No internet

Hiya all, just a note to say that we still don't have our own internet connection here, despite Gord organising it before we left. This is because the Telstra equivalent, MTS, is just totally totally totally PATHETIC. Basically they just can't get it together enough to mail us a router. The first one they tried to send us ended up in Portage la Prairie, and the second one has apparently been in the post for two weeks. Just to get something from Winnipeg to here. Yesterday when Gord rang for the bazillionth time, they said they'd ring back in an hour when they'd sorted it out, but they didn't even do that! Very very frustrating, to the point where it doesn't bear thinking about - hate that feeling of bashing your head against a giant corporation, whose workers couldn't give a shit about the service they're supposed to be providing.

Anyway, long way of saying, I haven't really been able to upload photos and stuff to this blog, cos even though we're 'borrowing' a neighbour's unsecured wireless network, my laptop doesn't pick it up very well. I can at least put up text though...

Today we're off to Gord's uncle and aunt's cabin with Pat, Darlene and Matthew (cousins). It's near the Manitoba/Ontario border. Yesterday I was feeling somewhat peopled out, cos we've been doing lots of socialising - it has been Christmas, after all. But feel a bit more up to it today. I've been tired cos I haven't wanted to go to bed before midnight or later (which works well when Aussie friends ring without calculating the time difference!), but last night when I did go to bed earlier, I just lay there awake - frustrating!

We had a lovely Christmas with Gord's immediate family on Christmas Day. Lots of yummy food. Good spacing of the day - the kids opened their presents, then we had lunch, then we played outside in the snow. Jeff gave me three, I repeat three, snow washes, as payback for the night we went carolling and Sheila and I got him twice. This is basically where someone wrestles you to the ground and shoves snow in your face! I hadn't realised there was an element of asphyxiation to the snow wash! Let's just say I was glad to come away with my life! It certainly wakes you up!! The kids has lots of fun on the sled pulled along by Gord's Dad's four-wheeler across the yard. Then back inside, movie for the kids while the adults opened their gifts. More talk, more food! Good time....

Oh yeah, and I bit the bullet and bought a sewing machine. I feel better and better the more I have my creative tools around me. Gord and I have also been enjoying reading Pat's back issues of Geez magazine, a Mennonite social justice/eco/faith zine. We're also keen to check out a new movie by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who did Supersize Me and the 30days episodes, called What Would Jesus Buy? Should be good. Anyway, better go and get ready to head to the cabin. Love to all.

Snow play

It's a busy time of year, eh. I just finished Gord's present last night, and vaguely wondered if there was a point wrapping it up if we're going to open presents tomorrow. But hey, I'm always up for the packaging! Just finished some other presents tonight too - might blog about that on my craft blog if I get around to it.

Anyway, we are going well. Settling in. There's a few more photos of the fridge, we've seen a few more friends, a few friends have been to our place. I'm getting used to the cold, to the point where, when it was only -1 to -5 during some of the days this week, I felt like it was WARM!

We had the Wiebe Christmas gathering last night - that's Anne's side of the family. Good fun. Piper loved her pet shop present from Grandma & Grandpa Wiebe. I uploaded a whole whack of photos - you can see them here.

(Here I am throwing Piper into the snowbank in our front yard.)

Piper and I were out shovelling snow today, and while I was hard at work, Gord pushed me right into the snow bank. I could hardly get myself out, it was so deep. This was payback for a bit of a snow fight that happened when we went carolling (again with the Wiebe side of the family). And then, as if he felt bad or something, he took a running leap and threw himself in as well - crazy man!

Jasper's been waking up a fair bit at night. Sometimes every two hours, which is rather tedious. So I'm feeling run down, somewhat, and yet I value the space late at night where Gord and I talk (yes, talk! well, most of the time!). It's the only space in the day we have to ourselves!

Getting around this frigid town!

This is how the kids and I get around. I've forgotten the name of this thing -I call it the chariot, but it's actually something else but I can't be fagged walking out the frigid garage to check! I felt almost normal on Wednesday, when we headed to the main street, hit a few shops and then the library. Like that's what I normally do with the kids in Melbourne, we just don't have to spend five minutes rugging up before we step out the door!



Jasper gets a bit lost amid all the layers! Takes a bit of getting used to, for him, being dressed and undressed all day! (See our nicely shovelled driveway?!)


On Tuesday we headed to Lorette, half an hour away, between Steinbach and Winnipeg, to visit Shaun and Helena, our good friends. It was sooooooo nice (words can't express) to be offered a Stella upon arrival and a white wine with a meal. Made me feel normal, it's what we'd often offer!


Shaun and Helena have an eighteen-month old son called Zachary, who we hadn't met until this week. He & Piper played pretty well together, and we had fun playing chasey in the loungeroom. I'll try and work out some rhythm of seeing Helena, and all of us seeing each other, cos they're such beautiful friends...


To finish, Piper wants to say: Dear Poppa, we won't see you for a long time, but we're not going to say anything to Pippa cos she's coming in a long long time, but not on the same aeroplane as us. (yes my Mum's coming over in May-ish.) Pippa, when you come to Canada, you can have a look at my beautiful wrapping paper and my beautiful reindeer sticker, and when it's early in the morning, I'll open it and you can see what's inside. (I just wrapped her Christmas present and stuck it under the tree. Oh yes, I should take a photo of our tree, decorated with stuff we found at the opshop.)

Our house is a very very very fine house...

What makes our new home a distinctly North American 80s home?

The electric can opener attached to the wall, and the coffee percolater permanently in place on the bench.

The cassette deck and radio/clock unit attached to the cupboard.

The hanging basket of fake flowers.

The lamps in the loungeroom connected to the light switch on the wall.

The lack of fences around the front or back yards.

Totally dry air! Cos of heating and very dry (albeit) cold weather outside.

And some food differences. Here:
- people drink cream in coffee
- they eat hamburger soup (hamburger as in mince meat)
- no one's heard of waldorf salad
- filo pastry is written as phyllo pastry (I find this hilarious, for some reason! Which one is correct??)
- you can buy a slice of pizza and a coffee and eat/drink them while walking round the supermarket!
- and of course, the cheddar cheese is orange! How could I forget??

Hey, and check this out: Weetabix! With an Italian accent please! They even have rounded corners!

Funny how it's in the minutiae of daily life that I am constantly reminded that I'm in a different place.

While we were doing a big shop in 'The Great Canadian Superstore' (yes, honestly, that's what it's called!), I picked up a package of halva, the Middle Eastern sweet made with sesame seeds. A man came up to me and asked me if I knew what it was, cos he'd looked at it a few times but had never seen anyone else looking at it. I was able to explain what it was, and how you might eat a thin slice of it with a coffee for dessert, and after a very pleasant conversation, he put the halva in his trolley and said goodbye. I felt really good to be able to facilitate him trying this new food.

Other than that, I whpped the hell out of my arms playing boxing with Pat and Gord on Garth & Wendy's Nintendo Wii. I can hardly hold Jasper now! I'd never played before. Garth and Wendy are people we were in a small group with last time we were out here. They have three kids, Chelsea, Aimee and Zachary who is one week younger than Jasper. Anyway, Aimee, who's four, I think, said something to Garth, and he thought she was saying, "We play tenderly", but what she was actually asking was, "We play Tendo Wii?" Cracks me up!

As you can see, I'm trying to get used to being here, even though every difference reminds me of Australia. It's been pretty busy seeing people. We've been home one night out of four, and it will be two out of seven at the end of this week! Haven't had time to journal yet, I'll feel better when I do that, I reckon.

Today we went and bought a real Christmas tree from a local farm. Went on a sleigh ride, but because I don't have the right shoes, I absolutely froze my feet off!! it wasn't even that long of a ride! Must get to Value Village soon! Or the Self-Help! Bought a whack of decorations at the self-help yesterday - a mixture of cool and crap. Picked up a bunch of other things too - I'm gonna mine that store for vintage gold! Later on today we went swimming with Jeff & Sharon & co. at the local pool, which apparently is the best in Manitoba (and you pay for it too - $6 for an adult to swim). The activitiy was a cover for the main event of the evening: Sharon's Surprise 30th Birthday.

Anyway, must get to bed! Jetlag is still taking its toll - I was up til 5am yesterday. Here's some photos:
Arriving at the airport: Amanda (cousin), John (dad), Anne (mum), Matthew (cousin), Darlene (cousin), Jasper, Sharon (sister), me, Gord and Sheila (cousin) with Piper

Jas all rugged up!

Our house: 14 Poplar Cresent, Steinbach (but don't send mail to this address - there's no letterboxes, everyone has a post office box).


The view from the back door.

Love you all!

Wish you were here...

Windchill warning issued

Environment Canada has issues a wind chill warning for tonight.

The weather service forecasts wind chills of -40C tonight and tomorrow morning. Such chilly gusts are imminent or already occuring, said a warning sent out this afternoon.

Countdown

Here's Piper's countdown calendar (we are up-to-date, she's just used a light pink texta for the last few!). One week from now, exactly, we'll be in the car driving to the airport. Kinda hard to fathom, but time just rolls past inexorably, and things come to pass!

Haven't had much time to blog lately. I've had this strong urge to make lots of Christmas gifts, but I've had to keep on letting go of that idea. Just not enough time. I'm flat out finishing the gifts from family and friends who had birthdays in October and November!

We have, however, been taking lovely photos, so I thought I'd put some up here while I could. I'll probably post next time from Canada. Love to all.

Mr Carlson exits stage left

We've enjoyed having Jesse, a friend from Canada, stay with us. He's been so enjoyable to live with, in fact, that he's renewed my desire to live with other people.... other kid-friendly people! Oh yes, that and having the experience of being surrounded by a dozen amazing women for five days and then coming back to the reality of my comparatively individualistic life!

Gord, Jesse and Jasper this morning

Jasper this arvo, munching on sourdough from the market... ummm!


Did I mention Jasper and I were hanging out in the backyard because I told Piper we could go to the toy library in the arvo, and then realised the toy library wasn't open in the arvo on Thursdays, so instead I said we could go to the pool after she had a quiet time reading books in her play room while I had a little lie down, but then when I woke up from what turned out to be an hour-long kip, having slept through the departure of the legendary Mr Carlson (BUMMER! so sorry, mate!), and went to wake her up so we could head to the local billabong, I could not for the life of me rouse the girl! I talked to her, I rubbed her back, I pulled her blanket off a bit, Jasper banged on the jack-in-the-box and gurgled, all to no avail.

So instead, Jasper and I had a kind of picnic in the backyard, in the shade of the nappies on the line. (Today was pretty warm, mid-twenties? In fact, I got sunburnt at 11am when Jesse, Piper and I were sitting outside enjoying a cuppa (well, Jesse and I were enjoying our coffees; Piper was enjoying her dinosaurs from the toy library.) And the sun was still warm at 5pm. So yeah, that's a snippet of our day.

Did I say Jasper loves eating?!

AWOL on retreat

Hiya! We are alive even though it doesn't seem like it! I was going to post yesterday morning and then realised we didn't have any new photos to put up, which always makes a post more interesting. Given that yesterday was Melbourne Cup Day (a public holiday in honour of one of the longest horse races in the world - and no, John, I didn't head to the bookies this year!) and we were heading to Mum and Dad's for lunch, I thought I'd bring the camera and remedy the situation. Needless to say, I walked into the study to get it, forgot what I'd come in for, and walked out of the house without it. So for now, this is one boring ramble, with nothing to break it up. Apologies, but at least you know we're alive!

I was away on a retreat for five days last week, and Gord was away on a five-day retreat the week before that. We only saw each other for two days out of twelve, so communicating with a broader audience wasn't quite on the agenda. And we all know that Gord doesn't blog, hardly ever!! So I should really say, communicating with a broader audience wasn't on MY agenda! My retreat was pretty amazing - thirteen women in the circle, two babies. I felt very clear and happy most of the time, and it wasn't until I got home and had a massive downer the next day that I realised, oh yeah, it's easy being a fantastic mum when there's heaps of people willing to hold the baby any time during the day. And oh yeah, I was away from Gord and Piper, and they're the ones who push my buttons these days, much more so than Jasper. It was hard to come home and feel I had to instantly start compromising on my parenting, because I now had two kids to deal with, and because I wasn't in that ultra-supportive circle. Thank goodness Anna and Sam came over that day, and Gord came home early from work, otherwise things could have been dreadfully grim - well, grimmer than they already were!

This is just life, I'm pretty sure, this compromising balancing act, but it was just hard running face to face with it, and my own gaping limitations, on my first (and second) day home. My mum used the analogy of gravel rash to describe the rude shock of coming back to reality after a totally fantastic experience, and I think it's rather apt! I still haven't really connected with Gord - I'm in a wierd introverted headspace. One day I guess I'll emerge.

On a different note, since coming home, and since it's now November, it's really felt like Canada is coming up quickly. This is our month for getting everything done: the packing; pick up Gord's visa; get new credit cards; find out about a visa for me, given we're staying longer than six months; find a storage solution; use up all the food in the pantry; see all our best friends; and of course, for me, MAKE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!! Ha, we'll see how much I get done. Gord is hoping I don't make myself too busy. It has been known to happen before!

So yeah, we're slowly gearing up. I'm collecting stationary, getting into a letter-writing headspace more and more. Somehow I'd like to write a Christmas newsletter too... anway, lots of stuff on the go. So yeah, that's why we've been a bit AWOL. Oh yeah, the kids are going really well. Jasper was so amazing on the retreat! And Piper absolutely loves hanging out with Caleb and Miri at Gembrook - they're in a real swing of being together. Interestingly enough, if we weren't going to Canada we're pretty certain we'd be moving to Gembrook in the not-too-distant future. As I keep saying to people, life feels pretty dynamic, full of possibilities (except when I'm in a shitful mood!!!!!!) Okay, so maybe it hasn't seemed so full of possibilities in the last couple of days, but hey, from a broad perspective, longterm, meta-narrative... Get my drift?!

Love to all...

50th post, a mellow Sunday

Well, the weather here in Melbourne today is 31 degrees, a true taste of the summer to come. Yes, the summer we'll hardly get to sample, before immersing ourselves in the frigidity of another continent! At least we get two summers in a row next year!

Today has been very low key. One of my favourite kinds of Sundays: one with nothing planned. We didn't even make it to the market, which is our standard practice: shopping and then reading the paper over a coffee while Piper gets her face painted and scams rides on the carousel from other more generous parents! (or gullible - ha!) Jasper and I slept in this morning til 9am! By the time we got up, Gord felt like going back to bed, so he did! Piper and I played in the tent outside for a while until it got too hot - well, she played and I knitted while providing whatever dialogue was required. While Jasper slept again and Piper watched a video, I embarked on a bit of sewing, gifts for a friend, so I can't say too much until I give them to her...

Gord's off work this week, and is heading away from Wednesday to Sunday. I'm gonna take off as well, to my parents' for a few days, and then to Gembrook for the usual working group meeting and working bee (not that I contribute much these days!). Next week, Jasper and I head off on a retreat of our own with a bunch of other women. Should be good, even though it feels a bit scary cos it's all unknown territory. But not as scary as heading off to tantra. At least I know what the place is like now, and some of the people, etc.

Oh yeah, I should mention that Gord's friend Jesse, from Canada, has been staying with us for almost two weeks, and will stay for two more, I believe. It's really fantastic having him around. He's a willing dish washer, baby-holder and conversationalist (amongst many other things!).It's taken the pressure off me to hear all Gord's ideas - now Jesse is taking most of the load!!

This week, on the 19th, my Mum turned fifty! She's in Tasmania at the moment with my Dad and her mother, visiting her sister Madonna and her husband and loving being tourists down there, I do believe! We had fun with them the night before they left. Had them over for tea and then went out for dessert. My friend Bek and I had conspired to get my mum's really good friend, Nonna, to this little event. My mum's reaction was great! (my dad has a funny photo of it - see the link on the sidebar.)

Here's GranNan and Jasper sharing a special moment... GranNan gives the best hugs...ohhhh, you little sausage!

Last weekend we visited our good friends the Pickards. Enjoyed lunch together and nattered all afternoon - lovely! Finally got a family photo!

Me and Rachel, my god-daughter.

Last but not least, here's a shot of Gord and Piper celebrating. Gord has officially entered his year of ministry!

A think

You are here
where you consume the boundaries of your faith
shed you skin as an offering
before you have grown a new one

Musings...

Have been having a bit of a conversation with Sharon, Gord's sister, about transcontinental communication, or, more to the point, our inter-family communication. It's made me look again at my desire to give gifts, and acknowledge that a part of it feels like necessity/compulsion, in the sense that I worry how others will feel if I don't give anything. It's highlighted by the fact that gift-giving hardly registers on Gord's radar. He calls his family a bit, perhaps emails, but pretty much, until we're in Canada, there's not much interaction. He hasn't hardly spoken to lots of the people he/we'll no doubt hang out with a lot while we're over there. And it doesn't seem to affect the relationships negatively - he just picks them up when we're in the country.

So Christmas is coming, and I've been making lists of family and friends, and thinking of gifts I can make for them, and this is an enjoyable process. But for one thing, it takes a lot of energy to make a range of gifts (even though it's fun) so I don't think my lists are entirely realistic. But more importantly, I hate how it feels like a one-woman show. It'd be cool if Gord and I chose to buy/make gifts together, but this just isn't going to happen. Just like it'd be cool if Gord and I both updated this blog.

So I have a choice here. Gord is obviously free to do whatever he likes, and I can either get pissed off at what can seem like a lack of contribution to elements of life that I value. Or, I can cut myself some slack and choose to let the blog fall behind, and not have hand-made, or any, gifts to give, without worrying how other people will feel. This makes space to ask myself what I actually want to do, as opposed to feeling like I need to make a gift or be writing here. Cos often I hate how the computer sucks so much energy. It makes space to just climb into bed, which is probably what I should be doing right now.

However, I find it really hard to switch off from how other people might feel. I don't ring that many people in Canada, so if I stop even putting stuff up on this blog, won't they think I'm not interested in them? And if I come empty-handed to Christmas lunch, because I don't necessarily want to buy stuff for the sake of it, won't everyone feel pissed off?

Just processing out loud here - still working it out...

So how do you do gift-giving in your family?

Betta but some photos up here to keep this blog interesting!

Here's Gord and Jas at Miri's 3rd birthday party at Gembrook (same as Jas and I, above).

Anna came round for tea on Monday, wanting to shave her head as an act of solidarity for a friend of her's at work who's having chemo. I did the honours, and I reckon she looks good! It's something you have to do once in your life, anyway... Love to all... And please don't take my lack of blogging personally! Chances are, I'm just nourishing myself by reading a book in bed, or something!

Painful conversations like pulling teeth!

So what's new?

Well, I'm having my wisdom teeth removed this coming Tuesday, part of getting ready to go to Canada. I don't want to have to think about my teeth while over there! They played up when I was six weeks pregnant with Jasper, so I couldn't do much about them then. I met the oral surgeon on Tuesday - seemed like a really nice guy. The thing I'm most stressed about it having to wear a hospital gown - it's such a symbolic stripping of oneself and one's autonomy. But yeah, I'm not too stressed about that, it'll just be new, my first time in hospital. I'm hoping the aftermath won't be too bad. I'm madly trying to EXPRESS myself so that Jasper doesn't dose up on my anaesthesia!

And...

I fell off my bike. So predictable. I was coming down a bit of Punt Rd (a majorly busy road), despite trying to avoid it - I was trying to get to the bike path by the river. Anyway, I had this big arse truck bearing down on me and I thought I should get out of the way. Decided to pull into a petrol station, but my bike tyre didn't handle the slight kerb very well. Slid off - could see it coming about 2 seconds before it actually happened. The damage wasn't as bad as I thought - the worst bit was a very grazed forearm. I got up straight away and didn't even feel like shedding a tear! It just added to the feeling that I was having a very bizarre day...

In the process, I scratched up my wedding ring. Showed it to Gord and he said it was symbolic of the scars we inflict on each other, which was quite meaningful, given we were kind of mid-argument. An unresolved conversation anyway. It's a bit more resolved now, but God, it's painful, when marriage functions as a mirror, as our wedding preacher said. Where the other person reflects back to you your own hurts and shortcomings. Yeah...

Other than that, I had a most lovely day yesterday. Jane, Caleb, Miri, Piper, Jas and I headed off to the Collingwood Children's Farm. Spent five hours there - talking, holding a baby, knitting, eating, drinking coffee - while the kids ran around. It's not like they totally amuse themselves, but it's so much easier when they can bounce off each other's energy. Well, easier except for when they crap on the grass! (thankfully it wasn't Piper!) I really enjoyed talking to Jane, enjoyed a woman's perspective on my unresolved conversation with my husband. I don't mean that negatively, that we bitched about Gord at all. It was just sooo nice to hear her musings on a whole range of topics, cos really, men and women think so differently about stuff. I went home feeling relieved - that was my dominant emotion - relieved that someone had understood and listened. (This is not to say that Gord hasn't been doing this!)

Dunno if I should rave on about all this, given the rather abstract nature of my ramblings, but the bottom line is, it's all good, cos this is really old stuff that I'm really glad to process, but like I said, in the moment, it's bloody painful.

But hey, I meant all that to sound positive. Hopefully it does! On a different positive note, I talked to Gord's sister today in Canada and was glad to touch base. And on another funny note, I've been cleaning out old memory boxes - basically the social paperwork (invitations, letters, etc) of previous years, and found some valentines some little girls wrote to my little brother ages ago. Too cute - I'm going to send them to him!

This is how the kids travel lately, if I need to take a pram and if Jasper doesn't need to sleep (in the sling). I love how their sibling relationship is developing- it's a joy to watch...

Tickets, and farewells...

Last weekend, I somehow managed to misplace my wallet, my keys and one of Jasper's blankets, all at different times/ in different places, although it wouldn't surprise me if my wallet and the blanket are snuggled up together somewhere! Needless to say, the week has felt somewhat unravelled!

On a different note, on Thursday I walked to the market, to the organic shop, to pick up some fruit for Piper's lunch and the shopping I'd left there on Tuesday! I then dropped Piper off at childcare, headed back through the market, picking up an organic fairtrade coffee on my way to the hairdressers where they're happy to cut my fringe for five bucks. And I did all this in the space of twenty minutes, and then was on my way to my favourite opshop! Sometimes I gotta love living in this area!

It's an inevitable part of packing up and heading to Canada (and of coming home again), that I start noticing all the things I'm going to miss. I'm determined to try and be in the moment, missing these things already now, farewelling them, really, and then ready to soak up all the good stuff Canada has to offer.

Which leads me on to announce that we have finalised our tickets, and will arrive in the second-largest country in the world on
Wednesday 5th December. We leave here on the same day, thanks to the quirks of the IDL. We're going to book the final leg, Vancouver to Winnipeg, ourselves, cheappo Mennonites that we are, so I will post once we know the final details, but we'll probably arrive in the early evening.

And just to be different, here's on of my favourite photos of me and my brother Simon, circa 1984.

Great weekend

Well, we just had a beeeg weekend!

On Friday, I had people over for a craft space, from 3 to 10pm ish. Enjoyed chatting with Mum and Dad at the end of the evening. When they left, Pete, our house guest got home from his job on a film set (a psychological thriller called Break In - look out for it!), so we talked for a while - I was rather hyped! That's what social spaces do to me! Then right when I was heading off to bed, Gord and Jesse got home. I hadn't seen Jesse for a while - it was great to see him... finally got to bed at 1am! With a few wake ups thoughout the night, of course, and two kids who decided 7am was a good time to get up (others would say this is a sleep in!), I didn't get much sleep.

So Saturday, we had a fantastic brunch at Choi's (our old place, actually), with Samara too. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, to welcome the first day of spring, and that house was always beautiful in sunnyweather. From there, we headed to Mum and Dad's. They looked after the two kids (Jasper for the first time) while we headed off to the movies. Saw the Bourne Ultimatum, which was satisfyingly entertaining. Said hello to my bro, Daniel, at the italian restaurant in Greensy where he works, and had a coffee a few doors up. Had tea with Mum and Dad, and then drove rather blearily to Gembrook, arriving around 9.30pm (not that you really care!).

At around 6.30am, Jasper decided he was done sleeping, after having listened to the kids stomping around upstairs for a bit. I was psyching up to get up, cos I was feeling tired but not grumpy, and I knew Gord was tired AND grumpy (having, of his own volition, slept squished next to Piper the steam engine in a single bed. Why? you ask. Well, he didn't want to be bounced around next to me while I was changing Jas's nappy in the middle of the night! He told me at one point last night he jumped out of bed absolutely fuming because Piper was snoring, the blankets weren't covering them both well enough and he was cold, and he felt like he hadn't slept yet! He paced around for a while, calmed down, and re-did the blankets, but yeah, why woulldya?? He didn't get much sympathy from me - he just made me laugh instead - in the morning when he told me!)

Anyway, what I meant to say was that I was psyching up to get up, but then Jane offered to take Jas. Later Gord got up, and between the two of them, I was able to sleep in til 10.30am, with one feed in there - that felt SOOOO pleasant! Hasn't happened in quite a while...

We were at Gembrook cos there was a stack of wood to be cut up and stacked. An arborist had come along and trimmed a whole lot of trees along one edge of the property, and we were there to do our best to clear the timber off the neighbour's land. I love hauling wood - enjoyed throwing and stacking it while Gord sawed with a chain (or is that chainsawed?). Lovely weather to be outside.

Got back home just in time to hear Samara preach at church - it was really ace to hear what she had to say. Piper was TOTALLY baked, after a whole weekend of full on play, but she got to bed okay, without cracking it.

We just watch Idol (whoo! I'm really enjoying it!) and chatted to Pete. He and Jotara just bought a one-bedroom apartment in Northcote, so that's pretty exciting. I love this sense of relationships developing - makes our life all the richer... And here I am on the couch with my laptop, enjoying having a bit of a rave here. It was a really good weekend, that's why I wanted to write about it. We don't usually plan our weekends this full, but even though it was busy and we missed our relaxed coffee space at the market on Sunday morning, it was still a really satisfying weekend.

Soayeah... betta wind it up... love to all

P.S. This is Jas this morning - check out his perfectly Canadian t-shirt, a hand-me-down from Ilsa and Liam...

Are you true blue??

As you may or may not know, the Australian government is introducing a formal questionnaire to the citizenship requirements for this country, which seems like a load of bollocks, really - half of Australia would probably fail it! They aren't releasing the questions at the moment, so The Age (newspaper) published some real ones, so you can work out if you really understand Australian language and culture! Here are a few of my favourites:

LANGUAGE
> Are these terms related: chuck a sickie; chuck a spaz; chuck a U-ey?

> Explain the following passage: "In the arvo last Chrissy the relos rocked up for a barbie, some bevvies and a few snags. After a bit of a Bex and a lie down we opened the pressies, scoffed all the chockies, bickies and lollies. Then we drained a few tinnies and Mum did her block after Dad and Steve had a barney and a bit of biffo."

CUSTOMS
> Complete the following sentences: a) "If the van's rockin' don't bother … b) You're going home in the back of a … c) Fair suck of the …

> I've had a gutful and I can't be fagged. Discuss

> Macca, Chooka and Wanger are driving to Surfers in their Torana. If they are travelling at 100 km/h while listening to Barnsey, Farnsey and Acca Dacca, how many slabs will each person on average consume between flashing a brown eye and having a slash?




Any of you Canadians understand any of that???

You can read all the questions here.

Incidentally, Canada has a formal questionnaire - you can try some sample questions here. (They're far less fun!)

Piper in fight with a lawnmower

Breaking news: Piper got into a fight with a lawnmower last night - here's a photos of the carnage! We'd been talking with Piper about cutting some of the length of her hair for a while. Recently she said she'd be happy for me to cut it, as opposed to a hairdresser, and that she wanted a fringe as well. So last night, after Uncle John left, I got out the scissors and started hacking. I'd forgotten how tricky it is to get a straight line! I just launched in and then had to start thinking while I was cutting! So it's slightly shorter than I originally imagined, but the end result, in the cool calm light of day, is great, I think, even though, if you look closely, you'll see evidence of my amateur hairdressing skills! Piper likes it, and that's what counts. Or you could say she came off best with the lawnmower!

We're off to Gembrook today, so when we get back, I can post some pics of the building upstairs that my dad, Gord and Steve did last weekend.

A conversation with Piper

A conversation with Piper this evening, over dinner, while Jasper was sleeping and Gord was out at a cd launch:

Me: Piper, have you finished eating?
Piper: No.
Me: Well, keep eating.
Piper: (munch, munch) Mum, have you finished eating?
Me: No.
Piper: Well, keep eating.
Me: Cheeky bugger!
Piper: Meeky slugger! Yucky sleeky worm! You're going to slide all over me!

Man, she is so into rhyming, what a cheeky git! I should read the book of Spoonerisms with her!

Recent shots

Thought i'd better upload some pictures! My crafting blog has been getting all my attention lately! Here's Piper making a total mess out of a polystyrene block...

Here she is, posing in a cardigan I finally finished making for her. That's her toy-of-the-month, Nala (from The Lion King), bought for $2 at the Youngeburra market up north...

Piper feeding Jas while I was away somewhere. She's so helpful with Jas, on the whole. If he's crying and I'm busy for a moment, she'll go and attempt to cheer him up - what a champ!


Gord loaded Jas up with rubber duckies one night - he looks mischevious in a double-chinned kind of way!

Now he looks like a home boy, with Jesse on the couch...

Me and Ilsa (with Liam & Jasper) at Samara's birthday...


Piper and Ellen at Ilsa's birthday in the Botanical Gardens. Piper's wearing fancy clothes from cousin Michelle and her family. Couldn't get her to wear the matching hat though...