A time to Dance.

These photo's are from Finn and I's trip to Alex a while back.

It was raining this morning, so it was a good day for Spook to give verbal notice that he is quitting work and returning to Scotland in October. That's not the kind of thing you want to say on a beautiful day out on the Poo Plain. So I posted a photo of the plant on a day to stay.

Each week we have a deficit and a 2nd year would just be too hard. Not that we haven't learnt valuable lessons for coming home to no guaranteed jobs!! I think the biggest worry is if something more than a mild infection happened to the children and we couldn't afford to deal with it. It is at least $50 per infection, for Meg. I can see me rubbing leaves and grass into it the next time in the hope of stumbling upon a natural cure. The Doctor thinks she may be carrying a bug in her system. We certainly don't have any money for moving around and exploring any of the places we had hoped to. It has been a hard decision, but we have finally come round to believing it is the right one.

As for my high-pressured cleaning job. We went to do a service at one Unit and the man asked us if we could come back in 5 minutes. I said that we would do another and come back. Then Mary arrived at the next unit and told me that if he wasn't ready, we couldn't do it. The manager turned up and confirmed this. So I had to run across the park with the fresh laundry and tell him he could have his sheets and towels but that was it. Of course, he said I could come in and do it now. We were shouting through the door as he had lost his key, and I wasn't sure which he was struggling with most - my accent, or the withdrawal of my offer to clean his appartment so soon after it had been proffered. He said he would open the garage door so that we could talk. As time is of the absolute essence, I had rolled under the garage door, clutching my laundry bag before the garage had got above knee height, in a reversal of Indiana's dash out of the cave. I then barbled at him, that whilst I could see that it seemed unreasonable that I couldn't do his cleaning because he had asked me to wait 5 minutes, but that cleaning wasnt' that different from Lawyers measuring and charging time in 6 minute slots (courtesy of my easy reading weekend book), only a little less expensive. I apologised for the apparent lack of Highland or Kiwi hospitality, but I was now falling behind on the next clean and yes, I could have been cleaning his while explaining why I couldn't (if only I could muti-task!). I aplogised once more and said that if I had stuck in at school I could have been a lawyer and it would all be less stressful. I could see his wife reaching a shaky hand out to turn on the kettle for a much needed cup of tea, as I shot back out the garage and sprinted across to the lucky people who were getting their unit cleaned. Mary said it was wonderful to have me to explain things as the Scottish words blurred in to one another, bamboozling them, but because I was smiling, they just kind of smiled back and assumed that it was all very relevant and justifiable. She would simply have said "Sorry, can't wait. It's now or never".

It is amazing though, that there are non-cleaning people setting targets and never getting their hands dirty. But we are a good team. Sarsha will leave on the 10th of September as she has to squeeze 5 days in Fiji before going back to Oz. Mary dances every week, so we have decided that we will join her in her class one day as part of our parting of the ways. I think it is hip-hop. As I am really only qualified in Strip The Willow, it will be a new experience.

grateful for:

100% unity, as a family that coming home is the right thing to do.

Time with my family.

An amazing experience.