Apropos a certain birthday I'm about to have, I've been thinking about all the great things about being the age I am......

* I know what I want to be when I grow up
* I have two beautiful children
* My two beautiful children have become my friends
* I've travelled a lot, and I'm going to travel some more
* I love my little hobbit house
* I'm fit and healthy
* I value my partner and friends
* I'm discovering the creativity within me
* I can give to others: volunteering, mentoring, guiding, donating

This is the "generativity" that Erikson talks about in his "stages" and of course, Maslow in his "Hierarchy of Needs"...check it out here.

Happy birthday, Scorpios!

Bondi Dreaming

This post is inspired to induce homesickness is Paull and anticipation in Chase. These two lovely guys are leaving a cold NYC Xmas and coming down under in mid December, and I imagine surfing at Bondi and sinking a few cold beers at Coogee Bay Hotel will be on their agenda. I went to "Sculpture by the Sea" on Sunday - on a beautiful long daylight-saving evening. After doing the cliff walk and marvelling at the sculpture on show, including a huge clear sphere floating out at sea, we took fish 'n' chips to the beach for dinner. Why no pictures? My camera battery waited till my first shot before telling me it was flat. The good news - I'll have to go again this weekend!

Coffee and Cannoli Lifesaver

Week One - these two words strike terror into a teacher's heart. They mean we have just given up sleep-ins, lunches, brunches, movies, hammocks et al and we are right back into it. Unfortunately, the kids feel the same way, which can make for a collision course! So by Wednesday I was in desperate need of a treat. One of my colleagues had the brilliant idea of going out for coffee after school on Wednesday, so we sat back, relaxed, de-stressed and pigged out on cappucino and cannoli.

One of life's essentials - coffee, cannoli and company.

Some good reading...

I always enjoy visiting my favourite bookshop at Newtown, Better Read than Dead, before each school holiday, to buy a "holiday reading" book. I was pleased to find the sequel to Salvation Creek by Susan Duncan - The House at Salvation Creek. A former magazine editor, she writes beautifully about her fascinating, sometimes sad, often joyful life. Her descriptions of her beautiful water-access only community paint vivid pictures in my mind.

My holidays have finished before I have finished the book, but I've recharged my batteries and done enough planning to make the term a downhill run to Christmas. I'm going to implement the "1 - 2 - 3 - Magic" program - I'll let you know how that goes!

Footy Final Fever

(Warning - this post may cause homesickness in expats and utter incomprehension in non-Aussies)
I'm usually content to watch the Grand Final at home, but at the last minute we decided to go along. It was a great day, a historic day actually, and while I do not support the winning team,(I go for the red & white team who were only there for the half-time fun) they deserved their victory. It is much more exciting being at the ground, and the entertainment was fun; I loved the Navy helicopter circling the ground and landing in the centre to deliver the trophy (in fact, I was much more excited than the seven year old sitting next to me!) The crowd were friendly, there were no queues for anything, even for the trains at the end of the day. All over now till next year......

Ten things you can do on holidays at home.....

You can't have the holiday of a lifetime every school holidays, but you can still have a good time.........
1) go out for a big breakfast at the deli cafe
2) take prawns, crusty bread and white wine to the park by the river
3) see "Caramel" at Leichhardt preceded by gelato and followed by pasta
4) play around with printing photos on post-its, stickers and magnet paper
5) make a "Snapfish" book from your last holiday
6) sleep in
7) take afternoon naps
8) stay up late because you slept in and took an afternoon nap
9) fix up the house, wait for tradespeople
10) ...and finally, do some work to prepare for next term

Holidays at home are great, but I'm saving up for my next overseas jaunt as well...