Peter's kitchen

... is a beautiful place to be.

While in Hobart for the annual CAUTHE conference I stayed with my dear friend Peter. He's renovating his house and building just about all the furniture (including this kitchen) himself. I met Peter when I was 14, and he was kind, creative and intelligent then... and he still is.

It's a lovely thing, to be friends with someone for more than 30 years.

Vale, dear Neil

Today, my dear and much loved friend, mentor and colleague, Neil Leiper, will be cremated. He succumbed, quite quickly, to very agressive brain tumors.

No flowers, but donations to the Melanoma Institute of Australia, in the name of Professor Neil Leiper.

I'll miss Neil very much indeed ... he had, and will continue to have, a great and positive impact on my life.

Group dynamics ... Enjoy!

Perception

Honey, we're hoooome!

Well our intrepid young travellers, Tess and Yarrow, have returned hale and happy from their exciting sojourn in Europe (to see pics of their trip go to http://crystalcadenzas.blogspot.com/). They had a fantastic time: thank you Hans and Niki, Anjes, Lisa, Marc and family, Denise, Cees, Bertie, Peter n Trix, and everyone else for making their time so memorable.

I've returned from a very interesting field research trip to central NSW (I'll put some pics up soon).

When we got home (simultaneousy) we found that Briony had festooned the house with delightful 'welcome home' signs. And John had arranged a surprise welcome home social event, inviting our much-loved Gales family, as well as Teagan and Bonnie, over for a relaxing social afternoon. We had a lovely lovely homecoming ...

The photos show:
- the largest of Briony's many welcome home signs, above the door to our bedroom. You can see where Marc, John and I have removed the plastic 1970's panelling to reveal the original wall boards. We've yet to restore and repaint the walls: a job for much later.
- Tom Gale, cat whisperer extraordinaire, relaxing in the hammock with Sunny, in the afternoon sun.
- A gathering of olives from our olive tree in Julie's basket. Kel climbed to the top of the tree to collect these. In the meantime I was telling Julie about the latest book I read, which she's going to borrow. Hope you enjoy the book, Julie! And we look forward to tasting the olives when they're ready!

Away in Wello

I'm going away till Wednesday 20th, on field research in Wellington ... that's Wellington in country NSW, not NZ Wellington or British Gumboot Wellington. I'll be there with Kevin (K1) which is really nice :-)
Kevin tells me there is no internet in Wellington ... so I'll have no updates till Tess and Yarrow are home from their travels again!

Fridge poetry

While I was in Parramatta doing the hospitals research, I bought the family a new set of magnetic poetry. Briony especially has been having fun concocting some creative language events :-). Some of them, Briony being Briony, are NSFW (he he) but here is a lovely poetic message ...

More snakes!

We like snakes, we do. They complement our jewellery beautifully.

Tess and Briony model the new models ... :-)

Thanks, Kel and Tom!

Morning all

Here are two pics of this morning... view from the back stairs.

In a state of bliss ...

What a hard life he leads... ::sigh::

When I reincarnate I think I want to come back as one of the Grange cats...

Body art

Denise's Christmas present from Briony was the promise of some body art. And here is the result! Lovely to watch this art take shape. After the show, Briony doodled on her own leg, too ... while I did her foot ... Body art is good fun!!

Horses at home

Some of our horses here at the Grange, enjoying the shade of the small-leaved fig.

The bay (left, facing camera) = Gandhi, John's tall and fiery steed;
The pinto (side on) = Rascal Darius, playful two yr old son of Duchess the brumby mare;
The bay closest to the tree = Saturn, Stock horse mare, rescued from a future as dogmeat, and possibly the best horse I've ever had the pleasure of riding;
Just visible behind Saturn are the golden colours of buckskin Elara, also one of Duchess' get;
Off to the right is gallant strong Emu
Not in picture: sweet Blue, as he was asleep elsewhere, and Nova, who is still in Billinudgel with the stallion.

Click for bigger.

Denise found a little snake ..

In the tree at the Myth, just a tiny lil' snake-let ... (Seriously: how gorgeous and healthy, hey? A beauty of a python!). Denise, to her credit, was totally unfazed and took several beautiful photos of this lovely visitor.

Remy is S.M.A.T!

'Cos he can do the crossword too.

New Year at the Grange

Remy would like to wish you a contented New Year

World travellers

On the 28th, Tess and Yarrow set off for Portugal to have a holiday with Dad and Niki, a journey that took them about 40 hours (a working week!). They went from the Grange, to Lismore, from Lismore by Rex's Saab turboprop to Sydney, then on their own across the world by Jumbo jet to Hong Kong, Amsterdam, then finally Lisbon. Here's a picture of them as they set off. For piccies and news of them in Portugal, see Crystal Cadenzas.
Travel well and come home safely, my loves!

Happy Birthday Briony!!

It's Briony's birthday today and she's a wild and wonderful 16 years old!!!

Here's your birthday 'card', love! This photo was taken at 6 a.m. on a December morning (last week) ... already warm, and temperatures expected to reach 43 degrees in Lismore, but cooler here nearer the coast, high on the ridge where we can catch the breeze.

This is the view from the back step looking ENE (East-Northeast). Ethereal, hey...

Have a happy day Briony! I'm sure you will, seeing as your sisters have just wrapped you in cling wrap and ribbons and are graffiti-ing your back ... :-)

A map for Michele and Steve

Michele and Steve are going to spend a couple of days in Amsterdam, so here are some suggested strolls which take in some very special places. The Amsterdams Historisch Museum, the Begijnhof, the Oudemanhuispoort, Waterlooplein. Enjoy the walks, Michele and Steve! Have a great time!

View Walks in Amsterdam for Michele and Steve in a larger map

Friends: and love

Tess spent the night with her dear and lovely friend Bonnie, who had a small bunch of friends over for a birthday sleep-over.

They got creative.

Body art, I'd call it. And very clever, at that.

Aerial view of the Grange

Click image for larger photo. The red border is the farm boundary. Thanks to Google Maps!

Animated commercial for the NZ book council: brilliant!

The Grange: Floor restoration update

A new beginning: The Grange

High on the volcanic basalt ridge of one of Wollumbin's furthest spurs lies the village of Clunes, population 450 (or thereabouts). Possibly the first house built there is The Grange, built of local hardwoods (mostly teak), in the late 1800s. Although well cared for by the Battistuzi family from the 1970s till the turn of this century, it has since fallen into some disrepair.

This is the house that John and I have just bought, and will be gently and lovingly restoring over the coming years. It has five bedrooms, and comes with ten acres of undulating land for our horses to graze on (although we'll probably appreciate the spectacular views as in the photo above, more than they will). Most of all, though, it comes suffused with hope, and love, and space for new beginnings.

Welcome home John and Mieke, a place for us, a place for our daughters.

A musical thought

Not true of all modern composers of course, but worth a thought. Original source unknown but I got this through Stan's TYWKIWDBI