'Puter Heaven

Well this week I have my brand new super powered, GT striped, turbo charged, eco friendly computer up and running. Thatch came around in the afternoon last Thursday and set it up for me. It’s glorious, I keep sitting and waiting for things to happen and then realise that they already have! And the added bonus is that I can now watch (and indeed, burn) DVDs. It can even do two things at once (and I don’t count playing Solitaire as one thing); I’d forgotten what that was like. Thatch was a bit surprised when he saw the size of my My Documents folder. I have an extensive collection of digital scrapbooking elements which are all in .PNG and .PSD files which are very resource intensive. Had a few glitches getting my email program sorted, but that’s now fixed and at least I have the webmail version to fall back on (Seona reminded me of that one). So it’s full steam ahead for massive productivity. Except the new machine comes with a game called Spider Solitaire. It’s like Solitaire meets Freecell. I’m doomed!!!

28th Annual Festival of the Sun

The 28th Annual Festival of the Sun was held yesterday. This amazing party has been running every year for the last 28 years, held at Rob and Doreen’s place. This year there were three bands playing, including the ever-popular Jack Rabbit & the Pubic Hares.
Jack even had some new songs to present, although it would probably have been a good idea if all the band members had been present at rehearsals.
This year’s invitation was an incredible Sgt. Pepper-esque collage of Festival goers, past and present, put together by Rob, who ran a competition to guess the names of all the people. Unfortunately most people were daunted by all of the retro photos, some couldn’t even recognise themselves (yes Allan, this means you) and only a few brave souls actually took up the challenge. Unlike previous years, no one jumped into the pool for the traditional games of water polo. I suggested that maybe Festival goers were turning into grown-ups, but this was hotly denied by all parties and a number of other excuses were hastily dragged out.

Rob and Doreen have such a great place. Including a Pavilion overlooking the swimming pool (just because) and a fantastic model railway which winds its way through the undergrowth around the garden. We always get a visit from some of the wildlife in the area, usually possums. But this year this Kookaburra sat in judgement on the event.

As has been our custom for several years I was designated driver and picked up Thatch and Jools in my little red taxi. Phil and Seona didn’t attend this year as the logistics of coming down from Sydney for this weekend didn’t pan out. Allan has now joined our little group so we still had a full car. I brought along the dip and nibblies and the wine and the Thatchers, as always provided the deliciously pretentious meal -- barbequed lamb wraps with garlic sauce and salad and Crème Brule for desert. Complete with the blowtorch to create the toffee crust!! Yummm.
Ahhh, roll on the 29th Annual Festival of the Sun.