More gingerly

On Friday afternoon, knocking off at three, my love and I decided to go for a quiet ride. It was a hot afternoon, and we headed for our neighbour John Gosper's property where we rode along the old Railway Line track. Beautiful, peaceful and the second time back on the horse for me after the back kerfuffle. It ... was ... so ... lovely ... to be on a horse I can completely trust ... It felt fine, comfortable and relaxed: I realize I have 'assumed' a new seat as a result of the back crisis and the ensuing therapy and it's doing the riding a lot of good. It was only a short ride but we enjoyed it immensely.

When in Rome...

In preparation for our European Grand Tour, an apartment for our Italian stay has been booked, right slap bang in the middle of Rome. Looks great, or what? If you surf to the Gallery you'll see some photos of our Italian domicile where we shall spend a few days breathing culture, history and, erm, car fumes.

Favas

A lovely dish of Favas prepared by an English girl with a Portuguese heart and pride in home-grown broadbeans. (She just tells me that the salami should also be home-grown next time: does that mean we are getting a pig?)

Taking further shape

Wow! Some publishers are sharp and smart. See the earlier post in the Argentinian edition of Take Shape: they are about to publish the first two levels as we speak and want to have the other two out before Christmas, so they can catch the 2013 sales season in Argentina which is in January and February. I like that kind of determined speed...

Gingerly and woof

After weeks of, initially, back pain, and then recuperation, today I ventured back onto The Equine, Emu. Niki and I went for a calm ride, with our friend Maxine, and later Jenny, through the valley. A lovely warm day, spring calves growing and an excellent opportunity to find out whether my back and assorted related areas would accept the ups and downs of riding movements. I am happy to say it / they did, although I did nothing more than go for a gentle walk and gingerly, no trots, no canters, and left the ride after about 45 minutes halfway through (as much to get Tess from work, as to just call it enough for the day). It was great to be back in the saddle! More, please!

Earlier that day, in the morning, we went on another Paw Power dog beach walk. Nice hot weather, cool from the waves breezing in, and about 50 dogs with their owners and (some with their) families. Raffie, as usual, only had eyes for The Ball, after an initial romp and run with assorted canines. One dog owner pair felt Raffie was being aggressive (well, he was barking in a jolly fashion, yes, to a Blue Heeler who was barking happily back while they frolicked in the waves), and after a few barking / racing sessions (during which other dogs also joined in) said owners asked (well, strongly suggested) we put our dog back on the lead.

Poetic licence required Fate to step in, and - lo  -Fate did, as Raffie ran (completely involuntary and without direction of course, and most certainly without our involvement) into The Man, who buckled, slipped and fell on his knees. The look of embarrassment on his face was tangible and priceless but no words were said. Imagine our surprise (or not) when at the end of the walk we saw the pair leave with the Blue Heeler in the back of a Ute, in a cage (!), barking its head off, and 500 metres further on (as we passed, they had stopped) The Man putting a muzzle on his dog's, erm, muzzle. We wondered whether Raffie had been the problem ... (not according to the Paw Power organiser, Sarah, who knew both Raffie and the Blue Heeler - and their respective " parents"). All good fun!

Horsey stuff

Tess and Yarrow are with us again for the next two weeks (joy!) and Niki and Tess decided to go for a horse ride yesterday morning. I believe the former 'Canter Hill', a hill in one of our neighbour Peter's paddocks, has now been renamed 'Gallop Hill'. Exhiliration abounded, also because Emu proves to be a 'Hey, I am in the water and therefore I roll' kind of horse. Tess was able to get off but got wet.

next ride - how to make a free slideshow

Shaping up

Not only am I shaping up myself by having resumed my daily morning walks (to be turned into runs at some stage), and not only have I gone back to the gym to be guided by 'my' personal consultant into improved fitness (not being able to do any physical exercise for a few weeks does take it out of you), I also received some other good news with the word 'shape' in it.

 

Just yesterday the Argentian leg of Macmillan publishers informed me that they will be creating their own version of the six-level course Take Shape which I co-authored in 2009. Take Shape is published by Macmillan Mexico in Latin and South America, and internationally, and is doing quite well. Argentina have now decided they want to create their own four-level local edition by selecting units from the original six levels. In terms of business this means that I will be receiving royalty, pro rato, for the units they choose from the levels I wrote, and - most pleasantly - that I won't be needing to write a word for this new publication ... With a population of more than 40 million people, some 25% of which are 0-14, Argentina should be an interesting market.

To ride, rode, ridden

It was an excellent day for a ride - which is exactly what my love did. I declined for now, seeing as The Old Back isn't quite yet back in shape again (but I will ascend anew soon). Niki enthusiastically embarked on another spring adventure (almost daily occurrences at the moment) with gusto. I walked along through Peter's paddocks for the photo shoot. On the way, admiring the beautiful views and enjoying the sunshine, we met with cute li'll white calves (of which there seem to be endless numbers: count the calves in the paddock photo), witnessing the definite presence of spring. A hot spring, as it is, because often temperatures range up into the high twenties, low thirties - which makes us unsure at to what to expect of summer. Will there be another scorcher with temperatures soaring into the forties? For now, no rain, for more than six weeks already ... No grass either, them 'orses say (as we feed them extra hay). Anyway, enjoy the ride (and video)!

ride

Flowering...

After a busy morning doing Mundane Things (I mean, who likes doing the weekly shopping), we spent a sunny afternoon under blue skies gardening, creating a new flower bed off the deck. In our attempts to 'tidy up' in and around the house (which is what we have been doing for months now), this bed was / is one of the last that needed doing. A short impression, plus some more photos of plants flowering around the property.

flowers -

Miss E

How cute is that. Miss E has managed to settle herself for her afternoon nap right in the middle of a Pansy triangle. Miss E of the Pansies.

Sleuthing

In her enthusiastic Quest to further 'infiltrate' the deepest reaches of the Cambridge ESOL organisation (for whom Niki currently works as an examiner, and team leader), my love yesterday took a course, organised by none other than the Australian Immigration Department (of visa extending renown), to learn how to read and recognise falsified documentation (such as passports). She did the course with a group of colleagues from the Shaftston and Navitas Cambridge exam centres, from both of which Niki has examiners  in her team. Having her eyes set on a Cambridge inspectorate in Australia (a vacancy is likely to come up next year), Niki was keen to do this, but also felt this might just be a fascinating thing to do and 'something different'. So, a specialised magnifying glass (of the kind you need to peek through at close distance from a document, with a light in) and a UV torch (as yet to arrive from the US) were purchased. Imagine all the secrets hiding in passports, that we never knew of (and officially still don't), allowing Those In The Know to see whether the document is true or false; discover how people cleverly falsify language attainment certificates / diplomas (but don't fool the sleuths); learn about the many other devious ways of people pretending they are someone else, or have achieved something they haven't really. Better be wary, very wary, Cambridge exam candidates: Sherlock is in the House!

There is movement at the station

And then there were two, where once there was one. The good old trusty golden 2000 Ford Falcon Forte became a light-blue 2001 Holden Barrina and a (third-generation) dark-blue 2003 Mitsubishi Pajero. It became increased freedom of movement for Niki (Barrina), and (hopefully) no more sore back (Pajero) for me (as this is a car I get up into, not down into). Interesting titbit of information: did you know that in Spanish Pajero means something the Japanese car manufacturer surely didn't intend...? Fortunately they were aware, and changed its name in Spanish markets...

X marks the spot

As most of my avid readers will know I had a five-day stint in Mullumbimby hospital with a locked lumbar region: very painful and incapacitating, with alternating nerve and muscle spasms. The latter, fortunately, have subsided and dissipated and a visit today to the physiotherapist was quite conducive to healing.

Staying in a hospital is the least favourite of my sparetime activities: although some of the men on the ward were quite interesting (rather old) blokes with stories of wartime exploits, victories and defeats; and the nureses (male and female) were generally pleasant and helpful (although I know there was one who thought I shouldn't have been there at all).

Anyway, on coming home Tess and Yarrow, for Father's Day, gave me an egg timer which I now faithfully employ during working hours to induce me to get up, move, stretch, do exercises and what not every 20-30-45 minutes. The adage is movement, so anything from making a cup of tea, to throwing balls for the puppy, or going for a short walk will do - alternatively I can do one of the many exercises given to me by various physiotherapists.

Today's physio also stuck an 'X marks the spot' plaster on my lower back - if I slump or do not hollow my lower back enough the plaster will pinch my skin, uncomfortably, and force me to adjust my posture and position. That's working quite well. Other than that, some massaging and push / pull exercises have made a marked improvement. I will be taught more ' things to do' and I even believe he is going to put me on The Rack. All joking apart - I do need to do something constructive now, if I don't want it to deteriorate further fast.

Feed time ...

 

Angle-parking at feed time ...

Performance

Our Sparrow has been part of a school musical, a Suessical in fact, using the works of Dr Seus. We attended the hour-long performance last week and were much impressed by the colourful professionalism the performance troupe (and live school orchestra!) displayed. It's impossible to show the whole show (for copyright reasons it could not be recorded completely anyway), but the following clip shows you Yarrow as Amazing Maisy, the one in the pink frock, a role she enthusiastically made her own. What a voice! (The sound or picture quality isn't great but it'll give you a good impression).

Magic renewed

As you may remember, about a year ago Niki and I completed the second level of our language course Magic Adventure, for Slovenian publishers Rokus-Klett. Because of changes in government policy the project was 'paused', which meant that a last, third, level was not to be developed. The course targeted 6-9 year-olds: in Slovenia, schools would be starting with English at age 6 in 2011, until the government changed and the introduction of English in the first three years of primary school was stalled. Usually, in publishing land this means that the course dies a slow death, as it is not complete and schools won't buy it. However, this morning we got happy tidings announcing that the green light had been given for the writing and publishing of Magic Adventure 3! The situation has changed, and schools will now start in 2013-14 to teach English to the target group. So now, in the new situation, we will be in the market early with a complete course. Nice to get this kind of news!

The Sheds

Down the hill on our property there are sheds. Lots of sheds. Big ones. Small ones. Chook sheds. Machine sheds. Just sheds. Man sheds? Not really, just sheds. With lots of stuff. In fact, an enormous amount of stuff. Junk, to a certain extent. Left-over building materials, pipes, tiles, tools, timber, fertilizer, corrugated iron sheets, windows, doors, poly pipe, electrical wiring and pipes, bits, bobs, things. A lot of it belonging (at some stage) to the previous owner of the property (yes, 10 years ago); other stuff belonging to me.

Well. The photos below show a remarkable absence of all This Stuff. And that is the way it should be. It's gone, it was taken away, it was redistributed among scrap yards, tips and bonfires. Our neighbour Bruce did a fantastic job clearing it all out. It's liberating in a way. Less baggage, more space.

sheds

What a blessed life...

Thursday morning. The sun's out, even though its warmth hasn't yet crept into the house. I'm working in the Void, erm, the Study. I'm working on a year 3 unit for the Dutch secondary course Realtime. Enjoyable work, fairly stress-free. Through the window I see Niki, in one of our neighbour Peter's paddocks, having a riding-lesson. How good is that. Talk about endless space... I think they diverted from our own paddock to Peter's because Bruce is working down the hill, with his Kanga machine and truck, to empty the sheds - all scrap metal, junk, debris, rubble and useless stuff is being taken away and it's looking great already. The aim is we end up with empty and neat sheds that we can then decide to do something with. We have some plans, but more about that later.

In the meantime, as part of my early morning cario-vascular training regime, I am doing the finishing touches on the driveway, i.e. a few days ago I planted a huge array of plants on the side of it (kindly donated by our good friend Gio, from Clunes), and I am now watering that area, and mulching to keep the moisture in. Later this week lights will go in so it'll look like a professional landing strip... I'll take a picture later.

Performance

Yarrow was invited, during dinner at the Tattershall hotel in Lismore, where her singing teacher was performing, to contribute two songs, accompanied by the guitarist. She was Very Nervous but performed Very Well, and we are all Very Proud of her! Here's a clip of one of the songs - Tess recorded it on her new iPhone.

At the moment Yarrow is doing a work experience project in Lismore at St Joseph's Nursing Home, working with, amongst others, people suffering from dementia and related illnesses, and she is enjoying the work muchly!

Equine Sunday

This Sunday we spent the whole, sunny day mucking around with horses. 

Four horses to get out of the paddocks, brush, wash (yes, Samson is white again!), comb, cut (Yes, Niki was on a mission with a pair of scissors), feed, pat, oil (hoofs) and generally provide TLC. 

At the end of the day, in true blue Aussie fashion, Niki mounted as the horsewoman she is... Yee-haw!

Niki's birthday

On Monday we celebrated my love's birthday. It was a lovely day! Niki's thank you note on Facebook says it all:

And here are some photos of the day ...

Family gathering

Some nice quiet family time anno 2013 (including me, as I am writing this). The fire crackling in the background, the dog snoring on the chair, the Australia's M@sterchef 2012 finale on the telly. It's a screeniety!

Friends of mine are going through very hard times at the moment, healthwise, and I wish them all strength, hope and the ability to enjoy what is, in these difficult days. This is a Zen poem for them, which I hope may carry my thoughts to them. It's a poem that speaks to me when all is not well.

Leaving it to You

Self-evident, truth mistakes no thing.
But my heart's a long way from there
and nothing's very clear.
Yellow gold is almost burned up
by my desire.
White hair grows beside the fire.
Bitter indecision: choose This, or maybe That.
Even the spirit speaks in riddles
and makes it hard to harvest
the essence of a single day.
Catch the wind while you tether shadows.
Faith, or a man who will stand by his word, is
all there is. There is no disputing.

(Kuan Hsiu, 832-912)

We're coming!

The other day my love and I felt that perhaps, early next year, we would have to go to Europe for a while to see friends and relatives, put affairs in order, attend a conference, etc. But we wouldn't be able to just go for a week or two. It would have to be longer. After a bit of umming and ah-ing, we decided that perhaps what we should do is to take the girls with us. 

So, decided it has been and we're looking into flights and the itinerary with oodles of excitement! The trip will probably look something like this, but may change in nature and order, as we wend our ways through airlines, prices, cities, countries ... Europe, here we come! (We being Tess, Yarrow, Niki and Hans, and hopefully joined at some point(s) by Anjes). We're all very excited!

Judging books by it cover

My friend Jacomien, from Holland, sent me this link to a page where a mother presents well-know covers of books which she has shown to her 6-year-old daughter, asking her what she thinks the books might be about. Never judge a book by its cover ...

Drive up

Ok, well, despite continuous bad weather, mud, rain, dirt and the like, Bruce has soldiered on and finished the driveway to the extent that he can finish it up to this stage. Now we have to wait till the land really dries up, so he can put the finishing touches on; the finishing touches being rounded off edges of soil and mulch along the driveway in which we can plant things like conifers etc to mark the boundaries of the driveway; finishing off the spoon drain (adding topsoil so grass can grow in it, rounding off the edges so it looks nice). Too wet to do all that now, as Bruce would plough up half the property in the process. Another job (almost) done.

Got it ...

He just loves it .... the black dot above Da Puppy's nose is The Ball. To be played anywhere. Anytime, but only in one way (see earlier post).

Market

We ventured out early this morning to the Byron Bay Food Market, a weekly event we hadn't yet experienced. The market offers locally grown, organic food produce. A lovely outing, followed by a beach walk with Da Puppy, and coffee/tea/work at the Balcony in Byron Bay after.

Market - Online Slideshow Creator

Mow, mow, mow your grass ...

As from today we are the proud (really?) owners of a new Toro 50-inch Zero-turn ride on mower. The John Deer (John Oh Dear!, rather) having died (although the mower man seemed to think we could still get $1000 for it), and having decided that we weren't going to throw money at that old barrel of disappointment anymore we scouted around and found this 24-horsepower monster, with trailer and built-in mulcher ... (Oh, and made in the US of A with US steel, not Chinese recycled steel, Ton - we did our homework). We had a demonstration ride in our down paddock this afternoon and, even though steering one of these things is an entirely different kettle of fish than one with an ' ordinary'  steering wheel, we liked it to much that we decided to go for it. I think Yarrow and Tess might enjoy mowing on this, too, but it requires some skill development first... it's like riding a bicycle ... Now we only have to wait for the wet weather to go away to start using it ...

Lounging

In the midst of mud, muck and mayhem, a nice soft, comfy sofa arrived today from Brisbane (IKEA). We bought it when we were there last week. An excellent opportunity to get rid of the mangy old flowery seater in the lounge room (which had recently suffered quite dramatically from Rafi's ' intervention techniques'.) I am writing this while seated on the comfortable new chaisse longe. For interior design purposes we have temporarily nicked a table from Tess'  bedroom, but will replace this with a new one, Tessie...

Mates

Raffi and Malouf have developed an unusual friendship over time, which includes a daily romp or two in the kitchen (or any other area where the adults happen to be). You'd think nothing good can come of this inter species playfulness, especially when Malouf presents the claws, or Rafi pontifically sits down on top of Malouf. According to the vet, it's nothing to worry about. That may be as it is, but sometimes we throw ' Leave it!'  at Rafi, if things get too rough or excitable ...

More mud, more gravel

Our neighbour Bruce is one of those rare tradesmen (' tradies'  as people call them here), who start work on time, do it within an agreed timeframe, don't overcharge, don't stop because it is 'beer o'clock' and keep going despite rain. A rare breed indeed. Some more piccies to keep you abreast of the progress.

Driveway

Taking shape

The driveway is taking shape, day by day ...

Brizvegas

Brizvegas by day

We decided to take a few days off with Tess and Yarrow in the big city, Brisbane. All three girls were extravagantly exciting about sniffing concrete for a few days and being Where It All Happens. We had a lovely time, visiting an exhibition on Mummies, having lunches and dinners out, reading, shopping, looking at modern art (Hans) and having long showers in the apartment we had hired for the occasion. It was very relaxing to have the space, non-muddy surroundings and urban views of the river and the City. We all came back refreshed (even Hans, who doesn't particularly like big cities At All). On the way back we stopped off at IKEA and bought a new sofa with chaisse longe for the lounge room (seeing as Raffi decided to, well, sort of demolish the one that was there ...). It will arrive Tuesday and will hopefully provide a comfortable seating experience! We returned to a driveway that is still muddy, but getting there...

The drive

Today (a very cold day - somewhere in NSW -10 degrees was measured ... not here, but still) builders Bruce and Tom started on The Driveway, which is one of a few building projects being undertaken around the property. More news as and when over the next week.

Bay sky

Beautiful photos taken by my love, of a Byron Bay night sky after having taken Da Leetle Puhpie for a beach walk. The first photo was before sunset, the second only 20 minutes later.

Byron Bay night sky, early evening June 2012

Da leetle puhpie ball game

Raffi has decided that the best game in the world is playing Get Da Ball, along the folowing precise rules, to be played with dedication and inimitable canine stamina. This game can be played under any weather conditions. In rainy circumstances, as the demonstration video will show, Owner of Puppy can stay completely dry.

1. Owner grabs launcher (a plastic $5 contraption made in China, allowing said Owner to thrown a tennisball far without effort or tearing ligaments in arms).
2. Puppy starts running in expected direction of ball, ignoring the precise trajectory, calculating on the basis of prior experience that ' it'll all come good'. 
3. Puppy skids over grass in desperate attempt to catch, kick, head or bite ball.
4. If throw fails, or expected trajectory changes due to wind, weather or projectile conditions, or ball gets lost in shrubs, Puppy turns round in surprise and appropriate level of innocent confusion, as if to blame owner for the lack of success of this part of the game. Owner feigns surprise and scolds Puppy for being thick. Puppy usually retrieves ball and is appropriately self-sastisfied with success.
5. When this stage of the game is successful (depending on whether, having caught the ball, Puppy has managed to avoid contact with obstacles in the way, such as dog house, ride-on trailer, tree, bush, rocks, electric fence, etc.) Puppy retreives ball and places it in front of Owner.
6. While owner bends down to pick up said ball with launcher, Puppy simultaneously turns round and launches on subsequent trip in the same general direction.
7. Owner and Puppy repeat steps 1-5 for at least 30 minutes, till Puppy pants and tongue lolls.
8. At some stage soon after 30 minutes, Owner ends game as otherwise it will go on endlessly much to the delight of said Puppy.

Tree

An exciting event took place here yesterday - just ahead of the rains which have resumed with insistent vigour. We had tree loppers over to ' prune'  the Moreton Bay Fig for us. Three strapping lads with lots of ropes, chainsaws, helmets and a lack of acrophobia. The fig, a venerable 80-120 year old (estimates vary ...) had grown so big it was overhanging the house on one side, and taking away all light over the lawns underneath it, causing the ground to not dry out after rains (and boy, have we had rain) - creating, depending on the weather conditions, either sandy or muddy expanses, dying grass and dark, damp places. Huge branches came off as the three men swooped about in the canopy, lopping, sawing, swinging, thinning. 'Timber!'  was the expected but not the general catchphrase used by the modern-day lumberjacks, but 'Oi!'  or 'S**t!' or ' Clear!'  was frequently heard. 

After a day's hard jakka we now have a new light sensation on the north western and western side of the tree, no more overhanging branches over the garden paths and (hopefully, once the new rains stop) an area where grass can grow again with new strength and vigour. The slideshow shows how daring the lopping trio was (and how high this tree actually is ...)

Tree - picture slideshow

Next thing - drains and driveways (the driveway to the Bails being as much as a mudpool as the rest of the property, and the main driveway in need of TLC and repair) and the eastern area alongside the house where weather has deteriorated the pavers into a mossy, gritty, ugly area, which is to be replaced with golden aggregate...

Just thought I'd share this one with you. So true ...

We're back...

An update! Really? Yes!

The winter sun has now well and truly established itself over the Northern Riverse, we hope, and the land is slowly drying out. No more mud? Let's wait and see. Maybe I will actually be able to mow the lawns soon (which would imply buying another ride-on mower first, but that's another story)... 

For now, we enjoy the warm rays of sunshine during the day. At night we still have to light a fire, as it's actually quite cold. (It's not actually freezing, mind). During the dark hours of the evening, some of us are looking for warmth and comfort, as Tess' cat, Shadow, felt she needed to prove while Tess was working on an art project, and a fire was roaring upstairs. Shadow, the ever faithful feline, felt she needed to be with 'mama'...

Niki's been out and about a bit this week, once to Byron to teach and, today, to Brisbane to attend a Cambridge meeting, and be monitored herself (normally she monitors others). Tess and Yarrow are with us for two weeks - we've decided that we're not changing over every week anymore, but every fortnight and it seems to be working out well for everybody. It gives everybody an opportunity to settle in a house, where before once somebody had settled we unsettled ourselves again by changing over. There seems to be much more peace and quiet now, which is good.

Yesterday, Samson was ridden by Fiona, the lady whom Niki is taking lessons from. He seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps, perhaps we might retrain him and perhaps perhaps I might find the confidence to ride him again. We'll see. I might also just simply sell him, as planned. No takers yet, though.

On the work front, we are in the final stages of negotiation with our new Chinese publisher, Qingdao Publishing Group, over a series of over one hundred (up to two hundred, in fact) graded readers (not to be written all at the same time, but over a few years). We'll be collaborating on that with our UK-co author Joanne. They are keen, as are we, so now it's just sorting out the finicky details. I'm also going to be writing three books in a new series for Garnet Education in the UK, called Moving into .... (the title to be followed by things like tourism and hospitality, health care, and financial services, and things like that). In a team of three (two people from the UK and myself) we are setting up the series which will, in the end, have approximately 10-15 titles: so, if it alls goes well that should keep me going for a while. Aside from those two projects, I still do a lot of work for one of my Dutch publishers, Malmberg. Niki will be involved in the New English Readers series and, at the moment, is writing a teacher development unit on 'Motivating teenagers' for Cambridge ESOL, which she is enjoying a lot.

Another opportunity presented itself earlier this week. It culminated in me yesterday becoming the sole owner of Supasongs, the music website I set up a few years ago with two partners. The site hasn't worked very well so far, for known and unknown reasons, and recently, for legal reasons, quite a but of the database had to be taken offline (we weren't doing anything illegal, but one of the music writers/producers withdrew). However, the main problem was there were too many captains on the ship. Despite valiant and moderately successful attempts in the first two years, nobody led it anywhere after that. The opportunity arose and I will now take it on as one of my publishing projects. I will over time be able to do with it whatever is needed (or, if that doesn't work out, let it go altogether). The audio-video production partnership Simeon, Phil and I had (FracasEnglish, that link will soon stop working) will also be closed down. Depending on what comes my way, I will do any audio/video production under the banner of Southern Cross Connexxions or (because the Connexxions brand will be slowly faded out as well) Eflwriters.

A nice side effect may ensue from this, because Phil (the partner with whom I wrote and composed a lot of the music for Supasongs) and I have agreed to sit down and see whether we can perform some of my music together - as I've had a request to come and perform it in the area. Even if that doesn't happen, it will be nice to do some music again. Maybe this will be one we'll be doing (a song Peter and I recorded)...

Memories

The other day I came across the little movie clip below, which shows flashes of the lives of Tess, Yarrow and Anjes when I was still living in Amsterdam. Afraid that even DVDs might not last forever, I wanted to copy it to my computer. On seeing this wonderful flashback to their past, both Tess and Yarrow found themselves become quite emotional. Both felt that life then (seen through the patient lense of a distant camera) was so much more 'innocent' than it is now. Yarrow felt very deeply that 'she didn't have these memories' which, from our adult point of view, is quite logical because at the time of filming she was between 3 and 4 and is not likely to remember too much. It was quite an experience, and one I had not really expected. Having said that, they are now both very curious to see some other movies I made about ten years ago when we arrived in Australia. Keep your eye on this spot ...

Bullock Mountain

As a birthday present, my love had organised a wonderful weekend away for the two of us to the Bullock Mountain Homestead, out west (not Outback yet ...), near Glen Innes, in granite country, to where at the end of the 18th century, many Scottish people migrated. A five-hour trail ride on horseback was waiting for us there. The homestead is run by three lovely people, Allison, Jo and Steve. We made our way up on Friday afternoon (a three-hour drive) via Casino and Tenterfield to Glen Innis.

The ride was on Saturday morning and took us (Jo, Allison, a 74-year-old called Frank, and us two) through the hills around the homestead. It was a frosty morning (-5 or 6!) but the sun was out and the ride was magical. Splashing through creeks, scrambling up and down rocky hillsides, cantering through paddocks with kangaroos, sheep, goats and cows; snoozing during a lunch stop in the mid-day sun. It was wonderful, although when we got back both Niki and I were totally exhausted - I don't think we saw the clock say 9 o'clock that night ... 

Here's an impression of the ride ...

Bullock Mountain weekend

My birthday

I know ... I know ... More than a month has gone by since my last post and I (once again) apologise to my avid readers Over Yonder. Life has just taken hold of everyone here, and seems to make days pass as if they are only minutes. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that the blog suffers from ADS (attention deficit syndrome). 

Anyway, last week was my birthday (51) and my request had been to do, erm, 'nothing planned'. Unusual for my love, who is a great 'list-maker' and planner; however, at the end of the birthday we realized we'd had a lovely day full of 'being' rather than 'doing' and that was great. 

We started off with a scrumptious breakfast at Harvest in Newrybar, and lounged there for a while, enjoying chats with people out and about for the same purpose. Arrived home mid-morning, we spent the rest of the day pottering around the garden (the sun was out, it was lovely weather; we mulched, planted some roses and other plants and just 'mucked about', as it were. 

Thanks to Peter and Ann and Jane for their birthday cards from the UK, and many others for their facebook, text and email messages.

Days, wet days, and olden days.

Gosh. Time. Flying. And all that. When was it I came back from China. Almost two weeks ago. No posts, no word, no nothing from me. Tsk. Tsk. Mind you, nothing much eventful has happened, apart from incessant rain drenching and muddifying the land. Niki and I are working our proverbials off, which is nice but keeps us from doing what we really want to do, i.e.:

faff about/around phrasal verb

UK informal

Definition

to spend your time doing a lot of things which are not important instead of the thing that you should be doing

I wish you'd stop faffing about and do something useful!

(Definition of faff about/around from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

We missed out on the camping weekend at Alice Flats this weekend. Pressures of deadlines and all that. Stories of swimming, fishing, barbequing, walking and yes, faffing, came back with them.

The girls are with us this week, which is lovely - Tess, however, has gone off with her friends to the Gold Coast to do some ice-skating; and Yarrow will be mingling with her mates tomorrow I believe. Then both of them have to work at some stage (Tess Thursday and Sunday; Yarrow Sunday). Niki has bussed off for some city air (Brisbane, for a Cambridge ESOL session with ´her´ examiners) and is loving the concrete and noise. Leaves me here (with Yarrow at the moment, entrenched in the umpteenth Friends episode), holding the fort, and the dog (sorry, Da Puppy), who has pussy eyes and will have his manhood severely compromised next Tuesday.

A friend from long ago, Cora, contacted me earlier last week. She had found me on Linked-In and was wondering whether I was ´the´ Hans Mol, etc. Lovely! She has sent me some photos, which I had long lost to the mists of time and general oblivion, showing me at 21 or so, bearded according to the fashion of the day, in the north of England (Leeds) doing a summer school as part of my teacher training course. Cora was there as a student from the year above, accompanying us. We had a great time. So, just for a laugh here´s me or what was me ... Click to enlarge.

Lovely day

Anjes and myself spent Saturday afternoon with my mum / her Oma, catching up and chatting. Early evening we drove to Marielle's and Arthur's, where we met up with Jacqueline and Jos as well, and the dogs Nikita (small) and Mazzel (big) and ate a delicious Chinese meal. It was lovely to see everybody again.

mum

Who's this?

Who's this stunner then? Ah, it's ME (okay, everybody can relax), at Denise's, last night. In the meantime, this morning, I'm back from The Hague with visa for China in pocket. Early morning trip, so early even that Denise wasn't even up yet on my return and the cleaning lady came in). I can't get the photo to sit portrait though ...

This afternoon I shall accompany Denise to a meeting at the organisation who takes care of her father (suffering from dementia and requiring 24/7 care by I believe 8 carers). Apparently I need to function as a witness, as management tactics and money-grabbing without service delivery are afoot and Nize is not a happy bunny ... Interesting excursion to say the least and a good way to help Denise who (as always) has been the perfect host and friend.

Update

After a week of education and language in Glasgow (cold) I find myself in Holland, basking pleasantly in Denise 's always selfless and much appreciated hospitality and penthouse apartment overlooking the river Ij. I was very happy to spend the Sunday with Anjes in Eindhoven, where we talked about life, love and the universe for hours, and reconnected about everything that had happened between her leaving Australia; and on Monday I met up with my dear friend (of more than 30 years) Karin in Amsterdam, where we sat on a pavement cafe terrace on the river Amstel, in the sun, to discuss our busy and enervating lives and ended up in one of my favorite Indian restaurants, Megna, in the Utrechtsedwarsstraat for a lush Indian meal. I've secured my visa for China (picking it up in The Hague tomorrow), and even manage to do some work in between. In the meantime I am missing my love and the girls muchly but we do speak regularly (on crappy Skype) - Niki is holding the muddy fort down under, where the paddocks have finally been slashed, cars and fences fixed, dog walked, trained and fed, horses inspected and tests written. I shall be glad to be breathing the same air with her again because this being on the other side of the world lark is what we wanted to avoid ...

Best of Friends

These two have become the best of pals as the piccies show! They play together, they go on walks together, they have sleepovers, they tumble together, they respect each other, they share toys and bones together, they fall asleep together ... that's what having a best pal is all about, isn't it?

Prize bone

Raffi, Yarrow and I went to Pup training today. It was mainly Yarrow who was doing the 'stuff' with Raffi - getting him to walk, sit on a mat and generally do *good* things! And we did it! We got the prize bone! Whoo hoo!!! :) Yum! Lamb pate treats! He slept all afternoon, which on a previous occasion the trainer Sarah had told me was normal due to all the mental activity (what do I have to do get that treat?) I then asked her (after we'd got the good behaviour prize firmly in our sweaty little paws (!) hmmm... so when the dog jumps on the table.... cos that's what happened this week. Suddenly two Maloufs? oh no! It's Malouf and Raffi... What?? Interestingly she then told me the Alpha roll (where you throw the dog on its back when it's been naughty) is not scientifically proven (Research does not prove... ) and so it's now actually looked down upon as in doing this you are not doing what happens in the wild - the alpha female doesn't do this - unless she is going to kill. So on that basis, in doing this you are actually bringing out the aggressive side in a dog. So I've been reading about mentally stimulating the dog, getting the dog to 'work' for it's food - ie sit, paw, turn around etc... and I have to say, Raffi does an amazing dinner time dance! (not quite up to Chicco's extended routine! ) Soooo you think you just want to learn how to walk the dog.... like everything , bit more complicated! But hey! nothing went wrong today and we won the prize!!!