birthday in the park

there is an important date in September to remember. The 20th is Lena's birthday.Turning seventeen! We started with a dinner at our place with the usual gang of us and Wells's and Trent and Matcham and Marcus. We ate fantastic roast lamb,slowly marinated in olive oil,lemon,rosemary and salt,and then slow cooked in the oven for three hours...Mmmm yum! Then we had flourless orange and almond cake and a large bowl of lollies.

we sang happy birthday and the German version and laughed and giggled for hours...

Then on Sunday we had the next party which was for Lena's volleyball friends.We headed to the Fitzroy Gardens and carried the B.B.Q. a table and esky,lots of food and drink ,more birthday cake, a large basket full of balls and other sporty activities.The bbq was fired up and the balls started to bounce and fly.

Then the fun began.One of the footballs ended up,very lodged in a palm tree.So then the rest of the day was taken up with trying to get the ball down .First another ball was kicked up to the tree but was too far to kick.Then Adam found a rubber mallet in the car and that was tied to a rope and was swung up to the tree .Then the rubber came off the handle and was also stuck.Then all sort of other balls and rocks were sent skyward.(keeping an eye out for passing elderly citizens)But the palm tree was very protective of its new found friend.

The sun set and the wind came and sent us all home to our warm houses. and the ball and the rubber mallet were still up the tree, Hopefully no-one is near when there is a big wind in sunny Melb.and objects start to fall out of palm tree in the Fitzroy Gardens...

another busy week

As the week progressed I found myself in ...
the city to see a fashion parade for spring fashion in Melbourne, with the girls from the bridal shop "Catherine R Couture"we were disappointed that the catwalk display only lasted about 40 minutes.
The clothes were by Melb. designers and were a range for Summer with way too high heels ,very high skirts and not much to really inspire us.Except the full catwalk shabbang!....
....with cameras and loud pumping music and loads of crowd watching on my part .Plus a show bag with treats to explore;bottled water,magazines,chocolate,skin care products, ideas from the designers,even a profile of one of the boys in August's house who is trying to make it in the fashion world.
A small town version of Milan or Paris maybe....
with one small town girl watching it all in awe..

Then off to Wagamama for some dinner and delicious apple, mint and lime juice (so yummy).

Then off again to find somewhere for coffee.We found a restaurant in Burke street, very Italian,to have coffee.We had a lovely waiter called Fabio who went out of his way to be the waiter of the year for us.
We were the only people in the restaurant so we got lots of attention including all the glasses and napkins removed and then replaced with fresh glasses of water with ice and fresh napkins delivered with a spoon and fork-a la carte style...
then we had coffee and profiteroles and a complimentary plate of delicious chocolates.and I had an affogato(which is icecream with a shot of coffee on the side and a liquor as well)perfect for the end of the night. we all marched out the door at the end of the evening and in a syncronised line all said....
"ciao fabio" and giggled all the way back to the car .... what a lovely evening.