Making ourselves at home

Our first 48 hours back in New Zealand involved a lot of rain and no sun. There were huge storms over Northland and parts of Auckland on Tuesday which left 141,000 homes in auckland without electricity. We were oblivious to the severity of the storm until the next day as our house is quite sheltered and we were quite out of it from jet-lag.

Yesterday and today have been much brighter with the kind of clear blue skies and bright sunshine that I remembered. For a good part of the day it is warmer outside in the sun than it is in our house. We have been making it cosier by re-arranging the furniture and buying a fireguard and a log basket. In fact we have done quite a lot of shopping (obviously got into the habit of it in the US). Today we bought a printer and scanner as Ian will frequentlybe working from home. We loved having wireless internet in the States so we have got that set up now too. Ian and I are currently sitting on the sofa in front of the fire with a blanket draped across our knees with our laptops resting on our laps.

I forgot to mention in the account of our trip home that the airline misplaced one of our bags. I think it went to Melborne and back without it. Fortunately it turned up by taxi the next evening so it wasn't too much of a drama.

All in all it has been loving getting home. On Monday night Cindy, one of our Pastors from Church brought us round a cooked dinner. We got fed again at Cindy's house last night as two of her house guests had used the house while we were away so wanted to thank us with a meal. It's been good to gradually touch base with people again. Ian spent a very cosy hour or so with James in his shed yesterday afternoon. Today we bumped into Angela and her boys at the Mall. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone properly over the next couple of weeks.