Suburban Recovery

I know I should be posting about the ski trip but I couldn't let my lovely wife's attempt to park the car in the garage go un-commented.

Perhaps we should let the pictures tell the story:


Ended up ripping a 10cm gash in the tire wall. These are armored tires mind.

Back in a month

Married for 10 whole years so we are off on a long long holiday - Fiji without the kids and then Skiing with them (if there is any snow left).

Don't do anything I wouldn't do whilst I'm gone.

Chores

Just cleaning up again this weekend. Gardening, cleaning windows and bugs out of the outdoor lighting, replacing bulbs - that sort of thing. Entirely unremarkable.

Bushwalk

Quite the loveliest walk.

A bucket of prawns in the sun.

New Years Eve was spent with mum, Alex and the kids enjoying the tunes belted out by a local chick in the beer-garden under the country club. It has a casual beauty, sandwiched as it is between the bowling green and the golf club car-park it overlooks the ocean, dunes and lakes, kangaroos pause in a mob around the t-off just below the fence and a strong sea breeze brings a briny haze. A few locals are trying to make a go of a burger business, barbecuing up the scotch fillet stakes for filling the local fresh "still warm from the oven" focatcia style buns, the local market gardens providing the salad so fresh it still drips sap.

Entree is a bucket of prawns, literally. Enjoyed with a chilled sav blank and a Coopers or three.

It's a picturesque 3k walk back around the lake to mums house.


This is country.

It's bark is worse in this light

Eucalyptus saligna forms a continuous hybrid with E. pilularis

The three 50m trees in our backyard are probably slightly towards the saligna end of the spectrum as the branch forks are more open than the pronounced, upright V's of the blackbutts and the perminant bark just covers slightly more than a quarter of the main trunk. The rest of the smooth bark (an infra-red reflecting adaption to frequent fires) sheds annually.
Why the science lesson?:
Our backyard is covered in a substantial layer of bark.

These photos were taken the day after we mowed - less than 24 hrs.

Off on holls down the coast - I'll take some photos for you so you know what you are missing out on.

Any way, Merry Xmas, and a 'appy new one.

Chat next year.

Cheers

Dilemma

My daughter who does gymnastics at a fairly well regarded local gym school that has turned out several international (i.e. Olympic level) gymnasts is building its international level coaching and, a week ago invited my daughter to try out..

She has been has been asked to train with their International Development Program.

This is a big deal. The gym is, as I said, well regarded, families relocate cities to give their kids the opportunity to train in these programs with these international coaches. It just so happens that it is the most local gym to us. We only ever intended for gym to be something fun for our kids to do that would give them a good basic kinetics and help develop them physically. We've watched the elite kids training and said over and over to ourselves that we will never get involved in that - the tens of hours a week that those kids train, the injuries, the childhood lost.

And now she has been asked to try out - and been asked to continue in the highest stream, we don't know what to do:

On the one hand this could be a fab opportunity for her to develop her confidence and physicality, on the other hand it's an enormous ask of a 6 year old, the time commitment, the opportunity cost, the family focus and commitment required, all for what exactly? The chance to compete on the world stage and the minuscule chance that it would be rewarded .... do you deny your child a chance like this when offered?

A dilemma

The Propper Car Wash

And other picks from our trip with the Toyota Landcruser Club out to the Wollondilly River via the tracks south east from Oberon.

Good and Bad

Good:
3 year old is doing well today after his surgery having had his ears done and his tonsils and adenoids out. Having the back of your nose cut up and bits of your throat cut out is a big deal when you're three.

Bad:
Dad's not doing so well. It responded to chemo for a while but looks to have taken an aggressive turn over the last few weeks. Transfusions, drugs, therapy: not your normal Christmas cocktail.

Everybody needs a friend.

I used mine to hold up a tarp and keep the sun off our backs at a kids party.
Didn't want some of the cold blooded guests from getting to warm and frisky:


---------
Update: I've had several emails about the first pic - It's a bit of rock climbing hardware called a 'friend' or a cam that you use to help stop yourself hitting the ground when you fall. It's an indictment of what has become of my life that my friends are now used to hold up a tarp rather than out on a wild crag some place.

Started posting family stuff over at the new blog.

Deleting family stuff out of this blog today. New family posts are over at protection from chaos.
email me if you want the password to the more private posts.

holidYAYs

On holidays again
down the south coast at my mum and dads place.

I haven't been posting enough for you to miss me but I'll post soem picks soon so you know what you are missing out on by not living here.

Happy Australia day for tomorrow everybody - I'll be spending mine on the beach.

Just purchased a house.

My wife and I have just been grown ups and gone and bought a house.
Now we are going to celebrate 7 figure debt by drinking a bottle of something cheep and go and see a burlesque show.

Huntsman for dinner

Myelomas return

A little over a year ago dad had a pain in his spine that turned out to be Multiple Myeloma. He underwent chemo which worked well but broke his personality and sanity. It was a long climb out from depression for him but he's a strong and loving man. Just when he's feeling fit and enjoying life again he got blindsided buy the news that it has returned and is aggressively eating his chest and ribs. He starts treatment on Monday. Because of the problems he had on the original chemo that is now ruled out as a option. We may be looking at stem cell therapy or who knows what.
We just had a lovely lunch together at a local pizzeria.
They gave me lemons.
Love you dad.
See you soon

Got Crabs?

Saturday afternoon saw us down at Balmoral beach. The kids played in the sand for a few hours. I'm not sure if the best part was the kookaburra that nicked Alex's prawn cutlet or the kitsch Leb wedding going on behind us complete with the bride disguised as a huge meringue and pink lace bridesmaids chowing down on kebabs.

Taronga

Tromped our way through the Zoo over the weekend. Adrian was fascinated by the pelicans.

Reading to Adrian

He obviously knows the meaning of the word "Bump".
Apologies for the quality (mobile phone) and my nasal Kermitesque Australian accent.

So, um, yep. we went down to Mum and Dad's place.

We took advantage of the long weekend and headed down to Tuross to spend the long weekend with Mum and Dad. It is always nice to slow down for a time and spend time with my folks. The kids are getting older - Adrian is almost speaking and is certainly interacting much more which was great for Dad especially. Annalise learnt to ride a bike (with training wheels). She got peddling together, can steer and can use the breaks, tho' not necessarily at the same, or at the right time. She also likes to look at where she has been and not where she is going.

One one of the nicest days we pointed the 4X4 at the bush tracks and forestry roads in the hinterland. Driving west on the Runnyford Rd which leaves the highway just north of Mogo we wound our way up and over the first of the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. The road winds around generally north-ish via an amazing wooden bridge at Runnyford and ends at Nelligan on the Clyde River. From there we took The River Road, another dirt track, north following along the west bank of the Clyde up to Shallow Crossing where you wash the dust off fording. From there you take The Old Princess highway through the bush back down to the coast. Not that you would usually call a dirt road a highway. We lunched at South Duras beach. Famous for, among other things, where Alex and I got married.

Amazingly I didn't put on any weight. I normally manage a kilo or three.

Oh, and dad gave me his boat. Now I just have to learn to drive it.

photos

Looking up

The rest has been good for dad. He and mum are heading back down to Tuross today.