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 2007

Consolidation

This has been the year where, in hindsight, children and Dad have grown, gained strength and developed in so many different ways. Cathy has provided the unquestionable  and unstoppable support that has helped confidence to be built.

Very early in the year, Sam went off to the National Scout Jamboree in Central Victoria, along with most of his troop, to join many thousand other scouts from all over the country for 10 days that were packed with action from dawn until well after dark. Life was surprisingly quiet back home, and we waited to hear from the ocdcasional phone call, where Sam had obviousl memorised all the things to tell us, drew a big breath, and spoke continuously for 20 minutes about what had happened. Most of it was great, but there a couple of scorchingly hot days, and he missed some of the variety in his diet! It did show us, however how much his resilience and independence have grown such that he could thrive in such a demanding, and somewhat alien environment.

In the meantime, Abi thrived in the undivided attention, and became busy being creative, including painting her bedroom.

Abi learning how to paint her bedroom

New neighbours arrived, too, Rico from East Germany and Katja. There have been here for a year now, and plan to extend to 18 months by somehow extending their scholarship. The have been great friends, full of bounce, enthusiasm and support, and we have all enoyed their company immensely.

By Easter 2007, I had finished my Masters degree at long last to everyone's relief, not least of all mine. The whole course had been planned as 10 units over 2 years, and I was only 1 unit behind at the end of 2006,. I worked as hard as I could, trying to maximise exercise for the recently separated parts in my brain after the second operation earlier that year. I ended up doing 4 units simultaneously, and while it might have been an effective form of therapy, I wouldn't want to do it again! For my final unit in early 2007, I elected to do some more economic theory because although I had understood the principles, I'd never been that good at applying it in practice. Suffice to say, I was hugely proud to have caught up with everyone else on the course in time for the graduation ceremony.

Triumph at last!

But who got my hat??

I've still been having intermittent seizures during the year. Working out how to manage them has been a slow process, not least because it can only be trial and error, and when it is almost fixed, it takes a long time to find out that it isn't actually fixed if it is a long time between seizures. I remained upright for 5 ½ months since March, and had become optimistic for a cure when I gently subsided again in a friends house. Careful logging of potential factors that might have brought about each seizure has helped to eliminate most possibilities, but we're still working on it! I've only gone down once whilst riding my pushbike, and I had sufficient time to stop and lie down in a dignified and painless manner – a great improvement on the previous year!!

This year has been Sam's last at primary school, while Abi has been in year five. She hasn't been helped by having a high turnover of teachers, including two dropkicks (an Australian expression). The school had a biennial school concert in September, and Abi had the privelege of being one of two presenters. She was reluctantly convinced by friends, fellow students, teachers and even family that she had to make the best of the limelight offered to her, and not to turn up in a daggy school jumper. She happily admitted to butterflies in her stomach (including the three that crash landed,) as she succumbed to a glamour treatment helped by Cathy's ballgown that simply blew everyone away, as well as performing fantastically. Primary school children simply shouldn't look or perform like that...should they?

In Contrast, Sam left Weetangera Primary after an incredible 7 years that seem to have flown past, but in reality have spanned over half of his life. The school took the farewell seriously. The year Six kids usually become mentors for the small kids who have just started at school, and this role is taken seriously. On the last day of term, all four of us went to a 'farewell assembly' where both individuals and achievements were acknowledged, and each child received a folder with records, a collection of nice comments from other classmates that were surprisingly insightful and touching, and made a ceremony which ensured that everyone left on a high, feeling appreciated and special. Hasn't school changed!!

Farewell, Sam!

Friends

One wonderful treat was when Gail popped over from Perth for a few days in July to catch up with the Watsons, and vice versa. I took a couple of days off, and we simply nattered, and caught up with the things that mattered to the two of us and the family. She was one of very few people who unhesitatingly believed that I'd pick her up from the airport on a recumbent tandem (to save on parking fees, you see...)

Mike brings Gail home

I guess that one of the biggest surprises was to hear from Abi's godmother, Helen, and to find out that she was no longer living in Tuscon, Arizona with Lance and their children aged 1 and 3, Noah and Maddy. Instead, they had decided to return to Oz, and even more, to live in Canberra!! It has been a joy to catch up with them to play with them and with their children who are the same age now as Sam and Abi were when we first moved to Canberra.

Noah with Mum

Abi shows Mandy how to apply makeup properly

I think that this must be considered as the year of the unicycle for us. Sam and Abi are now so talented, but they have differinginterests where they focus their cycxling skills. True to nature, Abi loves performing, and has also found an undiscovered skill in track and field events. Sam loves playing unicycle hockey, a fast, exciting team game requiring a high level of skill to win. We have been going regularly to Wednesday-night club meetings during term-time, where fellow unicyclists just 'hang out, socialise and do their personal thing with friends. In March, the Canberra team took off to Sydney and play the hockey team who were the present national champions, to learn how exciting and intimidating it can be. Once home, Sam steadily enthused all the other players to come and play hockey with him, and a formidable team between the ages of 12 and 18 evolved, ready for the national championships at the end of September. The Canberra club's versatility helped a lot, because they could do so much more than only play hockey. The opposition had problems coping with the defence who could play riding backwards as well as they could riding forwards, and therefore simply couldn't be dodged around as they tried to steal the ball. The best thing of all was the Canberra team won: they are the national champions! Sam was the youngest in the team aged 12; playing an adult opposition. It is hard to overestimate the pride felt by all.

THE Champions!!

Abi moved up an age group, competing in the 11-14s, aged 10, and blitzed the field in nearly all the track events, being the fastest and the slowest (according to the need) over a range of distances, and now holds seven junior championship trophies (I think). Her main event, however was a synchronised performance to music with her best friend Lizzie, where they dressed up and danced in a range of styles. They looked fantastic, and came second. I think that their biggest highlight happened a couple of weeks later, when they performed their routine at theschool assembly to rapturous applause.

Abi& Lizzie waiting for their turn

We had a special haloween unicycling night. Of course, everyone dressed up sensibly.

Hunting for blood...

Dad joins in...

... and an unsuspecting victim innocently awaits.

Pets

Pets have had a variety of ups and downs. We had suffered the inevitable consequence from beoming an old age chook-home, with several dying of old age, and few still laying. As we aimed to re-stock, we looked for something different and selected the Australorp variety a bandsome high-performance breed with black feathers and a good reputation for egg-laying. The only problem was that we could not get this breed nearby: instead, we shipped them in from Sydney. Transport wasn't cheap but it cost the same whether you shipped 1 or 100 day-old chicks. We advertised, and purchased about 25 chicks and sold them on to defray the transport costs in September.

Abi and Lizzie handling a very young chick

As ever, they were sooo cute, and made a mess in their large cardboard box indoors until they were big enough to fly out into the living room, after which they were soon weaned into living with the grown-ups in the chicken run. This happened in time for our departure to the UK in late December.

The guinea pigs thrive being busy little guinea pigs in the back garden, and have learnt how to aviod the predators. Having said that, our local magpies are smart enough to recognise them as part of our family, and will actually protect them if some other bird variety tries to mob them! Abi cleaned out their hutch, and found out that they prefer pooing indoors, and hauled out 80Kg of top quality guinea pig fertiliser for the veggie patch!

This was just the first load of guinea pig offerings

Native fauna has suffered dramatically upon the arrival of a cute little kitten next door. Out carefully cultivated stock of local frogs, lizards and skinks were simplyhunted out of existence in very few weeks; something that the cat's owners could not comprehend, accept or cope with. A great shame.

Scouts

Both Sam and Abi have thoroughly enjoyed both the weekly meetings and the camps they have attended. Cathy amd Mike are also roped on a fairly regular basis, either because of the useful vans or because we are the now the Troop's quatermaster/mistress (sounds scary...). This year was the 100^th anniversary of Scouts, and rather than attend the Governor-General's dawn ceremony, we fixed up for the troop to climb Black Mountain tower for dawn instead. The night before, a major baking went on, as everyone got involved in making a huge loaf of bread to eat with soup after the ceremony Cathy did the baking, late into the night. It was a good thing, as the wind was howling, and quickly froze everyone. It was personal and special as everyone had been involved in somethintg that they had invented and done themselves. Unfortunately, Mike missed out, as he had to disappear overnight on a work job.

1st August, cold, very early, windy

Towards the end of the year, we had the opportunity to spend a weekend at a ski lodge in the snowfields through the scouts. It was early summer, and it was a great time to go walking in the remote alps, where hardly anyone can be found out of season in this cold, wild area of Oz. We got to see local wildlife, and even to play snowballs in the last remaining area of snow.

This is a wild echidna from up in the Snowys: maybe their spines keep them warm, somehow?

Lunchtime, high up a mountain with scout friends

Life has beeen fun and eventful. We are leaving for month in the UK, Andorra and Thailand, catching up with many friends on the way. The stories about those adventures will now have to wait until next year. Until then, may your life be as full of events and experiences as ours has been this year, and may it similarly enrich you.

Ever sane & sensible

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