More birthdays

Yes there's more August birthdays - this week it was Angus's - such a sweet sixteen year old boy ....

Yes he is!! 

Although he can easily pose it tough for the camera, this is the real (sweet) Angus we think .....

Happy birthday darling boy - we are so lucky you will put up with blowing out your candles and getting your photo taken by me - when they're not really your favourite things to do (not at all!). But you are definitely our favourite 16 year old - by a long shot!

Other highlights this week have been - our morning walk on Wednesday after a -4oC overnight minimum (following a freezing day on Tuesday with rain, wind and dumps of snow on the nearby mountains and outlying suburbs) ......

... and our usual Wednesday late afternoon date with Abi at Forest Park Riding School. This is Abi and Amira heading out on their trail ride (happy times!).

At the end of lessons the girls have to untack their ponies, brush them down and rug them. This week Abi and Amal got to rug Belle the Clydesdale Thoroughbred cross horse - which was a big responsibility and an awfully exciting thing to do - because Belle is a big horse and a bit tricky to rug - but utterly adorable all at the same time ....

But Abi is very assertive with all the ponies/horses under her care - no matter their size!

We enjoy the after lesson time too - and have got to know these beautiful animals better ourselves. We always imagine they're being friendly to us (but I think they're just looking for the treats they expect all humans to have hidden in their pockets).

And so today it was Jody's birthday!! - and another special celebration for us with a night out at Iori, a fave Japanese restaurant of ours - which was actually Canberra's first high end Japanese restaurant all those years ago - and still going strong!

There were even mocktails to start ...... 

We all felt so lucky to be able to sit with this wise and wonderful young woman over dinner tonight, and reflect on how lucky we were to be in a buzzy restaurant together, eating beautiful food, drinking a great Chardonnay and blowing out candles on a "cake" (matcha and black sesame ice cream!) while thinking about the circumstances this time last year when we were in full on lockdown and none of us were able to share any kind of celebration, let alone our dear family member's birthdays. 

But this year its different; so happy birthday darling Jody, and here's to many more celebrations like this one in the future!

Ollie is 18

It's official, this incredibly smart, talented and sweet young man has achieved the milestone age of eighteen. Happy Birthday dear Ollie - and welcome to adulthood, with all its new freedoms and responsibilities!

Claire organised a wonderful birthday celebration last night for Ollie and the fam, and all Ollie's fave male friends - at Walsh's Hotel in Queanbo - all according to Ollie's wishes. It was such a happy night!

A highlight of the night was the speech delivered by Ollie's best friend Tom - a very special tribute to all Ollie's (much loved) ideosynchrosities, and his ability to mount a good (and dogged) argument and, above all, his kindness and strength as a friend. It was a wonderful speech - and so Ollie!

These young men are all so sweet. Things wrapped up relatively early and they all went home sober and safe (and well fed) - not always an 18th birthday celebration outcome these days!

I didn't get photos of everyone last night - but these two of Claire and Jody, and Joshy and Ella, are gems!

The two pics below are from Ella and Abi's recent "pupil free day". We took them to their choice of "shopping till you're dropping" places (horseriding stuff for Abi and Op Shopping for Ella) and lunch after at Verity Lane Market in Civic - a very good day was had by all of us!

And lastly, I think Spring is coming - although you can't tell that yet by how wet and cold it is every day we wake up! These were a gift from our neighbour - aah Spring!

 

Ella is a Champ!

We saw Ella compete in the annual ACT Gymnastics Comp at the weekend - the first time we've seen her perform in a comp in nearly three years (thank you Covid!).

Despite all the disruptions Ella has sustained her passion for Gymnastics throughout the pandemic/lockdown years, working hard and overcoming every challenge that presented itself. She combined hours and hours of training each week with a significant coaching commitment too - working with younger age kids. 

Ella competed at Level 9 at this comp. Her first event was the individual floor routine - which she nailed! Gaining a #1 Rank and a high score of 12.266. This picture does not in any way convey the dynamism (danger) and energy of her amazing routine.

Next event was the vault - which is always a strong event for Ella - and, another #1 Rank and a high score.

Then it was the bars .....

Another beautiful routine - this time #2 Rank and another high score ....

Last event was the beam - very scary to watch but Ella's routine was very measured and controlled - this time #3 Rank and a very good score.

Ella ended up with two gold medals, one silver and a bronze but the outright gold medal winner of the Level 9 competition overall - the best in the ACT!

Her South Canberra Gym club team are very close, very supportive of each other, and they seem to have a lot of fun together in amongst the intense discipline required by this sport.

And their two coaches are so supportive and encouraging .......

.. and full of fun .....

We are so proud of this medal winning girl - not because of the medals, but because of all the hard work and the courage she has shown in overcoming all the challenges that achieving at this level involves. Go Ella girl!

Abi found Gym Comp interesting at times - especially when Ella was competing (and winning!). She had a great horsey game that kept her diverted at other times.

Doing Winter

And this man is back! Four weeks after his first Covid symptoms appeared Rob made it up our local Mt Pleasant on the weekend - a bit out of breath but not too bad considering it was a mountain after all. Maybe he's not ready for Mt Ainslie yet - but its coming!

We're in the depths of winter here in Canberra - and a cold wet winter at that. We've had lots of days that start out looking like this from our front windows ....

We walked up to our fave Sonoma Bakery on a recent -40C morning, where we sat outside (very Covid safe) and enjoyed a coffee and a morning bun, a regular treat for us, but even more appreciated this freezing morning!

Another cold wet day we walked into Civic, just in time for the street food outlets at Verity Lane Markets to open. We couldn't believe it's taken us this long to discover Ramen Daddy - perfect winter grey day food...
 

But Canberra does a beautiful winter day, like no other city does (IMHO). Those clear blue skies go on forever and the light has such clarity (and warmth!). Our regular lake walks are just a delight on days like this.....

We had a brief but welcome visit from our friends David and Ro from Cairns last week. I took this pic of Ro walking into our Parliament House on Wednesday. She had a meeting with our new Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek to talk about the last State of the Environment Report that Ro had had a hand in writing. David and Ro were here straight from the Tropics - but Canberra did us proud for the two days they were here. It was winter perfection.

We enjoyed hearing a full report of Ro's meeting with the Minister - a decade has been wasted but maybe as a country we are going to start on a better track from now on!