Summer beckons, and that means cricket is in the air. On Friday, the first Test match of the Ashes series started in Perth. I watched bits of it and followed it intermittently on radio. It was a bit of a frenzy, with wickets tumbling – 19 fell on the first day…

On a different note, not long after we started going to St Alfred’s Anglican Church at Blackburn North, we became part of a homegroup that met at the Maurys. Matthew was the CEO of Tearfund Australia then, and Susan lead the group. They were from the US and worked for a long time in ministry in Africa (South Africa), before moving to Australia.

Late last year, Matthew started a role with ACFID (Australian Council for International Development) that is based in Canberra and when that role took on a longer term nature, Susan joined him here. They have been living and working in Canberra for a few months and last week, they messaged us and we caught up for dinner on Saturday. It was really nice to chat about families, St Alf’s and our lives generally, again. The lovely food at the Namaste Indian Restaurant was a bonus.

Kiddo and her mob had attended a Wiggles concert earlier that day and the kids went to Mic’s parents at Gungahlin while the Kiddo and Mic went on a lunch date. So we didn’t see the two little angels till Sunday, at SBC.

Earlier on Saturday, we had walked the pooches to the Kambah playing fields and peeked at the little neighbourhood Christmas pop up stalls at Kambah Village, before coming home to leave little Oreo at home and went to Belco for lunch. I had missed the best Malaysian food in Canberra for some weeks so I was very much looking forward to this.

After lunch, we came back and I started on working on the lawns and the garden beds, while Tress went for a hairdresser appointment. It was an overcast Saturday arvo and I worked at a leisurely pace while listening in on Day 2 of the Test in Perth. I had also borrowed Mic’s little electric chainsaw, to cut down a few stumps of little shrubs and trees that I had cut down some months before. It was just after the lunch break in Perth when I was winding up and the score was 1-62 with Aus bowling at the English, trailing the Poms somewhat. I thought it was going to be a hard slog for the Aussies and the English would probably win in 3 days, or certainly not seeing any play for Day 5.

I cleaned up, and just after 4pm, as I settled down to watch the game, Boland picked up a few wickets, with the English batters sloppily attempting drives at balls flying down wide and on the up. Boland had ably deputised superstar Starc, who had spectacularly did a bowled and caught earlier in the day and who was almost certainly going to get 10 wickets for the match.

When Tress came back close to 5 and we then headed for dinner with the Maurys, England was still batting, albeit with the tailenders adding to a lead that was just past 200 runs.

After dinner, while driving back, I turned the radio on to ABC Sports and the commentators went on about Travis Head’s feat. Little did I know Aus was closing in on a famous and miraculous win. We got home in time to see Smith smack one square on the off side for the winning run. A win, inside 2 days – a resurrection quicker than Lazarus, with Head blazing the second fastest Ashes 100. I had seen Gilchrist get the fastest (also in Perth) but apparently Head’s is more breathtaking (from the sounds of it). Somehow, he didn’t win MOTM (Starc did) but even this morning, I was still trying to catch up on “what just happened”.

Sorry, Matthew and Susan – catching up with you guys was very nice, but my memory of this past weekend will, like the rest of Australia, be the one with Head removing his helmet, shake his head with that ridiculous haircut, enroute to that “what just happened” win. A “Travball” performance (mocking the English “Bazball” moniker) to remember. Sir Alex Ferguson famously said “Football, bloody hell”. I am inclined to say the same thing about cricket, especially the Ashes Down Under.

On most Saturday mornings, when the weather is clear, Tress and I would get the little Padawan (a.k.a. Oreo) into the car and we’d drive to Kiddo’s. We’d take Milo and we’d all walk towards the playing fields at the end of Boddington Crescent. We love to see these pooches running around the fields. They look really happy and the backdrops of various hills surrounding the fields provide really good scenic views and it’s a part of our weekend that I really enjoy. Often, when we get back about a couple of hours later, Oreo would be pooped and look quite contented to have a bit of shut eye as we go about our weekend errands.

Tress was supposed to meet up with someone from SBC and I had planned on cleaning the barbies and hopeful of some cooking time on them over the coming warmer weekends. As I was headed to Bunnings to pick up some Seasol etc., Tress message me to say her appointment has been cancelled as the person she was supposed to meet was unwell. So I headed home, got cleaned up and we headed to Woden. I returned David Day’s Young Hawke at the Woden library. Again, the timing of this read was fortuitous as towards the end, it told the story of the dismissal of Whitlam’s Government by Kerr.

Gough Whitlam’s had been such a pivotal government that was so eventful that its sacking remained a ripe talking point, especially as the 50th anniversary took place. That it overshadowed other parts of Remembrance Day annoyed many who prized 11 November each year. Whitlam was sacked as PM on 11 Nov 1975. I first came across this historic event when at UNSW, doing a subject on Constitutional Law (or course). Phillip Jensen, in his Campus Bible Study talks, also referred to Whitlam’s many changes, including the Marriage Act which made faultless divorce possible, so Whitlam’s impact became etched in my mind. I kept reading on this event thereafter so David Day’s reference to it felt like driving past a small little town. Blink and miss. It caught my attention only because the media had been full of it, no less by the likes of Paul Kelly of The Australian, a journo I followed and read closely.

Anyway, Tress and I then had lunch at Ramen O, a little shop just behind the library, which has fast become our Saturday favourite lunch spot. I said to Tress I really enjoy the texture of the noodles. It reminded me of the best “wanton mee” I had in Klang as a younger person, especially the dry version. The broth the folks at Ramen O whip up is a perfect bath for the “just right” bouncy noodles. I have been having the mildly spicy version in recent weeks.

After lunch, we did grandparents duty and looked after Zoe at the Westfield at Woden, as Kiddo attended to Abby who was napping in the car. Tress and I had one of those really lovely arvos as grandparents. Later that evening, we bought some takeaway from the local Italian (providentially also named “Pronto”) and they came over to our home, had dinner, had loads of playtime, before they went back and got ready for Sunday.

Early Sunday morning, Tress and I had a quick brekky and then we headed out to Stromlo Forest Park. I had signed up for my first little run at the Stromlo Running Festival. It was only the 5km, so I did no training whatsoever. It was a beautiful morning however and running through the beautiful Stromlo Forest was a blessing. I hope to do more of this.

After the run, we headed to SBC for an unusual service. Schools had been shut by an asbestos stained play sand so Namadgi School was unavailable. Thankfully, the leaders at SBC managed to get a cinema at South Point so we had the service there. Not ideal, but at least we met, and were able to do the basics. We also had a quick chat with Josh, a recent Canberran from Melbourne like us, whose wife Kaela is expecting their firstborn. Josh told us they’d be heading back to Melbourne so we’d miss them.

It was a full weekend. Fun, tiring but all so fulfilling for so many reasons.

The days are longer now. In fact, we’re heading towards summer solstice which is a mere 6 weeks away. So, as we head home from Kiddo’s in recent days, we see the Tidbinbilla range in its splendour, as the sun sets against our line of sight. On weekends, when Tress, the little guy and I walk on our “weekend route” sans Milo, the furry friend from Kiddo’s mob, we take in the same scenic sights. It really is a pretty little pocket.

The weather is warming up now, albeit we get days of the lingering cold that are reluctant to say goodbye. Generally, it’s warmer enough, and the days long enough, for the barbie to be fired up again. So, yesterday, after a “new comers’ lunch” at SBC, Tress and I went and got some steaks, salmon fillets, and other stuff to go a barbie for Kiddo and her mob.

I fired up the GA again and it was wonderful to have Kiddo, Mic and the girls in our home, eating and playing and allowing their full toddler and infant antics to be demonstrated unabated. It was a wonderful way to end the weekend.

This morning, Tress and I woke up earlier than usual, and trekked into the city. Steer Inc. sponsored a table at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Parliament House and Garth had asked if Tress and I would like to be there. It was good to see Garth again, and though the event was nice, it probably needed more work to have more traction as a prayer event.

The keynote address was delivered by John Dickson, a familiar voice for me as I’m a regular listener of his Undeceptions podcast.

There were also short talks by Michelle Rowland the Attorney General (which was underwhelming) and Susan Ley, the Opposition Leader, who must have thought she needed all the prayers she can get, as the Liberals tanked badly in the latest polls. Her speech was a bit better than the AG’s but that may have been because it was more heartfelt. It sounded like it came from her heart, much more than the AG’s speech was.

We had offered Garth to stay with us when he came up but he stayed with the parents of his daughter’s newly acquired husband. Graeme and Linda Tinney are Canberrans and they were at the event so I got to talking a bit with them. We also bumped into John Steenhof and his daughter Annaliese. Tress had a few of her World Vision Australia colleagues there too and we also spotted the likes of Andrew Hastie and Matt Canavan and of course, David Smith, our MP (Bean electorate) who is a co-chair of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship (together with a Queensland rep). I haven’t been in a room with so many pollies for a long time. Thankfully, the Great Hall of the Parliament is cavernous so there was enough air to go around.

We got back around 9am and I quickly logged onto work.