Here and There

Have been back at school for a week since the big trip so have had time to reflect on a few things. I still like Sydney - it seems bigger than when I first visited 20yrs ago - go figure - but any ferry trip on the harbour is still magic, and you can walk a long way round Circular Quay, the Rocks, the Opera House, Botanic Gardens, onto the Barracks and Hyde Park relatively easily (and if you are reasonably fit, to do so, LOL). So a bit touristy and a bit of culture (I know, and you thought the Aussies didn't have any ...LOL)- forgot the Art Gallery as well, and then there is the eateries with a variety of foodstuffs from a range of ethnic cooking - what more could a person want.

I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed Canberra after my memories of a bleak dormitory city all those years ago. There is a wealth of touristy and cultural things to visit with Lake Burley Griffin being a focal point of the city with easy access to the above. The Institute of Sport was outstanding and I am sure if you were a sports person (a real stretch for my imagination, LOL)this would be the place to aim for. I found a new food that I liked in their dining room, called Bircher muesli (I had never heard of it before). I googled it last week and it is basically rolled oats and dried fruit soaked in apple juice over night with yoghurt, honey, lemon juice, and slivered almonds/pumpkin seeds added the next morning. I had lashings of it with FRESH blueberries and raspberries each morning I was there and did not feel peckish again until late afternoon heh, heh.

Last week kind of passed in a blur. We had very sad news on Friday. One of our boys lost his 5 yr old brother in an accident when a truck hit him while he was riding his bike. Four of our girls who are close cousins have been away since. We said prayers that night in Mass for the families concerned reflecting on how quickly things can change. Also said prayers for the people in Mumbai. One of our staff has a niece living there and was finding it difficult to get any news of her.

During Mass which was the first one for Advent, we lit an advent candle and had two Christmas carols - one of which I had to sing in front of the lecturn with another staff member to lead the school - Angels from the Realms of Glory with the lonnnnng Gloria in exclesis Deo bit in it. Went into boarding school choir mode and could almost hear Miss Hutton say it was all right, (as I managed to get the right notes and timing to the backing CD) which was reasonably high praise for her - a well done girls was up there with winning a gold medal, LOL. This week it will be Silent Night and O Come all ye Faithful which are two of my favourites. No 9 lessons and carols out here but a Christmas Play on Sunday before graduation instead!!

Went to Geraldton on Saturday for a quick run and noticed several trees with bright orange flowers blooming along the roadside and in several paddocks. Apparently, it is the Geraldton Christmas tree! I have taken a couple of photos but will try for better ones tomorrow when I do the vegie run. Got back from town and went to the WM's place for a gargantuan Pork Roast and Pavlova dinner which was very yummy indeed. I learnt a new card game called scumbag which I played with the WM's family after dinner (and won) before settling back to watch the movie "Mama Mia". I have not seen the stage show which I am told is brilliant. Once I got my head around Meryl Streep singing and dancing and Pierce Brosnan singing, I enjoyed the movie that is light on story line but with some very corny funny bits - loved Julie Waters in her role.

Opened my emails on Sunday to see a photo of No 1 granson with his arm in a sling and the news that he has broken his elbow! I rang and talked to him and his Mum while his Dad was out buying button shirts as tee shirts are to hard to get on for the moment. According to grandson, he was running and fell over with his arm falling on the floor and he fell on his arm. He had two xrays (and a night in hospital) and the elbow bit had separated - he now has wires in his arm and is getting a new plaster caste today. Sounded fairly horrific as accidents often do when you are far away. Not to be outdone, our office lady fell over at basketball that morning dislocating the fingers on her left hand and breaking a finger to the point a bone was sticking out. I had thought of going in that day to watch but decided to stay here and cook dinner instead which is just as well. The basketball people did nothing so it was the WM and the WMH who rang the ambulance and did the most basic of first aid until the ambulance arrived. As of yesterday afternoon she had finally been admitted to a ward in Perth Hospital but no op to get things right yet. She had to fly down to Perth without any nurse or family, carrying her own bag in the uninjured arm, even though she had a cannular in it and was in pain, then had to catch a taxi to the hospital. Makes Middlemore and Waikato almost look good by comparison. It was Geraldton Hospital that sent her to Perth so not a comforting thought that the nearest hospital for anything major is that far away.

Six sleeps to go until the students depart and 12 more till I get back to NZ. I hear the temperatures are in the high 20's. Yesterday we were a warm to the bone 38o and the last two nights, have taken the blankets off the bed and down to a duvet instead. Am still wearing jeans in the mornings which can be cool but am wearing short sleeves and 3/4 length pants especially when outside. Have not got to the sweat dropping off the eyelids heat band yet - that tends to be 40+o.

The harvest is going well - I think Bro said 3,000 ton so far - most days doing over 200 ton which was the entire crop last year. I was talking to one of our staff the other day who also farms with her husband. She was saying someone in the district onsold their wheat for $400 ton last year which has wiped out all their debt, got them seed for next year with a bit left over. The roads are still busy with wheat trucks though on the farm, it should all be over by next week. We are still having days with cloudy skies and wind - like today and it is the coolest start to summer that this area has had in 6 years that the boss has been here.

Do not know what I will be watching on TV tonight. 'All Saints, Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away, and Finding our Families have all finished for the year - which I feel is a week or two early and so the silly season will start here with very average programming going on. I see where NZ did well on the first day of cricket but were getting a hiding yesterday. I also see where NZ won a World Cup for Rugby League - that one passed me by completely. I only know of the Warriors playing league and it wasn't them - this is when I feel totally out of the loop, LOL. I know the All Blacks played in London (and won) on Saturday night because friend Phil from Waiuku days had a seat in the corporate boxes to see the game and had skited several times on skype about being there!!!

Am ready for a coffee now so will sign off. Vegie run tomorrow. Catch you later.