A picture paints a 1000 words

Three grass seeds in his paw, sedation, minor surgery, antibiotics, and a sleepy dog $300 later!!

I got home late last night and he wasn't anywhere greeting me. So I went out the back and he came out of the kennel, then sat licking his paw+++ he let me look initially but all I could see was a red patch. I covered his foot with a sock that stopped the licking for a bit, but by morning he had the sock off and was licking again and limping +++. The Vet didn't open till 1000 so had to wait, then he was there till 1 pm.
Have to take him back Thurs morning to get the bandage off.

Yacht Club Xmas Party

I had been asked to organise the Yacht club Xmas party , an annual event where Santa arrives by boat. I had not had time to do anything fancy (last year had been a gala event when I was away) but the compliments were thick and fast for the low key event I organised. Parents brought presents, Santa came and left, Pizza from local Mojo Pizza and ice creams, Small 'Heaven,' provided by a club member.
A great time was had by all!
The waves were fairly high, breaking over the jetty, so Santa did a drive past to the children's acclaim, then into a rubber ducky (good thing Santa a.k.a. Hugh was agile) then driven by car from the end of the pier and down club driveway. 'Did you get wet Santa?' one boy greeted him.
The kids were great some of them so fearless with Santa and one coming up to hug him as he first sat down.
I then went off to the Melbourne Theatre Company to see Godzone, very funny Max Gillies as Kevin Rudd, Andrew Bolt, Julia Gillard et al. The mission was ' benchmarking the framework for comprehensive socialization' and Julia Gillard talking at schools about the 'education portal pods'! Never heard such a stream of cliches!! Great fun

The fireplace

We are getting rid of the old gas wall furnace (noisy and now flicking off willy nilly. It was 2nd hand even when new 20 yrs ago!!!!) and replacing it with a glass fronted gas 'log' fire in the main fireplace and a gas logs one in the grate. This one is for effect while the bigger one has a fan .

It is only now when I am planning the fire that I am looking at it. I realize that the small bricks are actually painted brown, not naturally so, I have been scraping the paint off and found they are cream, and the square ones above are actually tiles, albeit plain brown ones,not lovely patterns.
The crumbled hearth is obvious now the carpet has gone, and I have planned just plain black tiles there, that will go with the black edge of the heater,not an old fancy pattern. Have to get an ash pan and a new steel back to the grate, the older one having rusted and fallen out.

Mary Patten Award

I was thrilled to have received this annual Royal Children's Hospital award following the nomination by Brigid Jordan. She then garnered other statements from the pediatricians and also from a patient of mine. The evening was interesting hearing about all the work that different people do around the place. Andrew came as my guest and Wendy, Sue and Fran also came.
Brigid read a summary of the nomination, then it was presented by The Nurse director of the department
In my thanks I acknowledged the support of the General medicine Department especially Mike South and his team... this proved very relevant as they have been the source of all my support and enthusiasm since I moved to their Dept in 2007 before I went to Japan.
The Nurse director who did the presentation I had never seen before!!!

Sunshine Gardens.

The H V McKay Memorial Gardens (formerly Sunshine Gardens), developed by H V McKay in conjunction with his Sunshine Harvester Works in 1909, maintained as a privately funded garden until 1953, taken over by the City of Sunshine and renamed - are an early and intact example of a privately funded garden attached to an industrial site catering primarily for recreational needs of workers, their families and local residents; The Sunshine Harvester Factory. The importance of the gardens is now heightened by the demolition of most of the factory buildings.
They have been designated by the National Trust so have funding to maintain now.
This is similar to the Fletcher Jones gardens in Warrnambool and the Colt Factory (the gun!) development in Hartford Connecticut.
It is interesting to see that the gardens (as was the factory no doubt) right next to the railway Line visible in the first view.
The weather was threatening rain so I did a quick walk around as I was waiting till Spence had his grooming.
The contrast between the western suburbs and the inner city is evident by the Child Care centre opposite. Graffiti, security and a huge rubbish skip in the drive!

Big West festival

This started on Saturday 21st and while I haven't been to see anything I have actually seen some things.
One event is called the Big Knit by David Cole
http://theknittingmachine.com/Dave_Cole/Portfolio/Pages/The_Knitting_Machine.html#5
This link shows him knitting a US flag on tractors!!
The Big West Festival has brought American Sculptor David Cole to Melbourne to transform the western landscape with a massive knit covering for a historic stock bridge uniting the city of Maribyrnong and North Melbourne. godshighlighter.blogspot.com It will be put up maybe Tues, Wed depending on the weather.
Also part of the event is a sort of Guerrilla knitting campaign, putting the knitti back into gritti. I saw the first of this with some Bike racks knitted up.
Also one of a series of Car covers which playfully indicate the amount of environmental and public space given to cars. This is called Amulets for a car cover and all the tags are made from recycle shopping bags.
Interestingly the car is parked in a space called "Car share only" Never seen it before.
Haven't seen any other covers yet.

Varied reports

I realise I I hadn't put a picture of the verandah.
It is in merbau wood and has the boards screwed on. The edging is nicely done , but I need to paint the new boards on the house (pale ones you can see)
At the end of the deck in the second picture you can see the edge of the gate a large blue stone brick on top of a board that is in the trench that was dug.
We came home on Saturday to be met by Ursula who said she had seen Spencer in Herbert street and told him "you cheeky boy! Go home!!"and she put some boards by the gate which I left there to be fixed up later.
However it was not enough, and Spencer was in the front yard when we got back again. Hence the bluestone block!
The final picture is the start of the dining room set up. Since then I have turned the rug so the edge is on the right where the chair at the computer is, so to protect the floor.

The darker colour of the veranda is rain! 40mm in 24 hours!!!