people say pain in the ~~~ things often happen in threes. i'm not superstitious about it - i think such things can be smeared all across a day. we're having one of those days.
poor isaac was up in the night with itchy feet (what we thought were bug bites are actually hives which have made his little feet red and disfigured for days) and he woke early this morning. i was in a tylenol p.m. sleeping pill fog from treating my dodgy hip and i could barely think straight. his condition and the antihistamine we're medicating him with kept us from sending him to school this morning. grumpy as anything he stayed home, sassed us off and refused to nap.
this morning, we continued to work on a journal (actual 35 of them) that we are designing by-hand for the new forge interns. while plugging away on this creative, but vacation-bible-school like effort, we had to stop every so often to attend to some particularly annoying email correspondence. it is the kind of thing that makes you want to ram your head through a wall or sedate yourself heavily.
as we worked, we waited for a service person to arrive to install a new oven, rangetop and hood for kev and kath. their old oven hasn't worked properly for years, so they have been eagerly awaiting this new and improved model. last night, we gave the oven a collective kick and good riddance. after working for over an hour, the guy installing the stove top informed us that the countertop had originally been cut improperly and the new top won't fit without cabinet work or replacement of the counter/bench. great. now a big, useless hole sits within the countertop. finally, the company scheduling the installation told us nothing more can be done until next monday. we'll be using the barbie for a while.
when geoff went out to get the bike ready this afternoon to drop off our ailing little boy for a few hours of school the bike tire was flat. he was only partially successful at filling the tire, so as the boys rode off with a half-deflated tire, a spoke broke off. to ice the cake, he forgot to take dogger (the treasured friend that always accompanies isaac to school), so he had to leave isaac sobbing.
apparently a hollywood director claims to have discovered the remains of jesus. i've been staring at the wall eating peanut butter cookies and geoff is watching oprah. as they say in australia, "the wheels have fallen off."
coming back to australia has been a (re)learning experience in many ways. the ordinary task of ordering coffee at a cafe is no exception. perhaps it would be of interest to our dear north american readers there is no regular coffee (drip filter style) in sight. all coffee is made for you espresso style. one must make that delightful choice, between short black, long black, flat white, cappuccino, macchiato, caffe latte, ice coffee, and the less than authentic-italian mugacino (see a list of coffee types and their descriptions here). massive italian immigration in the post WWII period had a dramatic affect on australian culture...melbourne now has the highest number of cafes per capita than any other major city. to say Melbournians love their coffee would be a gross understatement. it is a highlight of the week to sit outside and sip a coffee with family, taking in the street scenes and the gentle boost of caffeine. i took the above photo of a delicious macchiato i consumed at a cafe by the beach in Altona.
