AUGUST 2016

It was probably a good thing that our planned trip north had not happened. The winter weather had adversely affected a lot of travellers in those parts. Had we followed the original plans, we’d have been in Nambucca Heads when that area of the coast was hit by a very unpleasant East Coast Low. But maybe spring – and the post-Olympics period – might present more opportunities…

I began the month with an embarrassingly obvious pair of black eyes and bruised nose. Such that John refused to be seen in public with me, after one foray out where people looked at my injuries, then glared at him, and/or gave him a wide berth. Try explaining that “the dog did it!” I had been sitting watching TV. Couey was killing her knotted rope toy and lost control. The thing hit me at great speed, full in the face. Probably just lucky it wasn’t the TV screen…

The planning for son’s wedding in October was well under way. All very exciting. We were taken to lunch at their chosen venue – Wild Cattle Creek Winery in the Yarra Valley – to sample the quality of the food and wines. Beautiful setting. Great food.

My first ever venture into being treated by a chiropractor, praises of long sung by friend M, which had seemed initially promising, after a few weeks led to a cascading set of unwanted impacts, ultimately a really sore lower back and sciatic nerve playing up. She’d been supposed to be working on aching shoulders and upper back! I decided that all my previous scepticism about that type of treatment had been well founded, and never again…

John happily watched the Olympic Games from the comfort of his armchair at home. However, as in the past, he became bored as the days dragged on.

For respite from the constant stream of Olympic coverage, I took dog to the Animal Aid refuge at Coldstream, for a bath. Their grooming service is a fund raiser for their excellent work, so well worth supporting. This time, Couey actually appeared to  enjoy the process. She came home with a big mauve bow tied to her collar and seemed quite proud of herself.

Look at me!

Our 25^th wedding anniversary came – and went. I’d bought some books John wanted, as a present. Now that we were still home, he’d had another overnight stay in hospital for Round 2 of this current lot of skin cancer removals, three days beforehand, so was understandably distracted and totally overlooked the occasion. I let it slide by so he wouldn’t become upset by his oversight. The books would become his birthday present instead.

My stitching is so much neater than this!

Went for a day trip drive to Nagambie, where we met our house sitters for lunch at the Lakeside Centre. They’d replaced our cancelled booking with a sit at Echuca, so Nagambie was roughly in the middle, for all of us. The lunch was unremarkable but catching up with T and A again was great. On our way home, called in at Tahbilk Winery and purchased some bottles to take home. On 30 August, the stitches from John’s most recent round of surgery were removed. That gave us a little trip opportunity, before the bowls season cranked up in earnest.