A frosty start to the day

The sun is shining after a frosty cold night. I didn't notice the cold as I was tucked up in bed beneath layers of doonas and one fluffy dog. This morning, however, I woke early enough to get out and grab some photos. These show one of the reasons why I love winter. What other time of year could you see such beauty as this:

Droplets on the clothes line 

Not quite a frozen lake, but a frozen bird bath instead.

Even weeds can be pretty beneath a frost

Semi frozen grass

Pretty cactus

Look, can't do any digging today, the shovel is frozen into the wheel barrow.

Autumn leaf

Pretty flowers (this isn't a garden identification guide, obviously...)

Frozen water droplets. These are so amazing! I rattled them across the leaf surface, and if I didn't think the big one would have melted I could have picked it up like a small marble

Em, remember our beemer!  :-)  he's a little cold this morning

Beautiful icicles atop the car

Day three: Kite Festival

Darebin Council put on a free family event, Kite Festival 2010, at All Nations Park in Northcote. With the car out of action, our alternative option for the day was cancelled -- being to watch the dog trials at KCC park. Instead, we caught a train and then walked a couple of km each way to the park. Summer-like heat and perfect blue skies with a gentle cool wind made for perfect kite flying conditions, and perfect photography and general fun-having conditions.

I've never been to a festival like this. Everyone was happy, the sky was filled with colourful kites and the crowds were friendly and jovial. I ran into an old school friend which was somewhat of a blast from the past. Even dogs were welcomed, though we had left ours at home. I doubt Paddy would have appreciated the heat and crowds anyway.

The kite teddy stole the show, afterall, who wouldn't fall in love with a huge blue flying teddy with his own honey pot!?

When Teddy came down, a little girl went up and said hello. Hey, who can blame her, I would too!

The sky filled with kites made for an impressive sight.

We waited several minutes for Tubby the Robot to make his appearance.

Dogs enjoyed the day as much as we did.

Kite flying wasn't restricted to just the youngsters in the crowd.

An African band played to the crowd, encouraging people to get up and dance.

One dancer gyrated and writhed to his own song.

We left a bit before closing and made our way back to the train station. We were a bit tired, but plenty happy.

This little (well, big actually) greeted us at the front door.

For dinner, we tackled our freebie marrow and made a great marrow casserole. It turned out much better than we had hoped. Chris joined us for dinner after having fixed the alternator belt on the car (he's awesome!) and we chatted about food, money, television and whatever else took our fancy.

I had a fantastic day!

Day two: Ceres and market bargains

After buckwheat porridge, fruit and yoghurt for breakfast and a leisurely start to the day on the front porch, Em, Paddy and I drove down to Ceres and spent a couple of hours roaming through the market, nursery and gardens (though I use that word loosely).

As with each time before, I experienced a sense of being out of place. Being asked (told) to leave the market area because Paddy wasn't welcome around the food and chickens probably didn't help. A simple sign stating that the area was out of bounds to dogs would have made life much simpler, but I get the feeling that Ceres is a place for insiders and their friends -- aka hippies, pot-smokers and the great unemployed and unwashed -- those who know the rules and don't need signs to be reminded. Maybe if we had slouched around in bare feet with baggy floral pants, ripped t-shirt tops and dreadlocks we might have felt more at home.

It wasn't all bad though, we did net ourselves a free vegetable: a great big marrow that Em carried around as though it were a baby. Note: when you come across a table that says 'free produce, take what you want', you do!

Back at home we had rice paper rolls for a late lunch (refer Em's blog for all the details), then walked down to the market just in time to catch the post-closing fruit and vegetable bargains. We scooped a big bag of bean shoots for $1, a dozen big carrots for $1 and 8 or so cucumbers for $0.50. Ha! We'll definately be doing that again!

Then it was off to the park with the dogs. Paddy played ball until it seemed he might pass out from heat exhaustion, and still he wanted more. Chester guarded our table, fending off dogs four times his size.

Em met Hamish and an 8 month old GSP.

Back home we went with the battery light showing on the dashboard of the car. Oh no, I thought, I've broken another car and this time it's not even mine. It turned out to be a shredded alternator belt. Thanks Chris for coming to the rescue again!

More rice paper rolls for dinner. I never get tired of those! Yum!

Day One: Touchdown!

It's been a long time coming, but today is the day that Em arrives.

As usual, I'd left the house cleaning to the last minute so I spent the first two hours of the day frantically racing around vacuuming, sweeping, stressing about the state of the house while flight tracker showed that Em's plane was coming closer and closer. Once I had the lounge room floor vacuumed though, I relaxed. I don't mind the kitchen being a little untidy (okay, a lot), but when the green rug in the lounge room is covered in white furballs as though there is a congregation of dozens of tiny white mice, I draw the line.  There are some things that a best friend should not see, and that's one of them.

Mum was as addicted to flight tracker as i was, and even Chris phoned at one point to ask where Em was. I figured that her plane would pass over my house so I waited at the railway line, camera in one hand, phone in the other with Mum on the other end of the line updating me on the flight status. 8:40am came and went. No plane. I walked back to the house and inside, checked the airport arrivals board and then heard the distinctive roar and rumble of an aircraft passing overhead. Oh crap!

Outside I raced and there she was!

After much squealing, pointing, raving over the phone to Mum that Em's plane was passing overhead, I hurried back inside, raced out the front door and to the car, pausing only to lock the house on the way through. The drive to the airport passed in a blur, then I was with several hundred other people waiting at the international arrivals section. So many people came through those customs doors -- all different shapes and sizes, ages and ethnicities, some with bulging bags on trolleys and others with hardly any luggage at all.

One guy came out with a huge vase like object wrapped in bubble plastic. It looked fragile but must have been made of cane. Several travellers negotiated trolleys laden with suitcases and eight foot long ski-bags through the customs doors and into the arrivals hallway. Some people were claimed by friends and family and embraced in big hugs while others walked through, blank faced, travelling alone.

Airports make me emotional. I couldn't wait to collect Em so we could get out of there.

Eventually she came through and I hurried to meet her and we hugged and I didn't cry. It felt as though she had never left, as though this was just a continuation of the last time we were together. My brain doesn't comprehend that we live so far apart.

She shared many funny stories, including one about dirt, but I shall let her tell those herself via her blog.

At home Paddy barked at her and my heart fell. I'd worried he wouldn't remember her, or even if he did that it would take days (weeks?) for him to trust her. The ice broke the moment she picked up one of his balls and started playing fetch with him. Em's patience and Paddy's ball addiction cemented their bond. She's now his slave and he adores her!

We toured the house and garden while Paddy scooted around our legs and Chester meandered after us. After lunch, we drove out to Bulleen Art and Garden Nursery for some spinach and lettuce seedlings, photography and general immersion in one of my favourite places.

Afterwards, we stopped in at the market for breakfast fruit and an adventurous meander through an asian foodstore. We stocked up on ingredients for rice paper rolls and bought a couple of lucky dip items.

For dinner we had beef rissoles, mashed potato and leftover salad from lunch time, then we relaxed on the front porch and stargazed until it got too cold.

We tried watching an old episode of My Kitchen Rules on the internet but technology failed us. Given the excitement of the day, and the incredible distance Em had travelled, we called it quits and retired for the night.

Sleeping seems somehow wasteful, though I need it and I know so does Em. I didn't set the alarm for the morning but I hoped to wake early. Though I have seven weeks, I'm determined to suck every second out of it!

But... she's here!!!!  I believe it because her being here seems so natural. This is how it should be. It's perfect!