Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 We had a very enjoyable visit from Jan and John Clearwater this week. Our friends from Blockhouse Bay were having a couple of nights in Whanganui whilst in this part of the country. They came round for dinner on Wednesday evening so we had plenty of time to catch up. They also said very nice things about our home, which they had seen develop via my emailed newsletters. On Friday morning they came for a cruise on the paddle steamer so I was able to have a little more time with them on the Waimarie. Tuesdays have been my day off since the beginning of the year, and my regular Tuesday supermarket shop has now become a main weekly shop. With Easter approaching, hot cross buns (known as bunnies in our household) became available in the supermarket and a packet would work its way into the trolley each week. A pot of tea with warmed bunnies (and sometimes The N.Z. Listener crossword) has become a regular event when Nicky returns home from Life Group. This Tuesday we both went into town t...

 Nicky has been feeling under the weather during this week. By the end of Monday she had a sore throat and has generally been feeling tired. She is still aching, though that might be arthritis, then on Saturday she vomited unexpectedly so had a quiet day at home. In-between she has been up to her usual activities. Steve and Ros called in again on Monday morning before leaving Whanganui, just as I was leaving for work. Steve returned on Thursday, took us out for dinner at Thai Express, as recommended by Pat and Clem, and stayed the night. We enjoyed the food at Thai Express and found its very informal atmosphere interesting. Jannine, the lady who harvests our flax every so often, called in on Friday to cut some more leaves. She does a very good job of shaping the flax, and we discovered that the kete she presented us with on her last visit is made with flax from our plant: Sailing was cancelled for me on Friday because of the wind, but the rest of the week has been a full schedule w...

 It has been busy on the boat this week, not so much with sailings (just one additional outing) but having two sailings with a large proportion of elderly and not very mobile passengers. The second of these was a “Coffee and Cake” cruise, so the Galley Manager, the other deckhand and myself spent the majority of the two hours delivering cups, sauces plates, tea, coffee, milk, sugar and cake to the 80+ passengers. It was hot and tiring, but the passengers seemed to enjoy themselves which is the important thing. Friday was also challenging with rain and much debris in the river, which made steering under the bridges more difficult than usual. Our weather has been pretty good, with lots of sunshine apart from some steady rain on Friday morning. Some of the nights have been cooler, as we’ve had clear skies. Luna, our car, received a new battery this week. Pat the Plumber (not our usual one) fitted a replacement part to the shower mixer tap to stop it dripping. He was sent by the tap ma...

 With the exception of a few notable events, it has been a very routine week. The left hand door on the shower room cabinet had started to become difficult to open and close. I had a go at adjusting it, to try and rectify the situation. Even with the help of some YouTube videos I was getting nowhere. I noticed that it looked different from the other three hinges in the cabinet so started investigating further, at which point it came apart completely. I decided I had gone as far as I could with it, did a search for local handy men and came across a chap called Brian. It turned out he lives just down the road from us, and said he would call in on his way home from work. This he did, and within a few minutes had resolved the problem by replacing the hinge. He explained that my adjustments to it had been ineffective because it had broken. Brian was a very nice chap and is now on our list of trusted tradesmen. On Thursday evening we went to the marae for our monthly shared meal. Nicky m...