Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

It’s like buses: we don’t get a public holiday for the whole of November, then they come along all together at the same time in December.  Our weather has perked up this week, Thursday being absolutely gorgeous. It has been dry with various flavours of sunshine and warmth. It is the best we have had at this time in November since 2008. I remember it because that was the first time we had a holiday in NZ. We all took some time off work, had some day trips and a couple of nights in Katikati, and the weather was good. Each year since I have compared the weather at the same time of year and it has not been as good, until now. We had a good day on Monday. After a good breakfast we went to Titirangi to take some art in to be framed: the print which Nicky had bought me the day before, a sketch I was given over a year ago from a group I sat for in Ponsonby, and a photograph of me that was given as a thank you by a student doing her Masters who I know through Deep & Meaningful....

We have had some nice weather this week. Mainly sunny and getting warmer, but still a cool southerly breeze from time to time. We didn’t get any rain until late yesterday and it dried up mid-morning today. So, I have finally been able to get the laundry routine back on schedule. Nicky has had some busy and stressful days at work what with one thing and another, so was very pleased that she had yesterday off for her BHB Quilters. This was of course followed by Scrabbling with Stella and Steve. I have had a reasonable week with a moderate amount of work. I had to do some on Monday while Nicky was home doing cleaning and mowing, and I took my lunch with me which I ended up having it on Red Beach, which was good. First beach lunch of the season. I bought myself new footwear (replaced my non-existent sandals and new trainers for walkies) and had a good discussion on Thursday evening. Friday had no work in the diary and the weather was sunny so I had my walk and swim out at Karekare...

Nicky has has another busy week at work, but mine has been quieter, quite disjointed, and included a drive collapsing on me while I was doing some general maintenance on it. The customer was initially not too happy but I had him up and running again in 24 hours, and he realised the benefit of a good backup strategy. On Monday I had to return a Mac to Ponsonby so we took advantage of the opportunity and had morning tea together in a new German café which has opened on Ponsonby Road. We bought a very nice loaf of pumpkin bread while we were there. We did a bit of shopping and browsing too, and then in the afternoon while I did a job in Stanmore Bay Nicky had a treat and did the ironing (lucky lass!). In the evening she and Tanya visited an elderly gent who misses them both since they left BHB library. Nicky had a late work-start on Tuesday as she went up to BHB library for a 15 year service do for a college, so spent her time beforehand doing baking. I zipped her down to the sta...

Well it has been for me this week - a water blast that is! I have spent most of the week water blasting the drive. Dawn and I had been talking about it on and off for the past few weeks, and as I had virtually no Mac work this week and the weather wasn’t looking too bad, I borrowed Dawn’s trusty Karcher and got on with it. It took one to two hours per section of concrete, of which there are 17. It looks better though. Nicky has had another good week at the library, has been to Maranatha and had her hair done. I have had evenings out at Deep & Meaningful and drinks up at The Block, and did a modelling job on Saturday morning. I have been working on a Mac over the weekend, and shopping, cooking, laundry and ironing have also been done.  Nicky has enjoyed reading another Linda la Plante, and I have now also read the first of Philip Pullman’s Book of Dust trilogy, La Belle Sauvage. We have both enjoyed it. Nicky has Scrabbled at Stella’s with Steve today, and made us o...