Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Nicky has had a really busy week this week, both at work and socially. She was out for four of the weekday evenings with prison prayer group, works meal for Matariki, house group, and another church prayer group. She has been under a lot of pressure at work with all the things she is being asked to do for Matariki and the library being short staffed. The weekend was a welcome break. I too have been quite busy with work - out all day Tuesday and some work on all but one of the other weekdays. The time in-between has been filled with the usual second guessing of the weather in order to get the laundry dry, ironing and shopping. We have had more sun this week so it has been a bit easier. On Tuesday Lucy arrived to spend a few days with us. Stella and I popped down to a new night market in New Lynn on Thursday evening. It was supposed to start last week but didn't due to the stormy weather. There were only a handful of stalls (it will hopefully grow) but I bought some lovely m

Saturday was the main event this week, with it being our 28th wedding anniversary and Stella's first house auction as a buyer. We started the day with some rain, but it soon started to brighten up. Nicky, Stella and I had viennoiserie (croissants and pain au raisin) for breakfast which I had bought from the French deli in Mt Albert (Katie and Tim were still slumbering). Nicky started preparing onion soup for lunch and then we walked and drove down to Taylor Court for the auction. We met Paul, Jenny, Steve and Ros there who had all come to provide their support. Unfortunately Stella was bidding against a couple who were buying to rent and had deeper pockets, so she missed out. As much as this was a disappointing outcome, it was a valuable experience and I thought the house sold for more than it was really worth. Paul and Jenny came back with us for lunch and departed later in the afternoon. Nicky and I went up to The Block café in the evening as they are now also open as a

It has been quite routine but also busy this week. A man came to fix the garage door on Monday, which took him just a few minutes. It was the tension on the spring which controls the pulleys which had got very loose and was causing the problem. He had to come back on Tuesday morning as it stopped working again - the increased tension in the spring and the cold night meant the motor needed adjusting - which took a few seconds. It took me 24 hours to regain my confidence in the door but all has been going well since. My sister called and emailed on Tuesday morning to say that mum had slipped and fallen in the dinning room and broken her right hip. She had not been there very long before being found by the first carer of the day who called an ambulance. She had a plate and screws inserted in on operation on Wednesday morning and is going to be in hospital for awhile. She has found it all very confusing and can't remember why she is in hospital. Nicky has been busy at work. T

We have now had our first full week back home, and are slipping into new routines with Stella, Katie, Tim and work. Monday was a Public Holiday to celebrate the Queen's Birthday, and we had a quiet day at home. We had some bits of sunshine from time to time, played a few games of may jong, and got some laundry and ironing done, mainly by Nicky and Stella. I made some lemon curd and Nicky did us a wonderful tea of scones and crumpets. Tuesday was wet and back to work. Nicky's work colleagues thoroughly enjoyed the cheese we had sent from England with some crackers and grapes. I went into town to do a Mac job and spent the afternoon doing odd jobs - sorting out the answer phone, closing the cash passport we had used while travelling and some other banking. The rest of the week has been similar, getting to grips with the laundry/weather combination, shopping, another couple of Mac jobs for me, and enjoying some glorious sunshine for most of Thursday. I took Claire som

Auckland was cold and wet on our return. For the first time my feet and legs had swelled up quite a bit. I thought this was interesting as also for the first time I had been able to stretch my legs out comfortably under the seat in front on me. However, I didn't walk around as much as I had done on the other long flights, and it was the longest at 14 hours.  I think it was about 6am on Friday morning when Claire delivered us back home. Stella was already up ready to greet us, and Katie and Tim surfaced a little while later to get ready for school. We had second breakfasts and general chats and unpacking (especially of clothes in need of a wash). Claire departed between 8 & 9 and I had a shower and went to bed. I slept for 3 hours and felt much better. Nicky also showered and went to bed but couldn't get to sleep so got up and went to have a look at a open home with Stella. The afternoon was taken up with more laundry as the rain eased off, and a trip to the bank fo