Cartography

It’s May already and we are still enjoying the weather. A southerly breeze dropped the temperatures for the beginning of the week, but we still had clear skies and sunshine. The last couple of days have started with fog which has taken awhile to clear due to the light winds. The only daytime rain we have seen was some showers on Monday, but it didn’t stop us changing the bed and doing the washing. It was so chilly on Wednesday morning that I started humming Christmas Carols while making the first pot of tea of the day.

We have had three exciting events this week, though I use the word with caution. In no particular order they were:

Sticking dots on a map: using median house price information in a publication that Nicky had been given we made a list a little while ago of all the areas in NZ where we might be able to afford to buy a house. However, most of the places we had not heard of and were really struggling to relate the information to a process where we can find somewhere suitable. So, this week I got out an A1 sized wall map of the country (which is laminated) that I bought ages ago and we set about sticking dots in all the places on the list. This was an interesting and useful exercise as the visual grouping of the stickers helps highlight the possible regions to consider. And we like maps. And stickers, to a degree.

Kelly, a friend of mine from Deep and Meaningful, came for lunch on Thursday on her way to the airport to collect an Uncle (presumably one of her’s, not just some random Uncle). We hadn’t seen her for awhile and she has had many changes in her life over the last 12 months, so it was good to share food and have catch up. Nicky made a great cheese soufflé, some wholemeal bread rolls and a salad. I did the shopping.

Steve came over on Monday with some wild venison which he brought back from his recent trip to the South Island. Nicky casseroled it on Friday and it was very tasty. There is enough in the freezer for two more dinners.

The rest of the week has been much more routine, with Nicky playing Mah Jong, having an interesting trip to a café with Doris, life group, and Book Chat and voluntary work in Henderson. In between she has been cleaning the windows and venetian blinds. I have had a reasonable amount of work during the week, and yesterday spent sometime with a friend of ours talking about his options as he is in need of some new technology.

Today has been our usual Sunday morning of church and Karekare, though I went later than usual because of the fog. Nicky Scrabbled in Henderson this afternoon and then the evening has been focused on the tellybox, watching Les Mis (Andrew Davis version) and Mother, Father, Son, which has Richard Gere in it.

Take care, Rick