Athletics Continues

Ella continues to focus on her throwing events for athletics. We regularly trek from morning Little Aths to an afternoon session of senior athletics. 

At the recent State Champs (14 - 18yrs) Ella placed 2nd in javelin (31.16m only 7cm behind 1st place), 1st in discus (30.92m) and 1st in hammer (37.49m behind Brooke who is from NSW).

Ella nominated for the ACT Athletics Team to compete in Brisbane at the nationals in Javelin, Discus and Hammer. Given that the selection is based on qualifying standards, Ella may only be chosen to compete in Hammer having met the qualifying standard. Time will tell.

So hammer training has taken a serious turn. Together with friend and fellow hammer thrower, Mia, they have convinced our two families to take them to Cowra (a mere 2 hour car trip) every few weeks to attend a training session with Ernie an ex Olympic hammer coach.

Mt Tywnam in Summer

We escaped with 20 of Andy's work colleagues up to Guthega for the weekend. Our Saturday activity  involved a 15km trek up Mt Twynam. The large group departed from the lodge with a smaller group of 3 including Andy peeling off immediately. They had a side adventure planned - running up to the Sentinel before meeting us on top of Mt Twynam.

Not a super fan of walking, Ella chose to remain at the lodge to do school work and generally having some downtime. The large group Katy and I were with had a range of ages with the youngest being 5yrs. We walked at different paces and the group naturally splintered into smaller groups. Katy was happy taking photos. We joined up again at the Illawong suspension bridge for a rest and to refuel.

Preparing to go again, the large group broke up. One group needed to return to Canberra for a prior engagement so they decided to walk a little further to Spencers Creek suspension bridge before turning back, while another family had walked far enough for their little person. Katy and I continued on with the summiting group of 5.

The ascent was enjoyable in the sunshine with a light breeze occasionally cooling us off. I hadn't realised that the top steep slopes of Mt Twynam were so rocky. The last (and only) time I'd been up was in the height of winter with snow hiding everything. As we crested the final pinch, Ashley one of the runners from Andy's group popped into sight - they were wondering where we were!

  

At the top the wind was quite ferocious and we all scrambled to layer up to keep warm. Under the trig, we sheltered behind the boulders to eat lunch and swap stories. 

The running group sounded like they enjoyed the challenge that the Sentinel brought. The photos looked sensational.

Halfway down from the trig to the Snowy river, we stopped under a huge snow gum. I have declared this spot to be my most favourite - s small stand of snow gums including the one I have dubbed as the mother. She is enormous with a huge beautiful colourful multiple stemmed trunk surround by lush grass. Perched on a spur, it is a wonderful place to sit and contemplate.

Back at the lodge, after showers, the afternoon cheese and drinks emerged while pizza was prepared. Dinner was a never ending procession of delicious pizzas. A great way to end a wonderful day.

Garden Changes

With Christmas money I found time to finally purchase a couple of items for the garden I'd been eyeing off. A corten wind spinner and a stone Japanese Lantern (to replace the previous one that got broken).

I also deconstructed the raspberry bed and dug up the raspberries. These are temporarily relocated to behind the plum tree until the garage / mudroom renos are finished. 

Once Easter is over, we will have time to build the new chicken coop which will be located where the raspberry bed was.

Watch Out!

Attention, attention to all road users in the ACT.... Ella has been given permission to drive on the road! The process was smooth and quick, so quick that Ella couldn't really believe that they had given her a licence! 

Her first time behind the wheel was a few days later. We ventured to the gravel parking area behind the AIS and did lots of laps! Ella survived, the car survived and so did the kangaroos! Only 99.25 hrs to go :)

New Venue

The 2022/23 Little Athletics season began in a disastrous way. With heavy rainfall early in the season, our local grass oval became water logged. A few days of sunshine but not warm enough to dry up the pools of water, meant the grass grew and grew. Unfortunately the mowing team were unable to use their mowers in fear of being bogged and still the grass grew and grew. Little aths therefore had been called off for a few weeks in a row.

By the third week, an adhoc program was designed - no running on the oval, instead a cross country style race, long jump and two throws using the throwing circles.

Still the ground was soggy and the grass long so as another Saturday approached, breaths were held to see if the ACT moving team would arrive. No luck. Our club joined another local club to hire the tartan track at the AIS for our morning meet. Despite being a little chaotic it was great.

Again focus returned to the Cook oval during the week as we all patiently waited for the arrival of the mowers and low and behold they turned up on the Thursday!! But they only mowed half of the oval!!! So the committee took matters into their own hands and mowed two lanes on the circular track and raked the recently clumps of mowed grass off the remaining areas. The program was again modified to accomodate the less than ideal oval.

The Christmas break couldn't come sooner really.

By the start of the New Year, the oval was looking fair. After a few weeks though the committee decided given the huge success with the AIS meet with Ginninderra to book another meet there. Again it was a great morning with lots of smiles and nice for the kids to compete on a proper track.

Grazing by the Garden

A recommendation from a work colleague followed by an advert that caught my eye, resulted in Cath and I heading out to the Nation Gallery of Australia to see the Cressida Campbell exhibition followed by lunch. All very sophisticated of course.

I had no idea who Cressida Campbell but that didn't matter. On entry to the exhibition we made a beeline to the theatre where a short documentary introduced us to Cressida Campbell the artist and her life story. All very interesting!

From there we wandered around the gallery admiring the many pieces of art. Cressida uses a unique mixture of wood block carving, painting and printing methods to create her masterpieces. Both the woodblock and subsequent print become artworks.

The exhibition had several rooms with artwork grouped according to themes - still life with objects collected, food or meals shared; interior aspects of her home; her garden; studio process and finally bushland and waterways of Sydney and beyond. Covering her 40 year career, Cressida demonstrates how art can translate the everyday into the extraordinary. The world around her is her inspiration. Her recent works involved framing her artwork in a tondo (round) frame.

Following the exhibition, Cath and I enjoyed a delicious and filling lunch not in the garden as we expected but inside with views over the sculpture gardens and to Lake Burley Griffin. 

Getting Outside

Andy and Ella joined a group of Andy's work colleagues for a day of outdoor climbing at Snake Rock. They had a great time. Ella was taught how to lead climb.

Everyone (minus me) has enjoyed the sprint series over summer. Both girls are inspired and have started to train.

 

Meanwhile Indi and I continue to walk lots. Knee is still not ready for running...the weather has been warm in the afternoons and Indi loves to have a splash at any opportunity.