November Highlights

Spring has arrived in our little place here in New Zealand.
There have been some delays in posting for so many reasons. My trip to Europe was such a whirlwind with next to no internet access. They when I returned to Oregon, the focus was on seeing friends and family. Then I returned to my New Zealand home and had one virus after another. The last one was rather mono-like in its intense fatigue nature. I was off work for over 3 weeks, and then only had energy to work part time. In the middle of all this, we decided to accept a dual job offer in Italy!

Which has a lot of interesting advantages... the first that comes to mind is that it will be my 4th summer in a row!

So now that I have energy, and in a few more weeks significantly more time, I hope to do a bit of 'back-posting.'

But for now, here are some recent events...

The piano dissection! My lovely landlord acquired a piano for me. A stray piano if you will. But as with any stray, there are sometimes unknown problems. When we called in the piano tuner, he basically said to put the thing down. He tried to tune it, but alas the keys stuck, the octaves didn't match, and it sort of hurt to listen to after awhile. Today it was decided that we would use some local help and take it to the dump... but the plan began to evolve. You can't really toss a piano out... and wouldn't be easier to savage a few pieces.. and look we're in front of a tool shed... Yes, it was quite a day!

The musical last rites, sorely out of tune, but that was to be expected:

We started taking it apart:

Removing the keys...
Cutting away the glued together bits
Cutting off the strings, one-by-one, which produces the strangest scale you've ever heard!Traveler protected himself from the noise

And crow/wrecking bars were employedAny wood that couldn't be reused, we cut into firewood -- please don't hate me instrument lovers out there....
And that was that. I learned so much about how a piano was put together. This is my favourite bit:
Cat Adoption: Two nights ago I walked into our cottage, then remembered I left something in the car, turned to go back outside-- and there was a CAT at the door. Pretty persistent fellow really. It didn't take long to realize that it was a lost cat.. and given its skinny frame, it had been lost for sometime. His ears are missing bits. But he is really beautiful and has a bit of personality. We'll be taking it to the SPCA to check if anyone is missing it, but for the next couple days he seems happy to have picked us as his personal chefs.

We'll see how he gets along with the chooks

Lime harvest: A year ago, we planted a lime tree to commemorate an unrealized dream. We also rather like limes and find that they can be hard to come by in NZ. Well, a year later we have harvested our first, and only, lime. It was a lovely treat to squeeze on our pad thai that night while we watched the sunset. This time we were marking the transition from my job in NZ to taking some time off before our next move.


Racing: I've also started racing the pair, which is a grand adventure of trying to balance a tipsy boat (often on less than perfect water) and row in sync with the girl behind you. Technically she is following me, but I still have to row as well as I can.. and well, since I've only been doing this for a year, I am not exactly a perfect role model. But we're having heaps of fun and getting better and better quickly. I honestly think I have best best pairs partner for me in the world.

30th birthday

After Traveler picked me up from the rowing regata, we made our way up the hill. He mentioned that our friend Ulrika was coming over for dinner. Adult conversation and a beer was sounding really good.

Then he asked me to look under my seat for my birthday present. When I pulled it out I teared up for the first of three times that night. Traveler had organized permission for us to get a dog form our landlords and selected a collar for the large dog we'll have sometime in the next few months.

When I arrived home I quickly sorted that it was a surprised party. So many dear friends carrying really thoughtful gifts. Traveler had cleaned the entire house and created a massive mountain of food. It was exactly what I needed.
This photo is for you Kristin - turns out that my food photos actually are entertaining for some:)

Then my friend Hazel requested that we go see the goats. She had been waiting for awhile I suspect for me to arrive. We quickly ducked out and around the back of the house and then I had my second waterfall of joyful tears:
Inside my very own chicken coop were the most incredible laying boxes. The whole design was very impressive. I knew that Trav, Dai, and Al had been scheming and building all weekend. When I called out thank you, Dai yelled down from the grilling area on the deck that the girls were coming the next day. They actually didn't arrive until today, but aren't they lovely!?!?
And they are already laying... or perhaps the people who shipped them thought it would delay complaints if they tossed in an egg for good measure... we'll see when additional eggs start appearing:

Which leads me to the third moment of tearful joy... at the party Hazel and Iris each played a song on their violins. Seeing Hazel's new confidence as she played through two songs, one the classic of early violin students - Twinkle- that she now knows all the parts to beautifully and one that she created herself. Then Iris stood up and shared Rosie, her violin, with the entire group. The sight of them playing brought tears to me eyes. Then their mother stood up and impressed me with Happy Birthday. I've been playing with her for the past couple months and know how long it takes her to learn a new song. Each one goes more quickly, but I know that she puts time and effort into learning each one. I am sure there will be encores throughout the year.

Return of T Bone

Acutally tonight we had salmon not steak.  

T Bone is a nick name of sorts for Traveler.  Well at least it was one day by one of my campers.  I mentioned to this youngster that my husband Traveler would be joining the group for a day later in the week.  I have found that autism and surprises do not always make a good mix.  I was trying to give him a few details and for some reason I mentioned that his friends in school once called him T Dawg.  He looked at what he was fiddling with and did not acknolowldge that I was speaking to him.  I didn't think it was all that important.

The next day Traveler walked in with my boss just behind.  The camper then looked up and said, "Look Boss... Teeeeeeeeee Booooooooone has arrived."  

Well there was no such fanfare this morning when I picked Traveler up from his Perth trip.  He told me tales of a far away land that really sounds like the edge of the Earth and showed me the single piece of photographic evidence from his week away:

I made dinner and then was completely entertained by him flying his new toy (which replaces the first one, which was pretty hopeless in terms of its crash to flight time ratio). This one is much better in that regard - although has a very whiny motor.   

I particularly love how he lifts his feet when it is about to crash as if to hint to the device what to do.

Also, in other news (since I am too lazy another post and re-import these photos) there has been some spring music in the air.  While I was watching my friend Susan's girls, I played my violin.  It was my I'm-too-sick-to-do-anything approach to babysitting.  They knew where I was because they could hear me and they brought me spring flowers (or squealed) every few mintues so I roughly knew where they were.  

We also were given an amazing wow present:

which had the added benefit of making me organize the study a bit.  Traveler will put his own mark on it shortly I am sure.

Fiddle Camp

This was my second year attending fiddle camp. I was sick most of it and my camera had no flash drive.

In spite of that it was an amazing week of music, fun, and food. I am so glad I went. I look forward to next year. And hope to see at least a few of the people again soon!