I've moved...

My apologies for the absence of posts recently, but in my move from North Adelaide to Gawler I just haven’t found (ok, I haven’t made) the time to write up a proper post.  I got up early Tuesday afternoon (the 13^th) to be able to say goodbye to the boys before they went off to school.  I scrubbed down the apartment and packed up all my stuff, then cleaned Lesley’s house again.  She didn’t have anyone come through during open house on Saturday so we didn’t have one, she didn’t see the point.  After waiting around most of the afternoon without a ton to do (I should have just gone to the library, but didn’t really feel like it) Dick finally arrived at 3pm to take me and my stuff up to Gawler.  After taking the dogs for a walk, Dick and I went to my first Rotary meeting that evening.  It was very interesting; I’ve never been to a Rotary meeting before.  They played this one game, I’m told it’s a traditional Australian pub game and I vaguely remember reading about it in my “Becoming More Australian” book, where you guess whether the 2 coins tossed will land both heads up, both tails up, or one of each by putting your hands on your head or “tail”.  They had me do the coin tossing since I was the guest.  The speaker for the night was the club President and he told the story of his trip with the RAF to do a memorial and burial service for the remains of some Australian servicemen from WWI whose bodies had just recently been identified in Germany.  It was a really interesting talk. 

On Wednesday Dick went to work early so Les and I ended up sitting around, pretty much the entire day, just talking.  She’s been having a lot of pain and inflammation in her hands and they nearly cancelled their trip because of the issues, but she’s still trying to get to the bottom of it all and figuring out how to cope.  We ended up ordering out pizza, and after Dick and I got back from walking the dogs, we ended up watching The Big Bang Theory together.  Oh, and it was just getting dark as we were walking and the moon was almost full and I couldn’t believe how clear and bright it looked in the sky.  At one point along the trail it sits just above this field on a hill – I’ll have to take a photo at some point to show you all, it was amazing.  Thursday morning I got up and walked the dogs with Dick and then we took Pancho to the vet for his arthritis shot.  When we got back Les was about to drive down to Salisbury so I went along with her to see some more of the area and to help get my bearings.  On the way back we stopped in this little housing development and she had me test out my right side of the car, left side of the road driving skills.  After driving through there for a bit I ended up driving the rest of the way home, which wasn’t far.  The jeep is Les’s car, and I was definitely more comfortable driving it than I think I will be driving the “dog car” as they call it.  It’s a little, blue coup and sits really low to the ground so hopefully I can see over the steering wheel.

 Their youngest grandson was dropped off in the early afternoon and then we went and picked up his two older sisters at school.  We had afternoon tea (can you tell Les is British?), which was really just a drink and a snack at a café before heading to a small park for a little bit.  When we got back to the house the girls taught me how to play some card games, so the four of us had fun with that.  On Thursday nights they always take the kids to Fasta Pasta for dinner and tonight Rachel and her two boys were joining us, what with Dick and Les leaving on Monday for a 6 week holiday.  Plus there are a few birthdays they’ll be missing while they’re gone.  Rachel’s two boys are involved in Chinese Lion dancing at their school (they’re the only school in SA that does this apparently) so Jacob was showing me some pictures and trying to explain it to me during dinner.  He’s also involved in RAF Cadets so we were able to determine that ROTC isn’t actually the equivalent of being an RAF Cadet.  Sorry, RAF stands for Royal Air Force.  Rachel is also involved in the cadets and her brother is in the actual Air Force, stationed in Canberra. 

Dick and Les leave on Monday night and so far I think I’ll be ok for the next 6 weeks.  These extra days, just being at the house, seeing the routine, etc. have certainly helped me feel more comfortable.  Plus, driving back and forth to town a few times had tremendously helped this poor, directionally challenged individual.  They are leaving me a GPS, so that is definitely a God-send for me.  They have a large garden and rather large home for just the two of them, so between the dogs and the garden and the house I’m sure I’ll be able to keep myself occupied.  Lesley told me they’ll be up to visit sometime, as did Ally, maybe if I get bored I can find somewhere to volunteer…  Anyway, that’s been my life in Gawler so far.  Oh, and could the Pens really not make it through the semifinals?  I just found out we lost to the Rangers (that's what happens when you miss a few days online and they don't have hockey in the country).  What a bummer.