Christchurch Pettys in March 2013

Many of the women at the Christchurch Stake Women's Conference 2013

Historically March has been my least favourite month, as it was always REALLY busy with the start of lectures. But this March has been much less stressful in some ways, though we did have our stake Women’s Conference to keep my hands from idleness.

Mark and I got our replacement bikes, after they were stolen late last year. It is so nice to have our wheels back, especially for Mark getting to work at his new office, where there is no parking nearby.

Much of March was spent getting Jonathan and us settled into his life at CPIT. With Charlotte with him it is going really well. I’ve been able to pull back into the background, though I still go to his individual piano lessons, and any performances. It is such a blessing to be able to do this, not being in paid employment. We just keep praying that the money will start to come in before too long. Fortunately Jonathan is enjoying the scales and theoretical side of his practice. I was worried that, being an instinctive player, he would refuse. But he actually enjoys it. I am learning that there is a LOT more to Jazz than meets the eye. We are lucky to be a part of it all.

Learning a Samoan dance at the CSWC 2013

One day I was telling someone about a lecture that Jonathan and I listened to. It was about “Ways of Seeing” and had very little meaning for him. It was a bit of a hoot really – trying to find ways for it to make any sense to him at all! She commented that it must be hard for me as his mother to know he is missing out on things. I just looked at her, as it hadn’t even occurred to me. I commented that I don’t really think about that any more in terms of a loss, but rather as a fact. I was more concerned about getting the curriculum adapted for him, rather than grieving for what wasn’t. I think we stopped grieving for that some years ago.  It was a great moment, as it made me realise how far we have come. I do not believe that Jonathan’s life is any less rich because he cannot see. About that time I saw part of a documentary about convicts in jail in the US. The interviewer was asking them about their life inside, and it was all about respect and violence and pecking order and oh so feral! These people live barely above the animal level of consciousness, it seemed to me. I thought then how Jonathan’s life is far and away superior to theirs. If you were a pre-earth spirit, looking at alternatives for your earthly life, wouldn’t being blind and musical like Jonathan be more appealing than a half-life spend mostly incarcerated?

About 150 women came to the women’s conference I organised. It went from 9:30 to 4:30 and went extremely well. I gave them choice over which workshops they were interested in, and then arranged the programme around that. It was pretty fun really. It was great for me to see the women chatting and laughing and having fun together.  My brain didn’t really calm down again for about 24 hours after.

William & Jessica's stall at Armageddon

Jessica and William had a stall at Armageddon – a conference for people interested in SciFi and anime and similar things. Jessica had made some really cool “My LittlePony” trinkets and did drawings for people. We went over to see how they were going. Jessica was pretty tired at the end of the day, so we gave them dinner as well.

My mother fell twice within about a week, first time breaking a collarbone, and the second time bruising her face badly, breaking her dentures, and damaging her glasses. I spent a fair bit of time at various medical establishments, and my sister stayed overnight.

We are sad as the Browns are going back to the US. It isn’t clear why, except perhaps that they miss being close to family. 

I’ve produced another video and have another two in the pipeline. They aren’t as funny as when William helped me edit them, but I think they still get the ideas across. I get about 20,000 views a month of my videos.




We were planning to go to Ashburton as part of their Ward Conference, on Saturday, but it fell through. Instead I went to a family history workshop at the public library for our ward Relief Society. I got to try out the new “Family Tree” program, which is pretty intuitive really. Now I find that a way to procrastinate AND feel self-righteous at the same time. It has the addictive aspects of a computer game and I find myself saying, “just one more name and then I’ll go to bed…”

The Ward Conference was great. They have an amazing bishop – both humble and powerful. I am in awe of his leadership ability and love for people. I gave a short talk about individual and collective endeavours, using the example of the New Zealand Olympic Rowing team.

There was even a free opportunity to have blood pressure
and BMI measured (with advice given when urgent).
It was unexpectedly very popular.

Mark and I have a Rogaine lined up for mid-May, and so that is giving me more of an incentive to get fit and pick up the pace in my running. It is down in the Lindis valley, where we go each autumn for the Highland Events Rogaine. We will probably stay in Cromwell again.

It was our 27th wedding anniversary, and I bought pre-prepared food at Traiteur for dinner. Yum. I also went with Jonathan to a YSA fireside with Elder and Sister Thompson.

Easter was wonderful as usual. The weather was perfect and Mark and I worked on the garden on Good Friday, went for an outing to Lyttelton on Easter Saturday, and church as usual on Sunday. The Browns have sold their van, so we ended up driving them in our cars and my mother’s to church. We will miss them.

Much love to you all,
Nicola, Mark, Jonathan, William, Jessica and bun.

Flower arranging

Flax working