Weekend Warriors

Due to both expected and unexpected family commitments over the long weekend, my art class has reduced from “full” to just two participants!

I knew it was a risky move to attempt running a class on Australia Day weekend but there you go! The two ladies who will be participating are lovely so it should be fun and easy.

It was another slow day at the shop but I need to thank the women who are turning 40 and 60 this weekend because their birthday gifts have been of great assistance to our takings!

One of our customers told me about Serena Williams playing a good match at the Aust Open so I live streamed it on my laptop and got to watch the final set. What a great game by the girl Wang from China! She was a power house! The great Serena Williams is OUT of the Open.

I decided at the last minute to attend the club tonight and I’m glad I did because I had a nice win on the pokies and I won a pork tray in the raffles.

To top the evening off, I’ve watched the Aussie John Millman give Roger Federer a run for his money in their third round match at the Open.

They are currently two sets each and two games each in the fifth set. John has performed admirably but I have a sneaking suspicion that Roger’s experience will see him through to win. My fingers are crossed for John though.

It’s very tempting to go for a swim before bed tonight. It’s hot and muggy - still 27°C at 11pm.

Before I sign off I’d like to mention that my friend Les (aka The Little Gnome), passed away on Wednesday morning. He was a real character and will be sorely missed at The Seat of Knowledge.

Nite all.

Vetalicious

I do like our new vet at Passionate Paws on Old Maryborough Road.

We took psychotic dog Ruby there this afternoon for a checkup and to have her eyes checked.

She is almost blind and has dry eyes, so we got some drops for her, which have to be administered twice daily.

She has a  heart murmur which is not a problem unless she starts coughing.

She has troublesome anal glands which, much to Ruby’s dismay, the vet unblocked.

She got her nails clipped.

She may have diabetes, but she’s too old to bother treating it, so we’re ignoring it.

She has lost 1.2kgs since the last vet visit about 2yrs ago, so we have to increase her protein intake. The vet recommends kangaroo meat for that because it’s got no fat and it’s less likely to cause allergies.

Last week Colli cost us just under $140. This week Ruby cost us just over $140. Next week is Jack’s turn.

I feel very comfortable putting our dogs in Dr Finnis’s caring and capable hands and I love that her “go to” is NOT a prescription for everything. She has good knowledge of natural remedies for animals too. She is gentle, considerate and practical.

I like her a lot.

A quiet day in the shop and some new stock was delivered so my morning was filled with getting that sorted and there should be some more delivered tomorrow.

The weather has been wet but oppressively hot and uncomfortable. We have left the air conditioner on all night for two nights in a row.

Ugh.

Time for some sleep. Nadal has just won his match, so I’ve had my fill of tennis for the evening.

Nite all.

Tennis Tragic

I apologise for not giving you my full attention, but ... it IS tennis season ... and you KNOW how it takes my attention away from everything except life’s absolute essential activities!

Essential activities such as toileting, cooking meals and going to work.

It was an especially slow day at the shop with just two good spending customers and two browsers for the entire day.

This gave me time to reduce my emails from 29,800 - ish to 7,400 - ish. Still a way to go! I receive approximately 80 emails per day. Some work related. Some study related. Some shopping related. Some health related. Some website related. Some art related. Some personal, from friends and family.

I don’t check them every day. Sometimes it’s three days until I check them and then I’ll just glance through to make sure there is nothing important that I need to tend to. So they quickly build up in numbers until the number is too intimidating to even contemplate.

As part of my upcoming “Happiness, healthiness and heartiness” course, I created this ...

There are other sheets to accompany this and I am gathering snippets of advice from different customers as they come through the doors - every little bit helps. My girls (you know who you are) will be the final ‘quality controllers, proof readers and advice givers” when I’m ready!

All the storms have missed us in the last few days, the weather has been oppressively hot with hot winds to match and our pool is like a warm bath. It’s gone beyond tepid and Adoring Husband loves it! It certainly does NOT do the job of cooling you down!

Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde a Hair arrived home safe and sound 😊

The Motivator has finished her course and is enjoying some down time and being kind to herself. Her partner, The Fisher King, came for a visit today and told me about the dramas of juggling tides with the weather conditions while he attempts to make a living from fishing. So many variables involved to make a good fishing day.

Now it’s time to get back to the tennis. Fabulous Federer is into his third set now and I want to watch him win in the effortless and classy way that he always wins.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

As we speak, Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair is sleeping soundly in a motel bed in Inverell.

She beat the storm ... just ... and was concerned when some hail was involved and there was no protection for her lovely new blue car! Luckily the hail was small and didn’t last long.

So our week (and a bit) together is over, but she will return in ten weeks for our road trip.

We had some quality time together and she got to laze and lounge in and around the pool, reading and swimming and sun soaking. We played lots of trivia, shopped, gambled, cooked, worked, walked, socialised and were our usual silly selves.

It was a great week (and a bit).

She left this morning before I was even awake - just the way we like it - no sad goodbyes and no tears.

This morning I had a lazy start and only got out of bed at about 10am to follow Adoring Husband into the pool. I even took two of the psychotic dogs into the water! I think they liked it and they were both very animated and happy when they climbed out.

I sat under the Bali hut by myself for a couple of hours, which was just divine.

I practiced three of the fluid art methods using exactly the same colours to show my class on Saturday how you can never predict how the colours will show themeslves.

The top one is a ‘flip and lip’ which means flipping the cup of paint upside down and then as you lift it, you swirl the lip of the cup through the paint.

The middle one is a ‘galaxy pour’ where you pour the paint out of the cup onto the canvas at different speeds and different heights from the canvas.

The final one is a ‘flip and drag’ where you flip the cup of paint upside down onto the canvas and as you lift the cup, you drag the paint over the canvas.

I used turquoise, dark blue, green, butter yellow, red, white and black in all three paintings. Not measured, but pretty much the same amounts in the same order in the cups for each.

They are very very different!

I made some sweet potato, onion and lamb fritters tonight which I enjoyed very much with a garden salad and reheated baked veg from Sunday night.

I’m excited that the Australian Open tennis has begun today! I watched Ash Barty win her match tonight, but unfortunately five Aussies have already been knocked out on day one, including Samantha Stosur. She has never had success in the Aussie Open.

Djokovic is playing right now.

Morning coffee and work tomorrow so I think I’ll head to bed to watch more tennis.

Nite all.