Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

I noticed earlier in the week that the satellite image on Google Maps had been updated - finally. The previous one dated from 2013 or earlier as the Jubilee Hospital, which had been erected across the road from us could be seen. This new image would have been taken around November 2021: Our home is the one which I have marked with a star, just in case you weren’t sure. We have had quite a bit of rain this week, but nowhere near as much as other parts of the country. The Whanganui River has been looking very full, but we haven’t seen any flooding. We have had quite a few rainbows, but I only managed to capture this one on camera: You can see how high the river is (the brown streak at the end of the rainbow, near where the pot of gold isn’t). It has also been cold, so we haven’t been encouraged into the garden. Monday was Annual Pamper Day for Luna (service and Warrant of Fitness). Nicky had Life Group on Tuesday and a St John’s meeting with Joy and Peter on Wednesday morning. She finish...

The week began with me aiming the get the “topping out” of the retaining wall finished on Monday morning. I had MacOnSite work booked in the afternoon but had to deal with an emergency work call before getting back to the tools and finishing the retaining wall. These two work commitments continued on and off for a couple of days, but the retaining wall was finished: The weather was good at the beginning of the week, so laundry was done and beverages were consumed on the bench in the warm winter sunshine. Nicky managed a whole day in the garden on Tuesday, but the rain started on Wednesday and forced her inside to sew. Thursday was dull and wet all day. Nicky wasn’t able to do her stint at the library as the gates to the grounds of the school were padlocked. I finally finished the jigsaw and made a shepherds pie for dinner. Friday was a much brighter and drier day, enabling us to walk down to Fiona’s for morning tea. Fiona was on her usual good form. After lunch we popped into town to d...

 We started the week with a continuation of last week’s showers. While the north of the country received some very heavy rainfall, we didn’t get the deluges that we were expecting. The rain to the north of us ended up in the Whanganui River as usual, so it was quite high and fast flowing for a couple of days. The weather dried up from Thursday, and we have been able to get into the garden for the first time in what seems like ages (at least a week!). Nicky has continued weeding and planting vegetables and herb seedlings. I have built a garden bench and started “topping out” the posts of the retaining wall. The inspiration for the bench came from a combination of a book of outdoor furniture projects that Nicky brought home from the library, and watching “Your Garden Made Perfect” where they recycled some wood to make some outdoor furniture. I realised we could use some of our surplus supplies to make a bench: As you can see, the design aesthetic and construction quality of the bench...

One way and another, we have been kept busily occupied this week. We have had a couple of lovely mild sunny days and dried some laundry outside. However, some has been dried inside because of rain or threatening grey clouds.   Suzanna, a recently widowed elderly lady in Nicky’s Life Group, came over for lunch on Monday. Nicky spent the morning making a very good focaccia while I was on the phone with a customer. It accompanied the butternut and apple soup which I had defrosted. Suzanna stayed until quite late in the afternoon and I continued working. Nicky went to the cinema on Tuesday morning to see Whina with the other members of her Life Group, which was very good. I dropped her at the cinema and then went off to do the supermarket shopping. We met up in town, early afternoon, to have our second Covid boosters. From what I read it may not make much difference in terms of our level of protection, but we thought we would give it a shot (pun intended). Following the booster we both...

The week began with us having a couple of late starts, not rising until between 8 and 9am. The combination of winter weather and winter duvet seemed to be encouraging us to stay undercover. The weather has been largely dry so we have been enjoying clear skies and crisp air: Our routine had to change on Wednesday morning as Nicky had a regular GP appointment at 8.30am. I suggested it would be easier not to bother going bed on Tuesday night than get up early on Wednesday, but Nicky didn’t warm to this idea. As so often happens when you know you have to get up for something, we had a fitful night and a pot of tea at 6am. The late starts of the previous days seemed like a distant memory… However, after seeing the GP, collecting the prescription and going to the hospital for a blood test, we went to Mitre 10. We purchased wire and screws for the fence espalier wiring, and a plum (damson) tree which has been funded by a friend of mine in England as a house warming gift. The tree has been pla...