bike

I taught Ella how to ride her bike 'inout training wheels' (as she says).

Homeless World Cup - Melbourne 2008

So what are you two up to then?

Well we are eating some chips and then we are off to see the
Homeless World Cup.

A mini-stadium set up in Birrarung Marr. 56 nations competing. 15 minutes games.
This is Australia playing Zimbabwe.

At first it's boiling hot and we are running back to the car for forgotten hats and suncreen.
Then suddenly - a little rainstorm - just ten minutes. The little stadium cleared but we sheltered at the back underneath the flags. It was lovely. Soon it stopped.

Ella afterwards asked 'what is homeless?' And 'who won?'
Everyone.

house-bound house-found 2

Ale's birthday star, Ella's skirt design, love bag, alphabet, bye-bye in chinese, Ella's jobs, cupboard of tiny found things, Blondie lyrics, and Proper Moments for Drinking Tea ...

christmas crafty plans (present ideas carefully hidden), collage dragon (from school), recipe for 'icky-sticky fruit pops', paintings, mandala

Folding girls, dolphins, people and stars - a project with Nana.

Ella's recycling talk

Ella did a talk on recycling at the Storytime session at our local library today. Walking along one day Ella saw some rubbish on the ground and was wondering why people didn't recycle their rubbish. We talked about how some people don't know about recycling or how important it is. She wrote to the children's librarian, her friend Jeanette, and asked if she could do a talk on recycling to the kids at Storytime. Jeanette thought that was a great idea. Ella planned how it would go and we made a poster and she designed an activity for the kids (colour in the recylable and stick it on the recycling truck). She was so nervous, but there was no question she was going ahead with it. She's a strong, smart girl. My heart swelled to see her growing into herself so beautifully.

Aerosol Arabic and Crooked Rib

We walked up Spark Lane to see this fantastic street art project starting up. The Crooked-Rib team were sitting in the lane cutting a stencil of a verse from the Koran. The verse describes how, even if the river flows abundantly, it is best to take only as much water as you need. They had picked it because they felt it was relevant for Melbourne today. They said it was difficult cutting the script - lots of swirls and curls - hard on the hands. Aerosol Arabic had just started the mural. It'll be finished next Monday.

sharks are friends

Ella's started a campaign against shark-finning and is learning about sharks ("Sharks are good people"). At the aquarium she could identify the shark species we saw - Port Jackson, Leopard, Carpet and Grey Nurse. We stood among the Grey Nurse sharks, stingrays and large fish in the walk-through tank. She stands proud in her defense of sharks - sees them as beautiful and good, deserving of sympathy and respect, and rejects the popular view of sharks as killers. I heard her telling a boy at the aquarium that they only bite humans "by accident sometimes."

I can do that

Up and up - holding on tight - Ella and Edward have a shot at the climbing wall by the river.