caro-rose-creations

Dust

I am still fighting dust here and I hear there is more on the way.  I have spent part of the day cleaning the bobbin cases of the school sewing machines.  Some of the students were having trouble with their machines and I finally worked out that the find dust had got into the bobbin cases and was causing problems.  It is so hard to get rid of.  You really need a damp cloth but you can't use that on the metal.

Looking over on Sandy's blog, The Silver Thimble, I see there is lots more dust coming our way.  I love this photo.  I remember dust storms like this when I was a kid living in the country.  Never thought I would be cleaning red dust in the city though.

A major milestone

My life has been over the top for the past few days.  The honeymooners have flown away to the USA and I have just put the last of the visitors on the plane home. 

I hadn't expected the emotions that I experiences with the marriage of my son.  My own mother died when I was only 16 years old and my father when I was in my 20's.  There has been no one to tell me what to expect in life.  The emotions that flooded in at the birth of my children or any of the other major events of life have all come as a surprise.  It is at times likes these that I miss having parents.

It has been the same with this wedding.  My sons came home to prepare for the ceremony and as I sewed the buttons on their vests it hit me that this was my last task as the mother of an unmarried son.

The days of having little boys around the house flooded back.  Their noise, fights, hobbies, friends, sports, school, university and then they moved out into the world.  I often wondered if they would be friends but need not have worried.  They are close and love each other and their sister.  So now I move into another phase of my life and I suppose there will be lots of surprise emotions in the future as there has been in the past.

In his speech as best man,  Guy, the younger of the two spoke about his first day at school and how his brother looked out for him.  He took him aside and told him that "the teachers will beat you but don't worry they do it to everyone."  No wonder there were fights.

So here they stand together at another milestone as bride groom and his best man.  I wish my mother and father could have been here to see them.

I can see clearly now!

This wedding is only 2 days away now and yesterday afternoon we drove out into the dust to the wedding rehearsal.  The wedding is going to be held at Toowong Rowing Club where my husband is a member of the veteran rowing squad.  It is situated on the Brisbane river in the grounds of the University of Queensland.

(The club is located a F,1 at the top of the map)  All these words just mean that is a great location to have a wedding.  We then went out to dinner, which the bride and groom hosted as a thank you to parents.  A lovely touch.  When we left the restaurant we looked into the night sky and could see the moon and the stars.  The dust had been blown away.

This morning I took some after photos of some of the places I showed yesterday.  I really can see clearly now.  It is so good to see the clear sky.

Now I have to clean the house to get rid of the dust!

A future problem

I keep wondering what will happen when my daughter, Laura, moves out from home in 2010.  It's not that I don't want her to grow and move on with her life.  It's what we are going to have to decide about the dogs.  When she moved home this time she brought her dog Chester with her.  My little dog Charlotte and he have become inseparable.  They go into a deep depression when they are separated.  I want her to leave Chester here but I can't see that happening.

Visiting

Whilst I was in Sydney I made a trip down to the south coast to visit my nieces, who both have young families.  This used to be a long trip down to Wollongong and beyond but today there are fast motorways and you flash through the National Park on the top road.  We used to drive down through the National Park just to see the view from Stanwell Park.

My cousin lived at Jamberoo where my uncle had a property.  He spent all his years preserving the rain-forest at Minnamurra Falls reserve.  This was a magical place for kids.  Quite dangerous when I think of us swimming in the icey waters at the falls and jumping in near some of the rocks.  The upper falls reminded me of walking back into the days of the dinosaurs.

The lower falls were more accessible and better for swimming and the creek used to run beside the house.  The first time I stayed there I thought that some one had left a tap running but it was just the voice of the stream talking to the bush.  

I remember the tiger snakes as being my worst nightmare, I was terrified of them.  Uncle built a history exhibit of the settlement of the area.  Luckily people couldn't walk in because looking through the glass window there were 2 tiger snakes that had taken up residence.  One on the bed the other on a chair.

I look back now and realise how unusual my uncle was.  A conservationist before we had even heard the word.  People thought he was crazy when he made them return ferns to the place they had taken them from in the rain-forest.  Now most people wouldn't even think of doing this. Two of his friends were Eric Worrell, who had a wildlife sanctuary and Jeff Carter who lived down in Fox-ground valley.  Up in the bush at the back of Jeff's place was a waterfall that had a large rock pool just before it tumbled down the escarpment.  You could swim there and look out to the ocean.

 

I learnt so much about birds and plants from him.  This is where I saw my first Lyre bird dancing in the bush and the wild quolls, or native cats, that I didn't even know existed.  (These animals are now extinct on the mainland of Australia.) He made fantastic nature movies back before TV.  I hope my cousin has donated them to the national film archive.

Driving down the coast brought back so many memories.

A no sewing day

I spent most of today looking at houses with my son Guy. He has been looking for months and been beaten on a number of houses by other bidders.  But today he made an offer and it was accepted.  So now he is 40 days away from being a first home owner.

In the down time between looking at houses we had to find somewhere to eat and what could be better than Ikea?  The men went; "Oh no", and the women?  Well their eyes all went starry and their hands began to twitch.  What did I buy?  Well fabric of course.  I NEED to make another bag sample for school showing how much better the bag will look in furnishing fabric and this one said buy me.

Also, I'm finishing a disappearing 9 patch quilt and there were these rabbits.  It was obvious that they needed to be bought because they matched the  quilt.  (I'll show you the whole quilt when I finish the borders.)

On the way home I stopped at another fabric shop to get a piece of fleece for a student.  (She has cut this giant hole in one of the sleeves.)  There in the car park was a car with a slogan on the rear window and the most beautiful reflection of the sky. In the shop I ran into a new quilter, starting her first quilt.  She marveled at where $200 had gone to.  I warned her she would also have to buy more storage if she got hooked and take another job.

Mother's Day

My family took me to breakfast this morning to the Walkabout Restaurant at Brisbane Forest Park.  This park is one of the treasures on our doorstep.  The hills at the back of Brisbane are just there, we forget to look up and see them.

After breakfast my husband and I continued down the road and up into the hills.  We stopped at all the lookouts that we have previously just driven by and found families having breakfast in the middle of the most beautiful scenery.  The free BBQ's that are in all our parks from the city right out to the country areas are well used and you have to get up early if you want to get a good position.

There was a morning  haze and from Jolly's lookout you could just make out the shore line of Moreton Bay and the high sand hills of Moreton Island.  Behind that is the Pacific Ocean.



After the drought there is water in all the creeks and rivers and the bush has come alive again.  Problem is, so have all the noxious weeds that are everywhere, especially the Lantana.   The show of flowers is beautiful but this weed strangles the native plants and kills the forest.  All I could think was someone should spray all of these plants before they set seed.

Reality set in when we got back to the highway and found it gridlocked.  Even the traffic signs were flashing that you should find and alternate route.  So we drove back towards the hills and took a back road through to Mount Mee and Daysborough.



When I got home I found that Charlie had eaten the backs out of my new shoes .  I'm not talking to her!

A new baby

My niece Kate has just given birth to a new baby, a rather large baby, 10 lb 7 oz. Here she is not even 1 hour old.  It was a home birth with a midwife to assist.  Her name is Shenae O'Brien, but I think there should be some reference to Rose in her name.

 I have just been getting the name Rose over and over.  Not only that I keep seeing roses.

So, I am going to make her a quilt with rose fabrics.

What a blessing? Welcome child and God Bless you and your mother and keep you both safe.

The rest of the day

We took off early today for a drive.  Heading nowhere in particular, but in the direction of south into New South Wales.  We ended up in Byron Bay and on our way into town found that the ditches at the sides of the roads were full of beautiful water lilies.

The town was so busy and the beach so windy that we decided to drive onto Bangalow which is another 7k up the road.  The road headed up into the hills and we managed to get one of the last parking spots in the car park at the back of the town centre.  Right on the edge of the rain forest.

I know that there are some good eco textiles shops in this town but being ANZAC day nothing would open until midday.  So, we headed for the coffee shop.  There were so many people in the town and someone said that they were waiting for the march.  The beat of the drum started and out the window the parade came down the street.

This day isn't about the glory of war rather the price paid for our freedom.  The capital cities have their big parades that are attended by thousands and in all the small towns the locals march, and all remember.

And some little people, who can't see what is going on put their flag in Dad's pocket so they can look at their hands!

Daughters!!

I have all this work I need to download off my camera and the cord is missing.  So is my daughter.  She might be missing permanently if I get my hands on her!!!

When I have practical cookery exams I photograph all the students work.  It is great for marking, because there are so many things going on in class having a photographic record is wonderful to mark from.  It is great for kids, because they can reflect on their work after all the stress of the exam is out of the way and its a great way to show parents what they did at school.  This is a meal prepared by one of my students who is only 13 years old.  Many adults would have problems reaching this standard.  She creatively designed, prepared, cooked and served a meal that would satisfy the nutritional needs of a young athlete.

I also use the camera to record progress of students who are developing a product.  At the moment we a preparing for a cookery competition and having those records to reflect on and evaluate opens up the creative processes for students.  The other thing I do, is to get students to use their phones to photograph their own work.  They are not dependent on me for a hard copy and they get into the habit of evaluation and reflection of their own work.

This leads me to the lecture I attended on Friday night called "Creativity and Education" by Professor Anna Craft  at Exeter University and the Open University.  I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think it was more than what was given. 

The things she was talking about I have been doing in my class room for over 20 years and I know that I am only one of many teachers.  I also know that there are just as many, if not more teachers, who haven't embraced creativity and innovation.  But this, of course, is only anecdotal evidence, not quantitative or qualitative research and as such of little if no value.  The other thing I found difficult was that 'The Arts' ' somehow have a license on creativity.  There is a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson that discusses "Do schools kill creativity".  He is an eloquent speaker and very entertaining but it was all the negatives and non of the positives.  Yes, some schools do limit creativity but many teachers at the coal face do not.  Where are the researchers documenting best practice that is already going on? 

I see people from all walks of life being creative all the time.  The mother who prepares food for that toddler who is a fussy eater, the tradesman who develops a better way of doing the job.  Some people are born with a better set of genetic tools to apply creativity in their lives while others need to be nurtured, like a garden, to allow their natural abilities to flower.  What I was looking for from the lecture was other tools to nurture these abilities in my students. 

Also, I didn't see any cross disciplinary work yet this is often where break throughs are found.  The work at Stanford University Entrepreneurship is equally fascinating and could inform the work being done in education and there must be other work that I don't know about.  Teachers who are interested in this are so engrossed in teaching and interacting with their students there just isn't time to engage in research.  The present just overwhelms.