Continuing Catch-up Photos

I'm really glad my children still enjoy dressing up, they have so much fun with it!

Baby Bear is studying Year 11 Drama this year. This was semester one's performance. They had to work in groups and do a sketch based on an archetype of some sort - fairy tale, myth, etc. Her group used a story about Buddhist monks. She played various incarnations of weirdo - lost, on drugs, rejected by society, etc - and one of the monks tried to help her while the other one was dismissive of her problems. Her performance was, of course, brilliant. In fact her portrayal of someone on drugs was rather scarily realistic and even her drama teacher though so! Don't you love the 1960s air hostess uniform? She picked various costumes from the drama costume department which had obviously been stocked from dubious op shops.

And this is another proud moment. Baby Bear singing a solo (admittedly a very brief one) in Hamer Hall. She was part of a choir of secondary school students from around the Eastern region of Melbourne, all hand-picked to perform in a concert called As Time Goes By. She also played the flute in an orchestra. It was a wonderful performance all round and it was a great experience for them all to perform in one of Australia's premier concert halls. We were extrememly proud parents, if all rather tired by the end as it went on till 11pm on a school night! And yes, jeans was the outfit the choir were told to wear, they were singing songs from musicals like Rent (which is what she is singing in the photo) and it was considered appropriate. She wore proper black for the orchestral performance.

And finally a picture that is both sad and hopeful. Taken a few months after Black Saturday (7th February for non-Victorians) in Gippsland, it shows something of the appalling bushfire damage that occured, but also tree ferns growing back as a sign that life always returns in some form.

More Pictures

Wombat on his first day at high school. Baby Bear on her first day at the same school; she has moved from her previous school. This one is just round the corner from us and offers better teaching in certain subjects than her old one. She loves it. So does he!

Wombat had to do a poster demonstrating safety in science. He and Baby Bear set up this scenario and took lots of pictures. He looks very serious! That is a real lab coat and safety glasses, they are requirements for school science at this school. We had to go to a very dodgy warehouse to buy them secondhand.

Gippsland Field Days at Warragul. Baby Bear discovered a hitherto unexplored interest in tractors. WE all fell in love with alpacas and piglets, too.

Fianlly, Sirius being cute and silly, as usual.

I have been hunting for skully, piratey, slightly Goth things for the last couple of days. Harder than it seems. Bought some cheap jewellery to caniballise and have some fabrics.

I might be back...

Nothing like swearing to blog regularly to promote an 8 month hiatus! Above, Wombat and I in the pancake parlour after he finished Grade 6 and was no longer a primary school student! He did really well last year and is now happily settled at our local high school, doing well, making friends, and both he and the school are compromising surprisingly well to cope with each other. WE are all very pleased and proud.

Taken some time during the summer. Baby Bear loves pulling silly faces for the camera. So does Wombat, but he was caught out with a small smile this time!

The kids took part in a Christmas play at church. Over four weeks they did various stages of the Christmas story, with a twist. Baby Bear is one of the angels (there was A1, A2 and A2.1, determined by the costumes and who looked best in them!) Wombat was the 'stage manager' (as in a character of a stage manager) and hammed it up for all he was worth.

We went to Echuca in January. This is WOmbat at the Chinese Museum in Bendigo on the way back. Note that he ignored the instruction to smile! We went to Bendigo specifically to visit the Couture Exhibition, which was FANTASTIC, and the kids enjoyed the Chinese museum too, especially the dragon.

More regular blogging will occur from now on, cross my heart and hope to die!