Weekend ends with Deb Practise

Tom is partnering a girl at the school's deb ball on Friday night. The parents had to go to deb practise to learn the dance they do with their parent. It's a long time since I did my deb, so I was glad to have an opportunity to refresh the steps.

I stood at the back of the hall watching all these grown up teens. I had a bunch of them in year 7. They are great kids and have grown up well. It's quite amazing the change since they were at our campus 3 years ago.

I loved having Jane on Friday night. I was delighted that her daughter Ricki was there too. I haven't spent time with Ricki like that for ages. She is a great young woman. Yesterday we went for a walk and Sam is walking so well he pushed Tom in the wheelchair for a little while. It was quite amusing. I was sad to see them go.

Wollongong Trip - Mt Kosciusko

We spent our next day at Kosciusko National Park. Andy wanted to do the walk to Mt Kosciusko, which was a 20km round trip.We were departing from Charlotte's Pass.

I opted for the walk to the glacial lake, which was 8km return. I think I stopped about a km short. It was really steep and being as unfit as I am I kept looking back at the steep downward slope I had come down at the start and knowing that was going to be at the end, wore me down mentally. Andrew’s walk was a round trip so he had to come up that climb at the end and admitted it was the steepest part of the walk.

As we headed back to Jindabyne to go through on our way to Cooma, a hail storm struck. It was amazing that only a few days ago we had been worried about bushfires. I believe the bushfires eventually got to Kosciusko National Park earlier this month.

We stayed in a motel at Cooma as we were tired and the thought of camping didn’t appeal.

Driving to Charlotte's Pass from Jindabyne clips are here and here

Lookout 1, 2 and 3

Walk clips 1 and 2

Leaving the National Park

The Hail Stones

Beautiful Willow

I walked down by the river yesterday. I love these willowy trees. I also took some film of an amazing flowering camillia.


It had two different pink coloured flowers. One was the lighter pink and the other a darker pink. It was so tall also.

I haven't been for a walk for ages. I really enjoy the late afternoon walks but only manage them on weekends. After school I am always too tired. I need to walk before school on weekdays.

I had full intentions of doing that, this morning but Ella is sick with a cough and I worried and listened to her coughing most of the night, so couldn't get up this morning, despite my plans.

Podcasts and Walking

I think one thing that has made walking easier for me is that I have been downloading some podcasts to listen to whilst I walk. It is dark still at 6.00 in the morning so there isn't much to see and listening to a podcast makes the time spent doubly valuable to me. This week I have been listening to Steve Pavlina's podcasts:http://www.stevepavlina.com/audio/
I also found a site that I am going to try on the weekend, which has heaps of audios :http://www.audiodharma.org/talks-gil.html, I haven't listened to them yet, but they look interesting. It's a fabulous resource though.

Stroll through Morwell

Yesterday I had to go to Bunnings to get some more tiles for my mosaic. I have nearly finished putting all the tiles on and I am pleased about this. Andy suggested we go for a walk. I haven't been exercising much lately so I agreed it would be good. We left from Mid Valley and walked along a drain or a creek, under bridges and through really lovely groups of trees. It was a really pretty view of Morwell and it dispelled some of the impressions I have of Morwell.
I lived in Morwell in the mid eighties. I shared a house with friends close to the town centre. It was when Morwell was less abandoned and I enjoyed my time there.
Unfortunately the battery on my digital camera was flat or I would have taken more photo's. I had to use my phone camera. There were some really tranquil and pleasant pockets along the walk. It reminds me of the book I love by Thomas Moore "The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life". In the book he talks about little corners of the world that are magical and special and good for your soul. I think that walk was good for my soul and I don't know why I so often resist things, which are good for me.

I also took this photo, of some mushrooms growing. I don't know if you can see them properly. They were the edible mushrooms not the magic ones! I remember around this time of the year going out into the paddocks around Drouin East near my Auntie Angela's house and coming back with buckets of mushrooms. I really enjoyed it. You don't really hear of kids going mushrooming much now. I wonder why?

Not going to the Park

Earlier in my life, I lived in the Berwick area on and off for around 10 years. I must have driven past Wilson Botanical Park literally 100s of times and never took the opportunity to visit. Today I was visiting old friends in that part of the world and my best friend and partner had an appointment there. It has changed heaps. I don't know why but I decided we should go to Wilson B. P. for a check out. It was amazing. A really beautiful space in the heart of the hustle and bustle of an overgrown village. If you live in that area you really should check it out and spend some time there.
You can see forever. It is refreshing to be out of the rat race and it is just delightful.
We shouldn't take these things for granted because our wild spaces are shrinking. There were very few people there, which is amazing considering how busy the rest of Berwick is. I hope that it always remains a sanctuary for the wildlife and people who do need to see nature.

A good day was had by all

I loved today. It was one of those flow days when things fall into place and plans work for everyone. Here is a photo of a corner of my home that I particularly like at just that time when the sun comes in the window.

I made a bit of progress on a project I am working on today and found a few useful tools that will add a lot of value I think.

I rearranged appointments successfully so everyone got their needs met - I love it when that happens.

I made some good decisions about my mosaic. I haven't put them into action and I realised today there is not a hope of completing it before going back to work on Monday, but that's ok, because I want to do it properly. I am getting clearer and clearer about how I want it to be. I'm in no rush to get it right. I'm enjoying the process.

I'm feeling happy, creative and very grateful about my life. Just like I was when my daughter Asha rang to say she had a surplus of chocolate and could we help her out. Here's a picture of Tom with a mouth full.

I went for a lovely walk tonight and bumped into an old friend who I discovered lives just around the corner. It made me realise how far I have come in the last 10 years and how much I love my life.

I enjoyed window shopping. I prefer that to shopping in the daytime. The crowds of shoppers don't allow you to stand and stare. The lighting always makes things look better at night.

Daylight Saving - don't you just love it.

Tonight we went for a walk down town at around 7.00pm. We walked through the park. It was mild and the light was perfect. I really appreciate the summer and daylight saving. It gives life a leisurely feel. There is time to enjoy the stroll down town, and still achieve a bit of housework and cook a worthwhile meal after work.
I had a good day at work and met my final class. The students were all respectful and well behaved and I hope that I can ensure the classes are interesting and challenging enough to keep them this way. I do love teaching. I know I can build a good relationship with the students. I enjoy learning and improving my skills and knowledge with them. I love getting to know them as people and sharing in this small year of their lives. It is a real privilege I think to be a teacher.