Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Our big house focus this week has been on the sewing room. We took advantage of the fact that the two library tables (for Nicky’s quilting) were still under the car port following the Blessing and House Warming. Their absence from the sewing room gave us space to swing the proverbial cat, get most of the furniture out, and hang lots of pictures. This has made the room tidier and more usable (Steve slept in it last night), and gives us a better idea for organising it for the future. But wait, there’s more! Shannon from Harcourts Estate Agency delivered his house appraisal, in the sunshine on Wednesday. He reckons that in the current market our new home could fetch around $150K more than we have spent on building it. I am a little skeptical myself but am very pleased that it appears to be worth more than it has cost. Just to give us some more peace of mind, we have had the locks rekeyed. It didn’t look like we were going to get all eight original keys returned, so we decided to get a l...

It feels like it has been quite a week, one way and another. Nicky started the week with major intestinal issues, caused we suspect by some stray chilli seeds in the soup she had made last week, and had been consumed over the weekend. It also had an impact on me, but nowhere near as devastating. She didn’t really start to feel more “normal” until Thursday. After Bert called in last week and promised to be back this week to fit the grab rail and accessory basket in the shower room, we decided to organise our Blessing and House Warming for Friday (18th). Most of the  invitations went out by email, but some needed to go by hand. Nicky just wasn’t up to delivering on Monday, and I didn’t want to leave her on her own as we had a window cleaner calling in to give us a quote, and the fencing crew had arrived and started work. As a result I did the deliveries on Tuesday morning and got very wet - the theme of the weather for the week. The weather and other jobs stopped the fencing crew fr...

Monday was a Public Holiday due to the Queen having a birthday again this year, and for us it was the day we drove back home from our weekend visit to Auckland. We journeyed via Thames in the Coromandel so that we could catch up with Andrew, who was better than we expected. He introduced us to a Turkish establishment where we have a lovely lunch. As we headed south the weather improved (it stopped raining) and we had an uneventful journey back. It was nice to be home. The after effects of the weekend (much driving and four nights in two unfamiliar beds) were exacerbated by us having our first Covid19 vaccinations this week. This combined with nights of broken sleep and the news of Felicity’s deteriorating health while in hospital in England has lead us to have a week of emotional turmoil and a constant feeling of being under the weather. We discovered on Wednesday that our paper Code of Compliance Certificate for our new home had been posted to our old address in Auckland, and then ...

I’m not 60 anymore! To celebrate my 61st on Wednesday we had breakfast at the Main Street Café in Waverley. I chose this location because when we called in some months ago (on our way to see somebody about something to do with the build) I noticed their speciality was big sausages. I was a little concerned when we arrived not to see these specified on the menu, but on ordering the “big breakfast” found the 8” sausage was their standard offering, and very good it was too. Nicky enjoyed her bacon and egg butties on ciabatta, and we finished off with tea and coffee.  The day was clear and sunny which had made for a pleasant 50 minute drive (three lots of roadworks), so following breakfast we drove down to the beach, of which there were two: Long Beach and Cave Beach. A sign indicated that access to Long Beach was only suitable for tractors, so we went to Cave Beach. However, we were unable to walk to Long Beach due to the high tide. It was good to see the sea and have some fresh air....

One of the things we didn’t expect when we moved to Whanganui was to have such good “dark skies”. We have very little light pollution, especially at the back of the house. We took advantage of this on Wednesday night to watch the blood moon, which was at its height from 23.11 to 23.24. The sky was perfectly clear so it was also quite chilly, and a pot of tea and peanut butter and toast sandwiches were required to enjoy it to the full - and it was stunning. Both the moon and the Milky Way were clear and easy to see and looked absolutely majestic. My camera decided the blood moon was just too dark for it to be able to take a picture, but here is one of the moon as the eclipse began. It was a memorable event. Something else we hadn’t expected was all the different mini-beasts that we see. A few weeks ago we had a brown stick insect in the dining area which we managed to usher back outside with the aid of a box. This week I spotted a green one on the outside of the house so nipped out and ...

You may remember Dear Reader, that we very recently visited The Hanlon Adventurers while they were having a few days “up country” during the school holidays. I made some citrus curd tarts to take with us, amongst other things that the two of us prepared. This week I used the remaining curd (about a jar and a half) to make a cheesecake. This was served for dessert on Thursday evening for another gathering of the residents of Riparian Villas. Jacqui had provided entrées which included soft cheese with a chilli coating, and fresh salmon. They worked very well together. Mark and Elaine added another cheesecake (baked) for dessert, and in-between we had pulled pork. I got a 2kg shoulder joint for $14, applied a rub of brown sugar and Moroccan seasoning, put it in a casserole dish with a couple of bottles of Pilsner, and left it in the oven on regulo 2½-ish for 5 hours. It went well with some spuds and veg, and I think a pleasant evening was had by all. The not-having-to-drive-home also help...

We have been on the telly box this week. Not Nicky and I, but Whanganui. It seems that people in TV land the world over have difficulty in filling the slot after the main news. Here in NZ on TV1 we have Seven Sharp, a light look at news and events. The congestion on the Dublin Street bridge here in Whanganui was an item on Seven Sharp this week (along with the Whanganui Chronicle for a couple of days). The problem appears to stem from the fact that the population of the “Paris of the North Island”, as the reporter described the town, has grown by 5,000 over the last few years, all moving from Tauranga and Auckland apparently. It is the Dublin Street bridge that most people in East Whanganui want to use to get over the river, especially in the morning. This is not something we we have actually encountered for a number of reasons: 1) we don’t get up that early; 2) we can get into town without using the bridge junction; and 3) we live on “this” side of the river already. All the same, it ...