3 days to go

Normalcy is just three days away here at HoltPress, that's how long until the wife and mother of the family touches down after her jaunt to Adelaide. Things continue apace in her absence.
I've decided to go to Perth tomorrow and then pick Carolyn up from the airport on Thursday arvo. She could catch the bus happily enough but there are 3-4 things I can get done in the city and I'm timing it so that I can go to a mate's farewell at Kelmscott. Collo is leaving chaplaincy after about 15 years and I'd like to be there to mark the occasion. Hopefully I'll manage a Breakfast Club meeting while I'm up there, and do Country Week prep on Thursday before Carolyn arrives.

Tonight was spent ringing people, makeing arrangements and rearrangements regarding the kids. Favourite Daughter can look after herself, as can Jordy mostly but he has to go to Augusta on Thursday night for rehearsals, the big musical is on in a week and a half. He'll stay the night in Margaret River and come up to school on the bus Friday morning.
Sport Boy is staying with friends tomorrow night and we'll probably pick him up on Thursday night when we get home. I think I've covered everything, at home and at work to free me up enough to be able to go.

Just gotta hope someone remembers to feed the rabbit! Having protected it this long it would be a shame to drop the ball in the last couple of days!

I was interviewed on ABC radio this morning, talking about chaplaincy in schools and issues facing kids. It went pretty well until the end when I said "thanks Gillian" to the host whose name is Janine! When I realised I rang back to apologise. The producer said not to worry about it, someone else had called ger Geraldine earlier in the show!
Not sure how to do it but if I can work it out I'll post the audio of the interview, which I recorded!

Tonight I went to see "The Last King of Scotland", a heavy and disturbing film about Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin. Not for the feint-hearted!

Stamps!!

Happy Birthday to The Heir. Your "present" cost me $120 today, in postage!!!!
The toy had better be worth it!!

4

I do not feel the need to justify myself or defend my actions but seeing as my reputation is being questioned and the commentedians are harrassing me, here is genuine proof that the rabbit, one Starsky, is ALIVE and WELL, and that Sport Boy is suffering NO ill effects from the extended separation from his mother who is now just 4 days away from coming home.

5

It's been a very good day.
Not only did I manage to get up in time to go to church this morning, I actually got all three of the kids there too!

After church we cruised a garage sale where I bought 4 trays of tools and odds and ends, with a view to using them in some artworks, for a bargain $20, including a big bench vice, something I've wanted for a long time and never gotten around to buying.

Then we went into town and had lunch at The Vasse Cafe, sharing gourmet pizza and wedges, followed by fancy ice cream at home for dessert. All day there were lots of laughs, the kids telling jokes, mucking around and playing together. I asked them if they were missing Mum and if so why. Favourite Daughter said she missed having her to talk to. Jordan missed the home baked cookies and treats after school and Sport Boy said he just missed having her home. He was a little sad.

After lunch Jordy went to see the new Spiderman movie and Sport Boy and I went round to Dave's to watch the footy. I tried to get him to talk me out of it seeing as every time I go round to watch either Geelong or Spurs they lose! Thankfully he lacked the necessary powers of persuasion because the Cats had a day out, in fact they kicked the 8th highest score in VFL/AFL history to beat Richmond by 153 points! Of course, the shellacking needs to be looked at in perspective, Richmond were 0-5 for the season already. The real test comes next week when Geelong play West Coast who are unbeaten and sitting on top of the ladder after 6 rounds.
During the breaks Sport Boy and I played with Dave's wonderful race car track!

As I said, a very good day.

Am I Cool or What?

Sport Boy was transformed into Disco Boy for last night's party and didn't he love it!!

You looking at me?

A casualty of today's Half Ironman Triathlon at Busselton. I was on duty as a volunteer for a few hours this afternoon. I was a "catcher", waiting at the finish line to assist and support the triathletes as they finished, removing theior timing bands from their wet and sweaty ankles, trying not to pull any hair off with it for those who hadn't shaved down for the event. Pitiful as it sounds, I was sore and tired at the end from the continual kneeling! These people had just swum, ridden and run for the last 6 hours and I was struggling with a few knee bends!! As I said, pitiful!!

I chatted to this competitor after the race and asked him how much his bike cost? "Oh, it's only a cheap one for this sort of thing, about $5500." Right!!! He told me that the top guys are paying over $3000 just for the carbon wheels on their bikes!!!!!

Sport Boy was best on ground in this morning's soccer game at Dunsborough, he threw himself into everything, running, chasing, tackling and doing everything he could in the quest for victory. We went from 1-0 up to 2-1 down by half time. He got tackled and tripped and fouled repeatedly throughout the game and had to go off hurt a couple of times. When he came back on with 7 minutes left he won a very tough contested ball in midfield, beat a couple of players and sent a brilliant pass through to Ben C who beat a player and shot from distance to score the equaliser ; one of the best goals the team has ever scored.
It was a nail-biting finish with Cornerstone doing most of the attacking and Dunsborough defending desperately. Then, with 14 seconds left on the clock, one of our kids gave the ball away outside the penalty area and a Dunsb. kid pounced to score the winning goal! It was pretty disappointing after the fightback and I was kicking myself for not having taught them what to do in such a situation, to just clear the ball into touch and regroup in defense! Next time.
It was a great game none-the-less. Sport Boy came off a little worse for wear, with a sore knee, and a few scratches in a very private area as a result of a clumsy challenge from one of the opposition! He was a bit distressed when he undressed for a bath and discovered the injury. It wasn't serious but it's never pleasant being injured anywhere in the groin region.
He spent the afternoon playing at Jack's while I was at the Ironman which no doubt contributed to his tiredness, the results of which are clear to see.
Ah! The junk mail! There's a massive 17 pamphlets to fold ready for delivery this week. That's because I'm combining the weekend and midweek deliveries in order to save a bit of time! Well that's the theory!

I had a call with Carolyn tonight who is having a lovely relaxing time with Ray.

NB. The rabbit, despite my best efforts at neglect, is still alive!

7

In 6 hours and 20 minutes Sport Boy's soccer game kicks off at Dunsborough. Between now and then I need to sleep, get up, shower, eat and drive him and Jack to Dunsborough, then select and coach the team.

The fun doesn't end there, I'm spending the afternoon as a volunteer for the Half Ironman Triathlon. They've been desperately short of volunteers this week so I put my hand up again.

I had a pretty good shift in the taxi tonight, driving the maxi which is always interesting!
Sport Boy went to Emily's Disco Birthday party resplendant in wig, sunglasses and fake gold chain, he had quite a bounce in his step as he walked around the house until it was time to go. Pictures to follow.

The rabbit was feasting on fresh lettuce and carrot when I left, and neither it nor the children were showing any signs of under-nourishment or mis-treatment, not the ones that I could find anyway.

Unsolicited testimonial:
Haven't heard from Carolyn in a couple of days, presume all is going well on the other side of the country. Let's face it, why wouldn't it be!!

8

The rabbit is fine.
It could do with dropping a few pounds.
No need to send the maori round to check on it, none at all, shouldn't waste his time.
Next thing the welfare will be snooping around asking questions about the kids.
They're all fine I tell you.

A few highlights of the day and this evening's program:

1.00 Meet with 160 kids to give latest update on Country Week.

1.30 Count $600 of raffle money. Consult registrar about discrepancies on monthly statements of my school accounts, items on wrong accounts etc. couple of victories if approved.

2.30 Consult Principal then write urgent memo to Heads of Departments seeking support for incursion in two weeks time, hope I'm not too late and that it gets the thumbs up.

3.00 Pick Jordan up from work experience. He insists he needs a shower. (I agree.)
Drop him at Cornerstone to take bus to Margaret River.

Too late, he missed it! The price of cleanliness!
Good news, there's a second bus which agrees to take him.

3.30 Back to the office to get my stuff and reply to a few emails.

3.45 Coach Sport Boy's soccer team at training. Worked on our game plan for goal kicks and corner kicks. Discover that Ben can hit a mean corner, shame he normally plays goalkeeper.
Georgia devises 15 different ways to avoid training. Have almost convinced her I deserve an invitation to her upcoming birthday party. At the very least I'm expecting a bag of lollies out of the deal. Sport Boy practises his falling over. Send kids home, Sport Boy rides bike home.

4.45 Realise I haven't planned anything for dinner! To the supermarket to buy food, steak, sausages, lamb chops, veges, tomato sauce.

5.30 Start cooking, peel spuds, carrots, onions. Cut open packet of frozen peas and corn. As suspected, BBQ gas bottle is empty, cook inside in two fry pans. Sport Boy watches replay of AC Milan knocking Manchester United out of the Champions League.

6.10 Get ready for volleyball, still can't find second knee pad.

6.15 Delegate finishing dinner to favourite daughter while I print umpiring roster for VB.

6.30 First game of volleyball, V Bears, the high school boys who choke on set point in the first, we go on to win 3-0. My serve gets progressively worse as the night goes on until I'm forced to revert to underarm serves just to get it in!

7.30 Second game of volleyball in a double header, V Woobla, our old nemesis. They beat us 2-0 the third was drawn 26-26.

8.30 Umpire B Grade game, struggle to concentrate.

9.30 Head off to Margaret River to pick up Jordy from rehearsals. Decide to get a Vanilla Diet Coke before setting off. Head for the 24 Hour. Succumb to temptation and buy piece of chicken schnitzel too. Not bad, way better than the last one I had. Intermittent rain enroute.

10.15 Pick up actor son from fellow cast member's place where he has been fed and made welcome.
Head back to Busselton, listening to The Challenge on Tony Delroy's Nightlife on ABC.

Question: What order of priests was founded by Ignatius DeLoyola in 1572?
Me: The Jesuits
Who defeated Ken Norton to win the World Heavyweight boxing title after Muhammad Ali retired in 1979?
Me. Not certain but think it was Larry Holmes.

Got most of them right but didn't know that The St Leger is run at Doncaster race track. I do now.

Jordan asks how come I know so much, "It's just insane how much you know"!! Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment.

10.55 Arrive home. We both sit in the car in the carport to hear the final question.

Favourite daughter has friends, Claire and Jeremy round, watching TV and playing guitar.
I watch The Amazing Race while they head for the kitchen to make fairy glitter cup cakes.

1.00 Remember that Phil rang while I was driving home, Jordan answered. Told him I'd ring back when I got home!! Have to ring him in the morning. He's just back from Afghanistan, will be good to hear how it went.

Tomorrow is not so busy, just a birthday party for Sport Boy and driving the taxi. He wants to wear my curly black Matthew Scarlett wig and glasses cause there's a disco theme. Hope I can find it at the office.

9

Disclaimer: There is no connection between the following events and the absence of a certain wife and mother.

While I was at Jordy's rehearsal last night Sport Boy rang to say he had a tummy ache. I suggested the usual remedies, go to the toilet, have a drink of Sal Vital, put the heat pack on it in bed, offer some support and care. Seemed to do the trick, he was sound asleep when I got home.

Fast forward to this morning. Sport Boy came into my bedroom saying he was exhausted and not feeling well. Parent decoder ring correctly deciphers this message as "I don't want to go to school".
I know just how you feel.
Just snuggle up in bed for a while and see how you feel a bit later.

An hour later.

"Dad, I think I'm OK."
"Do you want me to drive you?"
"No, I can ride my bike."
"Here's some money for lunch."

Fast forward to 2.00pm

Ring ring.
"Mr Holt, Sport Boy is sick, can you come and get him?"
"I'm on my way."

Collect sick and miserable child from school.
Administer food, cuddles, make suitably sympathetic noises.

"Dad, have you heard from Mum?"
"Do you miss her?"
Nods with sad look on his face.

A few hours later, after doses of food, television and big sister, Sport Boy is back to chirpy self, watching the Champions League soccer I recorded this morning. Right up until the last 2 minutes of extra time that is! When the recording stopped! Before the penalty shoot-out to decide the game! Oh well, The Heir had already posted a spoiler in my comments so I knew the result, just hadn't anticipated extra time and penalties.

Jordan came home from work experience with a "migraine". Not sure what the difference between that and a headache is, especially in Jordy's case. Sometimes he's a real mess, vomiting and the works. Today, an hour after taking some paracetamol he was fine. Good.
"Can you go and finish delivering the last of the junk mail then?"

I cleaned the gutters until it was time to take Sophie to work. She drove. She's getting better.

Came home, cooked dinner, spaghetti.
Surprised to learn that Sport Boy and his sister had already fed the rabbit unprompted!
For the sake of the comedians currently frequenting the comment gallery, the leftovers referred to last night were lettuce and carrot that the rabbit had left over, not "leftovers" from dinner! I would never waste good shepherds pie on the rabbit!!

Sophie also gave Jordy some coaching on the correct use of the washing machine. He needs his uniform for Red Rooster washed each day.
Cooperation and goodwill all round.
Nice.

Going to bed before midnight. Need sleep.

The Value of Risk Management Planning

With 1000 kids running around all day competing and watching all sorts of sports it would be hard to avoid anyone getting hurt but watching the high jump probably rated fairly low on the risk scale.
Not for Sean. That's him sitting next to the bag, framed by the high jump.
Kelly leapt unsuccessfully, knocking the bar off and sending it sideways, straight into Sean's thigh!
Check out the bruise starting to form!
Next year I suspect Sean won't sit so close!

Exhibit B

Teenagers in groups lapping up the camera!

Exhibit A

Teenagers avoiding the camera.

10

Made first emergency call to Dominos tonight. Otherwise, all is well.

I could have cooked dinner... if I hadn't spent an hour delivering junk mail when I got home then had to drop Sophie off at work, pick up the pizza and Lauren the baby-sitter to look after Sport Boy before heading off to Margaret River to take Jordy to rehearsals.
In the end 131888 seemed like the wisest choice, certainly the most convenient.

At Margaret River I sat painting while the kids and cast rehearsed. They're doing a good job but you'd never know it from the way the director and his assistant treat the kids! They yell at them all the time, mostly to "Shut Up!!". Admittedly the kids do talk a lot and make more noise than they should, but that is no excuse for the way they talk to them and treat them. One of the other, senior, cast members actually threatened one of the kids tonight. I'm not sure of the circumstances but it wasn't appropriate and I ended up confronting them and challenging them on their behaviour and attitude. They couldn't put the play on without the kids, who are giving their time and heaps of effort into rehearsing, but they never affirm them or congratulate them or tell them they're doing a good job, it's just constant pressure and criticism. As I said to them tonight, I'm amazed the kids haven't quit. Of course, there are two sides to the story and I talked to Jordy about it on the way home, trying to emphasise to him the importance of staying quiet and listening when they are being given directions. The level of frustration amongst the kids is growing, but the same can be said for the adults who are keen for it to be a success and are probably worried that the kids are going to let them down.
I imagine my intervention tonight will have stirred things up a bit, hopefully both sides will appreciate what the other is doing and find ways to cooperate and work together. It's only a couple of weeks until they perform so the pressure is on.

The rabbit still had left-overs in it's cage tonight so I'm not feeding it any more food until it finishes what it's already got.

Sports Carnival

It was sports carnival today and although the rain and grey clouds threatened to interrupt the event, the weather held and the sports day went ahead. My only designated task was to take photos, a nice easy job.
There is a phenomenon amongst teenagers that I have observed over and over again.
Apart from the small percentage of kids who always enjoy having their picture taken, whether that be a mark of self-confidence or ego I don't know, the vast majority of kids will shy away, refuse, put up their hands or protest about having their picture taken.... on their own. A lot of coaxing sometimes causes them to relent and cooperate, but in the main they resist.
BUT, take that same kid and put them in a group, or a pair, and they'll smile and look at the camera and generally ham it up. In fact they'll often start to congregate as the camera approaches, putting their arms around one another, drawing their heads and faces close together, striking poses and playing up to the camera. There is some sort of disinhibitising effect when they are with someone else or a group of someone elses.
I'm not aware of any research on the subject but my best pop psychology theory is that they feel lees exposed and more secure when they're with someone else, the old safety in numbers attitude. The transformation is truly amazing, from reticent and shy, heads down and eyes averted, to confident, smiling, happy beautiful young people! I have 100s of photos, taken over many years that back up my theory.

Interesting footnote, several kids whose pictures I took today, upon seeing the excellent results, asked if they could have a copy for their MySpace sites.

11

1 down, 11 to go and all is well in this motherless/wifeless household.

Carolyn left us a casserole she'd cooked so dinner was easy which was just as well cause there was a MOUNTAIN of junk mail to fold tonight! I did it while watching the expose of the dirty dealings of Brian Burke and co. and their influence on the Busselton council on 4 Corners. I finished the folding by the time Footy Classified came on, then spent an hour or more working on a painting.
Today was a mild start, tomorrow will be busier.

The Heir rang tonight for a chat and worked his way through the family, except for Sport Boy who was already in bed. He's bought a Mac laptop which is apparently going to be delivered here some time soon. A new toy to play with! Alright! He and Sophie discussed travel plans, she's going great guns with her saving.

For those who are interested, I remembered to feed the rabbit tonight!

Perth and Back

It's been a big day. After the late finish courtesy of the cab and the cricket I slept in as late as I could, then made the mistake of listening to the football. Geelong lost again. They're not going to make the finals. Mark Thompson will be sacked. The season is headed for more disappointment. Woe is me! Why was I born a Geelong fan?

Carolyn packed her clothes and I packed the kids in the car and we set off for Perth, in intermittent heavy rain. I don't know if the drought has broken but there has been plenty of rain in the last couple of days and it's extremely welcome, even if it makes driving a little more hazardous.

No time to stop for food so Sport Boy wasn't happy but I did grab some fries when I stopped for a toilet break at the start of the freeway. First stop in the city was "Off My Tree" a shop selling dubious items, so that Jordan could buy a very expensive belt! The cost of fashion!
Next stop, the Art Gallery to see the Young Perspectives Exhibition, featuring work from year 12 students from WA High Schools. It was FANTASTIC! So much brilliant artwork. Even Jordan found a few things he liked. I particularly liked a couple of big bold brightly coloured portraits, and a brilliant rendition of the London Tube map describing the life of a student at Melville SHS. Hard to describe, better to have a look yourself. Click here then open the interactive site to scan through all the pieces in the exhibition.

Much to Sport Boy's relief we then went over to Vic Park to get some dinner, a Jesters pie for him and Noodle Box for the rest of us. Seeing as we were in the neighbourhood we dropped in on the Brauns. Andy is away in Tassie but Rose and two of the girls were home so we had a quick visit and ate dinner there before heading over to Cam and Louise's place in Belmont to drop Carolyn off. Cam's Mum Anne was there too, first time we've seen here since we went and visited her at Albany nearly two years ago so it was lovely to catch up with all the Teros.

Goodbyes said, the boys and I headed for home. Sport Boy slept most of the way while Jordy and I talked about jobs and careers and youthwork and uni and music and lots of stuff. It was a good trip and he seemed to enjoy the opportunity to chat. There were plenty of laughs and stories on both legs of the journey, particularly when he regaled us with impersonations of Dr Tran clips from You Tube. Typically dumb adolescent humour, made much funnier by his accents and enthusiasm.
As we were driving to Belmont I asked him to get the street directory from under my seat and with much groaning and huffing and effort he finally managed to retrieve it, and said "I farted three times trying to get this."
A classic example of "Too much information!"

Carolyn leaves for Adelaide in the morning.
She'll be away until the 10th.
Will we survive?

Saturday

It's been a busy day, starting with Sport Boy's soccer game this morning, a 15-0 victory in an obviously one-sided game. Although the other team were'nt very good, our kids did play exceptionally well, stringing together many passing movements and finishing well. Sport Boy scored 5 goals and was pretty happy afterwards! There'll be much tougher games to come!

I was on roster at the gallery this arvo which was extremely quiet, no sales all day, but I did get to work on a couple of paintings while I listened to the footy.

Tonight I drove the taxi, in fact I've just finished my shift. It was fairly quiet but a hail fare on the highway turned into a jackpot when the three young men asked me to take them to Bunbury! The total fare came to $106! Sadly their intentions in Bunbury were not very honourable!

I was pretty tired and a bit concerned about staying awake on the long trip (50km each way) so I stopped for my second Vanilla Diet Coke of the night and listened to the cricket with the windows down. Adam Gilchrist was superb, hitting 149 runs to help set up what should be a match-winning score in the World Cup Final.

Quiz Night

Sorry this picture is so dark, the Blogger-Google-Picasa love triangle seems a bit dysfunctional tonight and this looks like the best I'm going to get!
You'll have to trust me when I say that the picture shows a room full of smiling happy faces at tonight's quiz night at the Esplanade. According to the members of the BPW (Business & Professional Women's Association) for whom I was running the night, it was "brilliant". Modesty prevents me from confirming this affirmation personally but who am I to question their judgement? The night did seem to go very well and to plan and I enjoyed myself in the process, all good signs.

Certainly the quiz night went better than events earlier in the day when I continued to have computer frustrations based on my prolonged enforced disconnection from the network due to software changeovers that have taken nearly 5 weeks to resolve! I had to work on another terminal in the front office to get the Country Week Pricing Sheet finalised and was so tied up getting that done that I COMPLETELY FORGOT my doctor's appointment!!! Considering there is usually about a two week waiting time to see this Dr I was pretty frustrated!

Things brightened when I "vented" (gently) my frustration to Rae the Principal and she referred me to the "Sweeper" (IT Guru down from Perth to help with the installation and associated problems) who proceeded to correct the problems I was having and successfully reconnected me to the network, got my email up and running and in the process made my day.
There were only 270 emails in the backlog awaiting my attention!

No time to deal with anything except the urgent stuff before I set off for Dunsborough for my rearranged Dr's appointment with an alternative Dr. As expected he confirmed the results of my blood tests as showing I have low testosterone levels and gave me a prescription to commence replacement therapy, and a second for anti-inflammatories, plus a referral to a counselor who comes highly recommended. I celebrated the end of the school week by buying a packet of chocolate and raspberry Tim-Tams and reading art magazines in the newsagency.

Quiz Night Poetry Challenge

I set the teams at the quiz night the challenge of writing a poem with a minimum of three verses with four lines each, containing a number of designated words and topics.
The response was impressive and amusing, with a mixture of humour, romance, pathos and the bizarre as people tried to include the required content, or construct rhymes around it.
Here is the winning entry which was based on audience response. The mandatory elements are highlighted.

A Brush With the Law by Table 12

I thought I'd just remove my pants
And shimmer through the night
But as I streaked across the road
The oldies died of fright

The cooking stopped in kitchens
And artists dropped their paint
And kangaroos in paddocks
Collapsed into a feint

The policeman said "explain it"
As I turned a shade of red
"It must have been marijuana scones
They went straight to my head."

My Mum she likes to cook them
And I took some for my lunch
And now I'm stuck in this small cell
With bikies and that bunch

I want to call my lawyer
To unchain me from this bed
And tomorrow when I raid the fridge
I'll steal two pies instead!

and another offering which was pithy and funny but disqualified for brevity.

I saw him remove his jacket
He shimmered pale in the light
I thought of fresh green mint
I'll explain, I'm having spuds tonight.

Plug for Overheard in Pittsburgh

I occasionally surf around "Overheard in Pittsburgh" and every now and then there's a real gem, like this one!

New Seasons

Laurie with his three kids, Travis, Beau and Kara

I had lunch with Laurie today, we go back a long way, to pre-chaplaincy days, when he was running Warriuka white water rafting and abseiling camps for Scripture Union and I was working with Fusion, back in the late 80's. We did some great camps together and built up quite a bit of legend and folk lore which will have to wait for the book. He went on to become a chaplain at Rockingham which piqued my initial interest in the field and when I started at Carine we continued to work together, pioneering Wilderness Intervention Programs (WIPs) in WA. He moved on from there to complete further studies at Uni in order to become a clinical psychologist. He and Sonia moved down to Busselton after Sonia's mum died a few years ago. When we moved we re-established connections with them. Laurie has been my supervisor, and has fought a fruitless battle trying to get me involved in outrigger canoeing which is one of his passions. He loves the water and has a yacht which I went for a sail on last year but I'm not much of a boatie so I remain unconverted. Laurie reads my blog from time to time so he was aware of some of my recent struggles and that was the major topic of conversation over lunch. He made a couple of suggestions and recommendations regarding counselling options which I will follow up on. For those who are interested in the small details, we ate at "The Food Room" behind Red Rooster, I had a chicken schnitzel burger and it was very nice, washed down with an Agrum.

Term 2 heralds the coming of winter and the change of sporting seasons. That means soccer season for the kids and I am once again coaching Sport Boy's team, the 10's and under. We've got a few new players this season, and most of the kids from last season are back and showing signs of improved skills and concentration, especially the girls. Ironically, Stu, aka The Gardener, is coaching the 11's and they are short a couple of players so we may have to give them a couple of ours! I'm reluctant to break the team up, they've been together for a couple of years now and are starting to gel and work together. Sport Boy has been hanging out for this, he started wearing his soccer gear two days ago and had it all laid out in his bedroom last night ready for today, although he is disappointed that his beloved number 11 shirt is missing from the bag of team shirts!

Volleyball restarted tonight as well, my first serious sporting test since I broke my ankle in last year's finals. I'm glad to report that it held up pretty well although I confess I was being ultra careful and was quite nervous each tiome I jumped up at the net. We're short one player and had to have a fill in tonight, Wade from school. He played really well but unfortunately has his own team and can't play for us regularly. We're on the hunt for a 6th player to complete the team. Despite these uncertainties, and losing the first set, we came back strongly to win the second set against Breakaways and then went on to record a solid win in the 3rd to take the game. We had a new girl, Magda playing tonight and it was great having a good setter consistently putting up good balls for us to hit. My serve was rusty in the first set but soon got warmed up and I was getting some good power and accuracy and causing some problems for Breakaways.
I'm due to have a cortizone injection in my ankle sometime in the next couple of weeks to reduce the swelling which still hasn't fully subsided since the injury last September.
I also need to see a physio because my neck and shoulders have been bothering me for the last week or two and getting back into sport will probably aggravate them further unless I get some treatment.

I have a Dr's appointment in the morning to follow up on my blood test results, which probably means starting on a course of testosterone tablets. I also want to get some anti-inflammatories and a referral to the physio for my neck, and to a counsellor so it will be a busy appointment.
Saturday morning is the first soccer game of the season. I've swapped my regular Friday night shift in the cab to Saturday night. Tomorrow night I'm running a quiz night for the local business women's association.

Sunday we're going to Perth to drop Carolyn off as she is flying to Adelaide on Monday morning to go and visit her brother Raymond and possible the rest of her family for 10 days. She's been a bit anxious about whether I'll manage all the household tasks and running the kids around to sport, rehearsals, work, school etc. I hope she just relaxes and goes away and has a good time with her family and doesn't spend her time worrying about me/us. We'll be fine. I've got Dominoes number programmed into the speed dial of my phone.

Crossed Paths

Blast from the past. I was at Bunnings this afternoon and brought home something unexpected, which come to think of it is usually what happens when I go to Bunnings, but in this case it was truly different. I bumped into our old friends John and Tracey Cross, who we haven't seen for probably about 15 years! We used to go to a Marriage Study group together, along with 2 other couples, Rick and Andrea, and Dave and Mandy. This was before Carolyn and I even got married. The group was so good that we continued it on as a Bible study group for a few more years, combining it with a game of squash beforehand! That's different! They moved to Bunbury years ago but we lost touch, they didn't know we'd moved to Busselton so it was a big surprise when they spotted me in the hardware store. We swapped addresses and they came round for a coffee and to see Carolyn who was thrilled to see them. We spent an hour catching up on one another's news, updates on the kids etc. They have 4 kids too, all about 1 year older than ours in the stagger.
It was great to see them, hopefully we can stay in touch.