Tired (and more like a Facebook post)

Audrey came into our room at 12.30am this morning upset that her (Tinkerbell) pillowcase was creased!

Not Just Ned

Catherine and Michael arrived on Saturday from Darwin, having come from 32 degree heat they're suffering a bit at the moment with Canberra's chilly weather, especially as they're sleeping in a caravan on our front lawn!

On Sunday the four of us headed to the Not Just Ned exhibition currently on display at the National Museum of Australia. It's a really good history of the Irish in Australia (not just Ned).

For the uninitiated Ned Kelly is Australia's favourite criminal/bandit. He's kind of akin to a latter day Robin Hood except that he didn't distribute his spoils amongst the poor and kept them himself. The Kelly gang (who were at their height of notoriety in the 1880s) wore trademark 'armour' to protect them from the bullets fired from police. It's a unique form of armour - essentially styled on a bucket on your head with a slit to see out of. The armour then extended to body/shoulder plates which in theory would stop a bullet/musket ball(?) fired at it. When Kelly was captured the police shot him in the (un-armoured) legs rendering his clever defence ever so slightly useless. They then hanged him for the murder of 3 policemen.

The exhibition featured the armour of the Kelly gang (which was excellent to see) as well as a host of other Irish paraphernalia. I hadn't realised Burke and Wills had been Irish (they planned the first South to North Australia exhibition), their adventure is again famed in Australian history (they died en route).

Other more successful Irishmen included John Curtin after whom our suburb is named who was Australian PM during WWII.

There wasn't a lot for the children, but there was still lots to look at including a huge dolls house which kept them occupied for ages. Even though Australia's population is made up of less than 1% of Irish born people, the influence that Ireland has had on Australia's history is pretty evident.

Halfway Down

Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I'm not at the bottom
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up,
And isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run through my head:
"It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!"

AA Milne

Chilly mornings

Apparently one of the reasons Canberra is situated where it is (i.e no mans land between Sydney and Melbourne) was that planners wanted to have a capital city which experienced 90 days of frost a year.

There was a thought (and I'm sure this must be seeped in abundant prejudice of the day 90 odd years ago) that the bracing climate lead to a healthier constitution and a more intelligent /productive population.

Obviously we don't get the bitingly cold winters of Warsaw (-20) and there doesn't seem as many chilly mornings (where you have to use your supermarket loyalty card to scrape the ice off the car windscreen) as in the UK, but nevertheless we've had a few days recently dropping to -4 or -5.

The one really positive thing about winter though, is that the clear sky during the day is often an absolutely beautiful blue.

Amy took this picture of our outside tap yesterday. I didn't even know it leaked until we found the stalactite below.

Lazy Sunday

We had a lovely day today with our friends Catherine and Anthony and their children, Alex and Wil. We'd made a couple of batches of soup to take over for lunch, complemented by lovely fresh bread from the markets. Catherine had baked a lovely chocolate cake for afters.

The children got along famously which left the adults to relax and chat. Most importantly, it gave Catherine and I a chance to play the Duran Duran board game! What fun! Trevor and Anthony thought we were sad cases and left us to it, retiring with bits of the newspaper but Catherine and I had a ball. I sense a rematch coming soon....

Girls on film - re-living our teenage years with a game of Duran Duran - the board game

A morning of Jigsaws

On Saturday morning I took Elijah swimming and came home to a floor full of jigsaws. Amy and Audrey had spent their time puzzling away and Audrey was really proud to show me her achievements.

Audrey and Eli at Black Mountain Peninsula

Black Mountain Peninsula is a favourite haunt of ours and is only a short drive from our home. There's a good playground there as well as a nice stretch of grass running down to the lake.

Here's a short video of Audrey and Eli enjoying the park