Ambling

 Monday was the Wellington Anniversary Day public holiday, which we also observe here. It was also hot, sunny, and the annual day of the Arthritis Amble. You may remember, Dear Reader, that this time last year our garden was one of those visited by the Amblers whose ticket money raises funds for the Arthritis Society. Nicky had volunteered to help with refreshments at the nominated garden, and I was sailing on the paddle steamer. Today, in increasingly persistent rain, the volunteers and garden owners have done the Amble together. Again we saw great variety and some lovely gardens, from intimate to vast, and a wonderful range of garden styles. The most unusual one was at the former Gonville Outdoor Swimming Pools. These are no longer operated as swimming pools and the Council sold the facility. The new owners and their daughter have built their home in the changing rooms, and turned two of the three pools into gardens:

The anniversary of the event also encouraged me to have a look at my photos of our garden from a year ago. We have been remarking recently how things have grown, and the comparison of photos really shows this. The images on the left are from a year ago, just in case you hadn’t guessed:

While Nicky was refreshing the Amblers on Monday, I was having a new experience on the Waimarie. When we pulled away from the wharf we lost power and were in danger of drifting into the river bank, so had to hastily drop the anchor. I have only watched this been done before, and then it was a planned event on the training sailings. It’s a bit different when doing it for real, and I had to stand on the anchor, release it, and then assist with its retrieval. All went well and the troublesome valve which had caused the problem was quickly fixed.

Cooler weather arrived on Tuesday, along with a little rain. Nicky came into town with me when I went shopping so that I could get my eyes checked. About a year ago I had some flashes in my left eye, and over the weekend I had some in my right eye. The optician had a good look and assured me that there was no damage to my retinas, which was what was really worrying me. The drops to dilate my pupils take effect for hours and also impede my ability to focus, which is why Nicky was doing the driving. It also meant she had a treat and did the supermarket shopping! After dropping me at home she went off to lunch with a recently widowed friend who isn’t getting out much these days. I stayed home wearing my sunnies and did some MacOnSite work.

The cooler weather has stayed with us all week, which has been an aid to sleeping. Today is the first proper rain all week. I have had three days on the paddle steamer, Saturday being a long one. One of our current stand-in skippers has committed to about half of our planned February sailings, which is good news.

Nicky has been concentrating on the garden and the laundry. She had her regular 6 month eye checkup on Friday and then attended the Whanganui Museum Fashion Talk which was as interesting and enjoyable as usual. The outfit of the month is an 1840’s hand sewn dress made of a self-striped fine cotton muslin, with a printed botanical pattern in cream and crimson. It was very reminiscent of Queen Victoria’s early wardrobe.

There had been an item in the Whanganui Chronicle about a new public sculpture recently, so on Tuesday evening we went to have a look. We parked near the Whanganui River railway bridge and walked over the bridge to Kowhai Park which runs between the river and Anzac Parade. The new sculpture is of Mt Taranaki, one of our local volcanoes, and we rather like it:

Today Nicky’s church service was at Whanganui’s Bason Botanic Gardens under a spreading canopy. The trees give a dappled nature’s cathedral-like covering. She came home and collected me so that we could visit the Arthritis Amble owners’ gardens together. Nicky changed twice after she had got quite cold this morning, and again very wet this afternoon. We enjoyed the garden owners tour immensely, but we were very pleased to get home, out of the drenching rain, and have a hot pot of tea.

Take care, Rick and Nicky