A long silence

Goodness.  Such a long silence.  Anyone would think nothing had been happening.

In fact, lots of things have happened.

Last weekend, our cousins Ruth and Andy, who have been staying in Sydney with a side trip to Perth, came to visit.

I picked them up from the airport on Friday afternoon and took them to the flat where they stayed with Lindsey and Ian overnight.  I went back to Hill House.

On  Saturday, Lindsey, Ian, Ruth and Andy went to Matt and Belinda's place in Warragul.  Annie the vet came to stay at Hill House so Jim and I could have a night at home, and join the family lunch in Warragul on Sunday.

Rupert and Hugo were VERY excited to see Annie.  They do love her, which is odd when you consider that she is their vet :-D  Rupert did, eventually, remember this. He also remembered that last time Annie had come to visit she had clipped his toenails. He HATES having his paws touched.  He backed out into the garden, looking watchful.  No one was going to touch his toes, thank you very much.  Fortunately, Annie hadn't brought her clippers with her and all was well.

We haven't had a family gathering at Warragul before and it's a lovely location.  It's a bit of a trek from Mount Helen but it's very accessible from Melbourne and from Mount Martha.  Belinda's mother was there.  Our mother was there.  Ant and Jess were there for their swan song - they were off to Sydney on the following day for Ant to take up a new job.  Sydney is not that far away but it's not absolutely handy for random family lunches!

Alas, Annie had had to leave mid-morning so Jim and I couldn't stay long, but it was a lovely lunch and a good catch up.

Meanwhile, back in Brunswick, Freyja and Simon were supposed to be getting ready to fly to Perth for a few days.  Then the cat escaped and couldn't be found.  Ghost, the cat, is an indoor cat. She is not familiar with the Great Outdoors.  They postponed their flight to Perth.

Fortunately, she hadn't gone far and hastened back inside.  Freyja and Simon took a later flight.

On Monday I went to their place to Ghost sit. I expected her to be nervous and reserved.  But no.  She was delighted to see me.  She's a tiny little thing but she thunders up and down the hallway in Great Dane style. She leans on you, Great Dane style. She supervises you in the shower in much the same way that Rupert does. It must be said that having a Ghost cat jump on the bed in the middle of the night is nothing like as "surprising" as when Rupert or Hugo does it. You barely notice. On the other hand, Rupert and Hugo don't play with your feet in the middle of the night in the way that Ghost does.

I enjoyed my stay at Freyja and Simon's place.  It's a great location, well serviced by public transport.  So I went to steak night at the flat by tram.  It's a 20 minute drive to work. It's a cute, quirky house.  Perhaps not quite as quirky as the shipping container that Freyja and Simon were staying in but quirky enough.  I would banish Freyja and Simon to the shed and move in, except there isn't a shed.  There isn't room for a shipping container in the backyard.  I came back to my place in Mount Helen.

Which is not a 20 minute drive to work.  I had better go and get ready to leave.  Lindsey will be coming by in an hour to pick me up and I'm still in my pyjamas and dressing gown.  I haven't made lunch. I need to iron my work trousers.  I am not remotely ready!