Junk Food Day, er Weekend

I'm going to have to do something. Saturday night was a very enjoyable pizza and wine night with friends - Jack was invited too, as there were three, small, excitable dogs looking forward to a reunion. After food, the DVD of "Sweeney Todd" played on, the four canines - all suffering Small Dog Syndrome - jockeyed for prime position on various human laps. It was quite hilarious. Luckily, the only blood spilled was on the screen.

Then this morning it was off to Mash cafe, in Glenbrook in the lower Blue Mountains, for breakfast. My friend Leonie accompanied us, although we left Jack behind. On a warm Sunday morning, it's very pleasant to eat al fresco at Mash, with Jack beside us, but winter in Glenbrook is... usually brisk. Fresh. Bloody cold.

We frittered away the rest of today, exploring the gift shops, garden centres and second hand bookstores of Glenbrook and Springwood, finishing off with a relaxing steak sandwich pub meal at "the Ori" (aka Orient Hotel). Delicious!

Let's not mention the vanilla slice for afternoon tea, eh?

Sunday's magic number: 95.8 - the diet starts anew tomorrow...

Foundation Day, Springwood, NSW

What a glorious day to be in the Blue Mountains yesterday! Jack experienced a whole new vista of scents as he joined many Mountains-dwelling canines at Springwood's annual Foundation Day festivities.

I'd happened to notice a poster for this event on the Orient Hotel's front door on Friday night. I'd recalled finding it accidentally one year, but this time I made sure to get back up to Springwood early. I didn't really buy anything, except for homemade fudge - yum - and a few unique items from the garden store we like to frequent, plus pide for lunch. It was a fun day, nonetheless.



Springwood's main street was sealed off to traffic and transformed into colourful market stalls - vacated only for the parade of floats and marching groups - and there was a very friendly, family-oriented, country atmosphere.

Jack was alternately exploring on all fours, and being carried in my arms (which he seemed to enjoy too much), and he made lots of acquaintances, both furred and human. We struck up a conversation with a young couple who were seriously considering their first Jack Russell. They'd watched us pass by a few times, and eventually asked for some background on the breed. Jack really made an impression of them; currently they have a very bored - and boring - King Charles Cavalier spaniel, who spends her days sitting on a blanket being an aloof princess. Methinks a Jack Russell will colour their world a little more than that. ;-)

Thanks, Springwood, you did well!

Talking shop

I just arrived back home after a wonderful meal at Springwood's Orient Hotel. It was a staff dinner. Several non-teaching partners of the staff had that half-bemused expression as the teachers did what they do so well: talked shop about students, classes and teaching methods. No matter how earnestly we promise it won't happen, it always does...

The restaurant seems to have become become a staff favourite over recent years. Although there are several cosy nooks inside, we usually end up in the large front area, which is a transparent plastic-curtained area (with gas heaters on poles). The looooong table made conversations a bit restricted, so there was plenty of chair-hopping during the night.

When there are lots of us, there is a cheaper, limited choice menu available but, last night, we ordred from the regular a la carte selection. The lamb dish sounded very tempting, but I'd eaten lamb only last Wednesday, so I went for a well-recommended barbecued chicken fillet dish, which was scrumptious.

Oh, by the way, I've recently stumbled across the blog of Ian MacLean, a student of Dearborn, Michigan (not far from Ann Arbor, where my penpal, Olivia, lives) in the USA: The Chronicles of Ian. I absolutely love his blog's motto: "... where I'm Ian, and you're wrong."