My Journal:

February 2010

February is always a short month but this year it has flown by. A little rain, but here in this valley we remained the dry hole in the donut. But I won't complain, at least there was enough rain to keep everything green and my brother actually had to mow the lawn twice in the one month, something we haven't had to do for some years now.

A friend called us late last month, to ask if we wanted any mangoes. They have a couple of dozen trees and usually employ someone to pick and pack the fruit for wholesale. This year there was a glut of mangoes and it would have cost them more to do this than they would receive in payment. So my brother and I went to their farm and picked boxes of fruit, some green, some ripening. I thought that with 2 sisters from Sydney due mid month we would soon get rid of them. Unfortunately, my sisters don't like mangoes, so instead I got busy and cooked up a storm. I now have enough jars of chutney to last me for a year, and that's not counting the ones I gave away. I just love mangoes and also froze heaps so I'll have some to last through winter.

My Italian classes at U3A recommenced this month and we're now hard at it; our tutor deciding that this term we must begin to speak more, so I can see that my studies will intensify.

A few months back a friend invited me to join her 'stable' of writers and as a result of that I had a commission to write a mini biography. I enjoyed the experience, never having attempted this genre before, and am pleased with the result. I've been promised more work so that's exciting.

On the volunteer front, work continues. We had a mini-drama at the local neighbourhood centre a couple of weeks ago, with the discovery of termites in the old cottage. What a shock. We close down at the beginning of December and don't reopen until the beginning of February, and in those few months the dreaded white ants moved in, bag and baggage. The local council own the building so a call to them brought the pest control man at a run. Thankfully no structural damage was done and the cottage won't be falling down around our ears in the forseeable future.

When my sisters were here, I took a break from everything for a week. We didn't go out much, they just wanted to relax and swim in the pool, but we did visit the Japanese Gardens in Toowoomba and they were a picture, Toowoomba having had a little more rain than us down here. We also had a barbeque dinner here one night, with family coming down from Gympie, from Crows Nest and over from Brisbane. It was great, just like a mini reunion. Our last reunion was in 2005 so we have decided it's time for another. This one will be held on the northern NSW coast somewhere in 2012, so plenty of time to organise.

And that was February.