Spiderwick Chronicles

I enjoyed this movie very much. The fantastic creatures and special effects were excellent and I appreciated the quality of the sets ... particularly those set inside the old house. The acting was very good too - by each member of the cast.

An Intensive weekend of study.

David Pepperell, Hassanah Wilkinson, Doug Wilkinson, Sandyha Keenoo, Jennifer Pepperell, Edward holding Albert
David Pepperell, Hassanah Wilkinson, Doug Wilkinson, Sandhya Keenoo, Jennifer Pepperell, Noel Broomhall


This weekend we joined with some Baha'i friends to participate in an intensive Study Circle of Book 5 in the Ruhi Institute series. The set of eight books is being studied in Baha'i communities all over the world.

This particular book focuses on strategies to assist in the spiritual and intellectual empowerment of junior youth (12- 15 year olds). The title of Book 5 is 'Releasing the Powers of Junior Youth'.

Thanks to our tutor, David Pepperell who travelled up from Hobart to lead us through the course over the weekend.

ABC3D

Visitors for dinner

This evening our son Raf and his friend Evie along with our grand daughter Caitlin and Evie's son Zeke joined with us for dinner. We had a most enjoyable evening as Toby, Nicole and Edie were staying the night with us too.

Edie playing with the Doll's House and Painting

The Soldiers Memorial in City Park.

My old postcard image of the Memorial.

Three details of the memorial that I photographed this afternoon.

Dahlias in City Park

Each year the City Park has one garden bed planted out with dahlias. Today, the blooms were perfect so I photographed the different colours and the most interesting blooms.

Edie visits Launceston City Park

Off they go for a ride in the City Park train!

Noel and Edie waiting for the train ride to begin.

Climbing an ancient pear tree.

Playing hide and seek around some of the beautiful old trees.

Admiring some beautiful indoor plants in the Conservatory.

Watching the monkeys having an afternoon rest.

It was a perfect day to spend some time in the City Park with Edie. We visited Monkey Island and the Conservatory before playing 'hide and seek', rolling down a grassy hill, climbing a pear tree and having a ride on the little train. It was a beautiful afternoon.

The Queen Victoria Memorial Fountain

Photos of the Fountain taken this afternoon.

The band rotunda where Noel and Edie found the train.

The main Tamar Street entrance to City Park with the Fountain outside the Gate.

The Fountain at the current site.

A always like to visit this beautiful Victorian drinking Fountain in City Park. I have several old postcards of roughly 100 years ago of scenes in and around City Park. Originally the fountain was situated just outside the main Tamar Street entrance gate to the City Park. Then it was moved to its current site.

I also have old post card that feature two other significant structures to be found in the park: The Soldiers Memorial and the Band Rotunda.

Naw Ruz (Baha'i New Year)

This evening we celebrated Naw Ruz (New Day) with other Baha'is in the Launceston area and their friends. We enjoyed some entertainment as well as some delicious food and lots of laughs and great conversation.
Baha'is all over the world celebrate Naw Ruz. It is the first day of the Baha'i calendar which has 19 months of 19 days. The 19th month is a period of fasting from food and drink during daylight hours and it is a time for spiritual reflection and renewal. The end of the fast is a time for celebration as we look forward to another exciting year ahead.
For Baha'is in the northern hemisphere, the 21st of March coincides with the vernal equinox - the first day of spring. Of course for us in Tasmania, it is the first day of autumn and so it is more related to the traditional concept of a harvest festival.

Pop-up Books

Autumn Crocus blooms

On the return journey to Launceston, we called in to visit god mother Telle Fisher at Latrobe. She always has interesting flowers blooming in her garden. There were masses of autumn crocus flowers in her garden today.

Danny Crothers and his prize pumpkin

After we had collected our tulip bulbs, we visited another cousin who lives at Wynyard. Danny is a keen and very successful gardener. It happened that the previous weekend had been 120th Wynyard Agricultural Show time and Danny was delighted to have won first prize for one of his beautiful pumpkins. Here he is with the prize pumpkin and the blue ribbon!

A visit with cousins Emma, Dale and Alice

Dale, Emma, Edward and Alice

Today we took a trip to the NW Coast to collect some tulip bulbs from the Table Cape Tulip Farm at Wynyard. On the way, we stopped off in Burnie to visit my cousins, Dale and Emma Broomhall. Cousin Alice, who lives nearby called in too, so we had a nice little reunion and caught up with lots of family news.

Albert

Here is a photo of Albert, our 18 year old cat, having an afternoon rest
on the dining room floor.