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PAGE 16 - 2007
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samstone.customer.netspace.net.au
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PAGE 16 - 2007
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| HELLO JULIETTE AND LOUISE, and your Mum and Dad, Philippe Mathieu
and Agnes Aboulin. It was great meeting you. I enjoyed our games and I
wished you could have stayed longer. I hope you had a great Christmas,
and are enjoying your trip around Australia. Tonight we watched Seducing
Doctor Lewis on SBS, and Mum and Dad said to thank you for telling
us about the film. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope I can see you again,
maybe at Ningaloo Reef, or maybe Avignon one day. (27/12/07)
HELLO COUSIN SUSAN AND MARIE.
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| NEW YEARS DAY AT SAFETY BEACH
We spent the new year at Uncle Greg and Aunty Nita's house right on the beach at Safety Beach. Cousin Kris, his wife Rachel, and second-cousin Liesel were there also. We also went back again in the middle of the month At the beach we saw jellyfish and I kept washing myself up on the sand on the boogy-board. Thats Mum and Aunty Nita with me at their house on the beach. |
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| Isn't this just the most beautiful bach - crystal clear shallow water, clean sand, and no big waves. A great place for us kids to swim. (This is at Safety Beach, on the south-east side of Port Phillip). | Uncle Greg is watching cousin Leisel and me look at jellyfish at Safety Beach. |
| In January, we went out on Uncle Ray' big boat for a day trip on Port Phillip. I enjoyed being with cousin Leisel, and we saw the seals lying on the pylons. We also went to The Fort in the middle of the bay, and to Queenscliff. | Uncle Ray is Ray Haddrell, brother of Nita Bouker, in turn wife of Uncle Greg, Wendy's brother. Leisel is daughter of Chris and Rachael Bouker. Chris is Greg's son. . |
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| FLYIN' HIGH!!!
Just before school started, Dad's friend David Hill took me up in his aircraft. It was awesome - we flew over our home and I waved to Mum. Dad now goes flying with David and has taken a few photos of where the windfarm is planned to be next to our property. He probably sent me up first to see if David was okay!! Actually Dad didn't want to take the risk, even minor, just for his pleasure, and leave me without a Dad if something went wrong but he had been up a few times now and enjoys it.
The top-right photo is looking
east, and just shows our home amongst the trees on the left of the road,
beyond the hay shed on the left also, and an old unused dairy on the right.
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The bottom photos are looking west, showing Ingles Road. Our home is that on the straight bit of unmade road, about halfway along, on the right, surrounded on two sides by trees. The horizontal line of tees follows Stoney Creek. Our neighbours want to put nine huge 120 metre high wind turbines on the beautiful hill above the creek tree line. It is hard to get the impression from these aerial shots, but this is a bautiful valley, and we have a delightful rural view looking north, north-east and north-west. How anyone could possibly want to destroy this landscape beats me, but then its all a matter of dollars. |
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| BIRTHDAY TIME | |
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| And a shot of
Dad for a change, taken downstairs in Federal Coffee Palace.
And me again, helping Dad
build the guest room ensuite, and at piano practice.
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| RUDIE AND
HELMUT VISIT
In March, Dad's fish friends came to visit. Rudie Kuiter and Helmut Debelius are two of the worlds top ichthyologists and authors. They write and publish for the IKAN series of books. Ikan means fish in Indonesian. I played cricket with Helmut, who lives in Germany. Cricket is not played in Germany but Helmut Debelius was quite keen to give it a go. Whereas I am sure he would prefer to bowl a maiden over, he was aghast at the thought of no balls, refused to field in slips, and prefered the wicket-keepers role in a loud Hawaiian shirt whilst I hit a four off a googley by Dad.
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| In March, Dad had to go to Melbourne to spread the ashes of his good friend Terry Arnott over Port Phillip. We all went down and | stayed at our favourite hotel, All Seasons Botanic opposite the Shrine in St Kilda Road. Our room overlooked the park. |
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Dad's getting fancy with the shot I took of him at the Flame at the Shrine. He has superimposed the background shot of the shrine over my photo of him. |
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| TARRA FESTIVAL
EASTER PARADE AT YARRAM It was on again during Easter with lots of floats, and great fun. Yarram Primary School's float had the theme of Nemo, and Mum dressed up as Nemo. Here she leads a sea-serpent around the corner at our building. I am one of the feet. You can see me there with my mate James. |
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| SAM, THE COMMEDIAN.
In May Sam was part of the school play held at the Regent Theatre in town. It was written and staged by the kids, under the direction of Cline, a director and producer at eye2eye Theatre in Stratford. Like so many parents, I (Dad) attended (Mum was also there, as a teacher). The theatre was packed with kids, teachers and parents. Sam was dressed up in his favourite builder's gear, but before the show seemed to be hanging back from the rest of the kids, at the stage steps. I thought nothing of it at the time. At a signal from Cline, the theatre quietened ready for the start, and Sam marched out to face the audience - and started a comedy routine, telling kids jokes and riddles. He moved from one side of the audience to the other as a real pro, full of confidence. The audience didn't realise what was happening for the first riddle or two, and then got into the spirit of things and laughed as they realised what Sam was doing. I was astounded, caught completely by surprise, and forgot to take a photo. (The one here is scanned off someone else's image, hence the poor quality). He then rejoined his mates in the school play, to a great ovation. He's a gutsy kid, as they all are, and I found out later that it was his idea to 'warm the audience up', and he prepared his routine. He has no stage fright like most kids and I hope he doesn't lose his confidence as he gets older. Great effort Sam; little wonder that we are proud of you.
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| Brothers in Arms.
Sam with his two 'brothers', Jake and Braydon, at the school play. The three boys are good mates. They were born all within a few week of each other; their parents attended the same pre-natal sessions. They are now in the same class at Yarram Primary. Us parents hope they will always be friends and stick up for each other. |
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In
May 2007, Cousin Jonny Hamilton came to visit. I had not seen Cousin Johnny
for many years, and Dad came and got me from school and we went home for
a while.Cousin Johnny lives in Perth so we dont get to see her much. She
is really nice, and came over to see Cousin Betty (her sisiter) in a nursing
home.
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Johnny is the daughter of Aggie and Maurie Jeffs, formerly of West Brunswick. Aggie is the sister of Richard Stone, Sam's grandfather. Johnny's husband was Ian, who passed away several years ago in Perth. Photos show Sam with Johnny, and Dad with Johnny, on or from the 'north terrace' as we call it. |
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| Uncle Greg and Auntie Nita visited in May. We love seeing them and always have a good time. Uncle Greg played football with me. | |
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Uncle Greg is Mum's brother. |
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| PHILLIP ISLAND
Well, it wasn't exactly Singapore, but at least we got to go overseas. After Dad was hospitalised with another heart problem, we had to cancel our trip to Singapore just two weeks before leaving during the school holidays in July. I was disappointed but we will go next year. After Dad came out of hospital with a bionic shoulder - he now has a pacemaker - we went to Phillip Island for a few days. The weather was great and I had great time, playing mini-golf, bowling, eating out, playing on th jetty and the beach, and going on a boat. Here I am at the controls of a huge boat (about 30 metres) going on a trip around Phillip Island.
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Here I am telling Mum I got a hole-in-one. |
Here's some shots I took
of Mum and Dad....
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And here's more
of me....
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| EISTEDDFOD
I was on stage in the Eisteddfod ten times during the August festival in Yarram. I did two piano solos in the 8-and-under and 10-and-under sections, and two duets in the 8-and-under and 12-and-under. Mum and Dad said I did well but I didn't win any prizes. Dad said I should have got a second for the 12-and-under duet. I won the instrumental section on recorder; the only other contestant was my mate James Saliacos. James and I won the section for the song duet. I also did a solo but I didn't get a place as I messed up at the beginning, but Dad said the rest was great and I should have got an Honorable mention. I wish Dad was the judge!!! But then Dad says that winning is not the main thing. I agree as I just enjoy it. I was also in the school choir, and our grade did a song. |
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James and I singing 'Those
Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'. Mum did the costumes.
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My school priciple Ms Earle accompanied me when I sang 'My Dog Puddles'. |
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| BIG SISTER CATHERINE'S VISIT
Catherine came over for a visit from Western Australia in September. Dad went to Melbourne to meet her and then she came home to us at Yarram. Catherine came to school to meet my class, and to see our science work. We also went bowling and had great fun.
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| Catherine insisted on a family shot of us holding our bowls. Catherine won - because Dad had arthritis in his hand - of course he did!! |  |
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| Here's Catherine with dad at Port Albert. | And here I am playing Space Crusaders at home. |
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| Catherine and me. | And Cathrine with Dad. I took this. |
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| PAOLO VISITS ON HIS SCOOTER
Our friend Paolo Piciullo came to visit on his scooter, and he gave me a ride up the road.
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| Then it was Dad's
turn.
He had never ridden a scooter before so Paolo had to show him a few things. Dad took off - and went straight over the driveway, across the grass and into the bushes. But he finally got the hang of it - for twenty seconds - and posed confidently with me.
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| THE BONFIRE
Mum and I wanted to have a bonfire barbeque in the backyard and cook snags and meatballs and have fun but Dad was a bit of a grouch as he couldn't see any fun in sitting outside in the cold when he had a warm house only a few yards away. Anyway, I think he was grumpy because the Kangaroos were being thrashed by Port Power and he wanted an all-Victorian grandfinal next week. If Geelong doesn't win the grandfinal I am keeping out of his way! |
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| MELBOURNE VISIT.
We visited Melbourne at the end of September, and went to the Old Melbourne jail where Ned Kelly was hung, and I tried out his armour - not the real one because I probably couldn't lift it. I alsso played chess with Mum at the Latrobe Library, and went to a movie.  |
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| We also went to
the Chginese museum in Chinatown, where I saw the dragons, and sang in
an opera.
And then went to the Grand Final parade, but that was not so interesting as Carlton was not one of the teams. Next year!!! Dad went into hospital a few days later for his heart operation.  |
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| TO LAKES ENTRANCE
After Dad got out of hospital, we had a few days holiday at Lakes Entrance, to help Mum relax and for Dad to recoop....rekoup... recope ... to get better. Of course I had to play mini-golf with Dad, and as he could hardly lift the club I beat him easily!!! And I went on a paddle boat with Mum. I offered to take Dad out but he didn't think that was fair. And we went on a big boat and cruised the Gippsland Lakes. |
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| BACK HOME
Because Dad was recouperating after his operation, he could not mow the grass, and it grew to above my waist, so Mum decided to have a go. |
Dad was very nervous aabout this, but Mum did really well and only fell off twice, hit a tree once and went through the wire fence. Well, not really, but it would have been fun if she had!!! |
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| DAD'S BIRTHDAY
Dad had his birthday on 15 November and Mum made a cake which I helped decorate with 'Jazz' on it. We couldn't fit 64 candles on the cake - it would haave burnt the house down, so just put on a few but even then I thought we could have had a disaster. Mum bought Dad a zimmeer frame - its in the garage I rthink - but we didn't give it to Dad because he was getting about okay. Maybe we will save it for next year. Did I tell you aabout hiss scars? He has them on his legs, arms and chest - looks as though he has gone naked through a barbed wire fence. But I am not allowed to make Dad laugh as it hurts a bit when he does. |
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| YARRAM SHOW
I love going to the Yarram Agricultural Show in November each year. I get to go on the rides - but not the big ones like the Zipper and Kamikaze. Mum's class won an award for their African village diaorama - and I won an award for my dinosaur diaorama. There are also many farm animals to see, and also reptiles - even a crocodile over a metre long. The lizard looks like Dad when he gets grumpy.
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| A FEW MORE SHOTS OF DAD AND ME.
Dad on his office. I got to play the grand piano at the regent Theatre in town, for our annual concert. And, all dressed up for the concert.
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| WITH MY NEW FRIENDS JULIETTE AND LOUISE,
and their Mum and Dad, Agnes Aboulin and Philippe Mathieu. Dad met Philippe in his office and invited the family to stay at our place. They are from Avignon in France, and are travelling around Australia. Philippe is a top scuba diver instructor - thats how he got to know Dad. We had a great time together. I hope I can see them again one day.
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| AT SCHOOL.
Only a few days to go before the school holidays. My teacher in Grade 2 is Mrs Muir. Thats my mates Bradon and John.  |
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| ITS CHRISTMAS - AND I'VE GOT IT, AT LAST - A FULL | DRUM KIT - WOW!!! |
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| A Christmas kiss for the best Mum and Dad in the world. |
| SAM GOES 'OVER THE EDGE'.
From Dad: I think its the tallest building inAustralia. If not, it is certainly the most impressive - other than Sydney's Opera House, Canberra's Parliament House, and ... oh well, its magnificent anyway. So when our dear friends the Cherici's returned to Melbourne at the end of December they wanted to have a look at it - the Eureka Tower - and go up to the observation deck on the 88th floor. The view over Melbourne is superb and not to be missed, but what makes this observation deck so remarkable is that it has a special glass-floored deck that slides out of the side of the building and hovers over the streets 285 metres below. Of course, it costs extra to do this, and, of course, it is a test of courage for many. I wouldn't go on it - my excuse is that I see no point - but I am also petrified of heights and have trouble in the static glassed in deck as it is. So when Sam said he wanted to go on it, there was a measure of negativity on my part and that of Wendy. But 'big brother' Anton was going on it, and Sam wanted to do the same even though he was somewhat apprehensive. "I have to face my fears," he said in a most mature manner. So on, and out, they went. Us parents could observe from an adjoining deck their petrified sons throwing-up in terror as The Edge slipped out of the building. Petrified? No way. Anton and Sam seemed to be the only ones really enjoying the experience. In fact, Sam pestered us next day to have another 'ride'. Good on you Sam, I'm proud of you for giving it a go. |
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| WITH 'BIG BROTHER' ANTON AS THE YEAR ENDS.
I love my 'big brother' Anton Cherici, son of Dad's and Mum's closest friends Phil and Lorraine. They moved to Noosa several years ago so I dont get to see Anton much. He has grown so big and knows lots of things. We had a great meal together at a great restaurant in Victoria Street, Albert Park, called Stavros. And on New Years eve we had our photo's taken, as Anton was going back to Noosa the following day. (Photos courtesy of Phil C). |
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| AND FINALLY, TO FINISH THE YEAR, A NICE FAMILY PHOTO. |
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| I've had a good year, and did well at school, but it was sad to have Dad not feeling well for most of the last six months. Not going to Singapore was a disappointment also, but Mum and Dad said we will go in 2009. We had some great visitors: Rudi, and Helmut from Germany, Julliet and Louise and their Mum and Dad from France, cousin Jonny from Perth, Uncle Greg aand Auntie Nita, Anton, and Dad's mate Ian Lewis from Portland. But best of all I suppose was seeing big sister Catherine, from Calingiri near Perth. We didn't go away too much because of Dad's operation, but I had a great time at Phillip Island, Lakes Entrance, and at Uncle Greg and Auntie Nita's at Safety Beach. Also we went to Melbourne a few times - I liked seeing Ned Kelly's armour, the old Melboure Jail, the Chinese museum, and going to see the musical Spamalot which was great fun - I got autographs from the cast on my Sir Galahad doll. We didn't go to Perth but I am going with Dad in Februaary (2008). I liked the Eistedfodd this year because I played piano, and recorder, on stage and did two song and dance acts - and won a few prizes. I also got to play the grand piano at a concert at the Regent Theatre. Oh yes, and I got a full drum kit for Christmas. I got to play basketball this year, and did Auskick, and play cricket at home and at school. And swimming. I'm in Grade 3 next year, and we are all going to Ningaloo Reef for a long holiday during the year. |
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Last updated 6 June 2007
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