Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

We haven't bought a tree this year, but we have had a few cards Nicky gets ready to enter the fray The family starts to gather on the deck at Clem and Pats Kim, Tai and Phil Sean gets to grips with his new inflatable friend More present opening Shani hangs out with the cat

I have started to get back to my walking routine this week - I try to do an hour or so first thing after breakfast. On Tuesday, while heading towards Green Bay, I realised that the alternative name for New Zealand, "land of the long white cloud" (or Aotearoa in te reo Maori) needs to be replaced with a more accurate alternative name; "land of the long shared driveway". When the outlying areas of Auckland were being settled for residential use, many of the homes were built on quarter acre sections, and with the roads very well spaced. In recent years as pressure for housing has increased and these sections have been sub-divided, rights-of-way to the new properties have often run down the side of the sections, hence the long driveways. I was reminded of this while walking, so just thought I would mention it. Nicky has been as busy as ever at the library, and on Thursday had her works Christmas celebration - breakfast in a café on the other side of the train station

It has been one of those weeks where thinking back to Monday seems like the dim and distant past... While Claire was over last Sunday celebrating her birthday, Nicky started talking about having pancakes for breakfast, partially because that is what Ryan had cooked for Claire for her birthday breakfast, and partially because it is one of the options available for her work Christmas breakfast do. She wasn't sure about pancakes for breakfast because of them being sweet. With Monday being Nicky's birthday we had planned to go up to the macadamia farm on South Head to see the lilies on their pond. She gets a day's birthday leave from work, though I think this perk is finishing at the end of this year. The weather wasn't brilliant - very cloudy, some rain, temperature mid-teens, but we decided to go anyway. The beginning of our journey was punctuated with shopping, mainly in St Lukes, returning the green jeans which I had bought for her but didn't fit, banking cheque

Nicky has been doing her usual at the library this week, punctuating her work with training, meetings and morning and afternoon teas. I don't think a week goes by when there isn't something to justify a gathering for sticky buns. Suggestions of a collective noun for sticky buns are requested. Mine would be "a Paddington of Buns". I had Monday and Tuesday working at the Election office in Henderson counting special votes. The rest of the week was occupied with getting back into my normal housekeeping routines, doing some Mac work, and lots of shopping - food, birthday and Christmas present. On Thursday I meet Claire for lunch as she finished work in Whitcoulls at 1. We had planned to "do lunch" on her last day at University - November 11th when she sat her last exam - but me taking over as Polling Place Manager scuppered that. We went to Frasers (I think) in Mt Eden and had an excellent lunch (corn fritters for C and eggs benedict with bacon for me) and then

We have both been kept busy with work this week - Nicky at the library and me counting votes. I worked late on Monday and Tuesday evenings, and then did some Mac work on Wednesday evening, so we have only had two weekday evenings at home together. By Friday afternoon we had finished counting ahead of schedule, so I came home early and didn't have to go in on Saturday as I was expecting. This enabled me to get a hair cut, do some washing and work on an old Mac that has been sat under my desk for a couple of weeks. Summer officially started on Thursday, but it has been cooler than the last couple of years. When the sun comes out it is now very warm, but we are still having quite long cloudy periods and cooling southerly winds. The wind has changed over the weekend to a warm northerly, but this has brought rain with it today and for the next few days. Yesterday was pleasant so we got the washing done, and mid-morning went up to the shops to watch the Santa parade, which was as much fu