Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 We have had a warm week with temperatures 5-10ºC higher than usual for this time of year. The breeze has been cool at times, but by the end of the week it turned to a northerly, and kept up the temperature. Nicky returned from Auckland on Monday having had a lovely weekend with Stella. We have concluded that flying from our cute little airport is way better than going by bus. On Tuesday she had pizza for lunch cooked by NZ’s most recently appointed archbishop, along with 50-60 of others out at Castlecliff. They had a service of blessing at a couple of the prefabricated houses that the Wellington Diocese has had built on St Luke’s land. Nicky staffed the Aramoho library on Thursday and had a prayer ministry training session which was very good. On Tuesday we had Phil and Kristina over for dinner, so there was much discussion about the paddle steamer. I served crumbed fish with new potatoes and sautéd veg. Our apple, pear and lemon curd flan was accompanied by a tiramisu that Kris h...

 We have used Whanganui airport for the first time this week, and it’s cute. It has two small car parks, just a couple of check-in desks, one gate, a well appointed seating area and a small café.   Nicky was flying up to Auckland on Friday morning for a couple of things. She became a subject in an osteoporosis study about 12 years ago and the team running the study had invited all the participants to a presentation of the findings. In addition she wanted to see her sister Stella as it is two years since she visited us in Whanganui. The airport is about a 15 minute drive from our home, but we had been warned about roadworks causing up to 30 minute delays. Our delay turned out to be less than 30 seconds so we arrived very early. Being a small airport as people started to arrive and check-in it felt quite busy. When the flight was called a lady with a clipboard and a list of passengers checked every body going through the gate. It was just a short walk to the aircraft: Nicky enjo...

 We have been social butterflies this week. On Tuesday Denise and Doug came for lunch. It was their cats which Nicky had been feeding last weekend while they were away. The mystery of why Denise and not been returning Nicky’s call’s and text’s was resolved. Denise had accidentally blocked Nicky’s number on her phone. Denise was very apologetic and presented us with a lovely PNG/Australian vine “Wonga Wonga”. Dale and Bob were also planning to join us for lunch but Dale had a migraine on Monday and then one of their much loved dogs became very ill on Tuesday. We still managed to enjoy ourselves, and the gluten free ciabatta rolls which Nicky had made. On Friday evening Krystyna and Mark came over for dinner. I served Boston beans with walnut bread, which went down well (it’s the creaminess of the mascarpone that does it). For dessert I prepared a Mary Berry Express Apple and Pear pie. We have started watching her “Makes it easy” series on TV, and the dish took our eye. My version wa...

 While we were having a gorgeous sunny day on Friday (see photos below), down in Dunedin the heavens opened. Claire texted on Saturday to say that in September they had had 77mm of rain (Ryan and Claire have a rain gauge). So far in October they have had 224m. They have a water logged garden but no flooding. We were woken at 5.10am this morning with a 5.7 earthquake, 30km deep and centred 25km west of Wellington. Nicky went back to sleep, but I got up 20 minutes later and made my first pot of tea of the day. We’ve enjoyed fine weather for most of the week, which has enabled us to spend more time in the garden, and assisted with getting the laundry done. Ros called in on Thursday afternoon while on her way to New Plymouth. After Nicky had enjoyed this month’s Fashion Talk of the Costume of the month at the Whanganui Museum on Friday, she did some shopping and brought home some discounted almond croissants. We enjoyed some the back garden with a pot of tea. We quizzed on Wednesday, M...