Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 It has been finals week for us this week. The 2025 Great British Bake Off and Great British Sewing Bee finals screened here this week. We were very pleased that Jasmine won the Bake Off as she was both a lovely lass and a great baker. Very consistent. We were hoping that Orla would win the Sewing Bee, but it came down to the last made-to-messure and Caz created a stunning outfit and deserved the win. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching both of the competitions over the last 10 weeks. The competitors creativity, skill and determination is quite amazing. We have had a good week with the quiz team too. On Wednesday evening we won for only the second time in the last 18 months. We scored 104 points giving us a winning margin of 4. On Friday evening most of the quiz team (Mike, John, Mel & Danny and Margie) came to us for a games evening. Mike came early to watch The Chase with us and have dinner (lasagne) and also organised the now traditional quiz. His questions were varied in di...

 Officially it is now winter, and we have had some rain, but we have also had northerlies keeping the temperatures up, and sunshine keeping us smiling. The week began with birthday celebrations; Monday for the King’s official birthday and a public holiday here; Tuesday for my birthday and some low key and enjoyable celebrations. I started my birthday with a long FaceTime chat with my sister and brother-in law in England. Nicky joined us for awhile before popping into town to get croissants for breakfast (plain and almond). Even though I already had my official birthday gift (the framed lighthouse cards, see below), Nicky also presented me with a book and some bottles of stout. Lovely. A chat with Claire followed and we readied ourselves to go out for lunch. My plan for lunch was to go to the cafe in Upokongaro by driving a few kilometres up the road and walking over the footbridge. However, the heavy rain showers were discouraging and instead of driving into town and all the way up...

 Today is officially the last day of autumn, and the lovely settled weather has continued. I have grown rather used to it. A forecast for the winter which we saw on TV this week suggested it would be drier than usual. I guess that may mean there will be less cloud and therefore more sunshine. However, I am aware that the weather never looks at the forecast and just does its own thing, especially here in Whanganui with its own micro-climate. Taranaki shelters us taking the brunt of poor weather. Frances and Laurie came for dinner on Thursday, and we had a very enjoyable evening. I started making my version of the Hairy Biker’s Superb Steak and Ale pie on Tuesday. It is primarily beef casseroled with dark beer and stock, which is what I prepared, as it has to cool throughly, before being made into a pie. In the Hairy Bikers recipe they just add a puff pastry top, which I feel is wholly inadequate for such a substantial filling. I usually make a good shortcrust pasty and make a conven...

 Many of the people that I have spoken to this week have commented on the weather. Our high pressure system has continued to deliver sunny autumn days throughout the week, with cloud just sometimes overnight and into early morning. They have also recalled the lovely spell we had in November. It’s only been the time in-between, conventionally known as “summer”, which has been the disappointment. One of our camellia trees has been thoroughly enjoying the sunshine: It has been more challenging than usual this week to correctly figure out which day it is. Much of the time it has been a bit of a blur. This is possibly because we spent eight and half hours driving home from Auckland on Monday. It had taken us eight hours to drive up last Thursday. We used to do it in seven hours, and didn’t feel that we were rushing. I didn’t feel that we were loitering on this last trip, and our breaks didn’t seem to be more frequent or particularly longer. Nicky found driving during the mid afternoon s...

 Another week of largely crisp, clear days has enabled me to spend some time in the garden. The flaxes next to the rotary drier and on the path to it have been trimmed and look tidier. With the aid of my new pruning saw, I cut down the dogwood which had died. It was located in the fernery and had some lichen which Nicky liked, but some of the branches were drooping and becoming a bit of a nuisance. We gave the wood to some neighbours who have a wood burner for their heating. The fernery now looks a little different: Nicky did her usual church cleaning on Monday. She vacuumed and mopped the floors before going to Home Group on Tuesday. Decibelles Book Club and hospital visiting occupied Nicky’s Wednesday before we quizzed, coming 4th with 91 points. I was also out and about on Wednesday, meeting Jackson for morning coffee at the Virginia Lake café. This used to be called The Funky Duck and neither of us had been since the new management had taken over. The coffee and muffins were go...

 When I go for my morning amble I have two choices: up stream or down stream, as most of Somme Parade runs parallel to the river. Down stream takes me towards town and I can meander up and down various streets depending on how far I feel like going. Up stream takes me past the cemetery and out to the countryside where across the fields I can see the hills. There are only glimpses of the river on this route, but the autumn weather has made the view observable when passing the cemetery less obscured: Nicky was in town on Monday morning, cleaning the brass at church, having a blood test, and getting one of her hearing aids repaired. I finished washing the house and cleaned the cook top. After lunch Frances called in with some feijoas, Nicky arrived home after a long wait and rubbish cuppa at the hospital, and then Laurie paid us a visit. Many hot beverages were consumed. The inner door handle on the toilet door had started to come loose towards the end of last week, and I couldn’t fig...

 The weather was quite dull on Wednesday, but the rest of the week has been settled and lovely. Crisp beginnings followed by lovely sunshine. As the week has progressed the overnight temperatures have dropped, hitting a low of 3º which gave us a hint of frost. The cosmos by the drive is looking great: Nicky did her usual vestry cleaning and tea towel laundering on Monday. We had a good morning in town together on Tuesday. While I did the supermarket shopping Nicky had her electric blanket tested at the Fire Station. She didn’t find a comfortable fireman to sit on while she was waiting, but there were chairs and the firemen were handsome and helpful. The blanky passed. Nicky had some Whitcoulls gift vouchers to spend which she had earned doing on-line surveys. A jigsaw was our preferred option and we found a lovely Kiwiana one. Next stop was Renata’s for the framing of the lighthouse cards that Nicky bought for me at the Kapiti Coast Arts Festival last year as an early birthday gift...