Timaru: Year Two Begins

Lifestyle Defined (New Zealand):

1. a luxurious semirural manner of living
2. (as modifier)   ⇒ a lifestyle property

A little over a year has passed since returning to New Zealand and starting this blog edition. I revisited the first post from February 5, 2014, and it is remarkable how little has changed as far as my thoughts and feelings on coming back. However,things do feel subtly different the second revolution around the sun here in Timaru. Things are settling in, and time is seeming more cyclical as the second turn of annual events pass. Like stepping into a stream, it is never the same exactly, yet very familiar.
Last February, we went to the IMSANZ (Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand) meeting in Waitangi, this year it was on Napier in the North Island. Again this year it was not only educational but a great deal of fun. It was an opportunity to catch up with friends from my Auckland City Hospital days in 2012 as well as meet new enthusiastic, like-minded doctors young and old.
We have visited Napier twice before, a charming seaside town of 60,000 on Hawke's Bay. Its major claim to fame is "the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the Southern Hemisphere", all erected after a devastating 7.8 earthquake of February 3, 1931. The weather was mostly ideal for enjoying the sights of the city.

Napier is a charming place with seaside walkways/bike paths, public art and gardens, and outdoor attractions for all ages.

A "motorway" for the wee ones

The Gold of the Kowhai (2014), bronze by Paul Dibble.

A highlight this year as in 2014 was the collegial Thursday night dinner, a night of food, wine, and fellowship. This event was held at The Old Church, a former place of worship started in 1863 and now a high-end restaurant, winery, and B&B. Also like last year, some local talent provided entertainment. Below is a video of a mature a capella group singing "Hello Mary Lou" (in the spirit of Mendocino's own Acafellas).

We spend an extra day up north and drove around the coast to Wairoa, a sleepy little town where the Wairoa River empties into Hawke's Bay. It was an important site during the Maori/European(aka pākehā) New Zealand Wars of the mid-19th century, and is still an important center of Maori culture.

Wairoa Lighthouse on the riverbank

Beach at the mouth of the Wairoa River

Flying back to Timaru we had a three-hour layover in Wellington, and Dr. Florry O'Connell in a gesture of true friendship hopped on a bus to drop by to visit. Congrats to Florry on passing his recent exams, surviving the parents' visit, and of course Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Florry appears about to be captured by a giant eagle at the Wellington Airport

Timaru is home of the South Canterbury Speed Skating Club. We know this because one of my colleagues Bernhard Kuepper and his family are deeply involved. The community raised $400,000 to improve the track up to international standards, and it has been a breeding ground for World Champions. We attended the New Zealand Banked Track Championships here in February, as they hosted skaters from around the world: China, the Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, and India.

Action at the Timaru Skating Oval

I am also starting to understand cricket, as New Zealand and Australia are hosting the 2015 World Cup. (If you are really interested, ask me sometime and I'll try to explain it to you.) Succinctly put, it is Baseball on Valium as played on Bizzaro World. NZ has never gotten past the semis before, but hopes are high as the Black Caps went an undefeated 6-0 in pool play and now advance to the quarterfinals. Three more wins and the Cup is ours!

Late Addendum: Also déjà vu from 2014- the NZ French Film Festival, Timaru Edition. Over the last ten days we caught up with ten contemporary French films. For the true cinéphiles out there, keep an eye out for these three films not yet widely released in the US:

1.    LA FAMILLE BÉLIER /THE BÉLIER FAMILY - Very moving, sweet, and funny family story with a break-out star turn  from 18 year-old Louane Emera. The ending is a real eye-moistener.
2.   ELLE L’ADORE/ SHE ADORES HIM- I'll go with a description from the brochure (accent on the BRO'  here in NZ): Actress-turned-director Jeanne Herry has crafted a very amusing and original film that is full of surprises and insights into the price of fame, the cost of “fandom” and unlikely alliances.
3. LE DERNIER COUP DE MARTEAU/THE LAST HAMMER BLOW-Reminded me of Boyhood, only in a trailer park on the coast of Southern France, with a bit of Mahler.

 
As I said at the start, I have been in a reflective mood lately, both about my time here in Timaru as well as in the universe in general. By even an optimistic estimate, I have passed the 2/3rds point in this lifetime. In a strange turn, I have had a series of dreams over weeks best described as my life slowly crawling before my eyes. All sorts of obscure people and places have appeared, and then there was the one about Fayne scoring the winning touchdown in the Superbowl for the 49ers (highly unlikely for multiple reasons). In my work and private life, I am made aware daily of how quickly things can change, usually not for the better. Skype and email have been a godsend in keeping up with those that mean the most to us. We have been able to see Kimarra lose her first two teeth, and share her excitement of her first soccer practice, as well as Isaiah's tremendous toileting triumphs! (No photos of the latter.)

We have been keeping an eye on Emma and Rick Nestler as they recover from Christmas-time mishaps. Take-home lesson: in Man vs. Table-saw, bet on the hardware. Keep up the hard work with rehab both of you, and get well soon!

Emma, Xania, and Rick

Rick with Pam Wolfe (looking a bit like Athena)

The next post will include an Easter Week trip to Hawaii (for a test, honest!). Bye for now.

Did You Say Birthday???

After working over Christmas, it was was time to fly back to the States for New Years Day to visit family and friends and look after our affairs. This also ended our first year back in New Zealand, an opportunity to look back and assess how this trans-Pacific experiment is working. I would say "so far so good". This is our third trip back in 2014, and Skype and email are invaluable tools for staying in touch. It is not the same as being there in real life, but hopefully is a decent substitute.
New Years Eve, my sister Athena invited us over for a walk at Land's End, looking back at the Golden Gate Bridge from the west, always a stunning world-class view!

A feast followed featuring fresh Dungeness crab and delicious and nutritious veggie noodles made by niece Emily. Adieu 2014, Kia Ora 2015!

We headed up to the Mendocino Coast and Fort Bragg, and were again reminded that no matter how many beautiful sights we see, none are more stunning than those back home.

On the road to Point Arena

We traveled south to Point Arena to attend the funeral of Emily Stornetta, the elderly mother of my office manager Judy V. Emily lived a long and productive life, she was a devout Catholic, and nearly as faithful to the SF Giants. She will be missed, but she is sure she is in a better place.
On a lighter note, we were able to have our traditional holiday/birthday (mine) dinner with Judy V and Linnea M (and saw friend Brenda L, there also celebrating her birthday).

JV, FL, LM, JTW, & BL

Linnea gave me the coolest present:Luci. Luci is and ingenious solar powered portable emergency/camping lamp. Linnea was so excited to find these at The Outdoor Store in Fort Bragg, I think she gifted them to all family and friends.

Another piece of technology that was frequently gifted was the Misfit Flash® (pictured below).

Athena generously gave these to family members in hope we would all monitor our activities
and sleep, download the data to our smart phones, and share and compare results on-line. I never could get mine to fully work for me, but Athena is very bullish on the concept, and I am sure she will get them functioning and on-line.
Athena is also the one who tipped me off in September of an upcoming special exhibit on Alcatraz entitled @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Mr. Weiwei is a dissident Chinese artist who was jailed and now is not allowed to leave the country. On a clear and sunny day, we took the ferry to the island with our friend Karen K. 

The exhibit has seven segments, each tailored to a specific site in the prison, some in areas not usually opened to the public. You are first greeted by the fierce and brilliant dragon kite.

Another kite in this section With Wind

The next space is caller Trace. As is explained:
"The viewer is confronted with a field of colorful images laid out flat across the expanse of the floor: portraits of 176 people from around the world who have been imprisoned or exiled because of their beliefs or affiliations, most of whom were still incarcerated at the time the artwork was made." 

You can look up short bios of the men and women depicted in Legos® on site or on line. There are "some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of", to quote Ray Davies. Later on in an abandoned cell block is Stay Tuned, where you can sit on a stool in a bare prison cell and listen to recordings of artists and prisoners of conscious read, sing, recite, or play their works in their native tongues.

Leaving "The Rock"

We all agreed it was a surprisingly moving and thought-provoking experience, and a very appropriate way to celebrate the recent birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Did someone mention birthdays? Well, a lot of January was spent celebrating various birthdays. There was belated honoring of Kimarra's December BD,
 
Xania's BD, Jason K's BD in Fort Bragg (a traditional culinary homage to Elvis P, the King of Rock 'n Roll, and also a Capricorn), Isaiah's BD,

 and ,of course, mine.

Isaiah reading my card from Sofia

The most important aspect of these trips home is spending time with friends and family, especially the Heards, however inadequately brief it may seem.

Cory,Cheryl,Isaiah,Marquise (Back);Me,Kimarra,FL, Athena(Middle);SMWH,Xania,Margaret(Bottom)

Cake and presents at the Heards

BD Breakfast at Fred's in Sausalito

Another breakfast (we didn't go hungry)

A few other odds and ends:
We took an overnight excursion to Las Vegas, for some quick CME. Our room faced Planet Hollywood and a massive banner of Britney Spears.....

 and we had time to take in the Cirque du Soleil Beatle's-inspired show "Love", which I highly recommend.

A little note for my Kiwi friends; Starbucks has discovered the Flat White!

After a little less than four weeks, it was back to NZ, just in time for the upcoming Cricket World Cup! (I will try, but I am not sure I can really begin to understand the game.)

I

I must end on a sad and tragic note. While I was away, our beloved medical secretary Helen Lithgow passed away after a very brief illness. She was truly the rock of the Department, and a big reason I came back to Timaru. If something needed doing, she was the one who knew how to do it. She was sharp as a tack, wise, funny, and caring. Everyone blessed to know her and work with her understand my words cannot do her justice, and we all are still in shock. She was the definition of irreplaceable. May she rest in peace.

Helen L and her partner in crime Joan R