I'm on holidays so this is random stuff...
the twins are at our national christian youth convention in perth, western australia. apparently having a great time.
all of our plumbing blocked up on christmas eve and was like that for nearly 2 weeks. up in the hills here we're on a septic system so everything is connected (somehow!) - toilet, shower, sink, dishwasher.... a really crap time, the worst of it being digging down several feet through hard clay to the pipe over several days, which has really made a mess of my back... at least we havent had guests...
now that I'm in the land of two sets of specs, I'm hanging out for my new reading glasses. I have had increasing difficulty reading over the last year, although computer screen has been fine. each of my eyes has been behaving differently, much to the bewilderment of the optometrist. however despite this apparently my vision is excellent, if they can just match the right lens with each eye as they change! as someone who has always thrived on books, i've found reading annoying, tiring and impossible, and I have a big pile of books waiting for sometime this coming week.....
bought some retro music - New Order, Cure, Bowie - stuff I've always meant to get and listen to....
we're about to dust off the fishing rods and tie on some new hooks and hit the beach. can't wait. a freshly caught fish is my holy grail, and i can still count on two hands the number of fish that I've caught (one of ellen's famous lines..." wow, dad, two fish in one day!"
our month of equipment disasters (plumbing, laptop transformer...) included the food processor starting to sound like a 747 while I was making Christmas mustards. I imagined the police examining the body - a processor blade in the gut and a body covered in fine yellow powder with a smell of vinegar, caraway and allspice... mmm... clearly the work of the german MI5... buying a new food processor was an experience! the shop assistant couldnt understand that we didnt use it to chop veggies, but really wanted to know how it could manage 2 cups of black peppercorns! (having said that, I've been whizzing veg this afternoon and it is such fun!!!)
after buying the food processor went to brighton (SA) and had the seafood platter at the jetty cafe, then back to marion to see "casino royale". great evening.
today we finally put back together the garden swing that was broken by the falling willow in Sept 05, and bought sugar soap to start painting maddy's room in whatever bohemian colour scheme she finally decides on... after stinking hot septic-ditch-digging weather it's been quite pleasant.
this is getting too long... so much personal stuff... i must be two weeks into a three week holiday and actually getting my life back. is that possible?
gosh i hope so.