Big changes

While I was away in Europe momentous changes were coming up in Melbourne and the girls savoured some sweet communal times before Jessye's departure for Howqua.

Tuesday January 30th finally arrived and Jessye said goodbye to Kasi, Eleanor and Fred and Barney before Peter, Rosie and Sophie took her to school to catch the 7:15 am bus.

Three days later it was Rosie's big day, her first day in Year 7 at Methodist Ladies College. Peter tried valiantly to get some good first day pics. Sophie was by this time already back at North Fitzroy Primary in Year 4 quite the assured and confident young madam who happily takes herself there and back on the tram when required which is at least half the time.

A couple of days after I got back from Europe it was sadly time to farewell Kasi who had done a stirling job of housekeeping, dog-training and everything else that needed doing at Nicholson St.

On Feb 13 Years 4, 5 and 6 from Sophie's school had their swimming carnival. Sophie swam 50 metres freestyle and 50 metres breaststroke in the 10-yr-old girls' category. She was a year younger than most of the girls but this was the youngest age-group available (age taken at December '07) because there weren't enough Sophie's age to have their own race. She hadn't swum in a 50m pool before but was pretty confident she could last the distance. She swam very well and in fact came a respectable 5th in the breaststroke.

The next day MLC celebrated its 125th Anniversary. Usually the main gates are closed for security purposes and are only opened about once a year or on special occasions and this was one of those. Everybody was invited to walk through the gates and shake hands with Rosa Storelli, the Principal, who seems to be a very impressive and charismatic woman, judging from the handful of times I've heard her speak. She was giving out special 125th Anniversary badges - they're quite big on badges at MLC. There was a whole school assembly on the oval (which is rectangular) and parents were invited to attend.

We were invited to visit Howqua for a couple of hours on Saturday Feb 17th, just short of 3 weeks since Jessye had left. We made a day of it, lunching in Mansfield along with many other families also on their way to visit their daughters. Jessye was in fine form and chatted non-stop while showing us around in great detail starting with her bunk, then the rest of her house. The girls seem to be doing very well and look to be quite settled in although Jessye said it was hard at first. One of her good friends who has the neighbouring bunk was quite upset at the beginning and so was getting package after package from home to cheer her up. This whetted Jessye's apetite for packages so we try to send her bits and pieces quite regularly. We've certainly enjoyed getting her letters.

We then toured the rest of the campus starting with the main building containing the big dining hall and a downstairs "dungeon" with a small gym in one corner and sofas for the occasional movie night or social occasion. We checked out a classroom and Jessye showed us where she practises the drums and occasionally the viola.

One of Jessye's housemates has a blowup kangaroo on display but NZ is well represented with a small bungying sheep hanging from the window and an All Black scarf Jessye's tacked to the wall. After a couple of hours it was time to leave but parting wasn't so bad because we knew we'd see each other in 6 days when the girls came home for their first "exeat".

Luckily for me I had two weeks off following the European tour because I came back with tennis elbow and have been seeing a very good physio since. It's almost completely gone now and I've been back at work playing the second week of our outdoor concerts. The first week of those was led by none other than the NZSO's concertmaster and my old quartet mate, Vesa. After his last concert he stayed an extra day and we took him out to eat in Lygon St after driving him around the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park (Vesa's a fanatic because there's a Finn who's a contender).

Jessye had our old Casio pocket camera with her at Howqua and took some great pics of her country life. She's angling for a better one so she can do video as well. We'll see...... In case you're wondering, "A Rob" on their heads stands for their house, Arthur Robinson House and I'm not sure why they dressed up in garbage bags.

Last Friday, Jessye came home and wanted to do nothing the whole 5 days but lie on the sofa and watch TV. She didn't even want to go out to eat. She was revelling in being able to do nothing for hours on end because their time is pretty structured at Howqua. On Saturday night, however, Peter and the girls came to the last of the Myer Bowl concerts mainly to see the fireworks at the end.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Rosie for 6 days because she's gone to Banksia, about 3 hours away I think, for her class's get-to-know-each-other camp.

Jessye managed to get up off the sofa for a brief shopping trip for a few basics and to visit San Churro in Brunswick St then on Wednesday morning it was time to pack her off on the 7:15 am bus again. This time it was just me to wave goodbye and only one bag to take. For the next few days with Jessye gone for another month and Rosie at camp, Sophie is experiencing being an only child!