Musical Zachary

Our Zac loves a bit of music. He definitely loves to sing, and is quite keen on an opportunity to dance. And he really likes muscial instruments.

So staying at Nana and Poppa's house was a big bonus for Zac.

First he discovered Poppa's "drums" from the Cook Islands and likewise. These got banged a lot.

Then, even better, was the piano which he liked to play, allowing to sing his own accompaniment. Bliss was Nana playing Twinkle Twinkle, so he could sing at the same time!

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Christmas Day in Adelaide

While Sebastian and Zachary were up at their usual time on Christmas day and straight into the presents from Father Christmas, Jude actually slept in until after 8.30am…. not at all like my youth when I remember being up at 5.30am. I'm hoping this sleeping in thing sticks.

Anyway, the boys were very excited by their presents and it led to the first of several costume changes for Zachary during the day – he insisted on putting on his new Nemo bathers and eating breakfast in them….

       

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Later he insisted on changing into the new Country Road polo he received from his cousins, then finally into the Bob the Builder outfit  he got from his Nana.

Meanwhile there were lots of presents, then lots of food and drink as mother and father had their usual Christmas morning drinks.

For lunch it was the family plus cousins and aunt – 17 in total, which is bigger than usual. The seafood entrees were fabulous, the turkey cooked to perfection and everything accompanying it was delicious. Especially the Rockford Black Shiraz…

We finished with the traditional plum pudding and the McEwen-traditional summer pudding. More was drunk, more laughs were had and then those with other commitments slowly drifted off.

The boys were very excited and active during the day, so it was no surprise when the afternoon Bob DVD viewing took its toll…

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Happy Christmas! I guess we get to do it all again next year!!

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Visiting the Magic Cave

An Adelaide tradition, from before even I was born, is to go and see Father Christmas in the Magic Cave in the lead up to Christmas. As Nanas love nothing more than taking their grandchildren to see the guy in red, it was that my mother, Sebastian, Jude, Zachary and I headed off to town on Christmas Eve to meet Carolyn, Josh and Vanessa so we had a double-Nana and lots of cousins event.

We went early as the last time we were in Adelaide at Christmas, the line to see Father  Christmas was ridiculously long, so we had avoided him altogether. The line at 9.15am was not too bad. While we waited, Zac stared longingly at the giant wooden horses, hoping for a ride eventually, while the older boys were fascinated by conversation with the Talking Tree…

We weren't allowed to take photos of the boys with Father Christmas as this is how the store gouges parents on the otherwise free Santa visits. Zac took one look at the funny man in red and ran away. Jude, Sebastian and Josh all sat on his lap and reported on what they wanted. Father Christmas asked them wanted to do when they grew up. While Josh and Sebastian didn't know, Santa almost fell off his chair when Jude asserted that he wanted to be "an archaeologist."  Jude had recently told me that he really wanted to be an archaeologist and was never going to change his mind because it is the best job anyone could have.

Once the formalities were over, the boys got to ride Nipper and Nimble and the mini merry-go-round and look at themselves in the crazy mirrors and check out the tableaux of elves. Zachary was very confident getting on and off the merry-go-round. All the big boys had a ride on Nimble…then the grown-ups decided it was time to retire for refreshments. So it was milkshakes and spotty biscuits before the big boys went off to their second cousin's house to play and Nana and Zac and I had a long slow walk back to the car so Zac could go home and sleep.

Another Christmas tradition fulfilled!

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The long drive…

So yesterday we drove from Canberra to Adelaide. It took us just under 13 and a half hours. We started very early, dragging the boys out of bed at 6.10am, getting them dressed and into the car so that we pulled out of the driveway just on 6.30am. We then drove for a couple of hours until we reached the McDonalds at Gundagai where we stopped for breakfast. Despite some initial fears that the second DVD player wasn't going to work, it came through and the boys got to watch some Maisy to Zachary's great delight. After the Gundagai stop, it was on to films, and while Ice Age held all their attention for the most part, they were less focussed during The Incredibles.

Once past Wagga, this part of the drive gets a little dull. Wagga to Narranderra isn't too bad, but the hour and a half stretch between Narranderra and Hay is very flat and fairly empty.

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At the very end of the stretch, Zac finally dozed off for a bit.

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After three hours in the car we stopped for a picnic lunch and a bit of a play in Hay….

…before pressing on to Tooleybuc, where we had a toilet stop and another quick playground visit.

 

  

Zac was not happy about getting back into the car…

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but he got over it relatively quickly and we pressed on for the last stretch. In the end, we just kept going for the four hours or so til we got to Adelaide. Both Jude and Sebastian ended up having a bit of a sleep, but Zac steadfastly held out…

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And we arrived in Adelaide in time for a (slightly late) dinner.

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Christmas Part 1

On Sunday we ventured out to Jackie's house for Christmas with the Canberra side of the family.

Soon after arrival, Jackie was called upon to undertake emergency surgery on Cow, whose head was starting to become detached from his body….

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Once the emergency was over, the Christmas fun could begin….

All the key requirements for Christmas celebrations were met….

There were presents – Zachary insisted on changing into his new Bob t-shirt as soon as he saw it and Sebastian spent a lot of time playing with his new Coliseum…

There was turkey, sparkling red and way way too much food….

There were Christmas crackers with hats and really, really bad jokes – including versions in French…

….we did however miss out on the Christmas pudding as I tried out a new cake which involved lots of cream and strawberries….

There was playing, as Zachary showed Ryan the ropes and the bigger boys annexed Auntie Katie….

…and finally, there were 4 very tired boys after all the fun and excitement!

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Ministerial designations

I hope that Penny Wong understands that being the Minister for Climate Change doesn't mean that she is supposed to actually promote it…. Given the government's decision on greenhouse gas reduction targets, one has to wonder….

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How cool are we?

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Atlas: Cuba!

With the Cuban music on and limes in hand, we settled in for an evening of Cuban delights. Unfortunately, the weather had disappointed us, and while we had expected to have appropriately hot, it was more cold than Cuban.

Cuban is a land of many drinking specialities, so Jasmin immediately moved to whip up a lime, beer and ginger ale delight.

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This proved to be extremely tasty, and was followed by the rather more alcoholic mojitos prepared by Rachel with her Havana rum. Jasmin then moved on to make an extremely delicious rum punch, which was rather too more-ish and enjoyed by all in some quantities…

 

But there was food too. We got to sample mojo chicken with warm salsa, smashed potatoes, shredded mojo pork with orange and onion sauce, black beans and rice, chicken with plantains and okra and slow cooked lamb stew. All was extremely delicious, with citrus being a strong theme.

We finished with the other favourite fruit of Cuba, the mango strongly featured in the fabulous chilled mango soup.

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Kellie and Zoe managed to come and join us for dinner, despite illness ravaging their home, and this lead to much delighted baby holding.

Finally, it was time for everyone to wander home, after an extremely enjoyable Cuban experience. Rachel and Jasmin were sensibly not driving because of the amount of rum expected to be consumed. In a less pleasant end to the evening, the taxis then took two hours to arrive, and when Jasmin left in hers, little did we realise that her driver was a bit of a nutcase who would pull over in a dark carpark, turn off the lights and yell threateningly at her. Very horrible and unfortunate – and scary also. Fortunately she got home safely, but certainly not feeling the way one would have expected.

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Christmas concerts

This year we somehow had the misfortune to have both the childcare Celebration Concert and Sebastian's school's End of Year concert on the same day. It thus required military like planning and organisation to get us smoothly between both place, appropriately fed and watered.

We started at childcare, where both Jude and Zac participated enthusiastically in their respective performances.

Zac began on the drums…

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…and then moved onto the tapping sticks.

During this song he also got to show off his balance as he followed the actions and managed a number of times to balance elegantly on one leg.

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Then it was time for the pre-schoolers.

Jude led the singing of The Quartermaster's Store by holding up the word cards…

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..and was then an enthusiastic dancing and singing pirate during their pantomime rendition of Peter Pan.

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Following the singing and dancing it was time for the farewell presentations to the departing children. Jude of course was amongst these as he is off to school next year.

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Wendy fondly described Jude as "The boy who never listens but knows everything." She said that he may not appear to be paying attention, but then does exactly what needs doing, and that he really does know everything – there are no flies on our Jude! I had to hide the tear or two….

Following the post concert cake and chocolate crackle guzzling (children…mostly) we rode home, collected Sebastian and he came home to get changed. We then picked up fish and chips to eat as we walked back to school.

There were rather a lot more people at Sebastian's school concert

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…but we found ourself a place to sit on the hill and at our fish and chips.

Sebastian then had to go off and join his class, while the rest of us stayed and listened.  Of course, it started to get cold, and a slightly over-tired Zac felt the need to jump up and down on me continuously…and then James and I did wonder a little at some of the ideological work being put in during the highly stereotyped depictions of cultures from around the world…but I guess it was a primary school concert. The bands and choir were remarkably good, it must be said.

The kinder children went last, and between the fading light and the fact I only had the little camera, my photos arenot too fantastic…but you get the idea.

And then it was over and it was home and everyone into bed, despite the dirt, and parents finally got to relax with a glass of red wine. Another 12 months until the next round!

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Save Agrestic!!

Agrestic

01 Dec 08 by Pam Peters |

 

This rather obscure word is in the spotlight with the Times Online campaign last September to save "endangered words", ie, those due to be zapped from the next edition of the Collins Dictionary. Agrestic has never had a great following – recorded only twice in Oxford Dictionary citations since the 17th century – which helps to explain why alternative forms have popped up: agrestical, agrestial, agrestal with even slimmer records. The root agr- in all of them is the same as that of "agriculture", referring to farming and the country life, and agrestic has been used to conjure up both the rural paradise and uncouthness of rustic citizens. The surprise champion of agrestic in the Times campaign is perfumier David Pybus, who says that the word "gives to our aromatic minds a sense of hay, meadows, fields, earth after rainfall…and the like". The public will need his specifications for the word, otherwise there's a slight risk of it being taken to mean the less attractive aromas down on the farm.

From the Campus Review, 8/12/2008

Of course, for those of us who avidly watch Weeds, agrestic can be used to conjure up a completely different kind of agriculturally created scent…. i was very interested to read the story of the word today, given its now more Google-worthy role as the name of the gated community is which our favourite drug dealer, Nancy Botwin lives. I had wondered whether it was an invented word – so close to elegant majesty, and yet slightly grating at the same time….

Further reading on the topic of the word indicates that indeed agrestic is amongst a number of words targetted for removal from their dictionary, and I know that my mother will be devastated to learn that fubsy is amongst them – however Stephen Fry has taken up the challenge to retain it in the dictionary. Clearly, Mary-Louise Parker must be alerted to the dangers facing agrestic and must similarly be encouraged to protect agrestic from destruction. Perhaps series 3 with the absorption of Agrestic into Majestic and then the conflagration of both suburbs represents a telling allegory of the fate of the word. However, I say, let's save agrestic! 

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