Saturday Fragments

I was going to post this yesterday but, as I completely forgot about it until just after midnight and hadn't actually written any of it yet, it has become a Saturday Fragments instead of a Friday Fragments post. 

This is a sort of "what I did last week" as recorded on Facebook with some elaborations.

Saturday

• Plan for the day: drink tea, wash the dog, spend the rest of the day courting the dog's forgiveness, go to @shonias' place for dinner - I washed the dog, she was not amused. While we were out for dinner Tom delivered the amusing quote of the week:
• Context free Tom: "Dad, it's not the size that matters, it's how hard it is." - it was actually in reference to choosing a rock with which to crack macadamia nuts.

Sunday

• Dog just whacked herself on her own nose with her madly wagging tail. There was an audible THWACK! - she surprised herself into almost biting it too, we laughed.
• We're in the car on the way to the beach. It has just started raining. Why are we doing this? - we were doing it because the week leading up to this point had been the hottest week Sydney had experienced in 150 years, over 40°C most days. When we'd arrived home at 1:00am on Sunday morning the outside temperature was 30°C (86F), turns out it was the warmest night ever recorded for Sydney.
• We went to the beach. Didn't stay for long though! - the southerly change arrived bring winds and rain and the temperature had dropped to around 20°C by the time we got back home.

• At Eastern City chinese for their Chinese New Year Lion Dance banquet - Tom got to feed a red envelope to the lion:

Offering the red envelope

About to get his head munched!

Chinese New Year Lion Dance

Monday

• Mmmmm Adam is baking sourdough, house smells goooood. Monday, so far you're turning out ok!
• Brush turkey in the front garden! - the local breeding pair is still at it.

Tuesday

• Quiet summer evening, birds in the garden, cool breeze from the open doors, sun filtering through the leaves of the liquid amber #lifeisgood

Wednesday

• You know, life was so much easier during school holidays. Why do my kids (ok, and I) have to DO so much STUFF? Oh yeah, coz it's fun :-) - At drama class I was an Egyptian priest trying to perform a ceremony to Osiris in front a group of unruly kids, a role I invented for myself, we had a passage from the Hymn to Osiris to work with as an exercise - deliver it any way you want.

Thursday

• I did something to my ankle last night, it hurts. Don't know what I did or when, but ow. And I'm on my feet at canteen half the day today - the ankle behaved ok but the sauna-like environment of the high school Canteen nearly did me in, I was not a happy vegemite.
• Was feeling grumpy. Option A: Pick fight with husband. Option B: Unpack and repack dishwasher & tidy kitchen. I chose B #goodidea #notgrumpy - Thursday was a whingey, grumpy sort of day all round really.

Friday

• Blah, crap morning so far but better things ahead. Should get going or I'll end up late to my morning tea with @ChallyZatB - Friday started badly but got better.
• BTW, the day that started crap turned into lovely morning tea with @ChallyZatB, yummy Japanese lunch w/ my dad and a swim w/ kids in arvo - we went to Pymble Pool late in the afternoon, my mum and one of Tom's friends came too and Adam met us there after work.

Saturday

• Packemin Productions' Joseph is fabulous. It gets extra good marks for the wonderful plus size singers and dancers in the cast! - I love Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, it was the first musical I saw on stage as a kid, and this production did not disappoint! Caitlin and I went to the 2pm performance today.

From the Packemin website:

This pro-am production will feature a massive cast of talented musical theatre performers - and will also involve a number of schools in the local area to provide voices for the choir.

Go see it if you can, they've done a fantastic job with the kids and the professional part of the cast were great too :-)

I'm linking up very belatedly with Mrs 4444's Friday Fragments, click on through to see what everyone else has shared this week!

Hosted by Mrs4444.

Friday Fragments

Hosted by Mrs4444.

Friday fragments, all the bits and bobs from the week gone by that are rattling around inside my head. Far too noisy! Better get them out via the keyboard and plonk them down here instead.

When I met up with the lovely Penny in Auckland she had a beautiful gift for me. It was a book of photography, New Zealand: Eye on the Landscape, which includes 6 of her husband Rod's photos (Rod on Flickr). I'm enjoying it so much, and it's doing an excellent job of reminding me that I managed to leave my present for Penny back in our hotel room the day we met up and it has therefore come all the way back to Sydney with me. D'oh! Note to self: go to the post office next week.

Speaking of going to the post office, I will also be sending off handmade gifts to fulfill my Pay it Forward commitment in the next week or so - I still have 2 spots up for grabs there so click through and leave a comment if you'd like to participate. The last time I did one of these I took something like 8 months to get around to sending them! Won't be leaving it that long this time.

Need a good laugh? Go read the comments on this article about Language faux pas.

On Thursday morning I got up a little earlier than I really needed to, leaving Adam in bed. I checked my emails and then went to have a shower. When I came out of the bathroom Adam was sitting in the lounge room looking slightly put out. He'd dragged himself out of bed having woken from a deep sleep utterly convinced that he'd heard me yelling down the stairwell that breakfast was on the table. He was so disappointed to come upstairs and realise that he'd only dreamed it. Apparently his subconscious had been hoping for bacon and eggs!

We almost hit the 1K mark with the camera while we were on holidays, there are 944 photos and 29 videos in my New Zealand album in iPhoto - unsurprisingly I didn't upload them all to Flickr, just a modest selection of 170 photos Here they are in a slideshow if you feel inclined to look at them all.

And if you want to read the travel blogs from the trip they're here: Auckland to Wellington, Wellington to Rotorua, Rotorua, Whangarei Heads, Whangarei Heads and Auckland.

This morning my mum rang to tell me that Sylvia had died. Sylvia and Tony lived a few doors down from us when I was very young, they had 2 boys the same ages as my sister and I, David and Michael, we were best mates for years. We were in and out of each other's houses all the time and I remember being very sad when they moved several suburbs away. Mum and Sylvia had become good friends too and our families stayed in touch with fairly regular visits. I went to David's year 12 formal with him, we, and our parents and siblings, were at each other's weddings. Sylvia and Tony moved to Tasmania some years ago so it's been some time since I last saw her and I won't be able to go to the funeral, though my Mum and Dad are both going and my sister might too. When I think of Sylvia I think of warmth and hugs and love and good food and her smile. I'm glad I knew her and I'm sad she's gone.

Don't forget to pop on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time and check out the other Friday Fragmenters' offerings! 

Photographic Fragments from Whangarei Heads

(That title is far more alliterative than it looks, the "Wh" is pronounced "F")

We have just come back from five fabulous nights with the McFadgen family in a beach holiday house near Whangarei Heads. We met up with Emma, James and William at Orewa Beach for lunch on Sunday and then made our way up north arriving just in time for a quick swim at the very pretty but also very rocky beach just down the hill from the house.

Little Munro Bay

Me sitting under the Pōhutukawa after a swim

We woke the next morning to discover ourselves inside the clouds, this shot was taken from the front deck of the house once the cloud had lifted a bit, we couldn't see the mountain at all for a while.

Mount Manaia shrouded in cloud

With humidity so high that dry clothes got wet if you hung them up inside, we holed up in the house and played games and watched dvds and lazed around enjoying not being in the car for a change.

On Wednesday the sun re-appeared and we drove to Ocean Beach where the kids, under the expert direction of James, built a bridge out of driftwood, seaweed and sand over the, umm...creek, yes, let's call it a creek and not the stormwater drain.

David, James, William and Caitlin building a bridge

Tom and Caitlin braved the surf

David narrowly avoided doing the same

When I took that photo I was kind of expecting a sequel with bum in the water and feet in the air but no such luck.

Rock pools were explored - William, Emma and David

Beautiful scenery was appreciated

Crabs were found - lots of them!

An anemone was poked and admired

And when we were at the house Mount Manaia had to content itself with looking craggy instead of mysterious.

My children are now addicted to L&P, Caitlin feels she can't possibly survive back in Australia without it. Thank you New Zealand, I'm now stuck with a mission of obtaining obscure softdrink for a small child when back in Sydney. (Not really, she'll just have to go through withdrawal :P)

Caitlin couldn't find her watch and new New Zealand charm bracelet when we were packing up to leave Rotarua last weekend. We searched the hotel room without success and eventually left saying to her they MUST be in someone's luggage somewhere. They were still missing after we unpacked at the beach house. Five days later as she dressed to leave this morning, she found them. In her shoe. Emma tells us this means she is becoming a true Kiwi - barefoot by preference!

I'm linking up to Friday Fragments at Mrs 4444's place, 'cause with a title like that up there, how could I not? Click through to Half-Past Kissin' Time to see what all the other Friday Fragmenting bloggers have to offer! I'll be doing my blog visiting and commenting once we're back in Sydney - only two more sleeps of New Zealand holiday left, back to reality on Sunday night.

Hosted by Mrs4444.

Friday Fragments

Hosted by Mrs4444.

I'm doing a blog giveaway over this weekend, one lucky reader will be getting a parcel with lots of goodies in it: 2 pairs of Christmas earrings, a copy of one of my favourite picture books, a travel version of Connect Four, some yummy chocolate and a scrumptious scented candle. Click through for details and to enter.

On Monday Adam did canteen duty at the primary school, it was Dads Do Lunch Day and Christmas was the theme. So he got dressed up. It was a big hit and a whole bunch of kids even asked for his autograph - he signed the inside of their hats "Santa" with a smiley face wearing a Santa hat. When the kids asked where his elves were he pointed at our Canteen supervisor and said "There she is." So then she had to sign their hats too, as "The Elf."

If you look closely you can see that Adam was an expendable Santa.

This morning I went into Caitlin's room to see how she was going getting ready for school. We had to leave early as there was a dress rehearsal for the school dance group on at 7:45am. She'd just finished getting dressed and was shrugging on her denim jacket when movement caught my eye and I looked down to see a large-ish (about 1.5cm) black house spider running up her jeans leg past her knee and heading further north. I was rather surprised to find myself not hesitating at all to reach out and brush it off with my bare hand.

They're poisonous but not deadly, if you want to see what one looks like there's a very good shot here on Flickr. We have them all over the outside of the house, I think this one probably got in through the damaged flyscreen on the sliding door leading from Caitlin's bedroom to the back deck. Fixing of flyscreens is going on the to do list for the weekend.

Need something to read while you sit in front of the air-conditioner/fan/fire (depending on your location and climate!)? This looks like it's worth checking out:

December Lights Project

We love short stories.
We love writing them, and we love reading them. But most of all, we love sharing them.
At this time of year - as the sky goes dark by 4.30 pm in Wales, where we live, and the cold wraps around us, chilling to the bone - what we really want more than anything else are stories that make us laugh and feel good about the world.
So we thought we'd gather some, and share them with with you, as our December Lights Project.
You can read the stories here.

Don't forget to head on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time for more Friday Fragments!

Dried leaves in boiling water...

...an exercise in associative blogging.

Tea.

My Nanna (Dad's mum), who I remember as teaching me to drink tea - no sugar, a bit of milk, strong and hot.

Breathing in the steam from the mug, cupped in cold hands, sitting around a campfire at night. So many glorious camping holidays with my family and my mum's twin sister's family when I was a kid.

Yum cha, the brew getting stronger as the meal progresses until the pot is refilled and it goes back to hot water lightly tinged with colour and flavour.

The ritual of Grandma's teapot, readied before every meal and filled with boiling water as dessert was finished, the cosy tucked around it, and cups of tea poured when perfectly brewed.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the cup of something that was almost but not quite entirely unlike tea which was all poor Arthur could get out of the Nutrimatic drinks dispenser.

Cold tea being used as a burns treatment in one of the Sue Barton books.

The Swallows and Amazons were always drinking tea; Lucy had tea with Tumnus the faun; Bilbo drank tea with Gandalf; the Mad Hatter had a tea party; Bunyip Bluegum, Sam Sawnoff and Bill Barnacle brewed tea in a billy to have with the puddin'; and there's nothing better than sitting down with a nice hot cup of tea and a good book.

Standing at the bus stop waiting to go to school in the morning with my cup of tea, the bus stop was right by our letterbox, when I finished my tea I'd put the empty mug in the letterbox and retrieve it when I got home in the afternoon. I once dropped and broke a favourite mug (given to me by my best friend Rowena) juggling too many belongings while trying to open the front door.

Tom reaching for my mug of hot tea from his perch on my left hip at maybe 9 or 10 months old and demanding his share of it before it got cold. Asbestos mouth that child.

Sitting on our front deck with my gardener, drinking tea and listening to tales of him growing up on a farm in South Africa and becoming a cheesemaker and eventually emigrating to Australia. He's moved up to the Central Coast now and has passed the Sydney part of his business on to his son. They're both lovely people but the son sends minions rather than coming himself (he's also living on the Central Coast) and I'm not at home as much so the tea break with the gardeners isn't happening any more.

Comfort, the cure for all ills. Peppermint tea for morning sickness (or rather morningnoonandnight sickness as it was), chamomile for sleep, English Breakfast tea for fueling up for the day, Earl Grey tea at night.

Watching Star Trek with Adam and wrangling cups of tea from each other with humerous orders "Tea, Earl Grey, hot. Make it so?"

Smoko at the shearing sheds when I went on a Scripture Union Agriculture camp during school holidays in year 7. It's called a smoko but it's really all about the mugs of tea. And the enormous trays of slab cake. I rode a pony bareback (and fell off) and drove a car across a paddock on that camp too. Then sprained my ankle so badly I couldn't walk for several days because I tried to chase sheep over rough ground wearing gum boots. My friend Rowena carried me piggy-back from the paddock back to where the camp staff were.

My kids bringing me cups of tea when they see I'm stressed or upset. On Wednesday night after Caitlin's dance concert this week I was so exhausted and strung out that when we got home I collapsed on the lounge and cried a little. Next thing I knew I had two cups of tea, both Caitlin and David had independently made one for me. I drank them both.

Drinking tea with my Mum and my brother on Saturday night. We sat at the kitchen table at my Mum's place after having left Grandma's room at the nursing home. We talked and cried a little and remembered and smiled and even laughed a little.

Tea.

Dried leaves in boiling water.

50 Things post No.18

This isn't quite a usual Friday Fragments style of post, not least because it doesn't just cover the last week - more like the last 40 years - but it's certainly fragmentary and it does include a couple of bits from the week just gone, so I'm linking up anyway. Don't forget to visit all the other fabulous fragmenters too!

Hosted by Mrs4444.

Friday Fragments - chocolate strawberries edition

Hosted by Mrs4444.

I wasn't really sure I'd have much to decant after a week of daily posting for NaBloPoMo but I guess there's always a few little fragments of frivolity floating around ready to find a home in a Friday Fragments post!

On Monday we began the day with freshly baked homemade sourdough bread. Made by Adam, who got up at 6am to put the oven on, because I'm way too lazy to bake bread that has to be started something like 12 hours before you want to eat it.

He made four loaves and there are still two left in the freezer, might get one out and warm it up for breakfast tomorrow!

My order from Evans arrived this week. The two tops I bought, including the Beth Ditto heart print one, fit just fine but the Beth Ditto floral leggings are way too big. Which is a bummer because I really like them. There will be proper a Outfit of the Day post when I wear the hearts top for longer than 5 minutes and actually select a bottom half that suits it.

On Tuesday David was desperately campaigning to be allowed to buy the new game of the moment, Call of Duty Black Ops. We were stonewalling by telling him sure, he could buy it when he could pay for it. He then shifted his efforts to trying to borrow money from his siblings. Tom spotted an opportunity and made an offer to pay David to do his homework for him. Caitlin felt this was not appropriate. Hilarity ensued.

Tom was most disappointed to find his brilliant plan thwarted by his mean parents but David was happy, Caitlin agreed to lend him the money.

Here's a fun little thing that's been doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter:

Go to Google Maps. Get Directions. Type Japan as starting point, China as ending point. Go to direction #43

And last but not least, tonight's dessert:

There is also a slab of dried cranberry and macadamia chocolate still hardening up in the fridge but it is not even slightly photogenic.

Now, off you go and check out some other fabulous Friday Fragmenter's posts!