Jocelyn's blog

Nov. 23, 2009

Australian Science Festival - also in May...

What's unusual about this photo?

Those of you have have been to the ASF will know that this picture is not out of the ordinary... Daleks are common place in this arena. Andrew doesn't usually come with us to the Science Festival because we go during the week. This year, they decided at the last minute to hold it in May, rather than August, so we came on the Saturday to book into some of the things that interested us.

There was still some "fun" things in the main hall. Mark got to dress up at the fire brigade stall:

and NICTA had a great exhibit. The boys tested out their endurance and speed, the results being recorded by use of sensors.

Zac tried to build a sustainable environment on "Catchment Detox", drawing the others into the game.

and the boys got to see how cotton is taken from the plant and processed.

After a short lesson in areodynamics,

and some rocket building,

we went to a seminar on "CSI: Fact or Fiction?", learning about the work of forensic scientists. The boys also went to a session on The Square Kilometre Array.

Unfortunately, Andrew didn't get to the Science of Beer seminar and after a full day at the convention centre, we decided not to go out star gazing that night. They did have some light hearted fun at the end of the day though:

...all in the name of Science!!!

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Nov. 23, 2009

CSIRO Mini Beasts - May

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Back in May, we went to the CSIRO for an excursion, looking at "mini beasts". In this category are some rather large insects and spiders! We asked Oma to come along...

and Mark, being the grown-up boy he is, joined in too. In this photo, he's making the sounds of a cricket. It was a "hands on" affair, and some, like Adam, got taken aback at some of the little creatures:

some things required closer examination....

some puzzles had to be solved...

and some things were just a lot of fun...

so, if you are not "squimish" in any way, and want to see some these creatures in action, a hands on workshop like this one, is a great way to learn more.

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Nov. 18, 2009

Geography Night ~ 20 June

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Back in June, we had another Geography Night with one of the homeschooling groups here. Each family chooses a country, does some research and brings things along on the night. Each country has a designated space and we set up a display to showcase them up the back. We had fun finding things on Belgium and even went to the Embassy to get some brochures and information guides. I think our display was frequented more than the others because of the Belgian chocolate but hey, why not make the experience more enjoyable?

We had a fantastic dinner with traditional cuisine of all the countries available to sample...

I made "Water Zooi" for the main course. Literally, it means "watery mess" and it's a rich Belgian chicken stew. I found a recipe online so if you want to try it, go ahead and look it up. It's REALLY nice. Our dessert contribution was chocolate and of course, Belgian waffles.

After dinner, the children presented a short talk on their chosen country. Unfortunately some went a bit long, but the talks were informative. It was Adam's first time up the front and he did well with his part, despite being nervous. It was good practice anyway.

...and of course, the reason WHY we chose to do Belgium?

We did learn a lot more about Belgium than just comics...

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Sep. 30, 2009

Music at Midday - Irish Style

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Canberra Theatre Centre in association with the Royal Military College host the Music at Midday Concerts six times a year, with proceeds supporting many local charities. This celebration of the Big Band sound has grown from its humble beginnings and now attracts hundreds of Canberra residents at each performance.

The lunchtime concerts, held at 11am and 12.30pm showcase the talents of the RMC Band and presented with Canberra Theatre Centre provides an opportunity to give something back to the community. Entry to the concerts is by gold coin donation, with all proceeds going to a local charity.
(Taken from the Canberra Theatre website)

What do Guinness, Waterford Crystal, Robert Boyle and the Irish Ambassador have to do with Music at Midday? Well, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Guinness, the band decided to hold an Irish style concert and invite the Ambassador along. They talked about all things Irish, and many things that were not, as they joked, laughed and played their way through the concert.

The band played two national anthems, not one and some great pieces: An Irish Rhapsody, St Patrick's Day March, Finnegan's Wake and Riverdance. Joined by a male soloist, some ballads were sung: "What would I be?" "What's in a Kiss?" and "Danny Boy", all adding to the Irish flavour.

Toward the end of the program was a surprising number : "The Irish Blessing". This sort of item should be expected but I'll explain why it touched me. During the concert, the versatility of this group easily became apparent and several musicians changed instruments and positions within the ensemble. When they reached the blessing, they stood as one, instruments down and sang accapella, with some nice harmonies. I wasn't prepared for that and it was just lovely.

We enjoy going to these concerts as the conductor has a great rapport with the audience and the band shows how much they love their music and performing it for us.

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Sep. 25, 2009

Mesmerizing Moods of McCubbin

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Yesterday, I took the boys to see the McCubbin exhibition on the the National Art Gallery.

Though Frederick McCubbin is most well known for his earlier works depicting the Australian Bush (see picture below), this exhibition was more about his later works.

"The Pioneer"

McCubbin went on a trip to Europe and England in the early 1900s, saw many of the Impressionist and Pointillist paintings on display there and came back with a new vision for his painting. His work became less about telling a story, such a in "The Pioneer" and "Down on His Luck" and more about the scene, the landscape, being the focus.

The guide who took us through the tour was just wonderful. She spent time teaching the children how to study a painting - the foreground, middle ground, background, the underpainting that would have been done on canvasses, and tools used to paint and create certain techniques. She also got them to examine colour, especially the use of complementary colours throughout his later work. One painting "Violet and Gold" even has those aspects highlighted in the name.

"Violet and Gold" 1911

Our guide was enthusiastic, focusing on the atmosphere, light, the reflections and moods of each picture. One, showing two men using a double saw to cut down a fallen tree, she described as "mesmerizing". The absorption of the men, the rhythm of the work was instantly evoked in this painting. I loved the fact that our guide didn't talk down to the children but rather explained terms and descriptions as she went along.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the art work. My younger two, with me in this group, found it interesting as well and they want to see McCubbin's earlier work.

We'll have to schedule that in when we next visit Melbourne, which houses the best collection of Australian Impressionists in Federation Sq. For those who can, go to the exhibition, it is a wonderful collection, set out beautifully in the temporary exhibition hall. You have until 1 November but I would suggest NOT leaving it until the last minute!

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Dec. 3, 2008

Camping at Lowden

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Andrew took the older three boys out on a camping trip over the weekend. A few other families from church went out for the weekend as well.

Campsite looks beautiful, doesn't it? The canopy in the forest was dense but in moments like these, when the sun was glinting through the trees, it just seemed idyllic...

Even though the kids had some pleasures, like playing on old engines

and enjoying the marshmallows around a campfire,

A lot of the weekend was spent like this:

...sitting under a shelter while it rained!!!!

There were alternative places to be....

but that still didn't help when most of the time it rained and the best place to be was by the fire!

Hopefully, Andrew will recover enough to go camping with them again. I enjoyed a quiet weekend with Mark.

Andrew is thinking that next time they go camping, it would be fun to go down to the coast, in nicer weather and hit the beach!!!

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Oct. 29, 2008

The Glass Workshop ~ 23 October

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Last year, Stephen went to the Canberra Glassworks for a workshop. This year, both Zac and Stephen were able to join in with other homeschoolers and go to a workshop being run by local artist, Kristie Rea.

Kristie showed them around her gallery space, explaining some of the different porcesses and effects that can be achieved with glass. Here's some examples:

Etching on plain glass

Glass houses

Sculpture inspired by tractors and grates.

Kristie ran a beginner's class, where they made the flat, postcard designs and an intermediate class, where they made a bent design. Here's some examples below:

They could choose a concave or a convex bend, and a shallow or a deeper one. That decided, it was down to the design phase:

Kristie had such a range of colours, thin straight pieces, crushed up ones, thin spaghetti and almost every variety in between. She was also able to cut the pieces down to fit the shapes they required. I think some found all of this choice difficult and then ran out of time to actually utilise all that was available. Most rose to the challenge and I was so impressed with their work.

Here's a photo of the earlier workshop with the smaller designs (far right) and the larger ones to be bent (middle and foreground)

I'll take another photo of the finished product and put it up here next time I'm back on blogging. The boys had a great time and I think I'll sign myself up next time as I loved looking at the glass and seeing what could be done with it.

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Oct. 10, 2008

Music and Movies

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Great combination aren't they - music and movies?

Last week enjoyed both of these things in an unconventional way.

Well, Music at Midday, put on by the Royal Military Concert Band, is somewhat conventional, we just don't happen to attend it often. The concert runs for an hour and entry is by gold coin donation. These are held every couple of months at the Canberra Theatre. In fact, they are so popular that instead of there being one session at midday, there's two - one at 11am and another at 12.30pm.

After attending the 11am session, we then picked Andrew up from work and headed into Floriade for lunch. The theme for this year's tulip display is "Australian Movies". So, take a walk down the red carpet,

...grab some popcorn

.... and join us for a quick walk through.

The first photo is of "Muriel's Wedding"

After going past some fabulous floral displays, like the one below,

we came to my favourite movie design...can you guess?

This one is for "Shine". The piano keys run for a full octave and it was on such an impressive scale (pardon the pun)

Here's a few more movie designs:

"Moulin Rouge"

"Puberty Blues" - can you see the surfboard?

"Kenny"

The design for Gallipoli was hard to capture with the camera. I took a photo of the sign so you can get the idea of how it went. It also shows you how they introduced each movie.

Then below is a photo of one side of the sun.

Of course, Floriade isn't all about the tulips. There's other nice flowers, like these irises

and as it is set on the lake, it is a beautiful, tranquil environment. Just right for some "time out" with the ducks...

"Crocodile Dundee"

"The Rabbit Proof Fence"

Unfortunately, I didn't photograph all of the movie designs. A lot of the pictures were done flat in the flower beds with no elevated walkways. The pictures for "Babe" and "Happy Feet" were hard to make out.

We went twice this year. I would have liked to go another time, but it rained that afternoon. We love Floriade in Canberra, the colours, the warmer weather, the atmosphere. If you are anywhere near us why not join in one year? It's always on from mid September until mid October.

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Sep. 27, 2008

Visiting a Refugee Camp

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Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without borders) have been staging an event called, "A Refugee Camp in Your City" in different cities in Australia. Friends of ours went to the Brisbane event and gave us advance notice of the event in Canberra.

Part of Glebe Park was sectioned off and MSF had turned it into a replica of a Refugee Camp. We were led through each section of the camp on a guided tour. The lady who took us through had recently returned from Afghanistan, where she had been working in a clinic.

She told us so many areas in war-torn countries are covered in landmines. It is a grim reality.

We saw small tents and dwellings no bigger than our bathroom and were told that often families of 10 or more would sleep in that space.

The people in the camp are so resourceful, making toys. shoes and other things from whatever is at hand. Adam looked at the cars made from vegetable oil cans and said, "Those people are smart, Mummy. Look what they can make! I couldn't do that."

One of the items that was highlighted was the making of sandals from the tyres of cars. A friend wrote on her blog that she found it humbling to see this. I couldn't agree more. I certainly feel blessed to have what I do and the vast range of choices that confront me every day.

Interspersed with the tents and items directly used in Refugee Camps were some information posters. The ones below is entitled, "Where will I find food?" and has a picture of a lady, trying to put together a meal in rudimentary circumstances. These photos and the information about the harsh realities of life in other parts of the world brought one girl in our group to tears. Did it mean that the rest weren't affected? I'm sure they were, though she chose to show it in this visible way.

The photo above shows the food ration that would probably be shared between two people for a whole day. Rice, legumes and other staples are provided by the World Food programme, which is under the auspices of the UN.

We spent a while talking about water. As the picture above shows, most water is collected by women and children in developing parts of the world. In the camps, every person is given a daily ration of 20 litres a day. It looks like quite a bit of water but then we were informed that the average Australian household goes through 282 litres per day per person and we were a bit shocked!!

A few of the children tried to pick up the 20 litre container and carry it. There's a catalogue in the side bar.

Another part of the work is looking after the health of the refugees. If is all too common for people to arrive in the camps in a malnourished state. Babies are weighed (as you can see from the picture) and a measuring band is used on the upper arm to quickly ascertain whether a child is at risk. A few of our group tried the band and yes, they were all in the green zone.

So we came away with a deeper sense of just how much suffering there is in our world, the lives lived in stress and fractured environments, how blessed we are in our relative comfort and how we need to pray and support those who are reaching out to the needy.

We were given some information to take away with us. We'll keep talking about this and going through some of the material in the weeks to come.

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Sep. 15, 2008

Snow Day 11th September ~ hold this space!

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Yes, this is not the snow but the lovely roaring fire we had going at home on the day Andrew took the older three boys to the snow. I stayed at home with Mark, even though I didn't have my knitting partner this year (sob).

I'm still waiting on photos from our neighbour who went along as well. Will post about the day when the piccies come through...

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