Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Well, this is of course my last post for 2015, written as the main Christmas celebrations come to an end. In short, we have had a lovely and very enjoyable Christmas. It has also been a very busy week. The weather gave us a promising start on Monday, and hanging out the washing was rewarded with a lovely sunny day. I had a couple of Mac jobs to do before doing a last bit of present shopping in the afternoon. Nicky spent much of the Monday night - Tuesday morning transition making fruit cakes. I did some more laundry before going over to see Jancis and put a final coat on all four wall’s of her spare bedroom, accompanied by blue sky and fluffy clouds. I did the woodwork later in the day and some more Mac work in-between. Nicky had her hair done in the evening. We had a great hot summer’s day on Wednesday - a proper summer’s day because it was warm enough to sit in the shade. I started the day with my final food shopping before Christmas (I had to get it done because the sho...

We are definitely getting into pre-Christmas mode now. The library has been anything from busy to manic, so Nicky has had an even more tiring week than usual. I have also had a bit more work than recently so that has been good, and I have been doing some decorating for Jancis in her spare bedroom. The social commitments have also been making their presence felt this week. On Wednesday evening we went over to our relatively new Sri Lankan neighbours who live in the homestead. We had arranged to take dessert (Nicky made a wonderful Eton mess in a glass bowl which they had given us when they came over for afternoon tea, and I made some strawberry Santa’s). However, it seemed a little superfluous with the banquet which they provided of both Sri Lankan and European food. It’s was good to meet them again. On Thursday evening I went into town for my last Deep & Meaningful conversation of the year, and Nicky and some of her colleagues from the library went down to the twilight mar...

It’s that time of year again where the pre-Christmas preparations are augmented with a couple of birthdays. Claire had a good day in the Deep South, with celebratory lunch and lasagne later. Nicky and I had an excellent time yesterday. We started the day with mugs of tea and card and present opening in bed. The weather was dull and there was some moisture in the air, but the forecast offered a dry if cloudy afternoon. Jancis came over and the three of us headed up to The Block for breakfast. This was excellent. Nicky and Jancis both had avocado on pumpernickel which also included pork belly and poached egg. I had a giant (thin) hash brown topped with bacon, caramelised onion and poached egg. Tea and coffee accompanied as did very good and prompt service. We didn’t rush and enjoyed strolling back home afterwards.  We finished putting a picnic lunch together (of cheese and lettuce rolls, crudités and humus, fruit, and sparking red grape juice) and headed off to the museum. T...

The end must be nigh as we are now into December and the year is getting old. As a reflection of this, nearly every day this week has started dull and grey, today being the exception, but by breakfast time the cloud was starting to build. Having said that, the week has been dry and we have had sunny afternoons, so ironing has been made and then flattened. Nicky’s week at work has varied between steady and very busy. They have started their Christmas visits to old folks homes this week, with mixed results. Mine has been very quiet again with just one small job. Wednesday night saw us both out at Jan and John’s for Nikcy’s life group end-of-year social. As per usual it was pot-luck affair and a very good evening. We saw some of Helen and Warwick’s photos of their recent trip to Europe. Nicky was at prison prayer group on Thursday evening, and Friday evening she popped round to see Jancis, fresh from the airport, while I was up at The Block. Yesterday morning Nicky went to see th...

Back to a greater sense of normality this week. Nicky has had a steady (as opposed to manic) week at the library, I have had some Mac work, and did a modelling job on Friday morning which was great. The weather has been better too, and as Nicky commented the other day, “it’s starting to smell like summer”. We have changed to the summer quilt, and the heaters have finally been stowed away. Nicky was out Wednesday and Thursday evening with activities at church, and I was in Orewa on Thursday evening for a MeetUp group discussion. Friday was a very nice and almost hot day, 26°, but finished with rain which lasted overnight. However, this meant that Saturday was also a good day. After breakfast I did some work admin while Nicky went down to Lynnmall to do some Christmas present shopping. She followed this with Scrabble at Stella’s and I did the ironing. The tellybox was the focus of our evening. The weather didn’t start out as good today as we expected, but the cloud was clear...

Our week has been dominated by sad news. Following on from the terror attacks in Paris, there has been the death of Jonah Lomu here, and in England Nicky’s friend Jane Rhapson has been taken by cancer. The mood has been lightened by some of the media coverage of Jonah’s life. The comment which has stayed with me has been attributed to a coach talking to his team: “Rugby is a team game so all 14 of you pass the ball to Jonah.” The rest of our week has been decidedly ordinary in comparison. Things have been steady at the library, which makes a change from being manic. My back has improved each day and though still not right, it is so much better than a week ago. I have also had some work. We have had a few evenings out with Nicky at prison prayer group and life group, and me at my Deep & Meaningful MeetUp group. The summer however seems to have buggered off and been replaced by cold wind and rain quite often this week. We had an enjoyable late breakfast on Saturday morning. ...

While Nicky has had a busy week at work and Diwali has come to an end, I have had another quiet week. I have done a couple of short on-site jobs, and spent the best part of a couple of days dealing with issues by email, but the rest of the week has been domestic duties. We have only had a couple of evening commitments; Nicky having her hair done and me going up to The Block for a drink. I started Monday waking with a considerable amount of back pain, but it improved throughout the week until yesterday. Then this morning it got very painful very quickly, so I have spent all day resting it which has resulted in some improvement. The highlight of the week was yesterday as we toured the Open Studios of Waitakere. This is a weekend which happens every year where artists open up their studios for the public to visit, see their work and talk to the artists. We got to see two glass makers, a potter and three painters. We liked all of the work we saw and could have spent thousands, and...