Free Market

Bec and some others from the Gembrook and Cockatoo communities held a "free market" this weekend. You bring things you don't need and you take things you do need. No money changes hand! The rest is gathered up for the thrift shop. Unfortunately, not many people turned up. This could be due mostly to the heavy rain that was dumped on us. Bec and team will have to consider how better to advertice for their next one. One always has to start small and try out a few things, so very well done you guys for giving it a go. May it be a step to much better connections all round. Whatever the outcome, it was a nice time and place for friends to meet. A young girl who visited with her parents displayed her talents on other kid's faces. There were plenty of community centre toys for kids to play with while they waited their face painting turn. Well done Tessa.

We were able to stay overnight with the Funks (and Gord's cousin Matthew) and brought quite a few additional books to read with the grandkids.

Barb has a way of reading the stories that holds them. Peter's reading style is more 'scratchy' and sometimes he loses his place. So Barb is the more popular choice, most popular chair.

Piper has lost her first tooth. It has indeed happened. It is sort of a 'rite of passage' for a child. Piper described how the "adult tooth is going to grow into the space..."

Piper was pretending that there was a little hole in the ice for the little fish, and whatever else, to pop their heads up out of the water.

Cat's Fifteenth

Geelong overpowered St. Kilda only in the dying stages of the game. Sorry all you Saints fans, but one little boy was overjoyed at the outcome. To acknowledge this, Peter has posted this picture of him showing off all his team stuff. This was the Cat's fifteenth premiership win. In the home-and-away games, St. Kilda beat them in a close one. It seemed poetic that Geelong won the rematch, but a lot of people in Melbourne were hoping that the Saints could finally take out the coveted trophy for just their second premiership win ever, the last one being in 1966, when they won by a poing over Collingwood. When will their next chance be?

Camera Crazy

Only the professionals could do this a generation ago.
But now that our instamatics can hold 700
There is no holding back, there's a scene,
Here's another, especially in the early morning
Bathed in sunlight, backlight, frontlight,
Sidelight and everywherelight.
See a frame, make a frame, crop a frame,
Frame a frame, and still there's more.
Wait! says camera. I've got to digest.
You're going too fast.
Flash fill, no flast, no need for flash.
The breeze is cool.
How are the batteries?
Bless them, no complaint, keep going.
Finished. No, still more,
Always more, the grass, the moss.

Then in one intuitive moment it's time to stop.
Time to shake off technology and let the rest escape.
Let the other fish swim away, there's more than enough
To pour over, absorbing more time at home, lost time.
But fun time, fun memories, the memories return
Again and again, the colour, the life, the space
Bringing invigoration home in a chip,
Bring sunbeam home in the small of a camera,
No longer one sketch, so instant, so often, so many.

Basking at the Retreat

The Gembrook Retreat is located with a magnificant northern aspect. The sun arcs around during the day and warms the living/dining area. You want to come back again and again. The kids probably take it for granted, but the scale of the spaces about the place are just incredible. And there is always something to do... for both adults and children. Work and play. It's that sort of place.

Strawberry Birthday

Gord's cousin Matt is over from Canada for a month-long stay. It so happened that his 31st birthday popped up and Bec and Gord made it special for him. The main course was home-made pizza. Because Matt just loves strawberries, his chocolate cake had massive strawberries all over it. Their own flamy look replaced the traditional candles. Though extremely simple, the final result was impressive. Well done cake-designer Bec. A picture of the cake will suffice. Matt is extremely camera shy.

Family Visits

Donna was able to be reacquainted with her grand niece and grand nephews. Well, it is never that formal... just Aunty Donna will do. She is catching up with lots of other people too. We drove up to Gembrook and stayed overnight nearby at the Retreat. During the day we had a variety of experiences from play to respite and coffee down the road at Charlottes.

Poppa and the kids invented a new pair of specs. So simple. So stylish. The #1 design Jasper tried and the tape stuck to his hair. An obvious design flaw. Ever tired pulling masking tape off hair? Well, it did not leave happy memories for Jasper and also for Poppa who was trying to remove it. The #2 version had the tape mostly turned on on itself so Piper had far less trouple getting it off. Sorry Jas.

Donna cleverly organised this pose. Peter snapped this on the chance that it worked well enough. It will be Donna's which will be a good one.

Dinings Out

Joy and Craig and us at Rivers, South Morang. Very nice food and a chance to catch up to talk about anything and everything... and share our hopes for Collingwood.

Family get together. Donna, David, Kelli, Daniel and us at you-know-where. Dan cooked us a storm and got into the picture as well. Donna has a story to tell about her Rockling Fillet choice. What was it again? : )

Narnian Ship

A true Narnian ship was described by C.S. Lewis as thus: Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with wide-open mouth. She had only one mast and one large, square sale which was a rich purple. The sides of the ship were green. As it glided along, the water reflected greens and purbles in the sunlight. Very nice.

Now a movie support company called Dragons Prow has made a full scale model for the new Narnia movie due out next year. The film set location is a coastal suburb of Brisbane called Cleveland near where Mum lives. This 'land-ship' was made to rock and pitch which will throw the acters about. Technology must be able to do the rest! The model seems to be reasonably close to the original description, even down to the dragon tail.

We heard about it when Barb's brother and sister and mum visited the location for a looksee. Chris sent us the photos. Thank you for that. The sign there said that they will be shooting till September 25 and then it will be all cleaned away. If they left it there it could have been a continual tourist attraction, especially if it could still pitch and rock. Oh well. For your eyes only, this one.

Playing a Visit

Where there are kids there is play, no more so than with grandkids. This time they discovered the diving bag. Poppa caught a big fish. Then he caught another big fish. In fact the fish wanted to be caught a number of times. Grandparents need to keep their strength up for this kind of play.

The occasion was about the first of Spring. It was a very nice time with them, enjoyed by all.

Pippa had a couple of lengthy reading sessions with Piper and Jasper, as opposed to their watching movies, though Jas was in and out of it. It is nice that they are book-friendly.

Piper took this picture of her brother with her Poppa. Maybe it is time she had a camera. She has worked it out pretty well.

Jethro and Gord show off some new tricks. That little smile is very engaging especially facing a face he knows. He is not that sure of the strange face of Poppa.

We are starting to see a little bit more of Jethro's unique personality and we are enjoying watching the whole family grow and mature. Life unfolding before our eyes.