A Zoo Visit Revealed…

Animals expected…

and giraffes, with their pretty faces.

There is no

blue without yellow or without orange.

We have been so lucky that many artworks from the Musee d’Orsay are touring Canberra at the same time as we are.

This week I stood before original works by Van Gogh, Gaugin, Cezanne, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. I stood at the back of the crowd before each painting and determinedly shuffled by way to the front of the pack to have an unobstructed view of each work and found myself moved to tears.

I had thought that seeing Starry Night Over the Rhone would be the highlight of my life, but was surprised to discover that I was more taken by Bedroom in Arles. The colours of the third version are not well represented in any photo that I have seen. The one in my head now is far more vivid and gasp inducing.

When I finally made it to the end of the exhibition I found my children sitting on a bench waiting for me. It was evident that they had been there for some time.

I said to Pip, “I hope you took the time to appreciate what you have just seen.”

His reply? “Oh I appreciated. I just don’t like to amble during appreciation. I appreciate at a pace that you can never achieve.”

As always my Pete likes to buy an artbook as a souvenir. This one has lots of different textures of paper and six beautiful waxy pencils. Too lovely to use for drawing just yet. I just need to appreciate them for a few more days…

Images

from old Paliament House…

the Australian War Memorial…

the Canberra Botanic Gardens…

We are having a wonderful time.

Navigating

Me: Up ahead we’ll need to turn right.

My Pete: Turn right? Up ahead?

Me: Yep.

My Pete: Is it the real right?

Me: Ummm…. noooo? No, it’s left. It’s the real left.

My Pete: So up ahead we’ll need to turn left?

Me: Yep.

We have successfully navigated over 2500km from our home in Townsville to Canberra, our nation’s capital. We have a week of exploring here. Ashy will join us in a few days. It feels like ages since we saw her!

Synchronised Fishing

Not content with the level of difficulty inherent in beach fishing…

Petersen men like to engage in synchronised fishing.

can you pick the left-hander?

Hanging Around

Boxing Day is perfect for just hanging around.

We saw thousands of flying foxes doing just that.

We walked along a rocky shore.

watched a camel train walk by…

and after a busy day of archery and golf we cooled down with a swim…

and a beachside barbeque.

Life is good!

Merry Christmas…

to one and all.

From poolside at the Yeppoon International Resort.

It’s a long way from everywhere…

and a beautiful place to be.

I hope your day was just as beautiful.

The Next Four Weeks

This morning I took Ashy to the airport.

She is flying 3000 kilometres south to spend Christmas and New Year with her gentleman caller and his family.

The rest of us have a long trip planned too.

Next week we will leave on a very long road trip. We are driving south from Townsville over 2000 kilometres to Sydney making lots of stops on the way to explore and investigate. Ashy will join us along the way and spend time in Sydney too.

The time has come for Philip to have a follow up surgery. For two years the metal bar in his chest has been holding his ribs in place, but now it is time for the bar to be removed and his ribs to hold themselves.

This surgery should be less traumatic than the previous one. We feel a whole lot calmer as we approach it. We have the same doctor as we had last time. We will go to the same hospital and stay at the same motel. Everything is a bit more familiar than it was this time two years ago.

I also plan to visit the zoo and see the new baby elephant and hope to get around to some quilting shops while we are in Sydney.

Sydney bloggers I’d love to have a catch up – a lunch or a dinner. Mary took me to yum cha in the city last time. It was wonderful! Is anyone keen?

From Paper to Reality

The quilt design which I had drawn and coloured…

left the paper and came to reality on the weekend.

It needs applique and borders yet, but I’m pretty happy with it so far.

The process of getting from paper to real life is not quite so dramatic as this…

but it would be so cool if it were!

Maturity

Last week Pip finished school for 2009. Next year he moves into the senior years, where everything counts towards his university entrance.

Right back in the middle of the year Pip and I attended parent-teacher interviews. His teachers were all very frank in telling him that his average to good marks were not a reflection of his intellect, but rather of his effort. He is always respectful of others, his behaviour is exemplary, but his dedication to his social development at school far outweighs his dedication to his academic requirements.

My son is a very clever boy and, truthfully, school has never challenged his intellect. He has always been true to himself and has never really felt the need to please others. My Pete and I have always encouraged him to be a free thinker and have never expected him to make choices just to please others. I believe that this is very important in life, but doesn’t always fit with the school system. We don’t pressure our children to achieve. We know they are good, honest, hard-working people and that is more important to us than academic achievements.

Philip wants to go to university and knows what he has to do to get there. While we will offer him encouragement and support, we won’t take responsibility for what needs to be done.

Following the mid-year parent-teacher interviews Pip took some time for reflection, lots of parental counselling was done, reassurances were offered and it was made clear that he needed to make his own decisions about what to do next.

Today his end of year report card arrived. His average to good marks are now good to amazingly good marks. Every teacher has rated his behaviour as an A. (This is what I check first.) In all subjects except one his effort is rated as an A. Teachers have made comment about his maturity, conscientiousness and work ethic.

My very favourite comment comes from his art teacher, “An imaginative student whose work is always original.”

Right now Pip feels so powerful. He set his mind to make a change to his behaviour and it resulted in improved academic results. The life lesson he learnt from this can’t be under-estimated. He is beaming at his own success and the knowledge that he did this. His decisions and his efforts made the difference.

I couldn’t be more proud of him.

* All illustrations by Philip Petersen. Taken from his original pen and ink drawings following the path of a paper aeroplane.