Mr Matching Pegs (Luke) put in quite a bit of work to solve my photo uploading problems, so now I can show you an odd assortment of school holiday fun (the kids went back to school/kinder today).
Above is a look at my updated flower painting. I am much happier with the leaves (which used to be Kermit green) and have found a better red colour for half the petals of the flowers (which are just under-painted at this stage). I still have to mix up a colour I am happy with for the other half of the petals, hence the harlequin look. As much fun as I had, the whole painting experience was brief and frustrating – the kids just wanted to paint on my canvas too.
This is a photo from the start of the holidays. The kids spent a whole afternoon playing surfing in the back garden.
They tried for ages to get Lotta surfing too. Eventually it worked.
I was pretty impressed with their imagination.
On Friday we spent the day at the Healesville Sanctuary – a zoo dedicated entirely to Australian animals. We had a lovely time, and saw all our favourites. Mine was the Platypuses, whose enclosure was in twilight, as they are nocturnal – so sadly, no photos.
This Koala (female) is called Prickle. We heard her keeper talking to a lady (I took to be a wildlife rescue volunteer) who first cared for Prickle, after she was found as a baby at the bottom of a tree. According to her, Prickle was actually named Bindi for her spiky nature (Bindi-Eyes are a nasty prickly plant that often turn up in your lawn in some parts of Australia – they are originally from South America) and she was renamed by the Sanctuary – I wonder if it is because of Bindi Irwin that she was renamed?
This elusive creature is a Lyrebird – the one on the 10 cent piece. Known as birds that copy the calls of other birds, they have been known to copy the tones of a phone ringing, or the sound a chainsaw makes. This one was following a man around who had been playing it R2D2 noises via his mobile phone. Unfortunately it was too busy listening to give us a serenade.
Today we had an interesting creature of our own at home.
Our very own Lotta had her first haircut – it was done at the Vets and was MUCH shorter than I expected. She looks very different (and slightly ridiculous). Tomorrow she is officially allowed to go for a walk, as she had her last shot a week ago.
Here ends the photo update. Seen any interesting creatures around your way lately?
She doesn’t look ridiculous! She looks very sweet.
I agree with Tracey … she really is beautiful!
I thought of you guys every day these holidays and never managed to get my act together to catch up … sometime soon I hope.
How are things going? Are you frantically sewing?
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