New address book....

I'm going to start RIGHT NOW. These old notebooks have been set out on the ironing board beside my bed for a couple of days, waiting to have their entries updated and put into the new address book. This plan is probably two years old! I need somebody behind me with a whip to get me going.

Today's a good day to do it, as the forecast is 37. My place is always lovely and cool, so I'll stay inside. Outside it will be deadly. 

Christmas day

There was a storm on Christmas Eve and we were woken by Hugo at 7am, to find this beautiful mist all around. Then we had the opening of gifts and checked to make sure Santa had had his milk and cake and the reindeer had had their carrots. Manami excelled herself with a French-style lunch - we started with prawns and a cheese platter, followed by a scallop and pear terrine which was so light you barely knew it was there:

Next came a salmon and pilaf coulibiac:

And salade rouge:

We ended up with trifle, but I forgot to take a pic of that before it was all eaten.

It was a most delightful day. I slept all afternoon! No thought of any jobs I should have been doing, including chapter 1 of my book on procrastination. It is, after all, the Christmas holidays!

But today I'm forced into action as the scales on the Thermomix have stopped working!!!! Disaster. I tried ringing the company, but of course they are on holidays, too. Meantime I need to find the warranty, which means a huge search. While I'm at it, I'm going to do a bit more of my new address book, which involves going through about 200 old notebooks and bits and pieces so I can leave out/change addresses of people who have died/divorced/moved.

I'm going to write a book on procrastination...

Aha, you see what I mean! The minute I sit at the computer, I start doing jigsaw after jigsaw. I'm completely addicted. The plan for today was to catch up on emails and do some ancestry. More than likely, that will end up being done tomorrow. But who cares?

Into the modern world at last...

Philip bought me this OPPO smartphone last week, so I now have to learn how to use it. It's surprisingly big and heavy. I don't know where to put it when I go swimming, to pilates and the gym. I'm assuming it was expensive and an easy target for thieves if left around.

I seem to have got right out of the habit of blogging every day, as I find life is becoming more and more of a hassle and I am always busy. Today I plan to catch up on paper work, which I hate more than anything. The car is due for registration and that means having it checked at a garage and filling in a form for third party insurance. I paid the normal insurance a while ago and don't understand why it becomes about $100 more expensive each year when the car deteriorates in value and I've never made a claim. What a ripoff.

I also have to send overseas Christmas cards, wrap presents, attend to mail (mostly requests for money from charities), fill in my new address book as people move, divorce, die or drop out of view. I'll shortly skype my Sri Lankan friend in Newcastle. She recently moved to Australia with her husband, who is doing his PhD in engineering. She is a doctor, but must pass the IELTS exam before being able to practise.

Then I'm off to pilates and have the rest of the day free, as Philip is coming home early to go to a Christmas afternoon tea for the school band. He is on the committee and Emma plays the trombone. I usually pick her up. I might see if there's a movie I like anywhere close. And I need to do some maths as I've had to cancel the last two lessons to go to Christmas parties.

Now I can't see this published blog as it has been updated and, of course, I can't work anything out.

I'm not surprised you all liked that beautiful old house in my last blog. Life seemed so serene in those days, didn't it!

A Sunday drive

I went driving in our district this morning and came across this beautiful colonial home in Windsor. There's no doubt about it, old buildings are far more beautiful than modern ones.

A little nostalgia for my home in France...

I found these pics on my friend's Facebook page. It certainly was a beautiful place to live.

This manifesto suits me!

It's good to know they're a friendly lot where you live, Frank. We'll wait till Winifred puts a comment.

The nails idea was a stupid one - not that I didn't know it already! The polish only lasted a couple of days and now I have to buy some remover. Serves me right. People with fancy nails obviously don't do much!

The photo and wise words at the top suit me perfectly. I do live very simply, but must be the world's worst time manager. The trouble is, every time you do something, it brings something else. Make a mug of coffee - wash up the mug. Make bread - sweep up the crumbs. Wash and hang the clothes on the line - iron and/or put everything away. Live and breathe in the living room - dust, vacuum, wash the floor, empty the bins. Invite family for dinner - pack, then unpack the dishwasher and put things away. Join Ancestry.com - communicate with dozens of cousins who pop out of the woodwork. Teach English - prepare lessons AND clean the house from top to bottom. Go to bed at night - wash the sheets.

I shouldn't complain - the other option is be dead :-((

The things people - I - do

 

The other day a woman of similar vintage to myself and I started chatting in a cafe and she proudly showed me her fingernails, which had just been professionally manicured and varnished. Up to that point I'd always considered this the ultimate in self-indulgence and thought it was the last thing I'd ever do. But...I rushed off to find out for myself, arthritic gnarled old fingers and age-spotted hands and all!!!

Can't say I enjoyed the experience, especially not with a male doing it. I chose a lavender-grey colour from the thousands on the shelves. Now I'm afraid to do most things in case I scratch the shiny surface.

Winifred, I have heard that British people don't tend to chat to strangers, and there is now a fad for people to wear a badge or something indicating they would like to. Is this true? I talk to anybody and everybody and have always done so. My mother always did, and so do most of the people I know. Is it really not the thing to do in UK?

Yes, Lina and I did have a lovely day. We don't know what those gorgeous purple flowers are. I just asked google and I think you're right - they do look like anemones!

Lina came for lunch

Have you ever seen such magnificent flowers! Lina brought them, plus lots of other goodies, when she came to lunch yesterday.

I was very pleased to read your comments, Winifred, as it seems like ages since I'd heard from you. Good to know Roy is happy with his days at the hospice. Reminds me of when my dear mother was in the same situation, in 1998.

We're all back to normal here, with the family home from Japan. It's the middle of our Term 3 holidays, so Emma and Hugo have had a big break from school, though Emma did go to school in Japan for a few days.

It's been six weeks since I wrote anything!

I don't know where time goes, but out of the weeks I didn't post, I think I slept day and night for three, because of the flu, which has now become bronchitis.

A few days after Philip got back from his father's memorial service in LA, he and the family flew off to Japan. Within a few days he was back alone, wanting to sleep in his own bed as he, like me, had the flu. Apparently it's widespread and goes on for weeks. I had been vaccinated but not Philip. It didn't do me any good. The rest of the family will be home next week.

I found this brush turkey in the backyard a few days ago and managed to get some pics. I checked google and they seem to be everywhere right now, annoying gardeners by digging up everything in sight to build their mounds. This one didn't stay very long, and, as far as I could see, did no harm.

View out the window

Philip was at his father's bedside when he died on 11 August, aged 69, in a Hollywood hospital. Philip is helping his stepmother sort things out, staying in her apartment. He sent this shot this morning of a film crew out the front.

I did it!

Oh, you lucky people! Here's my first closeup of a piece of flaky skin!! Yuk, do you say? It's a bit dark - seems I forgot to put the under light on. But I'm getting there...Since I studied biology in high school I've been interested in tiny creepy crawlies and bits of dead stuff, so now I'm able to examine every bit of fluff and flea to my heart's content.

Just had my first session in the gym, with a trainer. I loved it, so will go every week from now on, even though it means missing my aquarobics session, which I love as well.

Aha! That's better - a nicely lit flake of skin.

Sorry for the big gap

It's more than a month since I've blogged. Life is so busy I can't keep up with myself and, if I'm not flat-out doing things, I'm sleeping. During the cold winter months Muffy has been very cuddly and I spend hours each day with her on my lap. I just figured out how to take photos on the iPad, so have been photographing everything that moves! Also everything that doesn't move, as I am now the possessor of a USB microscope. (Haven't quite figured out yet how to get one of those magnified images on here, so breathe a sigh of relief - for the moment!)

Sad news. Just a few weeks ago, Jean-Robert, Philip's father, rang to say he'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Within a few days, he'd had a stroke. Philip flew to his bedside in LA, where he lives, and stayed 10 days. Two days ago we had news that he's developed pneumonia. Philip is in the air now, on his way to LA again.

Why do we do it?

Every time I go to a restaurant I wish I had stayed home. They're always noisy and crowded, the food mediocre and the hygiene standards don't bear thinking about.

This morning I took myself off to a restaurant in Hornsby mall, located between a recent fatal stabbing and a police shooting. I sat on the balcony and was nearly blown away by a gale, which knocked most things off the tables.

The service was atrocious, the sandwich pretty ordinary and the coffee came first, before the sandwich arrived. And I nearly froze to death.

Nobody to blame but myself. The moral of the story is:
EAT AT HOME!

I should have been a cat

For years and years I had trouble sleeping, now, since a change of medication, just the opposite. I sleep an average of 11 hours a night and, whenever I can, sleep during the day as well. At the ripe old age of 73, I still haven't worked out how to live!

Sometimes I think it's because I do so much that I'm always tired. I don't know whether to just let myself sleep, or try to force myself to stay awake and keep going.

Recently I've been rivetted (riveted ?) to Radio 4 every night, with all the shenanigans in UK, and now, with yesterday's election here in Australia, we've got our own! Goodness me, politicians need to be thick-skinned! Why would anybody take it on?

Winifred, it would be so nice if you could pop in and try some of my homemade bread with a cuppa. You, too, Frank.

I now have a new computer, as the old one was wearing out. Philip has transferred my files over. He's magnified both the ordinary monitor and the big one I have, as my eye sight ain't what it used to be. My TV gave up the ghost, too, a couple of days ago and yesterday he bought me a new one and installed it for me. I'm still fighting a losing battle with emails - today's total is 2,843. (That's just the ordinary ones - not counting the social ones or the other ones, the name of which escapes me.)

Autumn sky this morning

I'm not even going to comment on the shootings in US. Here it's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. I took this pic from the top of my drive just now, after I dropped the kids at school.

I'll go to pilates at 11, then do some food shopping. A cousin I haven't seen for about 68 years has made contact through Ancestry.com and he and his wife are coming for lunch tomorrow. Of course, I'll do a Thermomix meal - the same one I did for the family last week: chicken cacciatore, brown rice, salad, creme caramel. Will make a rustic loaf.

The aftermath

Poor police - damned if they do and damned if they don't.

The knife-wielding bloke had escaped from a psychiatric unit and was 'allegedly' carrying a carving knife. The police have a split-second to make a decision and you can bet there will be whingers out there complaining about what they did.

Nobody died. Several bystanders were injured, either by ricocheting or direct police bullets. 

My Thursday morning shopping spot

Honestly. I'm fed up with the world. This idiot had a large knife and was shot by police a while ago, in the very spot where I do my fruit and veg shopping on Thursdays. Fortunately, I didn't go there today, as I have all the food I need.

Sarah Henry, who arrived at the scene just five minutes after the shooting, told the Daily Telegraph: “I saw police over bodies, it looked like three people were on the ground and police and paramedics were working on them.

“You could see the blood on the ground, on the pavement.

Philip just rang to see if I was still alive! More details to come.

Thermomix nearly worn out!

I recently stocked up on bread-making ingredients (at a cost of about $130) and bought two lots of airtight containers from Aldi to put them in. Baker's flour, wheat grains, pepitas, linseeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and poppy seeds comprise the list. The storekeeper told me to keep them in the fridge so they will stay fresh longer. The above pic shows the job half done. I'll do the rest today.

I'm ever so pleased with the Thermomix. There are recipes for several types of bread, all with no sugar and minimal salt. I cook for the family once a week. Tomorrow night I'll do chicken cacciatore with brown rice, soft butter rolls, salad, strawberries and ice cream.

Today Manami is home, so I don't have to take the kids to, or pick up from, school. My only timetabled thing is aquarobics - a newly discovered class for seniors at 2pm. This replaces the 7:15pm one I've been going to. It's really hard to drag myself out in the dark, especially when it's cold, so this middle-of-the-day one suits me better.

2,758 emails, Winifred. A constant nightmare.

Hugo reading

Needless to say, I didn't get very far tidying the card table yesterday. All I managed to do was put some stuff on the ironing board, ready to be dealt with later.

But I have made progress in another department. I've been videoing Emma and Hugo at their early morning lessons, and Philip has put the videos onto the computer monitor so we can see them. Emma has been reading since the age of 4, and Hugo is making great progress at the age of 5 yrs 9 months. It's interesting what a huge difference there is - two siblings brought up exactly the same way.

The above pic is a still taken from one of the videos.

Winifred, the bloke I replied to on Facebook has closed his account! He called himself David Copeland - that is the name of the London Nail Bomber!!!! Nothing from the other two - maybe they contact hundreds of women and don't get round to leaving a message for all of them. As if I have time to waste on them, anyway - I should unfriend them both.

Mess of the day

This is the card table at the end of my bed. As you can see, a big tidy up is long overdue. At the bottom of the pile are ancestry folders, each containing hours and hours of research, yet to be sorted out.  On top are numerous address books which I intend to put together in one new one, updating people who have moved, divorced or died. In the middle are diaries. Goodness knows why I bother to keep a diary as I never reread them. I have two huge containers full of old diaries, going back years.

I have 2,740 mails in my Inbox this morning. This is one problem I will never overcome. If I owe you a reply, please forgive me...

It's pouring rain and windy outside. This morning I drove Emma to our favourite patisserie for coffee and cake. Probably should have stayed indoors, as it was dangerous to be on the roads, with fallen trees and branches. Mind you, it's dangerous to be in the house, too, as we have a huge gum tree overhanging the roof, and I live in dread that it will come crashing down one day.

Muffy has just climbed onto my lap and is purring away. Gives me an excuse to sit at the keyboard a bit longer, and do some jigsaw puzzles instead of starting on the mess. Any delaying tactic is a good one...

Just showing off now :-))

Here's yesterday's rustic loaf. Just scrumptious!

Even though things are hectic, I always enjoy having the family down for meals as it gives me a chance to talk to somebody. Most of the rest of the time I am alone - well, with Muffy.

Have just prepared the French lesson for 4pm today. With just one lesson per week, the kids are making amazing progress.

I think if I lived in UK I'd be a Brexit. It really depends on what you see/hear and who you can believe, doesn't it? On one video they said 10,000 people in EU earn more than David Cameron. If that's true, then get out quickly!!! All those people getting paid a fortune for just swanning about in Brussels! Appalling.

Lina, you will be appalled to learn I accepted three 'friend' requests from men lately - scammers all, I imagine. I just want to have some fun with them! They could all be the same bloke for all I know! You can see them on my Facebook page. Can't wait till they ask for $10,000 or so to get them out of a sticky situation! How any woman could fall for this kind of thing is hard to believe, but they do.

Phew!

A typical day:

• Up at 6:30
• Tablet for Muffy
• Supervise kids' breakfast made by Dad - and eat my own, too
• Muffy's breakfast
• Hang washing out - Hugo wet the bed and Dad put clothes in machine
• Drive kids to school
• Food shopping
• Prepared creme caramel - above pic in large casserole dish. We all get a much bigger share than the tiny ones available in the shops.
• Lunch
• Made butter
• In process of making a rustic loaf
• Will pick kids up from school
• Will make vegetable soup - feeding the family tonight
• Philip and Manami arrive home on bus at 5:40.
• Dinner here
• Early to bed to listen to BBC. Frank and Winifred, are you Remainers or Brexiters??

No physical activity today, apart from all the walking round the kitchen. (So far I've done 3,748 steps.) I did pilates on Tuesday morning and aquarobics yesterday. Will probably start going to meditation on Sunday mornings.

Hugo seems to be holding the record for the naughtiest boy EVER at the school! Mum had an appointment with his class teacher yesterday and was horrified at the list of his misdemeanors. He's not even worried about being sent to the Principal every time he's in strife.

Boys!

Oh dear, Hugo is sooooooo naughty. He's driving us all to distraction. Can you believe he - at age 5 - actually pokes his tongue out at the teacher!!!!! In 40 years of being an infants teacher I never saw the like.

Emma wouldn't dream of misbehaving for a teacher, though she can be very trying at home.

Just when I was looking for a pic...

Got this from your Facebook page, Lina. I think it is a wonderful idea and the relationship with his cat will probably last longer than any he might have with a human partner!

Am feeling fine this morning, after a sleep of 10hrs 23 mins.

Must do some ancestry today, as it's a while since I have, and yesterday another cousin got in touch, telling me he's had his father's DNA done and that's how he found the connection. I find it absolutely mind-blowing.

I also plan to do some Thermomix cooking - bread, butter, and an apple cake. Will probably have visitors tomorrow, so will do a shepherd's pie, this time with sweet potatoes, which are apparently healthier than ordinary ones.

Had an email from the Thermomix company, assuring us that, as long as we follow directions, ours won't blow boiling liquid all over us. I hope they're right, as I'm really nervous now, after a lot of bad publicity.

Nanny's morning schoolroom

It's more than a fortnight since my last post. I just can't keep up with myself and sleep problems are driving me mad. Sometimes I go night after night with about 3 hours' sleep, then drop from exhaustion. The fitbit measures the exact length of time I sleep. This week: Sun - 14hr 31min; Mon - 4hr 3mins; Tues - 13h 15mins; last night - 6hr 58min.

These wild fluctuations are far from normal, so I went to the doctor about it on Tuesday. It was a middle-aged Indian woman, whom I saw for the first time. She took my problem seriously, where others have not. Not that I've bothered to mention it often. The first thing she did was change one lot of medication, the second, send me for a blood test. I've been seriously depressed, too, so she's looking into counselling for me.

When she asked me what I do, she laughed and said no wonder I was tired, as that's far too much. But that still doesn't explain the insomnia leading to a mammoth sleep. She actually gave me a hug as I was leaving!

The pic today is my kitchen first thing in the morning. Both Emma and Hugo are making wonderful progress with my reading books, 'Sounds of Reading'. Emma was doing what Hugo (now 5yrs 8mths) is doing now when she was four. Given that at the beginning of kinder he was one year behind in language development, he's catching up very quickly, and loves working with Nanny.

The Thermomix is getting a good workout! The other Sunday I had guests for lunch and made the dip, the bread, the butter, the soup and the main chicken course + rice in it. The creme caramel was made the ordinary way.

Unfortunately there are BIG problems with Thermomixes exploding and burning the cooks. I'm very cross that I wasn't made aware of this before I bought mine. Of course, if I had been told, I never would have bought it.

In heaven!

After a long-lasting addiction I've managed to tear myself away from BBC radio 4 and right now I'm listening to an Italian station featuring 60s hits! Earlier, while doing that, I made my first loaf of five-seed bread in the Thermomix AND some butter!!!

The warm bread is so delicious I ate about one third of it as soon as it was cool enough to cut. It was really very easy to make, using the Thermomix. And, to be honest, I really had no idea that butter is simply cream beaten so hard the liquid (butter milk) is forced out. How embarrassing to be so ignorant. I vaguely remember my grandmother making butter when I was little, but had no understanding of what was happening.

Some time back I reserved Dodie Smith's 'A Tale of Two Families', a novel which was discussed on Radio 4, and the library emailed this morning to tell me it's arrived - they had actually bought it specially for me! 

Yesterday I had a tooth pulled and am not supposed to exercise, so won't go to aquazumba this evening, will read the book instead. It's quite exciting having a new routine.

Emma, Hugo and Manami just came down and tried the bread and butter, giving both the thumbs up! From now on I'll make my own bread every day. Winifred, it won't take me long to get back the $2,089 the Thermomix cost. According to my maths, I only have to bake two loaves of bread per week for the next 12 years.

An email just popped in, from a new-found cousin in Hawaii, telling me she might come and visit me in a year or two. Wow! One of her daughters lives in New Zealand, so she can stop off here on the way to visit her. Our grandparents were siblings. My father died in 1969 yet her father is still living. Our great-grandmother was pregnant from 1870 to 1893 - 23 years!! Oh for the good old days - not!

Goodness, gracious me! It's getting even more exciting! Just phoned my sister to tell her about the cousin and she was on the point of phoning me to tell me her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, Mia and Tyler, are coming to Sydney soon!!! They will be en route from New York where they live, via the kids' great-grandmother in Japan.

Here we go again

Getting ready for pilates at 11am, so counted the various tops and bottoms I pulled out. 31 pieces, not counting the ones on the line. But I am not as untidy as the above pic - mine are all neatly arranged in three drawers. Well, they are now.

This means I can live to be 586 years, attending one pilates session per week, before I need to buy any new stuff.

Making a decision about which pieces to wear depends on where the bulges are on any given day and how much needs to be hidden. Fortunately, the air conditioning in the exercise room is usually about -20, which is a good excuse to cover up well. Everything at the leisure centre is automatic - lights, toilet flush, temperature, etc - which of course means most of the time nothing is working at all. One night the fire engine came three times because of three malfunctions!

They call that progress.

My weight fluctuates wildly - anywhere from 67 to 63kg. Today I'm exactly 65.0.

2,527 emails. I should mention that some of these emails contain up to 35 or so individual ones, so this total is really worse than it looks. I do not like the way Gmail does this. It makes it very hard to find anything.

Something really beautiful

Yesterday I did something I rarely do - watch television. I came upon the Ice Dancing Championships in Boston and was enthralled. These skaters are so skilful and so beautiful.

Then there was Who do you think you are? so I watched that too. It was the British comedian Sarah Millican. Of course, that made me want to get back into my own ancestry search, which takes up hours and hours every day.

On Friday I cooked for the whole family - minestrone, shepherd's pie and frozen raspberry sorbet. All delicious and I had no problems at all with the Thermomix. But yesterday I tried my very first sponge cake, and found that quite tricky, with endless washing up along the way. The result was edible, but I won't be in a hurry to repeat that recipe. I'll leave the cake-cooking to the upstairs expert, Mana.

It's hard not to complain about the state of the world...

I went on a sentimental journey to Double Bay (where I used to shop 43 years ago) and came across a fabulous place called Bake Bar, an organic artisan bakery/cafe, where I had lunch and brought home a loaf of their mixed grain sourdour, the most delicious bread I have ever tasted.

While I was looking for their website to get a photo to put here, I opened a link that Nahim (Lina's brother) had sent me, about a chef in England who habitually wiped his bum with his bare hand, then prepared meals for the customers. You've probably guessed it was in the Daily Mail and from there I came across the above pic. I won't bother mentioning names, except to say they are from Australia's Most Embarrassing Family.

Just shows how easily distracted I am! Reading the Daily Mail must be one of the most depressing things anyone can do! Just how sick is society!

Winifred, a Thermomix is a cult thing, so I'm told, which makes me a bit uncomfortable as nobody could be further from being influenced by anything cult-like than me. But two minutes into the demonstration had me wanting to buy one and I just love it. You can mix, chop, knead, simmer, steam, melt - and a thousand other things with the one gadget. (Well, it has several add-ons, which means it's not really just one gadget.)

2,498 emails. Looking back, that's just one less than last time. Since I keep getting new ones every day I doubt I'll ever get down to a reasonable number. Yes, I do have a firewall - this total is simply the stuff I get from friends + a teaching reading network I belong to. Ancestry brings in lots, too.

Nothing short of amazing

219,353. Sorry, if you read this earlier, it might be a bit confusing, so I'll explain this first sentence: That's the number of people in a family tree that showed a DNA match with me. I don't mean 219,353 people match my DNA, but that one person in this huge family was a match. Of all these people, the computer picked out five names that this person, M.W., and I have in common. From there I discovered that a woman called Mary Harrison 1758-1847, is the link. After the death of her husband, John Mounsey, she lived, according to census details of 1841, in this very house!!!!!!!!

Before John's death, they lived in the grand mansion at Patterdale, which I showed way back on this blog.

Their daughter, Ann Mounsey, came to Australia and is buried in Murrurundi cemetery, a town where I used to live and teach!

Of course, it takes me hours and hours at the computer to come up with all this info. But when I make a discovery like this, it's well worth it! I cannot believe DNA analysis and computers are so clever. Mind-boggling.

I've emailed the administrator of M.W.'s account and am waiting for a reply. As far as I can work out, Mary's uncle went to US to live and I assume M.W. is there, too.

View from the pool

I just had an email from a friend saying how happy she is with her life. We in Australia (and other western countries) have a lot to be thankful for. I know this, yet constantly moan. Must make an effort to stop.

As I lie in the pool, this is my view. Just perfect.

5pm Emails down to 2,499.

All-singing all-dancing Japanese toilet seat, retrofitted by Philip

Yes, I did forget to mention the latest bathroom gadget, Lina, so here it is for all to see. Does just about everything but cook a casserole and the Thermomix will do that, so all bases covered ;-))

All the forces of nature are conspiring to prevent my ever getting round to answering those thousands of emails. Right then the computer told me it was shutting down, which was a good chance for me to do something about the blood I just found on the bottom sheet, the top sheet and the doona. (The only reason I use a top sheet is for hot nights, when I throw the doona off and simply have a sheet on.) Goodness knows where this blood came from - I can't find any cuts or scratches on myself, so maybe it was Muffy, where the vet pierced her to do a blood test.

And I noticed - smelled - that Muffy had done a wee in her litter tray (after 14 years of going outside) so I had to put that out and clean it.

While I was up I took my morning pills and got my clothes ready for stretch class at 11am, and, since it's now 10:20 I'd better have my shower and get cracking.

Almost 3pm
What hope have I got of ever clearing my emails? After sitting here for hours and not doing much more than delete, file or answer about 50 mails, I've still got 2,584 to go. And now I have to mind the kids and prepare dinner. Homemade pizzas tonight, dough and all, and iced raspberry dessert. I'll be exhausted by 7:30 and fall into bed.

Darling Muffy

Muffy looks fine in this photo (if you disregard the inexplicable yellow tinge) - you can't see how thin she is. Thankfully, the medication she's on is giving her an appetite and she's gaining weight. I forgot to mention the other day that she has her third ear infection in recent times, so needs an application of ear ointment twice a day. Poor darling, she looks at me suspiciously whenever she wants to come in, wondering if Mummy is going to stuff a tablet down her throat or squirt some horrible liquid into her ear!

The vet says her three falls into the pool are likely responsible for the recurrent infections. I still can't get over a cat actually falling into a pool once, let alone three times.

Lina, as usual you say the nicest things. The Thermomix is being used every day. Yesterday I made yogurt and a mushroom risotto. This isn't my favourite meal, so after two helpings I gave it to Philip and Mana, who both loved it, and Philip has taken the last bit for lunch at work.

Oh, oh - interruptions have started. Mana's going to zumba, so I'll mind the kids as it's school holidays. Maths lesson for Emma and reading for Hugo. Then Emma wanted me to play a game she made up and so did Hugo.

Meanwhile Poppy took herself outside - she's supposed to be an inside cat - so we all went out and played with her, then she came in quite happily, bringing her ragamuffin tail with her:

Compare this fluffy tail with Muffy's thin one!

It's almost 10:30 and I haven't started answering emails, my planned job for today. I still haven't washed up, made the bed or got dressed. I'll devote what's left of the day to emails then go to aqua zumba at 7.

It's now midday and I haven't answered a single email as I played another game with the kids and gave them a snack before their mother got home. Now I've completely lost interest and just want to go back to bed.

A normal day of interruptions

Yesterday I had a Thermomix demonstration for friends and daughter-in-law. (I bought one recently and just love it, in spite of the Tupperware-style selling in the home.) It was great fun, as the girls came laden with champagne, wine and chocolates and there was a lot of giggling and loud talking. I don't think any of them will buy one, and that's OK. I got a gift - a stainless steel container for hot/cold dishes - for hosting.

Can't remember if I've mentioned that I took Muffy to the vet a few weeks back as she had dropped from 5.5 kg to 3.5 and looked fearfully skinny. The vet did blood and urine tests which showed she has kidney disease (that was first diagnosed years ago and she's been on special food ever since) and heart disease, which is new. He put her on half a tablet half an hour before food once a day. According to my scales she's gained 0.1kg and seems much chirpier.

But lately she's been twitching her back legs, so I googled that and made an appointment for the vet to see her this afternoon. She's on my lap now, purring away. I dare not let her out as I may not be able to find her later.

I had planned to sit here at the computer all day and catch up on emails. There are 2,600 and something in my Inbox.
But Muffy's health is a priority. Now I have to hang some washing out, then there will be the usual things that crop up every day: unpacking the dishwasher, phone calls to make, getting lunch, shopping, doing ancestry, maybe a swim in the middle of the day, then stretch/yoga class at 7.

For those of you who know about my Turkish skype friend, Feyzi, there's been some very sad news. His wife, Kadriye, died on Friday, aged 39, leaving two boys, 9 and 6. I was devastated, as I've known Feyzi for about 13 years. He's being very brave and holding up for his boys.

To all my friends

I got home last night from dinner with friends to find a typed Skype message from Samir in Nepal. He and I first 'met' years ago and now he's married and has a little boy, after going through that dreadful earthquake. And just yesterday I caught up with Mariana in Portugal. We started emailing when she was still in high school and now she's been a GP for two years. This makes me think of Bianka from Germany, who also started emailing me when she was in high school, then, as soon as she'd finished school, came to Australia for almost a year and stayed with me in Newcastle for a couple of months. She's an architect now. There's Australian Scott and wife Tarja from Finland, who were in my French class in Muswellbrook years ago, and who went back to Tarja's home to live and produced four beautiful children, now all adults. Christabel, one of them, came to visit me here in Sydney a couple of years ago.

Karin in Germany, now retired from teaching, video Skyped me a while back, giving me a lovely surprise. How envious I am of your perfect English, Karin! In fact, all of you speak wonderful English as a second language, putting Australians to shame. Same with you, Michael, also from Germany, whose English is just perfect.

Feyzi from Turkey goes back about 13 years and Skypes most days. Georges, my 'adopted' son from Burkina Faso, doesn't communicate often, but it's good to be kept aware of what he's doing from time to time.

Then there are my two faithfuls, Winifred from the south of England and Frank from the north, both of whom I've actually met. And Olga from Russia, who lives in Newcastle.

In France there are two marvellous families, the Bouchus and Bouchards. They both helped me through my divorce and custody battle in 1973/4 by taking me and Philip into their homes. Eternally grateful, I am. Sadly Jean-Claude has died and Maxime is confined to the house, on oxygen. I was able to visit both families on my last trip to France about three years ago.

When I did an Italian course in Siena years ago I met Beatrix, from Switzerland, who sends a yearly bulletin in Italian - oh dear, I haven't answered yet. Nor have I answered the yearly bulletin from Canadian friend, Jackie. (They're both on my To Do list today!)

Talk about a melting pot of nationalities!

I haven't even mentioned the Australian friends I have, or my latest obsession finding ancestors and cousins currently living. 

Winifred, photos are pretty scarce in my background, too, as most ancestors were poor. Most of the ones I do have have come to me from other related researchers through Ancestry.com. Mum had a few, which have come down to me. I really regret not having asked her questions about ancestors before she died in 1998.

Since putting together my family tree, which goes back on some lines to 1500s, I have learnt the Jewish side came from Poland generations back; but all the others mostly came from London and a few other parts of England, Scotland and Ireland. Possibly France, way, way back. Not surprising I feel at home in UK. Interestingly, the DNA results reflect this. The science is amazing.