Very quiet blog for some time.

After a very unsettling couple of years - 2011-2012 - coming to terms with some hard facts like a) I was living in the wrong place and b) I made it worse by continuing to work, i.e. commuting daily to Wellington city by train (preferred) or car, which meant that I didn't ever get involved with community apart from the shopkeepers just down the road, especially the bakery.
It then became clear that I didn't have enough work to sustain the commute, and that I had no life in Raumati Beach. So I decided to move back to Wellington and put the little house and it's amazing shed on the market.

It didn't go well, lots of argy bargy with the KCDC who declared the shed a two storied building and wanted money to make it 'legal'! My buyer offered me a figure $20,000 less. I told him definitely no having gone right off him by then. Finally a buyer came along who just loved the house and shed and bought it regardless, but I lost money. Now I'd sold but had no where to go. My nephew came to the rescue with a flat he has for mates and other dog boxed friends which I used for six weeks.
I found two flats in a 1960s block in Hataitai, one above the other. I liked both. The first one, on the ground floor, was on the market a long time, but I'd not sold and wasn't confident to put an offer in and before I had money it sold. The second offered at the same price came up and I had money and put an offer on it. Very happy until a day or two later the owners withdrew the flat from the market. Very unhappy. Old notebooks reveal that during two months I looked at over 100 properties in and around Wellington. Anything I liked required a $30-60,000 mortgage. It was too big a risk to take.

Leigh and Catherine colluding cooked up a scheme for me to come to Wanganui for a literary weekend, and also to look around at houses for sale here. This was the first house I looked at, and although I looked at others nothing compared.
The first two months were very exciting changing things and making it mine - builders, plumbers, electricians and the painter changed the kitchen, bathroom, the big bedroom and did quite a lot of maintenance. I realise I may never finish the plan in my head but I am very happy in it and Wanganui, although I could do with getting to Wellington a little more often.

I still have a little design work, a couple of journals - one annual, the other now bi-annual, a photo album and the PHA (Vic) newsletter every two months which keeps me very up-to-date with skills.

2012 ... a busy finish

Work

The biggest change is that I'm no longer doing project work for the Department of Conservation (DOC). They kindly told me this in September 2011 but since I had some publishing projects to finish, and then happily agreed to co-ordinate four training courses in May and June, what with one thing and another I didn't pack up until about a month ago. After 12.5 years it was a big change especially since I had just got used to trundling in and out on the train (knitting as I travel). 

But I didn't get time to stop. Coincidentally my two regular journals - PHA (Vic's) Circa and NOHANZ's Oral History in New Zealand were both late getting to me and I've been hard at it for the last couple of months. Both journals are now printed, as is Pharos (Dec/Jan) the newsletter I put onto pages for PHA (VIC) six times a year.

And, just to finish up the year, I'm working on a business suite - i.e. business card, bookmark, folder, comp slip, letter head etc., all off to the printer by the end of this coming week. Christmas is on hold. Links for PHA (Vic) and NOHANZwww.phavic.org.au/ &    www.oralhistory.org.nz/

Life

From the air  - sunset over Banks Peninsular on May 7th.

With daughters in four different locations there was a lots of travelling this past year. Two or three trips to Auckland, three or so trips to Wanganui and one to Christchurch, and various trips up and down the hill to check on the Horokiwi contingent. 

On the wall at the top of the stairs in the
Formerly  Blackball Hilton Hotel

The travel began with the DOC courses. The first one a Experience Development Plan course - the first one for DOC - presented by Sven Schroeder and Paul Mahoney - in Queenstown. It was both interesting and very successful  - this was my first outing as co-ordinator. Then we went to Blackball to run a Historic Heritage Basic Principles course presented by Paul Mahoney, this course was also a success and everyone seemed to enjoy it and get a lot out of it, but the highlight for me was Blackball and the Formerly Blackball Hilton Hotel where we stayed.Then it was off to Rotorua where both courses were run again, again well receive.

Four days in Auckland in June getting to know a small boy and his parents. One of my favourite things is the link bus service around the city. The bus stops almost outside my daughter's door and if the weather is good I take photos out the window. And then there is Auckland with her winter face which I quite like as it gets darker on a nearby walk. 
The the biggest adventure this year happened when my friend Judith decided that she had had enough of winter and why didn't we go on an island escape for a week. We ended up in Samoa - late to make bookings choice was a bit limited, but still Samoa didn't disappoint. The weather was unseasonally wet with downpours at the beginning and the end of our visit, but apart from getting very wet we were fine as it was never cold. 

Drinking fresh coconut juice at the fish market
 in Apia. It was so hot I just needed to have
something refreshing. The fish and chips
weren't bad either.

The floods on arrival. But look how beautiful it is.

Walking around the Wellington waterfront
in August. It is such a pretty walk
from the train station

Our fale was excellent with each of us having a room and with a bathroom. One of the highlights for me was visiting Robert Louis Stevenson's large villa which has been preserved as he left it as much as possible.

In October I was back in Auckland for a few days but didn't take any photos.

Below are a couple of images from the top of
the Boulcott St car park

The final two events for the year, apart from Christmas still to happen, were my 70th birthday dinner, and a trip to Christchurch on the 30th November for my friend Dianne's birthday.

My dinner was just very heartening, everyone who was there mixed and chatted and my four girls said some very nice things about me, as did my brother and sister. Apart from all the good company one of the novel things was the wonderful cake. Isn't it a gorgeous colour?

Finally Melbourne daughter and I worked really hard to secure an image of Golum flying above the dining area at the airport. Wasn't a huge success because of light behind him. But here it is.

Just quickly

It's been a twisty turvy year - just when I think I've
 got a piece of work sorted it dashes off in another
direction. So, besides four Pharos newsletters, for PHA (Vic) http://www.phavic.org.au/index.shtml, only three 'books' published so far - but there will be more later.

Firstly  is the second edition of Circa. Very interesting this year with a diverse range of articles.

I've put a couple of lead pages in.

Emma Russell and Vicky Ryan gave me a neat little book to create about the history of the Victorian Medical Benevolent Association. Extraordinary stories about how medical men and their families survived in 19th century Victoria - the front cover really says it all!

The third completed story is a DOC publication about the Charming Creek Tramway (now a walking track) by Jackie Breen and Amy Findlater, can be found on the DOC website:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/historic/charming-creek-tramway-milling-mining-walkway-a-history/

http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/historic/charming-creek-walkway-baseline-inspection-report/

More later ...

Merry Christmas - Peace and Goodwill

I should be packing presents; collecting the ham from the butcher; checking recipe quantities; taking hold of  Christmas joy and hurrying about a lot, but I'm not. The presents are languishing on the floor still in their purchase bags; the ham remains down the road; the recipes are ideas still and I'm playing on the computer. Energy levels are low after a last week dash to get DOC's Online Booking | Quick Reference Cards printed and out the door.

Normally I would include the cover but I didn't make it and don't have the file. These three pages are an indication of the pages -29 sites are represented from Northland to Stewart Island. They are distributed to DOC Visitor Centres and Area Offices, and i-Sites that participate with the online booking system: http://booking.doc.govt.nz

Six Mad Weeks

The pedagogue's memoirs became a neat little A5 book small enough 'to read in bed' -  the most important specification given. It was a bit of a journey with occasional instances of  'talking at cross-purposes'; long Skype editing sessions about commas and paragraphs; much laughter; printouts to both copy editor and indexer; where on the cover to put 'Music CD included'; a slight snafu with a 'generation X or Y' Melbourne print manager, and finally, it will be launched at the pedagogue's 'last' concert this weekend. It arrives with my best endeavours and should look just fine.
Exhausted after such an intensive, almost exclusive, time doing one thing I was pleased to go to Whanganui last Friday to view Leigh's new show. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyvYN4ma-Wt99A6evWA0sNX9Dt_vElXl48hBCzEu3T2RN7iKfBEvIgmpHyCVvgxLodKkxPGzAGWKBDTAec-pKne1a4IF1WqlhiAjD6AtPZMvjM7Zlnb28bnDdUETxAtmwK06MpuxbKGk/s1600/Whimsy+Invite.jpg

It was great, really interestingly whimsical mono-print/collage pieces. I arrived late due to the generation X or Y print manager (see above), and she had already sold three pieces. She has another show opening next Friday 'the Folly of my Chinoiserie' at the Edith Gallery. Whanganui UCOL atrium, 16 Rutland Street, Whanganui. It is a quite different show using water colours to very beautiful effect.

I scraped the little car's left bumper in a car park a couple of weeks ago and decided to get it fixed since we, the car and me, had become quite good friends at last. This meant catching the train into town for two days. On a good day this adds three quarters of an hour to my journey to and from the city. On Tuesday morning because they are double-tracking the route between Paekakariki and Waikanae, and I missed the 8.27 bus to the station and decided to walk, and then just missed the 'transfer bus' to Paekakariki (because of the work on the tracks), it took me two and a half hours to get to town. The problem is that buses aren't scheduled from Raumati to Paraparaumu Station to meet the 9.05am train going in and the 7.30pm return train - I suspect this is because these are the first trains coming and going that pensioners can ride without charge using their Gold Cards. It is very frustrating. Little car has returned home all bright red, freshly painted and polished. I was very pleased to see it.

I'm just sayin'

Fun day just talking to people, over lunch and especially the afternoon tea at Maranui Cafe in Lyall Bay - just six of us drinking coffee and eating string fries. Fortunately common sense prevailed and it was restored after the fire and in the restoration they have added a very effective and decorative baffle in the ceiling and we could all hear ourselves speak. And yes, I did get a little bit of work done as well, with the last thing of the day, at DOC, a happy feeling created by packing away all the new printing. WAC huts is now available for sale at $30 a copy if any one is interested.

At home on the phone I plotted and planned with a client how best to present her next book - it is always so much easier to actually talk to someone. I'm a big fan of emails, and blogs and so on, but talking - either face to face or on the phone - is easier for me usually, and allows me to hear how the other person is feeling, making problem solving a positive thing.

All in print now

DOC work for me for the past two months has been enjoyably busy preparing seven documents for print.

Wild Animal Control Huts: Historic Heritage Assessment by Michael Kelly was published on the DOC website in 2007.There was always many requests for it to be printed.
So it was re-edited, sent to the proof-reader and went to the printer this morning. Delia Small is giving the proof the last gasp check.

These three heritage assessments, written by Jackie Breen - TSO Historic, West Coast Conservancy are interesting stories about 19th and 20th century determination to establish tracks in very difficult terrain and how to maintain them, a well as the history of and a plan to rescue a unique and very nearly derelict old hut.
Below is a document  of brief descriptions of some wonderful heritage sites restored, shared, promoted and cared for on conservation land.

The Lighthouses of Foveaux Strait by Angela Bain is a wonderful history covering almost 100 years of three lighthouses from inception to solar power driven 21st century facilities, their keepers and the keeper's families. Remarkable stories well defined and described.

More huts, this time with a special edge. These huts were built, or acquired for the specific task of rescuing at risk species

.