Sweet autumn

It's a glorious day here today.  A balmy 22 or 23 deg c.  The last of autumn, much welcome after the grey and rainy days last week.

Well, as usual at the moment, I'm exhausted.  Dragged myself in to work, though I'd much rather have spent the day napping, sleeping and napping some more.

The weekend, though tiring, was lovely.  Friday night - karaoke, where I had an absolute ball.  The repertoire was varied - Def Leppard, Neil Young, some dance stuff I don't know but enjoyed, Celine Dion (the Titanic theme - done with aplomb by V's friend S), Linda Ronstadt.  It was great, a real laugh, and everything got better (and funnier) the more we drank.  The Japanese know how to have a good time.  Much funnier than my experience of karaoke in Japan, strangely. It's all about the company you keep.

Saturday was a day for much sleeping, interspersed with a great afternoon with some neighbours at a BBQ.   I was the youngest there (apart from the dogs, if counted in human and not dog years...).  My neighbours have all lived interesting lives, and have great senses of humour.  I hope I'm as healthy and happy as them when I get to their age.  I had to sleep when I got home!

Sunday was another lovely day - spent at Healesville Sanctuary with my Uncle, Aunt and beautiful young Cousin K, visiting from England. I haven't seen them for 13 years, and the rest of my family haven't seen them for 31 years. Unfortunately, because of various health issues, my parents aren't able to spend much time with our visitors, and this is sad for everyone. I'm trying to step into the breach, and I must say, after some trepidation (based on shyness, I think!), I'm really enjoying their company.  They have great senses of humour, a very gentle and decent approach to life, and are just pleased that we can spend some time together.  I feel bad that I haven't arranged a heap of things for them to do, but hope to redeem the last week or so (when they get back from a side trip interstate that I managed to persuade them to take - you can't come to Australia and not see Sydney!) if I can.  That might be a feat, as lots of things close over Easter. But I'll start searching for things that are open.

So, I'll leave you with some pictures of beautiful creatures at the Sanctuary. I have mixed feelings about zoos which I won't go into here.  But I can say the Sanctuary is lovely and peaceful, the enclosures seem to be as close to the natural habitat of the animals as possible.  It's changed a lot since I visited as a new arrival here 30 years ago.  I'd recommend a trip, especially with children old enough to enjoy it.  I was feeling anxious when I started writing, but thinking through the weekend to write this post has been calming.

Shalom.