I thought at first that I was feeling like crap cos of the stress, but no, I have actually come down with something, a mild respiratory viral thingy the cubs brought home from school. Of course, the reason I haven't been able to shake it off is cos I'm stressed. Heh.

So how's it all going, eh? Mum had her surgery on Friday morning and that went well. She's recovering quickly and it looks like she'll be going back to the rehab centre on Monday for, hopefully, just a short while before going home. When she's home, though, that's when life will really get interesting. The half hour trip to and from the various hospitals isn't so bad and I can visit her every day, more or less. The hour long trip there and back to her home is something else entirely. I'm fighting the feeling that I have an obligation to see her just as often but the reality is that I can't. First, I do actually have a life of my own and frequent two/three hour chunks out of that will lead to nothing but resentment on my part. Second, dear gods the petrol.
Eh, we'll work out something mutually agreeable, I'm sure. Mum has friends up there who're willing to drive her around and if I can see her at least once a week that should mitigate the guilt. :)

Now, the cleaning for the rental inspection. Haven't done as much as I feel is necessary but the house is better than it was a week ago. My bed is clear! Yes, fine, the garden's still a jungle, the cubs' room is dangerous to navigate, but my bed's clear!

Hee, I was chatting with the After School Care coordinator the other day and she was telling me about the study she's been doing for the job. She was expressing amazement that she'd managed to finish a 750 word essay about Piaget's Theory. I had to physically stop myself saying: '750 words? That's nothing!'. I used to be daunted by 500 word projects. I wonder how I'd go now that I've got some word-smithing experience? Hmm...
[Edit: the Blogger spell check suggested 'smiting' instead of 'smithing' <snerk> True, sometimes you do have to beat those words into submission...]

Odd dream last night. There was a (bear with me, this is going to be sketchy) sort of Hollywood actors competition where groups were formed around different themes and they had to do... something. Can't remember. Anyway, I looked over the groups, trying to decide where I'd fit best but didn't much like the look of most of them. There was one group, however, that looked eclectic (and more interesting than the Barbie wannabes) and I thought they'll do. But then I indulged in some pathetic passive/aggressive behaviour. Instead of marching up and asking if I could join I performed so badly in the audition that no one else would take me. I was completely unimpressed with myself, but I got what I wanted.
Let's see if I can remember who was in the group. A middle-aged Japanese actress; a handful of older negro actors/actresses; a really gnarled Caucasian actor, and me. And I think they were in Deadwood style costumes. By far the most interesting bunch, but not at all popular and unlikely to win anything.

Moly: Fabulous herb with white flowers and black root, endowed with magic properties; [Oxford concise; 1974]
No reason, I just thought it was interesting...

Oops, been a while...

Well, Mum's scheduled for surgery this coming Friday. She's understandably apprehensive but determinedly not thinking about it. Still not sure how long she'll be in hospital. The plan was, initially, that she'd be going home at the end of October but apparently her therapists are making noises about keeping her in rehab for another couple of weeks beyond the surgery. The not knowing, not being able to make plans is very annoying for my organised mother. :)

She was allowed another day outing last weekend so the cubs and I picked her up and drove her home. She picked up some more bits and bobs, and met up with a couple of friends, then we trooped up to the Patchwork Teahouse for a coffee. Amazingly, I didn't buy anything! I did take a couple of photos though, and they'll be up at flickr soonish.
Had to have a nap when I got home - sooo much driving... Half-hour to the hospital; hour up to Mum's; another half-hour there and back to the Teahouse. Repeat in reverse. <shakes head>
The previous weekend's outing to the shopping centre was exhausting as well, but that was mostly cos of the crowds, I think. And then of course the cubs were clamouring to go to the Meccano Club Exhibition afterwards - which was half an hour away in the opposite direction from home. No wonder I was knackered.

On top of all this to'ing and fro'ing for Mum, I've got a rental inspection due. That's been tough. I generally choose to ignore housework - and it is a choice - but that choice is swinging 'round to bite me on the bum. <shrugs> I'll ride it out, I always do, but I'm not very pleasant to be around at the moment. Eh, at least my house will be thoroughly clean, for a little while.

Cubs' school had its official opening this morning, with dignitaries in attendance an' all. It kicked off at 8 a.m. which meant getting up at stupid'o'clock. Very, very glad we had the car. Would've been a nightmare getting down there on time by bus.
So anyway, speeches speeches blah blah, including a particularly simpering example from Federal Treasurer Peter Costello.
I overheard the person next to me say: 'He plays the audience like a violin.' Yes, but any idiot can pick up the instrument, doesn't mean it sounds any good. I've never much liked violins anyway...
I took a lot of pics but as my woodgie camera wasn't able to get decent shots of anything happening more than 10' in front of me I took a lot of shots of shoes, and shadows. <g> Had to disable the 'boing' sound effect on the camera; it was very loud.
Mercifully, the 'official' part didn't go for too long then we were able to stampede to the free food. Oh yes, the event was catered. We were each given a carry-bag of breakfast type comestibles. A plastic bowl and spoon; a carton of low-fat yoghurt; mini pack of cereal - Special K or Sultana Bran; small container of low-fat milk, and a muffin, which was probly low-fat/high GI/low sugar (I gave mine to the cubs). There was fruit, too, in baskets on the tables. Lots and lots of fresh fruit. Disgustingly healthy start to the day - I should probly do it more often.

Sue found this badfic reference!
I think my fav has to be:

"Remus allows Sirius to pick their new flat. If you're against slash assume it's for financial reasons..."

Against slash for financial reasons? <choking>
Or this little beauty:

"Draco 'ruins' Hermione's reputation by seeing her in her underclothing while a ferret and is forced to marry her."

Wait, what? Hermione turns into ferret as well? Or can her underwear metamorphose? <snerk>
Thanks, Sue!

Our ABC has started showing a documentary series - Life at One - where a group of children are followed from birth (from conception in a couple of cases!) until their first birthday. It's an attempt to define how our personalities develop, and what sorts of things influence them. The tagline of the program is 'Show me a child at 1 and I'll tell you what sort of adult they'll be'. Okay, I might be paraphrasing that but it outlines the essence of the doco.
My cubs at 1 were pretty laid-back, new situations and changes to their routine didn't seem to bother them, and they never seemed to experience the separation anxiety that other, singleton, children did. I think, according to them, as long as their brother was there all was well. <g>
Laid-back they may have been but if there was something they wanted they could be extremely determined and inventive - and they worked in tandem. Little buggers! :) Not much has changed, really.

Music!
I'm a very happy Lutra at the moment. After a couple of weeks I finally caught the name of a track I've been hearing on the radio so I was able to scamper over to iTunes and buy it! Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio. This wasn't one of those songs that grows on you, I loved it from the opening bars, the very first time. And once I had a copy I was able to decipher the lyrics... Bonus, it's a werewolf song! I've never understood the sexiness of vampires - that whole 'undead immortal' thing just doesn't do it for me - but werewolves? Now that's something else entirely...
I've generally been having fun frolicking through iTunes, d/l'ing all sorts of stuff. Coldplay, Body Rockers, Eskimo Joe, Foo Fighters (with my other favouritist song ever - Everlong), Placebo, Pony Up, Kasabian, White Stripes. I'm working through my extensive list of must buy/replace tracks. :) A lot of what I listen to is very primal, bit hard, bit fast. There's not a lot of esoterica that makes an impression and sod all of the 'hits and memories' genre. (Gah, I sneered at that stuff first time 'round, there's no comfort in listening to it now, let alone the new commercial pap. <shudder> Gods, even the 'raunchy' stuff is so bland it makes my brain seize...)
So yes, I like being able to pick and choose tracks rather than having to buy entire albums - and while iTunes might only let me burn audio CDs, Winamp will let me rip mp3s from audio, which means new music on my phone! Woohoo! As I said, I'm a happy Lutra.

Lucky Mum, today she had me and my cubs visiting at the same time as Soulsis and her horde. <g> Probably fortunately the 4 boys took themselves off to explore the hospital grounds - it was getting awfully crowded in the room.
Soulsis brought some lovely home-made soft cakey things for mum, and some colourful eclectica for me. :) A big plastic paperweight filled with bright beads; five cute bamboo styled chopstick rests, and a hippo shaped wafer biscuit thing.

I'm taking Mum on an excursion tomorrow, a shopping trip. She's really looking forward to it, but then I remember what it was like being stuck in hospital for weeks, and just how exciting the prospect of getting out was, even for a little while. :)

<wilting> 37 degrees today. Hottest October day in 90 years. I'm not ready for Summer...

Really bizarre mix in my dream last night. The M cub was with me. An old style diesel engine pulled up. My cub knew what model it was, and that something was wrong with the 'uptake'... something. I told him not to speak too loudly cos he'd ruin the plot for the people who hadn't worked out what was going to happen. Yes, we were in a movie, along with that Jack(?)someone - the Brit actor who appeared in loads of old war movies. (Or was it Kenneth More? Tch.)
Scene change to the cubs' father industriously cleaning the house we were in the process of moving out of. (This bit, I suspect, is complete wish-fulfillment on several levels.) I half-heartedly had a go at wiping something but got distracted by a box of interesting ephemeral stuff that either had been, or should've been mine.
In amongst this Soulsis appeared, either asking for a pic of - or telling me about - a particular style of koi. It was a 'crescent' koi, basically a more or less solid colour with only a contrasting 'crescent' moon shape on it's back. Beautiful. There were letters associated with them as well (as I found out when I googled [in the dream]) - KKR? QKR? something like that.
And finally, the last thing I was looking at before I woke up was a photo or postcard of a brunette, viewed from behind. She was standing in beach shallows, looking out to sea. I get the impression of a filmy, short, belted white tunic, and I think she was holding something long in her right hand. She was accompanied by 7 thin hounds - Afghans, is the closest I can get - standing or sitting to her left, all attentively following her gaze. It was a glorious pic, beautiful composition, taken somewhere in the Greek Isles I presumed, judging by the stunning colour of sea and sky. It felt like a modern interpretation of an ancient Goddess, an impression heightened by not seeing her face.
Needless to say, it took me a little while to integrate with the 'real' world this morning.

Mum news. :)
I drove her to an appointment with a vascular surgeon this morning.
Lovely woman, clear and concise, and patient. Upshot is that mum's going to have surgery to clear out the obstruction in her carotid artery. There's a small risk that the surgery may trigger another stroke, but there's a greater risk if nothing's done. Mum was philosophical.
She was less philosophical when she found out how much longer they're planning to keep her in rehab, however. <g> Until the end of October, most likely. All going to plan she'll have her surgery during that time so she doesn't have to come back in to hospital after she's gone home.
And as I was ferrying her around I had empirical evidence of why stroke victims aren't allowed to drive for at least 3 months. After asserting strongly that she could get back behind the wheel without any problems at all, Mum then proceeded to misinterpret all the visual cues of the traffic, and lights, and signposts. After some time of me (gently) correcting her - ('We're slowing down because the car in front has stopped, Mum') - she admitted that perhaps she wasn't quite ready to drive just yet... <rueful>

I keep having dreams about living in places that have no proper toilets...

Penny and I were chatting this morning about our respective weekends. I told her about the cubs pretending to be daleks (using an old fashioned plunger as a prop). She told me about the trials of kneading 4kgs of white fondant icing for a wedding cake she's decorating. I suggested that an old Kenwood mixer would've been handy for that - then I went off on a tangential reminiscence about how much I used to love pinching the dough hook* from my mum's mixer so I could play 'pirate'. Penny laughed and said she could see the similarities between my boys and I... :)

Mum's doing well, even if she thinks her recovery isn't happening fast enough. She's having occupational therapy, physio and speech therapy every day, and later this week she'll be seeing a vascular surgeon about potentially removing the block in her artery. It's also going to be at least 3 months before she can drive - which means I'll have use of her car for that time, but I'll feel obliged to drive her around to her doctors' appointments, I suppose. <g>

And I've a new Snupin bunny to chase so I'm happy again.

(* That's not a Kenwood hook, but it's the closest I could find with a cursory search.)

Okay, some good news, finally. Mum's been moved to a rehab hospital which means she's not considered to be 'at risk' any more. Phew. I spoke to her doctor today as well and discovered it wasn't a mild stroke at all, but as it only affected a fairly small area it didn't seem that bad. One of her carotid arteries is occluded 69-70% and she may need surgery to clear the blockage. There's risks associated with that, naturally, but the doctor seemed confident it could be successful.
All being well Mum could be back home with her cat in 5-7 days. We'll have to wait and see if she'll be allowed to drive though.


Kittenkong 'helping' one of the cubs with his homework.
(I was appalled, however! One of the words on his spelling list was 'center'! I shall have to have words with his teacher...)

Speaking of spelling, I was having a hunt around for a copy of the Chronicles of Riddick DVD. Couldn't see it anywhere on the shelves - they must've sold out.
Then it dawned on me: c-H-r. <shakes head> Sometimes the blonde goes all the way to the bone...
(And yes, it was there under the correct spelling. Tch.)

I've just finished an angst-on-a-stick Snupin ficlet (only 3 pages). It's the - <counts on fingers> - fifth part of this particular plot arc and will probly be up at The Zone shortlyish. Two more fics should see it through to the end, I think.

Well, I'm certainly a little stress-bunny at the moment; I've had a niggling headache that's ebbed and flowed - mostly flowed - for four days now. In fact what I'm feeling right now is recognisably akin to the sort of stress induced by rental inspections or moving house. Which is odd, really cos I wouldn't have thought it was quite as bad as all that. Perhaps it's cos there's multiple small stresses ganging up on me instead of one huge mofo. Hm.
So what's going on?
Mum's still in hospital. She's not improved but neither has she got worse. She's capable of looking after herself but the hospital doesn't seem to be in any hurry to release her. She's waiting to see the specialist - tomorrow, I think - and then we'll hopefully have some concrete indications about her future. I know we'll both feel better once we have something definite to plan for.
I've still got Mum's car and that's a whole 'nother load of niggles, not least of which is that other drivers are so stupid, and dangerous. Sheesh - you can't trust any of them to do as expected! Being on high-alert everytime I get behind the wheel is very wearing. (Yes, I could just not use it but it saves a lot of time, especially getting out to visit Mum. 25 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half...)
Plus it was the first day back at school today and already there's a list of bitty crap piling up that I have to wade through. Gods above, why is nothing ever simple there? And is it possible to find yet another way of screwing money out of us? It all feels really sly and underhand, as well, along the lines of 'Look what's happening here! Isn't it great? Oh, by the way we need you to pay for this, and this, and this...' So irritating. Though to be fair, that perception could just be my cyclical paranoia. I'm sure I'll be all sunshine and fluff again in a few days. <grump> (The dream I had last night hasn't helped, either. I discovered that in the undersea world we were operating in, both my cubs and Penny's daughter were being deliberately held back, physically, emotionally and academically. I woke up angry - never a good way to start the day.)

<sigh> I'll survive, no doubt, I have in the past, but currently I feel I'm approaching a 'Cannot cope, off to Mordor' moment. Eh, could be worse, I spose, though I'm not going to speculate on how it could be worse cos I don't quite trust my luck at the moment...

So there we were at the Museum on Wednesday - the cubs, Sarah and I - trailing about having fun and going 'Oooh', as you do, when I got a phone call from a friend of my mum's letting me know that Mum was just being bundled into an ambulance.
Eeep!
Apparently she'd had a mild stroke - ultrasounds and CAT scans later confirmed it - but at the time she was protesting that don't be stupid, she was fine. <rolls eyes>
So, she's in hospital, and not terribly impressed. The stroke's affected her word recall but thankfully not much else by the looks of it. There's no problems with her motor functions, and though she's perhaps a touch slurred in her speech it's mainly that she keeps losing words. And my mum's a great talker so not being able to communicate readily is very frustrating. Trying to convey what it is she needs has been a trial, though vaguely amusing, I have to say. Seems like we're using a combination of mime and telepathy at times and it just makes us giggle at the ridiculous of it all.
Haven't had any direct contact with her doctor yet so we've no idea how long she'll be hospitalised. In the meantime I've got her car - so I can pop in and see her without having to rely on public transport or Soulsis' kindness - and her cat's in the cattery. Poor bugger; I don't like him very much (it's mutual) but he obviously misses her. He was giving me such a look as I was going through drawers and cupboards finding clothes for mum. <g> I had no right to be doing that!
Hopefully she'll be able to go home soon, and without too much disruption to her life. It'd hurt if she had to stop driving, I'm sure, the loss of independence would be awful. Eh well, we just wait and see, I suppose.

Oh, and I have to say big thanks and huggles to Soulsis for running the cubs and I out to the hospital on Thursday, and then over to Mum's to pick up the car. Would've been sooo much more awkward without your help, sweetie, thanks! :)

<happy dance> Finished and sent off my sekrit Snupin Santa Challenge! In plenty of time, too, the deadline is the beginning of November. Thanks, Joules, for the beta - and the Brit-check. I had no idea 'bailing up' is an Australianism...

It's been a laid back kind of holiday. Haven't been tearing around madly doing stuff, mostly cos I just can't afford it. But we've managed a couple of things. Last week Soulsis et al popped 'round for the day; she stayed here with the boys (all four of them) while my niece and I went down to the city for a visit to the National Gallery. It's a big place, a bit overwhelming, not something you can see all of in one day. Best way to tackle it is to go for a couple of hours and look at only a few sections. Bit of a bugger if you're only visiting Melbourne, but honestly, there's so much there.
What did we see? Browsed around the textiles and the European 14th to 18th centuries for a bit, then had a snack, then Becca decided she wanted to see the modern stuff. Not much at all in that collection - that was on display at any rate - but what there was was striking. But, how do you judge 'good' Modern Art? Where's the line between 'wank' and 'significant'? There were a couple of pieces where I found myself thinking, 'Blimey, I could've done that!' But could I? Could I really have tried to play with colour and form and produce something that wasn't pretentious, or worse, ordinary? Some of the pieces looked as though they'd been executed very quickly but that's not to say there was no thought put into them. I know that's how it works when I'm writing, I can (usually) ponder something for ages, then bang it gels, and off I go...

The Gallery's a bit precious about taking photos, too, but I took this before I'd actually asked if it was all right to take photos. I can technically plead ignorance, yes?



This is a doll's dress from the 1800's. It's about 40cm in length (big doll!) and made of patchwork, specifically the 'tumbling block' design. Cor...

I also had a wander through the photographic gallery upstairs - photos from America in the 1930's to the '50's from various photographers. They weren't 'arty' but they captured a moment in time and made it real. Just amazing, it's the sort of stuff I aspire to.
After that Becca and I had to go home cos we was all culcha'd out. <g>
In the meantime the cubs had had fun with their cousins, and Soulsis wasn't ready to kill any of them by the time we got back so all in all it was a successful day.
And I got presents! A pair of pressed glass plates with goldfish designs! Becca had painted the fish on one of them a lovely, vibrant orange. Gorgeous!

And yesterday the cubs' father offered to take the cubs and I to Puffing Billy! (He'd hired a car for the weekend.) That was great, and the cubs' father's first time on the train. Cold though, and it rained! It hailed, in fact. We didn't stay too long, just took the train to Lakeside, had a look at the model railway, then caught the next train back to Belgrave. Because we had a car we were home by 3. <g> It was a good day and the cubs had a ball. There'll be some photos up at Flickr soonish, once I've winnowed down the 170 to something reasonable. Damn, I love having a camera again...

A snippet of Joules' and my ICQ conversation. Inspired by this photo:

...which flowed on from something mentioned in my previous post. ("(The cubs are playing a combat game on the Xbox. One of the cubs has draped himself with a green bedspread - his 'camouflage gear'. )..." )

Lutra: I've got a pic, though they posed for it.
Joules: go on then.
hang on...
[pause while I fiddle about sending files...]
<pissing self laughing> um yerrss. I like hte headgear, very camoudlaging.
<giggling> indeed... they remind me so much of myself...
you wander round in a green blanket witha teletubbie on your head? <patpat> keep taking the tablets.
LOL! Well, not that, specifically, but wandering around draped in other stuff pretending to be something else...
That happens less now than when I was 11. all my imagining now goes on in my head.
and I see snowglabes.
globes too
<g> er, yes
<bangs head on desk> <glares at fingerials and leapfrogging keyboard>
actually, snowlgabe is a nice word.
it is! Sounds like a weapon.
a snowglabe... mmm, it does.
snowlgabes.... a kind of owl?
<g> an owl... with weapons!

<g> We can keep ourselves amused for hours...

A header for a bit of spam I received today:

Please your woman Brock

That's a funny name for a woman...

Ack! The cubs tell me they're developing pubes! Nooo! It'll be facial hair next!

I knew I wasn't on par the other day when I made myself a cup of tea but when I looked in my cup I saw I'd only added hot water to sugar. Hm.
What's more significant, perhaps, is that I don't take sugar with the tea I'd been planning to use.

'Snark' is a great word - but it's a fanon word. I don't think it should appear in fics that are trying to follow canon. (And I say this in full knowledge that I've used it before in my own fics. Tch. Sloppy.)

You know what I like most about my camera? (And it is a camera - its secondary function is a 'phone.) It's the instant gratification. Take a photo, download it, have a look. Easy peasy. And one day soon I'll work up the courage to see about getting prints made. One of the photo shops nearby will do prints from digital for 20¢ a piece (cheaper than regular processing). The 'conditions' are that there has to be more than 10 in a batch (<eyebrow> considering I've narrowed my 'must print' list down from umpteen to a mere 200 I don't think that'll be a problem) and it must be a 'next day' service rather than 'instant'. I can live with that. :)

I'm still really enjoying the Tennant series of Dr Who. There's no excessive moralising, the stories are - mostly - sharp, and about as believable as Dr Who gets. Costumes/prosthetics are great, the sets don't wobble... It's all good.
It makes me ponder, too, which is something that happens all too rarely with television. For instance, in last week's episode one of the character's has childhood memories of the Doctor. In the flashbacks we see our hero, but there's no sign of Rose. I got all shivery thinking that with time being as fluid as it is around the Doctor, that scenario could've come from any time in this incarnation. He could've come back to our past years after Rose. Cor...

At least once during any given school holiday I indulge in staying up stupidly late. Night before last I got offline and shut down the 'puter around midnight but I wasn't too tired so I thought I'd make a start on a bit of knitting...
I crawled into bed at 3.45. Needless to say I was useless the next day. <g>

And we're almost at the end of the first week of this two-week term break. Haven't done much at all (can't afford to!) and I'm more relaxed than I have been in quite some time...

(The cubs are playing a combat game on the Xbox. One of the cubs has draped himself with a green bedspread - his 'camouflage gear'. <giggling>)

Michelangelo's 'Dying Slave'. You've got to ask yourself - dying from what, precisely?

So, after months (years!) of procrastination and - let's be honest - outright avoidance, Cathouse Ellis is finally finished. <shakes head> 3 years and 4 months since the first part was posted in Joule's Darkside. My first foray into yaoi, as well - up until then I'd only written yuri or het.
Heh, smut is no easier to write now than it was then. <g>
Anyway, Joules (thanks!) is coding part 2 as I blather. I imagine it'll be posted sometime later today, UK time.
[Edit: posted now, before I finished my update! Thanks again, Joules!]

That's torn it! Literally. My favourite pair of (pink stripey) trousers have ripped and all I've got left to wear is a couple of pairs of tatty trackys. The real crisis, however, is that the trackys don't have pockets! <hyperventilating> Nowhere to put my 'phone! No help for it now, I have to make myself some more trousers. With pockets.

Because we had the use of Soulsis' car on Tuesday the cubs and I trekked off to Scienceworks. Lots of fun. :) The special exhibition this time was 'License to Spy' - with a mystery to solve and clues to be discovered using various technologies. <g> Not a terribly hard challenge for an espionage/crime fiction buff like myself, but very interesting nonetheless. I got a particular satisfaction from opening the safe. Working the tumbler mechanism took some concentration, and some muffled swearing. But I did it! Cubs enjoyed the exhibit as well - we were in there for an hour and a half without really noticing.
I also treated us to the Planetarium for the first time in ages. There was only one program showing that day, 'The Problem with Pluto' and while I'm sure it was really good and informative I'm afraid that I was so comfortable lying back in the reclining seat that I dozed for a bit. Probably just as well, it was a long drive home and I'd started the day tired.
I took some photos (surprise surprise); some of them are up at Flickr...

Got my hands on a couple of interesting books. The first is Terry Jones' Barbarians in which he demonstrates exactly what it was the Romans did for us - and it's not as much we've been led us to believe. <g> I was pleased to discover it's the book that accompanies a series - and then the cubs' father told me that we've been seeing the ads for the series for the past few weeks. Okay, so I'm not all that perceptive some of the time...
The second book is Kafka's Soup, a 'complete history of world literature in 14 recipes'. Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for quirky recipe books? In essence this is 14 recipes written in the style of particular authors. For example:

Lamb with Dill sauce a la Raymond Chandler.
[snip. list of ingredients]
"I sipped on my whisky sour, ground out my cigarette on the chopping board and watched a bug trying to crawl out of the basin. I needed a table at Maxim's, a hundred bucks and a gorgeous blonde; what I had was a leg of lamb and no clues. I took hold of the joint. It felt cold and damp, like a coroner's handshake. I took out a knife and cut the lamb into pieces. Feeling the blade in my hand I sliced an onion, and before I knew what I was doing a carrot lay in pieces on the slab...'

It's very funny. The Jane Austen recipe takes four and a half pages to describe something that takes 2 minutes to cook. <g> Beautifully done. There's even a recipe a la Marquis de Sade (Boned Stuffed Pouissons) but I haven't attempted to read that one yet, it's even more verbose than the Austen! (Though having just glanced at it, it appears to be in a modern setting - talking about delivery vans being clamped... Intrigued, now.)
Anyway, yes, interesting books. No doubt I'll get around to trying out some of the recipes eventually as well.

Looks like the hard rubbish collection is finally over. We've done well from it this time, however. The cubs' father found a recliner armchair in good nick, the only thing wrong with it is one of the struts has snapped so it wobbles a bit, but otherwise it's very comfy. He also found a tall, thin, chest of drawers that holds all our DVDs with room to spare. I found a pair of wooden kitchen chairs. Given how heavy they are I'm guessing they're from a time when furniture was made of things other than pine. Good, solid construction, too.
I also found this piece of cat-furniture:



As you can see, KittenKong is quite pleased.

Sparkles illuminating dictionaries and notebooks. Sums up my life nicely... :)

That thumping sound is me banging my head on the desk.
4pm yesterday - camp-eve - I rang the school to let them know the cubs wouldn't be going to camp.
8.30 pm the recovering cub perks up and declares he'd really like to go after all. The change of mind is a bit annoying but no problem, we're basically ready, all I had to do was finish packing and find a few things...
9pm he's wavering and after weighing the pros and cons decides that he'll stay home after all.
I should've listened to my instincts. I should've set my alarm for sparrow's fart so I could poke him awake in plenty of time to change his mind again. Which he did.
7.30am this morning I'm woken by disconsolate wailing and floods of tears. <sigh> Told him to get dressed while I tried to ring the school. My thinking was that, though the bus was due to leave at 7.30 it might have been delayed. If it was and I could let someone know we were on our way (in a taxi) they might've been able to hold the bus for us.
No one answered the phone so as a back-up plan I left an email asking if anyone was planning on visiting the campsite and would they mind a passenger?
In the meantime, in an attempt to cheer the cub up I suggested that as we're going to have Soulsis' car tomorrow we could take a trip somewhere. The cubs immediately suggested Puffing Billy (surprise, surprise) but I pointed out that we could get there anytime by public transport. The place we can't get to without a car is Scienceworks. Trawled about on the 'net for a bit, finding out what special exhibitions were on and what was showing at the adjacent Planetarium. Cub got very enthusiastic about that and asked me to ring the school to let them know he wasn't going to camp. <rolls eyes>
So when the principal rang later to see if he still wanted a lift I politely declined - but I didn't tell him she'd offered because frankly I was fed up.
It is a shame he's missed the camp and to be fair it was a huge decision for him, essentially deciding whether to go off on his own for the first time ever, but, blimey... I don't suppose this will be the only decision he ever regrets, however, and it could be something of an object lesson. It still hurts to see my cubs upset, though.
But, barring any other crisis, we'll be off for a fun day tomorrow - and this time, I've got a camera!

And so it came to pass that as one cub recovered from the dreaded lurgy the other fell to its insidious clasp. On the day before camp, too. <sigh>
So, while one cub might be well enough to go away for a few days of educational fun he certainly won't go without his brother. Which is fair enough, I spose, cos his brother had no intention of going away without him when he was sick.
But - dagnabbit - looks like I might not be getting my child-free days after all.
But the sicker cub might get better quickly - it's happened before. Either way we probably won't know until the very last minute whether they'll be going or not. <grump> All this shilly-shallying is most aggravating. (And if I sound like Lady Bracknell it's cos I jolly well feel like her!)
It's not just my two either, at the parent-teacher interviews last night I found out that there were 8 missing from one cub's class, all down with this bloody virus. I wonder how many are actually going to make it to camp? Eh well, whatever happens they've got some new clothes at least, and fresh batteries for their torches - always a good thing in their opinion.

I wonder... does reading slash fiction before reading/viewing the original influence one's perception of it? Case in point: I hunted down Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence cos a fan author I keep tabs on wrote a couple of short pieces around the books. I'd only read one of her (very short) fics but if I hadn't, would I have still picked up the slight slashy potential? Hmm, possibly, if only cos I'm alert to those sort of nuances now. <g>

Speaking of fanfic... Sac - it does not mean quite what you think it means.

A baglike membrane-enclosed cavity in animal or vegetable organism; membranous envelope of hernia, cyst, tumour etc.

That doesn't sound that reminiscent of the scrotum, to me. Perhaps I'm just being picky.
But while checking that I found this:

sabulous - sandy, of sand.

<g> "Oh, yes, daaaahling, the beach is sabulous!"
How can you not love this language, eh? :)

Right, so I think I've got all the gear the cubs will need for their camp (D'oh! Except torches and batteries. Tch, I'll pick those up on Monday...)
I like buying clothes for the cubs about as much as I like buying clothes for me, but I've brought on myself the aggravation of trudging hither and yon. I've been meaning to get them new stuff since Summer but, as usual, kept putting it off and off and off... <g>
But my search today led me into op-shops where I found all sorts of lovely things. Some more pretty cutlery; a pair of beautifully shaped rice bowls; a little Chinese teapot decorated with a blue carp; a couple of shirts that the cubs may or may not wear; knitting needles; a hand-painted lizard mug; a touristy book about the Louvre; a Japanese 'bamboo' patterned dipping-sauce dish; and an intriguing piece of junk Chinese pottery, the sort of thing that's produced quickly and cheaply as packaging. This piece is cylindrical, lidded, and decorated with a rough relief of pandas and bamboo. Its glaze is strongly reminiscent of baby poo but despite that I quite like it...
Oh, and how could I forget the large, imitation clam shell fashioned from pearlescent white plastic. <snerk> Pure class, that is.
However, I was just sitting down to lunch (beef tataki! yum!) when I got a call from the school asking if I'd like to pick up my sick cub - the cub I forced jollied into going to school this morning. <sigh> He's got a bit of a cough/cold and is not feeling the best. I'm crossing fingers he'll be all better by Wednesday... and that his brother doesn't come down with the same thing in the meantime.

Hm. I can't see any xmas merchandise per se in the shops yet but things like specialty tins of biscuits and buckets of M&Ms have appeared on the shelves. It's Father's Day this Sunday - I suspect the retailers are waiting to get that out of the way before starting the xmas campaign. Hmph.

I ran out of tea! Unthinkable! And I couldn't find my usual brand (Nature's Garden Organic) so I had to resort to Twinings. Admittedly I bought the Lady Grey for Soulsis cos it's her favourite (and she needed coddling cos it's been a difficult couple of days, what with trying to get her head around Bail Justice legislation and having to put up with the street lights down here in the suburbs disturbing her sleep - tch, country folk. Where was I? Oh yes...) but I don't remember Twinings being so delicate. And by 'delicate' I mean 'weak as piss'. <g> That's a daft phrase, isn't it? 'Weak as piss', cos even weak piss isn't weak. Not that you'd want to drink it, but still... Where was I?
I had a lovely Earl Grey blend yesterday afternoon, at a cafe. Not sure of the brand but it's made with real bergamot, and sage, I think. Absolutely delicious and it brewed into a wonderful rich shade of claret. The only downside was that the teabag was made from nylon net fashioned into a pyramid. Terribly stylish but not at all compostable. Hm, wonder if I could buy the tea loose-leaf. That'd be neat.
So, Twinings, it'll do at a pinch, but it's still better than <spitspit> Liptons. :)

I have two reasons to anticipate the beginning of a month now. I get my broadband 'net speed back, plus my Flickr account ticks over and I can upload again. Given the amount of pics I take I think it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'll be pushing the limit for uploads there on a regular basis. <g> That's not to say that all my pics get posted, oh no, just what I consider the best/most interesting/illustrative.
Needless to say, there's a new batch posted...

More bizarre, and strangely analogous, suggestions from Blogger's spell check:
manga - mange
anime - anion
Trigun - truism
Gessekai - gasseous (<snicker>)
Nightwalker - nostalgia
daft - deft

Two weeks left of term. Or rather - given the upcoming camp - one week and two days...

(Early this morning at Chez Lutra:)
Me - to dawdling cubs: Come on, vivement!
Cubs: Is that German?
Me: No, it's French for 'Get a bloody move on...'

<g> We laughed.

I had a serious 'screw the rent' moment a couple of days ago. In the manga section of my local Borders I saw Megatokyo Vol 1-4; and Volume 3 of Absolute Boyfriend. <grump> I was restrained; I know that if I get myself into financial straits no one's going to bail me out. Essentials have to come first or life'll just get messy.

The school camp is at the end of this term. Up until Monday afternoon the cubs were determined they weren't going. I told them they had to tell their teachers - knowing full well that their teachers would try to talk them in to changing their minds.
Cubs are enthusiastic about the camp now. I hope it's fun for them; they did kinda sorta have fun last year, despite some teasing and bullying. <sigh>
Better make a list of stuff I'll have to buy...

I know the end of term is approaching cos my, at best, half-hearted organisation is slipping even more. Some mornings I really do have to give myself a stern talking to once the alarm's gone off. The idea of staying in bed and just letting the day slide is too tempting. :)

I don't have the same sort of problems with numbers as Joules but I do have my moments. For example, I've been very conservative with the music on my phone - deleting stuff so I can put more on... Until it dawned on me that 50000ish kb isn't 5 megs, it's 50. <shakes head> And that's just what's left on the memory card, there's almost the same amount free in the phone's memory as well. D'oh!
I've been thrashing my anime playlist recently, too. Wonderful! I've got a few tracks from Noir, including my song-of-the-moment Salva Nos. It's the 'action' theme, operatic techno sung in Latin. Marvelous stuff. There's something very poignant about 'Save us, God; Give us peace' being sung over vicious gun battles. Makes me shiver.
What else have I got? Opening theme to Excel Saga, Akira, Gravitation and X; 'Sound of Life' and 'First Donuts' from Trigun; the CCO 808 theme from the dubbed version (it's got more balls than the original); a pure percussion track, 'Tatakai no taiko' from Mononoke Hime; 'Shinma no Kodou' from Vampire Princess and 'Gessekai' from Nightwalker, both really atmospheric tracks. I did have 'Eden' (Yami no Matsui) but it conflicted somehow with the phone software. It would play the track... and then shut down. But I deleted the file and everything seems to be back to normal now. And <sobs> unfortunately 'Cloud Age Symphony' from Last Exile, and 'Gravity' from Wolf's Rain won't play! Which is distressing cos combined they're 12 minutes of teh love. Ah well, I might be able to find another copy of them someplace.
Thank you Joules, and Onna, for the various additions to my music library. <g>

I know the weather's beginning to warm up cos I'm able to spread the butter with relative ease.
<grumble> And the countdown's on. September 1st is only <counts on fingers> 3 days away. I'm expecting to see xmas decorations appearing for sale any day now...

The school library was officially opened this morning, after the weekly assembly. Fortunately I had the foresight to boot up the 'puter before the entire school trooped in cos the principal wanted to have a little 'first book borrowed' ceremony. (<g> Actually, the borrower was about the fourth person to use the system, but I didn't think there was any need to say so...)
But, the library is operational now, I even wrestled the database software into a headlock until it did what I wanted! (Gosh, that makes me sound butch [like 'hutch'] but no, really I only read the manual.)
And I definitely don't want to take credit for it all. Had lots of help from other volunteers, shifting the books over from the portable school and getting them on to the shelves. Let's face it, if that'd all been left up to me I'd still be wading through boxes! Yea, for I am a work-shy wee mousie...

The school concert wasn't as traumatic as I'd feared. We had the junior and senior school brass bands (from now on to be one combined band); the junior choir and the middle-school choir. The preps - wearing afro wigs - did a little dance to 'Blame it on the Boogie' and were naturally well-received. We were also treated to a Road Safety display from another grade - which made me giggle cos one of the songs was from a television commercial here years ago and I remembered the cheeky version my friend Jackie used to sing.
Both the cubs' grades performed plays but unfortunately the stage's sound system sucked and it was hard to hear what was going on. All the kids did very well, though, especially the lead in the Sherlock Holmes play. He would've had to have been the gayest Holmes I've ever seen, and performed so unselfconciously. <g> I foresee a future NIDA graduate...
The evening wound up earlier than expected, thank all the gods; it'd been a long, long day for the children. It was good to see that the weeks of rehearsal had been worth it though. The hall was packed - I'd be curious to know how much money the school made from the event. Not just from ticket sales but from the tea and coffee and snacks as well. That's one thing you can't accuse our Parent Committee of, being shy of making the most of a fund-raising opportunity.

(And, oh bother, I miscalculated. It's three weeks 'til the end of term, not two. <pout> Eh well, they'll be here before I'm ready for them anyway.)

I'm feeling justifiably smug. I managed to find the cub a costume coat, scarf and waistcoat for $7. I love op shops.
I also got another couple of fistfuls of attractive cutlery for next to nothing and I paid $7 for a dictionary that's the size of the combined Melbourne phone books. I'm a happy woman...
It's a neat dictionary, too. Circa 1968, Webster's (which is American, I think, but it spells colour, honour and centre correctly, with notes on the American spelling) and illustrated in colour. <g> There's hours of browsing amusement here.

Next week is the final Bollywood Dancing class for the term and our teacher suggested that we might like to dress-up for the occasion. Hee, I won't be going so far as a sari but I do have a set of ankle bells. There should be another class next term and I'll be signing up for that as well, I've really enjoyed this. Plus I continue to be pleased with how quickly I pick up the steps. :) That decade or more of dance in my youth obviously hasn't been wasted.

Look! ↑ ↑ ↑ I can do arrows!
No no no, I jest, that's not what I'm excited about.
Joules has coaxed the blog template into accepting a link to my Flickr account! Neat, eh? <g> Thanks, Joules!

I admit that being lazy and procrastinative [eh?] can sometimes get me into difficulties. I'm not sure, though, if the latest aggravation is entirely my fault.
The cubs' school is having a Concert [and there were groans there was much rejoicing]. The Concert is this Thursday night but I've known about it for weeks. I discover today that one of the cubs doesn't have a costume...
Being lazy and procrastiwotsit I tend to take a laissez faire attitude to school. I rely on written notification - or failing that, a quick word from a teacher - to let me know if there's anything I should/need to see to. If I don't get a note then I assume there isn't a problem. I understand that teachers are busy and shouldn't be expected to micro-manage everything but still, I had no idea about the cub's costume. The other cub had his costume provided so I assumed...
Anyway, tomorrow after Bollywood Dancing I'll be trawling 'round the op-shops looking for a codger coat and hat/scarf. <sigh> I could really be doing without this last minute franticness.

And I suppose needing to go costume hunting tomorrow is another reason I can't accept a free ticket to a (matinee) dress rehearsal of Camelot. I was offered one today and it was very tempting but I had to decline. Not only was it very short notice but it would've meant reorganising a doctor's appointment after school plus running the risk of not getting back from the city in time to pick the cubs up from After Care if the thing ran overtime. <sigh> Too much like hard work, alas. Eh, I'll placate the fluffy bunny by dragging out the DVD and having a good sniffle.

Had a surprise visit from Soulsis on the weekend! And she came bearing really cool gifts! A pair of scissors with goldfish pics on the blades; a crab/lobster apron with matching serviettes (hee); a copy of a Bumper Book of Fun!! thing I put together years ago as a joke; and a 1983 issue of National Geographic that has an article about an artist using eclectic trash in his work. (Inspired? Oh yes.) <g> Now I have a reason to hang on to the crap I find...