fencing and stuff

Imagine that you wake up in your bed in three years’ time. What things would be different? And what would be the same? I don’t think any of us can really imagine. Here’s what I can now do, that I couldn’t do three years ago. I guess we all learn on a need to know basis. So here’s what I’ve been learning this week.

Fixing electric fencing. Superneighbour Bruce helped me with that after I’d done the blade of grass test. (Thank you Tess and Yarrow!) I was talking to my best pal Rita last night and she was bemusing how my Portuguese has deteriorated because I couldn’t find the word for fence. Well, I don’t think I ever knew the word vedação - there aren’t many in the Lisbon suburbs! Whilst fixing the fencing, which involved cutting down a ton of weeds, the dog was suddenly not there. So an hour of yelling round the valley brought out various neighbours… and the dog eventually. Phew! At night, with Tessy we were making a Spanish Omelette when the gas ran out. So we called on Kathryn (again) to help us switch gas bottles. Ok so that also isn’t difficult - but it’s gas! So always good to be sure. Oh and earlier in the day I had daubed bluestone on the back of a horse’s leg - single handed. Nothing else can go wrong - can it?

Glasgow

After a long 24-hour journey arrived in Glasgow, where the whole of Sunday was taken up by a committee meeting and dinner and today, Monday, by a pre-conference event which we organised as YLT SIG. Niki organised the event and, as I write, I am listening to Shelley Terrel giving the teachers participating in the workshops 10 survival tips for teaching English to very young learners (i.e. 0-6 years). Opal Dunn is talking about assessing very young learners, a contentious subject... More presentations are lined up for the rest of the day, including a masterclass in teaching English through cooking by the committee's very own Caroline Linse.

c-r-a-z-y!!

Saturday

Here’s what’s been happening! I think I am more than managing on my own! But goodness, my love, hurry home! This was the weekend. (I know that this is probably no different to anyone else with family and animals… but remember that 3 years ago it was me, my cat and my flat. (or my cat, my flat and I; or my flat , my cat and I…)

Saturday: Began with a one hour conversation to my aunt! Amazing internet- I love you! It was a perfect connection and sounded as though she was just down the road. Then took Raffi to puppy training in Ballina (takes about 30 mins to get there), bought fish, came home, had lunch, cleaned house (3 hours!), drove to Lismore where I collected Ellen, then we collected Yarrow and Chicco, dropped Ellen and Yarrow off at Ellen’s, came home. Took dogs for dog walk… dirty pawprints over clean house sob sob! Did I have dinner? Don’t remember but I dropped into bed at 9.30pm completely exhausted!

Sunday

Dog walk at 6.45am! Collected Tess from Bonnie’s, then collected Yarrow and Ellen, dropped Tess off in Clunes where she works on Sundays in the cafe, dropped Yarrow off at Lismore market at her Sunday job. Went round market with mothiil (Ellen - mother in in law! gettit?) and bought fresh veggies, and we had a much needed coffee. Then to hospital to see Ton, back to supermarket - thinking might as well do shopping for week, back home had a sanger (sarnie), went to see Promise (who has cut her leg) where superneighbour Bruce helped me (vet said ‘just spray!’ hmm not quite so easy) , planted seedlings, went for walk with neighbour and her dog, got back and washed two dirty dogs.Pottered around house doing things like superglueing broken objects, made bakewell slices whilst listening and prancing round the house to Joss Stone on LOUD! Very nice! Remembered it was mother's day in the UK... quickly recorded self and sent message through a snazzy little programme called MailVu. You simply click, record and send. It's brilliant - and free! Then had dinner in front of TV (hey! I’m on my own!) watching last episode of excellent TV adaptation of Great Expectations. Ironed while watching Waking the Dead… sat again while watching Stephen Fry’s Planet Word. Bed.

Today is Monday.... not been quite as c-razy but the farrier was here all morning! yak yak yak! Girlz arrive in less than 3 hours... :)

Home alone?

Hans left for Europe today. I dropped him off at Lismore airport (yes, there is a little airport there! so little that the car park is free! How nice is that?! ) this morning amid tears but hey! I cry/weep/sob/bawl (choose).

So I'm holding the ranch! But I am not alone! There's Malouf, Ms Elliot, Shadowbaby, (cats) Duchess, Emu, Samson, Promise (horses) and Rafael Worthington aka Raffi aka The Pup (dog). And all with their own needs! Promise cut her leg and so the vet has ordered that that be sprayed every day. Raffi needs walking twice a day, Duchess enjoyed her groom today and we want to ride over the weekend. And next week there will be visits from the farrier, the vet, the slasherman (to slash the paddocks), and hopefully the builder who is elusive atm . There are visits to an accountant, dog training and work in Brisbane planned so far
And on Monday the girlz arrive.... I'd better conserve some energy for that! Just like Raffi is doing in the piccie!

Live

Live coverage from the visa party - my love being quizzed ...

Have ticket, will travel

At the end of the week, I'll get on that old plane again to attend the IATEFL conference, in Glasgow this time, to be followed by a week in Amsterdam to visit family, friends and publishers. What was originally a two-week outing is in the process of being turned into a three-week tripette: one of my Chinese publishers has invited me to come over for a meeting about a project which a Chinese colleague (Prof. Lianzhong Zhang) and myself have submitted: a reading / readers series for Chinese learners, a potentially very big project with a very interesting, multi-channel publisher in the Germanite Chinese town of Qingdao.

Catching up

Time to catch up! It's been too long ... Another Sunday spent sprucing up the gardens, mulching beds, mowing lawns, whippersnipping, ferrying the girls to their various jobs, slipping into the pool, lounging at the Clunes caf for morning coffee and afternoon tea - all this on a sunny, warm autumn day. 

On Saturday evening we had my love's VISA party! 'Visa party?', some of you will say - indeed, after 14 long months of waiting, the much-desired piece of paper suddenly appeared in the mail, which has made my love a provisional resident (subclass UK) and an eligible recipient of permanent residency somewhere around the end of this year. (Citizenship is a few years down the line  still.) Are we happy? Yes, we are! Finally! Even though in those fourteen months things had 'normalized' this proof of 'official acceptance' has brought some peace of mind and a sense of future. 

Niki had invited friends and family to the party: it was a lovely gathering with Australian flags and True Blue balloons, 'donated' by Deb and Bruce (our neighbours), scrumptious food (' bring a plate')  from various people, good music and lots of laughter. Our friend Maggie had even devised a fool-proof quiz for Niki, consisting of seven or eight questions to see whether she really deserved the visa and we all agree she passed with flying colours ... 

It was a lovely evening. Here's to the future.

visa party

Back in the saddle

Earlier this week was a big moment for Tess, when she found herself back in the saddle again, riding Emu in the roundyard. She enjoyed it a lot, and we´re looking forward to going on more rides together. On Sunday Tess and Niki went out for a ride on John Gosper´s land, along the old Railway Track of the Booyong to Ballina railway, and they had a fun time. We´re really happy that Tess is getting back into this. Now talk goes around of both Tess and Yarrow wanting to go back to circus for some gentle personal training as well ... Let´s see...

Woof? Woof!

Walkies

Morning walkies with the Raffles! Beautiful area, isn't it!

Raffie

Sums

Photo A and Photo B do not go together very well. The equation is as follows: (A + B) x S (= speed) = a dog running up the hill, yelping, with its tail between its leg and hiding behind Hans'  legs ... Poor diddums. They say it only takes once for the to learn, and never forget ...

And what a week it was, it was

It was a week. It was one of 'those' weeks. It was the week that was. Looking back, we are wondering how we 'did' this week. Ok, the following goes for either Niki, or Hans, or both of us, including or excluding the girls. We sold a car, had a piano tuned, went to a beach almost two hours south of Byron (Tess drove, and hit a pothole), changed a wheel (see pothole...), fed two hungry girls (every day, as we tend to feed them regularly :), got ourselves a dog (Raphael, Raffles, Raffie, Oi You!), walked long walks with said canine, bought half a cow (one from our neighbour Peter's paddock) and picked it up (in different 'format') form the butcher (4 boxes of the most luscious beef, hmm mmm!), criss-crossed the countryside playing taxi-driver, driving Tess and Yarrow to work, open-aur movies, appointments, etc., oh and we worked, handed in a completed manuscript, received a book that has just come out (Realtime, year 2), bombed the house (as in flea-bombed, oh yeah them li'le critters had taken over the place, hmm, who can we blame - ah the dogs!), did telephone interviews and Skype meetings with friends and publishers, taught a day at the Byron Bay language school, watched a Cinderella ballet at Ton and Ellen's with Tess and Yarrow (yes, we will come back soon to see the other half, and thank you Ellen for making delicious Nasi Goreng), comforted teenage lassies, watched a SF movie en famille but Niki fell asleep to it, had pest control people deal with a termite nest right next to the deck, cleaned the house inside and out (washed the roof, well part of it) and cleaned gutters (which had to emptied of years of, erm, stuff), tidied up veggie patches, went for more long walks with Raffles, and, and, and ... I'm sure there was more, but we are now, Sunday evening, too tired to even t h i n k, o  r   t  y p  e     m   o    r     e         w            o           r       d    zzzzzzzz....

White Christmas

While the rain has picked up again here in the Northern Rivers, cold stories from the Netherlands are reaching us - stories of snow, and skating and, perhaps (!) even an Elfstedentocht... Apparently people are eagerly looking forward to it happening again (see here). My friend Jacomien sent me these two photos - you'd almost want to go there. Better than rain anyday, I say.

Canine

The other day we received an email from Mieke about ‘this dog’ that needed a new home. Less than a week later, three days in fact, after a visit to its owner Linda, in Lismore, which smote (smite, smitted) us, erm, had us smitten with the (as yet) pequeňo canine with da bigga da feet, please meet the latest addition to The Family: (officially) Kobe, a.k.a. Raphael, a.k.a. Raffles and seeming to listen best to a.k.a. Raffie, a 4-month old Staffordshire Terrier – Kelpie cross with a charming character, endless sense of Fun (capitalised, of course) and the most supplicant eyes ever seen on a dog (except for Chicco’s of course). And what does Chicco think about it? Well, she (and her 70-odd years, in human terms that is) has decided she’ll just waddle along, accept the antics of the little toddler and generally be very philosophical about it… In fact, they’re getting on like a house on fire!

Back to school

And so, Tess went back to school today, first school day of 2012, and she has enjoyed it muchly! She has a good timetable, the teachers were nice, was welcomed back in front of the whole year group, her friends were supportive, and she seems to have eased back into it quite effortlessly. Great, we´re very happy!

Model daughter...

Yarrow was asked by a friend, Rodney, a local young man aiming to be a photographer, to do some modelling for him. Some of the photos are available on Facebook, here. Quite the model, I´d say, but I must say have been asking myself for a long time now why it is fashionable not to smile in fashion photography ...

Odd signs

There's a few unusual signs in Lennox Head...

Da uniform

And ready we are for school, all uniformed up according the newest Alstonville High school dress code.

Market day

Todaywe spent most of the day out, visiting the market in Lennox Head, a small town on the east coast, just part Byron Bay, and having lunch in that pretty little town on Lake Ainsworth (where, in the not too distant future, we hope to be able to go riding on the beach). Today was Tess' last holiday (Yarrow's penultimate): we celebrated in Mexican style with yummy Burritos and Enchilladas.

A wet one

It has been a wet, wet couple of days, with endless rain, semi-floods, wet feet, wet deck, wet horses and wet cats. Today we went out to the causeway to witness the force of nature, and just, well, for a lark.

rain

Back to school

Mieke and I went for visits with various doctors again today, with Tess, and she has been officially allowed back to school at the end of the summer holidays! A new phase in her recovery which we are sure she will embrace with al her heart!

All you are is just another brick in the ...

We received good news from Sarzedo in Portugal - remember The Wall alongside my love's garden of her mountain house in the little village in Portugal? Well, The Wall has been repaired, as the slideshow below shows ... quite neat, what? There's still a few metres of earth to be deposited on the top, to create a much bigger garden than there was left originally, but at least the house won't slide down the hill ... quite a building feat and done in traditional style.

wall ...

Farmer Jones

Ready to go a-mowing is Yarrow...

Organ

A while ago Niki was given 7 organ stops, from an organ once played by (what we think was) Niki's great-grandmother (but we may be corrected on that one!). Any which way, Mieke kindly volunteered her woodworking skills and created a beautiful (coat/bag/things) rack made of the wood of a Spotted Gum which will find pride of place in our home.

Transformation

We had an extremely fruitful day today. My love had drawn up a long, long list of Things To Do, inside and outside of the house, ranging from finishing the cleaning of the Bails (which took us a combined 7.5 hours, yesterday and today (and this is after the leaving tenant had cleaned it (...); reclaiming the Dazza patch from the overgrown jungle it had become (see photos, most of that is Niki's achievement!); cleaning the house, doing washes, raking paths, cleaning horse's hooves etc etc. We felt most virtuous by the end of the day, had a swim and an outdoor shower. 

 

Just after putting the jimmies on, our neighbour Deb phoned to say Promise had hurt het foot and was limping. Bruce helped me inspect and he kindly bandaged her up for the night. She has cut herself on her hoof, quite badly, so hopefully the vet can come and see her tomorrow. 

Tomorrow three people will come and inspect the Bails, so let's just hope one of them will want to make it a home.

YLT SIG and EVO 2012

This month, both Niki and I will 'perform' in an online event, i.e. deliver a workshop / presentation in cyberspace attended by people from all over the world.

EVO is a global online event of the American TESOL organisation. Our event is one of many in this virtual conference, and is organised by members of the committee managing IATEFL's Young Learners and Teenagers Special Interest Group (for which Niki and I both work).

Eleven speakers from all corners of the globe will shine their light on all things EFL. I believe Niki's workshop is at 01:30 a.m. Australian time as most of the participants will be in other timezones...

The presenters in the EVO event...

A bit late...

It's a bit late, but that's only because I've been late in uploading it. Mea culpa! Presenting Niki's brother's children wishing everybody a Merry Christmas...

Framed!

A little while ago my love and I attended Oceane's and Sarah's wedding. The Mrs Campbells spent some days with us last week, which was really enjoyable! From the wedding photos, a few nice ones of Niki and I - framed!

Framed - slideshows

A day of pleasant painting

Where Monday was spent with Yarrow (and her friend Jamie) in Currumbin, Tuesday Tess and I spent a planned get-together, pleasantly 'loitering' on the back deck, painting. Tess worked in watercolours, and I set up a new painting in oils. We both enjoyed just working with the paints, each to our own medium of preference, chatting, but also just being in each other's company, doing something we both really like. The weather was summery and we had a nice quiet time of it.

Climbing...

On Monday I had the pleasure of taking Yarrow and her friend Jamie to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Normally we'd see the whole gamut of Australian wildife, but this time Yarrow and Jamie were especialy interested in the newly-opened Treetop Walk. Thanks to Jamie's 'helmet cam', the video shows the dangers they had to endure...

New Year

We'd like to wish all our friend, relatives and loved ones a happy New Year! We spent New Year's Eve in Byron Bay, with our friends-family Oceane and Sarah, and Yarrow. Thousands of teens had gathered in the town - it felt like schoolies week! All generations in our little group (spanning age 14 to 50) felt almost embarrased to be among these kids whose only interest seemed to be either to be drunk, or to pretend to be drunk and, in both scenarios, to swagger around the town. The fireworks were nice, although my love was not impressed and wants to go to Sydney for New Year's Eve 2013...

Christmas ride

We woke up, on this (so far) sunny Christmas day in 2011, at 6.30 and decided to get up and go for a long-planned horse-ride through in the valley where we live. The photos say it all: the best!

Christmas ride

Christmas wishes

The best of Christmas wishes to my faitfhful readers! Xmas in 2012...

And the eagle has landed!

Yes! Yes! Yes! My love is twirling through the house deliriously happy, because this morning, at 9.50, her goods and chattels arrived from Portugal. The truck could just squeeze through the gate but The Men, having driven up from Sydney overnight, carefully avoided running down the recently planted red and white cedars. 

Woohoo! Eight months it took, eight months ('Oh, three months or so, madam.'), four companies, a container, two trucks (one in Portugal, one in Australia), a couple of forklifts no doubt, a freighter, a lot of seamiles (is there a loyalty program, anyone?), endless emails ('Excuse me, where is my stuff?!) and quite a bit of frustration...

Michael and David, the removalists from Beyond Byron Removals in local Billinudgel, were quite content that the goods had been handled correctly by the various parties involved and (so far) nothing seems damaged our broken.

As the morning progresses, I hear shouts and squeals coming from various places in the house. 'My napkin rings!' 'My quilt!' 'My jewelry box!' 'Oh, this skirt!' 'It works!' 'Woohoo!' It's lovely to see my love so happy to 'have her own back'. A CD with 'My music!' was happily inserted into the CD player and fills the house with music. At the moment Niki is opening a box the content of which are unknown to her: 'Oh this!' 'Oh my!' 'I had totally forgotten about this!' 'We're going to be hanging pictures tonight!'. 'This is so much more exciting than I had thought!'. Lovely.

Chattels