so I haven’t blogged ’cause it was too much effort – hope you’re all well!

I’ll be doing a little pictorial as soon as I can be bothered to put some stuff up on Flickr … blame the head cold, the snot (sorry) production is sucking the energy out of me … hence only three blogs since the end of January, and those all at the same time!

Suffice to say, we drove to Hobart in the Landrover (four hours), the back right tyre blew out in a big way (put on the spare but the original was unrepairable – and landrover tyres ARE NOT CHEAP!), stayed in Hobart, drove to Kettering, caught the car ferry across to Bruny (coincidentally meeting some friends from Hobart who were going across for the day), drove to Cloudy Bay, found the Crusty Surfer, watched surfers, drove to Cloudy Corner (3km’s along the beach), found a camp spot, drove back and watched the surfers, drove back and set up camp, camped (joined by the Crusty Surfer, and two others), drove back the next day to watch more surfing (Crusty Surfer beat out two state champions!), drove to the Lighthouse, went and bought pizza, drove to the ferry, drove back to Hobart, stayed the night, did some shopping (yay!) in HObart, drove back home (4 hours), collapsed just a bit, went to bed …… and I went to work. Can’t quite remember what Mr TAsmania did … I’m fairly sure it involved unpacking, cleaning, doing the washing, getting the washing in, and cooking dinner – he’s a good boy!

Maybe, if I had been the kind of girl who was sent lots of Valentine's cards, received lots of flowers, and had had boyfriends at the rate my brothers had girlfriends as we were growing up, Valentine's Day wouldn't mean anything, and I'd be able to say it doesn't matter, we don't do anything, it's just a manufactured holiday etc etc etc.

But I'm not that girl.

What I AM, is a girl who's had 3 bunches of flowers (over my 37 years) from secret admirers, 3 or 4 cards (including the obligatory card your mum sends you in your first year of high school – she's a good girl!), and a couple of emails.

I'm also the girl who didn't really mind that she didn't get a lot of stuff, but was quite happy when she did receive things , ’cause I’d rather have something that someone wanted to send me rather than something someone thought they should because everyone else was.

And the girl who is happy to treat it as a special day and say hey, I like to do special things for my boy every day … but I'm happy to have a special celebratory day for him and me, and share that with the rest of the world – well, UK and USA and Canada, anyway.

So now, I'm a happily married girl who really enjoys Valentine's Day … not because Mr Tasmania will be extravagant and take me out to an expensive dinner, or buy hot house long stemmed roses, or buy expensive jewellery – but because I've married a man who THINKS about ME … and has bought me a set of expensive, good quality secateurs for Valentines.

That man knows ME … and he THINKS! In my opinion (and sorry if you love receiving them!) all a bunch of long stemmed red roses shows is that you have too much money and no imagination … and possibly not much thought for the person you've bought them for. They're a no brainer … it's hard NOT to buy them, they're so prevalent in florists, department stores, garages for goodness sakes.

Don't worry, I bought him something too

I made a lentil stew last night …. My sister in law has a fabulous recipe for lentils with chorizo, which she has been promising me for two years now … so I've given up and made up my own, with lentils, potato, red onion, garlic, red wine, chorizo, cumin, bay leaves, and paprika. Mr Tasmania went back for seconds and I enjoyed it very much, if I do say so myself – was very flavourful – which is saying a lot when you consider the enormous scope of the head cold I have had for a week! Smelling has been, to this point, something other people do … so I'm very pleased that my sense of taste appears to be returning and I could taste my creation!

We let JD (the dog) in for the evening as Mr Tasmania had been informed that a friend was going to be doing some shooting on his farm property and the puppy does not cope with the sound of gunshots at all well (wallabies in plague proportions … sorry if that ‘causes traumas for some …. But it's a reality of life, think of them as slightly larger rabbits … these are not endangered even slightly … I know they're Australian and therefore, apparently, to the rest of the world are super-cute … but I think squirrels are too and I have heard Canadian friends refer to them as tree rats, so it's all relative). Mr puppy has settled greatly in the last few weeks, possibly entering his later teens in dog years (he's 21 months), and it was an enjoyable evening with him in the house, acting like a good boy.

He ALSO enjoyed the lentils …. I had left the empty (but dirty) pot sitting on the kitchen bin, beside the sink (waiting for the chief dishwasher) … and he discovered it. Usually he is very good and will stop eating things or even resist eating things … but not the lentils! He pulled the pot to the floor and got stuck in! Even with an audience of two he did not stop … loooovvveeeddd it!

Very flattering, when the dog will stop on command for all other food except my lentils