Weekend song

Don’t you love weekends?

I do.

Especially if the weather is perfect.

Our weekend was full …

music, sport, open homes, driving, friends, eating, chores, shopping, work, church, movies, and most importantly,

enjoying being with each other and ‘laxing out.

Relaxing this weekend included

being in, on, or around water, making silly faces, and playing with all sorts of cameras!

Good weekends help with the week ahead -
they put a song in your heart!

Fridays...

...are for Comfort Food !

Bring on the weekend !

Dry washing, sun, and green grass

I’m always amazed at how quickly the water disappears around these parts!

Pleased to say….SUMMER is back on track again……for now at least!

Storm Season

Ange of the North, I wish you and your family, a

VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What a superb tradition Thanksgiving is. I have such fond memories of being invited to join with a beautiful Canadian family and their extended family members, around a scrumptious roasted turkey dinner….lights, warmth, chatter, good food, great company, lots to be thankful about! I only wish we had something like it here. We could always do with reminders to be more thankful!
(Incidentally, it was also the first time I had ever tasted Spaghetti Squash!)….


There is one thing that Queenslanders are particularly grateful for, and that is RAIN!
I realise, this may perhaps be a difficult concept for Vancouverites to comprehend!
Because it doesn’t rain here for any great length of time, when Storm Season arrives, the wild weather and rain it brings, is a time of celebration….kinda! Also, the drought here 3 years ago made people much more appreciative of any downpours especially close to the onset of summer. Today, we awoke to water cascading off the roof and gurgling down into the gutters and watertanks. Don’t you love lying in bed and listening to the sound of the rain and wind and thunder outside, whilst you’re snuggled beneath your warm sheets and doona…..This is the sight that greeted us when we finally made it out from under our cosy beds -


Yes, this was the view from our back lawn.


You can tell that people here just aren’t used to a lot of rain. I overheard a news reporter interviewing people on the streets about how they were faring with the wet weather (big news!), and was amazed to hear some of the comments, including a lady who said that she is NEVER, EVER going to wear ‘suede shoes’ again when it rains!!!! Like, helloooo!!!!


Our pool - full to the brim!

People were out in their droves with their cameras, taking photos of the water in the wet (um....me included!). And everywhere (schools, malls, like everywhere!), people were talking about the rain....(or even blogging about it)!


The raging river that you can see here (above and below) is usually a beautiful green parkland! And that is a bridge you can see, almost totally submerged. About 250mm of rain has fallen in the past 24hrs in some of the worst affected areas. 3 years ago, our main water reservoirs were at danger levels, being less than 16% full......today, they are all full, and reservoirs are having to release water at regular intervals!



Do teachers over there get worried when it is a windy school day? I remember kids going uncontrollably spack at school on windy days….here I reckon the rain has the same effect! All the kids at school were SO excited/excitable!! My boys definitely couldn’t wait to get to school to see how it had fared with the flash floods….and to enjoy the prospect of rain all day.....wet weather lunchtimes....mega puddles to splash in......colourful umbrellas to destroy.....slippery wet concrete to skid on......noisy, revved up kids.....muddy patches.....water, water everywhere!

I guess the soccer goal is at least still visible. Not too bad considering!
(And thus was born the sport of waterpolo….?!)



Imagine being the unlucky teacher on duty today!
Imagine how many kids there were, that were tempted to check out the raging streams…

Imagine!.....I'm sure you can! :)

Thankful it's Done!

What a week it was.

I knew from the get-go that it would be intense, but catching a nasty cold on Tuesday made it all the more exciting!

The culminating event (after numerous evening meetings) was to be the huge enormous two-day teachers' convention, at which I was scheduled to present two different workshops. On Wednesday I realized that I'd forgotten to bring home a whole bunch of things that I'd be needing in both workshops. And, of course, I felt absolutely rotten. Oh, and I hadn't finished preparing the second workshop. Why did I ever agree to do this???

How does one predict how many people will show up in a workshop? How many copies of the handouts will be required? Nobody wants to be vain and make 100 copies, wasting reams of paper, but it's not cool to underestimate and be short. I was in a quandary, but finally decided on 20 copies. Conservative, yet realistic. And how many people came? 50! I was kind of overwhelmed as they just kept coming in, and we had to get more chairs and somebody ran to make more copies of the handout.

I was exhausted after teaching teachers for 75 minutes with a yukky cold, but felt that it had gone well. Whew!

But the week was not over yet! Little Bear and I still had a very long drive ahead of us. We left Surrey just after 1pm and had a lovely trip to Christina Lake, where the rest of the family awaited us. We chatted about music, relationships, and all kinds of interesting topics, and listened to all our fave songs. And in just 6 1/2 hours, we were there - record time!
This is what we drove up to. It was a wonderful bonfire, and such a relief to sit and relax after a very intense week. Today, I'll be roasting a turkey.

Thanksgiving weekend at the cabin is a cozy, lovely time. Even in the pouring, dripping rain. And even with ten people sharing a small space (five of whom are large, noisy offspring!). The technology is everywhere - four laptops, multiple smart phones, ipods, and PS3.

Wish you were here!

Summer Daze

I’m not sure where Spring went, but Summer has officially hit Down Under.

There are a few clues to why this may be so....

The 27degC temps yesterday could be a giveaway.

Or the fact that it suddenly feels too hot to be wearing jeans (naturally, I will be holding out as long as possible before donning shorts, since it doesn’t feel ‘right’ to be wearing shorts at the start of October...and there’s the fact that I’ve just gone and bought a swag of new jeans with all the recent sales!).

Then, there’s the fact that Mango and Lychees are starting to appear in the supermarkets. Strawberries and Grapes have been out for weeks. And Melons and Pineapples are getting cheaper all the time. Fresh, tender asparagus shoots are particularly tasty at the moment...and it looks like Sweetcorn is vying for space on the barbie again. Oh, it’s all good!

The sun is getting up far too early these days, and waking all the birds and wildlife up, way before I’m ready! I guess God knew what He was doing when He didn’t create me as a Kookaburra. Those early worms would’ve been happy at least....

Most significantly, our lizard population seems to have rematerialised, larger and 'chirrupier' than before. Thanks to our latest vizzies, A&T for the use of their photos, since I’ve been a bit lax with my camera lately.

This is our friendly Eastern Water Dragon who climbs (& falls out of) trees in the neighbour’s garden; sits in our pots or poses beautifully amongst our weeds; gives me a fright when he comes to say hello as I’m hanging out the washing; and tries to fit through the gap in our neighbour-on-the-other-side’s fence....but doesn’t realise that he’s getting a wee bit chubby, and gave himself a bit of a scare yesterday when he nearly got stuck! He has also taken a liking to swimming in our pool....guess that's what a WATER lizard might do well after all!

Then there’s the lizard in our letterbox, and the lizard who rides the awning up and down each night, and the lizards who fall off the automatic garage door as it rolls up, and the lizards who stick onto our windows & roof at night and make me want to wear a hat when I take the rubbish out (just in case they lose their sucky-ability as I’m walking underneath them!).

Oh, it’s all fun and games, now that Summer is here!

Just Married!

The highlight of my weekend was Sheri and David's wedding.Sheri, a grade two teacher at my school, is creative, earthy, and sweet. The wedding was a lovely reflection of her personality - and his, too. Not elegant or sophisticated, but simple, joyful, casual, and beautiful. (The prelude music was Hoppipola by Sigur Ros - very cool!)
After it was all over, Sheri, David, and about 40 of their funky friends rode off to the reception on bicycles.
It was a perfect early fall day, just right for a bike ride with good friends.
I believe the happy couple is on their way to the Oregon coast for a honeymoon. Couldn't be better! (But I hope they go by car!)

Oh where, oh where have the holidays gone…?!

The last term of the 2010 school year is nearly upon us!

Bye bye holidays

Aaaaaaargh! The end is nigh.