International Fleet Review

On Sunday Steve was playing in a chamber concert at Kirribilli

so we girls took a trip to Darling Harbour 

while he was rehearsing.

We hoped to see some of the tall ships and warships

berthed there, following the big celebrations on Saturday

(which we only saw on TV)

Just as we arrived, this tall ship came in,

back from a harbour cruise.

Perfect timing.

We started walking, but it was 

oh. so. hot

and

crowded.

So many people,

walking so slowly,

with so many strollers and toddlers,

and not a breath of wind.

Laura feels hot all the time,

so she was really struggling.

Just as we thought we couldn't take anymore,

we came upon a ferry wharf,

and were able to board a free ferry within minutes,

after enjoying being on the shady wharf.

Suddenly the afternoon went from 

disastrous to perfect.

Shade, a cool breeze, views 

and close-ups of the ships we wanted to see!

Woohoo!

Amazing clouds.

The ferry went via Balmain

and dropped us off at Luna Park,

just near Kirribilli!

We wandered slowly around the harbour edge

stopped for iceblocks, 

and walked up to the Neighbourhood Centre,

where there was some great yarn-bombing

and a brilliant performance by Steve & co.

As we left we enjoyed the first night of daylight savings.

A long trip home, with train delays and more,

but home again

and a public holiday the next day, to recover!

Painting the fence

 

It's school holidays,

and we are blessed with not one,

but two lots of child-free time,

... and we've been painting again!

Mostly me.

Originally, the painter was going to paint the fence.

But he was called to another job,

and the weather was never right to call him back.

So I first painted some of the fence a year ago,

after much waiting for the elusive combination 

of available time and dry weather.

And now another year has gone by!

Dad came with his gerni and we bleached

and hosed the fence last week.

Since then we've had

sunny weather,

so no excuse not to paint.

Sigh.

I got the last little bits of the first coat

done this morning,

just before it started to rain at last.

Thankfully I can't paint again until the fence 

has dried out, another 3 days.

And we've run out of paint.

It's been hard work,

especially in the hot sun,

but it's a good feeling to be saving about $1000.

Next job will be some landscaping in the front yard.

(In addition to painting,

we have had some dinners out,

a trip to the cinema,

and time to do other projects

in some peace and quiet :-)

Good times.)

Enjoying

Brilliant sunshine 

pouring down into the backyard,

and Poko Cake,

made with pear and chokoes,

recipe in the Failsafe Cookbook.

I don't know why I waited two years to try this,

or to cook with a choko.

Yum.

Skater Girl

Laura, off to an iceskating party,

wearing colourful summer clothes, 

as always.

For the rest of us it was a Saturday of

housework, shoe-shopping and music, 

rehearsing for 

Emily's saxophone exam on Monday

and her friend's flute exam on Tuesday,

both of which I am accompanying on piano;

and enjoying a Thai dinner and a video.

And it was good to have a sleep-in this morning,

it's been a big week.

Looking forward to school holidays

in a week's time.

The tempest and the calm

Yesterday was a wild day.

Hot and very windy,

and while bushfires raged in the west

we had some fires of our own to put out,

behaviour-wise.

Hard work.

And the rest of the day was also hard.

But after a night of tossing and turning

in the smoky air

today has turned out to be much calmer

and we are just taking it one step at a time.

"The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character."        - Albert Schweitzer

Although it wasn't at all a "great calamity",

especially compared to those struck by bushfires,

it was pretty intense.

But I'm doing ok today, 

so I guess I must just be frivolous. 

But there's hope for me ...

 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV

Royal Wedding

Yesterday we dressed up for a Royal Wedding.

The girls were not actually guests, 

Steve and they went off and did other things during the reception.

I stayed for the whole wedding,

(but wish Steve had taken another photo of me beforehand,

I'm not relaxed here at all!)

The wedding was held

not in a cathedral,

but in a lovely garden.

The weather was hot for September,

 but we were in the shade

when my cousin the bride arrived

with five lovely attendants

dressed in teal

and dressed herself in layer upon layer

of filmy white tiers.

Afterwards we celebrated with this spectacular backdrop.

Loved the classic cake.

A beautiful wedding

for the new

Mr & Mrs Royal.

Seeing double

Laura has been seeing double for quite some time now.

Please excuse my feeble photo-editing skills,

but I believe this is what she sees a lot of the time,

in addition to other weird and wonderful

visual disturbances.

As I've said before,

we've been on a journey

to figure out what's going on.

A journey that's involved lots of

medical appointments

and various diets 

and much emotion of one sort or another.

But on Tuesday we received a new diagnosis,

and instructions for a treatment

that actually might help.

Laura's ophthalmologist thinks she has

convergence weakness,

which causes headaches and double vision.

The double vision in turn

might be triggering migraines.

So next week we begin seeing an orthoptist

who will give Laura exercises

that should cure this problem, at least!

If he's right I believe Laura's life might

become a whole lot easier.

I'm excited, 

although I've been excited before 

and it's only led to disappointment

when a diagnosis 

or a diet has proved wrong.

So I'm quietly excited.

My next challenge

is to make sure Laura actually 

DOES the exercises.

Cause she looks angelic ... right?

* * *

I'm glad the end of term is in sight

and that we have a direction to follow

for the next month, at least.