Chook Pie anybody?

 Twice this week we have been visited by one of next-door’s chooks. It just seemed to be checking us out and left a non-egg deposit on the drive. It was a good size for our pie dish, so maybe third time lucky?

It has been a much quieter week, largely because of the weather. It hasn’t rained all the time, but often when it has, “cats and dogs” has been an appropriate description. Whanganui river however, has kept itself in check, for now.

To celebrate the Queen’s Birthday public holiday and her Platinum Jubilee, Nicky made Jubilee Muffins. She was aiming for red, white and blue. We didn’t have any blueberries or cherries in stock, but we did have cranberries, white chocolate, Philly cheese, and some peanuts for a bit of crunch. They turned out very well, though I had to stop eating them so that some could be gifted to neighbours (Jacqui and Frances).

After dinner we started watching The Responder on TVNZ OnDemand. This is a UK production with Martin Freeman in the lead role (and Executive Producer). The first two episodes were a little disturbing.

Before doing the shopping on Tuesday morning I watched the Apple Keynote presentation from the developers virtual conference, to keep up to speed with their new products. Yet again I was left with a feeling of “don’t people lead different lives from me!?!” They obviously have so much to do and so little time, and here’s me really starting to get to grips with semi-retirement (Nicky is very accomplished at retirement, though I have noticed a recent disturbing trend of being dressed before lunchtime).

Nicky was feeling very tired so had a snooze instead of going to Life Group. I nipped over to the Gonville pharmacy to collect her repeat prescription, before we put the new Listener crossword to bed. After dinner we watched the remains four episodes of The Responder, which was very good. We were pleased with the resolution of the storylines at the end. Heavy rain accompanied us to bed.

While finding out what was happening in the world on Thursday morning, Nicky came across a lovely anecdote. A lady driver was stopped by a Traffic Officer in America. When he asked her if she knew why he had pulled her over, she replied that she had no idea. “You were texting on your phone, ma’am.” “No I wasn’t” she replied hotly, showing the Officer her phone, “it’s an email.”

Nicky had two borrowers at the Community Library, though one just came in for a rant about government control and Covid vaccinations. Unsurprisingly, she was anti. Nicky still managed to get plenty of reading in, like a proper librarian.

I have done some sorting out of our vast collection of loose photos to establish which ones I have already scanned and which ones are duplicates. I am pleased with the progress but still feel the task is daunting. There are still thousands (literally) to go through.

On Friday evening we watched Roadkill, another UK production which we had recored. It’s a political drama with Hugh Laurie in the lead as an almost Teflon-like minister. It was very well done and enjoyable to watch. A similar quality to the original “House of Cards”.

We had another day pottering yesterday, and enjoying the cosiness of our home when the rain is pelting down. Frances popped in to deliver some cooking apples and have a quick coffee. Nicky made a lovely salad to go with the last bit of leftover roast pork. Our evening entertainment was Ella Enchanted, a film for which I quickly realised I was in the wrong demographic. This we followed with The Public. A story of homeless people occupying Cincinnati Public Library in order to keep warm and stay alive overnight. It was very good, poignant, and had some lovely amusing library moments in it (you get to read books all day - yeh right!).

The autumn colours are starting to come to an end (the wind has taken most of the leaves), but the willows just a little downstream from us are still putting on a show, but I’ve not been able to capture them in sunshine this week:

Today while Nicky was at church, and assisting with refreshments, I used some of our gifted apples to make an apple, cheese, and honey sultana cobbler. On her return home Nicky made brioche to go with tonight’s soup. The brioche was lovely and the cobbler OK. We have been watching a documentary about the Bee Gees and another about Elon Musk. The rain continues to fall heavily. Bed time isn’t far away.

Take care, Rick and Nicky