Paying Guests

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 do some shopping.

Saturday started out chilly and clear before turning into a lovely sunny day. We did laundry, cleaning and cooking in preparation for Pat and Clem’s arrival and their overnight stay. They arrived around 4pm after mistakenly driving down the Whanganui River Road for the last part of their journey. This is a 67k narrow and windy road, and Pat was in need of strong libation on their arrival. We had a lovely evening, catching up on news and putting the world to rights.

This morning Clem and Pat took us to the Funky Duck Café for breakfast. This was a pleasantly leisurely experience, and the food was as enjoyable as our lunches there. The only downside was that the café was cold. 

Afterwards we had a wander through the Winter Gardens and then a bit of a tiki tour visiting one of the sections that we didn’t buy, and taking in the view from the top of Durie Hill. Nicky and I had a smackerels* to eat after Clem and Pats’ departure for Wellington. Nicky went to the 3pm service at Christ Church which she enjoyed, and I did a bit of pottering in the garden.

Inspired by Pat’s breakfast choice, Nicky is planning on making sweet corn fritters for our tea before we get down to our usual Sunday evening viewing.

Take Care, Rick and Nicky

* Smackerel, noun: very like Smackerels, but unfortunately only one of them. Source: The Pooh Dictionary by A.R Melrose.