Rabbit Visit

Don't worry. Barb is only visiting this rabbit. It's not ours. This rabbit is a friend's pet and has the odd habit of licking the hand. Maybe that is because the resident dog of the house has trained it to think it's a dog.

Note that Barb's beanie (Canadian: touk) has hardly left her. When it does, we will all know that Summer has arrived.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is an abstract concept for young children to master. But at a young age children learn about forgiving and being forgiven through experiencing repetitive concrete action on the subject. So when we looked at this line of the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us for the wrongs we have done...", it was easily grasped by our grade one group. The story of a hurtful squabble between two children was resolved through forgiveness, and young Kiara effortlessly drew up the story in sequence, finishing with "you're forgiven." Other children in the group made little posters to help us remember how often we ought to forgive.

Hot Pizzas

Peter was pleased to discover that Mill Park Pizza Hut purchased two new pizza carry boxes. The heating elements in all the old red boxes were stuffed. Delivery drivers had resorted to slipping hot pizza trays into these old ones to warm them up before a delivery. These new black boxes take away the anxiety of delivering cold pizzas to faraway customers. Who wants to eat a cold pizza?

The longest distance Peter has travelled to deliver pizzas has been a 15 Km round trip. What made it more unusual was the home's 100 metre muddy drive way and dark surroundings at the other end. Peter persisted and found a door to knock on. A mother and two hungry children were excited to receive the delivery. The mother thought Peter was psychic to find the place and asked what his star sign was. Odd customers seem commonplace after so many years on the job.

Azurea Coffee

We continue to bike ride through the Winter wind to keep our coffee date each time at the Azurea Cafe. It is sometimes very bracing and we try to dress adequately. Unless it is poring with rain we will make the effort. Light rain is no real deterrent. As we ride, our minds clear, and as we sip the best coffee in Melbourne, we discuss the important things that are challenging us. On our return ride we continue our talk, side by side on a bike track made for two.

Wintery Hail

A passing shower of hail marked an unexpected wave of sickness for us both. Peter got to carrying a towel around for his runny nose and Barb was bed ridden for over a week. For Barb the cold snap, combined with her tiredness, brought on a severe case of bronchitis. It was even painful to breathe! Not good. So the plans we had for the week just past were mostly overturned as we took it really easy, and tried to keep the house more warm than usual. We now think that we ought to have ducted heating installed because of the inefficient heating system in our house.
Hail might look cute nestled amongst the garden plants, but it carries with it a nasty warning to be careful and that winter is not quite done yet in Melbourne.

Cafe Sudoku

As we often do, we road our bikes to our favourite cafe for a coffee. This time was different because we arranged to meet Joy and Abigail there. As we sat around a table out came a picture Sudoku pack especially designed for young children. You complete the Sudoku puzzle by adding animal stickers to the blank spaces. This way is fun for adults as well. Joy and Abigail had never done a Sudoku before and this was the perfect initiation into it. By the time we were half way through the first sheet Joy had the hang of it and could have more fun with Abigail at home.

Abigail's attention span was actually very good, but there was a limit to all this thinking, even with animal stickers. As we neared "cracking" the first sheet, she changed the game into something resembling Bingo. It was all pretty good fun. The coffees were good and the chocolate muffin went down well, shared by all.

We then showed Abigail how we dress for bike riding against the winter winds, and they waved us off. It was a nice way to spend a few hours... friends, bikes, coffee and Sudoku.

Against Domestic Violence

We strolled passed a shop recently and saw a tidy display at the entrance. The people running the shop had decided to promote a campaign titled "Break the Silence on Domestic Violence". There were twenty different cards on offer to take and read. Peter was given the "key" card (central in the picture). On the back it read:

Tip to help a friend #4:

If you feel a bit helpless, ask you friend what sort of help they'd like from you. They're not expecting you to solve the problem, and you've already done heaps just by listening. Asking will help your friend think about what to do next.

It's important that your friend keeps trusting you and feels like they're in control of the story. If you think someone else needs to know, tell your friend first. Together you can think about who can be trusted, but don't tell anyone until your friend is okay with it.

Their website is: www.stopviolence.com.au

We were really encouraged to see this timely focus on this smothered social problem. We were doubly encouraged that the advice on the cards was appropriate and sensitive for all parties concerned. This promotion could work wonders.