Down under

Singapore airport

Well to continue on from last week's blog, I am now sitting in Australia typing up the blog. My very quick update to say the blog would be late because I was travelling was sent from Singapore, our stopover to Perth. We have never been to Singapore and didn't get to see much of it at all, or many people come to that as the airport was rather quiet. The view from the airplane showed a very green land with lots of flowers, rather different from the cold Spring we had just left in the UK. It was sad to say goodbye to our new grandson and his parents, but exciting in another way as we were about to see our daughter, her husband and their even newer baby. Our daughter was fortunately discharged from hospital in plenty of time to meet us at the airport and so we got to see the new baby straight away.

Picnic in the park. Yes no blue skies but I think I still
caught the sun a little

We haven't done a great deal here in Australia for several reasons, firstly tiredness of course, secondly our daughter is not up to long trips out just yet and mainly because the whole purpose of our visit was to visit our little Aussie grandchild. One of our daughter's friends came to visit, someone who we got to know quite well from our last visit as we stayed in her house and our daughter's wedding was held there, so it was nice to meet up again. Whilst she was here she called Ian a "baby whisperer" which sounds very apt, as he is still showing his flair for being able to get little ones off to sleep. We have though visited a glorified car boot sale place or in this case called a community market, as our daughter wanted some metal art that costs a fortune in boutique kinds of places, but was more reasonable in this particular market, we have walked to the shops - a feat in itself with a new buggy, they just don't handle the same way they used to  and we had a picnic in the park today. Not the sort of thing that we could do in Latvia and was even a tad too cold in England, but despite sliding into autumn in the land down under we are in shorts and t-shirts and revelling the sight of green grass.

The picture you were waiting for, our little granddaughter.

There is one visit I would rather have not have made this week and that is to the dentist. My teeth felt fine when in Latvia, but whether it is the travel or the change in diet they started to ache in the UK and by the time we got to Australia I was starting to have some real problems. Our daughter and her husband haven't had the chance or necessity to find a good dentist yet and so I ended up scouting one out for them that had been recommended. An honour I assure you I would rather have not undertaken on their behalf. It would appear that one of the nerves in my tooth was dying and an infection setting in, so an x-ray, a new filling, some digging around in nerve canals and antibiotic paste and you can tell the dollars were adding up. Let us say it cost a tad bit more than it would have done in Latvia and was only a temporary fix until I get back home for the works - aren't I looking forward to that!!!!!!! I will have to let you know next week if it was a success as my tooth still aches and I went and got the antibiotics that   the dentist gave me on prescription today, as it is still not settled yet.

Not something you see every day in Latvia

I have to say I am a little tired of being sick now, it seems to be one thing after another. My arm is still not 100%, although much better than it was last week. I have been threatened with the doctors when I get back, unless my arm is up to lugging bales of hay around. Typically of course I very, very rarely get stopped in security and yet with my sore arm I did, not once but twice. Each time I had to explain I couldn't hold my arm up properly as it was sore, especially problematic in an all body scanner where you are supposed to assume a pose with feet wide apart and hands above your head. Fortunately the lady security officers in both cases, were very sympathetic and gentle, in fact I think they were a little scared of injuring me further, which I found mildly amusing. In the end I did work out that even though my shoes appeared to have very little metal in them, there must have been more sewn into them and so on the third trip through a security scan I took them off. I shall have to remember that on future occasions, as I am likely to be travelling a little more often in the next few years.

The grey skies may seem familiar but the
trees somehow do not

The hoover duck, it just seemed to go around as if it was
hoovering up any little tasty treats, rather like our cat

I love visiting our children now that they are adults and seeing what kind of people they have grown into. I am very proud of their thoughtfulness and the conscious decisions they make around what and where they spend their money. Maybe something rubbed off on them, or maybe I can't take any credit for it, but it blesses me anyway. Both our children use local businesses to buy their fruit and veg rather than the local supermarkets by preference, which I find very encouraging. Our son and his wife in the UK use a local greengrocer - such a rarity these days, and my daughter uses a local delivery service. Both are finding the benefits of using these more personal services, getting to know the folks or just enjoying the fresher produce and variety.

This week back home, our alpacas with their other little
helper. I think the weather is a little different to here

The snow melting and the lake filling in. At
least it is going.