Pretty Petunias

First Snow Peas

Blue Tongue Lizard

With my brother Tracy

Tracy & Murray peruse the menu

Catching Flathead is thirsty work

My blogs are getting further & further apart. Wow - did you see that flash? I think that must have been the last two weeks of October whizzing past. Now we are two-thirds of the way through November. In four days time the US will be celebrating the National Holiday of Thanksgiving –I have no doubt that those people who are conscious of being thankful on a regular basis are amazed at how much they find to be grateful for. I know I am always grateful for my family, so having my eldest brother come to stay with us for a few days recently gave us the excuse to fit in a few extra dinner parties with the family, and catch up with him. We drove him out into the country and had lunch at a delightful café with indoor & outdoor seating; the photos show how lovely & green the countryside is this spring.

As you can see from the top two photos, our flowers are blooming and our snow peas are healthy & producing prolifically. We aren’t the only ones appreciating our garden though– a blue tongue lizard wandered into it, but quickly moved on and into the garden next door– he obviously found nothing in our garden to his liking. The marigolds and snail pellets must be doing a good job keeping the pests at bay.

Murray has had a few fishing sessions since he has been back. He was thrilled to pull in some pan-sized flathead which we quickly threw on the BBQ & demolished within hours of catching them. Delicious as they are, they aren’t a patch on the Walleye that he catches in North Dakota each summer. They are my favourite eating fish…no bones!

Although I am still a registered nurse (until my licence runs out next June), I have finally decided that I will leave clinical nursing to the young folk. However, as I am still drawn to the hospital environment, I have signed up to join the Hospital Auxillary and attended their last meeting for the year. I have offered to do shifts in the hospital canteen and as the trolley lady. You know, the trolley that goes around the wards and sells magazines, newspapers, lollies/candies, toiletries etc to the patients and visitors. I am looking forward to the new experience and meeting lots of new people. As the kiosk and trolley operate all year-round, I am sure to be kept busy even though holiday season is kicking in over here. In Australia, the big summer school holidays begin in mid-December, and end the last week in January, give or take a week or two depending on what state you live in. Nationally the Year 12 (pre-college) exams finished this week, so there are thousands of Year 12 students celebrating with gay abandon. I hope that all those who worked hard during the year go on to achieve the number of points they need to enter the University course of their choice in 2011. Results will be out the week before Christmas. A nice present for some...