The Royal Melbourne Show

It was time for the annual Melbourne Show during the holidays and Wilma was event coordinator this year, her first time to the Show. The girls had already studied the internet and carefully chosen which "showbags" they would be buying. In the early days of the Show when it was purely agricultural, showbags were free giveaways of various bits and pieces but now they are predominantly filled with sugar and cost $4 - $15 each. With Greer and Joey also along for the excursion, the car was heavily laden with a year's supply of goodies on the way home.

There was a spinning, swooping hang-gliding simulating ride and the bungyish jumping thing which the girls enjoyed. Wilma sat these out and babysat the showbags on the sideline. Other highlights were the cake-decorating display and the animal nursery where children could hold and pet the animals. There were also small pens containing sheep in various stages of late pregnancy including one in a darkened glass-fronted room called the birthing chamber who was due to give birth that day. I guess if one stuck around long enough one could witness the event. Next door to her was a brand new Mum in an open pen with her three new lambs who were less than two hours old. Rosie and Joey had a birthday party to attend that evening so the girls had to limit their visit to the Show to a mere six hours after which Wilma's supply of cash had long since disappeared along with the considerable sum she'd borrowed from Rosie and Sophie after hers ran out. Still, a great time was had by all.

Last Wednesday Rosie had an MRI, the first one since her radiotherapy. Wilma phoned Wirginia to get the results on Monday. Wirginia sounded very pleased with how it looked. She said the swelling around the AVM was pretty much gone and it was now possible to see the veins clearly. This MRI will be the one they use to compare with future ones to monitor the AVM. Unless something untoward happens the next one will be in six months.

Back online

We have had a computer meltdown and Internet problems, so we now have a backlog of news.

A couple of weeks ago Federation Square hosted a New Zealand festival which included an actual waka with genuine Maori warrior types rowing down the Yarra. They posed for the assembled (mostly Kiwi) masses with Wilma's office, the round Concert Hall in the background. We had planned to see the All Blacks v. Wallabies game at the end of the day on the big screen there but Jessye was pretty sick so no go. That meant we also couldn't participate in the largest haka outside NZ which was to take place just before the game.

The next day Rosie and Sophie got the same bug and we got our entertaining after hours doctor over to check them out.

The girls perked up just in time for going to see the Paco Pena flaminco dance troupe and then the grade 5/6 school concert during which Rosie played her violin in a mostly perussion ensemble, twirled hula hoops in her class's item and sang in the grand finale. For some reason her hair was made to almost match her orange T-shirt.

With all 3 on school holiday there's been some time to loiter down town and play on a favourite work of art which decorates the lawn outside the Concert Hall.