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.

Hilarity

I can't stop laughing and apparently this is only the beginning.

42 degrees South

I am so happy to be home that I've been bouncing off the walls, waking up early enough to make Zok fairly irritated the rest of the day...
Today is a bit windy, cloudy, and under sixty-degree F, so I am giving Zok a break. I didn't wake up until 9 a.m. and didn't get him up until 10:30 a.m., unlike day one and two where I made him get up before 8 a.m. I spent most of today unpacking and trying to transfer information from my old computer to this new computer.
The garden is of course, a mess. I fear for my Gardenia plant, and my new 'China Pinks' are all but dead. I have heard that there was little rain this Winter, but with a lot of frost. One corner that I dug out in May has plants that made it through, but the other corner looks awful, the new plants as well as the man fern are dry and shriveled. On the upside, there are a lot of small apricots coming on, and the nectarine tree looks okay even though we weren't here to spray for 'curly leaf'. Here, I will only be showing high lights not low lights. Zok and I are going to the Saturday market to look for locally grown plants and also to the flower show for some replacements. Our neighbor Sue has put together a display at the show which I am excited to see. I am taken aback at how pretty the scenery is where we live. Also how mellow, currently the only sounds I can hear is some flock of birds being harassed by two Kestrels overhead. (I did try to go into the water already but it is still too cold.)