Dad's Knee Surgery

My Dad has had knee replacement surgery, so I went to Hollywood (Hospital) to visit him. I drove to Perth yesterday, and stayed the night at my sister Angela's house. I spent the night with her three delightful daughters while she and her husband Ray went out to a dinner. I visited Dad yesterday afternoon and again this morning. He has been in hospital for a week, and should be allowed to go home tomorrow. He seemed pretty weary while I was there, which I guess is understandable after being in bed for seven days.

Mum has been staying at my elder sister Jennifer's place, and going to the hospital every day. The surgery was maybe more stressful for her than it was for Dad.

Here are some photos I took this morning, while Mum tried to make Dad's leg more comfortable for him.

Going to Japan

Sophie and I will be going to Japan in October. Sophie was chosen to be on the Bunbury-Setagaya Student Goodwill Visit 2010, and I volunteered as an adult helper.
Setagaya, in Tokyo, has had a sister city relationship with Bunbury for eighteen years. The trip for students is designed to foster friendships and cultural understanding between the two cities.
For the last six weeks Sophie and I have been busy attending weekly meetings, and also a weekend camp to prepare for the trip. We have got to know the twelve other students and three adults who will be travelling with us. We have learnt a little bit of Japanese, and also what to expect in Japan. It is certainly going to be a full-on ten day visit. The trip even includes a day at Disneyworld in Tokyo. We will be guests of the city of Setagaya, and will be welcomed by the Mayor.
Last night we had the official farewell from the Mayor of Bunbury, David Smith. We met some of the other city councillors, and committee members of the sister city committee. Our group presented the three songs we will be singing when we are in Japan. We will sing for the Mayor and the Assembly, as well as at a school visit and on a couple of other occasions.
Yesterday I had an email informing me of the host family I will be staying with for four days during the visit. The host mother Hiromi said "We have two naughty boys so our home is always lively"! I guess I should fit in quite well there. Two naughty boys must be twice as good as one naughty boy...

Sophie and her school friends inspected the lovely inlaid timber floor in the council chambers.

A family photo

People looked through the scrapbooks that the trip participants had made about themselves.

Hugh on the Quad

I had been planning to take some photos of Hugh on the quad. He looks so cute in his motorbike boots and helmet. He has just started to ride the little four-wheeled motorbike. The brake requires quite a bit of strength, and he needs to use two hands to handle it. Which has never been a problem, until this afternoon. He was riding when it started to rain, and to his credit he thought about putting the bike under shelter. Unfortunately Roger has been putting it on the verandah right up against the glass door at night, so Hugh tried to do the same.
I heard the BANG from the laundry, and I must say that laminated safety glass is a very good thing. There was glass everywhere, but the little shattered pieces were fairly easy to clean up.
I didn't get the photo of Hugh wearing his helmet, gloves and boots, as he had fled the scene by the time I got my camera.

Smoke on the horizon

This is a very hastily stitched image showing the smoke that was blocking the sun yesterday afternoon. All fire restrictions have been lifted since the rain so there have been many fires - farmers burning stubble and cleaning up paddocks ready for seeding. This fire yesterday however was a controlled burn to clear the understory in state forest so that there is less risk of wild fires next summer.

Kittens

For the last few years there has been a black cat which has been sighted only very occasionally around the sheds on the farm. At first when the kids told me there was a black cat I didn't believe them, and thought that they must have seen a rabbit or something else that looked like a cat. But seeing is believing, so since the day I saw it with my own eyes (about a year after the kids told me about it) I have believed in the existence of the black cat, although we have only ever seen it four or five times...
Sometimes when we arrive home in the dark the children beg me to drive around the sheds shining the car headlights to see if we can spot the mysterious black cat. And a couple of times we have.
Then yesterday Matthew and his friend Jake were getting sheep manure from under the shearing shed and guess what they found? Three little kittens!
They brought the kittens up to the house (in the wheelbarrow) for everyone to look at, and then took them back. In the short time they had them, the kids named the kittens Timmy, Tommy and Escapee.

Matthew with a cute kitten

Up close and personal

Odette checking one out

Hugh.

Joyce (helpX) with a kitten

Cute little kittens...

Wild animal!

Since the discovery of the kittens there has been much discussion about the ethics of kittens - should they be humanely destroyed? Should they be left to become feral animals which prey on small native marsupials and birds? Is it a good thing to have stray cats around the sheds to keep the mice and rats down? Should they be left to grow up and then be used as target practice for shooters?
At the moment the kittens are under the shed, on their way to become feral pests; or farm vermin control, depending on which way you look at it.