Pole Position

 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’s. This turned out to be more of a fly disposal exercise however. She was quite jaded when she got home. Life Group was less physically demanding and the Aramoho Community Library had no borrowers visit during her four hour attendance.

I have had some MacOnSite work to punctuate my other duties and post hole digging. Our temporary wine box letter-box fell apart so repairs were effected. I fastened it to some taller posts, in an effort to make it more stable, and easier to use for the folks delivering things. I have rearranged the furniture in the Room of Requirement again, so that is it more usable for us while still having the bed accessible.

We had an impromptu visit from Fiona Donne from down the road, and a good chat with Claire, who is now back in the office for more hours than working at home. Four days a week, I think. We have started to make some headway into the TV programmes and films that we have recorded recently. Two of the films, The Mercy and Dark Waters were very good. The first was about Donald Crowhurst and his attempt at the non-stop Round the World Yacht Race in 1968. The second was about Du Pont’s poisoning of residential water supplies during the production of Teflon. The series about Julia Child concluded this week and that has been a great pleasure to watch. Trigger Point series has us on the edge of our seats, as a bomb disposal crew in London appear to be getting into increasingly dangerous situations. As the lead role is a woman, I can’t stop thinking about Katharine, though there has been no jumping out of aeroplanes so far.

On Saturday Nicky went to Palmerston North on a Diocesan training day with other parishioners. She, along with a number of others, was travelling in the “church bus” so I dropped her at the church car park, after we had been to the Jigsaw Exchange. On taking my usual route home down Plymouth Avenue I was surprised to see a snowy Mount Ruapehu in the distance. I assumed it was because of the clear sky:

I drove home and collected my other camera and went up to the Durie Hill Lookout to get a better view. I hadn’t been there before and a calm clear day seemed to be ideal opportunity for a first visit. The views are stunning:

Nicky really enjoyed the training day, and I made fruit bread for our tea for her return.

I have had another quiet day today, as my muscles are still complaining about hole digging. It has been sunny and calm again. After church this morning Nicky went to a café with fellow parishioners from St John’s. She came home early afternoon, to find me strimming in the back garden. Nicky has extracted a cabbage from the garden and is making us cheese coleslaw for tea. We are looking forward the fresh crunch.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.