Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

  Our mild autumn has been drawing to a close with clear skies this week. This has brought chilly starts and overnight frosts. Plants have been wrapped in fleecy blankets and the Swedish ivy has come into the shower, though it doesn’t look any cleaner to me.   The “big” project of the week has been setting up the poles for the espalier fruit trees. Nicky had already dug one and a half holes, but the project had stalled due to our ill health. It has only been this week that I have started to feel that I’m actually over the virus that I came down with 5 weeks ago. My tiredness is back to my “usual” type of tiredness. I finished the half hole, put the two posts in and then dug five other holes and fitted their respective posts. We are very pleased with how they look: Nicky went to Castlecliff on Monday morning to do some riparian planting, but couldn’t find the working group amongst the rolling sand dunes so came home for lunch before driving up to Matarawa to clean the brass at St. John’

 It has been a different sort of week. Setting off early (for us) from Stella’s on Monday, we headed home directly, instead of via Lava Glass near Taupo as planned. This was because we now had a visitor arriving on Monday evening and needed to get the Room of Requirement ready for her. We arrived home shortly before Bradley corralled four complete strangers and Chased them.   A little while ago we had come up with a Baldrick-style cunning plan for organising the Room of Requirement for paying (hopefully) guests. The single divan bed that Jancis gave us, usually sits underneath the two library tables, which were liberated from the Sutton Bonningnton campus library. Just. The tables are very heavy and really beyond person-handling by Nicky and I. The bed fits snuggly under the tables, so I took off two of the legs and let the table top gently rest on the bed. Then, Nicky and I were able to slide it onto the top of the other table. I removed the remaining two legs and the table top slid a

I have always thought of myself as more of a lark than an owl, early starts to the day being preferred to late finishes. However, semi-retirement, age, or the water in Whanganui seems to have changed that. This week I have had a 9am dental appointment (Monday) and 8.45am flu vaccination (Tuesday) and boy was I glad when Wednesday morning rolled round and I didn’t have to be anywhere, at what now seems like a ridiculous hour. I have made my next dental appointment for 10.30am and plan for the future to aim for nothing earlier than 10am. Not only will this be better for me, but it gives those with gainful employment a better chance at an “early” appointment. Nicky began the week still suffering with diverticulitis. She was tired with lack of sleep and still quite uncomfortable. However, as the week progressed the medication really started to improve things and she started reducing the dose of pain killers she was taking. I chauffeured her to Life Group and Vestry on Tuesday. Sometime aro

 The bird is a kingfisher, not a woodpecker. I keep calling fantails wagtails for some reason too. It must be my age! R

 The weather has been unseasonably warm again this week, so we have continued taking advantage of it as much as possible. Afternoon tea has been our last al fresco event of the day. We continue to enjoy watching the trees move into their autumn colours: We had a very brief shower on Monday, but other than that, it has been dry, so Nicky has done quite a bit of watering in the garden. She has also continued planting in the bed south of the retaining wall: On Monday we had a quick trip to Mitre 10 for various odd items, but primarily a Robertson screwdriver. The handle of one of the ranch sliders had come very loose and once I had been sent instructions on how get into it, I was able to tighten the screws. However, the screws were of the square hole Robertson type, hence the need for a new screwdriver. I have had some MacOnSite work this week, and began to feel that I am finally starting to get over my cold. Nicky has also been feeling improved. After Life Group on Tuesday, she went to s

Ill health has dominated our week, with my cold becoming progressively worse and continuing to linger even though I have improved in the last few days. Nicky has also succumbed again, starting to feel unwell some hours after her influenza vaccination. As a result, we both went for PCR tests on Thursday and were informed 16 hours later that we were both Covid negative. The RATs appear to have been accurate. As a consequence, we haven’t done much this week, and most regretfully cancelled our planned   trip to Waitarere Beach to meet up with the Hanlon Adventurers. This was a disappointment, but they were able to eat our fish and chips so they didn’t go to waist (ours). Monday was Anzac Day. We enjoyed waiting for the fly past in the sunshine and seeing the view down the Whanganui River: We had been up early in the morning, so watched the dawn service on TV, not realising there was one up at the cemetery. Nicky made lovely Anzac biscuits with reduced sugar, no coconut (at my request) and