February 2019

February has flashed by and not much has really happened up here in Wainui. We had some guests, the weather turned bad, then it got better, and now we've finally started on making a patio for our entryway. We did so much in January that this month I have largely failed in my goal to do more interesting things. But I have plenty of March plans so I think one quiet month is OK.

We have been making the most of nice weather. We've been to the pool to play on the hydroslide and been to the beach - not just to walk Cher but to go swimming. Cher doesn't much like it when we swim, she stays on the beach and barks at us. So we tempted her in with a tennis ball and then played piggy-in-the-middle to keep her in the water with us.

Then last weekend we spent the whole two days moving paving bricks. We bought them via trademe from a guy in Wellington city, and then we hired a trailer and went in to get them. We estimated the weight of the bricks and basically just filled the trailer. Then got a bit worried at how low the tyres were squished down so we went and put some air in them, and more oil in the car - it seemed to be completely empty. And then we carefully drove home, managing a high speed of about 30k over the Wainui hill. We called some friends to help unload, then went back to the city and did it all over again. When we got home the second time we weighed a brick and did some math - we reckon we were towing at least 2.5 times more weight than we should have been! We are very lucky we didn't ruin our car, or the trailer, or both. Cher seemed quite interested in the wall of pavers we built. By the time of my next post, we'll have pictures of the completed patio for you!

So after that weekend of hard manual labour, I could hardly move. But that eased up after a day. I felt very silly at work though because every time I sat down or stood up my muscles were so stiff and sore that an involuntary pathetic moan would come out.

A couple of days after that, I got a flat tyre. Luckily I had driven all the way to the bigger station that day in Petone, because I had shops to visit. When I realised that noise was coming from my car and must be a flat tyre, I was just around the corner from the tyre place. I could have stopped to change the tyre but I don't think I would have been very successful on my own ad it probably would have taken all night. So I drove to the tyre place but in doing so ruined the tyre. While checking it over they also looked at the other tyres and told me that they all need replaced within the next 6 months. So that was great. I got a new tyre to replace the one I ruined and before our next warrant, we'll get all the rest. Paying for the patio comes first, then new tyres. Yay. They lasted 2 years - the tyre guy was very impressed they lasted so long with going over Wainui hill every day. Apparently it's really that rough on your tyres.

March 2019

*Just went to publish this and found that February was never published - for the record, I did write it on time*

March has been a very busy month, which is why it has taken me so long to say anything about it. We started March by buying a whole heap of paving stones. We learnt some lessons about towing and luckily did not destroy our car or the trailer. We did have two back-breaking weekends though, first with moving the pavers to our place and then the next weekend, laying them. We definitely did the maths wrong because we have loads left over. We haven't finished yet though, we still need to hire a paver-cutter to do the edging. But first we are re-doing some of the centre because there's a bit of a noticeable hump. Only we have had guests and bad weather so finishing the job has been put off for the last few weekends. Actually last weekend was really unseasonable hot - too hot to work. So that is where we are at - we nearly have a patio. Summer is over and the weather has turned bad but still, we finally did something about it.

March has also been spent making preserves. Several weekends were spent making jam and relish. Our peach tree started dropping peaches by the bucket-full, but they were mostly unripe and not great for eating. I think I'll rename it the Jam tree because that's mostly what it's good for. I have so much jam, and the freezer is full of peach puree. There was a good crop of wild blackberries this year and I seem to have done OK with relishes this year too. None are excessively vinegary.

This month has also included dealing with a sick dog and a sick car. The car had stopped a couple of times just in the middle of driving. The car turned out to need a new cam-sensor. It wasn't so pricey to fix as I was worried about and the engine light is off after being on constantly for about two years. The mechanic didn't even say anything about my ignoring it for all that time. As for my poor dog - we noticed a new lump under one of her forelegs. She has a couple of fat lumps already but this had appeared so suddenly that I thought it must be an allergic reaction or something. So I took her to the vet but she freaks out at the vet - it's like she has a complete personality shift. Which means the vet can hardly look at her. They thought it was probably another fat lump but to be sure they needed to be able to put a needle in it, which they couldn't do with her going crazy and crying and struggling. So the next morning I took her in and they sedated her. I collected her after lunch - and it was just another fatty lump. I'm glad I got her early because she's not used to being in a cage or crate, so she started really acting up as she woke. I took her home, where I was torn between laughing at her (she couldn't keep her tongue in her mouth and could hardly walk, let alone go in a straight line), and feeling so sorry for her because every time she woke up she started crying again, so she must have felt quite ill. It didn't wear off till about 3am so next time I do this (and there will be a next time because I'm saving up to get her lumps removed) I will be taking two days off work, so that if she keeps me awake all night crying, I won't have to work the next day!

You'd think that would be enough for March but all of the above was within the first two weeks of March! We also had a visit from a friend from Germany. We did some tourist stuff in the city, we went to Weta Workshop (the tour is not as good as it was a few years ago) and we went horse-riding. My butt was so sore after, and my horse was quite lazy. Her name was charm but she wasn't that charming - she kept farting! There was also a pop-up second hand clothing sale and I got a great dress and a string of real pearls! I was pretty pleased with my shopping. Finally, for the last weekend in March, we went out on the motorbike to a beers and bbq festival in Upper Hutt. I have just got proper riding boots so we had to test them out. Half an hour is quite a long ride on the back of the bike though. The festival was good, but they weren't expecting it to be so popular - the bbq food trucks ran out of food!

So that was March, and now it's April. Don't have any exciting plans yet so I'll have to work on that. Already have lots of plans for May though so maybe we'll just keep things quiet for the next couple of weeks.

January 2018

At the end of last year I said I would try to do more interesting things this year. A very vague and quite easy New Years resolution really. Or at least, it's easy while you're still on summer holidays. We have started the year well, first off I got a motorcycle helmet for Christmas so we've started going on rides together. So there's something new. My helmet is cute and girly. The we had the in-laws visiting and they had their dog with them - she's a guide-dog pup so while she's still in the training programme she gets to go everywhere. However she has a heart condition so she won't be a guide dog. And I discovered that having a second dog in the house is way more stressful than I expected, especially when it's not your dog so you haven't trained it and it doesn't see you as the boss. Cher was OK with it, just a bit growly because she's a lot older and doesn't want to play constantly. However the cat hated it and hardly came inside the whole four days of the visit, and he is an inside cat at night so struggling to get him in at night stressed me out further. Finally, the pup chased my chooks. So all in all, I won't be welcoming someone elses' puppy into my home again! But at least she was cute.

Of course, just because I am trying to do more interesting stuff I have not stopped taking photos of the pets and garden, so here are my roses. I only choose ones that are both pretty and have interesting names. So from left to right below I have Betty Boop, Claude Monet and Blue Moon. They got black spot but we sprayed them and they're doing better.

Next up in January was Nathan's 30th and he never did think of a present for me to get him with all the money I had been saving up over the year, so we spent it all on activities instead. First we went up to Kapiti Coast and Nathan got to fly a helicopter. He said it was really scary.

 Next we went to Upper Hutt and had lunch at a fancy garden venue, then we did some clay bird shooting and archery. I enjoyed the archery most, though I was more successful at close range and they didn't have arm guards so I ended up with a huge bruise up my arm. Nathan liked the shooting most. I think both activities could probably be done better - a more open space for the shooting and a knowledgeable instructor and arm guards for the archery would have been good. And it was super hot out there. But we had fun, and I'd be keen to try archery again.

The last birthday activity was axe-throwing. There's a place here in Wellington that has set up an axe-throwing place where you go with a bunch of people and play target practice with axes. It was probably the best activity of the bunch (except maybe the helicopter flying but I didn't get to do that). It was something completely different, the guy running it actually taught you the technique and gave you tips, and made it into a competitive game the whole way through. Daniel and his girlfriend were visiting us so they came along. I was really gutted that I didn't manage to beat Daniel. Usually you have to have a large group but January in Wellington is pretty quiet so we got lucky in being allowed to book for just four people. They also played good music so all in all it was a good day.

The rest of January has been the usual. We still have plenty to do outside and around the house. It's been really hot, and on one of the really hot days we had a very impressive fog to start the day off. We are lucky in that our house sits above the fog level so we just get this great view.

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.