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!