At the Bugsplat Cafe.

This visit is going really well.

We've gone to a show, a musical comedy at the Bugsplat Town Hall.

There's been a couple of day trips out to beautiful places. Some early bloomers are out, and the creeks are flowing wonderfully. Karri forest. It's gorgeous. At work yesterday, the family arrived and took me out to lunch at the Bugsplat Cafe.

It's such a good cafe for a little tiny town, especially given that it's the only cafe in town. Chips good. Pies good. Wedges good. Hamburgers good. (Apparently)
Roast capsicum and spinach fetta parcel pastry things with salad?
Very good. (This I know from personal experience.)

Dinners have been fun. Evening scrabble and chess tournaments continue.
On Thursday we're going to Busselton Pier, for a night, then home the next day, and we'll probably explore the tourist traps of Margaret River.

In other news, welcome to the world, Silver.
Congratulations to LuLu and Roo!

A quiet life in the country.

Bellydancing went really well on Tuesday, and I have another class today. I have eight bellydance students now - that's a dance troupe, I say. We need to design ourselves a costume.

Maybe we can have optional pieces to a theme, rather like Centaur Lich's corporate wardrobe?

Thursday night's boxing was cancelled because Rocky's wife, Lil, had to go to a board meeting so Rocky had to stay home with his gorgeous little kids.

On Friday evening there was a voice workshop - four hours with a really talented teacher. It was lots of fun. There were only four of us, and the teacher, Jake and we learnt the songs and vocal percussion for the show at the Bugsplat Town Hall last night.
(We were the choir.)
It was a great little show. It was a musical comedy and the touring company got all the local drama students involved so there was lots of backstage fun and heaps of local kids on stage.

Gray's parents arrived yesterday afternoon for a two week visit, and I only had time to say a quick hello before leaving for dress rehearsal. They did come to see the show, though, and they really enjoyed it. The hall looked beautiful - white table cloths decorated with leafy stems of oranges and lemons. White and red wine from a local vineyard in sparkling glasses. And the amazing supper dishes that the Bugsplat Arts Association create for these events.

I really like this little town.

:~)

On the box.

My boxing teacher, Rocky Raccoon, doesn't understand me.
That, in itself, is not a problem.

The problem is, he's trying to figure me out.

For a while he was assuming I was there to lose weight.

(At boxing, the week before last...)
Rocky Raccoon: "And if you keep coming every week, and do your skipping, you'll lose heaps and heaps of weight."
Me: "Uh huh."
Rocky Raccoon: "And then, when you go to the pub, all the men will hit on you!"
Me: "Oh, great, coz I've really missed THAT."

Well disabused, Rocky's search for motive was over, or so I hoped.

But no.

I went to boxing last week to find that Rocky had lugged in a wide-screen TV. On the screen were muscle men and close-ups of bloody noses. Ew. I have already told him that the less connection I sense between the skipping, push ups, punching of bags, and people actually fighting, the less likely I am to wag class, but I might not have said all that aloud.

I blame "Million Dollar Baby".

Big red balloons.

Happy birthday, sweetie.

Doctor Mud Eyes is a great big fibber.

We got to Doctor Mud Eyes, not too scared, coz Doctor Mud Eyes said last time, that we'll do the really scary thing last. Then when we got into the chair, Doctor Mud Eyes said;
"You know that really scary one, that you've been dreading... I think we'll get it out of the way today, hey? How about that?"

Hmmmmm.

So, it's done, and it didn't hurt much, and I have only one more visit left this year.

He played to win.

I just won a chess game against Gray.
And he swears, he played to win.

:~)

Cracker Fact # 2.

One in fourteen people in Britain believe that Rolf Harris is the artist responsible for Monet's "Waterlillies".

Isn't that just wonderful?

Two words that should never go together.

Two words that should never be together; organise and musicians.
And guess what my allocated task for the Bugsplat Food Co-op Fund Raising Dinner was?
That's right, it was to organise the musicians.
I'd sooner herd fleas.
It was a great night and raised lots of money and I had a good time playing my fiddle with a saxophonist. We played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", Gershwin's "Summertime" and the Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun." I really like the combination of saxophone and fiddle, but I suspect that viola would be even better, with it's deeper, mellow sound. I'm Roz. Is that okay?
I mean, I can answer to Jo if you like. I'm easy to spot because I crap on about music a lot.
:~)

Big shop, in BigSplat.

It's my day off at last, and I really need it, and we've slept late and we're just about to head off down the road, and then the highway, to BigSplat, the "big" town - it's bigger than Bugsplat, to do our fortnightly shop. Tonight's the night we forsake boxing for a board meeting, and then it's back to work tomorrow.

Work's been pretty calm lately, we're starting to understand the various systems in place. It's been good to have some quiet time there, chopping wood, cleaning, filing, thinking. I've ordered some books to sell in Wildflower Season, coming soon, and they arrived yesterday and there was something very pleasant about sticking the sticky labels on them and pricing them proprietorially, not unlike a pleasure I remember from childhood - sticking stamps into an album and admiring the really pretty ones, you know, the ones from little tiny island nations for whom philatelic sales are a significant source of international currency.

Trouble wants to do a MYOB course at *flails* errr, "LittleSplat" - it's bigger than Bugsplat, and smaller than BigSplat, and it's only 30km down the road. I never thought there was a single one of us with any interest in doing something as sensible as that. I'm glad to be wrong.

Viola, our only geek.

You Should Learn Japanese

You're cutting edge, and you are ready to delve into wacky Japanese culture. From Engrish to eating contests, you're born to be a crazy gaijin. Saiko!

What Language Should You Learn?

Pia and Thea fought the whole way through this test. They're both annoyingly smug over this result.

You Should Learn Swedish

Fantastisk! You're laid back about learning a language - and about life in general. Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you... And you won't even have to speak perfect Swedish to get around!

What Language Should You Learn?

Trouble likes her result. I suspect she was aiming for it.

You Should Learn Chinese

Surprised? You shouldn't be - Chinese is perfect for an ambitious person like you. You're a natural entrepreneur, and a billion people are waiting to do business with you!

What Language Should You Learn?

Just Jo is a Parisian at heart, evidently.

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs. You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

What Language Should You Learn?

The whites of my dentist's eyes...

are on the creamy end of the spectrum.

He has irises dominated by a beautiful mangrove mud brown. There are gold speckles. They each have an outer perfect ring of gray. There's a crooked splash the colour of coffee beans in one of them but I can't remember if it's his left or his right.

I can check, next fortnight, if you'd like.
He's a persistant guy, and has somehow managed to get me to agree to another date.