There have been many good things since my last Good Things Friday post two weeks ago. I finished work on Friday and in the afternoon I rode my bike about 3 km down the coast to Dendy Beach. It was the first time I had been riding my bike since we were in Europe. It’s been a while, and it was good to get on again. This was my first time swimming at Dendy Beach. It was OK, but not far out, the reef was exposed, and so there was a bit of swimming over seaweed, which I hate. The water was warm, though. I googled when I got home, and it was 21.7C. A few more good things: funky Christmas tunes playing at the pavilion and a Splendid Fairy Wren flitting in the bushes near my bike. I also had a second beach day on Boxing Day. S and I walked down to Elwood for a swim before driving down to my parent’s place.
I ran the pyrolytic cleaning cycle on my oven about a month ago. It didn’t seem to do anything and when it indicated it was finished the door control didn’t work and the light stayed on. This took me back to the first time I ran the descaling cycle on our steam oven, which went into an endless loop. I reset my oven, and luckily I could still cook in it. I organised for a technician to come out. I figured that just like the steam oven; our convection oven needed a software update. Sure enough, when the technician came, that was the problem, but he told us we can connect the app, and it will tell us when we need to do updates so hopefully this will be the last technicians call for a software update. Anyway while I was at the beach I set the pyrolytic cleaning going and came home to the most pristine oven. It seriously looks like a new oven, with zero scrubbing or chemicals involved. That makes me very happy.
Before Christmas, I spent a good chunk of time scanning E’s and H’s old photos and memorabilia. Once I’d finished, I consolidated them into a small A3 box each, which I handed over. I also started on S’s. I love a little trip down memory lane. Also, two large boxes are now gone from our study/hall cupboard.
The girls came over on Christmas Eve, and we went to Christmas Pantomime at our church. It’s the first year we’ve been, and it was absolutely bonkers! Included were a flying fox, water guns, and sock fights, but everyone had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went home and had Moscow Mules, gnocchi with tomato sauce and brownies for dessert. We gave the girls their Christmas presents and watched some TV together.
Christmas Day I got up and went to the gym to do strength training. Then, I came home, had a shower and went to church. The day was so beautiful—blue skies, no wind and a forecast top of about 30C. Church was lovely; I caught up with a few people and had a cheeky sparkling orange juice before heading home to make some salads for lunch. This Christmas morning was very different from previous ones but still good. Lunch was at G’s sister’s place. We ate turkey, pork and lamb with salads, followed by chocolate pudding or Christmas pudding with custard.
Now for the big and exciting news. Our son E got engaged to his girlfriend K. This was not a surprise. He’s been talking about it for months, and they asked her parents in early December. The two flew to South Africa on the 23rd of December with her family to spend Christmas and New Year with her extended family, so we knew it would happen sometime in the three weeks they were there. Obviously, E couldn’t wait to make it official. They will celebrate over there, and we will organise something here when they return home. The wedding will not be for a while. K is still studying (she has her honours program this year).
We have been staying at my parent’s house in Point Lonsdale since Christmas. So we have all the usual good things—time with family, sitting outside under the grapevine chatting, walks and runs beside the sea. On New Year’s Day, we had a yummy lunch with turkey, pork, ham, and veggies. Mum and I made Kartoffelknödel (German potato dumplings), a tradition passed on from our German friends. We also had mum’s Christmas pudding. Let’s just say that I was very, very happy when I heard Mum had made a pudding for New Year’s Day, and I made the most of it.
Some other good things:
- We bought a piece of artwork for our bedroom. It is still wrapped up, but I’ll share once it’s hanging.
- I’m back to my standard four-times-a-week running schedule. I did 32km last week—I’m getting there.
- Falling asleep to the sound of distant surf
- Meeting up with friends for a coffee
- Trying to puzzle out the completely random photos E has been sending from South Africa. We asked him to let us know what he’s been up to … and I guess he has—in a fashion.
- Watching a Christmas movie, which is not something we usually do. I watched Hot Frosty, which was ridiculous but fun at the same time.
- Lots of meals with various members of my extended family
- Being able to work from anywhere.
Over to you. How has your post-Christmas week been? Are you back at work yet?
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