End of 2018

I have been lazy these past few days, and more inclined to devour the book series that I'm reading than to writing a blog post. Plus, I'm not even sure that I have much to say for the months of November and December 2018. Looking at the photos I've taken doesn't help much, they are almost all of my pets and the few that aren't, seem to be of my garden. My New Year's resolution is to do more interesting things and take photos, so that I have more interesting stories to tell. Instead of the usual - going to work, taking the dog for walks, working on the garden, repeat.

There have been some less ordinary things. I had a birthday - I took the day of work, we went to the city and I got two books from a secondhand book store (books that I really wanted but didn't know existed till I saw them there, and it was awesome). I had wanted an extravagant milkshake but the place was closed, turns out quite a few places don't open on a Monday (and I had one a couple of weeks later and it didn't live up to the hype). I've been mostly eating healthy but it was my birthday so the lack of milkshake required that we go find something else sweet and fattening. I had a brownie & salted caramel ice-cream sundae, which was good but I think just lots of ice-cream would have been just as good. Next year for my birthday maybe I just ask for a tub of fancy ice-cream and watch movies on the couch!

In November we also went down South, which was great. Except for the delayed flights. Both ways. AirNZ seems to be going downhill. I got all my visiting done and spent the weekend at Colac Bay - possibly for the last time if it sells. I visited Isabel's Weaving Studio - I always used to visit here and think that one day, when I wasn't a poor student, I would buy one of her woven blankets. Which I have finally done. We went to Gemstone Beach, where I picked up pretty stones but despite having the gemstone guide that is available, I have no idea what any of my stones are. Then we ate lots of pizza and cookies. Despite bringing swimming gear, we didn't end up being brave enough to go in the water. I probably won't be back for another year, maybe it's time that Southland people come up here to visit us?

In December the only notable events included food (and I'm not just talking about Christmas). At work my nerdy science team put on another themed morning tea (pushed along by me of course) and this time it was to celebrate International Day of Soils. All the food was soil or earth themed and we had educational labels, and handed out 'I love Soil' stickers. I made a layer cake that looked like a soil profile - sort of. There were layer dips/soil profiles, edible dirt and compost, gummy worms, and a hill-country landscape. It was great, we were very pleased with our nerdy-selves.

Later in December we had a small get-together at home - it was sort of a Christmas Party but when you book things for the last weekend before Christmas most people are already away somewhere. Which turned out to be a good thing because we were meant to be having a BBQ but Nathan dropped the grill plate and it landed on the gas pipes and smashed them, so that wasn't happening. But luckily the BBQ wasn't the real reason for the get together, it was actually a Gingerbread House competition. I made a castle, and a friend made Gingerbread Jurassic Park. There were four gingerbread creations and we let a 3-year-old be the judge, so the castle won (going bigger is always better).

 

Then it was back to normal life. We had Christmas, we had vacation time, we had Airbnb guests. We have an endless amount of work in the garden but we are slowly taming the grass and gorse, the veggie garden is going well and I have lots of flowers to take care of. We haven't gotten very far with any of the big stuff this summer but I reckon we'll at least get the patio done and then we'll have a nice outdoor area. Maybe we'll have to get a new BBQ and have a patio party.

So that was last year. I better get going with the resolution to do more interesting things before my next update.

October 2018

We have been home in New Zealand since October 5, so over three weeks now. Being on holiday feels like such a long time ago, the everyday mundane-ness of work has taken over. The trip home was easy, it seemed to go much faster than the outward journey, even the long wait in China. I think my favourite city was Amsterdam.

October has been quite busy for us. Luckily we came home to good weather because the lawns were all knee high and we still don't have them quite under control. The garden is mostly going well, the chickens have been escaping and we have been doing work both inside and out. I sawed a wine barrel in half to make new planters, I'm very happy with them. There will always be so much more to do though. Our biggest job at the moment is staying on top of the veggie garden, and building a new enclosure for the chooks. But I think plenty will get done in the next few weeks because today is Nathan's last day of work. He's going to be my unemployed house-husband for a while. He's hopefully going to build a patio, keep the lawns under control and keep the house tidy.

On my first day back at work, I got a surprise in the form of an extremely decorated desk. On account of having completely surprised everyone, they felt the need to go overboard. Some of the decorations are still up - we are supposed to be decluttering and keeping our desks clear but it's nice to have decorations. I also got a big glittery card and flowers. Work has been keeping me busy, and when I can't concentrate I can spend time 'de-cluttering'. Throwing away everything in your filing cabinet is quite satisfying. But when it comes to my knick-knacks, it's a different story. There is a lot of resistance to our upcoming building-move, and the 'flexible work-place'. We will not have as many desks as we do people, and this week has already shown us how hard that is, with everyone back from leave.

Other things that have happened in October include Cher getting a tummy bug and creating a big diarrhea mess on the carpet. That wasn't a fun evening. On the weekend Nathan and I went looking at motorbike gear and I managed to stumble and fall over, taking a shelf full of boots down with me. It was so embarrassing and now I have a bruise on my arm. We have planted new fruit trees, put up shelving and my new lillies have started flowering. And I have continued my halloween tradition of dying my hair - this year it is bright red.

From Amsterdam Airport

We are on our way out of Amsterdam and we have had a very good week here. The weather has been nice, the food is nice and we have done some cool stuff. Including going to a concert, Electric Light Orchestra, and we were only 8 rows from the stage. It was really good, I've never been so close to the stage before. We also went ring shopping here and now I have an antique sapphire and diamond ring from the late 19th or early 20th century. We did a tour of a diamond factory and saw raw diamonds being polished, that was pretty cool.

I would definitely recommend Amsterdam to visit, and would like to come back one day. Many European cities look the same to me so I was surprised that Amsterdam looks so different. Maybe the buildings are older  There are lots of churches and really big brick buildings, and all the houses along the canals are leaning against each other, some are definitely not standing up straight. We did the obligatory canal cruise that all tourists must do in a city like this. Only ours was a pizza cruise, with pizza  ice cream and limitless beer and wine. Despite that we were the only group in the cruise that seemed tiddly at the end! We also went up a big tower to see the view, another obligatory tourist activity. We didn't climb a church tower this time though  we went up this lookout that has been built at the top of a fancy hotel, and instead of going up stairs you get taken up in a psychedelic elevator, they call it their elevator experience. It had a glass ceiling and an LED light show as it went up. There was a swing up there but you had to pay extra and it's not like it was a bungy swing, just a big normal swing that goes a little over the edge. We just looked around instead.

We have been away for 3 weeks now so we've been a bit exhausted. We didn't go to any museums here, people will say we missed out on important cultural experiences but there choices a point on holiday where you just can't take in more information. Plus you need energy for museums and we were going to go to one but when we got there we realised neither of us could be bothered. So we went and got food and then I found a shoe shop. I have got some great new things on this trip!

So what do you do in Amsterdam for your last day on holiday when you are tired and over cultural activities? You go to a spa! I found one in the city centre, decorated in art deco style. It was a Finnish sauna. It turns out that means everyone is naked. At first it was all men but then other women started to arrive, which was a bit better. It was great though, there was steam, sauna, a cold pool and a little outside sun area. And the decor was so beautiful. No photos allowed though, which is understandable considering the naked people thing.

Now we are on our way home, it will be a long couple of days. We've had a great trip and are already planning where we want to go next!

Hamburg, September 2018

It was great to be in Germany again. I think it's been about seven years since I was there learning protein chemistry for my PhD. It actually feels like longer - I don't remember much detail of living there really. Our week in Hamburg reminded me of a few things though, like the great pastries, cakes, gelato and hot chocolate. And the shops that I used to love - I managed to get some nice stuff off the sale racks. We had a great Airbnb, a really big apartment, it was pretty much a house, all to ourselves. No WiFi and not well lit but it had a great shower.

We did not have a full itinerary in Hamburg, as we packed so much into our week in Copenhagen that we needed to take it easier. We both got lots of sleep, I think it took a whole week to really get used to the time zone and then in Germany we caught up on missed sleep. My brother came to Germany for the weekend so we did some tourist stuff together. We climbed a church tower, we went to the huge miniature railway, and we went to a flea market and the famous fish market. The weather turned bad so the church tower view was just average. The miniature railway was cool but we got tired before the end of it. And flea market was really good, I got an old brooch and an antique Christmas decoration and Nathan got a great deal on an almost new watch, of a make that he specifically was looking for. The fish market didn't have as much fish as we expected. It had a lot of everything else, including live bands (at 7am). Hamburg has the most markets of any German city. There was even a fabric market, right beside our apartment in Sunday! So many more options than NZ stores, all right next to each other!

We also went to the maritime museum so that's one in each city so far. It was really good though  lots of stuff about the ocean and science as well as ships and navy stuff. The only thing was that there wasn't enough translation - the main story was translated but all the labels and small things were only in German.

So Daniel's visit was good, and then the he left and we went on a day trip to Bremen (where I was during my PhD) and the weather got worse. I was not wrapped up warm, the forecast indicated a decent with day. It did not say anything about thunderstorms. We arrived to a cold but sunny day and took a nice photo of the windmill, and looked in some shops. Then the showers started, which was OK because we were looking in cute little shops and buying souvenirs and stopping for coffee. Then we went to explore the old town, which is a small area of tiny alleys that are the oldest streets in the city, full of little shops and cafes. The rain really started and then it began to thunder. We hid in an antique store and browsed until the thunder and lightning stopped. It cleared up after that and we went for a walk along the river to find the pancake ship, which is an old tall ship that is now a restaurant dedicated to pancakes. We had a rather late lunch and then tried to get back to the train station but got a bit lost, which was unfortunate because the rain started again and if we hadn't got turned around we might have avoided it.

On our last day in Germany we went to a free concert in one of their beautiful concert halls. It was a big old building with really lavish decor, high ceilings, red carpets, gilded everything. It was a half hour concert from a string quartet in the restaurant area. After that we had some last shops to visit and last ice creams to eat. Then in the evening the hard job of packing. We have probably almost doubled our luggage in the last 2 weeks, just from buying a little bit here and there must days. Luckily we could have 12kg carry on each from Germany to Netherlands otherwise we'd have been screwed. We have 2 changed pieces of luggage each on the way home so no worries there.

Finally we decided to go out and see just a little more of Hamburg. We went for a walk around Speicherstadt, the warehouse district, and saw all the lights on the boats. Then we went to the Elbphilharmonie, which is a big architectural masterpiece of a concert hall. We went up to the plaza to walk around and see the view.

Anyway, travel was fine after finally getting through Hamburg airport, and we arrived to warm weather in Amsterdam. It's pretty here. Now I have to make plans for the next few days. Here are a couple of my favourite photos from our wedding photographer and some pics from Hamburg.

Eloping in Denmark, September 2018

I am sitting in a first class carriage on a train that will take us from Copenhagen to Hamburg. We have been in Denmark for 6 days, they have been very busy

To begin with, we were supposed to arrive early Thursday morning but we missed a connecting flight, because we had the bare minimum transfer time. Between getting off the plane, through a large airport and security and passport control, it just wasn't enough. We rushed as much as we could and missed it by 2 minutes. So we got to Copenhagen later that morning but next thing to go wrong was my bag didn't arrive. The plane had been too heavy so some bags were left in Amsterdam. At least it wasn't in China! After all that, we didn't get to the city till after lunch and after our huge journey you know what we did first? We found a local pool and went for a swim and a steam. It was a great way to shake off the long-distance travel feeling.

Our first full day in Copenhagen was Friday and it was spent shopping. We had a suit and rings to buy, and I needed snap fasteners to finish my dress. Sewing projects always end up being last minute! I also was in general shopping mode and found a couple of great items. Copenhagen is expensive but I had looked up some good vintage secondhand shops in advance. One of my friends from Ireland met us in Copenhagen, so we had socialising to do too. That night we took it easy, and tried to catch up sleep, to be ready for our big day.

Now we've been planning this elopement since we decided to go to Europe last February, Denmark is one of the few places that foreigners can legally marry in Europe. Going to the USA would have been way easier but we really wanted to visit Europe. It's been pretty hard keeping the secret, hardly anyone knew. I made my dress, it is not perfect but only I see the faults. My something old is the clasp on the back, a gift from a friend, it had belonged to her grandmother. I borrowed a pretty hair clip from my sister, and my something blue was hidden under my dress ... And of course the shiny gold rings were brand new.

So on Saturday morning we got dressed up and took the subway to the city centre. We made our way to City Hall where we met our photographer, who Nathan found on Facebook. So there are real photos coming! I will hopefully have them in a few days. We were scheduled to get married at 10 and we were in tune but my friend was late - by about half an hour! Luckily, the celebrant didn't mind and let some other couples go before us instead. A lot of people were getting married at City Hall that day!

The ceremony was very simple, it was a civil marriage so no religious stuff, there was a celebrant and two official witnesses, all wearing robes and sashes. The room was sort of dim and the walls were covered in paintings - they gave us a book to tell us all about them. I hardly remember the words but my friend's partner recorded the whole thing, right up to the rings, so I'm looking forward to seeing that when I get it. The whole thing can't have taken more than 10 minutes, and then we were shaking hands with the celebrant and leaving. We went off and took photos around City Hall, and then it w time to go find some champagne.

It was so early and we had no reception to get to if course so we spent the rest of our wedding day at Tivoli, which is a garden and amusement Park right in the city centre, next to City Hall. We did all the rides in our wedding clothes and when we stopped for a drink we each stole our vessel as a memento of our special day. We tried a few of the games but didn't win me a giant teddy bear. I got a small dinosaur though. After that just Nathan and I went for a nice dinner, then it was finally time to get out of our wedding clothes, and until something a bit less dressy to hit the town in. There are no alcohol bans in European cities so we drank gin and tonics by a fountain in a city square, then went for cocktails. Then the grand finale - a fireworks display. We went back to Tivoli, where there are fireworks every Saturday this summer to celebrate their 175th year. What a lucky coincidence for us.

So that's it, the story of our secret elopement. Now we're married, which is a bit weird to say but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The next few days have flown by. We had bought these tourist cards that covered our transport and entry into attractions. So we had to get our money's worth of course. We have climbed towers, visited castles, gone to the zoo and tired carlsberg breweries. Press there was a canal tour of the city, which was really nice. We did a bit more shopping, souvenirs from Denmark include jewelry, books, china and art. I was reminded how badly a big city can smell  especially after a Saturday night, and the water in Copenhagen is bad. It has so much calcium that it tastes soapy and made my hair gross. Plus I've had a crook stomach, I'm hoping it was because the water was so different to what I'm used to and that I'll get better now.

Now it's time to enjoy some scenery and find out how this first class thing works, because the Internet says we get drinks and snacks but the train lady thinks not. We'll see.

August 2018

Nine days till we head away to Europe! I'm posting a few dates late days I've been busy. We have been trying to clear out our spare room, which is full of random stuff and junk  so that we can fit a bed in there as we have two sets of house and pet sitters. And I've been trying to finish a sewing project. Plus we're still really busy in the garden.

Our garden work has been building a raised garden bed that runs the entire length of the fence at the top of our property. It's Felsted now and filled with dirt, and a few pages. The plan is to fill it with very bushes that over time will create a bramble over the fence, to both act as a hedge and provide us with fruit. It will take a while to fill it with berry bushes though. We also have lots of seedlings to plant into the vegetable beds before we go. They've been in my mini greenhouse and I just hope that it's warm enough now for them to go outside  Then when we get back after 3 weeks hopefully stuff will be growing nicely.

Most of our non-work time in August was spent in the garden but we did also go to Christchurch last weekend. We went for a regular family gathering with Nathan's family  a very late mid winter Christmas. But it was also Rochelle's first weekend of her new life in Christchurch so that gave me a great excuse to have some time away from the in-laws. I bought her a kettle and took her plant shopping and set up her pretty china on display, with lots of blutack in case of earthquakes. Then on the Sunday night I took all Nathan's siblings and their partners to her place and we made pizza and had a big family dinner. It was very successful - the pizza that is, we used pizza stones and they made such a difference! I am buying a good one first chance I get.

Unfortunately the story of our weekend away doesn't end well. We came back to Wellington carrying disease, Nathan's whole family came down with a bad tummy bug and everyone was very sick. I thought I had got lucky because I felt fine on Tuesday but it got me too. Luckily Rochelle didn't get sick - I just gave her my cold instead. So we pretty much had the whole week off work last week, even when we felt better because we didn't want to spread our virus around work. Which was actually really good because when we felt better we got loads of work done in the house and garden, which would have been stressing me out otherwise because Nathan works must evenings and we would have run out of time.

Well that was our August and now the countdown is really on. Can't wait to get to Europe and spend lots of money on pretty new things. 

July 2018

July has been a pretty full month. First of all - it's only 6 weeks till we go on holiday! Almost everything is booked - the one thing left I want to book in advance is luggage storage in Copenhagen, because we will arrive early in the morning but can't check into our Airbnb until 5pm. I've even already made a list of what I plan to pack in my carry on and in my checked luggage. Next I should make a list of who I need to send postcards to or buy presents for.

In the meantime, life goes on despite the excitement of an upcoming holiday. This month we have acquired flatmates (a Czech couple, they will house-sit while we are away), had to get a new car battery and replace a taillight after Nathan backed into a pole, replaced the chicken's fence and clipped their wings, made curtains for our spare room (so that's the whole house done now) and started getting our veggie gardens ready for summer (I got a mini-greenhouse). We have big plans for doing stuff around the house while we have rent money coming in - after putting all the Airbnb money on our holiday it was really time to start putting some into the house again. As well as some new raised garden beds, I have big plans for shelving and a proper washing line. Of course, having to get a new car battery has already eaten into those plans a little so lets hope we have no more unexpected expenses.

Another interesting thing this July happened just yesterday, and has provided us with a strange little mystery. A parcel arrived yesterday, from Fastway couriers with no signature required, so it was just left at the door. It had my name and our address on it, printed on a courier sticker, and the name of the sender and their phone number is on it to. I wasn't expecting any parcel, I haven't bought anything recently and I didn't recognise the name at all. But it was addressed to me so I opened it, and inside I found 7 plates, well packed in newspaper. They are old, retro looking plates with a sort of ugly brownish pattern on them, and say Made in New Zealand on the back. I wasn't sure why anyone would bother to send plates by courier, when you can get old plates so cheap at the op-shop. But I guess from that stamp on the back that they are some sort of vintage collector's item. So I did some research and found the same pattern online, on Ebay, it is Crown Lynn and from the 70s. It turns out all those old recognisable plate patterns are a bit popular these days, if you have a set in great condition you can get about $10 a plate. So anyway, I sent a text to the number listed on the courier sticker and have had no response. I guess I will call Fastway to see if they can easily trace their mistake and come back to get them. But if none of that gets me an answer, I guess I'll just list them on trademe because they're not of the pretty Crown Lynn variety and I don't want them.

So there you have my strange story for July. Perhaps in another month's time I'll have an explanation for you. Until then, here are some pictures of my animals for you to admire.

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