A Pratically Perfect Festival :)

My sweet little clown. Dressed up to visit a friend.
On the way over we stopped at the bakery and even
though we were parked right in front, Kangaroo insisted
on hopping out to show people and surprise them.

The real problem with not blogging regularly is that part of our story goes a little bit missing. It doesn't take long until some major happenings haven't been journalled and I find myself uploading a ridiculous amount of photo's to share and trying to figure on how best to tell our tale.

The longer I live in our little town the more I fall in love with it and the friends and connections we're making. It has an interesting history and it proudly lays claim to it's heritage and indulgently celebrates it, beauty and warts and all. The interesting thing about our town is that the author of Mary Poppins, PL Travers, was apparently born here which has led to our town laying claim to 'our Mary' and has turned this connection into a celebration and a festival, culminating in The Mary Poppin's Festival on the first weekend of July.

At the park our talented friends volunteered their time for a week before the festival to create stunningly, magical pavement art creations which awed and amazed crowds on the Sunday of the festival. There are more beautiful pictures below showing the end of all the artist's work.

Mary madness has permeated the air. In the lead up to the festival I'd been fortunate to participate in theater workshops, meaning that most weekends for the past two months were dedicated learning as much as we could in a short amount of time about theater craft and preparing for a play which was written by the director using ideas generated by the workshop participants. The plays' end result was pretty funny and featured a few slapstick elements and completely escaped reality - so well suited to the Mary Poppins festival.

We found some time for things other then Mary related last week. There was some exploration with collage materials trying a Matisse style artwork.

I found that Kookaburra needed encouragement to let go of preformed ideas of how his art should be structured. By having fun with tearing his papers randomly and letting his art work unfold was a little bit of challenge but he did well and we had some great discussions about Pompeii during our work together.

There were lines to learn for me for the play on the Sunday but I was also fortunate enough to learn lines for a commercial which was shot on Thursday. A strange and funny experience which I was lucky enough to share with a friend.

Do I look like a receptionist? That was my part so hopefully....

So many opportunities roll our way when I have my eyes open. Whilst waiting to have a dress rehearsal in our art galleries forecourt, my boys and I stumbled upon a basket weaving workshop run by Aboriginal ladies in preparation for NAIDOC week this week. They were open and patient and I really wish we had of had more time before our performance to do more weaving.

Nervously I waited with friends before our first performance in front of a live audience... well, we thought they were alive but apart from a few sniggers the reaction was definitely lifeless. We were a little concerned how this play we'd worked on was going to go over during the festival.

When Sunday arrived our boys were up before dawn I'm sure, dressed and ready to go. Our first sound check was at nine am. When we arrived and saw the set in a carpark I was really impressed by what our stage manager had procured for our backdrop and that there was even seating! Lots of seating!

By the time the workshops had come to a close, as always, I'd managed to involve my family to some degree. This was Kangaroo's first time on stage and all he had to do was cry on cue and follow direction. He did beautifully!

Hubby lent some know how and muscle where he could.

And as for Kookaburra...

there's a black box sitting on top of his satchel in this photo which contained a remote control for the animatronic parrot which during the plays he directed the parrots eyes and beak when it took it's turn to narrate our story.

The play went off well and people laughed in all the right places and I even remembered my lines well enough to enjoy the show. Such a relief! When I try to remember something like this I worry, panic and then my mind goes blank. Just terrible :O!

The rest of the festival was full of colour in the finished art works.

There is a great joy for us, hanging with our family doing something unusual and fun. I admittedly did get a bit stressed out, but the benefits of having everyone involved as opposed to not was worth the fraction or so of tetchiness that came from me.

A very happy Kangaroo after his performance.

One of the highlights of the Mary Poppins festival is the Great Nanny Challenge. Our director borrowed a skirt and dressed as a naughty nanny so he could give it a go. The Nanny Challenge is a race for Nanny's and their baby carriages. They compete against each other over a short course and the first to cross the finish line wins But! there are rules like no running, no elbowing or jostling each other and then they must change the baby too in order to win. Our Naughty Nanny lost and he was hilarious about it too. Jumping up and down on his hat, whilst gnashing his teeth and tossing his baby bundle from the pram (thankfully it was only a teddy bear) not mention the run/walk!

My niece in red had a go too.


This is me and a great lady, we're dressed as Mary Poppins and the Bird Lady.

After the plays were done we still had more to do , so much to see and do. Our favourite is always the Chimney Sweep Challenges but absolutely best of all this year was going to high tea attended by none other Australia's own Mary, the star of the Mary Poppins musical, Verity Hunt-Ballard.

Kookaburra described the occasion afterwards as being incredibly exciting because he had met his first real celebrity!

It's was a very busy and full week but the highlight was meeting Verity and listening to her speak of her life in the theater and her role as Mary in the Mary Poppins musical. She was well spoken and lovely and she claimed to love our town and it's baking too! It was pretty embarrassing when our compere asked our lovely guest if she'd like a doggy bag to take back with her. Sheesh! But honestly it was difficult to resist a spread like this one at the High Tea. As always, we were amongst the last to leave and we were fortunate to run into friends talking with Verity so we got to have a little up close and personal dose of this practically perfect gal.

So this entry was massive and I wonder if perhaps it may have been better as a dot point. Never mind. I'm so glad I got it up and haven't missed this opportunity to share. Can you see why I love our town? The longer we live here I see just how very a special place it is for our family to grow together in. It etches itself deeply in our hearts. and I think of it truly as our home town. We can't wait until next years festival and I know we're all wondering in what capacity we'll be attending, as visitors or volunteers?

As long as I'm with my family, it'll be just ace.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution! and other Weighty Issues

I 've neglected my poor little blog of late in favour of having a rather busy life and consequently I have a ridiculous amount of photos I now have to somehow pick through to find what I really want to diary about whilst contending with the continuity of life. So while I was dwelling on my internal struggle (so kidding) this morning, I came across a link for Sir Ken Robinson from TED. He is always informative, thoughtful and challenging and one day I'll get through all my current literature so I can order, guilt free, his book 'Out of Our Minds'.

As for our real life (not online), today we have a very full day planned. Friends from Toowoomba are coming to play for the day, my little nephew will be joining us too and it's also playgroup day. Lots of children and loads of fun and heaps of noise and I better get cracking soon on something baked to share. I'm thinking one cup slice and blueberry muffins will be the ticket.

Just jumping around on subjects here, well I did mention food - I'm now the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I refuse to look at my scales anymore because I weigh more then I did when I was due with my boys. My biggest difficulty in getting healthy is that I just don't care. Being time poor and always in the company of my children is limiting and sometimes I feel resigned and think I damn well should be able to indulge but I have to face it. I'm really uncomfortable so I need to take control. Oh yeah, and there are those incredibly valid health reasons too. How do I fix my attitude? It's terrible. I have a gym membership but honestly the gym is boring. I can't go to the classes because of the timing is all wrong for me. The best time for me to get there is at half past five in the am but truly I actually love my sleep and need it too, otherwise grumpzillar arises about two in the afternoon. Not great for parenting. Oh and my memory, which is dodgy to begin with, add increased tiredness and I'm sure I'm going to begin to forget the names of my own children. What to do? What to do? My old self is telling this current self to just do it. Haul that lazy backside out of bed and don't eat so damn much. I know I kinda want too but it's so much easier to make an excuse.

So there's my current dilemma. I've indulged too much and am now busting out of my jeans. I'm lacking will power and I like cake. I have to do something about it and soon because summer is rolling around before I can blink and forget about bikini's (rofl!!!!) I just want to be comfortable and at this weight, I'm just very not.

Well it's time to get stuck into my Tuesday morning and it's going to be a beautiful day. I'm sure to get some exercise running around after kiddo's today, I just need a lot of self-control when it comes to the afternoon tea spread. Wish me luck!

a reminiscing

Finally!

Two weeks after my holiday with my sister and mother, here are the pics from glorious Byron Bay and her stunning surrounds. And it's a great time to post this too as my boys are sick and it's been an all round, pretty darn difficult few days. They've been miserable and I have such difficulty thinking of what the right thing to say to them when they're squabbling or how exactly to help them along when they get frazzled. Secretly, I could throw my hands up and hide out in my bedroom with my arms wrapped around my knees, which of course are huddled tightly to my body in the universal comfort/ protection almost come fetal type position and refuse to acknowledge the current 'joy' that motherhood is. It's my fault too. I've been hormonal, grumpy and snappy and after trying for a several years for babies we still have no signs of any more gracing us with their sweet cherubness in our home. Definitely a tick for the misery and woe box. A real current kicker though is that my poor Kookaburra has gone to bed tonight fairly certain he'll be waking up vomiting. Ah me. He says he hates being sick because he's certain it's how you feel when you're dying!

We've still struggled on with a few lessons but we still seem to suffer interruptions in our morning which is frustrating. Whether it's the Jehovah's Witnesses door knocking (every week!) or a relative dropping by. I love my family but homeschooling is my job :) Today we had my nephew who is also sick. He spent the entire weekend gone vomiting. It's horrible seeing them so ill. So having him here meant I couldn't do much with Kangaroo. Things just aren't going well. Kangaroo did have tummy pains but this seems to have passed and now he's just run down with a miserable cold. And all this whilst I'm trying to introduce how fun Five In A Row is! I've had it for a while and was going to sell it but thought I should give it a decent go before I did that. After all, it's so coveted therefor it must be great... right? I'll let you know how we go, when we've had a chance to give it a decent try and what I'm doing to tweak it into something more substantial. If we ever get better that is!

Huge whinge I know, but blogger is a great place to let the reality out.

So this is definitely an excellent time for me to post those beautiful holiday pics. I had so much trouble trying to choose which to post though! I absolutely loved my time away :) Aaah bliss :)

This was our tremendous accommodation for our two nights away. It's called The Old Church and is situated in Newrybar, near Byron Bay. I have to mention how much we paid because it was so very little - $175 per night for the three of us! This old renovated church had about eleven beds and a massive usable kitchen, a playroom with a ping pong table and a deck with a barbecue overlooking a blossoming cherry tree flanked by a massive macadamia grove. Magical :)



We had a little poke around in Byron Bay when we first arrived but we were pretty keen to get to see this Church so I set the GPS and of course it took us right off the beaten track and up a goat trail for a good half hour or so when in actuality we could have kept on the highway, turning off at the township of Newrybar and been at The Old Church's door in a minute. That happens to me all the time when I'm traveling. I miss my maps sometimes - I'm way smarter than the GPS ;) but the long way round was much better. The scenery was gobsmackingly beautiful! Green rolling valleys and sheer drop aways, with fat cows munching grass and gazing lazily out to the sea in the far distance. Envious muchly!

The views as we drove!

The inside of the Old Church. You could have a ball in there. Huge!

After checking out and squealing crazily about our awesome digs for our stay we drove on to Ballina which is a lovely town... with a great coffee and cake shop. The weather was freezing and raining and the muted late afternoon light had us seeking the comfort of this lovely cafe with their gorgeous warm colours enveloping us as we devour tantalizing sweets and hot sweet drinks. This was our perfect introduction to the area. That and of course the book shop, the bottle-o for some birthday drinkies and where ever else we felt the desire to wander into.

The next day was my sister's big day. Forty! Here it was and we were bound to make it a beautiful day. Pancakes for breakfast at Macadamia castle and a little gift shopping for our loved ones at home followed by our trip to Mullumbimby and up to Crystal Castle. I'd been looking forward to visiting Crystal Castle so much. It promised to be a breathtaking place to visit and it truly was.

Even though we couldn't explore this unique place the way we would have loved too because we were hampered by frequent downpours but we did have complementary massive rainbow striped umbrellas to help us keep us dry, I'm still under it's spell and can't wait to go back. The gorgeous gardens and beautiful stones and the shop! Divine :)

What a brilliant birthday we thought. Nothing could top driving a winding road to what seemed to be the top of a mountain and being immersed in such a beautiful, peaceful place. Oh how wrong was I!

Grumpy bums that we are, we nearly gave the Byron Bay Lighthouse a miss because a brochure said that we would need to pay $7 for parking and then a fee to go into the lighthouse. Ba Hum Bug! $7 for parking, grumble, grumble. But we went anyway. The wind fairly whipped around us and my teeth chattered because I swear it was tipped with ice from the Antarctic. We arrived a little before sunset and the beautiful pinks and oranges were painting the sky as the sun shyly hid behind the clouds to slowly and beautifully say his good nights. A truly spectacular way to end a fortieth birthday. We stood in the freezing air, shivering and soaking up the wildness of the place and the beauty of the sea crashing against the sheer face of the bay. Reluctantly we left to grab some groceries for a birthday barbecue. I'll treasure that magnificent place, the day, the view and my lovely company. It's a place I'll visit when I'm dreaming.

So Happy!

We stayed up ridiculously late on Thursday night, each of us taking a turn at napping through Lost in Austen and eventually crawled into bed.


It was a sad goodbye on Friday but my naughty sis still found some joy in jumping on her bed!

Pose for me sugar ;)

Our Mumma and me. Muuma Bear had a relaxing time and she well deserved it too. I'm so lucky to have gotten this time away to spend with my sis on her special birthday and growing our relationships and friendships. We're all supposedly saving hard to try and make it happen all again next year. I know that we would all dearly love to explore this beautiful area some more.

When we were at Mullumbimby we were recommended the cafe at Newrybar which is one of only a few shops in the one street town. We had a very sweet goodbye breakfast there and it was the most happening and busy cafe! And the food was delicious :)

And finally Beautiful Byron Bay. Simply stunning.

Where musicians playing on the beach abounded. Wouldn't we all like to just pick up our uke and strum a few lines before soaking up some more rays or having a splash.

Sad, sad goodbye.

Happy 40th Birthday Sister Sunshine!

Had to share the gifts I scored for my boys. Quirky fair trade beanies which were an absolute bargain ;) Don't they look so darn cute!

And as always, my wonderful Mr E was dependable and lovely. He took time off work to be our boy wrangler and they all had a good time hanging out, playing games and fishing. But we were all pretty happy to be back together again no matter how good the holiday may have been :).

baby it's cold outside

so we mixed up a fresh batch of playdough and set out the play kitchen and let Kangaroo and his little friend bake up a storm.

Fancy a smartie cookie :) Does your eye twitch too when the kids start making 'rainbow' creations with fresh dough? Mine does and I just have to look a way :P!

A great evening of collaging with friends. I particularly love our little home Kookaburra added down the very bottom.

Super cute!

And an at least three hour game of bottoms glued to seats for Earthopoly with cheeky Kookaburra claiming king, who needs to learn some grace when winning! His joyous squealing and crazy cackling, whilst hilarious, is just a little bit naughty.

We had such a great afternoon and evening spent with friends playing games and sharing dessert for dinner too. Piles of pancakes drowning in berry sauce and ice cream. Yum!

I know I said I'd get around to posting those pics of Beautiful Byron Bay (sorry sis!) but I loved our arvo and tonight I'm actually going to sit and watch a movie with my gorgeous Mr E. A perfect way to round out our Sunday. No planning tonight, just me and Mr E and the box.

Showbiz ain't for this girl

Just a little update. Last week we did the advertisement with our local council for the Mary Poppins Festival coming up soon and as much fun as it sounded in theory to get all dressed up again and smear ourselves in charcoal... again, it really wasn't all that much fun this time.


If you know me personally, you'll know the drama's we've been experiencing with getting our house to construction stage at Iri'ni, so with the market being so low we've been investigating buying a house in town again and selling Iri'ni off or conversely with the market moving so slowly, Iri'ni may actually be ours for quite some time yet and the other option may be to move a renovator, like an old Queenslander onto it or contract a plan from Builders like Annadale. So because of this housing dilemma, we found ourselves looking at four houses on this day that we shot the add, as well clumsily, comforting a dear friend over some sad news, and I needed to get packed for my trip to Byron Bay with my Mother to celebrate my Sister Sunshines' 40th!

A lot to fit into one day! Too much and extremely stressful .

So ultimately, doing this advertisement felt a lot like forced fun. Under different circumstances it would have been great but we were tired, had eaten not enough and on the run, and all three of us had had enough by the time the fifteenth take of repeating the same thing was over. The whole process didn't have a lot of relevance to my boys and I could see exactly why they didn't want to prance around on the sidewalk for the camera anymore. I could never be a showbiz Mum! And it was a terrible way to spend the day before I left my family for three days! I should have been reading and cuddling and chilling out, but instead we were running all over town like headless chickens doing all this 'stuff' which is pretty meaningless now.



Oh well, we learn right?! I have. This craziness has infected our happy homeschooling life and whilst this particular Tuesday was pretty extreme it seems to becoming more of the pattern. We experience a ridiculous amount of interruptions during what should be our happy homeschooling hours. I've had to be firm and finally say no more. I've canceled or rearranged everything we have had on in the mornings - markets, music lessons, drama with the school -, and have gone back to not answering the phone before 1pm and the real happy tick for a better me is going to bed early. Today is day three and while we have a long way to go before our homeschool looks the way I'd like it, it's better than the shabby mess it has been. Back to that getting to bed at a decent time thingy, I bid you nighty nite.


But before I go I have to share this lovely pic of an old renovated church near Byron Bay. It was our accommodation for our glorious visit to Byron Bay. When I post next, I'll share pic's of this beautiful place we had the pleasure of staying in. The whole area of Ballina, Mullumbimby and Byron were just extremely special places to visit and I hope so much to take my family there sometime soon. I'm glad to be home though and am very thankful for my husband making it possible for me to go away and have such a blissful time with my Mumma and sister. I have come back way relaxed and pretty darn happy too and it was an awesome way to celebrate my Sister Sunshine's 40th!