It looked warm enough on the Skype for us to wonder if perhaps you might not enjoy the latest gadget to come out of Japan - a watermelon cooler (on wheels) which plugs into a wall outlet or your car lighter socket. Just the thing for picnics or poolside on hot summer days - and it apparently doubles as a rice warmer in the cooler months. Mmmm .... rice.
We did visit with J this evening. She is the same as ever although she has been pulling a couple of extra shifts lately - no doubt to help pay off that monster mobile bill from her own international roaming. She cooked for us - and as we reminisced, this was the first meal J has cooked for me since before Js was born way back in 1989 - coincidentally not long before I went overseas myself. (Seems to be a theme here.) R is waging a campaign to go to the Ekka and I fear I may not have helped the cause any. As S correctly suggests I am going to have to learn to think before I speak when it comes to children/teenagers etc.
J and R both absolutely loved Talking Tom. How could such a simple concept bring so much joy and laughter? Will the paid version of Talking Hippo - complete with props of carrot, balloon, pacifier and butterfly, and baby voice, be better?
And speaking of carrots, there did not appear to be one in sight on Night 3 of the MasterChef finals week. The remaining four had to make their three best "cookbook" dishes and tell the judges, including guest Maggie Beer, their vision for it. (Maggie's - website http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/ - seems as warm and welcoming as she is.) The choices and approaches were as diverse as the finalists and each had excellent features in their dishes - and some minor disappointments. But choose the judges must - and this time Jimmy was shown the door - leaving a very relieved Claire, Adam and Callum to wonder what the next challenge will be - but not for long as they were told that they are off to Canberra to cook for Quentin Bryce and her guests at an official function.
Which is not where Mr Rudd will end up If the reports are true and he really is in line for a job as climate adviser with the UN. The UN officially refuses to speculate/comment on announcements until they are made but the UN is apparently keen - knowing that K Rudd will bring a certain political acumen with him to the role - and he did reportedly meet with the UN Secretary General Ban KI-Moon last week. However, he is still hitting the campaign trail in Griffith (12 per cent margin) and Ms Gillard has said she would make him a senior minister if Labor wins - but we'll have to wait until 22 August and find out KR's intentions/ambitions/hopes and dreams first!
Tony Abbott was booed when he appeared on Hey Hey It's Saturday. Ms Gillard refused an invitation to appear. She did however drink coffee in Sydney's Little Italy and as she left to return to her car, had a local shopowner shepherd her in to her Merchant of Venice store, and when she extricated herself from that, but before they could drive off, a retired clergywoman tapped on her window for her to get out and have a chat. This lot was referred to as a "stunt" in The Gold Coast Bulletin - which may be a new, short-form word for "electioneering".
Meanwhile, back at Latimers, everyone spent the night in - sleeping much better no doubt after your call. Even Tinka came indoors without resistance (oh wait, we weren't going to mention that), When I set off this morning, they had been up, eaten, and retired back to various positions throughout the house waiting for S to emerge. As mentioned, she has done up a "pineapple" to track her chores over the coming weeks - and it has a nice place of its own in the Latimer's Folder. She has a new job today - not yet charted - which is seeing if she can find the letterbox key. We know someone said it was with the Honda keys - but my boy-looking and numerous attempts with the keys that were there at the Letterbox proved fruitless. This time I am absolutely sure it was the right letterbox (hard to know where to put the emphasis in that last phrase); hopefully S will have more luck than I. Hmmm ... perhaps it's hiding under the cover for the car.
The other S says hello - spoke with S this morning and said how much dinner was enjoyed - which hopefully will be our experience with curried chicken at M and F's on Friday.
The rest of the local area remains the same - except for the restaurant that burned down in Burleigh (not Barry's we think), the Mayor copping flack because he's taking "too long" recuperating and ... well, there's loads more which will need to wait until another day.
