Monday

The ear infection continues and I admit it did get the better of me yesterday morning and I took myself off to the doctors to get some more ... I didn't care what it was as long as it helped with the pain. And it did - he prescribed some steroid-based ear drops and they, together with the Nurofen my nurse friend J recommended, and as endorsed by Sy who suffers from ear infections herself, I was able to get same decent rest last night and move a good few notches down on the pain scale. Thank goodness the pains didn't really settle in until Saturday night otherwise I would have had to miss out on lunch with L (visiting from the US) and her daughter Cl who were passing through on their way to Byron Bay; we had arranged to meet them for lunch at Currumbin Beach's Elephant Rock Cafe - an old favourite M and L had introduced us to - we would go there after we arrived at the airport from Sydney - it was a fantastic start to the visit; a fabulous view, totally matched by the fare. It was good to have the chance to share that with L and Cl. It was the first time I've seen L for five years and the first time S has met her (and both of us CI) although I have heard about Cl's studies over the years - her Arts sojourn in Italy, her Bonobo tending experiences at the San Diego Zoo and her recent and ongoing ecology studies in the Australian outback. She's an interesting person - not really surprising given her mother is such a self-actualiser. L's latest project/obsession is cheese-making and her first batch of gouda should be ready for eating next week when she gets home.

The others enjoyed the Markets without me (and Ne) though by the sounds of it and when M brought S home, she brought Mouse and some of Mouse's soup with her! Excellent! Mouse seems to have recovered from her fall the other day - you can hardly see the scrape on her chin anymore and her knee seems to have all but healed as well. She's fairly tough is Mouse!

I missed Trivia tonight as well but M went with S and between them they managed to make it onto the Podium - a second place! It sounds as though some of the questions were pretty difficult this evening but everyine brought their own special talent to the fore - and thank goodness they did because they needed diverse knowledge for Cricket Signals and then Business.