Photos from Bean Paradise January 1, 2006
OK, photos are generally on Flickr, but here are a few of my favourites:
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig
We stumbled through the door of our place a whole fifteen minutes ago, home from Bean’s little piece of paradise. It was an epic journey back requiring a toilet & drink stop for dogs, lunch at Macca’s in Pakenham, searching for fuel in Narre Warren and swapping drivers in Richmond. The rain bucketed down on us from Pakenham to home (where it’s still going). The temperature drop is appreciated, but we could have done without the spray on the road.
A grand time was had at Bean’s by all and its grandness is demonstrated by dogs flaked on the back verandah, a small boy in a stupor in front of telly, a larger boy passed out on our bed and yours truly lost for words on the blog. Photos will be forthcoming when I brave the rain to unpack the car.
The missing farkers were missed and you are all instructed that you must attend next time - if only to experience the serenity!
Thank you Bean for the hospitality. You are a magnificent hostess and we can’t wait to come back.
Days Fourteen & Fifteen - Penultimate and The End December 2, 2005
Yesterday was really nothing to write to anyone about. Finn & I mooched about in the airconditioning for much of the day and played outside with water for an hour or so. End of story.
Today has started very early, which is not necessarily a good thing. I’ve been awake since about 3am and actually up and doing things, because I couldn’t sleep, since about 4.30am. It’s nearly 6 now.
The good thing about the early start is that I’ve got a jump on a couple of the many things I need to do today. My resume is ready to go off for my job application. It’s crappy, but it’s as good as it’s going to get and I really don’t care enough to get stressed about it. The sheets off the spare bed have been washed and hung out and the couch cover is in the machine now. As soon as Mark gets up I’ll grab the sheets off our bed and put them through. That way my sister will have 2 beds to choose from while she’s here critter minding. Then there’s a full day of cleaning, shopping and packing before we head off to be happy campers for the weekend.
I should probably try to have a sleep in the middle of the day - if I can get the sheets back on the bed in time. If not, it’s fairly likely that I will be extremely grumpy by the time we get to putting the tent up. That should be fun for all the family.
Day Thirteen - Frayed around the edges November 30, 2005
I didn’t think anxiety about work was getting to me, but setting the timer on the airconditioner this morning had me cursing in tones that made Finn nervous and preparing dinner nearly had me in tears. And I’ve apologised to Mark about a hundred times in the last 2 hours.
I still don’t know what I’m going to do. Either way I could get what I want or not and I don’t feel any certainty about which way to jump. It doesn’t help that I don’t feel there is anyone at work I can talk to about it who would give me good advice and information. These days you’re left very much on your own with these decisions.
Today was Mavis Wednesday. We didn’t go to DFO. I couldn’t face the thought of shuffling around there with her today. Instead I finished shortening her shirts for her and took her to do some shopping locally. I think she was happy to keep the day fairly low key.
An old friend of The Mavis’ is dying. It started as breast cancer a few years ago and now it’s in her brain. Mum’s philosophical about it. Marg has put up a good fight and is now ready to go. She has 7 kids - all adopted - and I don’t know how many grandchildren. She’s the current record holder at the hospital for receiving the most phone calls in a day and having the most visitors in her room at the one time. Apparently she’s pretty proud of that. She’s going home soon and Mum’s looking forward to going to visit her. The hospital is too far for Mum to drive on her own, so she hasn’t seen Marg recently.
I think Mum and Marg may have known each other for nearly 50 years now. They did the Mothers’ Club, Parish Council, Tennis Club thing together. For ages Mum did the flowers for the church and Marg played the organ at pretty much every mass. They’ve never been best buddies and in lots of ways they don’t have much in common, but they’ve always been there for each other and I know Mum will miss Marg when she’s gone - if only because she can’t complain any more about Marg taking over everything she starts.
Day Twelve - Sadie, the cleaning lady… November 29, 2005
My plan for today was get all busy cleaning the house. I was going to start an hour ago. In fact, I did kind of start. I went and squirted cleaning stuff all over Mark’s shower and basin and the toilet, then I left it to ’stew’ for a bit. I’ll go back eventually.
I’ve decided not to see the financial adviser today. Since the redundancy is less likely than I thought it was I need rethink my strategy a bit. And the sense I got from the adviser when I spoke to him was that he would advise taking it anyway. Why would you say no to a fat pile of money when you’re reasonably certain you’ll get another job? I’m considering applying for the job, but making it very clear in the interview that I’m not thrilled and would be more happy leaving.
My other plans for today are shopping. I thought it might be kind of nice to go over to the Plaza and wander on my own. There’s some stuff I do need to buy/look at, but I also thought I’d just browse, without the big & little boys.
Day Eleven - Waking up grumpy November 28, 2005
I didn’t think I’d woken up in a bad mood this morning, but when Mark rang from school to apologise for being short with me, I started to wonder whether I had perhaps been a bit brusque myself.
It seems like it just might be one of those sorts of days, since Finn certainly got out of the wrong side of his sleeping bag this morning. We’ve had tears, tantrums, jammed fingers, bumped head, uneaten breakfast and complaints about what’s on the telly and he’s been up for less than an hour. We certainly won’t be venturing far from home today and, if things continue in this vein, I just might pack him off to the doctor tomorrow. Added to the complaints about one of his ears hurting which has stopped him wearing his aids, it makes me wonder if he’s unwell. We’ll just have to see…
So today is going to be quiet one. If we go out shopping it will be to get a kid sized camping chair for Finn and to look at dinnerware for camping and cot-sized doonas. Finn is now extracting himself from his sleeping bag on a regular basis, so he needs something warmer than the cotton blanket we generally toss over the top of him.
I’m going to ring one of my colleagues today to see how he’s going. He’d be applying for the same role I would be and I’m sure he’s not happy about it. I hope he copes OK, he hasn’t being doing particularly well in the last few months with depression and I really hope this doesn’t make things worse for him. I think he’d be best off taking a redundancy and moving up to Albury, where his girlfriend lives, to see how things go with them both in the same city, but I know that idea scares him.
Day Ten - Slow & Steady November 25, 2005
Today got off to a fairly slow start after last night’s shenannigans. I woke Finn at about 9 o’clock and only dropped him off at childcare at 10.
My plans for today revolve mainly around houseworky types of things. There are some spots in the house which are pretty messy and I need to clean them up a bit. And then of course there’s the whole ‘do I want to keep my job’ question.
I’ve got the job description for the role I might apply for. There are lots of other jobs advertised, but I don’t feel I have the combination of qualifications and interest required for them and there will be plenty of other people eyeing them off. For ‘my’ role there are 2 positions available and at least 3 of us likely to apply. I think I have more experience than the other 2, so I’ve probably got a fairly good shot at getting the role, but the question at the end of the day is if I want it.
If I have to update the resume and go through the interview process for this, why not do it for an external job and get the payout as well?
So much to think about.
Day Nine - Kind of Sleepy November 24, 2005
Although I had no fixed plans, I was intending to be terribly industrious today. It’s not turning out that way.
Finn & I have played in the garden and I’ve let him watch too much television and put him down for a sleep. I’m kind of tempted to have one myself.
I’m less impressed with the diet today. I was starving by 11 o’clock so I had to eat half my lunch. I’ll need to eat the second half soon or I’ll be chewing the furniture…
Days Six, Seven and Eight - and I’m not counting weekends
The last few days haven’t been particularly busy. I just haven’t felt like posting on my blog.
On Monday Finn & I played in the garden. We (well really I) cleaned up dog poo, weeded and put some marigolds in the ground. Then we did Finn’s favourite part of the job and watered them … and the sandpit … and the concrete … and Finn. Finn also ‘helped’ me put the covers back on the couches after I’d washed them.
The big red car came home on Tuesday. It’s all nice and shiny and clean and looks like a new car. Which is what it is, since it’s only 3 months old. I don’t recall what I did for the rest of the day, other than being very flustered at the end of it to realise that I hadn’t done all the stuff I was going to do.
Yesterday was Mavis Wednesday. I went to my folks’ place ostensibly to help The Mavis update some of her shirts. They were too long and made her look like an old lady - she’s 78… We did a bit of that - we pinned them up at the correct length - but then she suggested that we go over to DFO near Moorabbin airport, so we did. I bought some winter clothes for Finn, but didn’t feel much like looking for stuff for myself. We’re going back next week.
The CSIRO diet is going really well. I do get a bit hungry leading up to lunch and dinner, so I might need to tweak that a bit, but the food has all been nice and doesn’t feel like a diet at all (not that I would know really - this is my first actual diet). A lot of it is not stuff I would think of making for myself, so it’s also a bit of an education for me. And the other good thing is that Finn can eat the food, so we don’t have to cook seperate meals for him. We just add extra carbohydrates (pasta, rice, etc.) for him.
Day Five - Gone to the dogs November 18, 2005
Today I went off to the K9 Force dog training workshop I booked into a couple of months ago. It was out at Beaconsfield, which felt and looked like light years from here.
The trip through the morning peak was slow but no slower than I expected. The place itself was like being on another planet. A planet where it’s green and hilly and there are really big leafy trees with pretty birds singing and flitting through them. It was a lovely spot and I’m very jealous of the woman who lives there with her 4 (2 black & 2 yellow) labs.
K9 Force, the guy, was very good. Most of the day was really just him talking and that was very interesting, but you really got to see how good he was when he handled a couple of the dogs. He didn’t do anything spectacular - there were no doggie epiphanies to be had - but he was sure footed and confident and seemed able to put them at ease and have them happy to work with him in no time.
I’ve learned a great deal, which I’m still processing and I’m very aware that I have a great deal more to learn too. I’m hoping that this has been the kick start I needed to get me back into working with my dogs seriously.
