Merry Christmas! The lake is lovely and we’re swimming every day. Today we took a gazebo down and spent three hours in the water, the sand and reading the paper in the shade between swims. I swam to the jetty and was intercepted by a huge dog on the way. There were a few boats, which is great for the lake, not so good for me though as I have to keep looking out to make sure I’m not out too deep. Plus I’m a little paranoid about getting run over, but not to worry. Ruby is loving every minute of it…

…as are the kids….

…who are falling into bed at night and sleeping late into the morning (well, I call 8am late).

I have sandy feet and a sunburnt back. I know how unwise that is, but the sun is so strong, and it just beat me to it this time. The boxing day test is on the telly and the aircon is humming. We are staying in bathers most of the day. These are the sounds and sensations of summer.

My triathlon training has started, with long swims every day and my first tentative bike ride yesterday. I haven’t done any running yet because it’s been too hot, but I’ll get to it soon.

I’ve only just finished writing my Christmas cards. Better late than never. I would have been on time this year but the kids broke my printer so that put a spanner in the works for a while.

While I think of it – I must apologise for the fact that all the photos I imported from Typepad to WordPress seem to have somehow gotten lost. I have no idea why, as they all came across fine in the beginning. As I find time I’ll gradually re-load them, but for now, my apologies.

Wishing you a wonderful festive season. May the new year bring you joy in abundance.

This year our Advent Calendar needed to be portable so we have envelopes in a decorated box. Each envelope contains a small slip of paper with an activity to be done on that day:
1. Have Breakfast for Dinner
2. Stay up late for half an hour
3. Bake scones
4. Make paper chains
5. Make a comic or colouring in book
6. Make a cubby house
7. Make gift tags
8. Have a slide show
9. Have a bubble bath
10. Have a tea party
11. Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn
12. Paint everyone’s toenails
13. Walk the dog
14. Eat dessert before dinner
15. Have a family disco
16. Have milkshakes
17. Sing Christmas carols in the car
18. Buy each other a $2 present from a charity shop
19. Have races in the garden
20. Walk down Chennel Crescent and look at the lights
21. Make paper snowflakes
22. Make up a joke
23. Make Christmas presents for each other
24. Make Christmas hats

Edie and Jude in Barmera, with thanks to the splendid horses

We’ve recently returned from three weeks in Barmera, South Australia. It was a lovely break, Edie had two weeks out of school, Bim joined us for a week, and we appreciated spending time with the grandparents. It was a busy time, though, with the long trip there, and me working while on holidays, which adds an extra level of complexity. Dad also worked the whole time we were there, so it felt like a working household rather than a holiday household. Still good fun, but too much work all round.

We’ve been back for a fortnight today and it’s nice to be home. I love going to Barmera but there’s nothing like getting home to your own bed, own routines, own gym…

Back into the gym routine in a great way and loving it. The combat/pump double this morning really hit the spot and I’m feeling strong and fast. On the home front, Bim has almost finished building our beautiful new fence out the front, and we’ve bought a second car to take the pressure off on the transport front.

Although it’s all systems go I’m still trying to find a few spare minutes to carve out some quiet times. The Monday morning swims are going…well…swimmingly. I’m loving them. But I probably need to start reading a book or going for walks, or *something*. Work is encroaching, running the house is all consuming, staying fit and healthy is a necessity and beyond that there’s little left for just…being.

So I’m looking for that right now. If anyone finds it, please let me know.

But today I woke up feeling a bit crummy, I’ve had a throat thing, and instead of doing pump and RPM I decided to do pump and then swim a few laps.

It was *so* good. I remember now how much I love swimming and why I do it. I love the monotony of it, the fact it frees my mind up to tease out the curly little problems that live in its corners while I lap away.

I managed 50 laps then had a sauna and spa. I had the entire pool to myself and I’ve resolved to do it more often. Now I just have to hold myself to that promise.

When we bought this house we referred to it as “the house with the bushwalk”, and since we’d moved from a house with a beautiful bushwalk nearby we were confident of an equally convenient replacement.

Not exactly the case.

While this bushwalk is indeed beautiful, and is about as close as you can get, it’s not quite as perfect as our other one was. You see, the other bushwalk provided an easy route through to the main street of Springwood, so I could take it as an alternative to a sedate street walk, with a purpose – like milk or bread, or even wine – and come back invigorated and fulfilled. The bushwalk nearby does not serve that purpose.

But that is no reason for me to have shunned it so long.

Perhaps it was the leeches. They had us squirming for a while there. But now I know ways to avoid them.

No, it’s simply a case of taking something on my doorstep for granted.

So last week I set out for a walk. I’d been sick, the kids had been sick, and I’d had to miss the gym that day and felt like I needed a workout. I wore my heart-rate monitor and did my usual walk with some steps and hills, running whenever my heartrate went below 100 BPM. But after about 30 mins I’d only burnt 280 calories and the dog and I were keen for more.

So I decided to try walking the bushwalk backwards. Not actually facing backwards, but starting from the point where I’d usually complete the walk. I was surprised at how completely different it felt. For instance, this is the view I usually face on the walk:

But when I do the walk in reverse it looks like this:

The entire walk was so different, and such an enjoyable revelation, that it taught me a lot about the shifting shape of things and how perception is so…well…malleable, I suppose.

And on top of that, in the extra 40 minutes the bushwalk took, I burnt an additional 300 calories.

**If you’re interested in the nuances of the bushwalk, check out the photstream on the right.

Totally glamorous.

1. Edie has her first loose tooth. It’s in the middle at the bottom and I’m pretty sure it’s the first one she cut as a babe.

2. Bim found an echidna outside our house today. The kids had a good look at it, named it Beanie, then let it loose in the bush.

3. We all trucked off to the school’s Kindergarten Expo last night at 7pm (= bed-time) and when we entered the hall, Edie turned around and said “oh, that’s right, I’m not in the choir so I’m not meant to be here!). We left soon after.

4. Mum and I went on a beautiful bush walk on Wednesday.

5. The days are beautiful, getting longer and it’ll be 30 over the weekend.

6. The kids have been eating their meals at the table and eating every bite. They are playing in the garden after school, and making books and entertaining themselves most of the time. It’s sweet.

7. My bum is still sore from the double pump/rpm class Monday backed up with double step/balance class Tuesday.

8. Bim and I are going out and staying at the Carrington in Katoomba tomorrow night, Mum is looking after the kids. Everyone is looking forward to it!

9. I haven’t turned the television on all week and don’t miss it. As much as I love television, I also love having control over it.

10. I think I am choosing to do a gym class first up on my 40th birthday. I don’t know what this says about me but it’s Body Vive – lots of dancing around with balls and straps and it involves a Foreigner track, so I *do* know it’ll be fun.

That’s all for now, I can’t be arsed with pictures but I’ll get there soon!

So this week I’ve decided to boycott the supermarket and instead use up some of the goodies lurking in my larder. Sure, we cheated a bit on Monday because we went out to the pub for dinner. I made mini-quiches for the kids last night with the finest ham the local deli had on offer, I’d bought it for visitors who then forgot to come. We also had zucchini pie made with spelt flour specially for our wheat intolerant (non) visitor, and the spelt loaf is languishing in the freezer for another day….Tonight it’s satay chicken and rice, tomorrow, who knows….there’s babaganoush, a block of jarlsberg, marinated grilled capsicum and eggplant…so many things. Even some fresh tiger prawns that will have to do for cat food tomorrow because I’m not buying that either.

So far so good. I *did* buy milk today, but I figure that’s allowed. Boycotting the supermarket is a challenge but a freedom all at once. Try it!