Day 195 - Early signs of Spring!

Had to take a pic of these blossoms along Burwood Highway somewhere - the first I have noticed for the year - and it's still July!

Day 194 - a trip to Maling Rd on my day off.

Picked mum up from the rehab centre today and drove to Maling Rd shopping strip - classy and expensive part of Melbourne outer suburb, but charming and old worldy - for a light lunch and window shop. Mum appreciated the change in surroundings but is making good progress recovering her balance through special exercises. She will be able to go home soon and resume her usual activities

Day 193 - Elluminate Meeting for PLP review

Final review of PLP presentations today for Aussi schools. Slight panic to begin with as the Elluminate program was blocked at school - we'd forgotten that! Anyway, a quick dash around to my place (5 mins away), a scramble with spare laptops and then we were in business. The meeting went well, Sue spoke very capably, I managed okay. Received positive comments for my ulead movie.Then back to school for a fun filled arvo.

Day 192 - Cooking daughter

Younger daughter, never very confident with cooking (unlike older daughter)has finally found her feet and is displaying her baked frittata pridefully.

Day 191 - Smudgy gets cosy

My mother's cat, Smudge, is becoming increasingly comfortable at our place. Here he is being friendly to Penelope and Isaac and then later, peaking in through the kitchen window.

Day 188 - a quiet Sunday

It wasn't really that quiet. I'd just spent a rather tense couple of hours with my mother and other family members discussing family matters.
On returning home the garden provided a peaceful retreat as I had fun inspecting some flowering activity I had been too preoccupied to notice.

Day 187 - More Yert Progress

Neil, Isaac's dad, worked on the yert today and some significant progress was made.
It's going to be an amazing space and we're full of admiration for Neil's building ingenuity.

Day 186 - Bookclub at our place

It was our turn to host our bookclub meeting this time round - happens about twice a year. The pic shows the fruit flan I purchased from the local bakery for sweets - very yummy. Our book was The Slap by Chris Tsoilkas - a ripper of a read. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that because the story involves some rather confronting personalities who have some rather skewed values. They swear a lot, drink and imbibe too much, have affairs etc. But I couldn't put it down! It's one of those books you just eat up. Our next book is Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee which might return us to a slightly more rarified literary level.

Day185 - a feline visitor

My mother's cat has come to stay with us for a while. Mum hurt her back recently and is spending some time in rehab. Smudge (the cat) was in a Cattery but it was getting a bit expensive so he's having a holiday in the hills.

Day 184 - Making a movie for the PLP project

Scrabbled this movie together using Ulead for the PLP presentations coming up soon.Haven't used Ulead for a while so the whole procedure was rather fraught but finally managed to complete it and post it on utube and our school Ning. It's okay I suppose -could be better refined but time was against me (and aptitude)

Day 184 nose to the grindstone

Stayed back late tonight cross-marking and ranking year 12 SACs (School Assessed Coursework (s) so my work desk seemed an appropriate pic for today.

Day 183 At the end of the day

Walking to the car park at the end of the day, I noticed the soft colours in the sky that came up fairly well in my big huge lab mosaic.

Day 182- lunch amongst the parrots

We had lunch today at the Kallista tea room where they feed rosellas and sulpher crested cockatoos.

Day 181 Saturday

Grandchildren came round today - always lots of fun.

Day 180 - Bloggers' Feast

After a very hectic, full on day at school, very much enjoyed some time out at Bloggers' Feast at La Camera to meet Julie Lyndsay and other delightful folk. Always love Southbank by night. Pic shows View of Flinders St Station across the Yarra River.

Day 179 - New curtains

The curtains in our family room are 32 years old and due for a change. Here's the short list designs we have come up with. I prefer the red print, other family members prefer the others. I'm sure we'll make a decision soon.

Day 178 -another day at the chalkface

Well the chalkface is not quite what it used to be - thank goodness

Day 177 - Web 2 Instruction Day

Sue ran her staff info meeting on joining our school Ning and the 21st Century technology revolution in education. Hopefully some folk were inspired.

Day 176 - My blue-eyed niece

My brother sent me this photo of Selvi today -our little Turkish / aussi princess. I had to include it for today's post.

Day 175 - A new rooster in the garden

I found this fellow at the Secret Garden Nursery in Daylesford and he seems happy ruling the roost on our front porch.

Day 174 - the glass paperweight

I've been gearing myself up to teach 1984 next term and came across this glass paperweight in an antique wharehouse in Daylesford called The Mill. I'm hoping this object will facilitate my students' appreciation of its symbolic import."It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky, enclosing a tiny world with its atmosphere complete" pg 154, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

Day 173 - School is looming

Spent some of today at school preparing for next week. I know it's a shame to squander my last day of holidays on school things but I really value the decrease in my stress levels when school begins. Made Nineteen eighty-four (George Orwell) posters to put around the yr12's room and have built a wiki that might be a bit useful for them.The Wordle (idea from Nirvana Rose) is the text of the whole book dumped into a wordle box and these are the words that reappeared.

Day 172 - holiday over

Had a delightful last day in Daylesford - the Secret Garden is a wonder, visited the honey man and Michael Parker's magnificant Stoney Creek Gallery, lunch at Cliffey's before a smooth drive home.

Day 171 - Second Daylesford Day

Took heaps of pics today so had to decide which one to use. Visiting the sublime Convent Gallery, lunching at the Red Star cafe, dropping in on Lavandula? Maybe all three?

Day 170 First day in Daylesford

We have arrived for our short stay in Daylesford and visited The Mill antiques / retro junk. We are staying in a lovely old miner's cottage - lavishly renovated - called Lulus and Sue persuaded Heather to play with her ipod.

Day 169 - Coffee break

Nick was working at home today so we took the opportunity to have coffee and soup at the local cosy cafe.

Day 168 - out in the garden

Finally spread some of that mulch today.Succulents are doing well, first rosebud and the ancient Wollemi Pine is getting a bit of height on it

Day 167 - an afternoon in Warburton

Drove to Warburton today to visit daughter and family.Beautiful views driving along Warburton Rd of cloud shrouded mountains and quaint country townships.

Day 166 A hot presence in a cold garden.

My old schoolfriend, Mary (a teacher librarian at a girls' school) came around today. We had lunch at Earthly Pleasures and came back to my place where we chatted on into the afternoon. We decided that our old school teachers were fairly ordinary - teaching standards have thankfully improved over the years. After I waved Mary goodbye I noticed the red hot pokers glowing at the end of our driveway - the sheep was keeping away from its fiery aura too.

Day 165 - a Day to Myself

First one since the holidays began. Never do as much as I want to - swim, shop, read, vacuum, cook tea! Some more correction? Nah, maybe tomorrow. What about distributing the mulch? Too cold and wet.That's my pic for today - some cold, rainy, outdoor scenes.Bless the RAIN!

Day 163 - Swim at local pool

Nick and I took g'kids to pool today - lots of fun. then we drove over to Bundoora to see Sevim and Selvi who are having a stay in the Mothers and Baby unit at the hospital. Sevim looking heaps better, Selvi a perfect darling.