Here is a picture of me with Noah James Andersen, my first ever nephew:
Noah is Paul (Ellen's brother) and Joella's first child. He was born at Masterton hospital in the Wairarapa on February 16th at 12:15pm.. He weighed 5lb11oz.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Matua
Matua meaning uncle (literally, "older man"), as in he matua ahau - or I am an uncle!
Here is a picture of me with Noah James Andersen, my first ever nephew:
Noah is Paul (Ellen's brother) and Joella's first child. He was born at Masterton hospital in the Wairarapa on February 16th at 12:15pm.. He weighed 5lb11oz.
Here is a picture of me with Noah James Andersen, my first ever nephew:
Noah is Paul (Ellen's brother) and Joella's first child. He was born at Masterton hospital in the Wairarapa on February 16th at 12:15pm.. He weighed 5lb11oz.
Friday, February 9, 2007
pungawerewere
Pungawerewere meaning spider,
as in e huna ana te pūngāwerewere i roto i te māra, or the spider is hiding in the garden.
The fair weather continues, allowing me to finish the ornamental paving! The part of the garden shown in the above photo is the herb garden, at the back and to the right is the beginning of the long bed at the rear of the garden. We have increased the size of the lawn, reseeding it, and making it easier to manage the garden maintenance. Here is the veggie patch:
We have pak choi, peas, lettuces and celery. The pak choi grew very well indeed and the lettuces are just becoming ready about now!
Last night I went out to an open-air production of As You Like It. It rained, and the actors enjoyed ad-libbing to the crowd about the misery of ill-weather &c &c. The show was very enjoyable, it was great to go to the theatre after a long time away from it. Upon returning home I found England were 170 for 3 against Australia and the chance turned into a win - an exciting win!
as in e huna ana te pūngāwerewere i roto i te māra, or the spider is hiding in the garden.
The fair weather continues, allowing me to finish the ornamental paving! The part of the garden shown in the above photo is the herb garden, at the back and to the right is the beginning of the long bed at the rear of the garden. We have increased the size of the lawn, reseeding it, and making it easier to manage the garden maintenance. Here is the veggie patch:
We have pak choi, peas, lettuces and celery. The pak choi grew very well indeed and the lettuces are just becoming ready about now!Last night I went out to an open-air production of As You Like It. It rained, and the actors enjoyed ad-libbing to the crowd about the misery of ill-weather &c &c. The show was very enjoyable, it was great to go to the theatre after a long time away from it. Upon returning home I found England were 170 for 3 against Australia and the chance turned into a win - an exciting win!
Monday, February 5, 2007
whakatipu
Whakatipu meaning to grow. Whaka is a common prefix in Maori which means to make. In this case making growing, as in whakatipu ana te hua rakau or, the fruit tree grows!
Svend's garden in Kilbirnie has been doing lots of growing and is looking absolutely lovely. Today I planted a couple of feijoa trees and a small hebe. The lettuces and peas are really coming along! Some ornamental edging has gone in and all that is left is some finishing touches. Good timing, as we are moving to Dunedin in a matter of weeks. I will miss being in the garden! It is great to be working outside and enjoying the sun. Today it was so hot I had to take the extreme measure of swimming in the ocean after work - an adventure that surprised Ellen and her family as the water here is somewhat cold. However, it felt great to be back in the sea after too long as a land-lubber!
Tomorrow is Waitangi day, commemorating the signing of the famous treaty. The treaty of Waitangi was written in 1840 on behalf of the British Crown, and was signed by some of the chiefs of the tribes of the New Zealand Maori, in order to bring a settlement between them and the Europeans, and found a nation state and government in New Zealand. It is seen as the birth certificate of the New Zealand nation, and duly celebrated. However disagreements over the meaning of the treaty continue to this day, and there is no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides regarding the rights of Maori over their own sovereignty, and the rights of the New Zealand Government to legislate for all. Waitangi day is also Bob Marley's birthday, and many Wellingtonians choose to celebrate this instead.
Svend's garden in Kilbirnie has been doing lots of growing and is looking absolutely lovely. Today I planted a couple of feijoa trees and a small hebe. The lettuces and peas are really coming along! Some ornamental edging has gone in and all that is left is some finishing touches. Good timing, as we are moving to Dunedin in a matter of weeks. I will miss being in the garden! It is great to be working outside and enjoying the sun. Today it was so hot I had to take the extreme measure of swimming in the ocean after work - an adventure that surprised Ellen and her family as the water here is somewhat cold. However, it felt great to be back in the sea after too long as a land-lubber!
Tomorrow is Waitangi day, commemorating the signing of the famous treaty. The treaty of Waitangi was written in 1840 on behalf of the British Crown, and was signed by some of the chiefs of the tribes of the New Zealand Maori, in order to bring a settlement between them and the Europeans, and found a nation state and government in New Zealand. It is seen as the birth certificate of the New Zealand nation, and duly celebrated. However disagreements over the meaning of the treaty continue to this day, and there is no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides regarding the rights of Maori over their own sovereignty, and the rights of the New Zealand Government to legislate for all. Waitangi day is also Bob Marley's birthday, and many Wellingtonians choose to celebrate this instead.
Friday, February 2, 2007
hua rakau
Hua rakau meaning fruit tree in Maori. The first 'a' of rakau needs a macron (which is a short line written above it to denote a long pronunciation, as in car rather than bat) but I don't know how to add them using this technology! There are many native trees in New Zealand producing fruit. The kiwifruit is not among them - kiwifruit is Chinese, it's the national fruit of the People's Republic of China!
So we're moving to Dunedin in two or three weeks (life is so very vague sometimes) and hence we are house hunting and worrying about what I'm going to do for work and what it's going to be like etc. Meanwhile I am still working hard in Svend's garden and looking forward to taking some photo's to share with the blogosphere. It has been lovely here over the last few days and i have enjoyed being outdoors. I am a little nervous about the Dunedin winter, I hope it's no worse than Oxford!
Recreation has included a couple of games of chess by correspondence. I secretly hope I am winning in the first game but my partner has not sent me a move for a few days. I secretly hope that's because he knows I am winning! The second game is just opening and my partner is contracted in a major new movie production and may not be able to study his moves for a while. Oh well, these things can wait. We have also been to see the new Bond movie which was thoroughly entertaining, and Borat, which was thoroughly crass. No surprises there then. Lastly we saw the History Boys which is almost beyond description. We enjoyed it, and it is one of those thoughtful films you find yourself pondering over for days. I didn't ponder much over Bond or Borat, as you can probably imagine.
So we're moving to Dunedin in two or three weeks (life is so very vague sometimes) and hence we are house hunting and worrying about what I'm going to do for work and what it's going to be like etc. Meanwhile I am still working hard in Svend's garden and looking forward to taking some photo's to share with the blogosphere. It has been lovely here over the last few days and i have enjoyed being outdoors. I am a little nervous about the Dunedin winter, I hope it's no worse than Oxford!
Recreation has included a couple of games of chess by correspondence. I secretly hope I am winning in the first game but my partner has not sent me a move for a few days. I secretly hope that's because he knows I am winning! The second game is just opening and my partner is contracted in a major new movie production and may not be able to study his moves for a while. Oh well, these things can wait. We have also been to see the new Bond movie which was thoroughly entertaining, and Borat, which was thoroughly crass. No surprises there then. Lastly we saw the History Boys which is almost beyond description. We enjoyed it, and it is one of those thoughtful films you find yourself pondering over for days. I didn't ponder much over Bond or Borat, as you can probably imagine.
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