Knitting Frenzy

The very unfavourable weather has kept us indoors more than we would have liked over the school holidays so out came the knitting needles....Ella and Katy preserved with this tricky business. Much easier was the finger knitting they tried. Suddenly long knitted ropes appeared all over the house in a variety of coloured yarn.

Meanwhile I decided to branch out and create an infinity scarf for each girl in the household using a different stitch. These might come in handy for our upcoming trip to Japan!

Ella scarf is in blackberry stitch

Katy scarf is in mistake rib

Mine is in basketweave

A Few Moments of Sunshine

That's the theme of these school holidays. The weather has been dreadful - cold and wet. The fire is still going! It's also a school holiday with multiple long weekends. So on our first long weekend, we found a few hours of sunshine to go for a mountain bike on Bruce Ridge.

We also found time to play driveway cricket. Cricket is a recent interest of Ella's. She has made the 3/4 school team and is hoping to play with Mia in a girls summer competition.

Veggie Patch Update

Yipee...the asparagus has sprouted and I've eaten the first spear!!

















We've been busy in the veggie patch. In have gone snow peas, tomatoes, raspberries (another attempt), spinach, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum and carrots (both orange and purple ones!). I've netted the nectarine and plum trees in hope to avoid the bird and possum raids! No sign of the potatoes yet but the broad beans are still flowering profusely with not much action of beans. Perhaps this persistent cold, cloudy weather has hampered their progress....

Just 50 Words

Aranda Primary School has a competition each year called Just 50 Words. All students are encouraged to participate. This year Ella was runner up for Year 3 with her piece called Aves. Her love of birds and reading shone through - well done Ella!

Fatherless Fathers Day

Unfortunately Andy's recent trip trip to San Diego and LA coincided with Fathers Day here. While he was off hiking with Isa, Diego and friends, we were heading out to the ACT O champs.

Let's compare activities -

Andy's day out started with a short 30min leisurely drive along the freeway to the Mt Woodson Trail. This 6.5miles hike begins at Lake Poway and climbs 550+m to the top. The trail offers wonderful views, interesting boulders, no shade, rattlesnakes and a famous rock formation known as Potato Chip Rock.

Yep there is the rattlesnake!

Potato Chip rock...apparently there is a line of 20+ people waiting to have their turn of a photo on this rock!!











Meanwhile our day began with a car that wouldn't start....thanks to the interior lights being left from the afternoon before! NRMA was relatively quick in turning up which meant although we missed the mass start we could still get there in a reasonable time. The hour long drive also meant that our battery would have a good run too! Unlike Andy, our day was cold, overcast and windy. Thankfully it rained overnight and was dry during the event. The girls ran the blue course - Ella unassisted and Katy with help. Only a few kangaroos were seen on the course. Both girls then enjoyed playing in the cattle yards followed by the mud while I did a short course. Everyone was glad to head home for some warmth and dry clothes!

Hello Spring

I love how the yellow buds on the wattles blossom announcing that spring is on the way. Also the beautiful flowers on the magnolia trees take me back to our days in Southampton when I first noticed those magnificent flowers erupting on the the bare branches against the grey rainy sky. We are excited that our star magnolia which was relocated from the back corner of our house and transplanted to the the front prior to renovations 2 years ago finally showed some signs of life with multiple buds and new shoots emerging from it's base! Since pruning the big magnolia, the possums have not been able to climb down off the roof and eat all the new growth, so it is also doing much better than last year too!

The various bulbs dotted around the garden are doing their thing...many already flowering, others still growing.

Then there are the beginnings of the edible stuff. Blueberries are budding, the nectarine tree is blossoming profusely and the broad beans are also flowering. The garlic looks to be doing well. I'm patiently waiting for the asparagus to shoot and am looking forward to harvesting our first crop. The potatoes are now in too. Much more to do in the coming weeks though.

Katy and Ella have planted their seed sticks (parsley and basil) as part of the ACT Primary School Carbon Challenge that they were paticpating in. The Carbon Challenge encourages students to become more sustainable in their daily life. Many of the challenges we are doing already.....

More of the Same

Yep another weekend of wet weather! Unfortunately it was the last game for the soccer season and was in keeping with the spirit of the wet season our games were cancelled! Very disappointing that the grounds were too soggy to play on. As it was also presentation day, thankfully the Soccer club had a Plan B which kicked into action. This meant that each age group attended their presentation ceremony at a specified time at the Belconnen Soccer Club which our club is affiliated with.

The presentations were very efficient with each child receiving a medal, certificate, team photo and snacks. The girls bid farewell to the friends they made. On a sad note both girls will have new teams in 2017. Katy moves up age groups while all of her team mates stay in the younger age group for another year. As for Ella, most of her team move up but will be graded into Divison 1 and 2. Along with this comes with the joy(!) of playing at different soccer pitches next year.