Yes! More Tennis!

Obviously, my days and nights have been filled with tennis. It starts at 10am-ish and goes til it stops! Sometimes that can be quite early and other times, like tonight, it’s still going at 10.45pm.

Djokovic had a good win tonight. The retiring Wawrinka lost to Fritz. The Aussie girl, Inglis, was supposed to play this evening but her opponent, Osaka, pulled out with a pulled abdominal muscle.

Inglis was a qualifier and was not really expected to get past the first round. Here she is in the fourth round and even if she loses, will win more than $320,000!

There has been some amazing tennis and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I’m glad I prepared so many meals to freeze last week, because it’s been much easier to prepare meals this week without missing too much tennis.

I enjoyed a lovely morning with my art girls on Thursday and our next gathering will be for lunch in the bay in a couple of weeks.

I’ve been rebounding every day and I swam a few times this week, including this morning.

It was ‘fend for yourself’ night for dinner, so I crumbed some prawn cutlets for myself and drenched them in lemon juice. Harley ate the tails.

I was introduced to a new YouTube channel which I began watching yesterday before the tennis started. It’s called ‘Joe and Nic’s Road Trip’.

They are American and they drive around searching for dying towns in USA.

They drive through the empty streets looking into closed shop windows, some of which are full of treasures!

There are old abandoned houses taken over by nature, cars left to rust and decay in the yards (some would be worth a fortune) and Joe gives information like peak population compared to today’s population, crime rate, median age and median house prices, cost of living.

Sometimes the town might have an interesting history, like how it was created, the industry that kept it thriving, the reason that industry died, a famous person may have been born there, historical buildings worth noting, beautiful churches etc.

While Joe is not the most exciting commentator, he is very knowledgeable and obviously loves what he does. Nic is not always with him, but they came to Brisbane for a visit and did a video on the city, visiting city hall, Southbank, the botanical gardens, Queen St Mall and did a food review at a restaurant.

In a weird way, it’s a bit addictive. They’ve been doing these videos for almost 20 years!

Anyway, that’s it for me. I need sleep now.

Nite all.

No Contact

Tennis and cricket have hogged all of my time.

I missed meditation on Tuesday due to a crappy bout of vertigo. Vertigo sucks.

I was still able to make a creamy chicken pasta for dinner that night.

Today, I was much improved but not so motivated to cook. I arranged for Adoring Husband to do the snags on the barbecue while I crafted a garden salad, potato salad and Monday's leftover coleslaw.

There has been no art, no journaling, no swimming but lots of sleeping and lots of couch potato-ing!

It’s after 11pm and I’m feeling weary so …

Nite all.

Missed It

Unfortunately, I urgently required some ‘stuff’ like dog bones, meat for dinner, butter, lotto and to exchange my bras for a smaller size, so I had to forego a number of hours worth of tennis watching to fulfil my needs.

I missed the Storm Hunter match and the Alex De Minaur match and most of the Jordan Thompson match.

Bugger.

I’m currently flipping between the Popyrin vs Muller and the Djokovic vs Martinez matches.

No cricket tonight, so I didn’t have worry about that, but I did flip over to ‘I’m a Celebrity’ a few times.

I crumbed some chicken for dinner and made potato salad, coleslaw and a mixed salad to go with.

This evening, I hid some liver treats around the lounge room and waited to see if Harley would find them with his trusty nose. He found every one of them.

The reason that I did that, is because, in the afternoons, the ground around the pool is too hot for him to run on so I have to find other ways to keep his mind active. So I threw his knotted rope around the yard for a little while. He was catching it on the full and loving it!

Before I let him back inside, I hid the eight liver treats around the room. It’s not something that I’ve done before, so I was surprised at how quickly he found them.

It’s now almost 10pm and I have an early start in the morning because meditation recommences in the hall, so I’m hoping that Djokovic wins quickly. He won the first set 6-3. Popyrin is winning 2 sets to 1 so hopefully, he wins the next one quickly too. I’d really like to be fresh for meditation class.

Oh … remember Tones and I? She sang that godawful song “Dance Monkey”. She was different and unique and seemed to be her own person …

Now, she has become this …

… a carbon copy of all the blond bimbo pop singers. I’m a little disappointed.

Nite all.

You Don’t Know Me

For the coming two weeks, I do not exist.

The Australian Open tennis tournament has commenced today, which means that I am unavailable between 10am and late, every day.

I have enjoyed watching the Aussies play, although only one of them made it through to the next round.

At the age of 45, Venus Williams was fabulous to watch, even though she lost in 3 sets.

My favourite, Sabalenka, won easily.

It was tough going, tonight, surfing between the T20 cricket, two tennis channels and I’m a Celebrity Get me out of Here.

On Saturday night, I watched a doubles match between Roger Federer (44yrs) and Andre Agassi (55yrs) against Pat Rafter (53yrs) and Lleyton Hewitt (44yrs). It was an absolute joy to watch and my cheeks were aching from smiling and laughing so much. Ash Barty was called out to replace Andre when he’d had enough.

Roger, Andre and Ash were the winners.

I finished editing and proofreading my friend’s book! At last!

It has been stinking hot all day and the pool water is warm like bath water. Even late in the afternoon, the ground around the pool is too hot for Harley play, so he missed out today. I’ll make it up to him in the morning.

I took spaghetti bolognese sauce out of the freezer and served spaghetti bol with salad for dinner.

Nothing else to report from this end. Tennis is now done for the night, so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

I Am Sated

I enjoyed a fabulous day with The Gypsy.

She is dog and house sitting for a couple of days, so Adoring Husband drove me out to the house at 10am and I called him to pick me up just before 5pm.

Even after 7 hours of non stop talking, it was difficult to say goodbye. After 8 years of friendship, I am still amazed at how we can fill so many hours with just talking. We simply sit somewhere comfortable and talk until time is up.

It’s always interesting, inspiring, comforting, educational, funny, reminiscent, supportive, challenging, empathetic and full of love and light.

Ours is a very nurturing relationship with a strong connection and I enjoy it very much.

So that was my day.

It was chicken wing night so I didn’t have to cook.

I watched some T20 cricket.

I had a 30 minute phone call with Number One Son because he didn’t respond when I tried to contact him for his birthday yesterday. He was otherwise engaged.

Now I need to sleep because I had a very restless night last night.

Nite all.

Fully Distracted

Happy birthday to Number One Son! A big 44!

Happy birthday to AJ! An even bigger 83!

Nothing much happening here.

A day in the Bay yesterday, doing all the normal things at the usual places, but I DID purchase a new top and 3 new bras - which I have to return because they are too big! I’ve gone from a 16DD to a 14B. Crazy!

I was going to edit today, but I got distracted by a Netflix movie called “People You Meet on Holidays” which I loved. 

I followed that with the new episode of Jet lag the game.

The tennis was next.

Harley play x 2.

I had a 30 minute phone call with Bubbles who will be on the Sunny Coast for 2 weeks from Saturday. We won’t be catching up this time, but will catch up in June/July when she returns.

Dinner was chicken and vegetable stir fry with boiled buttered potatoes which is now on the ‘favourites’ list.

I surfed between the cricket and the tennis.

Now it’s after 10pm and I’m ready for sleep. I slept for a solid 8.5 hours last night - probably because I only slept for 3 hours the night before!

Let’s see what happens tonight.

Nite all.

Still Reading

 A friend/x-neighbour posted this on Facebook and it resonated …

The truth is, we’re not always easy to love. We get angry when we should stay calm, we retreat into silence when we need to speak, and sometimes, we say things we don’t mean. We all have our moments of messiness, our flaws, and our struggles. But despite all that, some choose to stay, who love us through the bad days and the hard moments, and see us for who we are, not just our mistakes.

May we all find someone who decides to love us even when we’re unbearable, who holds us close when we push them away, and who understands that love isn’t about perfection, it’s about showing up for each other, no matter what. In a world full of chaos, may we be lucky enough to find someone who stays through it all, with all our moods and all our complexities.

♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️🧡♥️

It was another rainy day, but very light rain and intermittent.

Harley got his play time.

Four hours of my day was spent on my bed editing the book and I’m STILL not finished! I’ll get there eventually. Probably another 3 hours remaining.

I made hamburgers for dinner using lamb mince.

I missed all of the day time tennis but have watched some tonight, surfing between cricket and tennis.

BGWLBH and I plan a day in the Bay tomorrow, so I will attempt to have an early night.

Nite all.

A Bit of Rain

Approximately one inch of rain has fallen in just over 24 hours.

Everything looks very damp, including the inside surfaces of all the windows due to the high heat and humidity outside and the coolness of the air conditioner inside.

BGWLBH and I decided to drive into the Bay where it was very wet with a steady mist most of the day.

There were plenty of crazies on the road. Speeding in the wet. Inappropriately pulling out in front of other vehicles. Veering to each side of the lane for no apparent reason. Tailgaters. You name it. It takes a LOT for BGWLBH to honk her horn, but today she let one person have it for about 5 seconds.

School holidays and rain - not a good combination.

We updated our lotto tickets, visited Nanas Pantry, did a butcher and grocery run and bought juice.

A spruker/recruiter for the organization “Canteen” (provides support for young people with cancer) cornered me in the plaza, so I told her what I thought of them scrounging money from the poorest in the community when they should be targeting the wealthy - and I rattled off a few names.

She agreed with me (more than likely trained to agree with cynics and critics like me) and we were very polite and friendly towards each other so there was no animosity.

We were home by 3pm and after unpacking the groceries, I began preparing dinner. Nobody had eaten all day so my world was getting ‘hangry’.

I prepared chicken saltimbocca with sweet potato/potato mash and green beans with carrots for BGWLBH and I. Adoring Husband had butter chicken.

We ate at 4.30pm. That makes us officially old.

AH and I watched some tennis (from Adelaide now), then some T20 cricket (Thunder defeated Renegades in a blinder of a match) then some more tennis.

I’m in bed watching the Australian, Kokkinakis play Korda from the USA. It’s a close one with Kokkinakis in front in the third set tie breaker 4-2. Exciting!

I have to finish editing the book tomorrow. 

Sleep time for me.

PS Kokkinakis won!

Nite all.

I Was Discombobulated!

I thought yesterday was Sunday, but TODAY is Sunday!

Whoopsie!

Once again, I spent this afternoon editing the book.

We’ve had light rain for most of the day, but Harley still got two plays.

I watched some tennis this afternoon. One of the T20 cricket matches was abandoned due to rain in Sydney. I am in bed watching the Adelaide Strikers play Perth Scorchers in Adelaide.

I think the Scorchers will win … but ya never know … the Strikers are fighting hard!

My cooking last week, came in handy tonight and I served Butter Chicken with rice and papadums for dinner.

I made myself a milkshake with Brazil nuts, apricot kernels, sea salt, banana and maple syrup. Delish!

Now I’m returning to editing.

Nite all.

Hot Sunday

Too hot to swim!

Too hot for Harley. He chased the ball for 5 minutes, then dropped the ball and stood at the gate looking at me as if to say “Let’s get back inside where it’s air conditioned”.

So we did.

It’s nowhere near as hot here, as it is down south where they are experiencing 43°- 44°C. Ugh!

We stayed inside all day watching all six episodes of the new Stan series “Dear Life”, which I loved and really hope that there is a second series. Series two is not even on the horizon but fingers crossed.

I followed that up with tennis and T20 cricket x 2.

I ate almost an entire Viennetta Classic ice cream cake on my own! I will probably suffer tomorrow.

After such a lazy day, I am feeling very tired at 11pm so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Focused Friday

There is nothing to report other than my day of editing.

Not a chore.

Thoroughly enjoying the process. There has been multiple editing done to this book since I last read it, so it’s like reading a brand new book!

Even Stephen King has multiple edits done on his books.

I did some rebounding this morning and of course I’ve played with Harley twice.

I had chicken broth for dinner, in which I had poached 3 chicken wings. Harley and I shared the wings.

I’ve had the tennis on TV in the background for most of the day and then T20 cricket. Hurricanes thrashed the Strikers.

Adoring Husband ducked into The Bay early this morning and was home before 10am.

I had two parcels arrive. One was my Intrinsic calendar which is now hanging in my bedroom and the other was 2 packets of BIC orange original fine point pens. I haven’t been able to purchase them in any shops in the Bay - even Office Works don’t stock them and they are my favourite pens!

It’s after 11pm. Time to sleep.

Nite all.

Good Morning

I woke early but still struggled to be out the door by 9.15am to meet the girls for morning tea at the Lions Park.

Three of the four were already seated and chatting away by the time I arrived. The Happy Hippy was the straggler and arrived about ten minutes after me.

There was plenty to catch up on because it has been 3 weeks since our last lunch and lots happened over Christmas/New Year. We even had quite a bit of town gossip!

After two hours, we were all talked out and parted ways. Adoring Husband picked me up and after I relayed all the gossip to BGWLBH, I made myself a snack of guacamole with tuna mixed through it and wafer crackers.

Of course, the Ashes cricket was finishing up, so I had to watch that. Aussie Aussie Aussie! 

At 1.30pm I came to my bedroom to do some more editing but it was difficult to focus and I didn’t get much done.

I made curried beef pastries for dinner with a salsa and tzatziki. 

We played trivia for 45 mins before the T20 cricket started.  The Sydney Sixers defeated Melbourne Stars. 

It’s almost 10pm so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.