I'm back

So I got back really late Friday night, more like Sat morning, got back to the house 3amish it was. Plane delayed blah blah, my last day west was driving and waiting at the airport then flying. I had a brilliant trip. Lots of driving, which I really enjoy and lots of nature, after Perth.

I met Sarah Toa. What a woman. She took me to Fremantle and we put our feet in the Indian Ocean. She showed me the only building in town that could be the one from Winton's Eyrie. Sarah also showed me some beautiful spots outside Albany. We went caving, ate oysters fresh off the rocks (she had a pocket knife, of course, like a good bush-woman), swam, talked about sharks. I hugged a perfect-sized rock and it was sun warm and broad. I was feeling a bit homesick by then. I saw Grass Trees for the first time (formerly called Black Boys) and they were like something out of a book. A Dr Seuss book called The Lorax. At one beach we met a man Sarah knew who 'doesn't really do people' but who wouldn't stop talking to us, we had to pull away to get going again (I think he had about 2 years' worth of words stored up) and also William McInnes, whose chest Sarah tried to bite.

I kept finding myself talking aloud even when I was alone. 'Fuck, how gorgeous' and 'god, so beautiful.' It is a stunning part of the world.

I'm happy to be home, because even though I thought I could sneak across and not miss much here - quiet time of year and all that - it turned out I missed a bit. P had her prefect induction; she also had Art camp. Then Ali arrived, and there was a murder that my sister and bro-in-law were loosely connected to. She texted me the first Saturday I was away, and told me about it, amongst other things (also wanting to ask for more details about a thing our dad was caught up in 30 years ago, which I blogged about here before in my Bad '80s Diaries, now in drafts. Not sure if anyone will remember/have read about that.) I was spurred on in my homesickness too because Ali arrived Thursday and while P handled it, by the time I got back he'd been here, had gotten her keys from her, spent time here getting rugs out of the garage and spread them all around the back yard to air them out. Today he put some up on the flat roof part of the back of the house. I don't mind about the rugs, they are his, but to get keys to our house?

Sigh.

To complain that we'd put a couch in front of his rugs and therefore stopped the air circulation, which was starting mould.

Sigh.

To complain that I'd 'let the bank close his account' (because he hasn't been here three years, there was zero balance.)

Sigh.

And to ask me for a secondary card on my visa account. Because he had one before. When we were married.

Sigh.

As my husband said: he's got some balls. Seriously, I think the man is all testicle.

But at least he has his gf here, and at least I wasn't here to pick them up from the airport. So, all good.

Haven't been writing, have been struggling to read. P and I are re-watching True Blood. There's no publisher news to report, and while it's not killing me as much as this time last year, it's still a bit tough, the waiting.

We shall see. We shall see.

So I'll probably lie a bit low here for a week or so I think, as I catch myself up with real life, after my amazing time away. I'll be back a bit later. What's your news?

the oysters were had

we had them last night. half a doz coffin bays. delish. off the shell, no lemon, just like i promised. then we had seafood pasta - pan fried salmon fillets, broken up, baby clams sauteed in spring onion, garlic and vodka (no white wine) and large, fresh, green prawns - then all tossed through the spaghetti with olive oil glugging out of the 4-litre canister.

as dorothy michaels put it so well: heaven, sheer heaven.

in other news:

1. princess was introduced to animal farm. i do believe she enjoyed it the most out of all the cinema 101 offerings. she liked the fact that there was a story she could get a handle on (animal liberation) and tolerated the idea that there was a deeper, political allegory at work as well.

2. in west wing we are up to the bit where donna has fallen for the christian slater character, josh seems to be suffering some sort of un-articulated wistful lovey stuff towards donna, she has, i think, just left in the snow on a chopper to make her connection for getting away on her well-deserved holiday. i smell disaster.

3. i have the most beautiful arrangement of fushia-pink peonies, and a few white ones. they are so pretty i can't stop looking at them, and they make me shudder with delight.

4. i am really, really happy that we have a bit of a clothesline now, out the back, hanging off the edge of my balcony. we live in apartment, it's a funky secret life of them apartment, and with 5 of us in here, plus a gigi, it's at times like living on a ship, which also doubles as a chinese laundry, with clothes-horses galore and racks over the bath with lines of shirts and school dresses. we are bursting at the seams, and my mind keeps turning to our wedding presents, and my books, all in storage along with a ton of other stuff.

5. i have a mad, crazy-scientist type plan to renovate. and go up. we are top floor in the building. things are happening in this direction, ie i am making enquiries, i have an architect friend who is starting to do some drawings, and i had a builder come and look. he said "anything is possible." i like this builder, because he didn't laugh at my idea and more importantly, seems to want the business. the people next door to us are also keen to explore this possibility. i promise now if i can make this thing happen, i will have achieved a great thing. i also promise to invite you for champagne should i be able to pull this off.

6. we have gold class tickets and i am insisting we use them to go and see australia. i know there's a lot of bad talk around it, but i am determined to see it, and fairly determined to like it. i know everyone's banging on about nicole kidman, everyone's come out of the closet and are saying how detestable she is. i admit i haven't been one of those nicole-haters, in the past i couldn't see why some people would get so riled about her. but now, i can see that she seems a bit past her use-by date. that's the best way i have of putting it. she has jumped the shark and i hope she doesn't ruin the movie. for i do love baz and his shows. we'll see. oh, and please no comments about the movie if you've seen it. let's wait until i have, then we can have a free-for-all.

7. lately, i am missing old blogging friends. bevis, for one, has dropped off the radar. he had a new baby recently and that's great, and i suppose i should go and chase him up more, but i miss him being around. and he was always very around. yesterday i was browsing through some old i'm not craig posts, the earlier ones, and it's like reading other people making comments. so witty and fresh. now, it's different. still good, but different. i miss sublime, and rowena and steph and m_m.

i miss fluffy and ms fits and aleks.

i miss groverjones and ladycracker and nadine.

i miss cotton.

but most of all, i think i miss gianluca di milano.

yes, there are new friends. but still, le sigh.