Frances' Busy Day

Yesterday evening, my dining/lounge room was full of flowers:

 The fire was lit

And the Pretty Kitty Kats were snug on the heated throw on the couch

You might almost have forgotten about the absolutely dreadful weather we had had in the morning. Cold, wet, windy and horrible, clearing to quite a pleasant late afternoon. And warm and cosy in my house.

I had quite a busy day. I was at the post office in Buninyong by 8:15 to send off my passport application. There was a bloke in there, propping up the counter, chatting to the post office people and keeping out of the rain. A lady came in with her toy poodle puppy, to see if she had any parcels. A young man came in, also to make a passport application. It's a nice little post office. Friendly and chatty.

I went home and tidied up a little. I went to the IGA to buy biscuits. I had a couple of deliveries.

Gillie came around in the afternoon for tea and biscuits and to talk about my portable induction hobs and my all-electric kitchen. My kitchen is made up of mostly portable equipment. Two portable induction hobs, two air fryer ovens and all the usual bit players such as the toaster and kettle, not to mention the equipment that lives in the hall cupboard and comes out when needed (slow cooker, toastie maker, blender, food processor). I do have a proper oven, but I only use it very occasionally. And the gas stove is still in place, but is never used. I've covered it over and the air fryers live on top of it. And now there is no gas coming into the house. Gillie had watched me making Sunday lunch for five people the last time she was around and wanted to talk about how well I thought it all worked (I did use the proper oven on that occasion!) She brought with her the jonquils.

After she left, Lindsey came around and we trundled out to the Smythes Creek Farmgate Shop, returning via the supermarket in Sebastopol.

I treated myself to steak with roasties for dinner, went to bed nice and early and actually slept quite well, at least until around 4:00.

A good day, in which quite a lot was accomplished.

This morning, my dining/living room is still full of flowers, but the cats are in their boat bed by the front window. The heated throw on the couch has been turned off.

A Watery Adventure

Back in the summer, when Freyja, Simon and I were staying in Tooradin, we went to the Somers Beach and Freyja and Simon went swimming

It looked as though they were having lots of fun. I went paddling and the water was nice and warm.

I might have gone swimming too, except that I didn't own any bathers and I am a touch too old to go swimming either in my day clothes or in my underwear.

When we got back home, I bought some bathers, put them in a drawer - and forgot all about them.

Then I ran across them again and thought that perhaps they should have some sort of watery outing. I investigated what was happening at the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre, bought ten tickets and considered going to water aerobics. I used to do water aerobics, both before I moved to England and again in Sheffield. I enjoyed water aerobics.

It didn't happen!

More recently I thought I might go to basic yoga classes, also at the Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre. I used to do yoga, back in Sheffield, before I moved to Tupton. I liked yoga. I booked a class.

Then someone at work said she couldn't do lots of yoga poses anymore because they are done on the floor and she can't get back up. I definitely can't get up, or not easily, if I find myself on the floor. I cancelled the class.

But I still had ten class tickets sitting about doing nothing and my bathers still hadn't had a watery outing. So yesterday I went to a warm water exercise class. It is meant to be "gentle warm water exercise for seniors". Certainly, the participants were seniors. And the water was warm. Gentle? Perhaps not so much - although perhaps I might find it gentle if I do ten weeks worth of classes and get ever so slightly fitter. I am hopeful that it might improve my balance and also my grip. We did lots of exercises that challenged my grip. And my balance. Especially my balance. I was, in fact, completely unbalanced - and kept floating away 😂

Busy - and Lucky

Last week was a bit intimidating when I looked at in on the Sunday afternoon. Lots of things to do, places to be, things to do, places to be. A lot to remember. (I have argued for decades that if something is not on the calendar then it is not happening. Last week's calendar was very full.)

In the end, of course, it wasn't as intimidating as it looked. I was at work on Wednesday, and on Thursday and Friday mornings. The weather was cold, wet and windy, so no real impetus to go out, even into the garden. I did go up and visit Hugo on my way home on Thursday and Friday. I haven't seen him for a while and he seemed pleased to see me.

I have been thinking for a while that I really wanted to go to Daiso for a bit of Japanese shopping. There are branches in the Melbourne CBD, but I knew there were also a few suburban ones. So on Friday I checked to see if there were any remotely handy to Reservoir and discovered there was one at Highpoint. You could, almost, perhaps, describe Highpoint as being vaguely on the way home. So I went there.

I  don't very often go to shopping malls. Very occasionally in the CBD, but much more often when I am in Japan. I kept expecting to find Japanese shops, food outlets, signage. It was a bit odd. There is a Daiso, although it is smaller than the ones in the city. I had a wander around, but cautiously so I didn't get lost, or misplace the car.  I had fish and chips for lunch in the food hall and then made my way home, stopping for fuel on the way.

I got to Hugo's house and went to put subscription TV on. Funny. It was down. Mind you, the weather was atrocious and satellite TV often isn't reliable in wet, windy, cloudy weather. But then you don't get the formal screen apologising for the downtime, just a message that says the signal is down.

Just as I was checking Down Detector, I got a breaking news alert to say that systems were down around Australia - oh yes, and internationally as well.

Uh Oh!

I was very lucky that it happened when it did. I had done my shopping, bought my lunch and paid for my fuel before global IT systems collapsed. The worst that happened to me was that pay TV didn't work. My wifi stayed up, my laptop, tablet and phone behaved impeccably, free to air TV worked. Had it not been for the fact that the TV, radio and news sites turned their attention from wall to wall US politics to the worldwide IT outage, I might not have noticed.

Hugo didn't notice, and didn't care:

Happy with a rawhide bone
and the ABC on the TV

I had a very quiet weekend. No markets to go to. I went to the IGA in Mount Clear on Saturday.  Apart from that I didn't go anywhere. It was a weekend for staying at home in the warm, fire lit, cups of tea, biscuits. I perhaps should have taken the opportunity to do some deep cleaning of the house, or decluttering. But I didn't. Or at least, not much. I did do a bit of cooking and tidying and I have made Hugo's food for the coming week. Now I just need to take it up to him!

This week shouldn't be quite as intimidating. The calendar is relatively quiet. So far!

Sunday afternoon, Mount Helen

Ceremony

So. Last October, I finally, finally got around to submitting my application for Australian citizenship. It had only taken 2 years or so for me to fully fill the form in. I kept getting distracted! (You might equally argue that it took me 50 years to fill it in, and you wouldn't be wrong).

Anyway. Off the form went and I more or less forgot about it. The expected wait time for a response was 12-18 months.

You don't have to sit the citizenship test if you are over 65 years old but you do need to attend a meeting. So when an email arrived in my inbox in March, I expected it to be an invitation to a citizenship meeting. But no. It was to tell me that my application had been approved and I should expect an invitation to a citizenship ceremony. In the fullness of time. Eventually.

That was unexpected. And exciting.

I had a look at the Ballarat City website to see when they were holding ceremonies and there was supposed to be one at the end of May. I hoped that I might be invited to that one. But then it disappeared from the schedule. The next one was mid-July.

It wouldn't really matter, except that I want to go to Japan in October and once you have been to the citizenship ceremony your Permanent Resident's return visa is revoked, because you should be using an Australian passport. Also, they recommend that you wait at least 10 business days before applying for a passport, so that all government departments will know your citizenship status.

Fortunately, I was invited to the July ceremony. Freyja and Julia came to watch. And it was quite cute, especially when there were families with children involved. The children were wearing their very best party clothes, or their national costume and were very excited. And after the ceremony, there were party pies and sausage rolls, sandwiches, jelly slices and mint slices and cups of tea and coffee.

Freyja and I went to the Beechworth Bakery for pies and hot drinks. They serve vegan friendly pies and cakes, as well as pies and cakes suitable for omnivores.

Freyja's photos:

Freyja and Julia, with cups of tea
before the ceremony

Ballarat Civic Hall
They had flags from all the countries
represented among the conferees

Party pie?

Don't mind if I do

I worry about the little trees, though. New citizens are given a native sapling to mark the occasion. Mine was a myrtle wattle. I saw 80+ saplings going off to their almost certain doom.  I suspect that of the hundreds of saplings that are given out each year at least 99% will die.  I don't have anywhere to put a wattle tree, although I suppose I could put it in a pot. It might be less wasteful, and just as symbolic, to give everyone a small posy of native flowers instead. Native flowers have a long life expectancy

That was My Week

On Tuesday I pottered around at home. Then I went and bought flowers. And then I drove back down to Northcote, where I was spending the night with Ghost.

In contrast to Sunday evening, when, you may remember, the view from the bedroom window looked like this:

On Tuesday afternoon, it looked like this:

Fortunately, by the time I was due to meet Lindsey just before 7, the rain had turned to a steady but light drizzle.  We went across to Station Street in Fairfield, a mere five minute drive from Ghost's Pad, where we had dinner in Okami, an all you can eat Japanese restaurant. You pay a set price for two hours' worth of whatever food you want, drinks extra. We went to one in Sunbury early in December and rather enjoyed it. The chain had announced that it would be closing most of its restaurants, including Sunbury and the one in Ballarat. We were surprised, because the one in Sunbury was very busy when we were there. I think, though, that they must have changed their minds because the Fairfield one is definitely still open, and was also very busy. I checked and the Sunbury and Ballarat restaurants are also still open. Must visit the Ballarat one sometime.

I was once again opening at work on Wednesday. It was such a pleasure going from Northcote rather than Mount Helen. Instead of rushing out into the dark, rain and cold at 5:30, I left in a much more measured manner at 7:10 and walked into work at 7:25. Much better! I may need to move to Northcote. 

Getting back to Mount Helen after work was an altogether more challenging adventure. There was a very large chemical fire in a factory not far from the ring road which, unsurprisingly, was closed to traffic. Everyone was diverted along the Calder which was, also unsurprisingly, very busy. Still, I got home at a reasonable time, the cats were pleased to see me and we were warm, fed and cosy in no time.

On Thursday Lindsey and I went out in search of a new power cord for my bedroom clock. The plug on the previous one had cracked and fallen apart when I pulled it out of the socket. I had brought Stella's clock into play as a substitute, but it was like sleeping under an arc light and I couldn't find any way to make it dimmer. We tried JB Hi-Fi, but they didn't have any and referred us to Jaycar across the road, a place I had never heard of, but which did have what I was after. I now have a functioning clock in my bedroom, without being blinded (and kept awake) overnight. 

We tried to go to the market on Saturday but it was impossible to find a parking space. So we went out to Elaine and visited the farmgate shop instead. We had been out to Smythes Creek on Thursday. Plus, Lindsey's veg box had come on Friday so we are well placed for fruit, veg and meat.The veg box had mysteriously transformed itself into a fruit and veg box, so we are even better off for fruit than usual. Although we don't eat a lot of fruit, so I have changed it back to a veg only box. We do eat a lot of veggies.

The weather continues to be cold, wet, dismal and grey. Brandy and Whiskey are unimpressed by this if they want to go outside. They enjoy it while they are inside - the couch blanket and the fire are nice and cosy

A Ghostly Cat

A Good Day

I had a good day yesterday.

It started with cups of tea, watching the sun rise over the Dandenongs, talking to Ghost and pottering around.

I walked up to The Red Door Cafe, which is under a kilometre from Ghost's apartment - and, mercifully, is just before you get to the VERYSTEEP hill, which leads up to High Street. It was a lovely morning for a stroll. The cafe is very cute and the food was not bad, although the coffee could have been hotter. It was surprisingly busy for a Monday morning.

Inside the red door

I had a hearty breakfast 

I wandered back to Ghost's place and had a rummage in the general store under her feet.

Then I went out to La Manna, where I had a lovely fossick around. I had to be a bit restrained, though. I couldn't buy every tasty morsel I chanced upon!

And so back to my place, where Brandy and Whiskey were quite pleased to see me. I wiled away the afternoon with a little gentle tidying, some pottering and a bit of reading, and made dinner with some vegetables that were patiently waiting in the fridge and some lamb from La Manna.

The weather was pleasant all day.

It is not pleasant today! It is cold, damp, dismal, rainy and foggy. I shall stay inside until I absolutely have to go out. Which I will, at some point. I need to get some nice flowers and I am due to meet Lindsey this evening. Perhaps the weather will have improved by then. In the meantime, I might tidy the kitchen and perhaps even go wild and get dressed!

Weekly Round Up

I went out to the crematorium on Monday and picked up Stella. I also picked up Tony and The Bear. Stella had taken Tony's bear, and thus his ashes, everywhere with her and we thought she should perhaps take them on her final journey. So now I have Stella, Tony and Jim's ashes at my place. All I need now are Rupert's and I would have a Full House!

Before: Tony and The Bear, with Farley
at my place

After
(For the avoidance of doubt
Farley is still on my couch
and has not made his way into the hereafter!)

We are intending, eventually, to scatter Jim and Rupert around the scrubby bits of the garden at Hill House - where it won't matter if they poison the plants. There are mostly blackberries and other undesirables in the area we have in mind. There will, however, be a good view. Stella and Tony's ashes will eventually go back to Mount Martha, with a tiny amount held back to return to England, the next time someone is heading that way.

We have had communication with the probate solicitor and I have communicated with the British pension people and with Centrelink. We have cancelled all of Stella's direct debits, apart from her phone payments. We need to keep her phone active for now.  Fortunately, I am not an executor of the will, so have no formal actions to take.

We have noticed recently that the Smythes Creek Farmgate Shop has become extremely busy on Saturdays, to the point that you can't move properly to look at things. They are open 6 days a week, and until later on Thursdays. So Lindsey and I went out onThursday afternoon to see what was what. Much better. They still had a fully stocked shop, and there were a few other people there. But it was much easier to move around and you could have a proper look at things to decide what you might want to buy. We might go on Thursdays in future.

We did go shopping on Saturday, but not out to Smythes Creek and nor to the market. The Lakeside market wasn't on and we don't usually bother with the Bridge Mall market. We went into town for a potter around, then to Wilson's.

Now you find me in Northcote. Freyja and Simon have gone to the Dandenongs for a few days. I can wave at them from their balcony

I can see the city from the bedroom:

My gaff for the night:

And my housemate:

I won't be here for the whole time they're away. I'm heading home later this morning to play with my own housemates. In the meantime, I am  drinking tea and enjoying watching the sun rise over the Dandenongs. Meanwhile, Ghost is enjoying lounging on her electric couch blanket

Last Weekend in June

Friday was an interesting day.

We were supposed to be transferring from one medical management system to another over the weekend. We had been preparing for weeks. We had arranged to close the clinic at lunchtime so everyone had a chance to ensure that everything was as ready as it could be and for us all to have a play on the incoming system.

In the meantime, one of the management team had found a cheap-ish second hand fridge on one of the medical Facebook Groups. The Practice Manager there wanted it picked up either on Thursday or Friday. Thursday wasn't possible, so Friday it had to be.

On top of that, Emily, Andre and the babies were supposed to be coming in for lunch. Emily, you may remember, works with us when she is in Melbourne and people were keen to see her and (especially!) the babies.

By Friday morning, it was clear that the transfer to the new system was not going to happen, for logistical reasons outside our control. There was much discussion about whether to call it a day after lunch, and for everyone to go home, or whether to open up the diaries and see what happened.  In the meantime, Reception Alex and I trundled out to Balwyn, in the wilds of the eastern suburbs, to collect the fridge.

We could not find the medical centre and ended up in the wrong one. They were slightly surprised to hear that we had come to take away their fridge. They thought they might like to keep it! They did give us directions to the right clinic. But even then, it was difficult to find. It did not help that their address is on the main road, while their location is on a side street and is not visible from the main road.

We collected the fridge.  Disaster! We had not brought any money with us (I had assumed the fridge was already paid for). They couldn't take a card payment (I had a card I could have used), only cash or a bank transfer. Fortunately, a means of payment was sorted out, after I rang our surgery and asked what they expected us to do. Then we tried to put the fridge into Lindsey's car. It didn't fit! We juggled and jiggled and wiggled and wobbled. Eventually we managed JUST to get it in the car.  But where to put Alex???? I really didn't want to leave him in the wilds of Balwyn. We jiggled and juggled and wobbled and wiggled a bit more and managed to get the passenger seat far enough back that there was JUST enough room for Alex.

Then we drove carefully and cautiously back to the surgery.

Alex, folded up very carefully
and implanted into the car

We got back to find everyone getting ready for lunch. Pizza. Chicken. Chips. Salad. We did try opening the afternoon diaries, but we had been advertising for some time that we would be closed on Friday afternoon, so weren't gathering much interest. So we closed the books again and people ambled off, one by one, into the weekend.

The Sunday training session for the new system was cancelled

Dr Emily, Dr Lindsey and our
two newest recruits, 
complete with their stethoscopes

For me, the weekend was very quiet. It hasn't been as cold as it was earlier in June, but it is not by any stretch of the imagination warm. It's been drizzly and dreary and gloomy. I have long imagined that when I no longer had to go to the care home each afternoon that I would get lots done in the garden. The weather is not conducive to gardening! I am merely nibbling away at the edges of the things that need to be done. But really, there is no hurry. Things will happen as they do.

I have, though, found the missing trowel. It was, of course, exactly where I had left it, waiting for me to come and carry on with what I had been doing. Although, I hadn't stopped in the middle of something. I had finished weeding one little bed and planted some broad bean seeds. The trowel was waiting for me to come back and start on the next bed. But I think that might be a mid to late August job. I have put the trowel away, next to its new friend. Now there are two trowels in the garden tool stand.

I have also been prepping food. A Farmers' Pick box arrived on Friday. I have made stuffed baked zucchini, stuffed baked tomatoes and a selection of steamed veg. I have prepped most of the rest of the veg ready to be used. I am planning a traybake at some point. And Lindsey has taken some of the prepped veg for tonight's Steak Night in Melbourne. We are not going to starve in the foreseeable future

Quiet Weekend

Lindsey was in Melbourne on Saturday. The weather was fairly horrible. I did not go to the market.

I didn't really go anywhere. I did go to the IGA for a few bits and pieces but otherwise stayed at home, watched the rain and drank tea in front of the fire

I went to the supermarket with Lindsey and Em first thing on Sunday morning, and after that also stayed at home for most of the day. The weather was better and I had garden plans. I have cat-proofed the carrot boxes and the rhubarb bed, which Whiskey seemed to be determined to dig up. The carrots were doing quite well, until Whiskey decided to use their boxes as a sand pit! I was prevented doing a number of things that I had planned because I can't find my trowel. 

I think I probably put it down the last time I used it, intending to return to whatever I was doing, and then never did return. But it's not as though I live on acreage. My front yard is small. The back is slightly bigger but is not by any means a large garden. It's not difficult to look for things. I acknowledge that the garage is in a state of disarray, but I have looked quite carefully. I cannot find my trowel;!

I think that once there were two. And now there are none.

It was Stella's cremation at lunchtime yesterday. I acknowledged this - by going SHOPPING. Not Stella's favourite shopping, which was clothes shopping. I went to the supermarket and did a proper Start of the Pay Month shop. I don't do these very often, preferring to shop little and often. But my fridge, freezer and pantry were all beginning to look a bit empty. Stella enjoyed supermarket shopping nearly as much as she enjoyed clothes shopping. It seemed appropriate.

Otherwise, the weekend was very quiet. I have caught up with Masterchef and finally got around to sweeping and washing the kitchen floor. I have made a start on tidying up the house, which is looking rather sorry for itself after some of Stella's things moved in.

I am working extra hours this week. I'll go in for a few hours today for training on the new computer system that is coming over the weekend. I'm doing my usual Wednesday and Friday, plus a few hours on Sunday for more training on the computer system.

Whiskey has been worshipping at the altar of the god of fire, Brandy has been working from home:

And I have bought a new trowel. I wonder how many trowels will be on the garden tool stand by the end of the week!!

Dawn on Stella's cremation day

Cold!

My goodness but it was cold yesterday.

I went out to get in the car just before 6:30 am and the car was frozen. Absolutely frozen. I don't have an ice scraper in the car. I don't have an ice scraper at all. I don't recall having needed one since I left Tupton. It is true that I usually kept the car in the garage before the door gizmo broke. but there have been enough cold winter nights when it has been outside and it hasn't iced over quite that much.

I used the side of a packet of Japanese mints to scrape the windows. This did not do the mints inside much good. I have found a window scraper in the laundry (the kind you use after you have washed the house windows). I have put that in the car, Just In Case. I think it may work better than the side of a Japanese mint packet, and perhaps not destroy the mints.

It has been unusually cold for June, even in Ballarat. I think it's supposed to warm up, ever so slightly over the next few days. Although not much. A high of 9d today, rising to the heady heights of 11 on Sunday

In other news, I have taken flowers, chocolates and cards into Stella's care home, and chocolates, a fruit platter and a card to her GP practice. Lindsey and I are meeting with the funeral director this morning. I have pyjamas, a dressing gown and slippers ready to take, plus the Tony Bear, who is going with Stella. The funeral director was a bit shocked that I didn't also have underwear for Stella to wear, but this family does not wear underwear overnight. And anyway, there aren't any knickers or bras. There weren't many and I have already thrown them away.

A while ago, I bought a new cat tree for Brandy and Whiskey. So far, they haven't ventured as far as the top landing, unless I have put them up there. Over the weekend I heard a thump, looked around and saw this:

followed shortly after by this:

Whiskey was obviously in an adventurous mood over the weekend, because he also decided to try having a nap in the wood basket. Alas, it obviously wasn't very comfortable and he shortly after moved back to the comfort of his racing car basket: