The house has been messy for over a week. Just a couple of days before we trekked up to Ngambri the previous weekend, a tradie came around to do some work and the residual mess looked too much to be left alone but we simply didn’t have the time. Until this past weekend.

After waking up late and doing our usual round of brekky and dry cleaning drop off/pick up as well as some grocery shopping for a dinner party we were going to later that night, Tress and I got stuck right in. Tress spread out the dirt and mulch combo on the front and attacked the weeds. I trimmed, cut, pruned, raked and generally had a good go at the ever growing hedges around the house. It is probably around 6½ feet or so now. I left a couple of plants right at the far corner of the backyard, which have only been pruned once or twice. They’re probably around 12 or so feet tall…

After the hedges, I mowed and did further trimmings and kept going as long as the bin had room. The weather forecast had expected rain so we wanted to get as much done as we could… after sweeping up and putting all the tools away, I decided to give the car a wash. It was that sort of day where one expected the weather to turn for the worse and in trying to do stuff before that happened, ended up cramping a lot in. I think I overdid it – it was about 6 hours after starting that I finally hit the showers. After a long scrub and wash, all I could do was sit for a bit and dozed off a little while before we headed to Gerry and Jess’ for a dinner party.

The dinner was very good. Jess has been smitten with all things Korean so she laid on a full spread of Korean side dishes with the ubiquitous kimchi, while Gerry did the Korean styled barbequed beef and chicken. They also made a soup and served Korean rice wine to go with it all – really great touch.

After dinner I got cornered by someone – made me go through the whole story again about why I left LifeGate Church. It has become more matter of fact but it was still painful. LifeGate – ICC before it – had become an integral part of Tress and I. Leaving this church was always going to be an emotionally difficult exercise. It was however, a process I would have to go through – telling various people why I am doing this. I owe it to them. So this arvo I sent Gerry and Jess and email. I was going to tell them in person but having this person speak about it meant in all likelihood, they overheard my conversation and sort of knew bits and pieces of it.

Sunday was very quiet and peaceful. After church I did a quick check of the Wesley Mission food boxes at Blackburn North, and then headed home and went out to lunch with Tress, at Madam Kwong’s. Tress had a wedding later in the evening and I took the little black jedi for a walk – it was really nice.

We slept early, and I went to the gym this morning after a week’s break. After gym, I received a text with good news – Kiddo has successfully completed Year 1. She got the HD average that she needed to stay in the program, and hopefully she continues to work well next year. I hope this means it would be a restful summer…