Happy Australia Day and Happy Chinese New Year – Year of the Tiger
What has happened to the last two months? We are now into the third month of the year. As Canberra is opening up, Lindy seems to be just busy doing things, hence it took her so long before she can type up my newsletter!
Road trip to Forbes
We were invited to go to Forbes as the Australia Day Ambassador. Aunty Polly drove us to Forbes the day before Australia Day. As it was a long trip, I got to lay on the backseat instead of under the dash in front of Lindy. We went in a rental car this time and were told it needed to be returned with no fur inside. The trip was very smooth as I didn’t notice any bumps on the road and slept through the trip.
The Forbes Council booked us into the Girragirra Retreat for the two nights, which is a stunning luxury nature retreat. It is known for its pick and eat from their extensive permaculture food garden. The hosts Wendy and Kim run workshops to teach people how to make sourdough bread, ferments like kraut, kombucha, yoghurt, cheese and cultured butter. Lindy and Aunty Polly got to taste these yummy foods.
Although I didn’t get to sample these permaculture foods, I got my special treat. Pete, the resident kelpie, let me have one of his bones to chew. Well! Actually I found it in the garden and Pete didn’t mind me chewing it! We had a great play time, and he even took me to the muddy swamp just before we have to go home! So I got a Retreat Wash from the owner – the resort certainly lives up to its ‘luxury living’ trademark!
On the first evening, we went to the Town Hall for the Citizen of the Year Gala Dinner. It was wonderful to hear all the contributions that citizens of Forbes had made to the town. I was glad that Lindy didn’t have to leave the dinner table to present any award, so I got to chill under the table for most of the evening. I did my Public Relations work during the photo session by standing in front of the winners. I would love to let them pet me, but I was on duty with my harness on!
The next morning we attended the Rotary breakfast in the park where Mayor Miller presented Lindy with the Australia Day pin. Lindy thought she was only required to give the Australia Day address later that evening, but a microphone was handed to her after she received the pin. In true Lindy style she gave a short address and included the story of when an air hostess knelt down on the floor of an aircraft to pet me after Lindy took my harness off… I am glad that I got a mention in her speech.
After the event finished, we took a walk along the river before we went back to the retreat. That was when I found Pete’s bone!
Lindy got invited to have a paddle with the Forbes Dragon Boat Club at the start of the Party in the Park evening. I stayed with Aunty Polly while Lindy joined the other dragon boaters. When Lindy arrived at the launch area, they thought she was only going for a ride in the Dragon boat. When Lindy told them that she was there to paddle and not for a free ride, a paddle appeared. They paddled past the event picnic area a couple of times. I saw her coming past and got quite excited. Aunty Polly took some photos when they come past. Lindy had a great time and even kept in time with the rest of the paddlers.
After a quick change out of her wet clothes she was ready for the official part of the evening. The local federal member Michael McCormack MP had driven from Wagga to open the proceedings before the dragon boat ride and had been scheduled to depart. However, he ended up staying and listening to Lindy’s speech and she had a brief chat with him afterwards.
At the end of the evening I experienced my first ever fireworks display. The noise wasn’t too bad for most of the show. The fireworks were let off over the river in front of the official tent and lasted about 15 minutes. I started off relaxed on the ground next to Lindy until the last few minutes when it got a lot louder and then I stood up. I was glad when it finished. That was about as much as I could cope with.
I heard Lindy telling people that she will make sure we are not too close to the fireworks in the future. I do understand why some dogs and cats are afraid of the firework noise. I got this guiding job because noise doesn’t really bother me.
Tomakin Triathlon
As Aunty Polly was competing in a triathlon race in Tomakin on the weekend of 5-6 February, it was a great opportunity for us to get away from Canberra for the weekend. We along with Aunty Julie stayed at the Surf Beach House and relaxed before we have to yell and cheer.
Our cheer squad was boosted by Roy Daniell, who represented Australia at the Paralympic Games for marathon running and who was cheering for his wife Susan. We encouraged all the runners as they ran past but of course we reserved the loudest cheer when Aunty Polly came through. I was the first to spot her and let off a bark to make sure she finished her race strongly. My encouragement must have helped her ward off the next competitor in her age group as she finished on the podium in third, not too far behind Susan.
After the race, we were able to chill and rest. We took a walk to the local beach and found some friends. As I was off duty, I took off and joined them for a chase around the sand and in the water. I even found some green stuff to roll in! It was certainly worth missing out going to the pizza shop with the aunties, while Lindy gave me a wash!
Craft at the Royal Canberra Show
Last Friday Lindy and I joined Aunty Polly on a visit to the Royal Canberra Show in the rain on the spur of the moment for two reasons: first Aunty Polly had entered three pieces of needlework in the show so we wanted to see how she went, and second we had heard that a family friend Helen Godden had a huge 6.5 metre quilt on display. The work is titled ‘My Australia’ and contained lots of animals and bright colours that I enjoyed looking at while Lindy had the quilt described to her.
Then we walked around and found that Aunty Polly had won first prize with some Japanese beading on a jewellery pot and third prize on a canvas cushion. I even got an ‘honourable’ mention in the critique for the cushion when they pointed out it had some white dog fur on it.
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When we work together we can go upstream, just like those dragon boaters.
This is the tail of Lindy’s Comet
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Woof Woof
Comet Hou
Comet : comet@lindyhou.com
Lindy: lindy@lindyhou.com
Tel: 0402 113 836 / +61 402 113 836
