Our new baby

This is Navi, Cupcake, Raindrop, Biscuit, Cherry, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Button and dozens more trial names, to today's Poppy, which I think really suits her, so will probably be the one. She belongs to Emma and was hard-earned - she had to get 20 points for good behaviour, and the points kept going up and down like snakes and ladders, over a period of months.

We got Poppy from Pet Rescue and had to wait till she weighed 1 kg, at which time she was 10 weeks old, before she could be desexed, vaccinated and microchipped. She was the runt of a litter of three. The mother and two brothers were both fine-haired and jet black. At this stage, though it doesn't show in the photos, she's wild and woolly.

She has a delightful personality and is so cute we all just want to sit and look at her. Muffy hasn't met her yet. I have read that some cats leave home when a new one arrives, but Poppy actually lives upstairs and they can be kept apart. But I would like them to meet, just to see Muffy's reaction.

I'm sure Muffy and Poppy are photographed more than the royal children!

Just one more. Hugo asked me to print this one for him to take to preschool for news tomorrow:

Today's task

This is the card table at the foot of my bed, put there some months back to accommodate ancestry files, but which seems to have grown into a dumping place for everything. Today's task (which may well grow into weeks), is to tidy this mess up.

For my own edification, as I remove each piece of this stuff I'm going to categorise it here:

On the floor:

• Paper bag for recylable rubbish (too lazy to get my shredder out, so just rip it into small pieces)
• Old address books to be updated into a new one (as people have a habit of moving, marrying, divorcing and dying)
• Booklets of sticky notes; crossword book (which I've never opened, as every morning I do the Herald online crossword); birthday book (in spite of this, I reliably forget all my friends' birthdays, anyway)
• Bag containing things for weekly preschool French lessons
• Yellow Esky containing the treasured purse my mother had when she died in 1998, with coins and her house key in it; a purse containing foreign notes and coins from travel and superseded Australian notes and coins; a beautiful fabric-covered folder (a gift from my Japanese piano teacher); printed class times for Aquatic and Leisure Centre (where I no longer go, but might one day); list of tax paid between 1985 and 1993!!!; magnifying sheet (didn't know where it was, so haven't been using it); WWF information (I donate monthly to orang-utangs in Borneo - easily talked into this by a handsome young Frenchman in the shopping centre one day); green cleaning recipes; operating manual for my Dyson stick; details of MyPost account (for cheaper stamps for pensioners); copy of letters to and from local member re cutting the grass on footpath near Emma's school; brochure explaining online government services; brochure explaining Opal transport card; Seniors' Directory 2015 (which I never use); 2012 and 2014 personal planners (the others and a lifetime of diaries are elsewhere!); and papers related to the development of the Oz Phonics apps.

I'll have to stop here and do what's on top of the table another day. I do have several filing cabinets, so will put what I can into drawers, but that still leaves where to put the miscellaneous stuff like my mother's purse, etc.

Tell me, please, where do you put all your stuff????

Facebook is a mystery to me

Lina, you have been putting pics of your hydrangeas on Facebook, and, since I have no idea of how to do that, I'll put mine here! Interesting, isn't it, how the flowers are different colours according to the soil.

Winifred, your problem with putting a comment on this blog is a mystery to me, too. I have no idea how these things work.

I'm off to see  The Dressmaker right now.

No place like home...

The other night I was listening as usual to BBC radio 4, to a program coming from New York. The presenter asked all three speakers where they would rather be if they were not there doing the program. Two out of three said, 'At home in bed'.  You see, it's catching on! It's certainly my favourite place, and has been for many years.

Doing something about my memory..

Robbie Burns 1759-1796 (d 37)

I've heard some people say they read a poem aloud every morning, so I decided to do the same and actually commit some of it to memory! I started with O my luve's like a red, red rose by Robbie Burns.

I'll spend the rest of the day on ancestry. One thing that has surprised me is how many of my ancestors lived to their 70s and 80s. (Poor Robbie Burns died very young.)

Me and my memory...

It's the same old story - I don't do this blog for a while, then I completely forget how to get into it and where to file the photos, etc. It has probably taken 20 minutes for me to get this far today.

Time is flying and I seem to be always bogged down by day-to-day chores and depressed by world happenings. I do a lot of sleeping, hundreds of online jigsaws and - spasmodically - a bit of ancestry. Recently I've dug up a couple of second cousins and spoken to a first cousin on the phone. Not surprisingly, nobody knew about my grandmother and the Jewish dentist. It was a real skeleton in the closet! Today's plan is to get some order into the hundreds of pages I've printed, the dozens of pages of notes I've made, and stuff I've come across in research. To be honest, I have been putting this off for months because I'm in such a muddle.

This term I'm teaching French at Hugo's preschool, which is really enjoyable. Little kids are so cute.

I took the above photo on Saturday at the Japanese School. Emma - the tallest girl, in front of the teacher - is in a Cheer Leaders Group. They gave a really lovely performance.

As you know, I don't generally put photos of people on my blog, but as this was a public performance I thought it would be OK.

Parramatta shootout

I admit I was wrong not calling the Lindt cafe a terrorist attack. It was. There was another terrorist attack a little too close for comfort on Friday - right where Philip works at police headquarters in Parramatta.

A civilian worker like Philip was shot dead, as was the 15-yr-old murderer. Understandably, Philip was a little nervous about going to work this morning. There had been rumours of an attack by Islamists before this happened.

Quote from newspaper:

The teenage gunman who executed a NSW Police Force employee was lauded as a "hero of the Islamic people" on a social media page, which was taken down late on Monday at the request of the police.

Glorious roses

Since my last post we've been devastated by the sudden death of my nephew Michael. He had a heart attack at his home in New York. He was only 45 and left a widow Lisa and two children, Mia 9 and Tyler 6.

Thanks Lina for these magnificent flowers.

Sydney old and new

Every time I go out I wish I hadn't. Long-haul flights are a definite NEVER AGAIN, and train trips and even walking in the city are a nightmare. The constant noises from mobiles, people talking very loudly on them or playing noisy, stupid games nearly drive me mad. Not to mention general bad behaviour, like putting feet on seats. And the train announcements - every two seconds!! Keeping left on foothpaths seems to be a thing of the past. I stick with determination to my side and bang with my handbag - very deliberately and heavily - all those who don't move over! I've even thought of putting poking-out pins in my bag, but Philip tells me I'll get arrested!

In fact, I leave the house less and less frequently these days. Yesterday I ventured into the city to have a look at Barangaroo, the new casino being built and the new reserve offered to the public in consolation.

If you look closely at the top photo, you'll see a row of terraced houses above the high wall. This is public housing, which the government wants to sell off, in spite of meeting a lot of resistance.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Last Sunday I took myself to a far-distant suburb where there was a cherry blossom festival in the botanic gardens. It was really lovely, with many young people dressed up. Much easier than going all the way to Japan!

Life goes on...I'm still chasing my tail and getting very frustrated. I made a decision to stop taking piano lessons as there aren't enough hours in the day and something had to give. I'll continue playing and doing the online theory course from Edinburgh Uni.

Spring is here in the antipodes. We've had some lovely warmish days already. Won't be long before we're complaining about the heat and bushfires.