Hello 2025

 

Hello 2025… and what a start to the new year.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind and poof it’s now February. 

We rang in the New Year with friends and games. 

It was lots of fun and very relaxing. 

On January 3rd, we had a small celebration for Eric’s 60th birthday by going out for a nice sushi dinner and dessert. 

After that, things began to get really busy.

Work started back up on the 6th.

We quickly got news about the fires in So. Cal 

- So incredibly devastating!!!

Living in Malibu from 1976-1984, I think we had to evacuate 3-4 times

Each time grabbing what we could fit in the car, leaving and wondering if we would have a home to return to. 

And in 1996 I had to relocate my wedding when again Malibu was burning. The cycle of fire followed by mud slides is all too familiar. 

While I was one of the fortunate ones that did not lose their home, I have many friends that did. 

This time we have both friends and extended family that evacuated and lost their homes. My heart goes out to them and everyone that has lost their homes. 

Focusing on work was a challenge as my mind was elsewhere checking in on people and following posts, emails and texts. 

Meanwhile…our first summer guests arrived the night of the 9th. 

We played host. We visited Zealandia, spent a beautiful weekend in Nelson with a day in the Abel Tasman National Park, one of my favorite places. 

The following weekend was the big celebration at Hobbiton. Celebrating Eric’s birthday (a little late) along with our friend James’ bday, with 51 close friends was amazing! As of about 6:20pm we had the place to ourselves. It was truly magical!

We were with friends that had never been to Hobbiton, some that had not been there for a while and some that had recently been there. Yet everyone claimed that they will never be able to top their experience that night. Friends in costumes, amid true middle-earth fans, with many individuals that had worked on the films. Some still working at Weta. It was an experience beyond words. 

And Eric loved every moment. 

We also visited Hamilton Gardens and the Matamata Tower Museum. 

Returning to Wellington, we got a brief hiatus before our friend Peter and his girlfriend Jenifer arrived on Feb. 1st to stay for 5 days. 

We went back to Zealandia, took the harbor ferry boat to Somes Island. Something we had never done. And then accompanied them on a Weta Workshop tour. 

Our two heat pumps died back in December. We knew they were old when we purchased the house, but had hoped to get a bit more life out of them. Alas… a new one is being installed as I type this. This should help make the hotter days more comfortable and will definitely help when the colder days return. 

Summer continues to be a bag of mixed weather. But the cicadas have finally arrived. I love hearing their song. 

If you have been enjoying our blog and want to continue to do so, please take the time to “follow” the blog directly on Blogger.

We are actively reducing our usage of FB, Instagram, etc (Meta) 

The best way to continue to stay in touch is with email.

Cheers for now… 

Tis the Season!

It is right around the corner, not sure how it got here already and feels like it will be the new year in a blink of an eye!

We will likely not come up for air before the new year so we will consider this our last post of 2024. I really have no idea where this year went. But what an amazing year it has been. We bought and moved into our new home. I started a new job. We returned to the US for a quick visit. We saw the Aurora Australis and spent much time working on house projects and hanging with good friends.

As for Thanksgiving, there is certainly lots to be thankful for! We did indeed celebrate here, just a few days later with some dear friends and other ex-pats. I can’t believe we did not take a photo of the group, but we were so busy eating and having fun that we forgot. The meal was delicious with everyone chipping in.

In addition, more yard work and weeding has occurred. Eric spent a good part of last Sunday with our neighbor trimming back a bunch of trees and dead branches. We have not yet done much planting. But the Hydrangeas are looking great and the Dalias and calla lilies I stuck in the ground a few month back are doing well. I am looking forward to more planting next season.

  

Eric has spent most of the last few weeks building some shelving and they are looking great! Hoping to have them installed before Christmas.

The days have gotten long, which we love. Daylight til 9:00pm. We are enjoying walking in the evenings and watching the beautiful late sunsets.



We have decorated some of the house for the holidays and will be hosting a small gathering here on the 24th. I also continued the tradition of “elf toes”. It is more fun here when it’s warm and you can wear open toed shoes, as opposed to Seattle when it’s cold and rainy.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and we will continue our adventures in the new year!

Catch-up Time

 Where we left off…

The Skullduggery art show was a big success. We had a great time. There were many amazing pieces of art. We love being a part of this amazingly talented art community. 

Work is going well. PikPok released the new Into the Dead:Our Darkest Days Demo on Steam. If any of you are interested in a fun Zombie game give it a try! And then post a great review. 

We have gotten back to working on the house. Trying to get a bunch more painting and stuff done over the next several weeks and then plan to take some time off to enjoy the holidays. 

The dining room and lounge 

And getting some more shelving built. 

The election- we are sad and angry and baffled, really???? We will say no more here. We are very thankful to be in NZ.

We had a yard service come for a full day to start the clean up on the lower portion of our property. There were 3 people for 8 hours. And two full truck loads pulled out of the yard. They were amazing ! A bumblebee nest, and some odd rubbish including two dinner plates were found beneath the organic debris. And a birds nest up in one of our trees was discovered. 

We also took a nice weekend getaway to the Wairarapa to visit some friends. Always fun to take a break and just relax. 

Wishing all our US friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

Happy Halloween! (Belated)

Apologies, I had meant to post this over a week ago, but things got away from me... It has been an amazing two weeks. So much to share…

We attended WoW, actually photographed the Aurora Australis, attended a screening of Disney’s Brave with the director at the local theatre, I attended the NZGDC conference as part of a workshop and spent a full day hearing lectures, catching up with colleagues and networking.

Eric ran two D&D games and we enjoyed the usual catchups with friends.

World of Wearable arts (WoW) was amazing. If you don’t know, it is sort of a mashup of Cirque du Soleil and a fashion show - every costume is a work of art. It is quite remarkable. 

The following evening a bunch of us headed out to try and catch the Aurora. And we were successful!  It was still difficult to see with the naked eye, but the cameras could certainly see it. I am still learning a lot about my new mirrorless camera, and shooting at night adds additional challenges. But for a first time, I was quite happy with capturing it as I did. Eric also got some good images. 

These are two of my coworkers at PikPok and 2 of the other 3 that did the workshop at NZGDC.

Needless to say, with all that going on we have not done much more on the house, hung a few more items and some more outdoor tidy up. 

Additionally, the last game I worked on at SimplyFun has just been released. It is great to finally see Plundering Times.

                            Game designed by Dr. (pirate) Reiner Knizia
 

And still more fun ahead with the Skullduggery art show opening next week!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Halloween! Boo!

The following blog will catch us up on the latest two weeks. Stay tuned!