10 on 10 March 2012

10 photos over 10 hours on a beautiful Sydney Autumn day 10th March 2012

 Sort the paint that Tim is going to drop off at the collection station later today

Tea for Max and coffee for Tim

Wrap a little surprise gift for Pippa

A day at Watson's Bay with Arpana - Hornby lighthouse

Stop for a snacket at Doyles

Picnic anyone?

Arrived home to find Rachel had been out shopping

A 4:30pm email to say football IS on tomorrow meant a dash to the shop to buy Nick new boots.

Thanks for cooking dinner Tim, we all love choc mint ice cream for dessert.

Linking up with
a bit of sunshine: ten on ten: March 2012

ten on ten - february

Ten photos over ten hours on the tenth day of the month.
Linking up with http://rebekahgough.blogspot.com.au/


I accidentally forgot 10 on 10 in December and January, but a little reminder from my friend earlier this week got me reignited. So here goes 10 on 10 for today Friday, 10th February 2012.

Working full time means early starts organising and preparing for the day. One of the jobs I least enjoy is creating school lunches. I feel overwhelmed by containers, healthy choices, decisions about what to pack and remembering who likes and doesn't like what. Packing home baked goodies makes the task more enjoyable as I know they are a crowd pleaser at morning tea time.

I normally drop our girls at the train station but today they caught the bus, so this morning it was just Nick and I heading off. Every day he dons his favourite football team cap to avoid wearing the school regulation hat ...... I am waiting for notification from his school to say, that has to stop.

Teaching kindergarten is labour intensive and requires a great deal of time setting up each morning. Sharp pencils are a must for teaching five year olds.

Literacy Groups occupy the first few hours of each school day. This week kindergarten learnt the sounds 'a', 's' and 't' and they began learning the order of the alphabet. This is the 'washing line' game which proved very popular.

Fruit break is around 10'oclock. We call it 'crunch and sip'. Watching the children unpack their lunch boxes has given me inspiration to help with that daily task at my place.

My class head back inside to learn how to form the letters and sounds of the week. The children love the play dough table. This activity is so fun that they don't realise they are working. It is like hiding vegetables in their dinner, they have no idea it's good for them.

At lunch after eating time, the children play in the area of the playground called, 'Koala Grove'. I was helping out there today and one of the kindergarten children saw me with my camera and asked, "Are you looking for koalas?" I did not find any koalas but I did see many happy children who were glad to be outside as they have been cooped up indoors of late due to poor weather.

The home time bell rings just after 3 o'clock. The playground was soon deserted. This is the seat in front of my classroom.

After I collected Nick from school we called in to see grandma and poppy. Nick is currently collecting nature DVD's with tokens you receive in the daily paper. Technically grandma is collecting the DVD's, which are warmly received by Nick. He ran to the door and played the game where he knocks and hides before grandma answers. As we were leaving the smile on her face said, you are welcome.

 

Just when I thought I had run out of material to photograph for the day, my own children announce they are going fossicking for things caught behind the lounge. They glove up (which makes an interesting shot.) deciding to split all momentary findings. To their disappointment all they came up with was one teaspoon and an old cheese wrapper.   

 

Portrait Fun

I love having willing subjects to photograph. Meet Miss P and Miss L

Gorgeous Miss P in pink

Lovely Miss L

Parramatta 2124

 

 

P is for Prison

And

R is for River

R is for Retail

And

M is for Mall (Church Street Mall)

And

T is for Tudor Gatehouse

T is for Tombstones

And "that's all folks"

P is for Prison

The Parramatta Prison or to use its correct title, "Parramatta Correctional Centre" is the third to serve the area. The first made of timber logs (1796-1799) burnt down. No surprises there. The second made of stone (1800-1841) and finally this gaol first began construction in 1835 and was completed in 1856. It was home to inmates from 1841 and going by the note on the front gate is no longer operational.

 

Someone should have told this guy the gaol was closed before he arrived with all his worldy belongings

R is for River, The Parramatta River

The Upper Parramatta River Catchment was originally home to the Dharug Aboriginal people, clan
Burramatta, from which the name Parramatta came, (burra meaning place and matta meaning eels). In 1788 Governor Phillip, encouraged establishment of new farms on the low lying river flats by giving land and convicts to the white settlers. Lake Parramatta provided a clean and reliable water supply for the growing of crops and the township flourished, but not without cost to local indigenous people. Hostilities between the local Burramatta clan and Europeans continues for years, some would argue, a clash of cultures is still evident today.

R is for Retail

 

Westfield Parramatta first opened in 1975, on a site which had been a Grace Brothers' store since 1933.

M is for Mall (Church Street Mall)

Church Street Mall is in the heart of Parramatta and is bounded by the Town Hall (inscribed 'Town Hall, CJ Byrnes, Mayor, 1880') and St John's Cathedral (1799). It is home to the Centenary Clock Tower (1888) and in parts is mosaiced with eels to signify the aboriginal meaning of Parramatta, (Burramatta: 'place where the eels lie down' to breed)

T is for Tudor Gatehouse

The Tudor Gatehouse (1885) is a foot entry point to Parramatta Park. Just beyond the gatehouse is a Peace  Rose Garden Memorial. It honours men and women who served during WWII. Parramatta Park is also site of Old Government House (built 1799 by Governor Hunter and extended in 1815 by Governor Macquarie.) Australia's oldest surviving public building was originally used as a country residence by early colonial governors. Parramatta Park is also the site of the colonies first successful crops, the area known as Government Farm along the river first grew crops of  wheat and barley under the watchful eye of  Henry Edward Dodd. The Macquarie Street Gatehouse is to the west of Old Government House.

T is for Tombstones

These tombstones lay in St John's Cemetery the oldest surviving European cemetery (irony: 'surviving cemetery') in Australia 1790 -1966. The first burial to be marked with a stone was that of Henry Edward Dodd on 28 January 1791, he had been responsible for growing the first successful wheat crop in the colony (at Government Farm).

 

Find out more information about Parramatta@

http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/ 

http://www.discoverparramatta.com

http://www.uprct.nsw.gov.au/ed_kit_index.htm

Hope

Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense  regardless of how it turns out."                                                                               -Vaclav Havel