Rain, sun, wind and more rain

Well, the weather continues to be unsettled thanks to cyclonic systems in the southern hemisphere. We have gone from torrential downpour to 36 and sunny, to windy Nor'westers, and back to torrential rains. Tomorrow? Sunny, of course!

We had an interesting weekend....
lets see - we'll start with bad news:

our washer is broken and needs to be fixed

Someone "knocked" our bumper when we were parked downtown. Thankfully, she left us a note (in smudged eye-liner, it took a few wrong numbers before we found the culprit!). Luckily, noone was hurt, and the car still works. Now we get to figure out how insurance works here (luckily she has some, as it isn't mandatory here!). The damage isn't so bad, but bad enough we want to get it fixed, as it will affect the resale value of our car, which we will be selling when we return to North America!

We are still waiting to get our 'bond' (ie damage deposit) back from our old place

Our much delayed new credit cards finally showed up - the day after I cancelled them and ordered new ones.

the interesting / good news:

Trent helped our neighbours (a young brother and sister from Borneo) move out into their new flat (a converted shed? or garage?). This isn't so unusual, Trent is a helpful guy. What is unusual is (1) I have never met anyone from Borneo before, and (2) they asked him if he could help them by renting a trailer and towing it full of stuff to their new place at 8 pm the day they were moving...a little last minute! Now we will see who moves in!

I have excellent vision, despite my "rugby ball" shaped eyes. My left eye isn't as good as my right, but I can see fine. This is the conclusion of a very lengthy eye exam, my first in , oh 20+ years. I have been having tired, sore eyes lately, and had finally admitted to myself that I was getting old and needed reading glasses, but apparently I am as youthful as I like to believe (or at least my eyes are!). I just need to quit working at a computer so much...hmm, my Dr. did reccommend a holiday...

That is all the news. I keep meaning to post photos of our new place, and hope to do so soon!

love shelley

Friday, Jan. 28

Summer continues here in Christchurch. The weather has been unsettled - at least to my Canadian eye - but generally warm and sunny. Shelley is knee-deep in bumblebees (as she teases apart how the relationships between plants, flowers, and their pollinators will be affected by global environmental change), I am getting bleary-eyed from staring at my laptop (as I grind through a decade of data that I've ignored and experiments I've been less-than-loyal to, in an effort to wrest scientific papers forth), and Aya and Rowan are simply enjoying the summer and each other's company (it is nice to seem them playing together, inventing all kinds of things, living the spontaneously imaginative and proximate lives of young children). Good times, for the most part.

We've moved house. This was largely inspired by the children's book "Mouse Moves House". It looked so fun, when Mack the Mouse packed up his books, his blue-and-white dishes, and his beautifully framed paintings of cheese into cunning wooden crates, and moved across the hallway using the back of his friend Fat Cat as a sort of furry lorry. Sadly, the reality is somewhat more pedestrian. We're now settled into our new house which is, luckily, very close to the university and Rowan and Aya's daycare.

As such, do not mail anything to our old address. Email me for our new address if you are planning on either mailing us a parcel or visiting.

I am hoping to get to the beach this weekend. I'd like to go swimming, but it hasn't happened much this summer.

Well, back to work. I need to email my (incredibly) young friend Tracy N. this afternoon. I am hoping that she is interested in co-authoring a paper on the role that riparian leave strips play in maintaining understory riparian vegetation in coastal temperate rain forests. I'm hoping she says 'yes'. I'm going to offer to do almost all the work (detailed outlines for introduction and discussion, the methods completely written, the results completely written (including analyses and figures)). Tracy knows more about understory vegetation than I ever will, though, so the paper would benefit greatly from her writing. I will even offer to let her be the first author. We'll see if I am persuasive enough.

Lately I have been missing all my climbing friends. Especially - but certainly not limited to - Laurie S., Greg T., Marco L., and Brad T. It's hard to climb a lot without people to inspire you. My hat is off to you!

Finally, does ANYONE know where I can find a good toque / tuque? A nice, Canadian toque? Long enough to roll up the bottom edge, a nicely-sized pom-pom, knit from acrylic (or wool, even)? If you look, you will see that this, the most quintessential of all Canadian garments (well, one of them, anyways, if you include the anorak, the amauti, the coureur de bois sash, the cree beaded moccasin), is being largely supplanted in our retail establishments by American-style 'beanies', which are mass-produced in China. A disgrace, really.

Take care!

Happy Holidays!

Hello Everyone! We hope that you have had a wonderful holiday, and have a terrific 2011! We miss you all terribly, and hope to see everyone in 2011! First will be the family visiting in February! We are all excited, especially A!

As most of you know my mom and honourary Aunt came for a visit, which was wonderful! Everyone had a fun and relaxing summer holiday. They started with a tour of the North Island, and were ready for a bit of Christmas and relaxing in Christchurch. We went so see the endangered yellow-eyed penguin (Hoiho) in Oamaru, and poked around in Otago for a couple days. The penguins were the highlight of the trip for all! We also went to the famous Moeraki boulders (round boulders on the beach), which were cool but there were too many people there for my liking.

We went for a punt ride through Hagley park on Christmas eve, which was quite relaxing and lovely! Rowan keeps asking when we get to go on a little boat again. I felt like I should have seen Toad 'pooting' by in his motor car, and ratty and mole picnicking on the shore...

I don't think my mom and Aunt were too impressed with our boxing day aftershocks - only a 4.9, bt it was centered under Christchurch. Did more damage downtown, and the shops lost even more business on their busiest day! Many places downtown were closed but have since reopened.

Next on the to-do list is to find a place to live - our lease ends in early Feb, and we will have to leave our 'villa'

more later!
S

Unexpected Events!

Well, the last 24 hours have been very eventful... Let's start with Monday, then work forwards in time until the present.

On Monday evening, I was at U Canterbury, doing a bit of reading to prepare for a phone call I was expecting very early the next morning (to discuss the prospect of doing some research on lake food webs and predator-prey interactions, but that is beside the point for now). I could feel a little rough patch on my lower right third molar (wisdom tooth); thinking it was bit of food stuck back there, I poked at it only to have a sizable piece of my tooth break away! I was surprised, and more than a little chagrined. I take any kind of tooth damage rather personally, and this was a substantial piece of enamel and dentine.

No longer focused on work, I went home. An inspection in the mirror showed that I now had a sizable cavern in the side of my wisdom tooth. To make a long story short, I went to bed so I could wake up at 6:00 the next morning for a long-distance phone call. I had a very nice talk with a DFO scientist, then went to work. I needed to find a reputable dentist, so I asked around in my office. Tanya (fellow quasi-post-doc) suggested her dentist, so I phoned and made an appointment for 3:30.

Before I could go to the dentist, however, Shelley and I had to go to the airport and pick up Shelley's mom (and her friend Sandy) who was arriving in Christchurch at 2:00... and before we could do that, Shelley and I had to go pick up the van we had rented for Shelley's mom's visit (our car can't accommodate everyone). So we managed to get all that done (much to Aya and Rowan's joy and delight), then off I went to the dentist.

Once I was firmly seated in the dentist chair (at Bradley Wood Dentists on Papanui Road), my dentist Jeremy told me that there was no saving the tooth. It was badly decayed on the inside, and had to come out. I had mentally and emotionally prepared myself for this moment. ;)

To be truthful, the procedure was pretty straightforward. The tooth broke into three pieces, and took a fair bit of work to get out (perhaps 30 minutes), but it was relatively painless (since I was well-frozen). I now have an odd number of teeth for the first time since I was a lad.

Now if I was just finished (a) my Christmas Shopping and (b) revisions to my latest manuscript which has been tentatively accepted to a decent scientific journal.

[I've included a picture of Rowan, standing amid the Kowhai flowers on the lawn.]

Cheers,

Trent.

December 10, 2010

Summer has definitely arrived here in the South Island! Most of the spring flowers are now gone, having been replaced with hot and sunny days, trips to the beach, and

We went to Castle Hill one day two weekends ago to do some bouldering. Castle Hill is such an amazing venue in which to climb. We arrived at the Hill around noon, and spent the remainder of the day on just a few boulders on Spittle Hill (very near the carpark, actually). I really prefer Spittle Hill to Quantum Field, if for no other reason than it is easier to keep track of A and R. All the mazes of Quantum Field are fun to visit, and easy to lose your children in. I did a bunch of problems there, including the brilliant (but very high) Dr. Jones (V1), Shortround (V3), and Quake (V4). I tried the aptly-named Tricky (V6), but I’m not quite up to that yet. Even after the day of bouldering my neck felt pretty rough, but luckily the pain was short-lived. My mantling abilities need some work – I spent considerable effort doing some short mantle problems that weren’t really (supposed to be) very hard.

A and R had a GREAT time – they both love climbing. We bought Rowan some Aqua-Sock type shoes to use as climbing shoes, so he had a good time climbing (and running around) all day. He did trip when he was walking around and hit his face on a rock, so he looked a little worse-for-wear for the next week or so. Aya loves to be up in the mountains and climbing. She had a great time, and plowed to the top of a couple of boulders without any fear.

I’ve included a few pictures (taken by Shelley) of our climbing day. It’s easy to see why Castle Hill has such a great reputation for good climbing and amazing scenery.

I also went (some time ago) to The Cave to go climbing with my European friends Luc and Jorge. The Cave has about 30 routes, and is savagely overhanging. The climbing is gymnastic and bouldery, and routes start at about .12a and end at about .14b. I tried a few things, but will need more endurance to be successful. I’m hoping to get back there and get some things done, including Super Glue (mid-12) and Scrubble (12+ or 13-).

- - -

I am always amused that New Zealanders use the word “eh”. Almost in the same context as Canadians, too. The inflection is quite different, though, so it’s a little surreal. New Zealanders often wear no shoes, whereas Canadians are almost NEVER without shoes. Hmmm… Kiwis can drink alcohol walking down the street, whereas that is a crime in Canada. That is one thing that I genuinely enjoy about New Zealand – the lack of regulations that seek to prevent people from doing ordinary, everyday, practical things. You can bring your dog into a café here. Why not? I was at a very nice café downtown the other day, enjoying a croissant and cappuccino, when Shelley pointed out that the door of a café had a cat door. I love that about New Zealand. The quirkiness hasn’t been pounded out by decades of top-down societal control.

- - -

Rowan, Aya, and I went to the beach at New Brighton on Monday. We had a great time building Sand Castles, and running and jumping in the waves. A and R love the ocean. The sun is pretty brutal here, though, and both A and R had hats and sunscreen on. I missed a tiny patch on Aya’s back, and she had a strange crescent-shaped sunburn about the length of a bar of soap. I was wearing a hat too, although I am certainly less prone to sunburn than A and R. I am getting pretty brown… far more brown than most Kiwis. Some very dark genes in my genetic makeup, somewhere.

- - -

Christmas is almost here! Shelley’s mom is coming to visit for three weeks, so that will be nice. Still, it feels a bit strange to be Christmas shopping in shorts and sandals. Shelley and I went downtown yesterday to the Christchurch Art Gallery to see the Ron Mueck exhibition. For those of you who don’t know, Ron Mueck is likely the world’s foremost figurative sculptor, and makes hyper-realistic sculptures of people at a variety of scales (usually much larger or smaller than life-size). Genuinely amazing. The gallery here was the only place in NZ that this exhibition was showing, so we felt really lucky, especially since there were so many pieces on display. They included Wild Man, Pregnant Woman, Youth, Woman with Sticks, Man in Boat - all incredible works. As amazing as it is to see the sculptures, it is just as informative to watch people react to the sculptures with genuine emotion and wonder.

After that, we wandered around Christchurch for a bit. Had lunch at a café at the Arts Center, then I bought a new hat (remember – it is sunny here!).

I think we are going to go punting on the Avon River with Shelley’s mom. It seems a bit touristy, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless!

- - -

I hope that all our Canadian friends are enjoying the Canadian winter! It may be cold, but it does have it’s perks. Of course, walking on the sunny beach after swimming has it’s perks, too.

Have a great day… eh!

Guy Fawkes Day!

Tonight is Guy Fawkes night! I hope the rain doesn't dampen the celebrations for our first official Guy Fawkes Day!

T is excited because there are fireworks on sale, but we haven't bought any...


According to Wikipedia:

Guy Fawkes Night originates from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England and replace him with a Catholic head of state. The survival of the king was first celebrated on 5 November 1605, after Guy Fawkes, left in charge of the gunpowder placed underneath the House of Lords, was discovered and arrested.[1]

The same month the surviving conspirators were executed, in January 1606 the Observance of 5th November Act 1605, commonly known as the "Thanksgiving Act" was passed, ensuring that for more than 250 years 5 November was kept free as a day of thanksgiving. Each anniversary of the plot's failure was for years celebrated by the ringing of church bells, special sermons, and the lighting of bonfires.Further controversies such as the marriage of Charles I to the Catholic Henrietta Maria of France and the 1679 Popish Plot helped fuel the popularity of the events, which at times became a celebration not of the deliverance of a monarch, but of anti-Papist sentiment.

In England the Catholic hierarchy was restored in 1850. Anti-Catholic sentiment remained strong, and effigies were burnt of the new Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Nicholas Wiseman, and the Pope. The publication in 1857 of author David Jardine's A Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot only stoked the flames higher, and in 1859 the thanksgiving prayer of 5 November contained in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer was removed, and the 1606 Act repealed.

Historically the date has been celebrated by the burning of effigies of contemporary hate-figures, such as that in 1899 of Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic, at Ticehurst. Some modern instances of burning effigies exist; in Lewes in 1994 revellers immolated the effigies of politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and John Major, alongside Fawkes

love S.

Summer is Here! October 19, 2010

Summer has definitely arrived here in Christchurch! The trees are blooming (LOTS of spring-flowering trees here), the cherry trees are almost done flowering, the sky is blue! The weather is really wind-direction dependent, though - when the wind is from the south, it is about 6C cooler than if the wind is from the north, regardless of how sunny it is. When the wind is from the north-west, the weather is very windy, very sunny. From the north-east (off the ocean), the weather is warm, but with showers. It is actually nice to have that degree of predictability - just look out the window at the weathervane on the house across the street.

I gave a lecture last week in the Freshwater Ecosystems course here at the University of Canterbury. It was on Ecohydraulics, or how flow controls various population and ecosystem processes. Originally, it was supposed to be two lectures, but the earthquake here effectively reduced the semester length by a week. Although somewhat time-consuming, it was still nice to give a lecture.

Aya and Rowan are really enjoying the spring weather. They would spend all their time outside if they could. It is gardening season, and they are very into watering. VERY. Water cans, buckets, hoses - they really love watering. Soon we'll have to break out a bucket big enough for them to fit into, so they can have impromptu swims in the yard.

SerH's research is going well, but she is starting to get eyestrain from working at a computer screen for so long. It'll get better, presumably, when she starts field work, which should be in a month or so. She's planning on doing some work on the west coast of the south island, so that will be fun for her!

We went to climbing to Castle Hill a few weekends ago. Such an amazing place! It was really my first day of climbing here in New Zealand. I had hoped to get a lot of climbing in here in NZ, but my neck injury really put a damper on that type of activity. Luckily, my neck is getting better (almost healed?), and I can climb again. I also went bouldering at Cave Rock at Sumner Beach on the weekend for a couple of hours - found a nice traverse (24 moves) in a steep little cave. Wicked holds, nice moves, and the surf pounding in the background. Very nice!

One thing I would like to wax enthusiastic about is the night sky in New Zealand. Even in the city, with all its attendant light pollution, a view of the night sky is amazing. I'm sure you could easily sit and read a newspaper by the light of the full moon, and Mars and Venus are CLEARLY not stars when seen in the night sky. The seem huge. I am looking forward to getting out of the city at night, and seeing the constellations and galaxies across the sky.

We'll get some more pictures posted in the next day or so.

Until then, Kia ora!