Christchurch Pettys in October 2011

At the start of October there was an Open Day at the university. I worked all day on a stall with Shane showing people Rogo on six iPads. It was very popular, but also very tiring. Mark and Jonathan came for a look and had a nice time looking around. Mark: We had a go at a couple of cool things. One was the wind tunnel. Jonathan has always enjoyed wind and we stood with a group in a 70 km/h wind. Next were some farm animals to stroke and listen to. In the English department we listened to accents of immigrants or children of immigrants to New Zealand who migrated in the 1800s. Ate a marshmallow that was roasted by putting 7000 volts through it. Saw an original King James Bible, I don't know if Jonathan was interested in that though! All in all a good day. It certainly got me interested in doing a paper for interest, something to do with history. Maybe next decade.

The next day Jonathan played a solo item at a Musical Fireside put on by the Stake YSAs. He did a wonderful job with his own arrangement of three hymns – I need thee every hour, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and the Spirit of God. It was amazing and sounded as if there were at least two pianos. William also helped out by singing in a choir and a quintet even though he isn’t really a YSA. They needed him to keep the basses in tune.

And on the third of October, my prayers were answered as I got a letter offering voluntary redundancy. I have been wanting to leave the university for over a year now, and this means I can leave with over 9 months’ pay as a redundancy payout.  We discussed it to make sure it was what we ought to do, and then sent in the email. I will hear at the end of November if my offer has been accepted. I made a list of all the things I can do once I leave Uni, and it is very exciting. I’m hoping some of them will make enough money. I made a list of things I won’t miss about UC, and made a list of things I might miss at UC. The final list was the shortest.

Mark and I went on the third rogaine in the series, this one based at Castle Hill Village. It was fantastic. When we got to the village, which is up in the mountains on the way to Arthur’s Pass, it was snowing and bitterly cold. However the snow wasn’t settling, and was forecast to pass so we decided at least to start the rogaine. The first few checkpoints were around the village, and by the time we left there the snow had stopped, and by the end of the four and a half hours there was bright sunshine. The scenery was splendid, featuring native bush, open alpine flora and streams with massive cuboid boulders. We made good time and managed to visit one or two more checkpoints. Mark slipped on a rock while crossing a stream so we stopped and put a cold wet cloth on it to limit the bruising.

A smile for the camera amidst my pain of a banged knee.

A bit further on I was getting a bit over-confident with my new walking stick and tripped and did a face-plant in the mud. My glasses got bashed into my face, causing a cut on the bridge of my nose, and I had mud all over my face and in my mouth and up my nose. Fortunately that was all, and we had the wet cloth in my bag from Mark’s injury, so he could clean me off before we arrived back at the finish line for a barbecue. Those are our first injuries while rogaining, so we’ve been pretty fortunate.

Hobbling along with grand views.

The ground has been settling down a little except on 9th October when we had a 5.5 during the Rugby World Cup Quarter-final between New Zealand and Argentina. The game was originally scheduled here, so it was just as well all our matches were taken elsewhere. There was no bad damage, and life went on pretty much as usual the next day. That was the eighth biggest quake and really didn’t disrupt anything any more. What is exciting is that it didn’t trigger any extra aftershocks, and they have been dying down a little. I am enjoying a more stable earth. And this time I’m not tense waiting for another big one.

Jonathan had his audition for CPIT Jazz School and we found out later that he didn’t get in. There were a whole lot of really good pianists this year and he didn’t make it. We will try again next year for 2013.

At the start of August my colleague and business partner, Shane, suggested we should start work on a statistics teaching app for the iPad. I had thought of doing this some time ago, but was waiting until Rogo did well. His suggestion was to go ahead now, basing it on the YouTube videos I already have. He has taught himself how to program for iOS, and I have been upgrading the videos with William’s help, and writing little exercises to go with them. I also look after the design and artwork. Watch this space to see how it goes. It is called “AtMyPace: Statistics”, and is now available in a Free and a Paid version in the iPad app store.

Jonathan was asked to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting and was thrilled. It was about the Book of Mormon, which we as a stake have been asked to read before the end of the year. I helped him write a talk and then add a bit in when he complained that it was only 6 minutes and the sheet of paper said 7 to 10. He did a really fine job of delivering it. He has a very clear, deliberate way of speaking which captures people’s attention.

Jessica and I went to the Relief Society General Meeting Video. I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf’s talk based around forget-me-nots. He is really good to listen to.

William has finished work at Foodstuffs and started at graphic design school two weeks later. In the meantime he worked for me on the videos. He is studying Digital Film and Animation at NatColl. It sounds to be just the right thing for him. There are only twelve students in his class, so he will not be anonymous. 

We have been getting the garden ready for spring, and at Labour Weekend did the traditional thing and visited the garden shop for plants, seeds and fertiliser. This year I am hoping to grow the usual courgettes, tomatoes, lettuce and snowpeas. New this year are boysenberries, sunflowers and fennel, and I’m doing coloured beet, strawberries, carrots and radishes as well as lots of herbs. I’m sure you will all be relieved, as are we, that the lemon tree survived my brutal pruning following the snow. There are little leaves coming out. I love my lemon tree, and it does really well, so I’m so glad I didn’t kill it.

Shona and Nicola at Ilam Gardens

Most Sunday afternoons I go for a walk with my mother. We have been really fortunate to have brilliant weather. We visited the Botanic Gardens and Ilam Gardens and admired the world-class collection of azaleas.

William and I are singing in the choir for Stake Conference.

We all went to Ferrymead on Labour Day as that is when they have the steam train running. It was a lovely day and I felt so content, sitting on the Village Green, hearing the band play and the steam train chuff while eating souvlaki.

At Ferrymead

Enjoying the band on the village green at Ferrymead.

For Halloween we knew Jessica was feeling sad that there isn’t much done here. So Mark and Jonahtan and I dressed up and “trick-or-treated” her. Jonathan was a ghost, I was a hiker, and Mark was a Red Zone worker in high visibility gear.

And with Halloween we come to the end of the month. I really hope we have exciting news about the app at the end of next month.
All the best from Nicola, Mark and Jonathan.