Blowin' in the wind

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 Our week has again been routine and busy. Nicky’s sleep pattern is still suffering as it does after the news of a death. Nicky’s cousin Lynne in this case. She wasn’t feeling great on Monday morning so didn’t go to clean the church with Dale. Nicky had a sleep before Sue came over for lunch. The nice onion soup that Nicky prepared for her and Sue also did us for dinner along with the lovely focaccia. Her time was taken up on Tuesday morning stewing more apples before hosting and Leading Home Group in the afternoon. It was my day off from sailing, so I roasted a joint of pork for dinner. On Wednesday it was laundry, weeding and ironing. In the evening we helped our quiz team to 5th place with 88 points. On Thursday Nicky staffed the Aramoho Community library.


My week has again been dominated by sailing every day, apart from Tuesday and today. The only really notable event of the week on the boat was a rope-handling disagreement with the skipper when we were tying up at Upokongaro. The tide was very low and the deck crew were having difficulty getting one of the ropes over the necessary pole, so I instructed then to use the chain attached to the pole. The skipper was livid, so much so that for the next 15 minutes he only spoke 3 words (most out of character) and I suspect they were all of the four-letter single-syllable variety. He seemed to have forgotten that as Acting Bosun I am responsible for the deck crew and what they do. They all thought it was quite entertaining and that I and my strong Northern accent had reduced the skipper to near silence. A brief discussion cleared the air on our return to town and normal diatribe has been resumed. 


Prior to our watching The Great British Bake Off on Thursday evening, I made an apple pie with the apples which Nicky had stewed on Tuesday morning. We have enjoyed it. Rob the Plumber came and fitted new sink plugs on Friday morning and gave Nicky some advice on maintenance, along with delivering the replacement tap for our instant hot water and filtered water system. About a week after Rob ordered the replacement our existing one stopped leaking so we are hanging on in there until it gets moist again.


Nicky had the car while I was sailing yesterday and visited some more of the Artists Open Studios. This time over in Castlecliff. She found a lovely Oamaru stone water feature, which we have been back to look at today and confirmed that we want to buy when the sculpting is complete. Having a water feature is part of our long term plan for the garden, but nothing has crossed our path that we liked until now. The sculptor has a little more finishing work to do so it will be awhile before we take delivery.


I have really enjoyed having an unexpected day off from sailing today, and have installed the Wibbly Wobbly which we bought last week. Here it is by the house so that you can see the size and shape:



Here it is in situ, ready to be moved by the wind:



Take care, Rick and Nicky.

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