Graduation Mess, I Mean Mass....

The week before the Grad Ball the BA's dad (let's call him Her Dad) and Step Mum had flown in to attend her Graduation Mass.

We were all delighted to see them and the suggestion was made that we meet for a meal the next night, before the Mass which was at 7pm. Lively discussion then took place regarding the wisdom of this. Himself pointed out that when we had done this the previous year, we had been very rushed and finding seating at the tightly packed school venue was stressful. There was general acknowledgement of this and some alternate suggestion of a supper afterwards, but no real decision was made and Her Dad and Step Mum left, agreeing to meet up with us sometime the next day.

Himself, feeling magnanimous and, more importantly, wanting to prove to me that there were eating establishments in Adelaide which stayed open beyond 10 o' clock, took it upon himself to book a restaurant. He spent several hours the next day researching the task online, finding and confirming a place willing to take a booking for 7 people at that late hour, and reading up on the menus and reviews. When he texted me to say he had been successful, he was well pleased with himself. The only minor hitch in this plan was that we had not actually confirmed with Her Dad and Step Mum that they wanted to eat with us after the Mass.  I texted them regarding this detail. I got no immediate response but assumed they were simply busy.

When I got home, Himself was raving about the place he had booked. He had read every review and was so pleased with himself for finding us a 5 star restaurant open after 9pm! This place apparently had a world class chef! The level of his enthusiasm set off a small alarm in the back of my head. I texted the others again.

Me: Did you get my message about dinner after the Mass?
Them: Yes, sounds lovely but we are eating now. May join you for coffee.

I took one look at my 'pumped' husband and sent them this text:

Me: Are you going to tell Himself that you are only coming for coffee??????????

*****************************************

Naturally, in anticipation of the five star meal he would be enjoying after the mass, Himself did not eat lunch. But that was only the start of his problems. The Mass was outdoors.

We had to be seated by 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Once in the tightly packed quadrangle, there was no easy way for Himself to exit, unnoticed,  for a cigar break. 

It started under sunny skies,

but as the sun went down and the lights came on, the temperature plummeted.

Pretty, but cold! Really cold (by Adelaide summer standards).

 Her Dad and Step Mum both pulled on bushwalking parkas; my mum had a warm shawl around her shoulders; Dad had a jumper under his jacket and I was wearing a coat; but in his summer weight suit, tie and shirt, Himself was freezing. Bone jarringly, teeth chatteringly, blue lip style freezing. And the Mass went for for over two hours.

(The Principal presents the Baby Angel with her traditional rose as she and her opposite number carry candles for the Graduation Procession.)

(An attempt at capturing the Year 12 procession down the diagonal aisles, with candles. Fail. Tiny dot at centre is the BA.)

(The Baby Angel gets emotional).

And that two hours did not include the photos afterwards.

 

(See what I mean about the coat).

After that, no one was game to contradict Himself when he matched purposefully towards his vehicle claiming he was ready to eat a horse. Cooked by a 5 star chef. And WHO WAS COMING WITH HIM?

On the way to the restaurant, all I could hope was that it would live up to his expectations.
To everyone's immense relief it was very nice and we were all able to have a light snack whilst Himself devoured a beautifully prepared rare steak. After which he began to once more resemble a civilised human being.

The Weather Over Adelaide Today

We are under all that blue stuff at centre bottom. That's TC Carlos at the top and the edge of TC Dianne to the far left. And it sure feels like a TC here in Adelaide today. Himself in his usual understated way has pronounced that we are forecast to get 'more rain than we've ever had before in history' today.

Hmm. We shall see. I for one am enjoying my day off although I am doing work for my old school and going in later to hand over 'stuff'. It will be a relief to be done with it.
Have a nice day y'all.

Straight From Rubbish Tin To You

Huh. In the space of two days it went from Spring to Summer and back to Winter again!

Here's the evidence of Summer. The sun came out, we opened the doors and the flies flew in >:-(
Fortunately I am a dead eye with the fly swat! There are 15 bodies in this fly graveyard. I was piling them up with a kind of sick delight.I am more deadly than 'the man with the can of Mortein'!
(Scroll down the link site and have a look at 1962)

First day back at school yesterday and the thermometer soared to 28C! The house was stuffy and unpleasant when we got home and I am reminded that the air conditioner is on its last legs. Today, a huge front rolled, we had rain and we're all back in jeans and jumpers. Still, at least I don't have to think about the air conditioner for a bit longer.

The BA has come down with a cracking cold since the departure of Middle Sis and I am keeping her at bay with garlic and crosses as I have NO time at all to be getting sick. This last term is a really intense one. Short and with many things to 'wrap up', I am going to be sparse on the blog front until at least December. But I can report my first week's 1kg weight loss!

Of course it was this which inspired me to cut out the unhealthy carbs and get back into exercising! When my Sis decides to do something....she goes the whole hog! Just look at the definition in those arms.
And isn't she glamorous? Here she is about to go and impress all those middle aged ladies at her 30 year school reunion!!!!!I've got a long way to go to catch her but to show I mean business I have taken to my 'half way between growing back and being a stupid looking mop on the top of my head' hair...with serious 'product'. I think it's called 'Dirty Rockstar' or something, which of course describes me perfectly (NOT!!!!!!) but anyway, here is my new 'look with attitude'.
I am trying to channel Meg Ryan.
Since the other day when I did this I have messed about a bit more and here is my more conservative 'work' version.

Even my (soon to be ex) Boss commented on it this morning!!

And just to finish off before I disappear into the Real Universe for another frazzled week of failing to meet deadlines, here is another example of the kind of thing I was bemoaning the other day. This delightful CD was on sale at the airport no less! Delightful! Still, at least they used the stars. A modicum of discretion.
Have a great week folks. See you at the other end of the marking, planning, writing and arm wrestling the BA into doing her homework!!!!!!!!

Somebody Build Me An Ark!!!!

It was raining cats and dogs and hailstones here today....and where was I? On the roof of course, trying to figure out where the water was coming in >:-(
Whilst up there I cleaned the gutters and established that we need a gutter repairer guy in tout de suite but failed completely to find the leak. Fortunately it is dripping onto our wood fired heater with a reassuring hiss. So at least it is evaporating rather than causing water damage anywhere.
By the crikeys it rained today. The roads were awash, the spoon drains failing to cope and my car creating a bow wave on the way in to work.
Meanwhile, I have to write two exams so the BA and LaJF are making the dinner. Could be interesting.

Here is her effort at a Gingerbread House.
Remember I told you she wasn't very crafty.......
Oh and here is a KI teaser:Don't even ask!

Shhhhhh....Listen....

The wind has stopped. I can hear birds chirping! But there is the mother of all fronts coming in over the sea. I think it might be the other side of yesterday's weather pattern. Maybe it will blow everything back over the other way and it will all be straight again? Wonder if that would work on the basketball post that blew over yesterday? Hmm. Maybe not. .....


Where was I?

Oh yes...reports....

"Junior is a lively, social member of the class............."

Oh The Wind Is Blowing Gustily

After the record heat of the previous two weeks, the last few days have descended once more into a wintry bluster. Today has been amazing. The wind has not let up all day, in fact it's doing my head in. It's a bit like the Chinese Water Torture. From time to time rain lashes almost horizontally against the front windows and we can see white caps on the sea. Given that it's about 8km away Himself assures me that these would be waves higher than our house!

I am wedged firmly in the jaws of report writing. Ugh. How many ways can you say, 'This child could not care less about mathematics and makes no effort whatsoever to engage with the curriculum. He would not know homework if he fell over it and the concept of revising for a test is as familiar as Russian metaphysical poetry of the 14th century '?

Occasionally I can slide in a quick, 'works well in class' or 'contributes actively to class discussion' although the latter is not always a good thing; especially when class discussion involves either 'why we shouldn't have to learn maths' or 'what I did on the weekend'.


There has been no sailing for the past two weeks. Last week Small Boy had a birthday party to go to so Himself stomped about like a bear with a sore head who has been deprived of his salmon. This week of course the wind strength meant everything was canceled. The last recorded result was Jester 7th and Gunshot first! I think No 2 Son had a second last week too. At least one member of the family is having a good season.

Oh and The BA's team won their netball last night beating another team from their club who were in the division above but have been dropped down. She put in a scintillating second half after a slow start and was pleased to have found the measure of her opponent whom she has practised against in the past but never beaten.

Small Boy has been playing non stop with his two mates from up the street, of late. The three of them are seemingly inseparable and undeniably boys! This is the kind of spontaneous pose you get when you ask them to smile for the camera. At least Small Boy is well trained!! It's hard to believe he's the oldest of the three of them given his size isn't it?

Other bits and pieces: I've got a cold which came out of nowhere. I feel ok but can't stop sneezing! Very irritating! Also the Small Boy introduced us to a website called 'Grooveshark' where you can find 'any song in the world' he claims and stream it for free! Himself is currently on a quest to find a song that isn't on there. I am being treated to a soundtrack of Yes, Pink Floyd, Nils Lofgren, Rory Gallagher and Lou Reed. Bit of a time warp.

Ah well. I must stop procrastinating. Back to the grindstone. Let's hope this wind lets up soon.



Sunset on the Eucalypts: Nov 09

PS: The Weather Widget Is Asleep Again

It currently says 27C.
Well, yeah! Here under the air conditioning vent MAYBE!!!! I wonder where their thermometer is???????

Missing In Action

I admit it. I've kind of been living at ebay and facebook lately! I don't know what's the matter with me; I don't feel like writing. Maybe it's the weather? Over 37c again today and forecast to last til Saturday!! :-(

I'm currently in the market for an overlocker (serger for you US types). I lost out on one the night before the big wedding because I was so busy sewing the BA's dress that I forgot to check on the auction progress. I've got a lot to learn about this ebay thing. Turns out that one didn't do rolled hems which are apparently a big plus and certainly would have been a good thing on the BA's dress (I felt the hem I had painstakingly hand sewn looked neat but heavy; rolled may have been better) so maybe it was for the best.

I've tried to do a little research on the various brands but there's remarkably few user reviews. It's also tricky to find out whether the second hand machines on ebay do the rolled hem and whether they have an automatic setting or need a cumbersome needle and plate change. Predictably, companies are more keen to tell you about their current models.

There's a Janome Mylock 654D (I think) going and I'm in the running but I'm trying to decide whether to go over the Au $150.00 mark. Postage has to be considered as well. Does anyone know this machine and whether it's worth it?

Aside from that I had a very interesting weekend catching up with a friend from Teacher's College whom I hadn't seen for 20 years! She had tried to find me some years ago, phoning everyone in Sydney with my maiden name and asking if I lived there. I was deeply touched. Finally she found me on 'friends reunited' which lists people against their schools and training or tertiary institutions. I signed up for that site in 2000 and am still listed under my maiden name.

I picked her up from the airport on Friday night and we had a wonderful catch-up at the BA's netball match (they won and she played VERY well). Unfortunately, with a sleepy BA on my hands I had to drop her at her accommodation that night and meet up again the next morning.

Boy we can talk!

We talked all through the morning, all through lunch (Italian), all through my drive by tour of the city, scenic trip through the hills to my place, tour of the house, drive back to the city, pre dinner drinks, dinner (Thai) and nightcap. By 11.30pm my eyes were rolling in my head but I attempted to continue carrying on a conversation, surrendering only when I started talking about staircases in my sleep whilst sitting upright at the table!

I camped responsibly over on her couch and then took her to the airport in the morning, after MORE talking.

Well, we had a lot to catch up on :-D

Back to school today and I'm on a course about Numeracy Support for two days. So far it has been quite interesting and challenging. Much of the basic stuff I am familiar with but the challenge is how to apply it to disenfranchised teenage learners.

And just because I have been lazy of late and because you haven't heard much from my classroom babies, try these little beauties from the recent Y8 test on Co-ordinate Geometry and Line Graphs.

A graph is presented showing the weight and length of puppies on the y and x axes respectively. Pupils are asked to order the puppies according to length and then to order them according to weight. Surprise, surprise the order is different. The final question asks:
" Is it true that longer puppies are always heavier? Give a reason for your answer."

Here are some of the responses:

" No because it says Spot 's length is long but he ways (sic) the least of all of the dogs.
I had a dog really short but he weighs a lot."

"Not all the time and it depends what dog it is."

"No because Oscar is the heaviest dog and he is not the longest." (errrrr yes he is.....)

"If a puppy is longer than another it's going to be heavier because it has more fat and skin and bones."

*sigh*

Now I'm off to mark the Year 10 Taxation and Depreciation/Interest tests.

Wish me luck............

Update on the Weather For Thursday Night

Did I say she might have a dry night?
There was a thunderstorm about 2am.

Best Shot Monday: Sunshower

There's been a lot of rain around in Adelaide lately, which is a blessing of course. On Sunday in the late afternoon, we watched the squall move in over the sea and hit us with full force. It was amazing standing on the balcony in the glare of the sun as the rain pelted down. Everything always looks so fresh and clean after the rain. I haven't been taking too many photos lately and these are just taken with the PAS which I grabbed in excitement as the shower passed over however they are my Best Shots for this week. As always, check out Mother May I to see what other more serious photographers have to offer :-)

Hemispheres

I South

Busy busy busy busy
working
hot and busy
hot and working
working and busy
home.
home requires work
home hot and requiring work
busy
busy busy busy
crabby
hot and crabby
home hot and husband crabby
husband requiring work.


II North

meanwhile
on the other side of the world
my sister waited
in an unheated baggage hall for
over two hours
while the ground crew patiently
thawed
the frozen baggage compartment doors on the plane.
and her husband
warm but worried
on the other side of the thin walled partition
drank brand name coffee and considered
the snow covered motorway they must
negotiate
if they ever
got
to go
home.

Best Shot Monday: Pool Hair.

Hey ho for best Shot Monday!

I guess it's no surprise that we have been spending a bit of time in our pool (snake notwithstanding...he/she seems to have vanished ). In my case I don't venture out until the sun is on the other side of the house (some of you know of my problems with sun) but the kids of course are in at any opportunity. Having said that, the last few days have been too hot to walk across the paving barefoot so we have tended to leave it til later.

A couple of nights ago, I decided to forgo the joys of splashing about in an uncoordinated manner whilst fending off my loving daughter who seems determined to hang off me like a limpet whilst dragging me towards the deep end which she KNOWS I feel uncomfortable about, and sit serenely on the side of the pool taking photos/videos.

There was much "Look at me, look at me", going on.



from all parties,


but I also managed my Best Shot for the week.

We call this "Crazy Pool Hair". There are a number of versions!

For more photo treats, click over to Tracey at Mother May I to see the rest of 'Best Shot Monday'.

Heat Wave 4: Suffering

Didn't I tell you that heat brings out the bugs? Well, yesterday I had the pleasure of being stung by both a wasp AND a jellyfish!!!! Although I'm not sure whether a jellyfish counts as a bug.

But anyway! They both bloody HURT!!!!

And just feel grateful that, due to the unpleasant nature of each sting site, I have spared you the usual photographic evidence!

The wasp flew up my skirt and stung me on the left, upper thigh! Most unpleasant. I still have a raised welt an inch and a half across. The jellyfish wrapped its tentacle around the upper thigh of my other leg!

The BA was also stung by jellyfish, on the hand and leg, and when we ventured up to the Surf Lifesaving tower to ask if they had any 'Stingose', we were in a queue of three others! I blame the warm water after all this heat. Jellyfish are not usually one of our local nasties.

The lifesavers kindly handed out mini ice packs which we gratefully applied. Today the stinging has stopped and been replaced with itching!

The widget is telling us it's 31C but my thermometer on the balcony says 38C. Either way it's markedly cooler.

Good grief.
image credit

Heatwave 3

The widget says 34C ( at 6.40pm) but it feels hotter than that INSIDE!

I guess there's a point where the evaporative cooler becomes inefficient. Maybe our pads need cleaning.....?

Oh and yesterday I killed a scorpion in the front hall and a redback spider the size of a walnut in the porch. Gross.

Did I mention heat brings out the bugs :-(

Off to get into the pool and let the BA onto the computer so she can plan her weekend. What a social butterfly. Think it might involve being in an air conditioned movie theatre!

Heatwave 2

5pm

41C

A Free Man has just called to say their air conditioner has died.

I told you things break in this weather. I have a terrible feeling about our old evaporative cooler............

Heatwave

This weather is not just unbearable, it is downright dangerous.
This is the kind of weather where things break, sometimes even people break.
The day is a long nightmare and when you finally get to sleep at night with ice packed around your neck, you know you will wake up to the same thing again tomorrow except that the retained heat will make everything just that little bit hotter, the car air conditioner will have to work a little bit harder and the train lines that didn't buckle yesterday might just do so today. Every ensuing day adds to the interminable surreal quality of life.
People start to do strange things.

Don't know what my little weather widget is saying right now but as I type it is after 11pm and the outside temperature only recently dropped below 40C.

The 'evaporative cooler' is not cutting it and it was so hot outside today that it hurt to breathe.

And of course, with this hideous heat you get BUGS.

On a positive note they have cancelled the Swimming Carnival on Friday so we get to skulk in air conditioned close proximity to sweaty, smelly, teenagers. Joy.

On another positive note we haven't seen the snake for a few days. Maybe he has baked behind the retaining wall? Mmmmmm. Snake-kebab.

Off to do a chapter of Year 10 Algebra in order to be ahead of the class.

Wish I could concentrate but it's so........hot...........

Weather Report

"What's the forecast for today," I enquired idly as I rifled through my drawers attempting to select an appropriate garment for the day.
Himself rolled over in bed and murmured something.
"Oh, you're awake, do you know what the forecast was for today?"
He didn't even open an eye.

"Mm. 13 knots."

Not quite what I had in mind.

In Flight

The Baby Angel's netball team won their Semi Final on Saturday due, in no small part, to her great game in Goal Defence. The Goal Defence must intercept the pass and prevent it getting to the attacker, in this case the Goal Attack player. I'm not sure if she actually made the intercept here, she may be a bit too far away from her player, as I was frantically taking random shots with the PAS which, as most of you know, are rubbish for action shots due to the shutter delay.


In this one however I remember that she was succesful. You can see the Wing Attack on the far right waiting to receive the pass from the Goal Attack (being defended by the BA). The neat thing here was the BA went for a tap down which put the ball into the hands of the Centre player on the far left of the shot. She may have been a tad too close to her opposition but maybe that's just the foreshortening of the shot?

Anyway, she did a brilliant job and kept the opposition to a rather sad 4 goals in the face of her team's 34!

Next weekend it's the Quarter Finals which will be a much tougher match but still do-able. The girls are just hitting their stride as a team after a fairly unsettled start to the season. They had been put together from two different teams and did not initially 'gel' with friends tending to pass to friends rather than the best available player etc.


As you can see it was yet another grey, wet, chilly Winter's day here in Adelaide. I have resisted complaining about the Winter so far as I complained so much about the Summer, but really, it is getting beyond a joke. Here we are on the downward side of August and the rain and cold continue unabated!!

Usually, by now, we are feeling the delightful tickle of spring. Instead, five day forecasts are a repetitive litany of 'showers, more showers, maximum 13C, further showers.......'
Apparently this is the coldest winter for 30 years but I'll have to confirm that. So much for Global Warming the kids at school say and I don't have an immediate answer that doesn't involve complicated explanations of 'long term trends', 'averages' and 'extremes'. Cold comfort at the moment if you'll pardon the pun.





Nevertheless, the sun did come out long enough for us to have a pleasant birthday lunch for Himself on Sunday afternoon. That sad landscape to the right is my version of the sun coming out. We enjoyed the company of several couples including A Free Man and his delightful family and the BA 'oo'ed and 'ah'ed over Baby Z and set herself up for some babysitting work in the future. Later we visited the developing shell of a 150 year old ex bank in the little township of Aldinga where some friends with vision are renovating and creating a fantastic cafe/lounge bar/wood fired pizza restaurant/cook-your-own BBQ/local produce market, all in the one spot! Can't wait for the opening.

In Celebration

  A Song Of Rain: C J Dennis


     Patter, patter ... Boolcoomatta*,
     Adelaide and Oodnadatta,
     Pepegoona, parched and dry
     Laugh beneath a dripping sky.
     Riverina's thirsting plain
     Knows the benison of rain.
     Ararat and Arkaroola
     Render thanks with Tantanoola
     For the blessings they are gaining,
     And it's raining -- raining -- raining!





It didn't just rain. It fell out of the sky as if we had walked through the door with the bucket
balanced over it.

Dust washed off cars.

Torrents swirling down the gutters.

Piles of leaves, foam and rubbish near the storm water grates.

It is raining - raining - raining.


*btw: some of my very good friends used to own the station (ranch) at Boolcoomatta.
Three years ago they gave up on hoping that the rains would ever come back and moved
to the city.

Random Thoughts From the End of the Week

1) Weather

This from the Official Meteorology website.

Persistent high pressure system triggers southern heat wave

Much of southern Australia has just experienced an exceptional and prolonged heat wave, the result of a persistent high-pressure system in the southern Tasman Sea, according to a Special Climate Statement issued by the Bureau’s National Climate Centre.

Many centres, particularly in South Australia, set records for the most consecutive days with high temperatures.

Adelaide had 15 consecutive days above 35 °C and 13 consecutive days above 37.8 °C (100°F), breaking the previous records of 8 and 7 days respectively. These represent new records for any Australian capital city. Also breaking consecutive day records were Ceduna which had 12 days over 35°C, Mildura which had 14 days over 35 °C, and Kyancutta which had 13 days over 40°C.

Now for Chris and Sinead who are moving here soon (ohboyohboy) here are the winter rainfall statistics for the last few years.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/season/sa/archive/200708.adelaide.shtml

http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/sa/20060901.shtml

(and scroll down past the pastoral stuff to Adelaide rainfall....)

so......not sure the raincover for the stroller was the most essential purchase Sinead but reaaaalllly hoping I am wrong and you are bringing some Irish luck, and weather, with you.

Today, Good Friday, is the most glorious day you could imagine but as you can see from our withered landscape, we could use a little rain.
Dotted around Adelaide are green spots of gardens with pointed signs on the gates and fences;

THIS PROPERTY USES BORE WATER.

Who knew there were so many bores in Adelaide (yuk yuk yuk).

Our garden is not one of these little green spots. It is more of a brown, spiky, dusty, patchy spot, with sticks. Here is our cat with one of the sticks.
I think it has fewer green leaves since this photo was taken two Thursdays ago. (Rats: missed another Theme Thursday)

2) School.

It has not been a good week in Special Ed. One of our Asperger's students was expelled after enormous amounts of input and heartache on the part of my lovely colleague. My very best friend E lost the plot completely and had a go at me (literally). I am still talking to mental health professionals about her. And finally, the test I left for my Year 9 Maths class to do while I was on a Conference was a complete disaster with only two of them passing >:-(.
This, I think, was my biggest disappointment.

I have been attending lots of courses on maths for themiddle years and all 'best practice' would suggest the use of concrete materials and rich activities as the most effective style of learning for not only
Sp Ed kids but most pupils. If however, I get out the fraction kits for Y9, they greet me with groans and 'this is primary school' and 'you treat us like preschoolers'. They then switch off and end up building houses with the fraction kits, or throwing them across the room at each other. Therefore, I went back to worksheets and explanations which they all worked through happily....and then only 2 passed the test. *sigh* Back to the drawing board.

On a positive note, of the two who passed, one got her highest mark ever with 98% and the other is one of my most disaffected learners who rarely passes anything :-D. So I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.

So Easter is a chance to rest and recuperate and regroup for the next big offensive. (We've been doing WWI in History) Plan, plan, plan is going to be my approach. And blog when I am bored with planning.