Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 It feels like it has been a very people centric week, helped by the fact that the wet and windy weather hasn’t made it a garden centric week. We drove back from our lovely weekend in Wellington on Monday. Most of the way we were in sunshine but about 20 minutes from home we were under the cover of cloud. Stephen was driving down from Auckland on his mission to deliver a kayak to friends in Golden Bay (top of the South Island) and was staying with us on Monday night. He arrived safely in the afternoon, and he and Nicky played Scrabble after dinner. Tuesday was a quiet day of shopping, laundry and Home Group for Nicky. Steve left for Wellington quite early to catch the ferry. Nicky was at the dentist on Wednesday morning and I popped into town in the afternoon. I started my hunt for glass bottles to recreate the seven used in the logic puzzle in the penultimate chapter of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. I found a couple of interesting ones in op-shops but they were not qui...

 It was our Ruby Wedding anniversary on Sunday, and we had decided to mark the event with a weekend in Wellington. This was primarily because Nicky’s niece Alison (Milly) lives in Wellington and she was one of only two people who were at our wedding that now live in Aotearoa. The other is my niece Rachel, who lives in Wanaka and was only 4 weeks old when we married. Unfortunately she had other commitments so wasn’t able to join us. We were booked into the Copthorne hotel by John from the quiz team because he knows people in the hotel business and can get very good deals. After packing our overnight bags on Saturday morning we drove south in the sunshine, stopping in Levin for a cuppa. We arrived at the hotel a little after 2pm and were greeted by this in our room: This was the view from the window, which looked good both by daylight and at night: After the drive down we fancied some fresh air and activity so walked to the Portrait Gallery and along some of the waterfront. Milly and...

 We had an interesting and financially lucrative evening at the quiz this week. There are a large number of teams (up to 25) that now regularly compete, and just a handful usually occupied the top three money-winning spots. Additional money-winning spots of 10th, 11th and 12th were added some time ago to try and make it a little fairer. This week we fared badly only scoring 78 points and coming 12th. This meant we won $20, the same as coming third.   During the evening Pete, the quiz master, also does a random bonus competition which involves tossing a coin. Everybody who wants to participate stands up. Hands on head is for heads, hands on bottom is for tails. Pete tosses the coin and those who guess incorrectly sit down. Further rounds of coin tossing continue until there is a winner, or joint winners if both choose the same coin toss outcome. At the first round this week Danny, our “team captain”, went for heads, and heads it was. He was unsure which option to go for next so...

 Up until this weekend, the weather this week has been cold, wet, or both. This has not been conducive to outdoor activities such as gardening, or convenient for drying laundry. Consequently we have had a very indoor week. Nicky’s week has been busy with her regular activities. Church cleaning on Monday morning took longer than usual due to changing the church hangings, all the candle wax that had been spilled onto the carpet, and the monthly brass cleaning she and Dale undertake. Tuesday afternoon was Home Group, and we had an early dinner so that she could get to her evening Vestry meeting. This was a long and challenging affair. Wednesday morning was Book Group discussing The Lucky Galah by the Australian author Tracy Sorenson. Nicky had been disappointed by the ending until it was explained by the only scientist in the book club that the mathematical equation which ended the novel was for gravity. This gave them clarity and marvelling at the author’s ingenuity. Hospital visitin...

 Not only was last Monday the King’s Official birthday and a public holiday, but it was also my third significant Monday of the year. I turned 65 and finally became a grown-up. As you may recall from last week Dear Reader, Claire came up and stayed with us, to partake in the celebrations. We started the day with croissants for breakfast. Some of us stuffed them with scrambled eggs and bacon, some of us selected from the vast array of preserves available and went for one of the home made curds (orange or lemon). This was followed by present and card opening. I had forgotten (must be an age thing) that Nicky had bought me a purple Merino wool top, but the nubile Surf Girl print from Studio 86 was a complete surprise. It now hangs in the entrance hall. Nicky has bought me a series of items from a Castlecliff artist, whose cheerful quirky art, we both enjoy. After tidying away breakfast and gift wrapping, we went up to the Sarjeant Art Gallery. It was the first time that I have been si...

 My first week of official retirement has involved quite a bit of cleaning. The shower floor and drain were done on Monday. On Wednesday Nicky held the ladder for me while I cleaned the high windows at the north end of the living room. We also took down all the glassware and washed it, cleaned the shelf they stand on, dusted the fairy lights and re-hung them using map pins in place of mangy blue-tak. We also cleaned the top of the book cases, washed all the pottery and did some artwork re-arrangement. I am interested to note that even in my fist week of retirement, my sleeping pattern has begun to change (and nor getting up as early) as have my energy levels for doing things around the house. Not having to take into account that I still need to go to work has been more significant than I expected. Most days I have also had an amble, assisted with laundry, and done some cooking, including my best pumpkin pie yet. The pumpkin had been roasted as opposed to boiled and I think that was...