Much the same really

 Even though it is now officially autumn, we have finished the week with some lovely weather. I have noticed that the daylight hours are getting fewer, especially in the mornings when having our first cuppa of the day.

This was the view that greeted me as I walked out of the front door on Wednesday morning to go and do the shopping

Our week has again been dominated by the garden, but punctuated with some other events. Nicky has continued planting and spreading bark, and bought some more plants from Frances. I have completed “Phase 1” of the retaining wall digging - the 1 metre deep trench where the poles and planks will be when it is finished. I have now moved onto “Phase 2”, which is widening the trench to give me space to construct the wall and set up the drainage. The spoil that is coming out from this digging is going beside the shed, as most of it will be going back from whence it came.

After Life Group on Tuesday, Nicky called into the drive-through “pancake facility” at Christ Church and brought us home each a lovely pancake. She was their first customer. The parish lead team made, tossed and gave away 500 pancakes. We made more later for our dinner, sans bacon this year, but the lemon curd and banana was good. Nicky popped into the church office on Wednesday for her clergy interview prior to the Vestry election. She was back again in Christ Church in the evening for the Ash Wednesday service, after making and consuming an excellent stuffed marrow for dinner.

While having breaks from digging out the retaining wall, I have done a little MacOnSite work, shopping and ironing.

We woke on Friday morning to see smoke and an orange glow on the horizon above the trees. We soon learnt (from the Whanganui Chronicle website) that a local timber yard was ablaze, with fire engines coming from as far away as New Plymouth (a 2½ hour drive). It was the timber yard from which we purchased our materials for the retaining wall, and Jacqui bought the timber for her steps. Nobody was injured and they are able to continue trading despite of the damage that was done. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Nicky was on a day’s Lent retreat yesterday, which went very well. I decided to head up the coast to investigate beaches, specifically Ototoka and Kai Iwi. It was high tide so there wasn’t much sand, and the access to Ototoka is difficult for those, like me, with questionable knees. It was an enjoyable trip and it was good to be out for awhile.

Kai Iwi

Ototoka

Waterfall and Ototoka

Nicky was up early this morning, so decided to water the garden. She has been holding back because of a request from the council to conserve water from a few weeks ago. She popped home after communion at St John’s for a quick lunch before going to Christ Church for an SMG & EGM to discuss and vote on the Future Flow plans. These consist primarily of using some of the land that the church owns to build social housing. The vestry election also took place and my lovely wife was one of the people duly elected! Can she now put VM after her name I wonder? 

I have spent most of the day ironing, but did a hint of trenching this morning This we have discovered is a confusing gardening term for burying our organic waste - the worms love it.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.