The second half of last week ramped up a bit for both Tress and I, and we found ourselves a touch busier than usual.
On Wednesday, we both had our volunteer meetings. The Boards of both LinC and Steer often meet on Wednesday nights and last week, both ours happened at the same time. Thankfully hers ended a bit earlier than mine, which went on till well past 8pm. On Thursday, the St Alf’s home group met again at the Longs’ home and so we didn’t get back till about 10pm. On Friday, we caught up with Jason and Mel for dinner. This time, we went to the Box Hill RSL, which was quite nice so Tress and I thought we could go back some time. As usual, catching up with Jason and Mel entailed conversations about our children and church etc. We came home reasonably early (about 9pm) so that was good.
On Saturday, after taking the little Padawan for his weekend walk, we went to the Farmers’ home in Box Hill South. There was a morning tea catch up to chat about the work of a couple of staff workers with AFES, in Swinburne and Monash Universities. We discussed the broad remit of what the group (of about 9 of us, with 1 apology) would do to support the work that goes on in those two campuses and it was a good morning.
After that meeting, Tress and I went to lunch at our favourite joint in Donvale, after which we went and did some grocery shopping. We stopped for a coffee which was a very good respite. That night, we finally found some time to put up our feet with no other scheduled program to attend to. I marinated some chicken we had bought, in preparation for a little soiree the next day however, so the busy-ness hasn’t completely ebbed.
On Sunday, St Alf’s felt a touch busier than normal. Maybe people have mostly returned from their holidays, or maybe we had a reasonably good sleep the night before so I was more attuned to what’s happening around me. I have felt that in recent months, that has been true for me (more attuned to my surroundings) and that could be because I have given up alcohol. I think generally, I feel better so I hope I don’t return to some form of regular consumption. The occasional tipple may still be in the works but I hope there will be very few of those, and far between.
After St Alf’s we again went to our usual lunch spot in Donvale, after which we went home for some food preps. I took a snooze on the couch however, before the cooking frenzy began – just a quick 15 minute visit to la-la land. I cooked the week’s lunches, and then cooked the chook wings (“drummetes?”) on the Weber GA, and made a (satay-like) sauce from the marinate. Tress had gone to visit an ex-colleague at Peter James’ rehab hospital just down the road on Mahoney’s so I was king of the kitchen for nearly the whole arvo. The week’s lunches promptly got cooked and packed away in the freezer (and fridge), and then those wings smelled delicious as I put them on a plate to take to Alex and Li Har’s home. We caught up for an early dinner there. Alex cooked up a storm with his usual noodle dishes, and Li Har did a couple of very decent (Hakka styled) pork stew and a pork curry. Jason and Mel brought some “lor bak” and “kuih ketayap” (my favourite Malaysian desert) and the Hiis brought some yee-sang. The party started with the customary “loh hee”, for which I just stood nearby. I am beginning to have a poke at taking some firm steps in dissociating myself from these practices that are loaded with superstitions/emphasis on wealth and health. It’s such a fun thing to do however, and the salad is delicious so I guess that is why most just go along with it. It’s no biggie – just a little something that had been whispering in some corner of my mind which I thought I’d respond to.
We left Alex and Li Har’s soon after 8pm, and came back and played with the little one for a bit (and fed him his dinner) before retiring to bed. Waking up to another United win was a nice little oomph to push me for my Monday-morning-start-of-the-week-and-therefore-sluggish-run. I’m grateful for a busy week and blessings in abundance.
Ante 