Whattamelon!

With a piece that size, you have to take it outside!

We gathered up the family, bags and baggage and set off for the hills. A slight hiccup, when we had to take passports to the bus station for nephew and one great-nephew, who couldn't travel without identification, wound up working to our advantage. We dropped in to a shop on the hill to stock up on cheese and patê and bumped into two Argentine friends who left Brazil a couple of years ago, and are sadly missed. They were heading up for one day only - any earlier or later and we would have missed them. It made our day and I'm still smiling as I think of it.

Back home to an ecstatic Kayla - Jodi, the older great-nephew, fell in love with her immediately. The fire was lit and we sat round it to eat the stroganoff Miracle Mary rustled up this morning so I wouldn't have to cook when we got here. She really is a star - it was all off her own bat, too.