Menergy 2015

In the middle of the month Peter went to the annual Menergy gathering, this year 161 men willing to grow and learn with the heart (as opposed to the head). Peter's workshop choices proved helpful in many lasting and deep ways: learning for transformation, art therapy, five rhythms dancing, open heart meditation, and joining a conversation on domestic violence which will flow throughout the year.

Part of the Opening Ceremony... at 5 am

Licola Campsite for the gathering

The camp managed by the Lions Club

Some very tribal aspects...

On the wall of one of the workshop rooms.

The Chai Tent

Chai tent in the shadow of the afternoon sun

Peter's art therapy effort

Deck Chairs at Tallarook

The beach scene idea continued on another week at Tallarook PS woodcraft club. There were still plenty of miniature umbrellas. This time the construction parts were for the deck chair and the umbrella base. Little craft jars, without their caps and with wire handles attached were good for buckets. Coloured paper was used for sea, sand and grass. Some scenes had dried flower sprays included as miniature trees. They all sat on a plywood base. This relatively unpredictable project went well. There were just enough kits, around 33 of them for the kids that came. That's always the tricky part.

Beach Tables at Tallarook

For the next woodcraft club at Tallarook PS, Peter obtained a large collection of miniature umbrellas, the sort one sticks in cocktails or something like that. Prior to that, a girl had requested that there be a woodcraft project that was a beach scene. Now that was a worthy challenge. This was Peter's answer to that request, less a beach but more a beach restaurant look. The umbrellas worked a treat. The little table cloths were "starched" with a watered down glue which stiffened nicely to the miniature tables, the construction part of the project.

Pyramids at Tallarook

This Tallarook woodcraft club project started fourth term for those kids who come along. It was based on a pyramid of sticks (28 in all) and mounted by a flag from one of twelve different countries. Most of the kids caught on what to do and this allowed Peter to move about to help with quality control (some stick positioning issues).

This project idea was kindled by our granddaughter Piper who made one such pyramid supporting a miniature griffin (the original just above) that she gave to Peter last Christmas. It has taken Peter all this time to get his head about making kits for thirty plus kids at once!

Phillip Sixty

The day of the big Six-O party arrived. This was the primary reason for our staying these five days on the Atherton Tableland. We all chipped in to decorate the place for the evening when everybody else came. There were a few 21's about and that was because Phil's son Harley had just reached that landmark. We gave Phil a set of good sounding head phones. Another person gave him an apron with a name that mixed the names of the two grand final Rugby League teams: "Go Broncows". Another friend designed the cake to reflect the love Phil has for the Beatles. Phil promptly put on his Abby Road t-shirt when he saw it for the first time. A real mixture of people came, local farm families, friends and distant close relatives like us. The night felt good without being wild.

With Dogs

Each day Phil took his four dogs for a walk and more often beside the channel. The dogs looked forward to their exercise and knew the routine well. Having water readily available proved a great advantage on very hot days when dogs need to keep their fluids up. They love the food Phil gives them and two of them are suckers for chasing the ball. We spent hours throwing the ball and watching Dexter and Luman run like crazy to get to the ball first. Their success at this was fairly evenly shared. Below are a few snaps of their gymnastic leaps when the ball was thrown up instead of out a long way. Either way they were up for it.

Ah... time for a sip...

No, you can't eat what I'm eating.

Dexter a Schitzu and Kelpie cross.