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The house is almost completely tidy. The lawn is mowed. I'm running out of things to do! I'm sure the girls will keep me occupied when they return however. They arrive home at 11:25pm tomorrow...
My big toe has been hurting lately. I showed it to Dave at work, who said immediately "That's Gout!". Gout is diet related, so I spent the day drinking water and missing coffee. However Doctor Kathy reckons it's just a ganglion cyst - a bubble of fluid from a ligament strain. She said she would thump it with a large bible for me, but it might scare the other patients. It should go down eventually.
Made a first attempt at baking bread last week. I think I didn't use enough yeast, because it came out quite small and heavy. But it still tasted good, so I'll try again at some point.
11 flaxes, four swamp cypresses, two birches a Kanuka and a Pin Oak. Ross has been planting a few himself too. The swamp is suddenly looking a lot less barren...
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( 2.9 / 2020 )Bronwyn and the girls landed safely, and have been enjoying the swimming pool, the Chinese dinner, the zoo and the ballet. They managed to meet up with everyone and went out for a meal with them. So far, Bronwyn has survived quite well, despite Rachael and Sarah. The girls have a separate bedroom, which makes things easier.
Roasted a chicken, which came out quite well, but the gravy could do with some work. Went Man Shopping yesterday. Motor oil, antifreeze, timber, cement, cat food, dog food
CHOCOLATE BISCUITS!
Planted 17 trees, did one load of washing, made a start on tidying the house. So far I've kept busy. But it gets a little quiet in the evening!
At work, we've got a deadline on Monday, so I stayed late on Friday, and did a lot of work on Saturday. It's odd not having to rush home!
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( 3 / 2095 )Dropped in on the Prime Minister today. Well, not quite. Dropped in on his office. One of them. And spoke to his office manager who happens to live just down the road. The brass band wanted me to ask for advice and support about the new building. As it happens, we've already found a building. So the Prime Minister's Office Manager promised to put in a good word for us at the council.
Had another Afternoon Tea today. "Who's birthday is it this time?!" I said. "Mine" said Bronwyn. Oops. She'll actually have a birthday on her first full day away, but the Afternoon Tea is a compulsory event in the Kerr-Taylor clan so we had it a week early. More scones and jam. The children played outside and discovered the sandpit, which was full of water. So we had some rather wet children and several changes of clothes.
It's rained a lot this week. Three times I emptied the wheelbarrow - we must have had up about three inches of rain. The drain from the dam was full of water, and our wetland area really was. I was about to plant a tree in one spot, and stuck the spade in, and the ground heaved and billowed like a water bed. It's still like it today. There must have been enough water to lift the topsoil off the clay and suspend it by several inches. Quite fun bouncing around on it. Glad it didn't burst while I was on it.
I planted the tree a few feet away. I've done about 20 this weekend. Quite tiring, but they all seem to be growing well for now.
Bronwyn leaves on Thursday afternoon. Four suitcases are packed. She's been out buying a few things to take with them, both as gifts and for sanity purposes (i.e. for the children). Returning home on a Monday at midnight. She's due to work the next day. Not sure that'll happen...
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( 2.9 / 2241 )The conference went well; we only had the usual glitches, apart from when someone copied a huge amount of stuff up as her conference notes, did it three times, and then six people tried to download it. I'll have to sort that one out tomorrow. I now have a bag full of sausage rolls and various crackers and dips, because they ordered far too much food on Friday. Pity they didn't order too much wine as well.
Just got our lawnmower back, and hacked a large chunk out of the back garden. It looks even worse now! I'll probably need to go over it again once the heaps of grassy mush have dried out.
I'm having a bit of a crisis. I'm now on the brass band committee, assistant librarian, and probably webmaster too. I've been asked to 'drop in' on our patron (the prime minister) to ask for money for the new building. At church, I'm on the roster for running the projector as well as plating trombone. I'm also getting involved with the youth project in the local school, and I've been approached about the church website too. Something has to give. At least I'll have a week or two free next month to think about it.
Bronwyn has been planning things for their big trip, and the girls both have suitcases packed (and unpacked, and packed, and unpacked, and scattered all over the floor, and dumped in a heap in the corner). I hope Bronwyn can cope with them for ten days; I've struggled to survive an hour without yelling at one or both! Maybe they'll calm down once they get there. It's not easy being hyper in Singapore. You end up exhausted very quickly.
Claire and Nigel are feeding a lamb. They called it Larry. He follows Nigel everywhere. Our dog is terrified of him.
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( 3 / 2160 )The trampoline has risen again. Bronwyn's brother Neil finally got round to welding and unbending a couple of joints, and it's now up in the back garden with a guy rope strategically attached to protect it from the wind. It's been raining quite a bit this weekend, but that hasn't stopped Rachael and Sarah using it. And getting wet.
I've taken Rachael out cycling on the road today. It's her second time ever. Just down to the end of the road and back. She's nervous about crossing over the road in order to come back again. Her bike is designed for a six year old, so it's probably time we found her a bigger one.
Tree planting has begun in earnest. I've been digging up the old clumps of flax, and planting them out in the paddock. It's quite exhausting work, so I've done a bit each day. There's also some seedling trees which are now big enough to plant (or I'm fed up enough with watering them). So far, it seems like a few tiny trees in a very large space. Hopefully they'll grow eventually...
Work has been busy. We have the conference coming up next weekend where we'll be demonstrating everything. Except that there's no way we're going to finish it all. So it's probably going to be a case of making it look nice, and not letting them play with it themselves. Subtle, that.
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