Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It’s been Nicky’s second week “on loan” to Avondale and New Lynn libraries as the refurbishments continue at Blockhouse Bay. She has been busy and again enjoyed the different atmospheres in the library’s. I have had a busy week with Mac work of some shape or form on each day. My laundry routine has started to change to doing small loads each day to dry inside as the weather has got wetter, though I did get a second load dry outside on Wednesday (and one yesterday). Socially it has been a quiet week with Nicky just out a couple of evenings. The weather has been the big change as we have had some colder days to go along with the increased precipitation. This has persuaded us to change to the winter quilt and get the heaters out. I can hear the bearings on the electricity meter taking the strain already (which is odd seen as it is digital!). Yesterday started wet, but the sky cleared mid morning and by the afternoon we had blue sky and hot sunshine. Nicky popped up to see Dr ...

Nicky has had quite an interesting week. Blockhouse Bay library is closed for refurbishment, so she had been on loan to Avondale and New Lynn libraries. This has meant a greater variety of tasks, a good walk to work in the morning, and much food-sharing as is the way of things at New Lynn. She was also out at prison prayer group on Monday. I have a quiet week with work, the first for a while. The week started busy but then quietened down, but along with my household responsibilities I also had a good book on the go (Journey Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino), and was out at Deep & Meaningful on Thursday. We had a good evening out on Tuesday with James & Wendy from my D&M group. We had dinner at Pok Pok on K’ Road (a fairly recently opened Thai restaurant). We shared two starters, three mains and three desserts, so had a really good range of tastes and textures, and all for a reasonable price. We had a very enjoyable evening and Nicky didn’t have any nasty s...

The week has been one of opposing gradients in terms of work. The library has closed today for refurbishment, and the borrowers seem to have switching allegiance to other venues in the run up. As the week has progressed, the library has been getting quieter. My Mac work on the other hand, has gradually increased throughout the week, culminating in a long day on Friday and continuing into Saturday. A customer who I have worked with since 2008 moved to Port Waikato a while back and called me in for some major system restructuring. By 5pm on Friday I knew then next process was going to take around 5 hours, so even though the drive is an hour and a quarter each way, I decided it would be better to leave at that point and return fresh on Saturday afternoon. So, after breakfast yesterday morning I zipped over to Henderson to by network cabling, and then after a pot of tea on the sofa with Nicky headed off to Port Waikato again. Nicky spent the rest of the lovely warm and sunny Satur...

Autumn has continued to be summer-like this week with plenty of sunshine. The morning’s and evening’s can be a bit cool and some members of the community are complaining about the lack of rain, but I’m sure it’s on its way. We have had a little, and some fog. At the beginning of the week the library was business as usual, but as the week progressed it has started to get quieter, as if the borrowers are already heading off to other libraries ready for the three week refurbishment closure which starts on the 16th. Nicky has had evenings out at prison prayer group and to have her hair done this week, and we both went up to church on Wednesday to be part of a group Skyping with an astrophysicist at Durham University. It was quite an interesting evening though my beliefs were obviously out of step with everybody else’s. I have had a busy week, some of which has been due work, which has been good. I was out a couple of evenings too with Deep & Meaningful in town and drinkies up ...

Later this evening our Jancis sets out on her return journey to the UK. It’s been grand to enjoy her company again for a few months, and we look forward to her return next year. However, she will not be forgotten especially as her triffid, Mrs. Fortnum,  has taken up residence by our front door. This succulent is of the “could terrify a guard dog” variety. I have to count my legs every time I walk past it. We started this week with Anzac Day and a public holiday. I dropped Nicky off at New Lynn RSA on my way to Karekare, and we spent much of the rest of the day reading and sewing. We finally got to see “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” at the cinema in the evening (by getting the tickets in advance), and enjoyed it, but didn’t find it as funny as we expected. A little over-hyped possibly. Nicky has had a better week at the library with it just being very busy most of the time, instead of frantic. She was out two evenings with life group and prayer group. Jancis joined us for...