G had a cold last weekend so he missed out on all the good things … and was not too happy about it. While I was out partying, he stayed home and tidied up our storage cage so it was easier to get my bike in. He was very bored by the end of the weekend. Anyway on to the good things …

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Yes, they continued through until Saturday. We had our family (plus the girlfriend) celebration for my and E’s birthday on Saturday night. We went to a Sri Lankan restaurant called Indu in the city. It was my first experience of Sri Lankan food and I liked it. We picked a bunch of dishes and put them in the centre for sharing. The waitstaff were really helpful with ordering and advising how much we needed.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

On Sunday with our running mates. With our abundance of rhubarb, I made an apple and rhubarb crisp to take for dessert and still had enough to make a rhubarb cake for morning tea on Monday. I picked up a friend on the way and then we had a yummy lunch at a friend’s place in Albert Park. It was so good to catch up with the crew after being away for so long. The gathering was made extra celebratory by a festively set table and sequinned reindeer antlers for everyone.

A FULL MONDAY

We had a successful practice run-through of a session for our mainly music ministry on Monday morning. My co-leader took it on solo while I was away and has done a wonderful job. Now I just need to get a team photo (which I forgot to do on Monday) and send it off with the video for approval to start. I followed that up with a long walk along the beach with my good friend who I hadn’t seen since early October. Waterproof coats were required, as the weather wasn’t that cooperative with our plans but we had so much to catch up on that we soon forgot about that. Yay for old friends.

FAIRY WREN SPOTTING

Summer is the time to spot Splendid Fairy Wrens. I got my second sighting this year on my Tuesday run. It was a stinking hot and humid day so I appreciated the stop to enjoy them for a short time.

SMALL GROUP END OF YEAR DINNER

So we went from pouring rain the day before to wild, hot, windy and steamy on Tuesday. We had planned a BBQ and hoped to eat outside but it was a bit too hot, especially with a few older group members. We almost had everyone there apart from a couple who had to cancel at the last moment because they tested positive for COVID. We had a good time catching up again and enjoying each other’s company. G was all better by this time so he got to join in the festivities.

AN UNEXPECTED DATE NIGHT

I’ve been feeling a little fatigued this week and felt like some red meat might be in order. I planned to pick up some steak to cook at home but G had other ideas. He’s been wanting to try a French restaurant near us and decided that if we were going to have steak, we were going out for it. We were both quite late finishing off work on Wednesday afternoon so we didn’t have time to walk the 1.2km so we ended up driving. Luckily, because it bucketed down with a massive thunderstorm just as we were walking from the car we had to take shelter until it passed. The wind was so wild it blew a shopping trolley that someone had left on the nature strip onto the road. The restaurant was a very old-fashioned affair, but the steak was good. We probably won’t be rushing back, although maybe if we have a hankering for steak again. It was the best steak dinner we’ve had in the area so far. We don’t really need date night now but it was I nice quiet interlude in our busy week … and we were home by 7:15 pm.

WORK CHRISTMAS PARTY

Thursday was the work Christmas lunch. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Hawthorn. G took the car so he could have his work meeting beforehand and I caught the train over. I was at church before for our book talk and it only took 40 minutes from there, including walking, so I was pretty happy with that. Once again yummy food. We chose the banquet and shared. Lunch out meant no need for dinner. I’d only really cooked Monday night and tonight is takeout Friday with the girls.

OUR LOCAL NURSERY

On the way home from the Christmas lunch we detoured to our local nursery. It’s not massive, but it’s just around the corner and it usually has a decent range of plants, that usually survive in our garden. We picked up some herbs, a tomato bush and some lettuce seedlings to fill in the spots where my seeds didn’t grow.

BONUS GOOD THINGS

• My daughter popped over on Saturday afternoon to do a binge watch of the last episodes of All the Light We Cannot See.
• Riding to the butcher to pick up the meat for Tuesday night’s BBQ. Although with the heat I was a hot, sweaty mess.
• We’ve been watching DARK on Netflix. It’s a German language show (we use subtitles) and very intriguing. A couple from our Italian Days day trip suggested it.
• Clean windows. Our body corporate organises an annual window cleaning and it was today. They had got very dirty because we have two building sites behind us so it’s a big change, even if they didn’t do the best job … no squeegee! (Also Riley sticks his nose on the door and they haven’t cleaned that properly so I’ll need to do that).
• All clear on some follow-up tests at the doctor.

How’s your week been? Good, bad, neutral?