Day 317 - SLAV conference and night photos

Well, I blew it , didn't I? I planned to take lots of photo of the National Gallery of Victoria and the city sights, since I was there for a PD day. BUT - I forgot to take the memory card out of the laptop, so the camera was useless. Great day though, fabulous venue, excellent get-together with teacher librarians, and a few pleasant surprises (first-time meeting with online friends).

The theme for the conference was 'Seeing differently', and it was a brilliant line-up of education officers from the National Gallery, educators, curators and painting conservators, and experts in different fields (eg. graphic novels, Shakespeare, etc.). By far the best and most entertaining talk, in my opinion, was the keynote address by Dr Mark Norman, author, marine biologist and Senior Curator of Molluscs from Museum Victoria. Very informative and entertaining talk, even for non-science people like me (particularly). Mark also writes fantastic children's books to make children aware of our natural world. These are far from dry; I think I'll buy some. The titles will give you an indication of his style: The penguin book: birds in suits; The Antarctica Book: Living in the freezer; The shark book: fish with attitude.

Then there was the small matter of a photo for the day. It was already darkish when I arrived home, so I took some night shots outside.

This one was commissioned by me from Guest Photographer.

Day 316 - The drug

Coffee's my drug. What's yours? We're serious coffee drinkers, in fact, three out of four people in our household drink coffee. That's strong, freshly brewed, REAL coffee. None of that instant rubbish. Sorry.

We've been buying coffee from Quists for about 20 or more years. I try to want to drink tea but it just doesn't happen.

Day 315 - School grounds

Our school is situated in beautiful surroundings. I think I've mentioned this before. I noticed young new trees in a dry area. They will have to survive without too much water, especially the way our temperatures are soaring so early in the season.

Day 314 - Thankful for shade

We're so thankful for the thick vine which provide shade for our back room. We pretty much live in this room. The last few days have been in the 30s and there's more to come, so I'm happy to have few western-facing windows, good insulation, verandah in the front, and this lush vine. Meanwhile, I don't really know what to do with the fast-growing vine branches - thread them back up the top or leave them in the natural Tarzan fashion.

My dog doesn't seem to mind the heat as much as we do.

Day 313 - Anticlimax stirfry

After the excitement of the weekend activities, the most colourful thing about today was our stir-fry. I could really do without the heat...

Day 312 - Anna and Pat's wedding

It was too late to upload photos and write a post when I returned from the wedding of my husband's niece (and my god-daughter), Anna and her husband, Pat, so today is yesterday (so to speak). The church service was followed by an extremely warm reception at the historic Montsalvat which is not unlike Hogwarts on a smaller scale. The groom's vocation inspired the antique firetruck transport but I wish that it hadn't inspired the scorching hot temperatures. Weddings always collect an interesting array of family and friends, resplendent in their best. A lovely day which will be remembered by all who attended, and especially the happy couple.

Photos courtesy of phillipsandwich aka Mr19.

Day 311 - Mediterranean Night

We were invited to an evening with a Mediterranean theme. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable time with family, friends and neighbours. With the heat of the day losing its edge, we sat outside, covered in insect repellent, and full of too many foods to mention (okay, maybe just the tiramisu then). The photos are of my boys' second cousins. Yes, the boys in the photo are twins, but you can't see both of them because the right part of the photo is always cut off. It's very annoying. Have a look at the photo on Flickr.