Thursday

Another frost this morning and I can't believe I missed it again! M reported it as she drove off soon after me on the way in to collect H for his surf lesson - I think it was surfing this morning because she later said that H and Brad had gone so far out that she could hardly see them. H seemed to do well today - but I hope he was wearing that wetsuit because it was 2 degrees on parts of the Coast this morning. I wonder if the water was warm again - over the last few weeks (while H has been doing water sports) the water temperature has consistently been higher than the air temperature.

Ah well, I'll just have to keep my eye out for that frost on mornings which feel colder - and hope that the days continue getter lighter so I have a chance of seeing it when I drive out of Latimers.

What I also missed this morning - and glad of it - was the bevy of bike riders zipping past the gate. Luckily they were going in the other direction so I didn't have to follow them out of the valley - or risk overtaking on the way to the bridge.

It was another glorious day on the Gold Coast (we have a fair few of them - I think the tourist folk are boasting 300 sunny days a year at this point - hmmm, does this include or exclude flood season?).

I had to stop off and do some shopping on the way home (peanut butter, sugar and some custard to go with the [rather excellent] apple crumble S made for dessert). I had hoped to get home in time for a walk with S and Pearl, and M if she was home - but it was a bit late but Doug was still there - doing some work clearing out the shed - so we stopped and had a bit of a chin-wag. He and his significant other are coming to Family & Friends dinner tomorrow night. She is Russian and Mouse is cooking borscht and vereniki. The Great K is also coming so, with Ma and H as well, we are going to have a full house. It will be fun!

S was planning to use her birthday tagine for the first time this evening - and while she has suggested this on a couple of occasions previously, she told me this morning that the chicken has been defrosted so it has to be today. I was particularly looking forward to it because she has said she would do it with mashed potato rather than the traditional cous cous because she knows I am not a fan of the latter.

Well, it was almost the birthday tagine ... but S wanted to test the recipe first ... and it didn't specifically say it needed to be made in a tagine - so it wasn't. But it was very yummy - spicy chicken and very lovely mashed potatoes. (Some are definitely better than others and S, Ma and T make the best ones I have tasted - except for mine of course - but it has been a while since anyone has seen me doing anything in the kitchen besides the dishes!)