House Guest

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 Our exciting news this week is that we have had a house guest; Nicky’s sister Stella came to stay for a few days. You may recall from last week, Nicky went up to Auckland on Sunday on the bus. This proved to be a long journey, not as comfortable as going by car, but not so bad as to be unrepeatable. The bus was about an hour late arriving in Auckland. Stella met her and took her home. Nicky was travelling to Auckland because of the osteoporosis/arthritis drug trial that she joined 10 years ago. It was time for another check-up and test visit, so she spent Monday morning at the Medical School and hospital.

On Tuesday while I made pork pies, cleaned the house and did laundry, Nicky and Stella drove down to Whanganui. They had seen some of the Queen’s funeral on Monday night, and I had it recored for later viewing. We spent Tuesday evening chatting and giving Stella a tour of our new home as it was her first visit (yes it can take that long, I have Irish in my ancestry).


The weather had been damp overnight and we had a gentle start and tour of the garden on Wednesday morning. We eventually sallied forth into town, our first stop being the Whanganui Riverboat Centre. Stella treated us to lunch at the Mud Ducks café. She had falafel and salad, Nicky had soft tacos with crispy cauliflower, and I had a bacon buttie with fried egg and caramelised onions. It was all very good, and just as we arrived the rain started to come down in earnest. After a wander through the iSite information centre we popped over the road to the temporary Sarjeant Gallery. We quite enjoyed the exhibition, and Stella made significant contributions to the local economy in the shop. The rain eased off as we wandered up to Brown’s Gallery on Ridgeway Street, which once won the award for prettiest street in NZ. This photo doesn’t do it justice:



Our last stop before home and a pot of tea was the NZ Glass Centre, where they were just finishing some glass blowing. We enjoyed the displays as much as usual. Nicky had Alpha in the evening. I cooked smoked salmon and pasta for dinner for Stella and I, and we watched a little telly. I showed Stella the episode of The West Wing where the Peters Projection map of the Earth came to our attention, as she had been very taken with our copy which is up in The Map Room (toilet).


Thursday dawned a little brighter, so we packed up a picnic lunch and drove over to Virginia Lake. We followed a gentle amble round the lake with a look at the Winter Gardens. We lunched in the sheltered seating area behind the Winter Gardens and fernery:



Tea and coffee in the Funky Duck concluded our visit. On our way home (it’s very tiring enjoying yourself) we had a look at a couple of the sections that we didn’t buy and the view from the top of Durie Hill over the city.


After some time to recover I roasted a joint of beef with some spuds and veg and Yorkshire pudding. Frances from up the road joined us for dinner. Dessert was lemon delicious with custard (which is why Frances came!). We sat putting the world to rights and digesting our dinner when a 5.8 earthquake brought us back to reality. It seemed to be centred off the Marlborough Sounds and lasted over 30 seconds.


Friday was another damp start as I went off to do some shopping. Nicky and Stella popped up the road to visit Frances and her nursery, then they went into town, via Murray’s Emporium, to see the ceramics exhibition at Quartz. This was followed with Garnley and Spooner’s Wool Shop, where Stella purchased some colourful woollen yarn. We had a quiet afternoon and taught Stella to play Rummy-O after dinner.


Shortly after I left for my Saturday sailing on the Waimarie, Stella departed for her home. She arrived safely in the early evening. We really enjoyed having her to stay, catching up, showing her our new home (both the house and the town) We are looking forward to many more visits in the future.


Nicky started on the laundry even though the weather wasn’t all it could be, and while doing the ironing started watching the recording of the Queen’s funeral coverage. I had a gentle afternoon and changed the clocks for Daylight Saving before going to bed.


Nicky continued with the laundry this morning, with the weather improving as the day progressed. She dropped me at the wharf and went off to church before collecting me at the end of the sailing. I had some zed’s in the afternoon and Nicky made us lovely tuna omelettes for tea. This evening will be telly, and tomorrow we have a Memorial Public Holiday for Queen Elizabeth II. In the last fortnight we’ve become used to hearing King Charles III, but Queen Camilla, not so much.


Take care, Rick and Nicky.

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