Playground Safety?

Remember last month’s picture of James leaping off the playground? This month he is again featured. He was climbing up the ladder, reached for a rope, slipped, banging his mouth on the rope, slipped and completed the bang onto the ladder and came running inside crying. “Come here, James,” I yelled. “I can’t!” he cried, so I went to see him, spitting blood in the bathroom hand basin. “What happened!?” “My teeth!” he replied. Both front teeth (which weren’t loose before) were knocked out. Luckily they were his baby teeth. The loose bottom tooth was still there.

James showing his new found gap.

Halloween

October 31 is a very popular day in the US, and not just because it is Lana’s birthday. Halloween has been truly taken over by the pagan crowds, with pumpkins and horror costumes appearing all over the area. Our nearby towns and a few other small towns have a good idea to make it a more family friendly by having a special event in the Town Square (which is actually shaped like a circle). At 5:30 pm all the people gather in the square for some activities, there is a competition for costumes and the local shopkeepers provide candy (lollies). This saves the children from trooping around dark streets, learning how protection rackets work. It is called “Trick or Treat”, which is another way of saying, “Give me some candy or I will wreck the joint”. What a far cry from “Hallowed Eve” where the people would prepare for the feast of All Saints, followed by All Souls day.

Leaves – and Leaves – and Leaves ….

Ariel and Clare catching falling leaves.

Remember the photographs of our house in the midst of lovely green forest? Now we are in the midst of a sea of leaves and changing colours from green to yellow, red, orange and eventually brown. It isn’t just the occasional tree, as it is in Australia, it is virtually every tree. The ground has been covered in leaves, and whenever we go outside, it is to the accompaniment of the Crunch, Crunch, Crunch of leaves and small twigs. Also, at the start of autumn (Fall) the acorns started to drop. During a medium breeze, they hit the roof like a machine gun. It was definitely the time to wear a hat when walking in the woods.
Also, with the leaves going down, we are seeing more of the horizon and the sky. Mountains are becoming visible and there are more stars in a bigger patch in the night sky.

Singing in the Choir

Ariel and Eric are part of the church's Children’s Choir. They practice each Sunday after the 11:00am Mass and are doing very well. This all looked pretty interesting to Peter. He had memorised one of the songs they sang and so asked Miss Eloise (the choir mistress) if he could join. Despite our warnings that he may not be able to sit still for very long, he was too cute to say “No” to. In the first meeting he was proudly sitting there with the music in front of him (although he cannot yet read) and kept asking whether he was on the right page. The best moment was when Miss Eloise leaned over and turned his book the right way up and THEN put him on to the right page.
All Soul’s Day included the children’s choir and Peter was part of it, too, so he sat in front with the other children. Naturally enough he joined in when he did know the words, but the rest of the time he did what he normally did – made a telescope from his program and peered at the congregation, curled up on his chair, reached down to the ground and fell head first on to the floor, faced the wrong way and generally inhabited his own world. Miss Eloise gently corrected him (more gently than we would have) and it all went quite well. The choir sang beautifully and after a nervous start, sang very strongly.
However, Peter now has a place reserved for him in the choir next year. What was his reaction to being “dropped”? “OK”, he said and ran off to play.

Becoming part of the American Scene

Probably the most important news for the month is the announcement of another member of the our clan. We are expecting the birth of a new baby mid next year. That means the child will be a US citizen. So far the children have been born in Melbourne Victoria, Sydney NSW, Blue Mountains NSW, Southern Highlands NSW, and now, probably, Georgia USA.
So now, onto the new adventure of partaking of the US medical system. Perhaps our greatest challenge to date.

Woolly Caterpillars

Whilst watching James play soccer we discovered these interesting Woolly Caterpillars. For a change they don’t bite or sting or cause grievous bodily harm. According to local folklore, the colours indicate the severity of the winter. Black means hard and red means mild. So looking at the stretched out caterpillar in the picture, the winter should start pretty hard, be mild for the rest and end on a hard note. Is this true? We don’t know but we will find out.

Leaves

David raking a lot of leaves - doing manual labour!

Even though leaves cover the landscape in a sea of brown, they make great jumping piles. For safety reasons David raked the leaves off the driveway into piles. The side benefit was piles of leave the children could jump in.

Woodpeckers and Squirrels

Now is the time for woodpeckers to appear. We have seen a few, but as it is only the beginning of the cooler weather they aren’t too loud. Later on, when the insects burrow further into the bark, the woodpeckers will begin their drilling into the trees.
Also, it is becoming easier to spot the squirrels as they leap from tree to tree. As they don’t hibernate, we should be seeing more of them as winter approaches.

Recipe of the month - Potato Soup

Onions
Garlic
Ham (chunks)
Lots of Potatoes

Fill with water
Boil it away until potatoes are cooked (fall apart) and then add in cream and serve. This is a great cold day recipe that uses up all those potatoes lurking in that bag. Couldn’t be easier.

From the recipes of Vicky Floyd.

US Australian Language Primer

Australia = US
Single Bed = Twin Nobody can tell us why
Double Bed = Full
Oops = My Bad When it’s your fault, you say, “My Bad”.
BBQ = Cookout The equipment is a BBQ, but the event is a cookout.
I beg your pardon. = Whaaat? Can you repeat that, please?
Bear = Bar See above

Quotables:
I started out life with nothing, and I’ve still got half left.
(Seen on a cap worn by a senior citizen)

Rattle Snake

We had a surprise visitor in the form of a huge rattlesnake. With a thickness about that of a forearm, and about 10 rings in its tail, it was a big snake. According to locals, it was the biggest one any had seen around here. Everyone first asked, “Didja kill it?”. “With what?” we replied, only having a children’s shovel, which was shorter than the snake. “You’ve got a car, aincha?”
So we just took photos for y’all to enjoy. We’ll have to get a gun for next time.


The Rattlesnake - too far from our car.

There’s Bars in them thar hills.

We met our neighbours recently as they were fixing up the fence. They asked whether we had seen the Bar. We were informed that a big black bar was seen roaming the area, helping itself to food at a nearby holiday caravan. So now we are on the lookout for Bears (locally known as Bars). Also, there are raccoons and chipmunks to be seen too.

Zoning

In Australia, we are all used to having zoning laws. We didn’t understand the impact of this until we arrived here. It doesn’t have zoning. Therefore, instead of expecting to find most of the retail outlets in one place with a central car park or two, any store could be anywhere. This is a town that requires a motor vehicle. You go to the bank that has a drive in ATM. You are not allowed to walk to the ATM, only drive. Then you drive to the Post Office across the road. Then you might drive to the supermarket, or drive anywhere else. There are very few footpaths, and most intersections do not have pedestrian lights.
But it’s amazing how quick you get used to it. There is a lot more parking than we ever had at Moss Vale or Bowral. I think the parking area at either Home Depot or Ingles (supermarket) has the same amount of spaces as all the car parks combined in Bowral. Mind you, with the average rate of car ownership in the US having just exceeded one vehicle per person, they need lots of car parking places.

Religious Education

As we are in a place that is only 1% Catholic, there are no local Catholic schools. Therefore, as all the children are going to public or Christian schools, all children attend weekly Religious Education or CCD (Confraternity of Catholic Doctrine) classes. Any child wanting to have their first communion or Confirmation must have at least 2 years preparation beforehand. There is an exception for homeschooled children. They just have to organize it with the local Parish Priest when they think their children are ready.
David has been volunteered to teach the confirmation class of 11 year nine and ten students. He is enjoying himself with a captive audience that is not allowed to go anywhere else for an hour or so each week. However for the last three weeks, whilst the teacher of the year 7 and 8 students was away, he had to teach about 25 children. The first week he was frustrated because none of the children would answer questions. Then he had a good idea. Bribery. The following two weeks he rewarded every answer (correct or otherwise) with a jelly belly (basically fancy jelly beans). Hands were flying up thick and fast!
When the teacher returned from her trip in Europe, she mentioned she met lots of Australian tourists there. She said they constantly used the phrase “ABC”. She finally asked what they meant. “Another Bloody Church!” was the typically Australian reply to describe the abundance of amazing churches on almost every corner in the major European cities.

Gainesville – Chicken Capital of the World

In the local Student’s Guide to Georgia, there is mention of Gainesville being the chicken capital of the world. It also reported that in Gainesville, it is illegal to eat chicken with a fork! Not being willing to take this seriously, I did a quick Internet search and it was confirmed in many other sites. Still feeling that this seemed even too odd to be real, I emailed the publicity officer in Gainesville. I asked him that was this law for real, and if so, what was the penalty?
His reply was:

Gainesville is the Poultry Capital of the World....as for the chicken and the fork....that was a joke the Police Department played on some visiting Atlanta Disk Jockeys several years ago...they actually created an ordinance to go with it. Thanks for your interest.

So, it just goes to show that you can’t believe everything you read. It is worth doing a reality check every now and then!

TV Guardian

You know how all those movies are mostly OK except for all the stupid swearing or blasphemies that are almost compulsory? Well there is an option here in the US called TV Guardian. It tracks the teletext track on the movie (either TV, DVD or Video) and when an offending phrase occurs, it mutes the sound and shows alternate text on the screen. It replaces the phrase and not just the word. It must use a pretty impressive software algorithm to determine phrases and is normally quite accurate. There are a number of levels of protection, but the replacements are quite humorous. Sony now makes VCR and DVD players with the device as part of the unit.

Policeman Peter

Following on from our joke last month regarding stopping at stop signs, Peter is ever vigilant. This morning, as David carefully stopped and then proceeded, Peter yells from the back, “Well done, Dad. You stopped. You didn’t just slow down.”
Ripper! BYO Policeman.

A Mystery Insect

The children saw this insect the other day and noticed the long stinger at the end. Being wary of insects that might bite (i.e. most of Georgia) they quickly called both of us to investigate. It is very brightly coloured and did not move whilst we were there taking photographs from about 10 cm (4 inches) away. My initial sources have been unable to tell me what it is. One thought was that it was a “Mud Dauber” wasp which builds cool mud cocoon type nests and whose main role in life is to eat Black Widow and Brown Recluse spiders (both poisonous). That would be nice to have, but the pictures don’t match. We’ll continue to investigate.

What is this insect?

Children’s Activities

James taking a leap of faith

Remember the playground? It has been getting a lot of use by all the children. But, boys always have a better plan.

Before the playground was built, Lana heard Peter crying outside. Upon investigation, Lana saw James and Eric on the decking pulling a rope. She quickly rushed to the edge and there was Peter sitting on a bit of wood tied to the end of the rope and being let down. He was crying because Eric and James realized he was too heavy to pull all the way and they were letting him back down.
So, they completed pulling him up and pulled him through the balcony. Just remember, young children will give us all plenty of evidence for Guardian Angels.

Last week, the boys had a new plan. They tied rope from the fort/playhouse to a nearby tree. Combined with the loop from the end of the very thick rope we had been given, they created their own flying fox.

US Australian Language Primer

Australia - US
Bed Head = Head Board A Bed head is the impression left on your head after lying on your back too long.
Main Meal = Entrée If you’re not hungry, don’t ask for an Entrée!
Biscuit = Cookie A biscuit is something like a scone/bread roll
Boot = Trunk “Chucking it in the boot” is not a familiar term here.
Tyre = Tire Pronounced “Taaar”
Windscreen = Windshield

Cheque = Check Used here for everything. The bank statement includes a page containing a copy every check presented during the month. In Australia, a telephone or utility bill lists about 6 to 8 different ways to pay – Cheque, Bpay, Credit Card, Eftpos, direct debit, Australia Post, etc. Here they all want you to pay by check.