Idea for a Birthday Present

If you have a spare $4000 to spend on a present for me I wouldn't mind this pear sculpture made of horseshoes for my garden!

Piece of History Close to Home

Bill and I rode out to Lambrigg Homestead yesterday - a 25 minute ride out on our touring bikes. Lambrigg was the home of Willam Farrer who devoted his life to developing strains of wheat suitable to Australian conditions. He and his wife were buried on the property overlooking the Murrimbidgee and there is a monument erected as well. This is all on private property and it was open over the weekend for the first time in 50 years, so we went out and enjoyed the gardens of Lambrigg, walked up to the grave and monument and enjoyed the lovely views around the Tharwa area which is so close to where we live. We had a lovely few hours and enjoyed the privilige of seeing the grave of an Australian pioneer.

Celebrating 8 Weeks of School and No Days Missed!

I just loved the colour of this smoothie so it triggered me to take a photo! I picked up Amy from school and because she had gone 8 weeks of term without missing a day we went to the cafe across the road and she had a blueberry and strawberry smoothie and I had a hot chocolate. There are only two weeks of term left- both 4 day weeks, during which Amy will have a number of tests, but then it is school holidays - so she has done extremely well this term and only two weeks to go!

Upside Down Pear Caramel Cake

I attempted a new recipe last night - upside down pear caramel cake and it was very yummy, I was also rather impressed with the results so could not resist calling in the resident photographer to record this event! I must give credit to my friend Mary who sent me the recipe but was also available to take several phone calls to answer my questions about making the toffee topping! Good thing I got photographic evidence as the cake did not last all that long and all evidence of it's existence had disappeared in less than 24 hours!

Technology and the Oboe Player

Sometimes you curse computers and are convinced they are a complete waste of time and then other times you are just amazed at what they can be used for. During the week I could hear Amy playing the oboe, I would hear a little piece, followed by a repeat of the same piece. I thought she must have been recording and playing it back, but when I went in to investigate, I found her listening to a recording of the piece she was practicing on You Tube - on one screen, she would listen to a part and then play it back, on the other screen she was chatting on MSN to a friend who is doing music at university and asking how to tune her oboe to a certain note on the computer- I was just amazed!

Red Cross Calling!

March is Red Cross Collection Month, I have been collecting for a few years now, just half of my street and back- probably about 20 houses. I don't particularly enjoy it, and end up putting it off to the last possible day. Every year when they ring up I think, I will say "no" this year, but when they ring I say "yes". The package arrives in the mail, and I keep wishing I had said no, but once I finally get around to doing it, and after I have knocked on a door or two, it is never quite as bad as I think it is going to be. Some people aren't home, most people are happy to donate, and no one is rude, so then I think - I better say "yes" next time they call. Also I always think of my mum and remember how involved she has been in Red Cross, so I would feel guilty for saying "no" and after all is is only an hour of my time once a year!

Chainsaw Massacre Canberra Style

Watch out Canberra, Amy is learning how to use the chainsaw - so don't mess with her or she will be around for a visit with her chainsaw to settle the score! We had a tree fall down a couple of weeks ago, so Amy is earning a bit of money cutting it up and shredding the bits that can be shredded, in the process she is learning some handy chainsaw massacre skills!

Why I Love Canberra

I went for a ride Saturday morning into town and rode around Lake Burley Griffin, it was a beautiful morning, cool but sunny, there were people everywhere, people riding, people out walking, jogging, rollerblading, people out dragon boat rowing - everywhere you went there was someone exercising, it makes you glad to be alive and to be able to get out and about, to live in a city that is so easy to be active in, and picturesque as well.

Is He Really Comfortable?

I come across Benji sleeping on his back in all sorts of weird and wonderful positrons, not the most elegant I know, but he obviously is comfortable as he wouldn't be asleep I guess! It just amuses me every time I see him.

The Potato Gun - Especially for Charlie from Amy

Amy loves digging up the potatoes we planted. She was helping Bill this Saturday to dig up the last of the potato crop when she came across this potato that she labeled the potato gun and dedicated it to Charlie because we know how much he loves guns!

Biology Project

As you can see I am getting desperate to find photos to put in my blog - we now have a photo of a fly! Why? Well Amy had to do a bug collection - 10 bugs for a biology assignment, so we have spent the last few weeks collecting any bugs that happened to cross our path. I was going to take a photo of the inside of our fridge but forgot ( you would open the fridge door only to be greeted by a number of jars with dead bugs in them) I was going to take a photo of her completed bug collection - but I forgot, the only photo I managed to take was one of a fly so that is why you have the photo of a fly! Maybe next week I can find something more interesting to put on my blog!

Desparate Measures

It looks a little strange I admit, no he is not preparing to enter Amy's room, but it is probably what you need, not sure if I want to admit in a public forum what he is about to do! It is like admitting your child has nits, there is nothing you can really do about it, it just happens! We had rats in our roof! We put up some rat baits but that was a mistake, they worked and we had a dead rat in our roof and we could smell it. Bill drew the short straw (there was only one straw) so he had to go up in the roof to find it and dispose of it!