Hugh's Blog. Had to put this link in, just in case you want to check his version of events. This is normally a much more technical diary. When we double up on things remember we are individuals really! :-)
Its been SO busy. Apologies to my friends who want to know what has been happening. The quick dot point summary is this; Rach is now in her boots with orthotics and working on a physio program, its hard work but going ok, toes still are the habit. Hugh went on a world tour for work for four and a half weeks, Rachael and I visited Brisbane for a week in the school holidays and had some fantastic family time with Uncle Mark and Auntie Andrea (with the bonus of cousin time for me as Rowena and Ben were there too). Term 3 has just started and we are now into week 2 of second semester. Qbyan Council still have not approved our development application, but they have sent out a surveyer and asked us lots of questions..
Tonight we got quite a shock, we were on the way home from R's check up at the podiatrist (toe walking still happening but all ok) and decided to go to the Palace of Saigon for Vietnamese dinner. Now we have a long association with this restaurant, going back some 11 years to when Hugh and I were first married and lived right next to the Hawker shops. This was our first "local" we ate there fairly often. One night we didnt have enough cash and they just let us come pay them the difference the next day. Then we moved to Lyneham for a few years, we missed the place and would occasionally go there. When we moved to Melba we rang for take away, naming a dish they didnt have on the menu, they made it for us anyway because they remembered us. It got so we could just ring, say Blemings and they could write down our usual dinner. When Rachael was quite little it was the first place we took her to. The Do family were quite ok with a toddler being there. When asked where Rachael wanted to go to dinner she would say the Pink Restaurant. So we all took to calling it the Pink Restaurant. Over the years we have had many a family dinner, celebration, birthday etc. We took friends it was easy to go there. In 2004 it was the last place we went before going on our overseas posting and the first place we ate when we got home. They missed us - we missed them. Now I think about it this place has got quite a history for us.
So tonight we rock up and the first thing I notice was this flashing sign on the window "Open". Hummm thats a bit tacky. Then I realise there is new signage "Beijing House". Wierd. Then beacuse we are meeting Debs there we go in, realising that life is about to change. The pink place how has green painted bits and new menus. No no no. Hugh is shocked. Rachael starts to get upset. Debs arrives and joins us. We get menus. We then ask if they use MSG. Yes is the answer. Ok we are sorry but we cant eat here. We leave unsettled.
What to do next. All hungry we actually go to Rocksalt which serves much more expensive but fantastic food. Order. Rachael bursts into tears. Hugh consoles her, they go out for a walk and ask some of the other shop owners if they can get a contact for the Do family, no answers, but we are determined to track them down just to say thanks for everything. Rach then has an upset tummy. After some discussion, Rach and I go home. She sobs all the way. Its just too much this week, getting Dad back home, going back to school and now just when you want some pink chips, spring rolls, penut butter meat and rice you are told its never going to happen again. "I feel very sad mummy, and i loved the pink restaurant". You know what. I did too. We all did. So this goes out to the Do family, who faithfully cooked the best chicken and sweet corn soup, spring rolls and all the rest. We loved the food, we loved the service, we will find some way of letting you know how much....
Today we picked up Rachael's orthotics from the Podiatrist. Tomorrow we go back to the Physio. The whole casting process has produced good results in increasing Rachaels range of movement. Now with the help of boots/orthotics and daily physio we are all set to break the habit of toe walking. Rach is a little fragile about the whole deal but she did well (the last casts were red/white stripes on one leg, blue the other, she looked like where's wally or a half sydney swans supporter). The first bath after two weeks without one was pretty good, I left her to soak and heard singing for the first time in ages. The singing and good mood only kept increasing in volume. Its only after kids have been out of sorts or sick that you realise how great they are when they are well. She's back!
Rachael completed her first MS Readathon. Total of 62 books, bonus points go to Cameron and Mark for extra motivation in sponsership - Mark starting at 10 cents for the first book, 20 the next and so on. I had to get Hugh to write a program to work out his total. Cam promised Rach a bonus $10 if she got to 50 books and then $10 extra for each ten after. R very pleased with her result, Im pleased shes so hooked on reading and all the sponsors have a tax deductable donation, right at the end of financial year, not to mention the MS Society raises money. Ahh its a win win win win.
Great service at Canberra Baptist today. Loved Jim's childrens talk, he told the kids he was going to wrap up air, then proceded to blow bubbles for them. Now thats a cool idea for talking about the Spirit - it really captured the fact that glimpses of God can be fleeting and hard to pin down!
Tomorrow Rachael goes to get her third and final lot of casts done on her legs. She has done really well but its been pretty tough both for her and us. Its been hard for her to get comfortable to sleep and she has had some terrible broken nights. Im very impressed by her attitude. Im also impressed by how much work the physio's have to do to get her through this process, its quite a lot of hard yakka to get the casts on and off! R is keeping this lot of casts as she has got the whole class to sign them and most of the family (of course this lot are hot pink too). Tomorrow she says she will have one leg one colour and the other another.
Finally found some new SF to watch - Toby loaned me his DVD's of Firefly. I am a convert. We are rationing watching episodes at the moment (mainly because Im watching it with Hugh and he is meant to be STUDYING, so its a reward and Im trying not to stop him working). I love the humor and that even though I was not convinced you could do a Space cross Western at first have been drawn into the series. If I have missed any other interesting new SF can you please email me suggestions!
I got two of my fellow chaplains to look over my notes to make sure there was no drastic theological problems with my exegsis! I must say it is a little intimidating preaching when you know there are at least 10 other clergy sitting in the congregation. However, people still laughed at my jokes and nodded in agreement so I think I did alright. I had some good feedback after the service and saw some friends I had not seen in a long time. The whole service had a great feel. The liturgy was adapted from the World Council of Churches and saw involvement from each of the churches in the local area. The singing and prayers led me into a reflective and close time with God. I came away inspired and sort of missing being involved with planning and leading services like this one more often.
It feels like someone hit the fast forward button in May. Since my appointment to coordinate the Spiritual Meeting Place I have been quite busy at UC. Its not all been that settling into the job thing, although we have done a major clean up and office reshuffle, my favourite joke being that I got to move in with a Catholic Priest, how many women can state that in public eh! Seriously Father A is coping ok with my humor and me tidying up the office and we get along well. It feels like there have been a lot more meetings this month. I guess that some of the work has been just working out how things are done. I spent a long time updating the contact lists but on the whole I have enjoyed a lot of the new work. I have also been doing more tutoring hours.
On 4 May, my newest second cousin Luca Westaway Drury was born. I spent from 5am to 10:30pm with Kirsty, John and another friend Nicole providing moral support while Luca was working out if he wanted to arrive. Kirsty did so well but in the end they had to deliver via C Section. Its a great privilage to be alongside your family as they grow! Had a hilarious taxi ride home with the driver telling me we should call the baby after him! Very excellent birth date too 04/05/06.
Rachael and I have managed to attend several important appointments around helping her on her way to normal walking. We found new foot people to get her organised for orthotics, special boots etc. We even managed to visit the osteopath and Dentist as well, its felt like we are always going to one appointment or another.
In the midst of all this the Grandma's took off for a couple of weeks birdwatching/nature touring far north Queensland. Hugh also had a week in Japan. Kay was out doing CIT nursing prac. As a result we have spent a bit of time doing girl things. Good family bonding time.
At one stage I was the multi tasking homework tutor. I managed to have my uni student that I tutor working on her essay at my dining table, Deb working on her TAFE stuff on the kitchen bench, and Rachael doing Year 1 homework at her desk. I was moving from one to the other while cooking in the kitchen! Fantastic, and everyone completed their work and handed it in (love it when a plan comes together).
Conducted a wedding in Young for a graduate of UC, drove up the day before for the rehursal. Perfect day, ceremony went well. Official paperwork all done. Afterwards I drove to Bathurst to visit the Ovenstones, ended up at Royal Bathurst Showgirl Gala dinner dance, broke quite a few stereotypes. It was an excellent weekend.
Good Morning! Im so much better. I dare not try draw comparisons but I find myself looking around at the people I love, and the day with greater appreciation. Today we celebrate that Christ rose again, and I am sure enjoying what that means.
Yesterday we spent all day at the Folk Festival. Saw the Spooky Men, listened to a good Australian band Junior, ate lots of amazing tasting food and ran into lots of agreeable and wonderful company (The Woodland clan were a special highlight). I was able to spend some time by myself working out who I would see in the afternoon which was bliss, Kath seemed to be on the same wavelength as I was and eventually Mum turned up as well. Listened to Cloudstreet, Martin Peterson, while Hugh, Roger and Rachael had fun at the kids festival & circus. Rach was having a night with Rosie, so Hugh ferried her home and Deb joined us. We went and saw my best act for the day The Wailin Jennys from Canada. Wow. They were fantastic. Every time their alto spoke I thought of my friend Andrea. I had pangs just listening to the accent and they way she said things. After they played Colum Sands entertained us for a set, lots of typical Irish talking between songs, but lots of laughter as well. It was a good mix of the funny and serious. One of the reasons we wanted to see him was because he had written songs for another favourite of ours Enda Kenny (not performing this year). Afterwards we spent some time introducing Deb to more pleasures of the folk festival, people watching to see the best costumes, beards and odd hats. We visited the stalls, found strange musical instruments, garments from every part of the globe (the warm things were selling fast) and finally discovered a perfect hat for Deb which she wore to blend in as soon as it was purchased. All in all a fantastic day.
Today I am finally starting to come back to life. This week I got knocked out of action by a gastro bug that is apparently going around Canberra. I got sick on Sunday afternoon, visited the Doctor Monday afternoon for an anti nausea shot, spoke to the Dr again yesterday to find that it can "run" for up to 5 days. Ive lost 5 kilograms, feel weak as a kitten, have slept for hours and hours and have almost exhausted my store of Compass, the Bill, and other Tivo suggestions. I also realise how much I miss people. Im bored, but too tired to even phone anyone (now thats sick). Im also mighty dissapointed because the Folk Festival starts tonight and Im going to have to take it easy for the first two days. Oh well, at least its just a temporary thing. I dont really have much to complain about...
Our Tivo remote has been missing for several months. Very annoying. We have been coping with an all in one remote but could never find the keys that had Thumbs up/down. I had noticed some strange things appearing on Tivos suggestions and blamed the fact I could not scorn them with a big three thumbs down. Today I found the Tivo remote. Spent a long time with the power of the thumb!
Ok, BOM are on the ball. (see yesterdays note). Today they announced that they are moving to a 7 day advanced forecast, rather than their previous three. How come? Their data and models are more accurate and finally they can predict within 4 degrees accuracy 88% of the time that far ahead. Excellent!
I am a great reader of the Bureau of Meterological website. I even have a favourite forecaster. I can tell when they are on, they add some different terms into the situation report, that just gives it a bit more flare than the usual.
The latest satellite photo shows areas of largely disorganised cloud cover across the region. We can expect some of this to move across the ACT during the day, and whilst there might be a light shower or two associated with it, nothing of any significance can be expected. The other feature worth noting is the cloud mass well to the south of the Bight. All computer guidance is intensifying this system over the next couple of days whilst moving it northeast. It is likely to evolve into a deep low to the south of the region overnight Wednesday into Thursday and will generate some very windy conditions during the second half of this week. In addition to this it is also expected to produce a significantly colder airstream, far colder than anything so far this year. We can expect Thursday to be more like a winter's day with some snowfalls about the ranges to the west and unseasonal amounts in the Alpine region.
Debbie turned 20 today! We no longer have a teenager in the house. We had a great breakfast out to celebrate, had to laugh because she told me about going out ice skating when she was a teenager - refering to last night.
We then got dressed up (got to wear my Veronica Maine silver dress again) and celebrated with Lyndal and Nick who got married today at Canberra Baptist Church! (For those with access its under big events on our photo site). Rachael said "I wanted to cry because Lyndal looked so beautiful when she came in, so I just took a big breath and hung onto it". Ive got to say I was teary too, she was stunning, I am so very proud of her and Nick. They are wonderful people. The reception was one of the best I have been to, the Press Club put on an amazing function, complete with many wheat free items. Afternoon tea was fantastic, lots of finger food and a range of desert things, who needs to eat a meal! It was really relaxed, with loads of interesting people to talk with, informal and a good time out. Lovely lovely lovely.
On Friday I got my hair coloured, darker chocolate at the bottom, copper and blonde foils at the top. While this was happening I had a call on my mobile from an older friend. She mentioned that I was obviously not going to "slide into middle age gracefully". This sort of bothered me. When did 35 start to be middle aged? Crap. I havent thought much about being "middle aged" before. Is it bad? Will it hurt?
Then I went to a seminar yesterday, I was sitting next to Deb who is enjoying her last few weeks of being a teenager and freaking mildly about turning twenty. The guy speaking made a comment about those in the "35 and above age group who fit the traditional church scene and listen to pipe organ music". Hello? Deb starts laughing. I hit her.
Im now left wondering if Im deluding myself, perhaps I had better consider it a bit before I go for the mid life crisis (I sometimes teased Hugh about his MR2, WRX as his pre mid life crisis cars, I had better decide what mine will be). I will not slide. I accept and love being in my third decade, the beginnings of some wisdom, freedom from some things that hold you back in your twenties, still full of ideas for the future and energy to put plans into place. If middle aged means knowing your limitations then I think I am starting to be more real about myself. Bring it on, another stereotype to break down.
Rachael has lost her first baby tooth. Its been starting to wobble, but I had no idea it was almost ready. I came home from an evening pastoral visit at 9:30 to hear Rachael was still awake. Oh yes she was buzzing. "Look Mummy my tooth fell out, it was just like the cat flap opening and then it just came out". We had to write a note to the tooth fairy to ask her to not take the tooth till daddy came home from the USA. Very cool, and this makes it both Grandchildren who have lost their first tooth while being minded by Grandma Rosie. Its sort of strange, Rachaels so proud but Im reflecting on all the pain there was remembering the baby teething and how cute she looked when it first came through. Now she has this gap on the top and is a little lispy. Wow, she is growing up. Oh and the great news is she can still whistle....
Rachael back at school today. Happy happy everyone is happy.
I was sorting the washing today, most people have darks, colours and whites. At our house we also have a special load. Pink. Yup, thats my big domestic observation for today. I wonder how many other houses have that one? Time to get back to uni and do some work!
Pretty easy travel home today. Drove 2 hours to Christchurch then caught our flight to Sydney.It was a baby jumbo, so Rachael got to watch Wallace and Gromet and the Were Rabbit on the way home - not a peep out of her till it finished. Bored in Qantas club Sydney so decided to write this. Its going to get busy next week and the holiday is over so thought I would put pen to paper or keys to keyboard so to speak.
Mainly hung out at the conference today. There were a lot of conference fatigued geeks. At lunchtime the guys who committed to shaving hair off went under the clippers, this proved to be major entertainment. For an outsider perhaps it looked like some bizarre ritual.
Rachael and I played Pac Man on my laptop then found other people to play with us. Chris managed to top the ladder, beating Anton, Mikey, Tim and Kelly. Rachael cheered them all on. I just keep on hearing the music in my head and think we have had too much Pac Man (munch those dots). Oh and I must say the conference afternoon teas were pretty high quality, but they saved the best till last. Individual tubs of ice cream, and chocolate coated strawberrys. Now I should not say that Mikey ate 4 tubs no no, but Jo will find out anyway, Im sure he will tell her!
We finally left Dunedin and drove 2.5 hours up to Timaru. Im ready to cook dinner again, have some time at home.
Went on the Taleri Gorge Railway today. Very interesting train trip over some amazing engineering, viaducts, tunnels. Apparently this train rates highly so it was pretty popular.
We also all attended the Conference Dinner, which was held at Town Hall. They even had a red carpet out just to make us feel special. IBM and HP had special reserved tables at the front, it was quite amazing. Table service for some 450 people was handled well. Rachael had a great night playing with Daniella, Patricia and Celeste, between eating they found a hall to one side and a kindly function manager found some markers and butchers paper (conference style) to keep them further entertained.
Hugh and Bdale did the sponsers talk at the start of the evening. It was very cute Rachael got a pen from my bag and wrote GO DADDY on her napkin and held it up to the stage. The auction was a little slow, but ended up raising quite a lot of money $10K for a special signed text book and various members of the community promised to loose their hair, beards and in Rusty's case his trademark tash.
Not surprisingly after yesterdays schedule Rachael had a melt down this morning so we ditched the partners program for the day. Instead we downloaded some computer games for R to play on my laptop (found Pac Man) and then visited Mike Wright, who I also met at the TCMA conference. Mike is Chaplain to the Polytechnic and Teachers College here in Dunedin. It was very interesting to visit where he works and hear about current issues in chaplaincy here. Excellent also just spend some time with a local over a cup of tea!
Had a few hours rest back at the apartment over lunchtime. I have hurt my lower back, Im sure this has happened because of the cumulative nights on the crappy bed, as well as travel. Ive spent a big chunk of today doing Alexander technique to try support it as best as possible. Bloody sore though.
We went to Hugh and Bdale's presentation about Ham Radio to the Conference. It was fairly well attended 60ish people. Rachael managed to sit through the whole thing - she was very interested in Bdale's satelite information as well as looking at the pictures of her with her dad and antenne.
We left Hugh to it and came home for tea, managed to bump into Andrea (who had a great day out at the peninsula, saw lots of wildlife) and we all had fish and chips outside in the playground before an early to bed night!
Our first item for the day was moving out of the Hotel which shall remain nameless, that did not do anything about our repeated requests to change the sunken mattress. It was also pretty rotton as they have been doing repairs (lots of drilling noises over the last few days) and hot as our room had no a/c. We have moved to an apartment motel for $5 a night less which has a) a decent bed and b) a room for Rachael with the bonus of a kitchen, sitting room and a playground outside oh and c) is only two blocks away from the uni link where the conference is based. Much happier even though it is the first time we have ever had to leave a hotel because we were unhappy with the service and facilities.
Move undertaken Rachael and I joined with the Partners program. They supplied a bus which took us to Olveston House - a home donated to the city of Dunedin which is kept in its condition of 100 years ago. Some interesting things but too stuffy and boring for small people! From here we were taken up to the steepest street in the world (yup its made the record books). It was pretty hard work to walk it. Rachael of course ran up! We then went to the Botanic Gardens which were extremely good to visit. They had free food to feed the ducks and an amazing aviary at the top of the hill. They also had a great playground and we had lunch there while the kids let off some steam.
From there we went to the Cadbury Factory. Ive got to admit, it didnt seem to have as much at the Tassie tour, but watching one tonne of liquid chocolate fall just for the sake of it was pretty amazing. I just couldnt get over the fact they did this just for the tour. The chocolate in the shop was not that heavily discounted and I was so very proud of Rachael that she only wanted to get a drink bottle and not lots of chocolate as some kids were demanding. We have experienced some chocolates that are not for sale in Australia. The chocolate fish - strawberry marshmallow fish shaped coated chocolate. The other thing we learnt was they do not need to cool the warehouse at all - its cool enough here in Dunedin without any artificial cooling!
The bus was then heading to a local brewery but we had had enough, so took the opportunity to bail out. Rach was pretty pleased to find Hugh and we were able to have a quiet meal with Linus and his family - of course Rachael was delighted to have 3 small girls to eat dinner with and in her words "not a bunch of geeks" (I thought it was pretty funny, considering there wouldnt be a conference about Linux without the girls dad...)
Managed to blend in with the geeks by taking my laptop down to the uni where the conference is being held. All for internet access! Rachael was delighted to find some other kids and played hide and seek for half an hour around the array of laptop wielding folk while I caught up on my UC email and home mail.
Then we found Andrea and went to the Moana Pool. Fantastic place to visit, there is a wave pool, a whirl pool and slides. Rachael only managed one slide (too fast) but proceeded to spend the rest of the time in the whirlpool and wave pool, think we will try get back again before the week is out because she had so much fun and it tired her out!
For lunch we went to the cafe at Glenfalloch garden out on the peninsula. The Gardens were beautiful, with many troll bridges for Rachael to play on crossing a stream. Andrea got to visit the potters cottage. It was worth the visit, peaceful and refreshing.
Quieter morning, did laundry at the hotel and then looked round some shops in town with Andrea. I felt a little unwell so had a big rest back at the hotel, which btw has a terrible mattress.
Arrived after a somewhat boring drive down to Dunedin. The first two hours were very flat and straight. We stopped in Timaru for lunch at a place called South of the Boarder which served Tex-Mex food (Rachael and I went for the more traditional $10 roasts).
Met up with Chris, Kelly, Jimi and Andrea and decided to go watch the blue penguins arriving at dusk, there were quite a few others interested in going so we filled up 3 cars. This required driving out to the end of the peninsula and waiting for the sun to go down, so we are on daylight savings and pretty far south. The time the penguins arrived was 10:15 at night. It was well worth the wait, they were rather cute (1kg average weight). There were a couple of Department of Conservation volunteers supervising the tourists (several who did not listen to the "no flash" part of the advice). They were happy to talk more about the penguins (who are coming in to feed chicks in their burrows).
I like Christchurch. We are staying a short walk into the city at the Crowne Plaza. Had dinner last night at a place which had live Jazz, which was really excellent. Walked along the river back to the hotel. Collected the next car from Hertz and took a scenic drive up the nearby hills. We also took the Gondola ride which was quite steep. It was interesting watching the port of Lyttelton on the other side of the mountain. I was a little tired in the afternoon so Hugh took Rachael out for an explore. They went on the tram and found a trampoline variation of Bunjy out in Victoria Park. She LOVED it. Photos well worth looking at, think Hugh took a video (the giggling oh she loved it). Had an early dinner tonight at a Japanese place then caught the tram again.
Train was great. We saw seals on the beach, fantastic mountains rivers etc. But the best thing was we got a HUGE surprise at the end. Got off to find Jimi and Andrea were waiting to hug us at the station! They were enroute to swim with dolphins tomorrow morning and just popped by, well waited as the train was late to say a quick hello. Im still all happy. Way cool.
Ok, so its a bit geeky, but it seemed the best time to sit and update this very overdue blog. We are on the ferry, on route to Picton, where we are catching the train down to Christchurch. No driving today! Excellent opportunities for all that scenic sightseeing, but also a lot of sitting around.
Loving New Zealand, it is beautiful, clear, clean and full of amazing things. Having to laugh at some of the accent issues, sitting here now they keep announcing various activities on various decks, which seems to be pronounced dick. When they check something it is chick. Shopping trollys are also known as trundlers. Gumboots and jandles are not to be worn in the pub. On the people have been very friendly and relaxed, when we have needed help its been offered this from the customs guys at 2am when we had a wobbly trolly and the taxi drivers offering their must see/must eat at ideas.
We have travelled down the North Island over the past few days. We flew into Auckland and after what seemed a comedy of errors (lost bag, a jaunt round the carpark looking for the rental car, rental car boot too small for luggage, new rental car) we got into our hotel at 3am. Rachael was awake enought to exclaim "That is the biggest bed I have seen in my entire life", king size, three pillows across. Hope to upload the photos sometime soon for those of you who visit our albums.
Sunday morning we started our drive south by heading to Hamilton. Here I delivered promised chocolate gluten free biscuits to my friend and fellow university chaplain Jemma (they apparently dont sell the good ones in NZ). I met Jemma at the TCMA conference in Sydney and we have stayed in email contact ever since. It was very cool to meet her husband Andrew and have lunch with them.
We headed to Otorohanga, staying at a motel which had a two bedroom unit. Rachael loved having her own space and promptly closed her door. We managed to get to the Waitomo Caves, did the glowworm cave tour. The cave was a little disappointing but not the main aim, but the glowworms were pretty magic (Oh they look like constellations - RKB). We were all fairly tired so found the local woolworths and somewhere to eat before crashing out.
The next morning we visited the Otorohanga Kiwi house, which rates as one of the better bird places on the North Island. We saw our first Kiwis, but I was very taken with the Kea's. I think I found a bit of a kindred spirit. They hopped up and down and along and were very interested in us. One had a coconut and managed to carry it all over the enclosure, playing with it as much as eating. They were also pretty talkative (another reason to like them) and active the whole time.
Enjoyed the drive to Rotorua, watching the corn and dairy farms as we drove along. Checked into our hotel and visited Te Puia, which had the Maori carving and weaving schools, as well as the geothermal displays. Spent some time waiting for the geyser to errupt (whoo hoo it sure did) and looked at the smelly bubbling mud (reminded me of the Bog of Eternal Stench from the movie Labyrinth). I sort of remembered this from when I came as a teenager. When I spoke with the guide, she did say that things had got a lot more commercialised. The town is fully touristy with everything you could ever want, it has been nicknamed RotoVegas.
We decided to try the package deal dinner Hangi and Maori cultural concert. I was very glad we did this. Ok so it was a staged production, but we got to enjoy a great deal of different food for dinner and we had fun at the concert. Rachael and I were able to have a go at poi dancing and Hugh represented our table for the Haka (war dance). It was interesting watching Hugh try to look fierce and ugly as he was instructed. Overall we had a great night.
Tuesday was the day I had left a little more play by ear. We skipped the commercial geothermal activity and took a look at the Wairiki Geothermal Power Station. Then we walked around the Department of Conservation run "Craters of the Moon" basically national park with geothermal activity. Walking on the boardwalks prompted some troll references from Rachael and it was good to streach our legs. We headed back up the road to the Ariata dam, but the planned boat trip to see the Huka falls, didnt work out so we drove on to Lake Taupo. We kept going down to Turangi and found a very cool relief map at the visitors centre. We decided to try find a place to stay in the alpine area. We managed to get into a cabin at Whakapapa village at the base of Mt Ruopehu - a still active volcano. The scenery as we drove up was fantastic. Mt Ngouruhue right next door was Mr Doom in the Lord of the Rings. There was still snow.
Wed morning saw us on the chairlift up Mt Ruapehu, we found that the big ski carpark had been used for the battle scene with the elves and orcs in LOTR, and the whole area had been used in filming much of Frodo and Sams journey into the land of Suaron, and Gandalfs journey. Very funky. We managed to get to 2100mtres and had a little time on some snow. The clouds came accross, which meant no good for photos, but Rachael was happy because she got to be in a cloud and eat the mist (she claimed it was like chocolate). Loved the time out on the mountain. It was way cool to walk on a sleepy yet active volcano.
Wed afternoon was driving to Wellington, it rained and we were all fairly had it by the time we got into town. We experienced the amazing famous Wellington wind, Rachael almost taking off with the power of the wind.
Thursday we had a slower day in Wellington. We rode up the Cable Car and visited the Carter Observetory and had our own hour show at Planetarium. I learned how to find south using the stars and it was just wonderful having the constellations shown to us. Hugh did a catch up at the IBM office and Rachael had a big rest, making a cubby house in the hotel and watching cable - her hit of Nickelodian. We went out for dinner and had a great Italian meal. Rachael started to feel unwell so we took her and her upset tummy back to the hotel. She had a rotton evening but finally got to sleep. We did a major repack and had an early night as well.
Friday morning. Rachael seems better, tired but ok. We travel on. Ended up getting on board the ferry, missed out on a window seat beacuse we were not early enough. Still able to see the amazing scenery of the Cook Strait. Rachael got to see a magician in the kids lounge. Its quite a lovely way to travel. Next up the train..
Took R, Kay and Daniella to the IBM Kids Christmas Party at Big Splash starting lunchtime. All went well, R had a swim but wasn't very interested in the slides. I have not been back to that pool since being a teenager so had to deal with scarey flashbacks of pool party discos (insert shiver down spine here). Went home early afternoon for some quiet time before the Canberra Baptist Christmas Party in the evening. The church party was great, good food and a concert which allowed those creative drama types to show their skill. It finished off pretty late, and as I had overtired R anyway we took a sidetrack on the way home to look at Christmas lights. Found one spectacular one on Flory Drive Macgregor, then went out to Dunlop where we found a full size singing santa, and a whole street of very keen houses. Im quite taken with the blue led star lights. Decided that our twinkling coloured lights on the front railings are just a token effort. Must get some LED's....
Rachael is tired out. At school for the last two weeks her class have been going for swimming lessons. We have had other social things on in the afternoons. The weather has warmed up. All of this has compounded. So she had the day off today - with the execption of an hour and a half in the morning. I had promised to go help out and R's teacher had made me special wheat free morning tea. So while I went and assembled packs for next years kindy kids and cleaned toys with the other mums, Rach had to go to class. She was pretty happy to just come home after tho - spent the rest of the day playing scrabble, watching Cinderella over and over and generally mellowing out.
I did have some tasks to do in the afternoon, so she came with me. We went to the mall to get the promised shoes for her Christmas outfit. This is where I start to wonder if aliens have abducted her or someone elses genes are coming through. We go to the normal shoe shop. Nothing looks flashy enough. I cave in and go to Betts Jnr and there are the BLING shoes. My daughter now has a pair of strapy, gold sandles with heels. Then the assistant looks at her and says, you can get a second pair half price or a bag. I cannot cope with the bag thing so she has a pair of beaded, white sequined thongs (flip flop for non .au readers). She insisted on wearing them from the shop. Here comes my special moment of motherly advice. "Ow they are rubbing" "Yes dear, if they look good they are not comfortable and if they are comfortable they do not look good" any female who can prove otherwise please email me.
My boss hurt her back and is very unwell. I have been filling in on a few things for her. Today I presented a workshop for her (with some assistance from my coworkers) at an International conference. As I had been involved in the planning it was not too difficult to take this task on, I was pretty pleased at how well the workshop went. Small numbers but quality turn out. This is the second conference workshop I have presented at this year, and I am beginning to realise that the formula is remarkably similar. As long as there is practical input and people can talk a bit they appear to go away happy.
Rachael's First brush with a Rock God. Concert last night was fantastic, dare I say Dynamite! The choice moment was when Rachael was up on Hugh's shoulders and we were dancing, JK waved to us. Yup I checked that there were no naked women in close proximity, just us. There were many people taking many mood altering substances, but I am pretty sure that we had more fun than all of them, and sang along to every song louder!
I swear that bloody cat can read my blog. Arrived home from school to discover a tail and leg and bloodstains on my clean tiles! Somewhere in the garden there is a population of very stupid mice. Im getting annoyed now. I was only out for perhaps 45 minutes, maybe my tiles needed to have the latest kill....
I have just cleaned the floor, again. Duck has realised that the weather is warm outside and there are wonderful things to be caught. We have been treated to a mouse head under the table, a skink (small lizard), a large cockroach etc. all in the last week. I even had a terrible experience where she hurled up a mouse in front of me. I thought I had a pretty strong stomach but cleaning that one up put me over the edge. Thank goodness for tiles. I wish she would find somewhere else to play with the critters, or someone she loves more to bring them home to.
Rachael woke up at 5am this morning. Could you tell she was excited? Managed to fob her off till 8am, then there were presents, big cooked breakfast (all the more lovely because Daniella was there) and off to church. We managed to fit in a quick visit to our block of land to see if the culverts worked on the new driveway (they did). Then it was home to prepare for the feast. Rachael had a special phone call from Jimi and Andrea, visits from family, and we put on a big BBQ dinner. The cake wore thick chocolate frosting with every sprinkle she could get on it. Happy happy happy birthday. Only one more sleep till the big concert tomorrow night.
Went to the Warehouse Circus end of year performance. Mainly to watch our boarder Debbie's first public show. Daniella joined us (Kay was on the moonlight bus celebrating her DISTINCTION for Phys & At this semester). The girls were transfixed by acrobats, stilt walkers, jugglers, tumblers etc. We had a great time out - all for a $5 donation.
I have worked at the Uni flat out for the past few days. The Giving Tree morning tea went well - had a car load of gifts for the Salvo's Christmas appeal. Ive made some new connections with staff at the uni, been to buildings I never knew existed and done a lot of productive work. Life is good. Now to gear up for the big birthday celebrations.
Baptists Today conference committee meeting in Sydney. Drove up and back with Jeanette. It has to have been one of the most fun, most productive and interesting meetings I have been to in a long time. We set a topic and all have jobs to do. The road trip itself to Sydney and back seemed to fly, its very easy to be with Jeanette, she always has good things to do on car trips - I got a one on one preview of her sermon and had fun working on questions for the Old Fashioned Bible game night. They had some curly questions in there, for example "the most Grizzly way to die in the bible" and believe it or not mauled by bears is the best answer. If you want to know where you will just have to read it!
Howzat! Ah the cricket season is well underway. The screams to the umpire are audible and there are whites on the oval across the road from us. I can sense summer.
I can also tell it is spring because The Annoying Bird is back too. It makes a horrible noise starting at 4:20am. Now we have the windows open at night we can hear it start. The cat threw up at 4am this morning, Hugh cleaned up, I was in that terrible deep sleep you cant wake up quickly from.. We were just settling back to sleep when the bird kicked in. It is an evil conspiricy to deprive us of rest.
Little Athletics. Hmmm. Rachael has taken up Little A's. I think she is enjoying it quite a lot. However it does require a parent to assist with the events. The first week I went I had not a clue about what was needed. Neither did anyone else and then an experienced father came along. He basically turned into a dictator and bossed everyone around and took ages getting our 18 under 6 girls from event to event. I realise that I am going to have to deal with the same people all season so want to find out the fastest and more efficent way of getting through all the events. Small girls get bored waiting. The last two weeks have been much better. Most of the parents are on side and with everyone helping we get through more easily. I now have a pretty good handle on organising things and hopefully it is done in a better team way. I wish that someone warned me that your kids sport etc will require as much team effort from you as it does from them. Apart from ranting about all that, good sunscreen, a hat and water are also standard requirements, as is something to eat for a small person who gets hungry half way through long jump, turbo jav and sprints.
Hugh and Rachael have upgraded her computer. It is of course a Linux machine and has a suite of cool new games. Rachael is loving frozen bubble. She had managed to get to level 31 and had the game on pause while at school. Hugh was looking at what she had and unpaused it and restarted it. "No way, she is going to be so upset" says I. Panic strikes. Parents trying to google the shortcut to get back to the correct level. I say "you go to school and collect her and I will get it back to the correct level" this is at 2:45. I didnt have time to look properly and figured it was the best way to cover up the mistake. So I sit and play Frozen Bubble under pressure and at 3:08 Rachael walks in the door. I have got it to level 28. My hand is sore from playing. Hugh and I exchange looks. She gets to the computer and does not realise. Phew. Sighs of relief all round. Now we have time we find out how to get it back to the level without playing all the way there. Will have to save this story for later years about how to be good parents.
Went out for what seems to have become an annual playgroup mums catchup. It was inspired because Sue is back from Burma, but a bloody good excuse to get together at Tilleys and eat cake in good company. We hear and tell the stories of the year, what the kids have been doing, recent new challenges to us as parents (school discos won this year). I was glad Janelle was there to keep us on track with her comments from the teachers point of view - balanced the issues and made us laugh more. I reflect always on how far we have come and what stories stick in our minds. Had to laugh when Sue recounted that Lil loves her craft, the blowing up the microwave drying out leaves for playgroup craft story came out again. It was a happy night for me, enjoyed greatly seeing everyone.
Im back again. Been away near Gosford for a Pastors Renewal Group. This is not the quiet picture of refreshment that people seem to imagine when I say it was time away. Not a retreat. More like intense group therapy for 4 days. And I can say that Im very glad that the time helps other Ministers but it was extremely difficult for me. I am committed to ongoing spiritual and professional development but this "process" (3 year committment to the group meeting once a year for 4 days) exhausts me. Having others listen while you tell your story is powerful stuff. Listening to others stories takes focus. Helping them work through issues in a group is not easy. I come away each year with a sense of appreciation that my family of origin, the one I now create with Hugh and Rach, and most of my work experiences have been pretty good. I have been affirmed by both friends and family and have a strong network of support.
Ok so I hated the group process thing (Im sure I will be using phrases like"lets name that", "lets visualise this" and individuation, mutuality, "I statements" etc for a few weeks). I also hated being away from my family again. I am so over airports, taxis and travel. I used to love looking out the window and the feeling on take off. Now I have been reading my book and not bothering. I used to love the airport as a place of anticipation, the possibility of the journey. Now its a place that gets me home fast and the anticipation is more of being held by Hugh and Rach. I even didnt care when the cat bit me last night when I got home. I was happy that she missed me and I had been rebuked. I think Deb even missed me a little too - she came out to the airport to collect me at 9:45 at night, it was very very cool to hear all the positive things that had happened for her while I had been away.
Tonight, I feel more grounded and back to normality. Ive had a full on day at uni, walked home with R from school, the washing is caught up, dinner was made and eaten and appreciated. I let Rachael read to me for longer than usual and she fell asleep in my arms. The cat came in and curled up with us as well. Life is good again.
Yesterday in thinking about ending up the renewal group I was quite relieved. I am glad the processing the process is over. I know now I need to find some other form of spiritual growth to fill the gap, but I will try another method.Hopefully one which will fit my personality and style better. What has been done has been done and finally I will let it be (thats a quote from one of my most loved prayers from my days at St Marks, in full below).
Collect : Night Prayer
Lord,
It is night.
The night is for stillness
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.
The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world
and of our own lives
rest in you
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace,
The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to the new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.
In your name we pray. Amen
Spent the week in Sydney at the TCMA Conference. It was excellent to spend time with University Chaplains from all over Australia and there were even a few from NZ as well. I met and learned a lot from so many people. I also presented my first workshop, joined by my Jewish co worker Liz to talk about some of our multifaith team experiences and events UC has run, highlighting the use of the Harmony Project. I really got into a workshop on Media as Spirituality run by Rob Whalley where I met Darren Wright who shares Robs interest in media. Darren manages Digital Orthodoxy which is a pretty handy site if you are doing any sort of Christian work with young people or interested in film, theology and multimedia.
There was a circus theme through the conference and I learned to poi (thanks Miss Sally). I found a kindred sister who loves labyrinths (yay Karen). Too many others to mention gave me their time and wisdom. I stayed up late talking with Dave, Danny, Darren and Lisa, then did it again the following evening with Karen, Sal, Jemma, and Danny. Note to self for next time - you are too old to stay up to 1.30am and not feel the pain on the following days. I come away from the conference energised and with a network of people to call on who are all doing great work around the country.
I also found time to catch up with the Darlings (Belinda, Aron, Miz & Grace), Row and Ben and got to the Ginseng bathhouse for a spa & skin scrub/korean massage/facial with Fran, who happened to be in Sydney.
Today I am recovering and returning to reality via household routine - washing never goes away. My attention is also in demand from the household. I have been missed - this has been shown by a) being bitten by the cat (my punishment for leaving her with the family, she purred after the bite), b) being in close proximity to Rachael at all times (play with me my mummy, cuddle me) and c) Hugh (who prolly also wants time but has to wait in line for cat and child to have their share). I am feeling very loved.
I am exhausted. I am elated. My football team won in one of the most amazing games I have ever seen in my life. My body is still recovering from the rush. Ok I will admit it, I cried when the final siren went. To see Paul Kelly pass the cup over to Roos was choice. Cheer cheer the red and the white, I will drive my household insane with my stupid smile and constant humming of the song, our noble sons are marching onwards to VICTORY.
Today the University celebrated World Peace day, a United Nations day. We got together at lunchtime for readings, entertainment and speaches relating to Peace. It was a good community time to celebrate. We had a stall earlier in the day and students/staff were able to make origami cranes or write on a peace dove which we attached to a blue banner. The result was pretty stunning. They are now going on display at the Uni for a little while. When the pictures are up on the UC newspaper site I will link to it.
My other major achievement was riding to/from the uni after an extended period off the bike. I still managed big gears and made it up one of the hills I thought I would end up walking up! Whoo hoo. As Debbie (current occupant of our spare room) says "Victory". I even gave Rachael a dink home - very carefully and slowly. The only other thing I noticed was there were a LOT of caterpillers on the bike path. I tried not to squish them (it being peace day).
Ive been published in the Uni online newspaper this week. Thats a first for me. If you want read about my trip to the Mosque and see how I look with a Muslim headscarf on you can check it out.
Its Grandma Rosies Birthday today. We all sang to her on the speaker phone. Yesterday morning we celebrated by having breakfast together at Kays. I managed to poach eggs perfectly, using my brother Marks tips! The pressure was on let me tell you because I normally stuff them up. We had a great meal, the girls had fun, K cooked pancakes for the girls. We had eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms. Fresh fruit and yoghert. Yummmo. No need to go out.
Its sunny, spring has sprung. Im still sick with the remains of a cold and had a terrible food intolerance reaction on Sunday morning so I am officially having a day off. Rach is still getting over the cold and has been missing me so I have kept her home from school too. Im pacing myself through the housework but taking time to play cards, sit in the garden and generally "love on" my girl and care for both of us. When she was little one of her first weather observations was "sometimes it rains", well sometimes the sun shines with perfect spring glory and today we are enjoying it. "Sometimes you just need to sit in the sun".
I have been attending this conference for several years.
On Thursday I shared a car down to Melbourne with Jeanette and John from church. Both are very clever people, with well ordered minds. Apart from just enjoing their company in general, we proved that they are both much much better at trivia, crossword solutions and general knowledge than I ever aspire to be. Ive done some long road trips before but the time flew.
The first session of the conference had Norman Habel speaking. For me this was the stand out session, not just because of Norms energetic and engaging manner. Challenging to read the bible from the perspective of creation. I sometimes wonder how I can continue to read it in new ways but this sure added to my methods, no longer just feminist, social justice, but now eco green. I was leading a small group which turned out to be fairly quiet the first day, and more animated on the second when we were able to go on a reflective walk. The workshops I attended were opportunities to look at practical applications. I immensly enjoyed Margie and Andrew East's "In Him we live and move and have our being" - experiencing God in our selves. We were guided in moving our bodies changing our posture. As an Alexander Technique student already it appealed to me (Andrew is a musician and AT Teacher). It was also very cool to have this session towards the end of the conference, the input prior was massive so having time to reflect and just do and be was balancing.
Ive accepted a position on the committee to help organise the next conference. Three of the Canberra people had been involved for a long time and were standing down, so I join with Jeanette and Paul F to take their places. This way there are 3 reps from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Im hopeful that I will be able to give back in some way. The conference community have been a valuable and important part of my life for some years now. It was just wonderful to reconnect with so many interesting, diverse and passionate people after missing out last year (we were in the USA). Best personal moments were those times spent with dear friends (Agent Cgull, feeling Belinda's baby move, sitting in the sun outside with Janelle, Roz & Colin). I also felt immensly encouraged during interactions in the break times, such as meals sitting chatting with too many people to list, time on the terrace with new folk and a precious half hour sharing my story and being encouraged by Gwyn - National President Baptist Union of Australia.
My only down of the whole time was a terrible food intolerance reaction at 3am on Sunday morning. I felt pretty bad for my room mate Robyn as I woke her up as my body betrayed itself at both ends in the ensuite. Its bad enough that I end up suffering, but to inflict all that on a friend who has only had a couple of hours sleep felt very unfair. Robyn is very gracious and caring. Part of what makes her such a wonderful Pastor. I travelled home via a lift with Rainer to the airport at 6:30am (thanks) flying out at 8:25 back to Canberra with Merilyn and David. They were equally good company, it was fun to sit together in the exit row even if we were all a little weary. Happy to land and see Rachael's head jumping up and down as we came into the terminal, very good to be embraced by Hugh and my poss.
Soweto Gospel Choir. Oh my goodness this was a vibrant feast of voices and energy. Impressed is not enough to start to put it into words. I rejoiced in the sound. I found myself smiling and happy. These are beautiful people making an impact on others. Wow. My mum got me the best birthday present in this night out. Good good mummy.
Attended the recognised ministers course at Morling College (Baptist Theological College of NSW). I think I have finally started to get a grasp of NSW Baptist history and doctrine now. I was the only woman attending, so no blending into the crowd (17 other men). Some useful leadership information, some good speakers, finally have the official line about performing weddings (have to attend another course before getting my licence). My interview seemed positive. I have to wait about a fortnight before hearing if I have finished the process and will be officaly a recognised minister. Dot the i's, cross the t's.
Highlights were staying with my friends Belinda, Aron and their girls. Dinner out with some of the secret sisterhood of women in Ministry (the cafe had to encourage us to leave we were talking so late). Using Numbers 27 as one of my inspiring stories in scripture and having blokes come up the next day because they had looked it up (YES there is a woman Noah, one of 5 daughters who stood up for her rights and changed the law). Spending time with my cousin and going to her lucky dress shop to find a dress for the IBM Winter Ball - it was the first one I tried on! Imagine that. Also got to go to an auction my cous was bidding at, they didnt get the terrace, it went for $640K so they are still looking.
I am 35. It didnt hurt a bit. No KKD this year.
Physio reveals I have damaged ankle joint face and torn two ligaments this time. I now officially QUIT netball because its costing me way too much in a) medical bills and b) time recovering. Email me any suggestions for social excercise that wont get me hurt. Suggestions so far are a) team yoga, b) syncronised swimming and c) lawn bowls. All options seem incorrect. Hugh jokingly suggested it was time for a new horse. I don't remember getting this damaged in all my years of horse ownership and riding (now I chuckle to myself because I only ever got concussion so cant remember it anyway- oh dear).
Tamagochi has finally arrived at our house. Rachael earns $1 per week pocket money. She has faithfully saved up using a graph to let her know her progress towards the $25 item. I hoped the fad would be over before she had enough money to buy one, I even thought she might get bored of saving. Nah now we have Bleep bip bip (noise game makes not me swearing). Worst of all I am going to have to learn how to use it too. So far the pause key is my best option.
New netball injury. Rolled ankle, couldnt drive home again. We lost. I hate that. Frustrated because its only my second week back and Im out again. GRRRR.
I visited a new GP for second opinion regarding HRT, he ran some blood tests which not surprisingly revealed I was way out of wack on the female hormone side of things. Now I am trying Bioidentical compounded HRT. Its made up to my needs. Happy happy happy. Hopefully no more hot flushes and I will stop forgetting things and being cranky. Pickup my script on Wed - they require 48 hours to mix the stuff up. I am worse than those people going in for their methadone. 2pm I will be there waiting.
Rachael and I flew up to Brisbane for this time to stay with my brother Mark and his parnter Andrea. We finally got to meet their cat Chicken (yes they got Chicken before we got Duck).
Some highlights. Saturday 9th will have to stay in my mind for a long time. It was one of those perfect days, just the right temperature, not too hot or cold. We went for a picnic/bbq at a nature park area and Mark showed Rachael how to build a fire. Andrea and I got to read the paper in peace while this was happening. We had a huge salad, kebabs and sausages it tasted fanastic and we finished up sharing some gormet yoghert that we had picked up on the way out. Well fed wWe went for a little bushwalk up to a waterfall. There were a couple of bridges so we played billy goats gruff and trolls. Everyone was happy, there was no hurry and it all felt so good. Amazingly we had time in the afternoon to go see Madagascar at the movies (Rachaels choice but I loved the Penguins).
We hired a car the following day and drove up the coast to do some touristy things - the BIG Pineapple (open even tho rumored to close soon), the Buderim Ginger Factory, a Macadamia Nut factory and best of all a visit to our friend Woolly and his wife Jack. Woolly co builds Mark's race car.
As a result of over doing all this we then had a few "sloth" days where we stayed home and helped Mark in the garden. We managed to help get rid of one tree (ute load) plant a hedge, plant some flowers in the garden bed, rake leaves and move the letterbox. All of which kept R occupied well. We also visited local parks and found one of the best flying foxes I have played on. Did I say me? I knoe it was really meant for kids but I loved it too.
The one down to the holiday was discovering Rachael had picked up head lice (a note had come home in the last week of school saying they had cases in her class). Of course at Marks there was only a double bed so I had been sharing with Rachael. Fantastic. We both had lice! Mark was his usual practical self and told me to go get poison and deal with it. We spent an afternoon being monkeys and picking the lice and eggs out of our hair. Charming! It was one of those fun bonding family experiences. I have now become a true believer in the cheap white conditioner and comb method of removing and detecting lice. From now on Rachael will be checked each week. I guess its one of those things that belonging to school brings.
On Friday 15th we drove down to Seaworld. R surprised me by being pretty brave and wanting to go on some of the rides I thought she might have doubts about. She loved the flume ride and even went on the Pirate ship. All in all we had a great day with Mark and Andrea.
Hugh got his uni results, a distinction for each unit. Sounds like the Blemings academics are on a bit of a roll. Im thinking now that all the extra hours he put in were worth it, Im proud of him.
Todays holiday entertainment was visiting local parks by bike (R & I) and scooter (Daniella). We managed to find 4 parks on the way to Grandma Jo's place where we had booked in for lunch and a rest stop before heading out for another couple of parks on the way home. I have park fatigue, no I will not be the cop and chase them for cops and robbers anymore. I had a bit of a moment where I was chanelling Bernard from Black Books - all that came out of my mouth was "NO more park, home, we must go home". On the plus side the new equipment at one of the nearer parks had twister dots and a indestructable spinner. So maybe Im positive after all just plain tired out.
Had problems with our internet connection from some time yesterday to this evening. Called Hugh for tech support in NY this morning. After rebooting we still couldnt fix it, had to call for reinforcements because it was too hard for Hugh to do blind and in a different timezone. Ben Elliston has redefined a modern knight in shining armor. Yep he arrived on his bike with high vis jacket and ankle reflectors. And made the email work once more. I have communication with the outside world and my jitters can subside. Thanks Ben :-)
You know you are old when ... you visit friends and get kitchen splash back envy. Rachael and I went for a short bike ride and popped in to see the Lorrimers. They have been in their home for 12 years and decided it was time to repaint and modernise some things. They have changed some handles in the kitchen and removed the tiles, replacing them with sheet of glass with a greeny silver backing. It looks fantastic. Add this to the list of things for my next kitchen. No more grotty grout, easy to look after with the enjo. What more could you want!
Took a drive over to Woden today. Went to Clints in search of cheap craft supplies to top up our box (always go through more in the holidays). $35 later came out with a swag of trashy glittery things that girls just love. There are sequins, ribbon, feathers, googly eyes etc. Picked up a couple of craftwood treasure chests to decorate. Now hopefully this will keep Rachael, Sophie and Daniella quiet for a little while in the holidays. I had to laugh because there were three other grandparents with grandchildren also purchasing craft things and activity books. You can tell who was thinking the same thing because it is the school holidays.
Rode our bikes up to school today. (This was my test of how repaired my leg is and it was fine). Had my first ride in the rain this afternoon to collect Rachael. It was pretty cold but sort of exhilarating because the air was so "fresh". By the time R was out of school it had mainly stopped so the ride home was no troubles. No complaints from her either.
Got some excellent news today. Kay thought she had done very poorly in her exam but found out she had got 70%. So that gives her a distinction for her first unit at uni! Im pretty proud of her, we all knew she would do well, but its nice to have the results to back it up. Gave me something to smile about today.And as toddler Rachael used to say "Wooohooo Auntie Kay".
Thinking of things that make me smile. I got a funky card depicting Ganesh (a Hindu god) last week from one of my playgroup friends Sue. (If you think play group is just for the kids you are way wrong. I met some amazing other mums who had fantastic life stories and talents.) It was very cool to hear about their adventures over on her posting in Burma and have news about her daughter Lilli. Geesh I cant believe you is still reading my blog! Anyway Suze you can now have a glimmer of fame here as a bit of a highlight to my domestic life. (ha ha ha) I admire you for taking on the work you do and Im sure you are making a postive impact assisting the development programs. It's interesting how we live vicariously through others sometimes!
Book binged again last night (up till midnight just reading). Finished Angelica by Sharon Shinn. I think she has got to be one of my new comfort SF/Fantasy writers. Im still reading my way through Robyn Hobb's fantasy series. To balance this out I will admit Im also starting to do some theological reading about religious prejudice and working in a multi faith environment. Im thinking of writing a paper about retaining distinctiveness and being inclusive from a Christian point of view. Still at the research stage but Im feeling the need to streach out the academic side of my brain a bit now.
Have called my cousins to wish them happy birthday. Rachael called her cousin this morning too. 3 cousins, much birthday celebrations. Rachael said we had to have pancakes for breakfast because of this. A total scam, but I cooked them anyway. Used corn cornflour and have had no adverse reactions.
Yesterday Rachael learnt how to break eggs. We had 4 mashed ones and then the last one she broke perfectly. Our omlette was one of the best she had eaten because she made it. I have a sneaking suspicion that the other reason she wanted pancakes this morning was to crack more eggs. This theme was repeated in her journal writing at school this morning.
I went to an Enjo party yesterday afternoon, mainly because it was one of the other mums from school that I liked. It was pretty funny because I came home and was inspired to mop the floor. This morning I cleaned the shower. Perhaps this is the trick to lax housekeeping - you just need some other people getting excited about it to remind you how easy it all is. Enjo enjo enjo a cleaning we will go. Subliminal? I dont know.
My calf seems to be getting better, it was itching like crazy yesterday. I keep forgetting to do my excercises, but have resolved to work a little harder this week. It was pretty stiff after a big walk and all the housework yesterday. Im feeling pretty well. Dave on the other hand sounds terrible. Has picked up a cough and cold thing so has stopped his training schedule. His angel (girlfriend in Melb named angel by R) suggested herbal medicine and he is taking it, even though it tastes and smells gross. I think he must like her or something...
Yesterday afternoon we were given some tickets to see Circus Quirkus. As Hugh was collecting Rachael we decided to go. Nothing like being spontaneous. The tickets are paid for by local businesses and then given away by the Rotary Club, all we are asked to do is send a thank you to the person who paid for your ticket. We will do this with pictures. Hugh, Rachael and I were treated to amazing entertainment, acrobats, juggling, a plate spinning clown and this very strange guy who blew up a person sized ballon with a blower vac and dissapeared into it. It was a great show and gave us conversation opportunities for all of our dinner.
We ended up eating out and I was very very impressed with the waitor Gus at Belluchi's in Manuka. Rachael wanted to get pasta, and I wasnt understanding what she wanted. Gus quickly resolved things by getting the chef to put a piece of each pasta in the offering on a small plate. She pointed out the penne. Which meant she got exactly what she wanted, pesto penne. Excellent. Got to love an extablishment that caters to your whims at 5 years old
Hugh departs for his world tour today. Normally I wouldn't blog that but Im feeling safe because I have my own special police man living with us at the moment and he has close protection experience (yay Dave). Hugh departs with a suitcase full of Australian chocolate products and vegemite for various ex pat friends. Im just looking forward to the return replacement of my Amazon book order... Seriously we will be missing him. Rachael and I are also sad to miss out on time with our US friends and that summertime Jamba Juice experience.
After a visit to my osteopath on Friday who confirmed that my muscle is torn I was told to go seek a good physiotherapist. So I went to see Cassie our team physio today. I figure as she has now treated a few of us Blue Penguins she deserves this title, apparently she is the one who has sorted out injuries for the BCG, Mel and Mikey. This woman is amazing. She hurts you and makes you hurt yourself to feel better. I have streaching homework, written down. Im not allowed to play sport for 3-6 weeks. Apparently the calf is your strongest muscle and takes a long time to heal, do something stupid and you have to start all over again. Grrrrr. I go back to see her on Thursday. I will be rebuilt. I will also be much more careful about warming up before netball from now on. Stupid me.
I tore my calf muscle at netball tonight. It really hurt a lot. I swore more than I have in years. I was transformed into a filthy mouthed ouch ing horrible thing. Martin drove me home and Mel drove the Liberty back for me. Ice helped. Unhappy. Mutter mutter mutter. On the plus side Hugh looked after me well. He came home from purchasing the magic Voltarin anti inflam cream with a copy of Who magazine (I read this when on holidays or sick) and a couple of Turkish Delights. I know Im loved and cared for.
Well here I am, now 16 days into a wheat free diet. I had a total meltdown about a fortnight ago and ended back at my natropath/herbalist general all round wise woman. Apparently cutting out my HRT had put my adrenal system into wobbly mode. I got myself upset and it hit full on panic stations. So with an upset tummy and reduced mental capacity due to stress I sought help. Thank goodness. I am starting to feel so much better. I have been taking some funky herbal tonic which smells like something between compost and Sambucca. It had all sorts of strange things in which a) coated and settled my tum, b) calmed me down and c) reminded me that I could still scull a drink when I had to.
Adjusting my diet was really tough the first week, easier the second week and I think Im finally starting to get the hang of it now. I am missing bread, crumpets, and pasta something chronic. But I am starting to get my energy back, I have lost 3 kgs already and my eyes look lots whiter. All good. I have discovered a group of people who all went off wheat and havent looked back - just think of your friends and its amazing how many have food intolerences. Im finding that the easy option is to look for glutin free on lables and menus. I actually can eat other grains containing glutin but its sort of the easy way out.
Dave come back from Timor last weekend, the AFP cannot post him to the Solomons and they are organising a term transfer for him to Canberra. Its very easy to spend time with him, I guess after being enforced friends since we were 3 years old gives you that history. He has brother status. I had the hiccups the other day and suddenly he was in my face yelling at me. "What was that for?" says I "I was surprising you to cure them". I sure got a "surprise" but I think it was just a big excuse to yell at me. I was laughing about that for hours afterwards, cheeky bloody boy.
Oh and Duck is a traitor cat. Dave says he does not like cats. Duck keeps on going and sitting on his lap. At every opportunity. She purrs. So I just feed her, take her to the vet, clean up after her. I am an unloved cat owner who only gets attention when everyone else is out of the house. Next cat will be oriental and display more loyalty!
Pelligrino's at Fyshwick make the best peppermint tea I have had in ages. It comes with fresh leaves in a special tea pot. Impressed. They get 10/10. Much better than the peppermint tea incident at the place that forgot Hugh's cake the other week.
Ten years of being married. Wow, Hugh has put up with me a long time now. He's MINE! I'm his. He left for work this morning with a comment along the lines of "Im leaving you a kitchen full of dirty dishes for our anniversary" but we both laughed because it doesnt matter. We are not big on all that mushy stuff anymore and we are both pretty secure knowing that we still care as much, if not more than that day ten years ago when we made it all official. Im proud that we have made it into the 52% of people that stay married (average Australian divorce rate has officially hit 48% in the first 7 years).
So what did we do on the day? Both Grandmas had lives (as they are entitled too) and were not free to babysit so we had a special romantic dinner for three at home, Rachael, Hugh and I. Rachael decided that we needed candles on the table. After our meal we got out the offical wedding album and Rachael asked all sorts of questions about the day. It was sort of corny and sort of cool. I do love my family, they are just wonderful.
Today I attended an exclusive event. Mel had been given 2 tickets, and knowing that Im not always working and up for someting different invited me to join her. KYLIE (note that its in capitals) is opening at the National Portrait Gallery on 14 May
The local ABC radio station 666, ran a competition to win a sneak preview with special tour and inside information on the collection. There were perhaps 25 people there. Some very keen fans. I was just pretending to be the guest of James of Flory, a friend of my friend Mel. Let me state that he was the one that won the tickets! I couldnt answer most of the questions that were being mentioned at the nibbles and wine start of the event. The radio presenters Ross and Andrea were doing the usual schmoozing, I felt like a bit of a fraud for a) not being a KYLIE fan and b) not being a listener. They did well but after my time at CASA Public Relations, once a journalist always one - i.e. Hi whats your name? Next sentance they insert name, so X where are you from. Forced skills. Grrr.
The curator told us that "Kylie affected everybody's life and has touched everybody in some way. The collection is vital to Australia's cultural history because K is a major performer on the international stage, she is an icon." The costumes were quite interesting, that woman is extremely tiny. They even had custom made mannequins to show the costumes off. Amazing. And I learnt that she has her own mould and special toe pads to keep those Manolo heels on while dancing. Icon. Diva. I could only manage an hour of being interested, endured the group photo of us doing the locomotion and was happy to leave it at that. Fun, frivolous. We got a cute show bag to take back to James. Im sure he will just love it....
We now have inhabitants in the purple fish tank. Last week we visited our local pet shop and found in the fish room a helpful and enthusiastic bloke called Andrew. He knew we were new to the game but ready to move on from the standard goldfish. So to start our tank we purchased a bristlenosed catfish, some zebra, leopard danio's. There was one pink pearl danio and this spent all of last week chasing the others round. We went back today and found Andrew again, he remembered exactly what we had purchased last week and also what other fish would go well with them. I told him about the bossy pink striped danio so we found it a couple of friends, a male and a female to keep it company! Now it is not bothering the others anymore, there is peace in the community. We also purchased four gold medaka and four white cloud mountain minnows.
Having been thrown into the deep end with maintaining the fish tank at the uni and now one at home, I decided I need to get more educated in the area. Ive spent a bit of time looking for more information, but you know that Andrew was pretty spot on when it comes to selecting peaceful, community, cold water fish. He made the selections well. Im happy, the fish are happy and Im enjoying them a lot (so is Rachael). Im also learning more about how to care for them and be a responsible fish owner. I had no idea that my catfish would like blanched peas, zucchini or pumpkin! I have not tried this yet but I did get it some bottom feeder food because the tank doesnt have enough algae.
Ive been blogworthy. Do not complain when you appear in anothers blog because it will only get worse. I wish I was mentioned over something smart, interesting. But I got what I deserved. I wish I could blame our Tivo. It recorded Blokesworld in the first place. Perhaps I should just say I am doing undercover research about the new generation of males. My mate Dave when asked what the opposite to a feminist was instantly stated "a realist". Im left thinking I might just need to go practice my ute trailer reversing with a cold beer. Right...
Just over three years ago, due to severe endometriosis, I had a hysterectomy with my ovaries out. I was quite glad to see them go. Ive recovered pretty well but I am in the process of trying to get my stupid hormones balanced. After the operation I went into surgical menopause which is not fun to cope with. I got hot flushes which are very annoying, one minute you are fine, the next minute you are bright red, hot and people cant understand why you are suddenly taking clothes off or going outside. You experience mood swings, I got really irritable. I spaced out and forgot things. All quite revolting but better than being as sick as I had been. I put up with this for 7 weeks after the operation and then went onto HRT.
Fast forward to now. I have been taking HRT for almost 3 years now and at my last check up the GP suggested I try not taking them and see what happened. There are risks with taking HRT long term, but not many studies have been done on people in their thirties. Im pretty healthy at the moment, in a good frame of mind, not under too much stress. I forgot to take my HRT to the coast. Bit annoying I think but possibly good as I can have a break. Two weeks after stopping taking HRT I am full on back into the land of hormonal vauge ness. I have been putting things down and not remembering where I did. I get side tracked more easily than ever. I keep forgetting to do things I said I would do. I am living by my diary, to do sticky note on my computer and my book of routines. Friends please forgive me if Ive been wierded out. Im cranky but there is a reason. Im having hot flushes again. When Im red its not embarrasment or shyness - its because Im bloody hot. Im going to bed early to try compensate for waking up a couple of times a night because I need to fling the doona off because Im boiling. Its not as bad as last time but its still pretty revolting to experience it. If things get too bad Im meant to just start taking it again but I want to give my liver a break from processing synthetic hormones. Im trying really hard to be proactive about my health. I have an appointment booked for a second opinion at the end of June. I just hope I havent killed anybody by then! I would probably forget where I put the body and that I did it anyway....
Had a quiet day. Rachael went to the school holiday program at the Botanic Gardens with Grandma Rosie and Daniella. I walked over in the evening and we all had dinner. Dave showed me some pics of Timor, it has improved since the images the media showed us but still is a place much in need of pulling together.
Woke up to find that one of Rachael's fish had died. Its the first pet death we have had to deal with. I thought she would be alright but she sobbed. We had a little fish burial in my herb garden. Hugh making a cross from paddle pop sticks because R wanted it marked.
I had been thinking of getting a new fishtank for some time so we all went to the petshop and got a new tank and will get a variety of smaller fish when we get it all set up. I thought I had conned her into a silver tank, but no we ended up with a purple one. Fantastic.
My life long friend David is home from peace keeping in Timor. Really glad to see him.
Why is it that when you want to see a kangaroo they are never around? Drove Jimi and Andrea out to the airport via near ADFA where there are normally mobs of roos eating the grass on the ovals but not one in sight.
Jimi had news his father had passed away. Im sad for him and Andrea and the grief that their family must now process. I am confused because I want to look after them but know Im not going to be able to do much. They face the reality of coping with being double jet lagged, exhausted and emotional all at the same time. All I can do is let them know I love them and pray. Sometimes I am left clutching at the good things. We spent a little time, we ate a few meals at the same table again, we laughed, we shared Rachaels excitement and being silly. I hold even these moments close to my heart because moments - however short or long they may be - with good friends are very precious.
A surreal day. Jimi had news his dad is in a coma. They organised to go home but the flights got stuffed up. Sorted out in the end, they fly home tomorrow morning first thing. In the midst of this I had friends coming from Cairns for lunch, which was good but sort of strange because we are all sad and a bit distracted. We went for a walk in the afternoon with R on her bike. Andrea remains true to form, we were alongside the creek and she found people with buckets and critters in them, some tiny yabbies. I wish I could have taken her to the botanic gardens and out to our block. But I keep them for next time knowing that she will still love discovering Australian creatures
In the evening we had an open house - various people turn up for pre conference pizza. It was an interesting mix of overseas visitors, friends and strangers who just turned up at the door and said they worked for IBM... Rachael was ticking off the groups as they arrived, it was only the next day I realised we had about 35 people come and go. Crazy but I think people were happy to have a place to hang out.
Jimi and Andrea arrived! Yay, very jet lagged we surprised Rach by having them with us to pick her up from a birthday party. We were all happy! Andrea picked up some new lilac keens for me and some very cute dresses which Rachael had to immediately wear. Cool things aside we were all just excited and pleased and there was lots of jumping up and down. The summer romance has turned into a lifetime affair!
Went down to the South Coast to mums beach house. Ate at Braidwood bakery and purchased a half and half loaf - half brown/half white. Perfect compromise for making zebra sandwhiches. Went and looked for shells, dug sandcastles and moats, caught a crab and relocated it in a new rock pool, walked, ate fish and chips, played the old records, danced with Rachael, talked to mum a lot, and visited Mogo zoo. Yay for us, it was good.
Visited my fab cousin Rowena in Glebe. Went for a Sydney waterfront walk, adventure playground topped off by learning how to use a Webber BBQ (Ive never done this and as a technical note, the vent needs to be open or it goes out). Rachael was blissed out because she got to try on new fashion shoes and weed Ro and Ben's balcony. Had Sunday breakfast in Glebe cafe, hour late for church at Seaforth Baptist but got there in time to hear Dave preach. R is convinced its a great place because we have so far gone when there are large celebrations taking place and lots of food. Very friendly church, had to laugh at Hugh quoting Adrian Plass while assisting with their morning tea washing up. Some people think he is serious when he makes these comments. We went from church to the Darlings house(they say they are the Downey-Groves family but we have renamed them darlings). Belinda and Aron cooked us up a great lunch, while Rach and Miriam built mud castles in the garden (Grace going to sleep like a good girl). The afternoon passed way too quickly. I can spend hours in their good company.
Went to see Through the Wire with some friends. It was a thought provoking night. We spent some time after the play in discussion about the refugee issue and political landscape. I was left wondering why I am in a minority who didnt want this government and their policies yet surrounded by intelligent people who have good ideas. I felt frustrated. I sent a post card to John Howard the next day. Small action but I had to do something.
Listening to lots of Jack Johnson after going to see him in concert. Any man that can play a ukelele and a) make it look sexy and b) sound good is a winner in my books.
We have been having great fun at the festival, enjoying the music, watching dances. Joined my mum today to listen to Brian Peters. I liked one of his songs quite a lot (Waltzing's for Dreamers) so decided to buy the CD. He was doing a signing at the Folk Festival Shop. Chatting to him was Mike Jackson, Rachael's number one Folk Artist. His kids songs traveled all around the USA with us. I had to speak to him "Hello Mike, I dont know if I love you or hate you, because our daughter played last years CD over and over again in the car". He was very gracious and understanding of how tolerence for "Im a nut, in a rut" can diminish when you are a parent. It was so wonderful to talk with him this year, we explained how important his music was to Rachael and us as we traveled. He had a new CD which he signed for Rachael and now we begin again!
The last fortnight felt like someone hit the fast forward button. I had a lot to do and so did Rachael and Hugh. We have managed to fit in school, work, haircuts, new shoes for R, swimming lessons, osteopath visits, the Canberra Show (racing pigs, marching displays etc). I managed to juggle it all but ended up extremely sick with a horrible gastro bug last weekend. This was frustrating and dissapointing because we were going on church camp. I ended up missing out on the whole thing.
Edited highlights
I was asked if I would speak at Sunday at Seven (our church evening service, more informal) and share some of my teenage experiences. This set me into a bit of a spin because I had a very mixed time. My dad was diagnosed with brain cancer in this time and I went off the rails a bit while at high school. My dad died when I was 19. I became a Christian and found a very real sense of peace and strength about 6 months after. So how to share these experiences and then finding my Christian faith caused a lot of soul searching. I ended up bouncing things of my friend Mel, my mum and to some extent the rest of my family. 20 years ago was some of the best times and worse times of my life. People laughed at my passion for 80's music and cried as I shared the pain of living with a terminally ill parent. It left me fragile afterwards but I was glad in a way to be forced to revisit some of what made me the person I am.
Ive been planning my mums 60th birthday celebrations. She was pretty sure she wanted to go out for a meal so I went to the Green Herring to check it out with Mel. A three course lunch settled the decision. It was as good as ever, I wont rave on because there is a better summary here in Mel's review. The party takes place on Friday 11th, we have a good mix of family and friends coming - a cosy 25 people and a room to ourselves for the evening. Unfortunatly my brother Mark is out on field trials, testing equipment somewhere out the back of Qld so cant make it. We have plotted and decided to contribute to upgrade the ancient TV (pre remote days) so mum doesnt have to watch the DVD's she has been hiring on her computer anymore. Hugh and mum had a good look and have reduced the field and found prices.
This week, one of the guys from IBM (Jeremy) gave Hugh a t shirt. It was too small so I inherited it, thanks mate. Normally I will not wear white t shirts EVER. This one has a purple logo of a person riding a bike, under is written "No Iraqes died to fuel this bicycle". Since I was riding to the uni on Thursday I decided to wear it. It SURE been a long time since people have stared at my chest like that. Interesting seeing the responses, some smiled, some waved and some looked dissaproving. Very cool, but only to be worn when travel is by bike (never when driving car).
Someone should warn new parents to the ACT Eduction system that you are required to read, process and sign large amounts of paperwork. So far I have signed off on 1) Permission to use video, photographs, or film footage for students 2005, 2) Permission for personal information to be given to the school P&C, 3) Permission for Personal information to be given to the canteen, 4)Volunteers registration form, 5)The IT Code of Practice (I did NOT get R to counter sign to say she would abide by 3 pages of policy because she would not understand and it was completely stupid to get a 5 year old to sign it) and 6) Student Welfare and Management forms - again I did not get Rach to counter sign it due to the above. I have also written a cheque for school photos, stated my days to help on the roster and provided an explaination why R will not be attending the School Athletics Carnival next friday (Im taking her to the Canberra Show instead then we are going to the beach, not that I told them that). Im looking for the positive from all this paperwork and can only find one - we now have a LOT of colourful paper in the recycling to use up.
I went to the Kindergarten information morning this week. They are expecting that she does 15 minutes revision each night on the literacy program. Fine I think, but she is not at all interested in this so I have to find ways to sneak this in. Combine this with the 15 minutes of excercises for Extra Lesson program (helping with her toe walking) and I now have 30 minutes of things she does not want to do. Every day. YAY! Im really ranting now. Its not all bad. Week 3 and at least Im doing ok filling her lunch box with healthy things and getting her dressed in uniform every day. We also rode to school 4 days this week and have not been late once.
This week Hugh won an award, yay! IBM said he is doing a good job at a corporate event held at the war memorial. He tended to stand back even on the day beacuse two of his team won international recognition for their research work. Modesty aside, he works pretty hard and tries to look after everyone else so Im proud that he was recognised for his efforts. It was all mighty good because we were all taken out for dinner on Tuesday as a result. Hugh's boss Ralph even flew in from Austin TX, there were also other IBM management represented but basically it was another ozlabs dinner, just more swanky with excellent food in a private dining room.
Today my work place (Spiritual meeting place) also won an award "The Vice Chancellor's Distinction Award" for enhancing and contributing to the University as a community. It was a nice bit of recognition for the involvement the various chaplains have in the uni community, we had a lot of exposure last year through the Harmony and Faith project. I feel my supervisor Leonie-Ruth deserved some individual recognition because without her it just would not have happened. We got a free lunch so thats two free meals this week.
Now the only way I can tie Rachael into the Award theme is to talk Award Wages. On the domestic front, we provide Rachael with her first ever pocket money tomorrow. She has made her bed each morning and followed her routines faithfully each day, and even fed the cat - all part of the deal. So its awards all round this week (hope she doesnt call the union because she has to work so hard for her dollar a week, mmm the minority workers union??).
Rachael started school on Tuesday. There were no tears from any member of the family. She is in a class with two of the other girls from preschool and there are only 18 kids in the class at the moment. So far the biggest challenge is does she wear the uniform dress or the netball skirt and t shirt? Ahh decisions. I was a little dissapointed when she told me that "two big boys spat on my uniform because I was in Kindergarten". There was that sinking feeling that something horrible had happened to my child and I couldnt protect her. I was also struck with the whole reality of life thing. Its not a nice world out there and she is going to have to manage. Mixed feelings there, now handed over to her teacher to follow up. Overall its been a good week, Rach is interested and engaged and settling in.
I think the biggest change with R at school is our cat Duck is lonely. As I write she is sitting on my lap - this was a rare occurrance but I seem to get more attention if I am at home without Rachael now.
Ive spent a lot of time at the Uni of Canberra gearing up for orientation week this week, next two weeks are going to be busy. Its sometimes challenging working on a multi faith team. I sometimes feel that Christanity seems to come away second best to the other religions in terms of exposure and be discounted because it is seen as the most common one in Australia. I also find it hard to cope with the extreme evangelical groups who often "turn off" or offend. Striking the right balance between not speaking out at all and not yelling an extreme message is the hard part. My goal for the year is to try and build up the Christian community and not let the message of Jesus go unheard. I prefer the saying of the Saint who said "Go into all the world and preach the gospel, where necessary use words."
Thinking of evangelism, Hugh has converted to bike riding in a huge way. He is very excited about the positive effects on his physical and mental health of riding three times a week to work and back. Combined with some interesting technical things he has found a good way to stay fit and have fun. (he has attached a tracking unit to his bike - see his blog for more details). Im left wondering if he will actually keep getting up early on winter mornings to ride with the other recumbent people. Ive not known him to EVER get up early because its optional. Im the early bird normally, having seen so many sunrises feeding horses before work. It was sort of cool to hear him share his early morning experiences of sunrise, kangaroos etc in a positive way.
Another few weeks have flown, we are well bonded with our land now. The whole house planning business is getting to be hard work, but we have been warned about the stages it goes through. Discussions with the local Rural Fire Captain and then the Council Fire Mitigation Officer have meant that we now will have to clear quite a way from the proposed house site. We apparently have the worst slope on the worst side for prevailing winds with the worst fuel load (stringybarks and tea trees) so a clearing of 75m needs to be incorporated into our house plans on that side. The big positive that has come out of it is we will have better views to the Namaji Ranges. We have also given the fire people permission to mark our dam (sign on the gate) as a water supply in case of bushfire. This way out of area tankers know they can access it. We are also making new contacts, meeting the neighbours etc.
The painting project continues - our gutters and eves are looking much better for the repair and paint that Dom has done. Im happy to recomend him, not expensive, takes care and has good attention to detail. And the cat likes him a lot, she has taken to keeping an eye on what he is doing. Rachael also spends a bit of time chatting at him.
Hugh has fixed up my bike and with new tyres we managed to go for our first family ride with all of us on wheels - Rachael 4 (training wheels still on), Hugh 3 (trike) and me back on my 2 wheels for the first time in 5 years. Rach wanted to know if I would need training wheels! Arrghh. Since then R and I have been out and Im sure I get bonus points for pushing my bike and her on her bike up hills! We have also practised going home from school, learning how to go slowly down the hills with the brakes on gently etc.
Im leading worship for the first time at Canberra Baptist this weekend. Had lots of fun thinking about it all and selecting prayers, music and thinking about a childrens talk. Its been over a year since Ive done this sort of thing and I enjoyed the preparation so much. Im quite excited about Sunday morning. Hopefully it will be as easy as remembering to ride the bike! Next week Im helping at the School Holiday program at church, its going to be a blast. Ive been preparing for that as well with a lovely lady called Jan from Scripture Union. Lots of fun things to do, good music, stories, games and craft. The best bit is that other people will be in charge of doing the craft!
Christmas proved to be a good time of relaxing with family and friends. Had the immediate family here for a BBQ on Christmas Eve. Relaxed with the highlight of Daniella and Rachael putting on a show of singing and dancing. Whoever thought of "Who let the dogs out" is evil. Missed Andrea being here, but ate, drank and were merry.
Christmas Day was spent with friends from church down at Lake Ginninderra, low key, R followed the other kids round and loved it. Boxing day stayed to our extended family tradition at the Drury's. Love that cousin reunion time. More eating, lots of deep and meaningful conversation, lots of conversations about nothing.
Put the tent up on our block of land on Tuesday afternoon. Sort of cheated and got Pizza that night for tea. Excellent though. Night was very bloody cold, it was down to 5 degrees at the airport so take a couple off and you get woken up because its still too cold. We have conferred with the locals and the consensus is that Carwoola is always a few degrees cooler than in town. The wind also drops the temp quite a lot.
A few people have expressed skeptical opinions about us camping. Ok, so we have not done a lot of it, but we are quite enjoying being out at the block and so far no one is traumatised by using the dug out trench for the loo (cant dig a hole the land is all rock!) We are managing ok without a camp stove at the moment, eating cold things but its been fine. The thermos provided us with enough hot water for milo, tea and washing up.
A major achievement has been that we constructed and finished making the Labyrinth. Some people dont understand why I wanted one. Its a meditative device for me, I dont expect everyone to use it or like it but I also love the designs and unfolding of the circles and path to the centre. When we first purchased the block I was so happy because finally I have room to make one. Gav and Tarns helped Hugh with the initial mark out. Jen, Belinda, Dave, Rachael and I finished it by collecting buckets of the shale rocks which scatter the hillside and putting these on the paint lines. The end result is fantastic. The path is clear, the circle is 18m wide and it works well. Photos on the website.
Mark and I decided to have some special brother sister time to aquire last minute presents for each other, mum and Rach that we all liked. We just wanted to go to the mall very late at night. Arriving at 9:30pm there was traffic chaos so we parked up near the bus interchange and walked over (old times sake, how many hours did we waste sitting there going to high school). Once at the mall we were amazed by what state it was in, jam packed, full of stressed people. We carried out our missions in a relaxed manner. Once we had aquired our items we went to the juice bar for a quick boost for the trip out. The people on parking duty had been issued with light sabres but no brains in how to direct traffic. There were special lights set up on the parking paddock. Some idiots were walking around in their pj's. Westfield had paid performers to busk in quiet corners, all for the Christmas spirit. Perhaps? Nah just to draw us in to shop and be entertained. Now I have experienced the 32 hour non stop shop I dont think I need to repeat it, but it was good for a laugh and good for those shop assistants working past midnight on penalty rates.
Im so ready for Christmas now. Have been cooking and cooking and today delivered various foody things to friends and relatives. Its the best thing. And I even cooked enough so the freezer has extra meals so I can have some more time off! Got everything organised for tomorrow - having the whole immediate family here, so thats 10 for tea. Not being traditional at all, relaxed BBQ and then some presents is the order of the night.
Cooked Mel's Choc Chip Cookie Pie for the first time yesterday and it worked perfectly. Gotta love friends who cook you interesting things and happily share the "how to" with you. Easy to make but looks very posh, tastes divine too.
Christmas lights were wonderful, best ones in Callabonna St Kaleen. We went back a second time - Hugh was in Sydney so I'd taken mum and Rach down to my cousins for tea and couldnt resist driving by "on the way home". Santa was even handing out lollies this time! There is a whole street behind mums place - Rohan Rivett Cres in Mckellar and most houses on the street have something up. Lights are so much fun. We even put some out on our railing on Saturday after being inspired by everyone elses efforts ahhhh colourful twinklys. I can feel us being sucked in. I want to put the BIG penguin up on the carport but it requires some engineering on the base before it can go outside. Hmmmm Hugh has tomorrow off, he might want to ride his new trike bike but I think he might have some work to do on the penguin....
Christmas letters. I cant work out if I like them or hate them. Sometimes I am reminded of reading annual reports, other times I read them and think doesnt anyone have anything bad happen in the year? I love to be updated but sometimes I just wish people would give me a call every now and then.
Tonight, in a now traditional experience for our family and the Wishart family, we go out looking at Christmas Light displays. The tradition stems from pre kids time when Teresa, Paul, Hugh and I drove down to Tuggaranong to look at a street which was fully decked out. So far we have stuck to Belconnen with the kids because they have been too little, but each year we can stay out a bit later. Ive been searching for clues on the internet about places to go and it looks like Dunlop will have to be added to our route this year.
Rachael is finished preschool! Yay, her introduction to the formal education system has been a positive experience. Nicole and Meg should get accolades for the gentle way they have taught this year and built up R's confidence and encouraged her to learn. Next question will be how many sleeps till I start big school...
Just read "Archangel" by Sharon Shinn. The story has stuck with me for 3 days after finishing it. It is a fantasy novel, based about a society of the future where angels & mortals reside in harmony. However if there is no harmony on the planet of Samaria then the armed starship Jehovah which brought the generations of original settlers will destroy the society. The angels and mortals have been there so long that the starship is treated as God. Cleverly the traditions needed to keep peace and harmony are done in a play on Christian scriptural stories, especially as they bring about harmony literally by worship through song of angels and all tribes of mortals.
The characters are so alive, the world order is so clever. The story was rather classical "generations forget technology" mode but the character development and the way the plot unfolded were just wonderful. Yes it had tones of Anne McCaffrey similar type of story but I felt it was fresher. I found it on a reading list and was very happy that I took the risk in buying it. There were times I became entirely engrossed in the world and characters. I love it when I get that immersed. It struck chords (ha ha) with Anne McCaffrey The Crystal Singer, in terms of describing music and society, the forgotten technology fits the Dragons of Pern stories. A new "must read" for my book page that is also on the To Do list for the website.
Flagh! I have not updated this for some time. Three people have mentioned this to me in the last three days, so working on the "rule of threes" I decided to write some of the more profound things that have happened lately. I have had to look up how the hell I wrote this in the first place, and remembered that i was going to try get this onto something more simple to edit. Havent got time at the moment so its still on the TO DO list.
I got a new laptop computer, its an iBook G4 and quiet and white. My office has no background hum. Within days of getting it set up my darling cousin sent me a new Nokia 7260 fashion phone, which is also white and silver and has lots of extra features. So add these two gadgets to my iPod and I am now completely coordinated with white gadgets. One of my friends also noted that these match my fridge and washing machine... so I was brought back from my Chic Geek fantasy to realise that its all just fitting in with the Domestic Goddess side of my life.
Finished major multching on the front garden. No more mowing out there again. The new native plants seem happy and its all tidy. Hugh assisted me by program the new automatic watering system with a crappy non intuitive interface that runs off the watertanks, which has been running well. Garden is all good.
House is in a bit of chaos at the moment. Had the carpets cleaned last week involving much furniture moving to non carpet areas. Tomorrow the painter arrives to start work on the lounge/dining/stairwell. The paint sample patches have been on the walls for 2 years. Nothing like making hasty decisions about it. Should be finished by the end of the week. Delphinium was the colour winner - pale cornflower blue. Am hoping that it is the right colour after all this.
MMMMmmmm preschool routine has been good. Ive been joining in by being on the roster a lot, which means that I have done a lot of cleaning up after kids, done laundry, washed toys for end of year but also had a lot of fun listening to the kids rehurse the concert and heard wonderful secrets and the things they have been proud of.
So we are at this friends Christmas party and someone says that wonderful line "So what area do you work in?" Being used to people not understanding what a Chaplain is I sometimes reply "A Minister" its just easier because most people get this. No you can tell you are in government driven Canberra when the conversation goes "So what do you do?" "I'm a minister" "Oh What Department?".
Performed my first wedding ceremony today, the local Jindabyne minister did all the legal paperwork but I got to run the service. It was very cool to be the one to announce them "Mr & Mrs Krahnen" at the end. It was even more wonderful because it was all a big surprise. The guests were told they were coming to Tracy's 40th Birthday party, there were several indrawn breaths as she came out after a short dissapearance in her wedding dress. Fantastic. Loved being a part of it. Met some interesting people there. Exhausted because of all the hoo har of Rachaels party and the stress preparing for this one but very satisfied.
Celebrated Rachaels 5th Birthday Party today - its her real birthday tomorrow. Hugh and I survived first party at home with 8 other 5 year olds. Overprepared but it went well. Family came round for Pizza in the evening. Rach overexcited but loved every part of the day.
The plumber rang. ACTEW are prepared to pay for the sewer work. YAY! it was going to be expensive. Sometimes its the little things in life that make you feel better.
Voted electronically in the ACT election yesterday. Only problem is you have to start numbering at 1, I wanted to go backwards from 23 - from the most stupid policies back. Cant wait to move out to Carwoola so we are out of this electorate and over in Eden-Monaro. Out there is a real local council and a mayor, fantastic.
Ok so the whole Election topic sucks. I must be out of touch with half of Australia because I just cannot get excited about the fact that the Liberals have won and now there is no balance because its both Rep's and Senate. I dont know too many people who voted for them. A friend told me today that Canberra is a bubble, but surely a majority of Australians didnt want the decision to go to war in Iraq and are unhappy with how the Government treats the assylum seekers and refugees. Why did the vote go this way? Stupid fear I think, or perhaps people just dont think. I must be strange reading various policy papers online, trying to weigh up the positives of each, seeking more knowledge so I could make an informed decision. I got very mad when a friend said to me "why do you bother, they (the libs) are going to win anyway and it does not matter". Does not matter - it does and I am cranky.
To try and restore some calm to my fustration I spent this morning listening to Midnight Oil - 10-1. In 1982 they sang "Its the summer of another year, A little world weary a little more to fear" Outside World... "When Im locked in my room, I just want to scream, Now I know what they mean, one more day of eating and sleeping... Speak to me, speak to me, Im not spoken for, Im ready to talk. Look at me, look at me, Ive been broken up and shaken down, Speak to me, speak to me Im at the edge of myself, im dying to talk. Look at me, wont you look at me, back once more at the point of no return. (Only the Strong). Of course this track is followed by "Short Memory, must have a short memory". Then to top it all off Read About It "The rich get richer, the poor get the picture, the bombs never hit you when you're down so low. Some get pollution, some revolution, There must some solution, but I just dont know ... Bombers keep a coming, engines softly humming, the stars and stripes are running for their own big show.. you wouldn't read about it". A majority of the lyrics of that album are still valid to express current feelings for me some twenty something years after they were written.
One of my friends is talking about either leaving the country or going into politics himself, others have a longstanding joke that we are going to move to NZ (who at least told the US to shove the war). Fesh and Cheps anyone?
Rachael went back to preschool today to a very warm welcome. It was cool, but I was a bit lonely without the constant chatter and her company. I phoned mum and Belinda which filled the gap. Walked to drop off and pick up - great excercise my pedometer hit 17455 steps by the end of today.
Made soup tonight - Creme of Asparagus from the updated Margaret Fulton cookbook. Most excellent for a first effort. Told R it was chicken and she managed to eat some. I now know why I didnt like the canned stuff, you can never capture the flavour and colour of fresh.
I am going on my annual renewal retreat group on Friday. 4 days with 7 other women in ministry. Im still torn between wanting to go to see everyone and not wanting to leave home and family. I am relaxed and can cope with whatever "issues" it will be my turn to discuss, but after the time in the USA just dont want to be bothered to relive some of the more unpleasant ones. Cant work out if it is just being lazy or if Im over the pain that was caused. Im hoping its the latter. Its tough because I know that time with this group is good but it can be draining as well.
A week of challenges, firstly the plumbing backed up. It took till yesterday for the plumber to get it working again because it involved digging up quite a bit of our driveway to get to the mains. It might actually be something that ACTEW (local water/sewer company) will pay for because it was right near the main sewer tie in. I live in hope. Im now catching up with the washing again, able to run the dishwasher and getting rid of the cleaning backlog which I couldnt do because everything was going onto our front garden. Shit happens literally.
On Wed night Westpac Bank called us because there had been a couple of suspicious transations on our credit card in Melbourne, result was that someone has a copy of our card (they think) so we have our mastercard cancelled. New one should arrive next week. Pleased that the fraud people were so perceptive so early, better still the bank is taking the liability for the large transactions. We were careful with the cards in the USA (warned by several friends to double check statements/receipts). Seems even this is not enough. Oh, well now it means I have to go back to all the organisations that direct credit and give them a new number. Only did that three months ago which is a pain.
On a more positive note, we have slowly adjusted back to being in this timezone. Rachael still goes to sleep before 8 most nights, and is waking between 5-6am. Its only three weeks to daylight savings so this will help to resolve things. We have been able to catch up with most of the family and some friends.
Has North America spoilt my child's gastronomic selections? We sat down to pancakes one morning. "Mummy - this is not real maple syrup! It tastes too sweet." I agree with her, not the same. After the real deal in Ottawa and elsewhere we are hooked. So we are probably doomed to paying 5 times the amount for the imported real stuff from now on. Oh well it probably is better for us than the artificial maples.
As Rachael had shown so much interest with the computer, Hugh set up an old IMac he had lurking in the treasure pile down stairs. We moved the desk from the spare room, got it all happening. Thinking we were so kind to Rachael to let her have her own computer. When she sits down for the first time she realises it is not as fast as my laptop, and you need to remember that internet in the USA was on average much faster than Australia. "Why do I have to have the slowest computer in the house." Woe woe is me! She is starting to realise that the slow computer is better than no computer, but it was one of those moments I had to go laugh in the kitchen cupboard - technology queen. Im sure that she will start hacking it to go faster given the appropriate tuition from her dad.
Election day today. We go to cast our vote. Im praying that there will be a change in Government, its going to be close. There have been people here complaining about the 6 week barrage of advertising. Having our letterbox stolen was probably a blessing in disguise, not watching TV has helped as well. We have had to search the internet for information about the local options. Its not easy to find out where people stand on the refugee/assylum seeker issue. It was pointed out at church that this campaign has not mentioned much about those people on the margins, focusing on individualised issues. All in all its been interesting to compare to the stupid issues that were focused on in the USA. Cant recall anyone asking about war records here. We enjoyed going to the End the Lies Rally in town last Sunday. A few different speakers, not all anti liberal, but more about the lack of ethics - Kerrie Tucker spoke well, there was also a minister from the Uniting Church who was applauded by all about his ideas of a fair go and speaking the truth - interesting to see the mix of Greens, Democrats, Labor, Socialists, End the War, Peacemakers all gathered together. Felt like a bit of a piker as we ended up going to one of the outside cafe's for lunch with Martin/Mel and Ivan - we were able to eat lunch and listen.
What do you do when everyone is awake at 5am? get up and go watch the sun rise over the block of land! It was great, we missed the actual sunrise but had a good stomp round, finding the survey pegs that now mark out the building area. Our dam has more water in than when we left too, there is a small amount of green spring growth.
Thought we would go to Tilly's at Lyneham for breakfast. I could really go proper eggs benedict. Bastards were not open till 9am. So we did a big bakery binge and took it to our cousins place in Oconnor instead. The twins were out cycling (they missed out on our company but we left things to eat) but we were happily entertained and amazed with Imogen's crawling and had a good chat at Kirsty who kindly made us hot drinks.
Purchased a replacement letter box because we came home to find ours had been stolen. Finished the mamoth washing task today. Ironed lots of shirts. See I told you it would get mundane when we got home, why are you still reading this!!! The homeshop driver complained lots about the delivery, it was only $525 worth so I dont know what he was groaning about. I have a healthy pantry again so looking forward to cooking. I had to think real hard tonight even though it was just a mundane stir fry noodles, but thats just because Im not capable of multitasking while my brain is still fuzzy. Im currently writing to keep awake so I can watch the Bill. Have rung to catch up with some friends/family too. Hugh is out at his 20 year high school reunion.
And I cant believe it, Rachael actually asked to go to bed. Please mummy I am tired I need to sleep. Who is this child and where is mine? She lasted till 7:30 so I bet we are up at 5am tomorrow. Pancake mix is already made and waiting in the fridge. Mmmmm.
Ahhhhh a good nights sleep in our own bed. I wondered if I would come home and find the bed wasnt as good as I remembered it. It was better. The cat is currently sleeping next to Hugh and appears to be very happy to see us. She jumped out and bit my leg this morning, so life is back to normal. Rachael is just so happy, she yelled out at 4am, Duck is cuddling me and purrring.
4am was the time Rachael decided it was morning. Not too bad I thought, she had gone to sleep at 7pm last night so had her usual amount of sleep. Besides there are all these toys she hasnt played with. She kept herself occupied with a tea party for the soft toys till 6am where she announced she was too hungry to wait any longer. I also gave up and decided to tackle a bit more of the unpacking and mail reading.
Canberra is such a clean place to live. The air here is so wonderful and I used to take it for granted - no longer! The street we live on, I used to think of as busy and sometimes noisy. New sense of perspective there as well. Melba is quiet. I cant wait to get out and see our block of land and check out the water level of the dam. Its green here, the bulbs are flowering. I havent missed Floriade.
Uncle Tobys OT's are the best breakfast cereal after not having it for 14 weeks. Everything tastes so much better at home. Turkish delight mmmmm very very good too.
Cat - I rang the vet an they had free time so I just put Duck in the carrier and drove her up the road. She is inspected and injected for the next 12 months. In very good form apparently 5.2kg now!
Drove to LA - smog is the understatement. Had a shower at Qantas club, R watched old cartoons in the Kids" Klub" - a room setup so the business people can have some peace. Flight was uneventful. I still cant sleep much on a plane. H & R did though.
Arrived in Sydney on time, R only had 6.5 hrs sleep on the plane so was tired but excited, so teary thru customs/dutyfree/domestic transfer. We managed to get put on an earlier flight home, greeted by Kay and Brian at the airport. Luggage loaded, they drove us home. Kays new car - the B4 is comfortable and fast. Luggage unloaded, K had to go back to work, Brian went to get the mail and there was a knock at the door. Teresa and the kids had missed us so had come to welcome us home. R was more excited. They headed off and Grandma Jo arrived with groceries. What a woman, very pleased to not have to think about that for a few more days. Then Rosie arrived. Rachael is now operating in tired but reunited with family mode. We also caught up with our neighbours both sides - it was amazing to me how much we were missed!
Unpacking - gush. There appeared to be a LOT of books. Managed to find most of the things for other people and distribute them, or get organsied into piles. The washing is going to take a while to catch up. Ah well.
Our house is so BIG! Lyndal and Nick had done a good job at caring for it and the cat. Lyndal came by to drop off the keys and was greeted by Rachael in full dress up mode. We went for a short walk with R riding her bike to get some sunshine and fresh air and then cooked tea before collapsing into bed.
Better nights sleep last night. Heading back to the Goletas beach this morning before we leave. Need to get some excercise and fresh air before the travel home. Yesterday the fog lifted and the sun came out while we were at the beach. We walke