Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Summer is drawing to a close. We can see it in the light and feel it in the air. We have had another largely settled and warm week with the accompanying sunsets: After church cleaning and having a cuppa with Dale on Monday, Nicky did some errands and researched sofa beds while in town. I cleaned and pottered round at home and did a bit of supermarket shopping while Nicky did the church kitchen laundry. We took advantage of the cinema’s Cheap Tuesday tickets to go and see Force of Nature (The Dry 2), which was very good. We were the only people in the cinema.That hasn’t happened for a while. I think it was the first time in Whanganui. Nicky dropped me at home and them went to have lunch with Pam before taking her to home group. I got started on the strimming and we went over to Valda’s (her son and daughter-in-law’s   lifestyle block really) for dinner. We discovered that the hill which backs onto their property is the same one that we see from our bedroom window, it’s just the other s

 The weather has been settled this week with cool nights and hot sunny days. We, on the other hand, have been busy. Monday was a little “calm before the storm-ish”. Nicky undertook church vestry & brass cleaning and laundry. I cut the grass. We enjoyed a cuppa sitting in the garden, and I made some bread and soup for dinner. Tuesday was our first major event of the week. We hosted Nicky’s home group for a shared lunch and as it was Shrove Tuesday Nicky made pancakes for dessert. She used a mixture of buckwheat flour and rice flour as our friend Dale needed gluten-free flours. The pancakes were very good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I don’t think anyone went home hungry. We had a small earthquake (4.5) later in the afternoon. Nicky went to church for the drive-through Pancake Party. She returned to church later for a difficult Vestry meeting. For the second time in 40 years on St Valentines Day (Ash Wednesday) Nicky and I had bought each other the same card - a simple bu

 Our weather has been warm/hot and sunny for the majority of the week. Nicky has spent quite a bit of time working in the garden. I dropped her at church for vestry cleaning on Monday, while on my way to have my Covid booster. While at the hospital I also had a tetanus/whooping cough/diphtheria vaccination. Having one injection in each arm gave me two sore arms for a few days, along with my expected reaction to the vaccinations. In the afternoon I did some MacOnSite work, and Nicky made a lemon birthday cake for Lyn, who lives just down the road. Lyn had invited us over for nibbles and bubbles to celebrate the completion of her new front fence, as well as her birthday. We were joined by Barbara, a friend of Lyn’s, and Elaine who owns 414. We had a very pleasant time in Lyn’s front garden. Tuesday’s public holiday for Waitangi Day started cool and clear, and developed into a hot sunny day with a cool breeze. I was on light duties following my vaccinations so only did a little weeding be

 My week hasn’t gone as planned. We were supposed to have seven sailings on the paddle steamer, but only did three in the end. Two were cancelled due to insufficient bookings, and both Saturday sailings because of the forecast of very high winds. Along with the very strong winds we had some major downpours which included hail. At one point when I looked out of the window the wind was blowing the rain in every direction. It looked just like a washing machine. On the upside, we have had some lovely sunsets: I had a full health check at the doctors on Tuesday and passed, which I was pleased about. The unexpected time I have had at home has largely been spent in the garden, weeding and strimming the grass. With the weather being so bad yesterday I started a jigsaw, the one Nicky gave me for Christmas. Nicky was very pleased to abandon all thought of completing the ironing and started sorting pieces. Nicky’s week has been much more as planned, with vestry cleaning on Monday, hairdressers on