Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Our week began with the final of the football World Cup. It was an early start (7am here) and like many finals, a little dull. Nicky went back to bed at half time, as she had also had a poor night. Spain won, and deservedly so as they were the better side on the day. Argentina didn’t even have a shot at goal. It appeared from quite early on in the match that Argentina were aiming for a penalty shoot-out. Writing this now, on the following Sunday, it all seems a very long time ago. To celebrate the culmination of the World Cup, which we have enjoyed, we took advantage of the sunshine and did the laundry. Ambling, cleaning and reading were also on our list of celebratory activities. In the evening Frances and Lyn (from across the road) joined us for dinner. I roasted a leg of pork and some spuds, and served it with what has turned out to be an almost never-ending brassica delight and some of Nicky’s damson jus. This goes very well with meat. We had one of Nicky’s Key Lime pies for d...

 One of the security cameras needed its battery recharging this week, and when I was putting it back I noticed that, because I was up a ladder, I had a different view of the back garden. I had my phone with me to check the positioning of the camera, so took this picture: The Football World Cup is drawing to a close, with just the final left to play tomorrow. We watched the semi-finals with Frances joining us to see Argentina beat England. She joined us again today for the Bronze final between England and France, which was a corker. Nicky went to church at the half-time break, requesting updates if anything happened - just the six second half goals. She decided she should have stayed at home so requested a replay of the second half with lunch. We have also completed our (probably) annual Harry Potter Film festival this week, watching one each evening except for Wednesday, when we quizzed. We managed 8th place with 88 points. The midpoint of meteorological winter has passed this week...

 We have a new road sign. It’s actually on the berm in front of next door, but I think of the three sections as being together so can use the term “we”. It’s a variable speed limit sign for the school (currently on holiday) so I’m assuming it will light up with a reduced speed limit at the beginning and end of the school days. We await with anticipation. The football World Cup has again dominated the beginning of all days but one this week. The Round of 16 was completed and the Quarter Finals played. Monday saw a brilliant match with Norway beating Brazil. Afterwards Nicky went off to church cleaning and I made fruit bread. We were joined for the afternoon match between England and Mexico by Frances, Mike and John. It was a tense and exciting, and we were all relieved that England won. Belgium-USA was Tuesday’s best game (and not just because Belgium won), and the end of the Egypt-Argentina match early on Wednesday morning was compelling. The game had 20 minutes to go by the time I...

 We have been looking after Mrs Egg’s chooks this week, and feeding her moggie. This has entailed going and letting the chooks out of the hen houses first thing in the morning, then coaxing them back in again with food at the end of the afternoon. As soon as the moggie spots one of us, food is demanded with menaces. I’m lucky that I have still got all my digits and limbs. These are two of the chooks planning a flanking manoeuvre: Last week culminated with a 4.8 earthquake at 23.05 on Sunday, plus after shocks, which were reported but not felt by us. The epicentre was 65k south west of Whanganui. It woke me up so I stayed in bed, counting, while Nicky stood in the doorway of the shower room. Our front door didn’t rattle like it usually does with a quake, so I think the movement was in a different direction, but we didn’t have any damage. Much of the week has been dry, clear and sunny, so we have had some frosty starts: We have continued watching the World Cup footy, but have reduced...

 Our main exercise this week has been nipping to the loo during the footy match hydration breaks. At half time we top up with tea or coffee, ready for the second half hydration break, or de-hydration break as I think of them for us with them being more water-out than water-in. It has again been a bit of a wall-to-wall footy week, and the weather hasn’t really had the heart to tempt us outside much. Friday was particularly wet and very windy. Shortly after we first moved into our home, and probably before the furniture arrived, we put some Commando hooks up on the eastern kitchen wall. Commando hooks are ones that stick on and have a tab to pull them off in order to try and prevent them leaving a mark when you take them down. We used them for a clock and a couple of calendars. On Monday evening the hook holding the new red clock that we bought last year gave up the ghost, and the clock crashed into the kitchen bench, shattering the glass. Nothing else was damaged, and on the up-side...

 Nicky has invented a new custard. It’s called lemon curd. This came about because Frances (Mrs. Egg) gave us some end-of-season apples from her tree which I had stewed last Saturday. On Tuesday I used some of them to make an apple and Wensleydale pie, which even when served with custard was a bit boring. The apples had little flavour. I had made some lemon curd on Monday and Nicky suggested using it on the apple pie - Bingo! Absolutely transformed it. Our week has been dominated by the FIFA World Cup. I had picked the games that I wanted to watch, but we have ended up watching nearly all of them, and as a result encountering a gem or two, particularly the Austria-Jordan match. Frances (Mrs. Egg) joined us on Tuesday to watch the All Whites (NZ) match. Nicky watched too, so missed out on Home Group. On Thursday John and Mike came over to watch the England game. Afterwards John went off to work, Nicky went to staff the Aramoho Library (which has been cleaned and refurbished!!!). Mik...

 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...