Masterpieces in Canberra
Last weekend I went to Canberra with 3 friends to see the Masterpieces from Paris.

We had breakfast on the way at the Elephant Boy Cafe in Bowral.

After seeing how long the line was outside the art gallery, we decided to drive to the Australian War Memorial for coffee and a look around.

Then back to the art gallery.

We waited in line for 2 hours.

Apparently there are approximately 10 000 people looking through the exhibition every day.

We finally made it...

and it was worth the wait.

I surprised myself by literally tearing up when I saw the paintings by Van Gogh. Posters or pictures just don't do them justice. They were visually stunning, the colours so bright.

The next day, after a fun night of all sorts of shenanigans, we visited the outside of Parliament House (just to say we had been there), and went shopping (because what girl's weekend away is complete without shopping!!), and then began the journey home.

Only to be stuck for 1 & 1/2 hours in a traffic jam just outside Goulburn.

Waitangi Day Celebrations 2010

It has become a regular event to celebrate Waitangi Day with our New Zealand friends.

There was lots of eating and drinking (something New Zealanders & Australians do well!).

Gail & I

There was singing.

And of course the Hakka.



It turned out a bit dark on blogger. You can listen to it instead.

The Finches
I have two new pets.
They are so sweet!

Meet Fred...

and Felicity.

The Past Week

Oliver paddling out in the rock pool at Avoca, board riders just beyond.


Kookaburra outside our accommodation in Avoca.

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A beautiful day at Jamberoo Recreation Park.

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Views around Port Kembla harbour.

Another List
Because I love lists.
Paul mentioned that Rolling Stone had released a list of the top 100 albums of the last decade:

The most important music of the '00s as chosen by more than 100 artists, critics
and industry insiders

Well, I just had to see what they were!


1 Radiohead: Kid A

2 The Strokes: Is This It

3 Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

4 Jay-Z: The Blueprint

5 The White Stripes: Elephant

6 Arcade Fire: Funeral

7 Eminem: The Marshal Mathers LP

8 Bob Dylan: Modern Times

9 M.I.A.: Kala

10 Kanye West: The College Dropout

11 Bob Dylan: Love and Theft

12 LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver

13 U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind tick

14 Jay-Z: The Black Album

15 Bruce Springsteen: The Rising

16 OutKast: Stankonia

17 Beck: Sea Change

18 MGMT: Oracular Spectacular tick

19 Amy Winehouse: Back to Black

20 The White Stripes: White Blood Cells

21 Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head tick

22 Green Day: American Idiot

23 D'Angelo: Voodoo

24 Bruce Springsteen: Magic

25 Radiohead: Amnesiac

26 Cat Power: The Greatest

27 The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

28 Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell

29 Sigur Rós: Ágaetis Byrjun

30 Radiohead: In Rainbows

31 My Morning Jacket: Z

32 Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III

33 Daft Punk: Discovery

34 OutKast: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

35 PJ Harvey: Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea

36 U2: No Line on the Horizon tick

37 50 Cent: Get Rich or Die Tryin'

38 Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker

39 Kings of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbreak

40 Kanye West: Late Registration

41 Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

42 Elliott Smith: Figure 8

43 The Killers: Hot Fuss

44 System of a Down: Toxicity

45 Kanye West: Graduation

46 Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveSounds

47 Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes

48 TV on the Radio: Dear Science

49 Fiona Apple: Extraordionary Machine

50 Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

51 Spoon: Kill the Moonlight

52 M.I.A.: Arular

53 Kings of Leon: Only By the Night

54 Norah Jones: Come Away With Me

55 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand

56 Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend tick

57 Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism tick

58 Danger Mouse: The Grey Album

59 Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights

60 Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

61 The Shins: Oh, Inverted World

62 Johnny Cash: American III: Solitary Man

63 Kanye West: 808s and Heartbreak

64 Gillian Welch: Time the Revelator

65 Manu Chao: Próxima Estación Esperanza

66 Antony & the Johnsons: I Am a Bird Now

67 Björk: Vespertine

68 U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb tick

69 Missy Elliott: Under Construction

70 Sleater-Kinney: The Woods

71 Bright Eyes: Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Eart to the Ground

72 Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand

73 Coldplay: Parachutes tick

74 Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium

75 Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

76 Sigur Rós: ()

77 Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

78 Sufjan Stevens: Illinois tick

79 The New Pornographers: Electric Version

80 Kings of Leon: Youth and Young Manhood

81 Ryan Adams: Gold

82 Queens of the Stone Age: Rated R

83 The Black Keys: Attack & Release

84 Eminem: The Eminem Show

85 Coldplay: Viva La Vida tick

86 The Postal Service: Give Up tick

87 Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere

88 Brian Wilson: Smile

89 Radiohead: Hail to the Thief

90 Amadou & Miriam: Dimanche a Bamako

91 The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious

92 Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago

93 Johnny Cash: Unearthed

94 The Libertines: Up the Brackett

95 Alicia Keys: Songs in A Minor

96 The Streets: Original Pirate Material

97 Wilco: Sky Blue Sky

98 TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain

99 The Hold Steady: Almost Killed Me

100 Leonard Cohen: 10 New Songs


11 albums. That is how many I have on this list.
How many do you have?
I am going to have to think about which albums I would have included.

Back to school, and work

The kids went off happily back to school this week, as did I.

There were no complaints from them after they joined their new classes and adjusted to a routine again.

And no complaints from me.

Three cheers for a new and busy school year.

Pesky Possum... but oh so cute!

Last night, as I went out to tuck all the animals (the pet ones) into their beds, I was confronted by a hissing possum. I think he was hissing at Benni the bunny who lives on the deck.
He has been causing a good deal of noise over the past few months, barrelling down our roof, and sometimes falling onto the deck. I actually think there must be more than one as I don't think one creature could make so much noise.
Last night he was very bold and held his ground. He wasn't moving anywhere for a human brandishing a torch. He even let me move the fairy lights away from his feet - I didn't want the wires damaged by his claws.
And so I did a sweet and kind thing... I gave him a nectarine.
Bad bad bad idea, I know. Now he will never go away.