Stop engine's!

 We began this week with the Arthritis Amble Open Garden Day. The cool clear start of the morning turned into a lovely sunny day with a cooling breeze. I helped with a bit of setting up before going off to work, and our three volunteers (Elaine, Lyn and Jacqui) were great. Jacqui stayed a little longer than her shift so that I could shower and change on my return from sailing. We had around 260 people view the garden, lots of good positive comments, and the day as a whole raised around $9400. We didn’t have a period between 9.45am and 4.15pm without at least one visitor. By the end of the event we were both very tired so sat down with a pot of tea, followed by a range of left-overs for tea.


Today, along with most of the other garden owners and helpers, we have visited most of the ten gardens in the Whanganui Arthritis Amble as we did last year. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the variety of gardens which people had created, and getting to see parts of town that we don’t know. One of the gardens had some stunning terracing:



Our garden was also looking good after all Nicky’s hard work:



With both of us having had such busy weeks prior to the open garden, we decided to have Tuesday off. Nicky did some laundry and watering while I did the supermarket shopping. We had a bit of a siesta and packed up a picnic tea which we took to the beach and enjoyed in the sunshine. We had a walk along the beach to make a token attempt at walking off the calories.


There was quite a bit of debris in the river on Monday when the paddle steamer was sailing, and even more on Wednesday. While at the helm and attempting to avoid a log, I turned too quickly and lost control of the boat as it went sideways and started heading for the bank. With quick assistance from the bosun and skipper, a stopping and reversing of the engine, my pickle was rectified. However, it was a salutary reminder of how quickly the boat can get out of control when not handled with subtlety.


The weather started to turn on Friday as rain arrived, and Saturday was very wet. I became exceedingly damp on the boat, but Nicky stayed dry watching Sandition series two on DVD and sewing. Due to the heavy rain coming off the land up river, my sailing was cancelled for today because of the river running dangerously quickly with debris causing hazardous river navigation. After my incident on Wednesday I am very aware how easily the boat can become compromised and feel it was a sensible decision. Even the rowers were having difficulty.


You are probably aware that Auckland has been severely affected by the very heavy rain, with flooding and land slips. It hasn’t been anywhere nearly as bad for us, but the second of the three weather systems is approaching us as I write, and we have heard a number of peels of thunder. It is also very warm (possibly peaked at 31ºC today) and very humid. The ventilation from the open ranch sliders is very welcome.


Just before the weather arrived in Auckland, Bruce, Wendy and Marnie arrived from British Columbia. They haven’t been to NZ for four years because of Covid, so it was good to have a chat with them once they got to Tauranga and we are looking forward to seeing them sometime in February.


Take care, Rick and Nicky.

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