Towards Self Sufficiency

I have always fondly imagined that self sufficiency would be wonderful. There needs to be a recognition when one lives in the suburbs on a sandy block of land which does not receive all that much sun and in a state mananged by people so incompetent they cannot plan for today let alone tomorrow (and we have as a consequence water restrictions) that complete self sufficiency may not be achievable. But we can dream and do our very best with what is to hand.
To that end this year we planted potatoes - we have grown may vegetables but never before had we tried to grow potatoes. Here is the evidence - our own, home grown potato.
We followed the instructions to the letter and all seemd to go as it should. The tubers sprouted and as they grew we covered them with that self same compost that the snakes found so to their liking.
Sometime in December the instructions said, the foliage will die back and it is time to harvest!
Sure enough it did just that and harvest we did. Our own, new potatoes. We shall have them on Christmas Day we determined.
I guess you all wish you could be here to share in our bounty.
There was sadly - just the one, the one featured in both these photos and yes I am afraid the match box is a standard match box.

A Bit of Work in the Backyard

We have had a surprising amount of rain and some lovely warm weather, which have meant the lawn has grown inordinately quickly. Our Buffalo, which is better than some grasses in that respect has still grown enough in the last 10 days to need another mow - so mow we did this morning.
Not very exciting I know but when we finished, we decided to turn the compost heap and incorporate today's offering. Still not very interesting? The heap looks benign doesn't it? Our surprise came when we began to lift and turn and disturbed what had become a quite cosy little home for four, count them four; red bellied black snakes - the largest of which was at least 1.5 metres long although Judy suggests it could have been more like 5 metres.

It took us a little by surprise.... Finding one was a surprise, disturbing 4 was incredible. We took considerable comfort in the fact that they were far more afraid of us than we were of them (hard to believe really).
Sorry there is no substantiating photo but I really was not expecting it!
We have been to the library this afternoon so I looked them up. Highly venemous. Most often seen and attractive snake - must pay more attention next time. We have seen them before in the yard, Lucy and Winston bailed one up many years ago but we were not expecting to turn over the compost and find four of them! I shall be much more careful with the grass clippings in future.

On Their Way

Last night we had a "small" Christmas bash with Jen and James and Jon and Danielle and the boys. It is actually better part of a year since they have been here and that long since Judy had seen them. All suitably silly - the dreadful bon bon jokes and especially silly hats.

Pressies were exchanged and far too much food eaten.
And Molly was introduced to the wider family.
And this morning, of course; Willow and Jonathon headed off to the airport!
Jonathon helped Willow try on and adjust his backpack but here there were some issues. Willow volunteered the information that it; "hurt his boobies" - interesting....
They are on their way!!

Geoffrey Gets Some Exercise

It is strange in these days of hi tech toys that the simple things still appeal.
Geoffrey has seen many miles in many houses under the control of successive generations. Last week he had a workout at the hands of Matt and Jayne's dear little daughter, Eli. He still works perfectly despite (was he originally Jonathon's toy?) being pulled all over the house by our children then the grandchildren.
Eli proved to be good natured and sweet despite the arduous programme of visiting relatives and shopping that the time in Sydney involved. May be her good nature is due in part to the dietary supplements she makes a part of each day (self imposed).
Here she is sampling the hoya flowers, never been tempted myself - pretty though they are. The previous day she had been ingesting some of the white floral arrangement we had intended to supplement the table for the evening meal but not in the way Eli chose to use it.
All, it seems; to no ill effect...

Blue Mountains Weekend

Two weeks after the gruelling exhaustion of our cruise, we felt the need of some 'us' time so we headed off to the Blue Mountains for the weekend.

We went to Katoomba to stay at Lurline House for the weekend. Phillip had been given the weekend as a gift when he left work. Lurline House is a delightful B&B and we had a lovely time. Our room had a huge 4 poster bed and was tastefully furnished with period decor. On the Saturday we drove to our beloved Mount Wilson and wandered through these gardens. We had our lunch sitting on the pictured seat.
By the afternoon the weather had changed and by the time we left on Sunday it was a typical misty, rainy mountain day. We had some yummy food and found a wonderful restaurant that needs further investigation. It also gave us a good chance to try out the new car.

New Car

The Commodore had come to the end of its useful life and so the time had come to replace it. The replacement? A Mazda 3 sedan. Gone is the need for a larger car so we have moved to something a little smaller.
The more astute among you will already have noticed the colour and yes it does match Judy's new bike perfectly - not the reason for the colour choice of course.... For those interested in the really important things, it has a 2 litre engine, 5 speed automatic transmission, iPod connectivity and cruise control.
The best part? On screen and continuously updated average fuel consumption and speed, distance to empty and all kinds of other information. It is hard to believe I have been able to drive successfully anywhere without it. I cannot wait for the next trip to Melbourne!! In the past the lot of calculating average speeds and fuel consumption (essential information on any trip) has fallen to me - now the car has joined the information revolution to give us the most accurate and up to date information ever.
It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. If you want to know anything about averages please feel free to ask (if I haven't already told you).

Cruisin'

We are back home after our 10 day cruise to Cairns via Brisbane and back with stops (is that the nautically correct term?) at Townsville and Airlie Beach. The ship was P & O's Pacific Sun with an incredible 2,000 or so passengers and some 500 crew on board.
We set sail from Newcastle's lovely harbour late in the afternoon and steamed into Brisbane a day and a half later.

Here is the ship (taken from the ferry we caught into Brisbane).
From there we sailed to Cairns via Willis Island (never heard of it - neither had we before we booked). Willis Island is a speck in the ocean, 500 metres by 150 meters it boasts a weather station and not much else. Its main claim to fame is that it lies some 450 km or 280 miles off shore and so by travelling to the east of it we were able apparently to enjoy duty free purchases on board.
We had been promised a radio chat with the people who make up the crew of observers but we passed by on the Saturday of the AFL replay. The chat never eventuated and its absence passed without comment, it can only be that they had some far more pressing matters on their minds - meteorological ones, no doubt.
We had 2 stewards looking after our cabin, one from India the other from the Philippines and while I am sure we did not get any special treatment our cabin was made up each morning and each afternoon after Judy's obligatory rest. In addition, our cabin hosted the "animals" below. How they found the time to do that as well in the 7 am to 10 pm shift and still smile when they saw us (well saw me anyway) I do not know.


We found it something of a struggle to work up even a modest hunger but did our best by reading as energetically as we could between meals.
In Cairns we took a tour to the tropical rainforest which began in a small nature reserve with kinds of animals tourists want to see.


Moved on to a performance of traditional Aboriginal dance and spear and boomerang throwing demonstrations, a ride in an army duck and then importantly, the buffet barbeque.
This was just the overture, then came the real reason we had chosen the tour - the 7.5 km cable car ride over the rain forest canopy, it was incredible.

The cable car makes two stops with short walks available. The first allows views of a dam and falls used for power generation (the dam not the falls).


The rainforest is an amazing place, had a type of tree fern I had not seen before, amazing epiphytic ferns high in the canopy and dozens of other plants struggling for space and light, it is staggeringly lush.

From Cairns we sailed to Townsville where we disembarked and niavely decided to walk into town. From the ship I could see the ferry which runs to Magnetic Island and thought a trip across might be nice. The wharf was a few hundred metres from us - more or less across a short stretch of water over which there was no convenient crossing. We walked and walked but it proved to be far too hot and far too far, so after a short time out and about we made our way back on board and did some more reading.
The next day we were anchored at Airlie Beach and where we had booked a day on the outer reef. Outer is no exaggeration, we took a catamaran (there were 314 people on board - after the trips that have left people behind they had two people count us on board initially and then back on board) to a platform tethered 95 km off shore where we rode in a glass bottom boat, a semi-submersible, snorkeled and ate again. I also had the chance to scuba drive which I have always wanted to do. It was a very busy day, the trip to the platform took two and a quarter hours each way.

There is a small crew who live for some weeks at a time on the pontoon (interesting they said, when a cyclone hits). This was taken from the glass bottomed boat and shows our catamaran moored alongside the pontoon.

On this trip we saw flying fish and a whale and from the deck of the ship we saw whales on 3 different occasions but unfortunately missed seeing two sunfish on one morning apparently.
Our bed at home is more comfortable but I do miss being rocked to sleep. We have lost our sea legs and today (Monday), Judy leapt out of bed overjoyed by the thought of going back to school!

Clayton's Chooks

What are Clayton's chooks? The chooks you have when you don't have any chooks. We have new neighbours who moved in with 4 chickens who are free to roam during the day and seem to find our yard irresistible. Pickings are slim, I think the lizards keep us free of snails but the chickens seem to find very tasty morsels in the mulch.

Here they are around our compost heap - obviously oblivious to the wealth of eats in the form of worms in there, trust they do not discover the rich pickings in the compost!

The area is really not chook friendly, only a week or so ago we saw a fox; admittedly it has been some time since we have seen one and the council does have an eradication programme in place but they are about.
The eldest of the children is a beautiful little girl who tells us her name is Nowra (they are Korean so we may not have that quite correct) was very upset a few weeks ago when one of them was savaged by a dog and had to be put down (and waste not want not was roasted for Sunday night tea).
Nowra's favourite activity after she gets home from school is to carry Alex, the one on the left below around the yard. Alex seems surprisingly happy with that arrangement and does not complain (beats being eaten I guess).

The chickens looked to me to be old enough to be laying so I asked Nowra if they were getting any eggs, she explained to me they needed a daddy before that would happen. I knew that was not correct and started looking around our yard when I heard one of them singing her little, "hey I laid an egg" song.

Sure enough, right beside our front steps I found the first egg they had seen (three first eggs in fact). That set them searching and it appears they have quite a few places where there are nests and they have laid eggs.
They are gregarious birds and when they are in our yard they follow me about. I went into the yard with some sausages for the Magpies and Kookaburras yesterday and the chooks found it quite to their liking.
It is so nice to have chooks about without any of the problems or responsibilities, they really are endlessly entertaining.

Melbourne Mob Visit

The whole Croydon tribe had been invited to a wedding so Cath came down from Elcho and the rest (excluding Emma and Toli but including the former border, Liz) arrived on Friday afternoon from Melbourne for the weekend.

The weather was beautiful over the weekend, mid to high 20's both days. Ideal for the wedding yesterday and a barbeque lunch which all attended today at our place.

The girls explored the yard, the fish pond and the small accumulation of toys we have which is really better suited to boys. They are beautufully behaved secure girls who entertained themselves for the best part of the day.

And entertained the doting family.

Less fun was apparently the trip home which unhappily coincided with Virgin's computer booking system going down, at first the news was the flight was cancelled then was scheduled to fly. Not the first time it has happened but you do have to be lucky to choose that day to fly.

International Speak Like a Pirate Day

It appears I share my birthday with the ex-wife of a Mark Summers, one of the co-creators of the International Speak like a Pirate Day.

That authoritative source, Wikipedia; has this explanation (and I quote):

"According to Summers, the day is the only holiday to come into being as a result of a sports injury. He has stated that during a racquetball game between Summers and Baur, one of them reacted to the pain with an outburst of 'Aaarrr!', and the idea was born. That game took place on June 6, 1995, but out of respect for the observance of D-day, they chose Summers' ex-wife's birthday, as it would be easy for him to remember."

So it seemed appropriate that the sixty second anniversary of my birth should be celebrated with a pirate themed birthday party.

Here are some of the mateys.

And here some one-eyed advocates of the day, a lot of laughter (who'd have thought?) and far too much to eat, I felt we had celebrated that auspicious event in an entirely appropriate fashion.

My Classroom

Thanks to Labor's BER (Building Educational Revolution) I have a wonderful new classroom. It is full of bright colours, wonderful storage and equipped with sinks, bubblers and a wet area for messy play.

We play all sorts of games with the big letters on the carpet. The room is twice the size of usual rooms so there is an area for desks and space for games. As well I have 4 computers in the room so I always have 1 group doing computer activities.

Of course I have my Interactive Whiteboard and it is on wheels so that I can move it to face the desks or the open area where kids can sit to play games or watch the board.

Now work has begun on making more new classrooms. When they are finished I will move into an even better one - purpose built for Kindergarten with an undercover play area and my own little veggie patch.

My Nemsis,Telstra Strikes Again

I really thought the process I went through with the Telecommunications Ombudsman had finally worked - how naive. I reckoned without the determination of Telstra to continue to bill for a phone service now disconnected since June 2008.
I really hope the failure to pay this bill does not lead to some really drastic steps on their behalf, like, oh I don't know - disconnection perhaps!

I love irony - take a look at the bill, two things stand out for me; the first is the fact that they know Mum is no longer with us: the invoice is addressed to the "Estate of the Late Mrs" at least something got through. The second -"We've Listened" - enough said.

Susan's Interrment

On Sunday we had a graveside gathering to place Susan's ashes in the plot at the cemetery in Castle Hill.

There had been issues initially securing the requisite permissions then in securing a day which suited the family members (some from interstate) who were to be present and finally the 29th of August was chosen. Each person present was offered a chance to say a few words before her ashes were laid to rest.
We had offered to host a post service lunch and so two weeks in a row had 16 or so for lunch. The menu included as entree Prawns Kiev a dish which had achieved a measure of comment over the years after Susan had prepared it once and refused to do so ever again. The children were better acquainted to it as "Prawns Bl**dy Kiev" or PBK as it came to be known colloquially and living as they did a deprived existence had not ever had the chance to sample it. One of those "70's" dishes it was both a fiddle to prepare and well received for the association if not the culinary excellence.

It was one of those bitter sweet occasions and probably an important milestone for Ian and the children.
Tim took some photos which you can see here if you are interested.

Fortieth Photos

Not sure (and don't really care) if the guests had fun at our fortieth wedding anniversary bash - all that matters is we did! We could have done without the added complication of having to vote but the celebrations were great fun.













We ventured out a few weeks ago to buy some chairs and accidentally ended up with a new table as well, the two tables end to end just about accommodated all the guests and looked good, as did the flowers.
Speaking of looking good - so does the bride forty years on.













Both bridesmaids were present, the best man and a few friends who were not at the wedding but who now have the great good fortune to count themselves among those we wanted to invite.















Sunday morning we took Jen to our church in the city, then lunched at a regular haunt before the trip to the airport to see her off to Melbourne.