Dear Mom,

What a beautiful day we're having! It's warm, sunny and breezy with little humidity. I wish you could see the sky - it's incredible. Today has been wonderful here at home. I've gotten all my work finished in a leisurely fashion. My favorite way to move as you know! The clean laundry is on the line and two batches of bread cooling on the racks. And it's still not even two in the afternoon!

We had sandwiches on the rolls for lunch with some leftover potato salad (we'll be eating that for weeks!) and veggies, it was really nice. Yummo! We're both full over an hour later! I'm not sure what I'll do for dinner. I'm trying to decide between a spinach pie and salmon patties. The spinach pie recipe is from my new guru, Rhonda from Down to Earth. I look forward to reading her blog every day and am always inspired and moved by it.

The bread recipe is from her blog also. I tried Nina's bread from Mother Earth News and liked it, but there's just something about kneading bread and watching it rise that is so satisfying. We're going to the boat later this week for an overnight, so I'll freeze some of the bread to make it easier to pack.

Tomorrow is Bella and Poppy Day and they're going to let me tag along. We'll go down to the South Bank Beach in the city for a couple of hours and have a swim and a picnic. It should be a great time. She's such a sweet girl. Very much an almost-4-year-old, bossy and girly! It's amazing how that is a global condition.

Last Saturday's lunch with Ken's friends, Brandon and Kerry went very well. Ken cleared up the patio and set the table up out there while I fried chicken, made potato salad and slaw, and cornbread. Brandon and Kerry arrived at 12:3o and we sat outside talking, eating, and drinking wine until after 6!

Unfortunately, I couldn't find cornmeal like you use, just the yellow kind. But the cornbread recipe I used was really good. They all seemed to really like it - first time they'd ever had it! It was light and sweet and went well with the chicken. I came the closest to your fried chicken as I've ever gotten. So excited even if no one else understood why! And the potato salad didn't look like yours, because I couldn't find white enough potatoes. But it tasted like yours and just made my day! Who knew a person could miss potato salad that much?!

We finished lunch up with an apple crisp and vanilla ice cream. It's one of my favorite desserts as you know. I kind of figured if I was cooking a Southern Indiana meal, I was entitled to have my favorites. I could have talked to Brandon all night. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of music and we started talking about bands we like/dislike. Even though he doesn't "get" My Morning Jacket, we have enough other bands and singers in common that I'll forgive him. I have a feeling they are going to become two of my favorite people here in Australia, just like they are Ken's. Anyway, it was a wonderful day and we've already made plans to go to a festival in Brisbane later in May.

Earlier in the week, I made a meatloaf that I actually liked! And you know how rare that is. Australians apparently have this thing they call mince, which is a little confusing because that is also what they call ground beef. But this Mince is ground beef with onion, celery, bell peppers and canned tomatoes that you cook on top of the stove. Anyway, the meatloaf recipe I found was based on this mince but you add breadcrumbs and eggs and make it in the oven in a loaf tin. It was pretty good for supper. But it was even better the next day on sandwiches at the boat! I've never had a cold meatloaf sandwich, because I always refused them. But it was really good! Definitely something I'll make again.

Our trip to the boat last week was a bust. We got it off the mooring and floated about 50 yards before Ken realized the diesel was pooped. So he got in the dinghy and towed the boat back to the mooring line. It was a little hysterical! But I was very good and didn't laugh. Out loud... So while he spent the rest of the afternoon cussing and banging around, I slipped out of my pants and bra and went swimming. It was gorgeous! The water was warm and just fantastic. I could have floated around all day. So we're going back this week to fix the problem and even if we don't get to leave the mooring again, I know I can swim and have a beautiful day. Because God knows I'm not dumb enough to try to help a man fix mechanical things!

I'll keep you updated.

Love,
Court