Never too late for CAKE

Cake Face

Cute-est pumpkins

I met my friend Heidi at the beach cafe by my house. She really got the short end of the deal, for one thing I think I short changed her on the bill, for another she basically got the same wood fired pizza I did, but they charged her double. Mine was on the appetizer list but seriously, they were the same size with the same amount of ingrediants. We will have to pay more attention next time we go there. I blame my inattention on the two glasses of sparkling wine I had on a basically empty stomach.
Lastly, Heidi and her husband have their own business; they make Cakes. Let me tell you that Zok and I are always trying slices of cake from the bakeries, and faux gourmet grocery shops. There is a lot of bad cake out there. Just the other day Zok got a slice of cheesecake from Liscombe, the crust was like a pie crust and inedible, also the cake was topped by this sort of lime meringue. Awful.
Heidi though makes perfectly delicious cakes. She can also make them in any shape you could ever want. Although I am old-fashioned and I don't go in for that fancy stuff. Here is the cake she surprised me with.

Neighbors & Unfortunately; A Wasp

The neighbors oh so lovely tree
New lilac tree

As I sat down to compose this post, I felt an intense pain, I jumped up, yelling out to Zok and starting to cry instantly. I knew what had happened, I had seen the wasp buzzing around the window earlier. I had forgotten to tell Zok who is an excellent insect catcher. There was blubbering about the injustice (not my best week, my twenty odd mosquito bits are still bothering me)-I made Zok do a google search about wasps and did as instructed. So here I am two Alleve and a shot of tequila later, sitting on a ice pack (that is all you need to know about where the wasp got me). Oh, of course the tequila was my idea not one from the ask a M.D. sites.

Luckily, as I gaze out the window I see the ocean,I can notice the tide getting higher, and the wind causing small white caps on the surface, moving to the East.
But if I lose my focus I can see the neighbors yard. The neighbor who requested that we cut our big Gum tree down. The neighbor who hasn't bother to lift a finger on his now so clearly visible side of the fence. He refused to take down the hideous tree you might see behind my new small Lilac Hybrid. That tree happens to be a certified Weed. Weed lists are circulated regularly as each citizen is supposed to at least keep their own yard weed free. Tasmania like the rest of Australia has constant problems with 'introduced' species. There is even a type of Lavender that is on the forbidden list.
Next to the bird bath that I put onto the stump of the Gum, I want to plant Ornamental Grape Leaf, so that in Autumn I can have some fall colors. However, if he isn't going to do anything about his side, all I can hope for is that the vine beats out the crawling plant on his side.
All in all, very annoying.
Or perhaps that is the Wasp venom talking.

Australian Holiday Anarchy

Sure, sure it is October, and coming on Xmas Season, yet here we have Easter!

On the one hand I've never seen a single shred of Halloween existing here; they don't even grown Orange Pumpkins, just weird bumpy, icky, green, speckled ones. On the other hand this was the only candy that was individually wrapped, and for $15 bucks you would be (if there were any trick-or-treaters coming around oh, say after 9 p.m. when it is dark) handing out candy the size of individual Starburst. Now, the kids here even being deprived as they are of Halloween, would know somewhere in their gut they were being ripped off.
Oh, yes and Christmas Music over the intercom in October? Sure! Tacky Christmas themed junk everywhere? Absolutely!

There are rules to the whole Holiday Season. Social rules that I feel (we) all know. Such as playing Christmas music is allowed the day after Thanksgiving, but forbidden before Thanksgiving. If you don't believe me, go to the Mall.
Christmas displays are not allowed until at least after the Halloween display comes down.
But what happens if there is NO Halloween, NOR Thanksgiving?
Anarchy.
That's what happens.

Life in the Suburbs

Our neighbor came over, practically in tears, going on about the problems he'd had with his plumbing while we were gone. How much money he had spent on the problem(I assume sewage coming up the mains). He had a 'builder' with him, and they had concluded that the Gum tree in our yard was the problem. I was deemed 'American' while I asked if a plumber had used the scope with a camera to look in the pipes. This suggestion was met with the usual, 'I suppose IN AMERICA' they do such things...
I could have put up a fight except that the tree is not very healthy, nor very pretty. I talked to my resident expert, Sue- who built her house next door before the neighborhood existed. She said the original owner of this house, trimmed the Gum incorrectly and it had been a wretched thing ever since.
Indeed the tree was rotten in the core.
Zok has promised me an advanced tree, because last year he took one down that I liked and then he bought me a twig! The Australian belief in most Gum/Eucalypts is that they grow too fast, so they sell you a twig. That one we planted eight months ago and and it is about 3 inches high.
I want a lilac tree. I am sure I will get a Eucalyptus.
The tree did block the view of the Bay and keep the morning light out of our eating area, so I suppose that is the biggest bonus of losing the tree.

Croquet is OK

Croquet Season has opened. I don't like to compete, it is safe to say that I hate to compete. I can barely contain myself around sport talk. You know the kind, the discussion after each turn, the commentary about the other team and what they should have done. Zok & Sanchez however, LOVE to compete.
Here they are playing in a Hi-Low competition which involves teams of players that have a certain degree of difference between their standings. Zok (and of course Sanchez) and his partner Bob won, even though Zok did not play his best, of course considering he has not played nor practiced in about eight months he did great and as always better than I could have.
They played at the club in Sandy Bay which is closer to Hobart town than we are. My friend Andy came and sat with me, so I actually watched the whole game instead of half watching, half listening to a book or podcast.

The 'other' beach and Secret Cove

Zok (and his moustache Sanchez) had a Croquet Match, so I had him drop me at Kingston Beach or as I like to call it, 'the other beach'. I wanted to take the trail back to our neighborhood and check out the Secret Cove (I've never seen anyone there before)-where I plan to have a picnic when the weather is warmer and the tides lower.
Other than that I have been watching Roger Corman renditions of Edgar Allen Poe to try and remind myself that although Springtime here, that elsewhere Halloween is coming. I love Vincent Price's changing hair and long cloaks almost as much as I like it when the models of the houses go up in flames.
Plus of course the ever brilliant walling up of the lovers, while alive, by the jealous husband. A perfectly normal reaction; thump, thump, the tell-tale heart.

And the comedy continues

Apparently noticing a dude's moustache changes is like noticing when a girl parts her hair differently.
I was in trouble for not noticing.