Culture Vultures, again.

I’m pretty sure today is Sunday. At least I think it is. I have been having difficulty with knowing which day it is all week, and it’s not as if we had a public holiday to mess things up. I think it might have stemmed from the fact that I have only done one on-site job this week, which was on Tuesday, but I think I thought it was Monday, and then somehow I was always a day ahead in my head. Go figure.

The rest of my work time this week has been taken up with remote support, monitoring comments on Apple’s new operating system upgrades, and getting to grips with them. I have also enjoyed reading “This is going to hurt”, the diary of an NHS junior Doctor, which was both funny and moving.

Nicky had her usual Monday and Wednesday visits to church, along with her last session at the dentist to finish her crown and a check-up at the optician which went very well. 

On Friday we had a very long (12 ½ hour) trip into town for some Artweek events. The first one was an art walk which started outside Tiffany’s (which Nicky couldn’t avoid going into), and finished at Aotea Square. It was very interesting learning about public works of art that we normally just walk past. In addition, we were introduced to some public spaces in an office building which the council demand the developers provide (the spaces that is). This was a real treat, as the building also has a café, not that we patronised it. We stayed in Aotea Square to eat our picnic lunch before walking down to the Wynyard Quarter to have a look at the entries in this year’s NZ Geographic Photography Competition, only the photographs weren’t there. We had a sit down for while as we were feeling rather jaded, and then when feeling a little refreshed walked up to the Art Gallery and had some afternoon tea (which included cheesecake and almond croissant as our next walk was 5.30-7.30pm). Nicky had a bit of a wander round part of the gallery while I continued recuperating, but finishing off our rolls and nuts in Albert Park on the way to 22 Princes Street (aka The Wedding Cake) for our next walk made a big positive difference. The walk was the Art of Architecture, and covered some of the same areas of town as the first walk, but this time looking at the architecture as opposed to the art, which was very interesting. We finished at the bottom of Queen Street in the twilight. Our guide for the two walks had been David Hill (one of my customers) who was very good.

We were now feeling like having a good sit down along with a good meal, and I suggested somewhere that I had spotted on our two walks, but on the way we passed a bar and restaurant “complex” and liked the look of Hello, so stopped, rested, and had very good salmon and pasta.

This equipped us for our last event of the the day, GLOW, a series of illuminated interactive sculptures by the harbour in Devonport. We hopped onto a ferry and easily found GLOW (it was dark by now) and had a wander round what turned out to be quite a small installation. We were not sufficiently captivated to linger, so hopped onto a ferry back to the CBD, walked up Queen Street and caught a bus home. A long but enjoyable day, and it hadn’t rained!

Yesterday was BHB Quilters Circle day, which Nicky started with a quick trip up to church first to assist with the inorganic collection, and I did a bit of shopping. I had committed to making some lemon curd tarts for the quilters as the lemon curd which I had made for the D&M dinner cheesecake was approaching it’s use by date. I also still had a portion of frozen butter in the freezer for making Hairy Biker freezer flaky pastry (which is very nice and quite easy), so was able to use up two things at the same time. The quilters really enjoyed their tarts (I kept a couple back for Nicky and I).

In the afternoon I went into town for a tour of the Baptist tabernacle (at the top of Queen Street) which was on as part of the Heritage Festival. It is a sizeable building with an interesting history - it was built in 13 months and opened debt-free in 1913.

The All Blacks game against Ireland was only being shown free to air an hour behind the live event last night, which put kick-off at quarter past midnight, so Nicky followed the game on the RWC website as it happened.

Today has been another busy day. Earlier in the week Stella asked Nicky if she would like to go with her to a gospel choir concert in Takapuna, as she had got two tickets by virtue of a BOGOF offer. Nicky of course said yes. Later in the week we received an email to say that there were now a couple of places available for a sculpture tour at Brick Bay (we had been on the waiting list). So, after Nicky got back from church we headed up to Walkworth and were introduced to the wonderful Brick Bay Sculpture and Winery venue. It is a real gem which we didn’t know existed. There was lots of art to enjoy on the rambling 2km trail, as well as it being a glorious setting. We plan to go back to sample the food and wine. Here are a few photos just to give you a bit of an idea of the place:

We met up with Stella in Takapuna and went for taps at Naman Eatery, which both Stella and I had found on the web and liked the look of. It didn’t disappoint. We ordered 7 dishes and they were all fantasic. A great range of lovely tastes and textures, and they didn’t all arrive at the same time which gave us chance to savour. While I drive home N & S went to the concert which they really enjoyed, then Stella dropped Nicky back home, “on her way past”.

So now we are heading off to bed, and I’m hoping that with a new week I will get a better sense of what day it actually is.

Take care, Rick