Trees Adventure, Nowra

We stopped off at Trees Adventure in Nowra on our drive home from Woolongong. Here's a video of some of the fun we had!

Woolongong mini-break

We took a short break away to Woolongong with some friends from school. I'd not been to the 'Gong' before, so it was interesting to explore somewhere new. We stayed in a nice place which overlooked the beach. It was quite a drive when compared to the South coast, but it made a nice change and the beaches were really stunning.

Compared to the south coast the place definitely had a 'big city' feel, and being Christmas there were big crowds of people wherever we went. We really enjoyed our time there though and I'm sure we'll head back one day.

The promenade (which had originally been a train line) was now a great spot for riding or walking

cockatoos to our room

Christmas Present Opening!

Canberra's Christmas Lights

With every passing year, Canberra's street/house lighting grows ever bigger. In truth, whether you think it's magical or just downright naff, the city's warm summer nights actually make it really conducive to touring round by car and on foot admiring the light displays that people have set up on and around their houses. 

We were late in our tour of the illuminations this year, but actually Christmas eve was a pretty perfect time to do it. We saw everything from the ubiquitous inflatable Santa, (literally) millions of lights and an inflatable Rudolf that was almost as tall as the house it stood next too. One street (Bissenberger Crescent) which has become locally famous(!) for putting on a huge display (the houses in the Crescent usually have amongst other things, lasers and a snow machine) didn't run this year - they've decided to do it bi-annually instead, but there were plenty of other houses which more than made up for their absence.

Gingerbread

Made some gingerbread for Christmas. I was happy how it turned out...

The kids clean the car

They did a great job too. Both inside and out - cleaned the wheels as well! It was a joy to drive afterwards :)

Audrey with Pumpkin

Audrey usually does a pony-riding school holiday programme during the loooong summer holidays and this year she was really happy to get Pumpkin. Pumpkin is one of the larger ponies that the riding school has and unlike some of the horses which can be mercilessly grumpy and difficult to get to obey instructions, Pumpkin is quite obliging. Audrey's riding is really progressing well, she can really canter well now.

Girls rule

A karate Christmas party(!) took us to Edison Park one sunny Saturday afternoon. 

I took this shot of Audrey climbing up a tree. 

It's incredible to watch how she's growing up. Sometimes Audrey can be forgetful or daydream so deeply (traits that she has sadly inherited from me) but at other times she can be incredibly determined, make comments way beyond her tender years and can be both witty and kind (traits inherited fortunately for Audrey, from her Mum). And like her Mum, Audrey is going to grow into such a strong and determined woman. I feel grateful that I'm going to watch it happen.

Campinology

Every Christmas St.Johns's Church in Canberra offers free bell-ringing to the public. Every year we see the sign outside the church, but fail to get along there before it finishes. This year I made a special effort and the kids and I found that it was so much fun that we might make it a bit of a tradition.

Here's the kids ringing out Rudolf the Red Nosed Raindeer!

The spirits of the pumpkins descended into the heavens

We went to a new permanent installation at the National Gallery by an artist called Yayoi Kusama. The piece is called 'The spirits of the pumpkins descended into the heavens'. It features a large-ish room completely decorated (ceiling, walls and floor) in black polka dots. Additionally, In the centre of the room is a window where you can poke your head through a square and look into a further (smaller) room which is filled with an infinity type arrangement of mirrors and the pumpkins!

I sometimes struggle to get-hold of and appreciate modern art. I reach the conclusion occasionally that it's all a bit pretentious and trying hard for the sake-of-it. Certainly having kids gives you a good dose of realism. It's easy without kids to stare at a blank canvass, or sticks on a floor or an unmade bed and be filled with awe because someone has valued it at $10 million, but when questioned to explain what it's all about by a quizzical child it suddenly feels a lot more challenging. Similarly when the kids stand next to you observing a piece of art and casually inform you that they could probably achieve something similar with their coloured pencils or paint (and a part of you agrees with them) it certainly becomes time to reflect. I think on occasion even the most hardened art critic would struggle.

Ultimately I usually handle this 'art-thing' by diluting it all down to originality. Of course I COULD have conceived a yellow room covered in dots with pumpkins replicated by mirrors in its centre, but WOULD I have conceived it, and even if I had would anyone have taken me seriously? I guess a lot of it comes down to originality and in a smaller way, notoriety. 

Anyway, whatever the merits or otherwise the room WAS fun and we spent a long time in there, especially with the mirrored centre. It's nice that Canberra has fabulous (free!) art galleries and therefore the opportunity for the children to critically assess things like Kusama's room for themselves and form their own opinions. The world would be a far sadder (and duller) place without artists like Kusama.

The Breeders

It's sometimes difficult to see 'big' or 'new' bands in Canberra. Most frequently they'll play the main hubs of Sydney and Melbourne, occasionally heading to Adelaide or Brisbane. For most bands (and let's face it international tourists too!) Canberra is off limits.

As such I guess, you can't really class the Breeders as a 'big' band, but certainly one with a decent following. The band originally from Ohio, was the brainchild of Tania Donnelly (of the Throwing Muses) and of  Kim Deal (who left the Pixies unfulfilled with her subordinate role). After Donnelly herself departed the project, Kim enrolled twin sister Kelly on lead guitar and the two have been going since 1993 despite a couple of hiatuses due to drug and alcohol addiction.

Their first album (1990) entitled Pod, is excellent (although not commercially successful) and was the work of legendary producer Steve Albini. I think they've had four or five albums since.

The gig sold out Canberra Theatre. Sadly the crowd was fairly sedated due to the venue being all-seater, but still they managed to put on an excellent show and send everyone home happy.

Back in Australia

I arrived back to a hot and sunny Australia. It was lovely to see Audrey and Eli again. They had enjoyed their break with some kind friends. Eli liked the flag that I brought him back.

For old time's sake

Here's a picture of me and my brothers outside of Rowan Crescent (our parent's house). When we were little (well my brothers were obviously older than me) we used to line up outside Rowan Crescent on the first day of school.

Mom's funeral

Mom's funeral went smoothly and the Rev. David Wright who gave the service both at the Crematorium and St.John's did so respectfully and appropriately. It was nice to see that a fair number of the church congregation turned out as Mom and Dad had been a faithful part of the congregation for many many years. I knew a lot of the faces from when I went to church as a kid and sat in the cold and decaying confines of the church. 

Due to assorted lottery grants the church building has never looked so good. The isle which was always cold and chipped tiles is now carpeted and the lights which used to flicker on and off in winter now burn brightly in guilded chandeliers. Sadly though as the building has been repaired the congregation has aged and (like Mom) sadly departed this world. 

Ralph and I with Uncle Richard (the first time we had met since I was around 8 or 9 years old)

family

St. John's in the Square

Nice walk along the Thames

Ralph and I took a walk along the Thames in Henley. Berkshire is a lovely County and despite it being November the weather was remarkably mild. Amy always used to be amazed by how green the UK is compared to sunburnt Australia, and I now fully understand how she felt.

Arsenal v Wolves

During my short stay in the UK, Wolves played a game at the Emirates (Arsenal's home ground in the north of London. It's virtually impossible as a supporter who only attends games very very rarely(!) to get hold of tickets, but fortunately my friend Chris (who I have known for 20 odd years now) is an ardent Gooner and a season ticket holder (despite living many miles away from Arsenal's ground).

Chris managed to fix me up with a ticket. Sadly, part of the consequence of having an Arsenal supporter secure my ticket was that I had to sit with the Arsenal supporters. Wolves took the lead early in the game and I had to bite my tongue to avoid shouting out and thereby getting kicked out or beaten up. It was a great game and Arsenal fluked an equaliser late on so everyone went home relatively happy at 1-1. It was a great experience and I was really grateful to Chris for arranging my ticket.

Back in the UK

I flew back to the UK for a week for Mom's funeral. It was a sad time (obviously) but also afforded the opportunity to catch up with my family as well as Sarah and Patrick who Amy and I knew from our time in Warsaw. The three of us did a London Walk exploring Brunel's London. The walk featured both a ferry and tube and train ride and told the remarkable history of the famous engineer who built a tunnel under the Thames among other incredible feats of engineering.

It was so lovely to catch up with Sarah and Patrick again, and even though I was in the UK under sad circumstances it felt like only yesterday since I had seen them last. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea at Dukes Hotel near St.James's Park. 

Not a very good selfie of Nelson's column...

Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew
(Twenty bridges or twenty-two)
Wanted to know what the River knew,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told ...RUDYARD KIPLING

Patick and Sarah by the Brunel Museum (Southwark)

Club grounds

Eli spent 15 minutes begrudgingly doing homework, (arguing and complaining throughout) then an hour carefully writing out and memorising the Premier League teams' nicknames and home-grounds (he tells me he's going to do all 92 league clubs). Dear oh dear! #priorities #ifonlytherewasanexam

Player of the Month

Eli was awarded player of the month for October with Coerver (his football training programme). It was quite an achievement really as there's a lot of boys involved and it was awarded on his attitude as much as his skill. He loves his football and I was ever so proud of him.

A few more pictures of Eli on camp

Even though I didn't go on the camp with Eli, his teacher kept parents updated with a regular stream of photos. Here's a few featuring Eli...

The only sun-smart kid in the class (well done!)

Football crazy

For the past couple of months Eli has been doing a football training programme called Coerver. It's based on a Dutch system and focuses on skill training rather than tactics or endurance. There's a small gaggle of boys and girls across all age groups with about 20 or so in Eli's under 10's. 

Part of the programme also included a free parents session one Saturday morning. It was quite good fun and all participating parents (in assorted shapes and sizes and degrees of fitness) were all awarded a certificate at the end (which is, I'm sure the only award I've EVER won for playing football).

Eli enjoying a swing (on camp in Cooba)

Eli goes on camp

Eli's class went on a camp to Cooba (just west of Cooma). It was Eli's first taste of school camp and he really loved it. A lot of parents were teary dropping off their kids, but Eli is well accustomed (sadly) to being passed around and took it all in his stride.

Eli making cookies

Eli's mate comes to visit

One of Eli's friends moved to Thailand with his Dad's job but the family were back in Canberra for the weekend so we caught up with them at Weston Park. The two boys were really pleased to see each other.

Audrey interviews Peter Meusburger

Audrey had to do a project about Man's effect on the natural environment and chose to look at the impact of brumbies (wild Australian horses) on the Namadji and Snowy Mountains National Park. She put together this video as part of her exhibition. I thought it was really excellent. We looked up the guy Pete Meusburger online. He was such a nice guy and so kind to give us his time.

You had one job

The kids spotted this in our local supermarket and it made us all laugh - who knows what they were thinking!

Mom

My Mom died on October 13th she was 88. It was pretty sudden - she had been in hospital earlier in the week (she had a leg infection) and died a couple of days after being released to go home.

Although sudden it wasn't entirely unexpected as she hadn't been in the best of health since a heart attack and fall about 18 months previously.

I was glad that the three of us had been over to the UK to visit earlier in the year so the kids will have memories of their Grandma. She often spoke to Audrey and Elijah on the phone and always sent presents and little notes to them throughout the year. Eli's beloved Beano comic subscription was paid by Mom and he was always grateful for it. The kids will never get over losing their own Mum, but it was nice that they had a grandparent who was interested in them and spoke to them, despite being unable to offer much in the way of practical support being 10,000 miles away.

A whole mix of sad emotions. Mom and I spoke regularly on the phone. Mom had strong views on things but could equally be understanding and interested in the day-to-day. She was a good listener and had strong (sometimes entrenched) points of view.

Strangely, Mom's death made me realise even more the loss that Audrey and Eli felt when their Mum died. It's completely different of course - I'm an adult and Mom was 88.

Amy was 44 when she died (half of my Mom's age) and Eli and Audrey were aged 5 and 7 when their Mum died. And of course I didn't need the family support from my Mom. We spoke regularly on the phone and I miss that - but my kids had their whole world turned upside down and lost so much more than a relationship diluted down to a weekly phone call. I also have plenty of happy memories of my Mom - Audrey and Eli will never have 'adult' memories of their mother.

 

Families are precious things - where we connect ourselves to past, current and future generations. Mom's death means that my kids have lost a big connection to that past.

I can't think of anything else to add other than the list of things that we passed to David Wright for Mom's Eulogy/Review. It's kind of odd listing things as bullet points, but I thought I'd place it here for posterity in case someone is reading this in 250 years from now...

    

•  Margot had a special relationship with St. Johns – worshipping here for 20 years before getting married to Peter… And over the many decades since she has been an active member of the PCC, reading the lessons, helping a number of fellow worshipers to get to church over the years – the Bill Beard, Phyllis Cohen, … Marie Taylor to name a few

• She was also very open minded about other faiths - attending various other churches on the “away days” – not just other Christian churches – but Sikh, Hindu.. and even a humanist ceremony?

• Margot attended Wolverhampton Girls High school where she established some lifelong friendships – including her best friend Mollie with whom she enjoyed many biking holidays in the post-war years. Although Mollie moved to Falmouth in her twenties, they have remained steadfast friends ever since, Mollie even managing to crack the NHS telephone system to talk to Margot in hospital in the week before she died.

• Margot had a relatively short working life – frequently recalling episodes at the Quasi Arc in Bilston (aka Crazy Arc), then at Millers. She was in the Molineux crowd in 1949 to hear Winston Churchill.

• Mom and Dad's long marriage was very defining - 50 odd years - inseparable support, love and partnership. She ironed his shirts, he made the bed every day. He caught the fish, she cooked them.

• She successfully raised 3 handsome sons. So yes, she baked and cooked and made (slightly awful) wine. Trevor still has memories of us all picking dandelions one summer to make into wine - yuk, yuk, yukkity yuk! Ralph remembers the elderflower wine the worst.

• Margot also delivered driving lessons in a little blue Mini Metro – a car obtained from her cousins’ garage in Castlecroft. Mom supported Graham’s interests in Geology, driving him to Black Country Geological Society meetings. Helping ferry Ralph’s bags to/from University..

• All 3 sons have forged their lives away from Wolverhampton – all spending many years abroad. Mom proudly claiming 9 grandchildren. Graham and his wife Kerry in USA and more recently in Trinidad. Ralph and Sian in Holland and then Belgium. And now Trevor and his two children in Australia – with Mom providing an endless stream of Beano’s “down under”. Continuing the international theme two of the grandchildren are happily settled in Germany and in Spain.

• Mom and Dad did lots of things together – innumerable holidays in Malta and Portugal. Then on Dad’s retirement researching family tree – both the Bayley and the Hodgett’s connections, plus computer literacy courses, local history – Bantock House, Wightwick Manor. The loss of Dad in 2012 had a big effect on Margot, but she carried on determinedly although clearly only one half of a partnership.

• She was always interested in local history, and liked  to read the Black Country Bugle. Very thrifty, really hating throwing stuff away – had a bit of a problem with newspapers – they just kept coming faster than she could get rid of them! Interested in gardening … very entertaining to hear when the gardener had chopped the wrong plant down!

• She had a dry sense of humour which was surely been put to the test with her lifelong interest in the Wolves. She kept abreast of their latest results “How did the Wolves do?” was a common refrain in later life.

• She also liked cricket – Ralph suspects she had a bit of a crush on John Emburey, and was rather amused by Allan Knott. She let Trevor skive off school to go and see Ian Botham when his walk came through Wolverhampton (he got caught as he was in both local TV news stories).. And we can all remember Botham's heroics at Headingly - we were all on a picnic with her mother and we listening to updates on a Morris Marina car radio. 1981, blimey that was a long time ago!

• Highly knowledgeable – and she continued to keep up to date with current affairs (interested in understanding customs unions, internal markets - a committed “Remainer”).

• Mom was fundamentally very stoical – She didn't like making a fuss, and didn’t really like being made a fuss of. Never complaining – despite several health issues over many years (arthritis, loss of one kidney, hip replacements, glaucoma, heart problems).

• While she was often seen as very private person, In the last few years she’d had to accept her loss of independence and gratefully accepted help to enable her to stay living at home. Thanks to those who helped her manage this. And a straightforward funeral service. Which is what she would have wanted. No fuss.

Eli's love of football

So Eli spent 15 minutes begrudgingly doing homework, (arguing and complaining throughout) then an hour carefully writing out and memorising the Premier League teams' nicknames and home-grounds (he tells me he's going to do all 92 league clubs). Dear oh dear! #priorities#ifonlytherewasanexam

Eli with the Royals

Elijah enjoyed a successful season of playing rugby union with the Royals (he's back row on the left hand side)

His team was unbeaten throughout the season (Canberra is split into North and South) and the final was played against the winners of the Northern Division (Gunghalin) a game they narrowly lost out by a try scored in the last minute.

I find rugby union a baffling game. I've watched a bazillion games over many years and I still wonder sometimes if even the referees have a full understanding of the sport. Certainly a lot of the players, whether aged 9 or 59 seem to be in the dark about exactly what's going on. Someone told me it's apparently because there's always a LOT going on. The main attribute as a player seems to be to remain polite at all times.

I was chuffed for Eli's success. Certainly his team was well drilled and they all (kind of) knew where they should stand at any juncture and what their particular roles were. It was apparent when they played less disciplined sides that it wasn't just a case of winning the occasional skirmish - although often the biggest and brawniest kid usually DID emerge as the victor. 

Eli could describe to me what he was doing, and I get the whole idea of backs and forwards and that play is continual but like the professional game whenever there was a foul everyone on the touchline was always at a bit of a loss to describe what had happened. So much subjectivity.

Perhaps I'm a simpleton - in football if someone is tripped then a foul is awarded, if the ball goes out it's a throw-in. In rugby there's a myriad of weird rules that help the rugby fan pretend that it's a sport for the intellectual. That's why if you ask someone to describe what's going on, following a critical match deciding penalty everyone looks at their shoes or umms and ahhs - they're clearly far too clever to be able to describe it.

Audrey's award winning jam (part 2)

One of the judges of the competition wrote a wonderful account of the competition here

Here are the two radio segments

The judging competition on the radio

Audrey collecting her prize

Audrey's award winning jam!

Australia has recently fallen foul of a food scare (someone with a strange grudge had put needles in batches of strawberries). Fortunately nobody was hurt, but it did have the effect of sales of the fruit across the nation.

Lish Fejer who presents on our local ABC channel responded by organising a strawberry jam competition within Canberra, both to encourage the eating of the delicious fruit and turn a negative issue into a positive story.

Due to her excellent lessons given her by Amy's old boss (Kathy jam) Audrey makes a pretty decent strawberry jam. It seemed a competition that she needed to enter.

We bought good strawberries from a greengrocer. They seemed firmer and 'fruitier' than some of the supermarket ones. We've also used frozen strawberries in the past which while adequate take some effort to get to gel because of their high water content.

Audrey made a couple of jars and we put one in for the competition. It was a blind taste-test so everyone was on an even playing-field.

The judging was live on the radio and as we sat eating our dinner, it quickly became apparent that one particular jam (no.10) stood out among all the others. All the judges, and listeners taking part all remarked that no.10 was the best.

When it finally came to reveal the winner we expected that it would be an esteemed Canberra jam maker with decades of experience. Lish the presenter removed the sticker and announced the winner....

"Audrey Hickman!"

We were so excited, Audrey had seen off tough competition to win. Her prize (apart from the recognition) was to choose a cake for Lish to make. Audrey of course chose a horse-theme and Lish of course responded a couple of weeks later with a fabulous hay bale (a delicious chocolate cake covered in desiccated coconut).

It was all great fun of course, but a fantastic experience for Audrey. She took her appearance on the radio in her stride. I was so proud of her. 

On the radio collecting her prize

Audrey and her prize!

The jams being judged

Audrey with Pumpkin

Audrey's school holidays were spent at her riding school where she enjoyed a week with Pumpkin - one of her favourite horses. She's really becoming a pretty good rider now. I just wish we knew someone with horses who could give her a bit more time in the saddle as she really enjoys it.