Tuesday 19 March 2024

At last a quiet day of administration, paying bills, arguing with electricians in Cairns and sorting the pruning of Lady P’s precious lime tree at the Esplanade.

Flashy has just made a batch of date and currant scones and you know they are best straight out of the oven. Raspberry jam too. Delicious.

The calendar is starting to fill up now, with people making travel decisions for the rest of the year. Jenny is out here in UK and Europe from mid May until the end of June and we hope to catch up somewhere. Russell and Jacqui are in Béziers, south of France and we will stay with them for three nights at the end of May. Anne Pleash is in Menton and Paris in July. Lady P is going to the opening ceremony of the Olympics for four nights in July. Flashy’d rather cut his left arm off, so will find a suitable, cultural event somewhere to amuse himself.

We are still planning our joint 70^th birthdays (really Lady P’s, as Flashy was spoilt at Frantzen Restaurant in Stockholm in February), somewhere in southern France in August.

Then of course, there are the two big ones at the end of September. Lady P is walking part of the Portuguese/Spanish Camino with a friend from Cairns. Flashy’d rather cut off his other arm, so has booked an 8-day Wine Adventure with l’Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Degustateurs, as part of their International Grande Chapitre in Madrid and Andrew is going to join him. What could possibly go wrong? We are also hopeful that Tas will still come over for the big birthday bash – and that takes us up to October!

The scones. No cookie cutter here and no scales either. Had to resort to the US measures of cups, spoons and sticks. But they are pretty tasty.