My family and other animals...

I have moved into a rhythm of slow days at home around here, which is exactly what I had in mind for my leave. I've enjoyed getting into a routine of house-work throughout the week, cooking and baking, writing and reading. I've also added a few new things to my days.

First of all, I taught myself how to make cotton face masks. As the situation in Victoria and NSW continues to escalate we are facing the need to wear face masks very soon here, so I didn't want to wait until they were mandatory. I used this really simple Youtube video to guide me. 

I have mostly been pleased with the results and glad that I hoarded so many little stashes of fabric over the years! The elastic has been harder to come by (perhaps others have the same idea at the moment!) and the thicker elastic I had to use this week on a second batch of masks wasn't as comfortable. Still, they will do. I plan to send some to my sisters, my mum and my friend in NSW. There are still plenty left over for us too! Once I started they became quite quick and fun to whip up!

Also I have joined two online courses, one through Futurelearn, called 'Short Film in Language Teaching.' This is through the British Film Institute and I am enjoying plodding through at my own pace and taking what ideas are useful for my own teaching.

The second course is a Heritage Teacher Summit, run by a group of US-based Spanish teachers on teaching Spanish to heritage speakers. This group is one that I continually struggle with in my planning and assessment so I'm really looking forward to this course, plus I have access to the material for a whole year. No rush.

Neither one of these courses feels like a chore to me - I enjoy both and when I've had enough I stop and do something else. Perfect pacing and interesting topics are definitely key!

The weather has turned the last couple of days and it is cold! There is snow on the mountains and the wind is icy. Last night we reached -5о so I'm a bit scared to see what has happened to our garden. Hopefully the cabbage and spinach will be protected by the shade cloth. 

The days are sunny though so the animals have been enjoying their run around times:

The two Isas even found a nice dirt bath between the wicking beds!

                         

                         

They are such good layers, we are getting three eggs a day now, which is enough for us and to give away. 

My writing has been slow to start but this week I hit a patch of inspiration and have been spending a lot of time on both the novel and the short stories. Reading truly is the best inspiration and this week I picked up a couple of books on a trip out to Dirty Jane's Canberra, a lovely big warehouse full of vintage and handmade things. I picked up some Agatha Christie (two that I don't have and haven't even read!) and the fantastic "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell. 

You may already know the Durrells from the BBC show. The writing is absolutely beautiful in its descriptions and Gerald Durrell paints such wonderful portraits of all the members of his family and the animals that he voraciously studies on the island of Corfu. 

            "Perhaps the most exciting discovery I made in this multi-coloured Lilliput to which I had access         was an earwig's nest. I had long wanted to find one and had searched everywhere without success, so         the joy of stumbling upon one unexpectedly was overwhelming, like suddenly being given a wonderful         present."

Such joy!

There truly is beauty and magic all around us, and now that we have the time, why not take a pause to appreciate it?

national zoo and aquarium

 Our trip to the National Zoo and Aquarium for the first time a couple of weeks was an exciting one. The day wasn't too warm and we started out early (the zoo opens at 10am). I think we were really lucky because so many of the animals were awake and out and about doing their things, so we got some great sites!!

My son is a big animal fan, animals of all kinds are constantly migrating around our rumpus and living room floors. Everything from dinos to fruit bats to elephant herds. So going to the zoo was a great experience for him because he was able to see a lot of these animals in real life. It's hard to appreciate just how big a giraffe is in a book :)

The lions were also very exciting, but then so were the wombats, the fairy penguins and the peacocks! The kids loved them all!!

Here's a quick who's who of who made an appearance on the day we were there:

There were the Australians (of course!!)

 

Can't say I liked this guy much - I don't particularly like birds, and this emu was especially big! And he and his mate just wandered about us. The kangaroos were in the same enclosure and we were able to walk amongst them. Not my cup of tea :)

 

 Then was the African contingent. A big hit. Especially the zebra. Why? Because of their stripy bottoms of course!!

 

 

 The puma, which is actually the same as the cougar. Did not know that :)

The majestic snow leopard. Loved these guys.

And finally some reptiles in the aquarium. There were also fish, sharks, eels, starfish and anemones, turtles, frogs and iguanas in there but those pics didn't turn out so well!!

 

 All in all we had a great day and will be buying an annual pass so we can enjoy it again in the future. 

If you want more info check out their site.

floriade 2012

These photos are courtesy of my sister. We had a great morning at Floriade with the kids, the very first weekend it opened. The flowers were great, just don't ask me what they are!!


Get there if you can, it's always a great experience - with or without kids!!

Winter Holidays

I had such grand plans for these school holidays. Trips to various attractions around the capital featured high on my to do list: art at the National Gallery, story time at the National Library, tours through the War Memorial, picnics at the Botanic Gardens and more.

We started off on the first Saturday of the holidays by taking a visit to the National Dinosaur Museum. My mum was down and my son is going through a very OCD dinosaur phase at the moment (as in eating, sleeping, breathing dinosaurs!!) so we thought it would be a fun thing to do.

And it was.

There were enormous exhibits, some even had motion sensors on them so that they moved and roared when you walked past. There was ton of information there, but none of it too overwhelming. The Captain would have liked to have read every single one, but with the two littlies that was just taking too long!

There were plenty of bones and fossils to see too. 

And then once we'd had enough of the indoors - which, BTW, included a little discovery area with puzzles, colouring in, picture books and a factual DVD playing - we headed outside to romp with the big dinos!

We had such a good time and worked up such an appetite that we headed across the road to one of our favourite weekend lunch places, the George Harcourt Inn.

It was quite a freezing day, but the sun was out and we decided to sit outside. Good thing we did because the next week was spent cooped up indoors, due to both bad weather and bad viruses all round.

So, basically after our wonderful day at the Dino Museum we were struck down and spent the next nine days looked inside with only trips to the doctor (which confirmed that, yes, it was indeed the dreaded virus) to break up the monotony.

Oh, I tell you we were so sick. All of us. The kids suffered from quite high fevers as well which is never fun. And both the Captain and I were rendered prostrate. It was terrible. We are only just these last couple of days making it out in public again.

So much for our winter holiday plans!!

The virus completely wiped us of any appetite whatsoever so we survived on toast, and when I could get up, chicken soup. It was a miserable week and I forced those pregnancy tablets down so the baby wouldn't starve!! Not that I think she would!!

Here's a pic of the baby bump, circa 28 weeks:

Looking deprived? I certainly don't think so!!

It is the Captain's birthday tomorrow but he has PD at school, then it's the final weekend of the holidays :( I'm pretty bummed but so glad we had a nice, warm house to quarantine ourselves in for the past week!! You gotta be grateful for that, right??

And in case you were wondering, the virus did nothing to squash my son's obsession with dinosaurs. We are still drawing them, colouring them in, making them, acting as them, digging their bones up in the garden and making houses and caves for them. Oh the single-minded passion of the youth!!

Grandma's Little Bakery

Today we visited Grandma's Little Bakery. Once upon a time it was just Fedra Olive Grove at Collector but now it's blossomed into a burgeoning enterprise. We met my dad and Julie there for lunch. 

 Lunch was delicious. The theme of the restaurant is predominantly Middle Eastern, so we enjoyed hommus, tzatziki, spiced capsicum dips and wholemeal and olive bread. For mains there was beef borek, Moroccan beef pies and lamb shanks. Perfect food for the cold weather.

Because it is the long weekend the place was packed. We got there at 12 but next time I'd get there at 11.30 - good thing we booked, because there were plenty of others waiting.
The food did take a while but we had the bread and dips to tied us over.

After lunch we wandered the grounds. There's a chapel - in case you fancy getting married there.

And beautiful views amongst the rows of olives that seem to go forever. When I first met the Captain he had a vineyard with his parents out at Collector. It was nice to be out there again, enjoying the land, despite the view crisp weather.

And of course the kids tired themselves out at the great park, cubby house included. 

A great place to go for lunch, especially because we could have lunch with Pa and Julie and not have to travel all the way to Wollongong. It's an easy drive along the Federal Highway from Canberra, just under an hour.
Make sure you book, especially in Winter because I think it's the snow season that is bringing the crowds along this road at the moment. Otherwise be prepared to wait 15-30 for your take away coffee!!

For more info check out their website: http://www.grandmasbakery.com.au/

FWIW the owners of GLB have no idea who I am, or that I write a blog. Nor do they care. This is just part of my Around Canberra series :)