summer scent from Christine

good morning shah,

hope the weather is as fine in melbourne as it is here. val has gone to play squash, his usual jaunt on a sunday morning. my mother is coming around shortly. she likes to pop in after she has been to church. it was alex's birthday yesterday and the family came to dinner last night. sam fetched him, since he doesn't drive and they live quite close to one another, alex at ashford and sam at goodwood. we had a very nice meal, alex's choice of menu: sweet corn and potato soup with sourdough frenchstick bread, twice-baked potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, carrots, roast leg of lamb with mint sauce and gravy, kashenka (Polish black pudding whih is like a big sausage), fruit jelly and icecream, almond cake. Alex is a big lad and a good trencherman, ha ha. it was a pleasant occasion and both boys were civilsed. mum enjoyed herself, ate well and then viewed the backlog of my photos on the laptop. she liked melbourne, from my trip over at the start of the year, particularly the shots from the eureka tower and the dome of the state library, and of course my snow pictures from falls creek. kiki and steffi loved the extra attention but yoyo and merry were buy outside doing cat things and never showed. pity my sister is in canberra. family gatherings are getting fewer.

gotta go and make things respectable before mum gets here. hope you are well. jeff lewis' book on cultural studies has been a lifeline to understanding recently—mostly on postmodern, hyperreality and transculturalism.

cheers,
christine

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Hi Shah,

We've just returned from the oval. We let Steffi off the lead to play in the creek on the first round and put her back on to complete the leg near the road. She was quite good and came back reasonably quickly when called and got a piece of smacko. On the second round it was Kiki's turn. She had a great time chasing through the long grass. We can follow her antics by the waving blades because she is still small and virtually disappears. She splashed in the creek and Steffi was mad at still being on the lead. molly plays games in the deep water, but she watches the pups and tries to show them what to do. Then Kiki spotted some squealing girls on a mound of dirt and wanted to play too. They ran off and Kiki ran off after them to the playground. At first she would not come back but Molly fetched her and she did come back, fortunately, and got a piece of smacko instead of a whack. Next round only Molly was free. I don't know which is worst, training children or dogs. Thank goodness Alex and Sam are adults. Molly does get jealous and sometimes Steffi and Kiki have a jealous spat, especially when Mum comes and tries to give out treats.

It looks like rain shortly, but it is still humid and warm. I'm off to complete reading Ellipse of Uncertainty: an introduction to postmodern fantasy by Lance Olsen, and wash my hair. I wouldn't mind watching a comedy movie but I don't know where the hours go. Dr Who has finished on TV. I did enjoy that series very much especially, at the end when David Tennant was talking about making the show and reverted to his Scottish accent.

Cheers,
Christine