25th February - quoll - ashes - Fiddler on the Roof - Investigator returns - TMAG

Thursday 25^th February 2016

I am sitting up at the kitchen bench…a whisk of movement in my peripheral vision; for a moment I thought it was a small thylacine… But no; thylacines are still extinct…It was the mother quoll, out for a scamper and the scratch in the morning sunshine.  Usually we only see the teenagers, all black with white spots this year.  The mother is a more thylacine-coloured creature…

 Tuesday would have been Pam Headlam’s 97^th birthday.  We could just imagine her saying, ninety bloody seven! while rolling her eyes expressively.  She loved the sea, and especially the water at her beloved beach at Dodges Ferry.  

Some of the family members gathered in the late afternoon to scatter her ashes, and to remember her with love.

Lynne Pete Angela

I wasn’t able to stay – Katy and Jeff were in Melbourne, off to see a fabulous production of Fiddler on the Roof (Anthony Warlow and Sigrid Thornton.)  They left at 10am glowing with health and arrived, an hour later, in Melbourne, with poor Jeff deathly ill and vomiting into a sick bag in the taxi…The Windsor hotel behaved beautifully and let them into their room very promptly…

Possibly they didn’t want him and his sickbag in the foyer…Katy wasn’t able to leave him and go traipsing around the shops; he really was terribly ill.  He slept for three hours, like a corpse, and then woke…back into the pink of health!

Meanwhile the kiddiewinks and I held the fort in South Hobart.

Two of them, preparing schnitzel

My brother Pete will be back from his Antarctic adventure this weekend.  The Investigator has had to return earlier than expected, which is all good for us!  Pete (Headlam not Harmsen…) and I have planned a party for the 28^th and I was a bit sad that not one of my brothers or sisters would be there but now – YES!  Brother Pete!  He is a teensy bit worried…

Ahoy there Bardy!

I have had words with the master, and impressed on him the need for speed, as I have a very important social engagement to attend on Sunday, so put the foot down, hoist the spinnaker and splice the mainbrace!

In good news, we look likely to arrive in Hobart sometime on Saturday, meaning that I should be able to crash your party on Sunday. (If I'm still invited). The disturbing part of that news is that someone told me about an interesting scientific / medical possibility. Apparently when you have been "dry" for an extended period, one drink can send you over the edge. Should be an interesting social experiment then on Sunday. Watch out! And keep the coffee handy!

On Monday afternoon I asked Rose if she would like to have a special excursion to the museum!  Yes!  Yay!  We chatted away about the animals, the new Pattern Play exhibition, the fun we would have… And when we got there…bolted and barred!

Yes I do know that many museums all over the world are closed on Mondays, but not OUR TMAG (Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.)  It’s all wrong!

I made her pose with a very sad face and then took her for an icecream, where it was not difficult to get a HAPPY face!

19th February - Midlands Highway - Sam's library in Java - school bear

Friday 19^th February 2016

Beautiful Hobart (thank you Mercury) 

Yesterday I had another trip up and down the Midlands Highway, for another very pleasant Salon Visit with my mum.  I enjoyed the drive very much; I had total control of the radio!  There are LOTS of roadworks happening south of Oatlands

(Opportunity to insert another Treasure of the Oatlands Paddock photo…)

so the traffic had to crawl along at 60-80ks.  Not a problem; nobody wants to squash the roadworkers… What was a problem was a large caravan towed by a slow car which would NOTY pull over.  And an endless line of very beautiful Special Interest cars which all went a very respectable 80ks… never mind; I had interesting stuff to listen to on the radio which was….under MY control (very rare, this.)

 

Our lovely Indonesian friend Sam Fadill – one of the organisers of the 2013 Indonesian Rally we went on – is setting up a small, modest but very beautiful library in his little town in the backblocks of Java.  It seems to be going very well indeed.  There ware very few libraries in Indonesia and a lot of Sam ‘s sailing friends are sending books and $$$ to make this venture as successful as possible.  He is also running English lessons (a lot of the books he has been sent are in English - extra motivation!)

When Pete had his 8 grandchildren Friday and Saturday it was all as stress-free as possible.  All except for one HUGE responsibility – the Scotch Oakburn Early Learning bear! 

Matilda had charge of it for the weekend.  The bear had its own backpack, a set of lovely knitted clothes, and a baby brother.  So many things to be potentially lost!  I for one heaved a HUGE sigh of relief when it left the premises!

Kate Headlam told us that her Early Learning Bear experience at Fahan School was worse!  Lizzie had her precious weekend with it and everyone was VERY aware that this bear was 25 year sold…nobody had lost or damaged  it in all of these years…I don’t l think I would have coped at all.  Children – no problem; precious school heirlooms – NO!

15th February - Hobart days

Monday 15^th February 2016

Hobart days are still busy – sometimes frantic, sometimes just…busy.  But all is well.  Australia’s biggest naval vessel ever is in town, looming importantly out from the Hunter Street wharf area.  We walked around from the car park to get a closer look, with three hot and exhausted girls (it was about 29 degrees…) I had a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t let us anywhere near the boat and indeed…we had to trudge back.  But the girls were happy – they  hadn’t ever seen the Stephen Walker Antarctic sculpture, and they were delighted to be able to clamber around them.

The marina provided a perfect viewing platform to see the naval ship anyway, so everyone was happy.

The last three remaining girls were leftover from our busy weekend.  We had all eight of Pete’s grandchildren for a sleepover on Friday night, followed by a morning at the Aquatic Centre.  We enjoyed it all very much; not many issues at all.  No fighting, not many tantrums.  Just a bit of an issue re food…some of these children really and truly hate eating.  IT’S NOT FAIR!! shrieked the most mild-mannered and gentle of the children (12 years old!!) when we tried to coax him into eating a small slice of toast for breakfast.  He thought he had eaten more than enough – three freshly picked blackberries and half an apple… (And yes he did get cold and exhausted in the pool; it was a bit hard to feel much sympathy.)

Ella, Holly and Tessa weren’t being picked up until six, hence the waterfront walk.  But first - a trip to the museum!  They were highly entertained and impresses.  We had to rush them through because it was the end of the day, with less than an hour before closing time, so they probably got a very strange, blurred impression.  But never mind!  We all loved it!

Sunday morning was the Thomas children megaparty – the four of them are exactly two years apart, and are turning 10, 8, 6 and 4 this month(ish).

The weather was perfect – not as hot as it has been, not windy, no rain – all of this changed soon after the guests had left.  There were fabulous cakes:

Hilda the horse for Rose, a big pink fish for Zoe, a pineapple themed eva for Eva, and a Valhalla ice-cream Harry Potter cake for Leo.  Sensational!

The activities were sensational too.

A fairy party for the smaller girls

A disco for the bigger girls

A mad rush and scramble in the bush with nerf guns for the big boys.

Katy and Jeff put on a GOOD party!!

There were (approx…) 24 children, and many many adults.  Everyone polite and pleasant and delightful… But there is always one annoying person in a group, isn’t there?  Our Sunday pesky person declared herself quite early by following Katy around telling her she was thirsty.  Well yes but there was a jug of juice on the table with glasses.  I reckon she pestered Katy with this sort of question/information about fourteen times…As Katy was walking out to the outside table with a cake alight with candles, this same eight year old girl tapped her on the arm and said, “I only want a small piece of cake, thank you.”  Katy’s eyes were glittering; I could tell she felt the need to dump the whole cake on a small annoying head…