When the muse hits

Have a peek at Rick's post here:

http://rickscafe.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/on-the-muse/

Before the storm

Just noticed the date is North American time; we're a day ahead so it's actually Sunday today here. There's a storm coming at us from across the Tasman. We're supposed to get gale force winds throughout the night. I got up early and caught the sunset over the Habour. After breakfast, we took advantage of the calm and went out to St. Clair beach for a walk and threw a ball around. Lots of surfers out and thankfully no one had to ring the bell! I asked a lifeguard if there was some Maori spiritual reason for the posts lining up directly with White Island. He said, "Years ago, there was a pier there. Lines up by chance. White Island is called that because in some lights it looks white. I reckon it's because of all the bird dung."

Rugby in Balclutha

We travelled to Balclutha today to catch a pre-season Super 15 match between our beloved Otago Highlanders and the always dangerous Auckland Blues. The teams travel to rural New Zealand on the south island for their match. What an opportunity! For $2 NZ each, we got to see a great match, and the weather even cooperated. It was even better that it was held at a local rugby field in Balclutha. Highlander fans were everywhere, decked out in their colours, but we noticed how respectful they were of the Blues too (applause, even when the Blues scored the winning try (touchdown for our North American friends) with only a minute left in the match). We could learn a thing or two about sportsmanship in Saskatchewan from this.

By the way, we have come to love this game! The old saying that it is a hooligan's game, played by gentlemen may be a stretch, but it is exciting, fast, powerful and dramatic -- everything anyone could want from a sport. Anyway, here are 3 movies, and check back, as Karin will add a few more pictures. The last movie catches the end (pun intended) of a streaker who entertained at half time and then calmly strolled into the crowd (who gasped, but only when he straddled the fence to hop over it). I (Rick) feared for his manhood.

The Highlanders enter the paddock and the game begins:

Some action resulting in the first try for the Highlanders:

And of course, the streaker:

In the end, it was a great day of Rugby, but we won't mention the score. Our next match we hope to see will be at Carisbrook Stadium in Dunedin (The House of Pain), where we are sure the Highlanders will bring home victory.

Uni and the Otago Peninsula

As much as we like hiking, it's great to have a car so we can discover things a bit further afield like the Otago Peninsula. It stretches out across the harbour and after some great scenery and winding, very narrow winding roads through small villages, artists' colonies, docked fishing boats, and you end up an hour later at Taiaroa Head. How they get tour buses out there, we don't know, but even in a car you don't want to be gawking over the cliff edges if you're driving. The round trip is about 64 kms and we just went out and back on the harbourside road, but there's also a Highcliff Road. On that route you can visit Larnach Castle, which we'll do soon. Went out a few years ago and it's quite spectacular. The Peninsula is a big eco tourism spot; there's a Royal Albatross preserve at the Head, the only mainland site in the world. We've signed up for a 15 km walk, the easy part of the Otago Peninsula Challenge, in early February which will give us access to paddocks and preserves not generally open to the public. The weather has finally turned so we're getting a lot more sun which makes exploring the grounds at the University of Otago, for example, more fun. Jim and I put out the laundry this morning so, naturally, it rained hard most of the day!

Taieri A & P Show

One of our favourite things to do is go to the A & P (Agricultural and Pastoral) shows when we're in New Zealand. Loads of farm demos, animals, dog trials, kiwi culture at its best! This past weekend, we drove out to Mosgiel for one. A bit windy, but the sun was out bellied pig, whoplays rugby while his owner shears sheep and tells kiwi jokes on stage. There were cow shows, horse competitions, and a pets corner. Karin got to maul a lot of animals and Jim even agreed to pet a lamb. Don't you love the photo of the woman grooming her cow's tail? I didn't know what I had until I saw the picture later. I've entitled it "Next!"

Out and about

Benjamin has had a great European tour with The Park; posting a couple of pictures. With a couple of the boys in Turin and a show poster Italia. He's back at the end of the month; Julia joined him for a few shows. The Schwiers do get around!

Though we're getting great exercise on these steep hills, we've rented a car and it was delivered on Wednesday. Rick has been the brave one to drive so far. It's loaded with reminder stickynotes (see pix). We've got an overnight trip to Milford Sound planned for the end of the month. In the meantime, Rick's been given a great little office at the Higher Education Development Centre, similar to the Gwenna Moss Centre at U of S. The people are great and he's going to do a couple of seminars for them on his research. Found a great spot for fush n chups; the Great Wall is a little Chinese takeaway and they wrap it up in newsprint. Had to fight off the seagulls at the Octagon. We went on the Taieri Gorge train trip on Friday, 77 kms all the way to Middlemarch in the Central Otago. A highlight had to be the 'sausage sizzle' at the train station where two guys from the Lions Club cooked sausages like mad for people off the train. The area looks a lot like Scotland, lots of schist rock cliffs, which probably made the settlers feel right at home.

Clip of schist fields from the train:

Some of the tressel bridges built in the late 1800s are pretty spectacular, like the Winatui Viaduct 50 metres over Mullocky Creek. Lots of sheep along the way, and there's an old dog at one point who comes out to meet the train, so Karin was happy. We even enticed Jim out onto the platform between the train cars for awhile for some extreme sport. Chilly back in Dunedin; our favourite little pub in the Green Man Beer brewery and it's got a big open fireplace. Our nice landlords brought us an electric heater, so that's taken the chill off at home. There's a zipline at a nearby park, so Jim's been getting a thrill ride...maybe we'll work him up to a bungy jump!

Clip of Jim on the zip line:

Sabbaticals

Just a quick post to defend the idea of sabbaticals. You may get the idea from this blog that sabbaticals are synonymous with "holidays". Just for the record, our sabbatical is an approved research leave from the University of Saskatchewan. Fabulous? Yes! But the leave is granted to complete work that the U of S approves, and it is a great opportunity to do the kind of work that is very difficult to deal with when you're in the daily mix of political, academic, and otherwise distracting events that are a natural part of university life. This time, it will involve writing a book and completing a couple of other papers.

This is my sixth -- yup, count 'em -- 6th sabbatical leave from the U of S, and I've treasured each one. But not because they are vacations. Instead, they have opened doors that wouldn't have otherwise opened; they've given me the chance to meet and work with some of the best people in the world; they've provided the space to accomplish things I can't manage when I'm running from a College meeting and trying to juggle reports, research, teaching and administration. So, thank you to my university, and to universities everywhere, who understand that sabbaticals are important to moving the academy forward--to accomplishing the fundamental intentions of universities.

I moved into my "permanent" office at the University of Otago today. What a privilege to be welcomed by another great university, and to be given tangible support. Why? Well, first, it will help me get my work done. But it goes way beyond my little research agenda (as lofty as I pretend it is). More importantly, this is part of a larger tradition. Universities around the globe value the movement and engagement of ideas, and allowing itinerant professors from another part of the globe to visit, participate, and collaborate, advances the academy in very real, very important ways. How great it is to be part of this tradition!

So, thank you to my old friend Gill Rutherford at the College of Education, and my new friends Jenny McDonald and Rosemary McBryde at the Higher Education Development Centre at the University of Otago. I only hope I get the opportunity to repay their generosity, and to welcome them to the University of Saskatchewan some day.

My pal, Dr. Barry Brown, often says, "No matter how screwed up it may seem from time to time, this is the best job in the world." Barry, you're so right. Universities are about larger things, and we can only hope to measure up. I was reminded today that it starts with the generosity of colleagues.

Grey, rainy Sunday

Hey, I just reposted these photos so if you click on them now, they should come up larger. The Hyundai Surfing Championships are wrapping up today; we had thought about going to St. Clair beach to watch, but by this afternoon, we can barely see the city. Cold, grey, windy and rainy. Up the coast at Christchurch, it was 34 today! We did have some fine days this past week, though, and made it to the Otago Museum, the train station (see outside and interior), and on Friday we went to the Best cafe based on several recommendations from locals for "fosh un chops." Nice! Didn't come in newspaper, but very tasty. Picked up some mutton and kumara this week...mmmm! Visited the farmer's market again. Look at these nice boysenberries, peak season now. Ran into Gill, who picked up a pig 'trotter' for Lucy (pig's foot). Jim declined an offer to taste. Walked to Gill's on Saturday eve for tea with Judy, a very nice history prof from the uni. The walk is through the bush and then straight up to Epsilon Street. If you look closely, you can see the Southern Cross over the city, our nighttime view from the deck. That won't be the view tonight, though. Still raining so it's time for Jim's new Snap card game and maybe a movie. We've decided to rent a car this coming week so we can get out and about.