English24

As some of you may remember, Niki is involved in the writing of a supplement for Young Learners included in the Italian magazine English 24. Proudly presenting the first two issues, which arrived earlier this week! Each monthly supplement contains stories and fun activities for parents (the readers of the magazine) to do with their children.

Visitor

A late-night visitor flew in at the end of a very pleasant pre-Christmas evening with neighbours and friends, a rhinoceros beetle. Impressive!

Domweg

With everything that has been happening around us over the last six months, a poem by one of my favourite Dutch poets came to mind as I was sitting on the deck overlooking the valley, hoping to be able to saddle the horses to go for a ride when Niki comes home with Yarrow from a Church service (as part of their Faith Quest). It's a poem in which the poet J.C. Bloem sings the praises of city life, against the attractions of country life and nature which, even in his day (1887-1966) was under attack from urbanisation. But it's not the first half of the poem that concerns me, it's the second - in which he describes a moment of simple, pure happiness. The moment occured in Amsterdam, in a street called the Dapperstraat but, again, that is not what made me think of this poem. It's the thought of the occurrence of this fleeting, but intense moment of happiness which he describes that I admire in this poem.

Alles is veel voor wie niet veel verwacht.
Het leven houdt zijn wonderen verborgen
Tot het ze, opeens, toont in hun hogen staat.
Dit heb ik bij mijzelven overdacht,
Verregend, op een miezerigen morgen,
Domweg gelukkig, in de Dapperstraat. 

In a quick, and probably quite bad, translation it reads:

All is too much for those who do expect much.
Life keeps its miracles hidden
until, suddenly, it shows them in their purest form.
That is what I was thinking,
in the rain, on a drizzly morning,
Simply happy, in the Dapperstraat.

Simply happy. A wishful moment?

Now, if you think that all is doom and gloom here, no that's not the case, but the passage of time has been anything but smooth and unchallenging, and it is now that these small moments of unconcerned happiness light up like bright sparks and stand out.

I feel another one, while from the corner of my eye, I see the sun come through a gap in the clouds, and light up the intense green grass of the surrounding hills.

In control

Miss Elliott has still not ceded control over Elliott House or relinguished her grip over the cardboard fortress. She seems to be about the only creature around who is totally composed and in control of her destiny...

Bexhill Open Air Cathedral

When driving from Clunes to Lismore you pass through the village of Bexhill where my love and I stopped off at the open air cathedral, which one finds hidden in a side-road, behind trees, offering beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. It's a quiet, contemplative place...

Would you believe it...?

Would you believe it! Just listen to the message we received on the phone the other day. It's, erm, amazing; it's, erm, unbelievable; it's, erm ... it must be a hoax, subterfuge, a plot. No, it's looks as if it is real... Guess who's Very Happy But Isn't Quite Letting Herself Believe It...? The Chattels are coming!

The Formal

Alstonville High School published photos of the Year 10 formal, which was held last week and which Tess attended. You'd almost think it was a graduation party - which, I guess, it was for those who had decided not to continue into years 11 and 12... Click here for the photos. Guess who the lady in the colourful dress is...

The Grammarwock

When our UK-based co-writer Joanne Collie wrote to us last night, sending in the final part of our joint Opus English Grammar for Teens, for our Chinese publisher FLTRP, she exclaimed (in so far as email allows one to exclaim): 

'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

quoting from Lewis Caroll's inimitable 1872 poem, The Jabberwocky. Needless to say, those intimate with our escritorial goings and doings know that this project has taken a lot longer in the writing than we (and the publishers) had expected, and also threw up considerable challenges (many of which were cultural; and most of which we have overcome with success, let that be said, too).

We are therefore quite flumbusted and vertorial (whatever those words may mean to you) that we have completed (that may not officially be an intransitive verb, but I have just turned it into one. Hey, what was OK for Shakespeare to do should, surely, also be allowed for scribes like ourselves?) Bar some editorial work and inevitable proof corrections, the bulk of the work has now been done and all manuscripts submitted. Phew. Nay, megaphew.

So let us rest by the Tumtum tree, and stand awhile in thought.

The fact that The Jabberwocky reads like a nonsense poem, doesn't for a moment dilute the grammatical (or is it ' grammatorial'?) achievement of the three 200-plus page tomes of illustrated educational linguistic intricacy and challenge. Let's hope that Chinese students, ranging in ages between 10 and 18, in their millions and for generations to come (our expectations in this are, of course, entirely realistic...) will benefit from all the knowledge, articles, texts, dialogues, exercises, tasks and tests imparted upon them through this innovative course (groundbreaking for the Chinese market, that's for sure). For benefit and instruction, Carroll's poem follows below. It didn't make it into the book though...

So for now, as you can imagine, we chortle in joy.

The Jabberwocky

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

  And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

  The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

  Long time the manxome foe he sought --

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

  And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

  The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

  And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

  The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

  He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

  Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

  He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

  And the mome raths outgrabe.

And here are the proud authors when they met in Peterborough not too long ago...

Warning

My love and Anjes' friend Sandra climbed Mount Warning last week - Niki has been complaining of muscle ache in the legs since then. Be that as it may, they made it to the top, as the photo bears witness... Looking forward to climbing it with the family again!

Reports

Before the weekend both Tess and Yarrow came home with the most impressive school reports, both excelling in most areas ranging from 'Ag' to Science, from English to Art, and everything in between. Well-done girls! Neither of you have had an easy semester, for all sorts of reasons, and you have still managed to do well. We're proud of you! Now think of an experience that you would like to, erm, experience and we'll try and make that happen as a present for your achievement.

Weekly

Another week seems to have rushed past, in which we have shared our time between work/school, hospital and evening episodes of the Tudors... 

My love's chattels have not surfaced yet, nor has her visa - we remain impatiently patient, hoping for a pre-Christmas breakthrough on all counts.

China Grammar (or English Grammar for Teens, as it is officially known) is now almost reaching completion (thanks be!) - before Christmas we hope to, nay we will, finish this. 

Tess is going better every day, being allowed out of hospital more and more regularly, and may come home to celebrate Sinterklaas on the 5th. We're keeping it low-key to save energies, though.

The animals either graze (equines) or snooze (felines). Miss Elliot has ensconced herself in a box and refuses to come out. Oh no, I now actually see she has surfaced after het almost 24-hour sojourn and her Royalness has moved herself outside: I think she has now decided to go and mow the lawns.

Talking of lawns, the weeds are slowly (and with limited success) being kept under control - spring weather is generally quite conducive to growth of the weedy kind. And even though it's cloudy and rainy today, we've had much sun and warmth so you can literally see the grass grow...

Horsing again

Ah! After a long period of sprained ankles, hurt ribs, the timely pressures of workworkwork and travel, and the affairs of family my love and I decided that horse-riding needed to be urgently re-instated quick smart, so this weekend we managed to fit in two short trial (not trail) rides onto our neighbour John Gosper's property. So lovely, so relaxing! Also, we can now 'see' the horses again, as our neighbour Peter was so kind as to slash the side and bottom paddocks where huge (as in 'huge!') thistles were cleanly hiding our esteemed steeds from view...

Weekend

Tess was allowed out of hospital this weekend, and sleep over, so she spent Saturday at the Grange where she spent most of the day not expending energy, having lunch with Yarrow and spending time with the folks, and Sunday she came to the Myth - I took her to the Eltham pantry with Yarrow, and invited Ongel and Grandpa to join us there, and then we had a scrumptious Sunday lunch prepared by Niki. Niki in the meantime had picked up one of Anjes' friends, Sandra, from Byron Bay. Sandra will be staying with us for a few days. In the afternoon we all went down to a Creek near Federal where we paddled in the water and lounged in the sun, until it was time for Tess to be taken back to the hospital. This morning Tess told us proudly that she had gained weight (i.e. since the tube had been taken out last week), which was excellent news to start off the week. So now it's another sunny, hot spring day. 

We worked in Byron Bay today while Sandra walked around Byron. After lunch at the Balcony we drove up to the Lighthouse, watched the absence of Wales (seeing as the Whale passing season has already passed), as well as the lack of dolphins and turtles ... well, at least the water was of the most beautiful emerald colour.

More night-time visitors

We had more night-time visitors this week: Christmas beetles are swarming and, especially at night, crawling out of their subterranean hideaways to entertain us with their seemingly useless practice of flying in, falling over on their backs and, well, dying ... They come in many varieties, some of them golden.

A visitor

It remains a cute sight... a night-time visitor clinging to one of the dining-chairs ... it went to join its friend waiting on the doorstep outside a few minutes later...

What a wonderful surprise!

Today we had asked John and Mieke over for dinner. BecauseYarrow had come back from Newcastle yesterday, we decided to do the changeover this evening. Niki had been cooking up a wonderful pork roast all afternoon. Yarrow came home from school, and all seemed normal. Even when John and Mieke arrived, we suspected nothing - until quite unexpectedly, Tess walked in through the backdoor! Beaming a huge smile and sporting a summery dress, she looked wonderful. She'd been allowed 'out'  for the evening after her medical stats following the active weekend (see previous posts) were excellent! So ... we had a wonderful meal together, sitting round the table on the back deck, and it felt so wondrously normal! After dinner we all jumped into the pool. Thank you, Mieke, for this great surprise. I pointed out the Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow tree out to Tess and said: "We've had yesterday; today is wonderful, and now there will be lots of tomorrows.".

China pics

On Niki's facebook pages you can view photos of our recent work trip to Beijing.

Tess and Yarrow out and about

This weekend was the first weekend that Tess was allowed of hospital to spend time with her family - on Saturday Niki and I took her to see a movie (about vampires and werewolves ...) and afterwards for lunch in the Trattoria next door, which was lovely. On Sunday she was able to spend the day - between after breakfast and before dinner- at the Grange, with Mieke and John, and they went to Rocky Creek Dam for a spring picnic. It was a very sunny day so that excursion, too, was a great success. 

Yarrow, in the meantime, had flown down to Newcastle to spend two days with the Mrs Campbells, Oceane and Sarah. She, too, came back from her tripette with lots of stories and good experiences.

Nifty

On Sunday we trekked to the Channon market, where Yarrow had to work, and we noticed this young lady who was singing, playing violin and riding a monocycle at the same time. Nifty...

The return of the natives

Over the past month, in the world of this blog, we have seen ‘how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence’ … apologies for my regular readers for the equal silence on this blog … but other things have kept our hearts and minds occupied ...

After a 3-week trip abroad, Niki and I have now returned home down under. Having left quite unwillingly in the first place when Tess was quite ill, and taken into hospital, we were thankful to be able to leave in the knowledge she’d be in the care of The Best Mum In The World, Mieke, and John. The hospital staff has been equally dedicated to nursing Tess back to better health and I’m convinced she was in the best place, under close medical care. I can only hope that our frequent phone calls, texts and cards have helped somewhat  to allay the lack of our physical presence, even though I do realize it’s a meagre replacement for the real thing. Now we’re back, we’re happy to care Tess back into full recovery together and be there for all involved. 

Despite all, the trip away, which became more ill-timed as events unfolded, my love was able to spend time with her parents Peter and Ann. Due to many meetings I had they didn't see much of me, but both Niki and I very much appreciated their kind hospitality in Polebrook and the what seemed like endless car rides to airports and stations. Our trip has also served its purpose in terms of our livelihood. Many of the meetings we had, either in the UK with Garnet’s publishers and distributors, Holland (with the publishers of Realtime (Malmberg), and Real English (Thiememeulenhoff), or China (with the publishers of our grammar course, FLTRP, and the publishers of a new project in the pipeline, Qingdao Publishing Group), could simply not have been done online with the same result.

The weather on our return has been warm: spring slowly moving into summer. The land has greened up, the horses look healthy. The grass is long, so Yarrow has been thoroughly enjoying mowing and, while Niki was meeting deadlines on Saturday, I weeded several overgrown garden patches and the Dazza patch. Many flowers, such as the Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow, are out colourfully and smelling strongly. 

In the meantime we have been advised that Niki’s goods and chattels have safely arrived in Australia, and are in the hands of Quarantine at the moment for a final check before delivery. Having said that, no news at all from the visa people… 18 December will be 12 months… Surely, we should be hearing something sometime soon…

Sunday morning, we find ourselves at a sunny Channon market, sitting in the sun while Yarrow works in the popcorn stall and Tess is out with her friend Bonnie who was allowed to come visit. Niki is reading the paper. And I’ve just finished reading another of Zafon’s fascinating books, The Midnight Palace. 

And now, Sunday night, as I am about to enter into an online meeting simultaneously with people in the UK, Germany and India, the spring rains come lashing down - thunder and lightning accompanying it, the evening skies rumbling with discontent...

Finally!

Lo and behold - the things you can look up on the Internet these days. Knowing that finally after many, many months, Niki's goods and chattels are on their way from Portugal to Australia, my love found herself searching for information on the whereabouts of the vessel Maersk Essex that is carrying a container with her goods in it ... Would you believe that you can actually find this information; that not only are there trainspotters, but also shipspotters, and a website (here) that tells you where the ship has been, was last spotted (the Suez canal, actually), etc.? Check it out. Amazing! Can you tell us which container it is ...?

New job for Anjès

Anjès has now been home for a few days. We miss her dearly, of course, but she seems to have slotted in fairly effortlessly again into her other home. She had organised a job interview as soon as she came back, and was immediately offered a job at a spa resort (where she had worked before, as a work experience project) combining reception duties, beauty treatment work and waitressing. Well done, Anjès and congratulations!

Camping

Ever heard of, or eaten Damper? Eaten snags? Made tea in a Billy? Well, this weekend we did, as my love and I, Tess, Yarrow, Mieke, John and our friends Trevor, Kel. Tom, Jamie and Robin took ourselves off to Alice flats, along the Clarence river to enjoy a holiday long weekend of, well, not doing much really, other than chat, lounge, sit, make campfires, swim, walk, make damper etc etc. A great opportunity to be without phones, computers, office desks, manuscripts. Lovely.

Alice - picture slideshow

Poor Anjès

Welcome to the world of international travel! Having expected a smooth sailing from Brisbane to Amsterdam via Dubai, Anjès´ flight was delayed for four hours due to repairs on the plane; so she missed her connection on arrival in Dubai, and is - as we speak - in the Middle East being diverted to Frankfurt where she hopes to catch another crate to Amsterdam. Expected arrival 10pm Dutch time tonight (not sure which tonight, but about 9 hours later than scheduled). Let´s hope it will all go well for her now...

Bye Bye

This weekend was Anjès´ farewell weekend - unfortunately, we have to let her go again. Nevertheless, we are happy she has had a great time, discovered the direction of her personal path through the next few years and got the opportunity to spend time with her family on this side of the planet. We will miss her daily cry of teatime!

 

Teatime

So this weekend was one of farewells: yesterday we invited Ton and Ellen over for lunch; in the evening we had Mieke en John over (as well as Julie, Kel, Jamie and Tom and Lachlan because we organised a combined party for Tess (on account of her birthday) and Anjès; and then today we had dinner at Mieke and John´s. During this dunner Tess and Yarrow gave us a prime performance of Jaws; and Yarrow taught us a ditty about a moose. Or a lama?

 

Jaws

 

Lama? Moose?

CD!

Finally, it´s here! Heartbeat, the new CD by Peter and myself, has seen the light of day! It won´t be available in a shop near you, but a copy will wing itself in your general direction over time. A website, www.twofargone.eu, will also be opened but is not live yet. I´m very happy with the result and hope you will be, too, when you get to listen.

Possum

As we were lounging around and watching Bones sudden screams and squeals betrayed the presence of one of Australia´s marsupials, a possum, in the palm outside the lounge window. ´Cute´ is the understatement of the year, right...

Brom...

I do have to apologize to my avid readers for being silent, quiet and generally not there in cyberspace. Life took over during the past few weeks: family, kids, running the farm, work, planning our upcoming trip to Europe. This weekend we managed to set aside some time for gardening! 

In front of the house we´ve cleaned up and redesigned a shady bed in which not much was willing to grow.

Broms...

I´ve also been working with Red (and an endless selection of his work mates) to find and fix a leak in the pool. We finally found it and then decided that what was needed was relaying of the pavers in an area where perhaps the pavers were pressing down on underground pipes and broke them. It´s amazing how much time it can take to find a (what proved to be a small) leak like that - letting the water drop slowly, thus eliminating pipe after pipe; then people diving into the water remaining (and almost freezing to death) to replace valves; then filling it up again, hour by hour, inch by inch. We´re almost there again and soon will be able to swim again.

  

We´ve also been working hard to get our veggie patches ready for the spring and summer season and prepped so they can be left to their own devices while were are away. The (totally organic) patch left by the previous tenant, now dubbed Dazza´s patch, has now been fitted out with automatic sprinklers; and new tomatoes, eggplant, basil and strawberries were added to the older patch next to the study.

Hoog Sammie, Kijk Omhoog Sammie

My big white horse Samson is for sale. Having regained my confidence on Emu Eyes, I think it´s time for him and I to part ways - he´s lovely, but he need somebody who can ride him regularly and with aplomb. Saturday somebody is coming to have a look at him, so who knows...

Sam - Big Boy

While

While outside an early spring rainstorm (yes, spring starts 1 September in Down Under) lashes the trees and turns the land into rivulets and mud pools; while thunder vibrates through everything in the house, and we await hail stones to create a racket; while Niki is studying and playing the calming notes of ´The river flows in you´; while a nice fire warms the lounge room; while the cats either lounge inside the house or hide somewhere from the rain, I look at a photo Anjés has put up of what she has been making today at the chocolate making course. in Melbourne. I must say that box of goodies looks particularly scrumpdumptious and edible, doesn´t it! She is having a whale of a time, judging from message and Facebook posts...

Melbourne

And off Anjès is to Melbourne, to spend a few weeks with Toby and experience the European in Australia. We all hope she´ll have a swell time! While Anjès is there she´ll be doing a a Chocolate & Patisserie Course with a school called Savour. Yum!

The medley

And here is the medley. Yarrow´s solo is somewhere in the middle (02:58), but the rest is absolutely worthwhile listening to as well - the harmonies are great.

CAPA Night!

At Alstonville High School Yarrow was involved in CAPA night tonight. CAPA night is an annual performance night made up of Drama and Music performances by students who take these subjects. Yarrow was involved in a mime act (which she had devised and choreographed), and a band / choir medley (including a solo). The first movie is the mime ´Mannequins´. Quite an innovative piece, according to Ton. It speaks for itself....

Circus again

Both Yarrow and Tess have returned to circus school this term, after last terms debacle and stress. They´re both keen to pick it up again, even though they don´t really want to be part of the performance troupe anymore. They´ve had enough of the pressure of performance: after all, they don´t plan on being professional circus artists... They just want to have fun! Good on them, I say!

Back from the snow

Tess came back from the snow earlier this week. She had an awesome time, and put up photos on Facebook. Unfortunately, she´s been quite ill and flu-ey all week so far...

Served by ...

The other night Niki and I drove to Ballina to pick up Anjès from her work at the Italian restaurant. We were served by her and she did an excellent job! As you know, she´s also doing an apprenticeship in Patisserie baking with the Patisserie chef of the Eltham hotel, Julie, and she was asked a few days ago whether she would be willing to take on Julie´s job while they were on holidays - quite an honour to be asked to do so this quickly! She´s also registered for a chocolate making / desert making course in Melbourne at the end of the month when she´ll be visiting Toby. Go, Anjès!

Interesting things

Niki landed an interesting job the other day. In fact, it´s a voluntary activity, which we hope may somewhere down the line lead to more materials development work. She was asked by the Italian Association of Language Schools to contribute on a monthly basis to the most important financial magazine in Italy called Sole 24 Ore. What Niki writes for them is 4 page of an 8-page pull-out section with activities, games and exercises for the magazine´s readers many of whom are parents of young or teen English learners. If you click on the picture you´ll see the drafts of an element from the first November installment: these drawings will be developed into a real, colourful cartoon story which we will of course display here once finished. Good on ya, my love!

Ahorsing around

My love and I have been horsing around ever since Emu Eyes came and lived with us. Usually at the end of the day, we off and ride down to a neighbour´s farm (John Gosper) on Duchess and Emu, and ride down the lanes on his property. Excellent confidence regaining exercises and just great fun, even if it´s only for half an hour - we´re training for the Olympics... What we say is difficult to understand, but it´s about living the dream, perfect horses and how enjoyable it all is at the end of the day, after hard yakka, to go riding.

Success!

Anjès has been very active, trying to find work and courses to do. She´s singled out various short Patisserie courses to do around here, and in Melbourne when she visits Toby. Also, she was offered (and she accepted after a trial) a job (probably 15-24 hours or so per week) as a waitress (customer service attendant...) in two establishments in Ballina (La Cocina de Vino and Pelican 101). She doesn´t want to make a career out of this kind of work, but is willing to give it a fair go to earn some money and gain experience. What she has found at least as interesting is that she has been offered an apprenticeship / work experience placement with the Patisserie chef at the Eltham Hotel: every Tuesday she´ll go there to assist the Patisserie Chef prepare cakes, deserts and other sweet things! And just now, Wednesday evening, she came home having passed the RSA certificate (Responsible Service of Alcohol) - this is a one-day course giving her a 5-year certificate that people who work in hospitality / catering have to have.  She´s on a roll!

Magic again!

Today we received the level 2 course book and workbook of our eastern European primary English course Magic Adventure. Magic Adventure 1 teaches children aged 6-7 English through colourful and active (cartoon) stories, songs, games and little trips into the real world outside the classroom. Level 1 is about the adventures of Peter, Lola, Pal, Peter´s dog Tricks and a group of special animals, among whom are Gina Giraffe and Belinda Butterfly.

Magic Adventure 2 (for children aged 7-8) sees the return of Peter, Tricks and Lola, who have grown a year older, but again have adventures as they fall through magic holes, doors, nooks and crannies. They meet Izzy, a red-haired girl with a frizzy hairstyle and a sense of adventure who takes them on a tour of her world. Where the focus is still on listening and speaking, as in level 1, In Magic Adventure 2 the children start learning to read and write in English as well.

Also in the post was the interactive whiteboard DVD for level 1 with songs, games and animated cartoons

So, a celebration is in order! Well-done, us!

Back on...

It has been a long, long time since I´ve ridden a horse. The last time my love and I were on horseback together was about two years ago, when we went for a long ride on Duchess and Samson. Since then not many things equine have happened. After returning to Australia, Niki has been training with Duchess to get ready for the rides we have long envisaged doing together, but I have sort of lost my nerve a bit with Samson aka Boy.

Emu Eyes is one of John´s horses (not sure why he is named Emu Eyes - do his eyes look like an Emu´s?), and last weekend I went for a ride on him. I almost immediately seemed to regain all previous riding skill and confidence! This has enthused me so much! John has kindly lent me Emu so I can get back into riding again.

Today John and Mieke rode Saturn and Emu over from Clunes (a one-and-a-half hour ride). After they had left, and Emu had had some time to recuperate, I went for a short late-afternoon ride, which, though perhaps no longer than 15 or 20 minutes, was absolutely wonderful and invigorating. Niki and I are looking forward to exploring the hills around us (again) from on high! Thank you, John and Mieke!

Swap

Today, Sunday, we attended the Pearces Creek produce swap, where locals come together to, well, swap produce. You can bring anything you have grown or made yourself and negotiate your way into filling your hamper with other people´s produce. The event saw my love´s capability as a Negotiator Extraordinaire - we had brought a bucket of lemons (yes, from the same batch of 300-odd lemons that came off the tree we pruned ages ago), and a beautiful coffee-and-walnut cake Anjès had just baked half an hour before. We went home with what you can see in the photo... amazing, isn´t it? Click on the photo to enlarge, and just look at the ladyfinger bananas - obtained at the price of one piece of cake. At current prices in Australia a bunch like that in the supermarket would cost you around $15...

Uno

During our 1770 holiday Niki developed a competitive penchant for a card game called Uno. As I write, Toby, Anjès, Yarrow and my love are yet again embroiled in an intense game of defeat, deceit and determination to win! After a while Anjès finds herself promoted to card table ... Shadow, basking in the distant warmth of the wood burner, doesn´t seem interested in the least...

Orse

A lovely little clip of Niki, just after she arrived, training her horse (and herself) ... in our (then under repair, but now fixed) roundyard called Cooper´s Yard (the name of which is after Cooper, one of the horses Mieke and I once owned, lying peacefully buried there).

Cakes

Anjès is settling in nicely, has been reunited with Toby, and has developed a veritable fascination for Patisserie baking. She´s looking around for courses to do so develop her skills. Here´s a gallery of the, almost daily efforts - all scrumptious!

cakes - slide show

45!

A day full of surprises and fun activities - my love´s 45th birthday. Not the first time she celebrated this in Australia: in fact on her previous two birthdays she was also here. After waking up (too early...), a fitness-inducing run down (and up!) the hill, birthday hugs and a piece of scrumptious chocolate cake baked by Anjès, and a surprise Skype video call with Susanna, Rita, Tony, and Xana, we set off to town to get Niki a new set of reins (not for her, but for her horse). At one PM a birthday lunch had been booked at the Harvest Café in Newrybar where we had the most congenial, pleasant and delicious 3-hour lunch at the Community table, ending in complimentary Bubbly and meringue for the birthday girl. A birthday wouldn´t be quite complete without a bonfire, so tonight we´re set The Pile alight that has been accruing over the past few months. For Sunday a birthday ride on Duchess has been planned with Maxine.

Niki´s birthday 2011

Quick update

Post-1770 we´ve (collectively) been inging, i.e. cooking, writing, lounging, baking, reading, thinking, driving, sleeping, and ...ing (to be completed with any verb denoting all of the other activities, purposeful or not, that we have undertaken). Martina, Bertie´s daughter, joined us for the week on Monday and is, as I write, cooking up a scrumptious brew in the kitchen. The dish she is preparing we dubbed Martina´s Delight, after a meal Bertie cooked for us earlier this year called (well, that´s what we called it :) Bertie´s Delight: spinach ricotta pasta. Tomorrow we plan to go whale-watching in Byron (they are passing the East coast between April and October every year); visit Eagle Farm (a property on the coast owned by friends with ample space for bush walks) and have lunch in Brunswick Heads. Earlier tonight we visited the Office (the local pub in Eltham) where we met Ton, Ellen and Mieke.

1770

We´re just back from 1770, the tiny town on the Queensland North Coast where we´ve spent a week on our winter holiday! We (Anjès, Tess, Yarrow, Niki and Hans) had a great, largely sunny week, relaxing, reading, cycling, boating, canoeing, playing games, watching movies, sipping coffees and teas, sitting in the sun and enjoying the sunset in one of the three places on the Australian eastern seaboard where you can see the sun go down over water. (Have a think about that one for a bit - it took us a few days to get our heads around it ...)

The week was a great opportunity for all of us to spend some quality time together as a family - after all the arrivals, comings, goings, work and settling in ... and it worked out really well!

1770 - free slideshow maker

Orsing around

Aren´t holidays lovely ... (after one has done one´s annual tax return and re-registered one´s car and paid bills and and ...). Yesterday we were horsing around in the round yard down the hill with Promise (Anjès´ horse) and Duchess. Niki took some nice photos. The weather has finally turned lush - warm days, cool nights (fire burning as we speak), blue skies - let´s hope that next week, when we go on our little sojourn to Seventeen-Seventy, the weather makers will be equally generous...

Yesterday we ´orsed around in town, helping Anjès get settled in bureaucratic and homely ways: registering for Medicare, getting her a bank account, arranging a sim card for her phone, getting her an Australian driver´s licence, buying a little fridge for her room ...! Settling in!

Finally ... holidays!

We can´t quite believe it ourselves but ... the holidays have started! What a strange phenomenon! No work, no computers, no stress and deadlines. I could get used to this...

I do apologize to my faithful readers for the dearth of news over the past few weeks. We simply haven´t had that much news to share - apart from the fact that we are still ecstatically happy to be together here, and have been continually embroiled in the linguistic entrapment of China grammar. Levels 1 and 2 have now finally been delivered, despite delays, setbacks, editorial foibles and authorial frustrations... Also Magic Adventure 2 has now been completed (my love decided on a dedicated pre-holiday spurt of writing frenzy yesterday and today to deliver the teachers´ notes).

On a family note, Anjès has arrived and settled in. It´s just wonderful to have her here: she has effortlessly blended in, taken possession and care of her room, ad has been zooming around the countryside in Niki´s and her Twinkle car. We´re extremely happy to be reunited again! It makes our family feel so much more complete! She seems to have decided to go on a baking / cooking quest, and has already baked macaroons! Mieke and Anjès have also spent a day together, catching up earlier this week.

Tess and Yarrow have relished the presence of their older sister and they are mightily pleased she´s here. Lots of girly gossip and sisterly socializing going on! Both Tess and Yarrow have been working hard over the weekend (Tess at the pub and Yarrow at the popcorn stall). They have now gone to Mieke´s for the week, so it´ll be the three of us here, in holiday mode! The plan is to do horsey stuff, go to Byron Bay with Anjès, to lounge around, read, and generally do holiday-y things until, early next week, we go for our beach holiday up north.

Today Anjès and I went to the Lismore boot market and came back (via Howard´s Butchers & Cafe and a cup of chai) with a bedside table, which was lacking in her ´suite´; later this week we´ll get her a small fridge so she can have some frigidaire privacy. She´s been out with some friends tonight and has just returned to join us at the open fire (yes, it is still cold at night, although not as bad as a few weeks ago).

Our friend Bertie´s daughter, Martina, has also arrived in Australia and spontaneously rocked up to stay hi while we were having lunch - a nice surprise: she seems to be happy hanging out with her friends and will be staying with us later in the month.

The finished tracks for Heartbeat, my next CD with Peter from Holland, have arrived - I´m in the process of designing the inlay booklet so hopefully we´ll have a finished product in a few months. It´s lovely to be able to spend some time on this during the holidays, just mucking around with photos, artwork, lyrics etc.

I haven´t got a lot of photos to share, so will endeavour to get some done over the next few days. So, for now we´re siting at the fire: Malouf has arrayed himself around one of Chicco´s front paws (very tactile cat, is he) to bask in inter-species comfort; Anjès is looking up more recipes to make; Niki is reading. And I, well I am going to throw another log on...

Here she comes...

Here´s proof! She´s on her way!

Anjès is on her way!

Another momentous day in our family history! Anjès is (going to be) on her way to Australia. On her Monday morning, she´ll board a plane for Singapore at 11:15 and arrive here on Tuesday at 19:30 (in Brisbane). We can´t wait to give her a great big Welcome Home family hug as she arrives! Her room is ready for her, the weather is lovely and a new life and adventure waiting to begin! 

Anjès had a wonderful farewell party on the weekend, photos of which can be seen here and she has also started a blog (which, for the non-Dutch speakers among us, you may want to chuck into Google Translate, should you wish to follow).

Again we say, tempus fugit - we´re all very excited!

Lovely party

The Weather Makers were with us this weekend! On Saturday afternoon, about 25 of our friends and family came down to Houghlahans Creek Road to celebrate my birthday and Niki´s return with us. Beautiful dishes had been prepared by all - curry, pasta, artisan bread, cakes, soup and other comestibles aplenty. Thanks to the kind weather we could spend most of the afternoon on the back deck. The last of our guests left by 7.30 at night by which time we had just retired inside.

Sunday my love spent the morning and afternoon in the garden, where I joined her in the afternoon - clearing the overgrown herb patch and harvesting 309 (!) lemons from the bolted lemon tree along the side fence, now pruned back to a much smaller shadow of itself with some 50 or 60 of the fruit remaining. We´ll try and flog the 309 with an honesty box on the side of the road and ´volunteer´ them to unwitting victims...

We´re also planning a veggie patch, but are still trying to locate the best area to plant our future meals...

Watching Downton Abbey at the moment in front of a fire that doesn´t want to spark into life...

Celebration

After much rain over the past few weeks it looks as if weather has finally turned for the better! Tomorrow (Saturday) we´re having a, hopefully sunny gathering with family, friend, neighbours, cats, dog and ducks, to celebrate my ..th birthday, Niki´s return home and the fact that living in one time-zone is fantastic and life is beautiful. We´ll be sure to share some photos with you later this weekend.

Over the past week or so, writing has kept us off Houghlahans Creek Road (or any road, street or lane, for that matter), out of the pool (which is too freezingly cold anyway) and well-enmeshed in the linguistic intricacies of that foreign realm called English Grammar for our English Grammar for Teens If you click below, you can see the design of the level 1 pages - we think it looks very cute indeed.

And then there was silence... It´s not that we haven´t been doing anything over the past few weeks, since my love´s arrival. On the contrary, our days have been filled with too many things to mention - most importantly, re-establishing our little family unit with Tess and Yarrow; and working on the property; writing, and carting back and forth between Pearce´s Creek, Lismore, Byron Bay and Clunes; and getting used to the (too) cold winter weather. It´s not exactly freezing, but it feels extremely cold, and at night (and sometimes during the day, too!) we have a fire on. 

We´re planning a Saturday lunch party on the 18th, to celebrate my 50th birthday and Niki´s return. Thank you, Peter and Ann, for sending me The Times newspaper of 23 May 1961 - an authentic copy of the paper, it´s a fascinating record and very interesting to read and see what happened on that day, apart from me being born of course...

On the animal front (see older posts), there is not much to report other than a twosome of ducks that keep returning to the pool (the other 13, who soiled the pool and made it a green, dirty pond when  got back a while ago seemed to have decided to relocate); some Orb spiders; the occasional bird flying into the window; a lonely and seemingly lost frog on the Barracuda hose in the middle of the pool, and a mysterious animal that seems to have dug a burrow off the deck. We suspect it might be an echidna.

Both Niki and I are really happy to be here (again)! We´re awaiting Anjès, who is now in Paris with her mum, looking forward to getting on that plane and will be arriving in Brisbane on 28 June.