Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

One of the things we didn’t expect when we moved to Whanganui was to have such good “dark skies”. We have very little light pollution, especially at the back of the house. We took advantage of this on Wednesday night to watch the blood moon, which was at its height from 23.11 to 23.24. The sky was perfectly clear so it was also quite chilly, and a pot of tea and peanut butter and toast sandwiches were required to enjoy it to the full - and it was stunning. Both the moon and the Milky Way were clear and easy to see and looked absolutely majestic. My camera decided the blood moon was just too dark for it to be able to take a picture, but here is one of the moon as the eclipse began. It was a memorable event. Something else we hadn’t expected was all the different mini-beasts that we see. A few weeks ago we had a brown stick insect in the dining area which we managed to usher back outside with the aid of a box. This week I spotted a green one on the outside of the house so nipped out and

You may remember Dear Reader, that we very recently visited The Hanlon Adventurers while they were having a few days “up country” during the school holidays. I made some citrus curd tarts to take with us, amongst other things that the two of us prepared. This week I used the remaining curd (about a jar and a half) to make a cheesecake. This was served for dessert on Thursday evening for another gathering of the residents of Riparian Villas. Jacqui had provided entrées which included soft cheese with a chilli coating, and fresh salmon. They worked very well together. Mark and Elaine added another cheesecake (baked) for dessert, and in-between we had pulled pork. I got a 2kg shoulder joint for $14, applied a rub of brown sugar and Moroccan seasoning, put it in a casserole dish with a couple of bottles of Pilsner, and left it in the oven on regulo 2½-ish for 5 hours. It went well with some spuds and veg, and I think a pleasant evening was had by all. The not-having-to-drive-home also help

We have been on the telly box this week. Not Nicky and I, but Whanganui. It seems that people in TV land the world over have difficulty in filling the slot after the main news. Here in NZ on TV1 we have Seven Sharp, a light look at news and events. The congestion on the Dublin Street bridge here in Whanganui was an item on Seven Sharp this week (along with the Whanganui Chronicle for a couple of days). The problem appears to stem from the fact that the population of the “Paris of the North Island”, as the reporter described the town, has grown by 5,000 over the last few years, all moving from Tauranga and Auckland apparently. It is the Dublin Street bridge that most people in East Whanganui want to use to get over the river, especially in the morning. This is not something we we have actually encountered for a number of reasons: 1) we don’t get up that early; 2) we can get into town without using the bridge junction; and 3) we live on “this” side of the river already. All the same, it

Not just our age (and resulting disabilities) but our second building Code of Compliance inspection. Bert visited on Tuesday to explain that the outstanding issue from the first inspection was no longer an issue, but there was a different issue which needed to be addressed. This concerned the space between the exterior cladding and the “gullies” around parts of the house - the areas in which we had placed flat black stones. The requirement was for 175mm between the cladding and the ground. The inspection was booked for 10.15am on Friday, so Bert arrived early in the morning and dug out all the gullies to the required depth. We had removed the black stones a couple of days prior. The inspector was happy with this and passed us. Bert can now apply for the Code of Compliance Certificate. We should get it in 3-4 weeks. It will remove the Sword of Damocles hanging over us about having to repay the government for the First Home Grant that they gave us at the end of 2019. It is a great relief

We have had a whole week with fibre internet now, and have we got used to it! Woe betide a technical failure that should remove its presence - the  Spud Murphy of the household is not to be trifled with. With Anzac Day falling on a Sunday this year, Monday was a public holiday. It was a cool bright start so Nicky did two loads of washing, I did a little remote support work and had a Skype call with Maria (friend from Deep & Meaningful), and the sheep wandered up to see what was happening. We had a restful afternoon and played some games. In the evening we watched Peter Jackson’s film “They shall not grow old”, restored film from WW1 with voiceovers of participants recorded by oral historians. Again (as with his Gallipoli exhibition), Peter’s storytelling ability brought a new insight to the events which unfolded and their impact. Heavy overnight rain on Monday continued into Tuesday. Nicky washed all our glassware and the glass shelves in the glass cupboard and I raided the su