Boulevard of Bumps

The boys and I are back in the sunburnt country, it is so dry and hot. At times I feel a little alien, like when the bank teller looks at me strangely because I am unsure where to swipe my card. She quickly makes an appointment for me to come in and get the run down on all that has transpired with banking since our departure. That should be joyful. It is lovely being in our house. After 12 years of imagining we now have a front fence, which the DSG began building before his return to Samoa. His wavy gate is the cherry and faux stacked quartz tiles will be adhered to the blue board upon his return. We unravelled into our house quickly and took time out for walks, surfing and getting together with some excellent friends. Including being reunited with our beloved dog, Dee Dee. We went to see the Life of Pi and the 3D glasses made Smiley and I feel ill. Sadly the Domestic Surf God had to return to Samoa, we wept for a long while when...

More Hawaiian holiday moments No images of the Domestic Surf God surfing were captured in the Hawaiian surf, as I was too busy watching the "grommets" and making sure they didn't get too "scubetubeular" (awesome underwater poundage). DSG throwing himself into helping his "grommets" in the surf. "Smiley Style" "Boss" Bunny!  Surf lingo was common to many of the people we met in Hawaii. Granted we mostly spoke to people in surf shops, at the beach, by the beach, about the beach, leaving me feeling like I was in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Dude! The surf was sometimes "mushburger" and at other times "flushopolis", but there were days when it was "cooking", but it was never "epic". I was no "Betty" but I managed to balance on a paddle board down a creek with turtles. Smiley hitched a ride on the front a...

This post is a bit like our holiday to Hawaii, a little rushed. With one week too play with we decided to avoid lining up with the hordes of tourists to ponder the tragedies of Pearl Harbour, pretend to run from dinosaurs in the great valley, hula along to the swinging hips at the Polynesian shows or fall for the consumerist trappings of outlet shopping. Instead we went with our usual holiday activities of surfing, swimming and a little souvenir shopping thrown in. We swam with turtles most days, except at Sunset Beach, where the boys surfed within metres of a sun lounging Monk Seal, named White Spot. This is the best photo of a turtle I could manage, eventhough they were in abundance. That dark blob to the left is a turtle watching Bunny and DSG paddle out to the break. Unfortunately a stomach bug caused sleepless nights and more washing than desirable on holidays. I will carry the guilt of chastising Smiley for n...

Meet my new friend. We welcomed Smeg with open arms after "winning" it at the Australian High Com Auction. Many have warned me against buying a digitised machine. The auctioneer warned it had a faulty reset switch!  I pleaded for those around me to tell me "Is a reset switch vital, what does it do, does it matter?"  Everyone just looked at me blankly.   I got into a lively battle with my old boss - the Principal of my boys school. I WON, for 200 tala I WON a Smeg 650 washing machine with a faulty reset switch and a microwave with a broken door - lucky me! The domestic surfing God put on the first load with outstanding success, piffle to the faulty reset switch. The faulty reset switch reared its ugly head on the next load, but Smeg responded valiantly to a good shove and all was good as the pump kicked in. Yippee!  I can wash at home and get active in the process.  Now the problem - how to stop the machine once it gets going.