The tie that binds... and for discussion...

There is definitely a tie that binds for me. I've been living in NZ coming on 3 years, but now as the Olympics play out in Vancouver and I can't watch them, I feel I'm missing something. I grew up with one TV channel - CBC- and I really looked forward to watching the Olympics every 4- and then every 2 years. Winter sports were definitely my favourite...

(As an aside, as a correction to a prior post, I found out there is local free coverage in NZ, however it exists on "Prime"- and despite shelling out for 3 ever more expensive TV antennas, I seem stuck with only TV 2. )

One of the things I really appreciated about the Olympics was watching athletes I'd never heard of before- and cheering for them- cheering for our own. Canadians may not always be overbearing folk who shout out who we are and what we're proud of- but I think we have a quiet pride that bubbles below the surface. Perhaps we sometimes feel the need to express or at least show how we feel- and we can do that in simple moments- like cheering at the TV when someone we'd never heard of before did better than expected and won a medal.

Sports I particularly wish I could have watched: 1) Hockey- for me this goes without saying. 2) Curling (I'm from Saskatchewan- enough said.) 3) Figure skating- (thank Kurt Browning for that).

I sort of feel like I'm missing that chance I would have to express my patriotism in a quiet way, in my own living room. Instead, I'll blog about Canada from afar. Go Canada!

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And on another matter, a few political issues that have come up in NZ of late are:
1) Whether the legal driving age should be raised. There seems to be public support for going as high as 18. Stay tuned
2) What political system should be in place. Currently NZ uses a type of proportional representation called MMP (which in broad view means every voter gets 2 votes- a party vote, and a local electorate vote. In Nelson- we have an MP who won the electorate who is National, and one who is Labour who is a list MP. The party vote % determines the approximate breakdown in the House of members). Polls seem slightly in favour of MMP. Once again- stay tuned.

Of cars and cats

Say about 3 weeks ago I took my car in for a warrant of fitness (which will allow me to drive with it on the road legally for another 6 months) and service. For the tidy sum of $331 I got my warrant and so I thought a health check on my car.

Not 2 weeks later, on the way out of town towards Kaiteri the car went hot, and out poured steam. After a half hour wait and a check, there was no coolant left. We had a whole bottle of water in the car, added that, and cruised minutes back to a water tap. Another half hour wait, a fill of water, and we made it back home.

Another week or so later and it hasn't lost much coolant, so I can't figure out how it would have been checked at the service... I don't quite trust it still, though.

The kittens are growing. Jasper is starting to look less cute- more of a cat, less of a kitten. He seems to be in growth spurt phase- always hungry! His big sister Allie has been rather playful of late. But thankfully they let me sleep in this morning until 5 something. It's a little sad I consider that a sleep in these days... Hopefully as the days lengthen the kitties will decide to sleep longer too!

The garden is really on the grow. I've got a few big beautiful cucumbers and can't keep up with the tomatoes. I even have yellow beef steaks.

I went for a 15km run on the weekend. I'm not in run shape, so I think I really stretched myself. I was so concentrating on moving I didn't notice my co-worker that I passed on the sidewalk, or another one who drove by. I feel surprisingly okay today though, so that's a good sign. I'm hoping to register for a half Marathon sometime in the next while. I also went for over a half hour swim at the beach yesterday and pilates again today- so it's been a bit flurry of exercise for me this last few days.

A few of my favourite TV shows are back. I do wonder, however, why NZ shows good TV in the middle of summer. I wish they'd wait until winter when people tend to hole up in the house and stay warm. Amazing Race week 2 just finished. Greys is also a couple of weeks in. The other new favourite: the NZ Apprentice which has just started.

I love... and pumpkins

I'm a little horrified. I have a giant volunteer pumpkin plant in my backyard. It has spread out to several feet wide and probably 4 or 5 m long. It came to my attention yesterday that the little green pumpkins on there will never turn into the orange jack-o-lantern like pumpkins I was expecting they would. Apparently, they will stay green. Who would have thought!

Inspired by the Pioneer woman, I thought I'd follow her lead with an I love blog. I love:

- The sound of rain on the roof
- Thunderstorms
- The smell of lilacs
- My 2 lovely kittens
- The smell of horses
- Horses
- Reading
- Josh Groban
- Colourful sunsets
- The voices of laughter carrying over the water
- Star gazing
- Strawberry
- Vanilla
- Poutine
- Mountains
- The Life of Pi
- Red & Pink
- The smell of clothes off a line or out of the dryer
- Baby animals
- Jason Kenney
- Narnia
- The Amazing Race
- Dry Lake
- The "Snugglepuss" brand for my kitties
- Scenery photos
- Travel
- Inspirational quotations
- Pretty flowers
- Cheese
- Cookbooks (even though I hardly ever cook from them!)
- Pepperoni pizza
- Browsing through house plans
- Logic puzzles
- Eeyore (however you spell it...)
- Browsing markets
- The Christmas flowers in NZ
- Chili flakes
- The Indian Cafe
- A shower with good water pressure
- The Edmonton Oilers
- Canada
- Coming home from work and having a "no ants" in the kitchen day
- Fresh veggies out of the garden
- Tomatoes!!
- Having an afternoon nap
- Intelligence
- Mashed potatoes with gravy
- Economics
- Victorian architecture
- Dolphins appearing unexpectedly
- Calendars with pictures
- The feeling that comes when you do something you never thought you'd be capable of (e.g. finishing a half marathon, tandem sky-diving)
- Fruit smoothies
- West Edmonton Mall
- Working together with people towards a common goal
- People who live life with passion
- Continuous improvement
- Roundabouts
- Petite sized pants that don't need to be hemmed
- The crisp feel of a Saskatchewan fall day
- The feel of spring in the air in Saskatchewan
- Rome
- The middle seat on Air NZ flights (best if no one is in the window or aisle seat)
- Running with my MP3 player
- Rotweillers
- Stories with symbolism
- The Time Travellers Wife (imagination)
- Just the right type of bath robe (some hotels have had them back in my days as a travelling accountant)
- Swimming in the sea at Tahuna beach
- Being met at the airport when you come home by someone you care about
- Old friends

That's a start...

Moments of excitement...

Today I went and visited a stable with Quarter Horses as a trial to determine whether I wanted to ride there. I was a horse crazy kid. I've been off horses something like 15 years. Back in my KPMG days I met an accountant who was into her horses. She told me not to stay off them as many years as she did. Hence it became time to have the goal to determine whether the childhood passion has abated. If today is any indication, it has not. It felt good. The instructor had me help her wash one of her show horses, and then she let me go for a walk around the arena on one of her horses. I was pleased to be able to ride western saddle- english is far more common here. I can't wait until my lessons officially start- tentatively scheduled in 2 weeks time.

A few things

Photos: Allie & Jasper, and Jasper

My car overheated on the way to Kaiteri today. We pulled over and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Luckily we were just up the road from Mapua so we made it back there to top up with water and make it back to Nelson. Instead of Kaiteri it was accordingly another swim day at Tahuna today. This means I've now been swimming 3 times this year. I'm not at all sure what caused the car trouble. It held well all the way back, and I only had it serviced about a week ago. Hopefully it'll keep going well.

I was facebook chatting with my brother earlier this evening and he was talking about the 2010 Olympics. I wondered how many Olympians NZ would have- my guess was skiing. The results appears to be 16- mainly skiiers and a couple of skaters. Check out the team here: http://www.winterolympics.co.nz/nz-team I won't be watching the Olympics much- its covered on Sky TV and I only have farmer vision TV.

I keep talking about my kitties. Little Jasper has turned annoyingly vocal. Meow, meow, meow. Translates to - I'm a wild cat. I want to hunt, and jump or at least PLAY, a lot, a lot, a lot!! Play with me. Play with me. He is definitely high maintenance.

Little Allie continues to be a nice, mellow, easy kitten. Well behaved in short. Jasper is growing, but he is still tiny compared to her. Maybe he has a growth spurt coming.

A commentary on "trouble"

So- last night in the middle of the night I had a number of elloquent words to write here. Perhaps I should have had a notepad by my bed to have taken notes because thinking about it they don't sound very elloquent now. Maybe it was only my level of awake-ness that made them seem elloquent in my head. Anyway, I was planning on writing about the power of "one". I know the power of one. One can always make a difference. I know- because I have a kitten named Jasper. Before he came along, his big sister Allie was the perfect kitten coming to bed with me all night and SLEEPING! Jasper is a ringleader and she gets into the post midnight LOUD play sessions too now. First I tried shutting the bedroom door- but that didn't dim the noise. Then I tried locking Jasper in his bedroom and closing the door. He cried and cried and I felt sorry for the poor lad. Eventually I have him a break and let him out. Fortunately it worked- he decided to be my best friend and followed me to bed and to sleep- however big sister was still wound up and jumped around and knocked things over and made all sorts of noise.

With Jasper, if it isn't one thing, it is another. My little prince started with a bed wetting problem (my bed). That has thankfully stopped, but once he gets over his one thing, he always moves right onto another. I realized as I was about to head to work this morning that I hadn't seen Jasper in about 10 minutes. I searched the house and his normal hiding places without a sign of him. (Note: my ragdoll cats don't tend to disappear unless it is to sleep- they like to stay in the same room as you). I had a hunch: I visited the windows and sure enough the laundry one seemed opened more than I had remembered. I searched the back yard, no Jasper. The front yard- no Jasper. And finally the side of the house- there he was- with his tail puffed out like a paintbrush. I retrieved him, shut all the windows in the house, and headed for work... He can't be trusted. But fortunately, he did it while I was at home- those windows have been open just a little bit for weeks- this is the first time he decided to push and open it further so he could fit out.