We’re home a little over two weeks from our major trip abroad.   I’m thrilled to be home but things have been a bit of a blur as we have arrived in the full force of spring.    Both houses were/are overgrown with weeds and the grass in Wainui was standing proudly at a over a foot tall.

Both houses suffered from some internal issues as well.  Our Christchurch house fridge went on the blink in our absence and we arrived home to a very smelly house as the freezer had defrosted and had not been fully emptied by our neighbor who was keeping an eye on the place.   So it was a day of emptying and washing out the fridge and freezer as well as labouring ten hours to weed the yard.  Thankfully neighbor Kareen did keep up with the mowing so the property had some semblance of tidiness.

Out in Wainui, we encountered further problems.   Rats had gotten into the house and had a field day, running amok amongst our makeshift kitchen which currently sprawls out over several rooms while we’re in the midst of the kitchen renovation.   Rat poo and walnut shells and chewed bits everywhere which equated to several days of cleaning up and washing everything.  On top of that, the second fridge, which was empty and had gotten unplugged before we left, accidentally had it’s door shut for the last two months.  That meant mould and lots of it.  So another day of scrubbing out another fridge.  Pretty gross.

The veggie gardens were all but non-existent.   All the seedlings I had planted prior to the trip had been munched by sheep.   From the amount of poo on the grounds, I suspect the rogue sheep had a very nice holiday at our place, traversing the upper, side, and lower gardens at their leisure.

Bruce got on the mower and spent a few hours getting most of the grounds under control, but two weeks later and I’m still trying to get all the hand-mowing completed.  All the finishing work around the uneven terrain where the sit upon mower can’t go is usually finished by moi.     Mowing and weeding is about all I’ve done.

I’ve weeded about half of the veggie beds and did uncover a few edibles.  We’ve got heaps of parsley, leeks, broad beans, some salad greens, a few peas, some silverbeet, fennel, rhubarb, edible flowers, and some very old celery standing about 3 feet tall which has been processed into delicious soup.     Here’s a photo of the chaos of the lower veggie garden.  I’ve weeded out a couple of beds.  In this garden is thriving rhubarb, broad beans, leeks;  a few fruit trees,  and new seedlings which I just planted out.

The garlic bed is doing well and the pear, peach, apple, and quince trees are all forming fruit.  So things aren’t so bad.    Here’s photos of the 20 three-year old asparagus crowns we have, the broad bean patch, and the garlic patch:

On the plus side,  Nina was thrilled to see us (and vice versa) and is up to her usual antics – whinging in the car and wanting to snuggle under the covers.   She lost a bit of weight (unlike us) and seems to be much better socialized (like us!).

The weather has been pretty awesome.  Here’s a shot from the front lawn with a cruise ship in the harbour.   Apparently we’re due for 90 cruise ships this summer season, almost one a day.  That’ll be great for Akaroa township.

And the kitchen… well, it’s all a go.    More in the next post….

It’s good to be home!

These have been four long endless days since the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck on the afternoon of February 22.   Centered in the port town of Lyttleton,  Christchurch and Lyttleton have suffered enormous tragedy this week and it feels quite surreal to view the news and see the devastation that is such a short distance away.   From 40 miles away at our property in Wainui, we have gone virtually unscathed – a few broken dishes and glasses, but that’s about it.   We felt it though, three large jolts in one afternoon,  the first knocking out power, the second knocking things off the shelves.   We knew it was a ‘big’ one and this was confirmed shortly thereafter once the battery operated transistor radio was located.

The news was hard to hear – collapsed buildings, people killed, landslides and liquefaction wiping out whole areas.   We had phone service but most of Christchurch did not so it was the mobile phone networks that kept people connected.    We immediately started sending out messages to all our dear friends and slowly, over the days, we got word back from people.   Everyone we know in the area is alive for which we are sincerely grateful;  however several have lost their homes.

We are here in Wainui with our builder Ollie and two woofers who had only just arrived the evening before.    The five of us watched the news unfold and we texted and called whomever we could to get firsthand information.     And as we waited for word back over the days, we kept ourselves busy and got things done around the property.   The household kept running.

What does one do in such a crisis when you’re not in the thick of it?    People have different coping mechanisms.    My need is to get connected and find out what’s happening.  Facebook has been a powerful tool for such a thing and seeing regular updates from friends all over the city that they were okay has been such a relief.    As power slowly resumed across the city, I’ve been able to talk on the phone with friends and neighbors.        Certain areas of the city besides the central business district have been hit hard and we have friends in those areas who are still without power and water.   Yet most other people I’ve talked to say they are fine and don’t need anything.  Water service has come back, power is on, they can get to grocery stores and many businesses are open.   So what to do?  How to help?

I have been inundated by emails from friends all over the world sending their good wishes and willingness to help in any way.   Thank you all for these messages.     If you are keen, make a donation to the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other relief organizations through any of these New Zealand banking institutions.   Many have waived the standard international bank transfer fees.

ASB Bank

ANZ Bank

Kiwibank

Westpac

If you are in the region and you want to volunteer or have accommodation you can offer:

The Salvation Army is accepting offers of volunteers.   Call:  04 384 5649

Trade Me has a dedicated page to list information about accommodation, volunteer labour, transport, and help with finding lost pets.

There are certainly many ways for people to help even if it is just holding a good thought in your minds for a few minutes a day.    We have friends who’ll be coming up from down south with a trailer load of food, water, wheelbarrows, shovels, blankets, etc.    And we’ll be heading back to Christchurch on Sunday with a carload of fresh spring water, bags of fruit from our trees, and baked goods to distribute to friends and neighbors.

From the ashes shall rise the phoenix.   It is truly amazing to witness the spirit of people in the face of tragedy.  The weeks, months, and probably years ahead will be difficult and long, but Christchurch will rise again, this I am certain.

1. Our backyard is so tranquil, especially with the stream running through.

2. Two peach trees, two apple trees, a grape vine, lemon tree, and rhubarb.

3. We have a gas stove!

4. It’s quiet as we’re no longer on a main road.

5. We have a modern kitchen.

6. We have a fireplace.

7. Ducks and ducklings visit us daily.

8. My clothes all fit into my closet!

9. All day sunshine!

10. It’s so much smaller than Clyde and it feels cozy and feels like a home!

Oops, and one more.

11. It’s a great place to have a birthday party!

A great day was had by all!

What a LONG four weeks this has been.

You all may recall that a 7.1 earthquake rocked Christchurch on September 4, 2011, exactly four weeks ago today.   Since then, Christchurch has experienced over 1300 aftershocks.  While the majority of them have been too small to notice,  there’s barely been a day in the last twenty-eight where a 4.0+ aftershock has not been felt. Every shake and every rumble sends shivers down my spine. Needless-to-say, people are tense.

Needless-to-say, we are operating in a new reality.   For some, their reality is that they have no home.  Over 2500 homes have been declared uninhabitable.    For others, their reality is they have no toilets or running water, as sewerage pipes have burst in some neighborhoods and have yet to be repaired.   Many businesses are now defunct; many are on the brink of bankruptcy, while others next door or down the road are operating as ‘business as usual’.    There’s a strange duality occurring all around me.

A New Zealand government agency, the NZ Earthquake Commission, provides insurance on all residential dwellings during the event of a natural disaster.  The catch is that you have to have private insurance on your home for the government insurance to kick in;  IE: no home insurance = no government insurance;  home insurance = government insurance.    Apparently over 100,000 claims have been filed with the Commission due to the Christchurch quake.  That’s something like two-thirds of all residences!

The Earthquake Commission insurance kicks in up to the first $100,000 of damages.  One’s private insurance kicks in next.    Needless-to-say, with this amount of residential damage, the private insurers are trying to cope with the amount of claims, the amount of chaos, and with every new aftershock, the amount of new insurance they’re willing to continue to write on homes in the area.

And herein is where my strange duality tale begins.

PART 1

At the time of the earthquake, September 4, we were two weeks away from settling on our new house purchase on Greenpark Street.    With much on my mind and much to manage, I still had not arranged to obtain home insurance for the new property, but was not overly concerned as it’s relatively quick to arrange.

On September 8th, I phoned our current insurer, ASB Bank, and talked with a gentleman from the Auckland office who discussed various policy options and emailed me the quotes.  He assured me that the policy I selected would be effective on September 17th (the day of our settlement) and I had until then to confirm and pay for the policy.

On September 9th/10th, I received emails and phone calls from our lawyer and realtor advising that I lock in insurance as soon as possible as they’d heard that insurance companies were not writing any insurance on home purchases.   I thanked them for their concern and told them I had it all sorted out.

On September 14th, I called ASB and talked with a lovely woman in the Auckland office.  I gave her the quote number and said I was ready to pay for the policy.  She was all smiles and friendliness.   She went  through her procedures reading me the disclaimers, etc.   I say “Yup, all good.  I’m ready to pay for the policy” and she says “Great, hold on please. I have to call the underwriter.”.   She comes back to me a few minutes later and says “Oh, the underwriter has implemented a 21-day stand-down policy” meaning that for 21 days from the time you buy the insurance, you will not be covered if another disaster occurs.   I’m willing to take that risk and say “Ok, I’m ready to pay.”   She puts me on hold again, comes back a few minutes later and says “Oh, the underwriter says you need to provide a builders inspection report and a structural engineers report before they’ll issue you the insurance.”     I silently curse her, say “Thanks very much, I’ll get back to you” and hang up the phone.   Bloody insurers.   As if it’s even possible to find a structural engineer willing to do non-emergency inspections at this time anyhow.

Now, we happened to be in a very fortunate position in that we were paying cash for the new home which meant that we did not have to obtain insurance to satisfy a bank lenders’ requirement.   We could and indeed would settle the purchase on time.   The question just came down to our own comfort level in buying a house with no insurance.   Bruce and I talked about it for a few minutes and ran through our ‘worse-case’ scenario — another big earthquake, house is wrecked,  land value approximately $200k,  house value approximately $150k, maximum loss $150k,  probability of occurrence:  low.      We decided to move forward, we settled on time, we got the keys, we had a bottle of champagne, went to dinner with friends,  and satirically toasted to the fact that we were now 3-houses-rich and quite a bit cash-poor.    And no insurance to boot.

Which brings me to PART 2.

At the time of the earthquake, September 4, we were four weeks away from settling on our house sale on Clyde Road.   Settlement was scheduled for October 1st.

Now, our buyers were not cash-rich, and were planning to get a mortgage to buy the property.  In order for a bank to lend money for a mortgage, one needs to have home insurance.   Suddenly our buyers were sucked into the insurance black hole of doom.

Literally, every day that passed, the insurance companies were singing a different tune as to what and how they would offer insurance, if at all.

Our buyers were champs.  They worked hard to get answers in writing from their insurer.   First they got told about the 21-day stand down policy and there were a few days when they thought they could not settle on time.

Then they were told by their insurer (BNZ), that if our home insurance was underwritten by the same company that their home insurance was underwritten, then they could conceivably just take over our insurance (or something to that effect).  Turns out that both of our insurers were underwritten by IAG Insurance of Australia.   Excellent news.

On September 15th,   they were told all they needed to do was to have a registered builder perform a building inspection report and confirm there was no structural damage to the property.   The insurance company provided a form for the builder to fill out and they arranged to have the inspection done on the 17th.

On September 17th, the buyers canceled the inspection due to the fact that the builder they had asked to conduct the inspection confessed that they were not registered master builders after all and could not perform the inspection to the insurance company’s requirements.      The buyers found another builder and scheduled the inspection for the following week.

September 23rd:   The buyers and their builder do a 1-hour visual inspection of the house.  I walk through with them as they look at every mark and crack on the walls and exclaim ‘oh, that’s from the earthquake’.  Now, I’ve been living in that house for four years and I swear many of those hairline cracks have been there for ages, but I can’t be 100% sure about all of them.  It is possible  that the hairline cracks that seem to be everywhere on the gib seams and doorframe seams have materialized with the advent of the aftershocks.  Who knows.   They did point out to me that the upstairs bathroom mirror was cracked which was definitely due to the earthquake.  Farts – now we have to fix it!    The buyers seem both freaked out yet relaxed as the house is structurally sound and the ‘damage’ that they’re seeing is merely ‘aesthetic’.   They leave in good spirits and assure me that they’ll have no problem getting insurance and settling on time.   I’m elated.

September 27th:   Bruce and I have been in the process of moving the contents of our house over to the new house for three days now.  We’ve been loading the van, driving 10 minutes to Greenpark, unloading, and doing that routine for ten-hour days.  And we’re going through boxes that haven’t been gone through since we first moved to New Zealand 4+ years ago and we’re purging left and right, giving things away, putting up auctions on Trade Me, and throwing heaps of stuff in the garbage (mainly papers – boxes and boxes of papers from our ‘previous life’).   We are irritable and tired.   And my body has broken out in hives and I’m an itchy bitchy mess!

At 2 pm on the 27th, I receive an email from our realtor passing along a list of items that the buyers were concerned about.   Among the items are ‘several rooms suffered cracks and paint damage’, ‘ceiling damage in the foyer’, ‘tagging on the front brick wall’ and ‘lawn tidy-up’.    There is no verbiage about what is expected.    I’m annoyed and nervous about how we can possibly address all these things within the next few days.

September 28th:  Our realtor comes over and we walk through the house and I point out to her all the items the purchasers were talking about during the inspection.   We say  “What are we supposed to do about all these cracks?” to which she says “File an earthquake insurance claim.”    “What about the tagging and the crack in the ceiling which was not due to the earthquake?  Those things were there well before the open house.”  And the realtor says “I don’t know.  We should fix them.” And we say “No.”

Bruce is just about to lodge an insurance claim when it occurs to us that if we do, we might jeopardize the purchaser’s ability to get insurance.  So we call our realtor to discuss this and she was supposed to go back to the buyers to clarify and get back to us.

Meanwhile, we keep moving our stuff!

September 29th:   Mid-day and we still haven’t heard from anyone.  There are a few calls with our realtor and we don’t reach any conclusion about strategy.   In the evening Bruce talks with the purchasers who are quite terse with him on the phone and by the end of the conversation it is clear they want us to lodge a claim with the earthquake commission and that it will not impact their ability to get insurance.   We call our lawyer and run the problem by him, and he says, no worries, we will write up some type of ‘assignment of rights’ contract so that they become responsible for managing the claim.       All seems good.

September 30th:    We have a walk-through scheduled with the purchasers and realtor at 10:30 am.  Prior to that the realtor calls me and says “How are we going to handle the front wall tagging and ceiling problem?”   Bruce and I are holding steadfast in our claim that those items have been there all along and that we are not in a position to fix them within the next 24 hours.  As Bruce & I drive over for the walk-through (cuz we’d spent our first night in our new home the night before), I say, “Well, we can offer them some money for those items and be done with it.  If that’s what it takes to close the deal, then who cares about another $200-$300”.   Bruce is not amused.

We are all tense when we meet.  I explain that I think there was some miscommunication over the past few days and that we have no problem filing an earthquake claim and will put on it anything and everything that they want us to.   They seem relieved and we walk through the house and make a list of items, almost all of them having to do with hairline cracks in the walls, which seem to be multiplying daily.    We get through the walk-through and we’re all in a jovial mood when they bring up the tagging and ceiling problem.   We have a quick debate back and forth about whether those items were there or not and in the end we agree to give them $200 in cash and they will deal with the repairs.   Win-win.

We leave the session with the understanding that they will draw up the list of items to be submitted with the earthquake claim and that the list will be sent to the lawyers for review.   All that is left to deal with is the ‘assignment’ contract.

At 4 pm we receive a call from our lawyer asking us to come in.  We rush over and talk about the ‘assignment’ contract which has a clause in it stating something to the effect that if the Earthquake Commission does not approve all the items on the list, then we, as the sellers, are liable to fix said items on the list.    Our lawyer does not like this clause and so we make an amendment (saying that any items not deemed fixable by the earthquake commission must be reviewed and agreed upon by the purchasers and sellers before repairs are commenced).     We leave at 5:30 pm utterly exhausted and uncertain if we will meet the settlement deadline tomorrow.

October 1st:     Bruce & I are sitting in our box-cluttered new home awaiting news from the lawyers.   We don’t hear anything all morning.  At 1 pm, I call our attorney and he says he hasn’t heard back from their attorney.   At 2:30 pm the purchasers call us and practically scream at Bruce wondering why we reneged on our verbal agreement the day before.    When Bruce finally got a word in, he explained our understanding of the clause change which was different from their understanding of the clause change.  Damn miscommunication strikes again, this time via the attorneys.   More phone calls.  More waiting.      At 4 pm we get the call from our lawyer that the papers have been signed and that they’ve received the money.   Holey moley.  Relief!

We call the purchasers and congratulate them and tell them we’ll be coming around to Clyde Road to drop off the keys.   I bring them a bottle of wine in good faith as I know it has been quite stressful for them and knowing that they have to live with a fixer-upper house.        They’re chuffed and grateful for the wine.  We shake hands and are smiles all around.

We hitch up the trailer that’s destined for Wainui (the second load of stuff to haul out) and pull out of Clyde Road, saying goodbye, and feeling grateful that it has released us from its stewardship.

We go home to Greenpark, make a nice home cooked meal, drink a bottle of champagne, and pass out into a peaceful slumber.

October 2nd:   We wake up to our new reality.  I check the bank balance – the money has arrived.   The fat lady is singing tonight!

If there ever was a time to flow with Grace, then this is it.

These past few days have been full of contrasts.

I’d been looking forward to the weekend of September 3-5 for months for I was going to be attending a yoga weekend workshop hosted by our local Anusara teacher, Katie Lane.  For several years, Katie has brought over top Anusara yoga instructors from the United States and I’ve had the privilege of meeting and practicing with two amazing women, Desiree Rumbaugh and B.J. Galvan in the past.

This workshop was being led by Noah Maze` and the focus of the weekend was the weaving together of tantric hindu myths of heroes and heroines with our yoga asanas to help us create a stronger practice.

Forty of us gathered on Friday night for our first two+ hour session.  People had flown and driven from as far as Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown, and Dunedin.   Noah, a truly gifted storyteller,  regaled us with the story of Rama, Sita and Hanuman, of which details can be found in the Ramayana.    But the super short version goes something like this:  Rama and Sita were married.  The evil King Ravana coveted Sita and managed to kidnap her and take her to the island kingdom of Lanka.   Rama befriended the monkeys and the monkey king, Hanuman.   Hanuman was able to leap across the oceans to the isle of Lanka and rescue Sita.    Rama and Sita live happily ever after <grin>.

Noah’s version of the story was a bit more captivating than mine, but the gist of the teaching was focused on Hanuman – the monkey who bridged an ocean, who represented the bridge between two worlds, past and future.  He did not live in either, he was in the present, in the now, in the moment.   And as Noah led us in an hour-long practice of hip opening asanas which culminated in splits, we were ever reminded of Hanuman and being present, focused, and aligned with our breath and our bodies.

Noah also talked about the concepts of Lila and Karma.   Dualities.   Karma representing the known, fact, cause and effect;   Lila representing the unknown, unlimited possibilities, freedom, and creativity.   We are forever dancing between Lila and Karma and when on the mat, the two weave together, the known pose of the asana woven with the creativity and freedom of expression and playfulness.     We all left the evening session eager to come back early Saturday morning for the full day session.

Well, we all know what happened next. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook Canterbury at 4:35 am on September 4th.    I was rocked awake from a deep sleep and it took a mere second to realize that the ground was a’ quaking.  I got up to run to the door jamb and was thrown down (it’s was like being at an amusement park funhouse where the floor shakes from side to side as you’re trying to walk forward – nearly impossible!).   I could hear things crashing throughout the house.    For some serendipitous reason, Bruce was also with me in Christchurch (he’d been in Wainui and wasn’t going to be back in Christchurch until Saturday afternoon.  But some intuition brought him back early and he arrived in Christchurch at 1 am Saturday morning.  Read Bruce’s account here).

The power was out within seconds and two aftershocks followed in quick succession.  We lay in bed, Nina snuggled between us and just breathed and listened and waited and tried to go back to sleep which was nearly impossible.

When daylight arrived, I had a look around the house for damage.  Structurally, everything was fine.   Materially, I lost a few of my favorite things, namely most of my dishes and glassware.  Small price to pay.

We had phone connection and calls from the United States came in within the hour.   Several text messages came in from friends around town and around New Zealand.     The yoga morning workshop which was supposed to start at 9:30 am got canceled, but it was decided we would resume for the afternoon session at 2 pm.

What does one do after such an earth shattering experience?  We connect with our loved ones, we reach out, we make sure everyone is okay.   I was on the phone for several hours checking in with people;  Ollie arrived at 8 am and gave us the ‘word from the street’.  Power out, most roads open except within the city centre, many brick chimneys cracked.

Contrasts.   The day was stunningly beautiful, clear, and crisp.   The snow-capped alps stood gallantly in the distance.   I went to yoga.

Karma – fact, the known.  We expect the earth to be stable, we expect to go about our business as usual every day.   Lila – the unknown, unlimited possibilities.   Gaia decided to throw some Lila at us and provided us in her playful way with a bit of the unknown.  Suddenly the earth was not stable, not as we expected.   It was a different day.

Noah, once again, led us in an amazing practice and despite the tremours that continued throughout the afternoon, everyone breathed and laughed and we created amazing asanas being led into arm balances, headstands, and full wheels.   I was pumped with adrenaline and feeling grateful for being alive.

Contrasts.   Christchurch was declared under a state of emergency and the city centre was locked down from 7 pm – 7 am.   In my neighborhood, only 4 or 5 kms west of the city centre, not much had happened.  Our neighbors to one side had part of their brick wall crumble; another neighbor to the right had two cracked brick chimneys.  Otherwise, all looked exactly as it always had.     On the eastern part of town, some neighborhoods, built on part of the riverbed, experienced extreme liquefaction with sandy ‘volcanoes’ springing up everywhere.  A whole neighborhood had to be evacuated and homes have been deemed uninhabitable.

Contrasts.   Destruction and sadness compared to normalcy and happiness.   Miraculously no one has been killed.

Contrasts.
Sept 4, 2010 Christchurch, NZ earthquake, duration: 30 seconds, magnitude 7.1, life lost = 0.

Oct 17, 1989 San Francisco earthquake, duration: 15 seconds, magnitude 7.1, life lost = 67.  (I was present for this one, having just moved to San Francisco eight weeks prior.  Happened to occur on my birthday too!)

Dec 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami & earthquake, duration: 8 – 10 MINUTES!, magnitude 9.1,  life lost = over 250,000.

On Sunday I went off to the last day of the yoga workshop which went from 9 am – 5 pm.   The day continued to be interspersed with aftershocks, yet Noah’s calmness and bright energy soothed us all.    He spoke about the meaning of Anusara.  “Anu” meaning “con” or “with”;  “Sara” meaning “current”   With the current, flowing with the current, to go with the flow, flowing with grace.    Again, he led us through inspiring yoga sessions.

And here we are on Wednesday morning.   There have been close to 200 aftershocks, many of them ‘fivers’.  Each one seeks to unnerve you despite your intentions to go with the flow.   Bruce and Nina went back to Wainui on Monday evening and reported no damage except the loss of a few glasses.     I’ve spoken with the owners of our new house and they also reported no damage.    We are going about our business as usual and if everything is still standing by next week, we will take possession of our new home on the 17th.

I’ve been out and about Christchurch for the last two days.  The majority of areas seem fine and many businesses are operating as usual.  Everyone is super friendly and eager to talk about their feelings, to share their nervousness with others, to connect.

A 5.1 rocked us this morning which shook the walls and killed the power for twenty minutes.   Christchurch will continue to be under a state of emergency for at least another week.   The city will not be defeated, it will rebuild.   Ollie, our builder, has taken a leave from us to spearhead an Emergency Chimney Removal service.   His dharma is to serve his community  for he loves helping people.     Bruce, Nina, and Pete our other builder are holding down Wainui.   I’m staying in Christchurch, attempting to do some packing, attempting to stay connected with friends, attempting to go with the flow, to be Anusara.

I think I’ll do some yoga.

No sooner was the ink dry on the Clyde Road offer, when Joy and I started looking for a new house.   Bruce & I have been clear that we wanted to keep a city pad, something small, inexpensive, and easy to care for.

I’d been looking at houses on-line for several weeks and narrowing down the neighborhoods which we were keen to move to.

The Clyde offer was signed on Wednesday morning and Joy & I spent an afternoon looking at houses on Friday.

Several of them were quite nice, but one in particular stood out as it’s back boundary bordered a stream.

On Monday, we brought Bruce and Ollie to see it.   There was no question that we should put an offer in on this house.   Built in the 1950’s, it was in great shape.  The kitchen had recently been remodeled, it has a logburner in the living room, a northeast aspect which gets loads of sun, and has three bedrooms with a converted garage extra room and a very cute yard with fruit trees.

We found out on Tuesday that it was going to be a multi-offer so we put forth a very clean offer (no contingencies and six week closing schedule).  We were picked, we signed, we close on September 17th!

Oh, my, god, we’re moving.  And just in time for my birthday!

A few months ago, our Clyde Road flatmates, Vern and Evelyn, decided to move out.   We felt the universe was sending us a message to give selling the house another try thus allowing us to move on with our grander plans.   The Clyde Road house was just too big too manage now that we have our humongous project in Wainui

We asked friends for a realtor referral and was put in touch with Joy Butel of Sotheby’s Realty.  “Lucky Joy” we were told and upon meeting her in early June, we immediately liked her affable nature and no nonsense approach to selling.   We thought we were going to list the house in the spring, once we got through the dreariness of winter.  Who wants to do an open home in the depths of winter in a cold house?   However, Joy quickly nipped that idea in the bud and said that lots of homes were going to be coming on the market in spring and we need to be ahead of the onslaught.   Eeeek!   That meant Clyde needed to be ready for the first open home in a months’ time.

Thank goodness for woofers.   Erin and Mike (a Canadian couple who I’ve written about in a previous post) came to woof for us in Wainui.  However, they did a one-day stint with me at Clyde Road and the three of us spent an entire afternoon raking & bagging leaves and pruning trees & hedges, and getting the outside area all tidied up.

Meanwhile,  Joy, prior to leaving on a three-week holiday, sent a notice out through the Sotheby’s database that Clyde Road was coming up for sale.  During her trip away, her colleagues showed several parties through the house;  one in particular was quite keen and scheduled an external building inspection.   Well, the building inspection report was abysmal and full of, how shall I say it, downright lies.   {If anyone reading this post would like to know the name of the company and further details of their report, send me an email}.   The report was so bad that the potential buyers backed off and we were left scratching our heads wondering what to do.

Pete and Ollie to the rescue.  Once we all combed through the report, Pete and Ollie said they could fix all the raised issues with just a few hours of work (and not $10k of work like the report suggested).  And so, suddenly plans changed, and a week+ of Clyde Road work ensued which encompassed:

• Replacing a gutter on the carport which was leaking in two areas
• Putting flashing over an external window
• Replacing a large chunk of rotten weatherboards on the south side of the house
• Cleaning the gutters
• Scrubbing parts of the roof that had mildewed from leaf fall.
• Patching up a few areas on the rooftop.
• Painting two external window frames
• Doing a deep internal house clean of windows, floors, and carpets and moldings.
• And, more raking of leaves!

Friends’ Briar and daughter Jack were staying at the house for a few weeks and they took responsibility for washing floors and bathrooms and cleaning windows.   Previous woofer Cathy (the sound healer) came for a few days and painstakingly raked up leaves around all the shrubbery as well as doing some clearing work on the property.

I tackled the roof scrubbing and external window painting and a little bit of weatherboard fixing.

Ollie and Bruce did most of the weatherboard replacement in three days time.

And Ollie did the gutter replacement job as well.

The weather cooperated and we had a very mild week which allowed us to get everything done!

The first open house was held on July 18th.  The house looked really good.

Joy said about 40 people came through – a record number.  Two parties in particular were very interested and came for second and third looks throughout the week (one was a church group who were keen to convert the house into some kind of student drop-in centre).

On the 25th of July, the 2nd open house was held and over 100 people came (most of them the church congregation).  Joy put out the word that we were doing a multi-offer, meaning interested parties had to put their best offer forward by a particular cut-off date, which she set to be 10 am, Wed, July 28th.

Two offers were presented, both of them with reasonable prices, but one clearly outshone the other, as it had no contingencies.   It was a no-brainer.   Clyde Road is sold!   We close on October 1st.   Thank you Universe!

First and foremost, it was my 45th last weekend (Oct 17th).  And what a wonderful weekend I had full of fun, friendship, and food!   Bruce was in charge of the day and it started with a surprise breakfast at the Christchurch Casino where friends Maggie, Roelf, Tobi, Alex, and Briar met us for the famed breakfast buffet.    Apparently, going to the Casino for a meal on your birthday is a ‘must-do’ at least once, for the birthday girl or gal receives their meal for free along with a complimentary glass of champagne.  Yes, champagne breakfast is what I had.  And all for free.  {Note:  I think we all agreed though that once is enough as the food is really nothing to write home about.}

In the afternoon, Bruce & I went to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve which is something I’ve wanted to do for ages.   Nestled on approx 15 hectares (40 acres)  just on the outskirts of town, it is a very sweet place with all sorts of animals:  deer, lemurs, capuchin monkeys, pigs, sheep, horses, kiwi birds, wallabys, an ostrich, and lots of geese and ducks and other interestingly-colored birds.   It was a lovely day and we spent a nice couple of hours walking around and enjoying the animals.   Many of the wallabys had just had their babes, and we got to see the baby marsupials poking out of mama’s pouch as they were hopping along, just a few metres in front of us.  Way cute!   The kunekune pigs were one of my favorites.  So ugly, yet so lovable.   They apparently make good pets and I can totally see how they’d grow on you.  The two we met were quite friendly and enjoyed a wee scratch behind the ears!

Later in the evening we had dinner at Octagon, a restaurant I highly recommend.  Run from a converted 1870’s Oamaru stone church, complete with large stained glass windows, a high-arched cupola, and the old church pipe organ,  the ambiance is lovely, the acoustics great for the jazz piano player and singer, and the food quite yummy.   It’s a special place, perfect for anniversary and birthday celebrations.

The weekend continued with good fun as I got together with friends Amba, Jason, and others.   A trip to the art gallery, a walk through the botanical gardens, and a shared cuppa were all on the menu.

So thank you friends and family, for your company, for your emails, and for your very thoughtful gifts.   It was an excellent birthday.

But that wasn’t the only one.  Friend Maggie celebrated hers the weekend before and we did it up in style out in Wainui.  Maggie, Roelf, Alex and Tobi came out for a long weekend and Maggie’s pals Wayne, Jan, and their daughter joined us for an overnight.  Lots of champagne, delicious food, and amazing entertainment was had.  Wayne, an aspiring opera singer, regaled us with several operatic pieces which really just blew us away.  The sun shone all weekend, the flowers were in bloom, we BBQ’d, walked to the beach, played some games.  I think Maggie would agree that it was perfect.

Yeah, the southern hemisphere spring-time birthday celebrations are growing on me.  I likes it!