National Youth Week

Jack's entry of his feet dangling over a cliff on the Larapinta Trail, Northern Territory, taken last year on 3 October during the walk by Jack and Allan with Jack and Imogen Laing won first prize in the Secondary section of Palerang Council's photography competition to celebrate National Youth Week. The theme was "Be Active. Be Happy. Be You." and Jack's photo fitted the bill. Both Bec and I went to the Council Chambers this morning for the announcement of the winners and to enjoy morning tea. Riley Whitely won the Primary section of the competition and there were prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in both sections. Jack won a digital photo frame which is terrific.

Alexender the Great

Jack had a history excursion today to Sydney to see the Alexander the Great exhibition at the Australian Museum. He had a great time (not withstanding a day off school!) and after viewing the exhibition they had an hour to look at any exhibit they wanted to in the museum. Jack and his friends chose the dinosaurs.
Bungendore Public School had a fundraiser today for the Year 6 gift to the school. It was icecreams for $1. Meg participated with enthusiasm and joy although she did say they were small. I reminded her that it was a fundraiser and $1 wasn't a lot for an icecream. I think she was hoping for a Magnum!

Australian War Memorial Open Day

We decided to take Biggles to the Australian War Memorial Open Day as he hasn't been out and about for months due to his hip replacement. It was a magical Canberra day - cloudless, sunny and not too hot. The Open Day was fantastic - all the old guns, jeeps, canons, parts of ships, etc out on display and, as always, the items on display inside were fabulous. We saw many memorable items on display and with the stories from Biggles, it made them all the more interesting.
Allan and Meg came too and the highlight for Meg was going up in the tethered RAAF balloon with Allan. She loved it!

Hip Hop Workshop with Jack Keogh

Tomorrow Meg is doing a Hip Hop Workshop with Jack Keogh, a member of Team Rockit which is a Canberra based dance crew. Meg is very excited to be doing the workshop and when I told her that her teacher is from a "real" dance crew, she immediately asked if they were "going to the streets!" Not just yet, honey.

Biggles Flies Home

At last Biggles is home! It is great to have him back after over two months being in Sydney recuperating from his hip replacement and also being treated for Meralgia paraesthetica which is a chronic neurological disorder. He has severe pain in the outer thigh which is not caused by injury to the thigh, but by injury to a nerve that extends from the thigh to the spinal column. Biggles has had this disorder for years and there hasn't been a doctor, neurologist or other specialist who has been able to treat the problem until now. He has received treatment and hopefully it will ease the problem to a manageable degree.
We had a Chinese take-out dinner tonight to celebrate his return.

Wednesday, as usual

Well, just another Wednesday. Left around 7:30 to get Jack to Intermediate Band practice, back to Bungendore to take Meg to school, go to Kids Zone, drive to Eddies to collect Jack after Senior Band practice, drive Jack to Diana's for English tutoring, pick up Meg and drive home. Was ready to go in to pick up Jack but Allan was home in time and offered to collect Jack so I didn't have to go back into town again. A typical day.
At the National Gallery of Australia they have two fantastic sulptures on the entrance lawn. These are Eran 2010 by Thanakupi (1937-2011) of the Thaynakwith people. It stands 2.7m high and is made aluminium and metalwork. It is a wonderful sculpture and is distinctively Australian.
The second sculpture seen behind Eran is Pears by George Baldessin (1939-1978) who was born in Italy and died in Australia. Each of the seven pears is about 2.28m high and this sculpture has become iconic in the National Gallery of Australia's sculpture collection.

Aristide Bruant

Yesterday at the Australian National Gallery we saw the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition and the kids went to the children's activity room where Jack made his own copy of Toulouse-Lautrec's famous poster of Aristide Bruant, a French cabaret singer, comedian and nightclub owner.

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec at the National Gallery of Australia

Culture Day for the Donnellys. I am trying to go to one cultural event a month for both Jack and Meg during the 100 Year Centenary for Canberra as there are so many festivals and activities on, it would be a shame not to participate. So, with this in mind, we are getting in for April, albeit it for the last day of the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. I have been meaning to get tickets for months but, as always, it is the deadline that spurs me into action.
It was terrific and the kids loved the children's activity room that the NGA always have at these major exhibitions. Meg dressed up as a French girl and also as a boy as she preferred the boy's clothes to the dresses they had available.

Government House Open Day

Jack played with the Senior Band at the Government House Open Day in honour of The Smith Family. It was a great day out and Meg had a lovely time wandering down to the water and looking at all the stalls and exhibits which included the RAAF balloon. We had never been to Government House before so it was great to see the building and surrounds.

Australian Catholic University Graduation

Jack played with the Senior Band today at the Australian Catholic University's Graduation Day which was held at Parliament House.

BPS Twilight Fair

It was Bungendore Public School's Twilight Fair and the clouds and showers cleared to reveal a lovely Autumn evening. I was on the Knock 'em Down's (also called Tin Pan Alley) which was busy in the extreme as the game consisted of each child having three balls to try and knock down six cans. Every child won a prize for having a go so the games were fast and furious. We have lines for Preschool, Kinder to Y2, Y3-Y6 and Y7 plus. There was a bit of dodgy footwork going on (one Year 7 threw from the Kinder line and nearly knocked us out with flying cans (he didn't realise - yeah, right!) but we set him right and he didn't hit as many next time around.
I was helped by Nikki, Francette and Nancy which was great as there were lots of can and ball chasing. A complete miss by a child gave them another go - some children ended up having six or seven throws just to get a can down! Meg was a huge help running after balls and many other kids and parents returned miscreiant balls which was very helpful. We made just over $300 on the night which meant at $2.00 a game, we had over 150 children participating in our activity.
Each student at the school did an artwork and it was pinned up on the hall walls where parents and relatives could peruse the art and purchase for $2.00 each.
The Twilight Fair was a great success and $10,000 was raised in total.

Volunteering

The Bungendore Public School's Twilight Fair is on tomorrow afternoon/evening and I am going in to the school hall this afternoon to help set up. There is a secondhand clothes stall, books, toys, children's artwork and lots of games for the kids. It should be a fun time.

Jack home today

Meg and I had a pretty easy Wednesday. We didn't have to get up early to take Jack to school and I didn't have to drive in this afternoon to pick Jack up after band practice. Got an extra hour and a half at Kids Zone instead of in the car so all in all, a really good day!
Jack came home today after the Treacy House Camp and had a great time. Lots of swimming, surfing, kayaking and learning to paddle standing up. They had a play to do on Monday night (each group was given a topic) and it all went well. Looking very tanned and fit.

View from The Pines

John home

John left this morning after going to visit Dimity. It's been great to have him here and we always enjoy his company (and often his jokes!). This visit's best was the one about the black horse who could fix cars - very funny.

Jack to The Pines

Jack went to Treacy House Camp today at The Pines, Tuross Head which is south of Moruya. The property is owned by the Christian Brothers and is operated by St Edmund's College. It has facilities to accommodate up to a hundred students and parents and it is used primarily for school camps and retreats. Jack has been looking forward to Camp for weeks!

Visitors on St Patrick's Day

Suzie Finemore and her two girls, Sophia and Coco, dropped in to see us on their way home from a weekend in Canberra. Suzie was given the Canberra weekend as a gift for her 50th Birthday and they used it this weekend. They all had a great time and enjoyed their luxury weekend to the max. It was great to see them again after quite a few years. Sophia is now in 3rd year of Photography at UTS and Coco is in Year 11 - both going very well.
John Maclurcan arrived today as well for a couple of nights and it was great to see him again as we haven't seen John for quite a while. John has a meeting at the War Memorial tomorrow and so decided to come to visit. Great idea.

Meg climbing at Canberra Indoor Rock Climbing yesterday

Rock climbing at Hume

Last year at the Bungendore Public School Trivia Night we won the voucher from Canberra Indoor Rock Climbing in the silent auction. It was for four children and two adults and we had the vague idea that it could be the beginnings of Jack's 12th birthday party. That didn't eventuate and so as it was getting close to the expiry date (1st April), we decided we had better use it this year and today!
We invited two of Jack's friends - Riley and Archie and took Meg making the four kids. We had a great time with Allan and the kids climbing all the walls and Meg having a go on everything from the walls to the upstairs area with free climbing and falling onto huge foam mats. Too much fun! Very relaxing and fun and the kids had a great time.

Jack, Riley and Archie

A great result in Technics

Jack was in dire straits with his Technics assignment until Allan came home from Tasmania and gave him a hand. The assignment was a materials research assignment and Allan knew most of it off the top of his head from his days of doing Carpentry at TAFE. Consequently, Jack's knowledge improved greatly and he got his assignment done and handed in only a day late. He was supposed to have a 5% reduction in marks but ended up with 99% anyway. Go figure.

Jack used this image as the title page for his Technics assignment.

Jack back teaching

Jack has been teaching a little boy the trumpet since the end of last year. Riley is now in Year 1 and is very keen to continue and absolutely adores Jack. Riley's little sister was born in December so things were a bit up in the air re trumpet lessons but he has decided to continue and today was Jack's first day back at teaching and Riley's first day back at learning since last year. Jack really enjoys it and the extra pocket money doesn't hurt!

The reason we face west

Everyone knows that in Australia you always build your home facing north, never west. Well, we built ours facing west - the exact wrong direction. However, we had a road to our north and didn't really want to see the traffic hauling up our hill and to the west we had a lovely view of the valley. Now you understand.