On the Bottom Half

Christmas Aus-ventures

The last few days have been entertaining domestickiness: after the Cricket on Wednesday, I caught up with Bruce and we cavorted around a little pub in Sunbury for a few hours. I was on the last train and he finished early from his afternoon shift and we happened to catch up to each other on the street after I got in to Sunbury.

Thursday was a day trip up north to help Helen move out of her weekday flat - she works 1.5 hours northwest of Sunbury during the week and Thursday was her last day as she's now retired. We were hoping to drop some stuff off at the the 'tip' as they call it (garbage dump), but, surprisingly, the only days the tip isn't open are Wednesdays and Thursdays.

After that, we attempted to make ourselves fatter and stopped at an ice cream shop. Then got back to Sunbury, unloaded a bit, Helen got home and we went out for dinner. But that wasn't all: due to a now thoroughly ingrained passion for construction and destruction - imbued by you-know-who, and coupled with the productive presence of Helen, Bruce and I bashed apart an old stero cabinet. When trying to decide how to use this new storage space, I suggested using it as a linen closet, inspired by some other you-know-whos in my life. It will soon be enjoying its new function once we get around to making a backing for it.

Friday was a scorcher - the thermometer was a Kyle-melting 36 degrees. Contrary to anything we've ever lived with (meaning me and you guys), a northerly wind here brings the hottest weather imaginable. The outback is somewhere above 40 degrees right now, so the air simmering over the sand there, when blown south by northerly winds, takes its heat with it and spills it over the southern reaches of Australia. Any of you who know me know just how much I love the sun and hot weather, so I hid out in the shade as much as I could. Bruce and I travelled in the air conditioned car and did a series of errands in town, then tried to stay cool until the evening came. Then, in a dramatic demonstration of the trust Bruce and Helen place in me, they asked if I would cook 'tea'. Since I love eating, when it is my responsibility to cook, the first thoughts of dinner usually hit sometime before lunch. Given such short notice, I tried something that combined spaghetti, pumpkin, peas, carrot, olive oil, and leftover sweet basil & tomato pesto sauce. As I try not to have the same thing twice, you can guess that this certainly fit cleanly within those criteria. Somehow, everything meshed and nobody died, so I guess that was a success. Just like 'every landing you walk away from is a good one...'

Today has been the most peculiar, however. We were in town with the hoardes of imps and orcs about finishing their Christmas shopping and stocking up on supplies for what is uniquely Australian - Christmas lunch. Turkey is available, but pork, ham, and lamb is much more common. I hear that cold cuts and wine while lounging in a park is also popular. I travelled about with Helen picking up all the sundry items required to successfully host said lunch. Oh, for the first time, I finished an entire container of sunblock and had to buy somemore! You wouldn't believe the sunshine here...

When it came time to cook fish for 'tea' (can't get used to that word), I flicked on the oven and five minutes later, there still wasn't any heat. A quick inspection showed that a nearly shorn element is almost certainly the culprit. Luckily, there is a separate grill that we could use to heat up the fillets, but that doesn't solve the problem of cooking the leg of lamb, pork roast, and roast potatoes... Has anyone ever cooked a roast by microwave before? Well, now we have... It's fast, but I must admit that it made me cringe at the thought of it. Tastes fine though, so I guess those thoughts were unfounded.

Other than that, most of Melbourne is out this evening in shorts and the like watching 'Carols by Candlelight' in an outdoor music bowl. We're watching it on T.V.

Presents are wrapped and I'm patiently awaiting Santa... I'm glad to hear that cricket is starting to make sense. T-dawg: I miss you too!

I'm wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe (please!), happy, and prosperous New Year. Miss you tons. All my love to all of you!

posted by Kyle @ 05:31