Long Weekend Activities

It is really quite confusing when you start doing regular things on the wrong day!

On Thursday, Lindsey and I did a whole load of Saturday things. Not the markets, because there weren't any, but shopping and pottering. Then we confused things even more and went and visited Stella in the morning instead of the afternoon. I did have a hair appointment on Thursday afternoon,  which is when I usually have them, but mostly I was doing Saturday things, or Thursday things at strange times.

Friday was a national public holiday. Just to confuse me even more, the Sunday Lunchers met at Gillie's house in Daylesford and had a Sunday Lunch on a Friday. It was a lovely afternoon. In addition to Chris, John and Irene, Gillie's sister was over from South Africa. I have heard lots about her but hadn't previously met her. So lots of good food, a good catch up and a new friend - even if that friend is heading back to South Africa tomorrow.

I had dropped by to visit Stella on my way to Gillie's place. I had some shopping for her. She was wearing the jumper I gave her for Christmas

I was working on Saturday morning, which only served to make the days even more confusing. If I had done Saturday things on Thursday and Sunday things on Friday, and then I was working - well, surely it had to be Monday????

Then, in the afternoon, the days all gave themselves a good shake, fell back into place, and I found myself in Saturday afternoon. Which I spent on the rooftop terrace at Freyja and Simon's place with cups of tea and cake. Afternoon tea with a view!

And when I got home, I found that the Tomato Fairy had been:

Lindsey had picked up a 10kg box of tomatoes
at Wilsons and abandoned them at my place

I haven't processed them all yet, but I have done two lots in the slow cooker, put them through the blender and then a sieve and then reduced them down by about half. I've also done two trays in the oven, then blended them and passed them through a sieve. They didn't need reducing. All of those are in tubs in the freezer. I chopped some up with some zucchini from the garden and onions and made a tomato stew, almost Pizzaiola style, which I have been eating with dinner. The rest are awaiting attention.

Lindsey and Ian went to Melbourne yesterday, for afternoon tea at the Melbourne Museum. I bought it for them for Christmas. So I spent the night up at Rupert and Hugo's place, there being no point in Lindsey and Ian coming back to Mount Helen early evening only to turn around very early this morning and head back to Melbourne. 

I put the dogs out for a wee before bedtime, closed and locked all the doors, turned out the lights, turned off the TV, went to my room - and found two Great Danes on the bed! No hesitation on their part :D. We all slept well. Hugo didn't try to push me out of bed until nearly 6am, when we all got up and they had their breakfast. Eventually, I thought that perhaps I should have a shower, get dressed and declare the day properly underway. I went into the bathroom, looked in the sink - and there was a skink (very small lizard) sitting on the metal bar in the plug hole. It was VERY lucky I noticed it before I turned the hot tap on. I fished it out with a Christmas card and a small wine glass and put it outside.

Showered and dressed, I went into the lounge room with a breakfast sandwich. Rupert and Hugo came in from outside to watch me eat it and to cadge any leftovers there happened to be. Then I noticed that Rupert's jowl was bleeding. I sorted that out. Finally ate my sandwich. Rupert and Hugo got the crusts.

Time to head back home. As I drove down the driveway, a young rabbit appeared out of the grass and zigzagged its way down to the bottom. Fortunately I drive down the driveway very slowly. Equally fortunately, I was driving along the road very slowly because two kangaroos came bounding over the paddock fence, onto the road and across into the University grounds. THEN one of the ducks that patrols the road decided to try and fly into the car, heading over the top only just in time.

I got home, pleased to encounter no further animal life, only to find that a spider had decided to spin a mighty web across from the side of the house up to the roof of the porch, effectively blocking my access to the porch.I have now moved the spider and swept the web away.

And I am sitting in my dining room, currently animal free (the cats are outside), pondering whether it might be safest if I just stay here for the rest of the day and avoid all further potential animal encounters.

Except, there are things to do. I would quite like a cup of tea. And I should go and visit Stella later. Plus I need to go back to Rupert and Hugo's place after that to give them their dinner and to make the dog stew for this week.

I might have to cloak myself with an animal shield to avoid any further animal excitements!

Hugo on the couch

Rupert on my bed (at Hill House)

You know you are a proper grown up when you get quite excited (and move out of the safety of the dining room) when your new garden hose and accessories are delivered. Except that I may now have no excuse for not washing the windows. One of the accessories is a window washing brush!