Monday

Pearl wasn't home this morning and I didn't go for a walk without her. I should have but I didn't. Hopefully she will come home soon but in the interim I'm glad she's keeping Mouse company. Although David back will be back today - he has a meeting with the University tomorrow to see "what happens next" - and he has Maria and Katherine here as well to support him.

Nicole and Pie Bag

We saw evidence of Nicole's not-so-hidden talents and definitely her tenacity when she brought a tarte aux pommes along to Trivia this evening. She'd baked it this afternoon and she carried it in in the "pie bag" she'd made. She saw the pie bag overseas and, realising we had nothing like it here in Australia, she decided to make some. Fine ... you might say ... except Nicole had not sewn anything at that point - so she went out and bought a sewing machine, learned how to use it, and took it from there. She now gives them as presents (Secret Santa etc etc). What a great idea ... and a very good indication of what you can do if you put your mind to it. There is, I think, a lesson in there for all of us.

M made it onto ROM today and has done a very fine job. I don't think the feline furries would have been paying too much attention to her though - the wagtail chicks are now testing their wings, flying around the yard, and for some reason, Maggie and Tinka are giving them a lot of their attention.

It was Aqua day for Sooz and M today - and lunch at Ferry Road afterwards. Sooz was impressed with the two Japanese girls who had bought prawns and crabs from the seafood outlet there and were eating them with great gusto (although there was no mention of seafood/cocktail sauce making an appearance).

Sooz's tomatoes

I had taken a photograph of Sooz's tomatoes yesterday and posted them on FaceBook - using the new lens on the camera (I really do have to go somewhere to learn how to use it properly) - and she was stunned when she went out to look at them in real life because they were so small ... she said they looked much, much bigger in the photograph! That's what using the macro setting on a 300mm lens will do ... athough most of the fruit was definitely not in sharp focus (hence the need for lessons).

We didn't place on the podium tonight at Trivia even though we were back to our full team. Yes, there was a post-mortem, but we can save the details of that ... "what happens at the Club stays at the Club" could be a kindness to all involved. I think we made the right bonus round choices, we just let ourselves down with some of the answers. But it's all good fun - and since I get to write neatly, I'm happy (as always).

Wagtail chicks

One of the other Site Admins at work had her 30th birthday today so we went out to lunch at the Wallaby Hotel at Mudgeeraba to celebrate. They do a $15 lunch - with quite a few options - or you can choose from the a la carte menu if you wish. It wasn't bad, although it did take a while to come ... but they are busy, said one of the other K's (there were three of us with the same name) looking around the very nearly empty dining room! It was good though although I was champing at the bit a little to get back to get through the mountain of paperwork that had been steadily growing on my desk throughout the morning. We drove along the site route on the way back to the office, to see if they had done "the switch" yet ... which they haven't - it will mean the southbound traffic is moved onto the newly renovated middle section of the road - so the crews can start working on the upgrade of the south-bound lanes. That led to some speculation as to when "the switch" will happen - and since I had booked extra police for traffic control for this evening, I speculated that tonight might be the night. On the way home from Trivia I suggested to Sooz that we could go and have a look (to see if I was right) but by that stage I was a little on the weary side and decided I would find out in the morning ... that would be soon enough!