Indoor activities

Dave and I are home alone this weekend and we're staying put. R-e-l-a-x-i-n-g after the madness and chaos of the past week. Reading, telly, coffee, newspapers, chocolate, tea, knitting, and cooking.
Yesterday, Netflix (how I love you, how I love you) came through with the goods: two DVDs of The West Wing, to which we are totally addicted. We never got to watch it while it was new — it was always on a bit late for us in Australia. But this is the way to go, with non-stop episodes, no ads, high-def wide-screen viewing. I love everything about this show; it's perfect weekend viewing.

:: Finished Mum's socks last night, and they're ready to be sent asunder down-under. They're a bit small for me - Mum has teeny-tiny feet. Knitting them kept me going through the unknown on Monday and Tuesday - a day and a half spent knitting, watching fire updates on the telly as the news just kept getting worse and worse, and speaking on the phone to family and friends all over the place anxious for news of us. You can't wring your hands while you're knitting!


:: We've packed Will off to Las Vegas for a rock festival, with a lot of bands I've never heard of, as well as Queens of the Stone Age and Muse (which even I would love to see, though the volume and crush would be more than I could stand - I'd go to a rock concert if I could sit on a patch of grass, in the breezy shade, with a folding chair and a picnic, tea and good coffee available just over there, the band pretty close but not very loud, and big video screens so I could keep a dignified distance. Oh, and it would all be over by 9.30 pm).
Will's gone to Las Vegas with Stephanie, a friend of our eldest son, Simon, and now one of our much-loved managers at the Bondi. After the tensions and restrictions of the week, it'll do these young'uns good to get out of the smoke and ash and haze and dust for a weekend, into the (relatively) clean air of Nevada, for two days of screaming and yelling. We shouted them two nights at a hotel on the strip, and Steph's driving and being The Boss. I can't wait to hear all about it when they get back!

:: At some stage, we're going to call in at the Carmel Valley fire station where they are distributing free masks so you can more safely go outside and attempt to clean up some of the ash and other muck that has settled over everything since last Sunday.
It's a worry, though, whether or not to leave it and wait, because as fast as you sweep it up, more of it will settle. And the news reports about the dust are scary, saying that while the burnt plant material the ash contains won't hurt us, there will also be traces of hazardous substances that we really ought not to breathe in. Impossible!