A family crisis prompted me to go to California at short notice. Fergus’ parents were in need of some help.

The trip to California was difficult but productive. It was an emotionally trying week but we were able to arrange some home care for my in-laws without to much resistance from them. My mother-in-law has early stages of Alzheimer’s and while she is able to take care of her personal hygiene, cooking and some housekeeping with the assistance of my father-in-law, she can not be left alone because she gets scared and confused. My father-in-law is mentally fine for 83 but I can tell he is mentally and physically exhausted because he has to think and remember everything for both of them and his physical health isn’t great.

They finally would accept that having someone come in at least once a week (it’s a start) to help with some housekeeping and transportation (Martin’s diving license has been suspended) would be okay. I was able to meet with the actual woman who will be coming to the house and I am very comfortable with her. I think she will be a good match for them. I must tell you it broke my heart to see how difficult it has become for them and so touched by how protective and supportive they are towards each other. I don’t know what we will do when one of them dies. They don’t know how they will cope with out the other.

They are beginning to talk about the difficulties the future will bring and know that at sometime they will have to decide about selling the house and moving somewhere without stairs, near shopping, and with some assistance care. I think it was a relief for them to know that Fergus and I will help them with whatever they decide, the thoughts of physically trying to move is overwhelming. I told them I would come and help, get them help to make the move and oversee what needs to be done so that they don’t have to worry about anything but taking care of each other during the process. First things first is just getting someone they can rely on now while they are in the house.

I didn’t want them to be home alone for Christmas and Fergus doesn’t have any time off for us to visit them so we’ve arranged for them to come and spend Christmas with us. It will give them something to look forward to and a bit of a break from all the emotional upheaval they have been going though in the past couple of months.
I may have to go back in January or February depending on the outcome of Martin’s driving test (he is scheduled to test in January to get his license back). If he is denied then we will really have to get them moved somewhere more accessible to transportation and shopping.

I did have a chance to have a short visit with my brother and his family. They are all doing great. I hope next visit I can spend more time with them but they understood my need to help Martin and Margaret on this visit.

I am emotionally depleted. Fergus’  mom just hung on to me and cried when I had to leave. She is so scared and I don’t blame her, I’m scared for them. It just breaks my heart to see them like this.
It is good to be back in the comfort of my home with Fergus and the kids, BS is my little shadow, Freddie was beside himself with joy when he jumped into my lap, Coop said, “Oh, did you go somewhere?”  It’s nice to know some things never change.

Here is the latest update in our efforts to return to Australia. The ACEM – college of emergency medicine – has approved Fergus for temporary status as a Specialist  with a requirement of six months supervision, three in ICU and three in the Emergency department before they will grant permanent status. The next step is he needs to go back to the hospitals who offered him jobs and see if they will take him AND let him work in both departments plus supervise him. This might be glitch in the process because he will need to find a hospital that will allow this and that may be tricky. His best hope is Canberra Hospital because they know him already.

Once he completes the six months then he will be free to practice pretty much anywhere in Australia. We don’t know yet is this will be approved by immigration. We are getting close to the age cut off which feels awful since we FEEL young and are very healthy but we still may be refused.

I will continue to post updates as we find out more information. Cross your fingers all goes well.

I’m back by popular demand!! I can’t believe it has been over a month since I’ve updated everyone on what is going on in our lives. I’m watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and enjoying a mimosa – it is a holiday after all. Of course, Fergus is working so it ends up being like any ordinary day – except the mimosa, of course.

I haven’t written much because I was hoping to have news about our return to Australia by now. We are still waiting to hear about the outcome of Fergus’ interview and then our decision.

The “kids” are happy to be back home – I hope. The fenced yard was a good idea but I’m sure they aren’t too happy about it. We still haven’t had an offer on the house but I am not concerned about it until we know if we are leaving or not.

What have I been up to? Well, the Aussie Airedale Rescue Moms and I decided to create a bonus quilt or wall hanging to the American Airedale Rescue group who raffle a quilt every year. We are going to make an Australia wall hanging. I have been working on my two blocks since I have been home because I want to be sure I get most of it completed before we move (I hope) back. The rest of the ladies will start theirs after the holidays.

It’s been tons of fun. I will include more info and pictures in a future blog entry. Here is the link to see quilts they have made and raffles in the past. Some are very cute. Ours will be awesome!! The drawing will be next October and as it gets nearer they will have pictures of this years completed quilt and the bonus quilts – including ours, I hope. Check it out at  AiredaleQuilt.

If you are in the US of A, have a great holiday. If you are in Australia have a good Friday since Thursday is already past.

On Tuesday Fergus has his interview with the Australia College of Emergency Medicine. It was “uneventful” as he likes to say. No trick questions and they mostly wanted to know what he did at his various hospitals (as if ED’s are that different).  He arranged to visit one of the interviewer’s hospital the next day. They said it could be “as soon” as November for the committee to meet and a decision to us by December. So it looks like we won’t be coming back until after the first of the new year.

It is probably wise that we are taking the kids back to Kansas since it could be as much as six months more before we can get back here. We have been having a nice visit with Helen and Eric. Today they headed off to the Great Barrier Reef for a vacation which was already planned before we knew we were coming. Tonight we will go to Jenny and Gary’s and then Fergus flies back tomorrow. I will be staying for another week. I will pack the kids up and ship them off next week and Fergus will pick them up in Kansas City. I tell you it’s more complicated than flying with children – but probably more relaxing for us than for human parents.

While we’ve been here we were able to visit Bill and Sue and their four ‘dales at Wombat Bend. I even got to see my buddie wombat in this burrow. The billabong is full to the brim with all the rain they have been getting and you can barely notice where all the burned vegetation had been for all the green grass and new branches. A much calmer surrounding compared to our last visit.

We’ve had a relaxing visit this time without the stress of leaving the kids and adjusting to returning to the states. I will try to write more in a couple of days.

We arrived safely on Wednesday morning but feeling a bit out of sorts after 26 + hours of traveling. Eric and Helen picked us up at the airport and had us back to their place in no time where the kids were there waiting for us. It was a wonderful reunion – they hadn’t forgotten who we were.

Yesterday we hung around their house, took a walk with the kids, took a drive to one of the wonderful local wineries and just relaxed. We have few plans other than visiting Bill and Sue in Dixon’s Creek, Jenny and Gary towards the end of next week and Fergus’ interview on Tuesday. We want to do a little sightseeing of some places in Victoria that we didn’t get around when we were here before.

We saw an echidna in the wild yesterday when we were driving around. I will post his picture in another entry.

The weather has been good, a bit colder than Kansas and today it is a little misty but we are well and happy to be back. I have limited access to a computer and the internet so I will try to keep you posted if we have any exciting news.

I continued to work on the flower beds I created from the torn down chicken shed. I fenced it in and planted some spring bulbs and fall pansies. Two of the beds on the right are vacant and I will plant some shade flowers in the spring. The dark spots without mulch still need some tall growing bulbs.

The old chicken shed/new flower bed.

Pansies for fall - bulbs for the spring.

We are going to Australia next week for Fergus’ interview with the Australian College of Emergency Physicians. They told him that it could be as long as three months before they can tell him their decision. We decided to bring the dogs back to Kansas since it might be three months and no telling how long the immigration process may take. It is too much to ask BS and Cooper’s foster families to care for them any longer and we miss them too much to go for possibly another 6 months without them.

So I decided we need to fence the yard. They have lived in a fenced yard for over a year and 1/2. I worry about Cooper chasing cars down the driveway like he use to and getting hurt now that he is older and not as likely to recover from any injuries. I also worry with potential buyers coming to look at the house that he will be too aggressive towards strangers.

We put up a nice decorative fence at the driveway and an almost invisible wire fence around a large area of the back yard. I hope this will stop them from roaming too far from home once they return. No “walkabouts” allowed in Kansas.

Rod Iron fence near the driveway

The wire fence is attached to the five trees in a row in the background. I hope it will keep them safe. Of course they like to dig so we will have to make sure they don’t go under like in The Great Escape.

So I got an estimate from a local handyman to demolish an old chicken shed in the backyard. This shed hasn’t been used for a long time and it was in pretty bad shape. While we were in Australia the east wall finally fell down. It’s a nice haven for spiders and snakes.

Well after I got the estimate I figured,”No way, I can do this myself for just the cost of a Bobcat (which I am very experienced at using) and a few hours of my time.” It only took me all day Saturday and Sunday but I did it. I even pulled up a dead tree, pulled down dead hanging limbs, scraped the driveway and filled pot holes in the driveway. Money well spent on the Bobcat – I think I want one all of my own.

I left the bottom row of bricks. It will make a nice bed for flowers or veggies. I can get some chicken wire to keep the rabbits and other creatures out of the bed. I have been wanting to do this for years. I will feel it tomorrow, the concrete blocks didn’t scoop up easily into the Bobcat so I had to pick most of them up and put them in the bucket but at least I didn’t have to use a wheelbarrow to haul them away.

Here are some before and after pictures. Once I get the chicken wire up I will add more pictures. As you can see I torn up the lawn pretty good because the ground was still wet from all the rain we recently had but if I throw some seed down soon it will grow back fairly quickly.

Freddie, the cat came by a few times to check on my progress. He said, “Nice litter box you are making for me.”  Once the Bobcat was revved up again he was on is way back to the front porch.

Our garage actually can hold two cars. I know because I was finally able to put both of them in there. Most of the leftover garage sale items went to the auction house for last Saturday’s auction. And some of the garage shelves were picked up by the guy who bought them.  So there is room for the cars but not much room to open the doors.

When we get back from Fergus’ interview at the beginning of October I will know if I need to have a couple of more garage sales to get rid the things we have been using but won’t take with us: microwave, washer & dryer etc.

The leftover books were donated to the two local libraries for their fundraisers. The rest of the stuff in the garage are gardening items we still need to use and boxes of things we will be taking with us.

It feels good not to be hanging out in the garage on my weekends. Of course this weekend it rained so I spend most of the weekend indoors.

Several of you were curious enough to ask if the eggplant dip was a culinary success. It disturbs me deeply to say Fergus loved it, “One of the best things you’ve ever made.” Not saying much since the only things I’ve cooked that he likes is an occasional grilled steak and my masterpiece – Salmon with butter, lemon and caper sauce.

I’ll be happy to share that recipe: melt butter (any kind of butter even margarine works but not as tasty) and freshly squeezed  juice from two lemons in a pyrex measuring cup and MICROWAVE until the butter melts, scoop in some capers to your liking “we don’t need no stinking measuring spoons.”, Place salmon(fillets are better than steaks, less bones) in a pyrex baking dish and pour butter mixture over it, cover with plastic wrap and cook it in the MICROWAVE until cooked.  Total cooking time 10 minutes, clean up a total of 3 utensils  (knife to scoop out the butter, reused to stir in the capers, measuring cup and baking dish.

If you are feeling “gourmand” make some rice (in a rice cooker of course) and scoop some rice on a plate and slap the salmon steak next to it and…

“Bon Appetite”

I was so inspired by the movie last weekend and the memory of the delicious dinner at Mary Beth’s, that I decided to try my hand at Sylvia’s Julia Child eggplant dip.

It so happens that Mel (Sylvia’s husband) sells fresh fruit and veggies at the local farmer’s market and he emailed me to see if I was interested in some melon and…eggplant! It was a sign. So this morning I went to the grocery store and picked up the other ingredients, walnuts, garlic, spices, fresh ginger, etc. etc. I passed the humus and olive bar at our local supermarket. I didn’t have to go the easy way this weekend. I have the recipe!!!

I decided that if I made it ahead of time I would have all afternoon to do all my other chores. So at 1 o’clock I put the eggplant in the oven. The recipe said 30 to 35 minutes.  To cut a long story short, I had to call Sylvia to see what I needed to do if the pulp insides didn’t “scoop  out’ easily like the recipe said. More time was her recommendation.

The eggplant got more time – 10 more minutes. Still not soft enough. To hell with this -if microwave ovens had been around in Julia Child’s day she would have popped it in there for a few minutes. So in it went.

Did you know that eggplants have little tiny seeds much like flax seeds? Well, I know it now and anyone who comes into my kitchen might say,”Who threw the wet sticky flax seeds all over the walls, counters and Anne’s T-shirt?” They just fly out of the mixing bowl when you try to “puree the soft pulp” [my editorial addition to the recipe].

Once everything was “combined” and I got the monstrosity in the fridge the real challenge began. THE CLEAN-UP. I had no less that 21 cooking utensils; pot holders (hot eggplant and mushy pulp – you get the picture), bowls, knives, spoons, spatula, blender, mixer (blades and handle), measuring spoons, counters, floor, t-shirt. It was now 4:30 – I am not kidding you. I was exhausted and had to take a nap.

I am tempted to tell Fergus I bought it at the humus bar at our supermarket so that if he hates it I can say, “I won’t buy that one again.” and if he loves it I can say, “They aren’t making it any more.”

I just don’t have the time or the energy to cook.  Julia who?