Grandpa, beach and pancake Sunday

Today was a bit of an anything can happen Sunday but maybe everything can happen Sunday would have been more fitting as we did a lot of things! It's been a full day of fun and enjoyment spent with my visiting brother, sister in-law, their son and of course, my ever-present sidekick Faith...

We began with breakfast together then saddled up to head over to the nursing home to visit my dad. You may not know, but he suffers with dementia and sometimes doesn't remember me so I was unsure how it would go with my brother whom he has not seen for a long time...True to form he didn't remember him but after some introductions we were well on the way to having a good time together.

My nephew of 16-months-old also go to meet his grandfather for the first time and they got on well. My nephew is such a little champ so I'm not surprised - He's very cute and likeable. I got so many great photos, none of which I'll share here of course, and it was a good visit, although someone what sad as my dad is declining quickly.

From there we went to my place to change before going to the beach.

Some frolicking in the water and more photo-taking happened there and my nephew managed to have me in stitches laughing at his antics. He loves birds and felt like it was his job to annoy every single sea gull in sight...He was effective.

We refrained from ice creams at the beach as we were heading out later for a special dessert so thought we had better be good. After some intense sand-brushing (I hate sand and abhor it getting in my car) we headed back home again so my nephew could have a snooze. While he was sleeping I made some phone calls...

...You may not be aware but in the last few days my city has had some terrible wild fires in the hills and I had to make some calls to see if my mates in the fire service were ok. Of course they didn't answer as they are fighting fires.

We have had 1 killed so far, over 70 homes in Cudlee Creek and Lobethal destroyed, some 350 other buildings burned down plus 250 vehicles and the fires are still raging. One of my co-workers lives in the town of Lobethal but I'm not sure if she is safe and well or has lost her house as many other's have. I plan to make some calls tomorrow on that.

We have been blanketed in thick smoke for the last three days and it's all we can smell currently however like always we Aussie's rally together, roll up our sleeves and help pitch in which is what many are doing. I've since heard from a mate who is an SES worker(State Emergency Service) and have arranged for me to head out early tomorrow morning to help make breakfast for the hundreds up there firefighting. It'll only take me a few hours and will make a difference to the guys and girls up there working so hard for the community.

So...Back to today. Phone calls made and nephew-sleep over we took off to the city for a walk around and to have some dessert at a special location.

We went to a place our parents would sometimes take us for a treat as kids. My brother has not stopped talking about it since he arrived here a few days ago and he "had to go there".

It's called the Pancake Kitchen in Gilbert Street, Adelaide. It was opened in 1965 and has hardly changed since. The pancakes? Well, as you can probably imagine from a place that has been there for 50 or so years...They were, and are, amazing!

I had the plain short stack on the left with ice cream and loads of maple syrup (perfect for diabetics like me) and my brother had the walnut stack on the right. The girls had strawberry and my nephew had a bit of each one...Just the pancake though as they don't give him sugar.

Trust me, if you're in Adelaide you have to go there.

We also took a little walk around and grabbed a few photos as well. You can see the main one at the top which I took of the footbridge of the River Torrens. Most of the images have my nephew or his mum and dad in though so I won't show them here.

Below are a couple of my nephew without his face showing so I can post it...He's with a big shaggy dog out the front of the South Australian Museum. There's an exhibition about man's best friend there and they've placed a few of these things on the grassed area in front of the museum entrance for advertising I guess.

Here's a panoramic showing the whole area. The brown thing in the middle is a huge dog bowl and the shaggy dog is on the other side of it. These things are big!

Overall we had a really great day; One of those days that starts out with only loosely constructed plans but manages to end with a plethora of memories. I don't think it could have turned out better than it did.

I hope y'all had a great Sunday, or are having one if you are in one of those countries that is a bit behind the 8-ball from a time-perspective. Get after it and make it the best ever!

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