We had to return to Brisbane as I had a didge class in the evening. We took a leisurely drive down the Bruce Highway, stopped at Wyllie Park to drop the black water, and went to the Lawnton Showground which had been recommended to us as a cheap place to stopover. We found it to be quite adequate so we decided to try it out for a week. It will save us $40 though the extra travelling will consume a bit of that.
I thought I had made good progress with the didge but the instructor wasn't impressed. One of the class had mastered circular breathing with a continuous drone and the rest of us were left in the shade. I'm not the bottom of the class and, with a lot of practice, I'll get there.
We dined at Patricks Rd on very delicious corned beef and veges.
We had put a survey form in the Highway Wanderers newsletter with an unstamped but pre-addressed envelope in an effort to rectify the errors iin the mailing list. I agreed to do the survey because I was interested to find out how many would respond. Our President thinks we should simply delete from the mailing list everyone who doesn't respond but I will wait to see what response we get before I will agree with that. The newsletter has only been out a week and already we have nearly twenty replies so maybe it will work well.
Jean had left the laundry at Patricks Rd and Al kindly washed it for us.
We lunched at Brookside, spent the afternoon at Patricks Rd. I have been having trouble with Dialassist which has refused to work since the last system upgrade. It locks the damned computer every time I try to use it. Today I worked on the problem and, with Al's help, found a solution of sorts. If I turn off all but the necessary extensions it doesn't misbehave. Apple software is getting more like Microsoft every year. How sad.
We returned to Lawnton, dined in the Motley, and went to bed late.
Jean had a hair appointment in Mitchelton at 10.30 so we met Alain at Cafe Zanetti and had a few coffees. Sarah was doing some scrapping for Caroline and Helen so we took three monster takeaway lattes back to Patricks Rd.
I diagnosed the problem with the battery charger for Sarah's drill and need to get a replacement transformer and, possible a battery pack as well.
On the way back to Lawnton, we picked up Jean's new ring, a ruby set with two small hearts, to celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary (it took until now to find the right ring). It is purely coincidental that today is Valentine's Day.
We went to Brookside to pick up my new spectacles. There just the best, the graduated lenses let me focus on anything from infinity to about 250mm ( 10 inches) with just a tilt of the head. It is said that it is hard to get used to them because they produce the illusion of movement at the sides. Jean had to abandon hers because she suffered from motion sickness when she wore them. I have had no such problems but that may be because the optometrist prescribed the brand of lens with the least problems.
The Little Motley inevitably took us to Cafe Zanetti where we met up with Sarah and Karen. Morning coffee turned into lunch.
I dropped Sarah at the physio, picked up the kids from pre-school and school, picked up Sarah and took them all back to Patricks Rd.
Both Jean and I went to the doctor in the afternoon, Jean to get a new scrip and I to find out why I have had some spots on my back for over a month. The verdict was age spots and not to worry. We both had excellent blood pressure so the lifestyle must still be working.
We had a leisurely morning though Jean had to sort out photos for the afternoon's session.
In the afternoon Jean and I both attended a marathon scrapbooking session at Chermside with Sarah and Karen. Nine hours of concentrated scrapping is something to experience, particularly for a mere male. I got a lot done and my family album is now quite respectable. I ran out of photographs but I can search out some more. I did an ancestral chart at the beginning and I think it will serve its purpose of making the portraits of my forebears accessibly to succeeding generations.
We didn't get back to the Motley until 9.30 and when we did we discovered that I had failed the "set the VCR" test yet again!.
In the morning, before breakfast, I practiced the didge for two hours. We went to Cafe Zanetti where I had breakfast an we all drank copious quantities of coffee.
Night & Day were playing at the Samford Pub so we spent the best part of the afternoon there, listening to them, eating lunch and, in my case, drinking lots of Guinness. We repaired to the Motley for supper and a good night's sleep.
Shopping day.
I had bought a new plug pack to mend the battery charger for Sarah's drill and had to do a little modification to make it work correctly.
In the evening I had my fourth didge lesson. I had sort of got circular breathing and had been able to achieve a continuous drone during practice and the instructor was a bit better pleased but we have new techniques which must be practiced lots.