July 6. Day 187. Avoid the beak

I did not make this up. There's a Spanish proverb "Avoid a friend who covers you with his wings but destroys you with his beak". This makes me think of my neighbour Margaret. I know she doesn't mean it. I know she considers she has taken me under her wing but sometimes the things that come out of her mouth bite. It's that beak I should be avoiding. Today it was mandarins. I do Margaret's shopping and her list said mandarins so I bought mandarins. They were "disgusting" and "really dry with no juice". What did she think should happen to this hideous fruit? She gave it to me and told me to eat it. Yes, because I love dried out fruit. But it gets worse. She told me Woolies has big, juicy mandarins on sale. Clearly my bad for shopping at Coles ... except for one small detail. The reason I shop at Coles is because Margaret demands it. The birds in our street apparently only eat Coles mince. Groan. Of course, I could refuse. But that's not my style. I whinge a bit a lot but can you really hold a grudge with someone you know doesn't mean it? And we wouldn't want to deny the birds their choice of mince now would we?

July 5. Day 186. Like duck out of water

Ants, apparently, know when it is going to rain. Susan does not despite having the advantage of radio, television and online forecasts and the BoM app on the phone. These things are only an asset if you use them. I did not. Nor did I bother to actually look up and look at the sky. Those clouds would have been a bit of a giveaway. Indeed the small drops of wet stuff just after leaving home should have been a hint. I am not much good at taking a hint. I pressed on and got completely and absolutely soaked. And while I am not a witch (some may dispute that) and water will not melt me, I do not enjoy it very much. The dogs didn't seem to worry too much. However wet dogs stink and while they are okay with rainwater they seem to object at bath water. Crazy kids. Crazy Dog Lady for ignoring the bleedingly obvious.

July 4. Day 185. Skating on thin ice

Ah Queensland. Beautiful one day. Perfect the next. So says the one time marketing slogan. I say, define perfect and further ask "perfect for what"?
Those months of stinking hot, sweaty humid days are not everyone's idea of perfect. And then there's winter. If you like snuggling in front of a fire, if you like a clear change of season, if you like snow sports, Brisbane is not your kind of capital city. Of course, we can pretend. And so it is in King George Square this week where there is an outdoor ice skating rink. The school holiday crowds were having a pretty good time but on a 24 degrees winter day, the ice was struggling. There were many many wet bums but no-one seemed to be complaining.  After all, after 10 minutes in the sun they would be warm and dry again, Serious skaters would doubtless have been horrified but for novelty value it was hard to beat. Sometimes there are worse things than skating on thin ice.

Time to beef up

Remember how little we used to know about beef? At a stretch, we knew a cow's arse from its elbow but the type of cow? Not so much.
That may have been just as well when it came to the type of beef used to create the beef burger. Let's be honest the finest meat never went anywhere near a mincer.
Thankfully times have changed. Hell even fast food restaurants feature Angus beef in their premium burgers. Why stop there? When it comes to beef there is nothing finer than than Japan's premium wagyu. As a burger lover I have to say I applaud the decision to put that into a bun. Today, I was invited to Ribs & Burgers at The Woollongabba to taste test the new Wagyu Burger range.   All I can say is thank goodness I'm not a vegetarian. There are three burgers in the range: a tower with crispy onion rings as the genius extra ingredient, the Chimmi and Swiss (with Swiss cheese, chimichurri mayonnaise and a delicious runny egg) and the big cheese. We were able to sample all three (fortunately not three whole burgers or I'd be in a food coma). These are serious burgers. The hero is the beef but the special secret pink sauce and the other ingredients sure make a meal of it. This would have been my proof that there is such a thing as a free lunch but work meant I had to cancel and attend at dinner instead. Nice work if you can get it.

July 3. Day 184. Duck off

I am prone to getting a little side tracked. I say I'm going to duck down to the shops. Hours later I come home without the bread and milk I headed out for. So today, I walked down to South Bank. I should have been away 90 minutes. Half an hour to walk down, half an hour at the ABC studio and half an hour home. I should have been walking through the front gate at 3pm. It was 6pm. I accidentally found myself in the botanic gardens where the fowl were ducking and diving. I found them extremely amusing for reasons I can't possibly explain, probably all the splashing about without any clear reason. It seemed like a good idea at the time which is reason enough.

July 2. Day 183. Size doesn't matter

Three kilos. I've eaten lunches that weigh more. But that's all Winkle weighs. She's a pocket rocket with a big, big attitude. Rumple is more than three times her weight but there's no question about who is top dog. Winkle was throwing her weight around this afternoon when we walked across to the University of Queensland lakes.  Every time we walked by another dog, Winkle did her nut. Some of those dogs could have consumed Winkle in one bite but that didn't worry her.  She defends her territory that one. I saw pretty much the same thing when I arrived at the lakes. There on a light post was an Australasian Darter pretty much minding its own business. Try telling that to the noisy miner. It repeatedly dive bombed the darter seemingly oblivious to the height/weight advantage of the darter. Small bird. Big attitude. Size does matter. Attitude matters more, at least most of the time.

July 1. Day 182. The carnival is over

Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may cry. After the hours or rehearsals and the highs of performance the final curtain always seems to come as a really nasty blow to the system. But that is a problem for our household tomorrow. Today the tears of the cast of Snow White were tears of joy, tears of pride and tears of friendship as the curtain closed on another Fame school holiday show. Over the past week more than 1100 children and their big people have boo-ed the evil queen and cheered as Snow White awoke to the kiss of her prince. They've laughed at the antics of the seven little men and marveled at the magic mirror. And backstage new friendships have been forged and old ones cemented. Not having even performed on stage, I can not say from first hand experience exactly what that must be like. But from what I've seen as an outsider, a cast is just like a big family (sometimes that can be quite dysfunctional but that's life). They do say you can choose your friends but not your family. This is true of those you are related to. That stage family is totally one of choice. And those 30 performers and the other member of the creative team would not have it any other way. They may be exhausted. The carnival may be over but the memories and the friendships will last a lifetime.