Dog Kisses

There is nothing quite like the love of a pet. Our ancient dog Bella just loves everyone in our family and she shows it. Thursday family dinner night is her favorite night of the week as we all arrive and she gets all the kisses and cuddles she could want. But in return get the unconditional and absolute love of our devoted dog.

You can't beat it.

And now for something completely different ...

Tonight S and I decided to do something different, we went to a screening by the ANU Anime Society. S was quite into Anime when he was at uni but my exposure has really only been a smattering of the more famous films. Still it did mean I had a bit of an idea of what I was in for and I was not disappointed.

There were random lyrics to pop tunes to start. Doe eyes and massive boobs galore. Storylines that veered in seemingly inexplicable directions. Fight scenes with improbable levels of gore and just moments that made no sense whatsoever. Our favourite of these was when a pretty standard fight morphed into a battle between a cross dressing zombie wielding a chainsaw and a nearly naked attractive witch mostly covered with a cloak. The zombie was the good guy.

Of course it all actually looks fantastic. The artwork behind Anime is really quite impressive if highly stylised.

It certainly was a completly different but fun evening.

Mmmm fresh sheets

I thought I would take advantage of some of Canberra's beautiful weather at the moment and so did a bit of spring (well autumn) cleaning which included airing out all my bedding in the sun for a day.

I read a statistic a little while ago about the very few people in the Western world who sun dry their clothes anymore.  American's in particular seem to think it is rude to air your smalls in public!  I spoke to an American colleague about this and she agreed that when she arrived in Australia she could just not believe her eyes when she saw glimpses of washing hanging out in the backyard.  All I can say is that they have no idea what they are missing out on.  Aside from the environmental benefits of not using a dryer,  I don't think there is anything that quite compares with the sun in how fresh it makes washing smell.

After a day in the sun, all my bedding seems a bit warmer, fluffier and more comforting, plus I get to bring a little of that Autumn sunshine into bed.

Just lovely!!

Autumn in Canberra

Autumn is such a spectacularly beautiful time in Canberra.  Clear blue skies, gorgeous multi-coloured trees, warm days, cool nights and the afternoons have a particularly golden light that makes everything just a little more lovely.

This coming weekend daylight saving will end and very soon it will be dark by the time I head out of the office, so this week I'm making an extra special effort to notice the beautiful afternoons and lovely light as I head home for the day.  My drive past the lake, now lined with gold and red trees and lit by the soft evening sunshine will be all the more appreciated in the knoweldge that I won't be seeing it for very many more days.  The avenue of trees I drive down is extra beautiful as the leaves turn knowing that soon they will be bare branches against the sky (not that it isn't beautiful in its own way).

This Autumnal beauty might be fleeting, but I'm sure enjoying it while it lasts.

Sunday afternoon

I have had a fantastic day in which I did lots of great things so it was hard to pick one. Rather than blog about the big things I've decided to write about something small that may normally escape notice.

There is a magical hour each afternoon where my family room is filled with sunshine. In summer I block it out but as the days have become cooler I'm welcoming it back in. The room gets filled with a beautiful golden light and it is the perfect time to curl up in the couch with a cup of tea and the weekend papers. It is just such a lovely, comfortable, relaxed time - life at it's best and a golden moment to be treasured.

Improving my education

It may be that I've led a somewhat sheltered life but I've never seen a stripper in the flesh (so to speak) before. That is until tonight and now I feel quite educated.

S and I went out for a dance tonight only to find our chosen venue closed for a private function. So we headed over the road to what is normally a funky, quiet cocktail bar. But tonight it had been taken over by a moulin rouge themed hen's party. We found ourselves a seat at the other end of the bar and had just got our cocktails when the first stripper arrived. He was clad in a fireman outfit and S helpfully changed seats so I could see better.

I have to say as a dancer I just wasn't that impressed. True he was fairly nicely put together but his poorly timed gyrations did little for me. A while later the music began pumping again and S commented there was now a cop in the house. I checked it out and commented that unless I was very much mistaken this new stripper was a woman! It seemed to be a very enlightened hen's party catering for all tastes.

So now I guess I've had a view of both sides of the stripping world. What an educational night.

Home made pizza

Tonight we made the yummiest pizzas. Lebanese bread bases, the first with Brie and pancetta, sage, olives and cherry tomatoes and the second with carrot, potato, chilli haloumi and oregano.

They were awesome! So delicious, flavoufull and healthy. What a fantastic meal.