mummmmmm

marry_anne @ 2008-10-24T15:40:00

2008-10-24T06:15:38Z

I had to drive to Batchelor this morning. On the way home I stopped at Litchfield caavan park for a latte and mudcake (just because I'd never been there before) - very nice. Next stop was Buley rockpool for a refreshing swim and then a drive home through the park where new green grass is spreading between the shrubs and some trees are covered in brilliant red flowers.

NB you kniow you're workinhg in the Northern Territroy when you go to the staff room sink to wash your coffee cup and the person in front of you is washing a frog!

marry_anne @ 2008-08-11T17:39:00

2008-08-11T08:10:33Z

We have just had our first in-school sports carnival, organised by a former teacher who was back up for a few days. I was put in charge of the 100 meters and had to lead the warm up exercises and demonstrate the correct technique for block starts (including pushing off with your ‘power leg’, how to position your knees and hands, and the proper body angle for the first few steps) for each of the six groups in turn.

Rachel gave me a quick demonstration and then it was just up to me to act like I knew exactly what I was doing. It was good fun – I even ran the 100 meters a few times with students who were ashamed to come last. It gave anybody watching someone else to laugh at - gleeful shouts of ‘haaa, Maryanne, little legs’.

makeover

2008-05-10T02:07:22Z

At the Katherine convention last weekend one of the students Wanted to give me an "extreme makeover" (I think she saw me as a challenge). she carries a make-up kit with her and set to work... it took a while but I got the whole deal- hair, eyeliner, eyeshadow, lipstick, and lots of different powders. She did a very professional job but I don't suit make up and the end result was weird - it looked like it should be good but was just scary. The kids weren't slow to give their opinions and they ranged from "you look good now miss, like a young lady" to "you look like a different old lady" or
- "its like that bad queen Miss, that wicked one in Narnia"
- " you look like those ladies in the shop - the ones with the big hair that don't move"
- " you wanna wash that off Miss, its scary"

BJ was that worst - he took one look and burst into laughter, apologised, and then did it again at regulat intervals.

Just as well I had no prevoius illusions about my looks!

just when you think its safe to get back in the water .....

2008-04-04T08:08:21Z

There is a creek about 5 mins drive from the school called Bamboo creek, the students often go fishing and sometimes swimming there. But not anymore... One of the mothers form the indigenous community next door to us went swimming there on Wednesday afternoon and was attacked by a crocodile. It bit her on the thigh and rolled her under the water to drown her. Fortunately her husband was there and jumped on the croc's back, poked him in the eyes and managed to get his wife away.

They stopped at the school to get some first aid on their way to the doctor at Batchelor and then on to the Hospital in Darwin. Its a shock because the indigenous people usually know where there are crocs, because our kids have been swimming there, and because i've been swimming in walker creek just down the hill form there (but not any more!).

Anyway it was all very exciting, Wendy will be OK, and you can read about it on Yahoo news.

Marian

marry_anne @ 2008-03-02T15:56:00

2008-03-02T06:31:35Z

I might be getting a car! Michael found one for me in Darwin, he's checked it out and says its in good condition and a reasonable price. the lady said she will hold it for me but I now have to find a way to get up to Darwin and pay for it before she changes her mind. This is where not having a local bank also becomes a problem.

Anyway the car is a Rav 4 with air con, cd player, power windows (ugh) and has been owned since new by an elderly couple. It's a 2000 model and has only done 120,000 kms.

However it s more than I was planning to pay.... time to ring one of the kids for a short term loan!!!!

phones

2008-02-25T06:12:36Z

I've just bought a new phone - I didn't mean too! I don't approve of replacing things that work! I only wanted to change my plan to a cheaper one but telstra said I can either keep my plan another year or i can pay $30 a month for 2 years and get a new phone with $30 of calls. I spent ages trying to get a straight plan without a phone but they don't do that anymore (I don't really believe it -I think I've been had). Oh well, apparently they will deliver it in person tomorrow morning. That's pretty impressive considering how long it takes to get anything else here, but I'll believe it when I see it. Actually I'm quite excited sout getting a flash phone :)

It's very peaceful here at the moment. I hope to do alot of planning but I'm a bit slow to get motivated today. I've spent most of the morning sorting out stuff like tax, centrelink (who are apparently happy to pay Paul till October - I feel slightly guitly about this but not enough to turn down the payments)telstra and bank accounts. It always feels good to get stuff organised.

Suse cooked dinner for me last night and invited Bethany and andrew over as well. There was red cordial, party hats, birthday cake and candles. It was fun and really kind of her especially as she's not feeling well.

Darwin was fun. Spending money and eating out were good but what I liked best sitting on the grass watching the sunset and playing cards at night on the wharf.

that's all

marry_anne @ 2007-10-27T19:19:00

2007-10-27T08:27:01Z

i just met meg. A nice girl. Needed to use my bathroom. Funny...doesn't usually happen. anyway a minute after a 3 year old wondered in..ok this is getting weird I told myself. I could assume with conviction that the child was from next door, so reluctenly (as I was in the middle of lazy around) I picked up the child and return it. On the way back into the house it then I realise why the young girl had choosen my house to ask to used the bathroom. It was not to do with the door being wide open. But rather the Big sign my mother has recently erected displaying "JESUS (not the swear word) - want to know more. Ph 04040..etc,". It then struck me, as it often does it must have been quite a shock to the young girl who was no doubt expecting an elderly women (mum), but rather encountered a studily figure holding a beer and listen to (quite loudly might i add) Guns 'n Roses' - sweet child of mind in the back ground (or fore-ground in this case due to the noise).

NT

2007-09-18T11:29:47Z

On Sunday I went swimming at Sandy Creek in the northern territory. It was beautiful. Think Corralyn, then make the cliffs three times as high and form them into a circle, make the water clear and green, add a waterfall and a sprinkling of rainforest, top off with blue sky, no other people and three or so large birds circling slowly overhead.
Incredible.

desperation

2007-09-12T12:43:47Z

I'm standing in my bedroom in Darwin holding a Freddo frog up to the fan, waiting for it to get firm enough to eat. This takes longer than you might think.

virtues

2006-10-19T21:11:54Z

listening to radio national the other day and they were talking about virtue - apparently the four classical virtues were temperance, justice, fortitude and prudence. I thought at first that prudence wasn't much of a virtue but then I started thinking of how much time is wasted, or work completed badly, or things left undone just through a lack of simply thinking about things properly beforehand.

Maybe in the christian virtues (faith , hope and love)the emphasis by many has been on the emotion rather than the action - so that the classical virtues seem sort of dry by comparison. Interesting.

I'm not sure about temperance - apparently that applies to everything - love and relationships as well.
what do you think?

visualise this

2006-10-15T05:22:23Z

I really love spring, I love the wind - it makes you feel alive. The school kids are happier, staff are cheerful, everything just seems easier when the weather is so lovely.

Speaking of school kids, I was working with one last week and he noticed a mole on my arm and tried to pull it off, after which the conversation went like this:

'No, it doesn't come off'
'Sore?'
'No, its not sore'
'Hatch?'

!!!!!!!!

memories

2006-09-18T10:21:41Z

I've just come back from a week in Newcastle, which I haven't visited for about 10 years. A lot of the city has changed completely, but there were some places with strong memeries that were almost exactly the same as when I left 25 years ago - very wierd, like having pieces of your past cut and pasted onto a different background.
(I was going to stick some photos in here but I can't work it out)

Holidays

2006-09-10T06:07:47Z

I've just had a lovely three days, I've been cleaning the house and whenever I find something that needs fixing or rearranging I can just do it! No putting it in a pile for later or planning when I can fit it in; and if that means I don't get everything on today's list finished it doesn't matter....such a good feeling.

The school board have offered to pay for my first year's M.A.C.E. fees, to congratulate me for the award, that was really nice of them.

Going to Newcastle tomorrow, it'll be good to see everybody again. Time-wise it's closer than Hobart, and with a cheap ticket I can get there and back for the price of three return trips, yet going there is something that has to be carefully planned, saved for, and put into the schedule well in advance - why is that?

marry_anne @ 2006-07-25T21:38:00

2006-07-25T11:39:53Z

tomorrow I have to drive the school bus there and back, this will be the first time I've done a proper run - not looking forward to it. Also I can't quite remember how the bus works, its half automatic and half manual and has some funny quirks. This could be interesting.

marry_anne @ 2006-07-22T21:08:00

2006-07-22T11:27:54Z

Today I did a lot of those things that you keep meaning to do and never get around to- very satisfying. I dug out some of the raspberry canes and bricks in preparation for planting friut trees, nailed some wood around the fireplace (I never realised how hard it is to bang a nail in straight, many loud expressions of frustration accompanied this task), hung the bell and put felt on the chair legs.
I gave my talk to the senior cits on thursday and it went well, only one man in the front row fell asleep and he didn't snore. Not many people ask question in question time but as soon as its officially finished they all want to come up and talk about stuff.
i did something really bad. I was asked to be pastoral care person to an elderly lady from church and it took me 3 weeks to get in contact with her. Some of the delay was unavoidable but a lot of it was me not getting around to it; so when I finally rang on friday her daughter said there was no point in visiting now, she had gone down hill quickly, and I could ring back in 2 weeks if she was still alive. I feel terrible and there's no excuses or justification, why didn't I ring earlier?

marry_anne @ 2006-06-02T21:33:00

2006-06-02T11:37:26Z

hoildays! Feels so nice not to have to go to work next week- although I'm already worrying about all the things I want to do with this time.

Today started in a high note, I took whisky for a walk and he found a dead possum. He completely ignored all my commands to 'come' and headed off home with his treat at a brisk pace (with occasional stops to get a better grip on it). there's something about following a dog and a dead possum through the streets in the dark that's strangely uncomfortable. (Shovelling it into a garbage bag pretty yucky too, but at least its winter so hopefully it wont get too smelly before garbage day)

marry_anne @ 2006-05-17T21:57:00

2006-05-17T12:05:09Z

just a note to say thank you to whoever out there left a present on my doorstep on Mother's day! A great end to a lovely weekend. Thanks :)

winter warmth

2006-04-29T09:47:18Z

Last week i tried using Dave's oil filled column heater and burnt stripes on my jumper pushing against it in an attempt to get some real warmth. So now I'm back to my little 2 bar electric heater- my evening living space has reduced to a large pillow directly in front of the heater; and thanks to modern technology I can adjust the TV, make a phone call, access the internet and pat the dog all without leaving the warmth, what more could you want? Life is good.

holidays

2006-04-14T10:26:28Z

Hooray for the Easter holidays! i have a whole list of things i want to get done in the next week:
Plant some trees, visit Robyn,sort out the shed, hang all my pictures, put up the curtain, get some blinds for outside, sow more grass, prune the yard, re-organise my classroom, plan for next term, go vinnying, oil the deck, go for a bush walk, shellac the dining room table, remove the wood heater and try and get on top of life in general.
Wish me luck

finished!

2006-03-15T07:25:50Z

the renovations have finally finished (well almost)and Emily and I put all the furniture back on Saturday. It looks so nice - just exactly what I wanted, I came out the next morning and just sat in the lounge for half an hour looking around me and enjoying it. Emily organised my books for me so they now look like they belong together and I finally found one I'd been hunting for. None of which are big things on the world issues register but they all make me very happy :)

first entry

2006-02-24T11:34:27Z

Had a good day today. I spent the morning in Hobart with the family (breakfast, coffee, lunch, and shopping) and got back home at about 5. I felt really tired and was going to relax for the rest of the day but ended up spending 3 hours with a hammer and chisel- knocking down an old incinerator, chiseling the concrete off the bricks and stacking them by the shed. Now all I need is a sledge hammer to get rid of that concrete slab...

marry_anne @ 2006-02-16T23:24:00

2006-02-16T12:29:24Z

Howzit? Marian here.

I'm nutting out this 'online journal' thing. Paul's helping me. He's great. Easily my favourite child.

Going for a bike ride tomorrow. I might meet up with Tom and Raza. I meet them at the jumps at coronation park and they show me a few tricks.

I've *got* to get myself some sleep.

Later dogs.