Jocelyn's blog
Posted in Reviews
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Well, Andrew is changing laptops, the iPhoto libraries need to be merged between computers and I just haven't had the will power to sit in the kitchen at night, in the cold to catch up on photo bound entries. We did have a homeschooling meeting this week and were asked to think about what books/curriculum was working for us. I only had a few to bring along and I'll share them here as well.  We've just finished using "Small Talks on Big Questions" for our night time devotions. The book goes through the questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, eg. Who made you? What else did God make? Why did God make you and all things? Who wrote the Bible? These Q & As give a great summary from the Bible and it's up to you whether you want your children to learn them. After going through a few questions, there are two stories based on that theme - usually one from the Bible and one from History - told in a narrative form. There's great questions at the end to get you thinking further. Availabie in Australia from www.reformersbooks.com.au or Amazon in the US  We did about 25 minutes of this workshop video, "Logic in 100 minutes" this week. Even though it is a great resource and gives a wonderful overview of logic and the various arguments that you need to identify, it's too much info in one go for my children right now. We also own "The Fallacy Detective" so I'm going to go through the section on Propaganda with them as a discussion and then we'll flick the video back on. Older kids would cope with moving through this video at a faster rate. Available from christianbook.com.  We've also been making our way through this 3 volume series called "Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution" WE just did the second DVD this morning. It is providing a Christian perspective for the boys and countering some "fact" statements made by evolutionists. We're also borrowing David Attenborough's series "Planet Earth" from the library so they are hearing the evolutionist side and seeing some stunning pictures as well. This is available from Word in Australia at a great price and is readily available in the US ( Christianbook, AiG, etc)  Another resource that we've been enjoying is the newly reprinted "Our Sunburnt Country". I've long admired this work but we are now using it in our Australian History lessons and I'm appreciating having such a good spine at my fingertips. It gives brief and yet detailed information about the main events in our history. Told in an easy to read style, it can stand alone or be the base from which you add more to a topic. The boys are liking it and I can't recommend it enough for those with children aged 8 and up. Available from downunderlit.com in Australia.  The last book is one that I have recently purchased but have not found time to use as yet. Christianbook had some sample pages you can look at. I liked the idea of having a starting point from which to build for story writing. Got any top picks of your own? |
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Posted in Redwall Book Club
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I am WAY behind with my blogging and hope to do some back-dated entries soon to catch up. I've finally uploaded a whole stack of photos onto shutterfly, so I'll get onto this soon! On Friday 29 May, we had the long awaited "Pearls of Lutra Day". It had effectively been postponed twice, so it was great to finally celebrate this book with a group of friends. The Redwall Book Club here is always changing as some move away and others join so it was lovely to see that dynamic at play. As usual, we started with introductions but this time, I asked the children to mention their fav part of the book. We got some interesting and hilarious answers!! Food and a naughty little Arven rated highly in the responses.  Stevie as Clecky, Zac as Rasconza, Adam as Gowja and Mark as Arven After some indoor games, we walked down the street near the dam and had a sword tournament. One of the mums had asked for the swords to be more than decoration, so we put our thinking caps together and came up with the tournament idea. Stevie then took over and worked out all of the rounds, based on the child's age/ability. Here's a couple of photos from that:     The contest of the tournament. These two were locked in combat for most of the tournament until we finally had to institute "sudden death". We only had one sword casualty, and it was Stephen's sword that cracked in half. Most of the children survived in good humour, so that was good. The next item on the agenda was a pearl hunt. The children were divided into groups and given clues to start them off. Following the clues in the book, they then had to find where all the other pearls would be hidden, either down by the dam or at the Burnet's house. It was a good idea, in theory, but in the rush to get it all organised the night before, I numbered the clues incorrectly which threw everyone out. A bit of re-explanation en-route saw most groups able to continue and work out the rest of the hiding places.   We then went inside, compared notes and each group had a turn at saying the Sister Cicely tongue twister on a time limit. After this, the fav part of any Redwall Day occurred - the feast!!  The horde listening to Mrs Kirky give the wonderful food introductions......and of course, some quick snaps of the food on offer -    We had a lively quiz time after lunch - with chanting that has been louder than I've experienced before - they really got into it! Then, in the same groups as earlier, teams went out and practiced acting out a scene from the book to present to the rest of us. This was a lot of fun and there some great choices. At the close, we probably shouted out the neighbourhood by doing all the war cries from the books - my ears were certainly ringing for a while! Most took their time packing up and going home and one little Dibbun just couldn't wait any longer for a sleep...  We had a great day and thanks go to the kitchen crew and the Burnets for hosting us. That family has been sick this week, so thanks for rising above the oncoming symptoms to have us for the day. A special mention to some of the older ones who really helped out and my own older boys. Stephen and Zac typed out a lot of clues, the door welcome was Zac's creation this time and Stevie organised the whole sword tournament. All these things made it easier for me and much more fun for everyone. So, until next time.........REDWALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Well, we didn't sing the song but the rain has stayed away from us during our first three days in England and it looks like it will be sunny for the last day we are here too. We arrived late Friday night, and although it was slightly overcast on Saturday, it really has been fantastic here. Saturday was spent looking at some sights in the local area. Down the road is Fishbourne Palace, an excavated site with extensive Roman ruins. That was interesting both in inside the building and also for the gardens. After a quick lunch,and because it was starting to get very windy, we moved on and went for a walk in Bosham Hoe. This walk takes you down to the harbour, where you can see a lot of small villages dotted along the landscape and the boats, which go from being dry docked in low tide, to being well anchored for high tide. There's even some streets on the harbour's edge that warn that cars parked in the area will be flooded in high tide. What better way to finish the day than at the local pub? Well, almost the most local one... This one was a good family pub and the meals were large and well priced. We had a great dinner there before feeding some ducks at the water's edge and going home. Sunday was spent at church in the morning and visiting my brother-in-law's parents in the afternoon. We walked along a stretch of beach near their house and even saw some people engaged in beach cricket! Later on, Maya went to a birthday party and we just came home to rest - after all, we had a big night ahead of us...we were going to have wine, cheese, olives, grapes and other nibbles in a shared meal. Yes, it was a nice night.
Today, we woke to another sunny day. We travelled in to London, which took just over 90 minutes from the south coast. We had arranged to go to the British Museum and then after a couple of hours, meet up with our friends, the den Dulks. It was great that they made the effort to travel almost 90mins from north of London to meet up with us and we then spent the rest of the afternoon together, in the British Museum and walking around London. After saying goodbye, Andrew & I then headed back to Waterloo Station so that we could go south again. Not quite ready to end our day, we walked around the Southbank, behind the London Eye and had a quick dinner in the area. We then began the long train journey south, surrounded by more people journeying home at this time of day! Tomorrow is our last day here before we begin our trip back home to Australia. I won't write about it now but will leave it until we get back. |
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I'm running a bit behind with entries! On Friday, we went to the cheese markets in Alkmaar. This town has been showcasing their famous cheese markets for centuries and every Friday over the milder months, men and wmone will dress traditionally and operate the markets in an historic way. Andrew's borther-in-law first told him of these markets over 7 years ago when we last visited Alkmaar. The hype was building, the virtues of the markets were being extolled and then we turned the corner , looked onto the square, and the markets were not there! So, it was rewarding for Andrew to finally see these chesse markets in operation, still visit the wall to wall cheese shop and just stroll around Alkmaar's streets. After this, we pressed on with our car trip and went across the dyke to Friesland. The half-size replica of Noah's Ark was moored in Sneek, Friesland so that was where we had to go to see it! Even at 70 metres long (instead of the 150 metres mentioned in the Bible), this Ark is impressive in its size and dimensions. The floors inside were spacious and a lot of information was given to support the record of a worldwide flood. We were glad that we had the opportunity to go and see this and were amazed to learn that another, full scale, ark is being built in time for the London Olympics. We travelled back to Amsterdam, had a quick dinner and then left for the airport. It was sad to say good bye to the vdBs but we were also looking forward to spending time with my sister in England.
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"It is beaut, really." That was Nanna's way of describing this picturesque way of traveling around some of the Netherlands. By catching a bus from Utrecht to Rotterdam, we would go through tiny, quaint villages and see the countryside. It sounded like a great idea and it was 27 degrees yesterday, warm and sunny, so we thought that we would spend the afternoon this way. We'd had morning tea and lunch with Nanna and left her place by mid-afternoon. After all, the Netherlands is a small country so it really wouldn't take that long... After taking a train to Utrecht, we eventually found the bus we wanted - Lijn 90 (line 90) and it did meander along the edge of the River Lek for two and a half hours. I couldn't take photographs of so many of the scenes that caught my eye because being on the bus just didn't allow me to do so. I will try to describe some of what we saw and the rest of the pictures will be put on Facebook later today. There isn't one scene that has stayed in my mind, more of an ongoing picture, added to and enhanced as we traveled through each little town. The countryside is open, rather than fenced off as it is in Australia. We use terms such as "rugged" or "rustic" to describe country charm and I find myself unable to use those words. Perhaps another "r" word is better, like "relaxed". There's houses that are set in manicured gardens, there's the neatness and order of canal ways through the land, there's finely appointed houses but there's also part of the countryside that hasn't been tamed or domesticated or seems to be more loosely structured. Longer, lush grass that is so vividly green; goats and cows sharing the land; trees and flowers bursting into bloom, a riot of colour. The beauty is in the harmony of all of these elements and that gives the sense of idyll. Just spending time reflectively looking out at the countryside, in quiet repose was a worthwhile experience. If you have time, I would recommend the bus part of this journey. I certainly felt it was the best part of the sightseeing that day. Unfortunately, when we stopped at Kinderdijk to look at windmills, the next bus didn't come for one hour. We had more hassles getting from South Rotterdam to Centraal Station and the train back to Amsterdam, and with the waits and train transfers, we didn't get home until 9.15pm. This meant the whole trip took almost 7 hours!! We were a bit travel-weary but sat down to enjoy a lovely meal of Thai Takeaway with the vdBs - which was a great way to unwind and finish the day. |
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Yesterday was such a fine day. The weather continued to be sunny and warm and we spoke to the boys back in Canberra. After this, we went for a bike ride to a shopping mall. It was a pleasant ride, there and back. I found some good hiking shoes for half price and we bought some treats in "jamin", the lolly shop. Straight after lunch, it was on the bikes again as we were going to ride to Nanna's house. This was the first time we had attempted the ride and it took us about 40 minutes. The bike lanes here are easy to use and the scenery along the way is beautiful - the cobble stone streets, well appointed brick houses, the trees and flowers in bloom, the flowers scattered along the edges of the road. After a short break, we got back to our card game and spent the whole afternoon enjoying Nanna's company and talking and playing. We left just before dinner and got back in 35 minutes. The day was not over as Michelle had invited the Christian homeschooling group to come and have a conversation about History. Homeschooling in the Netherlands is much more difficult and many of these families had young children. One lady, originally from the Netherlands, now resides in Belgium as the rules for homeschooling are easier there. One man travelled from near the German border for the meeting and had a one and a half hour journey to get home. Another lady had taken an hour to get to the house. the commitment here is astounding but then, it has to be in such a hostile environment. We all shared about our families and what we had been doing with the subject of History and then spoke about curricula and different approaches. The day ended after midnight - it was full and satifying - one fine day. |
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On Easter Sunday, we got up nice and early and headed off to the trains... first the Metro and then the train to Alkmaar. Our friends, the Kloks, live there and we went to stay with them for a night. The first stop was church in Alkmaar. Thankfully, Erik-Jan was able to translate and write notes in English for us. Then went back to their house, which is in an old cabbage farming area. They actually renovated their whole house and the sheds out the back. The sheds were used by the farmers to hold their harvest and to dry out the cabbages. Jeanette now has a craft workshop out there and there's guest rooms as well. In the back, Erik-Jan has a toolshop and storage area. The children have grown...and grown...and grown... The shortest is Laureen at 180cm! There's a photo of us standing together and Andrew & I look short next to the family. The photos will be put on Facebook. On Monday, we had another lovely sunny day. The Kloks took us sight-seeing in the area and we went inside an old working windmill, to a little town with the smallest house (27 m sq), and to a picturesque village called De Rijp. After sitting on the square and having lunch, we went back to the house and Jeanette gave me a quick tour of her craft workshop. We then travelled back into Amsterdam and had a Dutch meal with Nanna called "Hachee" and chocolate custard. Afterwards, we played cards for a couple of hours. It was a great time. |
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We spent time visiting with Andrew's Nanna yesterday but the plan today was to go to Keukenhof, the annual Tulip festival in Holland. This year is the 60th anniversary of Keukenhof and the 600th anniversary of exploration in what is now New York State. So, in a few places, there is a Dutch-New Amsterdam theme. Keukenhof is truly amazing for its variety and scope. The setting amongst tall trees, lush grass and still pools of water is idyllic. There is so much space that the atmosphere is relaxed and restful in the bigger gardens. There's also pavillons that have different emphases. One is filled with such an incredible array of tulips, one focused on orchids, one told the story of the tulip and has historical photos, and one has roses and a themed use of flowers. We spent most of the day there and had such glorious weather. We were thankful for the safe travel and the ability to spend this time admiring God's wonderful creation. I have some 50 photos up on Facebook for those who want to take a look. |
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It was an overcast and gloomy looking day in Amsterdam yesterday but that didn't mean we adopted that attitude! Certain things were ruled out for the day - Nanna was spending the day with her sister - it was probably not a good day to go to Keukenhof (the Tulip Gardens) - in the end, we didn't make it to the Vincent van Gogh museum So, what did we do? Well, the quintessential "Dutch" experience has to include a bicycle ride and that was what we did. With the vdBs, all 8 of us rode from their home in Amstelveen into the central area of Amsterdam. Our whole afternoon was spent in a relaxed style, just taking in the sights and sounds of life here. What we saw were the little things - a decorated window to show that a baby boy had been born to that household; a piano being loaded on a furniture ramp to take it to the fourth floor of an apartment block and through the top window; a bakery that had some yummy treats for lunch, a bike repair shop because Andrew's bike lost its chain twice and it needed to be fixed; cars and bikes sharing the road and actually respecting one another's positions; a place to have coffee (and I mean the regular sort); going past a school whose motto was Potius deficere quam desperare - "it is better to fail than to despair"; a street side market place where anything and everything was on sale, so we bought some lovely cheese and hot fritz (chips or fries). It was such a pleasant way to spend the day, and even though both of us had been to Amsterdam before, so much of it was new and interesting. We ended up riding 16 kms that afternoon and just thoroughly enjoying it. More "touristy" sightseeing is being left for another day... |
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I haven't blogged for a while but as are in Amsterdam for just over a week, I'll post some regular updates here and put some photos on Facebook. We're here to see Andrew's Nanna and to catch up with friends. We'll also go to London at the end and see my sister Mel. Anyway, we left on Tuesday, and had a short stop in Singapore before continuing on to London. We are flying on frequent flyer tickets so we had to transfer through Heathrow. We really should have known that that would have meant delays!! We missed our connection to Amsterdam and had to spend a few hours cooling our heels. After realising that we had no way of contacting our friends, the vdBs, as they were already at the airport in Schipol, we just had to sit and wait. So...after 36 hours of travel, we were happy to finally get there, have a cuppa and a shower and then catch up with friends... |
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