Inelegant Superabundance

The end

2012-01-29T08:35:00.000+11:00

And with that, the long, hot summer holidays are over. I may not be looking forward to making school lunches or doing homework, but I think we are all ready for school to start. Jossie is excited to wear a new uniform and ride her bike to school and Toby and Bethany are keen to get back to their friends. Toby is starting Middle School so we have three separate schedules! Having largely exhausted our holiday childcare options, Bethany came to work with me twice last week! She sat in our lunchroom reading, drawing, playing her DS and watching movies on my laptop.

I remembered another book that I read while we were away - The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin. I was hoping to take The Help away with me but someone had already borrowed it so I turned to NoveList to find something similar and it suggested The Queen of Palmyra. When I was very much younger, I used to love books set in the american south - To Kill and Mockingbird, Cold Sassy Tree, The Grass Harp, that sort of thing. These days I prefer the UK or France, India, China, Japan or Africa so it was a departure for me. It is a rather grim story, really, as you might expect for Mississippi in 1963, but I found it quietly moving. There is no sweetness, no endearing relationships but a gritty look at some big issues.
Something with a little more sweetness and lots of whimsy, wit, adventure and beautiful illustrations is The Windvale Sprites. Kristy brought this to our last book club meeting as she is reviewing it and when I realised who wrote it, I had to read it. Mackenzie Crook, you delightful man! We loved The Office and Gareth was such a fabulous character. You really couldn't dislike him thoroughly because he was so fragile looking and the episode when he cried..... anyway, The Windvale Sprites is a completely lovely children's book and I hope he writes many more.

Feathers

2012-01-26T09:24:00.000+11:00

Happy Australia Day! Happy Birthday Mim! Congratulations to Janice and Dave on the birth of Hannah! We have been rather flat out with house, church, work and school stuff. Jossie and Toby needed new uniforms, Jossie needed everything as she is starting high school at a different school. Toby has worn the same size three shorts he started Kindy in and they still aren't tight around the waist! Thankfully, Bethany is happy to live in a world of hand-me-downs.

We have still been having some holiday fun, even if we have had to squeeze it in around a huge list of jobs. We've been swimming in the Shephards' pool (yes, I have been in too), picnicking in the Botanic Gardens, watching ABC 3 (favourite shows - Good Game SP and Splatalot), having friends over and going to friends' houses. Jossie and Bethany have feathers in their hair and Toby fell off his skateboard and broke his arm. All part of a good summer holiday, surely!

I think I'm looking forward to school going back. Getting the routine going, not having to find someone to look after Bethany (a hazard of living away from family) and, um, I'm sure there are other good things. I'm trying not to think about making lunches and the bane of my existence, homework. I'll also miss having more time to read.

I have read some fabulous books over the holidays, some of which I can't remember at the moment because I have been very slack with my book journal. Here's what I can remember:
Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke - whimsical, evocative, African fiction.
Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn (not the actor) - suffragettes, cricket, romance, WWI. Oh, how I loved this book!
The Gashleycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey - I read this on my phone in the car on the way to Bermagui and learnt it off by heart. I had to love a book that starts with "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs."
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins - futuristic, dystopian, romantic, fast-paced youth fiction. I read all three very quickly.
The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch - My first Iris Murdoch and I will seek out more.
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks - I was always going to love this book set in England and France during WWII. I read his earlier novel, Birdsong, a few years ago and loved it too. I wonder if the movie is any good....

Now I am reading Anthony Quinn's earlier book, The Rescue Man, and Rumer Godden's Kingfishers Catch Fire, I do love her books. Jossie is reading Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Toby, Inkheart and Bethany, Holly the Christmas Fairy. What are you reading?

Loving the Eighties

2012-01-19T07:36:00.000+11:00

This one has a film clip set in Australia!

Bermagui

2012-01-17T00:07:00.000+11:00

We're back from our first summer beach holiday. I realise that, as Jossie is twelve and a half, we ought, perhaps, to have gone on one before. I could make excuses based on our distance from the coast and our need to use holidays to visit family, but I suppose that my own dislike of the beach has played a part in keeping us away. It is rather un-Australian of me not to love the beach but I simply don't understand the appeal. My skin is so fair that the summer sun is painful. The ocean is full of slimy, biting, stinging creatures and it pushes and pulls you. Once you have cooled off nicely, you have to walk on the sand to get to your towel - sand which then sticks to your wet skin and swimmers and gets in your hair and ears as well as your shoes, the car and your bed! Still, I do have some good memories of beach holidays from my childhood.

We went to Pearl Beach every January for two weeks. As a teenager I spent my days reading in the house and paying my brothers to go to the shop for me to buy lollies. The house we stayed in was on the headland so the shore was just below us. I may not have walked down the path at the bottom of the garden to the beach, very often, but I did like walking on the rocks and I loved falling asleep to the sound of the waves reaching the shore and retreating. I looked forward to going to Pearl Beach so I am very pleased that we have found a beach for our children to love.

Bermagui is on the south coast so you would think it would be quite quick for us to get to. That pesky Dividing Range makes any coastal destination a long journey! Lots of people from Wagga seem to choose Bermagui and though we chose it almost randomly after searching on the Internet, we think it is a lovely spot and we are all keen to go again. It has some very nice cafés and fabulous fish and chips.... which we may, or may not, have had twice in one week.

It's a bit hard to tell, but Joss, Toby, Andrew and Bethany are all in the water in this photo. They went swimming every day, though it wasn't hot. I bought my first swimmers since before Bethany was born and went in an ocean pool as well as the sea. One time in each. It was cold, but I didn't hate it.

When we weren't at the beach we were sleeping in, reading, playing Rummikub and doing puzzle books or drawing. Bethany loves to draw.

There are lots of beaches around Bermagui. We loved the rocks at Camel Rock and the long, quiet beach with silken sand where we saw the blue bottle.

I'm sure we'll be finding sand everywhere for quite some time. Bethany likes to be buried, Toby and Joss like to dig very deep holes.

We went to Magic Mountain one day, which was a great hit, and went to Tilba as well. It was Toby's birthday on Saturday - he turned 10! If you can't see your friends on your birthday, it is great to be at the beach.

We drove back over the mountains in pouring rain, into the heat of our inland home. It's nice to be back in our own beds but it would have been smarter to have come home on Saturday and had a day to get organised before starting work. My first day at work since before Christmas and it was my ten hour Monday! At least I am sensibly going to bed before 1am. I am absolutely going to stop now and turn off the light. I still have to write about all the books I read. There's always another day.

Loving the Eighties

2012-01-12T07:33:00.000+11:00

I have loved David Bowie for a very long time. When I was around 17 I bought different coloured contact lenses so I could have David Bowie eyes.

Loving the Eighties

2012-01-05T07:28:00.001+11:00

I really, really like this song. I'm into a bit of melodrama.

Christmas at our place

2012-01-04T10:28:00.000+11:00

Oh goodness, how time has flown. I am still on holidays so should have posted before now! Sadly, having Christmas at our house meant that I didn't take many photos. Andrew has some good ones but I'll just go with what I have for now.

When you say eight adults and eight children, it really doesn't sound like that many. Sixteen people on the other hand, that's a lot to fit in our little house! We were all very thankful to my friend Sara for letting us house and pet mind so that we didn't all have to sleep at our house.

Christmas Day was full of food, family, mess and heat.

After such a cool December, we were a touch warm outside with humidity that we aren't used to here in Wagga.

Phil and Kristin brought the pinata, an established tradition now. All the kids had a go, even the littlest.

Some were a little afraid of it but they were all thrilled when it spilled its stuffing just as the storm hit.

We had a storm on Boxing Day too, which brought some relief from the heat. Now, of course, we think it must have actually been quite cool as it has been 38 and 39 over the last couple of days. It was lovely to see everyone together, I wonder when that will happen again.

We spent New Year's Eve with friends, celebrating a 45th birthday as well as the new year. The kids have all had friends over and we are trying to get the house ready for sale. Andrew watched all of Downton Abbey series one with me and last night we finally finished and started the second series - so exciting! On Sunday we are off on an adventure to the coast. We have never been to Bermagui before, holidays are such fun!

Loving the Eighties

2011-12-29T07:26:00.000+11:00

I bought a Spandau Ballet album when we were in the UK a few years ago. Yes, I still like them.

Loving the Eighties

2011-12-22T07:23:00.001+11:00

Lots of Duran Duran to choose from! Which song would you have chosen?

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2011-12-18T09:23:00.000+11:00

Weekend birthdays are great, especially when they are followed by two whole weeks of holidays. I think we'd have to admit that there are some disadvantages to having your birthday fall a week before Christmas, but at least we're all in a celebratory mood. Happy Birthday Andrew!

You can't exactly tell but Bethany was feeling very nervous when this photo was taken. It was Thursday night and she was just about to perform in her first ever piano concert.

I was contemplating what would happen if she found that she couldn't play at all, but she controlled her nerves and played well.

Toby played brilliantly, of course, and received a special mention from his teacher. He just loves to play!

The Christmas Story

2011-12-15T19:25:00.001+11:00

This delightful video was played at the Carols on Sunday night. So cute!

Loving the Eighties

2011-12-15T08:20:00.001+11:00

It takes a little while to get going, but it's a great song.

Silly Season

2011-12-14T21:00:00.001+11:00

Even by our standards, last weekend was a bit mad. Jossie, Toby and Andrew all had Christmas parties on Friday night. On Saturday, in between dropping kids at birthday parties, friends' houses and picking up friends, we did some Christmas shopping (it's a relief to see that coming under control). On Saturday night I had seven women (plus Joss and her friend Hannah) making Christmas tags. During the afternoon I had thought that I might prefer to curl up with the new Sense and Sensibility on my laptop but ended up having so much fun stamping.

On Sunday morning all three congregations of our church went to the Multi-purpose Centre at the school to celebrate our 75th anniversary. We had lunch together afterwards and watched the scary weather roll in. Thankfully, the decision had been made on Friday night to move the Inter-Church Council's Carols in the Park to the school. I spent a fair bit of the afternoon sound checking and running through the performers' biographies and the run sheet as I was hosting the event with Benjamin Shuhyta who is a journalist on our local Prime News. I do a fair bit of MC work at the library and church but this was by far my biggest gig! Here is a very dark picture of me on stage. Next stop Carols in the Domain.

It was a bit rough on the kids to get up for school after a late night at the carols and it was followed by the Junior School Musical and Presentation Night. The musical is called A Creepy Crawly Christmas. I have only a vague idea what it was about because the sound wasn't brilliant and I couldn't understand any of the lyrics. I took Bethany up to her classroom beforehand and helped her get dressed. The costumes were outstanding.

Not exactly camera shy, all the lady beetles wanted their photo taken. I was really just humouring them and took this without waiting for proper smiles and lots didn't fit in. Things started to get a bit hairy when they all demanded to see the photo and find themselves. Luckily, they were called together to head down to the show before I got hurt.

This is the whole Junior School dressed as insects.

As usual, Bethany put her heart and soul into her dance and was a delight to watch. We were (obviously) too far back for good photography. We were also too far back for proper identification. We took lots of photos of this boy on the right and watched him very closely, only to discover that Toby was in a different costume all together and hadn't appeared yet. It didn't even twig that this boy had a broken arm!

Toby is in the group of dragonflies below and had the misfortune of breaking a wing which he then had to hold up with one arm. He kept looking at his friends and shaking his head as he did the dance with only one arm. We think he coped very well under the circumstances.

When the musical was over the award giving began. They give one to all students in the Junior School. Bethany got hers for excellent story telling.

Toby got his for a caring attitude and excellent achievement in mathematics and spelling. That's him with the glasses on, next to the very large caterpillar.

Tuesday night was Jossie's Presentation Night. They don't all get awards but Jossie got one for academic excellence in English, Mathematics and Human Society in Its Environment. We decided not to keep Bethany up for another late night, so she and I stayed home. I finished making the teachers' presents. Little boxes filled with Christmas tags. Jossie's teacher got a cake because she doesn't cook and is a coeliac so doesn't get good cake very often! Belinda Jeffrey's buttery almond and coconut cake is the best! Not that I even licked the spoon because I have ceased to eat sugar (really! It's not that hard).

That brings us to today, the last day of school. The children are now on holidays. There were floods of tears when I arrived to pick them up as Jossie said good-bye to her friends. They are all going to the movies together tomorrow but won't go to school together anymore so it was very sad.

We are having a nice, quiet evening at home this evening. Tomorrow night is the piano concert - Bethany's first!

Loving the Eighties

2011-12-08T07:14:00.000+11:00

Classic film clip. I loved the New Romantics.

Secret Santa

2011-12-06T07:06:00.000+11:00

We did Secret Santa at the work Christmas party on Saturday night. The brief was to spend $10 on something silly, fun or nice. I went for nice and bought my recipient something handmade from the Makers' Space at the museum. This is what I unwrapped at the restaurant.

It's a very large pirate ship. I know it's a pirate ship because of all the pirates. Can you see who they are?

Harry Potter pirate.

Captain Jack Sparrow.

Those aren't hairy legs, they're wooden legs. Where to hang it?

Sunny skies

2011-12-04T17:46:00.000+11:00

We had some extraordinary storms last week. As Andrew picked me up from work thunder clapped right above our heads and it was so loud that I screamed, I got such a fright. As we drove to pick up Bethany we saw flashes and sparks from the power lines overhead, it was very dramatic! Hail too. I rang the library to check that it hadn't flooded again, I really couldn't face ripping up the new carpet.

By Friday the weather was glorious again, perfect for a 21st birthday party at Downside. Daylight saving ensured beautiful light at 6.30 pm.

The family did a wonderful job of decorating the old place.

Downside means bush dancing and the drummer very kindly let Bethany have a go. She was surprisingly good! I think the tongue position is crucial.

With lots of 21 year olds and other grown-ups around, the kids had to make their own fun.

Until Aunty Mim and Uncle Bill arrived! They are staying with us but were running late so came straight to the party. Mim was thrilled to discover that Joss is now a tiny bit taller than she is.

Saturday was a properly relaxing day, though we got a fair bit done. We packed a picnic and went to the lake. The kids and Andrew rode around the lake (some of them managed to go around twice) while Mim, Bill and I minded the blanket.

It was so nice to see them, I wish it could have been for longer, but who has the time for long visits at Christmas?

Loving the Eighties

2011-12-01T08:07:00.000+11:00

Ah, 1982, I was only 10. I'm am using that as an excuse for why I loved Boy George and wanted to marry him.

New school

2011-11-30T07:08:00.000+11:00

Last Tuesday, while I was in Sydney, Jossie had her orientation day at the high school she will be attending next year. Jossie is so good at trying new things (except food - she's the fussiest eater) and had such a good time and made new friends. She came home abuzz with excitement for the new adventure. Andrew and I also got to see the school and feel the excitement on Sunday afternoon when we had an information session and tour of the school.

It's a very nice school with plenty of space, one of the many advantages to living in the country.

Sunday afternoon was just one part of our busy weekend. On Saturday night (with much preparation during the week and on Saturday afternoon) our church held its annual Café by Candlelight. Delicilous desserts (the banoffee pie! My last sugar hit for a while), a gospel talk, Christmas tag making and lots of talking. I was the MC and Liz and I ran the tag making so it was lots of work but a really great evening. I didn't even think of taking a photo.

Toby and Bethany had been with friends while Jossie, Andrew and I were at the school and by the time we had picked them up, it was time for the Estella Christmas party!

The kids were so excited about it! We shared the excitement with Nelly whose hair looked fabulous when striped.

There were lots of games for kids.

Lovely, old-fashioned games that require moving and don't have a screen.

Bethany's age group was very well represented and while she came second in her heat for the sack race, she didn't place in the final and was distraught. She had to go home for a little bit she was so upset! Sometimes it isn't that encouraging to tell your children that you came last in pretty much every race you ever ran/swam/jumped in.

Even the big kids had a turn.

It is very sad that this is the last Christmas party that the Ks will have in Estella. They move to Melbourne in January and we'll miss them a lot.

Santa came and handed out bags filled with lollies. Andrew found these two behind a tree. They hid so that we wouldn't tell them when to stop eating lollies. Smart kids.

Loving the Eighties

2011-11-24T11:00:00.000+11:00

It appears Promised you a miracle won't work out of Youtube. This one does though. Ahh, the Breakfast Club, classic movie.

Switch

2011-11-24T10:52:00.000+11:00

Before I tell you about my trip to Sydney, I forgot I had these photos of the little concert Toby played in a couple of weekends ago. A girl in his class decided to raise money for clean water in the developing world, so she asked her friends and school mates to play in a concert.

These are all the kids who performed. The iPhone belongs to Shep who appears to be taking a photo of Toby, probably to send to Andrew who ~~got out of~~ was unable to attend. Nelly (the littlest Shephard) recited some poems.

After church on Sunday, Claire, Michael and I flew up to Sydney for the Public Libraries New South Wales SWITCH Conference. I have no idea what SWITCH stands for. We arrived too late for a South West Zone AGM but with a few hours to spare before the welcome reception, we gave the Art Gallery of NSW a call and were terribly pleased to hear that they weren't busy. We saw the Picasso exhibition! It was pretty fabulous. I really enjoyed seeing his work right up close. He had such a strange way of seeing things!

The welcome reception was held at Kinokuniya, the biggest book shop in the Southern Hemisphere (long may they live!).

What a fabulous spot to sit and read! They offered us 20% off for our libraries and also for ourselves so Michael and I bought pressies for the kids. I bought Toby Troubletwisters by the lovely Garth Nix and Sean Williams, Bethany, Milly-Molly-Mandy and I did look briefly at the teenage shelves but the volume was overwhelming so I bought Jossie her own copy of Little Woman. It warmed my heart to see all three children reading their books the next morning. Toby insists on reading in the car until he feels sick - it is so hard to discourage reading!

We stayed at Rydges World Square which is in such a handy spot. This $4 bottle is placed next to the beds! I wonder how many people think not getting up and walking to the bathroom where there are glasses and a tap is worth $4.

The conference itself was very good. The ceiling decorations are a bit distracting but we learnt a lot and got some great ideas. It was very exciting for me to hear a speaker from Orange County Library System in Florida - she brought Tricia, Jessica and Megan much closer for 20 minutes.

We didn't go to the conference dinner but went to Kushiyaki Azuma instead. So, so, so good. As it turns out, we probably should have gone to the dinner as we were given a highly commended for our Quick Picks service - here's a little video of Jeannie showing us how it works.

The Readit2011 twitter reading group I am involved with also won in the social media section.

There is a new T2 shop in World Square!

Super fabulous tea.

Really beautiful tea things.

A little man tea infuser. Favourite shop in the world.

Over for another year

2011-11-20T09:17:00.000+11:00

Yesterday Andrew played in the last two shows of My Fair Lady. It has been great, especially as he had friends to do it with, but we will probably all enjoy the freedom that comes when it finishes.

We don't have any good photos from the show, these two come from the theatre's facebook page. There are people we know in the photo above, it is of the cast and crew, but I can't find them!

We have had a good weekend. Two extras slept at our house on Friday night. Not as much sleeping as usual, and a ridiculously early start for a Saturday, but I do like it when the kids have friends over. I spent much of the day washing, ironing and cooking (much is probably an exaggeration) as I am off to Sydney this afternoon for a library conference! There are three of us going and I have charged my camera so will share the experience.

Loving the Eighties

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001+11:00

Why isn't this on Just Dance 3? The dance is ready to go!

My Fair Lady

2011-11-12T16:14:00.000+11:00

The show was fabulous! It was fun, funny, elegant and sweet. The kids enjoyed it very much, particularly because they knew Mr Shephard and he was brilliant as Alfred P Doolittle.

Toby had a birthday party until 6.30 and we didn't get home from picking him up until 7 so we had a very quick dinner before getting dressed and leaving for the theatre. Sadly, this meant that I didn't take proper photos of everyone dressed up. Toby wouldn't sit still for a photo in the velvetty red light of the theatre.

Toby and Bethany nearly died (the melodrama was their own, not mine for once) of thirst before the interval. A bottle of water and a small cylinder of Pringles got them through to the end - around 11.15pm.

Bethany did need constant reminders to leave Jossie alone and that the people behind can't see through flailing arms and legs but she did have fun. This morning she carried on the fun by having a bleeding nose and fainting, really fainting, at the sight of the blood! I take it she's going to be hideously squeamish like I am - I really don't think it suits our personalities to be so delicate in this way but it can't be helped. She wants to be a vet.......

Better late than never

2011-11-11T07:11:00.000+11:00

The weather turned a little wild on Sunday afternoon so, rather than going to the river, we went to the Shephards' instead. They have loads of space for the kids in their garden.

The garden looks lovely and I wasn't bitten by even one mosquito!

A few of the kids swam and Bethany asked me to take a photo of her trick. She sat on a noodle and blew water out the back like a fountain. We had pizza for dinner, the kids played cricket and I embarrassed Jossie by playing Just Dance 3 in front of other people.

My Christmas cake fruit is finally sitting on the bench soaking up rum and brandy. I did mean to do that in October.

We're going to dress up this evening and go to the theatre. Shep suggested that the worst that could happen is that Bethany will fall asleep in her chair. What? No, what we fear is that we won't be able to keep her in her chair and her voice out of the whole theatre's ears!

Loving the Eighties

2011-11-10T10:57:00.000+11:00

Another great song from Time Bandits. I didn't even fancy any of them. I already had this one scheduled Janice!

To market to market

2011-11-06T14:26:00.002+11:00

It has been all go here for the last few weeks. As well as the marking I have been making cards to sell at three days worth of markets. Megan very kindly went down to Corowa and did that market alone so, on Friday, I took the day off work to go to the CMRI (Children's Medical Research Institute) markets.

It is a Christmas market held over two days each year at the racecourse. The weather has been mild up until now but it was getting very warm on Friday so we appreciated the cover.

I was with Liz to set up from just after 8 and apart from an hour when she had her children and took them around the stalls, we worked together. We saw lots of people we know and many people recognised me from the library.

While Liz was away with the children I served a lady with a Scottish accent. Of course I told her that she has my very favourite accent ever and she told me that she lectures and has come to accept that her accent is part of her appeal as a lecturer. It started to dawn on me that she might be my biology teacher from Year 11 so I asked her if she used to teach at Barker and when I told her my maiden name, she remembered me and told me all the people from my year that she still sees! It was a delightful meeting and it is so extraordinary that she could remember a girl she taught for one year, in 1989! For those who knew me at school, I quite enjoyed biology and liked Mrs Philps so was very well behaved in her class. If I were to run into my English, Maths or French teachers........

Two people told us that we had the prettiest stall. I said thank-you even though it is all thanks to Liz and Megan! I provide the Wedgewood boxes which act as our money tin and refill box, and a three tiered Willow pattern cake plate. On Saturday morning I went in alone as Megan and Liz have much smaller children and had no babysitters for the morning. I didn't have a coffee because I couldn't leave the stall to go to the loo!

Now we don't have any more markets till next year so I have free evenings without compulsory marking or making! I celebrated yesterday afternoon by finishing off Mary S Lovell's The Churchills. It was brilliant and I wish I could talk about Winston with my Granny. Now I'll concentrate on The Hare with Amber Eyes and I need to read my book club book again (How Proust Can Change your Life). Our final book for the year is The Paris Wife which I have been very keen to read.

On Thursday I had to attach silver ribbon tape to 65 Christmas tags so did it in front of a movie. We read Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro) for book club a few months ago and it had mixed reactions. Sonya had seen the film and enjoyed it so when I found it at the library I grabbed it to take home. Andrew was less than excited by the cover and even the fact that it is science fiction didn't make it appealing (actually, he didn't believe me) so I watched it alone. I think they did a brilliant job of interpreting the book. A few things were done differently, as is to be expected, but on the whole I really enjoyed it. I think the book's story about the song was far more poignant. In the film a young girl is given a tape by a boy she likes and is seen listening to "Darling never let me go", swaying and holding a pillow. Her friend sees her and we later see that she knew the young girl was in love and took the young man for herself. In the book, the song has the word 'baby' rather than darling, and she cradles a pillow as though it were a real baby. The person who sees her is Madame and she is moved to tears. The film obviously chose to focus on the romance at the expense of some depth but it was a lovely adaptation. I'm not a great fan of Keira Knightley and so it helps that her character isn't completely sympathetic.

My Fair Lady opened last night and was, by all accounts, brilliant. We are going to see it on Friday night and I can't wait, though I am a little apprehensive about Bethany staying up until after 11pm. Tonight we are heading down to the river for dinner with a large part of the cast and orchestra for the show. Actually, it's just the Shephards but four of them are in the show! I'm not looking forward to going outside because we are in that fabulous part of the year when one can be too hot and sneezing and scratching one's eyes out. I'm hoping it will rain so we can go to the Shephards' and play Just Dance 3.

Loving the Eighties

2011-11-03T07:36:00.001+11:00

I would have to say that I still love this song.

Celebrations

2011-11-02T07:00:00.009+11:00

Last year, you may recall, Andrew played in the band for the local production of The Boy from Oz. This year he is in the orchestra for My Fair Lady. Rehearsals every few minutes are going to be worthwhile when Joss, Toby, Bethany and I go to see the production next Friday night. Andrew has watched the movie with the kids. I haven't seen the film for a long time but remember that the romance is pretty disappointing. She comes back and instead of a kissing her, he sits down for a nap in his armchair and asks for his slippers!?

Last night, as I was at work until 7 and rehearsal started at 6.30, Andrew left the big kids at home and brought Bethany in to the library. On our way home we saw two gangs of children, well, one was of teenagers, roaming the streets of our suburb trick or treating. When I pulled in to the drive, Joss and Tobes poked their head through the curtains. The trick or treaters had knocked on the door but as we had no lollies, Joss and Tobes just hid! The kids ought to be thankful that they were spared my lecture on the Americanisation of our society. I have no problem with with the American tradition of celebrating Halloween, though I don't really understand it, but it isn't our tradition.

Melbourne Cup festivities on the other hand.... I'm not remotely interested in the race itself. I like the food.

I like dressing up.

I enjoyed crimping Jeannie's hair.

I will continue enjoying the food tomorrow as we rather over-catered.

Yay for Australia, and yay for New South Wales as I wouldn't have had this fun if we'd been on holiday like Victoria. I'd have had other fun, but I'm putting a positive spin on the lack of public holiday. I think the celebration is really a work avoidance thing. Very few customers watched it with us but the whole council came downstairs to watch it on the big screen in the council meeting room. Work avoidance, what could be more Australian?

It begins....

2011-11-01T08:01:00.000+11:00

I had my first Stampin' Up class at my house on Saturday night. My work friends came over and we made Christmas tags.

Making Christmas tags in October is not at all the same thing as having Christmas decorations in the shops. It's about being prepared and saving yourself from madness in December.

Andrew was pleasantly surprised by the level of noise and amused by the level of chaos on the table.

These are some of Kristy's tags. She had lemon tart (from Bernard our French baker) and custard in that bowl.

We have been kept enthralled by Jossie's tales of the new madness amongst her classmates. The boys have commenced asking the girls to go out with them. Not that they go anywhere or do anything at all, from what I can gather. Jossie thinks that she and another girl are the only sane ones left. We think it's all beginning to get very interesting. Bethany is way ahead, of course, as she kissed a boy behind the library last year when she was in Kindy! Toby isn't being left out either as a girl rang him up and asked him to go to the bushdance. She's a family friend and also asked the rest of us, so we certainly aren't teasing him or mentioning the 'like' word, you know, like like. Somehow, I can see this all becoming less funny in the future.

Loving the Eighties

2011-10-27T07:27:00.000+11:00

I had this song on a compilation album, the name of which I can't remember. I did like it a lot.

Blue Skies

2011-10-22T23:37:00.001+11:00

There's no denying it, summer is on it's way. It isn't my favourite time of year but it is very nice being able to get washing dry quickly. I'm so good at finding the silver lining.

I took these photos yesterday on my way back to the library from School for Seniors where I gave a talk. This group of older men and women loved having a play with my e-readers and Daisy player. I'm sure they all rushed to the Apple shop on the way home to pick up an iPad.

What I'm reading: The Churchills by Mary S Lovell. She wrote the fabulous biography of the Mitford girls that I read a couple of years ago. She isn't exactly branching out here as the Mitfords were cousins of the Churchills but she doesn't need to mix it up because I love reading about this era (these eras, really) and find the wacky British aristocracy fascinating. I read Pat Barker's Life Class, set during WWII. I didn't enjoy it as much as her Regeneration Trilogy, largely because it wasn't as long so was over too quickly.
For book club we read Jamie Ford's Hotel on the corner of Bitter and Sweet which I am sorry to say, we none of us liked terribly much. I quite like the title but found the book overwhelmingly underwhelming. Now we are reading Alain de Botton's How Proust can change your life which I read a couple of years ago and chose for the book club. At the end of year party last year, club members said they didn't like it! I said that there was no hope for them, it's a wonderful book, but I am very keen to see if I will love it as much now and what my own club members will think.
What I am watching: Apart from a little An Idiot Abroad before falling asleep, I have forsaken the television for books, card making and, for the moment, assignment marking. Procrastinating (I thought I had grown out of that) is also taking up time. I will finish these assignments by Monday and get back to the fun stuff!

Loving the Eighties

2011-10-20T16:58:00.001+11:00

I am having a lot of fun with these. Any requests Janice?

Jollyroger

2011-10-14T19:02:00.017+11:00

My Dad is blogging! Technically, he's blogging again, here, and I for one hope he keeps it up!

There's also a house and vineyard for sale. These steps could be yours! See it here.

Poor Milo

2011-10-13T19:49:00.000+11:00

It had to be done. I realise that he is looking down in this photo, but looking up made little difference.

He was a big ball of wool.

Later that afternoon......

He's getting lots of cuddles because he looks so miserable (and roughly half the size)!

Loving the Eighties

2011-10-13T13:55:00.000+11:00

The end of the holidays

2011-10-09T09:38:00.000+11:00

I can't say that I have spent this holidays lazing about but I can certainly say that I have had fun. Spending time with family is great, even if it means that our house feels like it's bursting at the seams!

My working week was seriously shortened as my long Monday was a public holiday and Friday was my council's picnic day, so I only worked on Tuesday and Wednesday! Mum did a great job looking after he children, she even sat through the Smurfs movie.

Dad, Tim, Shona, Pumpkin and Gumnut arrived on Thursday evening so, after coffee at Cache and a little shopping, Mum and I spent the day cooking and changing sheets. Bethany was very pleased with her babycino even though she really wants an 'adultcino'.

On Friday we drove out to Junee (luckily I don't tire of the licorice and chocolate factory) and as we arrived a group of vintage cars pulled out. Mum and Bethany were talking about how old they were when Bethany encouraged Mum with the comment that while she was old, at least she was in the New Testament. For the rest of the stay we referred to the age of anything by which testament it must belong to.

We all love having cousins around and my three played so well with Pumpkin and Gumnut.

It wasn't only the Wagga children, either. Uncle Andrew was a big hit.

Now, the house is quiet and full of clean but not folded washing. Back to school tomorrow. At least Bethany is excited about that. We need to plan for Christmas when we will be together again with the addition of the Melbourne crew. We definitely can't fit another five people in this house, does anyone need a housesitter over Christmas?!

Loving the Eighties

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000+11:00

So much fun!

Around the Lake

2011-10-05T07:30:00.000+11:00

Mum's here and we're having a lovely time. We walked right around Lake Albert on Monday (yay for public holidays!) while the children rode with Andrew.

Of course the riders beat us around which suited us very well as they had fish and chips ready for us.

Spring is Wagga is so lovely, shame it doesn't last....

Family fun

2011-09-30T16:43:00.000+10:00

Our visitor-filled holidays are almost half over! Sare, Ty and kids came to stay for a few days and they have been days filled with merriment. They arrived late Tuesday afternoon and looked after our kids on Wednesday while Andrew and I were at work. I finished at 3, as usual, but after sorting dinner out, went back to work from 6.30 til 9pm. We had our very first HSC Lock-In where we opening the library exclusively for HSC students. We weren't sure how it would go, or if more than 2 students would come so were thrilled when 18 students and 1 teacher came and they all loved it, asking for us to hold several more before the HSC!

Working such a long day was even more worth it when I remembered that I won't be going back to work again until Tuesday, thanks to a flex day today and the long weekend. That meant that I could enjoy Thursday with our visitors. Sare helped Joss with the crystal making kit she bought at Questacon.

We made the obligatory trip to the Junee Licorice Factory. Jossie, who wore that memorable outfit to the pool last week, objected to Bethany's choice of attire. Pick your battles, I say. If she wants to go out in the holidays with orange feather hair and blue eyeshadow, I'm happy for her to do it!

Sadly, I didn't get many good photos of everyone. We played lots of games and enjoyed lots of good food.

They left this morning and I have been making mini muffins all afternoon for our church's street fair tomorrow. I wonder if I'll get a long sleep in at some stage.

Loving the Eighties

2011-09-29T09:00:00.002+10:00

I love the way Paul Weller can sing with chewing gum in his mouth.

Lasts

2011-09-25T16:46:00.000+10:00

Friday was the last day of school for term three and Jossie's last day in her Wagga Wagga Christian College winter uniform! She and Toby went to Kids' Club on Friday evening and we realised that it was her last Kids' Club as next term she'll go to SAYGE, which is the youth group. Kids' Club and SAYGE both allow kids from the year below (year 2 for Kids' Club and year 6 for SAYGE) to come along for fourth term. She's growing up! The last Kids' Club for each term is held at the pool and she and Toby both looked 'interesting' when we hopped into the car. Toby's board shorts are longer than his sports shorts and Jossie put this little outfit together herself. Funnily enough, I remember being big on long, striped socks, though I was in year nine at the time. Very advanced is Jossie!

I have been rather busy in the last week with our church's Big Day Out. Each year the whole church heads somewhere, usually a little way out of town, for a day of fellowship and teaching. For the first time I was asked to organise the catering...... for 120 people! I was freaked out to say the least and I can't say that there were no tears involved in the lead up, but with lots of help it all came together in the end, thanks be to God! We had it at Downside which is not a town but an old hall on the way to Coolamon where they have bushdancing. We went there recently for Narelle's birthday.

The weather was perfect and while I didn't get to experience the day in the same way as everyone else, I know they all had lots of fun.

After lunch there was cricket......

swings.....

and Bethany's favourite, face painting.

All my head space had been taken up with my job for Saturday so I had nothing planned for dinner afterwards. We went into town and tried a Chinese restaurant we hadn't been to before. We haven't had great experiences at the others we have tried over the years but were pleasantly surprised and the kids really enjoyed it. I tried to talk them into fried ice-cream which was a favourite of mine as a child but they didn't like the sound of it (?!). We were right next door to Gelatissimo so had gelato instead - the pistachio was very nice but I missed the batter.

I took this photo this morning. It's the garden next door to church and I just loved the white blossoms against the sky. The kids now have two weeks off school and I am very pleased that I won't be making school lunches tomorrow. Shame I have to go to work though.

Loving the Eighties

2011-09-22T07:55:00.002+10:00

Those were the days, when real men wore eye liner and lipstick, not fake tan. One of the female singers has a rat's tail (I had one in year six) and the lyrics are positively sinister! I really did like Phil Oakley, though.... he also sang Together in Electric Dreams. Did you know that Bud Cort did the voice of the computer in that movie? That's a little bit of Harold and Maude trivia for you. My head is full of useless information!

Travel all over the countryside

2011-09-18T16:13:00.000+10:00

I remember going to Canberra in Year 6. We looked in the gate at The Lodge and......um......ate lollies and didn't sleep in our motel. That's pretty much the extent of my memories of that trip. Jossie and Toby have both been on big excursions in the last couple of weeks and took my old camera in order to capture their memories.

It's interesting to see what they think worthwhile photographing. Joss took plenty of photos of Parliament House.

This is one of many fuzzy photos of the Senate. I think, on the whole, Joss enjoyed getting away from school with her friends most of all.

Toby, on the other hand, talked non-stop for ages when he came home from Dubbo. He told me every story he had been told about escape attempts at Dubbo gaol.

He tried to remember every single animal he saw.

This is Jossie's favourite animal. Ever since she went to Dubbo Zoo two years ago and bought a soft toy rhino called Greg (her choice) she has been rhino mad. She wants to be a rhino when she grows up.

Bethany bought a giraffe at Taronga Zoo earlier in the year so she also has a favourite animal. We discussed, before Toby left, which animal he would buy. I suggested a lion because that is my favourite (Aslan), or a meerkat because they are so funny.

He came home with Steve.

Though he didn't take any self portraits on the bus (a shot very popular with Joss) he did take a few of friends photographing him.

And this one of his teacher in the stocks. I'll bet she wishes she had some of these in the classroom.

It's nice having everyone back home again and now there is only one week til the holidays! We're having lots of visitors, can't wait!

Loving the Eighties

2011-09-15T07:52:00.000+10:00

This one is for Andrew who still loves Nik Kershaw. We bought one of his newer albums when we were in the UK and listened to it in the car as we drove through Scotland so I would have to say that I am rather attached to him myself.

Day in Junee

2011-09-14T06:57:00.000+10:00

Andrew, Joss and Tobes got home from Sydney on Monday evening, having had a fabulous time. Jossie also had tales of her excursion to Canberra, including some funny stories told to her at a behind the scenes tour of the National Library. This photo is typical of excursion photography. You can even see trees if you look hard enough.

We unpacked the weekend's suitcases and packed one of them again straight away as Toby left for Dubbo the very next morning! He slept at Western Plains Zoo last night. As he and Liam lined up to climb on the bus yesterday morning, David told Toby not to be eaten by a lion..... an elephant will look much better in the photos. I wonder if they got any sleep at all.

I had one day in which to get Jossie's clothes washed as she is going to a maths camp in Sydney today. As I went to pack for her last night I realised that, not being a camping family (really Amy?), our one sleeping bag and torch were in Dubbo! Alice saved the day and Jossie is all packed and excited to go. Not excited about the maths, just the camp.

We had a branch meeting yesterday. There are thirteen branch libraries in the Riverina Regional Library. Wagga is by far the biggest, bigger than all the others put together in fact, and the different councils take turns hosting the meetings. Junee is very handy to Wagga, only 25 minutes away and there are some lovely old buildings in the town. The council building is art deco and very pink, inside and out. We went across the road for morning tea, to a lovely old house called Belmore Manor. Why did the colonials feel the need to call their houses manors? We have one in Wagga too.

A view of the pink council building from the front garden.

They even had an ex-parrot.

Tonight, we're down to one child! I would comment on how quiet it's going to be, but.........

Mad Week

2011-09-10T18:29:00.000+10:00

It has all been happening this week! On Monday and Tuesday Bethany was still having very high temperatures so one of us had to stay home with her. I had spent Thursday and Friday housebound so Andrew took the job. I had to take two lots of thirty people for a walking tour of Wagga's historic buildings on Monday and Tuesday afternoons so was very thankful that Andrew was able to take those days off.

On Tuesday morning, however, one lot of carer's leave was not enough as Toby had to perform three times at the eisteddfod! I stayed home with Bethany while Andrew watched Toby perform beautifully. He brought home two trophies and a highly commended! He played again in the evening with children much older and some were even doing seventh grade piano (Toby just did his first grade exam) and he came fourth. So proud.

On Thursday I went to the Rules Club which is like an RSL or leagues club. I spoke about the library to the lovely ladies of the View Club. I don't usually do work things on my day off but they only meet on Thursdays. They were really lovely and I enjoyed a huge plate of what I call country chinese food, followed by peaches and custard. The ladies heard about everything that goes on at the library and many said they will be seeing me there more often.

Stampin' Up has a brilliant deal at the moment on starter kits for becoming a demonstrator. I couldn't say no. I am not exactly loaded with spare time so am just becoming a hobby demo which means that I have joined to save money on stamping supplies for myself and friends can buy from me too. I'll hold the odd class or workshop, the girls at work want me to make Christmas tags with them, but mainly I'll just go on as usual, making cards for myself and to sell at markets. I do love it.

Yesterday afternoon, before the disco, Bethany and I said goodbye to Andrew and Toby as they drove off for Sydney. They stopped somewhere along the way, meeting a bus that Jossie was on, coming home from her Canberra excursion. An elated but exhausted Jossie hopped off the bus that was heading south and hopped into the car and headed north again! We had a bit of a diary failure that saw Bethany's party scheduled on the same day as her grandmother's 70th.....oops! So Bethany and I stayed home while everyone else went to Sydney.

I hopped in to bed after midnight, preparing for a big party is time consuming to say the least. I probably didn't need to stamp 25 lolly bags with five different stamps each.

Bethany was very excited this morning. Still sporting the crimped hair.

Airborne Gymnastics is a great place for a big party with lots of active children. This was taken right at the beginning and I'm not sure she had that control again.

As promised, Bethany ate the icing and strawberries from her cake. The biggest hit on the food table was the plate of rum balls minus the rum, Bethany's request. I was pleased that the sandwiches all went and the carrot, celery and dip was at least tasted.

I confess that I was rather glad when it was over, though not nearly as glad as the girl running the games! A whole class of year one students, plus a couple of extras, can be very rowdy. Now we are at home and Bethany is enjoying her presents, thoroughly pleased with her day. Job done then.

Loving the Eighties

2011-09-10T10:29:00.003+10:00

Tim has Phat Beat Phriday after a mate of his started Big Hair Wednesday. I was never into rap or big hair rock (except maybe in year nine when I fancied the keyboard player from Bon Jovi. What?!). The eighties were the only years that I was really into the music that was in the charts and I confess that I do love to get a bit nostalgic about the music now. So, not tying myself down to a particular day, I may share some of the songs that I loved when I was young. It will probably read as a list of whom I fancied....

I was ten years old when this song came out! I did fancy Howard Jones and even had a dream about him once. I also fancied Boy George in that year........ are ten year olds these days so naive?

Disco night

2011-09-09T22:05:00.000+10:00

After almost a week of high temperatures while battling a mysterious virus, Bethany has been back at school since Tuesday. She has come home weary in the afternoons, not terribly hungry and keen for a lie down. I thought this might mean we'd get away with missing the disco. No such luck. Bethany felt perfectly fine and had spent all day discussing hair with her friends as this was no ordinary disco. It was a crazy hair disco. We did consider red hair spray to go with the crimping and teasing but I, most selfishly, knew that I would not be keen for hair washing and blow drying after arriving home past Bethany's bedtime and with many jobs still between me and mine.

In the end she was pretty pleased with the 'do'. We picked up a friend who just had her enrolment interview at school as she is starting kindy next year. I remembered that Bethany went to the disco the year before she started school. I think the fact that Bethany, as a third child, was used to school, rowdy big children and noisy crowds meant that she was a little better prepared.

That girl in the middle seems perplexed.

Bethany quickly kicked off her shoes and joined in the madness.

Nelly had the best crazy hair by far! She won a prize.

The plaits were all different colours and held up by helium balloons. Her face was fabulous too, putting my efforts with the crimper and comb in the shade. She does have an arty sister in year nine.

In the end, a good time was had by all. Now, of course, it's 10pm and I have just put Bethany's cake in the oven. I'm having flashbacks of the last time I made this huge chocolate cake the night before a party at Airborne Gymnastics....... Milo jumped up and ate the top off the cooling cake and I had to start again!

Shooting with Hello Kitty

2011-09-06T10:45:00.000+10:00

Ah, twelve year old girls. So grown up in many ways but still so giggly and girly. I had thought that Jossie was a bit beyond character birthday cakes but I was wrong. Thankfully, this one wasn't hard to do. Hello Kitty!

I offered a card making party but, for some strange reason, they preferred to spend time shooting each other with lasers. There was a little posing going on beforehand.

It all went out the window once the war games began.

They had such a lot of fun, great idea for a party. Sadly, Toby didn't play as Joss wanted only girls. He was every bit as dejected as he looks here..... for the entire two hours.

Bethany had a high temperature so was happy to laze around playing phones and chatting.

Now I just need to gear up for Bethany's birthday party on this Saturday. With her whole class. All by myself. Easy.....

Happy Fathers' Day

2011-09-06T09:52:00.000+10:00

I have put the apostrophe where it is for a reason! Happy Fathers' Day (for Sunday) to the three dads in my life.

Belated birthdays

2011-09-03T10:31:00.000+10:00

It's lucky that Milo isn't a lady..... this is him, fast asleep.

I had stamp club on Thursday night, so much fun, and did mean to take lots of photos but forgot! This was taken right at the end, we certainly make a mess. My three finished cards are at the front.

Jossie's birthday party is today! Yes, her birthday was in July and it is now September. That's what you get for having a birthday in the holidays and having busy lives. It spreads out the fun. I have never been one to get crafty over birthdays, cakes have been the biggest effort, but this year I employed my new paper skills (and some of Liz' hardware) to personalise lollie bags. Luckily Bethany has been ill so I stayed home from work yesterday, it took an age to die cut all those letters!

Jossie had lots of fun filling them.

Twelve girls are going to spend the afternoon trying to shoot each other with lasers. I did mean to make the same bags for Bethany's party next week but as she has invited the whole class, I think I'll have to do something that doesn't take quite so long!

In case you were worried, we took Bethany to the doctor this morning and it's just a virus. It hasn't affected her tongue, either.

Moment behind the photo

2011-08-30T19:36:00.001+10:00

At the library we have been working with Sonya Gee from the ABC, learning to record video and audio material. For the last three sessions we have worked on making something for The Moment Behind the Photo project. It has been such fun and we are very keen to do more so we don't forget how to use Final Cut Express and so we produce some fabulous videos for the library.

We edited each other's stories so mine was uploaded to Vimeo by Margot. Cute baby, but not nearly so cute as the little ones on Tim's blog!

Front page

2011-08-29T20:49:00.000+10:00

Toby made the front page of the paper again today. Last year he was photographed during the eisteddfod and this year he was photographed beforehand to promote it. Monday is my looong day at work so Andrew brought the kids in so Toby could show me. I asked him if anyone had requested his autograph. He said that he hoped they would!

Our church will be putting on a street fair on the first of October and my friend Sheree will be face-painting. She brought her paints in to church yesterday to practise and transformed Bethany into a cat.

We were waiting in the car while Andrew picked up a BBQ chicken and she told me that she ought to be in a box in the boot. She doesn't do things half heartedly.

Prune tart

2011-08-28T14:26:00.000+10:00

One of the great things about Canberra Women's Christian Convention is that it only goes from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm, making it so much easier for women, particularly those with children, to get away. There were women there from Wagga who got up very early and drove the three hours on Saturday morning but we took a more civilised approach. We left Wagga just after four and arrived at seven, ravenous. We walked down to the fabulous square at Kingston and had dinner at Madame Woo's, followed by a gelato. We stayed up late (for some, I'm a night owl) playing games and chatting.

We got up early (for some, one of us wakes at 5 every morning!) and rushed down to Silo in the hope of a table for six. We got one and had the most fabulous breakfast.

The conference was at a school in Canberra, a great venue, and we had a fabulous day of learning from God's word, singing, eating and chatting. Jenny Salt spoke on Ecclesiastes, best known for meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless, and encouraged us to enjoy life and all the good things God has given us but not to put our hope in those things because death will end them all while Jesus has conquered death for us!

On the way home I ate the little prune tart I bought at Silo. What a way to top it off.

Alex the lion

2011-08-25T21:26:00.002+10:00

I am madly cooking, packing, preparing my Kids' Church lesson and doing the washing so that I can go away to Canberra tomorrow afternoon! I am going to Canberra Women's Convention with five women from church and am looking forward to it very much. We're staying in my favourite suburb, Kingston, which means a trip to Silo!

Bethany was super excited last Friday to have been bestowed with the honour of bringing Alex home for a stay at our house. Alex is the class lion, who stays with all the class members over the year. Adventures are encouraged, photos are taken and a page is coloured in to record the excitement.

Bethany has clearly been looking forward to this all year. She is very attached to Alex, he went everywhere with her.

Milo wasn't keen on being ridden. He did have a little chomp of Alex's leg - no damage done.

Toby had the idea of teaching Alex to plank (I thought we had passed through that phase).

Bethany returned Alex today, most reluctantly, saying that her giraffe was going to miss him very much.

I said no three times but eventually caved in and agreed to mark for a new lecturer who had no-one else to ask. The assignments arrived this evening, just in time for me to go away, so I'll be a very busy woman next week. Sigh..... thinking of all the stamps I can buy with the money does help, though!

Book Week in Spring

2011-08-23T21:29:00.000+10:00

Liz, Megan and I hadn't been to a market with our cards for ages. We hadn't really found one that was completely worth our while. We're not talking about making lots of money here, not at all. Making cards with Stampin' Up is not a terribly cheap hobby but it is one that saves you from buying cards and does allow you to sell a few so you can buy more stamps! On Sunday we went to our first ever Muddi Boutique Markets. I was a touch nervous as it costs $90 to have a stall at Muddi - more than we had made at any of the little markets we had been to.

Liz was away and I was at church all morning so Megan was on her own in the morning (I had helped set up on Saturday). I didn't get any good photos because it was so busy.

It was so much fun! We have found the markets for us! Now I just need to get online selling up and running. Some spare time would be handy....

The weather is really lovely at the moment. Still cold in the mornings and evenings but warm and sunny during the day. The blossoms are out.

They're pretty at night too. This is just outside the library as I rode home after work last night.

The warmer weather is great for Book Week parades as fairy costumes and footy kits are not winter clothing! Despite being a great lover of books, I am ambivalent about Book Week. Finding three costumes is a huge pain for the non-crafty, time poor parent and the focus isn't on books, it is just a costume parade. Computer Game and movie characters everywhere - I don't mind the comic book characters. Jossie and I have been re-reading Harry Potter and Bethany watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so she wanted to go as Hermione. After all I just said about movie characters, I crimped her hair just like in the movie. Of course, Hermione really has bushy hair, not crimped. Bethany did love the crimping - thanks Mum for giving Joss that awesome hair kit for Christmas!

Toby was going to go as Leo from Emily Rodda's Rondo Trilogy. I was going to make a music box but he and Andrew didn't think that was a very masculine prop! So, I got a Football Academy book from the library and he wore soccer gear. Jossie went as Jodie from Jacqueline Wilson's My Sister Jodie. The orange feathers represent hair.

Phew, that's over. Next year Jossie will be in high school and I will only have two costumes to come up with!

Granny

2011-08-18T14:22:00.000+10:00

Last Monday my Granny died. We knew she was very unwell so it wasn't a shock, but it was terribly sad. We stayed with Tim, Shona, Pumpkin and Gumnut on Thursday night and the funeral was in Sydney on Friday. It was, of course, lovely to see all the family, if not the best reason to get together. I gave a little tribute to Granny at the funeral, and thought I might give it here too.

I am very lucky to have had my Granny until I am almost forty years old. Lucky because she was a wonderful grandmother and not everyone has their grandmother so long. Lucky because it has been a great joy to have my children know her and they are old enough now to always remember her. I also feel lucky because I have known her as an adult. I have grown up enough to realise that Granny didn’t come into existence when I was born, she didn’t always have grey hair. She had quite an extraordinary life.

I love looking at photos from when she was young. So beautiful, and while I know that the war was far from glamourous in reality, it is hard not to think of her involvement with Winston Churchill, MI6 and the Enigma machine and not imagine it to be glorious like an episode of Poirot, complete with whirlwind romance with a handsome Australian. Then, coming all the way to the other side of the world to start a new life. It must have been hard and shows how strong she was.

I know that she and Bamma did a good job of raising their children because of who they are and the children they have raised – a family to be proud of and I know that she was. Granny said that if she had known I would be her only grand-daughter, she would have spoilt me more. She spoilt me plenty and I loved going to their house in St Ives. So much so that I ran away from home when I was very young and walked several kilometers to Granny’s.

I loved the plum tree out the front, the flocked wallpaper down the hall, reading Up the Garden Path and Peter Pan in the spare bedroom, squeezing the bath pearls, the Lladro figurines I was careful not to touch and, my favourite activity, trying on Granny’s jewellery. Everything was beautiful at Granny’s and smelt so good too. If Granny gave me a tissue from her handbag it would smell lovely like her. I had little jewellery bags that she gave me and they smelt like Granny for years.

The food was always good at Granny’s too, chicken casserole with almonds, hazelnut crescents and my Christmas was all about mince pies, Quality Streets on a little plastic tree and Granny’s Christmas Cake. I only liked the marzipan and icing as a child but now I love it all and am thrilled to have Granny’s recipe and will make it every year and think of her. My children loved visiting Granny and Bamma for the food too. Granny always had special things for the kids. I was thrilled when Jossie was born so that Granny would have a great granddaughter and she had plenty of girls in the end. You could tell from all the photos around her house that she loved her family as we loved her. It was wonderful for her to spend her last years living with family, being so well cared for, and where we could come and spend time with her. My favourite photo was taken last Christmas with Bethany sitting on Granny’s knee, each looking at the other, so happy. Goodbye Granny, we love you very much.

Bushdancing

2011-08-08T07:12:00.000+10:00

Spring came early last week. Bizarrely high temperatures had all the library users talking about the glorious weather. I was, of course, indoors for most of it and, not being a summer person, was rather suspicious of it. If it starts getting hot in early August, what's going to happen in January and February? I needn't have worried, winter came back on the weekend with rain and cold. Perfect weather for a bushdance.

Our friend Narelle had her fortieth birthday party at Downside Hall which is only ten minutes from Wagga but in the middle of nowhere. A ramshackle old hall with a long, skinny room off the side with tables for three parties. There were children everywhere and we had a fabulous dinner. It was quite hard to take photos as it was packed. Jossie did manage to take this lovely portrait of me.

At eight o'clock the band started. I understand that this band has been playing once a month at Downside for thirty years! Now, I'm not naturally inclined towards bushdancing but it really was a lot of fun.

Bethany was in her element.

Jossie even had a tall, handsome partner with an earring. She knew we were going to tease her about it.

Even Toby danced! It was such a great night out for the whole family, which sounds like an ad, doesn't it? I mean that everyone had something fun to do - the parents weren't putting up with something that the kids enjoyed and the kids weren't asking to go home while the parents were having fun.

It was a late night too. We were amongst the first to leave and got home around 10.30. The car trip was also confirmation of how much fun Toby and Bethany had outside, playing with the fire - the whole car smelt of smoke!

Success

2011-08-05T07:14:00.000+10:00

Victory and now success, what a positive blog I have at the moment! Toby has been playing the piano for a few years now and had his first grade exam yesterday morning. It was very handy that it fell on my day off. Andrew was so nervous for Toby he was glad to have to be at work. Toby was nervous too.

We had a little time to kill after dropping Jossie and Bethany at school so went for our celebration hot chocolate and caramel slice before the exam. Toby has worked so hard on the piano, practising so much that I really was confident that there would be cause for celebration.

He got an A! It really was well deserved. I don't know where he gets this perfectionism from, any good marks I ever received (at least as a child..... perhaps also as an adult at uni) were despite my poor effort.

Congratulations to Toby, I am looking forward to his musical development. And some new music.

Victory

2011-07-30T15:36:00.003+10:00

It has been a great week for sport in our house (I'll bet you didn't expect that from me). We watched the last three nights of the Tour de France, having friends over on Sunday night to eat camembert and charlotte aux cerises (cherry mousse cake from last year's Taste le Tour) and watch Cadel's ride into Paris. I have watched le Tour for years now but this is the first year I have found interest beyond the food and scenery. I finally understand how the race works and Cadel had a good year, at last! It really was very exciting. Andy Schleck played a very good baddy (arrogance delivered in a monotone) and because he had no cause to whinge and rode brilliantly, we were able to overlook Cadel's high voice and extraordinary bum forehead to go with his bum chin. If I wasn't for the fact that we were exhausted after all those late nights, we'd be very sorry it's over.

Not of global, or even national, significance, Jossie and Toby's victories this morning were very sweet for us. Toby thought they were playing a team that gave them a thorough beating last time so was expecting a tough game. They won 11 -2 and Toby got 3 or 4 of those goals (he couldn't remember how many).

Jossie's netball team has greatly improved. Jossie is rather her mother's daughter when it comes to sporting ability and her team has only won one game in the season and a half they have been playing. Today they played the team they beat last year and won 26 - 7! Unaccustomed to winning, they were very excited. I did feel bad for the other team, though, who haven't won any games.

The weather appears to be turning, ever so slightly. We have had some severe frosts in the morning but it is warming up nicely during the day. Bethany and I went for a ride this afternoon and saw, to my great delight, blossoms on two trees! The delight turned to dismay when we were swooped by a magpie. Spring in Wagga has some serious drawbacks. Swooping magpies and hayfever inducing pollen being chief among them. Long live winter!

Our book club met to discuss our third book - Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle. I love how differently we all feel about the books. One of us absolutely loved it, some of us found it enjoyable and two of our number doubted its authenticity. Now we are reading Love in a Cold Climate and I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of it because I love it. We have a DVD of the film and are going to watch it the week before we meet to discuss the book.

I am also reading all the Harry Potters again. I saw the movie with Liz and Ian and soaked three tissues.

Bethany received a chocolate coin maker for her birthday and was very excited to use it. In fact, she wants me to hurry up and finish posting so we can make some more.

I have also been making cards because we have a market coming up. Thankfully my evenings are free again!

Melbourne, Part II

2011-07-16T18:54:00.001+10:00

So, I was in the middle of telling you about the soccer when I ran out of steam. Actually, I was waiting for some of Andrew's photos to upload and they were taking forever but they are here now. I couldn't leave this photo out of a proper account of the soccer. During half time everyone came inside to buy food and drink or just to huddle together and get warm. A very tall, slightly inebriated Celtic fan took a shine to Bethany, calling her 'Celtic Girl'. They had quite a long conversation and he was such a friendly fellow that Andrew took this photo of them.

He had the word 'Feely' printed on the back of his Celtic jersey and when we were back in our seats and I was commenting that it was so cold and wet that no-one would consider streaking (I like a bit of added excitement with my sport) Andrew said that alcohol makes you warm and I was hoping Feely might give it a go. No such luck.

Andrew took this photo of the kids on the menu at Federation Square.

Bethany and Charlotte wanted to go for a carriage ride, or at least to pat the horses.

It was very sad saying goodbye. The cousins have a lot of fun together.

Only one more day until I go back to work but the kids have another week of holidays. Their paternal grandparents are coming to play with them, the excitement goes on....

Happy Birthday Jocelyn May

2011-07-15T23:28:00.001+10:00

I know I don't seem nearly old enough to have a twelve year old daughter but there you go ;) Such an interesting, in between age, she is very excited to be growing up. She has had a great day, even if she did spend the evening crying (she and Andrew went to see Harry Potter). Happy birthday lovely girl!

We had a great time in Melbourne with P, K, C, H and G. Despite the fact that P and K have lived there for a few years and we are only five and a half hours away, we have hardy spent any time in Melbourne. This was our longest visit yet and it still seemed very short. Of course, as babies change so very quickly, we loved spending time with the twins - they are so sweet and funny!

On Tuesday, while P and K were at work, we walked to the train station and caught the train into the city. It was only a fifteen minute walk but we discovered that our kids are a bit soft! We need to go on some long walks to toughen them up.

Hot chocolate makes everything better, especially the Lindt Café's hot chocolates made with proper chocolate.

We wandered around town, had some lunch (Toby now loves sushi which is a bit unfortunate as there isn't much of it in Wagga) before walking over to Federation Square. The kids were pretty impressed to find themselves on the big screen.

We were there to see The Art of the Brick, a Lego exhibition. I confess, I would never have thought of Lego as an artist's material of choice.

Toby continues in his passion for planking and Andrew was pretty pleased with this photo!

The cousins enjoy spending time together - there are only three weeks between Bethany and Charlotte but a significant height difference!

Synchronised cousin planking followed the Lego.

And was rewarded with doughnuts.

Wednesday didn't quite turn out as planned when our car refused to start. the NRMA came to the rescue and we are so thrilled with them as they completely took care of what could have been a very stressful situation. They organised for our car to be towed all the way back to Wagga to our own mechanic, and gave us a hire car. They would also have paid for accommodation had we needed it. Thanks NRMA!

The main reason we chose to go to Melbourne at this particular time was, of course, the soccer match between Celtic and the Melbourne Victory. Scottish football teams don't play in Australia very often so fans came from all over the see Celtic play and the atmosphere was great.

I'm very thankful for that atmosphere because it was very cold and wet! We had great seats in the sense that we were very close and in the middle but we were in the open and it rained a fair bit.

Bethany's spirits were not dampened. She enjoyed the game (mind you, she was playing Plants vs Zombies on Andrew's phone when Celtic scored), the fish and chips, the singing and the crowds.

Toby was very nervous as Celtic lost when they played in Sydney. I really wasn't keen on the tears that would follow a loss either so we were all thrilled when Celtic won.

I have more photos and was planning on staying up until the end of le Tour tonight but, I am most put out to realise, I am coming down with a cold and ought to go to bed. Part two to follow. Bonne nuit!

Off to Melbourne

2011-07-10T19:53:00.000+10:00

There are many wonderful things about living in Wagga (to balance it out, it was -4.7 degrees here the other morning) and one of those things is that we are half way between Sydney and Melbourne. Tomorrow morning we are hopping in the car, driving for around 5.5 hours and staying with P, K, C, H and G for a few days. I can't wait! I probably won't take my laptop, but I will be taking a new work iPad (to familiarise myself for teaching purposes you understand) so I may get the chance to post from P and K's house.

Before we have metropolitan adventures, I need to fill you in on Bethany's birthday. Jane most kindly looked after Toby and Bethany while I was at work but I left at lunch time and the afternoon was spent enjoying her presents. Mum bought her some proper, grown-up make-up and it has had a good workout every day since. I didn't take a photo of myself as a finished product, it was a little unflattering though it was a good showcase for the rainbow of colours available.

This is her first attempt at doing her own face. After yesterday's and today's efforts I would have to say that she has become bolder as she has gone on. Bethany is definitely a more is more type of girl.

Neither Joss nor Toby were particularly enamoured of the strawberry ice-cream cake which Bethany took as a personal affront until she realised it would mean she could eat it for dessert three nights running.

Bethany loves animals and wants to be a vet when she grows up. When I was in Canberra, earlier in the year, we visited the Oxfam shop and I bought this hand carved set of animals sitting around a Kenya shaped table, having drinks. Bethany loves the giraffe and Jossie the rhino.

We were in town yesterday, getting a bit of this and that, when Jossie realised that we were all wearing hoods. The kids all pulled theirs on and pretended to be gangsters. Bethany has a little toy squirrel in her hand, attempting to share her hood.

I'm sure this will go down well in Melbourne.

Last day of six

2011-07-07T15:30:00.000+10:00

I'm getting lots of cuddles from this little girl today as she won't be so little tomorrow when she turns seven. She is, as you can imagine, very excited.

She has often commented that she doesn't like birthday cake very much. Most children just eat the icing off and abandon the cake and I tried to explain that children's birthday cakes are often the very plainest of cakes. I can make much more delicious cakes than those that are easy to shape into mermaids and such but she didn't want that sort of cake at all. She wants an ice-cream cake.

Memories of horrid, plasticky ice-cream cakes at McDonalds' parties when I was young have rather put me off ice-cream cake so I decided to go fully home-made. I have made Nigella's strawberry ice-cream with lovely pure cream and fresh strawberries. Bethany helpfully cleaned out the ice-cream maker's freezer bowl before I washed it up.

Do you like the way her fingernails match the freezer bowl? Andrew and Toby were in Sydney last weekend watching Celtic lose unexpectedly to the Central Coast Mariners so Jossie, Bethany and I had a girls' weekend. We painted our nails blue, made pizzas and watched Little Dorrit on DVD.

I finished my book club book for the month - Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle. I wasn't sure I wanted to read it as it looked a bit like a misery memoir. I know a lot of people love misery memoirs, I met a lady in the library once who read nothing else, but I am not a fan. Jeannette Walls has the background to write the most miserable of memoirs but she hasn't done that. She is remarkably non-judgmental of her parents and the book wasn't at all painful to read. Now, I am reading the memoir of a former kitchen maid (this book is marketed to lovers of Downton Abbey) and am finding it fascinating. Not surprisingly, she is pretty scathing of the upstairs folk. Still, they never seem very happy to me in books or on film so I think I would actually prefer to be downstairs, doing something useful and falling in love with Mr Bates. They all did that didn't they?

Early Birthday

2011-06-30T22:38:00.000+10:00

Bethany turns seven a week from tomorrow and, being a last minute sort of a person, I hadn't given much thought to how she would celebrate her birthday at school - tomorrow is the last day of school for 3 weeks. When I arrived to pick up the kids this afternoon, I was informed that the birthday celebration is to be held tomorrow so could I please bake 23 cupcakes? We had three parent/teacher interviews in the late afternoon and then celebrated three excellent reports by going out to dinner. Bethany hopped into bed and drifted off to the sweet sound of my Kitchen-Aid making 23 butterfly cakes. Thanks to Nigella for the recipe (I added cocoa).

Here is a photo of Toby and his duet partner at Sunday's piano recital. I love his concentrating face. One little boy wore a red bow tie making us feel a bit bad about Toby's ripped jeans!

Facebook for business

2011-06-28T20:02:00.000+10:00

Oh, what a day I have had! Andrew had to go to Broken Hill for work today so the alarm went off at 5am. I could kiss his colleague Therese for coming to pick him up because I got to enjoy a lie in until 6 rather than go out in the below zero darkness to drive him to the airport. I made lunches and got ready for the day before waking the kids up at 7. Bethany got dressed and then came out, white as a sheet complaining of being very tired and feeling sick. Oh no! How would I get the others to school? How would I get those last brochures designed and sent to the printers when I don't have InDesign on my computer at home? I was meant to go to Albury for a Facebook for Business seminar! How do single parents do it?

Thankfully, she felt better after a few minutes and begged to be allowed to go to school. I dropped them off, finished the brochures, sent the files to the printer and rang the school to see how Bethany was. I was torn about whether to go to the seminar. The council had booked me in and paid for me and I knew it would be a good topic but I would be an hour and forty five minutes away, without my own car, so if Bethany fell ill I wouldn't be able to pick her up. I spoke to her teacher who said she was bouncing around with her friends at recess so I decided to go. I made it back to after school care to pick them up at ten to six and Bethany seems fine. Phew!

The seminar was great but I won't bore you with the details. I'll bore you with random photos taken since I was last here. Here are my two favourite book marks. If you read more than one book at a time you need at least two good book marks. The sickly green nail polish came as a freebie in one of the magazines the library subscribes to. Jossie loves it and no-one else does so she gets it!

We celebrated the end of our first stamp club. Six of us, plus Liz, met once a month for six months to make fabulous things using Stampin' Up. Two of the group have become demonstrators themselves so won't be coming back next month but the rest of us wouldn't give it up for anything!

Look at all the ink pads and markers Liz has....

Natalie made these delicious choux swans. Yes, there are glasses of pink bubbles behind the swans, we didn't have alcohol every month.....

I watched all of Downton Abbey, including the extras, last weekend. So, so, so very good. The DVDs will probably wear out as Kristy, Kate, Claire and Margot have all borrowed them and there is still more demand. Poor old channel seven.

My book club met to discuss Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. We had a fascinating discussion. I really liked the book, I have read it twice now, and Jeannie liked it too. Kate quite liked it but the others ranged from being annoyed by to outright hating it. Extraordinary! This month we are reading Jeannette Wall's The Glass Castle which I would never choose to read for myself so it should be very interesting when we get together next month. I just finished Maggie O'Farrell's The Hand That First Held Mine, passed to me by Kristy, which was lovely. Set in London in the sixties and the present with interesting characters and intriguing secrets, I loved it. If you want to borrow it from our library you'll have to wait until Claire returns it - I always pass on my favourites! What have you read lately that you have enjoyed?

A Free Weekend

2011-06-18T11:07:00.000+10:00

I finished my marking! I found it a hard slog this semester, I must confess. The assignments all took longer than the time I am allocated and perhaps I am tired of telling people what to do. Well, in this context anyway. My extended absence from the blog calls for a dot point, photo heavy, catch up.

Very popular on Facebook was the adventure of Bethany's haircut.

She had been asking for a long time to have her hair cut into a bob with a fringe.

Jossie would also love a fringe but has a serious cowlick in the way of that dream.

Jennie, my friend and hairdresser, admirably put up with the constant chatter.

Bethany was, and still is, thrilled with the result.

Bethany went to Noah's Ark for Laura's birthday party. Surprisingly, she isn't fearless when it comes to play equipment and has, in the past, shown great hesitation when it comes to the big slide. She seems to be over that hesitation now. I haven't seen many children go down this way.

Milo got a new bed and he loves it.

Jossie complained of a sore throat last Monday and ended up feeling very ill. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and she had tonsillitis so stayed home for a couple of days. I was home with her for one of the days but for the other we left her with instructions to do something other than play the Sims on Dad's computer. She produced these drawings as evidence that she did move from the study.

Bethany loves to copy drawings so did this one of herself in the same style. She is holding a pencil and her homework.

Then she added her own special touch to the next one.

Toby handed in all his well done cards and merit awards and received a Principal's Award at assembly. He will now get a pizza lunch with the principal.

Last night a few work friends and I went over to Shell's for pizza, card making and Just Dance 2. So...much...fun!

Just Dance 2 is not only excellent exercise but it is also educational. Thanks to Boney M's Rasputin, Toby wants to learn some Russian history.

Putting my feet up

2011-06-08T15:00:00.000+10:00

I'm at home today, nursing a sprained calf muscle. My first ever dance injury, I'm very impressed, even if I was just dancing by myself on Just Dance 2. Dance injury sounds a lot better than Wii injury, don't you think? Maybe dancing in a freezing room at 6.30 in the morning is not a good idea. I don't want to waste precious dancing time on stretching to warm up..... I'll worry about that once I have stopped hobbling around.

A day off with my feet up would have been so delightful if I didn't have these assignments to mark. I can't wait until I have finished! I suppose we appreciate freedom so much more after we have been enslaved. What, melodramatic, me? And I wonder where Bethany gets it from.

Mum and Dad came to stay for a couple of nights last week on their way down to Melbourne for the twins' first birthday. We love it when they come to stay. They were able to help us complete Bethany's first proper project. It's on transportation. She really wanted to use my stamps, that's why the birds are there.

I had a big pad of paper for the project and Bethany has loved doing some big drawings. We particularly like this one of ladybird girls looking discombobulated by a real ladybird.

On Saturday Jossie and I picked up her friend Lilli and I dropped them at the movies. This is the first time Jossie has been to the movies without an adult so I came in to check that they got their tickets and food without any problems. I gave Jossie $20 and Lilli had $25 so imagine my surprise when Jossie came running over to me asking for $2! Remember that this is the country and we don't pay the same ridiculous prices charged in metropolitan cinemas. I had left my wallet in the car so Joss went back to the counter and told the lady that they wouldn't need the Mars Pods. Just the ticket, popcorn, drink, chupa-chup and sour skittles then.

Lilli then stayed the night at our place and wore off the sugar high playing Twister.

I left Andrew with the kids and went to a chocolate fondue night with my friends from church. Look at all of that healthy fruit.

Sara has her own collection of pretty tea cups. Not quite as pretty as mine....

Mum and Dad came back last night, on their way home from Melbourne and Mum minded the children while Dad took me to the doctor. I had heard a noise when my leg had commenced hurting a lot (during what was going to be a top score for Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out. My enthusiasm for Just Dance 2 cannot be dampened) so thought I had better check that it was nothing serious. It's a terrible shame not to be able to ride by bike in to work when it is minus one outside.

Yes, my bike is the dirty one. Do you think the others wash their bikes when they get to work?

It's Your Library

2011-05-30T21:56:00.000+10:00

Two weeks of refurbishment at the library is over! It was a lot of hard work and the work is not quite finished yet but we opened the library this morning to lots of people who came for all the things they always get from the library plus cake. Despite spelling the three little words over the phone and then faxing them through to the bakery, Claire still had to add the apostrophe and dot the i.

People said very nice things all day about the changes we have made.

I could have done with a quiet weekend after all that physical work but Andrew went away for work and I had to do sport all by myself. No sleep in for me as I had to get Toby (Bethany came too) to soccer by 8.45. Once he was settled I walked over to the coffee van (it was foggy and very cold) and spent 20 minutes waiting for my coffee. In those twenty minutes Toby scored his two goals. Oops, a bit of a parenting fail there. I did see his brilliant save when he was goalie.

We drove home after soccer and picked up Jossie, who did get a sleep in, and took her to netball. They were outclassed by their opponents but Jossie played a good game. It was foggy all morning, the sun coming out just as we left the courts. I cooked and cleaned all afternoon, getting ready for my friends to come over to eat dessert and make cards. I had vanilla rose poached apricots, custard (proper custard), cinnamon poached pears and lemon yoghurt cake. We made these two cards.

The bottom one has faux mother of pearl on it which doesn't photograph very well. I do like it a lot.

After a busy morning at church I really wanted a quiet afternoon so I did some more washing (where does it all come from?) and watched L'homme du train on DVD. It was a lovely, quiet and thoughtful French film. I watched it from start to finish, uninterrupted. Downton Abbey was not treated with the same respect by Channel Seven. It is so disruptive to have a drama interrupted every five minutes for mindless advertisements. I'm afraid I cannot do it again so this morning I organised for Downton Abbey, season one, to be sent to my house from the UK for less then $18.

I read this book because I thought it had a very beautiful cover. I thought the same about Margaret Drabble's The Red Queen and her sister, A.S. Byatt's, The Children's Book and loved both of them. The Commoner, however, did not live up to promise. I suppose it was a bit dull unlike Cloudstreet and Never Let Me Go which I have also read recently. Now I am reading a light Kate Morton book, The Distant Hours and am enjoying it very much. How I love to spend time in England during wartime (in a book).

Andrew and his friend Shep are right up with the trends. They have been trying to out-plank each other all week. There was a little tiny bit of planking going on at the library while we were closed but we took no photos as we want to keep our jobs. Our children, however, have no jobs. Andrew sent me this photo while I was at Bible Study. I love the pointed toes. Bethany doesn't do things by halves.

Looking forward to hearing your baby news Sue :)

Just Dance

2011-05-24T21:38:00.000+10:00

It would be tiresome to tell you that we have been very busy. Tiresome and terribly boring. Next week I will receive the second lot of assignments for this, the last semester I will accept marking for a long time. So, if I want to bore you with the busy details, I had better do it now.

After a week of hard, physical work in the library I was looking forward to a fun-filled weekend. Andrew did the sport duties while I took Bethany to a party, for a little while, before we raced over to the school for Bethany to dance during the school fete. Here she is with three little, blonde friends.

It was near impossible to get a photo of her on stage that wasn't just black, red and white blurs. She had so much fun on stage. So much that she stood out. It was really fun to watch. I had to take her back for the rest of the party after her dance!

After the party and sport were over we all met up at the fete. I will confess that I wasn't really looking forward to it but I am very glad I went. I had a very good coffee, though I should not have chosen to have lemon meringue pie for lunch. That wasn't a healthy choice. Bethany was full of party pies so she had her face painted. You can tell by the way that she is smiling so hard her eyes have almost disappeared, that she was pleased with the design.

Jossie had her hair painted and wore bouncy boots. Andrew and Shep had a go on them too, the fun wasn't just for the kids!

Not far from the lemon meringue pie was a classroom with a Wii set up so that, for 50 cents, you could play Just Dance 2 with three others. Bethany did it with her three little friends and it was so funny. Jossie did it too and though I refrained from embarrassing my children in front of their friends and teachers, I decided that we would buy that game. On the way home from the fete. We have hardly stopped playing it. I get up early just to dance a few songs before work.

Here is Bethany, showing you how it is done.

Toby likes to be involved, but only by watching. Andrew takes photos and videos when we don't know he is doing so. I love this game so much, I could dance all day.

Bethany came to work with me on Friday night when I had a book launch. She was very well behaved, being kept amused by Hipstamatic on my phone. Here is one of her photos. The rest, and there were many more, were all of empty chairs.

If you want to see photos of the library refurbishment, you'll find them on Facebook on the Wagga Wagga City Library page. One of the best new additions is the pair of pod chairs. They are comfortable in the extreme and very quiet inside.

I imagine they are less quiet the more people you have in at one time.

At church Bethany and Toby made a large pile of autumn leaves. They weren't quite finished by the time the service started and they were most concerned that someone would come and jump in it before they had a chance to. An elderly couple started walking down the path and Bethany yelled "Don't jump in our leaves"! They then piled lots of cushions up and sat next to the window (hanging out at some points) to keep an eye on it. After church the leaves flew everywhere as all the kids joined in.

I have had a good many discussions about Spooks since Saturday night. Some people are very sad about Lucas. I disliked him so much by the end that I didn't cry one bit. I am, however, very concerned about the possibility of Spooks without Harry. They can't do that, can they?

Lucas has left the building

2011-05-17T19:44:00.000+10:00

Oh, my very favourite part of winter, Saturday morning sport. This past weekend was, in fact, the second week of winter sports. I missed the first week while I was visiting family. I did keep in touch via Textie to discover that Toby had scored three out of six goals and that they won six/one. Jossie, who had a fun season with not a lot of winning last year, lost her first game but her playing had improved significantly. This last weekend I was able to see Jossie play in person. This year the two different games at two different venues are timed much better so that Andrew is able to get up early and take Toby to soccer, enjoying the frost, mud and wind all by himself while we sleep in, and is back in plenty of time for me to then take Jossie to netball where I'll be buffeted by the vicious wind while trying to soak up some warmth from the pale sunlight.

In a reversal of fortunes, Toby played an older, bigger team and lost, and Jossie had a very exciting win. Admittedly, I didn't actually watch every minute - it is still sport after all. I did some texting and finished Heart of Darkness. The tea I brought from home was most welcome as it was freezing.

I read Heart of Darkness for my very first book club meeting! Yes, I have finally, after four years of running a service to book clubs through the library, joined a club for myself. It is made up largely of library and ex-library staff and one male library user and Sonya Gee who works at the ABC. I am pleased to have read Heart of Darkness and it was a great book to discuss in a book club, but I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it exactly. We had our meeting today and it was so much fun. We had some great discussion and it didn't matter one bit that none of us loved the book and more than one didn't manage to finish it (at least one had a very good excuse :) For next month we are reading Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let me Go. I am the only one who has read this before (a number of members had read Heart of Darkness at school) and I loved it so am keen to see what the others think. Wagga's cinema has Water for Elephants and a 3D Justin Bieber movie but is not showing Never let Me Go....... not impressed.

After our sporting morning Andrew headed out on his bike, Jossie went to a friend's for a sleep-over and Bethany, Toby and I rode up to Steve and Jane's for Mackenzie's second birthday. I thought riding would be a great thing to do. It turns out that Bethany is not at all cut out for a long incline, however slight, and we very nearly turned around and went home.

The cake made it all worth while.

I got a big shock to see our godson Andrew next to Bethany. He is three months younger!

Now, to Saturday night and Spooks. Wow. Spooks has always been a bit different. I watched the first seven seasons on DVD from the library and my friend Margot recommended the first season saying she had never been so shocked by a television show. SPOILER ALERT. I think it was the second show in that first season and a main character had her hand pushed into a deep fryer. I was thinking "That's what Margot was talking about! It might be OK, you can live with a very burnt hand, can't you?" when the bad man pushed her head in. Whoa, you can't live after that! Very bad things can happen to very main characters at any time. Adam was blown up in the first episode of one season. It isn't the same all the time either, while some of them die, others retire. Tom was our favourite but I have liked all of the main characters. I cried a lot when Danny died. The season playing on TV at the moment is the ninth season and they have done something completely different. I kept thinking that it was going to be very difficult to make Lucas North OK again, that he was doing things that I would find it very hard to excuse. On Saturday night he went all the way bad! At least we got to see Malcolm again. I am going to have to remove Richard Armitage's face from Mr Thornton when I read North and South because he is ceasing to be appealing! Do I get too involved? Don't answer that.

Wonderful Weekend

2011-05-14T13:18:00.001+10:00

Oh, I know it's the next weekend already but as I spent the rest of the week catching up from being away until late Monday afternoon (catching up at work mostly) I didn't get around the telling you how it went.

I left work last Friday around midday to head for the airport and didn't get to the hotel until almost four, thanks to a problem with the airport train line. I saw parts of Sydney from the train that I never knew existed. Thankfully, I wasn't in any real hurry. I settled into my little room at the Travelodge at Martin Place and wandered down to T2 and tried to work out what was going on in the Pitt Street Mall. It turns out that, if I had hung around, I could have seen Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattison who were there promoting Water for Elephants. I enjoyed the book but am in no hurry to see the film. Robert Pattison played Reese Witherspoon's son in Vanity Fair (which wasn't a patch on the brilliant BBC version).

Going to dinner at Parliament House is very nice. The view over the domain disappears at night, which is a shame, but the food was lovely, we sat at a table with very nice people from Penrith Council and saw some of our local friends (librarians from Leeton and Narrandera) win awards. We didn't win anything ourselves but had a very nice evening and it paid my way for a visit to family. So keen was I to see Tim, Shona, Pumpkin and Gumnut that I got up at 6.30 am on a Saturday to catch the train from St James to Central then Central to Gosford. Martin Place is not alive at 7am (the Lindt Café doesn't open until 10.30) so I was thrilled that we went straight to a café for coffee and banana bread once I arrived on the glorious Central Coast. All the young girls wear teeny tiny shorts and tops despite the cold and their cellulite.

I really do love Tim and Shona a lot but there is something so special about nieces and nephews.

Fortified with coffee, we went down to Terrigal for a walk along the beach.

My children would have been in the water despite the cool weather but Pumpkin was happy with a play in the sand.

This smiley face hid from the sun in his pram.

I forgot to take a photo of the biggest burger I have ever eaten. We went to Burger Girls in Avoca and I had a massive chickpea and hummus burger after which I needed an afternoon in front of the television. We watched Burn After Reading which was very amusing. Tim and Shona made delicious tandoori pizzas followed by chocolate fondants with ice-cream which we ate while watching The King's Speech. It was delightful to spend time with them, I wish they would move to Wagga.

In the morning Tim went off to the early service and we followed later at a decent hour. Pumpkin, who doesn't pose for photos, needs a decent amount of food to get through the service. There was cake at the end and everyone laughed at her as she scowled at the lady who insisted on telling a joke before cutting the cake. The look very clearly said "Less talking, more cutting and giving me a big piece."

Mum and Dad met us back at Tim and Shona's with sushi for lunch, after which we said good-bye and drove to Mum and Dad's. Ahh, the serenity. We sat with Granny, drinking tea, we ate cashews while watching Spooks and Granny casually mentioned that she worked with MI6 during the war! She gave messages from agents in France to Winston Churchill, Winnie as she called him. That is so cool. Lucas North, on the other hand (talking about Spooks now) is not cool and there is no recovering from what he has done. What is going to happen? How I love this show.....

Back to real life. I woke to a glorious day at Broke.

I sat with Granny, had two coffees and then it was time to drive to Sydney, back to the airport.

Andrew and the kids picked me up from the Wagga airport and, with that, the long weekend was over and I paid for having Monday off by having a manic week at work but it was well worth it!

I'll leave you with another example of Bethany's drawing talent which never ceases to amuse me. She received this invitation in the mail during the week. It is, of course, a Stampin' Up invitation from Liz.

Bethany immediately sat at her Megasketcher to copy the little girl..... adding her own, grumpy style.

Sorted

2011-05-06T07:12:00.000+10:00

Oh, silly me. I went for the highly technical option of signing out and back in again and we're away. I should have gone into IT....

Of course, I have no time for a proper post but will quickly catch up with a few photos from my week.

Andrew and the kids bought me a new camera for my birthday! It takes very nice photos and I like it very much. Margot took this photo of me and Jeannie at my desk - we didn't pose.

We were so happy because there was cake. Jeannie made lemon cupcakes and black bottom cupcakes. There was also a chocolate ripple cake, caramel tart and chocolate macarons. Apart from a little pumpkin and lentil soup, I ate only cake that day (any ties between that and the fact that I fell ill and couple of days later cannot be confirmed).

Tuesday wasn't much better nutritionally. Kristy doesn't work on Mondays so she made baklava for Tuesday. I didn't keep count of how many diamonds I ate. It was SO delicious and I kept eating to remind me of poor Kristy who was sick and had to send the baklava in with her husband! Thanks Simon.

Playing with my new toy, I took this photo of my desk.

This is the view to the left of where I sit. The table is not always loaded with cake. Really.

This last photo is of the concrete floor we have been 'enjoying' since the flood last November. The carpet has been ordered, the library is going to close for two whole weeks so come in soon and load up on books and DVDs! We will be closed from the 16th to the 30th of May. Fabulous new library on its way..... (we are changing more than the floor....).

I'll be back after my weekend when I will also tell you about the wonderful early Mother's Day Andrew and the kids gave me last night. I love my family!

2011-05-06T06:28:00.000+10:00

Oh dear. Blogger doesn't want my photos, I have been trying for days. No time to investigate now, I'm off to Sydney this afternoon and will spend the weekend on the Central Coast and Hunter Valley! I have lots to share about my birthday and early Mother's Day. Hopefully I can sort out my Blogger issues when I get home.

Mice and Mr Rochester

2011-05-01T16:46:00.000+10:00

Mouse plague!

Oh, the joys of living in the country! These mice are less smelly than the other ones found inside the library, nibbling at our tea bags. The black cat appeared in the garage of the Civic Centre (which houses the library, art gallery and council) last year. The mice are new and are, sadly, a reflection of our current reality. On Friday night I was watching Jane Eyre on my laptop in bed (I know that most of you were watching something else but I just couldn't muster any interest in William and Kate) when I heard scurrying in the roof! Most people at work and church have mice problems and they are all over the roads at night, so I can't really complain.

I was watching, for the first time, the Jane Eyre from the 80s with Timothy Dalton. It was pretty true to the book and while I found the film quality a bit average, it was an enjoyable version. I also finished reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (I lent it to a friend when I was half way through a few weeks ago) and it reminded me that Mr Rochester is 38. Today I have turned 39 and and it just feels wrong to be older than Mr Rochester. Then I thought about Mr Knightley, who is my favourite Austen man, and he is only 37! This is not good!

Easter Convention

2011-04-26T21:34:00.000+10:00

Last Tuesday night (technically Wednesday morning) I finished marking my assignments. What a relief! I have decided that this will be the last subject I'll mark for a few years. There is just too much on in my life already! I had to stay up very late, many days in a row in order to be ready to go away. I had Wednesday evening and Thursday morning to wash, pack and clean and then we were off!

We stayed with our cousins, the Davidsons, whose company we enjoy so much we ask them to squeeze us in for the long weekend. On Good Friday morning we all, except for Guy and Huw, went up to Katoomba for the beginning of Katoomba Easter Convention to hear the first talks by Don Carson and Dale Ralph Davis. The kids all went to programmes according to their age groups. Guy and Teen took turns attending the talks and Teen very kindly looked after Bethany in the evenings so Andrew and I could both attend the evening talks (primary school has an evening programme so Joss and Tobes came with us).

We have been to many conventions over the years but decided last year that we would attend Easter Convention every year if possible, as a family tradition. The kids saw children they had made friends with last year and all had such a wonderful time. For us, it is a delightful long weekend away - great talks, lovely family and we always run into friends as well. I didn't take any photos! Thankfully, Andrew did.

We had an Easter egg hunt on Sunday afternoon.

Toby and Hamish were distracted from the chocolate by their DS' - they're clearly not girls.

While Briony and I hid the eggs in the garden, the others had to find interesting ways to keep from looking outside.

When all the eggs had been found (we think) we went through the Easter story with the Resurrection Eggs.

It rained two of the four days we were there, which is part of the mountains' charm. When the weather was lovely, the kids played outside. I do wish we had a pretty autumn like this in Wagga.

We went out for coffee one afternoon with our old friends, the Hamiltons. I was very pleased to have a cappuccino as there was no coffee cart at convention this year! There are 2000 adults there (1100 kids in programmes) so I realise it is very hard to cater for coffee snobs. The tea was fine. Jossie had an enormous mango smoothie.

She worked it off by walking home backwards.

With eleven fabulous talks we learnt so much. I'll give you a quick run down in disjointed sentences taken from my notes :)
Don Carson: Hold firm to the gospel without grumbling. Rejoice in the Lord always, being content in all situations. The man's responsibility to love his wife as Christ loved the church, and the woman's responsibility to submit to her husband is dramatically opposed to self interest - it is for the good of them both. Jesus is the conquering king and suffering servant and his grace transforms us.
Ralph Davis (excellent Old Testament teaching): Grace has always come before the law. Sometimes it may look like what is happening just doesn't make sense (Abraham and Isaac) but God knows what is in the darkness and keeps his promises. Don't fuss about God's will for your life in terms of what job, who to marry, where to live etc. - God has been very clear about his will for our lives in the Bible! As for me, I will serve the Lord! God's purpose is sure.
Simon Flinders: There is no condemnation for those in Christ (God is not and never will be angry with me because of what Christ has done on my behalf), the sufferings in this world, no matter how terrible, do not compare to the glory to come (like comparing an ant to an elephant) and nothing can separate us from God's love. If God is for us, who can be against us?

We got home around 8.15 last night and spent today, the last day of the holidays, washing, cooking, shopping, buying uniform parts and then having afternoon tea and a ride with friends. Back to school and work tomorrow but now I need to catch up on Saturday night's Spooks!

Taking a break

2011-04-14T17:28:00.000+10:00

As it happens, no real surprises, it is almost impossible to mark while the kids are home with me. Very, very late nights it is then. Still, breaks in marking, or attempting to mark, are good for blogging.

Last Saturday we went to the Farmers' Markets where I was thrilled to discover that Wagga has a chocolatier. Sadly, she only sells at markets but that's something at least. It was so hot that I was getting quite uncomfortable and the chocolate lady was in quite a panic about her precious chocolates melting. I took this photo of the lagoon.

The very next day the warm weather disappeared completely and I suspect it won't be back until Spring. We're not big on Autumn and Spring in Wagga, we prefer it to seem like we go straight from Summer to Winter.

School holidays mean school holiday programmes for libraries. This particular school holidays also means re:generate, which is a youth festival. Why did we agree to run four events?! Laser Skirmish was fully booked out with a waiting list (50 teenagers shooting each other with lasers), henna was also fully booked but we had some spaces for the circus workshops so opened them up for slightly younger kids. That meant that Joss and Tobes could join in.

This afternoon we went for a ride. Sadly, just as we were about to leave, I realised that my bike is still at work (it was very rainy at 5pm on Tuesday) so poor Toby stayed home and I rode his bike. After Bethany rode around Lake Albert yesterday with Andrew, I knew she'd be up for a good ride close to home. This dirt road is not far from us.

Bethany looked up at this point and said "I can see Africa!"

Are you sick of Hipstamatic photos yet? I'm not!

Sydney by Hipstamatic

2011-04-12T21:04:00.000+10:00

Yes, life has been a bit busy. The school holidays are now here and with the four events the library is holding for the Re:generate youth festival, along with several other events, work is a bit manic. The kids are on holidays but I am not! In half an hour I will receive the first of twenty five assignments I need to mark before we go to Katoomba next Thursday and I am out almost every night this week! Take a deep breath Amy. So, I need to post now as I may not get much opportunity in the coming week.

I had such a lovely trip to Sydney last week. The Futures Forum I attended at the State Library was excellent. Dr Mitchell Whitelaw was a highlight and I think many of us went away to reorganise our picture books collections like Darien Library.

After my last trip to Sydney Sarah asked whether I ever stay overnight and it occurred to me that I could make my flights for the following morning and catch up with her and Janice in the evening. I had a few hours to kill in between the end of the Futures Forum and meeting Janice and Sarah so I walked to Newtown from the State Library.

Once in Newtown I ordered an Earl Grey at Max Brenner and read Perelandra, the second book in CS Lewis' Cosmic Trilogy.

It was so good to catch up with Janice and Sarah, I don't think I have seen Sarah for ten years or so. I do hope we can do it again!

And, just because all good posts have a funny Bethany photo......

See you after the marking, or maybe in a well earned break.

Bethany's best ever weekend

2011-04-04T21:30:00.000+10:00

It started with having a friend over. Jossie and Toby didn't have friends over, just Bethany. They got crafty, ate chocolate biscuits baked by Jossie, watched a movie and had a makeover, patiently done by Joss. Here are the before photos.

After hair crimping and make-up they looked like this.

We dropped Bethany's friend home in the late afternoon and drove to Lake Albert for fish and chips with the Shepherds. Toby and Joss rode all the way around the lake with Israel and Eleanor and Bethany learned to ride her bike all by herself!

She finished this glorious day with a ride on Mr Shepherd's motorbike.

The joy did not end there. Bethany went to Hannah's after church for a play and, after weeks of being very wobbly, her first tooth came out (with a little help from me) on Sunday night.

Bethany said it was her best weekend ever.

It's not all about me

2011-03-31T19:55:00.000+11:00

I suppose it's about time I gave an update about the kids. We had parent teacher interviews on Tuesday evening and everyone was given a good report. Bethany isn't even talking too much! It is very good to know that they are all coping well with school and that they enjoy it - long may it last!

After we went to Rachel's party last Saturday Bethany had a second party to go to. It was held at the Handstand Factory and the children had so much fun. Bethany gave Sophie one of my little cards and she wrote inside and drew a lovely picture of a princess.... with an evil hand. "I'm good at drawing evil hands" she said.

Jossie stayed in the car with me as we dropped Toby and Bethany at school one morning last week. She had an orthodontist appointment which wasn't until 9.30 so we popped in to the café I go to from work. I had a coffee, Jossie had a juice and we talked to the owner and other patrons about the many thousands of dollars that they have spent, are in the process of spending and that we will spend in the coming years on the position of teeth.

I didn't have a photo of Toby doing something interesting so I just took one at dinner. He is busy devouring the Percy Jackson books (he has read six now) and we are reading The Wizard of Rondo together. He is looking forward to soccer season (sigh) and his first piano exam later in the year.

Did anyone watch Strike Back? I watched all three episodes on iview because I'm often out or busy on Saturday nights. I'm not sure whether I really liked it or not. Obviously, Richard Armitage is a favourite because of North and South and he is also in Spooks, although his character in Spooks isn't a patch on Mr Thornton. Strike Back was reasonably amusing but I think they sacrificed character development in order to make it so very action packed. There was a lot of killing and swearing and I wasn't terribly attached to the main character. It was nice to see Toby Stephens (he played Mr Rochester in my favourite Jane Eyre adaptation) until he opened his mouth - he played an American! Still, I quite like that they had the Americans played by Brits. Spooks starts on Saturday night and I must confess to being very pleased about that.
Bethany is reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid (it is a chapter book and she is plugging away but it is a bit beyond her level), Toby is reading Heros of Olympus and Jossie has just finished Heidi which was my favourite book as a child. I'm up to The Ghost Road, which is the final book in the Regeneration Trilogy.

Cards, cards, cards

2011-03-29T21:34:00.000+11:00

I'm sorry if you're frightfully bored or were, in fact, never even slightly interested in my latest hobby. I am supposed to be organising an online shop for these and the creations of Liz and Megan but this is so much quicker and easier and I am so tired. I think I'll go to bed.

I can make any of these cards for you, if you'd like me to - with whatever sentiment you like (Happy Birthday etc.)

Popping in

2011-03-29T07:19:00.000+11:00

It is almost time for me to get the kids up and get ready for school and work but I have been sadly neglecting the blog so am quickly popping in to catch up. We have been busy (no surprises there) with school, work, reading, bike riding and card making. On Saturday morning Andrew went for a very long ride and the rest of us went to Collins Park to celebrate Rachel's 18th birthday. Where did the years go?!

Sandy gave a lovely little speech. They have every right to be very proud of all their daughters, such a wonderful family.

There were cute babies who make me miss my baby nieces and nephews very much.

Bethany had a great time - she is a party sort of girl and doesn't mind if the guests are mostly adults.

Christina brought a little beagle who captivated the children. This little girl shares my name. Up until this point she has cared little about our bond. She has only frowned when I say hello. Last Sunday I waved to her and she shocked me by waving back. On Saturday morning, and here is the evidence, she smiled at me!

The dog's name is Alfred.

This card reminds me of Linda and the fact that one day I would like to meet her in Paris. I think it is more likely that I will be in Paris again than she will be in Wagga. I would, of course, travel to Sydney to meet any of my far flung blogging friends if they happened to get that far!

I don't suppose I can give this card to my own mother now! If you would like me to make a Mother's Day card for you, just let me know, I will post one anywhere :)

Random

2011-03-20T15:01:00.000+11:00

Jossie has been coming out in the mornings with the most beautifully intricate hair. I wish I had taken a photo of the bow - she made a bow out of her hair, not a ribbon. These hairdos are the reason why she is in her room so long in the mornings but it doesn't get any tidier. She looks unimpressed because she doesn't like having her photo taken while she still has sleepy eyes.

A few weekends ago we had planned a big social day for the children. Sadly, Bethany was ill and we had to cancel three play dates and miss out on a birthday party. As this weekend was free of commitments I decided to invite Eden for the weekend for Jossie, Jacob over on Saturday for Toby and Bethany had a birthday party on Saturday. While Jossie, Eden and Toby were at Kids' Club on Friday evening I took Bethany on a 'date' with Narelle and Hannah. Narelle had a couple of jobs to do so I took the girls to McDonalds and bought them a happy meal. I was jostled in the queue by some twenty-somethings who really ought to have something better to do on a Friday evening, or at least something better to eat! The girls finished their dinner and Narelle had just bought me a chai when Bethany looked stricken and declared that she felt sick and wanted to go home! I put her straight to bed and after a fair bit of moaning she went to sleep and that was the end of it. She said that she never wants to go to McDonalds again which is fine by me!

I was most pleased to have her feeling hale and hearty on Saturday morning. She waited, sometimes patiently, until 2pm for her party. Jossie and Eden had a party at exactly the same time and I did something I have not done before - I let children use my Stampin' Up stuff. Jossie made a card for the birthday girl and this Easter card which she plans to send to Granny.

Eden made a birthday card for her sister.

And this card for her mum. It feels good to share. Jossie wants to have a Stampin' Up party when it is her birthday and I think that's a very good idea but I will do all the cutting out beforehand!

Jossie and Eden were dropped off at the pool for their party and Bethany went to her friend Louis (pronounced the French way) for a spooky party. We have plenty of princess or superhero outfits but, as this isn't America, nothing spooky. I drew scars and bolts on with eyeliner and sent her as Frankenstein's monster, not before giving her a lecture about how she wasn't Frankenstein but the monster created by the scientist named Frankenstein.

As it happens, when she was asked who she was, she just said that she had forgotten. I'll make her read the book one day.

As for what I am reading, I am half way through Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair. It is very funny and is about literature while also being a bit fantasy/sci-fi. I am reading, for the very first time, C.S. Lewis' sci-fi books, the Cosmic Trilogy. Of course, Lewis is one of my most beloved authors so it isn't surprising that I am loving them. I am also about to start on the Regeneration Trilogy, recommended on Sarah's blog. It's a shame I have to go to work tomorrow as I have a lot of reading to do.

Cootamundra

2011-03-17T12:21:00.000+11:00

Last week Sydney, this week Cootamundra. The life of a public librarian is a thrill a ~~minute~~ week! Five of us piled into Claire's car and drove for one hour and eighteen minutes to attend a meeting. Some of us had not had our coffee and were a bit sorry that the Junee Licorice Factory doesn't open until 10. I haven't spent a lot of time in Cootamundra before, I may only have driven through it, so I was keen to see it close up.

We were a bit late and had to sit around the edges of the council meeting room. Entering the building was like stepping back in time. Someone pointed out that it smelt like a church but I was very quick to say that my church doesn't smell like that!

Classic carpet.

It poured during the morning session. It was so loud the speakers had to speak up. I kept peering through the curtains to watch the rain (I have always loved it) and saw the lovely buildings they have in the main street.

The day ran late and we decided to skip the library tour (many of our party had already seen Cootamundra Library) and head back to the Licorice Factory before it closed.

Some of the girls had never been before, though it is only twenty minutes away!

Everyone made purchases from the wall of deliciousness and I mentioned the fact that we often come just to go shopping upstairs and even those who had been before had never been upstairs!

These are Crocs! If only they had a pair in my size..... they're like Minnie Mouse shoes. I think Jeannie should have bought them but perhaps she is saving her money for more stamps.

Garth Nix

2011-03-09T21:44:00.000+11:00

Being a night person, I do find getting up at 5 am difficult. I also do that thing where I wake up thinking I have missed the alarm when in fact it is still the middle of the night. I did that at 3.50 am, certain that Jeannie was knocking at the door. I went back to sleep, finally, and was ready for her when she came at 5.30, all set for a big day. We started with coffee at the Lindt Café (at least I had coffee, Jeannie and Sharon took advantage of their specialty and had a hot chocolate and a mocha) before walking up to the State Library to hand out name badges and direct people to tea and coffee.

The seminar was so very good. You can search twitter with the hashtag #ra2011 to read all about it. I learnt lots, got lots of ideas and then got to meet Garth Nix who was an entertaining speaker and lovely man. This isn't the best photo ever..... I think we're both better looking than that ;)

We finished around 4.30 and walked down to the Strand Arcade to make a little purchase at Haighs. We ran into Garth Nix there as well! T2 was the other important stop and I bought some Earl Grey, French Earl Grey and, on Sare's recommendation, some Melbourne breakfast. The extra box is for a friend. I take orders if any Wagga people are interested, I'm going back on the 5th of April.

Yesterday I bought two boxed sets of The Keys to the Kingdom series. One will be used as a prize at the library and the other one is for Toby (though I will read it first). Garth was so kind as to sign each of the fifteen books I set before him.

Despite coming home laden with goodies, I find that there are still some things I want, namely, all of these brooches.

Jane Eyre

2011-03-06T16:57:00.000+11:00

I am a very enthusiastic person, high spirited and emotional. When I saw a Jane Eyre DVD that I didn't know existed I spent the next couple of hours at work in an excitable state about it. Jane Eyre, you see, is one of my favourite books. Like most women I love Jane Austen books, for the manners, the wit and, of course, the romance. Jane Eyre, however, is different because it isn't about the fact that Jane is not of the same class as Mr Rochester, that hardly features at all, but that he isn't free to marry her and despite her great love for him, she chooses to do what she knows is right, despite every attempt on his part to make her choose their immediate happiness. It is a far more passionate tale than any Austen one and in the end he repents and they are able to be together. Sigh.

The version was this one with Ciarán Hinds and Samantha Morton. I knew that, as a movie length version, it would have huge chunks cut out of the story but as Ciarán Hinds plays Captain Wentworth in the older version of Persuasion, I knew I could love him as Mr Rochester. If I hadn't read the book I'm sure I wouldn't like this version, with so much left out I had to fill in a lot of details in my head but I did like this enough to watch it twice. It was especially good to see Rupert Penry-Jones (he plays Captain Wentworth in the later version of Persuasion) as St John. The latest, mini-series version with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson remains my favourite. It may even be the best BBC version of any classic despite the fact that Toby Stephens is really too young and good looking to play Mr Rochester.

Yesterday Megan, Liz and I took our cards to our first markets. The PCYC is not the prettiest venue and the Baby Bazaar was more about secondhand baby clothes, toys and furniture but we sold quite a few cards and learnt a lot.

Andrew went for a long ride with friends so the kids came to the market with me. They weren't terribly impressed but Bethany did, at least, get her face painted.

Now the weekend is almost over. I am looking forward to my trip to Sydney but when Sarah asked if I was staying the night it made me realise that I could have - I don't work on Thursdays! Next time..... As it is, I am doing the looong day. We need to be at the airport at 6am and don't get back until at least 8pm. There are three of us going up and I have told my friend Jeannie that I can't sit with her because she gets airsick! That's mean isn't it? I'll report back with details of meeting Garth Nix (you should overcome your prejudice Mum and give fantasy a go) and my purchases at T2 and Haighs.

2011-03-05T07:12:00.000+11:00

Not blogging tends to breed more not blogging. I feel the need to account for all I have done since I was last here but that would be difficult to remember and a terrible bore to read. A quick list of highlights with photos then....

Bethany's class sang a song at assembly. They were all dressed as superheroes to sing Colin Buchanan's Super Saviour. Most of the girls came as princesses but Bethany is "lucky" enough to have a brother with a superman outfit. I managed to leave work early to be able to see her.

The weather in Wagga is not always perfect. We seem to go straight from stinking hot to freezing cold but, in fact, Autumn can be delightful. So lovely I go for a walk at lunchtime. This is the view of the library as I walk back.

While Jossie and Toby were at Kids' Club last Friday evening Narelle and I took our younger girls, plus one more, down to Wagga Beach (sand next to the river). They were desperate to get their feet wet and, I could just see it, anything else that happened to fall in, but we didn't have towels and I was to go out after dropping them home so didn't want to have to shower Bethany. They tried pretty much any trick they could think of but we were not outsmarted!

I was, however, roped into plaiting Jossie's hair one night after a long day at work and this lead to the promise of doing Bethany's later in the week. The result of many plaits being in for several days is this.

I read Room by Emma Donoghue and found it the most extraordinary book. When I told people that I was reading a book about a woman who is being held in a shed against her will, like we have seen several times in the news over the last few years, they didn't think it sounded good at all. In fact, it was a fascinating read and very moving. On Wednesday I'm off to the State Library in Sydney for a Readers Advisory Seminar. I am in the working group for this and get to chair one of the sessions and have to introduce Garth Nix. I thought it would be polite to read one of his books (he mainly writes fantasy for youth) and chose Shade's Children. Now I'm going to gush all over the poor man when I meet him because I absolutely loved it! Well drawn characters to whom I was extremely attached, fascinating setting and all my favourite themes so often in fantasy books - loyalty, perseverance, sacrifice and redemption.

Speaking of sacrifice, I am up early on a Saturday morning because Liz, Megan and I have our first markets this morning. Paper Kitchen's debut. I took one of each of the cards I had made to work yesterday, just to show the girls, and I sold three! Money making is not the point of the exercise for me. Making cards is relaxing and gives a very satisfying sense of accomplishment. I do hope to make back some of the millions I spend on stamps and things....... which I will put into more stamps and things.

A Different Weekend

2011-02-21T10:00:00.000+11:00

Sometimes people ask me how I fit everything in. The answer is quite simple. I stay up late and get up early. This does mean that on the weekends I like to catch up on sleep. I don't need to sleep until 10 or anything, even 8 will do, but I really don't want to get up before dawn. Andrew also stays up late but he couldn't say no to the opportunity for a really long ride on Saturday. He got up before the sun and went to his friend Shep's house. Shep's wife drove them (very good of her) and their bikes to Tumbarumba, 114 kilometres away, and they rode all the way home. It rained a lot. I took this photo from facebook, sorry about the poor quality.

Seeing as Andrew was going to be gone until mid-afternoon, I decided to be 'good Mummy' and told the kids that they could all have a friend over to play. This would ensure that everyone was amused and I would just have to keep the food coming and make sure the wii was used fairly. I didn't get much of a sleep in as I woke when Andrew left and, not long after, someone commenced mowing their lawn, which I consider to be the height of rudeness before 8am. It's lucky I got up because it soon became clear that Bethany was not at all well and I had to call off all the play dates, which went down a treat as I'm sure you can imagine.

Bethany was sick all weekend and didn't get out of her pyjamas and rarely got out of bed. I couldn't use my computer much because she watched endless movies on it while lying in bed. Last night she played with her Megasketcher for the first time so I knew she had turned the corner. She is still pale and hasn't really eaten for days so we are staying home today for her to recover. She talked the entire way to and from school this morning so I know she isn't sick anymore!

On Friday night I went over to Liz' to stamp. It wasn't Stamp Club or one of her workshops. Liz and Megan have decided to start selling cards at markets and invited me to join them! We spent four and a half hours on Friday night making cards, working out details and choosing a name for ourselves. The name issue was quite tricky as some of the names we thought of had already been taken. In the end we went for Paper Kitchen and I have already created our blog. We'll sell cards, individually and in sets, and offer workshops and card making parties. Our first market is on the 5th of March at Wagga's PCYC. It is a Baby Bazaar so I have been making these cards....

It's all very exciting. I can see lots more late nights coming up......

Happy Library Lovers' Day

2011-02-14T21:10:00.000+11:00

Valentine's Day is so last decade. It's Library Lovers' Day now, at least in Australia, and Australians love their libraries. To celebrate, we handed out chocolate hearts to everyone who came to the library today as well as bookmarks with literary love quotes.

There were lots of red balloons for the littlest library lovers.

The best idea was to have a little competition. To go in the draw to win a box of Guylian chocolates and a voucher for Collins books, all people had to do was tell us what they love about their library.

I reached in to the full, tin box this evening and pulled out the lucky winner. He loves the great books and DVDs and the friendly girls, sorry to our male staff members, you don't rate a mention for this customer. I am looking forward to reading all the entries tomorrow. I think this easy, fun competition is going to be a big morale booster for library staff!

2011-02-13T18:52:00.000+11:00

Here are the cards I made at stamp club last Thursday night. They were made mainly using circle punches to get circles in the different colours, though we didn't have any Pumpkin Pie paper so stamped in that colour using the Circle Circus stamp set.

I found this photo of my Silo bakery breakfast on my phone. I had decided that taking a photo on your phone is somehow less obtrusive.

We have had a quiet, relaxing weekend. Toby made up a new word: extromination. He doesn't have a meaning for it yet but he is very pleased with it. Andrew had him in stitches by putting it in a sentence - "I was walking along the coast and as I looked out to sea I knew that I would be subject to extromination." Toby has also been playing duets with Bethany on the piano as she had her first lesson on Friday. Thus far she is very keen, practicing constantly as being proud of an extra job to do each day.

We gave Milo a bath (sadly, a rare occurrence) and Bethany played with him as she always does. She is such an animal lover but, for some reason, she is the one family member he is a bit rough with.

Jossie had her friend Hannah over this afternoon. They made enormous chocolate biscuits. They spooned out 16 biscuits from mixture that should have made 45. I did my best to make them smaller but they still turned out large. Unable to locate a second pair of swimmers, they donned different outfits and put the sprinklers on.

I could have gone in too after weeding, pruning and sweeping in the courtyard but I am too refined :)

Seven to Canberra

2011-02-11T20:34:00.001+11:00

As you may remember, the library's lower floor was damaged in a storm event at the end of last year. It wasn't the flooding river but a huge deluge of water that resulted in a fair bit of damage and the opportunity to change things around a bit. You may be surprised to know that the world of libraries is not static. The desks that we had designed not all that long ago, now make it difficult for us to keep up with current trends so we went on a road trip to Canberra to see how their libraries are doing things.

We wanted to take a good range of staff and settled on a group of seven, knowing that we could access a seven seater car. Luckily, Claire thought to check the car for luggage space as it turns out that the sixth and seventh seat are quite literally in the boot leaving a very tiny space. Not everyone has seen Gavin and Stacey (shame on them) but the rest of us chuckled as we remembered Nessa travelling to London overnight with a small handbag containing a toothbrush, G-string and feminine wipes. We none of us quite pulled that off but we did travel light. We did a bit of shopping in Canberra but were severely hampered by lack of space and the fact that we were there for work! I walked straight past a T2 even though I am almost out of Earl Grey!

This is Kingston Library which is just like a book shop only free and with Internet access and an X-Box. It used to be the Essential Ingredient. I once purchased a jar of duck fat there, happy memories. It makes a very cool, if tiny, library - well suited to the hip suburb.

When in Kingston it is a must to breakfast at Silo bakery. Only three of us managed to get up early enough but we were well rewarded. I bought a sour dough loaf and two pains au chocolat for Kristy and we had to balance them all the way home! They made the car smell so good. I bought a little vanilla brûlée tart which I ate while I watched A Single Man. The tart and the film were both great. The film was quite beautiful to look at, the colours and 1950s styling. It was a very thoughtful story and quietly sad but lovely.

I went to a YAPA seminar at CSU on Wednesday and they have two of the most beautiful gum trees.

I finished Sarah's Key. At the start it has a quote from Suite Française , a book I loved, and while it certainly wasn't in that league (the language and characters being perfectly good but not beautiful) it has an impact. It is a novel about the role the French played in the attempt to rid Europe of Jews in WWII. It may have been lead by the Germans but the French rounded up and sent to their deaths over 70,000 French Jews - including Irène Némirovsky. They even had their own concentration camps. Such a frightful thing.

I went to Stamp Club last night and it was, as usual, fabulous. I'll take photos of the cards I made when it is daytime. Instead, I'll share a drawing of Bethany's. We found it on her Megasketcher this morning. A sweet scene involving mermaids. As I put it down to take a photo Bethany explained that the there is a dead mermaid on the bed and that the big one in the middle is a trap......OK, not so sweet.

A cool change

2011-02-06T19:31:00.000+11:00

I confess that it was rather nice to have cooler weather than Sydney for a day or two. I think Sydney finally cooled down earlier today but we have had a perfectly cool weekend. Last night I even woke up cold!

I had my sleep in yesterday and found Bethany in the dress ups. It may have been cooler but it wasn't cold enough for a red velvet dress. She and Jossie are the sort of girls willing to suffer for beauty.

I spent most of the day doing washing and cleaning out bookcases but come evening, it was time to party, Stampin' Up style. When we were deciding on a social event for library staff the greater majority were all for more stamping. Sadly, neither Michael nor Simon were keen so we'll have to do something a little more gender neutral next time.

We gathered at Shell's new house and picked up some Thai takeaway before Liz arrived and we got creative, or at least recreative.

We were working on several projects and had a number of work stations.

There was much fun and frivolity. Here is what I made (we had options).

This afternoon, after we had a big lunch for everyone at church, I made dumplings. They didn't look quite so good after steaming but Toby loved them, Jossie tolerated them and Bethany was told, in the end, to keep her opinions to herself.

Toby and Bethany have been playing together very well lately.

They like to play 'fighting'. I wouldn't like to take Bethany on......

Now the children are all smelling sweet and almost ready for bed before another week. I am getting ready to go to Canberra for a couple of days and Jossie is playing with her hair.

She says it is a bow but Bethany says she looks like Mickey Mouse.

Fairy hair

2011-02-04T20:33:00.000+11:00

The first week of school has finished with a bang. It was very difficult to get the children up this morning. When I went in to wake Bethany I found her like this. She likes to share her bed with her toys but they are usually soft ones. Her Taronga Zoo giraffe had fallen down the side and the three fairies she tucked in with her did not sleep undisturbed.

The blue fairy got stuck in Bethany's hair :)

The school very cleverly did not tax the brains of weary students adjusting to the new year but scheduled the swimming carnival for today. Thankfully neither of the two children eligible to compete showed any inclination to do so. Is it wrong to hope that your children are as non-sporty as you are? Don't answer that. Jossie had to attend anyway and spent last night organising her outfit and painting her nails in her house colour. Toby's year went to the pool around lunch time for a fun swim and Bethany stayed at school for fun under the sprinklers.

I picked up the kids after school and dropped in to Liz' for more bounty from her veggie garden. This was the best ever because she didn't just grow zucchini but she made it into zucchini slice for us! It is super delicious too.

I had almost forgotten about Kids' Club. It started up again this evening, at the earlier time of 5.30. They went to the beach to play volleyball and have a BBQ. Wagga Beach (on a river, not the ocean) is usually quite a steep slope into the water but the floods made a fabulous, flat beach. The children were told that they weren't allowed to swim as the water runs very swiftly but I knew Jossie would get wet. She can't help herself.

Toby was more restrained and when I went to pick them up I witnessed a spectacular catch in beach cricket. He might be a bit sporty after all.

I finished The Shadow of the Wind at lunch today - there's nothing like shedding a tear at work. It was a fabulous read. Barcelona was a moody, atmospheric setting and the story was filled with twists and turns, engaging characters and beautiful language. Now I need to finish The Long Song by Andrea Levy. She also wrote Small Island which you may have seen on the ABC recently. I am not loving it but will finish it before starting Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (can that be her real name?). Mum suggested it and I had to get it from the Cootamundra branch, in large print!

I am looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow and Thai food and card making with my work mates tomorrow night. Happy weekend!

Sweet relief

2011-02-03T20:22:00.000+11:00

Australia has had quite an extraordinary few months in terms of weather. Our own storms and flooding before Christmas, the major flooding in south-east Queensland and now Cyclone Yasi. Knowing that Yasi was to be much worse than Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin in 1974, we were very worried to hear that it was heading for far north Queensland and Cairns, where my Dad and brother Michael live. They had a scary night. At times it would go quiet and then it would sound like a train was coming. It is a great answer to prayer that the expected level of damage did not eventuate and people were kept safe. Dad's house was undamaged, though his garden is full of debris, including someone's old lino! I'm so glad they're OK and a little ashamed that it took a cyclone for me to ring my Dad for a chat....

I used to do Jossie's hair like this when she was Bethany's age. Bethany does like to be like her big sister.

Wagga City Council is currently working on new branding for the city. I have seen some of it and it looks great. The new Cultural Guide, to which my team contributes seven pages each quarter, is going to look fabulous. A couple of people from the media department asked me to be in a photo shoot for the new branding and we headed out to the new School of Dentistry at Charles Sturt University (CSU).

I have mentioned before how ugly the uni is, all 70s brown, brick boxes, so this new building is quite a departure!

This is where the students practice. They start with dummy heads and teeth before being let loose in real people's mouths. You might need to click on the photo to see the dummy heads.

It really is an impressive building. It almost made me want to become a dentist.... Not really.

It wouldn't be at all right to complain about the weather here in light of major troubles elsewhere, so consider this casual information rather than complaint. It is still very hot here.

A sudden jolt

2011-02-01T22:10:00.000+11:00

Like most long slides ours has ended with the sudden jolt of all being back at work and school. The kids all went back today and came home excited about the year ahead. Bethany in particular has looked forward to the end of the holidays, desperate to be in Year 1, but they have all looked forward to seeing their friends. Now we are back to the life of super early mornings, making many lunches and my old nemesis - homework.

Last week I had the joy of Wednesday and Thursday off thanks to a well timed Australia Day. I slept in until 10am! I felt like a teenager....until I realised that I had wasted half my day, which is not a teenage thought at all. We went to our friends' for a games and pizza night which was so much fun. I paid for my double day off during the week by working on Saturday. I don't really dislike working on a Saturday but it does make for a short weekend, especially when half of Sunday is spent at church. All of Sunday afternoon and evening (apart from the washing and other such mundane tasks) I got busy in the kitchen and made a card. I cooked roasted tomato pasta sauce with tomatoes from friends' veggie gardens (why grow your own when other people's gardens yield far too much for them to eat?), cinnadoodles, felafel and brownies. This is an awful photo of the card I made - I always need to take photos at night!

It is so very hot here. Thankfully, it's hot pretty much everywhere so I can't blame Wagga. I do blame Australia though, why are we here? Inhospitable country. I feel very sorry for Milo outside during the day so I bring him in when I am home. See how grateful he is?

Great news! Jossie has stopped biting her nails - I cut them for the first time in years. Bethany and Toby are still struggling with the habit. I can't see the appeal myself.......

I am desperate to finish The Shadow of the Wind, it is getting so exciting, but I still have to do the ironing..... What I need is a book that can be a paper book, e-book or audio book depending on what I need. So, I could read the paper book when convenient, have it on my phone when I can't carry a book with me and have it on audio when I need my hands and eyes. It has to keep my place, though. I don't want to fiddle about finding where I'm up to when I change formats. I'd buy a book like that.

The long slide

2011-01-25T22:12:00.000+11:00

The long Christmas holidays aren't exactly the virtually endless joy they were when I was a child (or uni student) but I do like the fact that I can slowly ease myself into the busyness of regular life. After three and a half glorious weeks off I was the first to head back to work, last Monday. Being natural night owls, Andrew and I have been going to bed late and sleeping late too, so getting up early has been a bit rough but I have not had to make five lunches or, indeed, do anything at all for the rest of the family as they were all fast asleep until after I had left for work on my bike.

I coped perfectly well with the ride in and a ten hour day but at the end of my first day Andrew rang to say that he and the kids had taken fish and chips to the Botanic Gardens and that I could ride there, rather than home. It is awfully hilly on the way to the Botanic Gardens and, as I hadn't ridden since before the flood, I am significantly less fit and, for the first time, had to hop off my bike and push. At least I didn't give in to temptation and ring Andrew begging him to pick me up from the side of the road.

On Saturday we had dinner with our good friends, Steve and Jane. They used to live at the end of our street and have been away at Bible College for four years. Now they are back, not at the end of our street but still in our suburb and have two lovely children. I made Nigella's Malteser cake for old times' sake as I made it years ago to celebrate Toby and Steve's January birthdays. It looked rather nicer than it tasted, I'm afraid.

It was Liz' birthday on Sunday and I made her this card. I spent so long on the jolly thing (not being creative it takes me ages to come up with something if I am not copying) that I still gave it to her despite the fact that my final touch of shimmer paint was frightfully smudged on the top two flowers. Imperfections are how you know it's homemade, or so I keep telling myself. I used the flower stamp from the Elements of Style set, which I borrowed from Liz.

I finally finished the little project I have been working on. It is a box containing nine cards with matching envelopes.

The stamp set is Birthday Bakery (cakes and stamping - the perfect combination) and each note card has a cake and says either "If you are what you eat, eat something cute" or "This is no day for just a sliver". I made it specifically for someone and sent it yesterday. I hope it's OK to give someone something that is very much me. I do hope it's a little bit her as well.

And so, to what I have been reading and watching. Sorry to those who already know about it because I do tend to tweet about reading. Anyone who wants to can join a Twitter reading group called Read It 2011. There is a different theme each month and you tweet about your books using the hashtag #readit2011 and the different monthly ones. January's theme is Scare Up a Good Book, which is also the theme for the summer reading club. We are reading scary books and I chose Nineteen Eighty-Four. It isn't horror because I don't enjoy horror (I did, however, read every Stephen King book available until I was nineteen. It wasn't the horror I enjoyed but the characters and the settings) but I thought dystopia was scary enough to make it fit. I absolutely loved it. Clearly, I don't need my books to be happy or even hopeful. It seems to me that, in the end, Orwell was saying that society is heading in an ominous direction and no matter how hard you resist, you will eventually give in. I can think of lots of books and films that are dystopian, I suppose it is a fascinating topic to explore, but which books are utopian? Even the impossibly beautiful and quaint world of Anne of Green Gables had its share of messes and relational problems and the idealised 1950s America of the Donna Parker books (my step-mother owned these and I loved to read them when I visited) always had obstacles to be overcome. No obstacles, no journey, no book!

Now I am reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I have already had to write down a quote about the power of literature. I can tell that I am going to enjoy this book a lot. I'll have time in the evenings to read it because we have finished watching the third Series of Ashes to Ashes on DVD. I adored Life on Mars and thoroughly enjoyed the first two series of Ashes to Ashes. The fashions and music were more exciting as I remember the eighties very well but I was more attached to Sam Tyler than Alex Drake and found the political incorrectness funnier in Life on Mars. I was so looking forward to having all the questions answered and I wasn't disappointed. The whole series was fabulous and the ending was satisfying and heartwarming. I have moved on to re-watching the Forsyte Saga when Andrew is either out or busy. He was very good to watch it with me the first time around but he'll never do it again! I love the costumes, the scenery, the time and the characters. I love old Jolyon Forsyte. Why does no-one use that name anymore? Jolyon Heap?

Happy Australia Day to everyone. Especially happy as it it a holiday in the middle of the week! Here is Bethany's Australia Day tattoo which, sadly, did not survive the bath.

I'm going to sleep in. Are you doing anything special for Australia Day?