Wow, Linda, that place is gorgeous. The spring show sounds wonderful, just what everybody needs after a harsh winter.
I think we'll be glad to hand summer over to you all, once we've finished with it. The heatforecast for this weekend is harsh. Today wasn't too bad where we are because we're right on the coast, but even so we had to close up the house, closing windows and doors and drawing curtains to block out the heat. It's gonig to be worse over the weekend, culminating in Sunday, where the west of Sydney is expected to hit the record books with temps over 45 C (113 C). They reckon it will only be 35 C here (95 F) but we've seen it go higher than that in this sort of weather.
husband has taken to going for a swim after he gets home in the evening. By that time we've had our swim and have showered already. Today we headed for the beach (again after difficult child 3 finished his lessons for the day) but we'd only been there for half an hour when the bluebottles started washing in. They blow in from the north east. The float is the size of your thumb; the long blue string of tentacle armed with vicious stinging cells is as long as your leg sometimes. If you get hit with one it looks (at first) like someone has drawn on your leg (or arm) with a blue biro, then the pain hits. NEVER pick it off with your fingers, they will get stung too. And you can't rub it off. The traditional islander treatment was fresh urine being used to rinse it off. I remember my last sting, I just rinsed it off with seawater. I had a very mild sting, it was only a fragment of tentacle that got me on the leg. It stayed blistered & red for a week.
So once we got up to five bluebottles on our tiny beach, we packed up and left. difficult child 3 has never been stung so he doesn't know.
If the bluebottles become too much of a problem over the next few days, we can take ourselves to the next village where a huge sandbar blocks the sea and snags the bluebottles. The area fills up through a channel wich is all sand, so it's lovely for swimming. Very calm. If mother in law is up to the walk, we'll take her out with us for a swim, it's calm enough for her.
I had a cooking binge today. Two curries, plus some tandoori chicken mariniating in the fridge. Tonight we had two hot plates on (finishing the curries) and the oven to cook the chicken. husband commented on how hot the house was, the ceiling fan was pushing the hot air back down into the room. But it's all turned off now, and we have curries and spicy food stocked for the weekend. That way, when it's REALLY hot, we only need to use the microwave oven. A good curry is fabulous in hot weather, especially with cucumber raita. Or tsaziki (OK, it's Greek). A hot curry cools you down in summer. For me, the smell of ginger, onion and garlic frying is the smell of summer.
Tomorrow difficult child 3 has an appointment with his psycologist. Unfortunately, the previous one (we've seen her twice) has taken indefinite sick leave. difficult child 3 is 6 weeks overdue for an appointment and we have missed a great opportunity over the holidays to work on his medications. And now they have assigned difficult child 3 to someone new. I wish they'd done that 6 weeks ago. We'll be driving in the heat because this appointment is earlier in the day. If things work out right, we'll be back home in time for a swim. Failing that, we'll hit the mall (air-conditioned) and do some shopping instead. So one way or another, we'll be cool. I've got the water bottles already in the freezer, that should help.
Enjoy your Thursday.
Marg