After our holiday trip around SW australia and our great time at Dwellingup we came back to Freo to get into the groove. School started for Margo and Grant on te first of February and they are enjoying their time. They are attending Fremantle Elementary School and it is a short walk from our house.
Margois in the 2nd grade and Grant is in the 1st. They seem to be enjoying themselves quite a bit. There are mandatory swim lessons during school hours for two weeks in February.
Jeri is appreciating the time during school hours to work out, swim, shop and generally get things done in a way that is hard with two young humans around.
I am very happy to landed a great studio space with a fantastic bronze scuptor. The studio is downtown and is directly on the beach. There are several folks working at the studio and everyone has a good time. I couldn't have found a better niche. I am working on a series of bronze sculptures based on the idea of shipwreck. It will be part of an installation exhibition for this april. I don't have the exhibition site nailed down yet but hopefully soon.
I had a run in with one of the worlds most deadly creatures a few weeks ago while divng. No not a shark, it was a blue ringed octopus. Usually when I dive I carry a mesh bag for collecting shells. I had forgotten on this occasion and was collecting nice big shells and holding them in my hand as I did my 45 minute circut of the limestone reef. Fortunately I was wearing gloves because at the end of my dive I was walking down the beach and I felt something move on my glove. It was a blue ringed octopus and his blue rings were pulsing with anger. He had been inside one of the shells and now that I was out of the water he was mad. There was a fisherman nearby and I walked up to him ad asked him if he had ever seen a blue ringed octopus before. He about jumped out of his skin! I flicked the golf ball sized creature into the water and he swam away. Had he bitten my hand while I was in the water I would have been totally paralyzed in a matter of minutes and drowned. Wheew!instead I have a great memory.
The life in the market is still appreciated. We are fully into the rythm of it now. Monday and tuesday are very quiet, Wednesday the chinese restaurants across the way are open and then things keep picking up intil the crescendo of sunday. If you want to get a feel for the town and market take a look at this youtube video by LimeWaveVideo. It is a super introduction to the paradise that is freo.
In the last week of summer holiday we did a few tourist things including visiting the western australia maritime museum. There is a coldwar submarine pulled up on the ways there and we took a tour. Below are some photos.
Jeri had a birthday at the end of January and it was a blast for all of us. Jeri and I went out to dinner while the kids stayed the night with our darling neighbor, Melanee. Jeri took the family out the next day and treated us all to some video games at the local arcade. It was a blast.
Margo loves to get to know the vendors and often makes herself usefull to them. There is a women who sells crystal beaded sculptures near our door and for the past few weekends margo has helped her mind the stall and also to pack up at the end of the day. She has paid margo with a little sculpture each time.
