Another top weekend. Richard Quance, who I met on my first day at Manchester Poly 22 years ago, came for the weekend from Perth where he now lives. The girls adored him, following him about and insisting he read books and play board games.
While Rob slept off a night shift Quancey joined the girls and I at the organic market for a coffee and bacon and egg roll followed by ballet. Then while Quancey went for a swim Rob and I entertained our lovely friends from NZ, Glenys and Gerald, alongwith Glenys's sister June and her husband Jack. They were only on a stopover of a few hours on their way to Bali so once they had deposited their full duty-free allowance of 8 bottles of Bombay Sapphire on our kitchen counter, we fed them prawn and tomato stew and cupcakes and they were off again.
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Then while Rob went back to bed, Quancey and I assembled the bed that was finally delivered for our guest room. It was a hot and bothered affair as it was 30 degrees. That night, with Rob finally upright and the babysitter in place, the 3 of us walked to the next suburb to meet Quancey's old mate Gavin Dodd. I hadn't seen him for about 19 years and had never met his wife Bev or their two lovely kids, who moved to Sydney 4 weeks ago and don't know a soul. It was lovely to catch up over a bottle or two in the local Italian before heading home by 11pm so Rob could go off to work. On Sunday, it was all go again as Gav, Bev and the kids came over
for a late lunch at ours, complete with amusingly-named ice creams, finally heading home at 7pm. Gav was back on our doorstep at 8pm for more drinks and laughs. Gav used to play guitar for Jamiroquai and is still a musician and composer and Bev is a commissioning editor with Random House. We all got on famously, including the kids, and we are looking forward to lots more laughs with them in the future.
While Rob slept off a night shift Quancey joined the girls and I at the organic market for a coffee and bacon and egg roll followed by ballet. Then while Quancey went for a swim Rob and I entertained our lovely friends from NZ, Glenys and Gerald, alongwith Glenys's sister June and her husband Jack. They were only on a stopover of a few hours on their way to Bali so once they had deposited their full duty-free allowance of 8 bottles of Bombay Sapphire on our kitchen counter, we fed them prawn and tomato stew and cupcakes and they were off again..Then while Rob went back to bed, Quancey and I assembled the bed that was finally delivered for our guest room. It was a hot and bothered affair as it was 30 degrees. That night, with Rob finally upright and the babysitter in place, the 3 of us walked to the next suburb to meet Quancey's old mate Gavin Dodd. I hadn't seen him for about 19 years and had never met his wife Bev or their two lovely kids, who moved to Sydney 4 weeks ago and don't know a soul. It was lovely to catch up over a bottle or two in the local Italian before heading home by 11pm so Rob could go off to work. On Sunday, it was all go again as Gav, Bev and the kids came overfor a late lunch at ours, complete with amusingly-named ice creams, finally heading home at 7pm. Gav was back on our doorstep at 8pm for more drinks and laughs. Gav used to play guitar for Jamiroquai and is still a musician and composer and Bev is a commissioning editor with Random House. We all got on famously, including the kids, and we are looking forward to lots more laughs with them in the future.In other news, this morning I had my annual check up with my oncologist and it's something of a milestone this year as I have reached 10 years since diagnosis without recurrence of the cancer. While there was no band (promised by my doctor Jane, when I reached 5 years) it was lovely to see Jane again, note how much had happened in the last decade and to have her tell me how well I had done. Today is also the 13th anniversary of my mum's death, so I stopped in at the hospital chapel on my way to work to say a little prayer of thanks for my life and had a chat with Mum while I was in there.
Florence meanwhile seems to have suddenly grown into a little girl, helped in part by us putting her into dresses Scarlett cast off years ago. She looks adorable. 
Scarlett loves having a little sister to show stuff to, and when she isn't pushing Florence out the way, holding her head under the water or jealously sulking when Florence and I are having a cuddle, she loves to show her the books she loves so much. She is working out more and more words every week and is very excited at the prospect of reading by herself. Scarlett has energy in buckets and is always running around in the garden 
(see her chasing bubbles above), on the beach or at the park, but was mowed down by a dreaded lurgy this week and spent most of the early hours of Monday morning vomiting and then laying low for a day. Poor old Rob got up to her from 4am onwards even though he then had to stay awake all day looking after the girls while I went to work and then had to do a night shift that night. That explains why he keeps nodding off on the couch. 
The weather has been glorious again since Saturday. Godfather Brett joined us for ballet on Saturday morning followed by brunch and that night Zoe, Paul, Bella and Duncan came over for a dinner of spring leaf salad with fresh peas and feta followed by tomato and prawn stew and ice cream. On Sunday we decided to leave ourselves open and after pottering a bit, and soon getting bored with that, we invited the neighbours in for a last minute bbq. 
The next day it was pouring with rain and while Rob entertained the girls I got stuck into preparing lamb shank pie for a late lunch with our neighbours - 7 adults and 4 kids. 
This soon swelled to 9 adults when Laura, our newly discovered neighbour, saw Bretts' car outside and knocked on the door to say hello. Soon she and her fiance Ben, a navy diver bomb disposal expert - I know, that's what I said - had joined us around the table, too. It was chaotic with so many people but brilliant fun and great to live in a house that has the space for gatherings such as these. The pie was a triumph. 
Flo was super cute poking out her tongue at people and then sitting quietly looking at books, while her nutcase older sister amused everyone with zany outfits including running into the room dressed in her swimmers and goggles, just for a laugh. I don't know where she gets this show off attention-seeking behaviour from.....
As well as the wonderful food and wine, it was lovely to catch up with old mates, have a good laugh with some chefs and to see my name in very large letters on a big screen when my fellow reviewers and I were applauded for all our hard work on the book compiling restaurant reviews. Smashing. I started with champagne then switched to cosmos, then to wine, back to champagne, cosmos again - you get the idea. Scarlett called out at 4am having a nightmare about her new ballet shoes and then the javelin landed in my skull. I'm never drinking again - you read it here first. It does not help that I have a streaming cold and possible temperature - that could always be a hot flush, of course.
movie in - Tina Fey's pretty funny 