Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Spring is coming to a close, so the weather is all over the place. Some days lovely sunshine and clear skies, some days overcast and penguin-cold southerlies, and some days just plain wet. The Portuguese laurel (which I call Stan for obvious reasons) is in full display mode, and the Tiger lilies have noticed the sunshine: It has been a generally routine week for both of us. Nicky’s vestry meeting was preceded by a meal (very good apparently), and she had five visitors to the Aramoho library. I have cut grass, cleaned gutters and swept the outside of the house. There have been a few notable occasions. We came first at the quiz this week with 107 points, winning by 3. On Thursday evening an old crown of Nicky’s came out whilst she was flossing, so had the be re-cemented by the dentist on Friday. She also had a very busy evening on Friday serving and undertaking kitchen duties at a fundraising church banquet event. She didn’t get home until after midnight and is still tired now. Also...

 Back in the days when we lived in England and enjoyed wall-to-wall Radio 4, we were fans of “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue”. One of my favourite rounds was Alternative Definitions. For example; Abscond: to make off with someone’s cream tea. I enjoy the way in which words can be given new meanings and uses, and we have done a little of this ourselves this week. On Monday we moved bench number four from its north-east corner spot in the back garden, to the flat area to the west of the shed: Once moved, Nicky and I decided we had to test it for awhile and see what the view was like. During the initial tests Nicky asked if I would distribute some of the remaining mega mulch bark onto the areas in the bed by the retaining wall that she had weeded. In doing so, she was trying to form a sentence which included me wheelbarrowing the mulch from the storage bag (which was right next to us) to the flower bed. However, due to the lack of a fresh cup of tea (her brain chemistry being reliant on B...

 Cleaning and cutting have been my main occupations this week. I have washed the outside of the house, and cleaned all the windows inside and out. I have also been able to cut the berm and the grass in the back garden. These tasks needed to be done in between the rain that has fallen this week, which has also impacted the laundry. Wednesday turned out to be our best day for drying laundry on the line, so Nicky put the washing machine to good use. We did better at the quiz this week: 3rd with 104 points. In addition to her usual commitments Nicky also undertook hospital visiting this week, and had a Small Group Leaders training meeting afterwards. On Thursday, before going off to Aramoho Library, she prepared cinnamon swirls. These are not dissimilar to a cake tin full of Chelsea buns, but not so sweet. These were for the shared meal at the marae, so Nicky cooked them upon her return. I made a bacon and pork flan, which we baked at the same time. Both were enjoyed. Ros called in on ...

 You may remember, Dear Reader, that back in the days when we lived in Blockhouse Bay, Nicky ran a quilting group with Mary. That very same Mary has been to visit us this week, on her way to a family wedding in Levin. Mary travelled from Auckland to Whanganui by bus, and was due to arrive by the Tram Shed down on Taupo Quay at 17.20 on Wednesday. Nicky and I pootled into town to meet her. The bus was half an hour late but the weather was clement and there were other travellers to chat to, so the waiting wasn’t arduous. Mary was tired after the journey, so we headed home, settled her in, had some dinner, and spent the evening catching up on news. On Thursday morning I had a 1 hour sailing casting off at 8am, so had to be at work for 6am. It was not properly light when I got to work: Nicky and Mary had not long since finished breakfast when I got back home, so we had a pot of tea before going off for a walk in the sunshine round Virginia Lake: After lunch at home Nicky and Mary went ...

 Monday was Labour Day, so we began the week with a public holiday. This is very important to those of us who are retired or semi-retired, as it means we have to use our memories to remind us that we can’t do what we would usually do, because it is probably closed or it’s going to cost us more. For Nicky however, such obstacles are mere trifles and the church was going to get cleaned, public holiday or not. The day started cool and clear and developed into a lovely sunny spring day, so laundry was done by the under-laundry-person as being temporarily skipper-less, the paddle steamer wasn’t sailing. When Nicky returned from church and had brunched we drove into town and had a very pleasant walk by the river: Reading, gardening and trenching completed the afternoon, and the telly was again put to use after dinner. On Tuesday morning I did a number of errands in town along with the supermarket shopping, and I called into work to have a chat with Jen (our Manager). I had emailed her ov...

 Gosh, it’s been an exciting week, though I admit that could depend on your definition of excitement. Clem and Pat had been in New Plymouth for the weekend and came over to us for dinner on Monday night. We discovered some time ago that Clem’s best man at their wedding (Bob) now lives in Whanganui. So we invited Bob and his wife Dale (who does church cleaning with Nicky) to join us. We all had a very enjoyable evening. Dale has some food intolerances so I modified our apple crumble recipe and it turned out well. Dale was pleased to eat the same as everybody else. Clem and Pat stayed at the Top 10 Holiday Park just up the road and took Nicky and I out for breakfast on Tuesday morning. Pat had requested the Funky Duck Café again, as she enjoyed their corn fritters so much last time. Pat also wanted to buy a cake to take to Wellington for Milly’s 50th birthday. In order to try and find the sort of cake she was looking for we went to Stevo’s, a local food wholesale outlet. Nicky and I ...

 For those of you not in Aotearoa, the preliminary result of yesterdays General Election has given us a National/ACT coalition government, with possibly a hint of NZ First (Winston Peters). In short, a change from left to right wing policies. The the result from the official count and Special Votes will be issued in about three weeks, but it doesn’t usually change the overall result significantly. Again, for those of you offshore, Special Votes are those cast outside your electorate. The system here enables any voter to walk into a voting Polling Place anywhere in the country and cast their vote. If the Polling Place is not in their registered electorate, they cast a Special Vote. The result is no surprise as National have been ahead in the polls for some months. Even though Chris Hipkins did appear to make a good fist of the Premiership after taking over from Jancinda, there still seems to be much resentment for the Covid restrictions which kept us safe. Much of our week has been ...