Suburbia this isn't

Whilst my computer was busy upgrading some client data, we all went for a walk around our village and surrouding streets. This photo is a typical view.
The older children always like to ride now that we are on relatively level land, while Lana and I walk with Clare and Rose in her pram. It was a pleasure to wander around exploring our home with new eyes and thinking how it is different from our previous home of over two years.
We are about two hours out of Sydney and I think it is worth the travelling.

A claytons dog

Our next door neighbours have a cute friendly little dog called "Ike". (Clare keeps calling him Mike)
As they are not always around, Ike wants company and our place is able to provide lots of company! He arrives here around 8:00am waiting for Lana's parents to awaken so he can accompany them on their morning walk.
Now that the children are here, he gets to join them too! He will take as much petting as you can give him. Here he is assisting us find wombat holes.
He is the dog you have when you don't have a dog. That is why we call him our Claytons dog.
The term "Claytons" is derived from an advertising campaign many years ago for a brand of a non-alcoholic drink. The advertisements basically said this is the drink you can have when you're not having a drink. Pretty quickly this became part of Australian language to describe anything that wasn't really what it purported to be. Such as little mobile hut serving hot food as a claytons restaurant, a large family van as a claytons school bus, and so on.
Here is an example from a news report re a "claytons" marine park, a business providing a virtual secretary, even a government minister criticising an opposition policy as a claytons policy.

The local Waratahs

The Waratah is the state flower of New South Wales. The normal colour is red, but in rare parts of the country white ones can be found. Lana was able to capture photos of both in her local walk. They are growing in yards of the locals.

The flowers are quite different to anything normally seen in the US or Europe and it is no wonder it became the state emblem.
More information about the Waratah and "How the White Waratah became Red"

Wombat Holes

Whilst I have been out and about helping my clients, Lana has restarted her daily walks. The children like to come along and make it into a "nature walk". So Lana goes for a walk with her parents early in the day, and then they all go for a walk or bike ride later.
Today they had a good look at some wombat holes. These holes were in the side of a local road. If you look closely you can see the scratch marks in the sand stone the Wombat has made to burrow into the ground.
Wombats are not noted for their dazzling intellect. They are often seen dead on the side of the road, normally because they have been a bit daft. A common nickname for wombats is "Mobile roadblock". Wombats like to wander into the middle of the road after it is dark. When the car stops and waits for it to cross, the wombat will look at the car, consider which way to cross, start in one direction and then just as the car starts to move, quickly dash back the other way in a fine attempt at getting underneath the vehicle.
Also, many an old house has a collapsed corner due to wombats burrowing under the edge of the house with the weight of the structure collapsing the hole.
More information can be found here.

The Apple Dumpling Gang

Ariel has just finished reading the book "The Apple Dumpling Gang" by Jack M. Bickham. This appears to be the book the Walt Disney film is based on, although most of the movie differed from the book.
This is her review:
I thought the book was really good. First you find out that this guy, John Wintle, is going to the sheriff's office wanting the sheriff, Adam Bricker, to do something for him. He asks the sheriff, "Will you be able to pick up some valuables coming on the coach tomorrow?" The sheriff asks "What type of valuables?" John Wintle answers "personal valuables." The sheriff agrees but wanted to know where Wintle was going. Wintle said San Francisco. Tonight. In about 30 minutes. The sheriff then writes a note to remind himself to go to the coach and sticks it on the moose's antler.
The local editor has been writing about the sheriff, saying he is too old, and gangs are out of control and generally being a nuisance.
The next day the sheriff goes to pick up the valuables and there are five children waiting for him.
So the differences to the movie start piling up. The hero is the sheriff (not a gambler), there are five children from an 18 year old girl down to a 3 year old girl.
The same things?
1. There is Bobby and Clovis - two of the children
2. Clovis kicks people in the shins if you touch him.
3. The Hash Knife gang - Theodore and Amos - just as incompetent as the movie characters.
4. There is a Stillwell gang.
There is no gold mine, no forced marriage (the children encouraged the sheriff to propose to his long time love), no fighting over the children and too many things to mention.
Overall the book is VERY different to the movie and much more enjoyable than the movie. It is worth tracking down.

Farmer in the Dell

Today we had a delightful afternoon with the local homeschool group. Our group of families meets the Third Sunday each month and involves Mass at 11:00am followed by no planned activities until 1:30pm when we have some devotions in the Church for about 30 minutes, then more socialising. As each family has, on average, about six children there are a lot of people with which to interact.
At one point a group of the children of varying ages began to play "Farmer in the Dell" (pictured). One child starts in the middle as the farmer. Then the children all join hands and dance around in a circle singing:
The farmer in the dell, The farmer in the dell, Hi Ho the dairy-o, The farmer in the Dell.
Then they sing:
The farmer chooses a wife, the farmer chooses a wife, Hi Ho the dairy-o, the farmer chooses a wife.
Then the "farmer" chooses one of the circling children to be his "wife".
The children then sing, "The wife wants a child...", the "wife" then picking a child, then "The child wants a dog" and "The dog wants a cat" and "the Cat wants a mouse" and "The mouse wants some cheese." and "The cheese starts to dance..."
This is the end and the "Cheese" is the farmer in the next round.
Good fun all round. As you can see there are children of all ages playing - even a three year old boy standing in the middle watching all those around him in amusement.

We're back in the 21st Century

DSL/Broadband arrived in our little village a few months ago. When we returned to our home we only had dial up and one phone line. This was a huge change after living with DSL in the US. Whenever we wanted to go online and check email and update the blog or research questions the phone line became busy. Also downloading files was quite painful.
Now we are back with great broadband allowing us to access the outside world with the speed to which we have become accustomed.
Woohoo!

The Gathering

The word has passed around. Our house feeds birds!
In this photo you can see the King Parrots, a Crimson Rosella on the ground and Pink and Grey Gallahs on the feeder and in the air.
Lana's dad made the feeder from excess timber left over from our deck and the base of an old washing basket. The grooves left over by the basket sides make a great perch for the birds.
Some of the birds are quite cheeky. They even wander into the house demanding their breakfast! Still, feeding them from the hand is an acquired skill. After seeing Ariel and Eric feeding them with seed in their hands Lana though she could give it a go. The female king parrot (green head) immediately bit her finger. Lana MIGHT try it again, but certainly a bit slower. Apparently the biting is training by the bird of the person to get the hand a bit closer.

Judas Tree

This tree was growing at the home at which I stayed in Tumut. It is known as a "Judas Tree" (Cercis siliquastrum)
It is a small tough drought and heat resistant tree from the Middle East. As you can see it has masses of pink pea flowers in spring.
It is named "Judas Tree" as it is supposed have been in the garden of Gethsemene when Judas betrayed Jesus. Also, note the leaf shape: A crimson heart.
Being drought and fire resistant this will be a great tree to plant around here.

Sheep, Sheep, everywhere

Sheep are a huge part of the Australian economy and diet. In the part of the US where we lived (Georgia) lamb was uncommon. The main meats were Beef, Pork, Turkey and Chicken.
Here the main meat types are Beef, Lamb, Pork and Chicken. Kangaroo is pretty rare!
This photo was taken from the highway when I travelled to Tumut. All those white spots are sheep (click for a larger photo). As I went on the secondary road to go up the mountain to Tumut I saw a couple of farmers on horseback droving the sheep. It would have made a great photo but there wasn't anywhere to stop. :-(
The land looks very green and first glances indicate that all is well. However those on the land have mentioned that all the green doesn't reflect growth. The grass isn't dense or tall enough to provide much feed for the sheep and cattle - but it is a lot better than brown!. Hopefully the rainfall will continue.
Also, notice the colour of the gum trees. The typical colour of trees in the US in Spring is vibrant bright green. Gum trees (Eucalyptus trees) have blue green leaves which remain all year. Throughout the year the trees drop dead leaves, twigs and branches depending on water supply. This builds up a great wealth of kindling ready for the Summer bushfire season.

A view from a hill

I have just been away assisting a client in lovely Tumut. Tumut is in the edge of the Snowy Mountains and is a beautiful part of the world.
This photo is the evening view from the lounge room of the house in which I was staying. There has been some rain lately which has greened up the whole landscape and making everything feel like new again. The pond down below is reflecting the setting sky, with pink tinged clouds.

A small gathering

Yesterday after Mass we visited family friends. There were five families there which meant ten adults and 31 children ranging in age from one to eighteen years of age. We had tasty barbecued sausages and steak for lunch and a variety of desserts for afters. Many of the desserts were from the children's entries into the local agricultural show. The local shows have competitions for livestock and plants and other "agriculural" things, but the pavilion has a plethora of entries covering cooking, crafts and almost anything anyone makes.
A number of the children had entered cakes and artwork winning a variety of prizes. Prizes were typically a ribbon or certificate and a token cash prize of a couple of dollars. Mind you, the children get pretty excited to get such tokens!
Whilst the adults chatted on any topic, ranging from politics, religion and the meaning of life and even controversial topics like football and cricket, the children all went their merry ways. This type of day is always very laid back and extremely enjoyable.
We ended the visit with all the families joining in prayers and then departing into the night.

The big and the small of it

The children are very excited to be in a larger vehicle. Our friend purchased a Ford Transit van containing 12 seats for us ready for our return so we all have a chair with some seats to spare.
Last weekend we went shopping and parked next to a REALLY SMALL car. It was a "Smart Fortwo" car. With only two seats and 2.5m long we were all fascinated. As you can see in the photo James couldn't help staring at the car as he walked away. Our "little" car is in the background.

Skeleton Moths on the gate

Lana and the children have restarted their daily walks up to the local General Store/Post Office. The walk combines getting the mail, catching up on local news, going past the playground and nature walk.
Yesterday the children noticed what looked like a leaf on the gate. It was actually a moth. Our research indicates it is probably a Gum Leaf Skeletonizer Moth. Click on the picture for a close up and compare it to the dead gum leaf in the background. How is that for camouflage? Underneath the moth is bright yellow/orange. The hand rails are about 90mm/3.5" wide which means the moth is about 10cm/4" across. Its lower wings are folded under the upper ones.
The caterpillars are hairy and can cause skin reactions and they eat the leaves of eucalyptus/gum trees leaving only skeletal remains. Hence the name!

Unpacking surprises

The majority of our furniture, equipment, kitchen stuff and whatever we didn't take to the US were all stored in a spare room. This week we have been unpacking and discovering many items we had forgotten we had and were glad we hadn't thrown out in our pre-move cleaning frenzy.
One surprise we didn't expect to find was a mouse. Lana's parents had set a trap in the spare room with no success once they noticed the mouse's calling cards. When we began unpacking some boxes in the house the mouse rushed out and scampered from hiding place to hiding place. The children had fun chasing him until he hid underneath the lounges. We knew he couldn't chew through the steel and solid walls, so we reset traps inside.
By day two he had been caught. James wanted to keep him as a pet. Not - a - chance.
The trap we used was a plastic one which works very well using peanut butter as bait. Unlike cheese which can be pinched/stolen without setting off the trap, when the mouse tries to lick or eat the peanut butter - SNAP!

The sky is full of stars!

We live about two hours south of the centre of Sydney and the sky here is very clear.
Tonight I rediscovered one of the reasons we live here. The sky was FILLED with stars! With the naked eye you could see that the Milky Way was made up of millions of dots of light.
When we first moved here I realised that God's promise to Abraham (to have descendants numbered like the stars in the sky) was for a lot more than the few one sees through the background light of the city streets.
Of course this also means that it is quite dark at night. On our first night home we stumbled around barely familiar corridors looking for the bathroom. Nightlights were one of the early essentials.

Settling In

It's now been almost a week and we are pretty well settled in. I have started back helping out my clients, all our bags and boxes are unpacked, Lana's Cross stitch patterns are on the walls, we have food in the pantry and are getting back into a normal sleep pattern.
The trick to avoiding jet lag (or at least minimising its effects) is NOT to go to sleep until it is dark. This meant staying awake from the time we landed at 6:00 am local time to around 6:00pm. So the children stayed awake 48 hours less about 6 hours on the plane. The younger ones fell asleep at various times during the journey, but the older ones did pretty well. We have all been getting to bed early and waking early too.
Lana's mission yesterday was to get her pictures up on the walls. Once they are up we know we are home. Lana and her Mum worked out where they were all to be placed and then Lana's Dad came in to do the deed. He very wisely did other things until the girls had made up their minds! This photo is from the loungeroom showing an old picture we picked up from Vinnies (St Vincent de Paul Op Shop/Thrift store) and reframed surrounded by some of Lana's Cross stitch works. The picture is of two ladies doing some tapestry or cross stitch with a Madonna and child painting in the background.

Fairy Tales Dilemma solved

I like to take a couple of the children with me whilst out on errands. It keeps me company, they enjoy the outing occasionally getting a treat and I get to enjoy their assistance at the various places I need to attend. Yesterday I had Clare and Ariel with me and we were listening to the story teller Jim Weiss. He is a very good narrator using many voices and has a large collection of stories on CD.
As he was telling us some famous fairy tales I asked Clare, "Do you know this story?"
"Yes" she answered confidently.
"What's it about?"
"I don't know." Clare replied in an equally confident voice.
After listening to "The Shoemaker and the Elves", we then heard the story of "Rapunzel". When the witch took away the one year old Rapunzel, Clare announced that the elves should sneak in to the witch's house and take the baby back. I had to explain they were still busy making shoes and weren't available.
Clare is obviously learning problem solving and learning to apply this skill as required.

Feeding our visitors

Ariel and Eric have a mission. They are trying to get close enough to the King parrots to feed and pat them. Ariel and Eric have them feeding from their hands, and they are getting very close to allow themselves to be patted.
Here Ariel is reaching towards the male King Parrot. (The male has the red head, the female's head is green)
The parrots preferred feed is sunflower seeds.

A welcome visitor

This little fellow is one of a number of Australian King Parrots that visit us each morning. They have gotten used to the availability of seed our friends had supplied whilst we were away.
So as part of our shopping I included bird seed. We will make a bird feeder a little ways out from the back deck so that all the deck remains cleaner and we should all have a good view of these colourful Australian native birds.
There is a great tool to help you determine the type of bird at which you are looking called "The Bird Finder". It works very well! Once found there is an information page which includes the bird call and other useful information.