First day of school

Today was one of those unexpected angsty days that mothers dread.  Our first day at school started with lots of bravado and goofing off, but as reality dawned on Kasper entering his new classroom, think 'trying to bath extremely aquaphobic cat'.

I think I had totally underestimated the poor wee mite's ability to understand and anticipate what was ahead and hence he felt woefully unprepared all of a sudden, despite my best attempts. In hindsight it is probably very hard to get a six year old to think of the future besides something tangible, like a quad bike.

Anyway, despite the sick feeling in my stomach, I'm stoked with the school and Kasper's class. You could not have wishes for a friendlier, welcoming, 'together' crowd of people with a quiet, experienced and obiously very kind teacher heading Kasper's roost of 21. The kids were lovely to Kasper and within a millisecond numerous hands shot up volunteering to be his buddy. And they're so well behaved and emotionally obviously very well held by the surroundings, they feel safe and happy there. 'Poor' Hanna never even got a send off from me. The lower school co-ordinator took her to her new class and Hanna popped back just before bell time to say she was fine and glowingly informed me she had already made a friend. No problems there.

So, at 1 pm, I think I'm ready to start my day. Lets hope it gets easier for Kas from here on in. It will. Change just hurts, but you should see what some of these other Christchurch kids have had to deal with. Think stress balls for six year olds, and funny habits developing like shredding paper, stress ticks and anxiety medication for a nine year old. Wouldn't that just break your heart. These things are with me a lot at the moment as I'm starting to meet and talk to people and get involved. It's so different from reading about it, it affects you so much more if someone is looking you straight in the eyes and telling you about it. The written word doesn't show you the facial expression or convey the tone of the voice.

Oops, just felt another earthquake. Welcome to the next 50 years according to Steve!

POSTSCRIPT: 3.00 p.m.  Aforementioned son says school was 'wicked', acted like he'd been there for years, and can't wait to go back tomorrow :).

Houston, we have contact (a phone)

 

 

Well, the last 10 days or so have been filled with blissful domesticity, pretty tame, but pretty pleasant.  It really has been a good time to relax and get our head around normal life living in a stable.  Steve has been back at work doing reasonably long days so it's been me and the kids mostly, living very harmoniously compared to what we usually do in the holidays!  I've given the kids more jobs and responsibilities, so funnily enough they hassle me a lot less.  Why didn't I cotton onto that earlier?  It feels like they've grown up a lot in the last month.  I'm really enjoying them, particularly all the conversations between the two of them about their new life etc, like planning how they're going to stick together at school and where they're going to meet at lunchtime.  Cute, and very organised!







Plane Spotting

Doing the laundry, 3 loads at a time



The weather on the whole has not been too bad but when it's cold, it's cold.  Like low single figures.  We are a bit concerned about how we are going to cope March onwards.  We're thinking that through now, maybe we'll get a canvas wall with windows for the wall that is currently open, and use a gas heater to heat that bit?  I am also very pleased to announce that Steve has managed to bolt the roof on properly today.  We have had a few nights where it's been like waiting for the anchor to drag holed up in some windy little bay somewhere.  For the non yachties, that means that you just don't sleep, you're just on edge the whole time.  The build is progressing not too badly,  basically along schedule.  The concrete pad for the large shed and the building platform for  the house are complete.  We should see something starting to get built next month.



Geotextile matting going down below the building platform (prevents liquifaction coming up)

Steve feels he is now complete given that he's been able to find a primo spot for his 12ft skiff leadlight and now that he's tried to have a sail in the landyacht (a real death trap).  I think the landyacht is going to get dismantled in the interest of his body.



Hee, hee, Daddy is going to get caned!



Blast off

Pride of place



We've been getting out and about a bit more, going to the movies to see Hugo (beautiful!), going out with Dad's workmates to the pub, and having a flash lunch courtesy of Dad's vouchers that he won in a design competition (Dad couldn't make it unfortunately).  And we've had a few people around for dinner etc.  We are slowly starting to get to know who's who in the locality too which is important.  Hanna is a huge library patron, we seem to have to go there every second day (in Lincoln) and we have now figured out where everything is: the dentist, the doctor, the vet, the best supermarket, the garden centre, our favourite hardware store, the cafe's with free wifi and good phone reception, it all takes time.  Lincoln appears to have won as the local town of choice.  Convenient, because the kids will go to secondary school there so it makes sense to have all our support and services there.


Dad's favourite bar: The Brewery, in Woolston

It still feels different to be here, it IS very different from Wellington, with it's own culture.  It's much more Caucasian, lots of gym honed blonde 40 somethings with tanned bodies, dirty dog wrap round sunglasses and fancy suits, and of course there is the TEVA / Icebreaker set.  You get the impression it's a small entrepreneur breeding ground, with all kinds of groovy little businesses, and they really know how to do the food, cheese and wine thing well.  And I'm still not used to the huge expanses of golden fields everywhere, with at the moment, snow covered hills in the background.  People are less PC probably too, possibly without that government department influence we have in Wellington, they just seem to get on with stuff until someone tells them it's not OK!  Suits me, given that I'm not reknown for being PC unfortunately.  I was panicking for instance about getting nabbed about our composting loo or shower soak pit by the council or someone, but I think they're all way to busy for that smallfry sort of stuff.  I think they just sort of think we're a bit weird.  But entertaining all the same.


We've finally managed to rig up our VOIP phone via the satellite broadband.  We've had to do our own thing cause they never seem to send us the right stuff (and it takes ages for the courier to find us with the next bit of kit).  So Steve, managed to find the right plug for this, and the right cord for that and hook it all up as a temporary sort of thing.  It works quite well, although the whole system sucks quite a lot of power so we only turn the phone and the internet on when we are using it.

The main phone user in the household in action

The kitten I spoke about in our last blog has been renamed from Miles to Cookie.  Cookie was in a rather bad state with worms so we took her to the vet who announced it was the worst case she had ever seen.  But she seems to be pulling through and has integrated herself quite nicely clutching onto George (to his disgust) and not getting too phased by the occasional chase by Koko.



Cookie with the new catdoor

 

The kids must have been watching too much cat action because their favourite game is to don disguise and try and outsmart Mum and Dad around bedtime by creeping around in the long grass trying to avoid us.  We've had some real fun creeping up on them instead.  It's enough to make you want to go to bed really.

Can you see me?

So, school next week!  THAT will feel like a new phase in life.  We are all really excited about it.  None of the apprehension I feared I might have to deal with.  They are even quite keen to start on the school bus quite soon, I won't know what to do with myself!  I will actually, that would be just after I stop pinching my arm .


Do I look fab in my new school uniform?



Make Hay While the Sun Shines

 

Wel, a bit of a corny metaphor, but we've been trying to make hay both figuratively and literally!  My broadband frustrations have finally been alleviated with a nifty solar powered installation jointly designed by Mr Hogg and Farmside satellite broadband.  Absolutely heaven and what a difference to my headspace.  I feel like I can take charge and move things along again while the weather is still good (my version of making hay) and Kasper and Hanna can continue with their online learning.




Happiness is a big satellite dish on your roof....




Back to practising reading online courtesy of ABC reading eggs

There's been a bit of action on the building front as well with the floor having been poured for our Totalspan shed.  It's a five bay steel shed of which two bays are going to be fully enclosed with a concrete floor and windows, an outer fifth bay will house the horsefloat and the two bays at the other end will probably store the hay.  Hopefully the whole thing is up by the end of February which means we can empty the containers and get them off the property.




The anticipation...







The pour...

The blimmin' red dog...

The other bit of news is that a kitten seems to have acquired us.  The kids have named him Miles on the assumption that Mum thinks it's a boy.  It's slowly getting comfortable here, I think it's wild, so it's taking a while.  Kids are besotted of course.  George and Mildred not so.  But they've stopped hissing.



'Miles' and George.  Mini me and big me.

Super Steve struck again in the weekend and now all the beds have been moved around and the kids have a dinky little bunk in a private dark corner far, far away.  They absolutely love it.  Particularly now Kasper's bed doesn't need to be shifted under Hanna's every day which required it to be made perfectly.  They have to do the dishes everyday and that's quite enough work and drama already thank you very much.  It means that we have a much better space for the evenings: this morning it was 3 degrees, I kid you not, Hanna was pretending she was smoking a cigarette and they dived for the woolly hats and gloves.  It gets very cold AND very hot, so it's nice to have somewhere to hang out in the evenings which long term we can even insulate and heat a bit.  We have no intention of moving into the Totalspan shed now.  We're quite happy where we are.



Miss Gee Gee, making her self at home




New kids digs...






Mum and Dad's space taken while seated on the couch, positively roomy

And finally, yes, hay is REALLY being made.  Today, out of the blue, when we came home, we found a hub of activity.  First of all the hay got turned (so did the house site that Steve had marked out with pegs and two 100 metre tapes: they drove straight over it!).  And THEN the bailer turned up which proceeded to poo out huge bales to much delight of the kids (probably interlaced with fibreglass bits of tape and splinters of surveyor pegs).  Anyway, am loving the country life, it truly is good.




The kids say the tractor is doing poos, much hilarity of course





Country Kids



Kasper's hut in progress



Poor man had to negotiate around my rope round pen



Wahoo!

Open2View

 

 

 

 

The Garden..

This is the first week this summer I’ve felt on holiday with our temporary home well and truly complete: I’ve experienced loads of sun, 30 degree temperatures in the shade, laziness, boredom and fluffing around totally without purpose (OMG!).  I’ve stood around with my horses so they could put their heads in my arms and go to sleep (loads of flies so they like my protection), I’ve gone for aimless little paddock walks to check out the state of the horse poo (it’s like they’re eating hay, phew), I’ve spent hours trying to save my lettuce seedlings and newly emerging seeds from the outrageous 30 degrees in the shade heat… These times bring me back to my childhood in many ways, we’ve even gone raspberry picking and made jam and pigged out on ridiculously cheap juicy nectarines bought from a little stall just down the road.  Hanna’s spent heaps of time rereading books on her bed, while Kasper sits in his treehut (it’s nice and cool up there) and dreams up new contraptions and water systems.  Busy as a bee is the little man.  He doesn’t even want to go to the store for an ice-cream.





Steve’s been back at work this week. Because of normal routine again I’m feeling really tired, delayed reaction I think.  I’m contemplating my new ‘to do’ list now that the old one is done.  My short term mission is to arrange solar powered rural (satellite) broadband, a web phone and a CRT (rural co-op) account.  Not having an internet connection at home is like wading through treacle and it is the one thing that continually stresses me out and has made my blood boil in a powerless rage on several occasions (when the Telecom 3G network and my t-stick let me down once again).  Somehow it is possible to go through $60 worth of internet simply by downloading a CRT application form, 10 emails and 2 web pages.  It is so frustrating and upsetting, you just feel robbed (yes Jason, you told me J)!

But the living is rather idyllic really.  Steve’s parents have been to visit which was a lovely opportunity to be a bit of a tourist, and we’re starting to have some time to socialise which is rather novel and very welcome.  It’s funny, now that I’m here, how all the old memories come back, who’s who and what’s what.  Everybody from my Christchurch life 10 years ago are all grown up with kids etc, but they’re still here.  And you talk to one person and that piece of the puzzle is remembered, and that then leads you to being able to put the next pieces together, and suddenly it’s a whole picture again!  Like slipping back into your very favourite old jersey and slippers that you found in a box you’d forgotten about. 

Lego heaven...

Canterbury is certainly very different from Wellington.  Rural Council services seem very thin on the ground for instance, I guess it’s a big area with limited funds.  For example, it looks like we’re going to have to travel 30 kms to get rid of our rubbish and recycling!  Despite their being several townships much closer, they just don’t have public recycling stations you can drop your stuff off to and being rural our bins don’t get collected because we’re not on the main drag.  Also we are responsible for the upkeep of our road despite it being a paper road and being used by the public quite a lot.  I also find people reserved and a bit cool generally (e.g. the trades people turning up or when you deal with people in shops etc).   Maybe people are all incredibly rattled and stressed underneath it all.  I suspect so. 

I’ve had a lot of different offers of paid work by various companies and people.  I’m mulling that one over a bit.  It becomes a lot more meaningful when it translates into payments for a horse float or truck, I must say!  On that front I’ve not earnestly started looking for a pony for Hanna.  Long overdue, major mother's guilt over promises made two years ago now.

Our hay has finally started being cut but of course, being so long and thick the tractor broke a universal joint ¾ of the way through.  At least the building site is cut now so work can progress.  The Totalspan shed has been started.  The concrete gets poured on Friday!  I will leave you with a few “Open2View” photos of our new home. 

Spacious bedrooms...



Toilet and laundry

 





Beauty is in the eye of the beholder



Shower







Kitchen sink

 

The Red Dog Returns

 

 

OK, I’ve been slack: I haven’t blogged for almost a week!  But the internet connection has been crappy and there wasn’t really that much to write about, except how nice it is to be with loved familiar people doing the same old stuff after a stressful time.  We had a very good blobby restful time in the Marlborough Sounds, doing the normal stuff, fishing, swimming, mucking around with the dinghy towing offspring around…  While the first few days involved quite a bit of cabin fever because of the mediocre and damp weather, it really picked up by New Years Eve.  The boys took of fishing and the girls (and Kasper J), took off to Picton for an impromptu lunchtime disco: we just happened to be in the pub when the sound equipment was getting tested for the evening festivities.  The kind hearted DJ even let of the fake smoke and turned on the disco ball.  The kids thought it was all so grown up and everybody got a chance to request their favourite song, so cool.  A lesson in not planning too much and just letting it happen.  Then off to the bead shop for some creativity and before we knew it a great day was had by all (as the toast indicates!).  Didn’t manage to stay up for New Year’s Eve, I never do, but I did wake up feeling like 2011 was 2011 and hello, it’s a new year!  It was quite significant in that respect, I was very happy to say goodbye to 2011.  Funny, it’s just a date, but really, I’ve felt quite different since then.

Biscuiting, Onahau Bay

Manaia, with her flash new covers



Mr Pensive, hatching a scheme..



 

Happy New Year

New Years Day we took off up to Endeavour Inlet and had our beer on the lawn at Furneaux and tied up in Tawa Bay for the night.  Manaia is a great family boat, and Steve finally felt he finally got his ‘moment’ with the boat tied back into the bush and the kids off in the dinghy for some adventure on the beach.  I must say that the dolphins have been magnificent this year.  With the fishing restrictions in Queen Charlotte Sound, I think the net effect is a much better hunting ground for these guys, and they are certainly out in force.  We had dolphins rounding up kawhai right on our bow and actually playing with them, tossing them out of the water etc.  And then the Bluebridge came along and we watched a couple of them surfing off its bow wave: man they can move along.  Priceless.  All it takes is some diesel on your MasterCard!  Sorry, no pictures, too busy watching or fishing.  We threw back countless cod because they were too big and over the limit of being allowable.  That’s a new thing, having to throw them back because they are too big!



All the while when we were in the Sounds, I found it hard to relax though.  I was still fretting about all my animals being all over the place and I was on a mission to get them all together again.  So really, I was pretty pleased to be heading back, despite Christchurch evidently being bombarded with earthquakes again.  Mum, our ‘great sport’ supporter, was fantastic and delivered our dog Koko (yes really, a genuine Red Dog of movie fame), across The Strait on the ferry to Picton.  So after much tail wagging, and excitedly jumping up on us and whoever walked passed in the festiveness of it all (there are no strangers when it comes to Koko), we had a lovely seafood lunch on the Picton waterfront and finally left Mum to head back across the ditch while we made our way back to Christchurch.  Koko is cool as a cucumber about the new digs, although the first 24 hours his demeanour was very much ‘you’re kidding right, THIS is what you’ve cooked up over the last 3 weeks, this is where we’re living?: how sweet but I was really kinda expecting something a bit different’.



Koko dog is back and reunited after an extended stay with Oma

 

 



Cat motel....

 

I picked the cats up the next day.  Skinny and both with colds, sneezing profusely, they are happy to be here I think.  I have no doubt they were looked after fine, but they are old and they like having their home comforts.  Catteries are not their thing.  Our grass STILL hasn’t been cut for hay so in desperation we’ve fenced off a strip (still way too much food probably) so we could go and get the horses.  The floating was rather a miserable experience, different float, set up for race horses and I/we had a couple of disasters which have really knocked my confidence and Millie’s face around, but we all got here, Frankie learnt a float isn’t a truck and it really is better to come out backwards (I didn’t see THAT novel exit coming after all the practising in the past L), we’re all happy now…  But our family is complete!  I feel normal again and in Steve’s words, we have come to the end of set up mode.  Steve even cut the ‘lawn’ and got the tools out of the ‘dining room’ and I’m back to cooking normal healthy food again rather then just slapping up whatever is quick.  Plus I have a tack room set up in the container.  So I’m full of enthusiasm, albeit coloured with a bit of intrepidness, to try and get Frankie and I ready for our 5 day Parelli Super Camp end of February.  My broken and plated arm seems to be at 60-70% capacity now in terms of strength, I only hope that at the next checkup and x-ray that there has actually been some healing going on in the break.  But even if there hasn’t, the plate seems to be holding everything together enough to have a life!



Kids with their science lab



What, I'm not piggy...

 

 

 

Fun in the Sun

The last few days have felt like a Trumpet or Cadbury advert or something.  Classic Kiwi Summer Family Fun.  The weather has been glorious (as it has been around the country everywhere), we’ve had free time, and a burning desire to chill.
 

Christmas day, unpacking presents

Christmas Day was a laid back affair with a yummo roast lamb Christmas Lunch followed by a quad bike ride up the ‘road’ looking for some cell phone reception for Christmas txts.  We have found THE fencepost that affords us 3 bars courtesy of both Telecom and Vodafone.  We have carefully marked the fencepost with a rock because it’s the only spot for quite some radius around our campsite.  The alternative is a 16 km return trip by car to Tai Tapu.

Christmas Lunch

 

Off to find some cell phone reception...
 

 In the evening we popped off to the rellies to say hi and feed the horses a bag of apples for their Christmas treat.  Lady Gee Gee, being a race horse, has got no concept of treats apart from a bucket of hard feed, so she needs to be educated as to the ways of a family pet.  She’ll get there.  She at least pawed at the piece of apple on the ground and looked at Frankie and Millie’s apple frenzie with bemused confusion.

The next couple of days were punctuated with a dash to this fantastic Laundromat that I’ve found (does 18 kg of washing in one 30 minute hit, yippee!), and Huckleberry Finn type adventuring for the kids in their new surroundings.  Hilarious to see the planning that goes into it.  For example the stall, named in honour of our horses, selling pine cones for fifty cents a bag.  Ingeniously constructed from stripped down branches courtesy of the old Christmas tree and bits of ply lying around.  As they were arguing about the price per bag and dragging the stall out to the gate, miraculously a punter drove past.  Unfortunately that was it for the day. So they need to work on the foot traffic component of their marketing plan a bit.

We also went for a bit of drive around Lyttleton Harbour and reacquainted ourselves with the wonderfully old world charm of Governors Bay Hotel where we had jugs of lemonade lime and bitters, before driving round the other side to check out our new yachting club ‘to be’ at Charteris Bay.  We were all full of enthusiastic plans for chidrens’ yachting careers after that.  Next summer they’ll start with an after school Learn to Sail program.

Governor's Bay Pub

 

We are now in the Marlborough Sounds living in the (now) relative luxury of our boat, our dear beautiful Manaia.  Lovely to have the comfort of old friends among all the change we’ve had over the last year.  The Sounds are so familiar, it’s like being back in Wellington, it’s a welcome rest from the energy required pioneering our new surrounds in Christchurch.  It’s been kind of exhausting, both physically and emotionally.  I was uneasy about going on holiday this year because I have this bee in my bonnet about getting settled and I was sad about some very good friends of ours not being able to be there.  Plus I feel bad about leaving the horses for a week (even though they will be well looked after).  But I’ve got to admit we need the holiday and it’s jolly nice blobbing.  First thing we did this year being the good parents we are, is throw the kids off the boat without life jackets to see if they can swim to the shore.  That way we don’t have any life jacket arguments the whole holiday.  Anyway, they can, so guess we can relax about the life jackets a little this year!  There are definite benefits to children growing up.

A shaky intro to a blissful Christmas

 

Well, a 6.0 earthquake coming your way is something to behold!  Thankfully we were at home (missed the first one(s) because we were driving), but you weren’t going to miss this one.  I can understand how people could have been knocked off their feet (I lost my balance), and after the first jolt, the land shook and wobbled around like jelly which REALLY doesn’t look right, believe me!  Shelter belts shook unsteadily on their feet and the noise is by far the worst, it’s menacing.  It must be one of those things that is just programmed into your primal psyche, like nails scratching on the blackboard, a fear of heights, and an instinctual aversion to snakes.  Even Steve was highly impressed and animated with it, and he’s been here all year!  Technically, as an engineer, he was quite excited.  Like ‘finally, I’ve felt a biggie’.  Interestingly Kasper had already been feeling the ones leading up to it.  We’d been going ‘yeh, yeh, yeh’, but when I saw the paper and the timings, he was bang on.  So I won’t ever be doubting him again, I should learn to not doubt him full stop because he’s been right about a lot of other stuff despite not yet having turned seven.  Our resident seismological activity sensor / baby engineer and scientist.  The kids took it fine although they are scared at night if they wake up and I notice that Hanna in particular is really struggling to get to sleep at the moment.  She’s feeling it and needs TLC (no doubt all the changes don’t help).



Ooh, Christmas is tomorrow!

 Earthquakes are certainly a good way to meet all the neighbours!  We’ve scored there; they were over in a flash to see if we were OK.  Both sets.  I can see we’ve fallen on our feet with the locals, kind and straight up, solid people.  Even the local café is fab, Steve still took the kids down there on the quad bikes as planned.  Life goes on.  Certainly by now.

 

On the day of the earthquakes, we were dreading Steve being called back into work in the CBD Red Zone immediately.  But it appears it can now wait to Boxing Day since his buildings involve other buildings on either side having to be checked first.  At least we’ve found a spot with enough cell phone reception for phone calls a 5 minute quad bike ride away.  Always good for emergencies.  As per how people are feeling about the earthquakes, I don’t think in general people are worried about personal safety anymore, but I’d say the dominant feeling around is just despondence, at just having to sit out another six months until the insurance companies relax.  Another six months before people start feeling a bit confident about investing emotionally and construction wise again…  People have just needed to completely readjust their life paths, businesses and values to cope.  No point investing too much in ‘nesting’ home based activities: it’s either not going to happen for you or it’s going to get wrecked.  And that sucks, it’s just a bad hand that’s been dealt to you and it makes people grouchy.  I bet you there’s a lot of drinking and travelling going on.

 




Thanks for the new camera Auntie Nicola!

Earthquakes aside the last few days have been absolute bliss for us as a family and in terms of where we’re at.  The weather has been fantastic and Steve has outdone himself in getting the place set up.  We now have shower boxes, lots of storage shelves, solar powered lights and music / phone chargers, a sink with hot and cold running water, doors on the indoor bit and a new wall to shelter us from the easterly on the covered yard bit.  We have read, painted, relaxed, drank expensive champagne, primped and preened, pottered, and we are currently cooking roast lamb with veggies and hollandaise sauce on the BBQ.  Followed by the traditional Christmas pudding (pavlova, cream and fruit).

The kids and I have had a really enjoyable experience moving the horses between paddocks at various times over the last week or so and watching the hay being made.  Agriculture is such a large part of life around here and kids love watching all the stages and machinery etc (so do I for that matter, doing agricultural science was always my first choice as I was growing up).  Hanna has already decided she’s following in Mummy’s footsteps and going to Lincoln University.  Guess she’ll be around for a while yet then!  As for Kasper, no doubt it will we involve building stuff, like Dad.  He’s obsesses with Dad’s power tools, nails and wheels. 



And now for the trailer to go with the quad bike...



 So Merry Christmas everyone, we love you, you know who you are!  I know missing everyone in Wellington is going to start gnawing at us soon when we get back to ‘normal’ life.  Right now it feels like one big holiday.