Saturday

Day's end: sitting out on the Kyogle Motel front verandah - listening to the chirping of insects - or is that frogs - off in the near distance and the teenagers in Room 1. And Michael saying he was wearing thick socks to keep the bikies away - well that was what Sooz heard - he actually said bities - otherwise there would be something he could be sharing with the anti-bikie task force!

As planned, we made it to Kyogle in time to take three of Lo's friends in our car to rollerblading. There were 11 of us in total - but we only had to pay for the 9 kids because, as the man told us "they don't charge parents to watch". Today is Lo's 15th birthday and I think the rollerblading was a good way to celebrate - and it was very entertaining to watch - and fascinating to see how they just kept persisting going around the rink time after time trying to "get it". It wasn't as entertaining to watch Lo kissing her 18-year-old boyfriend - in fact, it was a bit confronting ... actually a lot confronting. As Sooz told me she had boyfriends when she was 13 but that doesn't make it any easier to see. I can remember when Lo was one year old, sitting in a high chair - and the only thing she was interested in was the chicken leg she had in her hand - and the other one in her other hand. They grow up way too fast.

It was a very early start this morning - we were up at 4:45 am and as I was packing the car soon after I heard a voice saying "It's all right Little One - it's just like going to work - just more fun" ... and it was me!

Birthday presents

Dinner with Louise and her friends was interesting. They had spent the afternoon watching movies while Sooz and I had caught up on some of the sleep we missed out on this morning ... and, of course, because of the time change, I have no idea what time it was/is and I exhaust myself trying to work it out. I can only imagine what time I will actually be on Skype to talk with Tr in the morning.

Pat showed us a photograph he purchased at Eumundi Markets while they were on the Sunshine Coast recentlyt ... it was of a plane flying through a hangar at the Amberly Airforce base. It is a fake ... where some airmen jacked the plane up in the hangar, and took the photograph while one of them cowered in terror to make it look as though the plane was flying over him. In the darkroom, the struts were "removed" to present the illusion. Not bad "photoshopping" for 1955!

Rollerblading

We were planning to get out and about in Lismore while the kids were rollerblading - there are apparently some good second-hand shops and art gallery around the town - while the kids were rollerblading - but we decided not to. We stayed ... Sooz read the Sydney Morning Herald on the iPad while I took photographs of the kids ... and the other children on the rink. Some of them were very very good ... some of them, not so much - but at least they were out there giving it a go. I thought about it ... but that's as far as it went.

We are staying in "the house" tonight and as we walked home it didn't take much to notice that the house across the road has indeed started their festive season ... it is alight with Christmas lights. It's good ... because we wanted to see Xmas lights tonight - Kyogle is usually good for them - but I didn't want to have to drive around to find them.