Socialized Medicine New Zealand Style

I can't say enough good things about socialized medicine. It is one of the driving factors keeping me and my family here. Once again, I engaged the public health care system and was very pleased with the service.

Today I went into Christchurch to take Cruz for a follow-up test at the hospital. About a week ago, I received a couple of letters in the mail indicating the dates and times of appointments that a pediatrician had scheduled for him. When we showed up at the hospital there wasn't a long registration process or lengthy administration session regarding insurance, just the service.

Upon arriving at the department, I placed our appointment letter in a box at reception and waited our turn. The technicians were efficient and pleasant. They completed the tests using the very latest in equipment and then we left. It was that simple AND money NEVER changed hands.

I myself have overnighted at Christchurch Women's and found their service and expertise fabulous. My American readers might not believe that there is actually a person who comes around and asks if you might like to have a cookie and coffee, tea or other drink at morning and afternoon tea time and then again in the evening before you go to bed. This isn't an additional service, this IS the service.

Now I know you might be saying, it's awfully nice that you got a cookie but how was the care. Well, let me tell you that having numerous specialists on your case, conferring about your ailment/problem and then directing your treatment is something that most people would love to have and believe me, I did!

Now, if you want to have a back-up plan just in case something MAJOR occurs and you want to have coverage to see doctors in the private sector, health insurance here is incredibly inexpensive. For a family of five, we pay a small fraction of what we might in America. Quite frankly, I think we pay less for all of us than we would to cover one adult in the U.S.A. As an aside, let me assure you that the doctors in the public system are just as good as the ones in the private system. How do I know this? They are the same doctors!

I have used my health insurance to cover a major surgery last year (which I'll be blogging about on my one year post-op anniversary in December). Can you imagine an insurance coverage where you pay nothing, there is no co-pay, no percentage unpaid? Well this is what we have. My insurance not only covered all of the hospital, surgeon, radiology and other associated fees, they also paid 100% for me to stay5 days in a PRIVATE room. How can you beat that? The fact of the matter is you can't!

So, while New Zealand is known for its clean and green image, it should also be known for having options for health care that are accessible to everyone and for that I am thankful.

Ballet Exam

Yesterday, Ivy had her International Dance Teachers' Association ballet exam. A judge flies to New Zealand from somewhere in the U.K. to test all of the students who have been studying for their exams. Ivy has been studying for the last six months at the preparatory grade level for this day.

We needed to arrive at the dance studio in Rangiora at 8:40 a.m. in order to allow time for warming up and getting on the ballet skirt and her number. At about 7:30 Ivy started to gather her ballet items together and announced that she was unable to find her ballet shoes. The entire family searched the house and cars and were unable to locate her shoes. Finally, at ten minutes after eight, Ivy called her ballet instructor, Jenna McKenzie, and asked if she would still be able to take the exam without the shoes. Jenna said that she would but that she might have an extra pair of ballet slippers.

We dashed out of the house and made it to the studio in time. Thankfully, another mother had arrived with three pairs of shoes, one of which fit Ivy. Yipee!

Ivy was the first student to go before the judge. She was number 1 and had to perform on her own as no other students were taking the preparatory exam. Ivy says she did well and that the judge was "mesmerized" with her performance. We will be receiving exam results in the next few weeks. We will be keeping fingers crossed until then.

Labour Weekend

Here in New Zealand we have just finished celebrating Labour Day. I was really looking forward to a great weekend because it marks the day after which people here traditionally plant out their vegetables for their veggie gardens.

Unfortunately, our weekend started with rain and continued with rain until Monday. On Monday, the temperature here seemed to reach about 25 degrees Celsius and I was loving it. It was truly reminiscent of a Northern Hemisphere summer's day which I desperately miss. I used this nice day to plant out some of my vegetables that I have been babying along in the greenhouse and try my luck out in the real world. I was playing things with a certain level of caution as the vegetables that I had previously planted out had been hit by unexpected heavy frosts and they, well, DIED.

Pulling their tattered and wilting limbs from the ground freed up some room for some interesting transplants. I have managed to plant two varieties of beets (in NZ aka beetroot), Burpees Golden Globe and Chioggia which when cut appears with both red and white sections alternating, think of a bullseye target. Continuing in my stateof garden bliss, I planted out 3 rhubarb plants (Glaskins Perpetual) and a variety of peas called Progress. I also transplanted my green/spring onions called White Welsh and regular cooking onions called Stuttgart Long Keeper. All of the onions look so healthy, I really hope they continue to do well.

This is also the first year that I have taken the plunge and decided to make an asparagus bed. I was able to procure Mary Washington crowns and planted them in a bed that I had ammended with sand and rotted horse manure. Let me tell you that while New Zealand is considered to be clean and green the soil where I live is junk. We are on what at times seems like massive amounts of clay. Not that I feel that I need to justify ammending the soil- ahem.

Anyways, many areas of the garden are flourishing right now so I thought that I would share some of the more cheery spots. Here is the first rose of the season.
A spear coming up in the new asparagus bed.
Here is just one of the many strawberry plants I have growing in our berry house. The house guarantess that we will be eating the berries and not the birds.
Here are bunches of grapes forming on the Riesling vines. If we can get by without frost damage, we will throw some bird netting on the grapes in an attempt to make some wine this year.
All in all, things are shaping rather nicely in the garden.

Back to Knitting and Sewing

I am sorry that my blog has failed to mention much in the way of knitting lately. I am still working on my Circular Shrug from Ravelry and the tedious nature of the K2P2 ribbing was really bogging me down. Thank goodness for the transition point I reach the other day. After 7 inches of K2P2 ribbing I have now moved on to, you guessed it, K1P1 on the RS and P1Slip1 on the WS. This is referred to as Mock Ribbing. I keep asking myself why I ever started this project but I am one to try as best I can to finish- ahem-what I start.

Here is a ball of my hand painted felted merino that I am using for this project. The wool seems to take on a different look when it is wound into a ball. I have to say that I wasn't sold on the colors until I saw them this way.Here is my shrug or part there of.
Here is an up close view of the transition area from K2P2 to mock ribbing.
I have to say that things are moving much more quickly now because just before the transition I did 1 row of K2Tog P2Tog reducing the number of stitches I was working from 246 to 123. That's a bit of a relief. Then, with the mock ribbing slipping every other stitch on the WS I feel like I am flying through this project- as the Tui ads say...Yeah Right!

As a side project, I have taken on a sewing project with the guidance and support of my friend Shirley. She helped me choose a pattern for a skirt that the girls can wear to the International Rodeo that is taking place in Christchurch next month. They have brand new metallic pink cowgirl boots and western summery shirts but with teeny tiny wastes, finding something that fits skirt wise in a real challenge. Hence, this sewing project. Here is the pattern envelope. The skirt pattern is the purple skirt the little girl is wearing.
I have chosen to alternative the fabric in the tiers using a solid for the first and third tiers and a print for the middle tier. Here are the fabrics I will be using.
Ivy will be the recipient of this skirt. If all goes well and I can make this pattern work, I'll be on to making one for Melody. I have sewn together all of the panels for each tier of the skirt and am now needing to do the gathering.

I hope to have more done on both of these projects to be able to share really soon.

Banks Peninsula

Things have been so busy lately I have hardly had a minute to sit down. We have been involved in so many activities, from watching the Springston Trophy competition at the Rangiora A&P Show Grounds to going to see a local production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to spending a couple of days at Hanmer Springs, that it seems I have once again failed to update my blog.

Today, we headed out to Banks Peninsula. Arnold wanted to do some surf casting so we headed to Birdlings Flat. Now, I believe that Birdlings Flat isn't technically on the peninsula but it is close enough. Today we happened to be the only people there. Would this happen anywhere else?
Birdlings Flat is a very interesting area because it is rugged and stony. There is very little sand here and it would be very dangerous to swim in the ocean due to the waves and the contour of the foreshore. We settled into a nice spot and Arnold set up his fishing rod. The children enjoyed sliding down the huge hills of stones, beach combing, and playing at the playground. I relaxed and took a break for a minute or two and took in the beautiful scenery and the ocean spray.
After leaving Birdlings Flat, we headed over Gebbies Pass towards Lyttelton. Lyttelton is a fabulous area which I will have to devote a whole post to at another time. Suffice it to say that the scenery is also stunning and the trip around the various bays is awesome.

We stopped at Corsair Bay so the children would be able to get out of the car and play at a lovely bay side playground. I never had a view like this from any of the playgrounds I frequented as a kid!
We headed into Lyttleton proper for some ice creams and then headed through the tunnel to Christchurch. The areas of Sumner and Scarborough are so nice. We decided to stop at Scarborough so the children could play again and Arnold could drop a line into the water off of a rocky outcrop. Here you can see the walkway along the ocean at Scarborough.
Here you can see the way the houses are built along the hillside with spectacular views of the city, the sea and the hills.Unfortunately, Arnold was unable to catch anything so we headed to our favourite fish shop on Manchester and picked up some nice fish, scallops and whitebait to have our own fish and chips at home.

After a day like today, I know I'll sleep well tonight!