anyresemblance

Normal service

Playing nursemaid and normal service will resume shortly.

Eggy

It’s been a stormy day. I went out early to the market and then tend the kid who was not feeling great after her booster.

I constructed 5 billy bookcase extensions but only got part way with reshelving the books. I made cheese biscuits and a leek clams chicken pie. I ate that for dinner tonight but it was a bit disappointing as i should have made the sauce a bit runnier.

I’m watching The Rescue on the rescue of the Thai school boys. Even though you know the outcome, it is heart stopping. Highly recommended and impossible to watch without weeping.

List Love: the blue blanket tv edition

Oh man, the confusion of a public holiday mid week means you think Thursday is Monday and there are so many meetings jammed in to make up for the day off.

Anyway, today's list is really the tv series which I watch with my girls.  Starting from the early 2000s and Gilmore Girls through to the mid 2010s before the advent of streaming.  These are all things I own in box sets and, even though we can watch them on streaming platforms, they represent a time when we would watch tv as three of us and the girls would recite the voice over "My name is Michael Weston, I used to be a spy" or the voice over at the beginning of the Glades and no matter what rubbish was going on, the familiar characters would soothe the way.

Even now, my girls rewatch series when their lives are a little overwhelming and when Willie Garson died we all watched The Dentist of Detroit episode of Castle.

 

Day tripper

We went on a day trip to the sea side. It was the best day but I’m exhausted. 

On the eve

It's been another busy day with so much jam packed in as tomorrow is a public holiday.

I finished meetings at 5 and hot footed it to Ikea to get billy bookcase extensions which keep going out of stock.  I finally got wise to ordering on line and then doing click and collect and it was a breeze - park outdoors, go in and get them given to you on a trolley, load the car and off.  Mind you, they are still in the boot as I had too much to carry upstairs as I did a side trip to Costco for loo roll and soap powder.

Charlie and I just went for a twilight walk and it was so lovely with lots of people picnicking or walking their dogs.  I watched a girl launch her water hover board (no, I don't know what they are called) and glide out over the harbour to the lake.  She looked so cool.  She seemed to have a control in her hand so I am guessing it was electrically powered?

Tomorrow I am going to the seaside with S and Charlie and I am super excited.

A betrayal

I was at my desk at 6am this morning doing some stuff I couldn't be arsed to do yesterday afternoon.  I am much better morning working do did that and another thing, walked the dog, got a coffee and was still there for my stand up at 8.30.  I even had enough time to do Wordle, my harmless little joy.  I did it past midnight a couple of times but was then sad when it was not there to complete in the morning so now I make it a morning ritual of no more than ten minutes.

I actually blocked out a lot of time in my diary to do some catch up and consequently have a more positive head space.  The pets hung out with me for a bit but the cat has moved back to the bed.

I made the dog eat the leftover fake chicken and he gazed at me with such a look that told me I had betrayed him.   He really is such a good dog.

 

Sunday stocktake: candle lit edition

1. Reading: the latest Mma Ramotswe by Alexander McCall Smith. 
2. Enjoying:  having lots of candles in the house.  It feels like late summer and I light them at twilight and enjoy the flickering light.
3. Wanting: to cut my hair to shoulder length.  Like really, really wanting to.  I wish there were a wig I could put on to try it out for a few days.
4. Thinking: about my late sister who would have had a birthday this week (she's the one in the middle, I'm not yet born)
5. Finishing: clearing the storage locker and putting the money to my savings account instead.
6. Watching: Cheer Season 2 and Ina Garten on the SBS food channel.  Ina is so soothing.
7. Hoping: that travel plans come to pass.  Qantas have reissued another flight credit in a more usable way so I have my fare to the UK covered but given I have two to apply towards it, I can’t do it on line.
8. Feeling: good at cleaning the cobwebs off the deck.  I was so impressed with my neighbour’s pristine tiles I felt compelled to sweep and hose my own verandah today.
9. Hearing: my sister telling me she had written to her MP twice to demand BJ resign and was on the middle of composing another letter.
10. Eating: revolting soy masquerading as chicken. No, no, no.

Home improvement

I got some help via airtasker and a man with a can and cleared the last of my storage locker this morning. I’m trying out the old coffee table for a bit. I was going to sell but am reminded of what a good size it is so will try it on for a bit.

I saw my upstairs Neighbour in the basement garage this morning and she invited me for a drink at 2pm. She is an older Greek lady and lives in the penthouse with her much older husband. Their place is the same size as mine but with a much more formal fit out. It was immaculately clean (when I came home I mopped the floor with shame) and full of that formal European furniture. They have a giant tv which I was not hating on.

We sat outside and drank camomile tea and are baklava she had made (delicious) and beautifully sliced nectarines while she told me astounding gossip about her former daughter in law. Of course I google when I got home and it was all true but so singular that I could not share but OMG.

She would not let me leave without trying a cumquat liquor from Corfu in crystal thimble glasses and now I want her to befriend me and invite me to her gin rummy nights.

Gunboat diplomacy

I've been listening to a new (to me) podcast series on Real Dictators.  My s-son's wife had recommended it without knowing of my special interest in old Mu'ammar so I listened to the episodes on Gadaffi with interest.  I'm not an expert, merely a person who lived in that country during a tumultuous time.  Looking back, I find myself astounded at risks taken and how close we were to danger and with the bullet proof assumptions of youth.  Now, I realise how much it has shaped my ability to manage difficult times.  I think it made me a better listener and more stoical.

I've been dipping into my father's letters to me at that time.  In 1984, when the UK had broken off diplomatic relations with Libya, my dad was asking me to call them if possible and alluding to David Owen suggesting the UK should channel Palmerston and send a gunboat.  Clearly, Priti Patel is channeling some of that energy.

I read a really interesting article in the FT about Dover's migrant front line (paywall but believe you can read once for free).  In the meantime, Australia continues its inhuman treatment of refugees.  

List Love: Stinky

I'm back and feeling much better.  I had a good chat with one of my work mentors this morning and am putting in place some things to help me not be quite so overwhelmed at work.

I was on a work call and the cat did the stinkiest poo in his litter tray which nearly floored me.  I need to move it to a greater distance from my nose.