This simple quote holds a lot of meaning. Conformity for the sake of conformity can crush the soul. You don't have to look like everybody else. You don't have to think like everybody else.
No point living a double life. No point pretending you're a round peg when you're actually a square peg. It takes too much energy. No point comparing yourself to other people.
I come from a family of square pegs and managed to produce a couple myself. I think the quote above is really good advice for everybody. Better to be a square peg than a sheep.
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| A piggy picture. |
Peter had a birthday on the 9th July. It was also his son-in-law Ben's birthday, so we had a little family birthday party for them both at Berkeley.
When I say 'little', nothing with Peter's family is actually little. Peter has 5 wonderful children who all have great partners, and then there are 6 grandchildren. Ben's parents came as well as his 2 nieces and my 2 daughters came too. Peter has a small house. All in all there were 25 of us. But Peter's family all dig in and bring food and Peter does all the pre-cleaning and tidying, so this makes things very easy.
Peter doesn't see his grandchildren very often because he lives about an hour's drive away from most of them and they are all busy. So I always try to make it special to come to Grandpa's place.
I am trying to make some traditions.
I decided to decorate with a woodland theme. I don't really think the photos do the setting justice. I was quite please with the effect.
These days when there are so many people we use disposable 'crockery' and 'cutlery, although I know this is not very 'green'.
I happened to have some blue plastic plates already so used these and it looked quite good.
I added balloons and flowers and pine cones. There were a few ceramic frogs dotted here and there.
I will add to these limited decorations each year.
The grandchildren decorated some hedgehog biscuits by dipping them in chocolate and walnuts and adding eyes and noses. I pre-made the biscuits and then provided melted chocolate, crushed walnuts and blunted kebab sticks to 'paint' on the eyes and noses. The only problem was that although the biscuits were supposed to be shared for dessert, each child made two biscuits and wanted to eat both of these themselves.
The picture below was what we were aiming at but the kids did a pretty good job since the eldest was 7 and the youngest was 2. We will make them again next year. If you are interested you can find the recipe here.
I tried to do activities that all seven children can do as I'm sure that even if I chose more age appropriate activities for some of the younger ones, they would want to do what the older ones were doing anyway.
The kids also decorated the birthday cakes - one for Grandpa and one for Uncle Ben.
Peter was extremely worried about getting icing on his carpet. But I spread a plastic tablecloth on the floor under the kids' table and they were very good. No mess at all.
Unfortunately I don't have any photos of people as I was just too busy organising food to be taking pictures.
On Sunday we had a second celebration at Menai club. Megg cooked another 2 birthday cakes.
Basically the same people attended as the day before, but with a few of Ben's friends added in.
The next day Peter and I headed off to Umina Beach for a short stay.
Peter and I spent five nights at Umina Beach in our caravan. Winter is a great time to go caravanning by the sea. There are very few people around and the rates are cheap.
Ours is the Hiace van still attached to our caravan.
While we were away I played around with some of the special effects on the camera on my phone. This was the walk down to Umina beach from the camping area.
Umina Beach at Sunset was very pretty.
Below is a photo taken at the same time as the one above and from the same position on the beach, but facing west. It almost looks like there is a bush fire behind the trees.
Peter and I visited Patonga, a pretty little village not far from Umina. It has a lovely little harbour.
Patonga is a pretty little village not far from Umina. They make the best fish and chips. Lovely and crunchy.
After lunch Peter and I took a bike ride around the village.
Here are some of the ubiquitous Central Coast ducks at Patonga
We visited Davistown a couple of times - once to see Peter's cousin and then again to ride along the foreshore. We always stop at the Little Teapot Cafe and I always have their delicious apple crumble and Peter has the burger with the lot.
The tide was low at Davistown as we rode our bikes along the shore.
On the way back to Umina from Davistown we called at the pie shop at Ettalong which had been recommended to us.
It was a beautiful day so we sat outside. My spinach roll and Peter's steak and onion pie were delicious. We shall make this another regular stop on our trips to the Central Coast.
Sadly we had to come home on Saturday as I had to start tutoring again on Monday.
On the way home this car drove past us with a dog enjoying the ride. He had his head out and a pair of goggles on to protect his eyes.
Interesting Sites
1.
World's tallest skinny tower
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| Photo source |
Click here to read all about it.
2.
Coral reef sculpture
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| Photo source |
Click here to read more.
3.
Film to end tradition of slaughter of whales
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| Photo source |
Sea Shepherd has been working to shut down the Grindadrap in the Danish Faroe Islands since 1983. The Grindadrap (literally translated as “the murder of whales”) is considered a cultural tradition in this small group of rugged islands located halfway between Scotland and Iceland.
Click here to read more.
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