Monday 20^th August

Happy birthday Marcel Z!  It is cold and bleak in Launceston at the moment, and I know he has a very bad cold, which does take the shine off things.  But I am sure he will rise and shine and do a wonderful dinnertime Masterchef Challenge with my mother!  They are very adventurous cooks and cook up a storm just about every day.

We had a very busy weekend without actually going out and about very much at all, other than to our special curry dinner in Cremorne.  We visited Pete’s mother, who was delighted to see him, and asked him, “And whose daughter are you?”  She recovered quite swiftly and did know who he was, and what gender, but it did cause a lot of amusement for the old codger in the corner, who enjoys everyone else’s visits very much.

Other than that we had lots of visitors, with Pete’s box of toys on high rotation as various children came and went.  (We felt very loved.)

On Friday night we had Pete and Leanne, for dinner and for a sleep-over.  Much fun!  Pete and Leanne are the people we first met in Coff’s Harbour, and then followed down the coast for a few days.  They were on their way home to Devonport after two years on their beautiful catamaran, Plan Four. 

They are now land-based and Leanne says whenever she sees Plan Four on the mooring near their house, she feels sad.  “The poor boat looks so lonely!” she says, with a sigh.  They are torn between their desire to go off sailing and their need to (a) be near their family (b) make some sort of an income…

They have never been overseas, and they are thrilled to bits because some friends have asked them bring a boat back from Vanuatu to Bundaberg.  This has made them bustle about and get passports and visas and they are ready to go and explore Port Vila very soon!