Mamalade

School memories

Can you remember your first day at school? We heard some wonderful stories at our World Vision Nostalgia Morning.

One woman recalled being taken to school by her elder sister and bolting out through the back gate as soon as she arrived. This pattern continued for several weeks until she was promised a new doll if she stayed at school.

Another one had vivid memories of one of the boys in her class on his first day. He was clinging to a pole, screaming and wetting his pants. He later became the school captain.

Someone else tried to hide on her first day, because the elastic in her bloomers broke.

And another one used to ride a pony to school. Crossing a creek on the way home, the pony decided to sit and cool off in the water. Our friend found herself in waist deep water, clinging desperately to the reins with one hand and holding her schoolbag above her head to keep it dry with the other.

I liked the story about the teacher who told his class he had eyes in the back of his head and could see them when he was writing on the blackboard - and they believed him! If he left the room, this same teacher would first remove his glass eye and place it on the table to watch the class. No one dared to move.

It was a good morning, and our Bring and Buy stall raised quite a bit for the Kanzokea Dispensary in Kenya.

Change-Over Dinner

Our Toastmasters Club celebrates the induction of new executive officers each year with a special Change Over-Dinner. This year we combined with two other clubs. We enjoyed a good meal (I would never have thought of serving kiwi fruit and strawberries with fish!) and some lighthearted activities - with an Olympic them this year - then the incoming officers of each club were solemnly sworn in to their positions for the coming year.

On a lighter note - at the beginning of the evening, we were each given a slip paper bearing these instructions:

Cross out six letters from the following line of letters so that the remaining letters, while staying in sequence, form a familiar English word.

B S A I N X L E A T N T E A R S

"Aha!" I said to my companion, "I'll work this out. I do cryptic crosswords - I'm good at word puzzles!"
I puzzled over it the entire evening, not really paying full attention to the rest of the programme - I was so intent on being the first one to work it out. (They say it's not a good idea for speakers to hand their audience anything to read during their speech as it is likely to distract them. I think the same rule should have applied here!)
At the end of the evening I still hadn't worked it out, and much to my chagrin, quite a few people had solved it straight away! I'll tell you the answer next week. In the meantime, send me an email if you know the answer - there's no prize, but it will let me know that someone reads this nonsense! (or send me an email if you can't work it out so I'll know I'm not the only one who is stupid! I'll send you the answer.)
								

Weekend at Mt Sylvia

I felt a bit doubtful when our church home-group started planning to spend the Queen’s Birthday weekend together at Mt Sylvia in the Lockyer Valley. We’d been told that the temperatures could be 10 degrees (Celsius) lower than here - and since the temperatures had already plummeted 10 degrees here recently, it sounded like a very cold weekend

Then I thought, “Even if it’s dreadful, it’s still something to add to my store of memories - a weekend hunched in front of the computer won’t leave any impressions to look back on.”

It’s amazing how much stuff one person thinks they need for one weekend. I would have been quite safe without a seat belt in the back seat of my friend’s car, wedged in between pillows, blankets and doonas - and enough provisions to last an extra week!

We were the first to arrive at the Mt Sylvia Christian Campsite, which was a farm nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains. The rest of our group - 14 adults and 9 kids - arrived soon after. I must admit I had some misgivings when I felt the nippy breeze blowing through the converted farmhouse, but once we had closed the doors, turned on a couple of heaters we had a brought with us and lit the pot-bellied stove it was quite snug.

It rained most of the weekend, but that didn’t stop us from trudging through the mud all around the farm, sampling the corn, beans and celery as we went. The fresh country air was invigorating. I turned back when we reached the foot of the mountain, but some of our group climbed the mountain and returned 3 hours later with tales of breathtaking scenery, slippery slopes and a near miss with a falling boulder.

Back at the camp, one of the kids wasn’t so lucky. He fell from the Flying Fox and broke his nose and both wrists. He spent a tedious afternoon in the Casualty Department of Gatton Hospital, but was able to return to the campsite and join in most of the activities.

We also drove to the Glen Rocks National Park and walked through the bush. It was such a freeing experience, to get around without any need for money or identification (I left my purse back at the Camp ) but as the car was hurtling along the dirt roads I suddenly thought, “If we have an accident and I lose my memory, I’ll have to go through life as “Mrs Philpotts” because that’s the name on my singlet that I bought at our Jumble Sale!”

I enjoyed my weekend away and it wasn’t too cold after all, but it was good to come back to the comforts of home. The cats ran to meet me when they heard the car. Ingrid wailed bitterly that she’d been neglected, and would have nothing to do with me for a while, but Buddy snuggled in my arms and rubbed his slimy cold nose all over me.

While I was away someone had left a pile of stuff for our Jumble Sales on my patio. Joel had dragged it into the loungeroom. It took me a few days to sort it all.

Olympic Torch

Nearly all of Brisbane must have turned out to line the streets this week as the Olympic Torch passed through on its way around Australia before reaching Sydney for the Olympic Games.

I hadn’t been too interested in it up till now, but when something like that comes to your own suburb, that’s different! We all had to be a part of it.

The best thing was, it actually passed along the street where Mum and Dad live, so Dad (who can’t get out) was able to see it from the window. My sister Jan brought the kids and we joined the neighbours waiting on the footpath. The kids each had a flag to wave. Five-year-old Callum was a bit bored waiting and kept going back inside. Every time he went in a policeman on a motor bike would pass by and we’d call out, “Callum, you missed another one!”

Finally, the Torch Bearer came down the hill and passed on the flame to another runner waiting at the corner. We all cheered and waved as she ran by, then we went down to the corner, where the previous runner was posing for photographs. Shea and Callum had their photo taken holding the torch. We were glad we hadn’t gone to the celebrations at the shopping centre. We wouldn’t have seen near as much.

Bus Trip

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

If you had been passing by the park across the road from the Kenilworth Cheese Factory one day this week, you may have been startled by the spectacle of two crazy middle-aged women, laughing uproariously as they spun in erratic circles on the large tyre swing - or whizzed through the air on the Flying Fox.

But the only passing traffic in the sleepy little town was a large truck at the Cheese Factory and probably the only witness to our madness was our bus driver, relaxing under a nearby tree, while the more sedate members of our group lingered over lunch at the hotel or explored the craft and antique shops.

Although I’m not a member of the Gardening Club, several of my friends are - and I was invited along on their bus trip.

It wasn’t easy - rising early to catch the bus. Temperatures this week have been about 10 degrees (Celsius) below normal. (But not nearly as cold as the southern states where they’ve had snow and hail.)

We travelled over the Blackall Range, taking in spectacular views of the Glasshouse Mountains and the distant sea, shimmering golden in the sun. Lulled by the coziness of the bus, we found the bracing air a bit of a shock when we stopped at Maleny for morning tea. Then on we travelled to Kenilworth.

We sampled the cheese at the Factory and I bought a small block of Cooloola Cheese. It’s very smooth and mild. There were not many shops to look at. I was amazed at the prices of some of the items in the Antique shop. Maybe I should retrieve some of the junk from my wheelie bin. I’d never thought of trying to sell rusty tins and empty coffee jars!

On the way home we stopped at a Plant Nursery. I bought two lovely ferns.

Afternoon tea was at the Big Pineapple. Just as well the queue to the food counter was long, because I was still trying to decide which Sundae I wanted when it was my turn. Most of us opted for the Junior Fruit Salad and Icecream. Delicious! We only had half an hour there, but there is so much to see and do at the Big Pineapple, I would have liked to stay longer.

They had a raffle on the bus and drew the winning tickets on the way home. You’ll never believe this - I seldom buy raffle tickets and never win anything - but I won a prize! That’s the second in two weeks! I was invited to choose between a hanging plant pot, a blue pottery dish, or a bag of chokoes. (Yuk!) I chose the blue pottery dish. It’s just a nice size to make a little casserole or bread pudding in to share with a neighbour.

It was even harder to get up early the day after the bus trip. I was still pretty tired, but since our World Vision Club had another Jumble Sale, I just had to roll out of bed and point the body.

It was a cold morning. Not many people about at first. They must have all been sleeping in. Half their luck! But they eventually drifted in out of the wind and rummaged through the winter woollies.

Tumbling towers

I don’t know what we would do without our helper, Mike. He’s in his eighties, but he comes to the Jumble Sales early and has most of the boxes of clothes out on the tables by the time we get there. Then he goes home for breakfast and returns at midday when we are packing up and stacks all the boxes away.

I don’t think Mike has ever been a brick layer. He piles the boxes into a tower that reaches the ceiling, then he starts on another one and another……………

It had to happen one day. Last week there was a muffled yelp from Mike, and we found him desperately trying to prop up one of his towers, while the rest crashed to the floor around him!

In the Sun

I’m almost beginning to enjoy winter. The last few mornings have been beautiful. The wind has gone and I’ve been breakfasting with the cats on my front patio. Ingrid lies full length in the sun, with her head and front legs facing one way and her hind legs stretched out in the other direction. I don’t know how they can do that! She can spring to attention in a split second - as she did this morning, when a large black dog rushed by on the footpath, towing a teenager on a skateboard. Well, that’s one way to walk the dog!

I probably won’t have time to update my Newsletter next week, so I’m taking a week off. Back in two weeks!