Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

You will be very pleased to know, Dear Reader, that we have survived yet another Christmas. We didn’t entirely over indulge, drink the night away, wail in despair on receipt of inappropriate gifts, or follow the herd to the Boxing Day sales. We did however, have a good time. Monday was Felicity’s last day with us, and after much packing and washing of bedding, she an Nicky set off for Paul and Jenny’s via the Botanic Gardens. They enjoyed both the flora and sculpture.  I spent the morning setting up a new Mac for one of my customers before going down to the Bay for my Office Christmas Party. I was joined by around a dozen other Deep & Meaningful members who would have a very solitary affair otherwise and we had a very enjoyable chat and lunch, despite the mixed weather. We took over the “bus shelter” on the path to the boathouse and that worked well. To finish off the day I went out for a beer with Paul and his lad Jason, who I hadn’t seen for ages. Tuesday was...

Apologies for posting after your bedtime Mrs. Trellis, but it has been a busy week, and today was no exception. We might not fit into the conventional mould of either landed or gentry, but this week we became landowners. There is now a title document for approximately 540 sq. m. of land in Wanganui which has our names on it. To get to this point has been quite a journey, so to get the phone call and confirmation email was joyous relief. To also get to this point before the country closed for Christmas was also brilliant, as at means we can start the New Year with the main point of the project - building our new home. Visiting rellies have also featured heavily in our week. We met up with David, Zoé, Amelia, Cassius and Edie at Mt Eden on Monday afternoon, and walked to the summit to see the inside of the crater and enjoy the views over Auckland. The children were still full of energy so we took them over to Mission Bay to play in the playground and have a run on the beach. The...

You’re in for a long read this week Dear Reader, so sit down comfortably with a mug/glass/carafe of your preferred beverage, and I will begin. I was going to start this week’s post by saying that it had been a momentous week, but in reality it was just two days: Thursday and Friday, where “everything” happened. I will report in chronological order as far as possible. Thursday was Nicky’s birthday. I had wished her happy birthday around 1.30am as we both took advantage of the facilities, and repeated the greeting with our first pot of tea of the day while sitting up in bed some hours later. As the world woke up, texts, WhatsApp messages, emails and even the odd phone call flooded in. Late morning we piled into the car and collected Stella on our way to Montrose in Mairangi Bay for lunch.  Now, I’m a bit hazy on one detail here, and the evidential trail is at odds with my memory, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. On Wednesday evening I had received a text from Agent Feli...

We had some rain at the beginning of the week, but it has generally been warm and with much sunshine. Temperatures have got into the mid 20’s and the low 40’s have been observed in our roof space. Nicky has spent much of her time sewing, and her plethora of Christmas gatherings have started. She did her usual stint at Seniors Church on Monday morning, and was in Henderson for Book Chat on Wednesday morning. On Thursday, along with about half of the residents of the Bay, she attended the funeral of one of her fellow parishioners who was a widely liked lady who will be missed by many. Her Christmas gatherings started on Monday evening with one for leaders up at church, continued on Thursday with prison volunteers in Greelane, and then Saturday with Maranatha at the RSA in Swanson. I seem to have been quite busy with work, but it didn’t actually pan out to many hours. I enjoyed my Thursday meetup discussion about dreams, and putting the world to rights at The Block on Friday. ...

As November comes to an end, and the last month of the year begins, summer is officially upon us. The weather seems to have noticed, for the moment at least, as the temperature has risen degree by degree as the week has progressed. It has been a generally “normal” week with Nicky doing most of her usual church activities, and me doing a reasonable amount of work. In addition, Nicky has been mowing the grass at church in stages (the battery on the mower doesn’t last very long), continued sewing, and attended a pre-Christmas multi-denominational service on Wednesday evening. We have been doing Christmas shopping in town at the Art Gallery on Friday, and at the Arataki Visitor centre yesterday. I had work in town on Friday afternoon so we both went into town early, did the shopping, and then ate our picnic lunch in dappled sunlight in one of the galleries’ outdoor seating areas. Very pleasant. Nicky then caught a bus to Te Atatu to go to Dilworth Hearing again for more attention ...