Wednesday, May 30, 2007

More Beautiful Days




It turns out that May is the warmest, driest, May on record. We've gotten about 15mm of rain, when the norm is about 120. And temperatures are averaging about 2 degrees C above normal. C'mon global warming.

Alexander spends an afternoon a week at the "Steiner Kindergarten", not far from our house. They have a very nice setup there, in a hippy, natural manner. US-style safety rules don't seem to apply. Alexander loves playing there, and particularly feeding the ducks with his friend Livvy.


He also loves being out at the beach (and Karin is experimenting with the camera, hence the black and white photos!).

Monday, May 28, 2007

Party Aftermath





The day after a birthday party is a good day for sleeping in, working on the house, and, of course, dressing as a pirate.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Birthday Party!




Today is the day for Alexander's birthday party. Friends from Alexander's various activities (story time at the library, singing at ArtWorks, Steiner kindy, and so on) have been invited and about six have show up. The theme of the party is "Pirates", though the main activity is running around wildly and getting hyperactive. Ilona does a magic act (with Michael in the hidden role of a rabbit who refuses to come out of the hat) and everyone enjoyed the day very much.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Getting a New House




We are putting together a new house for Alexander (particularly for his birthday party). Luckily, we are three doors down from a home appliance store, and they throw away their boxes every day at 5PM. Ilona is a great cardboard house designer, and I think the result would go for $500,000 (easily!) on this island.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Outing with Karin










It is great having a nanny. Karin took Alexander for a walk, and returned with all sorts of great pictures.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Windy day


For the most part, we are on the lee side of the island relative to the prevailing winds, which is why we often have lots of sailboats moored in our bay. Today, though, the winds came in strongly from the north, making our bay very rough and bringing out the wind- and kite-surfers.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Graduation to a Big Boys Bed




Now that Alexander is three, we decided it was time to move him to a real bed. He sleeps with quite an entourage, including a good selection from the library. But it looks like he was ready to upgrade his bed.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Happy Birthday Alexander!





Finishing off our birthday celebrations, Alexander turned three today. We had a quiet day for him at the house. Next week we will have a bigger party.

It seems that our gifts to him all 1) contain a zillion pieces and/or 2) make lots of noise and/or 3) involve lots of out-of-control bouncing about. We must really not value our sanity.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Cleaning out the Storage Shed



Ilona has been getting very involved in the local historical society. This weekend we cleaned out the storage shed (or tried to: we really only got to about half of it). Amazing collection of junk: some museum quality and some ... not. My dad would have loved it going through the shed, though I don't think he would have been much help: he would have gotten stuck at the first shelf!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Hood Fellow talk



Some people have wondered whether there is any "work" aspect of this year away. I (Mike) am visiting the University of Auckland, and I actually go into work 3 or 4 times a week. I received a "Hood Fellowship" to provide support for this year. Part of the requirements for this fellowship is a public lecture, which was held today.

The University did a great job in getting an audience out for my talk ("The Science of Better: Practical Operations Research") and the talk went very well. There was a reception afterwards, and many people stayed for a while chatting with their friends and colleagues. It was fun giving a more general talk than my norm. And Alexander and Mickey helped out a lot.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Pirates and Happy Birthday Ilona!



Karin and Alexander had a fun day, including extensive time being pirates.


The main event of the day, though, was Ilona's birthday. Mike made dinner ("Crepes St. Jacques", whose recipe goes back to Mike's dating days: lots of heavy cream!) and bought a cake (vile: choices at the island supermarket are kinda limited). Alexander made Ilona a nice card (and thoughtfully included a couple of tickets to a cooking class at the Auckland Fish Market) while Mike gave her a super-duper camera. With Karin here, Ilona now has a bit of time to pursue a hobby.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Happy Mother's Day




It's Mother's Day, and the sunrise was beautiful Chez Trick/Weyers. Alexander made a Mother's Day card for Ilona that had popup flowers, just like Alexander's favorite books (though those tend to be popup dragons or popup trucks).

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tour of island with Karin





Today we did a loop of the island with Karin to show her some of the sights. We went to a sculptor who works in tree trunks (we really want to bring one of these chairs home) and, of course, to a cemetery of some of the early (European) settlers of the island.

We must have done something right since Karin has agreed to stay with us for a while and look after Alexander as a nanny. We have the big house, and now we are collecting staff!

Karin is very nice and gets along great with Alexander. She is very creative in finding things for them to do. She also reads blogs, so ixnay on the egativenay ommentscay.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Beach, swings, and fish




The beach is a two minute walk from our house. While the main playground is a bit farther away (10 minute walk), right by our house are some swings, and Alexander lives to swing. He also likes taking his fishing rod down to the ocean to try to catch fish. Since his rod has a magnet at the end, I hope nothing is attached to it!

I wish we could claim that he caught the fish in the picture, but not to be: that is from the Auckland Fish Market. Dinner tonight was with Karin, a young woman we met in Russell a few weeks ago.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

This week in the news

Some interesting news tidbits this week:


  • [Regarding free firewood a a local park.] Typical Waiheke ingenuity saw wheelbarrows, sacks, toddlers, and elderly grandparents all pressed into action.

  • [Regarding the disposition of some prize money.] "With the remaining $500, I'm planning to retire early"

  • [Regarding a collection of trophies and cups at the local historical museum.] ... all the cups were first presented around 1951, but the dates stopped abruptly around 1966. "About the time that television must have first arrived on the island."


The last of these quotes goes straight into my talks on social capital.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Off to the Theater!

Today, Ilona and I went to the play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile", written by Steve Martin featuring Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, playing on Waiheke at the Arts Center. I am not sure the acting was up to Pittsburgh (or Carnegie Mellon, or Woodlands High School) standards, but it was nice to have an "adult" afternoon (Alexander being dumped with a babysitter).

This being the island, the play began with a 15 minute accordion recital on a "classic" accordion, followed by a discussion of the history of that particular accordion. That added to the surrealism of the play.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Circus and Pizza





It has been a quiet period for us, as we get used to living in the new house. Lots of hanging out on our balcony watching the boats go in and out of the bay. Alexander loves having more space to spread out (I don't understand why all his favorite toys have 300 pieces, but they do!). Today was a bit busier.

We began by going to Circus Quirkus at the local school auditorium. Alexander was completely enraptured, especially loving the clown who blew up balloons and interacted with (made fun of) the audience. It was a small group (10 people or so) but the acts were a lot of fun. The highlight for Alexander and most of the kids was romping in the playground at intermission.




That evening, some friends Terry and Tony came by. Great dinner guests! They brought the food and beer, did all the cooking, and even cleaned up! I'm not sure how we got off so easy. Tony makes something called a Barbizza, a device for cooking pizzas on a barbecue. Ilona had given me one for my birthday but our first efforts were not successful. It turns out that the device is pretty sophisticated and that by closing the lid of the grill, I prevented the "magic" from happening. Terry and Tony showed us how it is done and the pizzas turned out great. Even Alexander who, due to some genetic quirk, doesn't like pizza, enjoyed making a little pizza of his own. The Barbizza is definitely a keeper.