Monday

Well, I wouldn't have liked to have been M driving up to the Sunshine Coast today. Before she went off to bed last night, she asked if I would check she was up when I left for work (at 6 am). Up? Up? I haven't seen anybody faster asleep and when she didn't wake when I knocked on the bedroom door, then called from the door, and then from closer I finally realized I would have to nudge her a little - or get one of the two cats who were sitting on the bed to do it for me; and she did wake up, obviously very tired still, saying that the cats had had her up early. No wonder they looked so rested! I doubled back to ask S to check M in five or ten minutes to make she didn't go back to sleep - because I knew they wanted to make an early start up to the Sunshine Coast.

We received a text from M mid-morning to say they were waiting to see the elephants - so we knew they had arrived at Australia Zoo. It's a great venue and hopefully they will all enjoy it, especially little H.

With M away, I finally got to take the rubbish and recycling up to the front gate again. I would have taken the four wheel drive up but I think L still has it next door, so I took the other car - being very careful not to get it dirty because it has only recently been cleaned (in preparation for M putting it on the market).

Pearl was waiting for me to arrive this afternoon and after we had a game with the new "big" ball, I know she wanted to come up to the road with the rubbish but she couldn't. She did do her usual trick of biting at the wheels of the garbage bins each time I loaded one onto the tow-bar. It was good to know that I hadn't forgotten the sequence at the other end - unhook, untie, align - with the "untie" being an important part because if the bin isn't untied, the rubbish or recycling will stay inside it - and there was no room for the recycling not to be taken away this week.

S ("fresh"[?] from her trek of the Hinterland in the Kokoda Challenge) and A (who did a fantastic job as part of the LLAMA support team) dropped in to have a cup of tea with S on their way back to Brisbane today. S is feeling good after the weekend of walking but doesn't think she will be doing the Kokoda Challenge again - but she's glad she did it this time. (Yesterday they were saying that some people say they won't do it again - for the first week - and they're then keen to start training for the next one!)

S is cooking a roast chicken dinner tonight - and is threatening to turn it into chicken soup if I start to feel crooker - I had a sore throat yesterday, and the sniffles and sneezes today but not so much that I am even going to contemplate the "staying in bed" option S is suggesting for tomorrow if I don't feel better. However, I do reserve the right to revisit this decision in the morning - especially if there's another frost at Latimers - or if I forget to take the cold and flu tablets this evening.

It's cold enough for the cats to be in - and they are, except for Beasley, but I have a feeling her will come in before it's much later as it is a bit chilly out there, and he has to be starting to feel hungry soon.