Dogged with indecision

Matilda and Phoebe want a pet. Everyone thinks that they should have one.... 'cept me.

I think that the responsibility of another 'person' for another 15 years or so would just finish me off. But its a difficult one. You sort of feel that they are 'supposed' to have pets don't you? Kids are almost pre-destined to have a pet...and as a parent the responsibility for this late addition to the family falls to you.

Its just that a pet is SO limiting isn't it. Of course the worst kind in this respect are dogs. Cats are OK I suppose, and I think I'd move over for one of those.... but Phoebe wants a bird. I reckon that they're not supposed to be pets at all....

Anyway, here's a picture of Matilda looking like she belongs with Gus, Carlene and Ian's dog (Officially Madison's dog)



See what I mean?

The thairy came....the thairy came!

Last night the 'thairy' came dethpite the very late depositing of ANOTHER of Mathilda's teeth, the fourth one thie's lost. Pretty good these thairies aren'th they!





Acthuey, there's an elementh of Counth Dracula don't you think?



Thie reckons that thereth more coming....! How's thie going thoo eath?

The Empty Chair

Some of you will remember that I'd made reference to a picture that my Dad took of Gill and I as kids on a roundabout (Nativity play in pre-storm heat below), well he found the picture and here it is:



He called it 'The Empty Chair' because apparently I'd refused to get on. Brilliant pic!

Happy Christmas!

This week, Matilda lost another tooth...whilst down on the Gold Coast (Mum, so the 'equipment' was up here!!!!). Anyway, somehow the tooth fairy managed to scrape together the makings, and delivered in 'UK style' as expected! $2 though.. so they're 30 cents better off!



Bernadette and Wayne have been making a rockery in one corner of the back deck area, and we went and got a ton of 'river rock' from the local stone yard for $30...which was pretty cheap methinks...







You'll notice that it looks a bit brown, but that's just the mud that was on it. We surreptitiously used the hose to wash it all down after this, and the colours are....well, pretty much what you'd see in a bubbling brook. (Blues, and yellows and stuff) Looks good.

It's an important emergent truth, that Christmas is not about religion and the birth of Jesus, and with the passing of each year, it becomes less and less about that and more explicitly about the profits of retailers, and this year's collective retail spend over last year's. For me, the festival seems to sort of sidle up in a sneaky sort way, smack me round the head, and then suddenly I feel a bit fleeced and taken.
Not that I dislike Christmas per-se, but its the bit about selling to kids, and selling kids dreams, and that feels most like we're all being fleeced. In Australia, the whole thing seems to be less hyped in some ways, although there is still a massive amount of commercialism, but this year at least, the commercialism seems less 'ugly' than it did in the UK.
We all got together for the Christmas meal last night (Christmas eve) because Andrew and Lee had other commitments on the day, as did Carlene and Ian. There were 17 of us at the meal, which was something of a collective effort and a fabulous do.





Prior to the meal, the kids, Daile, Bernadette and I all went out in the Ute to look at the Christmas lights locally. The kids of course enjoyed the ride as much as the lights, and lots of people were doing the same thing, either in cars, or on foot. There was a pretty festive atmosphere, almost carnival, and lots of families were sitting about drinking and stuff in their front gardens yelling 'Yeeha' and 'Happy Christmas' and what have you as we slowly paraded past.



















Earlier in the day, the kids and I built a ginger-bread house as is our tradition, only this year, we did a more ambitious version. Sadly, there was a 'violent storm' or something, cos we suddenly noticed that the tree had 'blown down', and all the branches had fallen off....! Shame, but I guess its not really designed for being all that structural eh?



Here it is fully loaded! (By the nippers)



Thanks for all the stuff we got everyone!



Gill, here's a pic with me wearing the shorts you sent. I'm also sporting a new 'sun screen top' (from Daile of course), and a new shirt that reads 'Despite the look on my face, you're still talking'. The body board and stubby flippers are from Daile too, and we're all going to go down the beach tomorrow to see me drown! Ha ha...hope not. Seriously though, when the surf's up, it can be easy to get caught in the rip, and we'll be making sure that we're in between the lifeguard's flags. She got a camping mattress, and snorkeling gear...so she'll be in, when I'm watching the kids.



One thing that they do here is limit the present buying for adult family members by having a list of the adults and pairing two names randomly, so that each person buys one other person their present, and it has to be for $100 or there abouts. The result is that, on the whole, the effort is less stressful, less expensive, and everyone gets a decent present. But on this occasion, I also got an additional present from Wayne, that he'd remembered me waxing over some time ago. It was a little remote control helicopter. Out of the box it just works, and is designed to be flown indoors. We had great fun with it, and Matilda in particular has got the bug! However, the funniest thing is that Monty is driven to distraction by it, and chases it round, barking at it, and trying to snaffle it when it gets low. Of course as soon as he gets near it, it snips his nose. Its very funny...although a bit noisy for those not involved..







As this goes to 'press', its about 6.00 am UK time Christmas Eve. HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you all, from all of us.

:-)

Wild life

Tonight, Daile and the kids are down the coast at Carlene's because the local area shopping centre is not delivering on the present front. The one down on the Gold Coast on the other hand has more. In my opinion, they're all pretty much of the same thing. It seems that its all pretty much worthless....'cept for Bunnings the tool shop of course!
Its very quiet here without the reprobates and not altogether unpleasant! Ha ha. We had a cute bit yesterday evening though when we were all watching a nature prog about lizards and crocs. Matilda has taken to watching this kind of thing on 'YouTube'....and is particularly enamoured with one that shows an antelope being swallowed, horns and all, by a python. I've walked in to find her watching that no less than 4 times now...
Its a bit of a worry that she'd figured out how to find this kind of stuff, and I'm not entirely sure what to do about it. I'm looking at software that could stop her finding porn or stuff that could do some damage to her developing mind. I don't mind her looking at the nature stuff, although some of it IS a bit macabre, and makes me wonder what she's going to end up as....!
So getting back to the cute bit...here's a pic of the nature prog... a croc going for a Zebra....



and here's a pic of the girls watching it, whilst being protected by Wayne! Ha ha. Bless. Note Tild's curled toes!



Earlier, they'd made up a game that involved needing Monty to be a reindeer...



He didn't quite get into the part...but at least he looked it!

Today I've been up at Channel 7 on Mount Coot-tha. Its got quite a view from up there, and although I was on my own all day, I enjoyed getting stuck in. At one point, the news helicopter took off from outside the workshop...



and if you look up from the workshop, this is what you see:



A little further round the hill, you come to a 'lookout' from which this was taken. Cloudy day, but good view non-the-less.



Yesterday, I was at the Iceworks workshops, and there's a couple of interesting steel sculptures outside that I really like. However, when I first looked in behind them to examine the construction, I walked into this fella....I don't know what he (or more likely she) is, but she has a habit of lining up her catches.



She lives between the two sculpts...and the web is like wire.



Elsewhere on them, there are a plethora of other insects, including wasps living in the bells of the jester...





Surprisingly, I was more scared of them! Wayne puts spiders higher on his avoid at all costs list than snakes. Wonder why? Have you ever heard of the Schmidt sting pain index? If not, check it out in the side links.

Holly Hart is on Hols!

Here's a scan that I was sent by Gill yesterday. We are EVER-SO IMPRESSED with you Holly! This is an absolutely fantastic position to be in...and you should be really proud of yourself, as I know your Mum and Dad and Grandparents are! Keep it up R kid!

(Click the image to read this)

Swimfest

We had a late start on Saturday, when we were supposed to be down the coast to help Ian extend the deck at the back of their house. When we got there, he'd already done the joists onto the posts, and the posts he'd done last Thursday. He'd been working since 5am, so when we pitched up at 11am, you can imagine that I felt like a bit of a let down. Still, we soon got into a rhythm with me cutting and Ian fixing the planks on using Andy's nail gun. In fact almost all the tools we used were Andy's as he'd lent Ian a car full. (He's a chippy) But he had his in laws to stay so he had a good excuse to not be there in person. 'Johnny Jet-wash' pitched up at about lunchtime to help too, and we had the thing done by about 4pm. You can see the new timber on the deck here....



and this is from the corner looking back, the following morning after breakfast. Its really done wonders for the garden as the deck that was behind the pool was quite difficult to use, and now is incorporated as you can see. Good stuff.



Later, Ian had a play with Matilda, who LOVES to play with him in the pool. Ian is a swimming coach among other things, and seems to have a really good way with the girls. Anyway, the following is a sequence of pics that shows them doing a flip under water. Matilda is holding on like a vice....



















...here's the vice grip! Cuts off the circulation a bit!



Sometimes when she comes up, you can't actually see her face! Ha ha. Can you make out the nose under all that hair?



They progressed to a double flip, and Matilda was doing them herself too. Then they started doing this....which was BIG fun for the giggling girl!....







In the meantime, Phoebe was singing to herself quietly, as she does, and playing house with her dolls...







Mid Sunday we went off to Micky and Jenny's house, (the place where we got married in 2002) and celebrated one of their grandkids birthday, and the engagement of one of their daughters. (Rylie and Jackie respectively). They really have a lovely pad, with loads of space. I believe its an acre and a half. There are two very useful sheds on it! The kids, however were back in the water as they have a pool too....with landscaping!





When we got back, I put up some long shelves in the kids play room (part time study) using my new 'rotary hammer' ...which does brick like a hot knife through butter...I kid you not. I only got one bite the whole weekend...! So, another weekend bites the dust!