Manuka Pool

It was a lovely sunny day today, not too hot, not too cold - the temperature somewhere around the high 20s. We decided to pay a visit to Manuka pool and took a picnic to eat on the grass.

Manuka pool is a lovely outdoor art deco place, built in 1930. It is absolutely heaving in summer as hundreds of Canberrans seek solace in the cool waters there. Fortunately as it was a Friday morning there was a bit more space. There is a lane pool and a smaller paddling/wading pool.

We'd tried Eli in the (much warmer) indoor pool at Audrey's swimming classses (at CISAC) the weekend before (he'd hated it) and similarly he screamed and screamed as I plonked him in the chilly waters. Disapproving mums watched me as I cajoled him for about 5 minutes until he got used to the temperature and stopped crying/screaming. In the end he really loved it and Audrey showed off her swimming skills in the shallow water.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning, except perhaps for the moment when we watched a little boy stand on the other side of the side of the pool, pull down his red trunks and wee into the water we were sitting in. We were a bit more careful about swallowing the water after that.

Eli and Audrey on the picnic rug

Eli in the herb 'garden'

Eli has really mastered sitting up over the last couple of days. He's still a bit wobbly and prone to falling sideways every now and again, but it's been remarkable watching how quickly he's worked out how to keep his balance .

It allows him to reach out for things in the world around him. Here's a picture of him playing with the herbs we've got outside of our house (which are kept watered courtesy of Eli's bath water). He smelt very minty afterwards!

In memory of Marek Edelman

Marek Edelman died last month aged 90. I hadn't heard of him until I read about his death, which is sad considering the remarkable life he led.

He was one of the leaders of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto Uprising in 1943 a futile resistance by Warsaw's jews against the might of the Nazis. Incredibly he survived the conflict (300,000 jews from Warsaw died in Treblinka), and he returned to fight in the Warsaw uprising in 1944. I'm not sure why after that you would choose to stay in Poland, but he became a cardiologist and was then a key member of Solidarity. His life was a remarkable story.

Proverb Time

We've had some really warm temperatures over the last week and people keep telling us that it's about 5 or 6 degrees hotter at this time of year than it normally is.

As I mowed my lawn on Saturday I looked over at my neighbours beautiful grass turf (which had until a couple of weeks ago been dark emerald in colour) and noticed that it had been parched far more by the sun than our own weed infested lawn. Despite the sun's bombardment, our lawn still maintained a slight green hue.

Clearly therefore the adage 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence' isn't such an accurate proverb after all...

(I did however notice a whole lot of identical looking birds flocking together in the garden, but that's another story.)

South Durras

We had a week away in South Durras with Amy's parents last week. The week had it's highs and lows but fortunately a lot more highs than lows. Eli was a bit out of sorts for one day, cutting his first tooth, and Audrey found it hard to have her day sleeps so was a bit cranky at times. One night, after a visit to the zoo, she was convinced that there was a snake in her room!

There was a lot to keep us occupied - sandcastles to be built, fish to be caught, slides to go down and kangaroos to spot. It was our second visit to South Durras - this time we stayed in a cabin by the sea. It was lovely to sit outside and look at the ocean. Although it was whale watching season we didn't spot any (although Trevor wonders whether he spotted a couple on the horizon!)

Here a few snaps of the holiday.

making sandcastles

Pebbly Beach (not a pebble in sight)

Eli dips his toes

Audey feeding the deer and kangaroos in Mogo zoo

It felt a lot bigger reeling it in!

another monster catch!

South Durras Beach

Narooma beach (Ivor, Audrey and Wendy)

Audrey on the slide (click here to see how it looked in February!)

Bateman's Bay Botanic Gardens (children's discovery walk)

On the beach in South Durras

Our holiday house

Jean Genie

Since having Audrey, it has become a habit of both mine and Trevor's to make up silly songs about nearly everything we do. Sometimes we're inventive and make up our own words and other times we use other people's lyrics - usually in a different context to what the writer originally intended.

When we get Audrey into a pair of jeans we automatically sing David Bowie's Jean Genie to her - usually just the chorus part "Jean Genie let yourself go" at very loud volume. Trevor decided to introduce her to the real song the other night and the look on her face was priceless. She did a double take and then gasped "Jeanie song, Jeanie song". And that was it....there was a lot of foot stamping and shaking of hair and singing along (as best you can when you're 2) and requests for it to be repeated and then for another song. She ended up dancing to about 3 or 4 old Bowie tunes. Now when Trevor comes home from work she requests that he put the "Jeanie song" on for her. Bowie would be pleased I'm sure - a new generation of fans!!

A Round Egg

The egg carton in our fridge contained this rather curious round egg - masquerading as a table tennis ball...

See also
and also