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?

I have been feeling very protective of our adopted feral cat, Fred Astaire. It started with us seeing him eating bird seed. I didn’t think it would hurt to feed him a bit of kittie kibble. He wouldn’t come near us. Since May I have gotten him to come when he is  called by his name, let me pet him, he will sit on my lap and purrs. He follows me when I am in the yard or garage. He is adorable.

I had the Country Cat Organization come out and give him vaccinations, took him to the vet to have him neutered and my latest project is getting him ready for the winter months to come.

I found a website that shows how to build a winter shelter for feral cats. You can see what they suggest at www.urbancatleague.org/SheltersMike.html.

Here are some pictures of the winter shelter I made for Mr. Astaire. The boxes are spare plastic totes I had. One of them was clear so I painted the outside with brown spray paint (garage sale specials). I had some Styrofoam  insulation pieces from the set the “Hamlet” we did at the university. I lined the front and back with those. Attached the totes at the opening holes with duck tape and stuffed straw between both totes.

I put another panel of Styrofoam insulation between the two tops. I placed the shelter under a window but the opening was still exposed to possible rain so I added a little overhang from another plastic tote top. The back of the shelter faces the westwind and the opening faces north but it is behind the entry steps so I think he will be protected. I put straw inside and all around the shelter on the ground. I don’t know if he has gone inside but I can see little round impressions in the straw outside the shelter so I think he has been sleeping near the shelter at night. It is still pretty warm at night so he might not need the warmth of the shelter yet.

He is well protected from large wild animals because it is hidden behind the rose bushes (I have the thorn punctures to prove it.) I sprayed the inside straw with a mixture of cedar, eucalyptus oils and water to control fleas and ticks. He has quick access to his feeders on the front porch. He still loves sleeping on the front porch in the bottom half of his travel kennel (hard to believe it took me so long to get him to get into it in the first place). But he is a smart cat so he will go inside the shelter when it gets too cold.

He checked it out once I got it into place. He turned and looked at me and said,”Where is the dance floor?”

Here are the pictures of what I did and where I located his “mansion”.

Yesterday I was invited by one of the library ladies I met a few weekends ago during my garage sale to go a late afternoon movie and then come over for dinner after the movie. Fergus was working so I said sure.

We went to see “Julie & Julia” and it was delightful. I highly recommend it but be sure to arrange to eat after you see it because it will make you hungry. Mary Beth – the lady who invited me, had prepared two Julia Child recipes and they were cooking in her slow cooker while we were at the movie house. Sylvia brought a eggplant dish (some French name that I can pronounce nor spell), also from the Julia Child cookbook. I brought wine (’cause I don’t cook and I wasn’t asked to anyway). It was FABULOUS!!

And just like in the movie we sat around and talked and ate and drank and laughed. It was the best day I’ve had since leaving Australia. Their husbands were there too so I felt bad that Fergus missed all the fun and great food. They said we will do another get together before we move back to Australia. It turns out that one couple lived in California near where I use to live and she even worked in the building down the street from where I worked – small world. Her husband, Mel is a retired research botanist (can you believe that Sue). He went to Sydney several years ago to present a paper on a banana fungus (or some such thing).

Another small world connect is that Mel is the President of the Fredric Remington Historical Society – Remington lived just a few miles from here when he was in his early twenties. Well my ex-sister-in-law Julie, is Remington’s grand (or great) granddaughter. Mel was the person who organized and constructed the Remington plaque at Remington High School. When I went to my brother John’s 50th wedding anniversary party a few years ago I took a picture of that plaque and gave a copy of it to my nephews, Paul and Dan, Julie and Bob’ sons. Mel is working on creating a garden around the monument and is planning a celebration for the unveiling of the garden. He found out that there is a couple in Wichita who are avid collectors of ORIGINAL Remington works. He is going to see if they would be willing to display some of his art during the celebration. All of this is happening within a ten miles of our house. We have lived here for TEN YEARS and I never knew any of this.

For my Aussie friends I want to remind you that Kansas is like Alice Springs – not dry and red nor all that difficult to get to – but right in the middle of the country. And Whitewater is this tiny little community far from anything. How one can find herself so connected in so many ways to such a place is a mystery to me.

I can’t believe it has been a month since I have added an entry. Most of it has been because one can only talk so much about sitting in a hot garage waiting to sell all the junk we have collected over the years.

But I have news finally. Fergus will be interviewing with the Australian College of Emergency Medicine as the final step (I hope)  in the process of getting back to Oz. Once that happens they can tell him what, if anything, he needs to do to work in Australia, i.e. testing, probation, further training or full privileges. Once he knows what might be required then he can make a decision about making the move.

We don’t have firm date yet but we are hoping (I’m hoping) around the end of September and we will be in Melbourne for at least two weeks. I will keep you informed as we know more.

I have shown the house to a few potential buyers and more than enough “lookie-loos” but I haven’t felt the pressure to sell it until we are sure we are leaving.  I look forward to hearing from my many “fans” out there.