Quarters: Grand Tour

Schoolroom/ quarters from the back

Schoolroom/ quarters building .... not to scale

Front fence ... going to be pailing

Front veranda

View from the front veranda

Back veranda

View from the back veranda

Back fence

Living area

Kitchen ... I now have another cupboard in the back righthand corner

Bathroom ... toilet is behind the wall to the left

Bedroom

A new abode

It's official I am now fully moved into my new abode. I may have no running hot water yet and there may be a few little things that need to be finished but for better or worse I am in.

No more walking up these rickety stairs every time I forget something.

No more french door leading out onto a wide veranda

No more waking up to a view like this, well as soon as I open the curtains

It was kinda bittersweet, walking out of what has been my space for nearly 2 and a 1/2 years. I remember how I felt when I first moved into that room. The tiredness from travelling, the uncertainty of a new job and getting to know new people, the sadness of being so far from family but also the excitement of a new journey, a new adventure.

This is a place of memories like being woken up to deal with a snake bite, falling into bed after fighting fires half the night, the micro bats playing at 9 o'clock at night, of untangling the cute little blighters from my mosquito net, the willie wagtail that decided to make my room it's home, the frogs that wanted to snuggle in bed, the kids lurking in wait around the corner to scare or to beg pancakes on a Sunday morning, of everything smelling like diesel after having to fill the engine, of many beautiful sunrises watched from the veranda, of tip toeing around the veranda and down the stairs to take photos of those sunrises before everyone else is awake, of snuggling under 6 layers of blankets to keep warm in winter. There are plenty of memories attached to that room.

All personal touches gone it is the same room I walked into over 2 years ago.

After starting here the final term of 2009 these quarters and the attached schoolroom were promised as bribery to get me to come back the following year. Little did the family know that I wanted to come back regardless, I loved the job, the station, the family and the kids, I was hooked. Mind you I think they may have cottoned on to this fact as it has taken almost another 2 1/4 years for the schoolroom and quarters to be completed ... patience is a virtue. Mind you in saying this, this is my final year with the family. It is time to take a new direction in my life and travel a road I haven't taken (this may or may not have to do with meeting a certain Sparky).

The new quarters/ schoolroom and the main house ... see I haven't gone far.

My new home ... right next door to the schoolroom (so I can roll out of bed and dawdle into work)

(A quarters tour to come a later date ... when I have found a home for some of the stuff sitting in the middle of the floor.)

Yum, Yum!

Friday afternoon the kids and I made desert for everyone on the station ... and it was YUMMY!

We made Black Forest Parfaits using chocolate cake, cherries, strawberry jelly and cream.

The kids also found a baby bird flapping around on the ground. They put it back in its nest and straight away the little adventurer flapped right back out so the kids put it in a bush to hide out.

Lastly, I moved my book collection to the quarters and Miss S has been salivating over it. She couldn't believe I had that many (I swear her jaw hit the floor when I told her that was a very small part of my collection) and decided that we should get along quite well because of it ... I guess she forgot that we have been getting along just fine for over 2 and a 1/4 years.

Good Morning

Good morning to you and may your day be beautiful.

Exciting news ... the mail came yesterday. According the Stretch our mail man it is a bit wet out there. 'Don't drive off the road' is his warning, as he told us that there is water everywhere. Apparently the road to school is washed away and unusable.

Our mail delivery service.



Yesterday afternoon Boss R and the Flying Whizz went to check out how far up the road in the opposite direction they could get without getting bogged. Apparently they didn't get bogged, good thing to as the wise men didn't take a uhf with them.

Also Boss R and Boss H finished the veranda rails on the schoolroom/quarter,s which is brilliant even though they did keep shorting out our power with the saws, grrr. Not very handy when doing on air lessons.

The schoolroom/quarters with the front veranda rails done.



Yesterday morning the flying whizz went for a whirl in one of his wonderful flying contraptions. It had the kids running from one veranda to the other to check him out. Mr T was pretty excited, he loves anything that flies, making the Flying Whizz his idol.

The Flying Whizz ... much more interesting than school.



The day before yesterday, we had our Munchy Monday and this is what we made ...

We used a recipe sent out in the school work for Gingerbread Men and I have to say it is a pretty good recipe. I think next time I would put in more ginger but they turned out beautifully. Well done little bakers.

Cutting out our gingerbread people.

Yumm! Smells so good.

Icing our gingerbread people.

In more school news Mr E (yr1) has been learning about addition. He uses an addition mat where he makes the 2 groups and then moves them down to the answer area to count how many there are altogether. Yesterday he got to write the 'add' sign in his work and thinks himself rather clever.

Mr E doing addition.

Mr T keeping occupied making trains.

Mr E and Mr T playing with the puzzles that came in yesterdays mail.

The Rainbow and the Dancing Pig

Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

This was written late on Thursday night, OK so I just couldn't be bothered altering my grammar ;)

As I sit here listening to the rain hammering down on the tin roof, thinking about how lovely it will be to fall asleep to the sound of a wet season that has finally arrived, I thought it was as good a time as any to blog away.

This afternoon, before we had a shower of rain, there was a full rainbow filling the sky. Now that is a sure reminder to appreciate the beauty around us.

Dancing pig you ask ... yes I know unbelievable but today I witnessed a pig dancing in the rain and playing in the puddles.

The little, black pig was twirling, jumping and flipping in the mud.

And now for some school news ...

Today Mr E got to learn about counting $1 and $2 coins. The clever chicken even managed to count how much money there was in $2 coins. After yesterdays coin examining today was much more fun and challenging.

He also got to try out adding using bears and did his first ever look, say, cover, write, check for spelling. I think he really enjoyed the thinking challenges today and seems to be settling into year 1 well, even if attention wanders quite a lot. Most of all however he loved a learning object he got to do today where he had to add descriptive words about things on the farm. Now that had him in fits of giggles.

Miss E and Mr R are pretty settled into into year 4 but finding the work load a little overwhelming on occasion. They both love the increase in computer use but are pretty sick of filling in poetry analysis sheets, not that I blame them after filling one out every day for 2 weeks. Otherwise I think they also are enjoying they challenges of their new work. They have been working pretty independently as well which has me highly impressed. All my insistence of doing it themselves for the last two years is paying off but dare I say it, this means I actually had time to stare at the wall and think 'what now?' when all where working well (and using the computers so I couldn't even catch up on all that scanning I need to do).

Miss S is having a love hate relationship with her school work. Her maths at the moment is taking a lot of time hence the hate but she also will admit to loving the challenges. Yr 7 along with the other year levels are using quite high level language in the work to be read and the questions asked. When Miss S is having problems it is usually because she doesn't understand the question rather than not understanding the concept. She is really enjoying having her reign with descriptive language in her English work. Unfortunately we have been unable to get her science to work so have yet to try it out properly.

On Wednesday afternoon we got out the craft stuff so that Miss E, Miss S and Mr T could be creative.

Mr E and Mr R deserted us to give the men's work a go, digging the sewage pit for the quarters. They thought they were just it and did a great job.

After creating an artwork with "four" stars on it Mr T had a ball cutting up a piece of paper into confetti like pieces. I now know who to call on now if I need anything shredded.

As of today the quarters are now getting railings on the veranda, have furniture in the bedroom and have the splash backs and shower grouted. All doorways are now finished and the corners have been put on the outside walls. It is looking GREAT! So close :)

Best News

I haven't written a new post in a while so there is a bit to cover ... or I could just skip to the best bit. Now that sounds like a good idea to me.
So here goes ... tomorrow is the BIG DAY, the first day in our new schoolroom. Finally after waiting nearly 2 years the kids and I finally have a new school room with space and storage WOOHOO!

The outside doesn't look much different to this ... still needs a bit of work.

After moving most of the stuff from the old schoolroom over yesterday and Friday I am amazed at how much we managed to fit in our tiny little room (which by the way doesn't look anywhere near as tiny now that all that stuff and the desks has been moved out).

This boss tried out the blackboard.

A bit messy while moving.

Our old schoolroom was a small room off the kitchen in the main house. It had a walkway through it into the house and a servery that went into the kitchen = constant distractions. I don't know what I will do though when all the kids are working independently because now the boss won't be there to chat to. She doesn't know what she'll do either without me distracting her and with all the quiet.

The cupboards.

The shelves were for the computers

I am sure we will rearrange everything a few times until we work out what works best.

Now I am just waiting on the quarters. I think I have a bit of waiting left. Now back to moving in.