Visiting James and Ami in Vancouver

We visited James and Ami way up north. We had the usual culture-shock, like the sun hanging low in the southern sky instead of the northern sky and driving on the right side of the road instead of the left. I even sat in the driver's seat of the taxi at the airport by mistake.
Here is the group on the steps to James and Ami's flat. They ordered a fresh snow, just for us.


Ami, photogenic as usual, welcomed us to their kitchen.


They are only a short walk from the beach, so as soon as we got settled, we went to see it.


What a great way to get over jet-lag!


Ocean, harbour, mountains, snow - almost as pretty as New Zealand - if only it wasn't so far away!


The next day Jamie took us to visit Gas Town, where we saw this steam clock. What a hoot, hearing it chime.


Around the corner from Gas Town was China Town with lots of open air shops and this delicate little Japanese garden where we spent quite awhile looking around.


Later, we went to the Festival of Lights at the botanic garden. After a fresh layer of snow, It was especially beautiful.


James and Ami had to show us how it is supposed to be done.


James gets distracted easily.


On another outing, we went to the Vancouver Aquarium where we saw these whales perform.

The Aquarium is located on the grounds of Stanley Park, a huge reserve of trees and trails. This is a lookout at the beginning of one of the trails.

Pete at the same lookout.

The trails were all the more interesting because of the recent snowfall.

Another day, we went snowshoeing. The first thing we noticed was the staff shoveling show off the roof of their buildings.

This is James, Karen, and a Ninja (aka Pete) getting the hang of snowshoeing

The break hut was a welcome site as was the chance to get out of the cold for a wee bit.

Back in Vancouver, we went to Granville Island for a bit of shopping and a meal.

We ate at a lovely restaurant called the Keg, where we had the nicest steak. Mine was at least two inches thick!







Sunset in Vancouver on a snowy day.

Elinor

Eli performs to a background of babble

Grandparents - again!

We spent some time helping the new parents in our family.
Eli's room is ready for her - filled with the clothes all the family and friends have given her.

She's even got a closet full of shoes! Eat your heart out, James.

It is good to have the family all home at last.

Eli is really putting on the weight, as you can see here.

If you can't beat them, join them.

A day at the office

I took my camera to work with me recently and thought I'd share some shots of our haunts at Otago Polytechnic.

This first shot of 'D' block is where our offices are and where all our labs and some of our lectures are held. My office is on first floor and Karen's is on the third. There is a partial fourth floor that was originally fitted out as a ship's deck and was used for traning people to be ship's captains.

To the left of 'D' block is a favorite break area where staff and students often mingle. 'A' block is behind the covered walkway and houses the Design school. The covered walkway is a must-have with the number of rainy days we get.

Further left are 'F' block and 'H' block. 'F' block is the three story building that houses our IT services group, management, and most importantly, the faculty staff room. This is heavily used, which I think is a good sign of a healthy organization. 'H' block is the six story building where we have many of our lectures and some labs.

'G' block is mostly nursing, but has some special purpose lecture rooms that we sometimes use if we have a large class. I love the pattern they've done in the patio. At lunch time if the weather is nice, this is often filled with students sitting on the steps and grassy hillsides of the area.

The view out the frond door of 'D' block is across a series of playing fields that are frequently used for hocky games and rugby matches, to some of the hills that surround Dunedin.

Here's a shot of my work area, with the usual mess of work in progress. I salvaged an old iMac that is the same vintage as Ruby. I sometimes use it to access the server I manage.


I share my office with Mike - and sometimes William, who is just about Gabe's age and has been my surrogate grandson until I can see Gabe in person.

Karen was working away when I joined her for lunch, so I took this shot of her work area. It reminds me of the saying, "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what's an empty desk the sign of?"

Disco Tech is sitting forgotten on top of a file cabinet at the end of a hallway, but I think it is a cool play on words and a neat sculpture.

Pete often rides one way with us and then bikes the other way. It is about a 20 minute bike ride from our house to school, but most of it is flat. He bikes at least three days a week, which helps keep him fit.

Trail heads

I love tramping ("hiking" outside of New Zealand). I am always excited to arrive at a new trail head full of wonder about what new sites we will see, what new challenges we will face, what new experiences we will have on this trail. Each tramp is different, even when it is over a familiar trail. The birth of our new granddaughter, Elinor, at only 26 weeks has made me think once again about the wonder of life and how unique it is to each of us.

We often judge life by our own experiences. The way we perceive it is, of course, what is normal. We forget how very different each life is. Just look at the beginnings--Eli is leading us down a new trail, blazed by others before us, but a new and wondrous experience for us. We've not had to deal with the separation forced by life-saving technology in previous babies.

But, each baby has had its own trail--Gabe, our first grandson, was also premature, with the extra anxiety of not knowing if we going to be able to keep him. Plus, we've had half a world of distance between us and him. It has been like looking through the window of a candy store. So near, yet so far.

Thinking back to our own children, the trail heads have all been unique, some even scary. Libby, with an APGAR score of only 6, was born a yellowish, waxy thing with her cord around her neck--very much like a baby doll. At the time we didn't know that this wasn't perfectly normal. Fortunately, quick care in the delivery room overcame this rough start. Little did we know that hers would be our most 'normal' delivery.

Jamie was three weeks overdue and big. When inducing delivery, the doctor couldn't even find any amniotic fluid remaining. His head was the size of a bowling ball. Karen has never forgiven him for that! We were doing the natural delivery thing and so were being stoic. She had to have stitches to repair the damage he did. During his post natal testing he pee'd on the nurse. She kept in touch with us for a long time. I think they bonded.

John was also overdue and had to be induced. Karen was being super-mom and went home from hospital after only one day. "Got two kids at home to take care of." We had to take him back to the hospital for some of the tests they normally perform within the first three days. I recall them taking blood from his foot and him not even waking up. Talk about laid back! I also recall the surprise we had when he was born. I believe Karen's comment was, "What's that thing?" We had to take the pink outfit back and exchange it for a blue one.

Molly was born three days after we buried Karen's dad. She was a real blessing! Doctor Logan was an Aussie, so when Molly was born, he announced, "It's a sheila!" The nurses nicknamed her, "Mad Molly" because she was always hollering, raising her head, and hungry. The nickname has stuck. Feisty, you don't mess with Molly. She's a lot like her mother.

Peter was the only baby who wasn't induced since Libby was born. We didn't realize the drama we would have at his birth. He ended up being an emergency C-section because the placenta was detaching and he wasn't getting enough oxygen. The option for another natural birth was taken from us and we started down another new trail. Years of watching his development and comparing it to average scores led us to finally accept that those final few moments before birth had robbed him of some of the abilities we had taken for granted in all our other children.

And so each life has led us down its own unique, wonderful trail. I just love tramping.

For more information about our grand babies, follow the links to Water, Woods, and Wool and also Lightening Guns.

Celebrations

What is more worth celebrating than a beautiful start to a day. We had a morning fog that added an extra touch to the landscape as it snaked in from the sea and between the hills.






Recently our middlest son, John, made his first Alyieh at the synagogue here in Dunedin. He has studied long and hard to reach this day and we were very proud of him. For his birthday and in celebration of this achievement we got him a kiddush cup.


Another celebration! 40 years of marriage - a good start!

John and Sara had a lot of fun putting together a basket of goodies for us. Since the 40th anniversary is the Ruby anniversary, they filled a basket with red things.

Of course I had to wind Karen up by calling this a hair brush.

Red meat - how appropriate.

Ruby rings.

Say what?

40 is red.

Bouncy toy - what fun!

Cafe Forte - and in a red package.

I love prezzies!