Float floating ...

Hi Hans,

Hope your well.

Just a quick update, the ship has arrived but the container has been randomly selected for a border processing hold where they x-ray the container etc.  This usually takes around 3 business days so will let you know once it's released so when we know when it will be unpacked.

Cheers,
Simon

Happy publication day

Happy publication day, Collins ELT's marketing manager, Eva Schmidt, told us this morning. As well as: "Thanks again for all your hard work on First English Words, and for making it such a great publication! I’ve enjoyed it tremendously to work more closely with the material, and seeing it come alive in the classroom was just amazing." This means that our new series First English Words! is now out and available to the world! Click on this link and go see the dedicated webpage, which has - amongst other things-  a video.

Small

Look, I told  you this chair you put down in your office for me to replace the old comfy one is, well, unsatisfactory. It is too small. I don't fit. I dangle, ungraciously.I do grow a bit still, you know. I must say the sofa or the day bed in the lounge room are much preferable.

Neat

And after an afternoon/evening of 'nesting and settling', Tess sent us photos of her new home. Doesn't it look lovely! And her first thought this morning, as she woke, was: "I want to go and explore!" Which is exactly what she did, with a run to the centre of Holland Park for breakfast and coffee, and an exploratory afternoon with a friend in town.

Coop

Depending on one's perspective, i.e. the number of children one is (step)parent to, today's mantra could have been: 3 down 1 to go (John), 2 down 1 to go (Hans), or 1 down 1 to go (Mieke and Niki). Whichever formula one applies, today Tess flew the Northern Rivers coop, and moved to Holland Park in Brisbane to take up her studies. We will all miss her dearly, but we are also very happy that she has found a nice place and will be able to start her new life as a uni student in a great town. Go, Tessie - and we're only a few hours down (or up) the road.

Pom pom pom pom

The anniversary tree, aka the Pom Pom tree, has now been firmly planted as well - here's to growth and beautiful fluffy pink pom poms.

Veggie patch

On account of the veggie patch being, simply, too far away from the main house, we decided to create vegetable boxes off the back deck. Ready to go, waiting to be planted with seedlings from the Bangalow market next Sunday.

Visit

The other day we got the wonderful news that, later in the year, between 29 September and 18 October, Anjes and her beau Jon will be visiting Down Under! We can't wait to welcome her back home ... and to show Jon what's going on on t'uther side of the world.

Five!

Five years, since a fateful email weaved its way through cyberspace to the lovely lady who is my love; which brought us together across two continents and many countries, across languages of the word and of the eyes and soul. Five years of crystal cadenzas, ongoing adventures, roads taken, promises made and nurtured, journeys undertaken; five years of knowing, getting to know, and growing; of selfless love for each other, love freely given to children as close to your heart now as mine, amazing stepmother, amazing companion; dedicated and committed to our course, ahead, always on...

 

Five years, my love! A Calliandra to celebrate ... pink fluffy bush, jolly and colourful...

 

 

No words

Sometimes, you don't need words ...

Meat tray

We don't frequent the local, or any pub, by any means or stretch of the imagination, but yesterday we both felt like a good old 'pub feed' and a nice drink, so off we went to the Eltham down the road to partake in a lush 300g steak with Southern Indian sauce, broccolini, friend onion rings and hand-cut chips, followed by a scrumptious mango Pavlova and sticky date pudding for desert. Quite decent. Whilst consuming our consumables, washed down with a smooth Kilkenny and and a civilised G&T, we put in for the meat tray raffle and - for the first time ever - actually won it! How good is that - basically a dollar for the raffle ticket (although we bought four) ...

Happy hibiscus

And the hibiscus keeps blooming; only a few days for every flower, but there seems to be no end to it. Very beautiful!

Chickies!

My love has, for a while now, been under the spell of the idea of owning some chickens ... Well, having plenty of really good chicken coops on the property, we decided to start a little flockette of them, who are now pottering under the supervision and are of a borrowed broody hen and seem to be doing absolutely fine. They are in a small cage here, which when we got them was outside in the sun for a few days, close to the house, to allow them to get used to things. The accommodation style seemed a bit cramped for Mathilda (the hen), who's quite big, esp. when fluffed up, so we took the whole menagerie down the hill. Now this case is sitting in a bigger pen where they have space to roam, forage and peck away to their heart's delight. Their names: Flo, Arabella and Dotty. Cute, no?

Floating

Got news today that our new horse float is on its way from China ... or about to be on its way as it has been loaded into a container ... Isn't it a beauty! And yes, there will be proper wheels underneath it, but they don't get attached until it gets to Australia, as do a number of other bits and bobs (such as skylights, etc). Can't wait to load them horses up and head into the hills!

Drive

Slowly, but deliberately, we're having small improvements made on the property. Having mulched all the gardens a few weeks ago with mulch that is supposed to last three years, a few days ago our neighbour Bruce create a supadooper driveway to the Bails. There was already a driveway, of course, but now at least anybody living in the Bails has a smoother ride and, during the rainy season, the mud won't turn it into a native slippery dip. We're also preparing three vegetable garden beds off the back deck (not as far removed as the 'original' veggie patch which is simply too far away for it too be useful), and in the next week or so I will, with Bruce, work on the little patio outside our office to box it in and cover it in aggregate so it blends in better with the rest (as said patio is deteriorating under the influence of the weather.)

Criminology and law

Just to give you an idea of what Tess is about to start and study later this month (well, in February), here is a link to the programme brochure ... Better be on our best behaviour as within no time she'll be forensically analysing us!

Back into it

During this wonderful 2-week holiday break, I decided to get back into my long-neglected pastime passion - painting. An idea came to me, and I am glad to say that I still have it in me: the idea came out on canvas exactly as I planned it. Quite chuffed with the result. Inspired by a mood I was in - the (provisional) title is: Choices. Here's a few angles. I know which direction I am taking...

Achievement

Yesterday Tess received her HSC exam results, and they were excellent. Well-done and congratulations Tessie! What a wonderful milestone, for which you have worked so hard! 

For one of the subjects, English, Tess even ended up on the Distinguished Achievers list (click on the image)! The marks:

90 for English

85 for Legal

85 for Art

78 for Modern history

74 for Biology

Old float

In Australia we have this eBay related marketplace site called Gumtree. Fabulous little site, catering for local sales. Put the old horse float up for sale two days ago, and the same day someone called who was looking for just it. This morning it was picked up by its new owner. Thanks, floatie, for good service through the years - it'll be carrying a couple of miniature horses now and a few 16-handers for a family in Uki (/jukai/) near Mount Warning. The float was built in 1986 (!) and should see quite a few more years of work.

Float

Whilst in Katoomba, on our short holiday, and thinking of the year to come, I decided, after long deliberation (months, really) to take the plunge and order this magnificent new horse float which, as we speak, is being custom-built in China for us - ETD February 2014. Looking forward to many an enjoyable ride (with up to three horses! so we can take a friend), and camping trips, because if we take out the dividers we end up with a size-able camper van with kitchen (microwave, fridge, basin, water tank, cupboards, inside lights, saddle room, etc). The float is twice the size of our current one ...