I did say I would be away for a few weeks on course, but am now very glad to be home. Since our last post, there has been a lot of happenings, and I hope to be able to bring you up to date in the next few lines.
First - Mack. I have to say that these musings may well fall out of order, but they are as a catch up.
The course was split between Albury (on the Victorian/NSW border) and Puckapunyal, just north of Melbourne. At about 3000 km from Townsville, there was no chance for weekend home leave! Jane and MacK flew down for the first weekend, being Mother's Day, and it was lovely to spend a couple of days with them. The look on MacK's face when he saw me after a week was just brilliant, and one I will always treasure. After a further five or so weeks, it was quite different. He took a long time to warm to me, which was a little hard at first. He is as good as gold now though, but I really don't want to have to go away again in mid August.
MacK in Canberra
He has grown so much while I was away. He is in size 8 shoes (for three year olds...), and today weighed in at 13.5 kg. He had his first haircut on Saturday, and now looks very grown up. This image is all aided by the extra teeth he has... Like all good over-achievers, he has more teeth than most kids his age. I think the average is about 8, whereas he has 16...
Wrong ball MacK!
Anzac Day - It was both an honour and a privilege to be able to march this year in the cloth of my forebears, and wearing replicas of my Grandad's medals from WWII.
The Cheese - No pictures of this one, but some more work required! It tasted just fine, but I think the wine fridge may have had a too dry climate. The cheese tastes really nice, but just doesn't go all gooey like a Brie should. Just have to keep practicing, which is really sad!
MacK in one of his teams colours... Doesn't really fit the other ones!
Course - Not a lot to say about this one, except that I was away from home and family. I did get to catch up with a few old friends, and meet new ones. We were able to drink lots of really good reds from North East Victoria which was well worth the effort! The last couple of weekends we went to Melbourne (only being an hour north) and I just loved the opportunity to immerse myself in the cosmopolitan sprawl for a few hours. I was under strict instructions to buy chocolate frogs from Haighs Chocolate for Jane. Fortunately this was not difficult, as there seems to be a Haighs store on almost every street corner. Great markets, really good food, and lots to look at and experience. I did ask Jane if she wanted me to buy her anything while I was in Melbourne, and her response was something along the lines of "sure... Diamonds or pearls. You choose". I wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but she did get the pearls!
The Farm - I had an opportunity to get out to the farm a couple of times. The first I met an architect that I think we will use to draw up our plans. He is a fan of recycled materials, and eco building so we will be on the same wavelength. I also picked up some Rosnay olives from next door. They are simply the best olives we have ever tasted. I don't think that walking away with 8 kg of olives was too much, do you?
We had a win, in that we found out about a bunch of glass that had been wrongly cut, and couldn't be reused. We have rented a storage shed to start collecting salvage materials, and think that the 60 square metres of double glazing we have is definitely a really good start!
Me and Leigh with the glass loaded ready to drive!
The Footy - Not a lot to say here, except that the changing of the guard in New Zealand hasn't seemed to have dented the All Black performance levels at all. One of my team from last year did a couple of airbrushing courses, and I engaged her services to paint a footy watching stool for me. She is very talented, and just in case you wonder how Jane could let it in the house - she has a Wallaby one also. It just isn't finished yet.
That's my team!
So, there you have it. A very quick catch up. I am sure I have missed stuff, but we will sort that out in the next few blogs.
