After that frightening drive home through the storm, we needed some low key recovery time. Unfortunately for Margaret, she was up early driving her bus route. We, on the other hand, didn’t do much at all on Monday.
I actually watched the Super Bowl, which was broadcast here at 10:30am Monday morning. Terrible game if you were a Chiefs fan, but the Eagles were, well, super. Funny to be in Australia watching the Super Bowl. The only down side of it was that all the commercials were Aussie ads, so I didn’t get to see any of the American Super Bowl ads.
Monday was a rainy, overcast day, not conducive to any outdoor activities. The best thing was a dinner invitation from Daniel. He made his delicious massaman curry dish. He made it for us the last time we were here and I think because we raved about it then, he repeated the dish for us. His massaman is with beef, potatoes, and cashews and the curry is just the right amount of spice. We were in heaven. It was such a nice thing for him to have done.
After dinner, Margaret, Clare and I played the card game Phase Ten. I’ll have to buy this game because its fun. It’s a variation of rummy and the name is because a player works her way through 10 different combinations in order (phases) of various sets, runs, and colors of cards. If you don’t achieve a phase when another player goes out, you’re stuck on that phase until you achieve it. Anyway, it is a fun game.

As we were leaving, Daniel provided us with 3 containers of another dish he had prepared, packed nicely with rice. It turned out to be like a beef stew, and it was delicious when we had it. Another very nice thing for Daniel to have done. He is a very giving young man.
Tuesday, another poor weather day, was also a low key day. Christine and I took another stab at playing ping pong. We were only slightly better than the last time. I went with Lou to Kandos to buy a couple of ingredients for the dinner I was fixing. I wanted to make the teriyaki chicken and sesame noodles that Dave and Eve make for us when we visit. Thanks, Dave and Eve for the recipe! It was a hit, although I had to use a George Forman grill for the chicken because Lou’s backyard barbecue grill had water in it and I didn’t want to take the time to clean it. The GF grill didn’t care much for the teriyaki marinade on the chicken and burned it, but overall, the dinner was yummy, so said Lou and Christine.
It’s hard to believe that one week from today, Tuesday, we’ll be on an airplane flying back to America.
Wednesday was my last trip to Mudgee and Christine joined us today. I’m so happy that she came.
Margaret dropped Lou, Christine and me off at the cafe we frequent to have a cappuccino. This is the tradition. We were missing Angela, who usually meets us. She’s now in rehab after having a hip replacement. Today is her birthday, so we sent her birthday greetings and a photo of us via Messenger. She was most appreciative.


Christine went to talk with two women who were at the cafe while we were having our cappuccino. They were having a wonderful time and their laughter was contagious. Christine stopped by to tell them how happy she was to share their good time while listening to their laughter. We had a nice conversation with them. One of the women was a photographer and the other told us about her 3-year-old daughter who was on a billboard in Times Square because she is a child beauty pageant star. Of course, the mom showed us photos and videos of her child. At any rate, it was fun to chat with them. Good friends are so important and these two women were definitely good friends.
Margaret picked up Lou to take him to the podiatrist. Christine and I wandered along the main streets of Mudgee window shopping. We also checked out the Anglican church, St. John the Baptist. It had some really beautiful stained glass windows.




I took this photo while we were waiting to cross the street. It could serve as a post card for Mudgee showing 2 of the most popular landmarks in the town.

We went to Woolies to shop for a couple of items and met up with Lou. Margaret and Clare eventually completed their shopping. They then had to run off to Coles, another grocery, to get a couple of items not available at Woolies. We all met up and dashed off to McDonald’s for a quick lunch and then picked up Regina at the allotted place. We were a little late, which puts stress on Margaret. She needs to be at the bus depot by 3:00 for her afternoon school bus run. Of course, we got behind a slow poke driver on the Lue Road, which put us further behind. So, it was a little tense as Margaret has to drop off her groceries at her house, drop us off at Lou’s, drop off Regina in Kandos, and get to the bus depot on time.
Wednesday afternoon Lou made one of his scrumptious fruit salads with the fruit he bought today. We have been enjoying nightly fruit salad for dessert, with ice cream. At Margaret’s the other night, she served fruit with Vanilla and Boysenberry ice cream, and I loved it. Lou had picked up a half gallon of it today for tonight. I guess boysenberry is a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry and I have never had it. It has a lovely flavor mixed in with the vanilla ice cream. Louis also placed a ship on the salad to be our going away token. He couldn’t find the airplane he wanted to use, so the ship sufficed.


From the dining table, we look out across his back lawn. We noticed growing clouds in the distance and I thought another big storm was brewing.


But no, there was no storm. It was a cool, somewhat chilly evening with a full moon. Lou sat out in the yard for a while and we joined him briefly. With the bright moon we didn’t see many stars, but it was lovely watching the moon slowly rise.
We’ve been trying to make plans for our departure, which has been up in the air due to illnesses in families down on the Central Coast. We haven’t been able to catch up with Alex and Gloria (Lou’s sister) because Alex has started chemotherapy. Originally, we were going to spend several days with them on his new yacht the first week of February, but those plans had to be scrapped because of the start of his chemo. We then made plans to stay with Marilyn (Lou’s sister-in-law) for a couple of nights and she was going to drive us to the airport. Her sister is ill with an unexpected cancer diagnosis and Marilyn needs to be with her. We will stay at her place Saturday night on the Central Coast at Somersby, but she’s not available to drive us to the airport. We do have plans to get together with several folks for dinner Saturday evening. Alex cannot be exposed at this point in his chemo, but hopefully we’ll get to see Gloria. Final plans for Sunday, Monday, and getting to the airport on Tuesday still are to be made. Lou, Margaret and Clare will drive us Saturday to Marilyn’s, but they’ll return to Rylstone on Sunday after dropping us off wherever we decide to stay for the last 2 night. All this is a plan in progress.