Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 It has been quite a week, as the week preceding Christmas often is. The kitchen has been in great demand. I have made twenty four mince pies, eight 350g pork pies, four 350g Christmas pies, one 1.5kg pork pie, and a Christmas pudding. Nicky has made two more Christmas cakes, roasted a leg of lamb, parcelled up one of the cakes as twelve small Christmas gifts, and given cake or mince pies to our various delivery/collection people, when able to catch them. The week had an exciting beginning with the World Cup Final. I was up early enough to watch it from part way through the second half, before starting on pie production. The weather has been variable, with some heavy showers, so Nicky has been running in and out to deal with the laundry. She has also managed some time in the garden, especially on Wednesday, when she worked until it was too dark to see. It was also our longest day. Wednesday also brought the very sad news that Reg had died. Nicky’s brother-in-law turned 100 recently...

 Monday, as many of you will know, was Nicky’s birthday. It started quite bright, but didn’t really become sunny until early afternoon. We started the day with a pot of tea and present opening (very Harry Potter themed). The Yellow House Café was the chosen destination for breakfast. Nicky enjoyed her Turkish smoked tomato with grilled eggs and a berry smoothie, and I my eggs benedict with bacon and a cup of coffee. We nipped home to deal with the laundry and assemble a picnic lunch to eat on the beach, with some stops on the way. The first of these was the Glenlogie Rose Gardens: We have known about these for awhile but never visited them, and even though the roses were past their best, we enjoyed the peace and serenity the gardens provided. Next stop was the Sarjeant Gallery as the exhibition had changed since our last visit with Stella, and the shop is always an enjoyable visit. Across the road in the exhibition space the Sarjeant currently uses at the iSite Information Centre, ...

 Monday turned into a lovely sunny day after a cloudy start, as you can see from the photo below. I was sailing in the morning, a charter for Alzheimers sufferers and their helpers. Nic ky wanted to attend a heritage Blue Plaque unveiling at St. Mary’s Church in Upokongaro at 2pm. I realised with the amount of time it took to board our passengers that I would not get back home with the car in time for her to drive to the unveiling. However, it is only about 5k from where we live, so when I rang Nicky to explain what was happening, she replied that she would walk up to Upokongaro. I offered to come and collect her. After finishing work I drove up to Upokongaro and met Nicky just as she walked off the footbridge over the river. So I joined her at the unveiling, still in my Waimarie uniform. The unveiling went well. We both had some good conversations with other attendees, both inside the church where afternoon tea was served, and out in the grounds. When we got home we had a pot of t...

 The highlight of this week for me was been told that I had successfully completed my probationary period on the PS Waimarie. I am now officially a deckhand for the rest of the season. Coincidently, the Bosun decided it was time to move my steering tuition onto the next section of the river. This requires going under two bridges, without hitting them! This is a bit of a challenge as the river isn’t straight and the bridges are not perpendicular to the river, so they have to be approached at an angle and then the boat straightened up just at the right time. Fun! I’ve done OK so far and in different conditions, but I still need more practice. It has been a busy week generally on the boat, with six sailings in total. Yesterday our second one was a 3 hour cruise, departing at 5pm, so as I was bringing the boat under the bridges and starting the approach to the wharf, the sun was directly ahead of us much of the time. This sailing also made it a very long and tiring day. We have brought...

 We have had frequent rain this week, sometimes very heavy. On the upside, we have also had some periods of sunshine, but the cool, strong winds have been very noticeable. The rain has made the river very full and fast flowing, and in town there was a little flooding: I have managed to do quite a bit in the garden. I cut all the grass on Monday, and on Friday finished some minor modifications to the retaining wall topping. I also created four steps on the path from the drive down to the garden: This is largely because we have reluctantly agreed to open our garden for the Arthritis Awareness Open Garden Day in January. The path down from the driveway is the most difficult to negotiate, so I am hoping the steps will help. A couple more may be required. It will no longer be so easy to wheel our wheelbarrow up and down this slope, but it will be easier and safer to use. Nicky had had another week of poor or little sleep. Her diverticulitis pain has receded a little during the week. Reg...

 The combination of the news from England about Reg’s health and Nicky having a painful time with her diverticulitis has meant for a difficult week. I had a sailing on the Waimarie on Tuesday morning, and Nicky had a hair appointment so needed the car. When she came to collect me she started feeling quite wobbly and odd, so didn’t go to Home Group in the afternoon. She has spent most of the rest of the week dealing with the pain and the disrupted sleep. On Wednesday Nicky felt the need for some fresh air so pottered in the garden and was well enough to go to church for a meeting in the evening. It was a lovely sunny day so I got some things done outside too and did some MacOnSite work in the evening. Thursday brought the beginning of the rain, which is still with us most of the time. After Nicky had finished at the Community Library and I had made fish pie, we had afternoon tea in Fordell with Diane and John. They are of friends of Nicky’s from church and have a very large and ambl...

 I feel that I have spent most of the week cleaning. After doing the trenching on Monday morning I started cleaning part of the fence, and ended up doing all 85m. It looked a great deal better without all the cobwebs and bird crap, at least for a few days… Meanwhile, Nicky was busy making some lovely orange and date scones. As we had some “spare” mascarpone she used that in place of yoghurt and I really like the change. Ros and Steve, who called in for lunch, also enjoyed them. They came armed with lots of goodies for us - cheese and nuts from Auckland and pasties and pie from Angel Louise in Raetihi. They are always very generous. On Tuesday I started weeding the haha. By the time I had done around a third of it the green waste wheelie bin was full, and my feet were quite wet in my leaky walking boots. Nicky did some planting and weeding before going to Home Group in the afternoon. Late in the afternoon Murray from next door came round to borrow a ladder and trim the tree that was...