Parental Visit Day Five: The final day, with fake openings, flowers and feathers

Fake Opening

(Because the Parentals won't be here for the real one on Saturday...)Flowers

Because a Canberra-based blog isn't a Canberra-based blog without Floriade photos (even if it takes three years to get them)...Feathers

Because it was pretty exciting to see cygnets for the first time:And then we visited the Walk In Aviary because The Female Parental Unit likes birds so much (there were no Gallahs though...) Fake smiles all round(Everyone's happy, although The Male Parental Unit's not sure about all this nature-stuff...)

Parental Visit Day Four: Happiness is...

Male Parental Unit: A glass of local wine and a slap-up lunch at Cafe in the House.Female Parental Unit: A little Gallah stalkingsome wisteriaand a visit to Lawtons of Canberra/ Beyond Q secondhand bookshop in Curtin.Eldest daughter: Discovery and purchasing of excellent black cotton knitted hoodies at Giordano DFO (which were cheaper than thought) plus realising sour cream and chive Grain Waves are available from a snack machine not two blocks from home.

Parental Visit Day Three: Sunday sightseeing

Breakfast at Podfood, Pialligo (where Dad had a very large and very tasty strawberry...)was followed by a wander round The Pialligo Plant Farm where lustworthy pears were seen(and attempted to be spirited away...)Old Bus Depot Markets, Canberra Glassworks demonstration(and another pear)Blue Polesand lunch in the National Gallery members' lounge.

A visit to Happy Spider's yarn stash and some parental purchases.

Screensound Australia on the way homeand everyone's happy.

Parental Visit Day Two: Doing our bit to support the local economy...

A morning at The Mall included:

* Indulgences at Koko Black(which soon disappeared...)* The Parental purchase of an identical handbag to mine.(I think I'm flattered. But I'm too busy being relieved that we live in different countries so won't be seen together with them for more than the next few days!)

* An introduction to the concept of Aldi and bottles of wine which are cheaper than cups of coffee.

* And a lot of retail therapy.

I kidnapped them from the Australian Choice souvenir shop where they were looking at a gift for the neighbour who drove them to the airport and took them out to Bison instead...Since we were sort of half way there anyway, the next stop was Bungendore where I almost bought this intriguing "architect's model":and had The Parentals rave about the work at Bungendore Wood Works Gallery and wonder how they could buy the house next to The Carrington and move in permanently, filling their house with furniture from across the road....We also discovered a fabulous vintage/ retro shop Me and You 2, filled with beautiful retro furnitureand accessoriesand a massive selection of vintage clothingall at very reasonable prices.

Back in town after a detour to view The Lake With No Water, the evening was spent at ANU Film Group watching Hitchcock's Spellbound (now more of a comedy than a thriller) after dinner at The Asian Cafe.And everyone's happy (if a little tired)

Parental Visit Day One: gallahs and Greg Johnson

Happy Mother with her very own gallah (with tweeting mechanism*):Let me explain. Before their last visit, Mum asked me if there were lots of native birds to admire.

"Oh, heaps!" I replied. "In fact I can see about thirty gallahs perched on the phone wires outside my back door right now"

Unfortunately by the time The Parentals arrived in Canberra the only birds to be seen were magpies. And sparrows. Both of which are readily available in New Zealand. In the end we gave up and took her to the local zoo to meet some wildlife.

And, of course, the day after they went home I was walking to work and found fifty gallahs spread out across the park having a good old laugh at us.

So this time we took no chances. I was going to knit her one or two to place outside their hotel window but ran out of time. Instead I took them to the National Museum where Mum purchased her very own gallah.

Which will also guarantee a plentiful supply of real ones over the next few days...

Me taking a photo of Dad taking a photo:And, so far, everyone's happy.Especially me as they arrived bearing presents. Including Greg Johnson. No not in person (alas) but the next best thing: his just-released-in-NZ-last-month latest CD:

(*gallah, not Ma!)