Thursday 25 December 2014

Happy Christmas 2014!

Well, here we are, another year on!

So much has happened, and yet it's all gone so quickly hasn't it? You feel like it's all moving along, and then you find it's not moved along so much.  I feel so much more experienced as an artist and a teacher of art, yet I'm still not making enough money to 'more than' cover my costs.  I'm not even covering my costs mostly...!  I feel like the kids have 'got it', or at least substantially, and then they revert to 'monkey' again.

This morning was a case in point.  Matilda woke us up by literally 'stomping' into our bedroom at 4.40am...clutching her present gorged stocking, sister in tow and 'stated' that it was time for the opening to begin.  I said that it was too early and that they should go back to bed, but she just re asserted that it was time, that she'd been waiting for ages, and that she was not going to be going back to bed....in a verbal equivalent of stomping the feet.  Daile duly got up... to my surprise and went off with them, and I was left to sleep.

In fairness, I'd only been asleep for an hour and a half... It's always a late night on Christmas Eve, and this year it was because I was finishing the thing I'd been making for Daile.



It's a T-Bag dispenser!  It has an internal slope that feeds the bags against the front opening at the bottom.  It's really like this with Daile and PG Tips! Sublime contentment or crisis when she's run out!  She's usually got it in stock to the tune of up to 5 to 6 boxes of 80 bags.  It's her only vice!  

Matilda bought herself a box of antique hammer heads and a 'stirrup' (singular) the other day, so that she could have the American axe head that was for sale with them!  The head predates 1955 we were told because it had been stamped with the markings of a Queensland railway company that went out of existence in 1955.  So then 'we' needed to make a handle for it!  (The Royal 'We'...it happens all the time here).  So I said I'd make her one for Christmas.  We went off to buy some suitable wood as we didn't have anything big enough or hard enough.  This is Jarrah, and it's more like metal than wood!  




Here it is, all done, with an oiled handle, polished and sharpened head, and a traditional leather safety cap.



You can see the 'USA' stamp in this pic.  


Phoebe wanted these pants....so I went to find some lightweight orange/red fabric.  I coudn't get the exact colour but did OK.


The shirt is based on this black and white thing that she loves....


Here they are before the buttons went on the shirt..


... I forgot to photograph her in them, till the end of the day today...so a bit crumpled looking....but you can see, and she loved them!  Woohoo.



Matilda and Phoebe also made their own this year...;

This is one of Matilda's acquired hammer heads, with a new handle fitted and oiled and a leather belt holder that she made for me.




This is a sock snowman that Feeb made for Tild...


A 'Santa' cup with a buckle made from a ring pull, that Phoebe made for Tild with Tild's (current) favourite chocs....Ferrero Rocher.


This is a wooden spoon that Tild made for Daile...


A cup of sweets that Tild made for Feeb...


...and a Sculpy heart that Feeb made for Daile...


I must say, Christmas feels quite a bit more like 'Christmas' when you go to the effort of making something.  It's strange, but I felt quite excited by the process in a way that I've not felt for years.  We all liked how it felt and we're going to do more of it next year I think.  

Meantime, here's a pic of Matilda, who for some strange reason came over all knackered this afternoon at Andrew and Lee's house!  Can't think why that would have been!  


Tuesday 9 December 2014

Phoebe shone tonight!


This was the moment at the end of January 2009, right before Phoebe walked into her classroom on the very first day of her school life.  Look at the look of determination...well OK you might not be able to see that, but that's what it was, I can tell you, as her father that that was what she was carrying....that and a bottle of water with ice in it...  Matilda was carrying both their bags...in a big sisterly kind of way :-)

I was thinking of this photo tonight as Phoebe graduated from this same school 6 years later.  This first pic is of one of her current class teachers Pauline, and one of her close friends, Rosie;


...and this is a group of three great teachers that they both had, John, Tiffany and Natalia. 


...Ross, the principle;


Stephanie her robotics teacher;


...and two of a group of four wonderful teachers that they both had as class teachers, Julie and Karen.  Karen (in the black dress) was the one that advocated for Phoebe to be moved up a grade, back in the juniors.


At the time, the worry was that she would be just turned 11 when she was going to senior high school if they put her up....but if they didn't she'd be bored.  It turned out to be a safe decision to put her up, this week her final report was nearly all A's, warm words about Phoebe as a person, and tonight she got two awards.  One for ICT (primarily for robotics) and the other for Production.

She danced in two different dance groups tonight, at the centre front in one of them and she really shone!  I was grinning from ear to ear!

Well...needless to say, we are very proud.

....and on top of that she LOOKED gorgeous (well she IS gorgeous!)  Her hair was very kindly done by one of our neighbours, and the dress was by yours truly!




Here's a twirl...





After Christmas she starts at Kimberley College... where Tild is already, and she's getting Matilda's current class teacher...so we're sure that she's going to be in great hands!

The end of one era and the beginning of the next.

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Matilda got Dux!

Until recently I'd not heard the expression 'Dux', but here in QLD it's used for the student with the highest academic score in her class or school.  In Tild's case it was in her year, as tonight was the Year 8 graduation ceremony.  She also got awards for excellence in Maths and Science and Language Arts.
Blimey!  Unfortunately I couldn't be there with Daile and Feeb cos I was at the Art School, and that's why the photo is at home afterwards

Anyway, we're very proud of course...

Here's a pic:


Halloween harvesting time...?

Is it me, or are trick or treat-ers getting greedier? This year, I was the stay at home person whilst the girls went out with their mates...and Daile followed behind with another Mum, for safety.

The first knockers were a girl and her mother by themselves.  I'd guess the child to have been about 10 or so, diminutive, skinny, and quite pretty.  She had quite small hands I noticed, which, as it turned out, was quite good, because she stuffed one of them into the bowl I was holding with a selection of mini chocolate bars and Mentos and like a mechanised coal bucket with sweets falling away that were just beyond her grip, she 'harvested' that thing!  I raised my eyebrows at her mother...and she said to the child 'er....just a small handful darling'!!!  WHAT!

Thereafter, I told all the other kids that came, that they could choose ONE chocolate and ONE sweet each.  Shame that you have to say it really....even if the parents are standing there!  Daile came back with ours after a while and had a go...and came back in with a shocked look as a whole bowlful had been decimated by one small group!  We huddled...and I explained my method...so we managed to get through the night without running out.  Blimey!

Anyway, here's this year's offering ...


Monday 4 August 2014

Horse riding to Pumamarca ruins

Yesterday we did a horse ride into the mountains around Ollantaytambo to the ruins at Pumamarca.  This was, according to our guide, a training place for Inca warriors.  It was difficult to get a really good understanding because our Spanish is next to non existent and his English was basic.  Never the less, the ride was great, and had a good time....this being the first time on a horse for the girls.  




We had to get off and walk in the really steep bits...poor little horses!  This is quite hard going too cos the air is pretty thin...but by now we are quite acclimatised.

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All up it took us nearly 5 hours.  My thighs were sore by then, and I was glad we'd not gone for a whole day tour, which was one of the options.  
Today we're off to Cusco again in a taxi..and stopping at the salt mines on the way... 

Peru and all that...

Well, we're currently in a place called Ollantaytambo at the end of the railway line to Machu Pichu, where we had originally thought we would spend a couple of days before returning to Cusco. In the end, we've decided to spend two more days here and then go to Cusco just for the last day before we begin our return journey to Oz.


There are various pictures in this blog from here and there, people that caught my attention, colours and stuff like that...some from inside a bus going to the Sacred Valley, (with reflections) some from inside a train going to Aguacalentes before catching the bus to Machu Pichu.


The price list was for the bus up the hill from Aguacalentes to Machu Pichu...really not a long way for a bus, but a rip off price because having made the journey this far, they presumably bank on the fact that most people are not going to turn their nose up at that price...and are not fit enough or time rich enough to spend the two hours it would take to climb it...moving out of the way of the buses every few minutes. Given that places like the Science Museum and the Natural History museum in London are free to foreign visitors, we thought this was very steep (if you'll pardon the pun). But I suppose, it's a poor country, we shouldn't really baulk.


On the way back down, there was a queue of nearly 40 minutes to catch the bus back down. After we had been in the queue for 30 mins, I suddenly realised that two women were standing in front of us that hadn't been standing in front of us up until then. I waited to see if they were friends of the people in front, but they didn't seem to be interacting with them...so I asked them if they were with them. They weren't! So I said “In that case you've pushed in and you need to go to the back of the line and wait like everyone else!”...to which they reacted like they had no idea what I meant! Then an American in front of us who was pissed off about the wait steamed in and called them all sorts of names....some of them relating to the fact that they were French...and they still just stood there! Eventually, after they realised that I wasn't joking, they stepped to one side and waved us through. They then waited for about 30 people to pass, so that the line was unaware who they were and then pushed in there instead. Presumably whoever they pushed in front of felt too embarrassed to challenge them. How arrogant! We saw them smirking in the front of the line as the bus we got on pulled away. I was tempted to give them the Agingcourt archers salute but resisted.


Other socially interesting discussion points that night included the fact that at one point a British tourist and his girlfriend thought it would be a good idea if he were to do a jump in the air whilst she did a photo of him, with the vista behind. He was told in very strict terms that it was prohibited for him to jump! (Apparently because the shock of his body landing might displace the soil upon which the ancient ruins are built!) ...and another 'guide' AKA 'jobsworth' insisted that she delete the frames from her camera. Whilst this was going on, we were told that we couldn't eat the food that we'd brought. Given that we had already picked up two empty crisp packets that other tourists had discarded, I could see the logic to that...but we were told this by a 'guide' who was carrying a plastic bottle of water...(which are supposed to be banned).. In fact the place was full of plastic bottle carrying people. We had carried 4 aluminium bottles from Australia just for this day....so that was a bit rich....especially as we were asked on the way in if WE were carrying any plastic bottles. So...but apart from that...we had an amazing day. Machu Pichu is stunning.


Phoebe was very keen to get close to some Llamas if possible, and in the end was able to witness the birth of the little black thing....whilst some amorous stuff was going on at the same time (hilarious).   







If you look carefully, you might notice the little cutesy little wittle llama baby ....but I bet you don't see it first. The funny thing was that all the mums had got their little kids in to see the new born...and then that happened. What's it doing mummy? 


This was in a market in Cusco...










I met a few people whilst I was drawing and painting in Cusco...


This lovely old bloke did the whole 'bro' handshake thing when he left!  Ha ha. 


Then we went to the Sacred Valley...






These next ones are in Ollantaytambo... this was outside our hotel.




The girls kept making friends with all the dogs in the street... this one was called Rambo!


Down at the market near the ruins, this poor taxi driver reversed into a drain.  Then everyone crowded around to get it out....no one wanted to hear what I had to say (stand on the back).....so we watched.  Eventually they stood on the back and were able to get it out.  


I tried my first selfy...I've heard that there's a new measure of vanity...selfy's per hour.

This old lady was cute....


Matilda and I found a hardware store and bought a shank of string...which she immediately started making survival bracelets with...


They have a chocolate factory here...and these were made of chocolate....!


There's a food market there too...we got Daile's shoes repaired (the soles removed, cleaned up both sides and re-stuck) for 15 Solas...which is about $7.  This is a typical side of meat that you'll find in there.


Nice spiral staircase we saw...


Outside the hotel....


I thought this was funny, cos lots of the hot drinks were cold.


Minecraft has made it here even!


These were at the market opposite the shoe bloke...


This was the train to Machu Pichu...

















This is the ruins in Ollantaytambo...




Ok, that's it for now...more in a bit.  These pics took ALL night to load up!