Screening the fly-boys

 I am sitting on the sofa to write the blog this week. Appropriately for the first day of meteorological summer, all the ranch sliders are open. We are currently fly-free now that all the fly screens are fitted. $95 well spent. The gentle breeze through our home is very pleasing as it is a warm and sunny day, like yesterday. The outside temperature in the shade is in the low 20’s, and the breeze is a warm northerly. We are enjoying the gazania's in the front garden:

The temperature has risen through the week and we have had a couple of sessions of light rain, particularly on Friday morning.

Last Sunday afternoon we had a phone call from Judy, who was in the Blockhouse Bay quilting circle that Nicky and Mary organised. She and her daughter Rachel were in Whanganui for a family funeral mid-day on Monday and she was wondering if we were available for a catch-up. As our only commitments on Monday was Nicky’s church cleaning and Sue coming for lunch, we suggested they came round to us for morning tea. It was good to see them both. We persuaded them to stay for lunch. I drove them over to the funeral home for the 1.30pm service and they flew back to Auckland late afternoon. Meanwhile Nicky and Sue had an amble and played Scrabble in the back garden while I had a snooze.

I dropped Nicky in town on Tuesday morning to return the fresh laundry to church and have her hair done while I did the supermarket shopping. While she hosted home group in the afternoon I cut the back garden grass. Her evening Vestry meeting included dinner so I cooked myself some eggs and watched the telly.

I had an enjoyable morning at the Muds Ducks café on Wednesday morning, having coffee, scone and a catch-up with Bob and Mike. Mike hasn’t returned to working on the paddle steamer this season, so the three of us haven’t had the chance for a good yarn together for some months. While Nicky worked in the garden in the afternoon, I worked with one of my MacOnSite customers in Auckland. We quizzed in the evening and came 4th with 91.

One of my publishing customers in Auckland has a remote editor based in Raumati, a couple of hours drive south of us. I had been asked to help him choose, buy, and set-up a new Mac. The machine arrived on Tuesday and Mike came up to Whanganui on Thursday so that I could set it up. It took longer than I had expected due to the common problem of forgotten passwords, but we got everything done and Mike was very pleased. Nicky had quite a few through the door at the Aramoho Library, and we squeezed in a few games of Rummy-O before dinner and telly.

With Friday being damp Nicky decided to sew. I helped Bob with some coal for the boat before taking Luna (our car) for a run out to Bulls. I had a very good coffee and date scone in La Bull before driving home. Robyn, a friend of Nicky’s from church, called in early afternoon and the weather was dry enough for us both to spend some time outside. We finished the day off with episodes 6 & 7 of The Day of The Jackal as they are now only releasing one a week.

Yesterday Nicky went to Whanganui Anglican’s Advent retreat with Dale and arrived home feeling peaceful and refreshed. I arrived home some hours later feeling hot, dirty and tired. My 10 hour shift on the boat had three back-to-back sailings. I only had two short breaks all day. On the third sailing I was also Bosun, so had a few extra things to do. However, the weather was gorgeous and it was a good day overall.

Our scheduled sailing today was cancelled due to not having a skipper available, but I have been very pleased just to have a quiet day at home. Nicky went to church this morning and provided many teas and coffees for many people. This afternoon she has been working in the garden.

We are both reading Kate Atkinson’s latest Jackson Brodie novel, Death at the Sign of The Rook (one book, two bookmarks), and enjoying it.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.