Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 It has been another largely routine week, but there have been some highlights. One of them has been this pink lily flowering in the front garden, gaining flowers as the week progressed: Nicky’s regular commitments of Life Group, Alpha and staffing the Aramoho Community Library were expanded by a visit to the hairdresser and it being her turn to produce dessert for Alpha. She shopped on Monday and baked for most of Wednesday, making a very large hummingbird cake, and a large tray of lemon and coconut slices. All dairy free and gluten free to accommodate dietary intolerances. I have been quite busy with MacOnSite work, and have been strimming the grass in the back garden and on the berm, when the weather has allowed. A trip to Mitre 10 to get some more sanding pads enabled me to complete our second garden bench: On Friday evening we had some “new” neighbours over for dinner. They bought a house just up the road at the beginning of the year and we met them at the shared meal at the marae

 Our weather this week has been dominated by warm wet tropical winds from the north. Some parts of the country, primarily the northern parts of both islands, have had major rainfall. The flooding in Nelson has been significant, and there are hundreds of landslips all over the country closing roads. We haven’t received as much rain as was forecast, but the temperatures have been much higher than normal for this time of year. Daytime highs have reached the low 20’s, and night time lows have been the the low-mid teens. The humidity has of course been up, so it has felt quite sticky and oppressive. We had a wonderful rainbow yesterday morning which Nicky managed to photograph: The unpredictable weather has made getting the laundry dry a bit more challenging, and it hasn’t enticed us into the garden until the weekend, when it turned drier. Nicky has had her usual commitments of Life Group, Alpha and staffing the Community Library. Her diverticulitis has been uncomfortable and painful again

 It has been the coldest week of the year. We can confirm this both from the frosts and when emptying the tea pot for the first brew of the day.   This morning the MetService app indicated that it felt like -4ºC, and by golly they were right. The meteorologists were telling us it would be the coldest before the week began, so I don’t know if that just means this week was colder than the previous 32, or if it has been colder than the forecast next 19. It was certainly the former and I’m hoping it was also the latter. In order to celebrate the event, the MetService has given us a new symbol on their app: The snowflake and thermometer means: “beware emptying the tea pot with bare feet - it’s chilly”. The cold temperatures have been caused by southerly winds and almost cloudless skies, but this has enabled us to enjoy the apricity. Before you all reach for your dictionaries, you won’t find it unless you have an OED. Apricity indicates the warmth of the sun in winter, and we have decided th

The weather has generally been drier this week, and Thursday was gorgeous with clear blue skies and sunshine. As a result, we have spent more time outside and got most of the laundry dry on the rotary drier. Nicky was at St John’s Church on Monday to clean the brass, and had a meeting with Louise when she got back. She has also been to Life Group, staffed the kitchen at Alpha, and helped Joy start sorting out one of the filling cabinet drawers at St John’s. Another session at the Community Library enabled her to make more headway with her reading. A trip into town to get the service and hymn sheets organised at the Parish Office, included donating the old hand mower to the Sally Army on Friday.   The line trimmer (strimmer) has proved its worth, and has been extensively used by me this week, cutting the berm and the back garden so that things don’t get out of hand, even though meteorologically it’s still winter. Nicky wanted to sweep the shed, a task made easier without having the old