Every morning Charlie and I get up and walk the streets of our neighbourhood for an hour. He is starting to subdue his natural instinct to herd me all the time and walks reasonably peaceably. I am enjoying the slower pace since it allows me to examine people's gardens and home improvements. Every week we investigate a new set of streets so we can examine them in great detail - where the barking dog lives, who has a disdainful cat, where there might be a small child on their way to school who stops to admire him. There is set of small, red brick houses in a couple of streets which I very much like and I check the real estate pages to see how much they cost and day dream about moving house but I am pretty happy with our own cottage.
I am loving autumn this year, perhaps because summer was so deeply disappointing, but autumn always feels like a beginning to me. Perhaps because for so long it was associated with the commencement of a school year but good things often happen for me in autumn.
That stuff in the background? Seems like it might come to a resolution sooner than anticipated. I feel uplifted by this. I try not to let it get me down and live my life as normal as possible, unfollowing people on twitter who mention it, even inadvertantly, avoiding its reference in all forms but sometimes I have to heave to and confront it. It only makes me stronger.
When I got back from Sydney we went to dinner. We were planning on the local vietnamese but it was packed out so we walked next door to a Thai restaurant. The girls had been there with their dad but it was new to me. Wow, what a revelation. I had prawns which came served on individual spoons, marinaded in a red curry paste and flamed at the table. My daughter had the most beautiful mussaman curry with tender meat you could cut with a spoon and the other had a honeyed chicken I feared would be battered and fried like a kid's version of chinese food but instead it was stir fried and just had the scent of honey in the sauce. It was super delicious and unexpected for a suburban, inconspicous restaurant. Plus it was a pleasant hour in which my children did not argue either with other or with me.
This weekend I am attending to my personal grooming. I am having a manicure and pedicure, getting my hair cut and packing my bag for a few days in Melbourne for work next week. I plan on starting season 2 of The Killing, ironing my sheets and contributing to the harmony of my household.
* I can not think of Keats without hearing ganching declaiming this poem as she forced me on some route march. I miss that.
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