Diet be damned, I'm not about to head up to Ripe and then not have a hot chocolate, so I ordered a Lindt dark hot chocolate. Frothy hot milk with dissolving Lindt chocolate pieces at the bottom which you stir up into a gorgeous silky precipitate. Mr Smart had a latte which he thoroughly enjoyed, admitting it was superior to his pod coffee and beautifully made. We perused the breakfast menu and both decided on the Mexican Eggs: Scrambled eggs folded with corn, kidney beans, and finished with sour cream, cheddar cheese and spring onions on toasted bread" It was rather scrummy.
After brunch, we quickly checked in at Geppetto's Workshop a fabulous toy store that specialises in puppets and wooden toys. I picked out a lovely wooden train for Mr Smart's nephew's Christmas present. After that we decided to head to Sherbrooke Falls, a 2.4km round trip walk from Sherbrooke Picnic Ground. It was a gorgeous walk and the rain held off for almost the entire time.
We saw Crimson Rosella, Black Cockatoos, little dusty green wrens of some sort and a Lyrebird! Spider webs, Forget-me-nots and Buttercups, beautiful powerful tall Mountain Ash, tree ferns, a tree fern stump some wag had turned into a smiling wally, water running through the creek and over the modest falls, stinging nettles and finally, on our return to the car a very handsome King Parrot. For the best of today's photos, click here. Below is one looking down on the falls from the bridge that crosses it and an up-to-date photo of me under a very tall old partly-hollowed tree.
It was such a lovely day, walking along talking and taking in the sounds of the bush and the fresh air. It's nice to have such easy accessibility to nature so relatively close to home. I didn't get a photo of the King Parrot as he showed up just shortly after I popped my camera in the boot of the car. They are very large handsome looking parrots, about twice the size of a Crimson Rosella and an almost fluorescent orange breast. Mr Smart managed to take a small video of as it I failed to convince it to sit on my hand by pretending I had bird seed. You are of course, not allowed to feed wild birds in National Parks as it makes them fat, unhealthy and reliant on humans for food. It also leads to them being overly docile and consequently easy targets for predators.
I had an unfortunate encounter with a King Parrot in Marysville once. Unfortunate for me, rather than for it. It had managed to find itself inside the local bakery and was distressing itself unsuccessfully trying to get out. I managed to firmly but gently wrap my hands around it, holding its wings to its body while someone opened the door for me to escort it outside. Regrettably, I had failed to keep my index finger out of range of its beak. Turns out they can be vicious little buggers but he soon let go and flew off. Luckily I bear the species no ill will for the actions of the individual.
Mr Smart and I headed home after that. We had intended to watch a movie before Mr Smart headed into the city for celebratory drinks with uni friends, but we found ourselves a little pressed for time so we had mugs of green tea with lemon and chatted instead. I did moot the idea of a Scrabble rematch but we didn't really have time for that either. Time came for him to depart so I drove him up to Oakleigh train station and off he went.
On my way back home I stopped off at the local Dan Murphy's and had a bit of an expensive shop. I may have gone a teensy weensy bit overboard, but tomorrow is a rather special dinner and I also wanted to have a couple of bottles for home. I do seem to enjoy the odd glass of wine a little more frequently these days and there's been a few times when Mr Smart and I have decided to duck out to an impromptu dinner only to find that I've no bottles of wine to grab and take with us so I figured I would solve that problem.
Home again and beverages unloaded, I mucked about on my computer, procrastinating the obviously needed housework and chatting to Earnest. I wondered what to make for dinner. I'd nothing planned and therefore nothing defrosted. I hadn't eaten any lunch and was starting to get pretty peckish. I somehow couldn't shake the desire for lamb and salad. Having the Kebab Joint so close to home is become somewhat of a trap. I toddled down and got a large lamb and salad with a side serve of yoghurt and eggplant dip.
I ate this yummy quick-fix dinner while watching The Surprising History of Sex and Love, a documentary by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. It was rather interesting really with a definite focus on how religion from Paganism to Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism has shaped the evolution of human sexuality and expressions of love. It was perhaps a mite short to cover such a broad topic but I'm terribly fond of the man so I enjoyed it nevertheless.
While I wrote tonight's blog I indulged in more episodes of QI on youtube and a couple of glasses of Lipton Light Iced Green Tea with Lemon. I have nothing else on for this evening so I may well continue to indulge for the remainder of the night. Tomorrow my intention is to the housework but we all know what the road to hell is paved with. The only things I shall definitely be doing tomorrow is attempting to make myself beautiful and heading off to a very special birthday dinner.
Have a great weekend everyone! Mine is already off to a great start.
Jess
Look at you! Gorgeous woman - take it from someone who doesn't see you anywhere near as often as I'd like - you are just shedding the weight - you look amazing! xxxxx
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