Monday

There is a heat wave around the nation at the moment - so it's fairly apt the two of the teams that played each other over the weekend were the Brisbane Heat and the Perth Scorchers. The sport? Don't know … but the Heat won!

We thought of Sooz's brother this morning when she saw the headline "Check the halls and fill your trolley …" because he has been the King of Newspaper Headlines ... his were legendary, but unfortunately, lost to me at the moment, although I do remember there was one about someone being "battered in a fish and chip shop".

Today was another filled with pre-Christmas activity - more hitting the shops to finish the present buying. Luckily we were able to stay in Nerang because, according to An and Vi when we saw them this evening at Trivia, the traffic on the Coast was absolutely horrendous.

I've decided that it probably isn't a good idea to get into the habit of having a nana nap in the afternoons ... it may be too hard to break that one when I go back to work! Of course, I was great having one this afternoon and, once again, when the alarm went off, I set it for a half-hour later and went back to sleep.

We could have used that extra half-hour for wrapping, of course, but we did manage to get the Davies' gifts wrapped before we went and there will be time tomorrow to get out the scissors, paper and sticky tape and put on a Christmas CD or two.

Trivia was good tonight ... Vi came with An - leaving Sy at home with her relatives, two of whom arrived at lunchtime. They're planning to send all the visitors with Syl out on a cruise of the canals and the Nerang River tomorrow so Anita can continue preparations for their Christmas Eve dinner.

We didn't manage to get on to the Podium this evening - we were one point off - but there's still next week to record our last win for the year.

Sunday

Santa at the Markets

Tr was a bit hung-over for the Skype call this morning - she and Te had been out late celebrating Christmas with the neighbours ... and it's one party where Tr can have an extra glass of Christmas Cheer or two because they don't have to drive home! Still, she was in good form, and they were still planning to do their Sunday Morning Walk after the call - perhaps even the hilly one which, by all accounts, is more of a climb than a walk.

Christmas here continues. True to their newsletter, Santa was at the Turf Club Markets this morning. It was good to see him out and about - but not just because folk thought he was giving out lollies (count us in) from the giant basket he was carrying ... it turned out to be little packets of reindeer food (raw oats - count us in!).

Portraiture

Santa very kindly agreed to have his photo taken with us - and what started out as a cunning and devious plan by me to get our Christmas Card photo for next year turned out to be a photo with all the girls at the Markets at the time. You can't even see the boys are in the background sitting at the end of the table - possibly because the focus of the shot is Mouse sitting (almost) on Santa's knee!

There was more photography as usual as well - and not just because I'd taken a "real" camera this time. Syl, focusing more on her photography, is reading books on portraiture and that some of the best photos are taken when your subject is aware that you're taking them.

Portraiture

There was a biggish turnout at the Markets - Syl and An came - bring Syl's father and brother, as well as An's friend Vi who is also spending Christmas with them.

Post-Markets we were off to do Christmas shopping and made our way to Pacific Fair - which wasn't as crowded as we thought it might be. Mind you, there were enough people around ... and why is it that people just stop in their tracks when they decide to text on their phones? Don't they have the app which lets you text while you walk - showing what's ahead of you using the phone's rear camera?

Then home ... in time to do a Skype call with Li and El in Sydney. That was good fun and we were just wrapping up when Sooz received a message from M asking if she would feed the furries.

The furries are all good and, I admit it, I have taken the opportunity to rub my hand over Pearl's tummy to feel the fur that's growing back. It's amazing how fast it grows - although it still has a very long way to go. It doesn't seem to bother her though. I'm not sure what they did to her at the Vet's - or what else they did besides the tests - but Pearl does seem to be a bit more alert these days - doesn't seem to be puffing as much, and certainly seems to have stopped making those old dog noises when she sits down and gets up.

Maggie has moved out of the bathroom and now seems to be content to spend most of her time on the coffee table.

 

Saturday

Late start - reset the alarm!

Early call from We - it will be good to see them all next week.

A much appreciated day off - to breakfast, Post Office, Chemist, Bunnings and OfficeWorks in search of Christmas presents.

Me came to visit Sooz. She is up this way visiting her sister.

Dinner and dancing this evening.

Pearl's fur has started to grow back on the shaved patch.

Almost connected with Tinka yesterday afternoon - yet another day when she didn't move for the car.

Grape vine hasn't survived. Time to cut it back and see if it will start growing again.

Played with the new telephoto lens this afternoon. Managed to get a bit more in focus than I have on previous attempts - and learnt how to set the aperture and shutter speed independently of each other (as much as that is possible given the interrelationship that exists between them)!

(Obviously on holidays - grammar/full sentences/syntax on vacation too!)

Friday

Today was the last day at work for a fortnight. Do you remember what it was like getting out of school for the holidays? Well, it was a bit like that this afternoon. Now to turn our minds to all things Christmas!

Thursday

RBs in situ

Well, the days don't get much busier than this ... a full day of work, plus a combined effort to finish catering for and laying out the spread for this afternoon "Christmas Feast" as it has now been dubbed. We're desperately trying to get everything in the computer for the end of month so while some fingers were flying over keyboards, others were trying to keep their fingers on as they chopped fruit, vegetables, ham and other goodies for the table. They had to be careful too ... they were using the new Forever Sharp knives and we know that they will not hesitate to take out skin, flesh and bone if they get the slightest chance. Luckily there were no injuries ... and everyone who ate the chicken did manage to survive. The girls were a little worried about the chicken because we had several - probably a dozen - hot chickens from Coles - picked up at 10 - and they had to be "safe" to eat at 4 - and there was no room in the fridge for them. In the end, to help our "catering team" feel a bit better about it - we decided to keep them (that would be the chickens ... not the catering team) warm under a shock blanket from one of the first aid kits ... and it did the trick because the chickens were still more than warm come plating up time! That being said, I'm not sure any of the "catering team" had chicken - Le had to race off to the dentist to get a Root Canal - and left before the meal was given the ... ready, steady, go - I don't think those were the exact words but they weren't far off. AC and I abstained - for no particular reasons except that we felt like ham instead.

AC and Le had done a great job of giving the tables a very "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" feel ... and M's RBs were given pride of place in the middle of the tables ... and they were a big success!

Christmas lunch

As it turned out the "lunch" didn't last very long at all - it was just under 40 minutes from the time they started eating to the time they were trooping off to go home. We were impressed that a couple of the guys did stay back to help AC and I clear away the mess ... so it could be just another ordinary work day around here tomorrow.

Then it was home to change and go in to TBH for a spot of dinner (The Combo Stir Fry x 3) and then some time at the CSP table for me, Sooz-CSP-roulette-watching for M, and poker machines for Sooz ... and we didn't stay late tonight ... the Monday and Tuesday late nights were still "around".

It was Sooz's last day today and she, Jen and one other person from the team braved the Broadwater to have lunch at The Grand Hotel. Gin-and-tonics and Coconut Prawns later, as well as some Christmas Cheer generally, they were happy to call it a day and Jen dropped Sooz back to Latimers before heading off down the Coast towards home herself - although it has changed ... she and Jo have recently purchase a new place closer to the coast - and leased out their old one - so there are changes in the air for them too.

Did I mention we didn't do that well on the Gaming Floor at TBH - although, the CSP tables weren't as unkind as they could have been - given how many times the dealer didn't open during the evening ... in the end we walked away just $1 down. It's much better than some other nights we've been!

 

Wednesday

Before the RBs

I think it was a good decision not to take Pearl for a walk this morning - she so much looks forward to the treat at the end of it (sometimes I think that's the only reason she comes) and there would be no treat this morning ... we couldn't undo the good work from not feeding her last night. Why is it that she had to have NIL BY MOUTH in lead-up to the tests? Yes, they were going to have a look down her throat, and do an scan - but that hardly seems invasive enough to justify knocking her out ... hence the NBM. She wasn't too happy when the time came to go ... especially when she found out she had put on 200 gm since the last time!

One shaved Pearl!

As it turned out there was no definitive answers from the test - there might be something wrong with her/there might not, she might have Cushings Disease/she might not. Anyway she could go through more tests - M will be giving that some thought - and/or there could be a urine collection at home for testing ... this would, it seems, give a definitive answer re the Cushings - but then what would be the decision ... to treat or not to treat ... that would be the question. I'm not sure if Pearl looks dashing or not with her new shaving ... but it certainly looks, and feels, different and really does demonstrate her three layers of fur ... which the Tevs full-well know about since it took them two blades to effect the shave!

In the middle of RBs

M made RumBalls (RBs) tonight-lots and lots of them (Thanks again M) - it took her hours but she did a great job and I'm very much looking forward to sharing them with the work colleagues at our Christmas "lunch" tomorrow. I write "lunch" because it isn't scheduled to start until 4pm - there was something about making sure the work day wasn't interrupted by the celebrations.

Sooz had a busy day at work today and she was fairly tired by the time she arrived home. She stayed awake though and we drank tea and talked and talked with M as she cooked - if that's what you call it when you make RBs ... and when we weren't talking with her - S was off doing something with the television and I was between M's computer and mine trying to install iOS7 on M's iPhone - making sure the iPhone was backed up before I even started on the system upgrade ... I've heard of too many machines falling over in the back-up and being lost forever .... or taking a significant amount of time to reconstitute. I finally finished it at 10:32pm - after M had finished the RBs, seen them into the fridge, and taken herself off to bed.

She's not finished in the kitchen yet though ... before Christmas, the rumous is that she will be making some more RBs and even some biscuits for Len - her usual JP partner most weeks.

 

Tuesday

"A tree fell on my house" one of the other customers proclaimed at Maccas this morning - and because of that she was after anyone who could tell her where she could get some help to remedy the situation. Finally someone was able to tell her and by the time I left, she was in the middle of a phone call with someone who was about to come out to take care of her roof - and assess the damage caused by the fall. You just never know what type of damage a storm is going to wreak - and it's no wonder they put out those storm warnings reminding everyone to "batten down the hatches".

Triva dinner

When we were talking about it at dinner tonight with Sy - and how scared Sooz was when the storm roared over Latimers yesterday - she said it sounded like a 747 was about to land on the house (reminder of the remake of "War of the Worlds" when the plane did almost fall on the house) - Syl offered to come out and do a "storm proofing" - so Sooz would know how to be "safe" if it happened again - and given the regularity with which we are being hit with big storms, I would say that would be a "when" rather than an "if".

The dinner, was, of course, and finally, our Trivia Team dinner - mostly paid for by our $250 win in the draw some months back now. Prompted by Sooz, we decided to go to the Mecca Bah in Broadbeach - and we ended up as 12 in all - including most everyone who has been at our Trivia table at one point or another (except for the French visitors, Jean-Louis, Pat and Lou and ... I think that's about it for the missing folk). It was a great meal, helped along by excellent choices by Fl and Mi ... great company ... and a bit of a late night - which was a shame given it was the second late night in a row ... and as I arrived home I rejoiced in the fact that we hadn't arranged to do the Tallai Trivia tomorrow evening.

The new Nikon

Syl had her new camera at dinner tonight - she is keen to get back into photography and a new Nikon would seem just the thing to do it with ... including a wide and telephoto lens. I don't know how they manage to keep making these things more compact ... Nik would look like a giant compared to Syl's. (I must make some time to learn how to use my new telephoto lens - it's no good if it just sits in the bag!)

When we did arrive home, we had to remember not to give Pearl any treats because she has a Tev visit in the morning - to have some tests to find out why she's puffing (could be her liver) and why her mouth appears to be bleeding.

Did I mention that I made the quickest of trips into OfficeWorks on the way home. I may be going there too often - either that or business is slow there although I wouldn't believe that for a second - the staff have started offering to help while I'm in store! I guess that's better than me having to track them down to ask them for help ... because you know I would (and do!)!