23 July 2006

Married Again!

No, it's not what you think. It's just that David finally picked out a replacement wedding ring today. It's tricolour with three separate hoops that run in parallel except where they intertwine on top. I found myself admiring it all afternoon as I happened to glimpse his hand.

I've been feeling sort of unmarried ever since it became apparent (over a year ago now) that David had misplaced his wedding ring and was going around barehanded. We still have to get the new ring resized, so he's wearing it on his middle finger for now. So, in a way, I am still not back to feeling fully married yet.

We got the ring in Fortitude Valley, where we went this afternoon to buy all our special, weird foods (the ones that make other people say, "you ate what? where did you get that?") Our purchases included sweet potato noodles, japanese seaweed and various sorts of steamed buns. Speaking of odd foods, on the "Iron Chef" tonight (Sole Battle!), Iron Chef Sakai (the French one) garnished a dish with deep fried corn silk! And it tasted good, judging from all reactions. Naturally, it didn't hurt that the dish included lobster and truffle...

22 July 2006

Brr! Canberra

I visited Canberra this week for two days. Its daytime high, 10°C (50°F), was lower than Brisbane’s overnight low, 11°C. Brr! I was there to look at Scrivener Dam, which impounds Lake Burley Griffin. Touring the control gallery inside the dam was especially cold, as the masses of concrete acted as a perfect heat sink. I was pretty impressed with the second exit added recently which was drilled through the solid concrete at the far end of the dam to provide a virtually vertical climb out (we didn’t try it).

I called home to say hi to David and give Anya the thrill of talking to me on the phone. I think she was rather indifferent until she recognised my voice, but then accidentally put me on hold (something that neither David nor I know how to do!) I had to call back, and by then she’d lost all interest. And I was so looking to forward to hearing her say “oyley-o?” to me…

14 July 2006

Anya at My Desk


There's just something about the curve of Anya's mouth that I like in this photo.

Anya's Words

Anya has been imitating words with varying success. Here are some gems:

Oyley-o = Hello
Shhh... = Shoe
Jay-je = Jaeden (her cousin)
Moh = More
Amma = Grandma
Brrrrr (for cars and motorcycles)
Ooffff = Woof (for dogs)

She confidently says Bye-bye, Mama, Daddy, Unh-uh (as in, "no") and Uh-Oh! She also says "nummy!" when reading about eating, expecting a meal, or playing with pots/pans/bowls.

11 July 2006

Pressure Cooker

Today's dinner was made in the pressure cooker. Seemed like an apt metaphor for how life's been lately. Lots of ingredients, but it all tastes the same at the end. I can't wait for my boss to get back from China so I can stop acting as manager!

I had a small break today meeting David at a jewelry store at lunchtime. We were looking for a replacement wedding ring for the one he's misplaced.
It was interesting... we definitely don't have the same taste. I like different, but simple & subtle (stripes & waves); David likes different, but noticeably different (knots, links & puzzles).

After trying every ring in their extensive collection, he still hadn't taken a shine to anything. Later in the afternoon he emailed me to say that he'd stopped by a further four stores after we parted, and realised that the first store had, by far, the best selection. So he went back there again!