Time flies by when you are having fun...

My niece Katelyn was 21 last weekend (congratulations Kate!) and another niece, Michelle, is getting marriednext month at the Gold Coast, beside the beach. Time is galloping along at a frightening pace. I don't think my age has much to do with it, even younger folk complain of 'this' and 'that' coming around again very quickly. Whatever the reason, I must be having loads of fun for it to be going so quickly, but it doesn't always feel like fun.

Rene and I have been very busy with our respective work. He has been slaving away to be ready for the opening this Saturday, and everything appears to be coming together well. The house is looking more settled, and last Friday a friend of ours helped us move our pot plants from the south side of Brisbane back across the river to Nundah. A big 'thank you' to Kay for minding them for so many months, another to Steve for the transport. A couple of plants in the living room, a lot in the garden and across the rear terrace and already the lack of a planted garden is less obvious.

The garden is going to be a major job, even though it is small. The ground is compacted 'fill' with a sold clay component and rocks galore. It'll need a truck load or more of good soil and some judicious selection of plants to make it look good, but there's no rush. I got the first two 'easy' garden beds planted out this week, but it's a slow process. It'll look OK for the opening.

Speaking of the opening, at 3:40pm yesterday (Saturday) friends of ours arrived beautifully dressed ready for the opening a week early. They arrived in time to not miss the 'welcome to country' ceremony, but they suspected all was not well when the street was comparatively light on for parked cars. Well, Polly, Kit and Chris joined us for a laugh, a chat, a walk around the park and suburb, drinks back on the deck then dinner at a favourite Asian restaurant of ours in Clayfield. We had a super time, really great, so good that we're going to do it all over again next week.

Work has been full on but interesting. This week I'm going with a fellow ESL teacher and good friend Torquil out to Ipswich to a seminar entitled - "Decision Making: Ethics in a Delicate World". Should be interesting, and counts towards our religious study component of registration to teach in Catholic schools. The things one has to do...

This week at the house we have the next chapter in the saga of getting the air conditioning working quietly enough not to be audible much at all. This is attempt #3. Also on Tuesday we have the insect screens for upstairs and security screens for downstairs windows arriving. They'll also install the powder coated aluminium privacy screens on the sides of the deck. Thursday sees a solartube skylight installed in the kitchen area to just lift the early morning light levels in that part of the room.

The Beijing Olympics conclude tonight, and I'm looking forward to the spectacular closing ceremony. I wonder what London contributes to the closing? It usually is brilliant from the next host country. Hasn't GB done exceptionally well? I've been very impressed indeed. Mind you, apart from the media here in Oz, Australians generally are very proud of our team's efforts over there in China too. Haven't our women produced some brilliant results? Rene and I haven't seen all that much of the Games, but we did come in from an exhibition opening in the City last Thursday night and we got into bed and turned on the telly to find The Netherlands playing USA in the final of women's water polo. Now, mind you, I don't normally care about this stuff, but because it was Holland we watched...and it ebbed and flowed quite a bit, it actually was quite exciting. The final result was gold to The Netherlands - adding to that country's more than impressive medal count. Last night Australia got gold in the 10m men's diving, the only diving gold medal that didn't go to China. I've enjoyed all the unexpected medals and the incredible reactions of the winners. When a silver medal is regarded as unexpected and unbelievable, it's a joy to behold the faces of these tenacious athletes. Yes, I like the Olympics, but if they were never to happen again I don't think I'd lose any sleep. I'm not totally ambivalent, just a little over it.

Hey, you'd never guess? 3013 people had viewed this blog as of this afternoon. Yes, the 3000 turned over without my even noticing it. I made a fuss not that long ago with 2000, this one has come quicker and without fanfare. Thank you so much for contributing to that total. I like sharing; I hope you enjoy the brief look into my world. Until next time...

PS I forgot George! He is the carpet snake that invaded the territory in Holland Park where Polly, Kit and Chris live. He was more than 2.5m long, much more, and was taken away yesterday after the snake catcher eventually 'bagged' him. Now I know they are of no danger to humans, but I just don't like any snake of any persuasion. 'Bye George!

oops! Forgot...

How amazing! In my update last night I forgot to mention I got the all clear on the check up I had in hospital last Friday. My next colonoscopy is in five years time. Not super pleasant, but no real big deal, enough for me to have forgotten it two days later. If you have a family history, the check up is so important - don't put it off. (Lecture over) :)

An overdue update

It has been absolutely ages since I updated the blog. It took a while to get the new phone and internet established. We have had many, many things happening lately, and with my 58 years now really feeling heavy on my shoulders, I should quickly let you in on a bit of this and that at Chez Hamson....

The move was on a wet Wednesday. The removal company was excellent, with five loaders at the Coast and two continuing on to Brisbane. Rene placed most things with the removalists by the time I arrived from cleaning the apartment back at Kawana. The boxes were all unpacked within a few days.

We've had some fun and games getting the technicians to fine tune our air conditioning. Apparently it's a very sophisticated system and is still sounding far too loud, but they'll be back for the third time this week. I still have a final 10% to pay, and it will be done when we are happy. I must say it heats beautifully. We've had a very unusually long cold period, with quite cold nights and lovely sunny warm days.

I have been swamped with emails and several lovely cards since we moved. We have lovely friends. Thanks!

Rene's gallery is about to open at the end of the month. He has been flat out preparing for this event. The invitations look terrific. The space is taking shape, and friends have been offering their wonderful assistance, much appreciated by us both. It's lovely that Rene is so busy that he is no longer bored as he was at the Coast. If anything he has a trifle too much on his head, but he has broad shoulders and can take it.

I have returned to five days a week teaching ESL. I said I'd do a little bit more when I returned to Brisbane, and they ended up offering me full time, with a third school where I had been 18 months ago. I like this school a lot. The three girls I see there are interesting, with two sisters from Sri Lanka (refugees) and a Brisbane born girl who at the age of 2 went to live in Sechuan. She has come back after 6 years following the disastrous earthquake. She looks Aussie but feels Chinese; being fluent in writing and reading, let alone speaking, Mandarin.

Tomorrow, at another one of my schools, I meet for the first time a 6 year old Sri Lankan refugee girl who speaks no English at all. My work life is never dull or predictable. I like that!

The house still is lacking blinds and curtains. We are going to decide on these things after the gallery opening. The gardens are a disaster with the beds like concrete (in some cases it really IS concrete). I've made almost daily trips to the gardening centre buying this and that for the beds, but I fear it is going to be a long process. I really like the chance to do it myself, but I think I'll hire a rotary hoe next weekend and turn over every sod in every bed.

Rene and I watched the ABC this afternoon and saw a short item on an exhibition of Emily Kame Kngwarreye at the National Museum in Canberra. It was filmed in Tokyo. Her paintings and batik are spectacular. Now deceased, she began painting at 70 and without ever seeing a gallery or museum, created art that is stunning in both scale and emotion. I was motivated enough to get up and go to the computer and book flights to Canberra next month for a weekend in order to see this spectacular collection in person. I'll give you links later in another update. This contemporary Aboriginal art is phenomenal. I'm so pleased Rene is connected to this aspect of Australian art.

This will have to be enough for now. I'm feeling distinctly weary since I got to bed at 4am this morning, up at 9:30, back in bed by 12:30. We had our first dinner party (Rene cooked Indian - delicious) followed by a night out at a pub in the city, then I sat around and chatted with a remaining guest after we got home - Rene immediately hit the hay - these young blokes just don't have the staying power these days, haha. Anyway, I'm overdue for my bed.

I only have a couple of recent pictures; we haven't even got ones where pictures are up on walls, but you get an idea of the open plan living room. Till next time...

PS Oh, I nearly forgot - The Olympics! Well, to say the least, I'm underwhelmed by them yet again. The swimming finals were in the morning when I was at work, there appears no atmosphere around the sites, the IOC's pussyfooting about basic freedoms of coverage at media conferences and the eventual cancellation of them altogether just shows what a sham all this is, and as Rene says, what about the hundreds of thousands of Chinese evicted from their homes and not adequately compensated for building projects etc etc. It is spectacular, I love many of the bits I've seen, the personal best performances from the athletes are inspirational, but.... I just don't know, I think they need to go back to basics. Scale back the opening ceremony (if I see two athletes marching in with seven officials again I'll scream - just no more than 50 athletes and officials), bring the scale of things back to something approaching human. Never give it to a regime, ever! I admire the facilities and arrangements, but where are the festivals and excitement in the streets?

I found this piece on Amsterdam in 1928 - worth a read (from Trouw, a Dutch daily).

Amsterdam Games of 1928

Trouw (Olympic coverage) opts for an Olympic flashback to the Amsterdam Games of 1928, which it proudly proclaims became "a model for the rest". However, the paper reveals that it's a miracle the games were held in the Netherlands at all. In Queen Wilhelmina, the country had "a monarch with no sympathy whatsoever for sport in general and the Games in particular". More to the point, the Christian majority in parliament were up in arms against the event. A spokesman for the Protestant ARP party decried "the heathen character" of the Games and warned that they would "stir youthful passions in a most unseemly manner". A fellow party member noted that sport had become "an expression of brute force, a fairground of the vanities".Particular objections were raised to the participation of women in sport "with short skirts, light clothing and bobbed hair". One politician observed disapprovingly that "a woman in the throes of sports-mania loses all sense of decency".The MPs put their money where their mouths were and voted down a bill to subsidise the Games. However, an appeal to the population at large paid off and the Amsterdam Olympics eventually went down in the history books as a success - not least for being the first Olympics where women took part in the gymnastics and athletics events.

PS The Olympics in Amsterdam were the first to have a flame, but funnily enough this was not lit by an athlete but by an employee of the gas company - you needed a professional on the job.