Washed Out

A big weekend of cricket - a double header - was washed out by the rain that started Thursday night and is still falling.

Gibbo's QCC team was coming to play his Dalby team - a clash that usually involves a lot of sledging and good natured rivalry (on the surface that is. Underneath, it's deadly serious).

We went to town yesterday and had a cup of tea with the few boys (and girl) that made the trip out Friday night. This is what we saw.
Today, Sunday, Gibbo's local team, Quinalow was to play Kulpi in the district Grand Final. This one would have been a very fiercely fought affair. There is no love lost between these two teams. Fielding on the boundary would have been interesting. Well, as interesting as cricket can be I suppose. How about "deep silly mid off" or "square leg"? I mean really - how did they ever come up with such things? Have you ever seen a "square leg"; and what exactly is a "deep silly mid off".....and for that matter, where is it?
Fortunately (?) all is not completely lost...........the Grand Final has been postponed to next Sunday and the QCC v Dalby game was postponed to a date to be decided. Whilst at the grounds, Gibbo checked his cricket calendar and between them, the boys deduced that, well, "Yes we really do play a fair bit of cricket...can't play that weekend 'cos it's Bundaberg.......and can't play that weekend 'cos it's Warwick.....and gee, can't play that weekend or that weekend 'cos that's the WEEK OF CRICKET AT THE GOLD COAST".

The anticipation is going to kill me.

Millie

BEFORE

AFTER.

Millie was definitely carrying a few extra pounds as evidenced by the very thick strip of fat just under the skin~

Out and About in Ottawa

Generation Y...........an aging Baby Boomer like me asks........WHY???

When in Rome..........

Drew has taken up the gentle art of snow boarding. Without lessons. A cursory run or two on the beginners slope then off to the real thing. By the second day he was on the BLACK runs. Nearly got taken out by a skier (most likely someone with some experience). Laid in the snow for 20 minutes not sure whether to move or not. Because one of his ribs hurt like hell. Too scared to touch it in case it was broken. Hello?? Oh for the confidence of the young and carefree/careless!?! Look after yourself Drewy.

Love this photo - good one Margie!!!

It's Quiet Out Here

We've been travelling a couple of hours west for the last few weeks and will continue to do so for at least another month or six weeks. I'm trying to do office work at both places and it's leaving me a little frazzled trying to keep up with my regular job commitments and keeping the W office ticking over as efficiently as possible. I have 31 years of office admin experience so I know the general run of an office - but none are exactly the same and it takes time to pick up on the different idiosyncracies of a new office. Combined with the myriad of things I worry/think about/ought to be doing/would like to be doing/other obligations I sometimes look at myself and ask WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING????????? IS THIS REALLY HOW YOU WANTED TO SPEND THIS YEAR??????????? Well actually, no it's not.

On a brighter note, some good things have happened lately. I made contact with Jill and will pursue that goal in May after the chaos settles; an increase in salary has helped (slightly) to make our crazy current lifestyle a little more worth it; and Drew has a Canadian family who are looking after him like his real one. This brings me great relief.

I have two main goals for the year - I've achieved the first one by contacting Jill; the second one is to walk the Milford Track (and if not the Milford, then at least complete a significant walk in Australia). That's not going to happen before the winter now so my goal will have to be re-set for the later part of the year.

If only my tongue was a bit longer I'd reach that itch...........

Maple Syrup

This email that arrived yesterday from Drew gladdens my heart. After a tough five weeks he is living his dream. Experiences such as these are a big part of the reason I wanted him to spend a year overseas and his plans for March Break and the rest of the year will build a bank of memories that will be hard to match. It appears that he now has a family that I would have chosen for him myself (if I was doing the choosing)....but they chose him and I will be forever grateful for that. I spoke to Lianne today - and already, she doesn't want to let him go! THIS, is how a year of exchange should feel!

Well. What a weekend it's been so far! On Friday I had the day off. Haha Lianne thought it would be a good idea if Bryn and I had the day off to explore Ottawa. We went to this area of Ottawa called 'The Gleeb' - the rich part of Ottawa. Reminded me alot of New England, wouldn't have even thought I was in Canada! We went to this really nice Coffee shop called 'Truffle Treasures' - known as having the best hot chocolates in Ontario. I had one. Was simply AMAZING. Bliss. Haha loved it!

I also built a snowman :) Suzie, but because it’s warming up the rain melted her. RIP Suzie.

Today was a little hectic. Haha. I had intended on spending the day relaxing in bed but Lianne asked me if I was interested in going out to a Maple Farm out in the country (45 minutes out of Ottawa). The family who owned the Maple Farm had a Maple Tree forest out the back of their property and just did it as a hobby. It was a real Canadian country farm, with the barn and of course of animals. Lianne's middle son Lane lives with these two people (you can see them in the photos) Sam and Jen. They drove me out because they wanted to try it as well. When we got to the house I found out the family are into hunting... and then keeping what they killed... and hanging it in their house. Personally I think that’s a bit weird, but I guess its a way of life for some people. They had Moose heads, Coyotes, Bears, Beavers and a deer.

Dad: They had one cow. I asked what breed he was because my dad was pretty professional in the cattle industry. They said he was called a 'Dexter'.. I had NO idea so I took a photo of him for you :)

Megan: THEY HAD GOATS, and OMG - these goats are WAY cuter than Peppy and Peachy. Have a look at the photos. The goats HATE the ice and water so it was funny seeing how they live and act, eg avoiding ice (which is pretty hard). At nighttime they sleep in the barn. If you look closely at the photos of the goats you'll see they share a nighttime cage with a bunny rabbit. They have a good little system going on in there. They have a heat lamp that four goats sleep under in a cluster... the rabbit... sleeps on top of the four goats so it's closer to the heat lamp. HAHAH! Smart Wabbit. Not bery smart goats.

The Maple Leaf Extraction System: Okay so first we loaded up the big horse thing and a sled that pulled us out to the actual Maple Tree forest.

Once we were out there we split out into teams. I was with the son (Jacob, French Canadian, my age - we got along really well) and the mum (Kym, she was SO lovely). Jacob taught me what a maple tree actually was and tried to pass on his information and wisdom by testing me on how to identify a Maple Tree.

He would say:

Jacob - Point out the Maple Trees for me.

Drew - Okay, that one *points at tree*

Jacob - No, that’s a fir tree.

Drew - That one *points at another tree*

Jacob - ..... No, that would be a North American willow.

Drew - Okayyyyyy. That one? *points at tree*

Jacob - .... Okay, never mind I'll just show you..

HAHAHA - Lesson learnt? I won't become a Maple Tree farmer.

So Jacob would go to a Maple tree and drill a hole into it then push in a funnel. My job was to connect a bucket to it and a lid so that the Maple Syrup had somewhere to drain into. We were walking through like knee deep snow in a forest - it was SO fun and SO peaceful. Loved it.

'Rock', the horse that was pulling the sled, just stood there for hours. He was so mellow and chill. Until he decided to leave quite a large pile of excrement on the ground. Tell you what, wasn't much fun to run over THAT in the sleigh.

The family has invited me back for when the buckets are full of syrup to start the next process of filtering the sap and so on in the next two or so weeks. So that'll be really good.

Lianne came and picked me up and drove me back home. Then the family (Lianne, Jim, Bryn and I) went and volunteered at Soup Kitchen to provide food for the homeless. I was a server of pork, potatoe and carrot. Then helped serve desert. Then helped clean up. Was SO tired but I felt pretty good that I was doing something to help those less fortunate. The other volunteers LOVED me and my accent so that was an added bonus.


We got home at 7:30pm. Every Saturday night Bryn has this thing called 'Girls Night'. I'm sure you can all guess what that includes. Haha! So she had 8 girls over to watch movies, eat food, bitch about the latest gossip and of course talk to the Aussie :p Haha so that was pretty good fun.


It's currently 1:45am and I am SO tired. Hope all is fine with everyone. Missing you all SO much. Sending love to you all! Keep Japan in your thoughts.


DrewXx

A Festival of Food and Wine

Meg and Chris spent the weekend at Kingaroy at the WFIPF (Wine & Food in the Park Festival). The cheese was good, as were the lamb koftas that the Hare Krishna's cooked.

The girls went on a ride - somehow Megan managed to hold on for dear life, hold on to the camera and keep her boobs in her dress (just).

The clowns were always my favourite attraction in Sideshow Alley at the shows during my childhood....until I saw an episode of Homicide or Matlock Police that showed them in a really sinister light. From then on, they just looked nasty.

At long last Meg got her dagwood dog, the one she's been whingeing about missing out on since the Roma Races.