I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the ACT, the Ngunnawal people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Celebrate, commiserate

TTWC 2007.60 - the one that Brandon Mably knitted (a bit)
Peggy, the quality control supervisor had a birthday yesterday. The dogs celebrated with chicken (sliced from a cheaply acquired BBQ chook and frozen) and gravy for dinner - I had more left over curry, followed by an orange and then two squares of Lindt 85%.

I raced in to the Smith Family Op-Shop at Phillip this morning. It has the best yarn selection and best larger-sized clothes of any op-shop in Canberra. I greeted the staff and several of the customers and was pleased to see Ann the manager there. Haven't seen her in a while and we usually have a chat about what we are creating. She makes dolls and bags among other things. There will be an article featuring her bags in the next Yarn magazine. Anyway, she rapidly wiped the smile from my face. The shop is closing this Friday. Devastated.

I took the closure of the Koomari op-shops quite well a couple of years ago. But the closure of Mitchell Vinnies, Curtin Vinnies, and now my best source of yarn and clothes is just too much! The Smith Family needs the space the shop occupies for educational activities. We support that, but - you know - FUCK. I want my op-shop! The staff are losing their jobs, too - not something I'm happy about. Ann, Iris and John are fantastic and they don't deserve this.

Follow that up by a trip to the vet for the girls and Lochie. Their second in a week. On Wednesday my brother found the dogs had got into his shed, knocked a shelf that had a box of rat-sack on it and may have eaten some. The vet made all of them vomit, well all of them except Peggy who is doesn't approve of bulimic activity, and checked them over. They looked fine but had to go back for blood tests today, just to be sure. Not a cheap exercise but worth it for the peace of mind. My brother rang a little while ago to say the Lochie is shaking and won't walk so it's back to the vet for them this evening. Think healthy thoughts for my grand-dog.
Not that he deserves to live - he's lost that beautiful aran knit jumper already. In looking for his jumper in the garden, though, I found Peggy's. She lost it under the woodpile at Dad's.

Cook from the Cupboard
OK, for you very sad people - here's what I had today.
BREKKIE: Toast with raspberry jam (from the Tarcutta farm shop), coffee.

LUNCH
: Was at the vet's - didn't get a chance and forgot to make sandwiches before we left but I had a sports bottle of water for the girls and me in the car so we were hydrated.

AFTERNOON TEA
: Two oranges. The 10k I bought last week are great - there will be no marmalade making this weekend.

DINNER
: Pork in "plum" sauce with steamed rice and steamed carrots, beans, broccoli and zucchini. The "plum" sauce is made from the bitter fruit in my front garden. You can see it in bloom (yes, it's only June - freaky weather) behind most of the TTWC photos lately. It looks like an apricot and cooks up like a plum. It's probably a plumcot and makes terrible eating. The chilli "plum" sauce from it is great, though.
SUPPER: Tea, chocolate.

5 comments:

Kate said...

Sorry to hear the puppies aren't doing so brilliantly in the health preservation stakes at the mo'. I have no foot to stand on as far as vet expenditure and pets go - it cost me about $2K USD to get my cat sorted out medically so I could bring him to Australia from the US (another grand for the flight!!!!).

Georgie said...

Thinking good healthy thoughts for the girls and Lochie.

So sorry to hear about yet another op shop closure. How very sad.

AMCSviatko said...

That's a total shit about The Smith Family - who will I donate to now?!

And will there be any op shops left in Canberra by the time I finish my fiscal fast next weekend?

Kate said...

LOL - we certainly DON'T eat like this all the time. Most of the time its a "drink of water look around the kitchen" menu (my mother's answer to the interminable childhood question of "what's for dinner, Mum?").

Denise said...

Bloody hell - what IS it with op shops closing of late?! There's a conspiracy, I'm sure of it!