Birthday Week

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It’s been THAT week in December again. However, with Claire being in Dunedin it has been the first time we haven’t had a birthday get-together at some point on the 11th/12th. We spoke to her on the phone which was good. Nicky’s birthday was on Friday and she took a half day off, so we met at The Block for lunch and had very nice aged Hereford steaks. Jancis came round for afternoon tea with birthday lemon curd and passionfruit cheesecake (see below) and we were happily joined by Jan and Dawn, which was really good. The weather wasn’t stunning so we opted for an early evening cinema visit to see My Old Lady. This we thoroughly enjoyed, and by encouragement of Jan and Dawn were introduced to the Lido Cinema in Epsom, which is a really nice venue. We had a light toast-based bite when we got home which just rounded the day off for us.

We have had two other very enjoyable social engagements this week - both pre-Christmas / end of year gatherings. The first was Nikcy’s church house group on Wednesday evening which was hosted by Jan and John again. It included a commentated viewing of some of John’s photos from his recent trip with his brother to Eastern China and some of the neighbouring countries. We took a hummingbird cake which Nicky had made and was just gorgeous. The second was this evening and was with my MeetUp group, hosted by Wendy and James. Again very enjoyable and Nicky got to meet some of the people with whom I spend every other Thursday evening. We took some very nice chocolate thins which we purchased at Titirangi market this afternoon, and a newly invented pre-dinner nibbles of Ferrets on Horseback - smoked cheese and black pudding wrapped in bacon.

The rest of the week has been pretty busy with work for both of us. The weather has been dryer than expected but not without a number of downpours, but I have still been able to make more ironing on which I re-arranged the creases today. Ironically we put the summer quilt on the bed on Monday.

Yesterday we got into the festive spirit - I bough a tree and decorated it. We also bought new tree lights and some outdoor ones, though they are still waiting for some sun to charge them up. Steve, Ros and Stella came over for Scrabble late afternoon, and managed to fit in some birthday cheesecake too.

On a sad note our 20ish year old toaster has died. It has served us well, and was one of most successful gifts that I have ever bought for Nicky.

Take care,

Rick

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