague Nic J (if your eyes are good enough. Hah, now that's a test for us all, isn't it!).
Jan is halfway through his trip already, having arrived in Germany last Friday evening NZT. He was shattered, having only slept for a couple of hours of his 9 hour flight, but was picked up from the train by Holger, taken to visit Dieter and Gudrun, Anne, then off to Oma's overnight. On early Sunday NZT he travelled down to Ulm to Aunt Uta. Thomas, Bettina and Svenja are there, so he got to spend some time with them too - an unexpected bonus! He said it was great to see everyone, and that they were all in good health (and that Svenja has a gap-toothed smile as her adult teeth are coming in - man, she is six already). I so want to be there - but next time!
It was Dawn's birthday today, and I went to join the throng of celebrators at Jellyfish (where Flax used to be at the Mapua Wharf complex). I had some lovely tomato soup for lunch - a perfect pick as it clouded over as we lunched and was raining a little by the end. Not cold, but damp. Dawn has big news - she and Neil are getting married next year. He is such a nice man - I am so pleased for them both! (terrible photo quality as I was facing right into the light).
Doug & Morv are off to Auckland - a big change for them. At least it looks like the test-run / holiday is persuading Katie that a northward shift mightn't be all bad.
I have just finished marking my last student assignment for the year, but am halfway through an online course on Emotional Intelligence (yeah, yeah, I know: that AND my Masters - like there isn't already enough going on. All I can say is that it was an opportunity, OK?!).
Currently I am transcribing recordings. My supervisor thinks I may be trying to be a bit too accurate with it as 15 minutes of recording is taking about 4 hours to transcribe. I don't know how you can be roughly accurate with transcription; I think it is an either correct or incorrect transcription... isn't it? Never mind, back to the grind - and everyone talks about the hellhole that transcription is, so at least I am in good company! Every other researcher on the planet!
Speaking of my supervisor, Brad is changing Unis next year - going to return to Victoria Uni to head up the School of Government there. So for the last semester of my Masters I will have to have another supervisor acting as my Primary Supervisor. Luckily it will be someone whom I have already had some contact with, Liliana Erakovic, who teaches strategic management using the Harvard case method - which is a real bonus. And yes, for you Kiwis, the Erakovic name is indeed the same family: Liliana is Marina's mother.
I have become a Lorde junkie in the past few weeks: I keep listening to Lux 400, Royal, The Love Club, and Bravado over and over. Anyone would think I was sixteen. Also just finished reading the Two Brothers by Ben Elton (thanks for the loan, McLarins!). Great book, I really enjoyed it.
The one advantage of having lots of transcription to do is that other, horrible jobs suddenly look quite appealing. So I have also been spending an hour in our gully each day, pulling out pig fern. For those of you who don't know about pig fern, it is a fern that starts with a very small aspect, but if left untended for a couple of years, it turns into this giant bionic monster that covers your land with huge canopies and kills your grass. All I can say is that at least it doesn't have prickles, unlike gorse, supplejack and blackberry (other noxious pests our forefathers cunningly imported to our little South Pacific paradise).
Montrose Drive is going on the market again in December. I think we have decided that this time it goes: that the price drops until it is sold.
We are aiming to come to Wellington briefly at Christmas, but have so far not been able to get a house/dog sitter. Everyone has plans! How mean is that? I will keep trying... we might be able to get the dogs into the kennels, perhaps, but I no longer know any of the people who run the local ones. There is a place out in Wakefield, so I might go and visit them and see what they are like (at least I do know someone who took their dog there).
Happy birthday to Justine :-D
Right, I think that is all for now. Take care, and we will catch up with you all in due course!
Sam (and Jan)
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