All quiet on the western front

Spent a nice quiet week. Nothing new on the job front as the COO of the company, while back from the states, had out of town business people around all week. Maybe next week, or even the following week we'll see where we stand. No worries - I'll enjoy working, and I'll enjoy not working. Played mahjong with my pals Monday, farewell dinner for a friend Tuesday, sailing Wed, business dinner Thursday, and absolutely nothing but cooking and watching a bit of TV with Mike last night. Did the 6.6km walk around the two bridges four mornings in a row now that my walking buddy is back in town. I do feel all noble about that. Got my official yacht club membership this week so I can actually park inside the gate and charge stuff at the bar. It's the little things. We sailed Bella this week and sadly, it turns out we'd done so well lately that they upped our handicap - significantly. We don't expect to bring any pennants home again any time soon. I'm officially in charge of the foredeck now which does provide some opportunity for adventure. Witness the slowly deepening bruises on various parts of my anatomy. After wrestling a cleat into submission my purple thumb is really lovely. I may decide to tuck my very own can of WD40 in my wind breaker!

Having fun despite the weather :-)

Deciding to ignore the overcast and drizzle, we had a very fun day yesterday wandering around the hills east of Perth. Just a 30 minute drive from the house, you head up the slope and feel a change in temperature and notice that everything looks just a little bit more lush and more like the cooler, greener east coast of the US than Texas. We had a fabulous lunch at a winery tucked into the hills and I promise to take anyone who comes to visit there since the food was fabulous and the sparkling wine delicious. Most of all I enjoyed seeing the first of the much vaunted Western Australia wild flowers in bloom. NOW I see what they mean - in about a month it should be spectacular. I'd been noticing things starting to bloom in the past several weeks but had no idea the variety of color that is about to spring forth. There were even daffodils in a few tucked away corners. Rather than keep writing, how about I just post (many) photos. I did compress them because there are so many so some of the detail is lost, but you'll get the idea!

So this Perth weather...

I'm being informed in slightly bemused tones by my Aussie friends that "honestly, this is the wettest winter we've had in years". There's been one sunny day in the last twelve. So you see it's not all fun and games. I'm about to mildew. Mike has returned safe and sound from his adventures bearing lovely gifts and lots of photos of military paraphernalia from Vietnam and drilling rigs from Singapore. Guy pictures. We're hoping the rains will break long enough over the weekend for a first trip up into the hills east of Perth. We hear rumors of charming villages, monks beavering away making breads, and yet more wineries. Just back from yet another disappointing trip to the library. I determined to use the inter-library loan and really make a stab at finding them satisfactory. This was not a success. Scouring all five of the local branches on the computer catalog proved my initial impressions accurate. I searched on five very prolific authors and found a max of 3-5 titles from each - nearly all requiring a wait of 4-16 days till available. Just one book was currently available in the library where I was seated. Collected short stories of Graham Greene. I snatched it from the shelf, grabbed several others at random, and came home to sulk.

Surprising food longings...

I do feel pretty silly about nearly all of them because there is barely a healthy item in the bunch and most of these items I will only eat just a few times a year as it is since they are guilt food. Ball Park hot dogs - even the fat free ones - with that horrible canned hot dog chili sauce Velveeta - I want queso Rotel tomatoes - see above Monterrey Jack - ditto Hell, any Mexican cheese... Pace picante sauce - Old El Paso doesn't cut it Good Mexican food period...(see a theme yet?) Jello pudding Solid white canned tuna in spring water Jiffy Corn bread mix for recipes Bisquick - I have one small box I will probably hoard in a miserly fashion until it goes off A good burger joint Fish tacos Fried oysters - why oh why won't they fry an oyster here? Those pre-fab pastry shells & roll out pie crusts Marie Callenders frozen bake and serve pie. I only bought one about once a year, but still... Canned Corned Beef hash for Sunday breakfast And in fairness, here's a list of things that are better: Fresh veggies - a superior selection in terms of quality and variety Breads - lovely nutty whole grain breads, Turkish bread Sandwiches - the most gorgeous variety of meat and vegetarian sandwiches are on offer at every local cafe. Loaded with spinach, cucumbers, roasted peppers. Scallops COFFEE! - Vastly tastier in every little local or big chain cafe as well Vegetarian options on menus Lamb :-) Quiches and fritattas - infinite variety in the cafes, most involving pumpkin or sweet potato which I love Savory muffins - who knew? Sausage rolls in filo pastry Cooked sushi varieties - beef, chicken, tofu - I know it sounds weird but it's tasty Meat pies - in handy to-go size. I've only had one, but I applaud their efforts Bacon - which is nice lean Canadian type bacon here Scones Cream in every possible configuration (although, no actual half & half as we know it in the states) And a couple of things I haven't tried: Spaghetti Bolognese potato - a baked potato hollowed out and filled with spaghetti then rolled in crumbs. Who dreamed this little beauty up? Scotch Egg - boiled egg wrapped in sausage, and again, crumbed. I understand people love them but I remain skeptical.

Entertainment

There is not much better than a big pile of shiny new books. Nearly all by authors I haven't read yet too which just opens up a whole world of fun. I have already worked my way through all but two of these and have enjoyed them all. E.M. Delafield's Provincial Lady series is great fun, and very low stress. A perfect rainy weather, cup of tea type read. Monica Dicken's One Pair of Hands about a society girl's 18 month excursion into the life of a domestic in 1930's London is also pleasant, and doesn't require deep thought of any sort. Soothing. Mary Renault is always good for an ancient history fix, and Parnassus on Wheels is the precursor to The Haunted Bookshop which I adored. I started it last night and am torn between savouring it slowly and reading through quickly so I find out what happens (I have my suspicions already having read the sequel). Watching a few fluffy movies I'd recorded as well, though nothing I'd say anyone must see. Last night I tried to watch Into the Wild. I'd read Jon Krakauer's book of the same name and was intrigued, but the movie, bah! Turned it off about 20 minutes in when he burned up all his money and took off walking in the desert. That was just annoying. The kid must have had some sort of underlying brain chemistry issue and this is not entertainment in my world. So I watched that great old comedy, The Philadelphia Story, instead. Young Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn...what's not to love? Mike called from Singapore and rashly offered to visit the giant Borders there for me. I sent him a couple of requests but he reported back that books are pretty dear in Singapore too darn it all. Guess I'll get on the local library website and see if I can hunt up some more good British cozies to keep me company instead.

Random stuff

I am a closet vegetarian. It occurred to me this afternoon that I have not eaten meat/fish/chicken since last Friday night. A week. This is a surprise. And wasn't intentional. Looks like I'm a vegetarian wannabe in my secret heart? Mike pretends he will eat vegetarian but we both know he doesn't mean it :-) With him out of town I've made a giant tub of coleslaw, had Indian vegetarian three times, prefab spinach cannelloni, a grilled cheese sandwich, yogurt, a bowl of breakfast cereal, apples, bananas, nuts, and (to my shame) potato chips. But no meat. Also perhaps I should face and conquer my utter laziness when not pressed to DO stuff. It's shameful. I did not leave the house even once Wednesday. I didn't do laundry, pay bills, or clean anything but lolled on the sofa and watched 3 movies - Oceans 13, Definitely Maybe, and My Family and Other Animals. I read my book and took a nice long hot soak in the tub. The world must not depend upon me for any great scientific or intellectual discovery...it would take awhile. To my credit I did take the squeegee for cleaning the balcony windows out of the closet today and admired it briefly. I'm sure I'll get to that eventually. Maybe. Lastly, when will I learn never to utter the words "Oh I can help" while amongst a group of women on committees? I innocently attended a luncheon today and came away committed to both help paint someones house over the weekend, and serve on a hospitality committee. Egads. I blame the guilt over my lazy Wednesday.

Legal at last!

Mike's 457 visa was finally approved today which means I also am now officially able to work. They are very civilized in these matters here for spouses. Yay...I think. I'd been illegal since May 14. Which basically meant that they would have hassled me some if I'd left the country and tried to get back in. We pondered having a fishing boat lined up to drop me at midnight on a dark and stormy shore just in case. Which reminds me - those of you visiting Australia - you DO have to have a visa of some sort or another even as a tourist. This completes your public service announcement for the day.

Whew...and good news all the way around

It was a heck of a few weeks but things have settled down at last. The company had a parade of auditors and executives visiting from the U.S. and Mike takes his duties as host very seriously. As a result we dined out endlessly and hosted multiple dinners at home. It's one thing to have pals over, and quite another to have work people visit...planning menus, making sure the house is clean enough to impress, and coming up with sparkling conversation. Trust me, this is not easy with auditors. Add job interviewing, the demise of a beloved pet, a stressed spouse, and a pushed out Navy OCS date for the son and the sense of being slightly overwhelmed was, perhaps, justified. But that's all behind us now! Mike is in Kuala Lampur staying at a gorgeous hotel, telling me how much I'll like it, and sending me tantalizing photos of the city: Plus Alex has gotten a new OCS date from the Navy of Oct 25th which will mean a graduation sometime in the Feb/March time frame if all goes well. He nailed the physical fitness test, appears to have at last gotten most of the official paperwork done, and figured out that he needs to basically hound the Nashville Navy recruiters office till they send him off just to get rid of him :-) This is all goodness. And Laura has adopted a new dog, Andy, because being without a dog "just doesn't feel right". He will never replace Zulu which is as it should be but he'll provide all that much needed dog love that makes a house feel like home. He's a young 65lb shepherd mix of some sort and per Laura will need a firm hand and some training but she's just the girl to give it to him. I'm happy that she's happy. Then there's this whole work thing. They got 7 solid hours of documentation labor out of me on Monday (during which I had to move my car 3 times, in the rain, since there are 2 hour parking limits. I was damp). I successfully edited a 'how to' document for a client that I think they needed a week ago. The boss and I started to discuss how to hire me but didn't come to any solid conclusions. He was off to the US on Tuesday and left it that I'm to come back in to the office Friday to meet two more managers, review some testing needs, and then presumably we'll take it from there. Frankly I'm glad to have a few days of downtime before going back in. There are photos of various animals and plants waiting for my next entry. We're oozing slowly into spring here and some of the wildflowers are starting to bloom. I hear September is wonderful for the flowers and am excited to see them all in action.

Apparently I have a job

And I start Monday. I shall elaborate on Sunday when all our entertaining (it's been a marathon) is complete and Mike is on the plane to Singapore. In a nutshell I'm going from executive recruiter to general software company testing, help desk, and documentation dogs-body, and its all good. Details like pay and hours have yet to be worked out, and I was slightly alarmed when the COO seemed to indicate that there could be 40 hour weeks involved, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. More later....

Zulu

Moving a little bit slow this week what with the demise of Zulu, the official "best dog ever" on July 28th. He had a long and happy life with plenty of dog buddies, fields and pastures to run in, toys and comfy beds, and his very own girl to glom on to from the first time they ever met. He was with his girl to the very end and that's the best that it could have been for him. So no regrets, but logic doesn't apply and I expect we'll get over being sad eventually. And in case anybody thinks that just because he was an elegant fluffy white poodle who always got mistaken for a girl he wasn't a real man, observe him keeping his pal Tyr, a giant Rhodesian Ridgeback, in line :-) Makes me laugh.

Cooking up a storm

We've had a lot of work and social entertaining on the agenda lately which means I've been practicing cooking, working on new recipes, and regularly cursing the tiny-ness of our oven and fridge and cupboards. I am learning to work around said limitations but am stashing the lessons learned in the back of my brain for the next time we're house hunting. Maximal cooking fun does require both good space and good tools. And pull out drawers for pots and pans...now considered essential in my world as I consider the various head bumps and bruises that result from digging around for the good dutch oven at the very back of the shelves! As it's winter I'm more interested in soups and stews and casseroles...hearty cold weather fare. I'm exploring different vegetables like parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes with some measure of success. And lamb...its a shame not to eat a lot of lamb here. We're planning a visit to the venison store next month in Margaret River too. Recently we've tried recipes from a variety of sources, mostly family, friends, and the Internet. I'm digging to the back of the box of hand written recipes that I've been lugging around the world for years - it's like reconnecting with old friends. The pages from my Mom written years ago telling me how to make my first Christmas dinner as a young 20-something, and the gumbo recipe (FINALLY written down in 2002 I think, though it doesn't include any actual measurements!) are particularly creased, stained, and well used. Menus have included rosemary braised lamb shanks, sweet potato and pear soup, Thai coconut chicken soup, chicken and dressing casserole, marinated vegetables, curries, roasted veggies, sticky toffee pudding, Cajun seasoned fish, spicy slaw, and Mike's contribution of dark chocolate pound cake with genache, and dark chocolate and peanut butter candies. He's a devoted fan of chocolate. I insist he take the leftovers to the office where they are already starting to protest that their clothes are getting a wee bit snug :-) Some have been great successes and others, well, not so much. I feel a bit sorry for our guests since there is quite a lot of experimentation going on, but just remind myself that a meal at someone else's house is almost always better than slaving away over your own stove, plus I know it beats the heck out of the hotel fare that some of these guys have been eating for weeks on end. Now off to exercise....sigh....