Melting in the shade

The cooler temperatures of last Sunday continued into Monday morning, a public holiday for Waitangi Day (observed). By lunchtime we were back in shorts as the rain stopped and the sun came out. We hit 32º again on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday started with some fog, and by mid-afternoon it was 34º and little or no clothes were being worn again. We spent most of our time outside reading in the shade and finished the day with another enjoyable sunset.

The rain returned in patches on Friday morning, and then in earnest late in the afternoon. Saturday morning was still, warm and humid. I opened the ranch sliders at the front to let some cool air in while we had breakfast, and it was lovely listening to the rain gently fall. 

It got heavier in the afternoon and has continued again today, but the southerly wind has driven the rain at 45 degrees and dropped the temperature significantly. Nicky said it was 15 degrees returning from church.

We have had our first week of the year with no entertaining, but have still had some pleasures. Tuesday is cheap day at the cinema so in the morning we saw Belfast, the Kenneth Branagh semi-autobiographical film of his childhood. It was brilliant, and I found it very moving with a number of themes to which I could easily relate. In the evening Nicky went to see Spencer, about Diana, and found it an interesting portrayal from the Sandringham servants’ point of view.

We also enjoyed Poppy on the TV, a film about a girl with Downs syndrome and car enthusiasm. It has gained quite a reputation here and is set down on the Kapiti Coast, so we recognised some of the scenery. We finished a jigsaw on Monday and have almost finished another one today. We have both read the remaining two Abir Mukherjee crime stories that we had from the library, and have been very pleased to discover that there is a fifth in the series which we didn’t know about - it’s on order.

In the cooler parts of the day Nicky has been doing more planting, and I had a go with the strimmer on Tuesday evening, but got little done as shortly after starting I got some string tangled in it. It took me over an hour to take the whole thing apart and extract the string. I then put it back together incorrectly, so it only worked for a few seconds. It was going dark and I was tired. So I returned to the task on Wednesday morning, and with better light and a fresher head, I was able to solve to assembly problem. Hence I shortened loads of grass and weeds.

The wood for the retaining wall and some espalier posts were delivered on Wednesday afternoon. It was all heavier than I expected, the planks particularly. Even the delivery driver didn’t actually lift them. He slid them off the truck over the balustrade to where I could land them before dragging them over to the nominated storage area. On Thursday morning (before it got too hot) I trimmed the dogwood tree and the rowan from next door which hangs over our fence. This was harder than I expected, so I was pleased to rest my aching limbs in the heat of the afternoon.

Lyn across the road gave us three dozen lemons on Friday morning, as they are falling off her tree and rotting, and getting expensive in the supermarket. We zested and juiced all of them and have frozen them in three-lemon portions.

Due to the heavy rain and wind, we have had a quiet weekend of jigsaw, reading and telly. While Nicky was at church this morning I started watching Bend it Like Beckham, which is a film I haven’t seen for years. I had forgotten both how funny and good it was. I found it was no problem in going straight back to the beginning again, so the Nicky could watch it all the way through, upon her return home.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.