Still enjoying the mid-winter sun

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 I don’t think the penalty was justified, but who am I to question the decisions of a football referee. England won and with their semi-final victory still tingling in their feet, they will face Spain tomorrow morning NZ time. We will see if football finally comes home, but even if it does, I don’t expect it will hang around for very long.


In other feats of athletic activity, I have ambled everyday this week (don’t snigger). This is the first time for many years that I have had a walk every day. I have been helped by the high pressure system that has been sitting over us for the past 10 days or so. We have been waking to chilly, sometimes foggy, mornings before being bathed in winter sunshine by mid morning. While still chilly outside, the solar gain from our big north-facing windows make it T-shirt weather inside until late afternoon. 



Much of the back garden is shaded by the house at this time of year, so weeding and strimming has been primarily an afternoon activity. Nicky was assisted in weeding the front garden by Frances from Home Group on Tuesday afternoon. Due to the school holidays the ladies had lunched at Divine Café so had a longer afternoon than usual.


Wednesday was a busy day. Nicky was hosting her book club Decibelles for the first time in the morning. She made lovely pecan and maple syrup muffins and I contributed some date and Philadelphia cheese on crackers. While the ladies discussed the Valerie Perrin’s Fresh Water for Flowers, I had my amble. In the afternoon Nicky did her monthly hospital visiting. In the evening we quizzed, second this week with 101 points. The winners (Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls) scored 106, so a bigger winning margin than usual.


On Friday afternoon we raided the supermarket for a joint to roast on Saturday. Nicky had a good result from her check-up at the optician’s with little change in her eyesight.


Along with ambling and gardening, I have done a little MacOnSite work this week, and enjoyed the football. Mark and Krystyna from up the road came for dinner last night. Nicky roasted the joint of pork beautifully. I produced an avocado dip as an appetiser, and rice pudding for dessert. As ever with M&K we had an enjoyable evening.


Church as usual this morning for Nicky, then a quiet day with quite a bit of reading. Nicky is making vegetable soup and cheese scones for tea.


Take care, Rick and Nicky.

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