Lovely Pool

I miss our own pool here at home.  This time last year we had it up under the stables and it was lovely.  A lot of work though and when the real estate found out they got council info and said we couldn't have it up without a safety fence.  Grudgingly we agreed, even though it would be nigh impossible for any child to get into our property, and the ladder was always out and the cover mostly on.  But laws are laws and are there for good reasons.

But look at the wonderful pool we have in our own town, a minute car ride and about a five minute walk from home.  And it's free to get in.  I love the old fashioned cement swimming pool complexes of my childhood and this one is a classic.  Junee was too before they did it up, closed half of it in and made the whole thing into a "Rec Centre", heated pools in Winter and a gym etc.  Great for the town but so sad to see the circa 1930 original pool complex go, where my own kids had swimming lessons and Kate spent a lot of time with her friends when we lived there back in the day.

So we all went down for a quick swim before dinner and it was so refreshing and fun.  Nice to do something all four of us together as well.  Emily showed us how well she can swim now and her diving and other hi jinks off the diving boards.  We only stayed for an hour and then came home for burritos and tacos and everyone raved about the meat, just mince with spices, garlic and chilli and my new secret ingredient, cinnamon, also with a sachet of puree broccoli and one of cauliflower.  I think the swim and the fresh air made everyones' appetite sharper.

Em is so cute how she raises her hands above her head before she dives in.

And in she goes!

See how old and dinky the pool is?  The perimeter fence is in the far background.

It's great that it's free now too.  We can duck down for a quick swim before tea like we did today without thinking "God we just paid $15 and we should stay as long as we can". 

I love, love, love the water and am never happier than with the salt of the sea drying on my skin or the smell of pool chlorine in my hair and the sight of beach towels on the clothesline says Summer to me.  Can you guess which towel is mine?

I got Phill's Nano!  I told him I was going to the library and made some mention of picking the librarians brains re family history for my book.  Then I drove up to Young (90km round trip) and all the way tried to decide if I'd get the Nano or the Touch.  I really couldn't afford the Touch, it was $100 more and in the end they were sold out of the 8gb as were everyone else in Young.  But the Nano is the new touch version and I think he'll be happy with it.  Couldn't get a cover for it, geez for that price they should provide one.  And I couldn't get the deer shooting Wii game or anything like it, all sold out.  So I came home and then went back down the street with Emily (she fainted from the daylight as she hasn't been outside in like fifty years!) and I got an alarm clock, charging/playing dock thingy for him.  His clock radio is older than Josh so he was due for an update and he can now charge his Ipod before going to work, although it has a spiffy 24 hour battery thingy in it apparently. 

When we first met I was quick to educate him on gift giving ettiquette.  He missed most of the lesson except the part that said "NEVER give household goods as gifts.  EVER".  Unless specifically asked for (which has never happened).  One Mothers Day he got me a cd I wanted, but we had also needed a toaster so he bought that and hid it and put my cd in the toaster box and wrapped it up.  We have it on video, the look on my face when I saw the toaster box was priceless.  We need a new kettle.  You can guess the rest.  Kids think it's a great idea, one was a baby and one was in utero the year of the toaster joke so it should be good value.

And I got a really good pair of Summer king single bed sheets for Em's bed at half price on our wandering through town too!

Tonight I feel good, and pleasantly tired and looking forward to Christmas.

Oh the truck this morning was a fire engine.  I went out in my pjs and stood around in the front yard but nobody wanted to fill me in on what was going on.  They had a big hose along the footpath going past our front yard and down past the tiny little greasy peoples' yard.  Not sure what that was about.