Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 We have had frequent rain this week, sometimes very heavy. On the upside, we have also had some periods of sunshine, but the cool, strong winds have been very noticeable. The rain has made the river very full and fast flowing, and in town there was a little flooding: I have managed to do quite a bit in the garden. I cut all the grass on Monday, and on Friday finished some minor modifications to the retaining wall topping. I also created four steps on the path from the drive down to the garden: This is largely because we have reluctantly agreed to open our garden for the Arthritis Awareness Open Garden Day in January. The path down from the driveway is the most difficult to negotiate, so I am hoping the steps will help. A couple more may be required. It will no longer be so easy to wheel our wheelbarrow up and down this slope, but it will be easier and safer to use. Nicky had had another week of poor or little sleep. Her diverticulitis pain has receded a little during the week. Regular

 The combination of the news from England about Reg’s health and Nicky having a painful time with her diverticulitis has meant for a difficult week. I had a sailing on the Waimarie on Tuesday morning, and Nicky had a hair appointment so needed the car. When she came to collect me she started feeling quite wobbly and odd, so didn’t go to Home Group in the afternoon. She has spent most of the rest of the week dealing with the pain and the disrupted sleep. On Wednesday Nicky felt the need for some fresh air so pottered in the garden and was well enough to go to church for a meeting in the evening. It was a lovely sunny day so I got some things done outside too and did some MacOnSite work in the evening. Thursday brought the beginning of the rain, which is still with us most of the time. After Nicky had finished at the Community Library and I had made fish pie, we had afternoon tea in Fordell with Diane and John. They are of friends of Nicky’s from church and have a very large and ambling

 I feel that I have spent most of the week cleaning. After doing the trenching on Monday morning I started cleaning part of the fence, and ended up doing all 85m. It looked a great deal better without all the cobwebs and bird crap, at least for a few days… Meanwhile, Nicky was busy making some lovely orange and date scones. As we had some “spare” mascarpone she used that in place of yoghurt and I really like the change. Ros and Steve, who called in for lunch, also enjoyed them. They came armed with lots of goodies for us - cheese and nuts from Auckland and pasties and pie from Angel Louise in Raetihi. They are always very generous. On Tuesday I started weeding the haha. By the time I had done around a third of it the green waste wheelie bin was full, and my feet were quite wet in my leaky walking boots. Nicky did some planting and weeding before going to Home Group in the afternoon. Late in the afternoon Murray from next door came round to borrow a ladder and trim the tree that was sta

 It has been quite a busy week by our standards. The weather, on the whole, has been lovely. Milder nights and warm days have encouraged me to stop the heat pump coming on at 6am and we can now comfortably have windows open for much of the day. The damson tree and renga-renga lilies are also enjoying it: At home Nicky has been busy with her usual tasks of laundry, cleaning, weeding and planting. Away from home she has also been brass cleaning, staffing the community library, and attending house group. She spent most of Wednesday and Friday baking for the Parish Fair - it was wall-to-wall muffins and cakes in the kitchen. I had to eat one or two just to give her some space to work! I have had quite a bit of MacOnSite work, mainly setting up a new laptop for a customer, but also some quicker jobs with a number of other customers. I have got the line trimmer working again this week (the part I had ordered arrived) so have been strimming the greenery back to a more manageable length. I hav