Oh dear, another one of those days...

For months I've been telling myself to send some receipts off to the health fund, but of course, that involves actually finding said receipts.  And this is only half the mess - the rest is spread all over the kitchen table.  I do have a filing system, but still I can't keep track of everything!  So this afternoon I forced myself to do it and managed so successfully I boldly thought I'd take on another task.

I went online to order Muffy some food.  I normally get her special prescription food from the vets, who of course, lead me to believe they are the only stockists.  But a brochure arrived in the paper some weeks back, so I looked into it.  More than an hour later, having gone through hundreds and hundreds of choices - food for young cats, old cats, skinny cats, obese cats, cats with bad teeth or renal problems, and so it goes on.  Dry food or wet food? Chicken or ocean fish??  Sachets, cans, or packets?  2kg, 4kg, 6kg, etc.  A toy mouse with that???

Then I had to look up my password to pay for it and that ALWAYS drives me crazy.  I went into the online calculator and figured out I had saved myself 40c per sachet and 45c per can.  That's because I was forced to buy such a vast quantity which will last for the next 40 years and outdo both Muffy and me.  The consolation is I got $20 off and free shipping.

Here she is, the darling, worth every minute of my time and every cent of my money:

Olga, I promise I'll answer your mail when I get this mess tidied up.

Yes, Winifred, being a grandma certainly is all go. I enjoyed reading about your dogs. Every second person round here has a dog and they all seem to dutifully walk them every day, picking up their poop as they go, and letting them off their leads in the dog park. Last time I had a dog, Holly, we lived in the country and there were no rules - she spent all her time running after me on my horse, pooping wherever she wanted to in the paddocks.

I just went searching for a pic of Holly (in my old age I confused holly with mistletoe), but found none. I did, however, come up with this priceless thing:

For any foreigners among you who don't know what this is all about, go here:
http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/mistletoe.shtml

Talking of weather...

A friend took this pic yesterday, leaving New York after the forecast blizzard didn't eventuate.  Just think, all those hours on a plane.  I don't know how anybody can do it.

Yes Winifred, it did rain on Australia Day - rained for days, in fact.  Today the sun is out but it's quite cool and I'm wearing a jumper.  When did you last have a dog to walk?

Olga, thanks for your concern about the marks on my leg.  It's not a bandage, and not made by any tight clothes - just mysterious indentations in my leg.

A physiotherapist was just here to talk to me about the research project I'm involved in. (I showed the marks to her and she'd never seen anything like them and couldn't explain them.)  She said she finds me very interesting and asked my permission to do a case study of me and have me talk at the end of the project as a shining example of what an old person should be.

It's my first day on duty after the 12-week holidays.  Things are a bit different this year, as Hugo will be going to preschool two days per week instead of one.  His grandfather will take him and I will take Emma to big school (Year 2), then pick them both up at 3 to 3:10 pm.  Hugo will start big school next year.

Mysterious bands on my leg

Now this is decidedly weird... three mysterious bands have appeared on my left leg, with no explanation.  Of course I googled similar photos and found some, though mostly with just a single band.  Nobody can explain it.

My most likely explanation is that I was visited by aliens in the night, who attempted to tie me up and abduct me, but Muffy chased them away, all while I was sound asleep.  Anybody got a better idea??

Hope your weather has settled down, Winifred.  Here, we're having high temps and high humidity, which I just hate.  Forecast for today is 35.

Summer

I stole your beautiful frangipani pic, Lina.  It truly is a beautiful flower, and Emma's second name, Hinano, means 'frangipani'.  Better to think about this than what's actually going on in the world at the moment.

So far I'm managing to live in the moment (my New Year resolution).  It actually just means not feeling guilty about what I haven't done!  Very easy to do...

Good food and wine, swimming, watching the tennis.  What's not to like?

New Year's Day 2015

View from the pool.  A glorious day.  Deep blue sky.  Not too hot.  I spent an hour in the pool just now. After I do my blog I'm going to play the piano and sip a glass of wine.

Live in the moment is my New Year resolution.

Winifred, I'm so sorry to read about your sister's death.  Please accept my deepest sympathy.  On the same topic, I caught up with my Facebook page last night (something I rarely do) and discovered a very dear friend in France had died in November.  This was Jean-Claude, who took me and Philip in when I was divorcing my French husband in 1973. It was his 50th wedding anniversary I went to a few years back.  He and his wife Catherine were absolutely marvellous, offering a home and money to a complete stranger with a 3-yr-old son.  They even offered to pay for my divorce, which turned out not to be necessary as I was given legal aid.

At my age, death of contemporaries is to be expected.  But I do have lots of young friends.  In fact, Christobel from Finland is in Sydney right now and I'm expecting a phone call to arrange a meeting - and she's barely 20.  I'm so blessed when young people keep in touch.