Life Goes On

I know we have been pretty quiet out here lately. I guess nothing unusual has happened. All the same, here is the latest news.

Everyone is happy to be rid of Bush and is excited about Obama taking over the leadership. We don't need to tell people we're from Canada anymore.

I have a little gig writing for The Wild Tomato, a glossy magazine for the top of the South. They have a section called "A Life Less Ordinary" where a local special individual is selected as an example. I have written a couple. The latest is about a remarkable jeweler who worked with Peter Jackson to make the One Ring for "Lord of the Rings" Here is a link to the story:

http://www.jenshansen.com/_JensHansen/Library/Article/jens%20hansen%20wild%20tomato%20dec%2008.pdf

Next Item... We get very little major live entertainment down here so if something comes around, we usually attend. John Cougar and Sheryl Crow were the most recent example and we needed to drive 4 hours to a winery near Christchurch for the concert. There were 5000 people in the crowd 0n a lovely warm sunny day. It was the final show of a 2 year tour. Mellencamp had his 13 year old son playing in the band. Fine show.

The Who will be here in March, but I don't know if we want to schlep all the way to Auckland for that. These guys hoped they died before they got old, but were mostly unsuccessful. There was a recent news program about the concert and the anchor was interviewing a very old man who turned out to be Roger Daltry. Maybe we'll just rent "Tommy" instead.

Kimberly is considering doing private yoga classes for individuals so we are making her a nice space in the garage for that purpose. She already has lots of women who say they will be her clients. We shall see.

Christmas is coming but you would never know it as they don't play that shitty music until the last week. The decorations are sparse and the weather is summery. However, we have already had the Santa Parade for the kids, which is kind of nice. 12,000 Nelsonians attended.

The day after Xmas is called Boxing Day and we will be taking a 10 day road trip to spend New Year's Eve on an overnight cruise in Doubtful Sound which should be remarkable.

http://www.doubtful-sound.com/Cruises/default.asp

Then we are off to Stewart island, a tiny spot way way south near Antarctica. We hope to see penquins as long ago, I promised Barry a photo.

The school year has ended so I won't have any relief work for months. I hope the yoga thing works out or we will need to go on the dole.