A Persian lunch

I wanted to treat Anne to a special lunch so I took her to the "Saffron" restaurant at Stones corner -- run by Zoroastrian Persians. As I usually do there, I ordered the combination platter for two, which was huge and impressive as usual: 3 different kebabs plus rice, salad and chips. Persians are masters at grilling meat

Lunch was 12 noon but Anne and I normally see one another for 9am breakfast so Anne came over around 9am anyway as we had a few things to discuss. While we were waiting for lunch, I put on a lot of Sibelius for her, which she liked

A triple treat

I had today arrangements to have lunch with Anne and dinner with Jenny. But today was also Zoe's birthday so she came over at mid-afteroon with the idea of us having coffee and cake by way of a celebration. We could not think of a nearby cakeshop that would be open at that hour so we went to McDonalds and had iced coffee, something we both enjoy. We spent a couple of hours together in total so I had pleasant times with three fine ladies in the one day. I think that qualifies me as a lucky man

From Anne's big trip

I had my usual pleasant Saturday morning with Anne and we tried to find on her phone ANY picture of her on her big trip. As the photographer, all her photos were of other things and people. We finally found one of her, however -- from when she was in Normanton. As you will see, she too is a doggy lady. That's a sculpture of a crocodile behind her

A very social time

Anne came over between about 9:30 and 11:30pm yesterday for a chat and a trip to the Japanese restaurant for brunch. The food there is always first class. I am hoping for more Thursday morning visits from her.

Then last night Jenny came over and cooked us a dinner of red meat plus lots of salad. She had decided to stay overnight so we opened a bottle of Tyrrell's Verdelho. Wine with dinner is a rare treat for me these days

This morning Jenny will be driving us to breakfast, venue as yet undecided but probably Buranda.

And this evening I am expecting to see Zoe. She came off the plane from Srbia a few days ago with a bad wog so has not been fit to travel up until now. It will be over 3 months since I have seen her so I am looking forward to it

AFTERNOON UPDATE

Zoe arrived at around 3pm. She looked surprisingly good, I thought. She has always looked good for a woman in her 70s but she looked at least as good as ever despite her heavy cold. Maybe her stay in Srbia was good for her. She did miss the Brisbane winter by going there in mid July.

She really should have stayed away from me for a couple more days to complete her recovery from the virus but she has been back in Brisbane since 26th and we both felt uncomfortable at waiting so long to get back together.

Sadly, we could not kiss as the viral load I would get from that would be too risky altogether.

She arrived asking for a salad lunch so I took her to Nando's for a Mediterranean salad, which she likes. I ate only half of mine but she polished off the remaining half. So I fed her well. We then went to to MacDonalds for an iced coffee each

After we got home, all we did was have a big lie-down in bed together. She went to sleep for most of it, which should have helped her recovery. She went home at her usual 7pm -- looking rather more lively than when she arrived

She brought me back a souvenir of her trip. See below. She and I both like and collect oil lamps and the one below is the smallest we have ever seen. She got it in Turkey. But it is fully functional. I show it beside a 50c piece for scale. It is just over 4" tall