Christchurch Pettys in June 2013

On the way home from my day in Wellington I felt a cold coming on, and then was really sick for several days – runny nose, headache, back ache, sore throat. Mark and Jonathan got it too, so it was not a house you would want to visit. We spent Queen’s Birthday Weekend lying around, coughing, sniffing and sleeping.

Very sad news for a family in our stake – The father was killed when he fell from a wire bridge while out hunting. He left six children, aged between about 14 and 24. To make it worse, he had no life insurance and was the main income-earner. The ward has rallied around them and it has made an awful event a time of unity for many members.

I invented a meatloaf with hidden vegetables. This is one of the aims of my life, to find ways to get vegetables into Jonathan. This had finely grated carrot, frozen spinach and tomato paste. And meat. What’s even better, is it was yummy.

I was meant to be teaching seminary, but had to get a replacement as I was so sick. I did do the Scripture Mastery day for them, though.

Mark went to Marion and Jordan’s wedding in Sydney and Canberra, and had a great time. I think that has been covered really well by Nan and Nathan. I stayed up and met him at the airport when he came home on Sunday night.

The paparazzi in front of the Sydney Temple!

Very eye catching shoes!

We spent Monday getting ready, then on Tuesday flew and drove to the Hamilton temple. Jessica drove us to the airport, and she and William and Jonathan looked after things at home. We arrived at Templeview in time to settle in at the accommodation (D block for a change), and made it to the temple to witness Julia and Grace Clendon being endowed. It was very nice to be there. We had a delicious dinner at “Foundation” at the Base at Te Rapa. Should have ordered vegetables though! We had planned to eat our dinners at the temple, but the food was all fried or fatty or had cabbage, which didn’t leave a lot. So I bought groceries and cooked in the kitchen. We enjoyed being in D block and getting to know other people.

The reception - amazing work

While we were in Hamilton we visited their botanic gardens, which are wonderful. There are lots of different types of garden – Japanese, Chinese, Indian, tropical, etc. I’m keen to visit again in better weather. We drove down to meet up with Ray and had a lovely afternoon with him, and Mark’s childhood friend, Clyde McPherson and his wife, Donna. I especially liked hearing about Mark’s childhood from Clyde. Then we went to dinner for a $10 roast at the Putaruru Hotel, and sat around an open fire chatting afterwards. I really enjoyed that too. We will have to do it again next time we go to Putaruru.

We stayed at the temple until Saturday morning, then drove up to catch the plane at about 2:30pm. On the way, we took a look at Te Kauwhata, and drove around a scenic drive around Whangamarino wetland. It is an intriguing place, that I never even knew existed.

The cake - really enjoyed the look

I have been ringing schools to get the contact details, and sending emails to Heads of Mathematics departments. I like it when I get to speak to the teachers themselves.

Jonathan is doing really well at CPIT Jazz school. He listens to everything his tutor tells him and does it almost right away. This is pretty impressive, as it is hard for most people to incorporate new chord structures into pieces, but he does it without too much trouble.

I’ve invented a carrot and lemon soup - very yummy, easy, cheap, quick, nutritious and low in kilojoules. You don’t get much better than that!

For Ward conference the other ward in our chapel had a family dance and invited our ward as well. To my utter amazement Jonathan said he wanted to come too – and he even danced. It was lots of fun, and he even survived the karaoke.

The following night Jonathan and Mark and I went to the Glenn Miller band, which was great. They had a wonderful variety of instrumental and vocals, and dancing. The average age of the audience must have been over seventy years.

I gave a talk in the ward conferences about time machines, that went down well, and several people asked me for a copy, which I didn’t have as I just spoke from brief notes. So then I wrote it down and you can read it here if you would like: Time machines and the atonement.

We celebrated Mark’s birthday and Jessica, William and my mother came for a roast lamb dinner. We gave him a book, a game and some Lego and some Reeses peanut butter cups.

On Saturday 29^th June we went for a bike ride around the centre city, which has been off-limits since February 2011. The army left last week after providing a secure cordon all that time. Jonathan and Mark were on the tandem, and it was great to just have a good look. There is so much gone. It is a wasteland of epic proportions, with pockets of life, mainly centred around Ballantynes. It is so dire. Mark was saying the other day it would be great to be able to leave for a few years and come back when it is all fixed. Heck we could probably get a really good price for our house either to sell or rent. However, Jonathan is happy at Jazz School, so here we will stay. Mark also said he would like to survey in a place where the marks are where they are supposed to be. All their jobs take so much longer as they have to work out how far the marks have moved, and what to do about it..

The NZ High Commission in Canberra

The following day we went on our bimonthly trip to Timaru. It is a nice little branch, but hasn’t grown much for many years. People keep moving away. Then in the evening we went to the fireside of the broadcast about the changes in Missionary work. Interesting times we live in!

Jessica continues to get bigger as she is supposed to. William is busy filming for his course, and thinking about how to get a job.

Happy month!

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

The Sydney Harbour Bridge - I was very taken with it.