A good dinner

Last night was the last dinner I will have with Anne for the foreseeable futurre. We normally meet over Saturday breakfast only. So I was pleased that it worked out well. We ordered a couple of pork dishes from Ben's resturant nearby, which we ordered via Doordash. No need to go out in the cold.

I had pork with plum sauce and I was surpised that they did it so well. Many moons ago I used to get it from the Old Taiping Chinese resturant in Haymarket, Sydney. But subsequent restaurants have not been able to measure up to that. But Ben's Vietnamese in Annerley Rd was at last another place that did that dish well. They were big servings too

Anne and I waited for it to be delivered with the help of Tyrrell's Verdelho and a Mozart concert via Youtube from an orchestra in Iceland. So the combination of good wine, good food, good music and good company was hard to beat. More fun than an 81 year old had a right to expect. I went to bed with a smile on my face

And this morning we went to our old stamping ground, the cafe at Buranda, for breakfast. I had my usual calamari and Anne had a dish with a lot of good smoked salmon. She will go back to her place soon preparatory to flying back to Mt Isa tomorrow morning

Bon voyage dinner for Paul and family

Morning with Matthew

6pm at Jenny's, very good dinner, Pork sausages! Ken subdued, left early; Christopher talked a lot; Anne looked good in black and long hair; I talked with Susan; I gave a Filipino Bible for Mattthew;

Having both Anne and family together at a home dinner was really special to me. An assembly of my favorite people. I enjoyed it greatly. The family brunch on Tues 23 was good but this was better. The family were due to fly out next morning

A family brunch

To greet Anne, I arranged a brunch for all the family at my usual breakfast haunt in Buranda -- so that Anne and the family could see one another while both were in town. Paul and family have been in Brisbane since the beginning of the month and fly back to Scotland on 26th.

The Brunch was a great success with Anne getting to talk at some length with Susan, Jenny and Paul. It was a great pleasure to have Matthew, Elise and Primrose with us as well



Then that night, Anne and I Doordashed, getting in some excellent Korean fried chicken and talking until late.

Anne is back in town

But only for a week. She had got to Mt Isa in her caravan trip around Australia so was not due back in Brisbane for a while. But she had various things to do in Brisbane, including us having a dinner together in celebration of my b*rthday. She arrived this afternoon and I had the oysters and French cutlets ready for our traditional celebration dinner that night.

Celebrating Joe

Brek with Joe and me at 9.30am

Party to celebrate his birthday 6pm that night; family in attendance; much happy squealing from the girls. Joe wanted ice-cream and custard for his dessert so Jenny bought and decorated an ice-cream birthday cake for him. See him contemplating it below; The dinner was a Lasagne prepared by the wonderful Susan

Looking back

Given my recent 81st b*rthday, I have begun to think about how well I have used those 81 years. And I am rather amazed that all my original joints still work well most of the time, that I still have 10 each of fingers and toes and that I am usually in no pain or discomfort. I am full of two types of cancer but I am on medications that are slowly defeating both.

So is there any one occasion that was a highpoint in my life? I can think of many very pleasing occasions, not all of them fit for public mention, but I have chosen one that I do think was a highpoint in my life. It is already online here but the following is I think the essence of it. It was the occasion of my 53rd birthday:

"On the Monday itself I took JHM to The Clansmen restaurant. It has various Scottish features, a vaguely Scottish cuisine and is situated in a beautiful old colonial building at Annerley. It is a bit dear so I go there only on special occasions but when I do go I usually wear the kilt in honour of my shreds of Scottish ancestry (I have one ancestor with an Irish name [Joseph Kelly] who was born in Scotland and another ancestor with a Scottish name [Jane Burnside] who came from Ireland!).

On this occasion I wore full Highland formal dress: My red MacRae tartan kilt, white pleated dress shirt, black bow tie, black silk waistcoat, Prince Charlie jacket etc. JHM really loved it! I think "splendid" was her word for my attire on that occasion. JHM, of course dressed beautifully for the occasion too. She wore a shapely black classic suit she had bought from Harrods in London many years before and teamed it with a rather elaborate cream blouse that was also from Harrods. She has kept the same figure for many years and always buys classic styles so she can do that sort of thing. And since it was midwinter she put on her MINK jacket over it all to step outside the door. With her golden hair up in her usual chignon, with her fine white skin and her usual perfect grooming and poise she really looked as elegant a lady as any man has ever taken out.

I was equally aware that there was a brilliant brain behind the steady gaze of her pretty pale blue eyes so I felt a very fortunate man indeed at that dinner"

She and I are still in friendly contact but she too is now in her 80s and neither of us get out much these days

Recent events

I had a men's night for Paul but Christopher forgot; Matthew was in good voice; Paul used a big lot of Chili sauce on his dinner. Joe talked a lot

I had an 81st b*rthday party put on by Jenny at her place; egg-rolled park and TonKatsu; Pavlova birthday cake with candles; George P. especially welcome and took a big part in the conversation; Joe and I mostly listened

Good hats

Z is in Montenegro at the moment. She has sent me a number of pictures from her travels. I liked the one below. There are a lot of atttractive folk costumes in that part of the world

Real women

A real woman will find handsome men attractive and will be pleased and at least a bit excited to encounter one. He may be out of reach (as in being married to someone else) but they will still enjoy the experience.

But that might not always go anywhere even if opportunity knocks. Z once said to me: "I used to go for handsome men but they are all stupid". Z is exceptionally bright so the "all" in that utterance is probably true for her.

But the ultimate real woman is a wife. She enjoys being with one man so much that she acts on her feelings and makes a public committment to him. Real women like real men

And there are degrees of wifeliness. The ultimate wife is a Scottish wife. At a buffet or party in Scotland the men will sit around talking and the women will select a plate of food and bring it to him. Part of the reason for that is that he might select some food that he doesn't finish. But his wife knows what he "takes" and gives him just the right plate of food

So I was pleased yesterday at a family gathering when Jenny got me a plate of food and brought it to me while I was sitting down talking. And it included some of my favourite things

So the ultimate wife is a Scottish wife. Jenny is mostly Irish but we don't need to quibble about details

And we both have a "past". Jenny did once marry a handsome man and I did once marry an attractive Scotswoman

And Z did once go all the way to a place in Asia with hopes for a handsome man she knew