30 July, 2011

Oeufs!!

Well blow me down, them chooks is layin'!
They started while we were on holiday, the sneaky minxes.
And now we have the pleasure!


So what to do with the eggs....


Reader, I scrambled them.

Yummo.

Perth

'Big ups' to all the gorgeous friends and family we saw while we were back in Perth!!!
Freya and Esther hang out with Freya (the rat) and her babies, also enjoy a play with A, C and T!
Silly Mark, it's not that easy to keep Silke quiet!
Happy meal with C and K
Esther and Gem
Gem abandons gardens for gestation
Jackie Jakki Jacqui and Lisa
Lovely HomeLink lasses (and baby J!)
Alison and Marian (gotcha Maz...unable to escape the blog!!)
Jo and J, couple of cuties!

Ferndale mums await muffins

Cool cats

Pre-primary princess posse

Oka and Esther

"Hold your hand still you silly old fart"

Pop and grandies

Nan and Lou (N attempts a photo bomb)

Lizzie and N

Ade and Molly

F, E, W

BFF xo

17 July, 2011

Exmouth...

The unanticipated meeting with a joey (while F was fishing with Ade) that prompted the wrath of Cyclone Freya on the Cape Caravan Park. Cyclone Freya, a category 5 storm, devastated our tent (during time-out) and we are still reeling from her force!
Hey look that's me!
Camping buddies, with beers.
Hmmm, they tried bait, lures, beach, jetty and...no fish. Bums, Ade's gunna want a boat now!
The weekend never ends in Exmouth
Mini-golf. Esther played it like hockey (dribbled the ball into the hole!). She got the highest score, 15 on a par 2 hole!
Surf's up
The closest the girls got to a whale shark!
Where's Wally? (Wally's a turtle).
Ade swearing blue he just touched a turtle
Rolling down the sand dunes
Disco

Disco too

14 July, 2011

Very slow off the mark

I have finally worked out how to post better quality pics on LunaRover. And not before time eh??!!

Might get around to editing the backlog (backblog??). Will do it quicker if someone clues me in on a shortcut (i.e. not editing each photo!)...

All pointers re: getting the best out of blogger gladly accepted :)

Jonkers in Exmouth; a camping adventure

It took us 6 hours to drive from TP to Exmouth which included a roadside wee stop and a lunch break at the Nanutarra roadhouse (where we cleverly avoided buying anything as it is the priciest servo in the whole wide world).
On arrival Ade and I instantly entered holiday mood by falling out over the erection of the tent. Putting up the tent is my least favourite part of camping. Once the tent was up we made friends and got on with having a brilliant holiday!
We are chuffed to be hanging with Adam and Janine, our bestest camping buddies; I am childishly excited by the sea; the girls have a bizillion new friends; Ade is flexing his fishing rod; the sun is shining and it is warm. *smiles*
Osprey nesting

Day 1: Before the sun shone

Sandy Bay

10 July, 2011

Update

Y'all may be able to tell when I've been on night shift: the blog gets neglected and when I do post there's nothing much to tell! (They were uneventful nights- the best kind).
Anyhoo. An update with captions by Freya:
The cast of The Wind in the Willows, Hedgehogs centre front. main characters are in the back row,Mole, Ratty,Badger and...TOAD!!!

I got a bouquet for doing Wind in the Willows (thank you, thank you)
Matt and Laura will be house sitting for us
We ate chocolates

Scary Mary
Max stayed up late with us
Tom Price sunrise from our backgarden
Today packing for EXMOUTH, 1 more sleep!!!!!

02 July, 2011

Closing the Gap

I managed to attend half of a super bit of in-service education in between ED presentations earlier this week. TP Hospital and Population Health have been hosting a visiting audiologist who talked to us about Aboriginal ear health. It was fascinating.
Aboriginal babies will, on average, get their first ear infection at 2 weeks of age, non-Aboriginal babies will be 9 months old before they have their first ear infection.
Chronic ear infections can lead to hearing loss which has major implications for speech and language development and learning. These negative effects are likely to be compounded in Aboriginal children, many of whom have to adapt to an educational environment where the language and culture differs from that of their home environment. In rural and remote areas there is also the problem of poor access to therapy, hearing aids, special teachers, classroom sound-field systems, and other rehabilitative programs. There are social and vocational consequences of hearing loss which further disadvantage and alienate Aboriginal people and increase their risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system.
There is, plainly, a place for identification and treatment of ear disease (in TP that happens at the GP or ED) but primary health care initiatives are paramount. Lou, the travelling audiologist, talked about the "breath, blow, cough, wash and chew" strategy to encourage young children to clear their ears and airways, keep their hands and face clean and eat well.

Last night I was on call and got one of the 3am phonecalls that all TP on-call nurses dread requesting my presence at the hospital for a fly out. The patient was an Aboriginal man with a history of chronic coronary failure, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. He was in acute renal failure which means that his kidneys had stopped working and were causing biochemical disturbances which had a knock-on effect on his other organ systems. The Royal Flying Doc took him to Perth where, depending on the damage done, he may require lifelong dialysis or a kidney transplant. The patient is 39 years old.

As I mentioned, I only got to half of Lou's talk but it was enough to get me googling. If you're interested there is more about ear health and the 'Close the Gap' initiative at these websites:
http://www.health.gov.au/tackling-chronic-disease
http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/closing-the-gap?gclid=CO7ww8Hg4akCFaFLpgodig45Zg
http://www.oxfam.org.au/explore/indigenous-australia/close-the-gap

On a far more positive note, Freya's teacher (and namesake) Freyja Lucas has been short listed for the WA Aboriginal Education Excellence Award. Go Miss Lucas!!!
And finally...Ade has been down to Perth twice in recent weeks; he didn't set foot in Myer once (the crazy fool!) but he did go and inspect our house and I made him take a photo of our garden. I MISS OUR GARDEN!
Our beautiful garden (courtesy of Garden Gem) happily regrowing after Ade butchered pruned it
Land Rover with new (old) roof rack which means we can now fit ourselves and all the camping gear in.

Only 8 days until Exmouth!!!!