A week at home

On Monday morning we had a nice leisurely start. Freyja and Simon made toast in their room. I had tea and then coffee in mine. We packed up and made a last visit down along the beach road to say goodbye to the estuary

We drove back via Lakes Entrance, diverting on the way to look at the Trestle Railway Bridge at Stony Creek. It is a magnificent structure, though once again it is probably just as well there are no trains running along it and it is definitely not safe for pedestrians.

At Freyja's suggestion we went from Lakes Entrance to a little place called Metung for lunch. None of us knew anything about it and were pleasantly surprised (although perhaps we shouldn't have been, given that we were in the Gippsland Lakes area) to find a secret place filled with yachts, sailing boats and beautiful watery things. Also, a good choice of lunching places. We went to Aroma and had delicious food, sat outside in the sunshine, watching the boats:

And so home. Brandy and Whiskey were, as you might imagine, delighted to see me come back - although Lindsey had been visiting them and feeding them while I was away.

You're back! Hooray!!!

Jim is still in the aged care residence. I've spoken to him by phone a few times and he seems to be having a good time. I will go and visit him today, but he's not due to come home until Thursday. I must say that not having to think about him on Wednesday morning made getting up and ready to leave for work an absolute doddle. I was there by just after 8! It is very quiet in the house without him (which is strange, because he doesn't make a whole lot of noise and is no longer very active around the place) but it is also very peaceful.

And quite liberating. When Lindsey rang me on Thursday and said she needed to go to the Wendouree Shops and did I fancy going and perhaps having lunch in the little Japanese cafe,  I could just drop what I was doing and go. Nothing to think about, nothing to organise. Just grab my wallet, shopping bags and coat, turn out the lights and go.

I might have bought a new set of cookware at House while I was out. The saucepans I bought in Lakeland some years ago and brought over from the UK were beginning to look a bit sorry for themselves. My wok was definitely looking worse for wear. You can't have too many frying pans. And the box of cookware had been dramatically reduced (allegedly) in one of their ever present "stocktaking" sales.

While we were out, we dropped into a new sushi and poke bowl place in the city centre. I bought a prawn and glass noodle salad for lunch on Friday and it was delicious. Lovely and fresh and bright, even a day later. I also very much enjoyed my lunch at Tokyo Teriyaki in Wendouree. Fried chicken with ginger sauce and a share of Lindsey's fried rice and chips. Delicious.

They've been busy on the former reserve, now building site, soon to be housing. There are several new houses going in

The view from my front porch on Thursday morning