July 14. Day 195. Scratching my head

Seriously it was like a bad Sit Com and it had me still scratching my head 12 hours later as I hit Mount Cooth-tha this morning. Last night I'm sitting on the couch, hair wet from the shower looking less than fetching in my PJs when I get a Facetime video call from my husband. He's in Sri Lanka. I take it without hesitating and there he is grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Before I get the chance to say more than "hi" a waving Sri Lankan man excitedly jumps into the frame and all I can think is "at least they are my good PJs". I later learn that the whole thing was taking place in the Apple store in Colombo, on a video screen where many of the locals who hadn't yet seen Facetime in action were watching. Lordy. I'm not the type of girl who's never seen without make-up. For me appearance is not everything but trying to create a good first impression does matter especially in a professional sense. Generally speaking I try to avoid meeting work colleagues in my jarmies, even the good ones (jarmies and colleagues). I'm pretty sure that can't be tat hard to understand even for someone inclined to slightly bird-brained moments like Charles. Still, there's absolutely no doubt it would have created an impression and at least I avoided letting the words in my head come out my mouth ....

July 13. Day 194. On the fly

A sensible person would act like the animals in this sort of weather and either hibernate or migrate to warmer climes. To be fair, many Australians who are trying to do just that are finding themselves grounded by a volcano erupting near Bali. Unfortunately for those of us tied to academic semesters all we can do is rug up and suck it up. My plans to do the early morning walk were buried under the doona so it was afternoon before I hit the path. It was certainly better late than never.

July 12. Day 193. Home. Sweet home

 There can be few more exciting milestones in a person's life than a new home. Today my brother Michael, his wife Karin and their beautiful kids moved into their new home. Drama Teen and I paid them a visit this afternoon to admire the abode and lend a hand where possible. For as anyone who has ever done it knows, while it is exciting moving in, it is also both stressful and a right, regular pain. The house was well on its way to becoming their home but there were still many boxes and rather a lot of Alan key action to complete before operation Home Sweet Home was complete. As I am totally inept with an Alan key, my contribution was removing dog poo from the garden and scraping Blu Tac from the walls where posters once lived. It never ceases to amaze me how some people are prepared to leave a home. Seriously, it might not be yours any more but self respect would demand leaving a good impression for the next residents. Still a good scrub, a mow and a lot of unpacking and a happy new chapter in this home's life will begin.

July 11. Day 192. Stinging tale

Humph. As the sun sets on another school holidays, the level of grump in the household is increasing. And when the going gets tough the tough get going. In this case, that involves Charles heading off to Sri Lanka for a week for work. Nice work if you can get it. So he jets off and I get to hang out the washing. Yay me. Still, I shall distract myself from this stinging tale by the continued fitness drive. Day three and the steps goal wasn't exactly smashed but it was reached (even if only by running around the lounge with the dog to get those final few strides).

July 10. Day 191. A pot of gold

It's amazing what you can miss if you forget to look. This afternoon, as I walked towards Roma Street Parkland, a group of tourists coming from the other direction stopped and excitedly pulled out the selfie sticks. I assumed City Hall coming into view had them all excited and almost walked on but decided to turn only to see the most beautiful rainbow. By the time I exited the parkland there was a definite hint of the magical double rainbow. Look what you see if you look up. At the other end of the day looking up saved me from wearing kookaburra poo. Day two of Operation Get Fit for Great Ocean Road saw Rumple and I back at Mount Cooth-tha just after sunrise. The early bird had clearly decided to show me just what he thought of my camera. Seriously, everyone's a critic. Anyway, this exercise thing is progressing quite nicely. I have decided to aim at 100,000 steps a week or 14,285 a day. Today, I smashed that (where smashed means beat it 1444 steps). Now I only need to keep that up for another 142 days.

July 9. Day 190. Leopard changes its spots

This leopard has now changed her spots. I was out of bed in the dark and at the bottom of Mount Cooth-tha ready to walk, fur friend by my side. My hiking boots are now out of retirement. The countdown to November 29 is now on in earnest. That gives me 143 days to get fit before the Great Ocean Road trekking holiday. And if today's effort was anything to go by, there is A LOT of work to do.
The morning started with the birds (this one my favourite bird reference book - Google - tells me is a Spotted Pardalote) and the afternoon ended at an electronics store. My wrist now sports a Fitbit to track the fitness progress. It's game on.

July 8. Day 189. If you don't give a feather or a fig

The red eyes. The slight green tinge around the edges. This is the Australasian Figbird. This is also the current state of Susan. For 20 years I have been in the habit of getting up early and seizing the day with at least an hour's exercise. Some time in the past year, stress, insomnia and fatigue changed all that. But with a trekking holiday now booked in at the end of November, I now must get fit. This means a return to the old ways. It started today and right now I feel crap. But it must surely be a case of no pain, no gain. I'll be chirping about it soon enough, or so I tell myself. You have my total permission to nag me if I seem to be losing my way.