Christchurch Pettys in May 2014

Mark here; with something I feel obliged to say about this month's issue. Nicola had it ready to post on the 1st or 2nd of the month when she duly let me know so as to add photos. There it sat until now as I forgot all about it! Sigh... And now, I find that I have none of note anyway! So I thought I would show the world the subdivision that is my baby at the moment. It was particularly wet on the day to say the least. And now to Nicola.

William and I have been churning out the videos this month and managed to launch four about probability. You can see them here: Probability Videos.

I’ve started reading Amish romances for light entertainment. They aren’t exactly literature but some have really good themes. I’d recommend Susan Woods Fisher, if anyone is interested.

The first Saturday in May is World Naked Gardening Day. I think it is better suited to the northern hemisphere, though we had a remarkably mild day and I did a whole lot of gardening. Due to the close proximity of the neighbours, and the thought that tackling a boysenberry bramble in the buff seemed ill-advised, I did keep my kit on. But the idea of naked gardening was appealing.

In the afternoon I went to a lovely baptism for a couple of YSA men in Cashmere ward, which was very uplifting. I had met Alfred at the YSA conference in Nelson, and was most impressed with him and his friends.

We had our last steak from the quarter beast we bought from a friend a year ago. It was superb, cooked on the barbecue. It will be sad to go back to regular supermarket meat after experiencing home kill.

I gave a keynote address at the Auckland Mathematical Association Heads of Departments Day, which went fine. I spoke about the ethical aspects of teaching mathematics and statistics. There is a link here to my powerpoints.

The subdivision in progress at 225 Highsted Rd  looking south

I never know what to say when people ask how the business is going. We have money coming in, which is good, but it isn’t enough for three families to live on, so we will need to expand considerably. William is doing a great job with the videos, which seem to be very popular. I asked for a show of hands for those who use our videos at the AMA day, and it was nearly everyone. However we don’t get much money from the videos, so they are only working as a drawcard at present. We are trying Patreon as a way of getting some more money, and one teacher suggested they donate something for using our videos this year. There is a lot of trial and error, but it is mostly lots of fun.

My Sundays have been pretty busy, with giving talks and doing guest lessons in Relief Societies. Often I feel quite worn out on Monday morning. So much for Sabbath being a day of rest! But the happy thing is that Mark has been released as Stake Clerk after five years in the position. He is still finishing off some things before he feels totally extricated from it, but already is enjoying the reduction in workload.

Because of my feminist leanings and outspoken nature, I have ruffled a few feathers among the men and women in the stake. I was happy to be given a wonderful topic to talk about at stake conference, and my talk was well received. It was called “To the Lonely and Misunderstood: Perspective through the doctrine of Christ.” The following day our stake president gave a touching talk that tied in with mine, so I felt endorsed and loved. The following Sunday I gave a talk at a Ward conference, leading on from the previous one. Love is a wonderful theme. I think it would be wonderful if we concentrated on love in the stake for a while.

My mother has been told to stop driving, as she has lost her concentration. We are relieved, and Jessica and William have got her car, which is a great help to us as we now have our two cars all the time, and it makes Sundays much easier! Jessica will take my mother to the supermarket each week or do other errands, which is wonderful and helpful to everyone, and my mother gets to see our gorgeous Seth.

I make trips out of town most weeks, and one week I went to Dunedin. I had a flight booked for about 6:30am and as Mark was driving me to the airport I checked my app and found the time had changed to 12:30. When I got to the airport I was given the option of changing to an earlier flight that would go via Auckland. Bizarre as that sounds, it was going to get me to Dunedin several hours earlier. So that is what I did. There were 22 of us on the flight to Auckland who then got out of the plane, and got back on to fly to Dunedin. What made it no problem at all was that I sat next to Karen Stobbs on the way up, who was Jonathan’s resource teacher when he was little, and with whom I’ve had a long and friendly relationship. So we talked constantly and the trip to Auckland was really too short! Half an hour before landing in Dunedin they announced that they were beginning the descent. I looked out the window and we were directly over Christchurch at the time. You don’t want to think about it too hard.

Looking north

The following day I was tired, and got really bad news that our domain name, statslc.com, was expiring soon and the company we registered it with had disappeared. They hadn’t put our name on it when they registered it with an international company, so we were trying to track down someone so we could get some codes to transfer the name over. In the end, a few days later, we managed to sort it out, but it was VERY worrying in the meantime, as our entire business website and emails rely on that domain name. I’d just finished talking with Shane about that when I got a phone call about providing physio help for Jonathan, that didn’t go well. I ended up raising my voice to the person on the other end. It was NOT a good day. In the evening I went to a maths teachers evening, as a learner, but found it most difficult to concentrate. It was interesting to me as I can see that happening for students all the time – and it is nothing about the teacher or the lesson, but simply that the student is not ready to learn or persist.

A stalwart of the stake died and Jonathan did a lovely job of playing for the funeral. It was so interesting, as Sister Simpson was totally devout, and quite a character, and the family told wonderful stories. It wasn’t sad at all, as she was old and had been sick. I found it inspiring.

I was asked to teach Seminary one morning and it went fine. I feel like I should say no occasionally, but I was concerned that it would fall back on Bishop Clendon. There is just so much happening in our lives, that we need to be careful not to overload.

Mark is working on a subdivision, which means he has to go in to work most days. That is why we were trying to get someone else to take Jonathan to the gym. But the redtape is insane, so we have had to think of another approach.

Laying the first sewer pipe

Seth is gorgeous. I got to look after him during Stake Conference and when I was walking around with him several people commented on what a beautiful baby he is. Jessica is a very focussed mother and does a wonderful job of raising him and making sure William is involved. She loves Plunket, which provides support to mothers. Jessica is really good at finding cheap secondhand toys and cleaning them up, so Seth has an amazing array of entertainment at home. We love watching how he develops each time we see him. He now plays with things purposefully, and looks very intently at stuff. He has yet to have teeth. He isn’t a good sleeper, but Jessica is working on that with the help of Plunket, and they seem to be making progress. Mark and I minded him one night so Jessica and William could go out, and Seth cried for about 5 minutes after being put to bed, though not convincingly, then went to sleep. We checked on him every 30 minutes and sent Jessica texts so she could relax and not worry.

There is always so much to do, which I guess is the disadvantage of having your own business. The tasks there are never ending, and then I need to be helping Jonathan with his work, and supporting my mother, and doing my calling. It can seem too much at times. Knitting and Amish romances are keeping me sane!

Happy June

Love Nicola, representing Mark, Jonathan and to a lesser extent, Jessica, William and Seth.