Who invented driving anyway?

Man, learning to drive is STRESSFUL.

Oscar smooching in the garden

Sleepy head

Saffy is either 'on' or 'off'. I was using the flash right in her face here, and

she barely raised an eyebrow.

She's like this from around 10am - 4pm each day. She makes me laugh so much.

Success!

I just bought two lounges on ebay for $212.50 and I can feel the adrenaline pumping! Something about online auctions is just so exciting. I was quite careful about bidding - I watched who was bidding and figured it was likely to be one of those ones where all the action happens in the last 30 seconds, so I waited till there was only 9 seconds left to bid. And I won!

The lounges are in Berowra so I guess we will go and pick them up on the weekend. They are dark blue and only 2 years old, from Freedom, so hopefully they will be ok quality. We will probably put them in the front room and they will have to be Pet Free Zones, as I'm sure the pet hair will show up beautifully on the dark fabric. Hmmm.

I'm off now to recover from the excitement :)

Cleaning

This morning I have cleaned up our computer desk. I think it probably had about 6 months worth of stuff piled up on it and it's such a relief to be able to see the desktop again!

This is a sign that I am on holidays - I've had a few days of resting and getting Christmas stuff done, but now it's action stations - time to get things done that annoy me when I'm working but I don't have time to do normally. Usually this involves Putting Things Away or Rearranging A Room. I'm prone to starting with great enthusiasm and then deciding I've had enough when everything is strewn across the floor waiting to go to its new spot. The key is to pace myself and be realistic.

I think there's a therapeutic aspect to it - getting my house in order. I always do it when I'm on holidays, usually towards the beginning. Maybe it helps dispel some of the stress of working and then I can relax.

What are your holiday rituals?

Fruits of the Season

This is a baby cherry tomato, it's about 5mm wide.

Visitor

This chap was sitting outside our front door this morning. He let me get quite close with the camera - I think he was too scared to move!

Cammomile Euphrates McCann?

In an idle moment this evening, I've been trawling the internet for baby names. It's amazing what some people will call their kids - here are a few of the names that I will NOT be using:

• Cammomile
• ESPN (Yes, some people actually name their kids after a TV network!)
• Euphrates (isn't that a river?)
• Agamemnon ( I know this is a name from history but perhaps it should stay there...)
• Paprika

Slimy

Frogs aren't the only things that come out after rain around here...

Aha!!

I did some research tonight (thanks, Google!) and found out that the noisy creatures in our backyard are......

RED EYED TREE FROGS!!! (otherwise known as Litoria chloris).

There are more than 50,000 in the country, so I'm afraid UD's suggestion that they are a rare species only found in my backyard is sadly off mark.

Apparently the males call out from the ground after Spring and Summer rain,which is certainly what's going on here.

Adam discovered some tadpoles in a puddle under the deck today, so we might have a whole tribe of them if the rain keeps up. Hmmm, not sure I like that idea!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Those of you who have visited our house will know that Saffy is sometimes a little hyperactive. So we enjoy it when she's more relaxed!

Here she is tuckered out after a hard morning running around with a big stick in her mouth, knocking the edges of doorways as she barged through, and stealing my socks on the side.

And here she is being a washer woman...

Christmas tree

The Culprits!

The frogs were back in force tonight, I think they come out to play in the rain. We found two of them, amazing to think they are just hanging out in our backyard. I took a video of one making its noise - the camera doesn't pick up sound too well so it might not seem very loud to you but it's quite ear piercing in real life.

I can easily imagine them having little froggy personalities, they seem sort of cheeky to me.

You can see in the video how much his throat puffs up to make the noises. Adam thinks it sounds a bit like a car with a turbo - vroom vroom vrooom pish!

Minnie working on her next opus

Drama at the Dog Wash

We had the dog wash man around today. Saffy screamed her head off the whole time she was in there, but came out smelling much nicer (and looking whiter, until she rolled in the dirt. Hmmm.) It was a bit of an ordeal - no wonder we only do it every 6 months or so!