Friday

I admit it. I find it more than a little disconcerting when Maggie sleeps with her eyes open. but she usually is fast asleep and even waving a hand in front of her doesn't stir her. My niece does the same thing - or used to when she was a wee thing ... I don't know if she still does - she's 18 now and I haven't seen her asleep for a while. Come to think of it, we don't often see people asleep as we go through our normal routines (I'm not counting people you live with in that statement). Of course, no-one would find it easy to sleep through the racket those birds are making outside again this evening. They have been for a few nights now and while I am fairly sure they are over near the avocado tree, sound has a way of playing tricks on you. Like the single gunshot last night ... I couldn't tell where it came from but as M explained, you only had to look at the horses to know - and she was right.

S is away visiting the family at the moment and I took the opportunity during a Skype call yesterday to show her around work - including the site, and then up and into the office. I hope it was as exciting for her as it was for me!

The gardens are still flourishing, helped along by the little bit of rain we've had this week. M harvested some tomatoes and took them with us into Mouse's for dinner - yummm, soup, cabbage rolls and vegetable patties. And, luckily for me, there were leftovers so there's lunch tomorrow - and some blueberry cake for morning tea.

The CSP jackpot (it was a busy night - fitting in The Big House as well) is sitting at just over $70k, but none of it came home with us! Ah well, there's always another time. And the place didn't seem to be besieged with Schoolies - they had apparently been sighted earlier in the day, in great numbers! Still, it was busy enough - and not everyone was there to look at the Christmas decorations which have finally been put up! They're pretty too, although I did seem to recognise some of the reindeer from last year! So, I don't think it will be long now before we start digging out the rest of the Christmas decorations for Latimers ... since M has already kicked it off with a reindeer!

A new world

Friday afternoon I finally managed to take myself off to SeaWorld's (now not so) new attraction ... Dinosaur Island. I have wanted to go for a while but other things kept coming up ... but with a day off on Friday - and the season passes reduced by 25% on Thursday ... I was "good to go". And go I did. While the animatronics were not fantastic with the dinosaurs - perhaps we have been spoiled into believing they can do so much more with inanimate objects - they were certainly good enough to scare some of the children who were there! Mind you, I was caught unawares once or twice with the movements they did make. I thought it was great to have a "make them move" feature - where you could press buttons to make various bits of some of the dinosaurs move - and while it didn't appear to work when I did it, at least it gave children the idea that they could have some mastery over these goliaths ... because some of them were huge! I had great fun photographing them and wandering around the world seeing the Polar Bears, the extreme stunt jetski show, and the dolphin show - made even better knowing that I have a season pass and can just keep going back and back and back to see those bits I missed this time.

 

Fireworks

We had dinner at Mouse's tonight and it was fantastic. It has been a while since she had us all over and she did it tonight because there were fireworks planned at the park across the river. At the appointed time, we were there, some of us in chairs, some of us with cameras, waiting ... waiting ... waiting. I don't know why we ever doubt Mouse (we don't really) but when there seemed to be absolutely no activity in the park, we did think there might have been a slight error with the day/date/time. But there wasn't - the 7 o'clock starting time in Mouse's notification letter had been an approximate only and twenty minutes later the sky was ablaze with colour/s! Then we say down to a feast of Borscht, Vereniki (with special curled edges) and Fl's favourite rhubarb crumble with ice cream and custard for dessert. Yum!

Then we drove through the packs of schoolies who have descended on the coast this week and made our way to The Big House where we were overnighting. M had been lucky enough to secure the Executive Level - so that meant "Cheeseland" - or, since we wouldn't be there in the afternoon for that - breakfast! And it was wonderful - and definitely worth getting up for - even though after a very late night (following my usual hotel ritual of ice drinks and a steaming hot bath) it would have been very easy (and almost essential) to have a bit of a lie-in. That would have been easier, too, had I thought to check the bedside alarm before going to sleep (there's a lesson for next time) so it didn't do shrill ringing at 6:08 am! There was no going back to sleep after that, so I left S sleeping as I went off to the Executive Club to do some coffee-drinking and watch the morning unfurl. She joined me later for breakfast and a very relaxing start to the day. It's nice to have days like this!

 

Out and about

M and S went off to see Emmy Lou Harris on Friday night and had a fantastic time. They both seemed to enjoy it a lot and were talking about it heaps when they arrived home, even checking the internet for her life story. She has been on the music scene for a while and brings a broad brush to it and its intersect with recent American history.

And, if that wasn't enough, M had managed to score some more tickets to Tap Dogs so both Fl and S went to the Saturday afternoon show. It would have been no use being at home doing gardening then because it was raining - but the huge storm that was forecast didn't eventuate here. Brisbane wasn't quite so lucky because they did get a storm - but not one that had been forecast. There was widespread damage and flooding. Mi (working in Brisbane then) sent Fl some photos of cars bobbing around in the water and floating away. Pretty scary, too, since she had been out there with her car less than 15 minutes beforehand.

Just thinking about it, Saturday was fairly busy. Mo was out at Latimers bright and early so he could repaint the bathroom ceiling - and M was up doing yard work and ready to go into Bunnings to pick up a replacement ceiling fan for the bathroom as soon as M had it removed. Mind you, the ceiling has been looking a great deal better since M did as Mo suggested and used Exit Mould to get the mould/mildew off.

M stayed to keep Mo company, and to make biscuits, while S and I went off to Robina in search of Mouse's birthday present (a little something from The Apple Store). And we weren't the only ones out and about - there were crowds of folk, as well the Batman Car aka the BatMobile - as last seen - or was that a different version of it - last year at MovieWorld with H and the others. There was nothing for it but to do Yum Cha and watch the crowds (and the bowling skittle) pass us by.

There wasn't even time for a proper nap after we arrived home (via The Big House and Tap Dogs) before we were on the road again on the way to Mouse's birthday dinner at the Turkish Restaurant, Pasha's - very nice - and we had just finished out dinner by the time the belly dancer arrived for her half-hour set. Mi apparently knows her and even before she arrived said that she usually asks her to get up and dance ... and she certainly did get people up to dance with her. Luckily ... or was it? ... no-one from our table was one of them - either getting individual coaching - or joining the belly dancing Congo line through the restaurant. It was a great evening and Mouse seemed to enjoy that - and the Markets on Sunday morning where there was more cake and celebrating - very much. And then the birthday celebrations continued with dinner at Zen on Sunday night. Happy Birthday Mouse!!

In the dark?

In the dark ... well, we weren't here at Latimers but they were in far North Queensland when they were in the right place at the right time to see the total solar eclipse. And the right time was right ... according to reports, the sky was overcast until just before the "totality" and then the clouds parted to reveal the Moon's shadow obscuring all but the Sun's corona. It would have been amazing to see - especially if you managed to get out of it with your eyesight intact - which you would have if you had followed the instructions about not looking at the eclipse with your naked eye(s). We have come a long way since you were instructed to look at it only "by suggestion" - by poking a pin hole in a piece of cardboard - and then looking at the shadow that cast. People for this one were wearing special eclipse glasses that let them look directly at the sun for a length of time and not be blinded! And it was certainly mesmerising. Even here, where we only saw a partial eclipse, it was very tempting not to look - although, according to Joan, and she was right, the eclipse was visible through sunglasses and the shaded strip at the top of the car windscreen.

Other excitement around Latimers this week, not counting the rain that fell last weekend, was the appearance of the Will Wagtails. At first, I thought that one of them was injured - and that was why the others were making a ruckus to draw us away from it. As it turns out, there is apparently a nest with a chick in it. I haven't seen it yet ... I had a look this morning and couldn't work out where it was so I'll get S to show me on the weekend - and hopefully take a photograph!

The garden continues to grow - with the help of last weekend's rain. I had a fresh cucumber the other night with my dinner and that was absolutely yummy. There's nothing like homegrown produce, picked and eaten. But there's still dirt to move and I keep asking about it and waiting for instruction - and for the new beds to be ready/to be/built. But at least the lawn is long enough to mow again - and M did half the yard the other day - but only on 2.5 because the grass is still a bit dry and brittle, despite the soaking. It might have stayed around longer if we hadn't had strong winds straight after the rain days.

There is now some doubt about whether L will be on his way to Boston at the end of the year to take up his spot at the Berkeley Music institute. It looks as though he may "defer" (although he will need to drop out and re-apply) for the May intake. I don't know the full story - M was filling me in a little on it last night as we dined at The Big House (CSP jackpot total now under $60,000) before she went off to see L's end of year show at The Basement (part of the Gold Coast Arts Centre).