tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55636125226281104252024-02-08T14:26:01.034+08:00Pearl E QueenDeidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-60961780302396018132014-02-06T16:16:00.000+08:002014-02-06T23:41:19.345+08:00All quiet for a reason<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have tried many times to explain why I just don't have the heart to write on here at the moment about all the lovely things happening in my life. Several times I wrote long, depressing essays which I ended up deleting rather than posting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then today I found this image which sums it up nicely - only it should say morons and psychopaths. Honestly, Australia's current government is enough to give anyone with a heart and a brain a black dog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In other news, we got a black dog. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'll try to get over my sadness about the fact that the Abbott government is systematically destroying all the best things about this wonderful country so that I can tell you about our puppy (his name is Pluto and he looks like a little black mop) and update you on all the other things happening around here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At least I am not alone in my concerns about the slippery slope Australia is hurtling down. Check out</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> <b><a href="http://marchinmarch.com.au/">March in March Australia</a></b>. I'll be there, with my marching boots on.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>There are so many reasons to march but No. 1 on my list is Australia's appalling, shameful and inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. To be fair, that has been going on for many years but the current government have ramped up the cruelty to an unbelievable and truly worrying level. Bizarrely, many Australians have completely drunk the Kool-Aid when it comes to what they call "boat people" and seem to believe that it is perfectly OK for their government to persecute and commit human rights abuses against this group of people. It is not OK. Not in my name.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>If you don't know what I am talking about or suspect that you may even have had a wee sip of Kool-Aid yourself, then the following links will give you some interesting reading.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>Myths about refugees and asylum seekers</b> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>("Myths" seems far too benign a word. If misinformation is actively spread by politicians and sections of the media for years on end, isn't that actually propaganda?)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/f/myth-long.php">https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/f/myth-long.php</a> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>Why Australia hates asylum seekers</b></i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/september/1377957600/christos-tsiolkas/why-australia-hates-asylum-seekers">http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/september/1377957600/christos-tsiolkas/why-australia-hates-asylum-seekers</a></i></div>
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-60574023176829836102013-10-03T00:07:00.001+08:002013-10-03T06:54:43.202+08:00In our front yard<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well the election I mentioned in my previous post is now old news. I read one summary of the result which pretty much nailed it for me: "Rupert Murdoch won. Australia lost." Some of the stuff going on here would be comedy gold - if it wasn't real. Time to focus on some positives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spring is wildflower season in WA and people come from all over the world to see the flowers in bloom. We've been on various local walks to hunt flowers out, but without wanting to sound like to much of a skiteypants, our own front yard is putting on the best show I have seen for miles around. (Admittedly I haven't been to King's Park in Perth for a while...) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just two years ago our entire front garden was just horrible skanky lawn with stupid sprinklers, much like every other front yard in the street. Now it has no lawn, is covered in native plants and it certainly doesn't get or need watering. The only attention it gets is our Sunday morning peruse with coffee in hand (usually clad in our PJs). It is colourful and alive and the birds and lizards love it. I reckon it is a winner.</span></div>
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-48809384283658917002013-09-04T11:11:00.000+08:002013-09-04T17:23:02.591+08:00Choose wisely<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The short version of this post:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Please do <b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/">Vote Compass</a></span></b> before you vote in Australia's election this weekend. Then vote carefully and wisely. <i>Please.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The long version:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I don't like to bang on too much on this blog about the aspects of life in Australia that depress, exasperate, disappoint, frighten or disgust me but if I'm honest, today, after stupidly deciding to listen to some political debate and commentary on the radio, that list is feeling a bit too long for comfort. Before I moved here I thought Australia was quite progressive. Sadly after living here for three years I don't think that anymore. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've found this election campaign truly depressing and I know I am not alone as so many people I know seem to be having great difficulty deciding who to vote for. As one friend put it <i>"It is like choosing between a really frightening option and a truly terrifying option"</i>. I know what she means. After listening to the radio this morning I found myself shouting at the two supposed leaders <i>"Big picture guys! Just say your vision for the sort of country you want this to be in 10, 20 or 50 years time then outline the steps you think we need to take to get there! Even the hard, unpopular steps. And base it on solid research, not prejudice and unfounded beliefs!" </i> (Yes, I got quite ranty.) But instead all I heard was petty bickering over minutiae and the promotion of </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">attitudes, policies and actions that seem surprisingly outdated and out of step with much of the rest of the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(And before you think here that I mean that NZ has all the answers, I certainly don't. If you ever get 46 minutes to spare, watch this: <a href="http://www.tv3.co.nz/INSIDE-NEW-ZEALAND-Mind-The-Gap/tabid/3692/articleID/94816/Default.aspx">Mind the Gap by documentary maker Bryan Bruce</a> . Basically a New Zealand story but with lessons for everyone everywhere. Hope that link works. My internet speed is so slow that I couldn't check it. Sigh.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the major parties has released almost no policies and absolutely none aimed at addressing what seems to me to be one of the main challenges for Australia in the coming decades: climate change. Every year since we have been here numerous weather records have been broken, with this latest one being the hottest year on record. Australians apparently have the biggest carbon footprint of anyone on the planet and as coast dwellers are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise. Years before I moved here I heard talks from a panel of international water experts and their predictions for Australia's future in a world of changing weather patterns, sea level rise and increasing soil salinity were dire. They predicted that within my children's lifetimes, great chunks of Australia would be so adversely affected by climate change that the country wouldn't be able to</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> feed its population.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Since moving here I've heard similar predictions many times from many different sources, yet from Australia's two main political parties there is near silence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Murdoch press are blatantly backing one party. News Corp Australia is by far the most dominant player in the newspaper market here so they have considerable clout among people who believe what they read in newspapers. A commonly held belief is that News Corp are doing this because the party they are backing would ditch the National Broadband Network currently being built, which would leave Australia with its current snail-pace internet speeds, which would effectively lock new players out of the internet-entertainment industry (watching TV on demand here is often p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y slow) which would then protect Murdoch's income from their Foxtel interests. Surely that can't be true. It's like something out of the Simpsons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Recently I have been on my first protest march in many years because each of Australia's two major parties are trying to outdo each other with ever more cruel asylum seeker policies. Obviously they are doing this because they think this will win them votes, but I am horrified by the measures they are promoting. I was so</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> shocked by the ghastly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_affair">Tampa affair</a> that I became a volunteer helping refugees to settle into life in Christchurch and I did that for several years until we left NZ. But attitudes towards asylum seekers have become even worse here, to the extent that </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16px;">human rights lawyer Julian Burnside recently described asylum seeker bashing as Australia's new national sport. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Choosing who to vote for here becomes even more difficult because of </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.eca.gov.au/systems/single/by_category/preferential.htm">Australia's crackpot Preferential Voting System </a>which ensures that votes get skewed and diluted; it looks to me like a system made up by a bunch of gambling drunks. The more I analyse this system and the seats it delivers compared to votes cast, the more it reminds me of many board-games that are essentially strategy undermined by randomness. There are all sorts of </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">complicated </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">electorate by electorate guides on how to vote to ensure that your vote actually has the effect you want it to. There are better ways people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can't vote here but I really do <i>care</i> about Australia and the many serious issues it faces (or refuses to face) and therefore I really do care about the election result. So I have been spreading the word about the most interesting thing I have seen in the whole election campaign. The ABC is hosting an interesting tool called <b><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/">Vote Compass</a></span></b> which basically compares your answers to a whole series of questions to the policies of the main parties. Then it tells you which party you are most closely aligned to and why.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I recommend that anyone out there who <i>can</i> vote in this election gives <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/">Vote Compass</a> a whirl. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then take a deep breath and think very carefully if it gives you a completely unexpected result, as it has for many people I know who have had their entrenched voting habits challenged by this tool. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then vote very carefully and wisely this weekend. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then go out somewhere nice on Saturday night as whatever the result, watching the election result unfold on TV will surely be a very grim way to spend an evening; we are treating ourselves to a night out at <a href="http://www.manpac.com.au/show_inside.php?id=320">Circus Oz</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hopefully by the next election Australians will be given a choice between <i>real</i> parties, with well thought out policies and honest, credible leaders. Maybe that is too much to hope for, but Australia is a great country and it certainly deserves better than the nonsense they have been offered this time around. Then hopefully sometime in the not too distant future Australians will realise what a complete barking dog their electoral system is and change to a less crackerdog one. One that actually reflects who Australians vote for. What a novel thought.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-36055195902388020732013-08-30T14:48:00.000+08:002013-08-30T14:48:10.087+08:00Fifteen<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWK7sQU6ASDmTNxOflbf2ve4TQwdwH6Cf4fKs5MYT3hjry8vZbGAwNKlCeMDlxq7uN54wsfmRyQROj3FY9FFDnBVvwP655s5MxDaPOmQn1h1K0ctyq4Fkn_EL8OF9d_ab4ShsVEb6cxkE/s1600/matilda+by+hanne+johnsen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWK7sQU6ASDmTNxOflbf2ve4TQwdwH6Cf4fKs5MYT3hjry8vZbGAwNKlCeMDlxq7uN54wsfmRyQROj3FY9FFDnBVvwP655s5MxDaPOmQn1h1K0ctyq4Fkn_EL8OF9d_ab4ShsVEb6cxkE/s400/matilda+by+hanne+johnsen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo by Hanne Johnsen taken as part of the <a href="http://placeintime.org/">Place in Time</a> project, 2002</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Every time one of my children has a birthday I find myself saying their age over and over again in an effort to get my head around the fact that they are now that age. I know I am not the only mother in the world who does this. </span><div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPm_037-o21zNX470kyDRRgyJf-gArbSIlq6xA27fS015rS0uSKqcz8dufMDw0Qh9fPnXFh0nZVPVWTtdAsYITtgK8TJo3ZB6K-vdgDqRLrnxrQdfojkYvPV83GZ0JkSsZ9WSvKB1Clqs/s1600/Matilda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPm_037-o21zNX470kyDRRgyJf-gArbSIlq6xA27fS015rS0uSKqcz8dufMDw0Qh9fPnXFh0nZVPVWTtdAsYITtgK8TJo3ZB6K-vdgDqRLrnxrQdfojkYvPV83GZ0JkSsZ9WSvKB1Clqs/s400/Matilda.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://placeintime.org/an-adult-in-the-making">An Adult in the Making</a> exhibition, Christchurch, 2007</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Today I have been saying "Fifteen! FIFTEEN! How can you be fifteen?" because today my daughter turned fifteen. I looked through some old photos, determined to finally print some off. There she was in her preschool sheriff phase, then her dinosaur phase, then her space phase and her most recent fangirl phase. In our photos she wears a stetson long before Matt Smith made them cool, wears a headlamp when baking in a too-dim kitchen, earmuffs when her father and brother are dancing to too-loud music, a winter hat with earflaps which she named Humphrey and a "headsock" which she invented and knitted herself. I have photos of her with towering Lego creations, earnestly digging for fossils and grinning in the uppermost branches of trees. She has always been her own girl and long may that last.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJUZ1f7_66khS71muGGogGP0ee-oliQUlbKTQbQO0ZekrZOFHqogTPQciAklfvycGrxwunlQwZ5BqJ1OBLT1-Ffp8E4h4aTs0FDMAL-LJ0YlpivC_LnP99l-PyVwOuAfnPrNUW2wuVSQ/s1600/Matilda+Bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJUZ1f7_66khS71muGGogGP0ee-oliQUlbKTQbQO0ZekrZOFHqogTPQciAklfvycGrxwunlQwZ5BqJ1OBLT1-Ffp8E4h4aTs0FDMAL-LJ0YlpivC_LnP99l-PyVwOuAfnPrNUW2wuVSQ/s400/Matilda+Bay.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Matilda Bay, Perth, 2011</span><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I loved the words Fiona Farrell wrote to go with the photo of my daughter when it was in the "Adult in the Making" exhibition as they suited her so well. They were "the deeply serious, poignant and thoroughly delightful business of being a child". What a thoroughly delightful privilege these fifteen years have been for me as my daughter's mother.</span><br />
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-44980415464979738742013-08-12T14:20:00.000+08:002013-08-12T15:01:10.599+08:00Kalbarri holiday: the rest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh72TxHHlHMpaAahilJRNTC-PJikq7C9cifHuXxkM_UR0ggxCnqFtRTMzgrJDHqWmU_8Wr0ajf_1T6jNBTKO7vlmtCKdyvZSZEmtmWip2YEesfq5PkyQ7Jtxls2NnNzBDBXjU_j8fWfHkA/s1600/Kalbarri+holiday+102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" jsa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh72TxHHlHMpaAahilJRNTC-PJikq7C9cifHuXxkM_UR0ggxCnqFtRTMzgrJDHqWmU_8Wr0ajf_1T6jNBTKO7vlmtCKdyvZSZEmtmWip2YEesfq5PkyQ7Jtxls2NnNzBDBXjU_j8fWfHkA/s400/Kalbarri+holiday+102.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Whose dopey idea was that "Day one", "Day two" carry on? Mine obviously while in ridiculously deluded holiday mode. So here we are weeks later, with our holiday feeling like very old news, and I'm finally getting to finish that off - and only because the washing machine broke and I am waiting for the repairman. And now Blogger is playing up yet again so I'll just slip in this short summary in case it all goes pear-shaped: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You know how lots of towns have a slogan? Well Kalbarri's is "You'll love it" and in our case they were absolutely right.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXxzto4njnoWKYZho6xwv7BvUOsZcxmW3riUfVZKuG9tCJiNxBwU9IT-dr2anKCqeNrAVsjyKk84y9ZjhW2KtV5yy3dRYMGJSQDjApHydiVBX6XVIruTJcmHOHZBTym6baj4eZaF8jXg/s1600/Kalbarri+holiday+110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXxzto4njnoWKYZho6xwv7BvUOsZcxmW3riUfVZKuG9tCJiNxBwU9IT-dr2anKCqeNrAVsjyKk84y9ZjhW2KtV5yy3dRYMGJSQDjApHydiVBX6XVIruTJcmHOHZBTym6baj4eZaF8jXg/s400/Kalbarri+holiday+110.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Australia has some incredible landscapes. No surprises there. But in many cases you have to travel a long, long, </span><em style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">long </em><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">way to see them. Then it costs a fortune to stay there. Then it costs another fortune if you feel like eating. Then you have to walk for miles in the stinking heat while being used as a food source by thousands of tiny creatures to get to aforementioned incredible landscape. Well Kalbarri </span><em style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">isn't</em><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> like that.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ma87dsKi13dBzbRIqn0NWWCoG_o4HtMfHpYd1v0UqiGIwQCO9n6QD03S54Q3pbhpjKIWAP6vjfKwXkJ2rKlVwMvLxX1KiQifacjexNy37nF1zB4tWABwtopraLbOp8Ot2zf9VW2no0o/s1600/Kalbarri+holiday+149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" jsa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ma87dsKi13dBzbRIqn0NWWCoG_o4HtMfHpYd1v0UqiGIwQCO9n6QD03S54Q3pbhpjKIWAP6vjfKwXkJ2rKlVwMvLxX1KiQifacjexNy37nF1zB4tWABwtopraLbOp8Ot2zf9VW2no0o/s400/Kalbarri+holiday+149.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Kalbarri hands its amazing scenery over on a plate. There are breathtakingly dramatic landscapes very close to the town, with great access roads then superbly maintained short walking tracks straight to the action. We took all the warning information seriously (it gets to fifty degrees in these gorges in summer) so we wore proper shoes, took lots of water, our first aid kit, hats etc. Then we get there and are walking alongside people in jandals.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxPCDPq0VRs_RljAKg3CKpbYjAObpxEkXkeRr85LAwJN4goNtFyhW4XhimXcvwK82ykxM2bMhHAzU5QBgKZjBTihG_9uAZObdYP6GinKSNd_4pwuLZIxqZ7CsrU0BuhJSFXK2myYVz-Q/s1600/Kalbarri+holiday+153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" jsa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxPCDPq0VRs_RljAKg3CKpbYjAObpxEkXkeRr85LAwJN4goNtFyhW4XhimXcvwK82ykxM2bMhHAzU5QBgKZjBTihG_9uAZObdYP6GinKSNd_4pwuLZIxqZ7CsrU0BuhJSFXK2myYVz-Q/s400/Kalbarri+holiday+153.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We oohed and ahhed our way over every short walk in the park and also a couple of the longer ones. We saw emus in the wild several times and my partner and daughter even saw an echidna. I snapped away furiously at postcard-worthy scenes, all the while oblivious to the fact that </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">my camera was on the wrong setting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We chose the perfect day for our canoe safari. Half way through the "suitable for all ages and all abilities" safari, when our shoulders were aching with the effort, my daughter and I said to each other "whose dopey idea was this?" and I could see from the look in my son's eyes that he was thinking the same over in his canoe with his cheerily paddling father. At the end of the safari when we were soaked and muddy but thrilled after seeing stunning scenery that we would never otherwise have seen, we said "whose great idea was this?" The next day when we couldn't move our arms we said "whose dopey idea was that?" I'm very pleased we did it, but I do think their "all ages and abilities" line is somewhat optimistic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After a week we left lovely Kalbarri and headed to Geraldton. On the way up we'd been a bit disappointed with the famous "pink lake" so we checked it out again on the way back. This time we certainly were not disappointed as on this visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutt_Lagoon">Hutt Lagoon</a> was fabulously and freakishly pink.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I tend to do all the holiday planning in this household. The rule is that if I do all the research, planning and organising then nobody who has just come along for the ride is allowed to say "whose dopey idea was this holiday", but I certainly didn't hear any complaints this time. I think Kalbarri is an excellent place for a family holiday. It might not suit families who like theme park/shopping/blingy holidays, but for people who like beautiful scenery in a relaxed small town setting then I highly recommend it. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Zc97rbF1zFxVnQj4FKq8PGSzCNah37PasEL92EWeFBdL2Yyy3PGzbvkvvbnQQv0ocvBtsfGbZSrcd97ZGLbzzVXjYjxrVTtZcnMkxOJbysQAz29rZ8qVuo9Eq_s2MOpaalNKOOaZqYg/s1600/Kalbarri+holiday+191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Zc97rbF1zFxVnQj4FKq8PGSzCNah37PasEL92EWeFBdL2Yyy3PGzbvkvvbnQQv0ocvBtsfGbZSrcd97ZGLbzzVXjYjxrVTtZcnMkxOJbysQAz29rZ8qVuo9Eq_s2MOpaalNKOOaZqYg/s400/Kalbarri+holiday+191.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It felt like we'd really been out and explored more of Australia, which is excellent, because that, after all, is the reason we are here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-18753884621128116692013-07-18T22:46:00.001+08:002013-07-18T22:46:25.313+08:00Holiday day five: A holiday from Interwebland<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZlm63IQFT36F1bRmtivfuC1vI8rn_fswmj5FRrt1EgVGG7ZegVTkSGCUO9gZXqhQMElFoCuyF43tgOQbEKW5N1hVUlSJowm484AnAd7bugGTERYRCoyBXwLeAh9QwSoV-Ga-tO9bF9cE/s640/blogger-image-723499495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZlm63IQFT36F1bRmtivfuC1vI8rn_fswmj5FRrt1EgVGG7ZegVTkSGCUO9gZXqhQMElFoCuyF43tgOQbEKW5N1hVUlSJowm484AnAd7bugGTERYRCoyBXwLeAh9QwSoV-Ga-tO9bF9cE/s640/blogger-image-723499495.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Late on day four we discovered that the "week" of internet access I bought for while we were in Kalbarri was all used up after nearly 36 hours. Oops. Being offline was actually rather nice but we got home tonight and BOY do I have some catching up to do tomorrow.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This picture is of one of the very many beautiful plants we spotted while getting on with our lives in Realworldland.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-43453177956427487032013-07-11T22:45:00.001+08:002013-08-12T15:03:36.844+08:00Holiday day four: Parrot watching<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSHj-DZe-ljhATK260F5wRbaufBm88JNVjDrXVswXja7JC0Rnm0KrWhNnDyOmJ_LCiR9aqLGi4sYW-RTTubsH4nZ9BpV3FiAb3cDxRohryMIP4BgK2TZlFB845LWgv7G4VfWMs03bp-ZE/s640/blogger-image-361634610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSHj-DZe-ljhATK260F5wRbaufBm88JNVjDrXVswXja7JC0Rnm0KrWhNnDyOmJ_LCiR9aqLGi4sYW-RTTubsH4nZ9BpV3FiAb3cDxRohryMIP4BgK2TZlFB845LWgv7G4VfWMs03bp-ZE/s400/blogger-image-361634610.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today the youngest member of our household chose the day's activities. He loves reading, likes his tucker and is fascinated by wildlife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We all slept in late then stayed in bed and read until we were hungry. Then we strolled down the foreshore to have brunch at a cafe. On the way my son and I stopped to chat to a kooky (but lovely) local chap about the storm brewing offshore and the fact that yet again this year's rainy season has been nowhere near rainy enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next stop was a visit to Rainbow Jungle parrot breeding centre. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkT_GmhoK1dIJcK3pNf5w4RpExlV5lJvACgcC3ijHDDYfF0bPaIZTo1iYgGPftv3a-G74STUvCHZiIf4ubv2qwdtfNBof5BcxCITG00vWjRoPAEtwVsYev0POJiPY4bJu1VkWAcmrSCk8/s640/blogger-image-1676030453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkT_GmhoK1dIJcK3pNf5w4RpExlV5lJvACgcC3ijHDDYfF0bPaIZTo1iYgGPftv3a-G74STUvCHZiIf4ubv2qwdtfNBof5BcxCITG00vWjRoPAEtwVsYev0POJiPY4bJu1VkWAcmrSCk8/s400/blogger-image-1676030453.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was fabulous. My daughter's favourites were a pair of enormous and gregarious macaws.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU30K84idQWgCvmRUw_EDNYXF8iO4rsFxrLcWnKtetaprBl8UELlWWg1uYrNapQ3FvuPv3lHXchr6o10jf57wKsi3dEWT32HkuglkQgyGvU-hXX7oWL1TKvBozmVmBybniEcX2s2u5k8g/s640/blogger-image--987360240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU30K84idQWgCvmRUw_EDNYXF8iO4rsFxrLcWnKtetaprBl8UELlWWg1uYrNapQ3FvuPv3lHXchr6o10jf57wKsi3dEWT32HkuglkQgyGvU-hXX7oWL1TKvBozmVmBybniEcX2s2u5k8g/s400/blogger-image--987360240.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I couldn't choose a favourite but I know which one <i>wasn't</i> my favourite: the one that shat on me. Apparently that is very lucky but I sure didn't feel lucky.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4S6T9lm7KFAmMWl3R3Q7C_hEg_sUbRRu2opyaFVTZjq4EUvNqPs5hej4BrMoLrtSkulWr1xq9_lM3vU_34tuby8BY9IBVOUx_rX4DmZ59kJ8YqKbygWeuUryV2bR9E61Hpg7uB_xELI/s640/blogger-image--138652650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4S6T9lm7KFAmMWl3R3Q7C_hEg_sUbRRu2opyaFVTZjq4EUvNqPs5hej4BrMoLrtSkulWr1xq9_lM3vU_34tuby8BY9IBVOUx_rX4DmZ59kJ8YqKbygWeuUryV2bR9E61Hpg7uB_xELI/s400/blogger-image--138652650.jpg" width="395" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIo800sktQ_ae4ibADeLrDHsDsdNzenKMeSVhmLJPM9wP8cHgLRLb1IS9HYLEP2tq_0BJCWs4DyVsH15IIdXMs72RpLRpw6D_l9lzaouOLJVaq_LC4X3g3uM7En53qSAiXjzSh2-Wl7XQ/s640/blogger-image-1243548449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIo800sktQ_ae4ibADeLrDHsDsdNzenKMeSVhmLJPM9wP8cHgLRLb1IS9HYLEP2tq_0BJCWs4DyVsH15IIdXMs72RpLRpw6D_l9lzaouOLJVaq_LC4X3g3uM7En53qSAiXjzSh2-Wl7XQ/s400/blogger-image-1243548449.jpg" width="389" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the way out some members of my party stuck to local custom and stuck their entry stickers on the rubbish bin and sign. (Not me. Too prissy.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3HnbnSv0pYEf-2P-2lg_dfquRUfbtmK-ey1xQeGfIjuFUgLqgv5sMlVgjnhSfWWddMic1Rs7OyNpk22gsM16ydDG4BPNA3fo_TifXf990vu6PcX_ymCACUSG7Ae-rVWnfPfvc3lEXT4/s640/blogger-image--2113131708.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3HnbnSv0pYEf-2P-2lg_dfquRUfbtmK-ey1xQeGfIjuFUgLqgv5sMlVgjnhSfWWddMic1Rs7OyNpk22gsM16ydDG4BPNA3fo_TifXf990vu6PcX_ymCACUSG7Ae-rVWnfPfvc3lEXT4/s400/blogger-image--2113131708.jpg" width="392" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just after we left the storm finally hit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Suw3_MiyGlHGri-kYMZ_c-zRCVRmmfH2lXukqLkqXvFO9UB5bdyUfvOqIV7w8MlbdUWLWXd7w0MQlfPChN88LqAOOr5th8CQk_86jNB1NvuKQoWIMogFTQwsnUxaO4x3S3P-Ug43k9Y/s400/blogger-image-1024363203.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My partner has chosen our activity for tomorrow: he has booked us in for a canoe safari down the Murchison River. Yesterday when is was calm and sunny and 23 degrees that seemed like a grand idea. Tonight with the storm crashing and howling outside I'm not so sure.</span></div>
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-50843335181816364922013-07-11T13:55:00.001+08:002013-08-12T15:05:24.285+08:00Holiday day three: Whale watching<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyMhOzkxAIRydLAe3m7IxMd5jBvofJEwQgN-j02HKqRbfxSUYXcladC8OrL0VKFioznblV_sI1oHq2wrXtUntHDQgC1VlsQxKtPmDgqXmDCe06FaKafY6cwkXQbSgX2Ls109t8uDtOkI/s640/blogger-image-1419665668.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyMhOzkxAIRydLAe3m7IxMd5jBvofJEwQgN-j02HKqRbfxSUYXcladC8OrL0VKFioznblV_sI1oHq2wrXtUntHDQgC1VlsQxKtPmDgqXmDCe06FaKafY6cwkXQbSgX2Ls109t8uDtOkI/s400/blogger-image-1419665668.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On day three we had planned to go exploring up Kalbarri's famous gorge but the road is closed until the end of the week. Lucky for us the whole town and region are new to us so there are plenty of other cool places to explore. So instead we drove along Kalbarri's coast where there are numerous short walks to dramatic views of spectacular cliffs with the sea thrashing and grinding away below. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0syIFzzLRMSTZfopQmb3w6Z57UqM2MCwpZewLQugEhNDmMvWgm2sFDBPvLKzN_lpCc8eIs2yZFpOT-VxhL0SywXd4BR8wzU5v6DE1v_v0Q1k76up-3DCgcalTqiJQ6h-EpvlI-lYGPu4/s640/blogger-image-1363636488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0syIFzzLRMSTZfopQmb3w6Z57UqM2MCwpZewLQugEhNDmMvWgm2sFDBPvLKzN_lpCc8eIs2yZFpOT-VxhL0SywXd4BR8wzU5v6DE1v_v0Q1k76up-3DCgcalTqiJQ6h-EpvlI-lYGPu4/s400/blogger-image-1363636488.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And there out to sea we saw whales. Lots and lots of them. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rzpJbFWn9C174hBmrrrGe8VtCbCQeW_CI4NtbaGiShZkSkRnNib_divk7w418d2sE8XyCOYGNZlE5pd1BLkn4GLcY9WUjnFdnILB87rQ4nfXjlTvgQzluvDjRdvV0gpMumWxV5lqqg8/s640/blogger-image--772723766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rzpJbFWn9C174hBmrrrGe8VtCbCQeW_CI4NtbaGiShZkSkRnNib_divk7w418d2sE8XyCOYGNZlE5pd1BLkn4GLcY9WUjnFdnILB87rQ4nfXjlTvgQzluvDjRdvV0gpMumWxV5lqqg8/s400/blogger-image--772723766.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are going exploring the river tomorrow. By canoe. Strange but true.</span></div>
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-14515384124789841742013-07-10T16:56:00.001+08:002013-08-12T15:06:15.676+08:00Holiday day two: Cheerio Jurien Bay, Hello Kalbarri<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zI8ziUna3YhhtBOAwO8WA9CgHfJ5i9qRg43j0ovYES6v4nRA2IbczhyGRi9a-Gqkze_ytWhWSDQZl_2gtGn4tAR2Gw2KHCmLaKWJsPu6LitWLfCbqjIUSFeuI4gLTNwfz-QcVChDWNM/s640/blogger-image--848721599.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3zI8ziUna3YhhtBOAwO8WA9CgHfJ5i9qRg43j0ovYES6v4nRA2IbczhyGRi9a-Gqkze_ytWhWSDQZl_2gtGn4tAR2Gw2KHCmLaKWJsPu6LitWLfCbqjIUSFeuI4gLTNwfz-QcVChDWNM/s640/blogger-image--848721599.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On day two of our holiday I got up early to go for a lonelygirl walk around Jurien Bay. Here is a beachfront house with nine tyre swans, and that is just on the balcony.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We drove north via Geraldton (quick loiter outside the public library to use the wifi) then on to Kalbarri.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwip4JDAgPGst1bYHqvP1LN0UjEmt45tCWZVCWO8Wdi_lwwLBVXm2irp3GUqE2qTXxc2bPmdnwK_OOcLIbNYmna4DrRpuiLsu-PRSc3ytp3aREhkiGnZ2XLqh-ZSe9XwCil2uRTTV9IWk/s640/blogger-image-1040979860.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwip4JDAgPGst1bYHqvP1LN0UjEmt45tCWZVCWO8Wdi_lwwLBVXm2irp3GUqE2qTXxc2bPmdnwK_OOcLIbNYmna4DrRpuiLsu-PRSc3ytp3aREhkiGnZ2XLqh-ZSe9XwCil2uRTTV9IWk/s640/blogger-image-1040979860.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I thought Jurien Bay was the ultimate Seachange (tv show) town but I have changed my mind. Kalbarri is the ultimate Seachange town. It even has some kooky locals but I resisted photographing them. Here instead is the view from our holiday digs balcony. Certainly no complaints.</span></div>
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-8848842731864784302013-07-10T16:39:00.001+08:002013-08-12T15:06:56.287+08:00Holiday day one: Hello Jurien Bay<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm back trying to use Blogger on my iPad again but this time via what must surely be the slowest internet connection on the planet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On day one of our holiday we drove to Jurien Bay. It is as lovely as ever. Beautiful flowers are in bloom. I could be wrong (it has happened before) but I think this is a Pincushion Hakea or Hakea Laurina. Nice. And notice that blue sky. 22 degrees and sunny and this is mid-winter. No complaints here.</span></div>
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Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-49746928612718777022013-06-28T19:14:00.002+08:002013-06-28T20:34:46.500+08:00Beware of dinosaurs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwOSWVt0bRDQKjdrM-Jg5O0jxinXwoPzJD6bvW4mjjS5wdWEuKclMoUbMNNTD3mv6JphXuxDazsz1IzOO4UoUHs0VQYfFT95-PUrmYf9ur1v5_SSUEDmRN9CPHSn2zc93Fin2KYPevN9k/s998/dinosaur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwOSWVt0bRDQKjdrM-Jg5O0jxinXwoPzJD6bvW4mjjS5wdWEuKclMoUbMNNTD3mv6JphXuxDazsz1IzOO4UoUHs0VQYfFT95-PUrmYf9ur1v5_SSUEDmRN9CPHSn2zc93Fin2KYPevN9k/s400/dinosaur.jpg" width="400" xya="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Life in Australia is not all sun, surf and jollyhockeysticks. This week saw the shameful culmination of something that for the past three years has made me wonder exactly what century we are living in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The sexist abuse hurled at Julia Gillard by not just the opposition but also by sections of the media and much of the general public while she was Prime Minister was way beyond disrespectful. Robust political debate is fine and to be expected but this was not that. Repeated personal attacks on a person because of their physical appearance, family situation or voice are <em>not</em> OK - ever. Throwing sandwiches at someone is not OK - ever! In fact according to a flyer brought home from school recently that sort of behaviour is called bullying. For the past three years much of Australia has participated in The Big Bully, much like a scary psychology experiment on a very grand scale. It was shocking. Big sections of Australian society need to have a long hard look at their behaviour, their frighteningly outdated attitudes and their plain lack of manners if they think that this is an OK way to treat <em>anyone</em>, regardless of whether you agree with their views or think they are any good at their job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As one commenter on an online news site wrote "In its disgracefully sexist treatment of its first female Prime Minister, Australia has proven yet again that it isn't quite ready yet for this thingy we in other parts of the world call life in the 21st century". Sadly I agree. As my teenage daughter put it "Do we really want to live in a country thinks it is OK to treat women this way?" I'll have to think about that one.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-41813774816639716282013-06-14T15:50:00.000+08:002013-06-14T16:09:51.354+08:00Repeating pattern<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjryZfG8-14BgihqELj2IkEKqhMUVsmO3c0HX44QNYKZNJHNQUtcz_WiTOraLFgUoMwXR-bp4WaIgOCP8G4KlsQKFnRNuxmY8NLfe4UGh12qozJscnu5vswv9COwW4jBZU1vwfMedRR2xA/s1600/Dark+MOFO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" cya="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjryZfG8-14BgihqELj2IkEKqhMUVsmO3c0HX44QNYKZNJHNQUtcz_WiTOraLFgUoMwXR-bp4WaIgOCP8G4KlsQKFnRNuxmY8NLfe4UGh12qozJscnu5vswv9COwW4jBZU1vwfMedRR2xA/s400/Dark+MOFO.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I love repeating patterns. I love them in fabrics, wallpaper, carpets and I love spotting them in nature and photographing them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Yesterday a repeating pattern happened in our lives; my partner's work contract was renewed. Phew! Like many New Zealanders living in Australia we will have to leave at some point. In our case that is because we can never become Australian citizens and as such our children are not eligible for student loans in Australia. Little Miss WinsEveryPrizeSheGoesNear is also not eligible for scholarships in Australia and given that most of her preferred career options will involve manymany years of university study, that simply won't be possible here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But anyway we aren't quite ready to leave yet. We hope to do a lot more exploring here before we leave. One place I've always wanted to investigate is Tasmania especially since a local artist friend came back raving about the <a href="http://www.mona.net.au/">Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)</a> and insisting that I must go there, which sadly is a tad easier said than done. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So today I made that repeating pattern above as my entry into a competition to <em>win </em>a trip there. The somewhat debauched content of that pattern isn't my usual style but the prize is a visit to Tasmania, MONA and the fabulously Bacchanalian sounding <a href="http://www.darkmofo.net.au/">Dark MOFO</a> festival. My winter feast pic is called "My Darkest Night Is Repeating On Me". I've probably broken the rules by repeating my photo but MONA and Dark MOFO seem to be <em>all about</em> breaking rules, which is a huge part of their appeal to me. (Instagram users can help me out by liking my pic - my handle surprisingly enough is pearlequeen and you can see all the entries by searching for #abcRNDarkMOFO . If any Australian-based folk fancy entering too the details are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/competitions/article/4723726">here</a> but you'll have to be quick as it closes this Sunday.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It was fun to do but obviously a long-shot so in the meantime I'll just keep on keeping on with our other plan to visit Tasmania and MONA which is also a repeating pattern: scrimping and saving, scrimping and saving.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-27953528056700158012013-06-10T12:36:00.001+08:002013-06-10T13:33:09.731+08:00I'm there. I've made it.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As any of you who know me will realise, the "Making it in Mandurah" words on the right of this blog are somewhat tongue in cheek. For many people around these parts "Making it" seems to mean holidaying in Bali and owning a huge house, a huge vehicle, his 'n' hers jetskis plus and various other things I am not the slightest bit interested in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My version of "making it" is considerably more modest and involves having time to, well, <em>make</em> things including our vegetable garden and good meals. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am happy to report that in gardening terms, we have recently met a couple of criteria I set myself and have officially made it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Late autumn and early winter are great times in the garden here as the temperature stays in the twenties or below and it rains fairly frequently and heavily. This means that we have finally got to the point where our garden is providing most of the vegetables we eat. Given that we started with a sand dune this is no mean feat. Every morning I head out into the garden with my colander to pick salad greens for our packed lunches. Every evening I head back out there to harvest more food for our evening meal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have been repeating that pattern over </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">and over</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgfKrzQx7CPkmLehtffrQ1xWsOJ0PJwywqTUuhwj6a0KYWeO8bCbvgOU_iWoAcY2gnYNmaXa5y2aywERRVm-PN_nMKX7Mk9CTR5g9qBcyRsuRisX1ZbH3xONmxP8iWgafnOIz7bGIjezI/s1600/gardenveg3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgfKrzQx7CPkmLehtffrQ1xWsOJ0PJwywqTUuhwj6a0KYWeO8bCbvgOU_iWoAcY2gnYNmaXa5y2aywERRVm-PN_nMKX7Mk9CTR5g9qBcyRsuRisX1ZbH3xONmxP8iWgafnOIz7bGIjezI/s400/gardenveg3.jpg" width="400" yya="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and over again</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDwG_S8h1VhIMXmAtWdMlYBGuLLXAPAIJG74pM-B_jmVIs6TEeGcJN_xzjIaLXkR5yLQdncJ_3EG9LT3ynMrrvkvW_qhW2CYgBQoNE3dQh0fMNF7Bx6TTwLUiH4VJOedbDLR9YAm7poc/s1600/winter+garden+bounty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDwG_S8h1VhIMXmAtWdMlYBGuLLXAPAIJG74pM-B_jmVIs6TEeGcJN_xzjIaLXkR5yLQdncJ_3EG9LT3ynMrrvkvW_qhW2CYgBQoNE3dQh0fMNF7Bx6TTwLUiH4VJOedbDLR9YAm7poc/s400/winter+garden+bounty.jpg" width="400" yya="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">for several weeks now. The big winners have been kale, chinese stirfry greens, chillies, beans, rocket, mizuna, herbs and pumpkins. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">But I set myself another criteria when it comes to "making it" in the garden. Our garden must also be a great and safe place for local wildlife to live in and visit. I've been on a couple of courses about creating wildlife-friendly gardens (thank you City of Mandurah) and read about how various chemicals can be problematic for wildlife so we've given them all a big swerve. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">We have succeeded in attracting numerous birds to the garden and we now also have masses of lizards. There is one creature I am not too excited about. Here is a calling card it left us in the shed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Yes that is a (tiny) snake's shed skin. Our planned frog pond is still just a concept but</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> frogs have moved in anyway. In the evenings we hear a chorus of burrowing frogs in the front garden (put put put) and here is a motorbike frog who has recently shifted into the back garden (vroom vroom vroom). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I woke in the night with a raging temperature to hear a Boobook owl right outside the window (bookbook bookbook bookbook) and today I'm just admiring our garden from the great indoors (and mucking around creating repeating patterns) as I have woken up with a lurgy. I've swapped my work day for tomorrow and was still in bed reading when I heard a squeeeak in the driveway then the cheery hellooo of a friend who had popped by while out doing chores. She's never popped in unannounced before and was a little apologetic about doing so. I however was delighted and would have loved to have said "coffee?" and welcomed her in despite the fact that my house is messy and I am wearing PJs and have bedhair like a crazy chicken, but we thought it best that I don't share my germs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is three years today since we left New Zealand. I still dearly miss my NZ friends especially my closest "swing-by" friends. The fact that I <em>finally</em> have a swing-by friend here means that I really am making it, at least by my definition.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-33301186570936270432013-05-27T14:47:00.000+08:002013-05-27T21:01:58.357+08:00Plenty of work and plenty of joy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijWa0H-a4TuVW9wNKioji3O4J3yUiIEMNY4taVLz0r3LI3FJ0jeKX7XVCBjQhu6uHzuGnycdfakKYfRQA0QFZUozkt1M-Tr6pMS5jHfNG97WKLPf_A3fU7BU_5WnIle27XyxJWz86rSbc/s1600/Mandurah+bingo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijWa0H-a4TuVW9wNKioji3O4J3yUiIEMNY4taVLz0r3LI3FJ0jeKX7XVCBjQhu6uHzuGnycdfakKYfRQA0QFZUozkt1M-Tr6pMS5jHfNG97WKLPf_A3fU7BU_5WnIle27XyxJWz86rSbc/s400/Mandurah+bingo.jpg" width="336" ya="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As we all know, all work and no joy makes Mac (or Jack) or anyone else for that matter a dull boy - or girl. There sure has been plenty of work going on around here but luckily there has also been truckloads of joy. All members of this household have been enjoying new interests.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My swimming lessons are still in the early stages (my best stroke is still Drownstroke) but I am determined to get to the stage where swimming is actually fun. My partner is a gun swimmer and most Saturday mornings he can be found far out to sea with many other "Masters" (while back at home I try to ignore radio news reports about shark attacks). Somewhere in the pictures below are my partner, my swimming tutor and several of their clubmates completing this year's 3.6km <a href="http://www.busseltonjettyswim.org.au/">Busselton Jetty Swim</a>. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcYtuxO2UUoGWLiPPajus5PHsVg236SOzo8hFhiKrT_9rwOLcX5wqNfdHTsZS4LGJTVucxK4yl45CjtweIDoBxbrqjFlaf8yGfFwrZJm6ALvgyRlGFpo5zKPVD7LntRbJyXdwk3Rr8SSE/s1600/Busselton+Jetty+swim+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcYtuxO2UUoGWLiPPajus5PHsVg236SOzo8hFhiKrT_9rwOLcX5wqNfdHTsZS4LGJTVucxK4yl45CjtweIDoBxbrqjFlaf8yGfFwrZJm6ALvgyRlGFpo5zKPVD7LntRbJyXdwk3Rr8SSE/s400/Busselton+Jetty+swim+.jpg" width="400" ya="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I don't intend to ever join him in using swimming as a means of transportation, but the other hobby he and my daughter have taken up does look like a lot of fun. They are having surfing lessons at a local surf school and are both doing brilliantly. Here they are only one hour into their first lesson.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My daughter has also taken up hockey </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">and my son is making great progress with lawn bowls. He now trains regularly in Perth with the state junior squad who are the Australian juniors champions. Lawn bowls might seem like an unusual sport for a boy his age but I am thrilled that he has found a sport he enjoys and is good at as that is something that has eluded me my entire life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">While he attends his day-long training sessions, I get to indulge in one of my favourite activities and explore new-to-me parts of Perth. On the last trip I took the opportunity to finally buy something new that I have been trying and failing to buy secondhand for three years: a bike! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I use it to do chores, visit friends and tootle here,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">and here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Yup, still op shopping. I also now have a legitimate reason to obsessively scour through Trademe as I am helping a friend in Christchurch to furnish her new office. Our most exciting find so far is a huge set of <a href="http://www.string.se/">String</a> style mid-century shelving - for $30.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I am finally teaching my daughter to sew by working with her to create her costume for this year's <a href="http://www.supanova.com.au/">Supanova Pop Culture Convention</a> where last year we spotted the cutest Doctor Who ever. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">So plenty of play for everyone but now I really do need to get back to doing some work. I have been offered a very exciting (and a little bit scary) new role and I need to write up some ideas for a meeting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">But I'll end with a wee skite about something that has come about as the result of <em>absolute truckloads</em> of work over the past three years by one member of this household and his workmates. The Mandurah Performing Arts Centre won the 2013 <a href="http://www.apaca.com.au/">APACA</a> Drover Award for the Performing Arts Centre of the Year. Woohoo!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">That centre is certainly not run by dull boys - or girls. There is so much happening there that so far I have had absolutely no need to seek entertainment just down the road from there ... at the bingo hall.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-59348810252787664812013-04-15T15:05:00.000+08:002013-04-15T15:16:33.197+08:00Immerse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I finally finished the "Immerse" project I mentioned in the previous post. As some of you guessed it was wearable art. Despite living in the land of <a href="http://www.worldofwearableart.com/">The World of Wearable Art</a> for most of my life, I was never once, even for a second, tempted to enter. Basically it had always been on my <a href="http://stash-rehash.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/to-do-list-and-not-to-do-list.html">Not To Do List</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But soon after I moved here I met a group of lovely and passionate people who were trying to get a new wearable art event off the ground for Mandurah's <a href="http://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/stretchfestival.htm">Stretch Arts Festival</a>. I must have said "wearable art isn't my thing" about twenty times before I finally gave up, thought to myself "just be supportive" and so said "go on then" instead. I made a piece for their inaugural event in 2011 and at some stage I'll photograph it and show it to you. Given my usual dislike for making useless things I basically made a quilt and a dress.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Last year I was working like a madwoman and ran another little project at Stretch as part of my job so had no time to make anything other than dinners. This year, in a moment of weakness and much to my daughter's surprise, I again said Yes, albeit ten minutes before the entry cutoff time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">There are reasons why wearable art isn't my thing so to avoid these I set myself a few criteria. I was determined that my entry would a) not scare small children, b) not scare any of us more delicate adults, c) be a simple design, d) only use one material and e) not cost me more than a few gold coins to make. Then my partner brought home a huge pile of superseded advertising banners from his workplace because he doesn't like throwing things out and he thought I might be able to make something out of them. I looked at the lovely watery colours of the banners and the words on them which were <em>Immerse</em> and <em>Splash</em>. I thought about the theme for this year's Stretch Festival which is Identity. Lately I have been mucking around with smocking so I played with the banner fabric and made the huge smocked samples in the previous post. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I finally finished my entry a few minutes before I was due to collect my gorgeous model (a former workmate) to go to the judging event. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here is the longer version of what I wrote as the didactic for my entry. (Writing this stuff is so odd. It is a frock. With a mental hat!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong><em>Immerse.</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>My piece is about two sorts of “immersion” and how these have changed my Identity since moving to Mandurah.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Firstly, I now spend a lot of time in and around water; I soon realised that to not do so here would be huge missed opportunity. I have discovered kayaking and am finally learning to swim. The colour and movement of Mandurah's beautiful waterways entrance me.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Secondly, in this piece I am playing with connection, expansion and changing direction as these are all things that immersion in the local arts scene has given me via a constant stream of wonderful opportunities.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">So there above and below it is. Many thanks to my amazing model. (Sadly I don't look like that in it. I look certifiable.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Seeing all the weird and wonderful directions the entrants went in was fascinating especially given that we all started from the same point: the word Identity. During the main Stretch Festival weekend there will be a public event where all the entries will be showcased. Details are as follows:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/12554.htm"><strong>Common Threads of Identity Wearable Art Showcase</strong></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sunday May 5th 2013 at 3.00pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Boardwalk Theatre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Come along to this free, ticketed show to see all the wearable art entries in all their glory. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Collect your free tickets from Mandurah Library, Falcon eLibrary and Community Centre or the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The winners will be announced at that event but I must admit I'm not bothered as I have already had the ultimate positive feedback. In the car on the way home from the private judging event where these photographs were taken my daughter said in a somewhat surprised voice, "Mum, it looked <em>really good</em>!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now that I have ticked that off my Not To Do List (again) it is time for <em>A cup of tea and a lie down</em>, which incidentally was the name of my 2011 entry.</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-21929519447690156132013-03-28T14:40:00.000+08:002013-04-15T15:28:52.447+08:00The year of saying "Yes!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One of the great joys of not having most of my waking moments taken up with paid work is that when other interesting opportunities arise I can actually say "Yes!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now that I again have two children at the one school I have finally said Yes to joining the P&C (PTA). In my capacity as an opinionated bigmouth I was invited to participate in a series of scenario planning workshops for the Peel region run by <a href="http://www.rdapeel.org.au/">Regional Development Australia, Peel</a>. I am very pleased I said Yes as it was a great experience and I met some excellent people. I also said Yes to attending a series of professional development workshops presented by the local contemporary art gallery. Then I said Yes to being a voluntary gallery attendant at the same gallery on an ongoing basis and am loving my time there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have also said Yes to participating in various projects at Mandurah's annual community arts festival: <a href="http://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/stretchfestival.htm">Stretch</a>. One of these is in a paid capacity but the others are just for fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Pictured above and below is a house I made for an exhibition at Stretch called <a href="http://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/13111.htm">My Place</a>. All the participants were given a plain wooden house which we then decorated to turn it into <em>My Place</em>. I loved the house in its plain state as it looked like a Pixie House so I was tempted to simply paint it up like a Warren and Mahoney pixie but nobody here would get it. (If you don't get it either look at the lovely <a href="http://pixieoftheday.tumblr.com/">Pixie of the Day tumblr</a>.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am not an artist and I still have an issue with making useless things (the issue is that I don't like doing it) so I turned my house into a card box house which, if it doesn't get trashed during the exhibition, I will eventually keep my crochet kit in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The didactic that goes with it is:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><strong><em>A Room of One's Own</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em>I am a maker and often have several projects on the go at a time: this can be messy! My favourite creations involve contemporary interpretations of traditional textile handcrafts. At the moment I don't have a space to work in so the next project on my "To make" list is a workroom.</em></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkLe9JGP54omrgbZHDU4GuHoFgJz9u-MX9JJSCGeyj5BfT6ktBS2Nd9G_durCP7Ww81sKIC03qTc4d9rOT8GTvfZOStxqygMDLAdjlH2jTa_hWOHQDgbsmFePBMjA1tAIFkYGkRBmN-I/s1600/MyPlacemosaic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkLe9JGP54omrgbZHDU4GuHoFgJz9u-MX9JJSCGeyj5BfT6ktBS2Nd9G_durCP7Ww81sKIC03qTc4d9rOT8GTvfZOStxqygMDLAdjlH2jTa_hWOHQDgbsmFePBMjA1tAIFkYGkRBmN-I/s400/MyPlacemosaic.jpg" usa="true" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Ironically all this making of pretend workrooms has of course slowed down the work on the<em> real</em> house and <em>real </em>workroom. Never mind, it was fun and soon Stretch will be over for another year and I won't have so many lovely things to distract me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here are some pictures of one of the other projects I am working on for Stretch. Firstly the inspiration (Pics stolen from all over interwebland. Oops.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCApiV0WAlBIjz1kbtVg5VKTZVzfLfdP8ja2Lj21YVFkr14SEa6nigpWNUpGSvq50B9ENgmIrGlg1MiH8ASxqTgaG2GZ7wHltOQ7jnG62r-uw3rgr90mJ5J-s4G0dhZAHD15kef3HNHo/s1600/wearableartinspiration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCApiV0WAlBIjz1kbtVg5VKTZVzfLfdP8ja2Lj21YVFkr14SEa6nigpWNUpGSvq50B9ENgmIrGlg1MiH8ASxqTgaG2GZ7wHltOQ7jnG62r-uw3rgr90mJ5J-s4G0dhZAHD15kef3HNHo/s400/wearableartinspiration.jpg" usa="true" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Then progress so far.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This one is called <em>Immerse</em> and as you can see it is still just a work in progress. This odd project will take a bit more explaining at some point; in the past if I had been asked to do this I would probably have said that I would rather stick pins in my eyes. But there we are. Things have changed. Saying Yes will do that.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-17239776552410214562013-02-22T14:25:00.000+08:002013-02-22T14:25:32.882+08:00Vote for King Edward!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillGdlbhK3osyddzYwghtmzkcAtO4EEK07b2K2H1IUuWotNk3yEJrLrJ6hXbHgP-E46GQMOI5OswGy2nfM56N0qFgjZSuLoq2o-LLiwhjYlrJrbpTZYe4meMAgJ2temFIGBQPLQAAvwgw/s1600/potatoVariety-Chart-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" mea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillGdlbhK3osyddzYwghtmzkcAtO4EEK07b2K2H1IUuWotNk3yEJrLrJ6hXbHgP-E46GQMOI5OswGy2nfM56N0qFgjZSuLoq2o-LLiwhjYlrJrbpTZYe4meMAgJ2temFIGBQPLQAAvwgw/s640/potatoVariety-Chart-1.jpg" width="452" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This sad image of the few spud varieties allowed in WA was swiped from the website of Western Potatoes.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm still loving having the time to plug away at various home improvement projects and am in no danger of getting bored yet. However if I ever <em>do</em> get bored I have found a rather absurd and particularly Western Australian way to amuse myself. I'm going to load up my tiny car with over 50 kg of potatoes and drive around in the hope that an inspector will stop and search my vehicle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I was warned before we moved here that Western Australia had many bizarre or perplexing regulations. The warners were not kidding. I've lost count of the number of times I've wondered why some ordinary everyday thing either doesn't exist here or only exists in an old-fashioned way that I am familiar with from my small-town New Zealand childhood. Often this situation is just interesting, but sometimes it is also jolly annoying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One of WA's most antiquated laws is the Monty Pythonesque </span><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/mopa1946232/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Marketing of Potatoes Act 1946</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">. Enshrined in that law is the ability for potato inspectors to stop and search vehicles carrying too many potatoes. This would simply be comical except for the fact that that law also restricts WA potato growers to only ever growing 13 of the 66 varieties of potatoes grown commercially in Australia. I'm not making this up and these restrictions aren't in place to prevent the spread of diseases, which I would understand. Via this odd law </span><a href="http://www.westernpotatoes.com.au/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Western Potatoes</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> and the </span><a href="http://www.pmc.wa.gov.au/varieties/index.cfm"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> also restrict <em>how many</em> potatoes growers can grow and at <em>what price</em> they can sell them. My local supermarkets only ever stock two or three varieties at a time and one of them is always that trusty but dreary wallflower: Nadine. I've never thought of myself as a foodie but I find life in WA decidedly deprived in the spud department.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So forget finding any of the planet's 4000 or so other crazy potato varieties at farmers' markets here. My attempts to source interesting varieties to grow have also failed; my days of walking out the back door to harvest small, nutty, black-skinned Maori potatoes or huge, yellow sweet potatoes or any other waxy or starchy beauties are just a distant memory.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So it was with some interest that I noticed that potatoes have become a campaign issue in the upcoming state elections. The Western Australian Labor Party is pledging to </span><a href="http://www.markmcgowan.com.au/policies/economic-reform-freeing-up-the-sale-of-potatoes-in-western-australia-7"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">free up the sale of potatoes in Western Australia</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">. We aren't Australian citizens (and never can be - too old) so we don't get to vote but if I could and I saw a candidate called Cliff Kidney, Jersey Bennes, Russett Burbank, Purple Congo or King Edward I'd be sorely tempted to vote for them. Fingers crossed that however Western Australians vote, we'll all win a bit more choice over what we are allowed to eat sometime soon.</span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-2961018446231445042013-02-04T16:05:00.004+08:002013-02-04T16:05:48.974+08:00Old habits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5m2U_LTM7ssdz-sEY02oeiuM2NVZ-pZdh2X-klrrXNP4KkuUPMmiaJ5gmblmoXC4MwqJMIZ2RAC76D_hAM3Ba5kfc84QntQpEk4Nu15M0c17m4wq4fH6kzkpUeT12D-C20F9wk3y-G3w/s1600/Raglan+futuro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5m2U_LTM7ssdz-sEY02oeiuM2NVZ-pZdh2X-klrrXNP4KkuUPMmiaJ5gmblmoXC4MwqJMIZ2RAC76D_hAM3Ba5kfc84QntQpEk4Nu15M0c17m4wq4fH6kzkpUeT12D-C20F9wk3y-G3w/s400/Raglan+futuro.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Today the children went back to school. Two children at secondary school - how did that happen? My project job finished a couple of days before we went to New Zealand so I am in a situation I happily call "self-unemployed". If a superjuicy or irresistible job comes up then maybe I'll be tempted back out of my shell, but otherwise I have <em>plenty</em> to keep me busy. Old habits die hard; I have made myself a BIG LONG LIST. (And yet here I am at the computer with a whole pot of coffee to myself. Old habits indeed.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My first project presented itself minutes after we got home. Someone used the toilet and the cistern just kept on running and running, again. Yeeesssssss! When I got that fixed once before the plumber said that if it happened again I should replace the whole toilet and with one that uses far less water. I usually don't like replacing things that aren't broken because it just seems wasteful (the obvious exception being things that are so ugly or poorly designed that they depress me) so this was the perfect opportunity to finally replace our ugly, beige, stained, too-tricky-to-clean, water-wasting toilet. While I'm at it the bathroom and laundry will get a spruce-up too. Here is our new throne. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EIdzUlTLYVvnOz0-TWzNvyI5KQuIXKIaElsJr5-46sWTOUlrHQL6XSvSH1LGYUvPbd24RCc2U4Ulf1hxR53w7fd7ZZ4Yqxz_0zqYhXLvRvlAu8kvQcGHMcZ9PH_DkDWgr787yGWl23k/s1600/toilet+caroma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EIdzUlTLYVvnOz0-TWzNvyI5KQuIXKIaElsJr5-46sWTOUlrHQL6XSvSH1LGYUvPbd24RCc2U4Ulf1hxR53w7fd7ZZ4Yqxz_0zqYhXLvRvlAu8kvQcGHMcZ9PH_DkDWgr787yGWl23k/s400/toilet+caroma.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.caroma.com.au/bathrooms/toilet-suites/profile/profile-5-toilet-suite-with-integrated-hand-basin"><span style="color: blue;">Caroma</span></a> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And in case you are wondering, that isn't a urinal on top as someone suggested. It is a handbasin. Hopefully no visitors will get confused.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The next major project on my list is something I'm very excited about because it is a (very modest) version of something I've long dreamt about doing. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">One of my <em>very</em> old habits is to look at mental real estate and plan makeovers for it. For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with sad, abandoned, non-residential buildings and dreamt about acquiring one, throwing some love at it and transforming it into a superb home, workroom and business. So when I was back in New Zealand, having a great time and dreaming about moving back there, I indulged in a bit of what my partner refers to as "real estate p*rn" (rhymes with corn). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here is my all-time favourite mental real estate conversion opportunity: The <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-242346857.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Riverton Bowling Club</span></a>. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Nc68x1dl0_aexbcmrBk_Jr2kZMYwAEnopdXehjy4JhS6M7uTxu1usL99GSUOifZULA3gTGuzg-9j3j8v40MRM-3VT006_s36rD15nensLHOMRNq_1MtIV_jH0JPOd1FBsMoz6zL49DY/s1600/riverton+bowling+club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Nc68x1dl0_aexbcmrBk_Jr2kZMYwAEnopdXehjy4JhS6M7uTxu1usL99GSUOifZULA3gTGuzg-9j3j8v40MRM-3VT006_s36rD15nensLHOMRNq_1MtIV_jH0JPOd1FBsMoz6zL49DY/s400/riverton+bowling+club.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVnoUbo1lacnymJ8j2bY9QMwEdJrTNcD-qP3zM1W0Go5mJU2S4t1r9ybcmGzwdxuyVfFZ34oMkiItnliwRrGcvRlRlT3KurViA4ddUb0PBXr8zOjt8iKKp8P4jz1ZbCwZ7_Tq-BEhqQ4/s1600/riverton+bowling+club2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVnoUbo1lacnymJ8j2bY9QMwEdJrTNcD-qP3zM1W0Go5mJU2S4t1r9ybcmGzwdxuyVfFZ34oMkiItnliwRrGcvRlRlT3KurViA4ddUb0PBXr8zOjt8iKKp8P4jz1ZbCwZ7_Tq-BEhqQ4/s400/riverton+bowling+club2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here is another doozie: the building formerly known as <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/commercial-property-for-sale/auction-441587705.htm"><span style="color: blue;">The Tirau Event Centre</span></a>. I am soooo over events after the year I had at work last year, so I would turn this building into a lovely peaceful "Non-Event Centre".</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAF_gV1EY5KbNGeewUVsrAMWbx0mRk907DQ0jDULroUD-4PD-8DLd6-WsxyOEoiEubzi-areF42WDQGELmAfXGhtqznS-Rd1Nk4mzgRB4U5PUmApC10wkKVfLZA_WfVGIIJOMJ4wfVTc/s1600/tirau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAF_gV1EY5KbNGeewUVsrAMWbx0mRk907DQ0jDULroUD-4PD-8DLd6-WsxyOEoiEubzi-areF42WDQGELmAfXGhtqznS-Rd1Nk4mzgRB4U5PUmApC10wkKVfLZA_WfVGIIJOMJ4wfVTc/s400/tirau.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Maybe my very own <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/commercial-property-for-sale/auction-520685987.htm"><span style="color: blue;">hall in Karitane</span></a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhIx-jMfZiHxIFipmZaxh1yQ0OvbsfEpKF8G5d_3fNH9FGSWjhChzz9SjxhyC5qD3UklCHc-qMUTUK33Z_y6ONOdo35DHpiYi3foInZQgdhVy-jGKUynr1GNGXo31SV1MIaWbPGclVlM/s1600/karitane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhIx-jMfZiHxIFipmZaxh1yQ0OvbsfEpKF8G5d_3fNH9FGSWjhChzz9SjxhyC5qD3UklCHc-qMUTUK33Z_y6ONOdo35DHpiYi3foInZQgdhVy-jGKUynr1GNGXo31SV1MIaWbPGclVlM/s400/karitane.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And another bowling club, this time in Carterton, listed <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential/sections-for-sale/auction-520399033.htm"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a> and <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/lifestyle-property/auction-553835980.htm"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>. Cheap as chips!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3VbwenbRniQnlNaxFmXR4yz6hsiHZAD7fyyV7OxBTopjewev5tc7gSj5bHxpXfOsZMiCpqzJJlYCNH_YEp0WsVWOS0zXEz_tmbBhJR-w6lupc0Vz_E4pU0w0ufyPKYJZd1zgEerE-ug8/s1600/carterton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3VbwenbRniQnlNaxFmXR4yz6hsiHZAD7fyyV7OxBTopjewev5tc7gSj5bHxpXfOsZMiCpqzJJlYCNH_YEp0WsVWOS0zXEz_tmbBhJR-w6lupc0Vz_E4pU0w0ufyPKYJZd1zgEerE-ug8/s400/carterton.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">How about a <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-506362793.htm"><span style="color: blue;">whole school</span></a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgT94z_NKF7BoTXCzaVU3Ue4xRFJiheg_QS3fApgLRWBuGHasrcIk6YfsR-AHXU_LiMHk9_Ia4axOm_X4obVNtImyM2JTvNQ2f0ZvGMnjzitsaqDjSs0NRUkfDjrSGKEmHF2ZXYZQ7MC8/s1600/Beaumont+School+Clutha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgT94z_NKF7BoTXCzaVU3Ue4xRFJiheg_QS3fApgLRWBuGHasrcIk6YfsR-AHXU_LiMHk9_Ia4axOm_X4obVNtImyM2JTvNQ2f0ZvGMnjzitsaqDjSs0NRUkfDjrSGKEmHF2ZXYZQ7MC8/s400/Beaumont+School+Clutha.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Or <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/lifestyle-property/auction-527524339.htm"><span style="color: blue;">a country hall</span></a>. (I went to a rather memorable party there as a teenager.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYaA3nMwUVlTlAAkOuZQ8oTwU4d9yirvvg-mh4_xykmqJIfquZ3SDbihvI4-6-z2uCwAzNTGthyphenhyphenapCguBGbFzoS6WwsdXnOWilN0lvJoKKWoIl0ooqmj28jAEnMTl62VY0l6ojAlFYCs/s1600/tihiroa+hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYaA3nMwUVlTlAAkOuZQ8oTwU4d9yirvvg-mh4_xykmqJIfquZ3SDbihvI4-6-z2uCwAzNTGthyphenhyphenapCguBGbFzoS6WwsdXnOWilN0lvJoKKWoIl0ooqmj28jAEnMTl62VY0l6ojAlFYCs/s400/tihiroa+hall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Can I interest anyone in possibly the <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/commercial-property-for-sale/auction-543284888.htm"><span style="color: blue;">saddest building in the universe</span></a>?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt1WExgQg71eNqgWMA7sHLmkA-6LNkT5U6xR8U8M4Ik8SJYi1HV_fGVPkDRvp731_UpxIuriBUMJCO6dHtrPW6SyQmP3VDVe1oHTUSnJ2O1JTARYtTkIzjpczYPKdO52La6MJkHr5-yD0/s1600/okaihau+opportunity2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt1WExgQg71eNqgWMA7sHLmkA-6LNkT5U6xR8U8M4Ik8SJYi1HV_fGVPkDRvp731_UpxIuriBUMJCO6dHtrPW6SyQmP3VDVe1oHTUSnJ2O1JTARYtTkIzjpczYPKdO52La6MJkHr5-yD0/s400/okaihau+opportunity2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Honestly Trademe is just heaving with very tempting disused Scout Halls, Masonic Lodges, Bowling Clubs, banks, post offices, railway stations, churches (which for some reason don't appeal to me) and other ripe-for-refurbishment opportunities. Obviously there are a few impracticalities to my obsession, the main one being that I am in Australia and all these gems are in New Zealand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">But realistically the main thing my family really needs is simply one more biggish multi-purpose room; I need a workroom, my children would love their own space to hang out with their friends and we need better guest accommodation. My daughter's dream way of solving this issue is for us to airlift a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuro"><span style="color: blue;">Futuro</span></a> onto the back garden and I'd gladly oblige only I could find one to buy in Australia. The Futuro at the top of this post is currently also <a href="http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-558159705.htm"><span style="color: blue;">for sale on Trademe</span></a> ... and it is in Raglan. Soooo tempted...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Anyway we discussed our "one more biggish multi-purpose room" requirements recently with a building designer who visited to give our house a "Home Sustainability Assessment" and guide us through the next stage of our renovations. Happily she suggested we get on and do something that we'd toyed with but thought might be a daft idea: insulate and line the great galumphing hangar-sized double garage on the back lawn to convert it to a useable space. I finally have my very own conversion project!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I've been pulling together some ideas for the project and so far it looks like this (and yes, I own quite a bit of fabric again).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHg3NUIXEDLNqm0ErkWUMcEOiR1HUp3YmuM3e3XQX4w_B-K1VufhyphenhyphenQnFVQuRxVSexGfuAgo2ssHgsjrW4ZtGwa_NJS2uSpKvtznva2RC0Vc_89LX7UJCRF_oUaaZY_8cFGPVOq0S3ri7Q/s1600/garage+ideas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHg3NUIXEDLNqm0ErkWUMcEOiR1HUp3YmuM3e3XQX4w_B-K1VufhyphenhyphenQnFVQuRxVSexGfuAgo2ssHgsjrW4ZtGwa_NJS2uSpKvtznva2RC0Vc_89LX7UJCRF_oUaaZY_8cFGPVOq0S3ri7Q/s400/garage+ideas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My daughter has her own ideas. Hers involve air-hockey tables, pinball machines, vintage arcade games, Dr Who posters and somewhere to play Minecraft, Portal2 and listen to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/"><span style="color: blue;">TripleJ</span></a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I'm sure we'll be able to create a space we are all happy with. It should be a doddle compared to fixing up a whole bowling club.</span></div>
Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-48640283045798371202013-01-17T10:16:00.001+08:002013-01-17T10:20:27.519+08:00Number one<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear New Zealand,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I miss you. That is all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Deidre</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">PS And despite the fact that I am currently having a thang with your big rough cousin, you will always be my number one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-23579022563577544222013-01-10T04:37:00.001+08:002013-01-10T04:37:22.154+08:00Sunset swim at RapakiThe other evening we drove over to Lyttelton so see a place I didn't really recognise. So many of the buildings have gone that it is now just a shell of its wonderful former self. <br />
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But then we drove on around the coast to a beautiful spot that is completely unchanged from how I remember it: Rapaki Bay. There we had a sunset swim, a treasure hunt on the beach and the children dug a sandy pool around a warm spring. While some parts of this city have been changed forever by the earthquakes, others are just as lovely as they ever were. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtg0W0yTmKks5Qjwa46IW8x2G6Fwjqv1EPOLEnCSKI-Kdlr7ZWnjR9U2ciQQgSMG4-WfmSCUqbDHIbS0nC2MPkUMdLMsi4aL9_NblKANFLrSAuErZn3VVsYzrSpxk5r7MbKA7k5-KrwRY/s640/blogger-image--1959541998.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtg0W0yTmKks5Qjwa46IW8x2G6Fwjqv1EPOLEnCSKI-Kdlr7ZWnjR9U2ciQQgSMG4-WfmSCUqbDHIbS0nC2MPkUMdLMsi4aL9_NblKANFLrSAuErZn3VVsYzrSpxk5r7MbKA7k5-KrwRY/s640/blogger-image--1959541998.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-pYcTWA7-R__IK4ZN4zyb8JbPlrGyPbpXpwSx5S-6Op0srL2Sd76yPTeGbK5uOFEhZpA3ACTfviqO05VQUcRsfulYY3N1e8QgzbTXISAnIjZOOBd2dJOGxIEsEh_wrsbQGMKbTy20a4/s640/blogger-image-1491788333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-pYcTWA7-R__IK4ZN4zyb8JbPlrGyPbpXpwSx5S-6Op0srL2Sd76yPTeGbK5uOFEhZpA3ACTfviqO05VQUcRsfulYY3N1e8QgzbTXISAnIjZOOBd2dJOGxIEsEh_wrsbQGMKbTy20a4/s640/blogger-image-1491788333.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_Cwmwqm6wDlWAECT-NixdfNwJEJ691KRi8qNcHyEaJF-Wr5ecrWs2N1tSegq7eYRx6Cma4GNYyZa2oO2vP921MUAaaw_3GhttHCQzF6V958xUHMjZFSlC-xcAi9WyvrGuTeAY-_mQec/s640/blogger-image--649701184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_Cwmwqm6wDlWAECT-NixdfNwJEJ691KRi8qNcHyEaJF-Wr5ecrWs2N1tSegq7eYRx6Cma4GNYyZa2oO2vP921MUAaaw_3GhttHCQzF6V958xUHMjZFSlC-xcAi9WyvrGuTeAY-_mQec/s640/blogger-image--649701184.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMjWsPEvF6_LXpx35RrAaK79XnQARF7W2Ii0DmkAI_Mlpxgdc5sFQk5drWEXjbllBRfmLRpfBwofFKfgIKApWhbeP3pc0A6SSQVHiXURvyMlpoRapA8tAVorQlr4jNoTNGISY8RRqPX8/s640/blogger-image--228939320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbMjWsPEvF6_LXpx35RrAaK79XnQARF7W2Ii0DmkAI_Mlpxgdc5sFQk5drWEXjbllBRfmLRpfBwofFKfgIKApWhbeP3pc0A6SSQVHiXURvyMlpoRapA8tAVorQlr4jNoTNGISY8RRqPX8/s640/blogger-image--228939320.jpg" /></a></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-43672193368449680302013-01-08T03:56:00.001+08:002013-01-08T03:59:55.416+08:00Christchurch walkaboutYesterday we went into central Christchurch to see for ourselves what we had seen many times via news footage and photos online. Now I am going to repeat some things that many other people have also said, because they are true. No amount of looking at pictures online can quite prepare you for the extent of the damage to the central city. Whole blocks have disappeared and without landmarks we sometimes found ourselves disoriented. I sought out familiar old haunts: workplaces, theatres, libraries, favourite shops, restaurants and bars. Except for a couple of places they were all broken and closed - many will never reopen. It was one of the saddest walks I have ever done.<br />
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Thank goodness we ended the day on a much brighter note; four families got together for a barbeque. Happy to report that, unlike the city they live in, these Christchurch friends were in fine form. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8SBRtqObSNAuCwFCaPTmA2NoTsvdlLXC4jhGFJlNqN9hvfe1uB19nbGicwoLGphCzyg0iTmtnWWOgfwFhMzM7nTv7hPDRNdWcTQsoANmredJgALcjXsDvsF-TqVShuelg9JwnNuGD3Vs/s640/blogger-image-167926191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8SBRtqObSNAuCwFCaPTmA2NoTsvdlLXC4jhGFJlNqN9hvfe1uB19nbGicwoLGphCzyg0iTmtnWWOgfwFhMzM7nTv7hPDRNdWcTQsoANmredJgALcjXsDvsF-TqVShuelg9JwnNuGD3Vs/s640/blogger-image-167926191.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhWInG9Tx8clBsnRRNDEWDt0q7auRTchujUkS7zLAI1sl4Lala3nd9C5dry90S-W1jXoM9mOl2AYYr-I4T-KFzHWTNmQPMpsg8hXNUYaaRZsn4-8Gms_mK0rHqEk9-2HnRUO9fRN2nlao/s640/blogger-image-233377550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEger-aklvkbZMjUpISalYzN9zgC6LYdjTNSiFfuc3X_QjqXqQIjSz2-RXl-dkbWsVehOkjYqAIxUka5hJVgomoOOJZoQeK_WThB6Hiiibb9kROmFWuGuVrXXumS0OhzwDEkrKHOE79ud6U/s640/blogger-image--736488424.jpg" /></a></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-56938768720250233132013-01-07T03:04:00.001+08:002013-01-07T03:04:31.202+08:00Farewell Raglan, you gorgeous place youWe had ten wonderful days in Raglan. Supercool house to stay in, fabulous company, great food, excellent shopping and plenty of activities to keep us out of mischief. Other people may like the more flashy, glitzy holiday towns but I love Raglan. I even had a somewhat deluded "we could live here!" moment and browsed real estate.<br />
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Who knows when we'll next be back there. Hopefully not too far in the future. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlH6FaV_NlDTYWMVAGHbcj0i6T764bS3ai-HWOc_MOCz4G4bz64kLefvzJrvEeC4bu94AYG_Fl8_g_G15kmHjEG_j_YVK74Cf_89Q7i6tEshaxCMqd7VFsJg7YoL4uK4YzTmPqssW1USw/s640/blogger-image--949903766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlH6FaV_NlDTYWMVAGHbcj0i6T764bS3ai-HWOc_MOCz4G4bz64kLefvzJrvEeC4bu94AYG_Fl8_g_G15kmHjEG_j_YVK74Cf_89Q7i6tEshaxCMqd7VFsJg7YoL4uK4YzTmPqssW1USw/s640/blogger-image--949903766.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Rmy7ENSku__nZt8h8_uDnquT-mo-Ey-huUUHa318Uw4l1O8x-S5qvYLDnCJS06C8MrjLXNJcc6rlcJ_w6BU7yzmjmiNxQldgZUMp0J99lhf-kcHvswJTIiWEQINfgwY1FXy0JyPmUQk/s640/blogger-image-1764720220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Rmy7ENSku__nZt8h8_uDnquT-mo-Ey-huUUHa318Uw4l1O8x-S5qvYLDnCJS06C8MrjLXNJcc6rlcJ_w6BU7yzmjmiNxQldgZUMp0J99lhf-kcHvswJTIiWEQINfgwY1FXy0JyPmUQk/s640/blogger-image-1764720220.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXXEzxXECKn90lczE2mUL9Cfl9zSs-ykRy0QAS60TLzjctgRosh2RQQSDxNcOnIAlHsBmyvINfpGb6XslpGpqYys-d19WGHzP4-45wz7KH0FrtvZv09e0sQYKHrDYiOUD8f28ZQUQMig/s640/blogger-image-1713013832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXXEzxXECKn90lczE2mUL9Cfl9zSs-ykRy0QAS60TLzjctgRosh2RQQSDxNcOnIAlHsBmyvINfpGb6XslpGpqYys-d19WGHzP4-45wz7KH0FrtvZv09e0sQYKHrDYiOUD8f28ZQUQMig/s640/blogger-image-1713013832.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHY-uBa4x4YWTkX1QAIWl2FjGvd5Sr1bAwn5961De2LD-5iNK027Ds_Bin17A7b9UI3wjnNlE3QJEdaYeUe6KhQ5Fzo6V3J5AjjI4fYJtRUhQIrGasL3lfoPbGqxmAVMQYLn3cmC20C1k/s640/blogger-image-672486443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHY-uBa4x4YWTkX1QAIWl2FjGvd5Sr1bAwn5961De2LD-5iNK027Ds_Bin17A7b9UI3wjnNlE3QJEdaYeUe6KhQ5Fzo6V3J5AjjI4fYJtRUhQIrGasL3lfoPbGqxmAVMQYLn3cmC20C1k/s640/blogger-image-672486443.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uxLegxzub2jS2i03iS_wbcj2YNJxY3LPP2ZnlHkgXk5Xeiklmi1kGgzpw8nn5_VgwwDHwbgSzqabkhZd-SbpsGUwde1e_5ZtYfr5ZPTrg6ObVrOxifDipxObMEy8ZTeBMC9LlHf-Pqo/s640/blogger-image-1764611943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uxLegxzub2jS2i03iS_wbcj2YNJxY3LPP2ZnlHkgXk5Xeiklmi1kGgzpw8nn5_VgwwDHwbgSzqabkhZd-SbpsGUwde1e_5ZtYfr5ZPTrg6ObVrOxifDipxObMEy8ZTeBMC9LlHf-Pqo/s640/blogger-image-1764611943.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYQ4JyZFr-4SnW5k4EgubqOsNJqdpDuOXu2Zh2c89GIU165m3fPblhfrLULstZmtLw1NaQZUolD6Suq1lTZWk-6ou1jNc8RppcQi2HF14m3f2hDsWBulOzRSKY8wc4uiCQswnfMJwSa1E/s640/blogger-image--874634271.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYQ4JyZFr-4SnW5k4EgubqOsNJqdpDuOXu2Zh2c89GIU165m3fPblhfrLULstZmtLw1NaQZUolD6Suq1lTZWk-6ou1jNc8RppcQi2HF14m3f2hDsWBulOzRSKY8wc4uiCQswnfMJwSa1E/s640/blogger-image--874634271.jpg" /></a></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-33053292072036358552013-01-01T12:47:00.001+08:002013-01-01T18:39:41.365+08:00Off to the circusMy children still speak wistfully about the wonderful holiday they had with all their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmother (on my side of the family) in Waiwera just before my lot moved to Australia. The fabulous holiday we have just had together in Raglan is also likely to be something we all remember and reminisce about for years to come.<br />
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One of the new memories we now all share is of "the other Shona". My mother's name is Shona and several times in Raglan we encountered another quite different Shona. The other one is a very talented and hugely entertaining performer in Circus Aotearoa. Her hilarious segment as a steriod-crazed Eastern European hula hooper was a highlight of our fun outing to Circus Aotearoa. <br />
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The members of my household are pretty spoilt when it comes to seeing great, contemporary, non-animal circus. We have been fortunate enough to see Aurelia's Oratorio, Slava's Snowshow, Circus Oz, Mandurah's own Pulse WA (with their amazing show Harmonike), Raoul and Circa and many other amazing and beautiful circus style shows. Circus Aotearoa is smaller scale and closer to traditional circus than the other shows I just mentioned, but it did not disappoint. We went with a group of thirteen adults and ten children ranging in age from late seventies to preschool and we all enjoyed it. <br />
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If you get the chance I recommend you treat all generations of your whanau to a Circus Aotearoa show too. From their calendar I see that after Raglan they are off to Thames, Whitianga and Waihi this holiday season. Find out where and how to catch them at their website here http://www.circusaotearoa.co.nz/ <br />
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I'd love to hear if your family enjoys the experience and delights in the antics of "the other Shona" as much as mine did. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZt1tU35Xe-a1vFO8UaW5m6lSuiKwskbNW1tYtTWyoGeGujPROCWYiMDNBM9ntUumh0G8AmKfoAUXDiVBzEoAvVyzQeCkYk-DPTrkzVuUfkwY8Bn0qQcCDunQsGbVovkuNMejV3i-PP8/s640/blogger-image--1042425642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZt1tU35Xe-a1vFO8UaW5m6lSuiKwskbNW1tYtTWyoGeGujPROCWYiMDNBM9ntUumh0G8AmKfoAUXDiVBzEoAvVyzQeCkYk-DPTrkzVuUfkwY8Bn0qQcCDunQsGbVovkuNMejV3i-PP8/s640/blogger-image--1042425642.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPVvfiCFO0_WGfK5eN-QQzh5ARxKgMKA0Tp7dQjoL8tZSVaChV9E73lYaelY9ntZJjwyevhBZLEm9amJCasLb41ly6lvicf8zSQLvEXkVRKILIJgCXtlDEFyiT2SuQyssKqFlBsTC6Ss/s640/blogger-image-1118877644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPVvfiCFO0_WGfK5eN-QQzh5ARxKgMKA0Tp7dQjoL8tZSVaChV9E73lYaelY9ntZJjwyevhBZLEm9amJCasLb41ly6lvicf8zSQLvEXkVRKILIJgCXtlDEFyiT2SuQyssKqFlBsTC6Ss/s640/blogger-image-1118877644.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBzaBi34VfvbKSQtjcEReSh65M8vLUA8eEZ5osneRxR0yGKRoWgvbD8NTMTaVEfBWrT8x6mz9Ltnh5U1t5Kbhgo2wJOKOQLu4Onh_tbB-cyRtX9CUKvpWcKaR9SOFo4H_iG5n44jcrtg/s640/blogger-image--77215460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBzaBi34VfvbKSQtjcEReSh65M8vLUA8eEZ5osneRxR0yGKRoWgvbD8NTMTaVEfBWrT8x6mz9Ltnh5U1t5Kbhgo2wJOKOQLu4Onh_tbB-cyRtX9CUKvpWcKaR9SOFo4H_iG5n44jcrtg/s640/blogger-image--77215460.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZXWjq7DDKlD_3JjHx5DkQohYgAoTM90oSFk2gh7gWdJVDkcdR5iXEw0nNOLouSzbTJRBFmF1OqGOtQTTACuQAp7zlgG8DMaA4qhMfP_KHd2tZVbMYxzoiB9skxkX5H5xj_-9_jPi-08/s640/blogger-image-1497591962.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZXWjq7DDKlD_3JjHx5DkQohYgAoTM90oSFk2gh7gWdJVDkcdR5iXEw0nNOLouSzbTJRBFmF1OqGOtQTTACuQAp7zlgG8DMaA4qhMfP_KHd2tZVbMYxzoiB9skxkX5H5xj_-9_jPi-08/s640/blogger-image-1497591962.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZFit-4mVXgp1nOR2NnC_CJj6pLfWTWqqXZr0nOun46Yqx4Ix_PKKUPXwS5h0SJFn8AgCLHTX3a7qy1rbUGEvQOZL_wDNvOf-gcWwz750J62-DS0VvZqtbP42Ck1VwgpJathC7bK2SaU/s640/blogger-image--1291151734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZFit-4mVXgp1nOR2NnC_CJj6pLfWTWqqXZr0nOun46Yqx4Ix_PKKUPXwS5h0SJFn8AgCLHTX3a7qy1rbUGEvQOZL_wDNvOf-gcWwz750J62-DS0VvZqtbP42Ck1VwgpJathC7bK2SaU/s640/blogger-image--1291151734.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrHvnn_3t-lvRDY31JufDNbxGNSefLKN1slAv-ZAlphP6VU6UwU87GLqF5tk-ytfvnbYzDeh2CbZTAWpcNSTkx6YGXKF6RiXILLjRHMt_0rIpMFcbP5dnt3BUIThN26QTqZPmC__ctpo/s640/blogger-image-801241266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrHvnn_3t-lvRDY31JufDNbxGNSefLKN1slAv-ZAlphP6VU6UwU87GLqF5tk-ytfvnbYzDeh2CbZTAWpcNSTkx6YGXKF6RiXILLjRHMt_0rIpMFcbP5dnt3BUIThN26QTqZPmC__ctpo/s640/blogger-image-801241266.jpg" /></a></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-32557468005841868162012-12-30T04:09:00.001+08:002012-12-30T04:09:45.450+08:00And so this is ChristmasChristmas has been a fairly quiet affair for my household for the past three years. We had our final one in Christchurch - knowing that we would soon be leaving Christchurch but not yet knowing to where - then two in Mandurah. All were enjoyable but quiet.<br />
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This year's Christmas was back to the mad, noisy Christmas days I remember from my childhood. Eight children and twelve adults will do that. Evan came too but we didn't let him put us off launching what my delighted niece described as " the best present ever": an inflatable boat.<br />
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A day of food, family, food, fun, food, laughter and food - and finding the spooky Christmas decoration we all hate back on the tree despite repeated annual attempts to send it to heaven. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2yc0F2BedeX8dYmrPivN-6oMnImhldkDmFOvdt4rxNYv_Ae7T1uDOX0OzBODRnIotXVkgGVRriv4TuP5LJGesU7MWJdhwgmZSUc0CvueRrsnbIAh9VtQ7sLfSldm3-fxQ1Siix4U5uc/s640/blogger-image-2026733443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2yc0F2BedeX8dYmrPivN-6oMnImhldkDmFOvdt4rxNYv_Ae7T1uDOX0OzBODRnIotXVkgGVRriv4TuP5LJGesU7MWJdhwgmZSUc0CvueRrsnbIAh9VtQ7sLfSldm3-fxQ1Siix4U5uc/s640/blogger-image-2026733443.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCGgQeT1WGy5kFmVqxzItwiiCFboxbN4rYzvDJze2REP0ZD5A_zPxlUBaQu96EFlYJxq2NnzI6XDIdyfQpVk8rjhdElwluToWQw3c6yHJRiM5jnduIroZDR1-2WwJk_rOYRziQCVagIY/s640/blogger-image--1077572634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCGgQeT1WGy5kFmVqxzItwiiCFboxbN4rYzvDJze2REP0ZD5A_zPxlUBaQu96EFlYJxq2NnzI6XDIdyfQpVk8rjhdElwluToWQw3c6yHJRiM5jnduIroZDR1-2WwJk_rOYRziQCVagIY/s640/blogger-image--1077572634.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQex_8LEdp_eEmEs6DNJRKRS8S25WgT3Ni_ceRjNtQzYGnk_VbzpxjiKbpW3OBAYKFiu8ytaoqlNpEyZbMQx2gDcuZPCpPS_jCPrub7aq7f1y7CsimU7_I7Q6Vld3DbDT5shdhWFDQdsI/s640/blogger-image-1965437218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQex_8LEdp_eEmEs6DNJRKRS8S25WgT3Ni_ceRjNtQzYGnk_VbzpxjiKbpW3OBAYKFiu8ytaoqlNpEyZbMQx2gDcuZPCpPS_jCPrub7aq7f1y7CsimU7_I7Q6Vld3DbDT5shdhWFDQdsI/s640/blogger-image-1965437218.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8GylcnTSrEWsK92NIVSxQ0A5dXCTMBT7HSXgyP1jK9_r63IM5JRZ9_sKqGcgJdY5YpRRfQeQAgVcE64G1KXBOSrGvtKMwPFb1IVwQkQ47Vj72mAp-m4nxiYz7tPdQ2M8sYc-3o7Q3fkE/s640/blogger-image-2130276222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8GylcnTSrEWsK92NIVSxQ0A5dXCTMBT7HSXgyP1jK9_r63IM5JRZ9_sKqGcgJdY5YpRRfQeQAgVcE64G1KXBOSrGvtKMwPFb1IVwQkQ47Vj72mAp-m4nxiYz7tPdQ2M8sYc-3o7Q3fkE/s640/blogger-image-2130276222.jpg" /></a></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5563612522628110425.post-61020697502767385392012-12-28T03:22:00.001+08:002012-12-29T03:11:13.958+08:00Get lost, EvanA couple of days before Christmas my family headed to Raglan and we have been here ever since. We are staying with my five siblings, their partners, their children, my mother and some friends. Our numbers change slightly from day to day as visitors arrive and leave, but there is a core group of eighteen of us holidaying together in two houses, two tents and two vans. Lots of fun. No punchups.<br />
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We do however have one uninvited holiday companion tagging along: Evan. Recently he made a jolly nuisance of himself in Samoa and then Fiji. By the time he made it to New Zealand he was tired and spent but he was still very, very wet. <br />
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Evan is of course a cyclone and due to Cyclone Evan's remnants we have had a lot of rain this week. But who cares about a bit of rain when hanging out with family in a gorgeous place? Not me.<br />
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<br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GeiFhzdcHIhjDZQSzmH2MX4U60y4uJPIeG0aR_AL-rAW3mYL3OxukUOxuNi0l3DTGaULTWVeGUWqN6nHvhA9uiiM9Lv5-MjCMY0p6z5Movo21L73uxMJkQZXsYVv4vUVYBN1ALEwhMs/s640/blogger-image--598053918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GeiFhzdcHIhjDZQSzmH2MX4U60y4uJPIeG0aR_AL-rAW3mYL3OxukUOxuNi0l3DTGaULTWVeGUWqN6nHvhA9uiiM9Lv5-MjCMY0p6z5Movo21L73uxMJkQZXsYVv4vUVYBN1ALEwhMs/s640/blogger-image--598053918.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUorca-4h6chmtDq6-Shr5-kZcyYDqZnDv8p6hOdKKVTAkYwK29Kwa0GxRhljynlMM22TV_AZNXzQ2RJBHEyz-Q40Pcj3_ngLuAXqKtc3PHN3kNQgmqYBrRXhmAidggqes6Imt_drvYY/s640/blogger-image-928547064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUorca-4h6chmtDq6-Shr5-kZcyYDqZnDv8p6hOdKKVTAkYwK29Kwa0GxRhljynlMM22TV_AZNXzQ2RJBHEyz-Q40Pcj3_ngLuAXqKtc3PHN3kNQgmqYBrRXhmAidggqes6Imt_drvYY/s640/blogger-image-928547064.jpg" /></a></div>Deidre Robbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05005427656089984369noreply@blogger.com0