Up and down

Does one travel up to Canberra from the mid north coast? Or would it be down? I tend to say "down" but if you think in terms of altitude, rather than latitude...Anyway, I've been up and down this week.  In more than one sense. I travelled down to Canberra by train and coach on Wednesday, three days after David and I drove up the highway to Diamond Beach. Then I was on the coach and train to go back up from Canberra, back home on Saturday. Confused? Me too. But wait, there's more, we are due back down in Canberra this weekend for a wedding. Then we'll be coming back up the highway to Diamond Beach next Tuesday, so I can have a colonoscopy. I expect this peripatetic pattern to continue for quite some time.  We are dividing our time between Mae in Canberra while she has her chemotherapy and the new house in Diamond Beach.

Here are some Canberra scenes:

 Mae and Nick are as crazy in love as any young couple I have ever seen.  It's really sweet. They have set a date for their wedding in May 2013. Mae will complete her chemo about a month before the date. Will she still have the long hair? Maybe. Last week was an "off" week for the fortnightly chemo dose, so Mae felt well enough to be out a bit and we visited quite a number of potential wedding venues. They have just about decided on a place, but I am sworn to secrecy.

I can show you this location: Adore T, where she and I had lunch on Friday, while the rain poured and poured outside. Foul day for driving about.

Olive had the right idea. Zonked out on the top of the couch, fast asleep with her eyes wide open.

I managed a few other things apart from wedding planning with Mae. This is my old and dear friend Sally, whom I have known since we were both 17. She's in the throes of house building also! I should say "renovating" as she is gallantly maintaining the skin and character of her O'Connor 60's era weatherboard while completely remaking the interior. I would have done a scrape and rebuild, but Sally is a conservationist in every sense.

The other task while in Canberra was to be present for the uploading of all our storage stuff into containers, to be delivered to our new house - TOMORROW! It will be great to have some furniture again, and also to see all those things we've forgotten we even own. House warming party coming up?

Here's some house warming flowers, graciously sent by our builder Wayne Munro and his wife Lyn. http://www.waylynhomes.com.au/ Our architect Matt Brindley and his wife Trisha also gave us a nice present - two Turkish linen bath towels. Very stylish.  http://www.swellarchitects.com/ It's a good sign to still be on very good terms both with one's builder and with one's architect at the end of the process, don't you think? Overall we feel very lucky. And relieved. Mind you, we do not plan to have the builder and the architect both around to dinner together any time soon.  It's true what they say about builders and architects being like cowboys and farmers. They just caint be friends.

Here's a little friend. This beautiful little frog decided the drinks holder on our camping chair out on the deck was just the most perfect frog-mansion you could imagine. He reduced the insect population on the deck to some extent and then rejoined his noisy pals in the dam.

 Yesterday morning, this is what we saw out of the loungeroom window when we got up. Bit of a worry, I thought horses were supposed to sleep standing up and if they lay down it was a sign they were either a) carked or b) about to be carked.  But Dude just had a snooze in the sun, then got up and moseyed off, completely OK apparently.

This is David preparing to plant our first screen plant.  Opposite the bathroom window, as it happens.

Finally, this is me having a 23rd wedding anniversary lunch at Bent on Food in nearby Wingham. http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g529045-d1500759-Reviews-Bent_on_Food-Wingham_New_South_Wales.html It was yum. Local oysters with dipping sauces, followed by twice cooked pork belly on a walnut and citrus salad. Then good coffee and local pepperberry chocolate. Himself had marinated lamb cutlets served on a bed of potato salad with pea and basil puree. And the cost? Under $80 for two.