Here she comes!

Debbie is heading our way, though now she is just a Tropical Low but we are expecting quite a bit of rain over the next 24 hours.

Debbie does Queensland.

So... Cyclone Debbie is currently battering the North East Queensland coast below Townsville. She was a Category 4 storm when she hit land but has since been downgraded to Category 3 and most recently Category 2. It is still not known the full extent of the damage as powerlines are down and communications in the area are still cut. It is predicted that she will head further south towards us over the coming days but will weaken further.We may get some more rain!

The end of Isis? (2)

So...we have returned home after a long weekend and Isis is nowhere to be seen. We cannot find any evidence that she has been taken by a fox so we are hoping that she is broody and has gone bush...hopefully she will reappear in about three weeks with chicks.

Sky Blue at the beach.

So...this weekend we were in Brisbane celebrating Andrew's birthday on Saturday and on Sunday we visited Faye and Anne for lunch. Will used to work with Anne at the Kindergarten at Chelmer. It was lovely to catch up with them and Pauline who also worked with Will at the Kindy. Afterwards we headed down the coast to Fingal Head to look for somewhere to camp.Fingal Head was lovely and we discovered it had a causeway like the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland but there were signs everywhere warning people that no camping was allowed or there would be heavy fines. After our walk on the headland we drove on to Kingscliff and found a car park by the river that had no warning signs about camping so decided we would stay there. We drove back to Chinderah to a fish and chip shop that had been recommended but found it was closed. We couldn't believe it because a sign on the door said it was open until 7 pm and it was only 6.30 pm....that was until we realised we had forgotten that it was actually 7.30 pm now as we had crossed the border in New South Wales and we were still on Queensland time.We found a Nepalese and Tibetan restaurant in Kingscliff and ate there and it was great food. We had a night time walk along Kingscliff beach before climbing into Sky Blue and settling down for the night. It was our first time apart from the night we slept in her at Tarcy and Jen's at Christmas. We chose a bad place to park with lights glaring in and should have moved to a darker spot. Cars kept coming and going which we suspected of doing drug deals and a few groups of noisy youths wandered past but it was pretty quiet after midnight. I did get to sleep eventually and woke up with the rain coming in on me as I was sleeping with the window open to get some cool air.The car park started filling up before dawn as loads of fiishermen came with boats on trailers and set off out to see at first light.We got up about 8 and went down to the beach for a swim. Will left his glasses by the shower at the carpark and we drove of without them. (He has tried to chase them up and even posted on the Kingscliff Community Facebook page. Do you know some  kind person on there went down and had a look for them? They were not there.)We headed down the coast to Cabarita Beach, Hastings Point and Pottsville before heading inland. We had brunch in Mullumbimby and then headed home up the Summerland Way.

Tales of the unexpected.

So...last Friday I was back in school in a Y1/Y2 class. It is the same classroom I was in for eight days last year....(except the Squirrel Killer has moved up to a Y3 class)...and the same classroom I will be in for eight days later this year.I knew most of the children, those who were in the classroom last year and were Y1 are still there but now Y2 and the Y1's I taught when they were in Prep last year. They were pleased to see me. The class teacher had texted me the day before to say 'They are excited. It's as if you are a Rock Star!'Still there are some challenging children in there and even though the morning went fairly smoothly by Lunchtime I was wondering if I could really cope with them for eight days in July.The afternoon was kept free for me to plan some art activities and we made Easter bunny masks and then some 3d paper egg decorations to hang on some branches I took in. It was quite frenetic and I bit off, perhaps, more than I could chew but we made it through to hometime without any disasters but I had worked up a sweat.They all trolled off at 3.00 but Maddie, one of the challenging Y2's was left waiting for mummy."Where is my Mum?" she said as I found her waiting on the balcony."I am sure she will be coming" I said, "Do you wait in the classroom for her?""Yes," she smiled.So I took her in and got busy tidying up and hanging the eggs we had made on the branches. Time passed and no Mum appeared and I was just about to ring the office to say that I still had Maddie when a Screaming Banshee hurtled through the door...."WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! YOU'VE HAD THE WHOLE SCHOOL LOOKING FOR YOU!"The Banshee was followed into the classroom by the Principal."Oh, I'm sorry Mum," I said, " I asked Maddie if she waited here in the classroom for you and she said 'Yes'.""I HAD A MEETING YESTERDAY AND I WAS TOLD SHE MAKES TO RUN AWAY FROM SCHOOL AND I THOUGHT SHE HAD. SHE IS SUPPOSED TO WALK OVER THE ROAD TO THE PREP CLASSES AND MEET ME THERE!""Oh, well, I am sorry I did not know that but I do now. She was quite safe here with me. I am sorry you have had a shock. So how does she get over to the prep classes?""On her own. She crosses with the crossing patrol." She had calmed down a bit now."Oh," was all I could manage to reply.So this untrustworthy 7 year old child who apparently could abscond from school at any moment was supposed to walk alone out of school and across the road to the Prep classes over the road. It didn't make sense to me but I didn't care anymore. They could just both micturate off!They went and I was left with the Principal. She just rolled her eyes. "Did you hear that woman?"How could I not!Today  was the first of two days back in Toerag and Fidget's class and I have to say that I think today was the calmest they have ever been with me. They worked really well though I did have to chivvy Fidget along and Toerag did write 'F*$k!' and crossed it out (but not well enough) on his Health assessment sheet but the day went pretty smoothly and the dread I had felt on my journey in turned out to be worry for nothing.The only slight hiccup came just after Toerag said he was going to draw me a car and a T.A came to take him to play a game. He refused to go and there was an awkward standoff which ended with him lying on the floor under his desk and kicking his chair over. It was such a shame because he had been so good upto that point but I could see it escalating and lunchtime was almost upon us. The T.A sensibly backed down and he was free to finish his car but he still wouldn't come out from under the table. He had earned time, by doing the right thing all morning, to play on the Ipad and so I asked him if he would like to use the time he had earned up. This, thankfully, got him (and me) out of a tricky situation.I spoke to the T.A and apologised and said that I hope she didn't feel I was rewarding his bad behaviour over the game (Though to be honest it is an awful game and he is fed up of playing it and he just wanted to draw a car for me) but I felt that he deserved to use the Ipad time he had earned earlier in the day and that it was a separate matter. She agreed.They all went off to do Drama in the afternoon and as a supply teacher they don't pay you to have a free hour so I was sent to a Y3/Y4 class to help. The teacher was the 'Swan' who I told you about last week and her class is awful. Heck, she is good! I told her so when I had a chance."I taught for 27 years full time," I said, " and you are good!"She just laughed shyly.They were doing some Science work and she put me with a boy who was a bit out of sorts."What's the matter I asked?""I keep seeing visions" was his unexpected reply."Visions of what?" I asked."Skulls and bones," he said.I didn't know what to say to that apart from thinking 'OK....another nutter here!'"Let's do some Science work" is the best I could do.