So, summer has been and gone, such as it was, though you won't hear me complaining about the lack of heat. It was a very mild one, and very wet! We've had to continue to mow the lawn regularly, and the tomatoes took ages to ripen, though once they did they were pretty good. We're right in the zuch glut, and the beloved has been away, so they've got away from me rather. When he's here, we grill them on the BBQ, which I reckon is the best way to do them, if you're not going to put them under the griller with cheese on them. We've had a couple of enormous one where I didn't check them for two days (it was raining) and when I looked again they'd taken over the garden!
D is settling into his new school. It's taking a while, but I think it will be OK - he seems to be making friends fairly well. Today was the school fair, and it was really nice to see how many kids said "hi D'Arcy" as they saw him. he spent most of the day hanging out with one boy in particular, although he's not one I've heard of already. The school is a lot more disciplined than his old one (public/private dichotomy). He's already worried about getting a detention for anything from forgetting his hat to failing to do his homework to rudeness and insubordination. It does seem to be helping his 'responsibility' issues. He's been notoriously bad at giving a shit in general - losing clothes, forgetting to pick up homework, failing to do homework, apalling handwriting...Last week when he came here from his dad's he'd actually started his homework (that he got two days earlier) and was up-to-date with most of it! It still looked like he'd scrumpled it into a little ball and taken it in the bath, but it was done! He's also been losing teeth at a great rate (2 in two weeks, one of which was a molar) but still believes (kind of) in the tooth fairy. he was very disppointed when "she forgot to come" for the second one. She remembered the next night though.
He's having a break from basketball for the winter season, in favour of rugby (which he's never played before). We'll see. He's not really built for contact sports, but he's keen to give it a go, fuelled largely I think by his new peer group and his respect for his teacher, who coaches the under 10 boys (so not D) and talks it up, it would seem. This 'respect for his teacher' thing is a good development. He didn't think much of his teachers at the old school, and one of them (who he had twice) actively disliked him. I suspect his dad and step-mum were fairly openly critical of them and that rubbed off on D too.
Erik is going well. He likes going to drop off and pick up D, we usually play on the play equiment for a while, as we wait for the traffic to calm down beofre we head home in the mornings, or get a hot chocolate at the school cafe (yes, the school has its own cafe!).
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Interesting
My friend on facebook informs me that this is Austracantha minax and google supports that suggestion. S/he ws hanging from the washing line where it's badly bent towards the ground courtesy of young Mr D.
Lots going on. The whooping cough is subsiding. E still has a spectacular cough, though it's not as chesty as D's. E's nasal swab came back negative, but we gave him anti-biotics just in case, as he had a cough. The beloved's came back positive, and so he also had anti-biotics and then got on a plane to Paris for a conference in Toulouse. No cough from him though. My tests were all negative, so I got a booster shot that gave me a sore arm and I slept funny on it, which made my shoulder and neck seize up like nobody's business. Then it was Christmas. Erik had a good time, D'Arcy was reasonably grumpy, but managed to snap out of it by the afternoon, when we went to my mum's house for a late lunch.
It's been raining and our water restrictions have been relaxed, so I've finally managed to plant some vegetables. I've put in tomatoes, basil, zucchinis and chillies, the asparagus has come back, along with some feral potatoes, and I put in a few strawberries too. So far the only thing that's going is the basil. There hasn't been enough sun or heat for the tomatoes to ripen. There is a lot of fruit on them, but it's all green still. I'm hoping today and tomorrows hot and sunny weather will remind them what they're supposed to be up to. We've had one zuch so far, which was excelllent, and I'm looking forward to the glut.
But now it's bed time. Tired.
Lots going on. The whooping cough is subsiding. E still has a spectacular cough, though it's not as chesty as D's. E's nasal swab came back negative, but we gave him anti-biotics just in case, as he had a cough. The beloved's came back positive, and so he also had anti-biotics and then got on a plane to Paris for a conference in Toulouse. No cough from him though. My tests were all negative, so I got a booster shot that gave me a sore arm and I slept funny on it, which made my shoulder and neck seize up like nobody's business. Then it was Christmas. Erik had a good time, D'Arcy was reasonably grumpy, but managed to snap out of it by the afternoon, when we went to my mum's house for a late lunch.
It's been raining and our water restrictions have been relaxed, so I've finally managed to plant some vegetables. I've put in tomatoes, basil, zucchinis and chillies, the asparagus has come back, along with some feral potatoes, and I put in a few strawberries too. So far the only thing that's going is the basil. There hasn't been enough sun or heat for the tomatoes to ripen. There is a lot of fruit on them, but it's all green still. I'm hoping today and tomorrows hot and sunny weather will remind them what they're supposed to be up to. We've had one zuch so far, which was excelllent, and I'm looking forward to the glut.
But now it's bed time. Tired.
Friday, 10 December 2010
Wet.
It's been raining. A lot. Lots of small towns around have been flooded. This dam is usually completely closed with the river side being a deep gully with a few puddles in it. Not any more. There are, as you can see five (5) flap gates that can be opened, and yesterday when I took this the fourth one was just being closed. I think that all five were open at some stage. We took the boys for a look a couple of times, and the little carpark at the dam was massively overcrowded each time. The beloved has the view that people want to see it through some kind of small-town mentality, but I think there's something more than that going on. For one, it's a bit like why you might go to look at a waterfall, there's something fascinating about that much water pouring over a cliff. For another, it was kind of like a giant game of Pooh Sticks. There is a lot of debris on the dam side, whole trees that have washed down the streams and creeks that feed in, and they're now washing over the dam downriver. Not just the children, but adults who were watching were also shouting with excitement when the biggest trunks and clumps of wreckage slipped over the top.
If you go here, you can see a pic I took in March of the same dam. Today's post's pic was taken from the railing where E and the beloved are standing.
It's stopped raining for now, and is supposed to stay clear for a few days, so I have washing on the line at last.
In other news, yes, it is whooping cough. We don't know if any of the rest of us have it. We've all had the nasal swabs and we're waiting for the results. E has a cough, and the beloved is going to France for a week on Sunday for work (he's currently on antibiotics). D'Arcy is now almost finished his course, and is no longer contagious, so I sent him hacking off to school today as Friday is usually a pretty slack day, and it's his last chess class for the year (or in fact for ever, with that teacher, due to the change of schools next year) so we thought it might be good to go. Next week is the last week, so it'll be pretty relaxed, and with luck he'll get to do more hanging out than usual. He's also supposed to get his school report back today. His cough isn't too bad, he hasn't spewed from it so far, though he'll probably set me up as a bad parent by doing it at school today.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Gah. (a moan)
I'm so totally in a funk. So many things right now it's all a bit much. D'Arcy has been coughing for a few days (a week?) and his teacher has been nagging me (via him) to go to the doctor. We did today, and of course they suspect whooping cough. He was an absolute champ when the pathology collector did the nasal swab, which meant that she got a good sample and maybe the result will be reliable. Of course this has sent me into a tailspin. Regular readers (are there any of you?) will know that D'Arcy's dad didn't want (amusing sidenote, I just repeatedly typed "wank" then, except that he does) to vaccinate him, and essentially bullied me into agreeing with that. So I am giving myself a hard time about that. E, on the other hand is fully vaccinated so he will have some protection I guess. Culture should be ready in a few days they reckon, so we'll know for sure then. If it's positive, then we all need preventative doses of anti-biotics. Bleh.
The other thing that is bothering me is that D's dad put his name down at a private (co-ed) school a couple of years ago. No consultation with me, of course, and I didn't really stand up to that either. I made it clear that I wasn't happy with it, but that's as far as it went. His name stayed on the list. It seemed for a while that it wasn't something I needed to worry about, but while we were in Hobart, I got a phone call from the ex, saying that he'd been offered a place for next year 2011. When we got home, we finally arranged to do the tour of the school, and actually it was pretty impressive. I've been trying to think about where D might go for high school. This looked like a good option, but the offer was for next year...I decided in the end that it would be okay for him to go there, but of course he's really unhappy about the move. He doesn't want to leave his mates for the last two years of primary school, which I can understand, I guess. Still, I feel like the bad one again. And now he'll miss at least a few days of school next week until we know the whooping cough status, and he's had a course of anti-biotics....
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Holiday!
Beloved had a conference in Hobart last week, so E and I tagged along. (D'Arcy had school and four airfares is a scary thing these days).
We met up with a friend at Salamanca Square, where the children played in the fountain, despite it being pretty bloody cold.
One of the fun things about going on holiday seems to be playing in the new environment, you don't need much to have fun, so E and I spent a lot of time wandering in Salamanca. We found an excellent park and playground just behind the square which was over-run with not one, but two school groups when we arrived. Fortunately they buggered off after about half an hour and so we had it to ourselves with a couple of other families. Erik had some good plays with a much older girl and her younger sister.
More fun was to be had in the hotel room. Friday was very rainy, and so we spent quite most of the day inside.
It was my uncle's birthday while we were there (he lives up the Derwent), and we met up with him. I'd bought a kilo of smoked salmon at the Tassal shop for $11 (!) so we sat down to enjoy it with him. It turns out salmon is a favourite of Erik's too!
When we'd finished with Hobart we headed down to the Tasman Peninsula for a couple of days. It was lovely, but the weather was foul, really cold and wet. We stayed in a good, but very kitch cottage that was filled with ladybird stuff. Erik loved it. "Go Ladybug house?" he'd say every time we were on our way home. Our intention was to go to Port Arthur, via the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park.
We had a fab time at the devil park. I'd never seen live devils before, and they are an excellent animal. Unfortunately they're under great threat from a very aggressive, contagious cancer (Devil Facial Tumour Disease) that is spread by biting each other (which they do a lot). I'll let you google it for yourselves, but the photos are really depressing. The disease has killed about 80-90% of the population since it emerged 15 years ago, and of the remining 20%, 50% are infected, and the death rate is 100%. So not much hope for the devil at this point unless the small number of uninfected devils are resistant and can be a new breeding population.
As well as devils the park has quolls (which are super cute, and related to devils), kangaroos, wallabies and pademelons . Also a number of birds that have been either rescued or surrendered as pets, so the park runs a show with them, and some of them you can get quite close to. Kermit the frogmouth, for example. He was hit by a car (as they often are) and his wing was broken and couldn't be repaired enough for him to fly. So he spends his days on this stick, which the staff lodge high up in a tree and get him down for the show. He's pretty happy, and it's better than being dead.
After the devil park we headed off for Port Arthur, but of course Erik fell asleep in the car, so we drove around for a while. When he woke up again, we went back to PA, but by that time it was quite late, and given the size of the site, the lateness of the hour, and the extremity of the entry charge, we elected not to go in. A bit disappointing, but a sensible decision all up. Beloved and E wouldn't've enjoyed all the walking enough to justify it. So we got back in the car and headed up the peninsula, stopping at the lookout for the tessellated pavement , which was pretty interesting, but not all that visible because the tide was coming in. We had a nice short walk along the path to it though, which was just what Erik needed.
Next day we headed back to the devil park (it was really good fun, and Erik loved watching the devils and quolls being fed. If I get my act together I'll put some video of them up). and from then on to Richmond where we stayed in an old farmhouse. We didn't have a lot of time there, but they have all kinds of things you can do on the farm. I did introduce Erik to a sheep though. And a lion.
He was in the entry hall of the old manor house, which has the reception area and rooms upstairs, though we were staying in more of an apartment in the renovated barn.
All up a great time away. Holidays with toddlers are an interesting thing. If we'd been two adults on our own, we'd've spent far more time driving and covered a lot more of the island, but as it was, we got to see my uncle four times, which was a lot of the reason we all went, so that worked out well.
We met up with a friend at Salamanca Square, where the children played in the fountain, despite it being pretty bloody cold.
One of the fun things about going on holiday seems to be playing in the new environment, you don't need much to have fun, so E and I spent a lot of time wandering in Salamanca. We found an excellent park and playground just behind the square which was over-run with not one, but two school groups when we arrived. Fortunately they buggered off after about half an hour and so we had it to ourselves with a couple of other families. Erik had some good plays with a much older girl and her younger sister.
More fun was to be had in the hotel room. Friday was very rainy, and so we spent quite most of the day inside.
It was my uncle's birthday while we were there (he lives up the Derwent), and we met up with him. I'd bought a kilo of smoked salmon at the Tassal shop for $11 (!) so we sat down to enjoy it with him. It turns out salmon is a favourite of Erik's too!
When we'd finished with Hobart we headed down to the Tasman Peninsula for a couple of days. It was lovely, but the weather was foul, really cold and wet. We stayed in a good, but very kitch cottage that was filled with ladybird stuff. Erik loved it. "Go Ladybug house?" he'd say every time we were on our way home. Our intention was to go to Port Arthur, via the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park.
We had a fab time at the devil park. I'd never seen live devils before, and they are an excellent animal. Unfortunately they're under great threat from a very aggressive, contagious cancer (Devil Facial Tumour Disease) that is spread by biting each other (which they do a lot). I'll let you google it for yourselves, but the photos are really depressing. The disease has killed about 80-90% of the population since it emerged 15 years ago, and of the remining 20%, 50% are infected, and the death rate is 100%. So not much hope for the devil at this point unless the small number of uninfected devils are resistant and can be a new breeding population.
As well as devils the park has quolls (which are super cute, and related to devils), kangaroos, wallabies and pademelons . Also a number of birds that have been either rescued or surrendered as pets, so the park runs a show with them, and some of them you can get quite close to. Kermit the frogmouth, for example. He was hit by a car (as they often are) and his wing was broken and couldn't be repaired enough for him to fly. So he spends his days on this stick, which the staff lodge high up in a tree and get him down for the show. He's pretty happy, and it's better than being dead.
After the devil park we headed off for Port Arthur, but of course Erik fell asleep in the car, so we drove around for a while. When he woke up again, we went back to PA, but by that time it was quite late, and given the size of the site, the lateness of the hour, and the extremity of the entry charge, we elected not to go in. A bit disappointing, but a sensible decision all up. Beloved and E wouldn't've enjoyed all the walking enough to justify it. So we got back in the car and headed up the peninsula, stopping at the lookout for the tessellated pavement , which was pretty interesting, but not all that visible because the tide was coming in. We had a nice short walk along the path to it though, which was just what Erik needed.
Next day we headed back to the devil park (it was really good fun, and Erik loved watching the devils and quolls being fed. If I get my act together I'll put some video of them up). and from then on to Richmond where we stayed in an old farmhouse. We didn't have a lot of time there, but they have all kinds of things you can do on the farm. I did introduce Erik to a sheep though. And a lion.
He was in the entry hall of the old manor house, which has the reception area and rooms upstairs, though we were staying in more of an apartment in the renovated barn.
All up a great time away. Holidays with toddlers are an interesting thing. If we'd been two adults on our own, we'd've spent far more time driving and covered a lot more of the island, but as it was, we got to see my uncle four times, which was a lot of the reason we all went, so that worked out well.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Meeting Andy Griffiths
We found out, the day before it was happening, that Andy Griffiths would be at a signing. On the other side of town. By the time we got there (about 10 minutes before it was due to start) the queue reached all the way around the escalator stairwell. I'm not sure how all these other people knew it was happening. I didn't think that many people read the local paper, but they must. The bookshop staff were very nice, an advance guard came around with post-it notes to write the child's name on to make the whole thing go faster, and then another woman came around with a basket of lollipops, but still an hour is a long time in a queue with a 2 year old on your back. D'Arcy is nervous enough that he didn't want me to leave him in the queue and go off and do anything interesting, so I had to hang around while he read his new books. I've been trying to interest him in the ideas of Lenore Skenazy who is in Aus right now, but he won't have a bar of it. *Sigh*
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Another conversation
Scene: Mummy at the table, Erik somewhere else, rattling toys.
Mummy: Hey Wes, where are you? Are you on the cat tree again?
Erik: No. I not on the cat tree. (pause) I hiding. On the cat tree.
Mummy: Hey Wes, where are you? Are you on the cat tree again?
Erik: No. I not on the cat tree. (pause) I hiding. On the cat tree.
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