Penny's Birthday

On Sunday we celebrated Penny's birthday at our place.  She's got a few things in the pipeline at the moment so we thought that we'd hold her party here and give her a bit of a rest.

We had a BBQ and had a great time.  What could be better than good friends, good wine, and good cake?

Here's Penny and her daughter Catherine.

Once the thunderstorm passed, the day improved remarkably.  Here we are outside after lunch.

From the left:  Gabby (hiding from the camera), Catherine, Karyn, Penny, Peter, and Jill.

Half a day's racing at Braidwood

Today we went to the picnic races at Braidwood.   This is a once-a-year event run as a major fundraising activity for the local town's community services.  We love going to these races because they are a great day out.
There's nothing flash about the racecourse, but it was pretty good for somewhere that has races once a year.  And the atmosphere is terrific, with everyone out to enjoy themselves.

The course has a very "personal" feel about it compared to other courses.  There was little separation between the people and the horses.  In fact the horses were unloaded in the carpark, in between parked cars.   You got to stand within spitting distance of the finish line; so much so that I had to change to my 18-55mm camera lens because I was so close.

Our horse, Diamond Jay was racing in the last race.

In the fourth race, one of the jockeys lost his saddle near the finishing line.  Here is a quick shot I was able to get off as he went by.  You can see the jockey trying to stay on-board whilst his saddle was down past his left leg.

We were sitting next to another jockey's wife, and she was really upset that this happened, because it meant that someone (either the trainer or the strapper) hadn't done their job and the jockey could have been badly hurt.

The fourth race was actually declared a non-race because the starting gates had a problem.  After about an hour of discussion between the jockeys and the raceclub it was decided to abandon the rest of the races on safety grounds.  I wondered why they didn't revert to a standing-start so the races could continue.

So races 4 to 8 were cancelled and we got to go home without a trophy or prizemoney.

It was probably going to be Diamond Jay's last race for the season before a rest, so she might not run again now for several months.  We'll just have to wait and see.

"Just ignore the pain ..."

I saw the doctor today.  He says that my toe is broken but there's nothing that can be done with it except wait for it to heal by itself.

He said that I should just ignore the pain.

Easy for him to say.

Australia Day 2010

We had a great Australia Day this year.

Matt was in Melbourne for the "Big Day Out" concert,  so it was just Karyn and I.

We were invited to a friend-of-a-friend's for the day, starting with a BBQ and then continuing on for the rest of the day. There was mention of "games" as well.  We didn't know what to expect.

It turned out to be a fantastic day.  Well, sort of.  The BBQ was great, but while getting ready to go in the morning I kicked the architrave of a door with my little toe and broke it.  So for most of the day I watched my foot swell and go shades of purple.

Anyway, there were probably 50 or so people there, including kids.   And they were the sort of people that you can easily make friends with.  We seemed to have something in common with all of them.

The house where we went adjoined a local park, so the party extended there for most of the day.  There were a wide range of games to play, with formal medal ceremonies at the end of each.  A funny thing was that everybody seemed to end up winning a medal for something.  Karyn won the womens' egg-and-spoon race, while I won a third in the golf pitching competition.  Other games included gum-boot throwing, thong throwing, Crocs throwing, basketball shooting, and 20-a-side tug-of-war.  Oh, and egg-tossing.  Fortunately for me it was my partner that missed the catch.

The only time the pain in my foot got in the way was playing basketball.  I kept forgetting not to stand on my toes, only to be reminded by a sharp stabbing pain.

Matt got into University

We had good news last night.  Matthew found out that he was accepted into the University of Canberra, studying for a Bachelor of Information Technology.

He said "all that hard work finally paid off".

We laughed.

Trouble in paradise

Karyn sent me an SMS and a followup email this afternoon to say that Jessica's broken a bone in her foot.  Apparently she's now in a wheelchair that Karyn has to push around.

I bet it has nothing to do with the cheap alcohol onboard.

I tried calling her, but they must have moved out of range of a mobile tower.   Or maybe it's just that the mobile phone network can't find her.

Holiday time

Matt and I are having a holiday for the next week or so.  Karyn thinks that she's the one having a having a holiday but in reality it's just that we've got rid of her for a while.

We took her to Sydney so that she and Jessica could get on the Pacific Jewel.

As soon as they got onboard, Matt and I headed off to the Watson's Bay pub to wave them goodbye over a glass of ale.

And so we watched them sail into the distance.....  while we planned the upcoming fortnight.

We stayed overnight at Mum's place in Rose Bay while she is over in England.  Here is the night view from her place looking back towards the City.