MON-WED

The Turkish contingent had made it to Seoul the last I heard, and it shouldn't be that long now before they've finished their overnight stay there and are ready to head home via Istanbul. The word is that they had a good flight crew on their way from Brisbane to Korea - and we all know what a difference that makes. Where does the time go? They're home safely now which is good to know and we're all settling back into life without them here. It is different though - knowing they're on the other side of the world, settling back into their own lives. I hope they all had a good time - we think Mü did; he pulled M aside at one point and told her that he didn't want to go back to Turkey.

Heh heh. ... poor Mü! I've just remembered one of the little tricks I played with/on him; he had asked me how to edit text on the iPad - he almost had it but wasn't holding his finger directly on the text to be changed - so I showed him how to do that ... although first he had to wiggle his finger in the air to make sure it would work ... which he did. Once or twice he did get it to work without first doing the finger wiggle-and when he pointed this out, I told him he must have had enough wiggle stored up to let it work. He was happy with that. I do wonder how long it will be before he realises I was playing a trick on him! And I'm sorry I won't be around to see him giggle about it... both he and Ze have a terrific sense of fun!

I had the house to myself last night if you don't count the furries as they were home with me as well. They didn't take up much room and they weren't too rowdy - so everyone was happy! But they still didn.t get to decide what we watched on television (I got to do that... just a shame there wasn't anything much on). We did watch a movie we'd recorded "American Werewolf in London" which, in retrospect, may not have been the best choice given it's almost full moon (it might even have been) and I was ... home alone.

M and S spent the night in Brisbane - they went up to see Joan Armatrading .- and absolutely loved it. The venue was fantastic (quite intimate) and Joan was amazing - doing a mix of "old stuff" and some from her new album/CD. They stayed overnight rather than having to drive home late.

Sunday

The rain has started, bringing with it that rich, earthy smell. Fabulous. Unfortunately it's also brought a thunderstorm with much lightning and thunder - and it's almost directly overhead now. Pearl is in with S because she does get frightened, and Maggie, who had taken herself out when we came home, has just bolted back inside - and it took just one call - and a very huge crash of thunder, quite nearby, to get her in. But nothing much phases Tinka, as she was still sitting on her chair out the back, but allowed me to scoop her up and pop her on the bed with S - before she trotted out hoping (knowing?) I was somewhere near the special cookies jar!

Before then, the day had been fine - even though we were missing the Turkish contingent who returned home today. The Markets just isn't the same without them, especially Mü and Ze. We are going to miss their cheeky little faces and very lively and friendly personalities. But we had new/returned folk there today - Tr and her husband (Mi and Fl's friends), and N's sister, C, who is back over from France for a month. We are going to have to check if Sy is coming to Trivia tonight, because if she is (and if S doesn't stay home) we are going to be over the maximum number - and be docked points! But we will manage! Also at the Markets today, Ne, who is visiting from London. She had returned for a wedding and she'll be around until next Saturday so we're hoping we'll get to see her again. Word is that she is determined to go to Bingo with the girls on Wednesday ... something about wanting to win the $1,000 jackpot!

After the Markets, S and I took ourselves off in search of the Bear with the Bare Behind - one of the Koala sculptures currently dotting the coast. This one is showing off its knickers, and causing quite a stir, so we thought we'd see if we could find it - we couldn't - but we did have a lovely sit beachside ... taking in the cooling ocean breeze, the smell of sausages someone was sizzling on a nearby BBQ, and the sounds of children playing. Good fun. So much so that we decided to try our luck getting in to the Dune Cafe (near the Pirate Ship Playground) down near Currumbin ... and while it was a lovely drive, we still can't say that we've eaten there ... because almost everyone else on the Gold Coast must have had much the same idea and there wasn't a parking spot in sight, or even within sight of the horizon ... but not to be beaten, we moved on the Ambience, at Kirra, and had lunch there. We couldn't see the water, but we knew it was there because we could see the kiteboarders!

Then it was back home - just in time to batten down the hatches for the storm (which was here before we saw the Severe Storm Warnings!). Luckily there wasn't any hail in it ... but there was oddles of lightning and thunder ... but it's passed now, we've turned the power back on, and we're settling in for the afternoon (S and the furries are napping) and I'm catching up on some correspondence and job search!

 

Boat builders

It was a fantastic night on Tuesday - dinner at Mi's and F's. It was a good turn-out and not just because everyone loves a BBQ. It was a magnificent spread, wonderful salads, other vegetables, and Fl had cooked the meat to perfection - chicken, kofta, lamb chops ... yum. And for dessert there was a range of fresh fruit ... and some wonderful cakes. It just goes to show - if you're going to hang out with people - make sure they can bake!

Mü and Ze were there too (their mother was the guest of honour) and our project for this evening - as well as making sure that we were socialable and made time to sit and eat - was boat making! I had remembered to call in at the craft shop to pick up a packet of sticks - and I had glue as well but I feared it was so strong all three of us would end up with our hands stuck together, or to our foreheads ... you get the idea. So S brought some of M's blue tape in from Latimers - and while I thought it was waterproof, as it turned out, it wasn't - but that's another story. As we made each boat (seven or so in all) we would take it out to the pool, pop it into the water, and checked it floated. Because their father is a boat builder, the kids have fairly high standards - and they needed the boats to look good as well as to float! Luckily they were happy with different-shaped rafts and one very rudimentary ark-like vessel - which did float until it was loaded up with all the other boats! Great fun! And next time, Mü wants to build the house featured on the sheet packed in with the sticks. That one really is going to need glue! And gloves - because the glue is toxic! Excellent!

It rained yesterday (Wednesday) but that didn't stop the girls going to Bingo (S was among the winners), to lunch at Mi's (there were leftovers from the night before), and then on to aquarobics - where they were joined by Sy and An.

And there was a power outage/blackout at Latimers for a few hours last night. We had just arrived home and S was getting ready to watch "New Tricks" when the lights blinked a few times before they settled for "off". I checked the fuse box to make sure it wasn't a local problem (the houses on the hills behind the stables still had power) - it wasn't - so we settled in to the computer (me) and the portable battery-powered DVD players (S). It was quite restful - except for trying to keep the moths and other flying insects away from the computer screen - the brightest light at Latimers! Thank goodness for the fly screens otherwise we would have been innundated.

Maggie wasn't obvious when we arrived back - and even though we looked for her a few times throughout the evening, it wasn't until the lights came back on that she materialized from ... somewhere. S was saying she and M had found Maggie behind the television the other day ... and even though I thought I did look there properly (not "boy looking" as I sometimes do) I couldn't see here ... but that is near where she turned up. But it was good she was there because we were able to go into lockdown "on time" as Tinka had been in for a while by the time Maggie turned up.

M, Mouse, Me, Fe and the kids were going out to a Vietnamese restaurant in Broadbeach last night. They are definitely running out of time (they go home on Sunday) and they are trying to fit everything in before they leave. I hope the kids liked the rice paper rolls!

WW (wonderful weekend)

What a fantastic weekend! It was one of those where it just keeps going and going! Although, to let you the truth, it would have been fairly easy to call it quits at lunchtime on Saturday - such was the effect of Friday night's celebrations, the late night, the alarm in the room sounding at 3:06am - and then again 9 minutes later as we'd only hit the snooze button - and a desire to be up early (not that early) to be able to do buffet breakfast and a swim before it became too hot. Yes - that was the reason for the late morning nap! Had that recharge not happened S and I may not have had the energy for a light lunch, then pool time with the children, before showers and getting ready to go out with them to Sizzlers for dinner. I can't credit how pleased I was to see that much fresh salad in the one place, ready for the taking! The last time we went to Sizzlers was, I think, when little Ha was here. We had (ice cream and soft drink) spiders with him but thought better of introducing Ze and Mü to them - they loved the soft serve ice cream machine and they loved the soft drink machine - and I shudder to think of their sugar rush, and unwillingness to leave if they ever realised you could put the two of them together!! (Maybe that will be a project for when we see them next visit!)

On Sunday - it was the Markets again - the usual crowd - but a shorter visit as Me and M were taking the kids along to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and we decided to tag along to spend some time with them. It was amazing what the kids were and were not interested in - and what they would do. Ze wanted to hold the baby crocodile - and did; but wasn't keen on holding the koala - she didn't. Mü didn't want to feed the kangaroos or even go near them because they "smelled" or perhaps it was all the kangaroo droppings he could smell - or maybe it was someone saying "don't go near the big red because it kicks" (I am not used to having to be so careful with what I say* lest the kids take it literally!). But he did finally warm to them and was amazed at how they tickled as they nuzzled food from his hand. They had a wonderful time in the play area, Wild Island, swinging off things, climbing over netting, and traversing rope bridges and slides. It was just a shame the flying fox was out of order because they would have loved that! I would also have been good if the rainbow lorikeets had turned up for feeding - but the two that did turn up didn't want to take something from the over 100 plates waiting for them! To keep the crowds happy, they quickly changed it so the kids could hold a snake - which, much to my surprise, both Ze and Mü did!

They did seem to be having a good time - and they obviously did. M told S this morning that when she asked if they had had a good time Mü said it was "the goodest day ever!". It was nice to have been able to be part of it!

*"Are you with us or agin us" asked M when I was telling Mü to watch out his hotdog didn't fall on the ground because then he wouldn't be able to eat it. Who thought that would have been giving him ideas? See, just not enough time around children!

 

Happy birthday!

The rain keeps coming - just sporadically now - but it's still there. Even though it was brilliant sunshine when we drove from Southport to Surfers Paradise (S now knows what she's giving me for my birthday) by the time we were settled in Zanaffas at Bundall, it was teeming down rain again. But at least we can't complain that it's been dry. And even though we do complain that it's unseasonably wet, as Me pointed out the other day (when it was pouring down on the Museum Day) this is actually what February-March always used to be - before we went into drought!

I cannot believe how quickly this week has gone! Just a paragraph ago it was Wednesday and now here it is Saturday again already - and my birthday has gone for another year! But it was a great day (thank you everyone!) and included another Games Night - where we all played Logo - including the children who seemed to have a good time - especially Mü even though he wasn't quite sure which team he wanted to be on - except it was the one whose turn it was! Yes, he did lose interest after a while and went around playing cricket and putting marshmallow in people's hair (he seemed to find that particularly hilarious) but he was quite good. Towards the end of the evening, after the Birthday Cake (Neopolitan Ice Cream cake - double or is that triple yum!) he and Ze entertained us with drumming and dancing. Ze is a very good dancer and she was encouraged by Mi, Me and Fe who all took part, and the rest of us as we clapped in time with the music. Then S read them a story (Madeline - complete with French accent) before they were off to bed and we were off to our next port of call - we stayed overnight at The Big House (thanks M).

 

Monday

B was saying the other day that he's going to get a man to come to fix the potholes in the lane. Hopefully it's soon, because with the rain we've had, and the heavy (horse floats!!) traffic on the already damaged bitumen, we appear to have more hole than road at the moment. And the rain still doesn't look as though it wants to let up! It does try - it fines up, the clouds part, the sun comes out - and then it's back to showering again. But at least we did manage to ROM the yard on Saturday - and we're holding on tight to that - knowing it will all need to be done again this weekend - if not sooner.

M took Tinker off to the vet again this afternoon ... and ... her insulin needs to be increased again. She's now on 6 morning and night. I wish we knew what was making her so hard to control because that way she wouldn't need to be going to the vet nearly as often - because we all know how much she likes going to the Vet. Not. But she was good enough for M today and now she won't need to go back for another week! But she is having her cookies changed ... and I think the instruction from the vet is that she isn't to have as many "special" cookies as we have been giving her - although I suspect the actual instruction was that she wasn't to have any ... and that she is now on new weight-control cookies better suited to a diabetic cat. The good news is that when M put them out for Tink this afternoon, Tink did eat them! And I am sure they are better for her - and Maggie - than the green tea pumpkin seeds which Maggie seems to have taken a shine to! That shouldn't be too surprising of course, that she likes them, because she's always been a cat that's partial to green ... peas, beans, broccoli ...

M and Me did have a good time and A Night To Remember last evening - although S who had more details was saying that neither of them managed that much sleep. Me confirmed that when we saw her at the Gold Coast Arts Centre to see Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on Monday night! What a fantastic and amazing voice! This was only her second concert of the tour - and she only has two more - so it was no wonder that the place was absolutely packed!

On the way back to Latimers, just over the Crossing, we noticed a strange light at the side of the road and as we approached, we switched to high beam to see - a reflection off a vehicle - and we stopped to ask the coach driver if they were okay. It was a huge tour bus, parked at the side of the road, all of the lights out, and the driver and the passengers standing in a driveway (muddy from all the recent rain). The driver assured us they were okay ... they were just "looking at the stars" - and we could understand why you would come out our way to do it - the stars are magnificent - but they're usually much easier to see if most of the sky isn't shrouded in cloud ... but even though it was, they would have managed to see a few. S and I thought that might be a few more than they would usually see - as it did appear they were from Asian countries - and we know there are some places in Asia where the skies above are so polluted, there is little chance of ever seeing stars.

 

Sunday (again)

It was good to be on ROM again - and the grass around the house is now short-ish again (it has grown overnight ... seriously!) And now the sun is out and shining brightly this morning, you know that grass is going to spend today growing as well! Ah ... the cycle of life. (Which reminds me, we need to get M's birthday bicycle back to Latimers!) It must have been funny to anyone watching yesterday as I wandered out every 20 minutes or so onto the grass, had a detailed conversation (okay debate) with myself about whether it was dry enough to mow, then checking the sky for approaching clouds! I didn't time it too badly - I was just doing the strip between the house and Hermes' paddock when the rain (a light shower) started again. Time to finish... and I did/had ... and the rain held off long enough for me to get back to the shed and air-hose ROM down before stowing it away.

Otherwise it was a fairly gentle day. M had taken herself off to the dentist first up and then off to do whatever she does. S and I went for breakfast in Nerang, checked the mail (my business cards have arrived!), and then home again - where, despite very my best intentions, I did not clear/clean my desk area but I did manage to catch up with a couple of episodes of Revolution ... and emptied my email InBoxes (I deleted some but mostly I filed or put them into the "deal with later" folder ... but, even so, I still feel pretty virtuous.)

That Pearl dog seems to be getting a little less fond of exercise. I took her out to the lane when I arrived home from a visit to the Q Centre; she came out, did her business and then went to race back inside! I stopped her but you could tell that was really all that she wanted to do. It was raining - but that's really no excuse for her not wanting to come on the walk down the lane. But since then she's been a bit better! Even though it's still raining - off and on - but a lot.

M and I managed to get all of the yard mowed yesterday except for the tiny bit in the middle of the lawn where the water seems to pool. When I drove over it on ROM, all the mud rose to the surface and the ground squelched under-wheel. Even with this, we still managed to make it into Broadbeach on time to go out for Fe's birthday dinner at Zen. Everyone had a good time - especially Mü and Ze - when they discovered (and were allowed to have) the marshmallows of a very long skewer which spelled out "Happy Birthday" (as found by M). The children spent most of the evening cleaning - it started out with a plate and then extended to the wine cooler and then the chairs. I didn't find out until today at the Markets (it was good to be back) that the very industrious children had been trying to charge the others for their cleaning services.

After the Markets (well-attended by the usual suspects except for Va who has had to go "home" to Europe as her mother is ill) - it was off to SeaWorld with the children. Luckily, it didn't rain all the while we were there - just when we'd taken our seats for the Dolphin Show, but still, the children didn't mind, especially given how wet they, their Mother and I managed to get at Castaway Island after much water canon fire! It was a pity it was so wet otherwise there might have been photographs.

Meanwhile, M and Me were getting ready to go to "A Night To Remember". Hopefully they will have a great time!

Sunday - not too far away

We missed the Markets this morning - we were off at the Airport dropping M, Me and Mouse who went off to Sydney today. it was a trip at short notice and M had only booked the airfares and accommodation when she arrived home from Briabane,

After dropping them at the Airport (even earlier than I'm used to because web Check-In had closed by the time M tried to do it (it was late)) S and I decided to try a different cafe - Dune - at Palm Beach. We had heard about it and wondered where it was on every trip down the Gold Coast Highway to and from the Airport - so in we went! And we weren't disappointed. The coffee was great, there was a lovely ambience, great outlook down towards Currumbin, and the food looked stunning - both the pre-made sandwiches and the cooked-to-order breakfasts coming out of the kitchen. We'll have to take the kids there - they'll love the big grass run-around area in front of the cafe - and the pirate ship play area! The park's dog-friendly as well so Pearl would love it-especially if we could find a way for her not to be quite so queasy in the car on the way there and back. Next stop: the fold Coast Arts Centre. S wanted to see Amour which had been nominated for five Academy Awards-taking out Best Foreign Film.(it had already taken the Palmdbr at Cannes last May)! she thought it was good but was hit as "vocal" as the reviewer from Ohio's Cleveland-com). This is just a little of what he wrote:

Writer-director Michael Haneke, known for strange, mysterious and disturbing films such as "Funny Games," "Cache" and "The White Ribbon," plays it (mostly) straight this time with "Amour," a touching, moving and depressing love letter to aging. "Amour" is nominated for five Oscars: best picture, best foreign language film, best director, best original screenplay and best actress.If only their film wasn't such a downer. You wonder how much audience appeal "Amour" will have. Do people want to spend two hours watching an old couple go from sad to sadder to saddest? In French?

S didn't see it that way!

On the way back to the car, we chanced upon the Centre's resident Curlews - or were they the babies - hatched not long ago but noted for an incredibly quick growth rate, But, parent on chicks, they were cute! And they didn't seem at all bothered by the rain - which still falls - although not all the time and not yet enough for our thoughts to turn to Arks and the best way to build them.

And, of course, there's no mowing! Which is what I could have been doing as I waited for S - but I was happy I could finish Mouse's puzzles and catch up on some reading and blogging.

 

Week's end

It's been a busy few days - first with M's birthday gathering on Friday night - and then the Queensland Museum with the children yesterday. But first things first ... M's birthday dinner was good fun - especially seeing the look on her face when she saw the cake! I think it was our best effort so far ... although the Senior's Cake last year was pretty good (even if I do say so myself!). We had dinner this year at Sky, a new Chinese restaurant in Broadbeach - so new, it doesn't really have much of a web presence. It was quite good, and because none of us imbibes, they fairly much left us alone once we had ordered and the food had been delivered. We were, of course, the usual suspects - you could have just transported us from the Sunday Markets to there - except at Sky we were around a large round table with a Lazy Susan in the middle. Ze and Mu managed to keep themselves amused for the time we were there - especially Mu who had been playing with my iPod and found the pedometer function - so he walked around the restaurant trying it out - and by the time we stopped him for cake, he had nearly 1,000 steps. You could very easily power a small African nation off Mu's energy if you could find a way to extract it. Ze isn't too bad herself. She surprised us with her version of Gangnam style as we walked from the Toilets back to Sky. She is a natural.

We decided not to give M her gift on the night because we couldn't decide how to wrap it! How do you wrap a bicycle and accessories? And how do you hide it in a restaurant? We did have the photographs Mi took of it though - and she and FI (who had picked it all up from J my mate at (my old) work also brought along the helmet and the bike pump - which Mu had great fun with on the night. How high could you get the pressure if someone held their fingers over the air holes while someone else pumped? Hours of fun for him at least, although lots of us had a go on the pump with him. Some of us didn't have our reading glasses on so it's a bit hard to tell how well we did - but he seemed to think we'd done okay!

The Queensland Museum was fun too ... although we could have picked a drier day to go there. We had planned to drive up but when Fl suggested we take the train, and when it was bucketing down, and that seemed like an excellent idea, we headed for the train station. None of us was to know - because it wasn't advertised on their website (as checked by M) that there were track works for the weekend! The announcement came over the loudspeaker as we waited on the Platform, just after purchase of GoCard tickets (7 GoCards, 7 individual transactions - thanks Queensland Rail) that we would have to train it and then bus the rest of the way into South Brisbane. There's nothing like an adventure! And it was ... Especially when the bus driver we had broke with tradition and left us off right at the door of the Museum so we didn't have to trek through the rain to get there!

The Dinosaur exhibition was spread over three levels of the Museum so there was much to look at - and much to play with as lots of the display was aimed at children. Mu and Ze seemed to enjoy it - but given that they are a boy and a girl, they liked playing with different things. It is amazing to see how different their attention spans are as well - something I hadn't really noticed in the times when we've been playing at the Markets.

We braved the rain (it had eased from "bucketing" to "light showers") to walk across the bridge, over the Brisbane River, to go to Fat Noodle for lunch, over at the Treasury Casino. Because we had children and backpacks with us, we couldn't go in the main entrance, so we didn't get the feel of walking into a wonderful noodle bar where you can see the food being prepared, but we were more than happy to take our seats and order lunch (which we had around 5pm). It was as wonderful as I remembered, and everyone seemed to enjoy it - although Mu was fairly tired at that point and managed to catch some zzzz's on his chair.

Then it was back to the trains (we managed not to have to catch a bus to get home) and more iPad play for the children. It was a great day, but it was nice to get home.

 

Thursday

l am officially unemployed! This afternoon I drove out of the Lend Lease site parking lot for the last time on the payroll! While it was sad to leave, knowing I will not be seeing these folk daily again, it's nice to know I'm starting out with "the next chapter"!

It has stopped raining (mostly) and hopefully it will hold off tomorrow so I can have the chance to jump on ROM for a ride around. Even though M mowed on the weekend, the grass has grown long and is in need of a good trim, and it's high time ROM was out of that shed again!

M [as part qf her Birthday activities (?) (Happy Birthday M!)] took Ze to see The Mermaid and the Surfer. While I had thought it could be about a media magnate who spent far too much time on the net and a young girl, lost at sea in a lifeboat (no Richard Parker in sight) with her legs covered in a blanket with a fishtail motif - it was actually, according to initial reports, an environmental tale. D'oh. I liked the sound of my version better.

Tink, Maggie and Pearl seem to be fine, although from time to time one of them does have a "moment" but these seem to pass. Tink spends some nights in with S and I, but often not, eschewing the bed for the back of her lounge chair.

M took Ze and Mu out for Sushi this afternoon; Ha used to love Sushi when he was out here and it looks like the others might be the same. They could do much worse!

Mu really seems to be enjoying school - he's up and getting into his uniform at 6:30 - but he thinks he's still getting short-charged on the contents of his lunchbox Fe doesn't know how that can be the case - she fills it each day with enough to fed two grown men!

I have promised the children that I will get us a pair of spy camera sunglasses to try out and play with. I have received an email confirmation today from the company that they have been shipped and will arrive within a couple of days. I haven't told the children yet- I know how excited I am - so I can't imagine how they will be ... or maybe I could - only today S told me that I was sometimes like a 5-year-old boy.

I'll have to check out what's happening at the Queensland Museum. M is planning to take the children and it would be nice to know what's in store for them. Hopefully it's dinosaurs! And hopefully they love dinosaurs too! But then, who does not - as long as they're not looking to eat you!