November 2023 - Family time at home

A very quiet month which we divided between Melbourne and Rye. The Spring weather was as unpredictable as ever and we were in jeans and long sleeves more than we were in t-shirts! 

We spent some time catching up on household jobs and did some Spring gardening. Two houses and two gardens to maintain is a lot but it keeps us busy. Andrew has tackled some bigger gardening projects and hung some artwork - an example is pictured below!!

L turned 23 and N turned 26 so we had big family dinners. We also had all the kids (except N) at Rye over the Cup Day unofficial long weekend so there were more big gatherings! 

I finished my travel writing course (can’t recall whether I had mentioned that but it was an online, self-paced course). I enjoyed it and I have implemented quite a few of the lessons but Editors are still ignoring me. Ah well…persistence hey?!

I actually had a little reflection about not having teenagers any more published in “The Australian.” No payment of course and the paper didn’t even tell me they were publishing it so lucky I saw it! It was still exciting to see my name in print!

My Dad was unwell and in hospital again for 8 days. I was lucky that he was not hospitalised whilst I was in Palm Cove. I am hoping that the run of luck continues as I go to Buenos Aires tomorrow and then on to a cruise of Antarctica. I’ll have a lot to say about that adventure I am sure next month.

For now, I am both excited and nervous. Excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity, excited about going to Buenos Aires and Ushuaia (first time for both), excited about seeing Antarctica (also the first time) and excited about travelling on a super luxury cruise (Scenic Eclipse). On the other hand, nervous. Nervous about leaving Australia when my Dad is unwell, nervous about the long haul flights, nervous about being on a ship literally in the middle of nowhere and nervous about having no freedom off the ship. I do have a bad habit of overthinking!!

We needed to buy a bit of cold weather gear but we were conscious of not going overboard (excuse the pun!) I think I am as organised as I can be. Before we leave, I wanted to finalise the Christmas shopping - is it really almost Christmas????? – and put up the Christmas tree. We’ll get home a week before Christmas but, hopefully, I can just enjoy that week and not have to run around like a headless chook!

Anyway, like most of my good intentions, I haven’t quite got there. The Christmas shopping is all but done (thank goodness for the creation of Black Friday sales!) but the Christmas tree is still in the shed. Oh well, if the kids want the tree up badly enough, they can do it. (Footnote from December, they did put the Tree up and decorate it and the Tree looked beautiful).

Off to Buenos Aires tomorrow. Cross fingers!!


 


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