Reflections…..

I follow very few, but Wilder Child has been a favorite for years now 🙂

The chicks are growing up fast, and are of high interest to Vida and Pica 🙂

The hens have started free ranging the property. They know where home is, and come when called. We are surrounded by bush , it is a great place for them to find lots of grubs, their eggs certainly showing the increase in protein uptake 🙂

We have been working on the vege garden. The plan for it elaborate, and a ton of work this first year as starting from scratch. However after these efforts, it will mean next year onward will be so much easier to grow and maintain our produce

Plan:

Before:

Progress

Mostly we have stuck to plan, although we found we had room for 8 beds, not 6 which was a bonus. We now have veges in and growing, will update pics on next post. The greenhouse may have to wait for next year, we are waiting to see if a second hand one comes up on Trademe…

Luca got Cranium for his birthday from Olivia, one of his friends, and it has proven to be a hit. A lot of fun!

The whole board game thing has meant Luca has brought out the jigsaws too…

We got Luca a wardrobe for his birthday so he could have access to his things rather than them sitting in tubs on top of the fridge. Vida has found the spot on top to be very inviting 🙂

She and Pica take turns sitting with Luca, they are not at the point where they will sit together on the couch or on top of each other like Pica and Kea used to. Not sure if they ever will, time will tell….. 🙂

Rich and Luca are both into the comedy “Community” and it has become a bit of a ritual for them, having ice cream and watching, I love their faces while they watch, this is a typical scene 🙂

It has been an interesting time at work for me. Lots of things going on in the Department that had been making me reassess my place there, and if in reality, I can achieve what I want career wise. Changes within the department meant what initially was the plan, was not looking as feasible for the foreseeable future anyway. Another role presented itself and I applied, I knew it would be tough getting it, as a sought after position, but I took the chance as this opportunity rarely comes along. It was the most intense, nerve racking recruitment process I have ever been involved in, psychometric testing, in-depth look into my past work over the past 25 plus years, numerous references needed to be contacted, colleagues and bosses, interviews with various people, I am so grateful to all who helped me out here! By the end of all this I was feeling very apprehensive, but amazingly I got it! I start in January. Pretty darn happy and feel incredibly humbled to be given the chance!!! I will be doing more papers which will again be a lot of work, (on ongoing requirement these days), but will have my own caseload of patients, and be independent and autonomous in my care, which is what I have been aiming for since 2013 when I started back at school! It will be tough and quite the challenge, but a great way to start the new year, I am excited to get into it!

In January it will be 1 year since we moved to Dunedin. On reflection it has been an adventure filled year, Rich is now a permanent Kiwi resident, Luca has been fully engaged in NZ schooling, we brought a property, Rich and I totally swapped roles and we have all been fully immersed in Kiwi life, hard to believe!!!!

Luca has had a fantastic first year as a Kiwi kid. He had a wonderful report card, we are incredibly proud of him!!!!! His last day of school was yesterday, there was a packed hall of parents and caregivers for the last assembly, they don’t go back until the 3rd of February 2020, a lovely summer holiday ahead.

We finally got around to getting a BBQ, just in time for the Christmas season, Rich very happy, we have missed BBQing a lot, not owned one since we lived in Nova Scotia! We are all set for the season 🙂

It is 5 days until Christmas, for every birthday Luca receives an advent calendar, (we go for the Lego ones not the chocolate ones, so he gets ongoing use from them, this is the Harry Potter one), he lets us know every morning exactly how many more days until the 25th! 🙂

As part of our tradition for the season, we are off to see the new Star Wars movie tomorrow. This time we are taking Luca’s mate Otis and his family with us, the kids have been planning it for weeks 🙂

I was at a Nadia Reid concert in the village recently with some friends,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Reid

we had met at the local before hand for a drink, and then all walked to the Town Hall where the concert was. I looked around at the packed venue, an eclectic mix of people all out to support one of their own, (Nadia grew up in Port), and thought how lucky we are to have ended up here, for however long it is, we all feel so happy to be have landed in this little village and found the balance we have been looking for. I would never in my wildest dreams, have thought this is where we would be in 2020 when we packed our bags in Newfoundland…..