Alec

Apparently Alec subscribes to the 'a picture paints a thousand words' theory - he sent this picture with no explanation - so we have no idea why he is holding a duck in a house. But we'll take what we can get.

Sunday

Nathan gave his last talk before leaving to serve his mission in Milan and so the chapel was full of Fulcher family and Maurer family. Christensens were there so that gave him a majority of cousins from both sides of his family.

Jesse will miss him.

And when we finally got home I discovered why I have to wash Max's church clothes every week - as if I didn't know that already.

Theatre Restaurant

For the first time in 15 years (since the inception of Pine Theatre Restaurant) we had just one costume to make on the last Friday of term two. Max was an elf and Jesse made a quick costume.

It was, as usual, a feast.

Followed by outstanding theatre.

Max had a scene with Mya and a bunch of other lines - all of which he had memorised and didn't miss a beat.

Lots of old friends turned up.

Mack woke up and charmed the entire audience. He loved Peet's braces and laughed till his belly must have been sore.

Jake and Jed

While Matt and Floss worked and played in Melbourne we had a few days with Jake and Jed. We were very pleased.

Jake told Louisa she is his second favourite cousin - David is still first - it's hard to top someone who has a car with Transformer stickers.

On one of the movie nights the boys watched Shrek and Shrek II - Max said that he had heard the Shrek IV was a bit crass. Jake didn't know what that meant so Max explained that it meant there were lots of poo and toilet jokes. Jed: "I love that stuff'. So Lee took Jake and Jed to see Shrek IV - they loved it but thought that Lee was '50/50'.

Louisa

Has a new haircut. For weeks she has been fancying the idea of a fringe and we finally found a spare moment to do the cutting. I suggested we wait till Jesse came home from her exam for another opinion, but Louisa said 'Mum, I don't really care what other people think about my hair.' So we cut it then and there - and it's completely gorgeous - not that my opinion matters.

Wept all through Sacrament meeting today until she quietly cried herself to sleep - because Beth was called as Relief Society President necessitating a release from being Beehive Advisor.

Played in her first two concerts with the strings ensemble from school. She was very pleased to report that she got it right at least 50% of the time.

Came to the Relief Society gardening talk on Saturday - she loves gardening and can't be away from Jesse and I for too long.

Has been tending a sick goat for weeks - Chocolate is not well. We think both goats must have eaten something they shouldn't have. We made a coat out of an old blanket and Chocolate looks forward to Louisa putting it on each night.

Posh countries

Max: Which country do you think is the most posh?
Kim: Well, what do you mean by posh?
Max: Posh like always wanting everything to be grand - like in Laos no-one is posh - you couldn't survive if you were.
Kim: I don't know, what do you think?
Max: I'm thinking France or Italy.
Kim: Or maybe America?
Louisa: Maybe England.
Max: No it can't be America - they eat too much McDonalds.

Guess who has been watching SuperSize Me and Food Inc.

Gertie

On Monday night Louisa dreamed that she went to feed her goats and they had no water and they couldn't get their food down and Gertie died.

So Louisa woke with a start and ran down to check on her goats - plenty of water and all was well.

Then this afternoon when Samantha Gilkes arrived for a visit, Louisa took her to see the goats - and Gertie had died. She was fine in the morning. And thankfully there was plenty of water.

There were torrents of tears. Thomas and Peet buried Gertie, and Chocolate has temporary housing in the chook pen.

God is indeed a God of small mercies. Louisa's dream prepared her just a bit. Louisa is recovering and we will find a new friend for Chocolate - Louisa plans to name it Bonka.

And a death in the family warrants a day off school which also hepled to ease the pain.

Discus throwing boy

Peet is a participator - sometimes I wonder if he is really mine because I am not a joiner. But Peet can be counted on to volunteer for most anything. That's how he came to be on the Student Representative Council, and how he came to be organising the Young Men camp, and it's even how he ended up as Middle School Vice Captain.

And this week, Peet volunteered to try out for Regional Discus Throwing Championships. I am not sure this is given quite the importance it deserves at KGSC since Peet sent me a text at lunch time and brought home a blue ribbon that afternoon.

But he is off the regionals - which means a day off school so he is happy.

Louisa said she is never going to try out for any sport: "it means even more time away from mmuu .... things I want to do." Which translates to spending time with me. May she never outgrow that.

Check with Mossad for photos

We are more than a little irate around here about the Israeli government.

When Lee and Joan and the four big kids went to Israel and Jordan a few years ago they came home in love with Israel, and appalled with government. The land, people, history - all wonderful. The treatment of the Palestinians - just dreadful.

So with the latest escapades (passports and aid flotillas) we jumped at the chance to be part of the protest and rally in Brisbane last night. Attendance was poor (though not as bad as the last one we went to) but passionate and the speeches were loud and laden with vitriol.

We met in town and I was first there with Peet, Louisa and Max - and nobody cared. But as soon as Jesse and Tom arrived they were all over us - apparently I don't have 'the look'. Neither did Joan - they ignored her too. One poor woman from Socialist Alliance engaged Jesse till Jesse finally told her that she would consider herself right wing and was here only to protest the human rights violations. And that ended that conversation.

Somehow we ended up at the very front of the rally. The loudspeaker was loud (surprisingly enough) and the people behind us were angry - all of which made Louisa a bit nervous.

Most of the speakers called us comrades and there was a lot of chanting of 'Free Free Palestine', 'Gaza Gaza don't you cry, We will never let you die' 'Shame Shame Israel' and a whole lot in Arabic that was clearly not for our ears!

My favourite moment was during the speech by the Amnesty rep. He read the Amnesty press release which several times referred to Israeli Commandos. After a while Max tugged on my sleeve and asked 'doesn't commando mean naked?' Now that's an hilarious image. (It's Peet's fault - when we were on the bus to Luang Prabang he was claiming that he would sleeping commando because he had his own cabin - and we'd better not come in without knocking.)

Louisa said it annoyed her because they were 'saying that everything about Israel was bad when it is just some things' - the Justice for Palestine group could learn a thing or two from her.

We did leave a bit before the end - it was cold and we were hungry - our political activism has bounds. Dinner was a picnic outside GoMA (where we saw Wayne Amos) then home to Roger who was working and missed out.

Roger says we'll never get into Israel now because Mossad will have us on a list - I thought he was joking but there were young men everywhere with their faces covered and professional looking photographers - so maybe he's right.