Mid December

Hi all,

During December we went to Portland to visit Jean, Ross's mum and also to attend Cynthia's 80th birthday Jean's sister-in-law).  Jean wasn't really eating, and they had to give her Sustagen (I think). She also needs oxygen from time to time as the oxygen levels in her blood are low. She's had several heart attacks recently, says she wants to "go" but keeps fighting on.  It's all in the genes Jean.

In addition to this she had even received a box of chocolates which she snubbed. This shows how sick she is (or could it be because they are American??)

We had a nice time down there and saw Des and Dawn Ross's brother and lady friend who live in Condah (off the beaten track). Des cooked up a storm with his braised beef which which had been marinated in an Asian concoction including some bi carb of soda to tenderise it.

Stayed at Rhonda and Dave's place (Ross's sister and man friend) as always and endured cool windy Portland weather.

We drove down and stayed in Apollo Bay for 2 nights on the way back. The Otway Ranges are lovely and we went for a scenic drive and a bit of a walk.

Ate breakfast at Lorne on the way back (very built up!!!!!)

Returned to Melbourne with a stop on the way to the butcher in Carlton for duck marylands, lamb for Friday dinner (Peter, Anna and Eddie) and 2.4 kilos of duck fat....to be rendered.

Then went for a jolly meeting to Bethlehem Hospital to discuss computerised aids for my failing speech. What a drag the whole thing is.

Then to Peter and Sharon's (my brother and sis in law) where we duly invited ourselves for dinner and Mary, my late mother's oldest friend and Andrew (brother) also joined us. Had a lovely night.

Moving right along, Helen, an old friend stayed with us over Christmas. We went to church Chris Eve but they forgot to sing Oh Come All 'ye Faithful and Away in a Manger...so it was a bit of a sham.

Ross partook in a rather silly play at Church. A bit of nonsense....something about Jesus I think....

We stayed here for Christmas with Helen, weeded, watered, raked, ate and drank. Very nice...GOOD WEATHER....and peaceful.

Tomorrow Ross's family along with another friend are descending on us so we're trying to cook something palatable....MORE ABOUT MY CONDITION in a subsequent blog.

The other day I made confit de canard, which, although a little on the salty side, was delicious. Tonight we're eating the other piece of duck, on good bread first fried in a knob of.............DUCK FAT!!!!!

Then topped with sundried tomatoes and either pickled cucumbers or preserved lemon. Ross LOVED it. We're looking forward to dinner 2-3 hours away. 

Ross is going to have to learn how to make it as my hands are getting very weak.  It's actually easy...it's really just a question of time....not something you can rush.