Wednesday

Melbourne Cup Day + 1 brought the news that one of the Race Field had been injured and was euthanised. This is one of sadder sides of racing - where a broken leg can mean the end to such a fine horse. Apparently, according to M, who knows more about these things than we do (and as relayed to me by S this afternoon) - there's only one leg they cannot fix ... the others they can put the horse in a sling and usually the break will heal. Alas, for Verema, the leg it broke was the one they can't mend. While it might be an argument for banning horse racing, it would be a hard call, given how many people are employed in the industry ... hmmm. I look out at the horses in the paddocks around Latimers and think how sad it would be to see one of them injured, and while injury can happen at any time, I'd have to think that racing could increase the risks. (That sounds like fence-sitting ... and it is!)

Update:  Well, I almost got that right ... it isn't the leg it's a bone in the leg - the canon bone (I think that spelling is right).  

You have to love "double click Wednesdays" at Maccas! You pay for two cups of coffee and your earn a free one. And, if Jo and Lynn make it, it's great coffee! Bonus. They had Sunrise on the main television this morning, rather than Today - and while I thought about getting the channel changed, I perservered - especially when I realised their captioner was as "interesting" as the one on Channel 9. I didn't copy down any of the "better" transcriptions, but I will see what I can get tomorrow.

It was Bingo for the girls again today ... and they had a modicon modicum (or perhaps a little more) of success. Mouse had several games where she was one-off (and very excited) and was finally rewarded with a line and a full house in the one game; Anita shared a line with three other people! Instead of the grapes M usually gets for the table, cherries were the choice of the day and, by all reports, they were very very yummy.

Sooz managed to get out to Labrador (thanks M!) to interview the person she missed last week (he was at Halloween celebrations or something I think). She hadn't rung to set up an appointment beforehand - but went there after Bingo ... and he was there, and okay to do the interview ... so she came home tired but happy.

Well, two days early (I had a delivery date of 8 November), I gave An's preso to them tonight - tested on both televisions - and everything went well. An sat down and watched it through and she seemed to like it! I watched it again ... for the 5th time - yes, I've seen it more than that, but I'm only counting the times when I've sat and watched the whole thing through from start to finish - and it still doesn't jar with me ... which I take as my own pat on the back. It has been good to be able to do this for An and Sy for the party - it's something I truly enjoy doing ... so much so that I'm now thinking about investing in a proper editing program for the computer where I can manipulate sound and images better. If I'm going to have to do the presos for my own 60th - still a couple of years away - I want to be able to have some more flexibility - although, that being said, the software these days is heaps better than it was for the last preso I did - for Sooz and I and the "20 ... 50 ... So long" party! Looking at that again the other day, after a while of not seeing it, I would love the opportunity to re-cut it and put some more "sparkle" in it. Not that it's not fine the way it is, of course!

An and Sy were kind enough to have us to dinner tonight - and that was good. An cooked Spaghetti Bolognese - very nice. She used some pasta from Zac's - a new shop in Southport (near the Ferry Road Diner) which could be the start of a new food precinct to complement Ferry Road Markets. Az told everyone about it at the Markets last Sunday - I'm not sure how she found out about it. When An went there today she was very impressed by the fare they had on offer - including 2L of milk for $0.99 - the same one I spend double that for at the local IGA!  And, at dinner, for dessert, we were able to test-drive the summer puddings Sy is making for the party.  Yum ... yum ... and triple yum!

The feline furries were outside when we arrived home after dinner - and Tinka, again, was the first one to come in. I confused Maggie though ... I know that was my fault ... rather than just standing at the front door and whistling her, I walked around the backto near the grapevine to see where she was ... and she started, finally, coming to me there. She at least let me scoop her up and carry her inside ... I told her I needed to because it was past my bedtime. It was nice that she complied ... and then went and sat on the junk mail An and Sy had sent home with us ... and Sooz reported that she seemed to have settled in there for the duration. It will be good to know if she slept there - or ended up going in with M or Sooz - because I don't think she came in with me! But at least I had Edmund to keep me company - even if he did jump off the bed at some point during the night.