Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Summer is drawing to a close. We can see it in the light and feel it in the air. We have had another largely settled and warm week with the accompanying sunsets: After church cleaning and having a cuppa with Dale on Monday, Nicky did some errands and researched sofa beds while in town. I cleaned and pottered round at home and did a bit of supermarket shopping while Nicky did the church kitchen laundry. We took advantage of the cinema’s Cheap Tuesday tickets to go and see Force of Nature (The Dry 2), which was very good. We were the only people in the cinema.That hasn’t happened for a while. I think it was the first time in Whanganui. Nicky dropped me at home and them went to have lunch with Pam before taking her to home group. I got started on the strimming and we went over to Valda’s (her son and daughter-in-law’s   lifestyle block really) for dinner. We discovered that the hill which backs onto their property is the same one that we see from our bedroom window, it’s just th...

 The weather has been settled this week with cool nights and hot sunny days. We, on the other hand, have been busy. Monday was a little “calm before the storm-ish”. Nicky undertook church vestry & brass cleaning and laundry. I cut the grass. We enjoyed a cuppa sitting in the garden, and I made some bread and soup for dinner. Tuesday was our first major event of the week. We hosted Nicky’s home group for a shared lunch and as it was Shrove Tuesday Nicky made pancakes for dessert. She used a mixture of buckwheat flour and rice flour as our friend Dale needed gluten-free flours. The pancakes were very good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I don’t think anyone went home hungry. We had a small earthquake (4.5) later in the afternoon. Nicky went to church for the drive-through Pancake Party. She returned to church later for a difficult Vestry meeting. For the second time in 40 years on St Valentines Day (Ash Wednesday) Nicky and I had bought each other the same card - a simpl...

 Our weather has been warm/hot and sunny for the majority of the week. Nicky has spent quite a bit of time working in the garden. I dropped her at church for vestry cleaning on Monday, while on my way to have my Covid booster. While at the hospital I also had a tetanus/whooping cough/diphtheria vaccination. Having one injection in each arm gave me two sore arms for a few days, along with my expected reaction to the vaccinations. In the afternoon I did some MacOnSite work, and Nicky made a lemon birthday cake for Lyn, who lives just down the road. Lyn had invited us over for nibbles and bubbles to celebrate the completion of her new front fence, as well as her birthday. We were joined by Barbara, a friend of Lyn’s, and Elaine who owns 414. We had a very pleasant time in Lyn’s front garden. Tuesday’s public holiday for Waitangi Day started cool and clear, and developed into a hot sunny day with a cool breeze. I was on light duties following my vaccinations so only did a little weedin...

 My week hasn’t gone as planned. We were supposed to have seven sailings on the paddle steamer, but only did three in the end. Two were cancelled due to insufficient bookings, and both Saturday sailings because of the forecast of very high winds. Along with the very strong winds we had some major downpours which included hail. At one point when I looked out of the window the wind was blowing the rain in every direction. It looked just like a washing machine. On the upside, we have had some lovely sunsets: I had a full health check at the doctors on Tuesday and passed, which I was pleased about. The unexpected time I have had at home has largely been spent in the garden, weeding and strimming the grass. With the weather being so bad yesterday I started a jigsaw, the one Nicky gave me for Christmas. Nicky was very pleased to abandon all thought of completing the ironing and started sorting pieces. Nicky’s week has been much more as planned, with vestry cleaning on Monday, hairdresser...

 Monday was the Wellington Anniversary Day public holiday, which we also observe here. It was also hot, sunny, and the annual day of the Arthritis Amble. You may remember, Dear Reader, that this time last year our garden was one of those visited by the Amblers whose ticket money raises funds for the Arthritis Society. Nicky had volunteered to help with refreshments at the nominated garden, and I was sailing on the paddle steamer. Today, in increasingly persistent rain, the volunteers and garden owners have done the Amble together. Again we saw great variety and some lovely gardens, from intimate to vast, and a wonderful range of garden styles. The most unusual one was at the former Gonville Outdoor Swimming Pools. These are no longer operated as swimming pools and the Council sold the facility. The new owners and their daughter have built their home in the changing rooms, and turned two of the three pools into gardens: The anniversary of the event also encouraged me to have a look ...

 It has been another hot week, with temperatures regularly into the low 30’s. We have a had some rain and humidity, but we have still got much done in the garden. Nicky has made significant progress at the front, by weeding and planting. I have done some weeding and strimming the grass. Sailing has been interesting for me. We are not running six days a week as we should for this time of the year, due to the continuing lack of a permanent skipper. On Wednesday we had a stop-over planned at Upokongaro. As we approached the wharf we saw that the gangway was in the river again. Our manager organised a local chap to move it enough so that we could park the boat, and the the crew manhandled it out of the water and onto the wharf with ropes. This enabled the passengers to disembark, but it was heavy cumbersome work. It took us about 45 minutes. We had to reduce our stop-over time and ended up being about half an hour late returning to the Waimarie wharf. We had two jazz cruises to coincid...

 It has been a hot and sunny week. This was the MetService forecast for Wednesday: It has even been hot in Dunedin. The weather has dragged us into the garden for weeding, watering, planting, replanting and grass cutting. We have moved bench #3 from the bottom of the garden to beside the shed with bench #4. Bench #1 may soon join it. The benches are much lighter to handle now that they have had a year or so to dry out. The weather has also encouraged us to go inside to cool down, and the lilies to flower: Some of Nicky’s regular commitments are coming out of holiday mode, so she has been cleaning at church with Dale, and staffing the Aramoho Community Library.   My working week has been interesting. On Monday we had a staff meeting to discuss the current situation and how the manager intends to proceed. We are still having to use stand-in skippers and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I was asked if I would train for a skipper’s ticket. I explained that I didn...