Little Waves

There are people with birthdays all around at the moment. Its been fun celebrating so far and there are more good times to come still (mine, for one!). Melissa’s came first and it was great she got to celebrate at all since she had a baby one week prior and her partner had been completely unavailable due to work obligations (he runs the rugby 7s tournament – a gigantic effort that culminated just two days after Mel’s bday). We made it easy, gathering at a lovely restaurant just across the street from her home. It all worked out beautifully – we finished gifts and dessert when the call came in that Flynn was awake and hungry. Many thanks to Ange for taking many of these fabulous shots!

And… Happy Birthday Melissa!!

By now most of you know this – I landed a job.   The organization I will work for is called Technical Advisory Services (TAS) and they are both funded by and work for the District Health Boards (DHBs), which are the entities through which the public health system works. This TAS works with the lower north island region only ( I believe there is one TAS for each region). The DHBs are notoriously uncoordinated, behind the times technologically, and not well fiscally managed. TAS is trying to get them to think more regionally and be more coordinated/efficient. I will get to work on that effort and that is the meat of this job that interests me. I will be communicating a lot between groups and the DHB CEOs, attending regional meetings and being the secretary at those meetings. A lot of what TAS has said to me is that they need someone to “connect the dots”, represent TAS at the meetings and be sure that agendas are adhered to, that items are followed up on, and that TAS knows what is going on in all the spheres. I think it will pull on my strengths and hopefully, won’t become only beaurocratic and frustrating. The only way to know is to try it out and see – or as they say here – “give it a go”.

This job is great in terms of me finding any kind of work that ties in with my background, as the market here is so tiny and tight at the moment. I am nervous about the new schedule more than doing the job itself, though I am sure next Sunday night will be a bit anxious. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a workplace – let’s hope I can uncover the necessary brain cells to pull it off.

I am also feeling very grateful to our “village” here, as they are rising up to take care of Ondine (and us) in this transition. She will be spending three afternoons with three different moms and their kids: Tessa, Liz and Kelly have all offered and will make this SO much easier on us. Of course with one car and a scooter it will still be a little bit complicated, but not insurmountable.

Many thanks to all of you for the support you’ve given me in my continual search for meaningful work and career paths. I feel good about this one. Let’s hope that feeling lasts!

Images from recent days…

Most of you know that our summer has been basically crap as El Nino has brought more clouds and rain than sunshine. This means that when the sun does come out, so do we. A few weekends ago we went to ride the cable car and have a walk around the Botanical Gardens.

The gardens sit above the downtown area and Wellington harbor, giving epic views on such a glorious day.

Our favorite local sushi spot just down the hill just started offering mexican fish tacos and it didn’t take us long to front up for the margarita and taco combo. Ondine took this snap of Brad.

YUM!

Although Ondine didn’t have a fish taco, she easily put away a large bowl of edamame and shared in the happiness.

Finley offers Ondine a ride at Mana beach on another sunny day.

…back to shore…

…beached as mate!

When the rain comes, we head to indoor playareas like “Tiny Town”.

…and find fun at home playing dress up (with Daddy’s scooter gear)

oooh, feelin’ it

Today we went to an event where reptiles from the zoo were brought out for viewing and touching. That’s Ruby in the pink top looking up and Ondine’s arm coming across from the left (and mine with the watch on it). That was a really cool blue-tongued skink.

Ondine sings her own song for Nana and Papa… with a face full of pasta sauce.

I actually meant to include this in the earlier post about Brett making Ondine laugh really hard. He has this effect on most of us.

Alas, Brett had to go… back to smelLA… and we miss him mucho already. It was hilarious, illuminating and healing to have you here friend.

Huh? I know airport goodbyes are hard, but this feels fakey and awkward.

Oh yeah, that’s more like it.

CUDDLES TO YOU BRETT!

The locals call Motueka “Mots”. Its a groovy little town west of Nelson on route to the Abel Tasman National Park. We stayed five nights at the lovely albeit filled-to-the-rafters Top 10 Holiday Park. Kiwis know how to set up a holiday park, let me tell ya. I remember how wowed we were with them years ago when our friend Sharon came to visit and we drove a campervan all over the south island, stopping at these sites throughout. They are well-kept, well-appointed and the service is great. If it hadn’t been so crowded it would have been darn near perfect (though that is MY opinion – Brad would say if he got to bring his own wide-screen and PS3, then it would have been perfect).

Unfortunately, the weather was up and down, but we made the best of it – braving sprinkles, wind and clouds while on the beaches – and when the sun came out…. I went out with my book while the rest took cover inside. Ondine and I made it to the pool many times, and Brett’s ability to keep Ondine in a perpetual state of the giggles regardless of where she was made for good times all day long. Brad and Brett went for hike into the park while Ondine and I collected shells, we drove north to a cool and crunchy brewery in Onekaka called The Mussel Inn, and we even got Brett his first ever whitebait fritter – which he loved! (brave soul)

The biggest and really only downside was the first day of travel in which Ondine, Brad and I took the ferry boat at too-early-o’clock while Brett flew to Nelson because the ferry booked out. It wasn’t so bad for Brett – he read his book and chilled out. Meanwhile, Ondine had some lollipop from hell (I swear I think it was the red food coloring) and promptly turned into a demon child. It was a long, long three and a half hours. And then we had to drive another two to get Brett – and then another to Mots. Long day! Thankfully we all got to come home together on the ferry, sans lollipop and demonic toddler behavior – and instead had a lovely crossing with epic clouds and views of the sounds and islands.

Overall it as just amazing and wonderful to have had a beloved friend with us over the holiday period. Brett is a comic actor and performer so he entertained us throughout, keeping laughter on top most of the time.  He spent a lot of time with Ondine; more than I am sure he wanted to on more than one occassion – but it didn’t go unnoticed nor was it under-appreciated. She adores him and I am so grateful for the bond that developed so quickly and easily between them. Ondine doesn’t get enough time with “uncles”, so this was just incredibly special.

Ondine took this one of Brad on the ferry ride over.
True, we’d had ourselves some “chups”.

Brad and Ondine on deck

Ondine shot: view of playground from our front patio (pool is just to the left of it)

Burried, but always glamorous

Burried, with nothin but sand in his pants

We had JOY!

We had sadness (or maybe exhaustion?)!

We had confusion…

…and we had a wee bit of FUN too.

(as evidenced by…)

HAMS!

and

Ham and CHEESE!!!!

We had SUCH a lovely Christmas morning here. Of course it was so great having “Unkah Brett” here. The simple addition of ONE friend/family person made this holiday experience a party, rich with love, history, and laughter. Without him, I am certain Brad and I would have been quite blue.

Our gift opening ritual was extremely pleasurable – Ondine was patient, attentive, gracious and appreciative. Without older siblings and other societal clues, she hasn’t yet learned to be frenzied, rushed or greedy.  I know enough to savor this now. I understand it is likely not to last. So I am deeply grateful that our morning was so effortless, enjoyable and mindful even – all of us were able to share and focus on one another in a delightful way. Ahh.

We didn’t go nuts over-spending with shopping this year, but we also weren’t overly austere either (which was last year), so everyone felt easily sated and appreciative of the gifts they received. Somehow I feel like we got the balance more right than ever this year. Hooray.

Here is a short video of Ondine realizing Santa DID bring her the dollhouse she asked for. It was funny, because when she came out of her room to see the presents and tree, she noticed the GIANT one first and said, “Wow, that one is really big!” but didn’t rush over to tear it apart. In fact, in the end we had to nudge her to keep opening all the gifts under the tree.  (If you can’t hear what she says here, she opens up the dollhouse and yells that is has pink in it! and then rushes off to find some dollies to put into it as she hadn’t opened up the rest of the gifts filled with insane amounts of tiny dollhouse furniture and a bunny rabbit family too – thanks to my lovely sisters and parents!)

Early in the day Brad discovered that a friend and co-worker was on his own, so we invited him to join us for dinner. Roast beef, mashed potatoes broccoli and salad filled our bellies and the company was effortless and easy. In the afternoon Brett, Brad, Ondine and I went down to the waterfront for a stroll, but the gusty northerly shortened our trip. Surprisingly, we found that Te Papa, the national museum, was open – so we went in and spent some time educating Brett on NZ history and culture. That was an unexpected treat. So all in all, a fabulous christmas day!

The following day, fabulous technology allowed us to SEE and HEAR family in faaaar away places so that we could join in our holiday celebrations together.  We really missed being with them in person but are really grateful we were able to at least “connect” via Skype. How cool.

On Boxing Day we made it out of town to the organic blueberry farm and Staglands Wildlife Park. Again, it was great to share more NZ beauty with Brett. The blueberry picking was a joy – we had the place to ourselves and the berries were abundant and falling off the plants. We came home with nearly 4 kilos! YUM. The only downside to the day was the part where we stopped off at a holiday park for me to use the loo, and when Ondine rushed over to the miniature horse in the yard – she spooked it and it nabbed her on the arm. It left a bruise and a scare – a healthy respect for animals one – but nothing traumatic thank goodness. See Brad’s shots on Flickr… (too rushed to drop them in here – sorry!)

We are off to the South Island tomorrow for five days so may not be back here for a wee bit longer than that…. Happy New Year to all!

Ondine is pretty excited!

The dollhouse is nearly painted, screwed and glued together – the presents are all nearly wrapped…

Ondine mailed this to Santa through the NZ Post and we actually got mailed a reply today! How cool is that?

More soon….