Ever since we returned from Europe, life has been a whirlwind of, erm, life...As avid readers will know I traipsed off to China a week later for a meeting, and just last week my love and I "had to" go to China once more, but this time for an IATEFL-related conference. We enjoyed the Chinese food and the company of a group of IATEFL trainers that traveled with us, but weren't entirely happy with the experience. On the way back we nipped past Perth (Western Australia) which actually wasn't too bad. Our trusted house-sitters, Helen and Ian, sat our house again, much to their enjoyment as they love it here. In the meantime, Yarrow had a birthday, celebrated with a lovely dinner in a restaurant in Lismore. Animalwise, both horses have been "lame" on account of the enduring rains (Duchess, at this particular moment, stands in the paddock with a feed-bag bag around one of her feet, feeling Very Sorry For Herself, and Emu, at this particular moment, is standing in the shed, going Ow This Hurts And I Am Much Put Out.) And Niki and Hans go down the hill three times a day to put their feet in a bucket of Epsom salt to draw The Horrible Stuff out. Raffie has had his dew claw cut off when he hurt it Playing Ball Incessantly But Oh So Determinedly, but he tries to ignore any discomfort for fear of us hanging up the Throwing Stick in a place that means Game Over.
Workwise the days have been busy, with usb working on our storybook project, her Cambridge teen project and our Harper Collins pre-school project; while Hans is in the last stages of his Dutch teen project Realtime, which is coming to an end after four years. Plenty of other stuff to do though. IATEFL invited Hans to represent them at a conference in Perth in September, asking him to tell them what the expenses would be, and then realised they didn't really have a budget for it... Hans is set to go abroad in October to a) a conference in Korea to present, b) a meeting (and possibly some guest lecturing) in China, c) a conference in London to present, d) a meeting at IATEFL HQ and, no doubt, some family and friends visits. On the wedding front, many a thought was thunk but no further firm decisions have as yet been made, other than that We Are Really Looking Forward To It and Determined To Make It Happen - so more information to follow soon, promise! (It is, after all, "only" July). Tess is studying her proverbial off to do her trial exams - she is hermiting (I know, that was not a word, but now it is) in order to do the bestest (I know, that is not a word either) she can.
