Week 8 One Daily Positive and Project 365

A busy week and quite stressful with kitchen work on going, a leak in the roof and sorting out a damp issue in the flat. I also had to deal with a Doctor with no knowledge of my medical history who declared it all the menopause. I'm writing a blog post about why it's not always the menopause for next week.

50 Saturday Walked down to the retail park for eye test and coffee, we got caught in the rain on the way home. Did some baking for Monday, the new oven is bloody marvellous, as in it works, heats up quickly and cooks/bakes to perfection. I did have to do a pre oven clean before I could use it and also had to follow procedures for the dishwasher to run with salt and rinse aid, but not with detergent. The door pops open when it finishes.

51 Sunday I'd had enough of the state of the house, so all the builders stuff packed up from the lounge and put in one corner, conservatory cleaned, new rails and curtains hung, arm chair is in there until the builder removes his stuff then I can put the chair back, get the chairs down from the spare room and have a usuable dining room again. The fridge/freezer is in the old dining room which is used for storage, we'll donate it once the new one arrives and is fitted. Downstairs thoroughly cleaned, we had dinner early and went to watch Death on the Nile at the local cinema.

52 Monday Up early, did some blogging, a quick visit with grandchild, then off to the Things for the first time in ages. Thing 4 will be 3 in June, I've hardly seen her, but her mum is fab at keeping in touch and updated with the kids progress, as well as photos and sent some really cute videos of Thing 4 asking to see us both, I took a picnic lunch round and the cakes I'd baked. I had to go to the flat to meet a contractor for quoting for repairs to the damp.

53 Tuesday I had a Doctors appointment in the morning. As she suggested I'm journalling everything, it'll be in a separate blog post, I'll link to next week. Needless to say I wasn't happy when I left. I went to ask for a repeat prescription for migraines, left with a flea in my ear. Went round the neighbours in the afternoon.

Video call with Grandchild 1

54 Wednesday We were supposed to be in London tonight to watch a recording of QI, however I had to go back to Monmouth to the flat, the property management team and all owners were on site. It will be an insurance job from leaking pipes in one of the flats where the landlord didn't get it repaired, he's picking up the bill. I met a friend for coffee, afternoon and evening spent in front of the TV.

I've been making these for friends and family.

55 Thursday I had a telephone interview with a journalist about why I'm continuing to wear a mask, socially distance and sanitise hands. Blood tests in the morning as requested by the GP I saw on Tuesday who read my notes and realised I needed them. Went round the neighbours in the afternoon. The rest of day spent in pjs on the sofa with laptop and TV remote.

56 Friday Day spent in pjs tidying up. Man came to quote for roof repairs. Insurance assessor said it was loose mortar redirecting water into the attic. Roofer who climbed up on the roof said it was the main roof from the loft conversion. He's coming back next week to take a proper look and quote. Evening spent with chips and wine with neighbour.

Not good to hear him muttering 'oh dear'

On the blog this week:

How and what I'm celebrating in 2022

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Week 53 2020 - One Daily Positive

Everyone seems to be saying goodbye to 2020 like we've turned a page or opened a new door. It never makes sense to me and no one ever seems to have a good year anyway. It's just the end of another week for me everything has been up in the air and unpredictable for me for the past 10 years anyway.

I've no idea what day it is most of the time, it doesn't seem to matter. I know I have certain things to do tomorrow then 2 days from now then the 10th January and I fly back to the UK on the 26th. It's actually quite liberating, not having to involve others with planning and keeping them updated on where I'm going, when I'll be visiting next and what I want for tea a week on Tuesday. It's been a long two weeks without Peter. I've seen other people, pub quiz, coffee dates etc. It's been a long 9 months since the borders first closed leaving me in the UK and Peter in Dubai. Peter had work and contact with colleagues, I had the dog to walk, coffees to drink and social distanced garden visits. The past two weeks have been painful though, mainly because we haven't had an end date to look forward to and it's been completely out of our control.

362 Sunday Spent all day thinking it was Saturday. Popped out to Ibn Battuta for a coffee and change of scenery and the rest of the day on the sofa watching Netflix or in the kitchen batch cooking.

The Christmas Tree at Ibn Battuta.

363 Monday Early morning start for pre op assessment and PCR test, rest of the day spent at home, waiting to see if Peter was going to make it home. Until his flight actually took off, I wasn't convinced he'd make it back. I prepared dinner, he got to open his presents and we watched TV.

364 Tuesday At home all day. I have to isolate until my surgery tomorrow. Peter had a PCR on arrival and had to wait till early afternoon before his negative result came through and he could leave the house to pop to the shops, we spent the day watching movies and had a BBQ.

Everyone else was doing their Top Nine.

365 Wednesday Surgery was cancelled, no issues, so instead we headed off to Dubai Mall, Peter finally got chance to do his Christmas shopping (lucky me) and we watched Wonder Woman 84 at the cinema which we both enjoyed. Started fighting a migraine, my iron levels are dipping again and I've had a chronic pain flare up, just in a lot of discomfort.

366 Thursday Spent the morning on the sofa, then off to Mall of the Emirates for a coffee and some food shopping, then rest of the day spent on the sofa. We're walking round the corner from the Villa at 11.50pm to watch the fireworks from a distance.

Other than this one Christmas shop still open, there's not a sign that Christmas was ever here.

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One Daily Positive - Week 3 After the rain and the Abu Dhabi Golf

We had 150mm of water fall per hour for 3 hours here in Dubai over the weekend, the worse weather in 24 years. No big deal I hear you say, but we have very little drainage, the area we live in Jebal Ali and Discovery Gardens was the worse hit and on Sunday roads were still closed while they pumped the water away and abandoned cars littered the roads.

12 Sunday Off to Ibn Battuta around midday, mum did the ironing and I did more washing and some tidying up. In the evening after dinner we watched The Prestige. Mum is moaning that the TV here is rubbish, we have films, sport or netflex, TBH we don't watch a lot of TV.

The new road system will be opened soon and some of the buildings are now occupied.

13 Monday We headed out to Dubai Mall for the day, coffee, lunch, some shopping and exploration. I sent mum and child 5 ahead of me to the car with the supermarket trolley, they got lost, were no where near where child 5 messaged me from to say 'help, come and get us' and they giggled all the way home when I called them idiots. My mum said I was the idiot for expecting them to find their own way back. I walked round the 1st floor before spotting them down below on the ground floor grrrrrrr. We had a BBQ in the evening, but ran out of gas so Peter had to finish cooking under the grill.

14 Tuesday Off to Dubai Marina for a walk round. In the afternoon we visited the outlet village.

Sunset over the desert/building site

15 Wednesday Mum and I went to Mall of the Emirates, child 5 was out when we got home. I spent the afternoon in bed, I'm exhausted.

I bought myself the feathered rucksack, it has a built in hood, handy for my move to the UK.

I'm working as a marshal at the golf in Abu Dhabi, it's an hours drive each way, the speed limit is 140km/p/h. Dubai is 120km/p/h and my car is from Dubai and is fitted with a regulator that beeps, none stop when I go over 120, so I have the radio on full blast to drown the noise out.

This is part of the European Tour and the Rolex Series. There is some serious prize money up for grabs US$7,000000.

It's been chilly in the mornings, but lovely and warm in the afternoon with a cool wind (not so good for the golfers) I've topped up my tan nicely, taken over 45,000 steps and also walked the dog twice a day. Met up with friends from previous golfing events and it's been nice to catch up with everyone. Quite a lot of the volunteers fly in for their annual holiday.

16 Thursday First day of the golf in Abu Dhabi. I'm a walking marshal, I walked round the course with on a Marquee Match with Matt Wallace, Victor Perez and Danny Willet who won The Masters in 2016 and The Open in 2019.  Danny's mum and Matt's girlfriend walked with us, 2 very nice women.

It's difficult to take photos when marshalling as you never know when a camera crew will turn up.

17 Friday Out walking today with Andy Sullivan, Jason Scrivener and Scott Jamieson. Peter brought Mum and child 5 up for the afternoon, they went off to visit the Mosque afterwards and I got home at 7pm.

My most difficult crowd control moment.

18 Saturday Another day at the golf this time with Romain Langasque, Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Ashley Chesters.

A well deserved break and a chance to actually watch some golfers play.

Last day tomorrow. 3 days off then it's time for the Omega Desert Classic back in Dubai.

On the blog this week:

We're getting our house ready for the relocation at the end of the month, pop over and have a look at how we got our family home back after 9 years

I'm co hosting Post Comment Love #PoCoLo with Stephanie @lifeat139a, you can link up any blog post written this week, do pop over and take a look and a bit of support would be lovely, thank you.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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One Daily Positive Week 4 and a tour of Dubai.

Last week I told you a little bit about myself, this week I'll introduce the children. As the year goes on they'll all feature in the blog and you'll be left wondering where these 'adults' have come from.

Child 1 and 2 are my step children, but we've all lived together since May 2000. Initially in 2 houses until Peter and I married in 2002. They consider themselves to have 3 brothers and 1 sister and refer to us as 'the parents' although the youngest calls me Suzanne, which seems to be a family trait as I always called my father by his first name and no one has any idea why.

Child 1 has profound learning disabilities, is 30 next month and she lives in a care home in the UK. Child 2 is 28 and 2a are getting married in June. Child 3 is 25 and 3a moved to Australia mid 2017 and are currently traveling and working their way around, they should be passing through Dubai in October. Child 4 is 23, joined the army and left home 4 years ago, leaving me with empty nest syndrome and a huge gap to fill. He's in the British Army and lives with 4a, when he's not deployed out in the Middle East. His medal parade takes place in March. Child 5, aged 18, lives in our flat in South Wales and finished his education in boarding school in the UK from the age of 13. He is waiting for security clearance on his first job offer.

I've included an extra photo this week so you know which one is which.

Top left Child 2 Andrew.

Top right Child 3 Jamie.

Middle right. Child 5, aka the teen, Alex.

Bottom right Child 4 Dan, 22.

Bottom left Child 1 Stephanie 30.

21 Sunday I've pretty much done all the jobs for January, was going to clean the balconies today but it's very windy, so pointless sweeping sand around. I sorted through some family photo's, tidied the rubbish from the garden, read blogs and commented and headed off to the Marina to take some up to date photo's for my theme of buildings 'now and then' for My Sunday Photo for next week.

22 Monday I had a coffee date with an instagram friend, after ironing, changing the beds, emptying the dishwasher, walking Bob, watering the garden and getting the car cleaned.

23 Tuesday Child 4 turned 24 today, there was a virtual birthday cake sent by photo and money deposited into his bank and a quick phone call. Sadly still no Skype in Dubai, it's at times like this I get upset. Peter's car needed servicing so he took mine to work and I hung around for the day, catching the train into Old Dubai and the Mall of Emirates until it was ready for collection at 5pm.

24 Wednesday I spent the day cleaning the house and some time in the garden blogging. I've been letting the cat out on a lead, she gets spooked easily with the traffic and runs back inside. I went to the pub for dinner at 7pm then some friends joined me for the pub quiz which we won.

25 Thursday I took Bob to the dog park and he went swimming after an hour of me throwing and him chasing the ball. Popped out to Ibn Battuta Mall to buy some warmer clothing for the evenings as I left all my winter clothing in the UK. In the evening we went out for dinner at The Beach and watched the fireworks that they've held every weekend for January for the Dubai Shopping Festival which comes to an end on Saturday.

26 Friday Intended to go to the beach this morning but woke up to heavy fog and Peter had arranged to spend time with a colleague who is moving to Dubai, so I joined them looking on a sightseeing tour of potential living areas. Went to Dubai Mall in the afternoon. Had invited friends to join us for a BBQ but they never replied to the message.

27 Saturday Had a call to go to the Doctors the other side of town for repeat WBC counts and was early so drank my coffee on the beach to complete the full tour of Dubai for the week. Spent the rest of the day in the garden. Peter decided we should test the garden out fully and we had a BBQ. 

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - Dubai Frame

PoCoLo - Creating a Garden in the desert

Tweens Teens Beyond and Triumphant Tales - Why do i share so much stuff online?

One daily Positive Week 3

This is my 4th year with Project 365, last year a lot of you got to know more about my family in the UK after my father died suddenly in July and I ended up spending almost 5 months over there. Quite a few new people I encountered through my blog were surprised to learn that I actually lived in Dubai and have done so for just over 3 years now. Prior to that we lived in South Africa with our two youngest children for 4 years.

I met my husband in 1999, we were married in 2002. We have 5 children between us who I will introduce at a later date and we have our family home in Worcestershire. I'm originally from South Wales, he is from Manchester.

We travelled abroad with my husband's job, leaving our 3 adult children in the UK. Our children are numbered as 1-5 with an 'a' added to indicate a partner. They are now aged 18-30.

I blog about my life as an expat, my travels and my experiences of parenting for the past 25 years and my adventures as a step mum. I'm a qualified teacher and have trained teaching assistants, customer services, retail and sex education in the UK and taught reception and nursery aged children in townships in South Africa to a private school in Dubai. I specialise in Child Protection and Special Needs with a focus on autism, although it's been many years since I've worked specifically in these fields.

Anyway onto week 3:

14 Sunday The first day of the working week here in Dubai, Doctors for me, a trip to the vets to re register the cat and dog with municipality and my car with the RTA, but first a coffee stop while I renewed my car insurance. Once the fence is complete I'll be able to take the cat out into the garden, she wore her new (small dog) harness all day without any hassle.

15 Monday Another airport run as Peter went back to Saudi, just for 1 night this time, the fence is almost complete. I visited Jumeriah Mosque with a friend, the fort in Deira and museum, lunch on the creek and walked on a glass floor 150ms in the air at the newly opened Dubai Frame and went round to see another friend in the evening. Bob spent the day at a spa.

16 Tuesday The RTA delivered my vehicle registration and I went to the Doctors at 10am, followed by a trip to Ibn Batutta Mall to buy a few bits for the garden, fingers crossed the fence will be finished tomorrow. No one came today to do the fence.

17 Wednesday Peter came home at 2am, the dog peed himself with excitement and confusion, then I broke a mug, the cat broke into the food cupboard, I didn't line up the milk with the cup in the coffee machine, I dropped the dirty cat litter tray, kicked the mop bucket over and ran out of printing ink so I went out for coffee, bought cake, made some dog beds for outside, blogged, watched TV, cooked dinner and had an early night.

18 Thursday Spent the day cleaning and did a food shop, coffee and cake was involved and I sneaked in a visit to the nail bar, an early dinner and early night and enjoyed time in the garden, just the plants to put in now and we're done.

19 Friday Peter had a colleague visiting so after dropping them in Dubai Marina I drank coffee while they made their way along the coast on the RTA ferry. Posted a load of letters for family and friends world wide. Came home to finish off the garden, but it was too dark to take photo's. I'd been looking forward to a long hot soak in the bath all day, but rather than a luxurious bubble bath, I just got a little cloud.

20 Saturday Spent the day at the golf in Abu Dhabi. This is something Peter and I like to do together, although when we get there I tend to sit at the 1st tee to watch the golfers tee off, then sit at the 9th green to watch them all putt, while Peter will follow a particular pairing for a while before we meet up at the 18th. Normally my dad follows at home on Sky in the UK when Peter and I attend sporting events, the last time was for the Rugby 7's in Hong Kong last April. I have a few freebies handed to me during the day which I usually saved and gave to my dad, no idea what I'll do with them now.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo Reflections
PoCoLo and Best Boot Forward What I envy in other women and why?
Tweens Teens Beyond and Triumphant Tales Assisting a school leaver into work

One Daily Positive Week 1 2018

Happy New Year and hoping 2018 brings happiness and good health to everyone.

It was hard work keeping up with family and friends around the world waiting to wish them all a Happy New Year, with child 3 and 3a in Australia celebrating 5pm UK time, the Middle East where we celebrated at 8pm and child 4 at 9pm and of course the rest of the family in the UK where it was 11am in Australia, then by the time I woke up on New Years Day, family and friends in America and Canada were still in 2017. Told you it was complicated.

I'm hopefully not going to dwell on 2017 to much. It seems strange to say 'my father now died last year' time really does march on and I don't want to end up sounding like one of these people who can't let go of the past (don't tell that to Peter though, it'll spoil a good row) Life's events shape and change us, some good, some not so.

I've started 2018 with a garden project, we designed and paid a team of people to do all the hard work. I'm also waiting for the results from various scans and tests to find out why I've been so ill in 2017, my health wasn't good before my father died and I put off sorting it all out until a) I was ready b) I was back in Dubai for a period of time to be able to sort it all out and c) I had to wait for medical aid approval.

We've got 3 weddings and a medal parade to look forward to in 2018 all in the UK, hopefully we'll fit in some time for some travel further afield also.

So onwards and upwards and here's my week in photos, without photo prompts for the first time in 3 years. Let's see how it goes and hopefully I'll remember to take the pictures.

Day 1 Monday 1st January
Happy New Year from Dubai. Popped out for breakfast and got distracted by the sales and of course bought stuff we don't need. I cooked a roast dinner for New Year's Day, becoming a bit of a tradition now for us now. Of course #BobTheDog and #Pushkins had their share. The rest of the day was spent watching TV and chilling out with a few drinks.

Day 2 Tuesday 2nd
Spent a couple of hours rearranging the lounge, we moved in just before Christmas and now the decorations have been put away and Peter has returned to work, I took the opportunity to make the most of the space without the tree in place. The workmen returned to landscape the garden and I took Bob to an indoor play centre for a run around. I spent the afternoon writing letters and drinking rose tea.

Day 3 Wednesday 3rd
A morning of hospital appointments, blood tests and chest X-rays. Lung function tests came back ok, but my bone density tests showed low levels and my blood tests returned high White Blood Cell counts again. This has been going on since June and the Doctor has no idea what type of infection I have and where it is. The pneumonia has cleared up, but there's obviously something else going on, so more antibiotics and back in 10 days for further bloods. I'm in a bad mood. I still have resolved the issues with the electricity and water board in regards to a refund. Bob spent the day in day care and had a bath. I metaphorically wanted to jump off the roof of the Mall of Emirates today, after, the icing on the cake, I forgot where I parked my car.

Day 4 Thursday 4th
I'm so tired, spent the morning sorting out computer problems with the hard drive, then took myself off for a coffee and to the nail bar. I felt much better when I got home and cleaned the house and prepped dinner, then treated myself to a blend of rose tea in the garden.

Day 5 Friday 5th
A visit to Jumeriah Beach for a coffee in the morning. Not a good day for me, spent most of it sleeping in the afternoon and generally being miserable.

Day 6 Saturday 6th
Out for coffee and a walk round the mall, followed by an afternoon sorting the garden, including assembling the umbrella. Just a fence to erect and some planting to do.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo N is for New Year. A look back over 2017 in photos and my favourite picture of the year.
My favourite blog posts of 2017

One Daily Positive - Week 12 So much to do.

I arrive in the UK on Monday. I'm flying with Turkish Airlines, via Istanbul. The last two weeks crept up on me and I had two weeks of plans to cram into one.

I started the week with a plan.

On top of all the usual stuff I have quite a few extra things I need to get done before I go away. Collect glasses from opticians, book car hire, repack suitcase and remove 3kg, gardening, nail bar and hair cut, The Green Planet, Desert trip with Bob, visit Rory, Quiz night, sew dog beds, make dog biscuits, take Rory to an adoption day, finish cleaning and put everything back in the maid's room

Peter will be joining me in the UK over Easter so I also needed to get the stuff together for the cat and dog, ready for him to take to the cattery and Bob to a friend's.

I also have to visit the South African embassy to find out if I can get my finger prints for my police clearance check completed here or whether I have to visit the embassy in Trafalgar Square, no one is answering emails, so I thought I'd just try to start the process and see what happens.

I finished gardening around 10.30pm on Saturday night, so that was one less job to do. I also managed to unpack 4kg of extra luggage and Peter will bring it with him when he comes over at Easter. My son and his girlfriend are coming to visit and arrive in Dubai the day before I get back. Peter will be back by then so I also had to prepare their room before I left.

Sunday, I had a lie in, then headed off for a coffee and a food shop, I finished cleaning out the maids room and tidied the garden up and the garden shed. I set up the outdoor cushions and enjoyed lunch outside. I then fetched our glasses and took myself to the beach for an hour, I had a swim and read my book. In the evening I baked dog biscuits. I got all the things ready for the cat and dog for when Peter joins me in the UK.

Monday and another lie in. I caught the metro to Burjuman and went to the South African Embassy. I didn't have much luck so off to London it is. I spent the afternoon and evening sorting and cleaning all the camping gear and putting it back in the maids room, we've not used it since we've been in Dubai, maybe next year. I still have a lot of the kids stuff to sort out but that and the tool and bike shed, wait until after my UK trip, but at least I can get my car back in the garage. I also sewed up 4 dog beds ready to be stuffed. After washing all the picnic stuff I decided to pop out for a coffee. I also booked my car hire. I collapsed in bed at 10pm after a shower and read my book till I fell asleep.

Tuesday's plans to go on a bike ride and sit on the beach were put on hold as I woke up to a heavy downpour. All the cushions in the garden were soaked, so after cleaning the lounge and hallway and closing the door on it for the rest of the week, I visited City Walk and had lunch for one, bought a ticket for one to The Green Planet, Rain Forest and later had coffee on my own, as was helpfully pointed out everywhere 'you on your own?' I spent the early evening lying on the bed with the cat and dog, watching soaps, then hung up the cushions to dry and stuffed 4 dog beds, ready for Friday.

Wednesday I went for a manicure and pedicure and gel polish and got my hair cut. The adoption day for Rory on Friday was postponed due to the weather, thankfully I can freeze the dog biscuits I made. I sorted my South African Police clearance and started my disclosure and barring application in the UK. Due to the new airline regulations for flying with electronic devices I repacked my suitcase ready to put my laptop and camera in, although I'm in transit via Turkish airlines, I don't want to risk having them confiscated in Turkey. In  the evening I met one of my friends from Munich who I stayed with last summer and I met when we lived in South Africa.

Thursday morning and I took Bob to a new dog park, about an hours drive into the desert. We were the only ones there.The GPS didn't pick it up and I flagged down a guy who told me to follow him, he had to check on a camel first but would take me there, he set off at speed over sand dunes in his 4x4 with me following as quick as I could in my Peugeot, pointed to a fenced off area and left me. I was in the right place, but had no idea how to get out, I persuaded a worker to show me the way back. I took the car to be valeted, and did some banking, spending the rest of day. I bought McDonald's for the cat and dog for Pushkins 5th year living with us, she is about 8 years of age according to the vets. Peter came home at 10.30pm, he got a taxi, it's just too busy at that time of night on the roads.

Friday morning we woke up to heavy rain and thunder and lightening, we took Bob to the dog park, this time in Peter's 4 x 4, we found it straight away after driving over a couple of dunes. We had brunch at The Belgium Beer Cafe at The Souk Madinat, the rest of the day was written off.

Saturday and still raining from late yesterday evening, we have yesterday's brunch to recover from, tomorrow's flight to prepare for and thunder, lightening and rain storms today. We'll probably venture out later for coffee, food shop and dog walk, but not much else will be happening today.

78/365 Pamper

79/365 Book

 80/365 Tasty

81/365 Yellow

82/365 Words - There are no words to explain this.

83/365 Numbers

84/365 Me

My Sunday Photo and HDYGG? - Creating a garden in the desert
Spectrum Sunday and Send - Planning a trip with a disabled young adult
Family Life and PoCoLo - Why are women so mean?
Travel - 8 important questions to ask when booking car hire
Tween, Teen and Beyond - My life in a male oriented family
Triumphant Tales - Making a difference in South Africa

Week 38 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

It's autumn in Dubai, how do we know? The lowest temp recorded this week was 26c, you have no idea how much of a relief it is for every one. It means the cold water out of the tap is no longer too hot to shower in. We can sit outside in the evenings and we don't have to put the air con on in a room if we're only going to be in there a few minutes.

Sunday - Yes. Peter was away in Egypt, so I took advantage of some early nights all week.

Monday - Computer. I still prefer good old fashioned pen and paper to plan with.

Tuesday - Food. Spent the evening in the nail bar, this was all that was in the fridge.

Wednesday - Flexible. I'm not flexible, I just adapt. I've been pushed to the limits at work this week and I've said no more. I'm also struggling to get up off the floor in class and have been suffering with quite a few headaches recently.

Thursday - Mood. Feeling the same as the cat right now, just want to eat, sleep and for people to get out of my face.

Friday - Autumn. Cause for celebration, it's noticeably cooler first thing in the mornings and last thing at night.

Saturday - Colour. Knitted decorations for the Palm trees at City Walk.