Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

The weather has been a little tropical this week - hot, quite humid, and with the occasional downpour. Work has been steady for Nicky, with not too many really busy periods, but she finished the working week feeling quite unwell with a cold. Work has picked up for me with something on every day, though not all of it generating income. On Wednesday morning we got the swimming voucher used with a pre-breakfast dip at Pt Erin. This is an open air pool, which is nicely laid out though looking a little tired. We had a good swim and thought the prices for the multi-swim passes were good so may purchase in the future. The main downside is the pool is only open in the summer. This weekend is Auckland Anniversary weekend, so we get tomorrow off. There is always lots on but we decided to have a gentle day yesterday with Nicky not feeling her normal self even though she was improved.  First commitment was Nicky seeing the GP, which turned out to be very good news as her Thursday ...

Shorts have been much in evidence, especially towards the end of the week, as the temperatures rose to the high 20’s. We have hit 45°C in the roof and 29°C in the lounge this weekend. The pale coloured concrete of the drive and Rattigan has even been too hot to walk on in bare feet. We have been having dinner and yesterday’s breakfast outside. At just after 7pm on Friday, the sun and concrete were still hot and the cooling breeze was welcome as we drank our cups of tea. It’s been sunny too, which the fly’s and mozzies seem to think is just brilliant. It must be summer. The library has calmed down a bit this week which has been a welcome relief, though Friday afternoon was busy with over 100 children attending a party in the library. I have had quite a stressful week one way and another. On Monday a TradeMe auction of a Mac I was selling for one of my customers closed. After the confirmation emails had been exchanged and I had given the buyer our address for collection, she acc...

With the news about David Bowie and Alan Rickman this week, and a phone call from Paul on Wednesday to say that Nicky’s godmother Ruth had died, it has been tinged with sadness. We attended Ruth’s funeral yesterday, and met cousin’s we have only previously heard about. The service at Purewa Crematorium was followed by refreshments at St. Andrews where Ruth had been living since 2000. The day was hot and sunny, 28°, so maybe my suit wasn’t ideal attire. We enjoyed a quiet pot of tea when we got home. The beginning of the week at the library was very busy, but the last couple of days were quieter. Nicky stayed late on Friday to help with a children’s Detective event, supported with fish and chips beforehand. Work for me has been quiet again with just one short job, but I enjoyed Deep and Meaningful on Thursday evening and heard my first cicada of the season during Thursday lunchtime. Some excellent drama’s have accompanied the week. Nicky really enjoyed the final episode of ...

We started the first full week of the New Year off in style, with a leisurely breakfast of croissants with bananas. We followed this with a not so leisurely range of domestic duties - mowing the lawn, ironing, vacuuming and taking down the Christmas decorations. Stella and Kate called in and collected our tree for recycling along with theirs. At least with it being a public holiday it gave us a four-day working week. Nicky’s week at the library has been really busy with the schools on holiday and lots of activities for the children. I have also had some work to “ease” me back into a busier period, I hope. On Tuesday I photographed a wedding. Lisa, a friend of Nicky’s from the staff at New Lynn library, asked me if I would take some pictures of the event when she came over for dinner a few weeks ago. The ceremony took place on the lookout on the Mercer Bay loop track - a fantastic location. It was a very intimate and low key affair (just six of us and the celebrant), which I fe...

The transition from 2015 to 2016 was marked not only by changing the digit and watching the fireworks, but also a dramatic change in the weather. The week had started out with clear skies and much sunshine. We had a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast on Monday, before Nicky washed the windows and I did the ironing. After lunch we went off to see Ruth, but she was sleeping (which apparently she does most of the time now) so Nicky just left gifts and we departed. We decided to go to St Lukes to see the Star Wars film. It was just like the original, or the fourth one, depending on where you started from. Nicky was back at work on Tuesday for three days, and the library was as busy as expected, especially with the holiday activities for the younger ones. I have spent the time doing laundry, shopping, cooking, unsuccessfully looking for my chessmen in the garage, and having couple of swims. Thursday was quite warm - we reached the forecast 27°C. We had dinner on the Rat...

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...