Kenny the Camp Oven King

We swapped the Sunday night meal from Drew's menu for Wednesday night - a camp oven dinner at Binda. A heavy shower of rain came across and put the fire out just before we arrived but the food was cooked by then.
I took photos of the kids through the smoke when the fire was re-lit.
Beautifully cooked veges.

Drew was sad to say goodbye to Gibbo's side of the family. All Georgia was worried about was whether "Magan" was going too.

Gibbo stayed down; he had a plane to catch to Mackay next morning. The kids and I drove home with storms and lightning all around.

Shopping for Thermals

Shopping for thermals in the middle of an Australian summer is hot work. We found some merino wool garments that should do the job very nicely. We also bought a ridiculous bright blue beanie (it was either that or an orange and grey striped one; in hindsight that might have been more easily spotted if one was to become lost in a snowdrift; on the other hand it might be more visible to a wandering bear too), a balaclava, gloves, a wind and waterproof vest, sox, thermal undersox, t-shirts, wallet, cap, tracksuit pants and a bag.

The $500 CAD arrived at the post office. The new PIN number arrived but we're yet to sight the card.

There's not much left to do now. A Wallaby Jersey, the visa card, the study permit approval letter, the certified copy of birth certificate and an international phone card is all that's left on the list. Oh, and we need to pack.

Ten more sleeps....before I start counting the number of sleeps until he comes home again.

We Had a Bit of Fun...

with the camera on Drew's macbook.

My two headed children.

Permaculture One Year On

This past weekend marks one year since I first marked out the seven circles in my permaculture garden. A lot has happened in our lives since then and the garden now has a life and story of her own too. She went from being a bare, hard, dusty patch to a small oasis of lush, green plants. We might not have survived solely on her produce but we've certainly had a pleasing array of meals from her (and based on the number of pumpkins out there at present, there's going to be a lot of pumpkin soup on the menu soon). She has been a source of calm and serenity in my life and gives me much joy and peace. I'm not an excitable kind of girl but I squealed with delight twice today when I discovered a very small rockmelon and an even tinier eggplant! I have to celebrate the anniversary with her story in pictures (there's a lot of pictures so be warned!).

Meg is Leaving Too!!!!

Meg has booked and paid for the flights on a 3 and 1/2 month trip to the UK, Europe, Greek Islands, New York, Chicago and LA, leaving in July. She might even fit in a flying visit to a certain someone in Canada, depending on time and finances. This trip also includes driving the famous Route 66 across 8 (?) states in the US. She's going with Chris and two other friends. I always wanted my children to have the confidence and freedom to travel the world - just not both at the same time thankyou.
This is how she sometimes fills her time at work...............

An Offer He Can't Refuse

QTAC offers were supposed to come out last Thursday. Their head office is on Park Road at Milton and was affected by the floods. There was some uncertainty as to when the offers would be released - we thought they were being delayed by a week until things returned to normal but the girls going to USQ still found out Thursday via an email from USQ.

On Saturday afternoon, while we were sitting around feeling tired and washed out, Drew walked out from the lounge room and casually announced, "I got in - I got an offer - in International Studies" - and here's the transcript to prove it. UQ sent out brief details in an email on Friday night but of course, at that time, we were otherwise occupied trying to keep 50 teenagers under some sort of control (and failing I might add). I was really pleased for him; it was the goal he set for himself and he achieved it. He will now defer it to 2012; at least there's something set up to come back to.

Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:05:31 +1000
To:
From:

Subject: Congratulations on your UQ Offer

Dear Drew,

The University of Queensland is aware that the QTAC web site has been down because of power outages associated with the floods in Brisbane. We have therefore decided to email you directly with brief details of your offer, so you can start planning for your studies at UQ. I am pleased to advise you have been made an offer in the:

Bachelor of International Studies - full-time or part-time - St Lucia Campus.

It is very important that you log onto the QTAC web site, when it becomes available, to respond to your offer at UQ. You will then be able to link straight to the University's on-line enrolment system where you will be issued with your UQ username and password and given important information about your enrolment.Congratulations on your offer and thank you for your patience while both QTAC and the University recover from this very difficult situation.

Garden Update

The Marauders aka the pumpkin vines.
The Marauders again.

The next station, having a spell before planting.

Lemongrass and comfrey. In the year since I started the garden, I haven't used any lemongrass yet!

Aerial View

Gibbo flew to Surat last week and took a few shots while he was out there; nothing too dramatic. No damage really, just a lot of water.This is Andrew's place from the air. The dark patch of trees near bottom right is his house.