The roses in Adelaide are in full bloom at the moment and I have to admit that I haven’t seen roses like this ever. They are bright, colourful and plenty flowers per bush. The Jacaranda trees are also in bloom now and make me think of Pretoria.
Fruit also have mysteriously acquired the taste that I remembered them having as a kid but which has disappeared from the RSA fruit. I actually stopped eating fruit because they tasted so bland in Cape Town. I miss the grapes from the Cape street vendors though; the ones here are from USA!
And so summer arrived with a vengeance. This week the temperatures are over 30 for a few days! I rode to work on the motorbike this morning with shorts and a golf shirt! It doesn’t cool down much during the evening when the breeze comes over this vast desert north of Adelaide. Fortunately we have an evaporative cooler.
To Michael’s delight the neighbour has one of these small blow-up pools that she got going the other day. I suppose he’s going to make a pest of himself there. He also managed to work himself into joining them on their farm for the weekend! He thoroughly enjoyed it; he caught some fish but the Quad bike was broken.
Michael’s girlfriend, her mom and “irritating” little sister visited the other day. When I asked why she is irritating: she apparently organises posses of her friends to chase him around at school! They stay close to us so I expect we will visit more often.
We got so tired of the terribly bland pizzas that we attempted our own this weekend. Not as easy as it looks and sounds. The dough was not right as became crumbly and the girls (Carina and Marelene) piled too much stuff on. Tasted OK after a few beers! Tried again a week later with different dough and less toppings and it was really good.
We also decided to treat ourselves with a Breville coffee machine. This is the type that forces the water through the coffee grind. We are experimenting with making “flat whites” and cuppachinos at the moment. All very scientific you know: You have to grind your own beans and only extract 60ml of coffee and then add water and/or heated or frothed milk. The finer you grind the coffee the better the extraction but the coffee grind has to be compacted and twisted to exact maximum flavour! This does make even Mug&Bean’s coffe taste like brown water in comparison. Next step will be to start removing the sugar and milk and one day I can be a purist.
And so it happened that in the early hours (00h45) of Thursday 20 Nov 2008 that I was pulled over to blow in the little pipe for the first time in my life. I was out with colleagues for dinner but fortunately I was a good boy and stayed within the limits! I even declined the “loopdop”! Raar maar waar: as they say in the movies!
Our Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/strumfie
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
October News
Carina got her first speed fine: $207 (R1800) for doing 68 in a 60 zone! It was delivered within 3 days of the offence! If you pay late it is an additional $100 (R800). Now she is not allowed to go and drink coffee in the shops till the end of the year! This is not because I’m cruel, coffee just cost so much also. Our coffee cost more than petrol per month!
Something I noticed the other day is the lack of stop streets and signs! I have also figured out why everyone with V8’s are forever spinning their wheels to the point of melting the tar: they are frustrated by having to travel 60 with all that potential power! I felt it yesterday on the bike!
We entertained the first Ozzies at our house and we should be seeing more of them as Carina and SAM get along well and Jim and I are both bikers and love to help the kids with playing some of the car games on PC and PS3! Carina is also making friends with 2 of the neighbours. Carina and Di are walking every morning. Erica threatened to join but hasn’t managed to get up yet.
We moved Michael to a new Karate club where he got credit for the training he has done to date, unlike the club at his school. He was also awarded the Orange belt. Last week he demonstrated how to do the splits! As you can see his Sense is very proud of him, but not nearly as much as his mom and dad.
Michael’s Karate club: http://www.karateclub.synthasite.com/
Our Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/strumfie
Something I noticed the other day is the lack of stop streets and signs! I have also figured out why everyone with V8’s are forever spinning their wheels to the point of melting the tar: they are frustrated by having to travel 60 with all that potential power! I felt it yesterday on the bike!
We entertained the first Ozzies at our house and we should be seeing more of them as Carina and SAM get along well and Jim and I are both bikers and love to help the kids with playing some of the car games on PC and PS3! Carina is also making friends with 2 of the neighbours. Carina and Di are walking every morning. Erica threatened to join but hasn’t managed to get up yet.
We moved Michael to a new Karate club where he got credit for the training he has done to date, unlike the club at his school. He was also awarded the Orange belt. Last week he demonstrated how to do the splits! As you can see his Sense is very proud of him, but not nearly as much as his mom and dad.
Michael’s Karate club: http://www.karateclub.synthasite.com/
Our Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/strumfie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
