Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn

This is our last full week of Summer before Autumn officially starts on Scarlett's birthday, March 1. This weekend saw the arrival of the Chinese Year of the Pig. In Chinese lore this is considered the luckiest year to be born in which bodes well for Duthie number 2. Inside a fortune cookie I just opened it says 'Confucius say only a fool sees pork on the menu and does not order it'. Mmmm, did Confucius really say that I wonder. Another cookie ode tells me 'People born in the year of the pig are kind, honest and chivalrous, with an enjoyment of good food.' Pork presumably. We have just had a busy weekend - perhaps a little too busy. I went to see Notes on a Scandal on Friday night which I loved - Judi deserves the Oscar more than Helen in my book. Saturday we went to the Orange Grove organic markets for basil and tomatoes, but ended up buying a mushroom quiche, blood orange juice, a loaf of Sourdough, fruit juice ice pops and honey cured bacon and egg rolls as well. After a lunchtime nap we headed to the pool for a late afternoon swim before sunset. On Sunday Rob was up and out early to meet Rob and Ewan for a bike ride around the Bay Run, Scarlett and I joining them later in the park for coffee. Back home I just collapsed, realising I haven't been slowing down nearly as much as I should, despite being 36 weeks pregnant. Every day we are up and out either at the pool swimming laps, at the beach, at the shops, rushing about, I just felt so exhausted I could hardly lift my head off the couch. So while Rob took Scarlett out to the pool and to the Mardi Gras Fair Day I slept for about 3 hours with the air conditioning on in the bedroom. Heaven. Must do that more often. Not much point having an out of work husband if you don't make use of him while he's off. On their return, Scarlett joined me in bed and zonked out for another two hours, me nodding on and and off with my book. Then we packed up the car with food, drink, chairs and rugs and headed into the city for Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival which is held in The Domain every year. There are huge screens set up and the films are broadcast to live sites around Australia. The winner gets their film shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, gets flights to LA to meet with film industry dudes and prize money, so it's a big deal to win. Most of the past winners have gone on to work full time in the film industry. Every year there's theme or an item that has to be included in each film - this year it was a sneeze. There was a huge crowd but we got a great spot on the grass with good views of the screens and Scarlett was an angel only declaring it 'boring' at about 9.30pm, understandably as this was hours passed her normal bedtime. It's great that she's at an age now when we can do stuff like that with her. The winner was a film about where imaginary friends go when kids grow out of them. Where indeed. Only two more days at work as I pack up on Friday.