The gap year

Number one son has said it's fine if I share his plans on my blog, which is very kind of him. Because it is a very strange story, that starts over two years ago when he was spotted going into the Canberra Show by a talent scout for a modelling agency. When we got over the immediate reaction (piss-off-you-scammers) and did some googling, and talked to him about it, and went up to Sydney to chat with them ... we realised it was an actual thing. That actually happens to actual teenagers, who then get signed for a two-year contract to an international modelling agency and start to fit in a bit of modelling work between their classes. He did test shoots.

He walked some shows in Australian Fashion Week.

He got a paid gig promoting Wool for Schools. He wore an $10,000 pink Dior suit for a GQ Australia magazine shoot.

He got styled very strangely for the hippest of fashion stores.

It has all been very odd, and very different, and very unlikely for a teenage boy who likes space rockets, dungeons&dragons and wears t-shirts with science-based puns. It's been terrifying for us as parents (a week after his sixteenth birthday he spent five days on his own in a serviced apartment in Sydney finding his way to fashion shows .... the dodgy photographers in industrial parks ... the 3 am bus to Sydney more times than I can count ....) but he has been an absolute rock star with the wierdness, and the uncertainty, and the complete chaotic pointlessness that is the fashion industry. We are so proud of how grown up he's been.

Which brings us to 2020 - the year that all those castings and shoots and practising were about to be turned into a real year of being a full-time model. Of basing himself in Sydney, then, after he turned 18, being launched overseas. Probably China or Korea they thought, given his look. A year of who-knows-what, but how could you not give it a go? If it doesn't work, at least it will be an adventure, and if it does work he could earn enough to pay his uni fees.

But the world said no, and overseas travel is unlikely to happen any time soon, and it's a tough pill for a wee lad. He has been so grown up about it, and even managing to look on the bright side - some of his friends who went straight to uni are struggling with remote learning.  We don't know what the rest of the year will bring, and there is still a chance that the domestic fashion industry will pick up? Maybe. So that is the latest wierdness that life has thrown up for us. As some of our friends have said.... of all the people to have a child who is a fashion model we wouldn't have picked you two! We completely agree.

A spot of gardening

I'm loving Pam's photos of her Edinburgh spring garden (so pretty! so colourful! so alive!) so here are some of mine. We did a solid two hours on Sunday morning which is quite a lot of gardening for us, and resulted in twinges in some muscles I didn't know I had.



I pruned back the sedums. At least I think they're sedums, they were tiny little succulents from somewhere that got planted many years ago and decided to take off in the last twelve months to the point where we can't get past on the path to get to the compost bins. So chopped they got.



We were quite intrigued by the "chop and drop" concept on a segment on Gardening Australia on Friday night (which is perhaps the most middle-aged suburban phrase I have ever written on this blog, WHAT HAVE I BECOME) so instead of either binning or composting the prunings I just dropped them nearby. To be mulch, or grow, or just turn ugly brown, who would know.  There are so many wasteland patches of garden bed that it can't make them any worse.

I did the same with some other succulent things that had taken over the bbq, and the rosemary, and the geraniums. I pulled out a lot of grass, some dead daisies, one rogue bamboo and one spiky bastard cactus. I just killed the mum, she had lots of little cute babies around, so I'm leaving them until they become large and ugly, like Marie Antoinette and the kittens .... a slur I should probably check for accuracy but won't.



This is the nightmare that is our 'lawn'. At least it's green which is unusual. It is mostly that weird fluffy grass and moss. We must get rid of the trampoline, move the bamboo to the fence line, re-establish the veggie beds somewhere where they'll get sun, take the godawful cotoneasters right back and extend the bog garden around the golden ash. We have many many plans, and very little follow through. There is always something more interesting to do than garden, but I like it once I get started. And to finish there's a photo of where the rabbit cage was until a few years ago .... the grass has never recovered and never will.

And yet more walks

I would much rather go for a two-hour walk than a half hour run. Even though the run is far better for me, it is hard work. Where a walk is just pleasant. I was working from home on Friday so somewhere near knock off time (you can knock off at four on a Friday, surely) we went for a very long walk around the new parts of the reserve we are discovering.



There was a large fallen tree across the path. Are you going to take a photo of me scrambling over that like an old man? Yes, yes I am. And I'm going to put it on the internet. He still did it a damn sight more elegantly than I did. The sun was setting as we got home.



Last week was much quieter for work which was very welcome. Number two's school was put off for another week so he finally goes back tomorrow. Canberra hasn't had any virus cases at all for nearly three weeks so we're hoping that they can crack down on anything that does flare up pretty quickly.

Saturday was raining until the afternoon, so I did a late dampish walk around the streets to avoid the muddy bits. Here is the new field hospital that is sitting, emptily, on the oval next to the school. Weirdly, it has its own Wikipedia entry. It is hard to argue with the decision to build it even though it hasn't been used - hopefully it will never be needed and can be packed away next year sometime.

Apparently the government can sell it? Who to? Probably the USA now I think about it, what a basket case. Friends who had postings there used to say it was a global superpower because it had three million of the smartest people in the world carrying the rest of them, which seems accurate. Three million should be enough, but not when the others won't listen....

And in crafting news, I decided to teach myself crochet from the internet. The concept is fine, but I'm not sure if I'm putting the hook for the new row through the right loops each time. And it's not something that Youtube is explaining very well. I might see if I can find some experts to teach me while looking at the actual mess that I'm creating ... if I bring baked goods to some buddies they might take pity on me.

More lovely walks

It was a great weekend after the busy week - Saturday I took myself off for a walk around the hills slightly to the east. It's the same stretch of nature reserve as immediately behind the house but, after fifteen years here, I haven't explored it at all. Pandemic benefits! It was a cloudy and windy day on Saturday, but good for a brisk walk, a bit of sewing, and round to friends for coffee and cake in the afternoon. Lovely to see them and how they're coping - like most Canberra people work has become five times busier and ten times harder but we are all quite happy to have secure jobs at the moment. 

More scrappy bush. I think they're all weeds or pest species but the little bit of yellow for autumn makes it pretty. I adjusted the lighting becasue it was dark and now it looks much more interesting that it does in real life.

On Sunday my husband and I went for a walk around Lake Tuggeranong - another artificial lake in the suburbs to the south. It is about 9 km around, so a good flat stroll, and heaps of people out and about. This is the view from the top of the lake down towards the shops and bridge.

This is the view from the bridge back the other way. It was a beautiful  morning - clear and completely still. There are no filters on these photos, the sky was that blue and the water was completely still. I didn't mean to get the bird in, that was a happy accident. Even the lake looks OK (Lake Tuggeranong is always under warnings for algae and general disgustingness, I wouldn't swim in it and I have pretty low standards ... it also smells). But we did see some pukeko (Eastern swamp hen) with beautiful little fluffy chicks, so it can't be actually toxic. Maybe just for humans.

And here is today's lunchtime stroll to the top of the hill and then back down. We were complaining about how cold it was as we all sat hunched over our computers ... no need to turn the heater on I said, easily fixed I said, we just need a brisk walk up the hill and back. I did it and it warmed me up no end. Did anyone else listen to me? No. Have I turned into my mother? Yes. 

Crazy busy week

I'm glad I enjoyed my Monday working at home because before I knew it, work got crazy busy and I spent the rest of the week in at the office, trying to keep everyone 2 metres away from each other and giving myself scaly fingers with all the hand washing. It certainly does take your mind off everything though, and whether easing off on restrictions is a good idea. Apparently some cafes and restaurants are open from this weekend although they can only have ten people in them ... I do not care. After this week I want to be as solitary as possible. I can see another long walk coming for tomorrow. Perfect.

One night I pinned up my Carolina Chain quilt, and the dog continued to Not Help. But the fire was lovely. There are two boys and a husband in the furniture there somewhere (ignore the washing, I think it's still there).

Working from home

Despite the fact that we all have actual rooms, with actual doors that actually close, most of the working from home is in our communal spaces. Number one son - who doesn't have any work - probably spends the most time in his room of any of us; ruling the world from his computer. He was showing me this software that mimics solar systems - you can place various types of planets and moons, then make minute adjustments in their orbits and see what happens. It also rates them on Earth compatability percentages. I did a lot of clueless-mum-nodding. When he's not in his room he's lounging on the furniture looking at his phone.



Number two is going back to school next week and we are all very pleased. He's doing his best but it's hard to stay focussed and even though he has some really good teachers, as a group teachers are not always the best at doing things they're not used to ... espeically with technology. He likes to work on the sofa, goodness knows how, that cannot be comfortable. He also likes to lie on the floor of his room, which is perhaps more sensible, except I smack him on the head twice a day by opening the door.



My husband tried to work from his study (where he makes his model airplanes) for a while but there was too much stuff everywhere, and paint drying, and distractions. So he has set himelf up in a corner of the family room - looking out the window with the dog at his feet. Unfortunately he has also snaffled my weaving table ... not that I was planning to do more weaving, until I can't, and now I want to. We haven't entirely sorted the bookshelves after the kitchen renovation pack-up - that is the backdrop for his work video calls but he doesn't seem to mind.



So nothing exciting going on here at the moment, but I thought I would record this for posterity. And I am no better - I could just push my sewing machine to the back of the table and work up there but I have taken over the dining table. I'm only at home a day or two a week so easy enough to set up then pack up at the end of the day.

Mulligans Flat

To celebrate Mother's Day we left the children at home and went for a nice long walk around Mulligan's Flat. It's a woodland reserve in the north of Canberra - so about a half hour's drive which was exciting in itself! We could look at all the different things. And it was a beautiful day; sunny, clear with a bit of a cold wind but nothing a scarf couldn't keep away.



The woodland sanctuary is 984 hectares, with a variety of landscape, all boring and scrappy and Australian. Great to walk through, and plenty to look at, but it's never going to make the top ten list of the world's natural beauties. There was an old woolshed, which was apparently still in use up until the 1990s.



And the old coach road runs through it, that used to be the main route from the various settlements around the region to Bungendore and on to Sydney. It was built in 1880, so perhaps not super old, but still heritage listed. It looks like it would be a long and bumpy trip to Sydney.



Here is a big dam with dead trees in it. It is quite startling (and it's also one of the only spots where you can see houses - most of the walk we felt a million miles from anywhere).



There were a few people out and about but not heaps, mostly families and they dwindled the further we got from the gate. We did about a two-hour loop which was just right to then go home for lunch and laze about all afternoon knowing we've had our exercise. And for me to eat my Mother's Day chocolates! Perfect.

The rest of the weekend has been quiet. I pinned up the circus quilt, with the dog not helping - as you can see I went with an all-colours piano key border just to give it a bit of oomph. Still not convinced. There were forays by the rest of the family to shops. Apparently the shopping malls were crazy busy, with shops trying for adequate distancing and mostly failing, so I'm glad I didn't go. Parliament is sitting again this week so that will be my ration of germy people travelling into Canberra and touching the door handles.

...then winter arrived

So much for our sparkly autumn! Friday and Saturday had maximums of 7 degrees, strong winds, gusty showers and general wintriness. Snow on the hills and you could feel the chill in the air. Friday I worked from home so enjoyed the fire and the company of my family - walked number two son down to the shops for his haircut (someone had to pay for it, unlikely to be him) then went for a brisk stroll before back home to the fire.



Saturday I got more ambitious and did a 8 kilometre walk around the base of the hill then back through the streets. Not very scenic, but it was grey and cold and I spent most of the time with my hood pulled up and my hands in my pockets.



I desperately need a haircut as well but I'm not sure if my hairdresser is open - I will check and see what can be done. It's too long to wear loose if there's any wind (which is why the pigtails above, practical if not stylish) and I got sucked into lockdown-supermarket-hairdye (it's a thing, google it) and of course the only dye was blueberry. Which went a sad brown.

Number two went into town to get more books and was luckier with his cheap hair dye score - some kind of royal blue. He only put it on half his head and it went a sad dull green. Luckily he won't be back at school before it washes out, and no-one at my work cares what I look like. My hairdresser will roll her eyes though, so another reason that I keep putting it off.



I believe some of the restrictions have eased but we're paying about as much attention to the easing as we did to the restrictions (not that we don't care, just that our lives are so uneventful that everything we want to do is allowed). Number two seems to be coping with the remote learning quite well, but it's hard to tell. He is currently making a grapefruit and lemon meringue pie - which we can do today but not yesterday because OUR BRAND NEW OVEN STOPPED WORKING. Bloody outrageous, it just went completely lights out, wouldn't turn on. The electrician said power was going in OK, so it was a problem with the oven, but the manufacturer couldn't get a repair call out for two and a half weeks! I don't think so I said, so had a wee chat with the store we bought it off, who were fantastic, found us a new unit, dropped it off today and it's working like a wonder. I hope it doesn't happen again, that would make us very sad.

And just to wrap up today's home maintenance news, the insurance company sent someone to fix the melted patio roof at the beach house yesterday. Which he did, a lovely job, sent us through photos and it looks fantastic. Except he fixed the patio roof that wasn't damaged. He did the one at the side and never made it to the one at the back. They are completely different sizes, so he must have thought the assessor who did the measurements was a lunatic .... we were just wondering how to break it to him when he sent through a very sad text saying he thought he might have made a mistake. No worries, happens to us all, we said.