Riparian Observations

 It has been interesting watching the river the last few days. The heavy rain on Thursday made the river run high and fast on Friday. It was still looking high over the weekend though a little more sedate. When we were in town on Friday (Nicky to another good Fashion Talk at the Whanganui Museum and me doing a bit of shopping) I popped down to see if the boardwalk by the river was under water. It wasn’t, so the river wasn’t as high as a couple of years ago when we had heavy rain in the summer.

My week has been impacted by having the first of two shingles vaccinations on Tuesday. The nurse did say there could be side effects. By the evening I was feeling very achey and had an elevated temperature. I took paracetamol on Wednesday and Thursday, but managed without it on Friday as I was feeling improved, but very tired and lethargic. I cancelled having neighbours coming over for dinner in the evening. Saturday was much better, but still some residual tiredness. I should be having my next dose in 2-5 months.

The nurse also gave me a cardiovascular risk assessment. This involved taking a range of measurements (though no ECG), medical history and plugging all the data into an app (technology eh!). I passed, which both the nurse and I thought that was pretty good. I just need to keep an eye on the not so healthy parts of my diet.

Nicky cleaned at church on Monday morning but had no borrowers at the Aramoho Library on Thursday, probably because of the very heavy rain. On Tuesday Nicky had the majority of the day in the garden, resulting in much weeding of the Edible Crescent, many more vegetables planted in their place. We had lunch at Bob and Dale’s on Wednesday (nibbles followed by pumpkin soup and rolls and pavlova). Denise and Doug joined us and it was mid afternoon before we stopped talking. Nicky had a late afternoon dental appointment for a filling rebuild due to a chipped tooth. In the evening we quizzed and came equal 3rd with 92 points but lost the tie breaker. However, Mike won $50 for the team with the coin-toss heads or tails competition. We are nearing having enough winnings to enjoy a group dinner together.

We have watched Code of Silence this week, an ITV production, which apart from the tension levels was a good watch. On Friday evening, which is now sometimes film night, we watched our DVD of Amelie. We thoroughly enjoyed it, with not having seen it for some years.  Yesterday we completed a jigsaw of NZ Post stamps.  

Today has been cold but sunny. I had an amble and Nicky was just leaving for church when I returned. She had made a picnic lunch for us and on her return we drove to the Maungaraupi Country Estate (between Marton and Hunterville) for their open day . It’s a historic house designed by the same architect as Bushy Park, Charles Nautsche, but it has a cosier feel about it. The owners have tastefully refurbished it in William Morris Arts and Crafts wallpapers and curtains, which really suits the architecture. It will open for accommodation, events and afternoon teas. In theory it’s about a 50 minute drive from us, though Mrs (or Mr) Google didn’t tell us about a couple of the rural junctions, so we added about 15 minutes to that. We came back using our own navigation and it was an easier and quicker route. We enjoyed our visit and seeing the house, and the drive through the lovely countryside.

On our return home we had a cuppa, scones and played Mah Jong. Shortly afterwards John (quiz team) called in, had a cuppa and finished off the scones (we have spares in the freezer). Nicky is just preparing dinner - pizza and a smidge of salad.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.