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After weeks of gorgeous weather, and a run of days well into the thirties, Melbourne suddenly got chilly. Chilly enough to make me dive into the bottom of the suitcase and pull out the forgotten jumper (sweater) and trackie dacks (sweat pants). In Australia, we generally do not have a central furnace to pump warm air through the house as soon as the air gets chilly. Instead, we pop on thicker socks and another layer. The bathroom tile is cold on the feet and the toilet seat can make you gasp. This I had forgotten. And I had also forgotten the joy of leaping into a bed with the electric blanket having been set on 3 for the hour previous. Why do I not have one on my bed in Calgary? A toasty warm bed is a magical thing.

The past two weeks has seen us driving the three-hour stretch of the Western Highway between Horsham and the greater Melbourne area.   We have been tag-teaming with Susan and Simon as they take us up on our offers to spend time with their kids (and our niece and nephew).   Pick-ups and drop-offs at sports and music; cooking lessons (spring rolls and pulled pork) with Auntie Kate; trips to the local grocers and bakers to get our daily supplies; bicycle riding around town; games of Monopoly; household chores like feeding and recapturing the chooks … all these tasks that might be deemed mundane are happily done by us, as we get the kids’ perspectives as we go.   We also have some time with Susan and Simon once the little ones (at eleven and thirteen) are shoo-ed off to bed.   We hear about this year’s crop, catch up on family and town gossip, and get a better feeling what has been happening with them.   We are treasuring this time with family. Kate's Lovely...

A few observations about being home: Not being required to give way to pedestrians - This results in me, as a driver, being particularly courteous and, as a pedestrian, at high risk of a good squishing. Having switches on the power points (plug-ins) - Constantly thinking the toast is taking forever to cook and wondering what the hell is up with the hairdryer, again! The horror of change - How could Nestle possibly think of discontinuing Violet Crumbles, Poly Waffles and Steam Rollers without consulting me?? The location of the cutting strip on the Glad Wrap - After tying Glad Wrap in knots and rendering at least half the roll useless in Canada, I find they dared move the cutter on the Aussie Glad Wrap. The outcry against this poorly engineered, physics defying location was so great, Glad returned the cutter to the sensible location along the bottom of the box. Hurray! Four'N Twenty meat pies - As. Good. As. Ever. And still highly unlikely to contain any meat. ...

Thanks to the Winnekes for generously providing the tickets, we found ourselves at the Grand Final - Hawthorn versus West Coast! As we were presented with four tickets, our nephews Tom and Angus got to come along too - providing, of course, they supported Hawthorn.  A first Grand Final for them both - and Uncle Sean too!! I have been a Hawks supporter since, as a tot, my mother convinced me that brown and yellow was indeed a fashion statement. Far more glamorous than the option of my Dad's team, who sport black and white.  So it was very exciting to be going to watch The Mighty Hawks in their fourth straight Grand Final. Sean supports the North Melbourne Kangaroos after a rather surprising incident for both Sean and the kangaroo during his first trip to Austrlia. He saw this as a sign and has been sporting the blue and white ever since.  Unfortunately, North was defeated the week before by West Coast during the Preliminary finals. But as North had finished eighth af...