A little self-care

Tonight is the dark of the moon - last night I could feel the last of the moon "buzzing" and it was so unsettling. Tonight, after a long walk in the park in the sunset with daughter, I am collected and calm. I have kitty company and the silence I have craved all day. 

I've found myself making some interesting decisions lately. Making choices for me, to explore parts of me, or just do some things that make me feel grounded.

One of them is booking a ticket just for me for Johannes Moser's cello recital at St Andrew's on the Terrace this Sunday: he's playing three of Bach's cello suites (1, 3, and 4), which I completely adore. I am taking myself off to the concert by myself, as I am not going to miss a chance to hear (some of) the suites live. Yo-yo Ma has released a third album recording of them and is now touring the world with the suites again - if he comes here I'm going, no matter where I might have to go to hear them. My lovely brother sent me a live recording of Yo-yo Ma playing all six in a row as part of the Proms season in London a few years back and it is absolutely my go-to music. I love Bach in any form and for any reason, but the suites are special. I came late to them - I forget how I came across them but they have captured my heart. 

Other things are booking to go to the Women's Spirituality conference in Christchurch in November - the flight times are pretty ugly but I wasn't going to miss that one. I didn't ask anyone either: I just told hubby I was going! I have read some of the papers from the original conference 30 years ago and I really want to network with other women who are exploring what spiritual living might look like in the 21st century, when it seems that all we have gained in the last 40 years might be lost again. 

I've also joined a Tai Chi class at work - I did Tai Chi at a previous job and really liked it. This class runs in lunchtime once a week (which is better than after work for me) and the two I've done so far made me feel so energised and so grounded - I was sparkling full of energy and ideas in the afternoon! I may need to book out the afternoons after Tai Chi for project/high concentration work to make the most of that!

Hubby and I are continuing to enjoy Ceroc dance on a Friday night - we'd missed a few classes due to being sick and it was so good on Friday to get back to class, catch up with the friends we're making there, and get back on the dance floor! 

Another thing I've done is book out every Friday as a no-meetings day next year - either to work from home or do concentrated project-type work or study. With the pace of change heating up next year, it seemed the sensible thing - take control of my diary before other people got near it! I suspect those Fridays will become really important as my uni papers begin next year too - also a scary thought but another thing I am doing for me. 

The most interesting of those things is entering direction again.... I am really looking forward to company on the way, especially as I am travelling "home by another way". 

Planning ahead

I was doing something tonight I haven't done for many years - at least 8, maybe more. I was on a university website, working on an application to study. Victoria has just launched a Masters in Health (Workplace Health and Safety), with the inaugural students starting in 2019. I'll be one of them.

That's a fairly scary thought actually. I know I'm good academically and I know I've always done well at uni - and the last lot of study was 4.5 years part time through Massey doing my GradDipOSH. The scary thought is that I've got a demanding job, a busy family life, and all those other things going on in life. Looking back, I'm not quite sure how I fitted in my Massey study with a baby and a full-on consultancy job - thank heaven for hubby being at home! I guess I'll adapt but it's just a bit scary.

However, it's the right time to do it - it'll take about 5 years and that will still have me mid-career with about 15-20 years of practice left, so it makes sense to do it now. I've always wanted to do a Masters and for various reasons it didn't happen. There's a lot going on in the field that I need to keep up with to bring to my work, so it will be a good chance to refresh myself. So here goes - jumping in with both feet! Hopefully by March I'll have a few more things sorted at work so it won't be so busy...

Take a bow

I got to work today to discover that a good friend and colleague from my Kinleith days died overnight - the second Kinleith friend to die in a week (the first was one of our electricians, also a friend). Added to the death of my uncle on Good Friday and it's getting somewhat painful. 

I don't have any real words to say, only loss and empathy for his family and other friends. He was an archer, a passionate medieval re-enactor, a larger-than-life person with whom I shared many long and cheerful chats, recipes, and fun. I helped co-ordinate his rehab when he cut his hand at work just after I started at Kinleith in 2012 and we became good friends through that process. It is partly his influence that meant I took up archery, even though I opted for all the mod cons on my compound bow rather than a bare medieval longbow. 

We went to the Taupo Medieval Faire that he started last year and grew to very impressive and entertaining proportions this year. We had a good chat there and he showed our daughter his dagger and sword - she was suitably impressed (so was I!). The crazy thing is that I never saw him shoot, even though he was mad keen on his longbow. He made all his own arrows and equipment - he was amazingly clever with his hands and loved making stuff - and he was a very gifted cook. His medieval recipes used to make me hungry just listening....

I will miss him. It's hard to imagine Kinleith without him. May he rest in peace and rise in glory - with his bow to hand. 

Family doings

Our "care of creation" efforts in the autumn appear to have paid off, with a lovely display of daffodils and tulips in our garden this spring. We planted mixed bulbs and so every flower has been a surprise, with different varieties of both. The ghost of the previous owner has also appeared with some jonquils and Canterbury bells popping up that we know we didn't plant! Not that we mind at all - in fact, it just made us more determined to plant more bulbs next autumn.

However, I am not confident in the longevity of my flowers: we have a significant storm over most of the country and some of the first "real wind" I remember in Rotorua. It's also freezing cold - it snowed on the Desert Road today and I smelt more snow in the wind when I went outside to get firewood tonight. We had thought we had nearly finished with the fire for the year - apparently not. It was windy enough to dislodge the top part of our metal chimney: we heard a huge bang this afternoon and then saw it bouncing around in the front yard. I'm fairly certain it isn't supposed to be doing that!

Rotorua has its tulip festival next weekend (there are over 42,000 tulips planted around the city in public spaces) but I wonder how many of them will survive for the festival? The city does look beautiful in spring, especially as all the cherries and plums come into flower, but I saw an awful lot of kowhai and other flowers spread all over the roads today.

The last few weeks have been filled with family doings. Daughter had a trampolining competition in Hamilton a few weeks ago, and we were very proud to see her win gold in the double mini for her age group (her second medal since she began competing). Last week she also won a ribbon in her interschool competition in an apparatus she had never used before (single mini tramp, which is not a standard apparatus - she trains on the trampoline and double mini which are both competition-standard).

We went up to Auckland to the Mythbusters Live event at Vector Arena for a treat for my birthday and Fathers' Day combined. It was a really fabulous day and the Mythbusters were really fun. It was very cool to see them live too - I think they're almost funnier in real life than on tv. Daughter tried desperately to get herself picked for one of the on-stage demonstrations but there were a lot of people there....

I've been doing a bit of moving around for work recently, with trips to Auckland, Nelson, Whangarei, Tauranga, and Taupo recently. Most of those have been one-dayers, fortunately. For my sins, I am speaking at the national conference of one of my clients this weekend, which will be interesting. I have been told to start with shock tactics! The good thing is that I get a day in lieu on Monday, which is the first proper day of the school holidays, so I'll get some time to hang out with the family. Hopefully the weather will behave: daughter is learning to ride a new bike and I'm loving mine, so it would be good to go play outside on our bikes!

Personality and prayer - some beginning thoughts

I was catching up with a couple of friends' posts on Facebook and spotted that an old friend posted a link to a Myers-Briggs personality test. I first did this nearly 20 years ago and came out as an ENFJ - but the E (extrovert) was very marginal, and was strongly modified by the NF, which turned me introverted. I got curious and tonight did the test again, and came out an INFJ (which I think is a better reflection of me anyway - and last time the E was only just barely an E).

The information on the INFJ personality type is scarily accurate for me and the kinds of work and prayer I like. I get a kick out of helping people - it's why I work in health and safety - but the bit I like is making sure that they don't need me any more. My aim as a consultant is to do myself out of a job with every one of my clients. I love order, I am an inveterate planner (and hate it when things mess up my plans) and I like being organised. I have a couple of things I am passionate about and I am known as a "terrier" when there's something to dig my teeth into. I have always been a perfectionist, striving to be better at what I do.

So how does this translate into prayer? I can't be a perfectionist at prayer. I am learning over the years just to show up, to pray as I am and where I am, and just to keep doing it, circling back over the psalms like a moth over a candleflame. One of the bits of information I read suggested that INFJs don't like formal prayer. That's completely the opposite of me. Praying the Office provides the solid scaffolding of my heart, and using set forms of eucharist and so on feeds me.

But, thinking about it, maybe it's the poetry of it that gives me a framework for my own inner silence. Certainly when I go to pray myself, it's in words and images that come from deep inside - but some of those have been internalised from years of praying and lectio divina. There is a drive to experience and to be, to learn and to love. It's what drew me to the Community in the first place. And maybe that's why COS is a better fit for me than the Franciscans too - Benedictines are about work and prayer, Camaldolese are about the Three Goods: solitude, community, and service/mission. That about sums me up really.

Bits and pieces

I found out that my previous post didn't post (probably because I was out of town at the time and had a very dodgy connection!), but I did get my CMIOSH. The certificate is dated 2 days after my interview so they must have made up their minds fairly quickly!

The last couple of weeks have been busy with clients and the Safeguard conference in Auckland. I always enjoy Safeguard: it's a great opportunity to meet people, network, and listen to some very interesting speakers. This year there were no "superstars" in the safety world, but lots of reflection on the new law, particularly from Australia, as our new law is going to be very similar to theirs.

This weekend is Queen's Birthday - the last of the public holidays for months. The weather has been stunning so far. I've finally finished clearing the front garden, and I've planted my first plant - the first actual plant (above the ground) I've chosen for myself - a little hebe called "pretty in pink" (ironic when you consider I don't like pink!). We put in a lot more bulbs and barked everything, and it's looking very nice. The first of our earlier bulbs have now broken soil, which is very exciting, and it appears that daughter's purple winter carrots may also have cleared ground. It's a bit hard to tell because some other things that we didn't plant have also appeared in that garden! One of them may be other pre-existing bulbs. I hope to have a good look tomorrow when I weed back through the barked areas.

CMIOSH

In my last post I mentioned that I had just completed the peer review interview for Chartered Membership of IOSH, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. I was notified yesterday that I was awarded my professional grade and am now CMIOSH. It felt pretty good - I have been working towards this for many years and it was good to be recognised as a safety professional by my peers in the industry internationally. A real confidence-booster, that!

So, what does it mean for my practice? Not a great deal, on one hand, but on the other, potentially quite a lot. It doesn't change the way I work, creating fit for purpose health and safety management systems. It doesn't change my deep desire to contextualise safety practices to particular workplaces and cultural expressions (I am currently exploring with a client what safety management looks like in a Maori cultural setting and it's wonderfully challenging and exciting - I am learning a lot!). It doesn't change my passion for good root cause analysis of accident factors and strong corrective actions that are aimed at organisational factors, good contractor management practices and so on. It doesn't change my need to keep growing and expanding my safety knowledge - a lifelong practice.

What it may change is the possibilities. New doors may open because I am CMIOSH that were closed to me before. New opportunities may arise. I can work professionally anywhere in the world now, and CMIOSH has a professional standing that is understood almost everywhere.

The interesting thing is that I have often found when I've completed a major process, such as getting my degrees or GradDipOSH, that either just after finishing or at graduation there was a tremendous sense of let-down and loss. It was over. All that hard work, done. Nothing to take its place. I don't feel that about CMIOSH. Instead, I sense possibility. Newness. Opportunity. I trust that I am honest and courageous enough to open myself to those possibilities, and grow in my understanding and practice of health and safety so that I can help my clients to send their people home safe to their loved ones, every day.

We will see.

IOSH interview

Tonight was a big night. No, I'm not talking about the kind that leaves you with a headache and a horrible taste in the mouth; it was an important night, a night I have been excited for and dreading for some time.

Tonight I had my interview for Chartered Membership with the Institution of Safety and Health (IOSH), my professional body. I have been working on a portfolio of work for the last 2 years showing the quality of my work as a health and safety professional, and it all comes down to this interview tonight. It was at 9pm NZT, because IOSH is UK-based. I was interviewed by a panel of three safety practitioners, my peers, and had to explain my practice of safety from first principles, because the legislation is slightly different over there.

The interview lasted about an hour over the computer - I was slightly terrified that the technology would play me false, but it all went beautifully - and I feel a bit like I have been through the wringer - but it was good. I find out if I have got my professional grade in about three weeks time.

Baching in the rain

Listening to the rain coming down all yesterday, all last night, and all of today felt a bit like a gift. It's the first real rain we've had in a couple of months, and it was as though all of the built up dust and stress and difficulty were being washed away by the rain; helped along this morning in my office by a gorgeous recording of Bach's solo cello concertos. Rain on the roof (a proper Bay of Plenty downpour coming straight down) and Bach. It doesn't get much more peaceful.

This afternoon was more of a rain adventure, with a visit to a potential new client here in Rotorua who has both some interesting hazards and some real challenges. It's also an organisation that would be a privilege to work alongside, and I am very excited about this opportunity.

A senior staff member took me on a tiki-tour around their operations and it was really interesting. It's a big site and most of it is uncovered... fortunately they had little golf carts with roofs to help in getting around and I had grabbed my big waterproof work raincoat before going over: it got a real workout today though and by the time I got back to the office nearly 3 hours later it was soaked nearly through and I was decidedly soggy (although not as soggy as my guide, whose coat didn't have a hood!). One hot chocolate and a change of clothes later and all was fine. That's one distinct advantage to having my office in my house: if I get wet, too hot, or too cold, I can skip across the hall to my room and change!

Music on Fridays

Today was thankfully an office day, writing my submission on the new Health and Safety Reform Bill for the Select Committee process. First time I've done one of those! I was having a chat with my brother over his choices for Thursday Night is Music Night, which included my perennial favourite, the stunning Alan Parsons Project (APP), and discussions about a new-to-me band called The Enid. He suggested that I might like them, so I found their latest album Invicta on spotify and had a crack. And it's brilliant - weird, but brilliant. In terms of sound, it's a cross between APP and Queen, one of my other favourite bands that I have been revisiting on Spotify, with a bit of classical thrown in. It worked particularly well when followed up with APP's Eye in the Sky.

Speaking of Spotify, hubby has been trying to convince me to try it for ages, but it was useless in my previous job because the website was blocked by the company. Now, I can have it on when working in the office, which suits me just fine. The funny thing is that it keeps trying to suggest things I might like - and I have a really eclectic taste in music! It did get it right for me today when it suggested The Sixteen, one of the world's best sacred choral groups (probably from my listening to King's College Cambridge Choir a couple of weeks ago!). I wasn't in a choral mood today but will definitely be listening to some of their stuff again soon.

This afternoon was dedicated to a rediscovery of APP's weird and weirdly wonderful Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a concept album taken from Edgar Allen Poe's terrifying short stories of the same name, while I was working on a new training course around the upcoming changes to safety legislation. Tales is one of those albums that you can't shake off: like the Poe stories, it stays with you for a long time (especially "The Raven").  I had a listen to Turn of a Friendly Card as well, but it was never my favourite album of the Project (although I like the title track). Ammonia Avenue is my all-time favourite Project album and it got played over and over when I was at work on site (I have that one on CD so could take it to work).

I also explored some of Train's back catalogue a couple of weeks ago, following up on the California 37 album that hubby gave me for Christmas and I really like. I liked "Hey soul sister" that came out a while back on a previous album, and love most of the songs on the California 37 album, particularly the opening track "Baby, this'll be our year", and the hilarious but slightly naughty "Drive By" and "50 ways to say goodbye".

As I said, a bit eclectic....

And eggs

The other day felt a bit like an omelette - all sorts of stuff all jumbled up together! Today was a bit more of the same: meant to be an induction, but turned out to be a mix of consulting and induction. But hey that's the way it works in this job.

I am glad it's Friday. The house is quiet: small daughter is asleep and hubby on a photo shoot - and I'm just soaking up the silence. I am not exercised about anything. I'm not burning to change the world. I;m just sitting and pondering. You need eggs to make omelette, and maybe this is what this is for: finding eggs, so that when it's a scrambled day I've got something to work with. Who knows?

Nascar it wasn't....

Vroom.

Today I got to play with my work car. I say "play" because that's exactly what it felt like. Work sent me to the National Advanced Driver School, not because I'm a bad driver, but because they do that for all of us who travel to make sure we're fully equipped to deal with anything that could happen. And it's so much fun! I had done the course once before, years ago, so this was a refresher, but I was using my work car and it handles slightly differently from my own car.

We did emergency stops, evasive manouvres, cornering and reversing through a slalom (!), and other defensive driving techniques including late apexing, which is a technique I remembered from last time and use all the time. The cool thing about the course was that the defensive driving course I did just after I sat my driver's license (some years ago!) was purely theory. This course has you in your car, practicing. And it's so much fun.

Next time I need a refresher I'm going to try to convince them to send me to Stage 2, where they take you to a racetrack (either Manfeild or Pukekohe) and the instructor sits in the car with you while you do the circuit - at normal driving speeds (presumably at 50km/hr the first time and then possibly at open road later) reinforcing and practicing good cornering and late apexing. It would be so cool - especially to do it at a proper racing circuit!

Wagner and das land

I have just been reading my brother's blog about his recent foray into Wagner's Ring Cycle, with the BBC Proms. Sounds like it was completely amazing, and I am so jealous that he got to hear Bryn Terfel live. He did the complete Ring, which is pretty cool. I have to admit that I have only heard parts of the cycle, but what I have heard I like. Maybe I'll have to look up a good recording and have a listen to more of it.

However, on the other side of the globe, things have been a little interesting. Last night we were  rudely awoken by an earthquake around 1am, followed by another 6 quakes until about 2.30am.... They were fairly small but the epicentres were just 1km from our house, and only 5km deep. By the time we'd had the 5th one small daughter was so unnerved she wanted to stay in our bed (which I can't blame her for!). They were extremely noisy - in fact, I was woken by the first one and was trying to figure out where the truck was driving when the shaking started! So we ended up all of us sleeping in our queen bed, and the cat, not to be outdone, came to join us too... We all did get some sleep but it wasn't the most restful night I've ever had. Fortunately I was working from Rotorua this morning so didn't have to deal with the drive over to site.

This week has been a very busy one with a major audit on Tuesday and Wednesday. I've been preparing for this for months now, and particularly over the last few weeks it's been taking up a lot of my time. In the end it went pretty well, which pleased me (and my boss). I was concerned that my lack of spoons from the weekend/Monday may have made it difficult when it came to the site walkthrough on Wednesday, but I did okay in the end. I must admit that I came home on Tuesday and didn't want to talk to anyone (other than hubby and small daughter), after spending all day answering questions from the auditors! Long meetings are stressful when you're an introvert and an audit makes it worse. I am very grateful it's the weekend!

It's also been an interesting week in terms of the year too. Two feasts and a memorial in a row, with St Monica, St Augustine, and the Beheading of John the Baptist back to back. I don't know a lot about Monica, except she was Augustine's mum, but Augustine I know more of. The readings for vigils were from the Confessions and they were really gorgeous - from his investigations and meditations on the One Beauty. I have to confess I've never finished the Confessions - I did read quite a bit of them in patches when I was studying, and an awful lot of his theology, but I never did the Confessions from start to finish, although I did try. This makes me wonder whether it wasn't the right time for them then but it may be time for another go? And John the Baptist: I know it's the wrong image but I always think of Allori's Judith with the head of Holofernes when I think of this event. But also as forerunner, beginning, cousin, friend, torch, Elijah Mk 2... It was a bit of a relief to return to ordinary Ordinary Time today.

A Kiwi in kiwifruit country

It's Saturday. I am slowly recovering from a deficit of spoons this week - it was an extremely busy week and by the time I got to the end of Thursday I was in deficit. Friday was tough: by the time I left for work I was scared I was going to fall asleep in the car on the way over to work....

However, today was better. A good sleep and a relaxing time with the family has helped a lot. We went through to Te Puke (about half an hour from here) and did the kiwifruit tour at Kiwi360, which was fascinating. Very interesting to look around a working kiwifruit orchard. I didn't realise that a new kiwifruit vine grows at up to 15cm every day! They have had to graft completely new golden kiwifruit varietals to help combat the PSA bacteria - hopefully they take. The other really amazing thing was that last season they harvested over 105 million trays of kiwifruit in the Bay of Plenty. Wow!!

I was also interested to hear that they harvest once a year but export all year round. The way they manage that is by measuring the brix value of the fruit - when it gets to a certain point they harvest, then the pack the fruit and store it under partial vacuum in coolstores, which holds the ripening process in limbo until they are warmed up again. The coolstore is only opened when it is ready to be shipped. This way they can export year-round. Very clever.

The tour also went past fruit trees of just about everything you could name - part of the tour path was an experimental area to find out what would grow in Te Puke, and the answer is everything! We saw oranges, lemons, lemonade (looks a bit like a lemon but really sweet), tangelos, plums, cherries, apricots, persimmons, white mulberry, nashi, ugli, lots of different apples, and a whole lot of others I can't remember. The tour guide kept stopping the little cart every few metres and giving us something else to try.... The lemonades were particularly lovely.

The tour ended with kiwifruit tasting, kiwifruit juice, kiwifruit jam (not as good as my kiwifruit jam, I have to say), kiwifruit wine, kiwifruit liqueur - you name it, we tried it. And some local manuka-rewarewa honey too, which was particularly good.

I wasn't originally planning to go, but I'm glad I did. It was really interesting and it was a lovely relaxing day with my two favourite people. We stopped at one of those ubiquitious roadside fruit vendors just out of Te Puke and got some golden kiwifruit (biggest I've ever seen too!) tamarillos (yum), and fresh fruit icecreams. And now it's Saturday night, cat snoozing by the fire, and the Bledisloe Cup test tonight. Delayed coverage so not checking Facebook or Stuff to make sure I don't find out who wins! Go the mighty All Blacks!

Triduum

It's Easter Monday, the "extra" holiday that we get tacked onto the Triduum here in NZ. And I am grateful. One of my friends at work asked what I'd be getting up to for Easter and I answered truthfully that I'd be spending a lot of time at church....

A few thoughts from the Triduum:

• Maundy Thursday: a silent meditative journey. Small daughter came with me as we both thought it was going to be the Last Supper and footwashing. She and I reflected and travelled through the journey laid out for us together, and got to wash each other's feet. Quite moving.
• We covered all the holy pictures and statues at home, to help us all remember where we were in the journey at home too. Amazing how much that black cover draws your eye, keeping the loss and the pain in front of us for those few days.
• Good Friday: the 3-hour vigil before the Cross, St Luke's used a forn of the stations of the cross to guide us through. I was struck by the phrase "the Lamb of God" - and got thinking about the time I was seconded to a meatworks. One thing I found out very quickly there: cows know what's coming but sheep don't. Sheep walk trustingly and fairly quietly up the ramp to the sticking station. Jesus knew, but he still walked trustingly. I spent a lot of time thinking about this one, alongside the suffering servant songs from Isaiah.
• Easter Saturday: the waiting day. Always seems to be quite empty, sad, but like after a death, life has to go on for the rest of us with Saturday chores and normal Saturday activities.
• We found that Maori TV was screening Jesus Christ Superstar on Saturday night and it was really interesting (once we got past the cringe-worthy 70s costuming and dance moves!!) - I can't remember ever seeing it from end to end and it proved quite a conversation point for hubby and me to reflect on some of the more human elements in the story.
• Easter Sunday: Surrexit Christus, Alleluia! Joy and laughter flower again, Easter egg hunts before church in the morning, flowers and candles blazing on the altar again, no more black and purple but white and gold, and the blessing of old old friends of ours from Lower Hutt here in Rotorua - we didn't know they were coming and they didn't know we were there! They came home to our place for lunch and then we explored the Whakamaru Dam together in the afternoon. It's a fascinating place for a safety geek to look at!

The retreat that my prayer group had done at Tyburn Monastery last Saturday was a good way to enter into Holy Week, and helped me focus on where we were going, the day before the palms and hosannas.

We were tired today but it was a good kind of tired. We did a few things like taking small daughter to see the model railway exhibition, and daughter and I did the groceries to fill up our sadly denuded fridge and pantry (we loved seeing our friends yesterday but there was 9 of us here eating lunch - even with pooling our resources our fridge got pretty cleaned out!). I also did a spot of shopping for me: I am delighted to note that I have now lost so much weight that my old jeans simply fall off my hips, so I went to find some winterish trousers. Couldn't find any new jeans (yet) but did find a couple of pairs of other things I like so that was good. And noted with some glee that I have dropped four dress sizes!

We also spent some time playing family Wii games (we love Wii Sports Resort - frisbee golf, in particular!), and then daughter and I had a game of cribbage before dinner.

And tomorrow is back to the grindstone. At least my nose has had time to heal somewhat during this time!

Sunshine, paint, and starlight

This has been a good week. I started back at work on Monday, which would not normally be an opportunity for rejoicing, meaning as it does that the holidays are over! We had a good holiday, including a trip back down to Wellington to catch up with those friends and family who had not fled the place in search of kinder weather! But I digress. This week was a good one. As most of the plant isn't back yet (it's only the maintenance/engineering staff, the financial staff, and me on site right now) the place feels completely laid back and chilled out. I've been loving that we've been hanging out for morning and afternoon teas and actually talking, laughing, and just having some fun. Also finishing a bit earlier than usual most days because it's pretty quiet right now. I'm spending my time planning my year in safety and getting things ready for the big re-induction days that happen at the end of the month. I am bound and determined to be organised this year! It was tough coming into the plant in April when things were going full swing without the time to plan things to run the way I wanted them to.

I'm also getting to be a bit of a socialite at present. I'm family-free for a few days as small daughter has gone with hubby back to Wellington to see grandparents that were in the UK when we were down after Christmas, and hubby is on a photoshoot for a week. So on Friday night I went to the pub with a friend from work (yes, me in a pub, now don't all die of shock!) - nice just to sit and chat about stuff and have some fun together. He went home and I wandered off to see the movie version of Les Miserables which had just opened in Rotorua. One soggy hankerchief later..... I was very very impressed with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, and Anne Hathaway's Fantine was beautifully done. I had been pretty sceptical that they could make it work as a movie, having seen the stage show twice and adore the music (most of which I've sung at various times), but I was wrong. It works, wonderfully well. Also lovely to see the very first stage Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, getting a cameo as the Bishop who gives Valjean his chance.

Today was a really good day too: began with a hot stone massage (new to me!) at Rotorua Health and Spa, which I'd picked up off GrabOne just before Christmas. Very relaxing and I felt pretty good afterwards. I was a bit worried whether I would be able to lie on my tummy long enough, but didn't seem to have too many issues which was nice.

This afternoon was spent sanding and painting a small bedside cabinet that used to be mine, but now belongs to small daughter. Hubby has recently redecorated her bedroom (when we moved up here, we promised her that her room would be the first one we would do). It's all light blue, with a frieze of tropical fish and coral (similar to but nicer than the one she had in Wellington), and the room had built-in furniture that we've painted quite a bright, strong, primary blue. She has been using a chest of drawers that used to be my brother's, and a bedside that was mine when I was a girl. We hadn't done anything with them before, but this time we've painted them the same bright primary blue as the built-in stuff. She went away with all the furniture done except this bedside cabinet (which was a tired, grotty white - well, it's 23 years old!) - she'll come home to find it finished. Felt good to set up a little surprise for her!

Tonight after tea I went for a walk at one of my favourite spots around here, the lovely Hamurana Springs. The sun was low and the light through the redwood grove was incredible: warm, golden, making stripes and shadows, the redwoods almost purplish with brilliant leaves. First time I've actually wanted to have a camera to hand! I could watch the springs for hours: it seems amazing to think that 4.5 million litres of water come up from that spring every hour! It's so deceptive too: there's no gushing water, no waterfalls, only this silent lazy movement of the water that almost doesn't look like it's moving at all.... but it is.

And the crowning glory of the day was discovering tonight that one of my favourite authors, Laini Taylor, has just released Days of Blood and Starlight, the sequel to the quite spectacularly wonderful Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Daughter was one of the most original books I'd read in many years, gorgeously written, with a twist in the tail that I would never have picked in a million million years. I love being surprised that way. I found it quite by chance in a bookshop last year, loved the title, read the first page, and walked straight to the counter - and I don't recall anything else of what I did over the next few days outside finishing the book. Absolutely compulsive read, and the reviews of the sequel sound as though this one is even better. Cannot wait for it to arrive from The Book Depository - rather faster (and generally cheaper!) than waiting for it to come out in NZ.

Of course, even in the lovely Bay of Plenty sunshine there are a few shadows lurking. There's been a fair amount of pain, which the massage and a long soak on Thursday night at the Polynesian Spa has helped a little, but I'm trying to stay positive and hopeful that we can find something that will give longterm relief, or at least a way forward for managing it. But I'll not darken this cheerful post with the other side of the coin too much tonight....

There and back again

A long time away from the blog but here I am again.

Lots going on. The one currently exercising my mind and heart is the fact that I have major surgery scheduled next Wednesday. I'm a bit stunned at the speed of this - I only saw my specialist for the second time on Friday, and I got all call on Monday to tell me that that it's scheduled for the following week!

I've been frantically trying to clear my desk, which wasn't helped by feeling very sick yesterday and working from home today. Oh well, there's nothing I can do there except keep doing what I can manage. I was supposed to be meeting with other senior staff yesterday to farm out some of my projects and regular activities but I got sent home instead! Oh well, there's always Monday.

The countdown begins

So much has been going on over the last few weeks that I hardly know where to begin! The highlights:

• I had the enormous privilege of attending the Wellington Diocesan Electoral College for our next Bishop of Wellington last weekend. There were seven outstanding candidates, and as the College deliberated and prayed it became very clear who should be nominated. Our nomination has now gone to the House of Bishops and to General Synod for ratification.
• Our family took a flying trip up to Rotorua (three days - spending just one and a half days in the city as it's 7 hours each way driving!), and in the time we were there, found a house, school, and gymnastics club for our girl. We also visited one of the churches up there and met the vicar, and discovered that the local aquatic centre is a heated pool (as in around 34 degrees C!) and it's gorgeous to swim in.
• I had my last trip to Nelson with my current job, this time with two new colleagues in tow as I showed them the ropes with one of our courses.
• My personal email account was hacked and all my contacts deleted (which was somewhat unhelpful)....

And we have 2 weeks left here. Things are getting closer...!

The world spins...

The world spins on, and we spin with it. Although right now, it feels as though the spin we’re doing is rather faster than the rotation of the earth! We’re in the process of packing up our lives in Lower Hutt as we get ready for a relocation to Rotorua in the central North Island. I have been to Rotorua several times to visit and for work and like it, but am not sure what it will be like for living in. I have landed a rather plum role at a large NZ manufacturing organisation so it’s a move because of me.

I am in several minds about this move. I want to go because the professional opportunity at my new employer is so huge. It’s a major manufacturer and exporter in an industry where doing safety really matters: if it’s not done right, people die. Literally. The site manager is really committed to sending his staff home safely, and he’s a really lovely person that I know I will enjoy working with.

What I am more scared about is the loss of networks for all of us. We’re moving away from our families, from the networks of external activities that we’re involved in (particularly hubby), from our church, from our daughter’s school where she is really happy, from my professional networks – the lot. It is a HUGE leap of faith. If my family is not happy there, then I know that I will not be happy no matter how good my job is.

However, we all have the feeling that this relocation is being managed, and not by us. So many things have just fallen into place really quickly, including the job itself, the ability to go up there and check it out, finding a real estate agent we like, the timing of the church fair (so we could take a whole lot of stuff down to it) and so on. The real acid test of this arranging will be how long it takes to sell our house. We’ve got the first open home this weekend and apparently there’s already someone been through the house.

So the big things now are selling the house, finding somewhere to live (either buying or renting, we haven’t yet decided), somewhere to worship, sorting the movers and insurers etc etc! I commented to one of my friends here that I’ve got lists of things to do in my head, lists on paper, lists on other bits of paper, and I suspect that I’ll be tattooing lists onto my forearms before long!

However, I am hanging onto God’s promises that he will make our path straight, and the overwhelming sense we all have that God’s hand is in this move. It’s going to be a tough gig, but at the same time I know it will be worth it.

Return of the elephant

Gidday, digi-world. The elephant is back, sort of.

There seems to be a lot going on at present. Work is ramping up, made more complex by the fact that two of my colleagues are leaving very soon and all their work is being redistributed between all of us remaining - which of course means that we're all even busier than before, particularly with training. I've already had a few trips away and there's a lot more coming up.

School has started again, and small daughter is now a Year 2 - she's only done half a year in Year 1 but her teachers decided she was better in a mixed Year 1/Year 2 class, but in the Year 2 cohort - so if all goes well, she'll go into Year 3 next year. She seems to be having a great time in her new class, and there are a lot of friends from last yeat in her class too. She's also started going to gymnastics (at her own request) and is having a fantastic time. She's climbing like a monkey....

Also lots of editing of church and Community documents, magazines etc in the evenings, so it's all a bit busy. And Lent starts on Wednesday. I was planning to write a reflection on the beginning of Lent but found this over on one of my nun friend's blogs, which said everything I wanted to say anyway. Thanks, Sister!