Let's go fly a kite

It was the perfect day to fly a kite in Murray Bridge today and it was wonderful to see almost what seemed like the whole town had the same idea. There was brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies and just enough wind to keep all the kites flying high in the sky. I saw at least one elected member, definitely spied the Mayor and saw many a familiar face enjoying the amazing atmosphere of the OPAL Kite Festival.

Well done to Kylie and Claire on a terrific day. Great to see our local Scout group cooking up a storm and helping out with the OPAL craft stall with kites you could make. OPAL is all about eating right and exercising but it also focuses on having fun as a family and getting outside to play, move around and just have fun... Family fun was certainly the name of the game today...

We had all the elements we needed for a great community day and I am very pleased to see that the community supported this day in droves. Well done OPAL and well done Murray Bridge!!

Easing my way into Tolstoy

We have been investing in classics at work, seeing us able to replace the ageing copy we had of Animal Farm, A Clockwork Orange and other famous novels of the past. One of these classics that I picked up at the beginning of this week was The Death of Ivan Ilyich. No War and Peace but still enough of an introduction to Mr. Tolstoy to open my eyes to his writing genius...

In 114 tiny pages Tolstoy has managed to paint an intricate, clever picture of a man, the life he lived thinking it were the right one and the uncertainty of reflection at your time of passing. So challenging a text, so cleverly written, you feel for the man while equally questioning what he thinks is an ideal life. Poor Ivan Ilyich and the family and friends he leaves behind...

And then! POW!!! Tolstoy follows up with Three Deaths which looks in intricate detail at death, the passing of the rich and the poor and cleverly asks what is a significant death...

I now with mind awhir turn my attention to Troll Mountain (by fast paced superstar author Matthew Reilly) expecting far less brain strain but just as much entertainment... Wish me luck!!

We will remember - A poetic ode to the ANZAC soldiers

Today is a special day of remembrance. In Australia and New Zealand April 25 is a day associated with pride, sadness and respect. We celebrate the bravery of our soldiers who represent us at home and overseas. We remember the sacrifices of soldiers from our past, those that returned home to us and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Leading up to ANZAC Day I have discovered from my dad stories about my grandfather who was a gunner in the RAAF. The sadness and the pride of a day like today has inspired me to pen down a poem, a creative way of dealing with all the mixed emotions. Truly, at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them...

We Will Remember - A poem to commemorate the efforts of our ANZACs

The heat, the dust, the buzz of flys
The zip and zing of a million bullets
Then another mate dies

The man to your right and left a gem
More than a friend, a matter of life or death
We will remember them

A day of pride and smiles and memories of sorrow
Thinking of those who are still amongst us
And those for whom there was no tomorrow

"Masks on boys" as the wooden rattle swung
Another gas attack, cruel death in the lungs
One boy too slow and he senses the tingle on his tongue

The bravery of those who knew not what lay ahead
Farmers, bankers, collage kids, local footy stars
For some a medal, for the rest the trench their final bed

The poppy grows blood red, unplanted
Nature's memorial of such a scar on our past
Such sacrifice that we can take peace for granted

Thanks should be given each and every day
Not just once or twice a year when we pause together
Make sure that you pause and ponder at least today

Remember with pride

Remember with sorrow

We will remember them

Two reviews for Friday

Today I have given Just Dance 2016 for WII U a thrashing with my daughter, Miss 8 and my gorgeous wife and I took the family to our local cinema to check out The Jungle Book (live action version currently showing)...

Firstly Just Dance... I must admit two things. Number one is that my daughter and I are not the greatest dancers, but we have fun with it anyway! Secondly we are not new to Just Dance, 2016 is probably the fourth or fifth version of this game franchise we have tried. So how does Just Dance 2016 for WII U compare? It is just as much fun as the others to play. It has a stack of songs that are currently popular with a few other classics thrown in (for us oldies!!) There is a great feature where you can compete against dancers from all over the world (my daughter and I were regularly defeated one or two stars to five by Italians, Americans and the French) but win, lose or draw we still get rewarded with some sort of sticker. The camera feature available via the game pad means you can share your unrythmic foolery of boogying to the music with the rest of the world. We loved the workout feature with upbeat songs that tell you at the end of each song how many calories we burned.  I believe this game deserves three and a half stars. Not many new features but enough of what is familiar to be a pretty cool game...

And now on to The Jungle Book... What a movie!! Action... Adventure... Fun... So much danger and excitement... The whole family loved it... Only a year or so ago we found the old Disney cartoon version of this film so it is not a story that is new to my kids... The basics of the original cartoon, of course based on the stories by Kipling... It is sooooooooooo much better though as live action... King Louie was hugely impressive, Sher Kan made my skin crawl and it was great to hear Bill Murray as the voice of Baloo and Scarlet Johannsen as the voice of Kaa the gigantic python... The thing that I loved the most though was to hear the classic songs from the cartoon feature (the bare necessities and wanna be like you)... I was really pleased to see a whole pile of families poor out of our local cinema from the film before ours and it was just as great to see so many families fill the cinema for the session we were at... Way to go Murray Bridge supporting our local business!! Five out of five stars for the film and five out of five stars for community support...

Tens all round...

It is all happening... Little Big Book Club is celebrating ten years since the first Little Big Book Club bags were given out to young families... I have been reminded time and again that after 10 eventful years I have now reached my first lot of long service with the council (a decade at the library, quite a journey)... And of course our eldest is now turning double digits and we are preparing ourselves for a long road of parties, sleepovers and gatherings of family and friends to mark this occasion...

So many tens, so many milestones, so much to raise a glass to... Because as we all know... Ten is the perfect score...

Let's hope that this year is full to the brim of plenty more 10/10 moments...

I cannot wait to see what the next decade worth of momentous occasions contains...

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

So tonight I managed to celebrate my childhood again and sat back and enjoyed The Wizard of Oz. This film like Labrynth and The Sound of Music would be on television all the time when I was growing up and it feels like just for a moment I can reconnect with that past version of myself when ever I get to watch any of these films.

One thing that struck me though was that I did not realise just how much of a brat Dorothy is at the beginning of the film... She takes her dog Toto past the house of the lady with the cat (Almira Gultch) seemingly on purpose, she is constantly trying to talk over the top of her Aunty Em and Uncle Henry (who is an absolute dude of a character), she threatens to bite Almira when Toto is going to be taken to the sheriff and I am sure there are many other behaviours that just did not ring right to me for a heroine. As a protagonist however Dorothy is perfect, discovering throughout the course of her adventures in Oz that although things could be better or could be worse there actually really is "no place like home"... And those slippers are amazing!!!

One final thing I must mention about this film is all of the catchy songs that feature. I had completely forgotten that Somewhere Over the Rainbow features very early on and I found myself singing and humming along with a big smile on my face. I can still picture Nicole Kidman's character botching the words when she sings it in the film Australia, again when I heard it in that film too I smile... probably because I usually sing it fairly similarly. I loved the Munchkins and the way that they break into that terrific tune of "follow the yellow brick road!!!" I remembered the "lions and tigers and bears... Oh my!" but the lion acting like a king (outside the gates waiting to see the wizard) I had completely forgotten about and it made me laugh for its pure and simplistic silliness... The over emphasis of pronounciation, the made up words and the ridiculousness of the imagry would have made Roald Dahl or Lewis Carroll very very proud.

I believe that every now and then we all need an Oz where we can simply escape. I am so glad that Dorothy found hers...