Birthday Bellydancing

It is Kate's 15th birthday today and Sharon's @#$%th one tomorrow. Steve, Janet and I arranged a surprise dinner out at a Lebanese restaurant in Penrith for Sharon. We made the booking then got Sharon's mum and dad to say they'd be taking her and Holly to dinner.
I met Sharon at the pictures last week and went into a rambling excuse for not doing anything for her birthday this weekend. She said that was OK, Holly was going to a party on Saturday and on Monday night she had something on at school.
In a panic it was all going wrong I rang Janet when I got home to tell her what'd been said and she rang Sharon's mum. It was OK, Holly had told Sharon she was going to Kate's party to throw her mum off the scent. It WAS all still as arranged. Phew!
As arranged, we headed off down to Penrith to be at the restaurant for 6:45pm. As we came off the freeway and into Penrith we were stopped at the lights. And who should pull up beside us but Sharon!!! Ian held back and tried to let other cars get between us and her but again we thought our cover was blown. We couldn't believe it when we got to the restaurant before her.
And without her having seen us. She arrived with her parents and Holly some ten minutes later and was very surprised to find us all there.
We had a nice meal but the highlight of the evening was the belly dancer. She wasn't terrific but it was a lot of fun watching her get people up to dance - as long as it wasn't us! She got Georgia and Ian up to dance. With Ian she was getting him to do belly rolls, you can see she had a walking stick - he had to roll his belly in and out and keep the stick between them. Hilarious stuff!

Soccer and Rugby Gala Days

Saturday 1st March was Springwood Soccer Clubs annual Gala Day for the younger players and the first opportunity this season for the players to get out against another team.
We were rung up the night before by John, the coach, to be told to have Ishbel out at the park by 11 for an 11:30 start and that the kids would be playing three games or so.
Arrived around the 11am mark after haring around all morning. Jamie and Ian were up at the crack of dawn to take Jamie to the rendez-vous point for a Venturer hike. It's part of the Venturer skills program and Robbie had already done it so it was just Jamie going from our house. They got to the rendez-vous on time but another boy hadn't got his permission slip signed and everyone had to wait while his parents were called and someone came to give permission for him to go. They were not so much hiking as going down the Grose River on li-los.
Once they were back I was able to go and do the weekly grocery shopping. Ian had done it all the weekend before while Rob and I were at the First Aid course so we had heaps of meat but had run out of fruit and vegetables by Wednesday.
Anyway, back to the park at 11am. Found the rest of the team, kids all rounded up and given a pep talk and then we find they are only playing ONE game and it isn't until 1:30pm. Eeek. There was some 'entertainment' there - some jumpy castle things and Winmalee RFS had their truck on show. I took Ishbel and Elki over for a play in the big red truck and met up with Scott, one of the fellows from last weekend's course. There was also a police car and the police were giving away cardboard make-it-yourself paddy wagon money boxes so that kept the girls busy until their game.
The rules have all changed for the younger players this year. In Ishbel's age group, the Under 8s, they are playing 7 a side. There is no goal-keeper, the goal is tiny and once a player has scored 3 goals they are not allowed another kick at goal. The officials say it's to make things faster and fairer. They will also only be playing other Springwood teams. There are about 10 Under 8s teams. That means all the matches will be at the home ground instead of all over the mountains and western Sydney.
Ishbel had a very good game, getting much more involved than she often does. She had told her coach at training that she was 'rubbish' at soccer - she disproved that.
She'd also apparently growled at him for something during training and told him she had a dog and "wasn't afraid to use it." We had Bella with us on Saturday - I don't think John is having any more nightmares about attack dogs!
Finally her game was over and we were able to head down to Lapstone for Robbie's rugby union day. He'd gone down with Karen, Dan and Ben a bit earlier in the day so we met up with them there. We also met up with old acquaintances Cathy and Tony whose son, Mitchell, used to do the Fencing with Robbie and who is in his rugby team.
They were having a sausage sizzle and an opportunity to buy some gear. Ben got some boots but the team supplies shorts, socks and shirts and Rob got his boots a few weeks ago so we got away scott free!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why did the chicken cross the road?
DR. PHIL : The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH : We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
DR SEUSS : Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY : To die in the rain. Alone.
GRANDPA : In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
JOHN LENNON : Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your chick book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ........ reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

Jamie overworked???

Jamie has been working for the local newsagents since December as the paper boy on the train station at Springwood. He now does three mornings a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:45am till about 7:15am then he catches the bus to school.
David, the newsagent, says he only takes kids on that he's seen grow up and he knows the family (but Jamie got the job despite all that!). Once Jamie has done a while on the station he'll 'graduate' to working in the shop.
David tells us that Jamie is doing well, is starting to relax and is even laughing at David's jokes (time to pull him out I say). David said he was once commended by a customer for being kind enough to employ "those retarded boys on the train station." We had lots of fun at Jamie's expense with that one.
Then late the week before last Jamie got a phone call from Franklins, one of the local supermarkets, asking him to phone and arrange an interview. He promptly did so and had his interview, lasting all of about 5 minutes I think, on Wednesday. They told him he had the job on Thursday and he starts tomorrow. The Franklins work will be after school work so it won't clash with the newsagents until he graduates to the shop and then he can decide what he wants to do.

First Aiders

Robbie and I have spent this weekend at a Senior's First Aid course at Rural Fire Service Headquarters in Katoomba. The course was conducted by Luke, a man who is an RFS volunteer, an RFS paid employee and a St John Ambulance member (not sure whether that's a paid position or not). He's still in training as an instructor so yesterday he was being supervised by a real welsh Welshman, David Jones.
Thankfully David wasn't there today, he was doing a session at Dan's VF training at which Karen was assisting. I told her to say hello from me. David was a bit melodramatic and always said something three times when once would have done.
Luke was a complete contrast, quiet and unassuming but with a wicked sense of humour and one of the best instructors of any kind I'd come across.
We had our lectures over the two days. Yesterday we were taught and later assessed on our CPR (mouth to mouth and cardiac massage) technique. We all passed well. Today there were more topics to cover then we had a multiple choice exam. Robbie and I both got 20/20. Then we were assessed in how we coped witha number of scenarios with everyone in groups of 4 and taking a turn at being the First Aider, the victim, or innocent bystanders. Again Rob and I were passed competent and we are now certified for the next 3 Years.

Ishbel elected to SRC

Ishbel came back from school very excited on Friday. She has been voted, by her classmates, to be one of two Student Representative Council members.

Perhaps she will be the first one in our family to be a Member of Parliament?

Here she is in the Speaker's Chair at Old Parliament House, Canberra.

The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

In the People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks tells the possible story behind the "Sarajevo Haggadah" http://www.haggadah.ba/?x=1, a an illuminated manuscript containing the traditional text of the Passover Haggadah. It is the oldest Sephardic Haggadah in the world, originating in Spain around 1350. It is now owned by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. Pages from the Sarajevo Haggedah can be seen at: http://www.talmud.de/sarajevo/einstieg.htm

The people of the book include Dr. Hanna Heath, an Australian conservator who goes to Sarajevo in 1996 to assist the UN to restore the book for the museum. In the course of her work on the book she finds the wing of a month, a hair, wine stains, salt crystals. Each item becomes part of the story of the people from the book's past: Lola, Sarajevo, 1944; Dr Hirschfeldt, Vienna, 1894; Rabbi Judah Aryeh and Father Giovanni Vestorini, Venice, 1609; Ruth Ben Shousahn, Tarragona, 1492; Zahra bint Ibrahim al-Tarek, Seville, 1480. As we go back in history the full story of the book is unveiled.

The book is symbolic of the racial harmony that used to exist, firstly in mediaeval Spain where the book was created during the Convivencia and later in Bosnia where, before the Nazi invasion, Jews, Muslims and Christians lived and worshipped side by side.

An historic day - The Sorry speech

It was an important day today with the new PM, Kevin Rudd, finally saying Sorry for wrongs that have been perpetrated on the Aboriginal people of Australia by successive governments over the last 100 years, particularly to the "Stolen Generations"; Aboriginal children who were taken away from their families, often suddenly and violently, and taken to be brought up in non-indigenous settings.

The speech in Parliament began shortly after I got to work this morning (9am) and a few of us went across the road to the neighbourhood centre to watch it on their TV. It was very moving. Here is a video of it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1jeWeDpc68 and this is where you can read it in its entirety :
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/02/12/1202760291188.html

I was asked if I had dressed in the Aboriginal colours (red, black and yellow) to honour the day. I had a red tank top over black trousers and shirt. I replied, no and that I wasn't wearing the whole get up - the yellow was missing. Later, however, I found that I was wearing yellow - my undies - but Gillian made me promise not to wear them outside my trousers so I could only assure the others that I was, accidentally, in full Aboriginal garb today. (The outfit was roundly criticised by Ishbel this morning who told me in no uncertain terms that the red and black "didn't work."

Ooops!

Here is the real Test Tube Alien.

Rory's Test Tube Alien

We got a Test Tube Alien for Rory's Christmas and were pleased to hear he has been looking after it carefully and it has grown well. He even sent us a photo of the alien (see picture on left).