venetia_sassy | Entries tagged with outings

Went to the markets first thing this morning since it was going to be stinking hot. We had Christmas cards to hand out to our market friends - or rather we had Christmas cards from the greyhounds since everyone knows their names! I had some cards made up last year with this image and several people told me they still have it on display! This year I couldn't find a nice (affordable) greyhound card but the Santa photos turned out really well so I did a flat card on Vistaprint that turned out nicely. Naturally the hounds were gussied up in their antlers plus their new Christmas bandanas, and they had many cuddles and photos and smiles, plus one woman when we stopped at the shops afterwards, said 'You have just made my Christmas! They are beautiful!'

Bought some nectarines, ginger honey, fudge and a Balinese batik scarf for Flora. Just a couple more presents to get ...

We were home by 10:30 a.m. and the dogs and I passed out for the rest of the day. They had zero interest in an afternoon walk. A damp towel and a fan helped me sleep through the worst of the 40C heat. Yechh. It's 11:30p.m. and still 30C.

Still in 30s tomorrow but it should be fairly cool on Christmas Day, hallelujah!

"We Three Kings (Piano/Cello) - ThePianoGuys" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: All the fans in the house
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/221994.html

Miss Shadow got up on the sofa again! She is curled up beside me as I type. Mr Nosey was ensconced on one sofa while I was wrapping presents on the floor earlier (Mum looked at the pile and said, 'You are very efficient at this.' Which may explain why I get asked to do it for almost every birthday and most Christmas presents, just like the Christmas lights.) Miss Shadow came in when I was finished and when I was settled on the other sofa, I noticed her glaring at me. She has a very expressive face. It seems she was waiting for an invitation to get up again (have you met a dog who does that?) I put a cotton throw down this time and it seems to make her feel more secure.

*
Roz came by earlier with her new dog (their elderly Staffy died earlier this year), reportedly a kelpie/greyhound cross. Well, he's clearly kelpie/something bigger but I couldn't see greyhound. *shrugs* He's gorgeous though and seems very sweet. Roz has asked if I'll come over soon and do some training with him - he's a bit too interested in the chickens right now but their cat has terrified him into submission although she hasn't realised it yet. Today she came into the room and the poor dog slunk away and tried to climb in Roz's husband's lap for protection.

*
Yesterday was a bit exhausting for me and the dogs but they had a great many cuddles and their photos taken at least a dozen times. We went to one of our regular markets with the hounds in their antlers - and we brought the cool coats with us this time. They were needed although the weather was weirdly changeable and we had to take them off at one because of a sharp wind.

The little Fuji apples are sadly finished (we were buying five kilos a fortnight at one point) but we got the last box of the really good navel oranges, and the first kilos of plums and cherries. Plus corn, cavolo nero, capsicum, chickens, eggs and sausages, plus dried kangaroo tails and lamb bones for the hounds. Mum did some shopping I didn't need to know about, hem, and it took us two hours. If we were just shopping it would be half an hour. But with visiting all the favorite stall holders and stopping for everyone who wants to pat the dogs it takes a while.

Then we went to visit Mum's friend Ivy at her shoe shop so I could thank her in person for the lovely scarf she gave me for my birthday but hadn't opened by the time she left our party. She took photos of the dogs as well as did a customer and we all chatted. Mum may have made a new friend and joined a book club. The other customer was wearing a glorious blue skirt with peacock feather patterns from a shop two doors down and we stopped in there as well. I tried on the skirt and it was gorgeous and comfortable but even the Xsmall was a bit too big (yes, I've lost weight but I swear sizes have gone up. I am not skinny!) While in there a customer from the hairdresser upstairs and across the plaza came down and asked if I'd bring the dogs up because all the girls wanted to meet them! Good thing I keep up their stair practice. Again they had their photos taken but we only stayed a few minutes. They clearly weren't keen on the chemical smells. Then it was home and bed for three of us while Mum was still bright-eyed and energetic.

I try not to assume people are interested in my dogs (even though they are splendid dogs!) but then days like yesterday happen.

*
I was lying on the floor earlier and Mr Nosey had his head on my chest while Miss Shadow had her head against my knee and one paw in my hand.

"Sarah McLachlan The First Noel/Mary Mary" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Music: Sarah McLachlan ~ Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/220204.html

Here's a happy thing. We took the dogs out in their reindeer antlers today. Now we always get people wanting to pat them and talk to them and ask about greyhounds which is one of the reasons we take them to markets, etc. But add the antlers and it seemed like every second person at least was grinning at them as they walked past. We heard "Oh look at the cute dogs!" "Look at the reindeer dogs!" so many times and they had their photo taken about ten times.

It was nice seeing people smile.

We took the hounds to a nearby market we've only visited once or twice but it got too hot too quickly to linger and we hadn't brought their cool coats. They had some excellent cuddles with various people in shaded areas, took alarm at the extraordinary noises made by some sheep (they know alpacas but I don't think they've met sheep before) and we toured the various stalls but didn't find any potential gifts. Then it was really too hot so we went back to the car and gave the dogs some water - they rarely drink from public water sources, those are contaminated by other dogs, thank you very much. They like fresh water, poured into their own bowl and held for them. It's possible they're a bit fastidious. Or spoiled.

The we went off to a nearby shopping district - which turned out to be having a market as well but it was still too hot to take the dogs around much. But we had an appointment to have their photo taken with Santa at the RSPCA for the third year in a row. And when the Santa saw them, she was delighted. "You've brought them back again! I love these guys!" And we have some lovely photos, individual and double, Miss Shadow grinning away and Mr Nosey looking a bit worried at first, then succumbing to cuddles. (We tried to persuade him to get up on the 'seat' and he didn't like that at all. Won't do that next year!) We also met a bouncy, stocky Dalmatian, a French bulldog and a French bulldog/pug who were all lovely and wanted to play.

Home again to pass out (except for Mum) and tonight Kitt and Rena dropped by for an hour to pick up some DVDs they were going to borrow. We wound up talking about various aggravations of modern life/life in general and I said, You realise we're turning into cranky old ladies in our thirties?

Anyway. Despite the heat and the people (mostly relatives) who think we're bonkers for having Santa Paws photos taken, it was a good day. A lot of people smiled.

"You're One of My Kind / Multifandom" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: The Piano Guys ~ Over the Rainbow/Simple Gifts
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/218449.html

What a splendid few days it's been. I didn't sleep very well on Friday night but I had to go to Nephew #1's 6th(!) birthday party the next day and while it was a perfectly nice party as such things go and the kids were having a great time, it really was very boring for anyone who wasn't a) a child, b) a parent wanting to talk about children or c) a relative (preferably with grown children) wanting to talk about children. I can only manage c), minus the grown children, very briefly and really, no one cares. Plus, it was hot, the kids were loud and I was bitten on the neck by a green ant.

(Curious thing: Brother and SIL always manage to massively overcater. Why is that? They've had several kiddie parties and any number of family gatherings by now but always, always massively overcater. I hope they don't just throw out the leftovers but lord, I'd get sick of them. And if they didn't freeze some of the food, it would go off before they could eat it anyway. Peculiar.)

We left after a few hours, went home, I passed out, woke up with the worst post-exertion headache I've had in ages and blessed my doctor for the new headache pill prescription. Ate something, went back to sleep, got up the next day for a book sale, found something for the difficult uncle, plus a few interesting books and two more M. M. Kaye novels I've been looking for in an omnibus (I really should just give up and buy them all on ebay.)

Monday, more stinking hot weather and the unnerving urge to wrap Christmas presents. I decided to take advantage of it and got a few done. Mostly I'm waiting for packages to arrive now, but I do need to go out sometime this week for a few things. And make my food shopping list!

Hideous hot windy weather today and no walks for dogs for several days now! But there have been games and zoomies in the garden. Can it cool off soon please? I don't even want to play Christmas carols, the references to snow sound so wrong.

Current Mood: sweltering
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/204704.html

Wide pappardelle with zucchini, olives, fried artichokes, pecorino and lemon (for me)

Potato gnocchi with smoked quail and pink pepper (for Mum)

Pork spare ribs with plum agrodolce and sauteed cabbage, plus a mixed leaf salad (to share)

Gooooood food.

Current Mood: satisfied
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/204099.html

When we arrived at the Pet Festival, we soon encountered someone we'd heard about but not met - a neighbour of one of Mum's aquarobics classmates. This woman, C, and her husband, N, started fostering greyhounds for GR with their whippet and cat earlier this year and when Mum's classmate told her about their first grey, we immediately looked her up - and when told about us, they tried to look up Miss Shadow but she never made it online.

So it was quite funny to meet her in person, with her gorgeous little whippet and latest foster (possible forever!) hound. Since we were looking for a cat-friendly hound, she was the perfect person to talk to about who was a possibility from GR. We encountered a couple of other greys and their people as well - greyhounds love other sighthounds. We headed over to the GR stall after awhile and C called her husband to tell him to head over with their temporary foster, a gentle light brindle boy who would be a possible match. We met up with the head of GR, Peter, the one I'd been emailing with (we'd met at a couple of trivia nights previously) and discussed meeting C and N at the overflow kennels the next day where there were several cat-friendlies and a couple more to be tested. There was one other at the stall, a huge black boy, Bob but he was probably 38-40kg and that was just a bit much as far as Mum was concerned. As much as I like big dogs, even I found him a bit big!

We also had cuddles with several other greys at the stall, including a blue brindle boy who had lost a large part of his tail to 'happy tail' - wagging his tail and smacking it against hard surfaces, causing bleeding that is very hard to stop!

They had a blue shell pool as well, so the dogs could stand in it and cool off and we managed to coax Miss Shadow to dip her feet in. We've since bought one ourselves and she's tried 'digging' in the water on a couple of hot days. It looks hilarious.

Eventually we moved on, since the festival was about to finish and we found the GAP stall - and Miss Shadow was so happy to see L, the coordinator, bouncing up, putting her front paws on the counter, generally looking delighted. We were all quite surprised since she hadn't seen L since we took her to Winterfest back in ... June? GAP had a stall. And Miss Shadow hadn't been in their system very long either. But it was very sweet.

We talked to L about a new grey as well and she said they did have one male they thought would test cat-friendly - but he was mostly white and after years with dalmatians, we have decided against further white dog hair!

On our way out, we stopped at the AWDRI stall (I check their FB regularly for cuteness) and thank goodness they didn't have any blue heelers there (tears!) but we did get to cuddle with Pudding, the red heeler puppy from HQ and a little chocolate kelpie puppy who'd had a terrible start in life but was obviously being very well cared for now.

And then we were heading out, with Miss Shadow trotting along happily, sniffing at everything and seeming just fine, with prospect of getting another dog suddenly just a day away ...

Current Mood: contemplative
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/203611.html

Fall Out Boy was awesome. The energy was incredible. Fangirls are awesome. And possibly insane - but in a good way. :)

I spent today sleeping and will probably spend tomorrow staring blankly at the walls. But we do plan to take the dogs for a walk as well.

The greyhound chased the cat up a tree while I was away. Not a good sign.

Current Mood: drained
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/201972.html

Tomorrow! Melbourne! Wednesday! Fall Out Boy! I hope the greyhound forgives me for disappearing for three days so soon!

(She's not a cat so, probably.)

I should go to bed. Have to be at the train station appallingly early tomorrow by my lights.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Fall Out Boy ~ The Phoenix
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/201531.html

Cherry Tomato Sauce with Cheat's Fresh Pasta - delicious, but I just used linguine since that's what I had, and grape tomatoes because I like them more. Made it twice in the last few days!

Crunchy Garlic Chicken - baked the chicken and yum. So good! Mum is enjoying the leftovers in her lunch salads.

Zucchini and Mint Pasta - as usual, halved the pasta and I increased the lemon and parmesan a bit. Wonderfully easy.

*
Baking supplies for my second imadeathing project arrived today - and the special decorations for the Mikey segment. I'm a bit sad that I didn't post about my first completed project already, because I don't think the overall symbolism is going quite to be as well-received over the few weeks. Or MCR stuff in general. Ah well. I'm still going to have fun with this.

As to why I'm only just starting it - well, it's baking, it can only take so long! I knew I wasn't going to try doing it before Christmas and the heat's been knocking me around too much since then. But I knew I had to get my act together and order supplies anyway. (Still took me awhile.) I'm just waiting on the special decorations for the Ray segment but I know they've been posted.

Ooh, we went out to do some shopping on Sunday (I hadn't left the house in almost two weeks, since the dentist visit. I wanted out) and we stopped in at a different Woolworths to our usual and oh, the baking section!!! All the sparkles and decorations!!! I'm guessing because that Woolworths is in an area of new development, a lot of families with kids (ours not so much.) I was making happy squeaks over the various sprinkles and even Mum was joining in my enthusiasm. There was nothing like the range of the online baking supplies store and they didn't have anything I'd already ordered but it was so much fun to see the products right there. Future possibilities ... And I did find some chocolate star sprinkles to use instead the regular chocolate sprinkles for Ray, so that was good.

But while I do have my supplies, I'm not starting tonight, thanks to some amazing wooziness and a nasty headache. Thank you, menstruation. Kindly fuck off.

Current Mood: uncomfortable
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/197857.html

Well, I could say that 2012 was a crappy year in which I spent much time feeling rotten and exploring the various kinds of headaches (my friend Rena: "I didn't know there were different kinds of headaches!" Me: "Ahaha, yeah, there are. And my body seems to want to take me on a tour of every single kind." My doctor also said it's unusual for someone to experience all the major kinds of headaches. There are times when I am happy to be unusual. This is not one of them.) This meant the year was spent with much brainfog and exhaustion, so there was little writing or substantial reading or even interesting cooking going on, much to my frustration. Also, my dog died.

However. Day to day life may have been crappy but good things did happen. Very good things.

*I saw My Chemical Romance live in concert. Twice!
*We went to Canberra to see the Renaissance exhibition at the National Gallery which was glorious. We also saw the Nurses at War exhibition at the Australian War Memorial.
*Went with friends to see Sir David Attenborough at the State Theatre - and he is utterly delightful. And we had an excellent dinner at Spanish restaurant beforehand.
*Went to the movies 4 times, including seeing The Avengers for the second time in a Gold Class cinema (wow, comfortable seats!)
*Went to GenreCon, my first con and had a great time. Plus, there was an afternoon tea for the Smart Bitches fans the week before.
*Had a couple of other enjoyable outings to the city, even if they did involve going to the allergist.
*Saw The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest and Twelfth Night performed by Sport for Jove.
*Even when I was feeling my worst, I still managed to leave the house every two weeks to go to the farmer's market and I enjoyed that. And for several months there was usually a dog show of some kind going on in the next field so there was puppy time as well.
*Didn't get to see my friends very often but I did get to see them.
*There were several secondhand booksales.

So hey, good things! And the headaches are improving so that's a good start for the new year. Also, fandom. Fandom is great. Bandom and Avengers and getting sucked into random things that make me go wait, what, what just happened? And the contribution fanfic makes towards keeping me sane during times of brainfog is considerable.

It was 39C today. I think that was all the coherence I had.

Current Mood: contemplative

Made the Chocolate Saltine Toffee last night, haven't tried it yet. Made some more Honey Lavender Shortbread. Dipped the Cranberry White Chocolate Biscotti in the extra white chocolate (which does not melt very well.)

I am so glad I wasn't baking today! So hot, so humid! We went over to see Roz and her husband, taking gifts and baked goods. I tried a homemade (fruit) mince pie, fresh out of the oven and for the first time understood why people like the things. Mmm.

Still don't want to eat the shopbought ones.

Came home for a bit, then headed over to Dee's for our usual Christmas Eve supper. Slight irritation of Dee getting a Christmas call while we were there and us basically ending up 'on hold' for about half an hour. The boredom was somewhat alleviated by Dee telling her friend at one point, 'You will always be the little girl on the potty to me.' Good thing Mum had finished her drink by then. (Dee also spoke to her friend's rather deaf father who was about to spend his first Christmas as a widower. He and his wife had married at nineteen and they were together for sixty-five years. Dee and her husband were married for almost as long. She told him that if he must go to the cemetery tomorrow, he wasn't to let it make him miserable because his wife wasn't there. She was probably standing right behind him, ready to thump him one if he dragged everyone down on Christmas Day. So very Dee.)

Anyway, we had dinner and presents (we now have some beautiful pale green ceramic ramekins and matching square casserole dish with a glass lid) and talk. Dee was greatly admiring my dress, which I'd worn thinking she'd like it. I wore the same outfit when the girls came over for afternoon tea and it had made me laugh to look at myself that day.

I was standing in front of the mirror doing my makeup, wearing a long white dress, protected by a pretty floral apron, hair bound up in a beaded comb, pearls in my ears and around my neck - this somehow seemed ridiculous. Rena described my outfit that day as 'very Bohemian meets Country and Garden.' She thought that was probably a good description of my style in general. Can't say that's how I've ever thought of it but okay!

Dee was just so delighted by this pretty white dress with its flowing skirt, like the ones they wore to dances when she was a girl, and by the fact that I dress up. That I like to dress nicely. And when we left she yelled after us, 'Get your mother to take a picture of you in that dress! I don't like the photo we have of you now.' So we had a photo session when we came home.

Now I just need to bake the cake for tomorrow, fill Mum's stocking, clear the dining table and go to bed. Merry Christmas!

Have some kittens and a Christmas tree!

Current Mood: tired
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/191908.html

After the Shakespeare evening I was tired but wired and didn't fall asleep until dawn so I didn't wake up until late afternoon yesterday. I was going to get a bit of sleep between baking and going to the market in the morning but it was so warm and the weather report looked ominous so I decided to just keep baking, go to the market, then sleep. Which I did through the worst of the 37C day. Feh. Tomorrow is supposed to be 38C (Mum's indignant squawk of 'WHAT' when I told her that was splendid.*g*) but Christmas Day should be much cooler.

Made the Florentines, Cranberry, White Chocolate and Lemon Biscotti (fabulous!!! The lemon zest makes a big impact) and Rum and Raisin Shortbread (Mum tells me it's pretty good. Not my thing so I'll take her word for it.)

The Sunday market is one we've only been to a few times. Rather than heading towards suburbia the way we do for the Saturday market, for this one we turn towards the more rural suburb where we used to live when I was little (when my parents were married, we lived on acreage and they bred horses) then go further on to the suburb where our vet clinic is. They've been treating our pets (including the horses) for over thirty years now.

We first decided to try the market because I found out that the honey people who had stopped coming to Sunday market went to the other one and I really wanted more of the Butterscotch Honey that had persuaded me that honey could be good. So we went and there was honey but sadly no butterscotch. Apparently it didn't keep very well so they stopped making it. But they have creamed Vanilla Honey which tastes like a cross between the Butterscotch and the Vanilla I was making for myself. Also, a clear Lemon Honey which is wonderful in tea.

On our next visit, they didn't have any Lemon but Mum tried some Chili-infused (...not my thing) and I tried some creamed Ginger (yes, please!) This time, still no Lemon but I bought some Vanilla, Ginger and a new one - Rosemary. Haven't tried it yet.

On our first visit, they were set up behind the little shopping village and it was a fairly small market but a nice mix of stalls (a few from the Saturday market there as well.) Since then they've shifted across the road and more stalls have appeared but on our last trip it was hard to really take it in. It was so hot. Absolutely stinking and we were there later and there were more crowds than today. Ugh. I couldn't think. (One poor woman with a heart condition collapsed from the heat and an ambulance had to be called. Fortunately the RFS and possibly the St Johns people were there with display stalls so there were trained first aid people to help her.)

Today it was very warm but we were finished before it got too bad. Bought some nice green beans and asparagus for Tuesday, tried some samples from a stall selling Eastern European sauces and sausages, bought some Hibiscus Flowers in Rose Syrup (Mum loves them in champagne) and Mango and Boab Chutney from a stall selling jams, etc made from native produce (I've never tried Boab. I'm told it's a bit like water chestnut and very high in protein.) Hmm, what else. Some Chicken, Spinach and Cashew Ravioli for dinner and we tried a sample of fried beetroot ravioli. Huh. Not sure about frying but I liked the flavour. Good canape idea, maybe?

There might have been something else but I can't remember it right now. I do remember that we met some sweet dogs. I patted a lovely Koolie x Husky x who knows. She was fluffy and white with faint brown spots and speckles and very loving. And on our way out we met a young Finnish Lapphund who was still being persuaded that people would want to pat her of their own accord, she did not need to leap on them and love them to death. But she's getting there! She was gorgeous, first one I've met. Her owners said there are only about 400 of them in the country.

Then we bought a few last things at the supermarket, came home and I fell into bed and avoided the worst heat of the day.

Now, Chocolate Saltine Toffee is made ... what else do I need to do? Besides tidy up. Um.

*
Happy thing! I bought this album a few days ago. It's an odd mix but I rather like it. And when it comes to country singers and Christmas carols, the only one I've said that about before is Jo Dee Messina with A Joyful Noise.

Current Mood: overly warm
Current Music: Lady Antebellum ~ Silent Night (Lord of My Life)
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/191725.html

Well, I could say today was a day in which I received 14 injections in one arm, 11 in the other and a further 10 skin pricks, spent two hours overall in the doctor's office, over two hours traveling and wound up walking way too much so that I came home and immediately fell into bed and slept for almost five hours.

Or I could say that today was a glorious day in Sydney and really showed it too its best, I saw some lovely parts of town, encountered a bagpipe-playing busker in Hyde Park, saw the David Jones Christmas windows and laughed at the mouse puppets, visited three large bookstores, two of them independents (including one I'd never even heard of before - Kinokuniya - and it's been there for years, wtf?!) even if I was too tired and muddled by then to decide on more than some linen book repair tape and Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon. I had a delicious triple chocolate brownie for morning tea and duck and lychee salad with lime and cashews for lunch - so very, very good.

Happy thing? Last time we were in town we spotted an installation of birdcages in a laneway and thought it was associated with the restaurant down there. We went to have a closer look today and no - the birdcages are a City Art installation, Forgotten Songs. We just stood there for a while, looking at the different names and listening to the different bird calls. It was lovely.

Current Mood: drained
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/188836.html

It started off as a lovely cool morning but by the time we arrived at the farmers' market I was glad I'd brought my hat. Way too warm!

Bought some fancy sweets for Mum's stocking, some rabbit and bacon ravioli for dinner tomorrow night, some white cherries which I hadn't seen before, a marinated duck Maryland, a gift sampler of doggy treats for The Boyo (well, we get all sorts of nice food at Christmas, why not some for him?) which will have to stay down in the garage until the actual day so he doesn't sniff it out, and some more gorgeous solid purple carrots, some of which I'll use for making Jamie's Indian Carrot Salad. It looks absolutely spectacular made with a mix of julienned purple and orange carrots and it's great with lamb or beef mince.

We also met a gorgeous Akita, with the most amazing plush coat and lovely soft ears. He was taking all the attention as his due, quite calm about it. He was the second - no, third - Akita I've met, the first two were a few months ago, at a dog show going on near to the market. That one was younger and all 'Love me, pat me, oh you're nice people, pat me, cuddles, oh, I like you!' He was blowing coat at the time so every pat resulted in a little puff of hair. His three month old pup was also there, looking like a very sturdy bear cub.

(After that encounter, I must have looked smitten because Mum said, 'No, we are not getting an Akita.' I said, 'Oh, I know, we have completely the wrong lifestyle for one - but ohmygodwasn'theadorable?')

We mean to put up the Christmas tree tomorrow. To start getting in the mood ... have you seen the animals of YouTube singing Deck the Halls? It's hysterical and very cleverly done. But I think Jingle Bells with the laughing ferret and concerned cat is even better.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Animals of YouTube ~ Jingle Bells
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/187300.html

So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious but you have no idea about, or something obscure you just have to know. Ask away. All topics, within reason, are open for discussion.

GenreCon was fucking awesome. I was utterly exhausted afterwards. I made my first project for

imadeathing - bandom, coffee appreciation, and it doubled as birthday cake for my mother. Making molded chocolates and truffles in 35C weather is a tad difficult.

I am still exhausted. It was still awesome (the con and the cake.)

Current Mood: indescribable
Current Music: Neko Case ~ Nothing to Remember
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/184572.html

How did that happen?

Ihave been very fuzzy in the brain the last couple of weeks. There has been cooking and a book sale and market day but mostly fuzziness and time keeps slipping away from me. Very odd. But I went to High Tea in the city on Sunday with a group of romance readers, writers and bloggers, special guest Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. That was fantastic, I had a great time. I also stayed too long and have been shatteringly exhausted since then but it was fun and Sarah was lovely and so funny (and currently in Australia while her family is in New Jersey. Ouch.)

Having barely recovered from this, I am off to GenreCon this weekend to revel in the many discussions and workshops. I also have a new parasol for the Saturday night banquet. Fun! (I hope. This is new territory for me.)

Current Mood: confused
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/184195.html

The outer arc was was muted but still quite visible and the inner one was incredibly bright and vibrant. And, ooh, I was trying to find a term for the extra bands of colour I could see in the primary arc and I think it was a supernumerary rainbow! So gorgeous!

*
This came after a relatively pleasing visit to the dentist for a check-up - the last visit was just to to deal with the bad tooth (okay, now I feel like I should be saying Bad Tooth, No Biscuit!) Everything else is clear, thank goodness, and I was even able to get a small discount on the bill by paying cash (I saw the notice last time but didn't have that much cash on hand.) I remain amused by getting a 'goody bag' after a check-up but hey, free toothpaste, toothbrush and floss? Very nice of them!

*
Before the dental appointment, we went to the shops, partly so I could get some cash. The ATM I usually use was out of order so we wandered up to other other one, checking out various stores along the way. Mum was looking at tops and I had vague thoughts of a long-sleeved white top. First store we went into, pretty long-sleeved white top. Not a store I'd normally go into, either! But they had some lovely things. And then there was the brief look around Tree of Life ... which turned into the purchase of a splendid red dress with a fitted bodice and a full, swishy skirt. At least 90% of Tree of Life clothing is not my style but the rest ... my wraps, my skirts, my summer dresses ...

I was not intending to buy clothes! Just because the usual ATM was out of order ... as to what I was intending to buy, well, mostly I eliminated gift possibilities but I did get a new kitchen gadget.

I was able to take a break from the lemon curd while I was feeling so horrid but when I started feeling better some wistful noises were made. So I've made a few batches in the last month or so. It used to be that I juiced the lemons and limes with a plastic manual juicer that we've had for ages but a) it takes a fair bit of work (I have minimal muscle tone) and b) it started to look rather tatty and I don't think it was ever quite getting clean. So a few months ago I bought a KitchenAid citrus juicer attachment and I've started using that. The whole business is still tedious but it's slightly less tiring so I'm happy. But hauling out the whole set-up when I just need a tablespoon of juice for a recipe seems like overkill. I was squeezing the juice through my fingers to strain the seeds but it was all a bit messy and imprecise. Enter new, small citrus juicer! A third the size of the old one, just enough for dinner recipes. And I made a double batch of lemon-lime curd last night so hopefully I won't have to pull out the fancy one for at least a week.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Sarah McLachlan ~ Building A Mystery
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/182966.html

Having not been to the movies in ages, I'm suddenly going twice in one week - but it's not The Avengers this time (damn.) Pip called me this afternoon and asked if I wanted to see Prometheus tomorrow with her and husband and friends. Well, I was going to go to the market for the first time in weeks but hey, movie, friends. Market will be there next Saturday fortnight.

I didn't actually know anything about Prometheus when I said yes (and this is how I wound up seeing Transformers II a few years back) except that it's scif-fi but having looked up a couple of reviews, I suspect I'll be covering my eyes some of the time.

Anyone here seen it?

Current Mood: curious
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/178837.html

Went to the osteopath today. We left early because the last two times we've been caught in horrific traffic. Today, traffic was fine, we arrived early - and the osteo was late. Naturally.

I fell asleep on the way home. I was going to go to the shops with Mum to get the DVDs but I just wanted to sleep. So Mum dropped me off, I napped hard, and she did the shopping. Captain America was secured but JB was out of Thor. Called another JB tonight, they're also out but the Sanity I tried had some. For $10 more but damn it, I want it! Mum's going to get it tomorrow.

I am very tired and I wish my body would behave. And I wish my brain would wake up and let me write and communicate again.

Current Mood: exhausted
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/176957.html

Last week, I went to Nephew #1's Easter preschool concert and it was really very cute. Mum's been to others but I'm usually dead to the world at that hour. We walked over and met Brother and Sister-in-Law (who's being fairly polite at the moment.) Nephew #2 had stayed at home with his Nana.

Watching the concert was almost a nostalgia trip. I remember singing some of those songs! (Also, the preschool owner was my preschool teacher, too! Time flies.) Most of the kids looked like they were wondering what the hell was going on - oh wait, we're singing now? Really? Oh, okay.

Nephew's first appearance was during a song that made me go ... um. 'Three Easter Eggs in the Chocolate Shop.' Three little girls dressed in Easter Egg costumes, another little girl behind a 'counter'. Little boy comes up, buys one of the 'eggs' and leads her off by the hand. Nephew comes up, buys one of the 'eggs', leads her off by the hand. At which point I'm going, oh you've got to be kidding me ... and then a girl came up, bought the last 'egg' and led her away. Okay. Not so creepy. And apparently, they picked different kids at random for each concert (there were three). I hope there were boys playing 'eggs' as well as girls.

Nephew looks different every time I see him. He's only four but was almost the tallest kid there (one kid was taller. He's a year older.) He was looking very stylish in his skinny black jeans and white t-shirt with a wolf head on it! He's taking after SiL's family in build, he's gone all long and lanky. Brother was stocky and solid until puberty. He's looking more like me in colouring - pale, pale skin, blue eyes and his white blond hair is darkening to ash blond. I imagine it will end up dark ash blond/light brown like mine or darken more to brother's shade.

He's just had his first 'grown-up' haircut. The baby curls have loosened to slight waves and I swear he had a bit of gel in his hair that day, not just water, to make it a bit spiky - it was almost a fauxhawk. He's feeling quite grown-up at the moment - he's just lost his first tooth and what did he buy with money the Tooth Fairy left him?

Deodorant like Daddy's.

(Mum nearly laughed herself silly when she heard that.)

(So did I.)

*solemn nod* My nephew is a cool little dude, people.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: My Chemical Romance ~ Party Poison
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/175321.html

Consistently, predictably, dependably, unwaveringly ERRATIC

There's logic in here somewhere ...

Too hot, too hot

A Dog-filled Post

Santa Paws!

Too hot ....

Belated birthday dinner

To continue ...

So very much awesome.

Time flies by!

Fooood

2012 - Year That Was

Christmas Eve visits

The Sunday Market

Two ways of looking at it

Cute animals and Christmas - good combination

Ask-me-stuff meme

It's the 1st of November

I saw a double rainbow today!

I am mildly concerned

There is thwarting

My nephew has a wolf t-shirt

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December 2016

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