Christchurch Pettys in February 2015

Seth Petty exploring the world

I realise we have been the sole contributors for a month or so. Does anyone ever read this?

The first Sunday was Starve and Tell (more commonly known as Fast and Testimony meeting). My friend Gina got up and said that rather than knowing anything, she chooses to believe in God and various other things. She was followed by a Republican Senior Missionary who said that he KNEW that that church was true. It was a little awkward really, so I got up and said that President Uchtdorf tells us that there is a place for all of us in the church, and we can all be members, with different levels and styles of faith. The bishop thanked me later for a good save. There was a sister there who Dylan baptised on his mission, who had been coming only once a month, but decided to come regularly now. Her husband is a hardliner, so it was good for her to feel that a more nuanced faith is also acceptable.

It has been a long hot summer in Canterbury and everything is dry and brown. I love autumn and the changing colours and the crisp mornings. I look forward to cosy warm nights with the woodburner, and hot nourishing soups.

Jimmy, Thuy Van & daughter Kim

We were invited to Thuy Van and Jimmy’s 5th wedding anniversary party. Thuy Van wore her wedding dress and looked amazing as ever, and they had their dear little daughter with them. We went to a new Vietnamese restaurant, pretty late in the evening, as many of their friends also have restaurants. The food was marvellous.

I went to the World Cricket Cup opening, and Jonathan and Mark joined me for the opening concert and fireworks. Parts were good, but it was mainly tedious. The thing I liked best was the party beforehand, with four different areas with music and dancing. The Indian dancing was fantastic and the Irish dancing involved high precision and speed with outrageous wigs and dresses.

I finally submitted my profile for Ordain Women. I have been a supporter from the start, but needed to wait until I was released as Stake RSP before I could submit a profile. And it took me a while to work out exactly what I wanted to say. Most of the members of my ward are very supportive, including the bishop at the time and our new bishop. Other people have found it more shocking. I would have, a few years ago. I’m happy that it has got people thinking and talking, though I could do without the hate blog from a site dedicated to bringing down Ordain Women.

Jonathan and Tony Cooper, his best friend in the Ward right now.

Mark and I stayed overnight to mind Seth while Jessica and William had a night away at Hanmer. It all went very well, and I enjoyed watching “Last Tango in Halifax” on Netflix. Seth is a dear little boy who is very keen on running around outside. When his parents came home, he barely acknowledged them!








I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about Jesus and riches. I had chosen the topic myself. It bothers me that we worry so much about a lot of things that Jesus didn’t worry about, and have a confused attitude towards riches. This is one of my favourite cartoons, first published in the Salt Lake Tribune:

In February I travelled to Wellington, and then the next day flew to Rotorua and stayed the night in the centre of the known universe, thanks to Ray’s hospitality. Rosemary was down in Nelson at the time.

The next morning I went for a walk in Putaruru and then headed off to Tauranga. I gave a presentation in Katikati, and another one at Tauranga Girls’ High. Then I caught the plane home again, via Auckland and the Koru lounge.

Nicola with a couple of Sunbeams;
Toa Cooper with his haka face and Kaikau Langi

We had a ward activity where Jonathan and I ran a musical game, that went very well. It is great that he gets this social support. They then had “It’s in the Bag”, and Jonathan happened to be the first contestant. He took the lollies at 30 lollies. The whole thing was really well done. It was our turn to clean the chapel afterwards, and as it was the start of March that involved cleaning gum off the rec hall floor. I think I took about 20 pieces off, and I’d done it only 6 months ago. (I suspect no one else does the hall, but I hope I’m wrong.)


William has started at CPIT, studying computer programming, and Jonathan is back at CPIT studying popular music. He has the same piano teacher, who is great, and his helper, Charlotte, who is an angel sent from God.

And that was us for February.

Nicola, Mark and Jonathan

A piece of carrot cake at the Dunsandel Cafe with
an insane amount of icing!

Christchurch Pettys in January 2015

We began our new year in the tent at Wooded Gully. (Which is just as well, as that is where we finished the old year.) The wind died down about 5am, which was a great relief, as I had been a bit anxious with the tent poles bending and the material flapping.  We went for a walk in the woods. The next day we went for a look around Oxford, which is a much more happening little town than it used to be when I was a girl. We think we would rather like to live in Oxford, and I now have a picture taken from our future home (haha) as my screen-saver. Jessica, William, Jonathan and Seth came up to see us and go for a swim in a waterhole we had rediscovered a few days earlier. The Clendons also came out to see us.

At the swimming hole

Amazingly enough we did manage to get everything back into the car and arrived home midday on Saturday. Mark and I heard a programme on the radio about walking holidays and walking the streets of New York. So we have set out to walk the streets of Christchurch. We are working backwards through the alphabet, doing areas around the street of choice. We have so far been to boring suburbia (Zenith Place), post-apocalyptic wasteland (Zena Place), and medium industrial (Yukon St).

It is SO good to have church in the morning after more than two years in the afternoon, thanks to moving chapels. I am having a great time as counsellor in Primary, working with many fantastic women, and a large (by our standards) primary of mainly wild boys. I am looking after the Sunbeams for now, until we get a teacher for them.

One day Mark did amazingly large amounts of ironing, so he has taken photos to show you.

Nathan and Vernice had a REALLY short visit to Christchurch, flying in late afternoon and driving out the next morning. We took them for a drive to see the earthquake sights. It was great seeing Vernice’s comments on Facebook as she got to see our beautiful island over the next few days.

Before

After

Jessica has several jobs now, as well as being Seth’s mum. She is a web content-manager for Crucci wools, works in a Toy Library, and is a mother educator/facilitator for Plunket. And she does some housework for the next-door neighbour, who is also their landlady. William is working part-time for us again, for 15 hours a week and has finished another three videos, which have been just in time for the new school year. He is going to CPIT for two and a half years to learn computer programming. He has got half a year credit from the course he did at Yoobee. I think it is a better setting for him than University, and he will end up with a degree, and industry experience. Seth will get subsidised DayCare, which I am sure he will love. He is a very active, interested, social child.

My mother is happy in her new home at Holdsworth House. She has a studio, which means she has an ensuite and kitchenette, as well has having all her meals, entertainment, cleaning etc taken care of. She has lots of people to talk to, rather than being on her own, and the entertainment person does a really good job with trips out, people coming in, games, quizzes etc.

I am enjoying having a group of women to be friends with. One Saturday five of us, including Jessica, went over to Governor’s Bay for lunch at She Chocolate.

The weather has been pretty hot most of the time in Christchurch, so we have had a couple of great swims in the water. Jonathan loves sea swimming, but I think we would all prefer the water a few degrees warmer.

The 20^th of January was a momentous day for the business. I turned off most of the videos on Youtube, which were available for free. This means that teachers, schools and pupils will need to subscribe to our site in order to use our videos. This was a scary thing to do, as we have been providing videos for free for several years now. It seems to be paying off, though, as we are getting many more registrations this year.

At the end of January I flew up to Auckland for some school visits. This time I stayed with my brother, Peter, who is in Titirangi. He was a great host, and the setting is sublime. We even went for a swim in the Manukau harbour at high tide. I also did something I have never done before – bought four pairs of shoes from Piccadilly, a shoe shop in Newmarket. They were having a sale, and the shoes fit beautifully and look so stylish. They are made in Brazil.

And that was it for January. This is written one week into February, and I am happy to report that our business is a success. We will make enough money to carry on. It is a great relief.

Much love

Nicola, Mark and Jonathan

Nicola's travels in November 2014

Still writing this in January!

November was busy, interesting and exhausting for me, and I’m not sure how it was for Mark and Jonathan. On the last day of October, Mark and I drove to Nelson, visiting schools in Kaikoura and Blenheim, and arriving in Nelson in the evening.

On the Saturday we had a great time, exploring Nelson and catching up with the Chaddertons and the Ensings. We went for a walk around the Tahuna Motor Camp, then had breakfast and went early to the market. Then we walked the “Eel tour”. I’m not sure what it had to do with eels, but we certainly liked the Huang-shi Gardens. For dinner we had a potluck at the Ensings with the Chaddertons and the Martins. Then on Sunday we went to church and then spent the afternoon at the Chaddertons. We had a lovely dinner and played Settlers of Catan.

Nicola on the beach near Tahuna Beach Holiday Park with what looked like strange creatures.

Our first appointment on Monday was at 9:00am in Takaka so we got up early and left Nelson just before 7:00am. The drive over is beautiful, and greatly improved by some new roading. As usual Mark and I talked about what it would be like to live there. We were a bit early, and went to see some interesting limestone rocks that form a maze. It’s called the Labyrinth. I was a little wary of exploring in case we got lost and I ended up late for my visit to the school.

From there we visited Motueka High School, and Nelson College and Nayland College. It was a full and busy day, and pretty successful. Most schools in Nelson will be signing up for the videos at least.

For dinner Mark and I went to “The Boatshed”, which is on the waterfront, and has a different menu depending on what is available locally. We chose the chef’s choice, and got a whole range of interesting and nicely prepared food. Though it wasn’t cheap, it was a lovely way to spend an evening together.

The next day I visited two more schools, and Mark dropped me at the airport to fly to Wellington, then drove back to Christchurch. Neither of us had a relaxing journey. I sat next to a woman who works for NZQA, and she seemed to have no idea about the reality of the implications of implementing NCEA in the classroom. I found her attitude patronising and arrogant, which the teachers tell me is par for the course. I was really agitated by the end of the flight, and told lots of teachers about it. While Mark discovered there was a problem with the electrics in the car. At one point in the weekend, the car had been reluctant to start, and then on the way home it nearly didn’t start after a rest stop, so he didn’t turn off the motor until he got home. Still it is rather beautiful driving through Murchison and the Lewis Pass.

I picked up a rental car at the airport and drove up to Lower Hutt to stay in a motel that was familiar from a previous trip. This time it was frustrating as the internet wasn’t working two mornings in a row, and that is when I need to get my work done. I had four great visits on Wednesday, then drove in to Wellington for a meeting at Statistics NZ. The rest of the week I visited schools in the area, and made several sales. I was happy to veg out in the Koru lounge before flying home.

My brother, Michael, was visiting from Brisbane, so we all went out to dinner at Strawberry Fare. It was good food, a lovely venue and great company. The following day I gave a talk at very short notice at church as one of the speakers had pulled out. I spoke about the role of community, and how a shared religious experience and caring for each other helps us to grow. I took Seth for a walk during Sunday School and fed the ducks. Then back home to pack again ready to fly out on Monday morning…

…to New Plymouth. There I had several appointments, at Spotswood, Inglewood, then through to Stratford. I drove on to Whanganui. I love the rolling hillside around that area. I went for a lovely run around the middle area of Whanganui the next morning, including Kowhai park, which has a place in my heart. I have photos of me there, when I was a girl, and the boys, when they were little. It is a wondrous playground, even now.

The next day I visited Wanganui High School and Wanganui Collegiate, where they gave me lunch. I’ve discovered it is a really good idea to visit boarding schools around lunchtime, as you get good meals. On the way to Palmerston North, I stopped in at Marton to visit Rangitikei College. Then the next day I drove through the Manawatu Gorge to visit Dannevirke High School , and then on to Waipukurau to visit Central Hawkes Bay College. Manawatu Gorge is beautiful, and Dannevirke was sparkling in the sunshine after rain. That night I had dinner at Carl’s Jnr in Hastings, and stayed in a rather uninspiring motel. The hot chocolate at Carl’s Jnr was the best I’ve had from a fast food place. The burger was darn good too. The next day I did a full day of professional development at Lindisfarne College, which included a fantastic lunch. (Another boarding school!) At Lindisfarne the food people see themselves as in the education business as well, and do things like one day a week have a country of focus and they provide food from that country. Their salads were the best!

In the afternoon I went exploring and drove and walked up Te Mata Peak, which is amazingly lovely. I wandered around Havelock North trying to decide what to have for dinner, and thought to myself, Mexican would be nice. Then lo and behold I walked past a Mexican place called Mamacita. So I didn’t walk past, and went in and had a delicious meal of ceviche and Portobello mushrooms. I need to take Mark there one day.

A step back in time in Whanganui (was Wanganui)

The next day I got up early and drove to Hawkes Bay airport and flew to Wellington. I was picked up at the airport and taken to a teacher development day where I did two workshops, both of which went well. To my shock, there wasn’t Wifi so I had to tether my computer to my phone, which proved rather costly. Afterwards, I was driven to the airport, where I veged out in the Koru lounge before flying home.

I was pretty tired, but we spend the morning with my sister moving my mother from her unit to a studio in the adjacent rest-home. Then Mark and I went and bought a tent for $450. It is a Takahe 6 - and beautiful and so well designed!

Then in the evening I gave my final talk as Stake RS President. It was entitled “Strength in the Saviour”. Mark said it was my best yet. I had my final interview with Jared, the Stake President. I am SO happy to be out of that. I don’t know how long I would have stayed in the church if I stayed in that calling. Being released also gives me freedom to be true to myself and support Ordain Women. My experiences of systemic discrimination which ranged from benevolent sexism to downright bullying were a real eye-opener to me. And I cannot unsee what I have seen.

During Stake Conference I mainly looked after Seth so that Jessica and William could enjoy the meeting. My release was announced, and Suzanne Pitama was called.

After my experience in cheaper motels I changed my bookings in Tauranga and Auckland to something a little more upmarket. Then on Monday morning Mark took me to the airport to fly to Rotorua. It was amazingly wet, which put me off doing any unscheduled calls. I was pretty much dripping at Rotorua Girls’ High. I drove through to Tauranga, which is another beautiful drive. I spent a lovely evening with my ex-colleague and friend, John Giffin, who moved there about a year ago. On the Tuesday I visited more schools, and on Wednesday I mainly worked in the unit, catching up on my communication and records, and had one visit, to Papamoa College, which is a modern learning environment. I’m not sure how I would do there! John and I went to lunch and for a walk around Mt Maunganui, then for a bit of a drive.

Then on Thursday I drove from Tauranga to Opotiki and then back to Whakatane. I visited schools in Te Puke, Whakatane and Opotiki. I am in awe of the amazing beauty up there as well. I am so lucky to be able to visit all these places. And the next day was the BoPMA (Bay of Plenty Maths Association) conference at Edgecombe, where I did three workshops. I also met up with Geoff Gibbs, who is the ministry of education person for Secondary mathematics and Statistics, and we had a long chat at Rotorua airport, and in the plane on the way to Wellington. Yet again I had dinner in the Wellington Koru lounge, before flying home to Christchurch.

We did some more work helping my mother sort things out and move, and Mark and I bought her a new TV as her old one was too big for her new room.

I was pretty happy to think that this was my last week away for a while, as I got on the plane to Auckland. The flight was late, which made it all rather rushed getting to my first appointment in Orewa. I then drove to Wellsford, picking up a teacher from Mahurangi on the way. It all went well, and I was happy to relax in my motel on Greenlane. I enjoyed the location, where I could go for walks and runs in Cornwall Park. On Thursday I had a stats conference, that Shane came up for, so I picked him up at the airport. My sessions were well-received. On Friday I went as a participant to the Maths conference, then flew home.

It was SO nice to unpack my bag, knowing I didn’t have to pack it again for Monday.

On Saturday I was called to serve in the ward primary presidency with Suzy and Gina. Gina didn’t accept right away, but Suzy and I talked her into it. We are having a blast. Jonathan graduated from Institute.

And that was November.

Mark had a colonoscopy and Jonathan had his final Jazz performance exam and did well, getting 80%. Other than that, I don’t really know what went on at home.

Lotsa love

Nicola, Mark and Jonathan

Christchurch Pettys in December 2014

Wooded Gully Campsite (There is a gully too!)

Yay, I’m finally catching up. It is now 7^th January and in the last two days I have written October and November. And now for December!

After my eventful month of November, December was pretty quiet. On Monday 1^st I stayed in Christchurch, but visited a school. Then on Tuesday I flew to Dunedin for a teachers’ conference where I gave three workshops, which were all well received. It was a beautiful day in Dunedin and I went for a walk around the town before our ride took us to the airport.

Jonathan played for the Seniors’ Christmas party, and did a great job as usual. I made a green salad. We put up the tent in the backyard to make sure we had all the bits and had some idea of what we were doing. It only just fit, as it is a 6 person tent, with three rooms.

We went to Hiraina Carran’s funeral. She isn’t much older than we are, and had cancer for about ten years. I spent most of the time in the kitchen with Rayleen and Jessica.

The Sentra has never been this full!

I visited another Christchurch school. We have employed William again, part-time, to work on videos for us. Our hope is that he will get another part-time job and be able to work around it. We met with the accountant, and all feel rather more buoyant about the business. When people ask, I say, “We have gone from cautiously optimistic to quietly optimistic.” Until now our videos were available for free on YouTube, so many of the teachers just used those without signing up. So we are now moving them to Vimeo, where we can restrict access so they can only be viewed through our site. Because the videos are very popular with the teachers and students, about half the schools in NZ are signing up. We hope that this will encourage the students also to sign up as individuals. Fingers crossed for next year!

In the second week of December, I came down with “crashing fatigue”.  I could barely get out of bed in the morning, and slept a lot! It lasted for about a week, before I felt like myself again.

Mark has been really busy at work, and consequently we are getting William to take Jonathan to the gym three days a week. One week, Mark worked nearly three times his normal work hours. His offsider was on holiday one week, and Mark did all his work as well as his own. The money will be handy!

I tend to get anxious around Christmas time, no matter what we decide to do. This year we had presents only for Seth, though I did get a Bopit for Jonathan. The tent was for Mark and me. It was good not to spend. For lunch we invited my mother over and had chicken burritos with all the trimmings and homemade ice cream with boysenberries.

Our tent looking like its going to take off. Mt Thomas on the skyline.

We had a day with Jessica, William and Seth, making a Lego cinema. And another day we all went to the beach for a swim and to bury William in the sand, as is customary.

Our main summer holiday was five days at Wooded Gully in our tent. Jonathan stayed home, which he prefers, as do we, and William got paid to stay with him, and used our 3D on the TV. So it was win, win, win, win! One afternoon they came out for a swim in a river, which was pretty nice. Most of the time we just lay about and read and prepared food, ate food, cleaned up from eating food and had an afternoon nap.  We were most fortunate with our weather, which was mostly dry, though a little windy one night, which I found scary. I had downloaded a gear list, which was SO helpful to make sure we had everything we needed. We have quite a big air-mattress and pillowtop, with down quilt, so our bedding takes up a lot of space.

We finished the old year out in a tent at Wooded Gully at the foot of Mt Thomas. It has been a challenging year for me, so I’m pretty happy to turn the page to a new one.

Yay and I'm done!

Happy New Year to all who read this, from Nicola, Mark and Jonathan.

A great outlook from the door each day.

Christchurch Pettys in October 2014 (somewhat belatedly)

A classic calendar/postcard view of the gardens at Pollard Park in Blenheim

Oh boy – this is going to take a while. (And it obviously has taken a fair bit of procrastination, as can be seen by the fact that I am writing in January.)

My aunt Ann was visiting from the UK and went out to listen to Jonathan’s piano teacher, Darren, playing at Gustav’s wine bar. It was lovely, and Jonathan enjoyed it too.

Jonathan has got us watching a new game-show, from the UK, called “The Chase”. The presenter and the chasers are so funny and clever, and we all enjoy watching it together. It has a whole heap of general knowledge questions, so we are all learning things. There is also a ten question general knowledge quiz in the Listener each week, and I started asking the questions at dinner time on a Monday. Jonathan protested at first, but has got used to it, to the extent that he asked me what had happened to it this week. (There is no Listener over the Christmas break.)

Jonathan had a day outing with his friend, Charlotte, and her boyfriend, Alex. Jonathan had recently listened to a podcast about a blind jazz pianist who liked to take photos, so Charlotte got Jonathan to take a photo of her. It came out very nicely. Charlotte is such a blessing in our lives.

Jonathan's first ever photo. Charlotte Crone on Quail Island
with Lyttelton Harbour in the background.

Jonathan’s performance grades were getting a bit low, so I encouraged him to do some practice so he could do well on his final performance. He really worked hard and made great progress so that his final performance assessment earned him 80%.

One Sunday (19th October) was one for the record books! As we arrived at the chapel, workers were laying ready-lawn, which was rather surreal on the Sabbath. Then the second talk was a bizarre one about Jeremiah. (Our bishopric likes to work through the scriptures sequentially when assigning talks.) Nathan was just getting going, when suddenly there was an ear-splitting and unpleasant siren. Someone had let off the fire alarm. Jonathan looked distressed so I leapt up to the front and started helping him out. We all piled out and stood in the assembly point in front of the building. Then the alarm wouldn’t stop, so we all went home.

I’ve started crocheting, and really enjoy it. YouTube videos are really good for learning off, as they are infinitely patient. It is a bit confusing that there are two different names for the stitches – US and UK.

As a trip to the North Island was in the works, I spent much of October booking appointments and writing presentations. I also froze quite a few meals for Mark and Jonathan.

Seth contemplating a big decision!

My mother started to find life too difficult on her own, and insisted I take her to the doctor. He suggested that she needed to move to a higher level of care, and we looked into the home next door to where her independent unit was – in the same complex.

We had a lovely baptism for five children in our ward, and realised that out of the five, only one was living with his own parents – the others were all fostered into extended family. It turned out that the other one was only seven, not eight as we had been told! Might have to do a rerun next year!

Mark has signed us up for Sky Movies. In the first week I set up the T-box to record 20 movies! Now we just have to watch them!

Suzy texted me one morning on the way to church to see if I could fill in for her in Primary. She had just read the new essay on Joseph Smith and polygamy on the church website, and was pretty angry at the deceptions at so many levels. I had a nice time in Primary, despite the fact that it was pretty unruly. After dinner Gina, Suzy and I went for a walk and talk. Suzy was having trouble knowing how to stay, whereas I was wondering why to stay. Suzy still has children at home, and her husband is devout. We jokingly said the three of us should run Primary together. We would be unconventional and innovative, and have a great time. We are all teachers. (This did come to pass in late November, and we are unconventional and innovative and are having a great time, as are the children. But more about that later.)

Some road sheep in the central city

Jonathan played for another funeral. Ann knew she was dying, and had requested earlier that Jonathan would play. It was the same day that my mother insisted I take her to the doctor. She was rather confused. Then I went to the annual OR barbecue at Don McNickle’s house, and Mark joined me there. Don and Jan are such good hosts, and it is wonderful to see my old colleagues again. Then from there I went to my book group at Necia’s place. All eight of us regulars were there, and we had a blast.

Then on the 31st October, Mark and I headed north to Nelson on the first leg of my month of visits. The timing was rather tight between Kaikoura High School and Marlborough Girls’ College so we ordered seafood chowder at the Store in Kekerengu and told them when we expected to arrive, and it was ready for us. So good! After the Blenheim visit, the pressure was off, and we had a nice explore around some gardens, and then drove via Picton to Nelson. We stopped at some place in the Sounds for a little look around.

New Zealand is such a beautiful country. That drive up to Kaikoura is just amazing. The way the mountains and the bush run to the sea is fantastic.

And that is it for October 2014
Love Nicola, Mark and Jonathan.

Rosemary's Ramblings in October

I have done much walking on the Waikato River Trail between Jones Landing and Little Waipa Reserve.  Sometimes I go downstream and sometimes up.  Ray waits in the car where roads intersect the trail, just to check I am all right. One day, as I was coming along the last open stretch toward Jones Landing, I saw what I thought was a $10 note on the track ahead of me.  It was!  A breeze would have blown it away.  The forthcoming rain would have ruined it.  Someone's loss was my gain.  Ray said I should spend it on something special, and I had an idea about what.

The next day we were off to Matamata to spend my magic $10 at the Family Store (Salvation Army Op Shop).  A pair of curtains I had my eye on last time were still there.  Last time I had not the measurements with me.  Today I did, and the curtains seemed just right for my bedroom.  So I spent  $7 on them.  The lady there asked it we had been to the Book Fair up the road.  We had not known of it.  We went. There for $1 Ray got the National Geographic magazines he was missing up to and including 2013.  So six magazines for one dollar!

I wanted copy paper, so we went to The Warehouse Stationery.  Next door to it was the SPCA Op Shop which we had never noticed before. Perhaps it was new. A very nice shop it is.  Outside was a rack of clothes for $1.  I picked up an olive green sweater, part wool.  It was when I got home that I found my bargain.  The sweater was brand new.  The original tag and price were still on it.  $34.95!

The highlight of the month was a visit from William, Jessica and Seth.  They were in Temple View briefly for their temple week.  They visited us for a few hours.  It was so great to open the door and see them standing there smiling on the doorstep.  I am not sure that Seth was smiling. Held in his father's arms he looked as if pleasantly curious to see what was going to happen next.

They had lunch with us, and spent some time out in the garden. It was a beautiful day. I was completely enamoured with Seth. I held the birdbath steady while he dabbled in it, and picked daisies from the grass to put in the water.  When he wanted to walk on the garden beds I gave him a little stick and showed him how to dig the soft soil. He climbed on the 'barbecue' where I used to have a fire to do my dyeing.  He fell sort of sitting into the weed covered fireplace and could not get out. He did not like that much.  Back in the house I brought out a basket of blocks that his grandfather used to play with.  When I built a little tower, I expected him to knock it down.  Instead he tried to add another block to the tower.  Smart kid!  He is a darling little boy, with a cute little nose and a slow sweet smile. I wish I could see him often, before he changes into another stage of little boy. (Surely never the 'terrible two' stage!)

Ray had a couple of 'adventures' in Little Waipa Reserve that he was not happy about.  I am going to copy the account from a letter to Calvin, to save having to write it out again.

“Gramps had quite an adventure a couple of weeks ago.  You would hardly believe it could happen. There is a place called Little Waipa Reserve, where part of the Waikato River Trail emerges.  Gramps often waits there in the car for me, having dropped me off higher up the Trail.  This day I met him as usual at Little Waipa, but decided to walk back up the Trail for a few kilometres. (I was  getting in shape for the “Taniwha”, of which more next week.)  So far so good.  Gramps started to drive away to meet me at the next point where the trail crosses the road.  I started to walk.  I had not gone far when Gramps came hurrying after me, calling me to come back.  Why?  He did not explain beyond to say, “I'm stuck.”  He in person was obviously not stuck.  What did he mean?  “You will see,” was all he would tell me.  At the Reserve I could see the car, door open.  What was wrong?

When we got closer to the car, I did see!  The car was balanced on the tree stump in the photo above, much as Gramps is balanced in the photograph.  It was absolutely amazing how it got there.  It was perhaps not so amazing that Gramps failed to see the stump.  His eyesight is getting poor.  Even so, it was a big enough stump to see, surely!  We reckon it was because “Tommy” was on the dashboard.  Tommy is the toy monkey Gramps was taken with and bought a few weeks ago.  The ironic thing was that neither of us wanted a toy sitting on the dashboard, but each thought the other did!  Tommy got the boot!  He now sits at the back of the car.  Even so, monkey or not, Gramps could not believe he had not seen that stump.  The really amazing thing was how easily the car was driven up there.                                                              .                                                                 

It was not so easily driven down.  No way could the car unaided get off that stump, forwards or backwards, spin the wheels as it would.  A guardian angel or good Samaritan appeared in the form  of a man who had a car and caravan parked a short distance away.                                  .   

He brought blocks which he used to steady his caravan. We worked away putting the blocks here and putting the blocks there, but the car would still not go backwards or forwards.  Our friend then brought over a powerful jack.  When the car was far enough off the ground, things began to happen.  Slowly and carefully, Gramps was able to back the car down to solid earth.  We looked under the car.  There seemed to be no damage.  No oil leak or anything.  Wow!  Thanks be for that man!

I gave up the idea of a further walk that day.  Gramps just wanted to go home, and who could blame him?  On the way home I had a sudden regret.  Why had I not had the presence of mind to take a photograph of the car on the stump?  What a missed opportunity!  Gramps agreed.  So we decided that the next time we were at little Waipa, we would get a photograph of the stump, at least.  So that is what we did.  I asked Gramps to stand on the stump.  He went one better and lay on the stump.  As he lay there, I tried to tell him to 'plank',  but he did not know what I meant, and probably could not have straightened out anyway.  I took the photo.                                     .

Then the next part of the 'adventure'!  That tree stump had not finished with us yet!  When he got up Gramps found he had pine sap on his clothes.  He said he had examined the stump and thought it was dry because it had a layer of dust on it.   When he lay down, he broke though the dust, and my telling him to straighten out only made him press more firmly into the pine gum.  What a mess!  He tried to rub it off with his hands, and got gum all over his hands.  In that state he could not even drive the car, his hands would stick to the steering wheel.                                .      

No Good Samaritan around today.  The only thing I had that might dissolve the gum was vinegar.  And soap.  So he doused his hands with vinegar, which helped, then took the soap to the river and worked away at the rest of the gunk.  How come I had vinegar in the car?  Gramps likes white vinegar on fish and chips.  So when we buy fish and chips to eat away from home, he can have his vinegar!  Getting it off his clothes was impossible right then, so he covered himself with rags to protect the car, and home we went.                                                          . 

For days I tried to get the stuff out of his clothes.  His shirt was relatively easy. His sweater cleaned well enough so one would not notice, but his pants were much stained. First I ironed a lot of the tar out on to paper towels. Then I tried kerosine, methylated spirits and rubbing alcohol, separately, over the course a week.  Each helped a little.  Then I washed the pants well, lest Gramps go up in flames with all the inflammable stuff in the fabric!  ”      

News on the home front, apart from the 'new' curtains which look very nice, is that we bought a 'new' lounge suite from Low Bucks second-hand furniture shop.  The responsibility for that was entirely mine.  I just liked it so much better than the suite we had.  It has an old-fashioned look which goes with our house.  It cost $300, so Ray had no complaints about the price.  You can see it next time you visit us!  Or I suppose we could take a photograph for Ray to fight into the blog.

Until next time, that’s it from the Pettys senior.

Christchurch Pettys in September 2014

Blossom in Hagley Park along Harper Ave

The beginning of September was seriously dominated by the Women’s Conference that I organised for the stake. It was really hard work, and I don’t feel I was very successful at delegating. One of my biggest mistakes was offering childcare, which turned out to be a nightmare to organise and staff. It took up at least a week of my time in preparation beforehand, and another week of recovery afterwards. Mark was an amazing help – collecting the food, following up requests I sent by text from the stand, dealing with the emergency plumber (as our drains were blocked!).

Happy news on the four year anniversary of the first earthquake – it looks as if QE2 park will be rebuilt. It has been so much a part of my life, it would be wonderful to have it back. It is a wonderful resource for people on the East side of Christchurch.

We were on the roster for cleaning the chapel and as it was the first weekend of the month it included the floor of the cultural hall. I cleaned off the gum and black shoe marks, and cleaned it all. It was so nice to see it all shiny and lovely. I know some people don't like cleaning the chapel, but I don't mind.

It’s lovely to have Jessica and William and Seth in our ward. They gave exceptionally good talks soon after moving in. Our ward has this totally nuts way of doing sacrament talks, working consecutively through the scriptures. Jessica was assigned “Song of Solomon” and William had the first few chapters of Isaiah. As William said in his talk, Jessica’s was the best talk we have ever heard about the Song of Solomon.

We have a new idea for our business, to reach a larger audience. At present we have mainly resources for high school students in New Zealand, and they are doing well. But the NZ market is rather limited, so we need to move internationally. We are going to make “Snack-size” courses, that cost about the same as a cup of coffee and take about an hour or two to complete, covering just one concept or procedure. William has made a nice graphic about popcorn.

I got asked part way through the week to teach a lesson in Relief Society. It was the lesson about raising children in light and truth. I am very aware of what a problem that is to so many women in the church. It has the potential to be exclusive and insensitive to women who aren’t married, haven’t had children, are unable to have children, had an abusive childhood, have children who have not fitted into the classic Mormon mold etc. So I wrote an email to all the ward RS presidents asking them to be aware of the potential for pain, and think about swapping out the lesson if it seemed appropriate to do so. I have learned a lot from my feminist Mormon friends.

The birthday girl being comfy in her onesie

I had my 53rd birthday and celebrated it by having a quiet day in my home, wearing my penguin onesie. I also finished off reading, “The Crucible of Doubt” by Terryl and Fiona Givens. I would recommend that to anyone who knows anyone who is struggling to fit in at church, or to be happy with at totally orthodox belief system. If you have an iPad or similar you can buy an ebook, which is cheaper than physical book and great for instant gratification. I have “one click” purchasing on Amazon which is not good for impulse buying. Actually it’s great for impulse buying, but not good for avoiding impulse buys. I also got a subscription to Exponent II, an FMH medallion and my penguin onesie. It doesn’t get much better than that! Oh and chocolate.



My aunt Ann visited from England, mainly to try to clean out a big shed full of stuff from her sister, Mary, who died about six years ago. It was lovely to see her again.

I’ve started learning to crochet, which is pretty fun. I have a friend at church, that I get some help from, but mostly I am learning off YouTube. It is infinitely patient!

I asked to be released from my calling back in June, when Kate Kelly was excommunicated. It still hasn’t happened, and I have organised a leadership day, a full day stake women’s conference, and then I had to front up to the women’s broadcast. It has been difficult, and I feel it has been difficult to be authentic. There were seven women at the women’s broadcast, which was on at the inconvenient time of 6pm on a Saturday evening. I’d already listened to it on-line. It was nice enough.

Here’s a story which is evidence that God has a sense of humour. It was Primary Presentation Day, and the theme this year is the Proclamation on the family, which I have serious concerns with. I don’t mind it too much as a statement, but I object to its being treated as scripture. And I find it sexist, exclusive and not helpful. At church that day I offered to help with child-wrangling at the Primary presentation, which meant I sat with four nice little girls. As I sat on the stand and read through what I was going to help them read, I nearly laughed out loud. It was the WORST part of the presentation, reinforcing gender stereotypes. And the little girl needed help with the very worst bit, leaving me to read out loud “The father’s responsibility is to be the partriarch over his family, to preside over, provide for and protect them. The mother’s responsibility is to care for and nurture the family”. I barely made it through without laughing and I am pretty sure God was laughing at me. Our stake president was there in the congregation and he knew what was going on. We both had a good laugh about it after all, as did Mark and my other friends who know my true feelings.

Mark is busy at work, but not as busy as previously as they have been told to work only their assigned hours and no overtime. I’m pleased as it means he has more time to help Jonathan and do work on the business.

Seth is running around happily and is a great little boy.

All is well.

Nicola, Mark, Jonathan, William, Jessica and Seth.


P.S. [Mark] I was rather taken by pleasant surprise when visiting the Florist shop at these nondescript suburban shops around a couple of corners from us on Innes Rd. This block of shops has a fairly high turnover of tenants. The latest Florist and Cafe have made this wonderful little space behind their premises for all to enjoy.

Putaruru in September

As usual gardening took up a lot of my time, as did going out on little excursions once or twice a week, which we are eager to do because we do not know how much longer we will be able to do so.  We never go very far.  Places that once seemed near, now seem quite a long way to Ray.  I had a few walks on the Waikato River Trail, which I shall certainly miss when Ray loses his driver's license. 

I hope to have better crops from the garden this coming summer.  We ran out of potatoes this month.  I have not bought potatoes for three years, and I was surprised, having to buy them, how many potatoes we seem to get through, with just two of us, even though we certainly do not eat potatoes every day.  My supply of frozen vegetables will not last until the new crops come in either.  Usually I have plenty left over.  The garden seemed lush enough last summer, but just did not bear so well. I have reclaimed a couple of small areas from the 'wilderness' to use this year.

With interest we watched the lead-up to the referendum for independence for Scotland.  I think I would have been happy with the result either way, but I knew that logically it would not be a wise move to break from the U.K.  Coincidentally, about the time of the referendum, I was working on Ray's ancestry and found two men, father and son, who died at the Battle of Bannockburn, at which Scotland last gained independence from England in 314, only to lose it again in 17??? when James the VI of Scotland became James I of England.  Not that Scotland took over England.  The English peers invited James to be their king for want of anyone more to their liking.

It has been extremely interesting following back some of lines from which the Hodders descended.

I am fascinated and sceptical how the people who contribute to Family Tree could get all that information.  When one line went back to William the Conqueror, I thought, okay, that man must have thousands and thousands of descendants in England by now, so why should Ray not be one of them?  Then I found lines to kings of Norway and Denmark.  I went to Google to verify these kings actually existed, because I had never heard of them.  Another line went back to princes of Wales.  When I read the names, familiar from the history taught to me in my childhood, including the man with the odd name Gwenwnywn, I was feeling somewhat jealous. It is I who am supposed to have Welsh ancestors!  However, when through the Welsh lines I came to Anna Margawse, King Arthur's sister, I really wondered how Family Tree could accept such legendary names.  Anna Margawse, according to the Arthurian tales, married a King Lot.  I looked her up on Google, and although the stuff there was legendary, I found that Anna Margawse was married at least twice.  While Loth was indeed one husband, another was Gwair (Gawain), our man. So were these people real after all?

Guess what?  We have been accumulating more books, and particularly more magazines.  There was a Book Fair in Tokoroa for a few days.  While I browsed around and bought a book about Chaucer, sparking in me a desire to re-read the parts of the Canterbury Tales that I read long ago, and then read some more of them, Ray found a horde of National Geographic magazines.  Ray carries in his wallet a list of Geographics that he needs to complete his library.  He found several.  We took our treasures home. Then Ray began to wonder whether he had perhaps missed some that he needed.  So we went back on the Saturday, the last day of the Fair, when we found everything was half-price, and we went through the large stacks of National Geographic magazines again and found a few more that we needed.  (The end of this endeavour happened in October, but now is the time to write it. We went to Matamata for a special purchase at the Family Store.  The lady there asked us if we had been to the Book Fair up the street.  We had not, but we did.  And found all the National Geographics that we needed to the end of 2013, plus a few of 2014.)  Why this search for National Geographic is that there was a mess up several years ago with our subscription, and we stopped receiving the magazines.  At the prices we had paid recently, ranging from $1 a copy the first day at the Tokoroa Fair, to 6 for $1 at Matamata, we figure we have beaten the odds!

The Chaddertons are back in New Zealand.  We had two pleasant visits from them at the end of the month, prior to their Temple Week.  On Saturday 26thTC, Cerian, Lauren and Caleb called in briefly on their way north.  They had lots of things to do and people to see on this trip. One of the things they had to do northward was pick up Vaughan in Auckland. 

On Monday 29th they all came for lunch and we had a good time.  There was much measuring against the door jamb.  TC had lost height, but with exercise and weight loss, has regained it.  Caleb is about 6 inches taller than he was two years ago.  Lauren stays the same, also Cerian.  I have lost even more height.  An incredible 2½''(6cm) in the last two years. Ray has lost 1½''.

So, from the shrinking senior Pettys, that's it for September.  Love you all.  Nan.

Christchurch Pettys in August 2014

At the Hamilton Gardens; some of the setups look like sets from a computer game like Myst

August is always a busy month in this branch of the family, with many birthdays, and now Seth’s is in August as well. It was even worse this year as I was also planning the Stake Women’s conference.

I had a trip to Whangarei at the start of the month, to give some professional development to teachers from around the area. I was hospitably looked after by one of the teachers, staying with him and his wife, before flying home on the Sunday morning and making it to the last two hours of church. Ram’s a Fijian Indian and I learned a lot from him about the culture and history of his people. He and his wife are practising Hindus, and I was impressed at his attitude to life and service.

On the Sunday evening I went to a girls’ party at Gina’s place, which was great, with five of us stroppy women. Her husband, Nathan, was only allowed to join us if he didn’t speak unless spoken to. He was our ‘wench’.

For William’s birthday I cooked Lasagna and the family came over. Seth had his first birthday party, and I made sushi and cheese penguins and fish. Mark wore his morning suit, in deference to the penguin theme, and I wore black and white. There were a bunch of little kids and parents from Seth’s play group. Jonathan played the music for pass the parcel. It all went really well.

For Jonathan’s birthday we had the family and Charlotte and her boyfriend over, and had a fancy dinner. We have decided that this is the last year of presents. We had a night out at the ten-pin bowling the following week, which was fun as usual.

Jessica found them another house to live in, this time closer to us in Shirley and in our ward boundaries. It is the same price as their previous place was about to be put up to, but much nicer. Moving is always fraught, and we spent one evening helping them out.

William has finished working for us as his contract ran out and we don’t have enough money to keep employing him. We have also finished off all the videos we need for now, and I am tired of writing scripts. He has done a wonderful job of editing.

At the familiar lookout above Jones Landing

Mark invited Nick and William to join us for a Quiz night at the Blind foundation. We won, and took home some lovely mugs and a bottle of wine. The quiz itself was great, but there was a ‘comedian’ who said some terrible jokes that were really, really not acceptable. Unfortunately we knew him, and he’s a nice guy usually, so I’m not sure what happened! I ended up putting on my iPod and listening through the earphones so I didn’t have to hear the torture.

Later in the month it was my mother’s birthday. Her memory is failing a bit, so I got all my family to email me photos, and I got them printed off, put names on the back, and put them in an old video case. She really enjoys looking through them and remembering who everyone is.

The Hamilton Gardens

And at the end of the month, Mark and I went to Hamilton for me to give a Scholarship workshop to about 70 high school kids and their teachers. I’m really glad I did it, as it got me thinking about scholarship level materials for the site. We stayed two nights in Hamilton, then two just out of Matamata, and flew home on Sunday evening. We too enjoyed our day with Ray and Rosemary. Blue Springs are SO beautiful! We went to church in Morrinsville, which was small but nice.

At the Matamata Visitors Centre

Some scenes from the end of an era from Temples View. The feelings of loss are something of what we have been feeling in Christchurch every day for the past three years, and counting.

Christchurch Pettys in July 2014

Oh the shame – it is now September, and I am only just beginning the post for July. Just as well I have a journal, and lots of photos from Arizona.

Sedona, Arizona

Much of July was spent for me either in Flagstaff, Arizona, or getting ready to go to Flagstaff or recovering.

Jonathan has been trying out some different braille input/output devices for his laptop. We may even manage to get one paid for as it is helping him with his schoolwork.

At the start of the school holidays Jonathan and Charlotte and I went for an outing to the Rolleston pool with the Greys, and had a very nice time.

I got my yellow hair refreshed, and the fringe tidied slightly and then on the 9th July set off on my adventure. I just want to say here how awful LAX airport is. As usual we had to wait forever at immigration in this ugly prison-like place. Then waiting for the US Airways flight to Phoenix was nothing great either.

Selfie at Sedona

Jeff McIntyre, a friend from long ago in Christchurch kindly picked me up at Phoenix Airport. (I had been a mule, carrying Edam cheese from his sister, Ruth Grey.) I went with him to his mutual night, before he brought me to the hotel in Chandler. I survived the ridiculous temperatures (about 40 degrees) the next day by getting to the mall at 10:00am and not leaving until 6:00 except for lunch with Jeff, and Penny, another person from Christchurch. At 9pm it was still very warm and I went for a swim. I did feel a little cold in my wet togs, but lay on the warm concrete to get warm.

The next morning, Penny took me to the airport and we had a good chat on the way. I caught a shuttle to Sedona and got there quite early. I hired a bicycle and had a great time zooming around the place. Sedona is an interesting and beautiful place. I could happily spend more time there. But I made good use of my 24 hours or so. I went on a trolley tour and visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross. For some reason it really touched me, and I found it most peaceful and spiritually rejuvenating. The architecture was so tasteful, and the surroundings are magnificent.

Sedona

Then the next morning I went for a ride and hike up to the airstrip, then came back for breakfast before catching a “taxi” to the shuttle and a shuttle to Flagstaff. And in Flagstaff I hired another bicycle. I had one night in a nice hotel before moving into the student dorm. It was a Hilton DoubleTree and I had a brief swim until an electrical storm started. The next day was Sunday, so I checked out of my hotel, but left all my stuff there to collect later, and walked to church. There were a young couple I “knew” from Facebook, so I sat with them in sacrament meeting. I met up with a nice woman called Paige, who looked a lot like Paula. She kindly ferried my gear to the dorm for me. It was about half the price of a hotel, and I shared a bathroom with the person in the next room. The pillow was so thick that I got a sore neck, so I bought a thinner one at Target the next day, along with a mattress protector so that I didn’t keep sliding off the mattress.

The really REALLY big canyon

Then the conference that I had come for started. People did know me from my blog and my videos, which was rather nice. I made friends with a nice young woman called Laura, from Vancouver, and another woman called Cheryl from Winnipeg. I learned heaps and made some good contacts.

On the Wednesday afternoon we had excursions, and Laura and I went to the Grand Canyon – with lots of other people. It’s really big. Really, really big. It’s not something I ever thought, “Oh I must see the Grand Canyon one day”, but I’m glad I took the opportunity. There will be some photos here.

On the way back through Phoenix I had a few hours to spare and went for lunch with Jeff McIntyre and Liz and Pete Cammock, who were on their way around the world, and happened to be in Phoenix at that time. It was quite surreal to be having lunch with them on the other side of the Pacific. Liz was my counsellor in Stake Relief Society presidency. A nice part of my journey home was I got to hang out in the Koru lounges in LA and in Auckland.

William and I have finished some more videos, which have been well received.


The next weekend Mark and I travelled over to Gloriavale for their biennial concert. We had been invited through Barbara Clendon, who is training to be a midwife, along with Harmony, who is from the Gloriavale community. It was a very interesting experience, as they are a very separate religious community, with a strong belief in the submissive role of women. I was also talking with the maths teacher and the pilot who also helps out as a maths teacher. They have enormous families, and the school is growing fast. The concert itself included a three course meal, and was very well done, if rather longer than I was able to stay comfortable for. They had some great effects and animatronics, and it was all rather Disney. There was one scene about war that was really touching where men were coming back from war, and the children went to meet them, and some of the children didn’t have anyone to meet. The women didn’t speak in the concert, as far as I could see, though they were allowed to sing and play instruments.

A classic West Coast view at Gloriavale on a frosty morning

Our lodgings at Gloriavale

We stayed overnight at Gloriavale, and they gave us breakfast, and a lunch to take with us. Very kind people, that make us seem positively worldly. The women wear truly awful dresses, for which the original material about twenty years ago was supplied by my father!

The next day we visited three schools, in Greymouth and Hokitika, before driving back over the mountains to home. We stopped for dinner at the Bealey pub, which was very nice. The trip altogether was wonderful, especially to be back on the scenically awe-inspiring West Coast. We couldn’t stop talking about our Gloriavale experience for many days.

William stayed with Jonathan, for which we are very grateful.

That's it for us in July.
Love from Nicola, Mark, Jonathan, and William, Jessica and Seth.

On the beach looking south at Hokitika. We think that is Mt Cook.

Seth is very cute and starting to walk a little. Here is a video of him "eating" grapes.