Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 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 wasn’t

 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, Mike