The tomatoes, strawberries and herbs - now and then
The salad babies now and three weeks ago
The zucchinis and eggplants now and three weeks ago
7 months ago
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I also wanted to update you on our veggie babies
All are doing very well and growing up big and strong
The tomatoes, strawberries and herbs - now and then
The tomatoes, strawberries and herbs - now and then
Kitchen reno
I've been at home the past couple of days as the kitchen is renovated.
We've gone from this . . .
to this . . .
and now this . . .
Take a look at the slideshow here for more pictures.
We've gone from this . . .
to this . . .
and now this . . .
Take a look at the slideshow here for more pictures.Next week the Caesarstone bench will be installed along with the dishwasher, wall oven and stove top.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The weekend that just was . . .
I was out to book group on Friday night. We'd been reading The empire of the sun by J. G. Ballard, a story about a boy caught up in a camp near Shanghai after Pearl Harbor. It was a good read and we had a good discussion but several of us also stayed on to watch the movie too.
We were out to dinner on Saturday night to Steve and Bec's place to celebrate Steve's recent birthday. We didn't stay very late, mainly because we were nagged to go home by Ishbel. Steve's boys had their friend, Ben, having a sleep-over and once Ben's parents went home I don't think they were giving Ishbel much time.
It was a good job we did go home when we did because Catherine arrived on our doorstep about 5 minutes after we got home. She'd left a couple of books at Heather's house on Friday night which I'd picked up for her. I'd taken one back to Penrith Library when Ishbel and I were down there during the day but I still had another one. Catherine stayed for a cuppa then we were able to get to bed - I had plans to be up for RFS training early the next morning.
About 1am I heard Ishbel come in to the room. She just started to tell me she was feeling sick when she vomited - luckily she was just near the bathroom door and most of it went in there, but in there all over the place. It was a while before we had her cleaned up and the bathroom sluiced out! I don't know if it was something she ate during the evening (asking around no one else had a problem) or if it was brewing anyway. She'd had the day off on Wednesday complaining of nausea. Then she'd been fine and eating like a horse again by midday. When she complained of nausea again on Thursday morning shortly after having run round the garden with the dog I told her she was going to school anyway.
Ishbel slept with us the rest of the night - thank goodness for the king bed. Not that I slept much - I find it hard to get back to sleep again once I'm disturbed and a couple of times I was just about dropping off and a dog barked (not Bella) and I was awake again.
When the alarm went off at 6:30 am the last thing I wanted to do was go to training but we'd promised to pick Kieran up so off went Jamie and I. Rob had a cricket match so he couldn't come.
It was a good training session. We took the truck out to one of the lookouts and ran a whole load of hoses out and down into the bush. It was hard work hauling the hoses back out again but it was fun. We took a detour via Sharon's on the way home. She'd taped Taggart for me on Friday night - the one programme I can watch where the people don't have an accent!!! We'd been unable to use our video player on Friday night (when Taggart is screened) because the child lock had managed to be put on. None of us knew how to take it off and we'd lost the manual. By lucky chance our friend Jim came round on Saturday afternoon and took it off for us. Jim repairs TVs, DVD and video players for a living and has come in handy a few times recently.
The boys have their School Certificate exams this week. After that things wind down for them at school. The schools aren't allowed to start the Year 11 syllabus. They're allowed to leave school if they have a job and wanted me to write a note to that effect. Guess what answer they got? Jamie has a week of work experience at Ian's work and it's not long till Robbie goes off to Japan at the beginning of December. We have an orientation day for that this coming weekend.
We were out to dinner on Saturday night to Steve and Bec's place to celebrate Steve's recent birthday. We didn't stay very late, mainly because we were nagged to go home by Ishbel. Steve's boys had their friend, Ben, having a sleep-over and once Ben's parents went home I don't think they were giving Ishbel much time.
It was a good job we did go home when we did because Catherine arrived on our doorstep about 5 minutes after we got home. She'd left a couple of books at Heather's house on Friday night which I'd picked up for her. I'd taken one back to Penrith Library when Ishbel and I were down there during the day but I still had another one. Catherine stayed for a cuppa then we were able to get to bed - I had plans to be up for RFS training early the next morning.
About 1am I heard Ishbel come in to the room. She just started to tell me she was feeling sick when she vomited - luckily she was just near the bathroom door and most of it went in there, but in there all over the place. It was a while before we had her cleaned up and the bathroom sluiced out! I don't know if it was something she ate during the evening (asking around no one else had a problem) or if it was brewing anyway. She'd had the day off on Wednesday complaining of nausea. Then she'd been fine and eating like a horse again by midday. When she complained of nausea again on Thursday morning shortly after having run round the garden with the dog I told her she was going to school anyway.
Ishbel slept with us the rest of the night - thank goodness for the king bed. Not that I slept much - I find it hard to get back to sleep again once I'm disturbed and a couple of times I was just about dropping off and a dog barked (not Bella) and I was awake again.
When the alarm went off at 6:30 am the last thing I wanted to do was go to training but we'd promised to pick Kieran up so off went Jamie and I. Rob had a cricket match so he couldn't come.
It was a good training session. We took the truck out to one of the lookouts and ran a whole load of hoses out and down into the bush. It was hard work hauling the hoses back out again but it was fun. We took a detour via Sharon's on the way home. She'd taped Taggart for me on Friday night - the one programme I can watch where the people don't have an accent!!! We'd been unable to use our video player on Friday night (when Taggart is screened) because the child lock had managed to be put on. None of us knew how to take it off and we'd lost the manual. By lucky chance our friend Jim came round on Saturday afternoon and took it off for us. Jim repairs TVs, DVD and video players for a living and has come in handy a few times recently.
The boys have their School Certificate exams this week. After that things wind down for them at school. The schools aren't allowed to start the Year 11 syllabus. They're allowed to leave school if they have a job and wanted me to write a note to that effect. Guess what answer they got? Jamie has a week of work experience at Ian's work and it's not long till Robbie goes off to Japan at the beginning of December. We have an orientation day for that this coming weekend.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
School website
Ishbel's school has a new website. Guess who's on the front page with her pals Ellen and Renee.
Take a look here. She's in amongst the Olympathon photos in the Gallery too.
Take a look here. She's in amongst the Olympathon photos in the Gallery too.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Another weekend in paradise
Can I remember as far back as yesterday? Hmmmm. The usual shopping and chores.
Friday was the Total Fire Ban Day. Yes it got very warm, about 4pm it was 34C in Springwood but no fires broke out. Not sure if I'm disappointed about that or not!
Robbie had a cricket match yesterday afternoon. It was raining (and cold again) so I thought it'd be called off but it wasn't. He wasn't very happy when he got back. They'd lost again but only by about 5 runs. Ah well.
Ishbel was invited to play at Elki's for the afternoon. Once she got there we got a call asking if she could stay the night so I went over with her night gear later on. We then took advantage of not having a short person and took the boys to the pictures where we saw Burn After Reading which we enjoyed very much. Afterwards we went to find something to eat. We could only find a Hog's Breath Cafe open and we didn't enjoy it very much at all.
As you know, I tiptoed out of the house at the crack of nothing leaving the three boys snoring and went to RFS training. By the time I got back Ishbel was home and we got ready for visitors.
We were visited by Joanne and her friend, Janet, Adam (Janet's 8 year old son) and Chris (Joanne's 15 yr old). Janet comes up every Sunday to do Joanne's grocery shopping and we'd been talking for ages about her paying our new house a visit.
The chlorophyll babies are doing really well, especially the ones in the crates. The others in the flower bed are having to be protected from the snails, slugs and Bella - she has suddenly developed a penchant for digging. Not happy Bella!
Friday was the Total Fire Ban Day. Yes it got very warm, about 4pm it was 34C in Springwood but no fires broke out. Not sure if I'm disappointed about that or not!
Robbie had a cricket match yesterday afternoon. It was raining (and cold again) so I thought it'd be called off but it wasn't. He wasn't very happy when he got back. They'd lost again but only by about 5 runs. Ah well.
Ishbel was invited to play at Elki's for the afternoon. Once she got there we got a call asking if she could stay the night so I went over with her night gear later on. We then took advantage of not having a short person and took the boys to the pictures where we saw Burn After Reading which we enjoyed very much. Afterwards we went to find something to eat. We could only find a Hog's Breath Cafe open and we didn't enjoy it very much at all.
As you know, I tiptoed out of the house at the crack of nothing leaving the three boys snoring and went to RFS training. By the time I got back Ishbel was home and we got ready for visitors.
We were visited by Joanne and her friend, Janet, Adam (Janet's 8 year old son) and Chris (Joanne's 15 yr old). Janet comes up every Sunday to do Joanne's grocery shopping and we'd been talking for ages about her paying our new house a visit.
The chlorophyll babies are doing really well, especially the ones in the crates. The others in the flower bed are having to be protected from the snails, slugs and Bella - she has suddenly developed a penchant for digging. Not happy Bella!
Christmas in Valley Heights
We had an unexpected snowfall on the Valley Heights fire trail this morning. I'm hoping I'll be able to post a picture or two later.
Our RFS training session this morning was on pumps and pumping. We draw water from a creek using a pump into the tanker then pretend to fight a fire. I was pump operator today. It's a tricky business, keeping the water pressure at the right rate, making sure you are sucking water and not blowing it at the right time and vice versa and keeping an eye on the rest of the team to see if the water is being delivered at the right rate. It's an exercise we do from time to time, each time I pick up a snick more.
This morning for the first time in all the time I've been in the RFS we used fire fighting foam. It's used for covering burning oils in car crashes and the like. And it looks just like snow, both on the ground and, if you point the hose at the sky and let it fall, in the air. Two of the fellas took photos on their phones so I hope they don't forget to upload them.
The boys are wishing they hadn't stayed in bed after all.
Our RFS training session this morning was on pumps and pumping. We draw water from a creek using a pump into the tanker then pretend to fight a fire. I was pump operator today. It's a tricky business, keeping the water pressure at the right rate, making sure you are sucking water and not blowing it at the right time and vice versa and keeping an eye on the rest of the team to see if the water is being delivered at the right rate. It's an exercise we do from time to time, each time I pick up a snick more.
This morning for the first time in all the time I've been in the RFS we used fire fighting foam. It's used for covering burning oils in car crashes and the like. And it looks just like snow, both on the ground and, if you point the hose at the sky and let it fall, in the air. Two of the fellas took photos on their phones so I hope they don't forget to upload them.
The boys are wishing they hadn't stayed in bed after all.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
MORE babies!
Don't panic - it's babies of the green, chlorophyll kind. We spent Saturday buying veggies, herbs and plants for the garden. Catherine had given me a lithianthus plant earlier in the week. She knows I love them. They have lovely little blooms that are almost rose like. To them we added basil, oregano, thyme and sage, tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini, eggplant, silverbeet and a variety of lettuces and rocket. We now tend them carefully, watering them nightly (except last night because it'd rained all day) and chasing off the snails (the snails are kept away by the sugar cane mulch when it's dry but don't seem to mind it when it's wet).
In the evening we had Karen, Dan and Xavier over for dinner. Ben was away partying in Hazelbrook. We also had Sharon, Janet, Steven and Georgia over and they all goo-ed and gaa-ed over our little boy who slept peacefully through the whole evening except briefly to ask for a nappy change and feed.
On Sunday afternoon Robbie had a cricket match but they lost. Ishbel had a birthday party at the pool and had a great time. Jamie was supposed to go with Dad and Rob to cricket but mananged to persuade Dad to bring him home and my dream of a few hours in the house all by myself in perfect peace and quiet was ruined.
The weather has been all over the place. It was wet before the weekend, very warm on Saturday and it's been wet again since. Our rec AFL was called off last night because it'd rained all day. As I sit here typing with a fleece on, it's hard to believe that the forecast is for 36C tomorrow, a Total Fire Ban has been called for the 24 hrs from midnight and we'll be on standby all day tomorrow. No wonder the kids have colds!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Fraser George Colquhoun
Faser George Colquhoun, born 9.09pm on 9/10/08, grandson of Ian, son to Jono and Narelle. Weighed in at 8lb 7oz and 52cm after 6 hours of labour. Fraser arrived home in Kingaroy on Monday 13/10/08 with Mum and Dad and Grandma Sarah. On Wednesday I flew to tag team with Sarah who went back to work in Brisbane(reluctantly). Fraser went straight onto a management programme of feeding, pooing and sleeping. He has been sleeping 4 hours regularly since. He hasn't yet got the bit where he eats and poos in 30 minutes but Mum and Dad are working on it. The ultimate complimate, I got to have Fraser to myself on Friday morning while Jona and Narelle attended to messages. I had to leave them to cope alone this morning 19/10/08 to fly home, confident they will do better than manage.
I rang on Tuesday, the anxious Grandad, of course they are doing well, Fraser is sleeping 5 hours night and morning, Mum and Dad are healthy and happy at having tamed, for now, the beast.
I rang on Tuesday, the anxious Grandad, of course they are doing well, Fraser is sleeping 5 hours night and morning, Mum and Dad are healthy and happy at having tamed, for now, the beast.
Friday, October 17, 2008
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