Once more to the garden

 We have both managed a bit of time in the garden this week, other than hanging out the laundry. Nicky weeded and planted some vegetables and I did some weeding, just enough to feel I could get back into the swing of things. With the weather having been so mild this week there are signs of spring, and I suspect the weeds have noticed this too. The oxalis certainly has.

For my Monday amble I went up to Virginia Lake. The waka sculpture was looking impressive…

…and the jonquils were flowering:

I took a different route home and walked past a factory which intrigued me. When I got home and Googled it I discovered it was a solid wood furniture manufacturer, owned and run by a kiwi family of Danish extraction. They produce some lovely pieces using both imported and native NZ timber, but I suspect they are out of our price range.

The beginning of the week was quite busy with Nicky hosting Home Group on Tuesday afternoon, and Decibelles (book club) on Wednesday morning. Both went well and Nicky’s baking was enjoyed. We finished Wednesday by coming 3rd at the quiz with 95 points even though Mario, Mel and John were absent. At the beginning of the quiz we have to nominate two doubles rounds, where our score is doubled. This week we nominated the last two rounds, and scored maximum points on both of them, hence the third place, much to our joy.

Nicky went into town for her 6 monthly Covid vaccination, before staffing the Aramoho Library on Thursday. I had a trip into town to run a few errands. My main task was my Rates Rebate appointment at the Council. Now we are “in the system” they expect to me every year at the beginning of the new rates cycle every August. With me not understanding how things worked and applying at the end of the cycle in June we are now getting two lots of rebate for the current year, which is just lovely.

While shopping on Tuesday I bought a fresh pineapple, which was a first for me. The label included instructions on how to prepare it which was helpful, and we were enjoying helping ourselves to pieces from the fridge. On Thursday evening we watched some of the Aussie Bake-Off and one of the bakers was making a pineapple curd. I decided to give this a try myself on Friday. It turned out OK, but a bit lumpy with the pineapple being quite fibrous and our lack of a blender. I do plan to purchase a stick blender at some point in the future.

The weather was so pleasant on Friday afternoon that we had afternoon tea in the back garden for the first time since the autumn. We thoroughly enjoyed watching a Tui take a bath in the water feature, the first time we had witnessed this happening.

Nicky has had a couple of bouts of headache-less migraines, so had quiet days on Friday and Saturday. For our viewing pleasure this week we have watched the remaining episodes of The Capture Series 3 and Bergerac Series 2. For our Friday evening film we watched The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. We were both surprised how much of the filmed story we had forgotten, but with not having watched the film or read the book recently, it’s hardly surprising.

We had a small anniversary on Saturday - 7 years since first seeing our section (plot of land) where we now live. Approximately a year after that first visit the slab was laid and shortly afterwards building our home began in earnest.

Nicky went to church this morning but it is a cold 8º, and wet, so were are working on another jigsaw and enjoying being inside.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.