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.