I'll try again

I am hesitantly trying again on this blog concept. Once before it seems I posted a couple of words in 2007 and have had 22 visitors weird. It is Ok now I will keep this going and see if it suits till the end of this year.... Oh no I tried to edit and the font has changed.

The kids are on the road to Gran and Grandpa's at Port Douglas. Pete is working watching the footy grandfinal and tomorrow we go to Paris. My mind is concerned with how to make all I need and more fit into my bag, I wish I bought the size up of longed for blue pullalong bag. Judy we are now routed Paris direct to Japan on Japan Airlines so that quick exit though the cattle draft at Heathrow won't work.

Poor Pete doesn't know how little cycling practice has fitted into the last few weeks, he may need extra clothes as I doubt he'll raise a sweat. Our house meanwhile is opening up into new vistas and architectural lines. It will be super not to watch it on a daily basis and just enjoy the sudden momment when we get back in 2 weeks with the form even more there.

Love Zena (do you do that on blogs?)

A star in the family

Just a very quick note to tell you that Bella won the junior school talent quest today with her friend Zoe.
They sang "Black and Gold" together.
How clever is that!!

Just when you thought life was getting boring...

http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/section.aspx?sectionid=8870&sectionname=farmer2&subsectionid=146579&subsectionname=series3

Have a look at this link to see what Julian has been getting up to in the past couple of months! (But be prepared for a surprise Judith and Joseph - luckily you will already be sitting down or I would have to caution you about this for your own safety.)

Yes, Julian - you knew we would all find out sooner or later!

I suppose all we can say at this time is - "Good luck."

The Great Bathroom Ceiling Disaster of 15 Jansons Road

Full text on my LJ blog at http://the-gardener.livejournal.com/120790.html Here's some pictures to back it up -- one taken shortly after the damp section of plaster had fallen away and the second once all the old ceiling had been removed.

sunrise from Wylie Crescent

Sunrise over Albany - taken from the verandah on Mum's old house last time we were there, July this year.

Judith has blogged our London Open House 2008 activities yesterday on her LJ -- see http://headgardener.livejournal.com/79819.html -- so I won't repeat any of that here. (You are of course encouraged to go and read it there.) In the meantime, here's a (hopefully mildly amusing) photograph of her imitating a road sign.

School sports - part 2

Friday was the school sports day.

We were a bit worried at first that it would rain and everyone would get washed away - but the Gods were kind and after a few light showers the clouds cleared and everyone enjoyed the sunshine.

Hamish came third in the 200m and then surprised himself and won the first division 80m sprint (much to his delight) by a nose.

This was just the result he'd been wanting and - when combine with his third places in the throws and long jump, and fourth in the cross country -he ended up with the year 5 runner-up champion medal. Very exciting.

I think he is already working out what he needs to do for next year to win the gold medal!!

Bella came a credible fifth in the first division 80m for her age group and Connor was thrilled to get second in the third division 50m year one race.

Connor had been stressing about having to run against all the "really fast runners" and was super-pleased to see them all in other races.

Day at athe zoo

Yesterday I took Bella and her friend Stella and Connor and his friend Elliot to the zoo.

(Hamish was playing cricket with some friends instead.)

We zoomed around quickly and saw all the animals (except the lions and cheetahs who were all hiding) then spend the rest of the time playing on the playground and merry-go-rounds.

It is always a great day at the zoo!

Got the Builders

Is having builders officially recognised as one of the 10 Most Stressful Life-Events? If not, it should be. Certainly as far as JN is concerned. Back in January (you may recall) we signed with Mayor Ken's 'Green Home Concierge' scheme, had a home energy assessment, identified work to improve the climate-proofing of our little house, and started lining up quotes. Around June time, we got a couple of the small specialist fixes done: a light-tube installed over the stairwell, an extractor fan in the bathroom. Then we waited for the two main building outfits to firm up dates to do their stuff -- and, wouldn't you know it, both said they'd be ready to start last week. Since one lot are doing exterior work, the others interior insulation work, we decided to give both the go-ahead.

In the event, only Mayfair started on time, making good and repainting our front garden wall and building a new breeze-block wall along the side passage outside the kitchen (to support a glass roof, creating a covered area that JN insists is not a porch). So far, so good. Tuesday, Two blokes from Devereux turned up and got stuck into the loft insulation -- starting by tossing all the stuff stored there randomly out of their way, instead of moving it gently. Explosion of JN when he arrived home after work and poked his head up through the hatch. However, here we are Friday, loft complete with all the insulation it needs, a good half of it solid enough to walk and store stuff on (Knauf insulation boards, covered over with hard chipboard loft panelling) -- and the front lounge wall stripped of wallpaper and newly lined with Sempatap insulation, a 20mm rubberized foam lining that should reduce heat loss/gain by 25% which is (we've been assured) the best performing stuff currently available. Outside, we have lots of nice bright white new paintwork: garden walls, window sills, front door and the new back wall and stout wooden framework to carry the glass roof panels when they arrive from the glazier.

Next week: chaos as Devereux strip down the bathroom and back hall then re-line them; ditto our bedroom exterior-facing wall, then paint them all up plus the kitchen for good measure. And, fingers crossed, Mayfair come back to fit the glass roof and a bench along the fence. We fit small water-butt to catch run-off from the new roof. We arrange (and no doubt re-arrange) all the plants, pots etc currently covering our mini back lawn back into New! places. I order folding shelves to maximise plant-spaces along the new under-cover wall spaces. We see how it all survives the winter.

On the Road?

I see that this blog has gained a new contributor, On The Road, with a blog of their own -- http://ontheroadandback.blogspot.com/ (which gives no information about who they actually are). Does anyone know more?

School sports - part 1

I see Julian's name has been added to the contributor's list - does this mean there really is life out there? I will have to ring him and get him to log onto the site.

We have just invested in a new Wii Fit - this is doing a good job of keeping the kids out of the way in a relatively active way - although I am not really sure why it is more fun running on the spot in front of a computer screen than running around outside. Still it is good for those rainy days and those nights when we have people over for dinner and numerous kids to entertain ...

The first part of the school sports is on today. Hamish is competing in the throwing competition (how far you can throw a soft ball) and the long jump. He really wants to get one of the overall medals this year so has worked out that he needs to get a place in each of these to get enough points - provided he gets a place in the 100m but not the 200m sprints.

The second half of the school sports (all the running races) is on this Friday. I think Bella and Connor are dreading this (not being athletically interested or blessed) but Hamish is of course looking forward to completing the second half of his medal plan.

I'll let you know what happens...

I've just been cleaning out my pantry and it appears that 2005 was a very good year for shopping - apparently. Amazing what you find when you look into the far recesses of your cupboards - although I suspect my cupboards are positively boring compared to Mum's - I am sure she still has a few pre-decimal tins tucked away in her cupboards - just waiting until they come in useful (sorry Mum if you ever read this - but you know it's true).

I spoke to Zena today and she said she had just spent an hour listening on Radio National about Kojonup and its Kodja museum.
Apparently, the Museum has just won the "Best Small Museum in Australia" national prize.
It is a great little museum - Zena and I both stopped in there last time we were going down to Albany.
It is full of local history on the town's aboriginal past and the wave of post-war migrants from Italy and has lots of oral history and anecdotes from people we know and know of.
There is even the old Jingalup-run bus in there for kids to sit in and pretend to be naughty in the back seat.
The old school librarian (can't remember her name) was in there (behind the reception desk not as a display) when Zena and I called in. Amazingly, she recognised both of us and even remembered our names.
Judith, another "must see" next time come here - make a space on your itinery.

While on the subject of Zena, I should add that she promised to look at this site before she rings me again. However, I suspect this really means that she is not planning on ringing me for a long (long) time. I will of course forgive her for this - she is after all pulling her house apart and putting it back together at the moment.

Imaginery alien invaders indeed! We too were invaded last night ...

Hamish did the normal Hannaish untidy thing and left his trainers in the bathroom before he went to bed. I saw his shoes there before I went to bed (and did the normal Hannaish thing and left them there). Strangely, in the morning only one trainer was remaining in its right (wrong) place.
We looked everywhere - the dirty washing basket, behind all the doors, under the beds - even in desperation in the shoerack in his wardrobe - but no trainer to be found.
Finally I suggested looking in our neighbour's backyard.
Sure enough Hamish returned from Bevan and Suzannah's dangling the (only slightly chewed) missing trainer.
Bevan's dog "Camper Pants" had opened the little gate between our yards, squeezed (he isn't a little dog) through the little dog door in our laundry (bypassing the security alarm), snuck into the bathroom and stolen Hamish's shoe.
Luckily he only decided to eat the laces, as a new pair of trainers (with arch support and other fancy stuff) plus new custom-made orthortics would have set us back a couple of hundred dollars.

This isn't Camper's first noctural visit to our place. Camper is the reason we only have four and half new blue cushions for our six "uncomfortable without cushions" metal chairs. He has also destroyed a number of hats, soccer shin pads, soft toys, balls, garden gloves, shorts, thongs and other assorted things* left lying around in nontidy places. To be fair Camper doesn't just pick on us. He is just as happy to munch on next door's (or anyone else's) "untidy" belongings. Unfortunately this also refers to their two sadly departed chooks (which Camper thought were particularly untidy and therefore particularly yummy).
I am beginning to suspect Camper is indeed an alien life form having been sent to this place to eliminate untidiness where ever he finds it (spookily similar to someone we all know?)


(*note: sometimes we only know what Camper has eaten by examining the poos he leaves on our back lawn - Bevan claims to have found a whole shredded t-shirt (his not ours) in one poo and it is normal to find pegs, hair lackies, plastic bags and socks.)

Alien invasion overnight

"Aliens were trying to break in to our house last night, and when I called you to come and help fight them off, you just stood around nagging me to tidy up," I told Joseph yesterday morning.

"Really?" he said. "What kind of aliens were they?"

"The normal grey squishy ones, with big eyes, like on your allotment key ring."

"So what happened? Did they break in?"

"No. I put them in a jar of water and they just kind of dissolved. You should tell the X-files that is how to deal with them."

"Oh. You really must tidy up you know dear."

Also, he later explained, he had been distracted at the time trying to save everybody from eating an alien cereal that turned people into sort of zomboid clones, but it had all been very confusing and didn't make sense. And he disclaimed responsibility for what he got up to in any dream I had anyway.

So either something we both ate -- a trace of alien cereal, perhaps? Or premonitions of disturbance in advance of The Builders Coming In?

We had a busy Fathers' Day weekend with people for dinner on Saturday night and then the soccer windup and trophy day for kids on Sunday. Hamish, Bella and Connor are now very proud of their new trophies - although I think the free hotdogs, freddo frogs and lemonade was just as exciting for them.

We bought Mark some new fishing lures for Fathers Day (plus board shorts) - so we went to the river to try them out - spectacularly unsuccessful - not even the blowies were biting.

This week Mark is off to Melbourne for a few days and then back on Friday when we have the kids' school art exhibition opening to go. All the kids are "exibiting" an artwork and we of course get the opportunity to "invest" in a piece from each of them. There are also a number of professional artists exhibiting - including our neighbours (Bevan and Suzannah are both artists) - last time I saw them they were both frantically trying to "produce" something for the night.