This Adventurous Age

SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

Hot still!

Today was John’s 60th birthday. He’d received a card and cheque for $50, in the last mail, from sister H. Over the course of the day, she rang, as did another sister and his brother. There was no contact at all from any of the children.

Olympics on TV.

I cooked a roast chicken lunch – John’s favourite roast – followed by a bought frozen icecream dessert concoction. We had a bottle of sparkling burgundy with that meal.

In the afternoon, walked a few laps of the caravan park.

Tea was seafood salad with some prawns. John said I got it wrong – there was too much tea. The leftovers would keep till tomorrow, anyway.

I phoned K at night. Bad news – Butch was put down last weekend. Poor old dog! K still sounded really upset by it. That cast a bit of a downer over the night. I still feel guilty about her. But I know that K did make an effort to keep her happy, these past few months.

Butch in happier times, on holiday with us.

SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

Hot.

More TV Olympics, which I am now finding really tedious.

In the morning, I cycled to the shops to get the paper. I enjoyed the exercise, despite the heat. It was a rather barren and boring ride, though – the salt flats off to the seaward side and either empty land on the other, or houses off at a distance, behind fences. I did not feel totally secure along that stretch of road, even in daylight.

Read the paper thoroughly and that used up some of the day.

Tea was bought fish and chips. Much nicer than last night’s effort.

John had a tense phone call with R. Just moods. She did not acknowledge his birthday, though.

FRIDAY 22 SEPTEMBER     KARRRATHA

Hot all day.

John watched TV Olympics all day.

I printed some more copies of my Kimberley letter and sent same off to a number of my friends.

I drove to the shops and went shopping for some special foods for John’s birthday feasts, which I am trying to make really special with his favourites.

There was a bag of mail from home – but it contained little of note.

For tea I cooked fries with some flake I bought – it was really tough and not nice.

THURSDAY 21 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

There was some morning mist. It was very light, but pleasant because it suggested coolness. Then it got hot again.

We drove to the shops for food for tea. John bought himself a new Lemmings computer game for his birthday.

More Olympic TV watching.

We were running the air-con in the van all the time, during the days, and even on into the nights. We had no near neighbours for much of the time, to disturb. Those we did have were doing the same thing, anyway. At night, when we did turn off the air-con, set up the electric bench top fan to keep air circulating. It was a relief each night, when the outside air cooled off enough for us to feel there was a bit of a breeze through the open windows.

Tea was steak and mushrooms and salad.

WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

There was some cloud cover for much of the day, but it still reached about 35 degrees.

Watched Olympics. I sewed and read.

John drove to the Post Office, to pick up the computer inks he’d ordered.

Later in the day, we went for a walk on the salt flats near the park, to a sort of beach, on a curved bay. Wandered about here for a little while. It was not really scenic.

The sea near Karratha – with heat haze

John was not in a good mood and told me he is getting bored now, with travel, and would really prefer to go home. I didn’t know how much he really meant this or how much was just bad temper talking. But it upset me because I was assuming we would still have another couple of years of this – as we’d initially planned.  To me, it is a wonderful lifestyle. It would appear that our perceptions are diverging rather radically. I had wished that John could find some sort of hobby or interest, around the van, apart from having his nose in a computer or TV screen all the time. I’d hoped he might take up intricate hand wood carving of smaller objects – like walking sticks – something equivalent to my sewing.

Tea was soup, and French toast, for something different. The heat combined with little activity, is reducing our appetite.

TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

About 37 degrees today.

The tourists that are still in these parts are disappearing rapidly!

Drove to the shops, briefly, for some foodstuffs.

Watched Olympics, sewed, read.

I walked several laps of the caravan park, for exercise.

Later in the day there was some cloud came over.

Tea was hamburgers.

MONDAY 18 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

Today got to about 38 degrees.

Watched Olympics for some of the time. I did some sewing and some reading.

Later in the afternoon, persuaded John to go for a walk around some of the nearby streets, for some exercise. That was not particularly interesting, but got me out of the caravan park!

Tea was soup and some salads.

SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

It was a hot day.

John watched the Olympic events on TV. I watched for some of the time. It was really only swimming and equestrian events that interested me, of all the sports that would feature, so there was a lot on that I really was not keen on seeing.

I cooked minestrone soup – in the electric frypan, outside. It was too hot to use the gas stove in the van.

Later in the day I went for a walk – a few laps of the caravan park. That is really about the only walking option around here!

Tea was some of the soup, cold pork, mashed potato.

R phoned and John had a chat with her.

FRIDAY 15 SEPTEMBER     KARRATHA

Hot again.

Drove to the Post Office again, because we thought more mail would have just arrived. It had. There were several letters and cards from friends – always good to receive.

I mailed my Kimberley letter to family members, after earlier printing a photo page to go with it. It took John ages to set that up to print properly for me, and he was very patient.

I cooked roast pork and vegies for tea.

We watched the Olympic Games opening ceremony on TV. It was wonderful, spectacular, engrossing. Really encapsulated Australia, with some really typically quirky touches. It was interesting that there were images of Wandjina heads used in part of it.