This month.

Been a while since I posted anything here, so I have decided to publish a catch up post.

Our front yard has been such a mess, with all the winds we’ve been having over summer.   I thought I should at least rake all the leaves and twigs up. The thought of bending over and picking up the leaves to put into the bin made me feel ill, so when I saw our neighbour about to drive off with her oldest son, I called out over the fence to ask what the younger two were doing, and if they would like to earn a bit of pocket money. She said they would and when I asked how much to pay them, and would $10 be enough, she said "More than enough!" The two boys (12 and 14 approx.) appeared within minutes bringing their own rakes and gardening gloves, and their green wheelie bin. I raked, and they scooped everything up and piled it into the two bins. The yard was cleared in about 20 minutes - I was so grateful! I had $15 and two $50 bills in my purse, so I gave them the $15 and they ran off happily! Their Mum told me later I was way too generous! but if ever we needed help again, just call out.  Ken came home from Bunnings just as the boys were leaving with their bin and rakes, and he was as pleased as I was to have the yard cleaned up. So nice to have such kind (and young and fit!) neighbours!

My niece Susan's oldest son Peter was married last weekend and we attended the wedding with about 100 other guests. The church is a modern 'hall' type Anglican church (no spire, organ, or church pews as I remember them), and it seems that people can do their own thing and set it up however they like for a wedding.  Peter  is the president of the local brass band, so they were there to provide the music. He and his new wife  Lizzie set the church up the day before, with chairs covered in fabric and a bow tied around each chair. Afternoon tea was provided after the wedding in an adjacent hall, while caterers converted the church hall into a reception room with trestles and chairs, and a spit roast. 

 Here I am with Peter and his lovely bride Lizzie.  They are both tall, and I feel like I've shrunk when I see myself in photos next to taller people!

We had opted not to stay for the reception when we accepted the invitation, but stayed until about 5 pm circulating among the rellies, most of which we hadn't seen for a few years (apart from my brothers and their wives), and it was fun to catch up with the younger members of the family who had all grown about 2 feet since we last saw them as kids! It was so hot, as there was no air conditioning, so Ken and I were glad to get home and flake out in our nice cool home (we'd left the air con running while we were out. Thank you Mr Solar!)

On Sunday afternoon we visited Ken's cousin David and his wife Yaso, who live in Clifton Hill in a terrace house that was built in 1873 or thereabouts.  They are renovating it inside, but sympathetically to it's age, and it is looking fabulous. We piled 70 baby quilts in the back of the ute and delivered them to Yaso, who works with the PNG native people, and organises the distribution of our quilts to their babies. I was so pleased to get rid of all those boxes and bags out of our spare room!  We had a lovely afternoon tea with them, and Yaso showed me some of the saris she has brought back from her last trip home to Malaysia to see her mother.  She wants me to make a quilt from the saris but I’m reluctant to cut into such beautiful silk fabrics, so I’ll take it to some patchwork groups and see what they can advise.

Ken has been selling some of his Gouldian finches and quails, which helps to make room for all the newly hatched babies.  He bought two Princess Parrots recently and they are such a change from the smaller quiet finches;  We love hearing them chortling away to each other.

We had been having a cold drink while sitting watching the birds one day recently, and Tiger jumped up on the table and knocked over my empty glass.  He looked so guilty, I had to take a photo!

Melbourne Cat Cafe.

I was in the city with Ken today. He goes to a barber in Hardware Street every six weeks, and in recent months I've been driving him in and dropping him off there. Instead of him having to find somewhere to park then possibly have to walk a long way back to the barber, which he is unable to do now because of his breathing problems, I would rather find somewhere to park, and walk back to wait for him, then go and get the car to pick him up. Anyway, that's the background to me being in town today!

 For some reason, I remembered the Cat Cafe the other day, and decided that instead of hanging around waiting for Ken, I'd drop him off then go and find the Cat Cafe, which opened last year. I'd been meaning to go there ever since, but in the end just forgot about it until now. It isn't that far from Hardware Street, so I got a park on Queen street and walked up to it within about 2 minutes. Stayed there for half an hour and walked back to pick up Ken who had just finished having his hair cut. It wasn't quite what I expected, thinking there would be an actual cafe on the premises like in other countries, but I do remember reading that the Melbourne city council arked up about food being served among the cats, and so possibly the owners lost that battle. All the cats are on the first floor in various rooms, and if you want a coffee, a member of the staff brings it up to you from the ground floor. I didn't bother about coffee, as I was going to have a coffee with Ken later, so it only cost me $5 for half an hour. The usual fee is $10 just to spend an hour there!! Thought that was a bit rich, but apparently it is booked out for months ahead. I forgot you were supposed to book, and when I walked in off the street, the guy wasn't going to let me in, but when I said I'd only want a quick look because my car was on a meter, he relented and let me go up for half price. I asked why people needed to book, and he said they only allow a certain number of people up at one time so as not to stress the cats. There were only about 6 or 8 people up there when I went up, and about 10 cats. I bought a heap of kitty souvenirs. Ken said "What did you buy all that for?" and I said because it was cute LOL! Here are some photos: