WE BRING OUR OWN SUN: More March Updates

The month was relatively slow, although it probably would have been better much more slow due to my healing process taking longer than expected. It's hard for me to sit still. I like to plan and do! Not a conducive combination for surgery recovery. Oh well!

A week after the procedure I met some new girlfriends downtown for dinner. I ate beforehand as I wasn't able to swallow much more than soup, and also because the pubs downtown offer little to vegetarian patrons. We had a fun time though, and I'm glad I went. Meeting new lady friends has been nice for me.

On St. Patrick's Day we finally took our first trip into the water at Streets Beach. There have been a few really hot days here and I knew Daniel had wanted to go for a bit. So we put on our togs* and got wet! Luckily, since summer is at its end, the water is still warm. We did some floating around together, trying to avoid young splashing children and teenage boys throwing the rugby football around. Water always inspires us to talk about our present and future plans. Right now we have so many options and it's neat to go over them. After our cool dip we laid on a huge bench together and did some meditating in the park. It was extremely relaxing and refreshing. Upon our return home, I got to work in the kitchen as I'd planned to make a great meal for the house. Simon was over and the four of us ate mightily. It was a grand Irish day.

Later that week, I went thrift shopping with Sarah and our friend, Ainsley. We drove to Redcliffe, which is a suburb of Moreton Bay. It is 28 kilometres north east of Brisbane on the coast. It was great to smell and see the ocean after a few months of living in a city again. First we stopped for lunch and then walked up and down the boulevard looking for good deals on clothes. I think over all we went into six shops, and I'm fairly certain I tried on everything with no luck. Since living in Australia, I have not purchased a single new or second hand article of clothing. I have been lucky in that while living in Cairns, both my friends, Glisten and Jules gave me some of their hand-me-downs that they no longer wore. On this trip, we were all keen to find new wardrobe attire. Ainsley is the only one of us who got something new - a fun, pink cocktail dress.

While we were downtown, we walked by a shrine to the Bee Gees who were living in Redcliffe when their musical career began. The city is obviously very proud of this fact. There were heaps of pictures, stories, and plaques up to tell their story as a band all along the walls of an alley way.

Ainsley and Sarah in front of the brother's statue.

I took a photo of this art piece for Daniel.

The two orange circles at the top spin around each other.

Notice the ocean in the background!

There is one way into and out of Redcliffe.

It is by this bridge, which takes 10 minutes to drive across.

It is massive and if there is an accident, well, Ainsley and Sarah

both agree that you'll be out of luck completely.

After a few hours shopping and having a girls day, we returned back to our city. It was late afternoon so Daniel and I decided to have a mellow evening. The next morning, Sarah and Simon went on a weekend trip together. I still really wanted to purchase new skinny jeans, so Daniel and I set off on our own shopping trip downtown. At first we were not having any luck, and as I was about to give up, Daniel noticed something in my size. We actually had a great morning getting some things we needed for the house, and our up coming trip to Asia. (Oh yeah! We're leaving in few weeks to visit Daniel's folks. We haven't seen Steve and Francoise in almost a year and a half; we're very excited!)

Our long walk complete, we both decided to get in a few hours of work before having a nice dinner together. Indian food was in our future and we both dressed up. For the first time since we've been here, Daniel drove! Our favourite restaurant is not far from our house so it was a safe distance for his first left-hand-side of the road adventure. Since then, he's been driving more, much to my delight! We ordered our food and took Churchill, who came in the car with us, on a walk down to Coles. Our intention was to get some ice cream for dessert, however, Coles has dumb opening hours and was closed before 7pm on a Saturday evening. Out of ice cream luck, we made our way back to the restaurant and happily collected our meal. We enjoyed some wine together and watched a film before heading to bed with full bellies.

This photo is from another evening of cooking.

This salad was gorgeous and fantastic!

Unfortunately, three weeks after surgery, I had a negative reaction to something I ingested. (My intuition tells me either red wine *gasp* or advil. In either case, I'm now avoiding them both.) After two days in bed with a swollen face and very sore throat, Daniel decided to call my doctor. I had an appointment already set for the following week. I was prepared to wait for it, however, my husband took over and canceled it moving my appointment to as soon as the surgeon could see me. And then we went into the emergency room, just to be safe. After waiting an hour to be seen, I was taken back to give further information about my situation. Apart from being swollen and having a fever, there was no helpful news they could give me. I wasn't dying, that part was certain! They were busy that afternoon and said I had to wait for a doctor which could take an additional hour. I checked in with my body and made the choice to go home. I covered my face with ice packs and slept a lot! It did wonders for my condition. Two days later the surgeon told me that my throat was healing wonderfully and he suspected penicillin as the culprit for my swelling. Peace and patience, patience patience! (A new mantra).

Earlier in the month, I had signed up to attend a group for women in business at my friend, Carolyn's house. I felt well enough to be present so I took my chubby cheeks up the road to meet some new ladies. Carolyn immediately said to me, "Oh, Joanna you've put on some weight. Your face is more full and you look beautiful." Ha! It was a really lovely evening and I connected with some new people that I hope to see again very soon. Two separate times, by two separate women, I was told -not asked- that I was Canadian. I corrected their stunned faces that my accent is actually American. People of the world need to hear more of the Oregon accent as apparently it's a mystery. For the first time that night I tried Nia dancing and loved it. With such wonderful energy in the room, I felt completely uninhibited to just let my body move to the music, and even rolled on the floor a bit! It was fun and freeing. At a quarter to eleven I was still jazzed and excitedly told Daniel all about my thirty new friends! Just kidding, there were thirty of us there, however, I only made it around to talk to about a dozen of them. Those seem like pretty good odds, I think.

Easter weekend Sarah went to visit her parents in Adelaide. It wasn't exactly in the plans to do what we did, but it happened and we're all glad for it. Simon came over everyday and we spent at least five hours on each of those three days completely cleaning the outside of our house. He brought a pressure washer and the boys went to town! Most of the cleaning I did was indoors. And I made sure the men had food and drinks for their efforts.

Daniel pulling up some weeds in the front.

This grasshopper wasn't helping, though he was very green,

large, and posing for his photograph.

Sunday morning we went to church. Daniel drove and because it was Easter and we live in a large city, finding a parking spot was quite a chore. Eventually we came across one and quickly made our way inside the building. After service we came home because Simon was already at the house ready to work. Daniel and I quickly changed then took Churchill on a walk to the Boggo Markets so we could get some fresh fruit and veg in us before another long day.

Ready for the markets!

This is what Churchill would look like if his

head was made from capsicum**

I think in this photo you can notice my swollen cheeks.

Daniel helping Churchy get a drink.

I made lunch while the boys made a plan. The three of us ate on the back deck and they set to cleaning again. Daniel did our entire driveway while Simon did some straightening up under the house. It took almost four hours for Daniel to complete this task. He even kept going while it started to rain. Luckily the storm didn't come until later that evening when they were finished. It made a huge difference and Sarah was very happy when she came home Monday night.

Getting clean!

After all that work and showers, it was time for Daniel to relax. He did some work on our church bulletin, a job he was asked to do by Peter and Terry. It's a small side job that they were going to interview for and then decided they wanted Daniel to take it on. While he did this, we talked about how we could make it better and more functional while I cooked us dinner. I made a huge pasta bake with a side of roasted asparagus and we decided to watch a film, too. Before all the cooking happened, I hid two small chocolate eggs that Daniel picked up from school for him to find later. He hid two from me, as well. Half way through the movie, we pushed pause to do some egg hunting. We played "Hot / Cold" to help each other find them. It was actually really fun and entertaining! We finished our movie and went to bed. It was a lovely Easter holiday.