This is the beach we were walking along last Sunday on the Kapiti Coast. We were in bare feet and legs and the water was freezing. But it was fantastic because it was sunny and beautiful...and everything is fantastic when its done with Vince :)

It is tremendously stormy outside at the moment. Raining like crazy and blowing wind. The picture in the paper for tomorrow's forecast shows a black cloud which is the worst. Pouring rain, freezing cold and gale force winds. But its Saturday:) So we'll got for coffee at Cafe L'affere and spent time in Moore Wilson's (like Costco but nicer...) Righty ho...Vince has going to get Alexandar from soccer practice and then I think we'll be off to sleepy-byes...talk to you all later :)

Hmmm cannot post more pics...will try again later!

Thursday Night...am at home sitting in front of the fire with a cat who is very pleased to see me.
This was the sky on my way to Vince's last weekend, it was beautiful. We spent Sunday on the Kapiti coast..(pictures above).

The weather has been much nicer the last few days but apparently it is going to be crap for the weekend. Vince coaches soccer and his boys play it and there has been no games for a while, probably a month. The grounds are like bogs they are so wet and if you played on them you'd ruin the grass and councils don't want that. Kind of defeats the purpose though eh? Soccer is a 'winter' sport here.

We've sorted our living arrangements, Vince is moving in the end of August (am v.excited). It will be really nice to come home from work together and just hang out talking and making dinner...and doing "other" things :) (YES to my daughter who reads this you still do 'other' things at 40...{Jess recently told me I was "too old"...groan...against my dad slipping up and calling me a "young woman" the other day...actually I am} ).

What is it with pictures of me? I take the most godawful pictures. Do you guys (guys being my family) remember that picture of Ev in her passport when she had long hair? She had no makeup on and she looked crabby and the picture was horrible, and the customs guy started laughing at the picture. Well, my passport is actually fricking worse. And I take horrible pics generally...so frustrating, I look like a pumpkin head on top of a potato. I HATE it. And I am NOT putting myself down, friends who have leapt to my defense have then been commandeered into taking digitals of me and have said...."oh my god...that doesn't look like you at ALL"...Rob...which is truthful. I will have to learn some tricks to alleviate this problem. If anyone knows how to take good pictures of people, like angles and stuff LET ME KNOW.

Right, all is normal...work is the usual bore, but everything else is great. Liese and Matthew just walked in so I should go and be social...will post a couple more pics.

Later!
Mim

More of my colleagues...all excellent people to work with, and on occasion get pissed with :)

Welcome to Mim's desk. That yellow folder is an urgent request from the Minister's office. I get a few of those..particularly lately. Its amazing how attached you get to your desk, I know where everything is and it becomes like your little kingdom...sad I know...:) Vince's is much tidier than mine, when he gets back to work next week I'll take a picture of his desk with him at it...looking very spesh in his shirt and tie :) Probably talking on both phones at the same time...:):) "Welcome to the Ministry of Education...you have reached..."

Work: this is Cheryl, our SSO (Senior Services Officer). None of us on the team could do our job without her. She keeps the work flow off our desks going in the proper directions and understands exactly the correct procedures, formats and lingo, particularly when it comes to the Ministers offices that keeps us all out of the poo. Like I said to her today there is seriously no point doing the work if it wasn't for her management.

6:45 am Tuesday Morning: Ugh...back to work. I am much better. That is one thing I won't do, go to work sick. It amazes me how many of my colleagues do, with the result that they give whatever lurgy they have to everyone else. Which is how I got it. :(

Of course its POURING outside. Torrential bloody rain but at least it isn't blowing a gale. Hmmm its too early for Mim to be up, I am having a sense of humor failure.

Off to have a shower and go be a brilliant public servant...

(miss you Mr.Vince....)

SNOW! Ben and Alex at the entrance to the National Park (as you can see). When I was in Christchurch over Easter it was snowing AND last week we had a few flakes drifting down in Wellington. I made everyone come look out my office window...of course it didn't stick but still...SNOW in Wellie :)

This is a picture from Vince's trip up to Auckland. Its at Lake Taupo, taken by Alexandar. This has been one of the coldest winters in NZ for over 30 years, particularly down south...that's south island way for you non-NZers :)

This is 'Jiss's' second most favorite position...she is also known to sit in front of the fireplace and yowl for me to turn it on!! Luckily for Jiss, in the winter here its very seldom off if we're home.

Sometimes she lie on the tile and just cook herself, one time I went to pet her and she was so hot she was almost smouldering...I made her move.

I should mention that Jiss is 12 but you would never know it...she still runs around the backyard like a little moggie. Liese (my housemate) doesn't really like Jiss but I love her. Ooooo! Vince has very kindly agreed to indulge my doggie obssession when we move in together...two little doggies and I think we'll name them Satay and Sushi. The first is in reference to certain parts of the world where they eat dog (someone thinks he is very funny.... :) ) and the second is cause it goes well with the first. Yes I know we are *really* sickening. You should see us when we're together...it gets much worse :)

Let me introduce my adopted cat Jess (or Jiss as the Kiwi's say). This picture does not do her justice, she's beautiful. She is however a bottomless pit when it comes to food. I fed her this morning, and this is what she tends to do, sit in front of her dishes like she is going to DIE of starvation any minute. When she isn't doing that she's yowling at me...she'll quit soon and then take up her next favorite position (see above picture)...

Breakfast (NO NOT THE WINE....very funny people)...everyone calls this coffee cup "Mim's Vase" get stuffed I LIKE it :)

Monday morning: its a bit chilly this morning as can be seen by my backyard. Home from work as I'm still getting over the last vestiges of that rotten cold that kept me home on Thursday and Friday last week. I happen to pick a day when no one else is in the office which is probably not a bad thing...

Typical brothers.... :)

Vince's boys, Alexandar and Ben. Alex is 16 and Ben is 11. They are really nice, well adjusted young fellas and I like spending time with them. I'm very lucky to have the chance to have them around as well.

This is Vince, the most beautiful man in the entire world.
What do you say about someone who is just so right for you?
People used to tell me (after the break-up of my marriage and false starts in relationships) that I'd 'know' when I met the person and it would seem easy. I'd think "yeah, yeah...whatever" and wonder why it was all such hard work.

They were bang on, you DO know, and it is easy when its right. We are currently working out the logistics of moving in together, as in where in Wellington and I am very excited about the prospect of living with him. He's an amazing mix of the bloke (sports mad...in particular soccer...I now know more about FIFA than I ever did before) and the intellectual. Which describes me to a T, we're a pair of working class intellectuals.

Love U heaps my boy.... :)

Old University of Canterbury-this photo was taken inside the great hall at the old U of C buildings. As I mentioned earlier its now an arts centre as well as having some really nice flats on site as well. It would have been cool to go and recieve your degree in this building though....the new buildings aren't nearly as impressive...

This is the inside of a new-age shop in Christchurch. It had almost everything of the genre your heart could desire. I thought it was great of course and spent a bit of money there, but not near what I could have!!

This is downtown Christchurch. Christchurch is Adelaide's sister city so I was really keen to have a look around. The downtown area is really quite pretty, with the old uni of Canterbury buildings a real treat, its now an arts centre and flats. But it melts into industrial, commercial areas without any kind of rhyme or reason. Adelaide does not, with the city being very carefully laid out and organised. I wasn't enamoured of Christchurch personally but could see its appeal for others.

This taken from the deck of the ferry on the way over to Picton. These are not like the ferries we used to take when we were kids from Langdale to Horeshoe Bay. These are the deluxe models...nice inside with reclining chair lounges, a bar and several enclosed viewing decks. I was up on the un-enclosed one.

Picton, South Island - The interisland ferry is right behind me...I had just gotten off the ferry from Wellington, about 3.5 hours journey. It reminds me of fishing towns on Vancouver Island. Picton is a small community but it thrives given that it is the 'jumping off' spot for almost every tourist who comes to the south island. Those who boat that is...people do fly but many take the interisland ferry for the scenery.

When I first arrived in Wellie, I lived in Kelburn, which is a fantastic suburb, five minutes walk from downtown. This is one of the student houses next to where I lived. I like this photo because as many of you may know, NZ and Wellington in particular suffers from alot of earthquakes. If there was ever a big one I would NOT want to be on that balcony!!

This is a picture taken of downtown Wellington from Kelburn. Behind the buildings on the hillside is Mt.Victoria, which is a beautiful suburb and where I'd like to live next. Sun all day and old villas, with little dairy's scatttered about (Dairy means 'cornerstore' in North American parlance). Of course its also hugely expensive to live there...:)

Rotorua-or AKA Roto-Vegas. The place of hot sulpher pools and kitsch in NZ. And it STINKS! It is a nice little town but it isn't somewhere that I would go for a relaxing holiday even though I understand the pools are good for you, by the end of the day the inside of my nostrils HURT!! :)

This is an photo taken from the train on my way up north to Hamilton. I was in the viewing car, which is open-sided leaning over to get the picture and literally hanging into nothing-ness...

Tena Koutou:

Jaye-Anne I blame you! :) Greetings all...My good, dear, insane friend of 30 years, Mrs.Jaye-Anne Greene, has started a blog to keep people up to date on her doings and I thought "what a good idea" as I, like Jaye, have friends scattered all over from one corner of the globe to the other.

For those of you who have been out of touch with me for a bit, I finished the PhD and promptly up and moved myself from Adelaide, South Australia, to Wellington, New Zealand in December of 2005. Why? Because John Howard and his new-Right politics give me a pain in the ass. I have ethical problems paying tax to a government that does not one thing I agree with! I miss Australia, Adelaide and my friends very much, but I do NOT miss being unable to watch the news because it makes me so angry. I also don't miss the absolute crap, rightwing, news media in Oz either. Does this make a new-wave political refugee? Can I claim ethical and intellectual persecution? :)

I work for the NZ government as a policy analyst in education. I love my job, you can see why you do what you do and the positive effects it has in a very real way. Having Cabinet sign off on a policy that came out of your head is pretty cool as well. The 'politics' of the public service are interesting and I'm learning.

New Zealand is a beautiful country, I know everyone says that but it is so true. In the 6 months I've been here I have trained up through the North Island and trained down through the South Island to Christchurch. I also took the ferry trip to Picton which is amazing. It is a lot like British Columbia and I feel very at home here. Its A LOT colder than Australia though, and that has taken some getting used too. I get teased alot for being 'Canadian' and complaining about the cold.

New Zealanders are a really great bunch of people. I find it to be a very tolerant, friendly, openminded country. Very different from Australia in that way. There are social and cultural issues here as there are everywhere but they are muted by a government and populace that genuinely wants their neighbors and whanau to do well and to be treated in an equitable, just manner. Maori and Maori culture is very very much in evidence in New Zealand. Unlike Australia where your interactions with Aboriginal people are often confined to what you see in the public parks and on the news, Maori have a huge influence and prescence in the everyday life of New Zealand. It is truly heartening and my life is enriched by my Maori co-workers and friends.

I live in a suburb of Wellington about 12 minutes (by train) from the city centre. I love my house, its huge and cosy and very comfortable (see pictures). Currently I live with my friend Liese and her son Matthew, but that will probably be changing in the near future. Like you Jaye I am about to become part of a blended family :) More on that later...I'll pop up some pictures and return to post more later today...OH and last but not least....


HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!