The Stanthorpe Wine Makers Dinner

I have been invited to assist with the catering for the Small Wine Makers Dinner!.

This is an Annual event held in Stanthorpe and is quite a big deal.
It is the culmination of a week long expo of wine grown in the district and showcases the wineries and the best vintage.

I loved participating last year. And this year is shaping up to be just as big!

Previously the dinner had been held in the town hall and now it is held in the Queensland Wine College. Which is an innovative creation of the Stanthorpe high school principle.

His idea for a college to support the industry in the area came to fruition last year with the first function to open the venue being the small wine makers dinner.

The Dinner is the perfect opportunity to introduce a dining experience for Stanthorpe wine makers that has been unknown in Stanthorpe untilnow. A chance to really spoil the vinters and victualers. It is also the only occasion when the entire wine making district is in one place celebrating , It is their night of nights.

My Sister turned 40

This week, My mum went to Qld to spend some time with my sister.
Anjasa celebrated her 4oth birthday with the 'lations and all the cussies and cussy bros'
they had a barbie and a top time. catchin' up and sharing stories.

Then mum returned -missed her flight and was late for lunch , phoning me from Sydney complaining that she will never Fly Qantas again, cos the staff are rude and unhelpful, and obstructionist and that is being kind about them.
She is abit of an international jet setter and other smaller airlines are far superior to the service she received on Sunday.
So she missed our lunch date, and we enjoyed a late lunch instead together with Evan Ishta and the fam' in Canberra watching Dr Who together and talking about gaming and movies and music cos she just saw the Gunners(guns 'n' roses ) in concert last weekend in Sydney and loved it! (Back in the eighties, Nanny would hang the washing on the line with her infrared ear phones on and sing along to Gun's n'Roses, at top note! )she doesn't hold back my mum. Loves her fun and life and travelling.

Mum (Nanny) and Paula both flew out of Sydney today for America.
A very busy jet setting life they lead.
Have fun i'm sure we'll read about it . They bought 'dragon naturally speaking' so they can talk about what they are witnessing and blog the whole experience. great for their taravel blog.

Parties Parties Parties

What is it about Parties that make Aussie men so incredibly irresponsible?



My Boys, ( Sebastian and Sebs' best mate since school, Daniel ) went to celebrate the birthday of a local girl , she came of age on Wednesday last week and her friend put on a party for her in the "big Smoke" Toowoomba on Saturday night.



The Lads drove from the outskirts of Tara which is a couple of hours out of Toowoomba to buy some nice "stepin 'out" gear, for the party they had been invited to,Being metro types from Bris- vegas and shopaholics at that ,they took advantage of the 1/2 yearly sales and spent up large, on nice fitting kengi, country road , kelvin klein, boss blah blah you get the idea, yeah?

These boys might live in the bush, but they know how to dress.
They wear such beautiful clothes and take really good care of themselves. And they sleep on 6oo thread count sheets, not many men , who aren't alternative lifestylers, know how to buy luxury, but these boy do.



They arrived at the venue, and because they have been 'workin' out' running and weight training, (Daniel is a footballer with the Redcliffe Dolphins) and is small and quick and Seb is a big lad.
because of his size he was introduced to the Mums and Dads and chatted in the Kitchen and hung out with the uncles and other family members telling stories of adventures past, while Daniel ran around under the radar (like the other kids).



Some one made a big mistake , called well dressed football playing Daniel 'GAY' .
And 6 men had to pull him away from the poor unfortunate fool, ..however... those six morons (sorry but when the bevvy's flow , some men can't just break up a lovers tiff they have to sink the boot in themselves) and after providing a face massage each, they then proceeded to re-arrange Daniels body and probably feel really proud of themselves.
Having cast aspersions on his sexuality, ribbing him, teasing the boy, because he dresses well and had all of the women dancing with him, because he has rhythm and can really move (if he can dance upright what can he do horizontally?) The big question.



His 'metro' behaviour sure upset the, flanny, no teeth , monosyllabic, limited imagination set

and Daniel was dragged across a table full of glasses : all of his back is sliced open. and his arm is cut from the wrist bone to his elbow. His head requires stitches and he was concussed .



Alcohol is a dangerous and vile beverage when a simple comment makes men behave so violently, spoil a birthday party and land a young man in hospital for defending his right to be , live, have fun , dance, enjoy the attention of women as much as they enjoy him, (he is a ladies man and in Brisbane night clubs moves among the girls and they love it!)

At Ayla's Birthday, he overheard some boy with a stick getting a little outa hand and stopped any nonsense, but this time, he was moving with the girls on the dance floor and parading his magnetism showing off to the bush pigs. they didn't like it and removed him.

Shame because then the boys went to hospital, Daniel vomited everywhere because of the concussion, had stitches in his arm and head, and his back is bandaged , no running for Daniel or weight lifting for a while, and as for dancing, Mc hammer crab is resting and recovering.
get better Daniel, at least you have a peaceful place in the bush to recover in, no smog, no pollution no worries.

Demelza has an interesting and traumatic day at school

Once again the evening meal is enjoyed together and we discuss the events of the day.

Demelza produced a letter from the school, from her lap, ( no one leaves the table during meal times. not to collect art work or newsletters or anything, newsletters are not included in the family time we share over our evening meal, but Demelza convinced both Shaun and I to listen to the explanation).
The surprise on my face prompted her to say it's "ok mum ,just hang on, it's about something really important that happened at school today".

Bullying ,.blah, blah, blah. A child has been bullied for some years at the school, and having modern technology, called his dad when a particularly unsettling bout of bullying was in session.

In he olden days (before the wheel and mobile phones were invented , we would tell our folks after school, and they would say, Ill come and fix them up! you just go to the office and call me if it happens again, and I'll be there, in fact tomorrow I'm commin to the school and I'll sort out the principle!

Well, we live in the now!, and this boy called Dad and older Brother who came immediately and sorted out the bullying student with a few love taps, and a few teachers while they where at it and then the Police arrived and got a good sorting out to!

When the screaming stopped and the school was in a whole school assembly, one particularly silly boy, who thought he might jump on the "terrorism" bandwagon, and gesture to the police officers on stage, an act of violence with a weapon, a long arm or as it had a recoil .

The police officers didn't take the gesturing in fun in any way shape or form, and stepped outside with the lad (potential lawbreaking nuisance) for a little counselling.

It was unsettling for both students and teachers.

We have a right to expect to go to work in a safe secure environment, and not have to endure bullying, and the ugly consequences of some of the behaviours that once where common place and accepted as par for the course "a little bullying makes you grow".

So our evening meal became a bit of a challenge as we sorted through the effect on Demelza of this insecurity issue.

Thankfully the police will patrol the grounds and attempt to maintain some discipline and order.

The world is turning to shit.

And there is no point informing Demelza of "When I was a student", she retorts with "Back in the 80s", when no one had any rhythm and everything was covered in sugar and life was heaps slower and not much was gonna hurt you."
Now everything is harmful, there are no freedoms, and life is fast.

her observations of life now were kind of confirmed when we viewed catalyst.
The program was about The Heart. How pressure, stress, drinking to excess and smoking ciggies is no longer any good for you ( where is the fun of living now?) and I kinda felt my heart was breaking.

No fun any more, and the kids live in a shitty world of fear, at school , at the bus stop, any public space, forget the nuclear energy /war debate, and the doomsday clock, that we as kids concerned ourselves with , that is remote stuff, the kids are just dealing with the everyday trawl of bullies and police in the school, and ineffective policies in the education arena that can allow this travesty to occur in the first place!

I know the girls will be stronger for this experience and better equiped to manage themselves, and I now understand why Ayla and Seb won't return to Canberra.

Planning Day

Yesterday was spent at a local Club with the members of my team for "Planning Day".
Being new in this organisation, I wondered if I might be overzealous or trying to hard?, I have always believed enthusiasm is important and so I made plenty of contributions.

I learnt a great deal about my role in the organisation.

It was strictly business, and we had a tremendous amount of work to get through, and surprisingly we achieved it by 4.00pm. through loads of discussion, drafting up plans and re-evaluating our present process, and analysing the information.

By close of the meeting we all decided we had achieved above expectations .

A very fruit full and productive day.

Ishta and Ayla are both in Hospital!

I have two girls in hospital,

Ishta is in Canberra, with abdominal pain
She is on a morphine drip and pretty incoherent right now, the Health profffessionals are doing
some tests.

Evan phoned to inform me of developments and stayed at Ishta's bedside until he was invited to go and get some rest. He has kept me updated each day, of her progress, and at this point her recovery is slow, but we'll encourage her and talk at length about what could be upsetting her system so much, some times fresh eyes can uncover clues to a mystery, and this is certainly a mystery

And

Ayla has been taken to Toowoomba Hospital 2 hours from
Stanthorpe by Ambulance to have the bumps on her head read, she was hit by
a bottle on friday night, a tall beer bottle was thrown at her by some
youths in a passing car, she collapsed and was taken to Royal Brisbane
Hospital, and then discharged, saturday afternoon.

On Monday she fainted and an ambulance took her to the closest regional hospital and back again, she will be watched closely by
medical practitioners, for the next few days. The concern is a blood clot above her left eye is creating some nuisance for her, with dizzy spells recurring and headache.

The Girls are both so lucky to have partners who have the presence of mind to have called us the moment there was something wrong.

They are both lovely caring boys, and we are very proud to have them in our family.

I want to thank the medical staff who work so diligently putting people back together, we are so lucky and so very grateful.

Queensland Wins the State of Origin series

Mr Cole and Demelza have a friendly wager over which state will win the

State Of Origin Challenge .

Demelza supports the New South Wales team and Mr Cole Queensland .

The wager is a Mars Bar.



Mr Cole will get two Mars Bars in the Mail by next week, as Queensland won both matches.

so a Mars Bar per win and one for taking the series.

There is always Next year and she says "we will win then".

She anticipates her Mars bar windfall.

Look out next year Mr Cole.!

National schools week

Some weeks ago, Demelza was invited to participate in the

National Safe Schools Week Television Campaign.

As well as appearing on T.V, she received a wrist band, a drink bottle, writing pad and school Bag.

The campaign is about Safe schools and outlawing bullying.

Finally a National Campaign to stop Bullying at school !
We are becoming a Peace builders .

She was exited and of course we have recorded the advertisement


There is unfortunately too much bullying at school.. even in this enlightened age.
Ce'nedra is being bullied at Isabella.
Inside the classroom, a child painted Cenedra's uniform with yellow paint or permanent marker
on her back, great strips of yellow on her back, the teacher isn't aware of what is happening in the class.
A boy is throwing rocks at her, after school at the bus stop.

The other day, she was playing with a little friend while waiting for the bus home , and some children accused her of swearing at them , they told their accompanying adult , who then used disgusting language at both she and her friend, and this is outside the school grounds!! to a NINE year old!! What the??

In Glen Aplin, The teachers maintained their responsibility for the students of their School community until every child left the school grounds. A teacher was on duty at lunch time, interval periods, and at the bus stop after school ensuring the safety of students, Caring for their kids, no adults swearing outside the school grounds at the children there.


Demelza's school has it's own unique issues around bullying,

Teacher's who encourage bullying.

A girl in Dee's class was smacked on the rump by a boy, the teacher requested and apology for the girl, the boy refused, so the teacher invited the girl to smack him with a metal ruler!

Any day of the week, Demelza's school has visitors from neighbouring schools , to "bash" someone, sometimes the visitors drive into the school grounds, on to the tennis courts and playing fields, other times they walk into the school buildings searching for whom ever it is they want to cause harm to.

Yesterday, Demelza encountered two such visitors,from a school on the otherside of Canberra, and informed the nearest teacher, who shouted at the visitors, and then asked Demelza if the intruders had been smart to her?
To which Demelza said 'yes', and the teacher continued a tirade about being cheeky!?..
and told them to leave.
What did those kids learn from that I wonder?

What happened to being marched off to the office?...,parents called?, as the visitors were only 15 years old, and should have been at school,. ..The police involved, truancy, trespassing, criminal intent etc etc??
There is this huge incongruency and divide in guidlines. An inconsistent approach to guiding the kids of today.

Our civic leaders make war on others who are different for any number of tenuous reasons, so I suppose the children are only following their example, and it doesn't make for a safe secure place to live, when there doesn't seem to be any rules or consequences for misguided choices.

The Burglary!!

We were burgled on Sunday evening !

The Police came over last night to take our statements and information about what was stolen.

It is is sort of timely because leading up to this event, Demelza has been immersing herself in Oceans 11 and 12 and saying she wants to be a criminal mastermind!

At Dinner the other night, she asked if we would still like her if she stole from people?!!
Of course we said we would still like her, but would be uncomfortable with her behaviour.
I am guilty of closing the door and not locking anything up.

And neither Shaun nor I are not completely across what the insurance policies we have, actually cover.
So, Sunday evening, Demelza went to late lunch with Nanny and Paula.
Shaun, Cedie and I went to civic to Borders Books and to the pastry shop and came home.

We all converged on the front door together.
I opened the screen door and said to Demelza "why are you outside?... the door is open."
She says,"eh?" "Ive just got home" .
I do a double take.,
Shaun says "Did you close the door when you left this afternoon?"
I insist I did,..then I see the window is smashed and our belongings are strewn everywhere!

Our thieves must only be kids, because they took the portable DVD, without adapters for the car as they were thrown into the garden, the battery is flat and runs in the socket in front of car, and the ear phones were on the ground.

Demelzas phone also had a flat battery, it was laying on her bed, they stole it but didn't take the charger,and they stole some DVD's lord of the rings Harry Potter, and other movies:, Apocalypse now, usual suspects etc.

It is kind of disturbing. Demelza was very distressed to think someone had been through her "smalls" and rumaged through her belongings.

The paper delivery girl, is Demelzas little friend and saw the light on and heard shouting so she didn't come in to see Demelza so we have given that information to the police.

Pretty eventful and sad too, but Demelza doesn't want to be a thief anymore, I will shut and lock everything in future and Shaun and I are investigating what our insurance policy covers.
lessons in everything yeah?!

The two enormous police officers...
( they take up a lot of room, Policemen, like they have inflatable vests on or maybe it is just the jackets are full of paraphernalia walkie talkie, GPS, donuts (don't be rude!),
..said we are lucky they didn't take the computer and T.V etc.

My jewelery was on the bed, but may be they were spooked or didn't think they should take it, a twinge of conscience or something? I'm grateful they didn't take it the phone and portable DVD are replaceable but sentimental items aren't.

So we are lucky.
Anyway, never a dull moment!