Peninsula Wildlife.....

I love that we have a vast array of animals here.

Every afternoon black cockatoos grace us with their noisy presence, I don't know what is going on as I have never seen so many at one time. Legend has it that for every black cockatoo you see you will get an inch of rain. I counted 50 yesterday afternoon on my run....50 inches!

Maybe it is 50 days until the next rain event...

Grey kangaroos (just a sample of the population); I can't work out whether the little one was serious or just playing or just being generally annoying.

But it was all over quick.

Out the back this big black-headed python gave the boys a heck of a fright while they were riding their bikes,

We watched him gracefully move on,

A butcher bird kept a close on on him hopping along side him until he disappeared into my garden trimmings. I don't get an adrenaline rush from seeing one of these and apparently King Brown snakes are one of their dietry staples. I hope he finds the one we had visit earlier, I was not rushing to find the camera then, my heart pounds when we I see them or the Taipan!

I was just glad to be the first heading home for lunch and not the boys.

Birdlife in the creek

Black swans and their cygnets on the plain, 

and the Capricorn Yellow Chat.

I am not sure of the bird flying, could it be a Jabiru?

one of many bull frogs,

ducks on the lake and

out the front an Old Man Emu!

We have other speices like the blue tongue lizard, the frilly-necked lizard (we named him Fred, he lived in the garden for a good month) and I once had a turtle arrive at the front gate, I think he was lost!

We promptly helped him down to the lake.

Plant Science Distance Ed style!

Last Thursday we extended the learning on the inside of a flower,

This is interesting and exciting stuff to say the least but as I pulled out the

Digicam (digital microscope) today, his eyes lit up. 

This is what we could see.

Just a snapshot of the intricacies and complexities of nature, combined with a simply beautiful outcome.

Nature and Technology consistently amaze me and in turn inspires a little man.

Stieg Larsson Trillogy

For a non-reader at school, I began reading when I had my children...... I love it although a tad slow and easily fall asleep if I leave it until bed time, unless of course it is a good part.

I highly recommend this gripping story, full of conspiracy and intrigue, combined with that feeling of unimaginable triumph through adversity.

Such a great pity the author is not here to enjoy the accolades of his work. A brilliant writer.

Highschool Reunion

I am really putting my age out there now but I am still on such a high from attending my school reunion. 

I attended boarding school for 5 years, the first two were the toughest, I think I cried every time I returned back to school from holidays.....my poor Mum and Dad must have been wondering if I would ever settle.

I now fondly remember my time at boarding school, but most of all I had a great class of girls. Year 11 and 12 were definitely the best. It all came together for me in those years. It is hard work and every year I think of the coming Year 12 graduates and how hard they must be working and pray that they are enjoying the ride as well.

Last night we had a cocktail evening to celebrate 20 years since graduating in our Senior Class. We also had classmates attend who for many varied reasons left us a little earlier. You know it was just like we were still at school, we all mingled, there were no cliques. I made great friends in those years and it is very humbling to still have that same connection.

Technology was my friend again when we were joined by our School Captain of that year via Skype from Sweden.

Today I toured the school. It has changed so much and the facilities are improving with our changing times.

Thanks to a couple of ladies who organised this special event and thank you to all of you who were able to make it. For those of you who couldn't we did miss you.......where to for the 25th?

ICPA

Tomorrow marks the start of the 41st ICPA Qld Inc. Conference. This Conference is being convened jointly by the Kindon, Moonie and Westmar-Ingelstone Branches.

I am very passionate about this organisation and what it strives to achieve.

Go to

www.icpa.com.au

Last year we celebrated the Ruby Anniversary of ICPA. I with a merry band of helpers from the Capricornia BOTA (Branch of the Air) and Clarke Creek Branch convened the 40th Conference last year in Rockhampton. It was a great experience to lead a team of equally passionate and driven women and their helpful husbands.

ICPA Qld Patron Ms Patricia Mitchell OAM

(the cake tasted as good as it looked)

Meal venue which was sensationally decorated and looked magnificent.

Conference

Former State President, Lorraine McGinnis and myself at the dinner, just after the mother of all storms!

This was our team.....what a great bunch of women!

I am thinking of the convening committee tonight and I hope they have enjoyed it as much as we did.

On a school morning....

This week marks our last week of school before the holidays.....everyone has a spring in their step.

Our services were required this morning to deliver the ute with all of the fencing gear,

Nice to see the green pick coming through whilst maintaining ground cover,

always happy to see a fresh seca stylo plant,

a mix of our No.1 and No.2 Heifers.

A little piece of history, an old turkeys nest with a trough that was made on-site.

 This fence is almost 2 years old and has split a paddock into two in order to manage our pasture more efficiently.

Looking west, concrete posts with two wire electric,

Looking north,

Seeing all of us in a tractor and ute is interesting to say the least for this girl,

and these girls,

One is ready for work,

the other is ready for a game of footy.

She taught me how!

Mum was a pretty good seamstress, she made all of my clothes until I put my foot down about it. It was when I was in high-school and it really was uncool to be wearing clothes your mother made. Some of Mum's friends were magnificent sewers. They made beautiful clothes and are great homemakers.

She taught me to sew although I was never really engaged, but I have just discovered that I must have learnt something.

Drewe and I pulled together some calico and fabric paints to make "Dancing pants" for one of his CLC Units.

Attention to detail is NOT one of my strong points but I drafted these little numbers off a pair of pants, then using a unconventional method of measuring (finger spacing) we pulled this off. We couldn't believe the stripes actually matched up.

Do you think John Travolta would have worn these?

The great thing is he had a choice of blue as well and he went hot pink...what a spunky kid! No stereotyping in this household.

Another project this year has been to get a hardwood table made from timber that we have had stored for about 7 years. However as tablecloth users none of mine were long enough.

The task was to find some lovely fabrics and began hemming each one of them.

With teaching, the business, the garden, exercise and all of the things I am devoted to I can't imagine finding the time to do too much sewing but I am grateful she taught me how!

Junior Landcare.....

For the first time, Years 4-7 from the seven Queensland Distance Education schools had the opportunity to participate in the Junior Landcare competition. With the introduction of the Australian Curriculum and in Queensland the C2C (Curriculum to the Classroom) papers the transition from interim new papers to the new C2C papers has been rigorous, yet engaging and creating more independence for my boys and their learning.

The beauty of all of this is that our kids were actually doing their Landcare Unit for CLC (Connected Learning Curriculum - this is all the learning that isn't Maths or English).

I took Rohan to visit the main researcher Wayne Houston at Central Queensland University in his office (a lab). This was a very exciting place for a Year 4 and Year 2 to visit.

Wayne is a researcher and part of his research is into this little endangered bird that co-exists with our business in our landscape. We consider ourselves to be custodians of the land and are very proud of our involvement with the continued research into this precious bird.

The requirement was to put together a multimedia presentation.

There were some outstanding entries and the winners very deserved.

Go to Junior Landcare - Going the Distance for more information.

Projects like this create lasting impressions on our children. Finding something for boys to write about that "spins their wheels" (I use this phrase a lot) can be a challenge. At the end of the day, it's not about the content, you may or may not like a story, book or information text but it is what engages and inspires us that makes us what to write about it.