Drawing and Painting

I have been googling and oogling other peoples’ art journals – there are some incredibly talented artists from whom to gain inspiration. I started drawing from a tutorial on Sunday and have added to this today with some doodles inspired by John Denver! I am actually quite happy with how it is coming along and have enjoying trying water colour pencils. As I gain more confidence I will try to work alone, but in the mean time I have bought some books to help me along they way.

Little O decided she would like to join in the fun and did some journaling of her own:

 

I did another page last night which is close to being finished. I will share this soon.

Tonight I am going to an award ceremony as my eldest daughter won the English Prize for her college. This is awarded to the student who gained the highest mark over two English subjects in years 11 and 12. She was thrilled to get this – even more than winning the Student of the Year! She is an amazing young lady. She is starting Uni soon!

Reading and Writing

This Summer has been a good one – we have had many hot days and I have taken the time to read many books and do some writing, both personal and creative. I have also tried a couple of drawings. I would define both my writing and my drawing as amateur, but like any creative enterprise it takes time to develop skills. Here is me shopping. I don’t look very happy, but I actually was. I like shopping

I have lots of ideas; I have never suffered from a lack of ideas. It is always the execution of the idea that I struggle with!

I finished a couple of books this week – Tasmannia’s Convicts: How Felons Built a Free Society by Alison Alexander. This was a very well-written account of our colonial history and of course struck a chord with me and gave me even more food for thought. I started Moab is My Washpot by Stephen Fry but had to give up. I need to have some space between reading The Fry Chronicles and another of his. Perhaps later in the year. Or maybe not. Then I read The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. I am still digesting this one. A very quick read at under 150 pages. Now I really need to finish something that I am reading already before starting something else. Perhaps I should set a goal to finish one this week before school officially starts?

Tomorrow I have to head in to work to start getting ready for the new year with my students. I am not too distressed by this, but crikey I have a lot of work to do. I have not finished with timetables, I have emails from parents that I have ignored until now (sorry parents, I need a holiday! During the school year I am at your beck and call!) and I also need to get ready for my actual classes. I really love my job with the balance that I have now of admin and management as well as teaching two classes.

The beach

We went to St Helens for three nights and stayed in a self-contained unit. It was clean and that’s about the best I can say for it. There were people everywhere and not being the most social creatures, we felt somewhat trapped when we were there. Thankfully that was not often, as we spent some time at the beach and went to the St Columbia Falls, shopping and generally gadding about.

Yesterday we took advantage of the weather and headed to Bridport. This is a very different sort of beach and was very crowded, but pleasant. It was warm enough for me to brave the water, which was not too cold. The kids enjoyed themselves. They really do love the beach.

I have been reading like a demon and have also been exploring some writing ideas. I have found some apps for my iPad which have been very useful. Unfortunately I have also been thinking about school.

Hopefully tonight we will catch the fireworks from our back window, and then a barbecue tomorrow to celebrate Australia Day. It is very hot which makes me tired!

Fates and fortunes

Historic Brickendon is an attraction that tourists to Tasmania can visit – the farm has been in the same family for seven generations. In fact, my ancestor John Flanagan was a convict, and he and his brother (the ancestor of the famous Flanagans!) worked on this farm when they were transported. Seven generations – that’s a long time!

When I was noodling about with my research yesterday I realised that my daughters are the seventh generation of a line of women who have lived here since Mary Ann McKintosh was transported in 1843 for assault and robbery and arrived in Hobart on Christmas Day. She arrived here with a sallow complexion and a long visage, all 4 foot, 9 3/4 inches of her! What strikes me is that history is often written from a male perspective, or about males. We hear about the hard convict labour, the farmers and graziers and the policy makers. I am quite keen now that I have made this discovery to follow this line of women through the generations. A focus!

I don’t think Mary Ann would have been able to imagine this happening down the line, do you?

Building blocks

Carnage! Alex has been charged with ‘sorting out the Lego dudes’. There are a lot of dudes to sort, let me tell you. Some are yet to find their various parts:

We went to the library and copied some pages from a book put together regarding some ancestors and the various families descended from them. He was a convict, although a photo taken later in life depicts him as quite the gentleman! How fortunes changed for some when they arrived here from the old country.

At the moment I am trying to decide what to do with my research; whether to start with myself and work backwards following all lines, or to take a Where Did I Come From? approach and follow one line only in some detail, gathering documents and building more of a narrative. I am leaning towards this approach, but which line to follow? Ah the dilemmas!

I finished reading Dirty Deeds by Mark Evans, a tale of his time with AC/DC. I heard an interview with the author by Richard Fidler discussing the book and bought it for Kindle (iPad). I am a fan of the band, especially the time the book discusses with Bon Scott, but could not get much into the book. A similar thing happened and relates to Crack Hardy: heard an interview in which they discussed the subject matter (three boys from Westbury off to war), and bought the book. I am wading through it, and am about 1/3 of the way through. It is by no means terrible!

Chickens in the trees

Yesterday we went to the Gorge for a bit of a walk around and an ice cream. We started at the top, walked over the suspension bridge (or swinging bridge as it’s known here), down to the First Basin and back up to the kiosk. When we arrived at the kiosk, there were peacocks in the trees. Most disconcerting to sit eating your Frosty Fruit or Choc Wedge hoping that a peacock doesn’t choose to a) swoop down or b) poop on you. As usual, this episode brings to mind a segment from Sesame Street, as shared above.

Today we are going to the library for some research into the family. If I get motivated between now and then it could result in us copying more convict records for our collection. It takes a bit of searching sometimes but the archives are getting more organised and the days of swooshing through the microfiche are thankfully over.

I bought two books: The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry and Van Diemen’s Land by James Boyce. I have started the Fry book, finished another and plodding along with all of my reading.

In order to finish a pair of socks I really only need to do half a toe, but I can’t seem to be bothered. I have been playing The Sims far too much really, but I go through stages like this and always come out the other side mostly unscathed. My couple just had a baby though, so there could be difficult times ahead.

Journeys

This week has me thinking about the past, perhaps even more than usual. Two very influential women from my past died on dates in this week so while it is the start of a new year, each January brings a tinge of sadness.

I am also rekindling an interest in my family tree and some genealogical research. This was a passion a couple of years ago, and I received some information from a distant relative regarding a ‘brick wall’ I had hit about my Dad’s side of the family. The more I find out, the more I understand my feeling of belonging to this place where I live. Tasmania is so interesting; the history is both so ancient and so young. Recently there was a discovery of more evidence of pre-dinosaur creatures. The first Tasmanians lived here for 10 000 years before European settlement. Many people can claim convicts in their ancestry. I can count eight convicts without trying, but I am fairly sure there are more. I will be using some time and energy this year to look further into this heritage and to find out more about what I can about my family, using the people around me as much as possible. The photo below relates to a journey I took with my Dad, which I did not want to take but which proved to be quite moving in many ways. This is where he grew up and he very much enjoyed taking me there to see where he lived and telling me stories about his childhood that I had not heard before. I also had some time to catch up with uncles that I had not spoken to for some time.

Where I come from

Holidaze

We are having a quiet moment, A and I; he is busy building a puzzle he received for Christmas, and I am doing some sitting and reading.

Reading:

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro; The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell; Dirty Deeds, Mark Evans; Crack Hardy, Stephen Dando Collins and Wizard and Glass, Stephen King.

Hm, that’s a heck of a lot of books on the go! An impromptu resolution – finish all books on this list.

Knitting: two pairs of socks. Playing: The Sims 3 and Sims Medieval.