Kiddo and Mic left Melbourne a few days ago. They did not however, return to Canberra straight away. They went to Daylesford for a few days. It was to be their last quiet couples moments before the little one arrives. They did a detour to Ballarat to drop off Milo at a sitter’s and were to pick him up again on Saturday.
Ballarat is just under a couple of hours away, so I suggested we catch up there for lunch/coffee, before they make their way back to Canberra. So on Saturday, Tress and I drove up there. The little Padawan came along, as Tress wanted to be able to spend time with the Canberrans in Ballarat, without being stressed out by the little fellow being left at home. Unlike LBJ, who is a lot more chilled and happy to be left alone, the Padawan is much more highly strung and is often just looking out for Tress (mainly) or I. Hopefully it’s just a puppy thing and when he turns 2 in March, he’d be more settled and chilled.
When we got to Ballarat, we headed directly to Lake Wendouree and walked the little fellow for a bit. We quickly walked past a nice looking cafe and walked up to get a table. It was just past noon, and Tress said it was one of a few of those dog friendly ones I had found on the net a couple of days before. Kiddo and Mic and Milo had been at the Eureka Stockade place earlier that morning and joined us soon after we settled down at the cafe and with the sun blazing down on a warm and sunny day, it felt wonderful, albeit a bit hot. After lunch, we walked around the lake for a bit, before heading off to the Botanical Gardens. It was busy, with many folks taking advantage of a glorious day to soak up the sun and fresh air. We said our goodbyes after some ice cream, and left soon after 3pm. We got home just before 5pm and feasted on some fruits for dinner that night.
On Sunday, Tress had a colleague’s wedding to attend. So I headed to St Alf’s by myself, picked up lunch after for Tress and I to quickly have a bite before a colleague of hers picked her up from our home for the wedding. Left alone from about 1pm, I did some grocery shopping, then headed back home to do some cooking and watch the cricket. It was the last game of the South Africans’ tour of Australia. It was a dead rubber, as the Aussies had won the first two games, with David Warner picking up an amazing double ton at the MCG for the Boxing Day match. I cooked our lunches and the doggies’ meals, washed up and busied myself just pottering around the house. It was another hot day, with temperatures hovering around 32/33 deg for most of the day. With all the cooking and cleaning all done and the kitchen tidied up, and with the cricket finished in a draw (which the SCG is famous for – drawn matches), I watched a couple of episodes of John Krasinski’s “Jack Ryan” before Tress came home.
Two warm days of outdoor cafes, walks, ice cream, cricket and chilled white wine. The weekend had felt like summer had finally arrived.
Ante 