Last part of 2013 in snapshot.

Well here I am again apologizing for not checking in.!!!
I 've tried to keep up with all our friends different posts on Blogger.

Its been totally mad around our home since last August.
I haven't been able to find the time to blog.
September saw Brid do her Ballet exam. She scored well and was awarded a Highly commended. The 2nd top result in the scoring system. She had a calf and shin injury, therefore, she couldn't do small or large jumps ( Petite and Grande Allegro).
We were ever so proud of her.
After the exam, we worked with a Bowen therapist to realign and correct connective tissue. Yep- You heard right. Amazing work.
This was a major success.
We holidayed in a little cottage 8.7 kms out of Dorrigo. Such a pretty and relaxing place. We walked, talked, lazed and reconnected with each other. Its been a very busy year.
Brid attended 2 eisteddfods following our holiday, she attained great results and danced her first modern expressive- choreographed by herself. Critiqued by her Jazz and contemporary teacher.
Once school holidays ended then began the hours of concert preparation. Brid says this is her favourite term. She loves learning new dances and assisting in choreographing.
somehow, between all this we fitted in school work. How I don't know. !!
We even managed a fortnightly Shakespeare gathering, reading and discussing Romeo & Juliet. This later turned into Art appreciation lessons with the same family. Loved the company and enjoyed the experience. It will happen again this year.
Meanwhile, We took it in turns to drive Brid to Ballet. We began car pooling with another family. That took off a little pressure.
I reconnected with several life long friends and family member after a sad incident in September. Its been lovely keeping in contact.
During all this busyness and mundane life, we purchased a puppy. She is adorable and much loved by us all.
The Christmas production Of Cinderella was drawing near and wow was it going to be good.
Brid was cast into 5 different dances, She was pumped and up for the challenge.
We tried to prepare our hearts and home for Christmas amongst all of this. It wasn't the most well prepared we could be, but we ket giving over every day and challenge to Our Lord.
Brid continued to attend Youth group and has some lovely friends and has enjoyed the company of the youth leaders.
We said goodbye to our Central coast Holiday house. Its being sold. So sad, the end of an era. Brids' been going there since before she was born.
Its been quite an emotional roller coaster of a journey for us all this year, learning hoe best to support Brid through several difficult peers at Ballet. She has made many good choices and learnt so much about herself, who her friends are and how Friends and family can be there to lift her spirits.
So that brings us mostly up to date with last year 2013.. Of course,  our faith was the underpinning of our reactions and the source of moral judgments.
Dermot and I celebrated 10 years for our computer company. That's quite an achievement in these days. We decided to give our clients a little hamper of things we liked. A useful box, wine and glasses, coffee and mugs, lovely tea, chocolates and assorted goodies all presented in cellophane and individually delivered to each of our clients. We chose every item ourselves and carefully wrapped it all. Brid helped by writing and printing the cards.
I'll share some more news soon.
 


 

How am I going to cover....

SHAKESPEARE.

Will it be interesting. ?
Will It keep Brids attention and mine.?
What one shall we begin with?

These were all real concerns for me.
When I studied Shakespeare, it was in a class room full of teens my age, with an enthusiastic teacher, and books and essays.

Well that wasn't going to be the case with Brid. So where do I begin. I just knew I wanted it to be alive.
I was having morning tea with a friend and we both aired our concerns about this topic. We both said
"Let's have the girls do it together"
Great idea.
I had a few ideas of how we would do this and proposed them to my friend. We chose to start with Romeo and Juliet.

Firstly we would meet fortnightly for 2 hours.
Brid and I drive over each fortnight -as its on our way to Ballet.
We have hot drinks and morning tea snack while we read and do our work. It doesn't seem like work though..Its relaxing and enjoyable.

We have chosen to read the story first. This would give the girls a real understanding of the story before we began on the 'Old English'.
our lesson plan is quite loose.
Week 1. read the story and chat about the time place and anything else that comes up.
homework. - where is Verona.

Week 2. Continue reading the story and use the Socratic list from Teaching the Classics to stimulate further discussion and grasp a greater understanding of the story, its time and place, characters, protagonists, antagonists, themes etc. This was quite a lot of fun. some real serious questions were discussed.

Week 3. Read the play aloud. Use a new English version to interpret as necessary.

Week 4. Continue reading the play.

Week 5.( This maybe a night time activity). Craft activity. Decorate Masks. watch the Ballet or drama.

We are putting no pressure on the girls. They are coming up with there own ideas. We are hoping to have the last lesson as a night time fun activity that will embellish the whole Shakespeare play.
Its turning out to be a great adventure.

They are already asking, what one will we do next?
Thats a good indication of its success.
This lead Brid and I on a discussion regarding literature on our way to Ballet.
Brid has a great list of literature books, she is reading her way through. I haven't asked her to write a review or a report for a long time. It creates tension and as Brid says, it makes the novel dead from the beginning.
Les Miserable - Is her latest novel. She has several that she is wanting to read, so I can't ask for anymore than that can I.



  

Its all about Ballet

This week Brid has been fortunate enough to attend the International Summer School- for Ballet. A dear friend invited her along, and after a few weeks of deliberation, the decision was made. Yes we would go.
Firstly where to stay, easy !!!!. We stayed with our dear friends in Sydney,  Jen and Phil.
So we arrived Sunday evening to share a meal and Sunday evening Mass with our dear Friends.
After a restless nights sleep, we drove to the venue- Mcdonald college, North Strathfield. We needed a little help from the gps and the google maps to get us there.
We arrived, Brid was terribly excited and was itching to dance and meet new friends. She just took the whole experience in. I picked her up late that afternoon, and apart from telling me about her awesome male Jazz teacher, she told me about a couple of girls she met in class.
I was delighted that she could just adapt and chat to new people so easily.

2005.

Today, is Tuesday, and apart from knowing which state these girls live in, she was continuing to connect. She is loving every class and is saying its the highlight so far of  Ballet since she began many years ago .
Brid was adviced last year by the college, on our enrollment, to continue her stretches. This certainly has been beneficial to her, with the long days dancing various disciplines of dance. Classical, Jazz, contemporary, character ......
Apart from the tiredness, her muscles have not terribly sore. She is however, ravenous on the 35 minute car ride home though. Thank goodness, I have had a little snack to give her.

2011

So she is still full of beans and loving every minute of her experience.

So what am I doing on these days. Well they are long days for me, but I spent many hours in St Marys cathedral, Sydney on Monday, Coffee and shopping with a dear friend. Washing Ballet clothes and pacing ourselves as far as sleep is concerned. This is part of my job this week as well.
Our hosts are looking after us so very well and I am really trying to help out in return for there gracious generosity.

2011.

On Friday, Dermot will return- (He drove down with us, stayed overnight, but called back with a work issue)-  to see a wonderful Ballet dancer and to see Brid and Chantelle dance in there classes Saturday....

a camping surprise...

A while ago, we headed down south to a Catholic Homeschool camp. It was designated as a tent camping week.
My initial reaction, was no.., we wouldn't be going. End of that.
We were however asked to go to fill in some spots in the play that is acted out each year.
In the past, the religious sisters in the local area assisted the children to put on two plays. One for the little ones. One for the older ones. So in there memory, Sarah wanted to keep this tradition. This looked like it may slip away, so a few families said they would help out. We were told we could stay in the house that the Pauline Fathers had just purchased, but, be camp side until bed time. I really didn't need to ask Brid. I knew her reaction.
So off we went car packed, script in hand and a little nervous as to the 'camping facilities'.
It was an easy 3-4 hour drive and just off the highway.
The days were filled with the usual daily Mass, rosary and talks to the various age groups by religious orders. The first day was the talk by the Mgls. That was great to hear there message. Unfortunately I missed most of it, as we arrived at the end of the talk.
We were Blessed to hear the Immaculata Sisters that afternoon and the next day. This order was born from the lay Immaculata community and from WYD08. So a young order- well not quite an order if you think in official church terms.

The best part of the week was being able to chat with my friend Sue and her girls. We were able to talk without using the telephone or writing emails, or meeting in the cyber world somewhere. That was a real Blessing.
Brid & I met up with lots of old friends and were acquainted with a few new faces.
It was real camp cooking on BBQs and an old sink for washing up.
The girls and boys took turns in washing and wiping up duties and each older girl was allocated a large family to assist with there meals. This encouraged new relationships with people the girls may not know, and helped them attain a greater sense of responsibilty and charity.

Every day the children placed in there teams for athletic sports. It was quite warm for the children running but it certainly expelled there energy. A meal and drinks were well received after there late morning activities.
The play was read and re read every day and rehearsed until it was the final day. No matter how prepared or unprepared the groups they now needed to perform there plays.
Brid was given the role of Amelia the Abyss. The lines she had been given to learnt were of the narrator, so she needed to quickly learn new lines. She was at a disadvantage but she rose to the occasion.

It was a wonderful end to the week long camping experience, which I still have reservations on.  

Homeschool camp- september 2011

Every year in September, many families around Australia make a trip to the Northern rivers Catholic homeschool camp. It’s in a little seaside village.

It is a really relaxed and enjoyable camp, and this year was no different.
Its quite a long drive from our home so we stay overnight along the way. This year we stayed with Erin and family.  It was a real treat. In the morning we were up with the sun, and I was informed that my Daughter had found the library.  I teasingly said, “I hope she remembers this is not the camp”.
So after taking two of her girls with us, we drove to our sunny location.
The week was filled with spiritual talks given to various age groups.
Every day there was fun activity that we did in a group, including kite flying at the beach on the day 1.
The exploring of the rockpools of a close by beach was quite a hit, with some of the kids walking along the beach with Fr Rizzo and others choosing to stay and continue exploring the rockpools.
Confirmations and 1^st Holy Communions were celebrated with the local Bishop, with a lovely Angelic choir singing the hymns of the day. It was lovely seeing other homeschooling families who were not attending the camp for a short time at the Mass.

Mackillop team

I think the hymns at our daily Masses really added to the serene and peaceful atmosphere in our little Chapel. Mass was of course, central to our week. Adoration & benediction was scheduled daily in the afternoons.
Most evening we had events that the children would play in their teams- Trivia and impromptu games organised by s local hunter young adult were really fun & exciting.

finishing the long distance event

Of course these type of camps would not be the same without spiritual talks. The children were broken into age groups and lead in many areas of church teaching. The mums and dads were not left out. The Mums took an hour in the afternoon to reflect on the liturgical year, while the Dads chatted there men’s business in the evenings. I was not privy to their talk topic.  
This year the sports carnival was changed to the area closer to the cabins as there were birds nesting in our usual spot and they were very protective of their young. It was a fun day and I was so proud of Brid. She ran really well and helped the little ones when they needed to.

The 4 real mums

There was a lovely mix of families this year and it was a very Blessed and happy camp, meeting up with old friends and meeting new ones. It was lovely to meet our 4real mums again.

Thanks Lynn and Erin for you enormous effort that you put into each camp every year.

some of the girls