The weather is still nice

 The weather was quite dull on Wednesday, but the rest of the week has been settled and lovely. Crisp beginnings followed by lovely sunshine. As the week has progressed the overnight temperatures have dropped, hitting a low of 3º which gave us a hint of frost. The cosmos by the drive is looking great:

Nicky did her usual vestry cleaning and tea towel laundering on Monday. We had a good morning in town together on Tuesday. While I did the supermarket shopping Nicky had her electric blanket tested at the Fire Station. She didn’t find a comfortable fireman to sit on while she was waiting, but there were chairs and the firemen were handsome and helpful. The blanky passed. Nicky had some Whitcoulls gift vouchers to spend which she had earned doing on-line surveys. A jigsaw was our preferred option and we found a lovely Kiwiana one. Next stop was Renata’s for the framing of the lighthouse cards that Nicky bought for me at the Kapiti Coast Arts Festival last year as an early birthday gift. The framing is the rest of the gift though the total cost is way more than expected. However, we will both enjoy the finished item.

I wasn’t feeling particularly well on Wednesday morning, so rescheduled my day and we started the new jigsaw as the weather didn’t encourage Nicky into the garden. It was finished by Friday:

We also enjoyed listening to Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets while doing the puzzle. Nicky quizzed in the evening, but I stayed at home. Except for Danny the rest of the team were there but only came 13th. The questions do seem to be getting harder.

Nicky staffed the Aramoho Library on Thursday and I caught the bus into town to pick up a pruning saw. I had noticed that the Stihl shop was offering $75 off for Mother’s Day. Interesting gift idea but a good saving.

Nicky enjoyed this month’s Fashion Talk at the museum on Friday, delivered edibles to Unity Foods and did a bit of shopping for weekend meals. I cleaned out the gutters, though they may need doing again soon as not all the leaves have dropped.

Yesterday I decided to catch a bus down to the Aramoho shopping centre and then walk into town along the riverside. The buses are every 40 minutes until 11am on a Saturday when they change to every 20 minutes. I aimed for 10am, but it didn’t turn up. I started walking down the road thinking that when I saw it I could cross the road and hop on at the next stop. I hadn’t gone very far when a neighbour stopped me and asked what was happening, because he had seen the bus go up the road shortly before 10 (it terminates not far from us on Delhi Ave). He jokingly wondered if it had broken down. I decided to turn round and walk up to Delhi to see if it was there. It was, and it had broken down. The driver was waiting for a replacement which arrived about 20 minutes later, and I was on my way.

The walk into town was lovely and the river was looking at it’s best as the tide turned:

After having a sit down with a cup of coffee I found Alex and Jocelyn, church friends of Nicky’s, listening to a live band at the market. We had an enjoyable chat before I caught a bus home for lunch and a long snooze. Nicky had spent the morning on laundry and dinner preparations, and had some time weeding in the garden in the afternoon.

Nicky watched the church service on-line today, and I started giving our home its bi-annual wash with the weather still being dry and sunny. Frances (Mrs Egg) called in after lunch for a chat which was great as it has been ages since we saw her. We managed to pin her down to a dinner date later this month. Nicky made an amazing chicken, ham and shiraz pie for dinner. She doubled the recipe so there is plenty to go into the freezer and give to friends.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.