The joy of new arrivals...two ex-colleagues are now proud mothers of their first babies
The stress of sudden illness takes it toll on dear friends. May God be with you all.
Recently in Friends Category
Many days of business, means little time for blogging, so here's a quick update...
- AFL has finished for the year with my lovely Saints in fourth place, which is an improvement from 9th last year
- The Hawks were a surprise winner of the AFL grand final, after Geelong had been the form team all year long. The Hawks supporters might tell you something different...
- An enjoyable afternoon watching the grand final with our lovely neighbours...
- A small moment of embarrassment at Auckland airport involving a (very) small apple, meant that I am $200 Kiwi dollars lighter than I should be. (Plus foreign currency charges) (And the amused chuckles of my colleagues....)
- A house warming for C & Y at the weekend, with so much food left over that we had to go back yesterday to eat some more food!
- My step mother is finally home after almost four weeks in hospital following her fall of 4.5 metres in September. Walking, talking. WHich in itself is a bit of a miracle.
- Warm, dry weather at the weekend reminds us that summer is on it's way, and parched crops in the North of the state will be struggling, even more.
I was looking forward to a quiet weekend, but I should have known that it was not to be..., firstly because we had a work outing to the footy, with good seats, meal and the Geelong/ North Melbourne match...
And then an outing with the Princess and Y, followed by Middle Eastern lunch in Sydney Road- delicious falafels for me, and meaty stuff for the others...yumminess...
Then an offer from my Dad, to buy me another cat, and discretion being the better part of valour, have kindly declined the offer, for now...The history to this offer is that he has bought himself another kitten, after the success of Eugene, earlier this year, and the breeder had two others, not yet sold, with equally lovely natures which led to the offer.
Sunday another outing to the footy, but my Saints are causing me some grief, but not to worry, a very nice outing with our lovely neighbours, followed by dinner, and a few drinks- a really nice way to end a Sunday on a long weekend...
Monday saw a sleep in, then a visitor from the country, amazed at the array of period style fittings that can be obtained if you know where to look...
Too soon, Tuesday has rolled around again, and back to work for another week, happily a short one!
One of the pleasures of living in Melbourne is the opportunity for a range of culinary experiences drawing from a number of different food cultures. Add to this an opportunity to dine with friends visiting from the Middle East, and you have the ingredients for a lovely evening. Even more special when the dinner is the result of a wager that is being honoured, albeit not quite the one that I was expecting. And I acknowledge that making assumptions may not always be the wisest thing to do, but reading between the lines, and reaching a considered conclusion on the basis of known facts will often reap rewards.
Approaching the eve of the Melbourne Cup weekend is not an easy one to find a restaurant with bay views in St Kilda, as most of the signature restaurants were already booked out by mid week, however, a recommendation from a colleague saw us heading to Mirka at Tolarno in Fitzroy Street for an early dinner, with G rostered for a 4am start the next morning, and our companions still to recover from jet lag after arriving in the morning. This restaurant has a menu which is strongly influenced by French and Italian cuisines with some classic dishes like Bouillabaise,
The restaurant has kept the murals painted by the artist, Mirka Mora, and windows overlooking Fitzroy Street, where you can watch the world go by
As I had perused the menu on the internet before we went, I had pretty made up my mind by the time we got there to have snails, served as an entree, without shells but with garlic and parsley butter and a flaky pastry topping, which proved to be absolutely delicious. Other choices for entrees included oysters, black pudding with scallops, and mussels marinière.
Other delicacies included Pork with crunchy crackling, the afore mentioned Bouillabaisse, Sword fish and a range of other yummy stuff too numerous to mention.
And, yes, I found room for dessert, too...
And I'm looking forward to the next one...
When I mentioned that I was going to be having two weeks off around the wedding, one of my work colleagues thought it was just a little excessive to take that much time off for recovery! However, as events have turned out, and two and a half weeks after catching the flu bug that is going around, I am glad that I did, for the number of activities we've jammed into the past two weeks would have been tiring if I didn't have a virus, but was exhausting when I did. Although, a lot of fun!
In brief:
The last two weeks:
Sunday 22nd- pick up Aussie Lass and Muffin Man at the airport, at 6 am, followed by lunch for six, and dinner for 10 at our house
Monday 23rd- shopping in the city and picking up Muffin Man's lovely parents from the airport in the evening
Tuesday 24th- Rest day for me, following medical advice to take it easy, due to viral bronchitis, but the 3 French people delivered to the airport for a 3 night sojourn in Tasmania
Wednesday 25th- Fixing small details for the upcoming nuptials and resting
Thursday 26th- More details organised
Friday 27th- Sorting last minute details, and picked up the French travellers from the airport- they were absolutely delighted with their trip to Tasmania, the seafood, the bushwalks and the scenery. Dinner for 14 at Lebanese restaurant in Brunswick, with conversations going on in French, English and Arabic.
Saturday 28th- Despite the bride coming down with the cold/flu bug, she looked superb, and the audible gasp of the wedding guests as she walked into the room plucked at my heartstrings, and I shed more than a few tears.
Sunday 29th- Lunch at our place for more than 50, was a fabulous afternoon and a chance for the newly weds to relax with many of the family and guests from the night before.
Monday 30th- Lunch at Mt Macedon and a visit to Hanging Rock, followed by dinner at a local cafe in Yarraville
Tuesday 31st- Lunch at home for 10, from a selection of the goodies available at Queen Victoria Market, then back to the airport with the parents of Muffin Man, who had another wedding to attend this weekend in the North of France. Followed by takeaway pizza dinner for 10. Plans made for expedition to Queensland for some warmth!
Wednesday 1st August- Slept in...
Thursday 2nd August- trip to the country to see relatives
Friday 3rd August- shopping and lunch in the City, then out with neighbours to see Western Bulldogs and St Kilda play a thrilling draw at the Telstra Dome.
Saturday 4th August- Completed the house moving for Y and C which was commenced a couple of weeks earlier. Collapsed in recliner chair when we got home and slept for more than an hour!
Sunday 5th August- Out for afternoon tea. Might have to go back to work tomorrow for a rest...
This morning, as the rest of the family slept, following nocturnal activities, (a party in the case of C & Y, and shift work for G) I headed off to a French Crêperie in Williamstown for breakfast, and conversation in French with a colleague from my French class. We meet quite regularly, as one of the most difficult things to do when you are learning another language is to get practice at talking in that language. So, we spend the best part of an hour chatting about what we have done and what we are going to do, and our conversations are improving, as because of the practice, we are finding it much easier. The staff of the restaurant also speak French, so we are able to order from the menu and pay the bill, reverting to English only when we get stuck!
This afternoon, after attending a christening in Strathmore, we adjourned to the Quiet Man, an Irish pub in Flemington, for lunch and an extended afternoon, with the lilting the Irish accents of our host, and the waitress reminding us of our visit to Ireland two years ago. This was followed by a session of Irish music. Reluctantly, we had to leave before the finish of the music, but we have resolved to make a return visit for another pleasant afternoon. Oh, the Guinness was also good, apparently.
A phone call this morning, informed us that the trip to the Philippines which we were to be going on, firstly scheduled for the coming weekend, then postponed to the first week in July, has been postponed further, with no definite date.
Sparkling white wine followed by a red, of course
Beer
Lasagne
Salad
Tiramisu with vanilla icecream
Chocolate Cup Cakes with hot pink icing
Stories of adventure in exotic places which would have been funnier if we weren’t planning to go there ourselves in a few weeks…!
A phone call from France and an extended chat
A few stitches in time around the dining table- will I ever get that cardigan finished?
Prawn skewers on the barbeque with garlic and chilli
Footy tipping 7/8 restores pride, until next week.
How good it feels when your team wins the first match of the season....(OK, I'm still beaming!)
Buying a house seems to be a "catching" experience.
The trials of booking plane tickets to Europe for late August, resulting in friends having to book flights via China and a four day stopover in Beijing so that they can be in Cambridge by the 1st of September. Well, wouldn't you do that too, to save $1800?
Umpiring mistakes. But if Shannon Grant of the North Melbourne Kangaroos had kicked straight it wouldn't have mattered.
The joy on the face of a Collingwood supporter when they unexpectedly sneak over the line in their match against North Melbourne by three points after being well down at 3/4 time.
The compound tenses used in sentences of a two and a half year old young lady called Claire..."Where's James, where could James be "? To my sorrow, I can't remember exactly how she said it, but the quote above is close, but not quite what she said.
We have also realised that it takes longer to recover from a night of playing cards, and drinking wine than it used to...
From one of those e-mails circulating around...
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them."
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them , at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER :
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Apologies that I can't attribute this to anyone, I don't know who the author is.
When I was six years old, and in my first year at Kellallac State School, a tiny primary school, about 360 km North West of Melbourne, in the Wimmera District of Victoria, one of the tasks in the last month of the year was to write a letter to Santa Claus telling him what I wanted for Christmas. I can still remember writing that I would like to get a Panda bear and some green shorts. I don’t know why I particularly wanted a Panda, rather than some other sort of bear, perhaps it was just a foretaste of my quirky nature for the future, not wanting what everyone else had, and maybe deliberately choosing something because it was not the done thing.
You can imagine my excitement when Christmas morning came, and there was an enormous parcel there for me. I opened it up, and there was what seemed like a gigantic Panda inside. Looking back, now, “Peter” was about 80 cm tall, but seemed enormous to me at the time. He provided me with a silent but loyal companion in many happy hours of play and rough and tumble with my brothers.
There was also another parcel, and in it was a pair of green shorts and matching shirt, with cuffs on both in green and white stripes. This striking combination was a favourite outfit of mine for as long as I could fit into it!
Now, I have definitely reached the stage where if I really need something, I can usually just go and get it, so Christmas and birthdays are not like those days when I was a six year old and that magical discovery that Christmas morning.
So, what do I want this year for Christmas? I already know that I will have most of what I want, with the visit from Aussie Lass and Muffin Man from France, and almost a week in Queensland with the two of them, Pink Ukelele and G. Sadly, Y can’t come too.
And what else do I wish for this year?
Health, and happiness for my family, and for you and yours...
Laughter
Joy
And, when things don’t go so well, support and encouragement from those I care about.
It's my experience that these things can also come from unexpected people, too, and I am very grateful for that.
The blessing is that I recognise that I already have, or will have, most of what I want in a very large measure!
Edit: Except for a cat...but hopefully that will change soon!
As to the other wants, I wish for serenity to accept what cannot be, courage to strive for what is possible, and enjoyment of the small things along the way...
