Tress and I caught up with her auntie and uncle on Friday night, together with Jason and Mel. We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant near our home and it was a really good night of talking and eating. We were there from about 6.30pm, and didn’t leave till it was after 10pm. Making the effort to catch up this way was really good and being in a restaurant that allows for conversations and has no seating/dining sessions made so much more sense. The food, good as it was, was almost secondary.
Saturday saw us both working on the garden (me) and vacuuming (Tress). I had to get petrol for the mower and when we got back Tress started by doing a load of weeding and that was when the little furry man sort of got too relaxed and lied down wherever Tress was – even on the pebbled paths, other than the usual mulched flower beds. So I decided to bathe him and it had been a while since I did that so it was good to be able to thoroughly scrub him down and let the medicated shampoo work its way into him.
We finished late arvo and Tress did a quick home cooked lunch, before we headed out for some grocery shopping.
That night, I did a simple fish dish and marinated the chicken curry I wanted to cook for the next week, and the day ended with me feeling really relaxed.
We were on communion assistance duty at St Alf’s the next day so we got in a touch earlier than usual. We also stayed back a little longer, as we both decided we’d put in more effort this year, to mingle a bit more.
After lunch we got home, and I did the cook but not before I headed off to Bunnings to get some nettings to hold a shrub that is really healthy – it is slowly growing into the path of the driveway – so it gives the cars a less obtrusive path. After the cook and washup, we did the nettings, and Tress walked the little guy before we both cleaned up after the netting was done.
We had done a fair bit of housekeeping work over the weekend, but housekeeping of a different kind was what lingered at the back of my mind.
I am still wanting to work out what I need to focus on this year. The small group we are both part of remains ideologically challenged for us (it is so far left it might fall off a cliff somewhere). I remain entrenched in a job that takes me up to 2½ to 3 hours commuting time (return trip). The work remains interesting and reasonably well paid and I have built good relationships with my colleagues, but the commuting translates into early starts, and I often feel tired as a result. I have wondered, in recent weeks, if there are alternatives out there. By and large however, we’re both in a good place and I guess if we can find avenues to give more, the balance would be much better.
Ante 