It's raining ...

... and the river is rising just a teeeeeeny bit, and the school bus has been cancelled, and I think I might just keep the girls home from school ...

Fun with Clarke and Dawe

I don't watch television ... Years ago, I found that my life was so busy (my own choice, but still), that something had to 'give', and so I simply decided to stop watching TV, figuring I'd access current affairs from my beloved ABC Radio National. The up side of this is that I have no idea who the current 'celebs' are (as portrayed in various women's mags such as No Idea, Women's Monthly, and the like), which frees my brain up for more interesting things. The down side is that I probably miss some excellent television shows, and sometimes don't know of people I wish I'd known about earlier.

Such is the case with Clarke and Dawe. John introduced me this weekend to these excellent ABC television political commentators / lampoonists. Bless him for this!! This intelligent pair humorously elucidate the sorry state of Australian and world politics. I especially loved these three clips:

Europe's financial crisis explained (Oh, good, I understand better now ...)

Abbott opposes this week (Our opposition party opposes for the sake of opposition, really... never mind an ethical or philosophical stance ... with very little regard for what really constitutes truth).

I hope you enjoy the clips!

Here's a clip of Saturn

Here is a clip showing my lovely mare Saturn (officially, the registered Australian Stock Horse named Perkins Classic). My dear friend Petra and I brought her back from the Laidley Sales where we successfully bid against the horse butcher for her. Petra particularly did a wonderful job of re-training this maltreated and nervy mare who would at first not let people touch her. She was sold to a woman who cared for her well but had too little time for her, and in the end I bought her back and have kept her ever since.

I have to admit I have a sometimes uneasy relationship with Saturn. She is by far the best riding horse I've ever owned, with a soft mouth and a biddable and willing, obedient character, though occasionally she tends to rush. I love her to bits but sometimes I'm nervous of her, which may be as much a result of my nature as her behaviour. She has been known to lash out and on the ground she sometimes can be quite rude and pushy (more groundwork, Mieke, more groundwork!). Once on her back, though, she's got the wonderful heart and I have had some glorious rides on her.

This 2007 clip shows her going to meet her stallion at Billinudgel (love at first sight?). The filly Promise was the result of this union (awwww.... )

A birthday ride

View Whian Whian ride in a larger map

As a special treat, John and I took the Monday off and we went for a trail ride at Whian Whian State forest (click on the - or + on the interactive map above to zoom in or out). So, early Monday morning, we hitched the float to the Hilux, chose our best trail horses (gelding Gandhi and mare Saturn), and gave them a special lucerne feed. As our horses are not shod but go barefoot most of the time, we put their trail riding boots on. These boots are a great alternative to metal shoes and in my opinion far better for our horses' overall metal and physical health. My mare admittedly does not have good ground manners, but she lifts her feet to have these boots put on!

I must confess I get a bit tense about putting horses on the float. It can go wrong and having half a ton of horse go mad in the float is not good for them, or the float. Similarly, having the same half ton of horse rush backwards out of the float and over the top of any human is not good for *them*, either. But these two stepped on as good as gold (especially Gandhi, he's such a well-mannered gent).

We set off, and after about half an hour arrived at Fox Rd quarry where we parked the Hilux and float, offloaded the calm (!! hurrah! Calmer than I was, defninitely!) horses and saddled up.

The track was damp but not wet underfoot, unshod booted hooves clopping soft on the earth. The weather was cool and dry, and looking up I could see the dappled gum trees against a pure blue sky. Not long after leaving Fox Rd we entered the state forest conservation area (a home-made painted sign explaining "no throughfare for cars to Whian Whian, horse riders and walkers welcomed!"). We followed Baldwin's road, a rough track surrounded by bush. Next to the track we saw a sleepy carpet python soaking up the warmth of a spot of sunshine; and not much further on a brown snake slithered quietly into the bushes (Gandhi told John in his equine way "It's dangerous, I'm not going near that one..."). Around a bend we encountered a pair of tethered goats, which Gandhi observed with aplomb but nearly made Saturn's eyes pop out of her head, as she came to a stock standstill, and uttered disbelieving snorts as she stood there and shook from head to hoof. Goodness knows what went on in her head. I gather she's never seen a goat before. She went past them on tiptoes, quivering and snorting, with tail bunched in horror, as the goats observed her with their strange eyes.

We continued along looking for a side track called Condong Falls Road, but we couldn't find it (must have passed it in during one of our wild and exhilarating canters) and ended up on a slightly wider track called Telephone Road (from there we planned to follow Boulder's Road but couldn't find that either ... ). Telephone Rd is a lovely track, quite steeply undulating but with some good spots for gallops. This brought us to Minyon Drive which is open for 4WD car traffic. We stopped briefly at Minyon Grass picnic area where the National Park guys were doing some sterling work repairing verges. We offered the horses a drink at the creek but they declined (oh well, as they say ...). This was the furthest point of the ride and by then we'd travelled about 6km of steep going.

To wind our way back to Fox Rd we had to reach the higher ground and find Quondong FireTrail. The option we chose was to find Yakki Break, a very indistinct track which went straight up the mountainside. The track rapidly became steeper and the horses surged and grappled for footing, their sides heaving. As the path became steeper I wound my left hand in Saturn's long mane, and wrapped my right arm around her neck, slick with sweat, my thighs gripping her sides as I leaned as far forward as I could to help her balance. They're so strong and marvellous, our horses, and they will go anywhere for us, bless their courageous hearts. At the top we let them stand for a while, letting them blow, while their hammering hearts calmed down.

We found Quondong Fire trail pretty easily and followed it slowly down the mountainside. At Quondong Falls it became very steep and rocky, and the horses picked their way with much care. Just before the causeway where the creek flowed rapidly over the track and down the waterfall, the path was very steep and Saturn lost her footing, slithering onto her haunches. I opted to step off, as I didn't fancy falling under the horse if she went fully down (and possibly over the waterfall, which would not have been a good ending to the ride). John stayed aboard the more sensible Gandhi (as he said later, Gandhi has four good legs and John only has one so that seemed the best option! Makes sense!!). Much clatter and stumbling and with my arm nearly wrenched out of its socket we reached the other side, where I climbed tremblingly aboard a thoroughly excited Saturn (we get a bit tense, she and I sometimes. Never mind, we've both got courageous hearts and we're game). John said 'well done' and I could see he was proud of us so that was good :-D

The rest of the track was gorgeous, with tree ferns and rainforest surrounding us. The track wound steeply down, the horses well back on their haunches and their ears pricked forwards. This brought us to the lovely Quirk's Fire Trail, again densely rainforested, and then back on to the earthern Baldwin Road.

Of course this meant going past the goats again, which Saturn thought was Totally, Like, Creepy ... I praised her muchly for her courage.

This brought us quietly back to the Fox Rd quarry where the horses were happy to see the float. They were still very wet and sweaty so we walked them in the gentle sun until they were much drier. Then we loaded them onto the float and took them home for a big meal, a wash and a grooming. Then we set them free in their paddock where they blissfully sank to the ground for a lovely roll and a catch-up with their friends.

Thanks Guys: Gandhi, Saturn and John, for a lovely ride.

Birthday weekend

And what a lovely weekend it was!!!

It being my birthday, we *were* going to go camping at one of our favourite remote spots, Alice Flats on the Clarence River. But inclement weather suggested that would not be a good idea. So at the last moment we changed our plans (flexibility :-) ) and instead on the Friday visited our local historic inn, the Eltham Friendly Inn. On the Saturday we had a party, barbecue and bonfire at the Grange with friends and family, and had a wonderful time.

On Sunday - after sleeping in and having tea and crumpets in bed (aren't I *spoilt*?) we fetched our latest impulse purchase from a local garage sale (OK: we agreed to buy it "if it goes". Yes, it goes! .. a bit smokey, but nontheless sweeet... But stopping, now, that's another thing entirely! Anyone know a good VW brake specialist?). John and Yarrow brought it home with me following in the Forester (in case it needed a tow, but no, it does indeed go). The stopping technique involved a fair bit of handbraking and careful consideration of road slope. Some of the electrics don't work (windscreen wipers and indicators ... maybe though we just haven't found the correct button). The photos show the VW coming sturdily down the drive, and a small gaggle of girls (Tess, Bonnie and Yarrow) ooh-ing and aah-ing over it once parked in the side shed. Cute...

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

This is the second of Sir Ken Robinson's stunningly thought-provoking TED talks on education and human creativity. He challenges mainstream thinking with wisdom, experience and humour: a very convincing combination. I'm very impressed with what he's got to say.

Here are some salient quotes from this 18-minute talk, that really moved me:

In challenging rigid, linear thinking, he says "Life is organic. We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relationship to the circumstances they help create for us."

About diversity: "Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability."

About approaching people as individuals: "A three-year-old is not half a six-year-old."

And what really touched me (partially I guess because yesterday we had a meeting at uni about the 'new' measuring model (ERA = Excellence in Research Australia) which attempts - once more, same same but different - to quantitatively measure the quality of research at universities), the following:
"We have sold ourselves into a fast food model of education and it is impoverishing our spirits as much as it is depleting our physical bodies."

He gets a standing ovation at the end.

Thanks to my colleague Kurt at SCU who brought this new clip to my attention. Sir Ken's previous talk, equally interesting and persuasive, can be viewed here.

The top paddocks

Seeing as we're into some before & after shots, below left is a photo of the top paddocks as they are now in May. John mowed them in February just before the equinox (see previous post's link). The mowing has certainly done them good! They're now lush and verdant, ready for winter grazing.

I walked through them this afternoon and found many varieties of pasture grasses: some of them I recognise, such as rhodes grass, pangola (some call it digit grass), paspalum, green panic, bahia grass, ryegrass, and the rather unwelcome setaria for example. There are others I don't recognise, despite the fact that they all have quite distinctive seed heads and leaves. I gathered some seed heads this morning and photographed them (13 different ones, above). Someday I might be able to learn all their names. If you recognise any of them, please leave a comment!

1. setaria 2. ? don't know 3. ? like pangola but with four sprigs on the panicle 4. ? like paspalum but taller 5. ? like pangola but with six sprigs on the panicle 6. ? don't know 7. looks like green panic but different :-) 8. paspalum 9. ? don't know 10. ? maybe ryegrass? 11. pangola 12. green panic 13. rhodes grass

A small herb garden

Last February I constructed a small circular stone wall, covering the rough dips and holes and root system of a tree the previous owner had ripped out: you can see the early construction photo on this earlier post.

When the little circular wall was finished, John kindly organised a trailerload of good soil. Then we planted some herbs ... and lo, now we have a little herb garden.

It contains
• thyme (struggling a bit, maybe a bit too damp?)
• marjoram (looking a bit thin)
• basil (italian and thai, looking great)
• coriander (looking great)
• chives (coming along OK)
• curry plant (looking a bit sad, shadowed by tall Basil)
• chili pepper (verrrrry hot!!! The tiniest bit goes a loooong way!)
• rocket (oodles of it, lovely ... starting to bolt now)
• curry plant (looking ok, bit small)
• (new) oregano
• (new) sage

Elsewhere in the garden we have a young kaffir lime tree (looking fine), (new) french sorrel, (new) tatsoi, (new) mizuma and (new) lemongrass.

It's never seemed much effort: I made the little wall on a whim anyway, but it is quite rewarding.

A bit of history of the Grange

Cec and Val Battistuzzi and their six children lived at the Grange for 30 years, moving in only a very short time before the birth of their youngest son Stephen in the early 1970's. Just after John and I bought the farm, I plucked up courage and rang Val (who I had never met), because I figured that if you've lived in a place for 30 years and tended it with such care, you probably loved it and would like to know it's being loved again. Val was wonderful on the phone and told me a little of its history (the little we know, for much is yet a mystery: such as when the house was built, by who, and for whom). Val told me of this photo which is kept in the Lismore Museum. I then asked the museum staff for a photocopy which I have scanned (so the resolution isn't great), but you can see the Grange behind the marching Orangemen (I'm not going to go into the history of religious politics here). The photo shows the house taken from Walker St, where the school bus stop is now near the tennis courts. From this position the house can today no longer be seen due to newer buildings and trees.

According to the researchers of the Richmond River Historical society, this photo was taken by W.S. Read of Lismore. The company emboss is just visible on the bottom left of the large photo, actually. Since then I've found out that William Read started his photographic studio in Lismore in 1882. In 1908 the company changed its name. From combining narrated history of the Orange Day marches in Clunes, with discussions with members of the Historical society as well as the time of Read's photographic work, the photo is gauged to have been taken either in 1885, 1890 or 1895. As you can see the Grange was at that time a well-established house.

Beware what lurks beneath the grass...

In the comments section for the post about the python (below), I mentioned how the hens are laying their eggs in the stockyard.

Although the stockyard looked quite innocuous, with tall lovely grass ... (so tempting for the horses) ... on closer inspection you can see that the grass is dangerously laced everywhere with barbed wire, which would rip and tear fragile horses' legs if they ever got in.

The wire is terribly entangled in the tall grasses and pulling it out by hand is impossible. John and I considered a few options to remove it: we debated using roundup to kill the grass (rejected as the stockyard would become a barren wasteland); or burning the grass off in the winter as it dries (rejected as probably the entire stockyard would burn down). We tried using a brushcutter to cut the grass to a sensible height, but that didn't work as the brushcutter just kept hitting wire and getting tangled in it. We tried cutting the wire into shorter manageable pieces and pulling it out, but after about an hour of that it soon appeared that it would take approximately 17.6 years of hard and prickly labour to get it out using that method.

It was clear we had to devise more drastic measures to deal with the problem.

To be continued ...

.

Flexibility and resourcefulness

After the too-early death of the companion cat Nori, my sister Anna at long last has a new rescue kitten, called Tolkin. I'm really glad for her that she's got him, and I know Tolkin is going to be one of the best-cared-for cats in existence. Prior to getting him, though, Anna had a bonny photo of a racoon on her facebook page (now of course she has an excellent series of Tolkin pics), and accompanying the raccoon photo she wrote this comment, which I really, really like:

"Whatever it is that raccoon needs, she is going to try to get it in a variety of ways, instead of insisting it come from one direction in exactly a certain way. When you practice flexibility and resourcefulness, there are less limitations in life."

Hear, hear!

A morning guest

As the rising sun hit the house and sheds, warming the cool earth, a sleepy visitor came out of its bed to see what the chook pen had to offer.


Luckily for our hens it chose one of the pens which is vacant at the moment (though the hens do sneak in and lay their eggs there).

I'm always a bit undecided when it comes to pythons in the chook pens ... Should we remove them in case they swallow a bantam or two (as has happened before)? Or should we leave them be so that they can do their excellent job of keeping down the resident rodent population (who come to feed on the chook food and scraps).

I took the close-up photo 'specially for Kevin who, I am fairly sure, will like it. As with all photos on this blog, click to enlarge!

Anyway, we left the python be and hopefully it found a nice rat or two to eat.

Nova's back!

Nova's back from running with the stallion in Billinudgel.
And *my, my*, she sure looks like she's in foal!
We're expecting the new foal will be born in about six to eight weeks.

Foal's sire: Chabra Hotshot (bay, Australian Stock Horse)
Foal's grandsire (Nova's sire): A Little Touch of Salt, (Buckskin, Qu'arab)
Foal's granddam: our (previously) own Moreton's Duchess (Buckskin, now residing at the Myth).

Barry Stanford of Chabra stud in Billinudgel has done a fantastic job of looking after Nova while she was away. Thanks Barry! She's in fantastic condition!

As Nova carries a double dose of the dilute gene - i.e., a rare double dilute (often called Cremello - but in her case actually Perlino), any foal of hers will be given one of the cream dilution gene. Being thus homozygous, when crossed with a horse of solid colour, Nova's ensuing foals will be a dilute version of the father. So if the father is bay, the foal will be buckskin. If the father is chestnut, the foal will most likely turn out palomino. If you'd like to read more about the genetics, please see this excellent site. It also helps dispel some silly myths about Cremellos & Perlinos - such as 'they're weak and unhealthy', 'they're albinos', or that they are more prone to skin cancer.

Nova's a lovely, healthy, strong and very kind horse with a super temperament, and so is the Dad. Let's hope the foal inherits some good genes!

From Anam Cara: a book of Celtic wisdom

May you be blessed with good friends
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul
Where there is great love, warmth .feeling and forgiveness
May this change you
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant or cold in you
May you be brought into, the real passion, kinship and affinity of belonging.
May you treasure your friends
May you be good to them
And may you be there for them
May they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth and light
That you need for your journey
May you never be isolated
But may you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your “soul friend”

Photo: Tess' cat Jeremy safe in the paws of his good friend, Anna's dog Finn, in 2003. Both sadly deceased now ... Finn lost a battle with bone cancer; Jeremy lost his life to a speeding car on a country lane. But while they lived, they loved, and were happy.

Raise your aspirations and reach for your dreams

We all have our 'internal voice', the self-talk that goes on inside our heads. Given that our brains are quite plastic (see post, below), we're quite susceptible to auto-suggestion and we modify our behaviours accordingly. The potentiality for behavioural modification as a result of suggestion is quite astounding - see, for example, the extreme and negative (destructive!) behaviours that resulted from the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' situation engendered by the Stanford Prison experiment, or the Milgram experiment, which looked at conformism, among other things.

Given that the voice one would probably listen to most frequently and with much attention is our own internal voice, it makes sense then to try and ensure that the way this voice 'speaks' to us is as healthy and constructive as possible. So often, we internally and unconsciously talk ourselves down, disempower our own selves!

But given that we've got quite plastic brains, capable of modification, we can actually tackle this and do something about it.

This simple exercise helps move one from using disempowering speech to more empowered speech.

Instead of saying to yourself:

• "I'll try to..." (lacks commitment), you can say "I will..." (takes responsibility)

• "I should ..." (plays the victim), you can say "I'm choosing to..." (takes responsibility)

• "If only..." (avoids problem solving), you can say "Next time..." (problem solving)

• "I can't do ..." (blocks growth), you can say "I'm learning to ..." (encourages growth)

The photo above shows Tess reaching for the rising sun at dawn on Bald Rock. As you can see, she can do it. Good on you, Tess my beloved daughter.

Reach for the sun!

I love getting comments!

I really like it when I get a comment on a posting ... So please don't feel shy, and click on the "comments" button below the posting of your choice. It'll ask you to type in a word verification: this is so that this site doesn't get peppererd with companies offering us viagra :-)

Then you can choose whether you'd like to post with your name, or as 'anonymous' (not as much fun) or link your comment to your own blog or site if you have one.

It might take a day or so for your post to appear.

Playing music is very good for you

Here is a gorgeous photo of my friend Mariette’s son, Leon, aged three, playing music with his Dad, Onno, at their home in Amsterdam. Mariette tells me Leon’s been playing, with great delight and without pressure, since he was one. She says he was drawn to the instrument from this early age, and even slept with his tiny violin in his bed!

A nurturing and rich cultural environment like the one Mariette and Onno offer their children is excellent for a young child. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of our brain to adapt and reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Research shows conclusively that learning and playing music is of extraordinary benefit to developing minds. Studies by Taub and others (1995) of musicians who play stringed instruments have shown that the more these musicians practice and play, the larger the brain maps for their active left hands become. Brain imaging shows that musicians have several areas of their brains – including the motor cortex and the cerebellum – that are different from those of non-musicians. Imaging studies (by Pantev et al, 2001) also show that musicians who begin playing before the age of seven have larger brain areas connecting the two hemispheres. Increased and improved language skills are also related to the playing of music.

For more on this fascinating topic, I recommend the books “The Brain that Changes Itself” by Dr Norman Doidge; and “Musicophilia” by Dr Oliver Sacks.

For now, though, I’d like to add that playing music not only makes you smarter, it can make you happier. I’m sure Leon already knows that, though...

P.S: Go on, click on the photo to enlarge ... You *know* you want to see that gorgeous impish smile ... those merry eyes... You know you do! :-)

Yarrow has a new bed

Four of the five bedrooms at the Grange had a double bed: the odd one out being Yarrow's, which had a rather wobbly bunk bed. Nice for the occasional guest sleepover, but there is usually a spare bedroom here anyway, depending on which of the girls are staying where. (Bella, a grown young lady now, hardly sleeps here anymore, as she has the Myth and her Bails cottage at her Mum's house ... not to mention her lovely loving boyfriend Tim ...).

And young Grange girls being young girls, they like to lounge around on beds and chat and read and watch movies with their sisters, and Yarrow's bed was not too conducive to that sort of social behaviour.

So, when walking through a furniture store in Ballina while whiling away time before dropping Kat at the airport, Tess, Yarrow, Kat and I saw this lovely bed ... which Yarrow "reeeeeeeelly reeeeeeellly liked, Mum". And it wasn't too $$ so I bought it and after dropping Kat at the plane (Bye darling Kat!! Come again soon!!) we managed to squish the packages into the Subaru Forester ("Well if fold this chair down, and we angle it *this* way, and slide that *there*, and fold this underneath, and sandwich Yarrow against the door and fold Tess in six ungainly positions -- OK, don't breathe for about half an hour, Tess, no worries, should be right -- it *should* fit. There!").

Then in the evening Yarrow and I dismantled her old bed and put it away (nicely labelling each part and cling-wrapping the bolts to the relevant posts for future assembly). Then Yarrow unpacked the new bed and deciphered the quite reasonable instructions and then with only a bit of help from me, assembled it. And here it is. New bed for Yarrow!

I took the photo by holding my camera high above my head and hoping for a reasonable focus / pic. Not too bad ...

Kat is here!

Our lovely and much-loved family friend Kat flew up from Sydney to stay with us this weekend. We've had a great Grange bonfire and an amazing curry dinner with the Parentals, and this moning we went to Bangalow market, and had a fantastic time.

Here's a nice picture of Kat and Tess being decorous and calm, helping out with some genteel gardening.

They're a fine pair of ladies, I can tell you ;-P

Shedding some light

Dawns are good. Dawns ... those moments when the sun just nudges over the horizon and nuzzles in on the mist... Those moments when you're sitting on the back step, sipping a hot cup of tea, and you watch the world wake up, and the day ahead is full of potential, and anything is possible.

Camping trip to Bald Rock National Park

One of my favourite pasttimes: camping!! On the second day of our camping trip at Bald Rock we decided to go scramble to the summit of the largest granite rock in Australia ... Here's a picture of Briony ready with a smile after a cup of billy tea made on the open fire.
Tess peeks out at Briony from the bedwarm snug of her own rug ... Cute, Tess!
Big Sister Briony gets Eskimo kisses from Yarrow... Awwwwwww ....
And here are the awesome threesome, ready to tackle the big climb!
It's very steep going, up a fairly sheer rock face, even for Tess who has climbed the rock many times before...
Yarrow, Briony and John follow shortly after.
Up top there are secret mazes and gullies with mosses and rocks and ferns ...
On the central ridge before the top: three girls in silhouette, reacing for the sky ...
Some elegant summit statues...
These are some of the 'pebbles' one can encounter along the way...
They say a rolling stone gathers no moss ... I wonder when these will be ready to roll?
John and I took the longer, enchanting and beautiful valley walk down again from the summit. Here John's passing under a natural dolmen made of some wee pebbles. The girls went straight down the rock face!
And upon our return to the camp site there were a few wallabies ready to say hello to us in passing...

Such joy to go camping with three bonny girls and a resourceful intelligent loving partner in such incredible surroundings ...

Ramshackle

Parts of this lovely farm are rather .... quaint.

See closeup photo: we even have a ramshackle holding the back gate up.

It's obviously doing a good job as the gate hasn't fallen over yet.

Wildlife visitor

Two female wallabies and their two youngsters came to visit early one morning. They pottered about just outside the electric perimeter fence of the garden, and didn't seem unduly put off by the occasional zap on the nose. Hopefully it will teach them not to go too close to the road!

I'm enchanted to see our local wallabies, especially as they turn up quite infrequently.

I do wonder how the local wallaby population will fare, given the increasing numbers of cars passing through the village.

Some more dawn pictures

Taken on 12 and 22 March 2010. As with all photos in this blog, click for a bigger and better resolution!

Remy: of "Place cat here" fame ...

Looking fairly relaxed here :-)
They don't call me a Russian Blue for nothing! (Even though I only cost $10 at the local tip ... See how I've come up in the world!)

Doing adminstration on John's desk (Dealing with the In tray or out tray?);

Warming the butter tray of the esky ("let's go camping!");

Surprise! Look what we found in the cupboard!

Jus' hanging with a best friend ...

Let's get cooking ... Come on, I'm waiting :-)