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.

A nice evening walk up Mount Taylor

Mount Taylor is a hill just south of where we live. It affords lovely views both back over Woden and also across Tuggeranong. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the top and is a popular walking spot.

Sunset - time to head down!

Eli makes some cookies...

Open Day at Government House

Every year Government House opens to the public. It's the residence of the Governor General (the Queen's representative in Australia). In theory the GG is a purely ceremonial role and not a delegate of the Queen, but they do have the power to sack the government (something which they have done in the past). In more recent times the role has gone to an ex-military commander. There has only been one female Governor General.

It's interesting to look round the house and the lawns are always spectacular especially when compared to the majority of Canberra lawns which are usually fairly weedy or threadbare as a result of our climate which varies between extreme heat and cold (large diurnal temperature range).

I've been lucky enough to have had a few morning teas at the GGs. It's a nice old place and about as historic as Canberra gets (the residence was built in 1859 but only really developed after 1901 as a regal residence).