Our list of things to be done to finish the house build has become much shorter this week, due to visits from various tradies every day except for Wednesday, when we won the America’s Cup again. Coincidence? On Monday Caleb came and did the tiling of the window sill behind the gas hob to make it legal. He also tiled splash backs for us in the downstairs loo, shower room and laundry. This was partially to use up the one whole black tile and three sections of grey tile that we had left over from the original tiling in the shower room. However, due to the way they had to buy the extra tiles, we now have four whole tiles and bit of another left over! Hey-ho. All the tiling looks really good and works well. Tuesday was Bert’s turn. He finished the balustrade and built a retaining wall by the drive to stop the gravel disappearing in the rain. This has produced a nice “boxed” area which Nicky is looking forward to planting. He did a couple of other minor fixes too. Thursday was the “big”...
As I sit down to write this week’s post, it is just turned half past four in the afternoon and we have finished the bulk of the clearing up after hosting a shared lunch for around 28 people. Just the dishwasher to empty now. We are putting up our feet with a pot of tea in the lounge, where the temperature is 28ยบ, same as in the shade outside. The ranch sliders have been open all day, but the hot sun has been out all day too, accompanied by a warm northerly wind from Oz. The shared Parish lunch went very well. I made pork pies yesterday, and Nicky converted two loaves of bread into sandwiches this morning. We added gluten free muffins from the freezer and thick slices of watermelon. Everybody brought something with them, some quite a lot, and we ended up with masses of food. It felt like a banquet. There was quite a bit left over, but not an excessive amount. We had laid out the food and drinks inside and put most of the seating outside in the shade under the car port. With most pa...
2026, another New Year, is upon us, as are the jokes about things which haven’t been done since last year. We celebrated the first day of the New Year and our 5th anniversary of moving to Whanganui with a shared lunch. We invited neighbours and Charlotte’s Dummies quiz team, many of whom had other commitments. However, the eight adults (including ourselves) and three children enjoyed our time together. Mike was the last to arrive and stayed and watched The Chase with us. Until today, the weather has not been very summery. Having had most of the previous week in Auckland there was still much to do after Nicky had accomplished the laundry marathon on Sunday before and after church. My activity was limited by back pain. This has gradually improved through the week, but then in the small hours of Friday morning I twisted my right knee getting back into bed. If it isn’t one thing… I have cut the back garden grass twice, the berm once, and done my routine cleaning jobs. Nicky has spent ...
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