Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

As many of you are probably already aware, our exciting news this week is the engagement of Claire and Ryan. They are on holiday in Queenstown at the moment and Claire rang us on Thursday evening to tell us the happy news. Below is a photo of the one true ring, yet to be resized. Following Nicky's hospitalisation last weekend, her GP signed her off work for three days so she only worked on Thursday with Friday being a public holiday. She found Thursday morning quite difficult, but the afternoon was better. She is still not 100% and still has a very disrupted sleeping pattern. It has been quiet the last few days with Claire being away so it has been quite a different week. Friday was quite showery so we stayed home, pottering round the house. Yesterday was better, fine and sunny with a cool breeze, so Nicky and I went to the Pah Homestead at Monte Celia Park in Hillsborough. This has been completely renovated by the council and opened as an art gallery last year. We really enjoyed t

On the whole it has been a regular sort of week until the weekend. Nicky has had a full week at work, Claire has been working hard to complete assignments before the Easter break, and I have had some Mac work too. The weather, also until the weekend, has been great; sunny days with not too much wind and not too hot. Great warm autumn days. Saturday however was very wet, and we have had a couple of showers today. I had camera club on Monday night and got top marks for one of my photographs. Nicky invited a young work college round for dinner on Tuesday evening to help him make a computer buying decision. She also had life group on Wednesday evening. Claire was working at Whitcoulls on Thursday evening, and then on Friday evening Nicky and I went up to church for an International Food Evening. People had been asked to bring a dish reflecting their geographical origins. Nicky made feijoa sorbet and fresh feijoas. I made Yorkshire puddings stuffed with vegetable curry and topped with black

The day dawned quite cloudy even though the forecast was good, and by the time we left Mt Albert after collecting Stella, we started to have the odd spot of rain. However, once we left SH1 and started heading west the sky cleared and by the time we reached Castaways the sun was more out than in. It only took us 50 minutes to get there, much less than we had expected, so we were able to enjoy a relaxing cup of tea (no scones with jam and cream though) as we waited for others to arrive for the 4pm ceremony. Castaways is set on a cliff top with its main function building overlooking a grassy area which leads down to the edge of the cliff. This is where the ceremony took place, and a number of post-ceremony photos were taken before the bridal group headed down to the beach for more photos. The wedding breakfast was served inside after sunset, and was punctuated with more speeches than Nicky and I have experienced at a wedding before. Naomi's dress was quite stunning, Doug looked quite

This 3 minute bit of video is an excellent example of how brilliant new technology (Nickys' iPad2) is no compensation for a rubbish operator (me). Rick

It is late Saturday afternoon as I sit down to write this blog update. I am doing this now as I don't know what time we will get back from THE wedding tomorrow. No, not Bill and his bint (there goes my knighthood), THE wedding - Naomi and Doug. For those who can't remember, Naomi is Paul and Jenny's younger daughter and therefore one of Nicky's nieces. The wedding is at 4pm at a place called Castaways, which is about 2 hours drive south west of here. I know my regular readers like their weekly fix so I though I would post something today about the week, and then do a special on Monday or Tuesday about THE wedding. It has been a pretty fraught week. Nicky's insomnia has been coming and going so she has been very tired, along with having her first full time week back at work in her new post at New Lynn. She has had a very nice card from her colleagues at Ranui saying how much they miss her. Claire has also not been sleeping well so has also been very tired, along with

We have all had a busy week. Along with attending her lectures, tutorials, twice-weekly yoga and shifts at Whitcoulls, Claire has been working hard on a 2000 word essay amongst other things. Nicky has done four and a half days at New Lynn library and now has a much better idea of what the future holds. Unfortunately she will not be going back to Ranui, certainly for the foreseeable future. She feels very sad about this as she really enjoyed the people and atmosphere in Ranui, but her managers think it is too stressful. Her other concern has been that moving to a different post will mean a significant cut in pay, but that concern now seems to be past by her being officially transferred to New Lynn on medical grounds. So, this week she starts full time Monday to Friday at New Lynn, and the team there are very pleased to have her join them permanently. I have had some Mac work which has been good, two of my three jobs this week being with new customers. I have also set up a wireless route