1000 and counting

 Welcome Dear Reader to the 1000th post on our blog. Congratulations on making it this far. Give yourself a Gold Star. If you have been with us since the beginning, have another Gold Star and an extra shot of espresso. It has taken 18 years and 5 months (or there abouts) to get to this point. On the 22nd of April 2045, I might be writing the 2000th post for the blog.

I had never expected the blog to be such a regular feature in our lives. The initial intention was to let friends and family in England know how we were getting on with our travels through the United States and getting settled here in New Zealand. It has turned into a weekly way-point in our lives. Throughout each day of the week I make notes about what we are doing, as I am well aware that otherwise I would sit down to write and think, “what have we done this week?” I also try to take a photo each week for the blog to add a little colour.

Our initial plan when we arrived in Aotearoa was to find work and somewhere to live. After four months we had all found work, were renting a house and getting used to living in Auckland. Since then, Claire and Ryan have moved to Dunedin and bought a home. Nicky and I have both retired and built a home in Whanganui. If it were not for the blog, that would be about the extent of my description of the last 18+ years. But, because of you Dear Reader, I continue to gladly type away and record our lives in a way that I would not have done so otherwise.

Our trip last week left us both feeling quite tired, so we took the first few days of the week at a suitably gentle pace. Sunday night / Monday morning the tropical storm system visited Whanganui with significant rain and howling winds which reached there zenith around 2am. We didn’t have much damage, but all over Whanganui there was debris from fallen trees. The stormy weather continued through most of Monday so we started on a jigsaw and did some tidying outside when we got the chance on Tuesday.

With Tuesday being Shrove Tuesday, we had pancakes (bacon and banana obviously) and invited Frances (Mrs. Egg) to join us. It was her birthday later in the week so Nicky made her a carrot birthday cake. The slice I had was lovely. After consuming our fill, we introduced Frances to the delights of the Mexican Train game, which she enjoyed.

We didn’t quiz this week as apparently there was a bowls tournament at the venue. This worked out well for Nicky, as she was able to attend the Ashing service in the evening and not feel guilty about leaving us in the lurch on the Art & Literature questions.

Other routine commitments have been attended, and one of both of us has been able to spend sometime in the garden every day except for Monday. The damsons have been harvested, just under 2kg this year. We each used half to make jam/jus with different techniques and amounts of sugar. We enjoyed some with our lamb wraps on Friday, and stir fried pork and vegetables last night.

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day with a cool breeze. For only the second time since moving to Aotearoa we attended a wedding. Friends of Nicky’s from church invited us, so we put on our glad rags and enjoyed attending the event. Light nibbles and drinks were served afterwards at Christ Church while photos were bing taken. Nicky, Caroline and I moved the flowers out of the church, as it is Lent. I helped move the big arrangements and restore the seating arrangement ready for this morning’s church services.

We had a late lunch when we got home, relaxed and read. Nicky did some more trimming of the front flax later and we followed her pork stir fry dinner with Triomonos and telly.

Today has again been sunny with a cool breeze. Laurie called round in the afternoon and it was good to catch up as she is not enjoying the best of health at the moment. Laurie was having difficulty with her electricity, so I went back to her home and discovered a trip switch needed resetting.

So there we go. I’ll start making notes again tomorrow for the 1001th post.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.