Consistently, predictably, dependably, unwaveringly ERRATIC

What a splendid few days it's been. I didn't sleep very well on Friday night but I had to go to Nephew #1's 6th(!) birthday party the next day and while it was a perfectly nice party as such things go and the kids were having a great time, it really was very boring for anyone who wasn't a) a child, b) a parent wanting to talk about children or c) a relative (preferably with grown children) wanting to talk about children. I can only manage c), minus the grown children, very briefly and really, no one cares. Plus, it was hot, the kids were loud and I was bitten on the neck by a green ant.

(Curious thing: Brother and SIL always manage to massively overcater. Why is that? They've had several kiddie parties and any number of family gatherings by now but always, always massively overcater. I hope they don't just throw out the leftovers but lord, I'd get sick of them. And if they didn't freeze some of the food, it would go off before they could eat it anyway. Peculiar.)

We left after a few hours, went home, I passed out, woke up with the worst post-exertion headache I've had in ages and blessed my doctor for the new headache pill prescription. Ate something, went back to sleep, got up the next day for a book sale, found something for the difficult uncle, plus a few interesting books and two more M. M. Kaye novels I've been looking for in an omnibus (I really should just give up and buy them all on ebay.)

Monday, more stinking hot weather and the unnerving urge to wrap Christmas presents. I decided to take advantage of it and got a few done. Mostly I'm waiting for packages to arrive now, but I do need to go out sometime this week for a few things. And make my food shopping list!

Hideous hot windy weather today and no walks for dogs for several days now! But there have been games and zoomies in the garden. Can it cool off soon please? I don't even want to play Christmas carols, the references to snow sound so wrong.

Mum rarely drinks beer (she prefers wine) but she does find it a good drink for very hot evenings. Thus she was sitting outside this evening with a bottle of Pale Ale when she suddenly asked me if she'd ever told me about the time Dad got drunk and had a fight with the orange trees.

... no?

This was several years before I was born, it seems, back at our old property. They'd been over at the neighbour's place, having a drink and while Mum had gone home to put young Brother to bed, Dad had stayed on to share some of Husband Neighbour's home-brewed beer.

Well, some time later Mum heard a rather, ah, lively, conversation taking place in the side paddock and went out to discover Dad having an animated discussion with some orange trees. And boxing with them.

The next morning, he said that he was never touching that stuff again. (She'd pretty sure he did though.)

This reminiscence not only set me off laughing, it prompted Mum to give our old neighbours a call (they've lived in Queensland for over twenty years now but we've always kept in touch.) They were delighted by the story although their own memories of the evening were, er, a trifle vague.

Roasted Cauliflower and Cheddar Soup.

That turned out well. I'm not usually a fan of creamy soups (the smoother they are, the less of them I can eat) but I didn't process it into oblivion, the bacon garnish was excellent and I almost finished my bowl. I used low-fat milk and a mix of cheddar and parmesan and it made for a very rich flavour. I cannot imagine using cream in this. Oof.

The bacon I used was a strip of the honey and port cured bacon we buy from the farmer's market. Oh yeah. It's a good trick - there's a stall that sells freshly cooked bacon and egg rolls using the bacon sold at another stall. First time Mum tried one of the rolls? We bought some of the bacon.

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We were supposed to have dinner at Brother's place tonight. Actually we were supposed to have dinner there last Thursday but there was a big contract in the offing and when Mum saw him at Nephew #1's Christmas Concert, Brother was practically twitching with tension which is ... not like him. So Tuesday? Mum said that was fine but when she went to put it in her diary later she went, 'Er...' and called Brother to ask if he realised Tuesday was the 13th and thus his wedding anniversary.

When she called him again today, he said yes, he'd realised the same thing and how about this Thursday? Mum laughed and said didn't he feel like celebrating his anniversary with his Mum and sister? Brother said he thought he should probably take SiL out to dinner instead.

*snickers* Yes, just possibly.

*
Which mean I am going to be absolutely flattened by Friday. We're off into town tomorrow to see the allergist again. At least a two-hour round trip, mostly by bus this time since car and train were a hassle last time. Hopefully not as much time spent in testing this time. I am looking forward to seeing the city Christmas decorations. I can't remember the last time I was in town in December.

Thursday is the osteopath, another two-hour round trip and I'm usually exhausted and have a headache after an appointment.  Then dinner with Brother and family in the evening. At least with the kids it won't be too late.

I was hoping to see the girls this weekend. Maybe not. Sunday? Maybe. We'll see.

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Pretty sure I posted this last year but it's still fabulous.

Wretched sinuses. Between my my fuzzy-headedness and Daylight Savings trying to mess with my sleep cycle just when I'd managed to get it relatively stable, the weekend is a bit blurry. Not in a fun way.

I have started on my annual Present Finding Frenzy which will soon result in forcibly reminding myself to Put Down the Debit Card and Step Away from the Computer (this is closely related to the annual Christmas Cooking Frenzy, requiring many repetitions of Put Down the Cookbook and Step Away from the Kitchen, You Need to Rest.) I just like finding nice things for people. And baking tasty food for them.

(I have informed Mum that if she doesn't give me a wishlist soon, I'm going to start buying things anyway.)
 
(Well, I already have. But only a few things! She has a birthday coming up as well!)

Brother, SiL and Nephew #1 also have birthdays coming up (at least Nephew #2 is in February?) I have zero ideas for the former two because they are impossible to buy for and horrible at giving suggestions, especially in any sort of timely manner. Nephew #1 on the other hand ...

Design Your Own Superhero Cape

I'm pretty sure he's already a superhero in his own mind anyway. He should be appropriately caped.

And speaking of people who are impossible to buy for ... when I was out the other day I saw a display of Black Caviar's biography and thought, "Oh, that would be Dad's Christmas present."

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RARELY THAT HAPPENED WHEN HE WAS ALIVE?!

I suspect I'm going to twitch reflexively every time I see that book until Christmas is over.

*
Meanwhile, Mum would like my wishlist and I am having slight problems with this, in that nearly all my window shopping this year has been done online and all the online shopping in this household is done by me. The other week, Mum needed to buy and download a new version of Photoshop and had no idea how idea how to go about it. (As far as the the installation part went, I really didn't know either but I could work it out.) I can't say to Mum that I might like this t-shirt or this lipstick or this wall decal or this skirt or any number of books, DVDs and CDs that aren't available in Australia or if they are, only at extortionate prices.

So I'm checking various links and favourites to determine what is actually available in places where Mum could buy them.

... I really haven't gone out much this year.

The day started out rather blearily, thanks to staying up way too late fiddling with florentines, shortbread, caramels etc (I do not have enough airtight containers! Every year, no matter how many I have, it is never enough) but after some revivifying tea, I sat down to my first task of the day - halving and pitting, then poaching 600g of cherries (reduced the sugar a bit, only one cinnamon quill. And oh wow. The smell is amazing!)

I survived this encounter with minimal redecoration of the house and my own self. Disposable gloves and my apron were a great help, although I still managed to smear cherry juice up my forearms and drip on the apron (which went into the wash immediately afterwards, although if I hadn't been checking for stains I might not have noticed them for awhile. The juice dried to the same shade as the flowers in the fabric, it was quite remarkable.)

Then there was wrapping presents and making the vanilla bean bundt cake (1 teaspoon Cointreau instead of lemon extract, since that's what I had) which I have yet to taste but the batter tasted fabulous! Glazing will happen tomorrow.

*
We had our usual Christmas Eve dinner with Dee, which was really nice. She gave me a lovely glazed pottery bowl that she bought in 1947, at a pottery on Friday Hut Road in the Forgotten Valley. She saw it being made and they went back a few days later to collect it. It's a deep gumleaf green with an unusual wavy rim. Dee said no one else in the family particularly cares for it and when she saw the pottery I bought at the Artist's Trail last month, she thought I might like it. And she'd like to think it will continue to be loved.

That was lovely.

We also discovered that we are not only connected through Mum's father's family but there's a connection on her mother's side as well. Mum started to mention her grandfather's name and Dee chipped in with his address! Connections within connections.

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We took a few detours on the way home to check out the Christmas lights in the neighbourhood (with some of those blinking lights, I wonder that everyone in the neighbourhood doesn't wind up with migraines.) Now, having tidied up, washed the dishes, finished wrapping presents, read half of 101 Dalmatians, I just need to take Mum's stocking into her room and I'm done!

Merry Christmas!

Mum went to see Nephew #1 in his preschool Christmas concert today. He was dressed as Santa and shaking maracas (in time!) for Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Awww.

*
The caramels remain incredibly delicious (especially with a sprinkle of sea salt) but cutting them up is tedious. More muscle power would help, I suspect. The marshmallows however were very easy and only a bit messy.

I am not a fan of supermarket marshmallows - sticky, gluey, all sugar (okay, faint flavouring) and you can't scrape them off your teeth. Toasted marshmallows were not a part of my (Aussie) childhood but I have tried them a couple of times and consider them the only acceptable way to eat standard marshmallows.

When I started going to farmers' markets however, I discovered that there were other kinds of marshmallows. There is a gourmet sweets stand at my local market and I have tried their pastel, fruit-flavoured, melt-in-your mouth marshmallows. Still not quite my thing but so much better than the usual. And when I started seeing marshmallow recipes on Foodgawker, I started bookmarking.

Today, I made Ribena marshmallows.

1) Ridiculously easy.
2) Boiling sugar syrup looks scary. This may be why I did not burn myself today.
3) Today's saucepan did not have a lip, so the thermometer could clip on. Excellent!
4) Slicing the marshmallows is a bit messy but it's quite easy as long as you keep cleaning the knife and use lots of icing sugar-cornstarch mix.
5) They are pretty and pastel and very sweet and soft. They're still not my favourite thing but I might try making other flavours.
6) Ribena! THE DRINK OF MY CHILDHOOD! I haven't had any in years but I opened the new syrup bottle (plastic now, not glass) and oh, it smells just the same. It's a nice flavour for the marshmallows but I think I still prefer it as a drink. This will require further testing. Ribena and soda water ...

How many times did I type 'marshmallow' in this post?

Did you know there is an excellent way to neutralise dog fart odour? Light a match. Really! It works. (Thank goodness since poor old Lady Muck has always been a champion in this area but old age is increasing the results.)

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The electricians came by today (Mum only called yesterday but they had a job nearby so we had next-day service! They did say that this is Not The Usual especially before Christmas. We just got lucky.) We now have a light/fan combo in the living room (with retractable blades! Why did no one come up with that before? And the room might actually be cool in summer!) and the new light fitting (Nimbus) installed in Mum's office. It looks rather good. I gave up on my attempts at assembly last night. I made it about halfway through but then it would all start to slip apart. Again. But one of the electricians had a go at it and while he shared our opinions of the instructions, he did it! I suspect having larger hands would be a help in this case.

Mum was very impressed by the guys. Very helpful (see light fitting) and efficient and they asked her for the vacuum so they could clean up any mess they'd made.

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Nephew #1's birthday today. We thought we might get to talk to him on the phone but we'd been invited for the official party on Sunday so that was something. But at the last minute we were invited over this evening, since various friends and family were already there. I had to decline (I'm still tired from the trip, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, dinner on my birthday and kiddie birthday party on Sunday. Meep) but Mum went over and SiL didn't talk much to her but didn't ignore her either. Brother looks like something the cat dragged in apparently - 90-hr work weeks and a cold. Yeah. Nephew was very happy with his magnetic dartboard (he has amazing hand-eye coordination for a four-year-old, Mum told me.) And Mum said people asked after me and a cupcake was sent home with Mum. Nice.

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I'll probably get the last of my Christmas shopping done tomorrow.

Mum's home! The dogs went nuts with delight; when the cat came in, he gave her a very disgusted look but then she fed him and brushed him, so he likes her again.*g*

She actually arrived about two hours before I expected her (customs only took about twenty minutes, the strikes didn't affect things, traffic was good) so I was still in my dressing gown and hadn't finished in the garden. But she was delighted with how the garden's looking and very impressed with how clean and tidy the house is. So that was nice.

She was definitely running on adrenalin (more than 24 hours of travel) and promptly unpacked everything and holy shit, Christmas came early! She brought me so many presents.

I'd asked for a few things that we can't get here - butterscotch chips, extra-dark cocoa, some Pop-Tarts (childhood memories, we could get the double chocolate ones occasionally. You can still find them sometimes - for $11 a box. Hah.) and some Goody hair pins I wanted to try. Also some Skittles because I prefer the American flavours. Besides all that? Let's see ...

Four tops (black, grey-green, deep purple and mushroom pink), one bright pink cowl neck jumper, a lovely black cardigan with ruffled neckline, black leggings, a cute nightgown, purple leather gloves with flower detail at the wrist, a long apron ...

Three KitchenAid spatulas to go with my stand mixer, plus a whisk in a similar shade of red. A Strawberry Slicer (just for the silly), a 'soup sock' for making stock ...

An earthernware bird, a lovely porcelain box in a traditional red and blue floral pattern, with a dog on top (a Borzoi or greyhound, perhaps), a blown glass perfume bottle in blue and gold, a glass pendant, blues and pinks and sparkles, like a fantasy ocean. Also some other hair combs which seem to stay in my hair. Amazing!

Plus, there was the book and program for War Horse, all the playbills from the various plays they went to, some lovely prints (for both of us), a notebook with a running cat on the cover, a guidebook from Savannah ...

Also, my Deluxe Edition of Vices and Virtues which I had sent to Persia since the shipping cost to Australia was outrageous. I have been listening to it tonight! And more bandom brain: Mum bought a lovely lightweight black cowl neck poncho. It's really very nice (I tried it on and yeah, very nice) but I had to laugh because 'poncho' now equals 'Gerard being dorky' in my head.

Seriously, Mum bought plenty of things for herself, too, lots of lovely tops and the prints and shoes (she said Persia rather laughed at all the clothes but as Mum pointed out, here all that she'd bought would have been four times as much or more. She was going to take advantage!) but I admit my eyes were going wide as more and more came out of the suitcase. I have been spoiled, people!

Mum also bought a delightful fireman's outfit and some books for Nephew #1, and a sweet black and white plush rabbit for Nephew #2, plus little things for a couple of friends. She took a small suitcase with a few outfits with her, planning to buy another suitcase over there for the purchases - at one point she thought she'd have to go back to the store and get a larger size! But Persia is a ninja at packing suitcases so somehow it all fit.

Mum was running on fumes and kind of babbling, so we didn't talk much about the trip except for the flights back. She said she'd never seen so many kids on planes. And while half of them were well-behaved and their parents looked after them, the other half ... suffice to say, the couple in front of her on one flight, changed their baby's nappy on their tray tables. The poor person sitting next to them. Then the father vigorously bounced a fussy baby after his feed so, naturally, baby puked all over dad and the seats. Baby was also teething and screaming unhappily from the pressurisation. Parents seemed oblivious. Mum was glad to get off the plane.

Anyway, we wandered around the garden and Mum was happy she was home in time to see the crabapples bloom. We had dinner and she finally succumbed to sleep at 9p.m.

Having been reunited, I am off tomorrow afternoon for a girls' weekend up the coast. Back on Sunday evening!

We have adorable kitten!fic! Thank you auctorial!

I got up early this morning to see Mum off. While we were waiting for the shuttle bus to arrive, I showed her the kittens - and she started her vacation laughing. :) She was possibly also laughing a bit at me, when I told her to have fun, stay safe and call or email me when she got there.

So Mum has departed for three weeks to stay with her friend Persia, on a trip that will include D.C., Baltimore, New York (!) and a road trip down South - Savannah, Atlanta and Charleston at least, I'm not sure where else. I have informed Mum that she must take many pictures and tell me all about it.

She and Persia realised the other day that on this trip they will be celebrating fifty years of friendship.

Isn't that fantastic? They've been friends since high school, best friends since uni. Persia's lived in the US from over thirty years now and they maintained the friendship through letters and the occasional international call while looking forward to Persia's trips to Australia (she's the one who can afford to travel - and donate frequent flyer points to her best friend!) Persia's elder daughter is a year older than my brother, her younger daughter almost a year older than me. Her granddaughter was due on the same day as Nephew #1 (but arrived five weeks early, while Nephew #1 was a few days late.)

Now, Mum is a long-divorced mother of two and grandmother of two, while Persia is a widowed mother of two and grandmother of one. These day they can call and email easily and they still look forward to seeing each other whenever they can.

Mum doesn't believe in in the idea of One True Love or destiny but she does believe in soulmates. You might have more than one in your lifetime and more than one at a time. And there's no reason a soulmate has to be a romantic partner. Mum and Persia? Soulmates.

Fifty years.