Saint Melz (aka Medelz, aka Dee, aka Demelza)

Well… what a weekend! I didn’t do much, for once. In fact, the whole point of this post is to shower my sister Melz with glowing praise for havin’ spoilt me over the two glorious days that were the fourth and fifth of February 2006.

To begin with, on Friday night she left the entire house to me while she went on a date! (Sorry Melz, I just had to let the whole world know… well everyone who reads this anyway.) That was great ‘cause I had full run of the internet (you’re asking… when don’t I?).

Saturday she cooked me pancakes with peaches, bananas and cream (sorry… no pics of those) for brunch, and we did our usual Saturday mornin’ bludge/bondin’ sesh (ie sit in front of TV watchin’ Rage). Then she drove me to Tennis and for all I knew returned to her little fanfic obsession on the innernet. Meanwhile I was slogging my arse off at tennis (lost 6-4 in the mixed, 7-5 in first ladies and won 7-6 in second ladies) thinking she’d be on the comp all day while the house festered. Alas, I was in for a pleasant surprise!

After the game I went back to the club, had a few drinks and played some pool with Leah and the boys. Later on Melz picked me up, all spry and chipper with a fresh carload full of shopping. She refused to tell me what she’d bought (knowing I would berate her for wasting her money). Anyway we got home and she was all excited (I swear, she should go on dates more often!). She’d cleaned the entire house (bar my room of course) and the courtyard, which I officially categorised as her job considering most of the mess is left by plants that she brings home from work looking all nice and shiny and within a few weeks are all grosse and corpsified.

But that’s not the end of it. To top it off she had organised ‘entrée’ in the courtyard, which included a platter of fresh grapes, Brie (another of those addictions of mine), salami (yet another), marinated octopus, Turkish bread and a glass of white… delish!

I had to make her wait about two hours before cooking the main, which was superb by the way (I may run out of adjectives by the end of this post). Now, I’m not usually a big fish person (because I’m too lazy to pick out the bones), but since livin’ with Melz I eat it more often, plus it’s a great source of protein and bla, bla – all that neat healthy stuff. The official title of the meal was ‘steamed Ocean Trout on a bed of hommus topped with rocket and homemade salsa!’ (Taste buds droolin’ much?) It was… well, like I said… I’ve run out of words. In a nutshell – yum! (Later, if youse are nice and comment, I might add the recipe! Manipulative little so and so ain’t I?)

On Sunday, Saint Melz and some of her crew took some ladies from Legacy (I think that’s a war widow’s society or something) out on the Yacht as part of a volunteer thing that the club had arranged. That took most of the mornin’. It was a beautiful day for it, not that I saw much, as I was holed up in my room writing stories and prolly chattin’ on MSN. After she returned, however, she sunbaked for a while and then proceeded to convince me that I should go to the pub with her and some of the crew from The Bookmaker (the yacht she sails on.)

Now, I’m not usually a big ‘goin’ out to the pub’ person either, but since livin’ with Melz… yarda, yarda – you get the picture. And she is very good at convincing people to do what she wants them to do (just ask her work colleagues). Actually, she bribed me! She agreed to review (read – tear to shreds) one of my drafts if I went out with her. So, like the sucker I am, I went along. Turned out, as it usually does, to be quite a fun afternoon. It was such a beautiful warm day, the beer went down waaaayy too easily, and the company was incredibly drunk and hence, hilarious.

My only regret was that a mild case of fuzzy beer head (read – typsiness) caused me to forget how effective the sun’s rays can be at 3pm on a February afternoon. However, aside from looking like an idiot (my purpose in life), I had a great time and I have to thank Melz for that, because without her cajoling I would have stayed in the house, banging my head against the computer screen screaming ‘I unclog my nose in your general direction, you son of a window dresser!’ and other obscenities.

Over the course of the arvo we went to two different pubs, Tim’s house for a BBQ and back to the pub to listen to a band. We also ‘celebrity spotted’ Magda Szubanski at ‘The Barking Dog’, which was pretty thrilling. And we got to see Murray (the pet Murray Cod). I was disappointed that I missed Murray’s feeding sesh tho, but aw hell – there’s always the Discovery Channel (only we don’t have PayTV – thank the ominous being overhead).

In the evening the two of us walked back to Melz’s car, which was parked at the first pub, and drove home to our nice, clean house. My saint of a sister then fulfilled her part of the bargain and edited my incredibly slow, dull story while I dozed in bed with a face cloth over by sunburnt forehead! Ya gotta love her! I do.

To finish off, I just wanna add that this coming wkend is gonna be mega. The whole fam is comin' to Geelong to celebrate Saint Melz's b'day (which is actually the day after Saint Valentine's day). She is havin' a big ole' BBQ at the Yacht Club on Saturday. Damian is even flyin' in for the occasion and hopefully Simon will be there too. Lookin' forward to it, no doubt there will be plenty to blog about next week!

PS - Excuse my photography, it doesn't do the meal, or Melz, any justice!

Nighters.