Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 It has been quite a week, as the week preceding Christmas often is. The kitchen has been in great demand. I have made twenty four mince pies, eight 350g pork pies, four 350g Christmas pies, one 1.5kg pork pie, and a Christmas pudding. Nicky has made two more Christmas cakes, roasted a leg of lamb, parcelled up one of the cakes as twelve small Christmas gifts, and given cake or mince pies to our various delivery/collection people, when able to catch them. The week had an exciting beginning with the World Cup Final. I was up early enough to watch it from part way through the second half, before starting on pie production. The weather has been variable, with some heavy showers, so Nicky has been running in and out to deal with the laundry. She has also managed some time in the garden, especially on Wednesday, when she worked until it was too dark to see. It was also our longest day. Wednesday also brought the very sad news that Reg had died. Nicky’s brother-in-law turned 100 recently and

 Monday, as many of you will know, was Nicky’s birthday. It started quite bright, but didn’t really become sunny until early afternoon. We started the day with a pot of tea and present opening (very Harry Potter themed). The Yellow House Café was the chosen destination for breakfast. Nicky enjoyed her Turkish smoked tomato with grilled eggs and a berry smoothie, and I my eggs benedict with bacon and a cup of coffee. We nipped home to deal with the laundry and assemble a picnic lunch to eat on the beach, with some stops on the way. The first of these was the Glenlogie Rose Gardens: We have known about these for awhile but never visited them, and even though the roses were past their best, we enjoyed the peace and serenity the gardens provided. Next stop was the Sarjeant Gallery as the exhibition had changed since our last visit with Stella, and the shop is always an enjoyable visit. Across the road in the exhibition space the Sarjeant currently uses at the iSite Information Centre, was

 Monday turned into a lovely sunny day after a cloudy start, as you can see from the photo below. I was sailing in the morning, a charter for Alzheimers sufferers and their helpers. Nic ky wanted to attend a heritage Blue Plaque unveiling at St. Mary’s Church in Upokongaro at 2pm. I realised with the amount of time it took to board our passengers that I would not get back home with the car in time for her to drive to the unveiling. However, it is only about 5k from where we live, so when I rang Nicky to explain what was happening, she replied that she would walk up to Upokongaro. I offered to come and collect her. After finishing work I drove up to Upokongaro and met Nicky just as she walked off the footbridge over the river. So I joined her at the unveiling, still in my Waimarie uniform. The unveiling went well. We both had some good conversations with other attendees, both inside the church where afternoon tea was served, and out in the grounds. When we got home we had a pot of tea w

 The highlight of this week for me was been told that I had successfully completed my probationary period on the PS Waimarie. I am now officially a deckhand for the rest of the season. Coincidently, the Bosun decided it was time to move my steering tuition onto the next section of the river. This requires going under two bridges, without hitting them! This is a bit of a challenge as the river isn’t straight and the bridges are not perpendicular to the river, so they have to be approached at an angle and then the boat straightened up just at the right time. Fun! I’ve done OK so far and in different conditions, but I still need more practice. It has been a busy week generally on the boat, with six sailings in total. Yesterday our second one was a 3 hour cruise, departing at 5pm, so as I was bringing the boat under the bridges and starting the approach to the wharf, the sun was directly ahead of us much of the time. This sailing also made it a very long and tiring day. We have brought the