Tomorrow

I've been spinning around the house all day doing this and that in preparation for my trip. The fridge has been cleaned, the house has been tidied, my suitcase is packed and weighed. My carry on has been carefully packed (only 7kgs allowed!) - I like to have at least one or two changes of clothes, pajamas, extra shoes, and other sundries with me just in case my suitcase does not have the same trip that I did!

Left to do tomorrow are clipping the dogs nails, packing the last minute things, re-weighing the bags and then.... DEPARTURE! My flight doesn't leave until 5:55 though, so that leaves plenty of time for pacing about the house and generally getting myself worked into a frenzy ;-) There is sure to be some camomile tea brewed.

Lucky for all of us it was a lovely day - mostly cloudy, but above 0 (4C). The dogs were happy to get outside to stretch their legs - they must have zoomed up and down the laneway a hundred times, and that's not counting the forays into the deep snow. Spike was buried in some of the drifts with the snow well about his head. They made me laugh with the joy and playfulness that they showed. There is nothing like a dog to teach you to enjoy the moment.

Major crisis reverted late evening. I was speaking with Tammy about her recent trip from Canada to NZ and she mentioned the transit visa required for Australia - WTF!!!!!!! Got online and started searching around. The Aus Immigration site had a form that had to be sent somewhere, with a notarized copy of my passport plus other documents. OMG. Try not to freak out. Call Air New Zealand to make sure my bag gets checked all the way from Ottawa to Wellington - yes. But since my layover is longer than 8 hours I need the visa. She thought I could do it online somewhere. Look again at the Aus Imm site. Nothing there. More freak out. Call my mom. She said there was a site that I can buy it online. Google for pages not Aus Imm site. BINGO. "Three Easy Steps for Canadians...". Application made and approved. Big sigh of relief.

The dog is the god of frolic.

Henry Ward Beecher