Some things we've been eating lately...I caught the fish. No, they're not sword fish! But they are relatives of the 'Marlin' family, which is a huge fish. But these are called 'gardie'. Nice white meat, sweat and soft. My favorite way is to batter with flour and French Onion Soup mix, then lightly pan fry it with some Virgin Olive Oil. It's done when it is a nice light brown...I ate these so can't show you the yummy product...

1st week back in Perth!

It's been 7 days since I've been back in Perth and so far I have been down with a chesty cough, running nose, survived a very wonderful and enjoyable family retreat and also a whack on my face. Let's talk about the family retreat first. There was 23 of us in all, ranging from 74 to 6 mths old. The kids far outnumbered the adults. There was lots of food, fun and more fun with swimming, beach, bowling, playground, bbq, video games, etc. All the adults are completely exhausted now and the kids are so wind up that it will most probably take another 3 days for them to settle down to a normal routine again.

Now how did I get that whack in the face?? Very interesting! Ian and I were playing with the kids at the playground. We were having a race to see who could complete the obstacle course first, which included swinging on the flying fox, climbing up the steps and sliding down. this was where moi had a miscalculation. There was this pole across the slide for the kids to hang on to before they slide down. Well, I saw it, grabbed it and in my hurry to slide down, forgot to lower my head. So with full force I swung both arms to push myself down the slide and instead of a smooth ride down, my face went smacked into the pole. My glasses smacked onto my nose. I did not know what hit me but did finish my race though. It was only about 10 minutes later that I realised the damage done. I had a huge bump on my nose and boy did it hurt. Well, it did not look as bad as it felt. I said to Ian that at least I did not have to go for plastic surgery to get a nose ridge now. The bump made my nose looked higher than it normally is. Hee! Must always look at the funny side of things.

Got to go now. Kids just come home from fishing trip with Ian. Will put some photos next blog.

Kensingtom Primary School

and it says 'around the world'...wow! I felt God affirming Kensi kids 'go around the world'!!

A day in the life of our school FETE Oct 06

My sis Pauline with her son Riley outside Mr Mar's room

the motto is 'play the game'. Very aussie...not like 'the best is yet to be'...oops, you just play the game.

kensington school in 1926...only a school, no houses to be seen!!!

the aussie sausage lightly bbq with medium done onions topped with tomato sauce on a long bun...eat from end to end.

the bundles of people and the big slide...all fitting in nicely

there i am! And there is millan...the guy who punched me in the guts that 'one fine day'.

my younger sis Pauline with her daughter Ashley (12yrs). On the other side of Pauli is her best buddy Lisa and her daughter Kimberly. My sis was married at 19 and Lisa was married at 17. Don't they all look just like models!!!

a packet of twistees if you can pickout my sister...email me

the lunch time shed....we'd have 20mins to gobble down the sardine sandwiches before we hit the monkey bars for 4o!

A day at My Primary School FETE

Outside Mrs Delica's classroom with my sister Pauline and her son Riley.

A day at My Primary School FETE

I was one of the first wandering around at my primary school (Kensington Primary) grounds on its 80th year Bday bash! Good ‘kiasuism’ I'd say…They called it a ‘Birthday FETE’.

Fête is a French word meaning festival or holiday, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events. It is widely used in England in the context of "a village fête". Fêtes are usually outdoor shows with a variety of activities, and are organised by an ad-hoc committee of volunteers. There weren’t too many adhoc volunteers on this FETE.

It seemed as though my entire school was occupied by something to eat, do or see! The grounds and atmosphere were a cross between a carnival, a National DAy Parade and a puasa-mulum
(? How to spell)

The pickles and the jams were in abundance and nicely tucked under one roof; the fairy floss was spinning over time; the ice-cream tap was hot…there were medics walking around slopping on sunscreen on the fairer complexion people. Hotdogs with onions was the lunch of the day.

The sport ovals were full of fun. There was a space simulator, a bouncy castle and a HUGE SLIDE>>>>that would have made Tom Cruse think the aliens have slid down to earth. To my surprise, Sarah enjoyed the junior Ferris wheel the most.

There were spunky dance performances happening in the amphitheatre for the young and koppi C with real Aussie carrot cake for those on the quality side of 40. I heard that the committee for this fete had been working on this project for the entire year. It had the ogranisation and precision that would make Singapore’s NDP committee proud! <BR>

While this was all good stuff, my favorite space was the picture room. The class room was decked out with pictures of students dating back to 1926! For anyone not in the know, my year was 1970-76. (You know, there was saturday's dose of Molly Meldrum on Count Down and bands like, 'Duran Duran', 'Bay City Rollers' {they had awesome socks} KIZZ and MeatLoaf '. They were all hard at it. Sting was leading the Police andI never did find out who "Roxanne" was ?). Anyway, what matters is that I found all the Dierden family in various poses and my classmates. My eyes also ran over the guys I had biffs with and there was a quick glance over some old heart throbs- shucks.

I was hovering around this room for ages. I was hoping I'd see familiar faces. But then I realised that I probably didn’t look the same as I did in 70 and neither did they- sigh. So I started to do some mental ‘make overs’. I ignored the big bellies and double chins. Then I’d ignored the balding, the hair colour and the kids. I found that the nose and the eyes were most helpful to identify people. But as the nose is the only part of your body which keeps growing all your life, I just honed in on the eyes.

I did manage to spot a few more friends by doing my mental make over. But sadly, I didn’t meet anybody from my class! My hope was to meet at least one. Unless my new technique was failing me badly, I suppose I’m the only nostalgic one still living around Kensington.

By 4pm the sun was sinking and I could feel the sting of sunburn coming out on my arms. Sarah was also tired. She told me its ok, she just needed more sugar. We decided to call it a day and walk home. I promised her we’d go home and play marbles like I did in the old days. I walked my ‘usual’ route. It was a thrill to walk hand in hand with Sarah and laugh about what I did and didn’t do. We passed Rod Walker’s home and the Dickerson brother’s place.

I remembered the spot where I had my first fight with Milan. His younger brother Nick threw a stone at my younger brother Wayne. The pride kicked in and we put down our bags and put up our doogs.

We threw wild punches from a distance so we’d look tough but wouldn't hurt each other. It was like a good Honkie movie. But then Milan let one fly into my guts and the abs folded (My six pack developed much later). I dropped to my knees and he jumped with joy at the thought of the victory. It was the talk of my class the next day…sigh. I told the story to Sarah. She told me off for fighting!

All in all Father and daughter had a super day. Sarah was particularly happy with her new teddy bear (Caroline) that she had brought for 50c at the fete. Although I didn’t see any of my class mates, I still had a blast from the past.

I consoled myself that I still have some time to track down one or two buddies before I leave Oz again. I think I’ll start with ‘GG’ (Greg Galvin) and then see if I can find ‘Drum’ (Ian Drummond-Hay)

Thank-you Lord for friends, past, present and future…

Why GOD Gave Us FriendsGOD knew that everyone needsCompanionship and cheer,He knew that people need someoneWhose thoughts are always near.He knew they need someone kindTo lend a helping hand.Someone to gladly take the timeTo care and understand.GOD knew that we all need someoneTo share each happy day,To be a source of courageWhen troubles come our way.Someone to be true to us,&nbsp; Whether near or far apart.Someone whose love we'll alwaysHold and treasure in our hearts.That's Why GOD Gave Us Friends! (Anon)


Ian