News from Nelson - June 2016

Hello all,
We have been visiting friends for lunch on the early weekends of this month, which has been fun. One of my colleagues from NMIT and his wife came out to get firewood a while ago, and invited us for lunch in return.We had a great lunch at Shaw & Suz's place: I laughed so much, my face hurt. They are both so funny and have such great stories.

We also went to a Quiz night fundraiser for the Waimea Old Boys, with a load of our neighbours. We had a really fun night, and came in at around the middle of the pack - without any smart phone cheating.

We also had a good time up at Lake Rotoiti as well, having lunch with Robbie & Janet. We took homemade bread and pumpkin soup, so supplied lunch for everyone. We also had a good walk around the peninsular - and it was AMAZING how much frost there was still on the ground at lunchtime. The eels were right up by the boat ramp, looking for hand-outs, and there was an amazing duck - some kind of Chinese migrant - which had joined the resident mallards on the lake.

Marking, planning, marking, planning, marking, planning: that seems to be pretty much all that I did this month... aside from eating and sleeping. I had to mark flat out, plan all my work, assessments, build my Moodle sites, and do three course calendars for semester two this month as I had surgery on 23 June... and I needed six weeks of 'no work' space in order to recover. 

Jan went up to Lake Rotoiti to spectate Gary and Karen, Max, and Tracey did the round-the-lake run (I was flat out on my pre-surgery run-up so stayed home and marked):

I had my surgery on 23 June, and my anaesthetist decided to not give me any gas. As a result, for the first time I had no nausea after surgery. I couldn't believe it: I was actually hungry by the end of the day, and wasn't sick when I ate a very light dinner. Fantastic.

The surgery was to shorten my left ulna. For some reason my ulnas are too long, so when I damaged my left wrist two and a half years ago, it has not been able to heal due to the torsion put on it by the very length of the bone itself. Now it is 5mm shorter, with a 15cm plate, a bone graft and 7 screws, and should heal without problems. 

My right ulna is not as long as the left was, so probably may never need to be done, but I will be watching out for something similar, and flagging it much earlier.

I have a wrist splint that will help it heal, but basically I just need to ensure that I don't lift, twist or load it until the bone heals over the coming 6 weeks.

Oh, and I can't drive again either, until I get sign-off from the surgeon. I can use my arm a little, but not allowed to lift anything heavier than a cup in my left hand. 

All I can say is thank goodness for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It is voice recognition software that means I can 'talk it in'... so I have 'written' loads of blog posts while I have been recovering at home. I have also been reading and listening to books (mostly murder mysteries). 

This has been a truly awful semester. Our school manager is off on leave for a month, and there has been lots of other employee assistance programmes put in place. We have been flagging for ages, but the organisation was fairly slow in responding... but they have responded now, which is good. I am getting a teaching assistant for next semester (which I have also had to factor into my planning for Sem 2). At least for the three weeks of next month I only need worry about myself. I start teaching in that third week, but should be fine by then, as teaching is 'light duties'. 

I also created a memorial movie about my Uncle Eddie for my Aunt Diana. It was so good to finally get the time to tinker, even if I was one hand shy!

Hui-Ping came to visit, with Mae. It was lovely to see them, and great that they could drive out and see us. She got cheap flights down to Nelson, and was staying with Bill and Cornish. We made chocolate chip biscuits to welcome her.

We have finally arranged to have our road upgraded, with Malcolm McDonald. We are going to get it done in two stages. The first stage will cost about 10 grand... ouch.

Ah well, it has to be done. 

More next month :-)


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - June 2 2013

Hi all,
Another quick note to catch you all up again.

This weekend Jan has his concert, The Grand Ball - he says they are sounding OK, but a bit ragged in places. I will see - or hear - tomorrow night!

I am off to Welly on Sunday for two days, for my next CDANZ meeting. I have just put out my third issue of the CDANZ Ezine, and am starting to get into my stride now. I have some plans for content improvement, but I will have to see how I manage: it does take hours and hours to put together every quarter.

It is the semester break at the mo; I have got all my results in, and am working flat out on preparing my courses for next semester, and my ethics application for my masters. I am hoping that I might get time to work on my new website, which has been in beta for eighteen months (!), but I am not feeling positive about finding the time!

Last Friday night we went to a quiz night with Janet & Robbie, which was really heaps of fun, and raised lots of dosh for the Wakefield School, to purchase one of those folding stages for their hall. We came 7th of 25 teams, despite the quiz masters having some answers wrong :-D

I am looking forward to next week, when the concert will be over, and Jan will be less tired. Four rehearsals in the week leading up to the concert really takes it out of him - the 45 minutes drive home certainly doesn't help, either. He was going to take tomorrow off to sleep, but one of his longest serving staff members is leaving tomorrow, so he needs to go in after all.

At the moment I am writing a case study on Lance Armstrong for use in my research in September. I always thought he was a jerk, but after all the research I have done, I am staggered that international cycling hadn't taken any action when it was so obvious that Lance and many others were doping. Regularly. Consistently. In fact, UCI's inaction effectively condoned drug abuse in the cycling community. For fifteen years. Amazing.

We had a lovely sunrise the other day, unfortunately it blurred, but the colours are nice. Enjoy.

Jan is off to Rotovegas in September (10th to 12th). I think I will be in Wellington on the 8-9 for another CDANZ meeting.

Then I will be in Chch for Thursday, Friday & hopefully the weekend of October 17-20. Hopefully Jan will be with me too, but we still have to work that out.

Jan is in the US in November, as I mentioned last time.

Right, that's all for now. Will be back in touch in a few weeks.

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – September 2012

Hi all,

We hope you are all fit & well, whether it is autumn or spring where you are.

Our pool is improving: Jan & I played three games on Saturday night before we went to bed, and the games are going much faster now. Jan won two and I won one; though I was only one ball off the pace on both the games Jan won. 

We had Robbie, Janet, Fergus & Mac here last weekend. We stayed up far too late, watched lots of films, played lots of pool and ate too much! In other words, we had lots of fun, and hope to do it again soon.

I have nearly got my research proposal for my Masters knocked into shape, being currently lost in the world of ontology and epistemology. I am up in Auckland on the 19^th of this month to meet with a load of people at Auckland Uni, and will catch up with Tessa for Japanese at the Stamford. I am doing a lecture on Leadership diversity at AUT in Manukau on the 20^th, on my way back to the airport, which will be interesting.

Jan & I had a lovely dinner out at Hopgoods for his birthday. I bought him a new viola case (when I was in Welly a couple of weeks ago for an Exec meeting) and got Camila’s folks to send some guava paste from Brazil (Beto & Célia also sent Jan some lovely peanut lollies that he likes - paçoquitas). Tina & Jeremy got shoes & socks for a child in poverty (what a great idea!) and we got a handmade card from Otto & Lara. My folks bought him a Mitre 10 voucher, Midori & handmade hazelnut chocolates, Kathleen & Frits got him Monopoly: the chocolate version :-)

Jan had a family & friends birthday lunch at Lambretta's – it was great to catch up with everyone, and the sun was kinda-sorta out too. Then he went off to rehearse with the NSO and I went to Kathleen & Frits’ place to mark.

We went to Lake Rotoiti a few weeks ago and presented “what happened on the North Island Tour” to the next intake of exchange students. They are a great crew and we should have a really good time next year on the tour as well.

We also caught up with Hui Ping & Mae at Bill & Cornishes’ place a few weeks ago, along with Murray & Julie. It was a lovely night with LOT of lovely pizza, which Hui Ping made for us all. Wonderful. Hui Ping went skiing, so had her dream stop in Nelson. 

Speaking of skiing, Camila has been, and probably now has the show bug as badly as Ana Silvia had it. Unfortunate that the snow has almost gone now; but I think overnight there has been a bit (it is chilly enough this morning to light the fire again).

Tina & Jeremy hosted me brilliantly in Welly a couple of weeks ago, and not only did we have a birthday party for Uta with Hartmut on Friday night, but I spent time with Otto & Lara watching Mr Bean on Saturday night. A great weekend.

Interesting sunrise recently with a halo around the sun... very thin cloud about.

 

Jan & I are both in Welly from 7-9 December (next Exec meeting) so we will be in touch to try & catch up with as many Welly people as we can then. 

Andreas, Katrin & Christian will be with us for Christmas and maybe New Year in Nelson. Flights are booked, should be loads of fun, and we are really looking forward to it!

Happy birthdays to Otto, Bob, Warren, Doug , Helen, Andreas, Leigh, Max & Karen, DJ, Tony G, Andrew and Ana Silvia! 

Right – better finish my marking. All the best :-D

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

News from Nelson – April 2011

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all fit and well; Jan has a cold which I have just managed to avoid thus far. However, I am sure that I will no doubt succumb in due course.

Last week we had the window people back to measure up for shutters in the spare room, so we can better control the heat in that room in the summer. Our builder is coming tomorrow to finish off some jobs, like putting up the backing on the hob, the cowling on the exhaust fan, putting up some hooks, putting in some fixing studs and some floor-mounted door stops. Last Saturday we finally bought an extended piece of flex for the dining table light, and Jan fitted it on Sunday. I have also managed to glue proper felt surface protectors on the base of all the furniture, and throw out the bits of wool-block which had given all our furniture the appearance of wearing ghastly grey fluffy slippers for the past year.

Jan is currently practicing for the next NSO concert, which is Beethoven on 21^st May. They are doing the 5^th (which will be quite fun). John Thompson (first violin) is leaving in May for a teaching position in Auckland, but will return for the concert itself.

Our Montrose Drive tenants continue to impress us. The garden looks fantastic and Jan is due to pick up the third trailer load of green waste tomorrow. They are currently helping to replace the spa room roof (he is an ex-roofer) as well. Long may they last.

I have discovered that you can’t preserve pumpkin puree in jars. I suspect it is because of the amount of starch – sugar – in root vegetables, but am not sure. The jars that I preserved fermented after two or so weeks. So we will buy pumpkins and keep them whole in the cellar instead (as we will rarely have room enough in the freezer). Through TradeMe we got in touch with an older couple who are planning on building a smaller house – initially I picked up 34 jars from them. They contacted me to say they had another 95. So now I think we are pretty much set until our own fruit trees come on stream.

Frits appears to be recovering from surgery slowly, still having quite a bit of pain, but slowly coming right. He is back at work full time. He & Kathleen are in Christchurch this weekend visiting John, so hopefully he has coped OK with the drive. We will see them all next Saturday night for an Easter Saturday party.

Ian who has also had surgery (hip replacement) seems to be going great guns. He emailed me to say he has walked into town – with sticks – but is improving by leaps and bounds.

Jan hired the little digger, and moved the mound of dirt towards house a bit more, so I can plant some screening plants between the office and the shed. We also put sawdust over the mound, and planted it. Moose, Sandra, Kevin, Gary & Karen, you will be pleased that we have at last planted your house-warming presents and are really looking forward to seeing them grow! Jan has also cleared the drains, and dug out the culvert in the bottom of the gully. We didn’t get to fill in the dirt around our big water tanks, as he needs to first put in a retaining wall. I think he is hoping to get our plasterer to help him with that.  That means that we still down have our clothes line in. Never mind, we will get there eventually.

Jan got the drains cleared just in time; it rained heavily last Friday. It was good to see the drains running free. Friday was the end of the first teaching term, so students are all on study break for two weeks. I had managed to get all my students on all courses to hand in assignments on Thursday & Friday, so I have a good week’s worth of marking. That will keep me occupied for the coming week. Then I have a couple of assignments to get knocked out for the Diploma course.

Jan’s motorbike training course went well. When he got home, he told me, to my surprise, that I had 15 minutes to pack an overnight bag. We went into Nelson and checked into the Rutherford, where we were staying overnight, then went to Mint for dinner (which was fabulous). We strolled back to the hotel, and ate chocolate in bed, watching crap telly, had breakfast at Lambretta’s and lunch at Founders Brewery with my family and Magda. A very nice birthday weekend. John & Magda dog-sat. 

The house is greying off now as the timber weathers. Eventually it will fade back into the hillside as all the timber silvers, and sit very quietly on the landscape. Fliss is also looking grey!

Christél and Ray arrived yesterday, and Magda came and joined us for dinner here last night. Christél & Ray are heading to Golden Bay for a couple of days, but are coming back to us on Friday. Julie, Magda, Christél, Ray, Jan & I will all catch up at Julie’s for morning tea on Easter Friday.

Next up, Kel gets back from the US, and I will catch up with her on Thursday. Jan & I are heading out to dinner for Magda’s birthday at the end of this month with Gea & Tjibbe.

As well this coming weekend we are going out to Robbie & Janet’s place to get some walnuts and have a look at Robbie’s 100 litre sprayer unit (thinking about uses in the gully). And I have ambitions about painting the porch, ordering the string lights and making a planter unit for my herbs. But we will see.

Happy birthdays in the next few weeks to Glenys, Sharon, Magda, Fran, John I, Lars & Tessa.

Catch you all again soon.

Alles liebe!

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young