Well, if the website I consulted was correct it's now 2006 almost
everywhere in the world. I think Hawaii, Tahiti and Cook Islands are next
in about 4 minutes or so, and then Samoa about an hour after that.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve celebration and that 2006 is a
great year for all of us.

My sister, BIL and two nephews came over last night for a relaxed evening
of nibblies, card games and so on. Watched the fireworks on telly at
midnight. They stayed the night and stayed for lunch. We were going to
have a barbecue but decided it was going to be too hot - and the forecast
was right.I made beef and vegie, and chicken and vegie skewers and did
them in the griller in the stove instead of on the barbecue. Watermelon
and rockmelon for dessert, along with some chocolate iced cupcakes.

I think it got to around 45C here today (113F) and humidity quite low -
fire weather, though I haven't smelt any smoke around here yet, there are
fires elsewhere in the state. I went out at around 8pm (it's now 8.55pm
1st Jan 06) to hose the garden. (We have water restrictions at the moment
and can only use a hose on Wednesday and Sunday before 10am or after
4pm). It was still uncomfortably hot, so when I came inside I had a look
at the Bureau of Meteorology website - around 38-39 C (100-102F) here at
the 8.20pm observation. My electricity bill's going to be a whopper, I
think, the airconditioning is getting a good workout - hottest December
on record they're saying.

Think I'll make some frozen goodies - does anyone have any good gelato
recipes?

Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia