Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Back to a greater sense of normality this week. Nicky has had a steady (as opposed to manic) week at the library, I have had some Mac work, and did a modelling job on Friday morning which was great. The weather has been better too, and as Nicky commented the other day, “it’s starting to smell like summer”. We have changed to the summer quilt, and the heaters have finally been stowed away. Nicky was out Wednesday and Thursday evening with activities at church, and I was in Orewa on Thursday evening for a MeetUp group discussion. Friday was a very nice and almost hot day, 26°, but finished with rain which lasted overnight. However, this meant that Saturday was also a good day. After breakfast I did some work admin while Nicky went down to Lynnmall to do some Christmas present shopping. She followed this with Scrabble at Stella’s and I did the ironing. The tellybox was the focus of our evening. The weather didn’t start out as good today as we expected, but the cloud was clear

Our week has been dominated by sad news. Following on from the terror attacks in Paris, there has been the death of Jonah Lomu here, and in England Nicky’s friend Jane Rhapson has been taken by cancer. The mood has been lightened by some of the media coverage of Jonah’s life. The comment which has stayed with me has been attributed to a coach talking to his team: “Rugby is a team game so all 14 of you pass the ball to Jonah.” The rest of our week has been decidedly ordinary in comparison. Things have been steady at the library, which makes a change from being manic. My back has improved each day and though still not right, it is so much better than a week ago. I have also had some work. We have had a few evenings out with Nicky at prison prayer group and life group, and me at my Deep & Meaningful MeetUp group. The summer however seems to have buggered off and been replaced by cold wind and rain quite often this week. We had an enjoyable late breakfast on Saturday morning.

While Nicky has had a busy week at work and Diwali has come to an end, I have had another quiet week. I have done a couple of short on-site jobs, and spent the best part of a couple of days dealing with issues by email, but the rest of the week has been domestic duties. We have only had a couple of evening commitments; Nicky having her hair done and me going up to The Block for a drink. I started Monday waking with a considerable amount of back pain, but it improved throughout the week until yesterday. Then this morning it got very painful very quickly, so I have spent all day resting it which has resulted in some improvement. The highlight of the week was yesterday as we toured the Open Studios of Waitakere. This is a weekend which happens every year where artists open up their studios for the public to visit, see their work and talk to the artists. We got to see two glass makers, a potter and three painters. We liked all of the work we saw and could have spent thousands, and

The weather is starting to improve, and for the first time this weekend felt like summer. Nicky’s week has been busy at work, and she was out two evenings this week with prison prayer group and life group. My week has been quite quiet with no work at all (only the second time this calendar year) but I have read a couple of good books, had a bell ringing tutorial and a good evening on Thursday at my MeetUp group. Wednesday was quite exciting, as the victorious All Blacks returned, and there was a celebration parade and event in Victoria Park. I decided to go into town to join the crowd which was estimated at 25,000. I got a pretty good view and managed to shake hands with Steve Hansen, the coach. Nicky also happened to be in town on a first aid refresher course, and they were allowed to pop down to the Park during their lunch break to get a glimpse of the AB’s. Yesterday dawned with lovely clear skies. After a late breakfast Nicky did some hoovering whi

I was up an hour later today than last Sunday morning, but Nicky had been up for awhile. I think she was over exited at the prospect of the match, but she denies this! Anyway, we made our way up to The Block again, only to discover that all the tables were reserved. It hadn’t occurred to us that because it was The Final that we would have to book a seat. They offered us a couple of bar stool’s but we decided we would be more comfortable at home, which we were with a pot of tea and toast. It was terrific game, and of course the best team won, so it all turned out well in the end. After the match Nicky went off to church and I did the ironing. On her return Nicky finished off her breakfast porridge and then went over to Stella’s for Scrabble. I got a bit more shut-eye and then when Nicky returned with Luna went to Karekare for a walk. I was very pleased that I took a jumper with me, but enjoyed the walk and lots of paddles. The weather was better yesterday, starting with blue sk