I did the big car-trip-weekend with my Miss 20 back when she was on her Learner license. Then again with Miss 17 earlier this year.
This weekend it’s been Master 16’s turn. Not Yeppoon, nor Agnes Waters, but this time it was to Emu Park… in the rain!
Back on the Sunshine Coast it was forecast to pour all weekend. And my boy drove through over 4 hours of it. But by the time we got to Rockhampton, there were blue skies above us. And check out the amazing photo he took when we finally arrived at Emu Park!
Oh, what a privilege it is to be spending such quality time with my cherubs and watching them learn to drive at the same time.
Saturday morning with my garden and my dog and then a movie with children 1 and 2
Lunch out with my Mum and child 2, followed by an escape room (where we didn’t succeed in the allotted time and the world exploded so I’m sorry about that everyone!) and a movie with Hubby
And then this morning, breakfast (buffet at Caloundra’s Oak & Vine) with mum, Hubby and all 3 children.
Child 1 and 2 even got to decorate the blackboard there:
Woohoo! Loving these 51st birthday celebrations! Bring on the rest of the day, I say!
I watched ‘Christopher Robin’ this week. You know, the Ewen McGregor one?
I had the time and not much energy and not enough headspace to get work done, and it was there.
I was hoping for some light entertainment, maybe a return to the fond memories of when I’d watch animated films with my children (The Tigger movie etc).
And boy, did I get all that – and more! I had not realised how analytical I’ve become… having two daughters in the field of art / animation / films has led to a lot more knowledge than I’d previously had, I guess. And I really LIKED this movie!
But what made it most enjoyable for me, I think, was the voice animations. They were just perfect!
So, a BIG thank you this week to
You made my week!
Have a fond memory-full week yourself, dear Reader!
I’m sitting on the bed in apartment 2B in a hotel in the township of Agnes Water. It’s 7.37am and I’ve just returned from a beach walk with Miss17, who drove for nearly 6 hours yesterday to get us here – part of the mission to get her to 100 hours as per our state’s requirements of learner drivers.
A bush turkey has just walked past the door. The books on the shelves are inspirational. Original copies, not pre-loved library ones, and classics. Good taste, I think, as I wonder if the titles are replicated in all apartments in the hotel… or if we just lucked in due to the apartment number.
There’s legit two bees on the room number plaque too, which is also pretty cool.
But the thing making me happiest right at the moment? That I can sit and write. It’s been a month of either busy-ness or lack of internet coverage, and the fact that this is the first I can actually update my blog with words rather than just photos is SO incredibly satisifying. I’ve missed it, dear Reader, and that also makes me smile.
So. I hope you’ve been well, as I have, and that you find things (a bookshelf, a room number plaque, a bird, time with one of your loved ones) to make you as happy today as I am.
I’m getting ideas for new furniture in my library. A colleague has these, and they’re comfier than they look! What do you think?
Hubby also finally collected his new car – 3 weeks after he was expecting to! I think he likes it – and the doggos in the back are pretty darn cute too!
And with my brother in the country, it was family pic day today.
Yes, Kiya is one of the family!
Have an amazing, photo-worthy week yourself, dear Reader!
I’m getting idea for new furniture in my library. A colleague has these, and they’re comfier than they look! What do you think?
Hubby also finally collected his new car – 3 weeks after he was expecting to! I think he likes it – and the doggos in the back are pretty darn cute too!
And with my brother in the country, it was family pic day today.
Yes, Kiya is one of the family!
Have an amazing, photo-worthy week yourself, dear Reader!
Miss16 has until July to get her 100 hours of supervised driving in. But seeing as she’s had other priorities, we started the year at 6 hours and 5 minutes.
Cue a roadtrip, the plan being to drive to Yeppoon, crash at an AirBnB, then drive back the following day, adding an extra 10 – 14 hours drive to her tally.
To start off with, everything went well. But around 3 hours in, she started hurting. Maybe all that anxiety? Her wrists, her back (although to be fair, she’d hurt her tailbone quite badly, recently) and then when her right ankle joined in on the party, I figured it’d be better to turn around and head back. So we arrived in Boreren, enjoyed a beautiful cheesy garlic bread late lunch before starting the return journey. We made it to Childers and by then she was in enough pain I took over. On the up-side though, her confidence is vastly improved, we missed the storms which hammered our place back home, and I now know significantly more about the wonder that is Star Rail 🙂
The following day, Hubby went fishing,
I decided to finally learn the alphabet codes so I no longer have to try to think ‘m for… um… moustache’ (which was, literally, a conversation I had on Friday!),
and council mowed our road. Check out how pretty it looks now!!!
Looking ahead, it’s school stuff buying time (books, uniforms) and collecting textbooks and laptop, before starting officially on Thursday. And that, dear Reader, is just a little bit EXCITING!!!!!
Last year was somewhat successful in the blogging department. There were daily blogposts in June (thanks to @FiFYI for the challenge all those years ago now!) and pretty much weekly blogging for all the other months, so all in all I’m happy with that. Consistency was incredibly lacking prior to 2024, so hopefully 2025 will see me consolidate that improvement!
And this year I’m challenging myself with adding photos. Meaning the taking of photos, and sharing of same. Which is confronting, because I’d much rather not show evidence of how not-good a photographer I am.
And this new challenge? It’s going to include photos of me. See? Look how happy I am about this new challenge!
Just kidding. But if it’s ’only dead fish swim with the stream’ then I figure that to ‘be alive’ is ‘to grow’ and growth takes effort… which is uncomfortable. And I want to FEEL alive not just BE alive so this photo challenge it is. Something which takes me incredibly out of my comfort zone – not always a bad thing…
The photo above, taken by Miss16, is one I sent to my Compassion sponsor child earlier this week, when I finally worked out how to write letters online (sad, I know!) and I’m hoping he’ll like it because it’s been years since I sent him a photo of me! Other photos I took this week:
Mooloolaba at NYE after the 8.30pm fireworks. It’s a very pretty part of the world I’m blessed to call home! And:
The new look to my lounge room: the piano that Miss16 and I moved out of her bedroom. And I sightread a two-page Telemann piece after moving it, so I was doubly proud of these efforts! And finally, the social media screenshot which I’m FAR more comfortable sharing with you compared to my own photography efforts! This one I loved due to its surprising simile usage 🙂
And that’s it from me. Have an amazing second week of January, dear Reader, and I’ll meet you all back here next Sunday!
Last week I wrote about Miss 16 and her final term of High School. This week we shift to the youngest cherub in my household: Master 15 and the fact he’s not at school next week.
He’s at Work Experience.
This has been a ‘thing’ in Queensland schools for as long as I can remember. During Year 10, the kids all take a week off school and head to a place of business for a week.
Back in 1989 when I was in Year 10 (wow, that even SOUNDS like a century ago; it doesn’t just feel it!) I spent the week with my Violin Teacher. We travelled in her car to all the schools she taught strings at, and I met all her students and helped teach them violin. Considering I’d been teaching my own violin students for over a year by that stage, Work Experience wasn’t as daunting a week as it could have been.
Fast forward to this century though, and my own cherubs. in 2020, Miss 19 was set to spend the week at a Bird Sanctuary… but then Covid put paid to that idea. In 2022, Miss 16 spent the week scanning books in my Library. And Master 15? He’ll spend the coming week at the local Neighbours’ Aid Community Stores, learning how to sort and price and all things Op Shop.
I’m super-hoping that it goes well! If you can, spare a thought and a prayer for us!
It’s been a what feels like a marathan-and-a-half, but my Miss 16 has finally entered her last term of High School. It’s crazy to think that in just a few short weeks she’ll be sitting her final exams, and then graduating!
It’s been a LOOOONG time coming (well, seeing as she skipped Year 4 it’s actually been fewer years than what it would normally have been) but I’m thinking that the emotional rollercoaster that has been the last four years might be coming to an end.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t have exchanged it for the world. We’re in a good place now, and I’m super-enjoying Bingeing Grimm with her (we’re getting through the seasons faster than I thought we would, but she’s enjoying the series and I’m enjoying rewatching them) so this is a beautiful thing.
But the end of her ‘schooling’ chapter is hurtling towards us and who knows what’s on the other side? (Well, God does, but no-one living here on His good green Earth does, that I’m aware of) so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in the next chapter. We just need to get through this term, and exams, and graduation first!
