The Girls are Off!

No last day of school for our girls. They had other plans - specifically travelling with the ACT State Orienteering Team to the Victoria for 10 days of fun and orienteering. We bumped into Aoife in the airport carpark and together they made their way inside to meet their fellow team members (or most of them).

Cath and I left feeling slightly odd at having no children! We couldn't dwell on it too long as we were on a schedule. My timeline involved going back home, packing the car and Indi; returning to ANU to pick up Andy; drive to Yass to drop off Indi at the kennel and continue the long drive to our accommodation near Kyneton only 7 hours away!

Random Happenings

We've been kept busy with a variety of activities - 

Dinner out for Andy's birthday. We tried a new pub on the Kingston foreshore but it was a little disappointing with cost v's quality. Ice cream after at Gelato Messina was superb!

Winter netball wind up for Katy.

Halloween -Katy and her friends participated this year dressing up as Cereal killers! Their efforts of walking around Cook in the pouring rain were well rewarded with their lolly haul!  Ella is no longer interested.

Start of the season for Little athletics for both girls. It finally began after several false starts due to wet weather and a water logged / non mowed grass athletics track!!

Senior athletics - for Ella who in the last 12 months has devoted much of her time to training in throws (hammer, javelin and discus) with huge improvements. Recently she was named in the Athletics ACT Schools Team to compete at the National School Athletics Champs in Adelaide in December.

Conference Time!

First in person conference since 2020! Flew over to Adelaide for 3 days of ultrasound conferencing with three friends. We had a fun time learning and hanging out together.

The first day of the conference was a Deep Dive in Endometriosis. The speakers were excellent and it was a very enjoyable day. The following two days had a variety of sessions - From Cradle to Grave which followed the pathway of the ultrasound diagnosis, post natal treatment and management throughout the life of a person with Tetralogy of Fallot (a serious heart condition); also a panel session  on the importance of patient centred care / breaking bad news through the eyes of a patient. There were a heap of sessions discussing AI in ultrasound - perhaps an indication of where our world is heading as well as the use of social media / twitter used both by patients and healthcare professional for different reasons. Unfortunately these sessions clashed and we weren't able to get to them.

As often happens you pick up tit bits of info or are shown new techniques at a conference to be used or tried the next time at work. Of course I couldn't believe my eyes with my first scan back of work....a conference perfect image of an ovarian endometrioma stuck to a uterosacral ligament with an endometrial nodule beautifully demonstrated!

Going, Going, Gone (Finally!!!)

Our neighbours signed a contract for a knockdown rebuild last year however they decided not to do the knockdown part. A bit of research revealed they could sell their actual house saving money on the knockdown and earning money by selling it!! Next was to find a potential buyer. Well that seemed easy too - the buyers were keen to purchase the house and move it to their property in Oberon. 

Paperwork needed to be completed however that hit a sticking point when the local council handling the approval was involved in some drama. Several months later, approval was granted. 

Now over 6 months past the original removal date, the house began to be readied. The outside bricks were removed and the house was wrapped in blue plastic. Then the moving company workers were hit with covid so another delay.

Sadly the moving company, who was based in Sydney was sorting out the logistics for the moving process when the Sydney floods in July hit their premises. More delays. Eventually in mid September, movement on the site once again began. The decks were dismantled and the roofing removed. The house was cut in half with front half levered onto two large metal beams and slowly rotated. It looked to be finally happening and we all held our breath!

The next afternoon the front of the house was gone! Then the following morning the back half was gone too. Now all that remains are several piles of rubble, the copse of 'dwarf' snow gums in the front and the pirate ship in the back. Let's hope the building process goes much more smoothly!

Covid Project

I bought this fabric with the intention of having something to do in the circumstance of going into isolation due to having covid or one of the family members contracting covid. Turns out that a) I am yet to get covid and b) when Katy got covid the isolation rules were more flexible and I was required at work anyway!

Not being able to do any running, riding or significant walking because of my bunged knee, I seem to have lots more free time especially on the weekend so I decided that I would complete my covid project of making new covers for our barstools. To be quite honest I'm not sure how much longer the others would last with several rips appearing in various seams.

 

Thanks to an old Ikea cover, I had a ready made pattern. The sun was streaming in through the lounge room window so I set myself up there and began the long process of cutting out enough pieces for the 4 chairs.

Then the sewing began with a few interruptions. By the evening I had finished one chair. The remaining three were slowish going as I'd sewn the top of the chair the wrong way around and had to do a bit of unpicking. Also had to unpick the velcro from the old covers so I could reuse it on the new ones.

By Monday lunchtime, all the covers were complete. The finished product looks great with the colours blending well with the timber and the rest of the room.

  

Indi

 

 Gosh Indi and Leo almost look well behaved at coffee!

Spring Blooms in our Garden