Lizard!

So, the wild kingdom here is something you just live with. I have bedroom windows that are always open and huge double patio doors that are on the other side of the apartment that are open at the same time for air flow.  No screens in sight for anyone except for a select few that have front door screens. I am one of the lucky few and have my front door open all the time. You live with the occasional fly, gnats and fruit flies. I've had two baby spiders also, so I'm thinking ...not so bad, I can live with this!

Until.....the incident.  *cue scary music at this point*

Dave and I were walking out of the apartment to go down to Woolies for a few dinner items when I saw a lizard zoom into my bedroom window.  Eek!!  At this point the apartment manager, Leisa was walking by downstairs and was saying hi to us. I'm thinking great!  She'll tell me what to do...right?!  Well, she tells me no worries it's just slimey when you pick it up, or it'll make its way out later. Seriously?  Not on my watch!!  I would never sleep at night knowing there was a lizard party going on somewhere in my house. Because you know the word would get out with all his friends that I was an easy target!  So Dave got the tape measure out and cautiously opened the shutter to see where it was. I'm standing outside the front door to make absolutely certain it does get out. Dave is slamming the shutters to spook it out, but it just goes up the window further.  Finally with the tape measure rattling and the shutters banging it flees out the window.  Meanwhile,  Leisa is laughing at the crazy American couple that can't handle a little lizard.

Needless to say our windows are all shut up tight and the air is on. And as a coincidence, the weather has turned hot and really humid so we needed to do this anyway.

Here's a picture of the giant lizard..it was at least six inches long.

PS.  Just for the record, Dave would not pick the lizard up to save his life. He even suggested we leave him alone and that the lizard would probably be gone by the time we got back. I'm shuddering just thinking about that.

Queen Street

Dave and I went down to Queen Street mall this past weekend. While there, we saw carolers entertaining a large group of kids with their parents.

We then walked down Queen Street through the CBD towards the Water Cat.  On a few occasions we saw these balls and lights strung across the street.

Patio

Here's a few pictures of our patio. I need to pick up a few more things, but we have all our furniture now. Look how modern I've become!!


One side and now the other.....


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December ramblings...

Cheers!

It's looking a little like Christmas around our apartment building. Some people have put lights on their balconies and very cheesy looking garland. So you might ask what extravaganza have I put up....sigh....a measly string of snowflake lights on the balcony that I found on my 5 hour shopping trip with Colette at Ikea. Yes, five hours, no eating of Swedish meatballs, one heaping cart and one heaping flatbed. Not all mine! Lol.

Last night was our first Christmas party. Our apartment building went across the street to the park. It was a BYO plate, drink and chairs. Potluck to us Americans. There is also a fierce front door Christmas deco competition starting yesterday which was the talk of the party. A bottle of champagne is the prize. All our front doors face inside with a big walkway down the middle. Bedrooms are also on the inside. So although we have shutters on our bedroom window, we can also see the blinking lights of the front door deco that has gone up across the way on the third floor (we're on the second floor).

So let me try to explain how we can see our upstairs neighbor. Our apartment building has a roof that is corrugated material that lets the sun in because of the plants, but it's open between floors and there are no side walls. That's why you can see all the way up to the third floor and all the way down to the first. When you have the front door open the breeze can flow through. Of course there are a few side walls to hold the metal doors that let you in, but very minimal. Up the center is the elevator. Hard to explain but perfectly logical when you see it.

On a side note....at the grocery this week I saw kangaroo meat in the meat case, flavored tuna in tins that look like fancy feast cat food tins, vegetables still have the roots attached (think lettuce, fresh basil, etc), eggs are on a shelf not refrigerated, healthy food is called sanitarium, and you put money in a slot to get a grocery cart which I can only assume you get back when you check out, but maybe not.

We had our patio dining set delivered last week and the driver was all about calling me darlin'. I wouldn't have minded except that he was a scrawny old man, not a young good looking Oz guy. This week we will have pots and plants delivered and hopefully the couch, ottoman and chair for the patio will come. Then we will finally have the basics bought and can go out exploring again.

French is over until next year so I will close with an au revoir .....Lovey and Dave



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