a no-dog weekend

for the first time in what seemed like ages, we had no dog events this weekend. we could have had a dog event, and some other people continued with their dog event obsession, in the form of another herding clinic at belgenny farm, but i am growing weary of herding. perhaps its something wrong in my brain, but i know now that possum can do it and she is very good at it, and if i practised more i would be a good handler and might go well in some trials, but i am just not the competing type. it makes me nervous, and so i dont enjoy it, and then trials are all out in the country and it takes ages to get there and costs a fortune, for one 8 minute trial that you dont get another go at. at least flyball comps go all day. and i just cant cope with being a city person among the country folk. which is ironic, because i am actually historically a country folk, so i know the disdain with which pretend country-city folk are viewed. i know it shouldnt matter what other people think of me, but im not prepared to go and spend a fortune on wanky RM Williams gear just to look like im trying to be something im not.

and anyway. im tired. i wanted a weekend off.

so we had the best weekend! we went out for breakfast on sat morning down at diggies and despite bad lukewarm coffee the eggs were great and the view sublime. then we did the grocery shopping together, which was really lovely. i hate shopping usually, but we went to all the little shops selling their specialty things rather than the supermarket and bought ingredients to make two recipes from the latest superfood ideas magazine: coriander fish ball soup, and fresh tomato ham and ricotta lasagne. i should have taken pics. i have not cooked properly in ages. the fish ball soup was great fun to make and was really spicy and yummy but next time i would make it more of a fish dumpling soup or something, as the fish balls just boiled in the stock and came out too dry. they need wrapping. the lasagne was something else, thankfully wollongong is blessed with a plethora of italians, and we got fresh made lasagne sheets and fresh made ricotta and vine tomatoes and lovely extra virgin olive oil and this lasagne was i think the best thing ive made in ages. no pre cooking, no bechamel sauce, just lovely light ricotta and tomato slices and basil leaves. yummo.

i made that last night after we came home from a little sunday drive up to robertson. trent felt like a pie for lunch. so of course we stopped into the old cheese factory building for coffee and i may have looked at the little yarn store there. when i recovered from the horror of walls dripping in sullivans novelty yarns, i found this:


its burrawool. a local property grows their own border leicester wool and it comes undyed and unstripped so its still a little greasy. its comes in 8 or 5 ply and this is the 5 ply which i think will make a lovely pair of gentlemans socks of some description or other from knitting vintage socks. the lady there was making a whole jumper out of the 5 ply and it was really lovely. they have it in cream, grey or brown and its beautiful. only $6.45 a 50g ball.

on the knitting front, while in the car i worked on these:


the final of the two pairs of contrasting contrast patonyle socks! i am desperate to get these OFF the needles soon!

i have also retamed the fancy silk sock. oh yes, i have her under my thumb good and proper this time.



amazing what a difference a clear head makes. the clear head is because i have done all i can on the pensky and we went into uni on our way home sunday and printed it up and had it bound - three copies to submit:


of course on flicking through it i see things i dont like or cringe at but theres no point worrying now. it just has to go and we will see what comes back. wednesday march 5. happy day.

now i must finish my teaching prep. i have two classes of first year australian studies today and most of my students are american exchange students. how am i to explain the concept of an imagined national identity to them? eeck.

k xx