the diary of a mother hen

The Year in Pictures - 2011

2012-01-26T18:12:00.000+11:00

The Boston Globes "The Year in Pictures":

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I love looking through these each year - the photographs are so powerful.

Below are some that I appreciated.

There are some quite graphic images amongst the collection - not for the faint hearted or children.

Amazing Photographs

2012-01-26T17:39:00.000+11:00

I love these photos from the National Geographic's 2011 Photography contest, depicting nature, people and places.

There were a couple of photos, in the people category, taken in Australia amongst the honorable mentions. They show our great cultural diversity.

Take a look at the other winners, they are fantastic.

Panic in the Pan

Auburn Pride

Cyber Monsoon

Camping at Little Beach

2012-01-25T22:35:00.000+11:00

The kids and I have just returned from a rather wet camping experience a day early. Unfortunately our time away was cut short by incessant rain, and the dread of having to spend another damp night together in a small tent. (The term four man tent, is a complete misnomer!!)

We went to Little Beach to camp with a couple of friends from work, Tracey and Cath, and their children.

Tracey has camped there since she was a child, and still returns every year with lots of her relatives, staying for 2 weeks. Cath joined Tracey last year, and returned again this year.

Little Beach is a beautiful spot. A small and secluded camping area in the Bouddi National Park.

sand modelling - a mermaid

surfing

a face in the cliff

looking at the rain from a cave

beach cricket

Tracey's well organised tent

swimming in the rock pool

It was so lovely to meet some of Tracey's cousins, and to spend time with them and Cath & Tracey. Hopefully we will return one day in sunshine.

And a big thank you to Andrew who drove up early to help rescue us from the wet.

January Catch-up - Matthew's First Birthday

2012-01-22T21:32:00.001+11:00

We travelled down to the Botanic Gardens in Wollongong for our nephew Matthew's first birthday.

There was a rogue rooster who was very annoyed we had taken over 'his space'. He spent the day letting us know about it too.

January Catch-up - Christening Doug & Bel's New House

2012-01-22T21:15:00.000+11:00

Our friends Doug and Belinda have bought a new house and we went around to have a picnic on their deck... BYO chairs. When we arrived they were packing up from another day of painting and carpentry.

I can't wait to see what they do with it!

January Catch-up - Movies by the Boulevard

2012-01-22T21:04:00.000+11:00

We went to see "Real Steel" at Sydney Olympic Park.

Unfortunately most of my photos involved people shoving food into their mouths... so there are only a few that are making it here.

Percolator

2012-01-15T16:06:00.002+11:00

Banksia

Rooster

Another fun app - percolator - it turns photos into mosaics.

The Answer

2012-01-12T09:18:00.001+11:00

The buttons on my sewing machine.

What is it Wednesday?

2012-01-11T09:41:00.000+11:00

Answer tomorrow.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

2012-01-11T09:39:00.000+11:00

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at the MCA from MCA Australia on Vimeo.

Before I broke up for the Christmas holidays, one of our staff development days was spent in the city at the Museum of Contemporary Art seeing "Recorders", an exhibition by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
It was a fun exhibition:

As a 'crowdsourced' show the content is entirely collected from visitors, using technologies such as heart rate sensors, motion detectors, fingerprint scanners, microphones and face recognition software. Your participation brings these critical and poetic digital artworks to life.

The following are some photos I took on the day.

Reading

2012-01-08T09:41:00.000+11:00

Holidays are a time for reading.
Making a cup of tea, sitting in a quiet place and losing time in a story.

It can be a little difficult with 3 children who constantly want to "do something".

I began these holidays reading "The Bean Patch" by Shirley Painter.

"An extraordinary memoir of abuse, survival and recovery in the tradition of Bad Blood and Once in A House on Fire.

Shirley Painter is 83 years old. She shouldn′t be. When she was four years old she was so badly injured she was pronounced dead and taken to the morgue.

The man who so severely injured her was her father.

Told in the third person, this is the story of how a young girl survived growing up in a volatile household in the 1920s and 1930s. How school - and later university - became her escape route from a family filled with secrets and violence.

It is also a story of how, as a mature woman and a mother herself, she came to face what had happened to her as a child. How she had to bring long-buried memories into the light in order to move on.

Beautifully written, this is a disturbing, compelling and ultimately inspirational story."
(HarperCollins)

I was engrossed. I read it quickly, taking it everywhere I went, and it was over all too soon.
Yes, the story was dreadful, but Shirley's survival and her writing isn't.
You can read a review of it here.

I then began "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz. It is a book I have had on my shelf for ages, meaning to read it every holiday.

"Meet the Deans.

The Father is Martin Dean.
He taught his son always to make up his mind, and then change it. An impossible, brilliant, restless man, he just wanted the world to listen to him – and the trouble started when the world did.

The Uncle is Terry Dean.
As a boy, Terry was the local sporting hero. As a man, he became Australia's favourite criminal, making up for injustice on the field with this own version of justice off it.

The Son is Jasper Dean.
Now that his father is dead, Jasper can try making some sense of his outrageous schemes to make the world a better place. Haunted by his own mysteriously missing mother and a strange recurring vision, Jasper has one abiding question: Is he doomed to become the lunatic who raised him, or a different kind of lunatic entirely?

From the New South Wales bush to bohemian Paris, from sports fields to strip clubs, from the jungles of Thailand to a leaky boat in the Pacific, Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole follows the Deans on their freewheeling, scathingly funny and finally deeply moving quest to leave their mark on the world." (Penguin)

I began it. Roared through the first third. But now I've stalled. I'm not sure whether I'm bored with it now, or what the problem is.
Maybe I will read something else and come back to it.

Relaxing night in

2012-01-05T22:07:00.001+11:00

The Answer

2012-01-05T07:04:00.001+11:00

Part of a LEGO door.

Diptic

2012-01-04T10:28:00.003+11:00

I found an app for my iPhone this morning that is fun and easy to use - Diptic.
You can:

Create a before-and-after sequence

Produce a photographic series

Juxtapose contrasting images

Create photo collages

I love it.

Wrist

Canna lilies

On the piano

Flamingos

Chooks

IKEA lighting

What is it Wednesday?

2012-01-04T07:04:00.000+11:00

Answer tomorrow.

The Art of the Brick

2012-01-03T19:31:00.000+11:00

Today I went the kids and some friends to see The Art of the Brick exhibition in Sydney. The exhibition shows the work of Nathan Sawaya's incredible large-scale LEGO sculptures.

The foyer of the exhibition features an amazing scene of Sydney harbour.
Definitely a highlight of the show.

The models were fantastic, however we were disappointed in how small the exhibition was. A google search of images of work from this artist shows a lot more of what I thought we may have seen.
We mused that maybe the attrition rate of the display (with models being broken by children) means that the exhibition becomes smaller each week.

Jigsaws

2012-01-02T23:14:00.002+11:00

My mum has been clearing out some things in her garage. She asked me if I wanted these.
Wow! So much nostalgia!
I remember these puzzles from my childhood.
I brought them home with me because I could not stand the thought of them being thrown out.

Maybe I'll do them again these holidays for old times sake.
Maybe I'll make one of those pictures to hang on the wall where each piece will be glued to a backing board* - I remember they were popular in the 70s or 80s.
Maybe they will sit in a cupboard at my place til I have another declutter.

I just love their old boxes.

*I will NOT be doing this.

New Year's Eve Picnic

2012-01-01T18:53:00.001+11:00

Early New Year's Eve was spent at the Armory in Newington, enjoying a picnic with friends.

A lovely relaxing and peaceful evening, and surprisingly clear of any crowds.
Good food and good company.

Great entertainment was found in guessing what the sky writer over Sydney was spelling out.

The general consensus, however, was that the message was too long. We decided that a lot of people would have forgotten the beginning of the message by the time the end came about... or have given up... especially if a couple of drinks had been consumed.

In fact, I have now forgotten what it said. Something about 'heaven'.

Happy New Year to everyone in blogging land.

Book Depository

2011-12-31T06:39:00.000+11:00

I was searching for 2012's diary when this captured my attention - the Book Depository's books of the year in colour.
So pretty. And if I had the patience, so interesting.

I ended up choosing this diary. I used a "posh planner" this year and it was a great diary. I liked the look of this one as it includes two years (and has a bird on the cover).

Backyard cricket

2011-12-30T07:51:00.000+11:00

...until it gets too dark to see.

Nerf Gun

2011-12-30T06:30:00.001+11:00

Oliver used his pocket money in the post Christmas sales to buy himself another Nerf gun.
After some searching in crowded department stores, the VULCAN was located, and at a good price.

Over the past 2 day everything and everyone has been shot - especially his sisters.

When I began to have babies I idealistically thought that we would have no guns in the house... oh well.

The Answer

2011-12-29T15:49:00.002+11:00

Part of the rope climbing frame at Newington Armory.

What is it Wednesday?

2011-12-28T15:49:00.000+11:00

Answer tomorrow.

Rocket's Christmas

2011-12-28T13:35:00.000+11:00

Rocket was excited to find that Santa had brought him a pig's ear (eeeewwww!) for Christmas.
He did need some help to get it out of his stocking.

Boxing Day

2011-12-27T22:54:00.001+11:00

Andrew's side of the family came to us last night for Christmas celebrations.
More festivities, food and gifts.
I love Christmas!

Thanks for making all the wonderful table decorations Bronwynne, and all the prawns (I had leftovers tonight - yum). Thanks for sharing your gingerbread house Sophie, and for the delicious pudding Sylvia - Christmas just would not be the same without it.

It was sad to not have Aunty Margaret with us. She recently passed away, but we know she is now safe with Jesus.

I am so fortunate to have such wonderful families to celebrate with.