One of Three

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 No doubt you are already probably aware, Dear Reader, that 2025 is going to be a year of change for us. Three Mondays are a significant part of that change, and the first one of them was this week. After sailing in the morning I applied for my NZ Superannuation in the afternoon. This was done on-line, including undergoing a facial recognition stage to prove I am a real person! I now have to wait to see what the response is from WINZ.


My week has again been dominated by sailing on six days. Yesterday was the longest with a 12hr+ shift river cruising three sailings. With the final one (A Country and Western themed cruise) we tied up when it was almost dark. The sunset had been wonderful to watch as we came down the river, which itself looked like a mill pond at times. It was not only a very good trip, but also probably my final evening sailing as a member of the Waimarie crew. I was very pleased to be joined by John from our quiz team.


Tuesday was a busy day. We went to the cinema to see Tina in the morning, at the same time as Dale and Bob. We all enjoyed the film greatly and shed a few tears. After a brief lunchtime chat with Claire, I zipped off to do the supermarket shopping and Nicky got ready for hosting her Home Group. I made cheese soufflé and walnut bread for dinner which we enjoyed before Nicky went to a Vestry Meeting.


Nicky was busy again on Wednesday with laundry and Book Club in the morning and hospital visiting and ironing in the afternoon. My sailing departed an hour earlier than usual, so I had to be at work for 7am. I’m very pleased that it doesn’t happen often. In the evening we quizzed, coming 4th with 92 points.


After collecting Nicky from the Community Library on Thursday afternoon we had a pot of tea with some cheese and crackers in the garden. I started cutting the grass and we watched The Great British Bake Off in the evening.


Nicky finally had some time at home on Friday, so laundry, planting and weeding were accomplished. I managed to finish cutting the back garden grass in the late afternoon. In the evening we drove up Durie Hill to see the blood moon, but there was quite a bit of cloud. Mark and Krystyna were also there so we had a bit of a catch up too.


Durie Hill elevator tower and sunset

While I was sailing yesterday, Nicky caught the 9.30a.m. bus down to Lowther Street which is nearly in central Whanganui and then walked back home calling into each of the Whanganui Artists Open Studios on the way. While very enjoyable, it was also very tiring. Some houses took her interest too, this one with The Thinker on the roof particularly:




Nicky was sorrowful to read an email from her cousin Moira reporting Moira’s younger sister Lynne’s death.


This afternoon after church and sailing, we drove over to Castlecliff to Simply Wrought Iron to see what they were exhibiting as part of the Artists Open Studios weekend. We were very taken with a Corten steel Wibbly Wobbly sculpture and decided to buy one as our wedding anniversary gift for ourselves for this year. I will post a picture when we have it sited in the garden. At the moment, we keep moving it around the back garden, to find our favourite spot. We also visited our former neighbour Jacqui with her JollyJac silk and wool designs. It was nearly the close when we arrived so we enjoyed over an hour’s chinwag together before coming away. Just scones and tea when we returned home. We were both too tired for a cooked meal.


Take care, Rick and Nicky.

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