Twinkle, twinkle...

It is true that not everything that glitters is gold - some of the other things are rubies, emeralds and diamonds. This we discovered on Monday in Tiffany’s (Auckland branch), which was one of the highlights of Nicky’s birthday.

We had started the day with card and present opening (very Harry Potter book orientated) followed by a drive to Birkenhead. We collected Maria (internationally famous TV chef amongst other things), and drove round the corner to her daughter and son-in-law’s café, Woodside. They focus on natural foods and are 100% gluten free. We had fantastic cheese and onion relish on buckwheat toast tartines, tea and coffee, sunshine and good conversation.

After dropping Maria near her home, we headed into town to have a look at the Lego Christmas tree. It isn’t quite as big as I had expected, but it’s fun nonetheless. We walked down to Galway Street and found our way into Tiffany’s. The only products that were priced were what I assume is the cheap stuff, mainly four digits before the decimal point and those with three digits were so close to the others I don’t know why they bothered! Anyway, Nicky enjoyed pressing her nose to the glass before we continued to the end of the building so see the Anderson Lloyd office. I hadn’t quite realised but access literally is through a café, but it’s a café which does French patisserie. They had some gorgeous looking stuff but we settled on a pot of tea and a shared salted caramel doughnut. Even though it was mid-day, we were only feeling like tea, not our picnic lunch.

Next stop was the art gallery to see the Lindauer exhibition. Yet again I was struck at how much better paintings are when you actually get to see the original. After a good wander round we headed back to New Lynn in order to have our picnic on the grassy knoll in the mall before a matinee showing of Arrival at the cinema. We were not sure that we fully understood the film but we did enjoy it.

Finally home to pot of tea and birthday fruit cake, followed later by bacon and egg pie with salad for dinner and Silent Witness. She’s a lucky lass.

Tuesday was a lovely day so the washing machine was pressed into service thrice. This gave me plenty of ironing to do later in the week along with more laundry and shopping as paid work has been non-existent. I have enjoyed the first in the series of books by MJ Cater with her historical characters Avery and Blake. “The Stangler Vine” is set in India in 1837 and is more boys-own adventure than murder mystery, but good all the same.

Nicky has been busy in the library, and did another roadshow on Tuesday where she did a performance of “Ill Wind” by Flanders and Swann. She put a lot of effort into the preparation but I think it paid off. We also delivered the wedding photos and album to Amy and Victor on Tuesday evening, and they seemed to be very pleased with them.

Our weekend has been very busy and filled with lovely sunny weather. Yesterday Nicky was off to church straight after breakfast to get set-up for quilting and their shared Christmas lunch. This was because we were due at Eden Gardens by 11 for the burial of Ruth’s ashes. This went well in the end but we had some fun finding the correct location. Nicky zipped off to quilting as soon as we got back, and I had my lunch followed by making stuffed capsicums to the evening and a bread and butter pudding with the crusts from Nicky’s asparagus rolls. On Nicky’s return from quilting (which went very well) we got ready for my Deep and Meaningful official Christmas BBQ at James and Wendy’s place in Freemans Bay. The company, food and conversation were all excellent, and we ended with some charades which really taxed one or two people’s brain cells. We (probably more me) ate too much and we were late to bed and it was a warm night.

Another early start today as Nicky’s plan was to prison first, then straight to Stella’s for Scrabble, then back home and down to the Churches in the Bay event at the beach where she was stewarding. With her being out all day I decided to get the first bus of the day (8am) into town and the ferry to Motutapu, the island which joins Rangitoto. There are only a couple of ferries a month that go directly to Motutapu and I wanted to take advantage of that to have a good explore of the island. This I did, along with a swim, but didn’t see as much as I had planned due to being fatigued and not being desperate to walk through a field of young bullocks. I was struck by how different it is from Rangitoto (very green) and by the wonderful and friendly bird life.

This beach is where I had lunch and a swim. Rangitoto in the background.

By late evening Nicky had not returned home, so I assumed the event was going on longer then she had anticipated and therefore she would be jaded also and not fancy walking back up the hill. I popped down in the car and found her just at the right time. She has had a good day but is really enjoying having her feet up and a pot of tea.

Take care, Rick