Abi is 8

Naturally, this girl's 8th birthday had to have a horse theme!

The beautiful Schleich range of figurines and horsey accessories were high on the gift request lists this year. Abi is amassing quite a collection!

 I watched her decorating her birthday cake in readiness for our family birthday breakfast this morning ......... Did you know horses like carrots?

 Ta.....da !!

 Basically, it's a horse party of a cake!!

 I can't get over the assured, confident way Abi handles everything these days. We all think that the horse riding has made a big contribution to her developing maturity and self confidence.

 It was all hands on deck getting a full breakfast menu ready.

 under Joshy's watchful eye ...

 There were four active teenagers at our breakfast. Ella did well backing up to this trio of keen (and older) basketballers.

 ... and at backyard soccer ..... Josh and Jody's house and garden is so well set up for these lovely gatherings!

 Four active teenagers filling their plates - quite a daunting sight!

 Then time for that cake .....

 And some quiet time after ......

 Happy birthday beautiful Abi!

Jane's visit

We still had a lot of smoke in the skies around Canberra from the Orroral Valley fire when my friend Jane arrived here in early February. I think she was a bit bemused by the way we checked the Air Quality Index (AQI) readings before making plans for each day during her visit - but this Summer it's had to become a daily (sometimes hourly) ritual for us!

Jane and I have been friends for many years, and despite the fact we live a long way away from each other these days, we always pick up just where we left off whenever we do see each other. We share a passion for art and lots of shared memories of happy years together teaching the teenagers of Belconnen the joys of expressing themselves through the Visual Arts.

The current Matisse/Picasso exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia was a powerful drawcard for Jane's visit at this time.

 Because of all the smoke and the reports of Canberra's Summer from Hell, the gallery was practically empty for our visit - an amazingly relaxed way to see this exhibition of stunning major works by both artists drawn from over 40 important international collections. None of us had realised before this how much these two artists had responded to each other's work over the decades. It was a stunning exhibition.

And while we were here it was fun to show Jane our favourite Yayoi Kusama installation at the NGA - The Infinity Room ............

(and the nearby National Portrait Gallery too while we were at it!)

 Despite the lingering smoke (at unhealthy levels - but not hazardous) we were still able to do our fave lake walks and our Sonoma coffee walk as well as a celebratory dinner for Jane's big birthday at the Ottoman Restaurant at Barton.

In between times, in the three days Jane was here, we talked and talked (we had a lot to catch up on), enjoyed some vego cooking at home and experimented with taking selfies while we interrupted Rob trying to finish his Christmas jigsaw puzzle. Jane ended up making good progress on this project before she had to leave.

 Success! (sort of) ..........

Jane's visit went too quickly, but we have plans to meet up again (Melbourne might be a possibility?) before the year is over.