Fun In the Sun

Today we decided to go up to the Sunshine Coast and do some swimming and/or sunbathing and/or dogwalking and/or beach-play type stuff.

After only one false start when we decided to go back and fetch the sunscreen (it's winter here don't you know) we got to Dicky Beach at Caloundra about an hour later and soon were ensconced next to our favourite lagoon.

It's salt water but seperated from the sea itself by a kind of sand bar thingy, so in theory the sun shines on it and it gets very warm and this is certainly true in the summer, but not today where the temperature struggled to make it to more than about 23 or so - hold on whilst I check that against the UK.... oh, is it summer over there?

But notwithstanding all that the water was pretty cold so no more than adult toes got dipped whereas Eloise waded in up to her neck for laughs as she made friends with local puppies and children.

Me, I put my hat over my face and closed my eyes and let them get on with it, and I'm pleased to report that the mild sunburn I sustained to my legs has now abated.

Off to the Library

After ballet we trooped off to the library with Eloise on her bike and us on our feet.

Eloise went great guns and it only took us about fifteen minutes to get there (it's about half a kilometre give or take). Now that she's getting the hang of pedalling backwards to brake she's pretty happy about getting down hills, and she doesn't mind pedalling hard to get up them either, but then she has me as her mentor as far as hard uphill struggling goes.

Afterwards we went to the playground and Eloise made us both go on the roundabout with her, and for my part I was certainly somewhat green around the gills afterwards from that.

Honourable mention to Dad whose birthday it is today. Happy Birthday.

Still

With Nicole having Fridays off at the moment, it's our routine for me to drop the ladies off at ballet and then go on to Bunyaville Forest where I park up and walk down what I have come to call "Gammy Knee Hill" then through the damp forest in the valley to a lake where I and the dogs will root around (root that is in the English sense of the word rather than the Australian) before returning to pick the ladies up as they finish.

Today was supposed to be a windy day but didn't really turn out that way, but still in the shelter of the valley the air was still as night and there wasn't so much as a ripple on the surface of the water.

Song, Birds

The new level of music lessons is pretty radically different to how it used to be and Eloise is taking some time to adapt, which is interesting to watch.

It's much more formal with the kids sitting in a row with chime bars at the ready while an actual lesson with teaching and so on happens.

It's taken Eloise three weeks to come to terms with the format. Last week she absolutely hated it, very shy when she was put on the spot and not happy about sitting still and paying attention. She found it quite distressing, and probably I didn't help as I became quite frustrated at her unwillingness to concentrate, in retrospect a mistake.

This week she was very much happier, and I was much happier too as I let her get on with what she wanted to get on with and just filled in for her where she didn't want to participate and I think that she's getting used to the format much more.

Another part of the problem I suppose is that we've joined the class weeks into the term - there were no other classes that were convenient for us - and the other children have been doing it for three months more than Eloise has. But their progress is quite impressive, even the young siblings are singing along when they have to and are very attentive, apparently with very good concentration.

So I expect that if we persevere that it'll be really beneficial for Eloise.

On the way home, after a stop at the playground, we saw a flock of corellas - tropical birds to you and me - roosting on a telegraph line at the bottom of the road. A sizeable flock of probably fifty birds has been hanging around for weeks now, there being a house locally with a comprehensive bird-feeding facility, and they make a hell of a hullaballoo.

We went down a little bit later and as the sun went down and their wire fell into shadow they flew away, probably seeking out some warmth somewhere as out of the sun it's pretty chilly.

Matilda Catches Fish Shocker

In an unpopular move with she who must not be obeyed we went to the beach this afternoon under still grey skies which obscured the horizon though the air was so clear that Moreton Island and the Glass House Mountains were stark across the miles of water.

Maybe it was the weather conditions that allowed Matilda, after years now of constant practice, to actually catch one of the little fish that flit around in the shallows and hide just beneath the sand.

A lady we met said that it was a Toadfish, a worrying development for Neighbours characters, so called because they inflate themselves when distressed. We thought it was a Puffer Fish.

Who knows, we may both be right.

Anyway whichever one of us might be correct, we both suspected it might be at least mildly poisonous so it was a good thing that Matilda, never having caught a fish before (one unconfirmed previous incident aside), and totally against type, didn't seem to know quite what to do with her catch, and left it on the sand for Eloise to play with.

Washing Bicycles

It's bike maintenance weekend what with Nicole noticing my back tyre was flat precipitating an outing for the puncture repair kit, and a bout of bike cleaning this morning.

Eloise threw herself into it wholeheartedly buffing and polishing her little pink pushbike while Nicole degreased every cog and chain she could find. Eloise wanted to go the whole hog and clean her chain too but not much investigation didn't reveal a way to remove the chainguard so she had to make do with purely cosmetic cleaning.

Dreecht

I think that's Scottish for wet. Which it has been for the past couple of days. Continuous light to medium rain. And cold too. But obviously not cold enough for you-know-who to actually put on a jumper, not without a fight.

So Nicole got a lift into work yesterday and a lift home too. You might have thought the lift home would be implcit to the offer of a lift there I suppose.

And at swimming we were treated to the sight of indoor fog as the heated pool evaporated and condensed two feet into the air making for a very strange swimming experience.

It's been bad dog days with no walk yesterday and a brief one today while Eloise was dancing creatively. We went to the forest, and in the midst of all this damp and chill, would you believe the forest is flowering.

And in pursuit of indoor activity, we've been shopping and to a Picasso exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art. Which was fun, but not as good as the Warhol one.

But the forecast is looking up, it should be 20 degrees tomorrow, according to the weatherman,. Shorts weather eh!

Promotion

I applied for a Clinical Nurse post before heading off to Auckland. I think I spent 30-40 hours writing the five selection criteria. I was shortlisted and had the interview today and was told unofficially this afternoon that I was successful. Hurray.

I have also been offered a place for the Master of Advanced Practice degree. I am busy applying for scholarships and research grants.

We went out for a celebratory meal this evening at Ragazzi's in Grange which was very nice.

Tis a Chill Wind

Tis a Chill Wind that blows from the South, in this case.

We thought, after an attempt to go to an exhibition that ended a month ago, mercifully aborted before we even left home, and after some playing at picnics in the garden, to have a bash at the beach.

What was a lovely warm day inland chez nous turned into a somewhat chill one at the beach with a brisk wind blowing across the bay.

And what with the Little Un dressed only in her Sunday Vest, the females retired to the sheltered playground whilst I walked the dogs across the windswept sand flats.

A brisk walk - to complement the brisk wind - and I met up with them at said playground where some good-natured frolicking was done prior to the arrival of a Greensleeves-tinkling ice cream van, from which we availed ourselves the local equivalent of chocolate Mr Whippy, which, whilst tasty, left us even colder and soon on our way home.

Make Up

Imagine Nicole's face when she saw what Eloise had surreptitiously perpetrated upon herself, in permanent marker (well, freezer bag marker, next best thing).