Bridesmaid revisited

This is Tegan and Miles getting married, and that's bridesmaid Annika on the far right. The wedding took place in Moe recently and Annika's job was to get the three kegs down in the Camry she shares with Nicholas. She also knitted the shawls you can see the picture. In fact, the dressess were a combined effort of the bridesmaids involving sewing evenings and a total cost of around $200. The reception was in the bush so God picked up bill for venue hire. As Damian would say, "That young man looks like trouble to me..."

Farnsey - Is this another penultimate tour?

Check out my little YouTube ditty dedicated to our consummate, penultimate icon. Pass it on too - I want to be a bigger pop culture icon than the Chk Chk Boom girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emq9TOSQtDE

Betty Update

The Melbourne Forrests were in Sydney over the weekend to spend some time with “Nona” Betty. Amber, Greg, Shauna, Paris, Indy, Daniel and myself took Betty out to “cook your own” steak in Balmoral on Saturday, which was lovely and the steaks were cooked to perfection.

Betty seems to be doing well enough, although the doctor only gave her 3 months and colds and infections will be her undoing. She received blood on Sunday and visits the hospital nearly everyday. The blessing is that Betty doesn’t really remember what she has and so all the Forrests are looking after her treatment.

Betty loves receiving your calls and letters. She greatly enjoyed reading a letter from Jake and Kel a few weeks ago. If you have some spare minutes, give Betty a call or post a letter with a photo. Keep her in your thoughts.

Footy Tipping

Toody has tipped his way into second place. I rule. Dan is last!

Nick and Grant have won Whoppers for tipping perfect rounds. To collect click on the Whooper bit on the footy tips site where it has said you have won (news section after you have logged in) to download a free voucher with a reference number. Mmmm.....Whoppers.

Nick can you show your old man how to look up the ladder?

Go Swans! Go Warwick Capper!

Armidale Roffs on Tour

Below are a few snaps from our 5 week road trip. We saw some amazing sights and it was fantastic to catch up with the Grant Roffs in Melbourne - it also meant we didn't have to put up the tent for a whole week!

One of the12 apostles but quite a few are missing

Riding the stagecoach at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat

Arresting Ned Kelly

At the start of the Great Ocean Road

Here we are at the stunning Grampians

Our pathetic Snowman



The big dump of snow at Falls Creek

Although the 5 weeks went fast and we had a great time, I must admit it was nice to come home and especially to sleep in our own beds. For those who had met our 17 year old cat Roy, you will be sad to hear that he passed away whilst we were on our trip. He was such a beautiful pet, and so patient with the carrying around and dressing up endured over 4 children. We are looking forward to seeing lots of you at Glenn's party and anyone who needs a bed for any extra nights is most welcome at our house.

Still in travel mode, the exciting news is that my sister Kathy and I are off to Canada to see her son Tim who is working on a gap year at Rimrock Resort in Banff. We leave in the last week of this term and we are going for 3 weeks - much to Damian's great delight who gets to stay at home with the kids! We will hire a car and do some sightseeing, and we will stay at Tim's resort for 1 week - google Rimrock Resort and check it out, it looks way too good for us! I hope I hear no more of swine flu and Canada in the same sentence.

Love to all
Jenny

Floods at Woodlawn

Chuck Norris eat your heart out

My son's so tough he took on swine flu..... and the pig died.

Clone wars

Despite years of pretending otherwise, Stuart and Marianne actually like Milly. They're down in Melbourne this weekend to visit her and we had the pleasure of entertaining them last night (Friday). I collected them from the airport and, despite Stuart wearing a nearly identical outfit to mine, they walked off the plane unnoticed. It's possible Stuart saw me and thought I was a mirror. Milly joined us last night and she and Marianne got up early this morning as Milly was working and she'd booked Marianne in for a teeth clean and service. Stu and I are just back from watching Dom playing. We arrived to see Dom perform a Greegan-like last-ditch tackle right on the Box Hill line. Stuart said afterward it could have been a match-saver except for the 14 tries the opposition scored after that. It's ladies day tomorrow so Stuart and I will either go for a bike ride or go to the Collingwood vs Carlton game at the MCG. They fly home on Monday.


In other news, we had a card from Glenn yesterday. He's currently doing his stint in Oxford and lists activities including ghost tours, royal tennis, concerts, and plays (he liked Noel Coward's "Private Lives"). He says he's getting so confident in seminars that one day last week he nearly asked a question. He delivers his seminar on May 18 - only two more sleeps before some of the finest minds in the world focus their attention on his work. How relaxed would that make you feel?
Annika is on bridesmaid duties this weekend in Moe (Gippsland area). Pictures to follow...

Power Lunch

I ran into Daniel on a lunchbreak in the city this week. I often need free legal advice so I made him buy me lunch. We had Beef Rendang from an authentic Indonesian joint near Chinatown. Not bad. My shout next week Daniel.

He is fighting the good fight in the Family Court wearing a dashing Navy Pin-Stripe. If you are attending the Family Court it means things have gotten real bad at home and Daniel appeares to be representing his clients with vigour and compassion (hardly ever yelling at them). It's great work champ.

My work is going ok. I promised to magically map a tenth of NSW in 2 months using satellite imagery. Turns out it isn't all that easy. If it works (and it might) I'll have made a name for myself and I'll get to name my price to map the rest of the state. Fingers crossed.

I presented some of my research at the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Office head office a month ago and they basically wrote down what I had said, replicated my work, and released a report with their name on it, their letterhead, the date and no reference to my work. It was a bit of a wake-up call for a green early career scientist.

[Adam was dressed in wool trousers by Pierre Cardin and a 2-ply Egyptian cotton shirt (taylored cut) and italian shoes (thanks salvos).]

Harry's first Day of School

Harry has just completed his first week of high school and he went there nervous but happy on his first day. Now he hates it- he does not understand why people would actually study this sort of thing at university and then make a living out of it.

Having never actually studied anything like this Harry breezed on into this position of science teacher and by the sounds of it upset a few siblings back in Australia.

best wishes
Vicky

My mothers day present for Sue (snake in the grass)

Sue took the kids to the park this morning, and rang us (as we were about to go on a run) to say that she had spotted the largest snake she had ever seen sunning itself on the ovals. The caretaker and Brother Kev both had a look and confirmed as much, so Kelly and I thought that we would go and take care of the problem for Sue, who isn't a massive fan of our cold blooded neighbours.

Of course, in the end it was large piece of tree bark, but at least Sue now feels safe.

Happy Mothers Day Sue!!

Happy birthday Norma

Julia's mum, Norma, celebrated her 80th today. We had a party at Julia's brother, Robert's house. Norma and Julia's dad, Ron, used to own it so the whole family still has a connection with it. Norma now lives in a dementia unit in Ferntree Gully and, while she sometimes has trouble with recent events, has a terrific memory of her childhood in Footscray (go Dogs). Some of the guests at the party were her old friends from her childhood, including members of her netball team. Ron's older brother, Arthur, attended and was, I think, the oldest participant: 92. All Norma's kids were there: Robert (retired air traffic controller), Adrian (wine maker from Beachworth - my favourite) Julia (oops - she's my favourite - Adrian is second) and Venita, who runs an antique and memorabilia shop in the Dandenongs. Two of Norma's sisters, Hellen and Janet, were there as well so it was a great family event. Dom and Annika made it, Dom fitting it in between rugby this morning (beaten, but Dom scored from fullback in a length-of-the-field run and is clearly getting his old skills back) and going to work this afternoon supervising kids parties at a recreation centre. Nick refereed this morning and is, as I write this, playing for Harlequins on the field I saw Joe play on when he was down here playing an under-16 tournament. Everyone they play against seem to be twice their size.
Just had a call from Damian and Jenny on their way back through Melbourne on the way home from thier holiday. I've pushed them hard to have just one more night here so fingers crossed.
You'll recognise most of people in the picture above (Norma on the right of Julia). The woman on the right is an old friend of Norma's named Valda. She likes a chat...

Official Puffing Billy race results

Cal crossed the line in 1.02.21, beating the first train by four minutes and 25 seconds. According to our observers at the finish line, he would have been among only three runners his age to achieve this. It's an outstanding result. Overall, he finished in position 792 of 2696 official runners.
Damian, on the other hand, managed a time of 1.21.16. Among the males racing, it placed him 1716 out of 1882, making him more than 90 per cent slower than most Victorians. He claims he was doing fine until "that big, brown hill". He was actually beaten by the second train (1.20.18).
For the record, the male winner was Matthew Jonson in a time of 42.44 and the female winner was Hanny Allsten in 47.09. The distance was 13 kilometres. See you all next year...

Melbs Mish

Monica and I just booked tickets to Melbourne for Thursday the 28th of May arriving at 10.40pm on Virgin flight DJ894. If anyone goes away on that weekend I will burn your house down, or at the very least poop in your letterbox. That's fair warning. We fly back Sunday night. Can't wait.

Long service adventures

Luke, Amy and Lilly were able to sit on the window of the carriage with their feet dangling over the side!
Yes, I know, there are shadows on their faces, but this is Damian, Jenny and Luke posing in front of the train Cal beat and the bloke beside Damian was the driver.

Amy helped drive the train...

The Damian Roffs have been in town since last Tuesday as part of their long service leave adventure to the southern climes. Much shopping has been done, we've checked out the delights of Chinese cooking in Box Hill (Damian particularly liked the Hot Pot King) and all the boys (plus Amy) are currently in at the MCG watching, I hope, the Dogs do St Kilda.
The highlight of the trip has been this mornings race against Puffing Billy. The driver of the train has to run from the start line back to the engine (while all the passengers give him a cheer) and then try to get to Emerald Park Lake before the runners. The distance is about 13 kilometres which is hard for both the train and the runners. Representing the Roffs were Cal, Jenny and Damian. Cal was the star with a finishing time of about 60 minutes which beat the train by six minutes - an exceptional effort. Damian and Jenny made it across the line in about 80 minutes so no treats for them, although they could have recorded better times if they hadn't waited at the rail bridges to wave at Amy, Luke and Lilly who were in the train. It's been an excellent visit with many happy meals and lots of fun. They leave soon to travel along the Great Ocean Road for some camping so we can expect a blog from them when that adventure unfolds.

Maisie and Lachlan on Youtube telling jokes

Aunty Betty Forrest

Stuart and I arrived back from Fiji and took a detour to see Aunty Betty who is currently residing with Shane and Jane. She has been diagnosed with leukaemia - a not very nice kind - and has been commenced on chemotherapy. She looked very tired and pale today and was cursing what growing old does to you. She still looks fantastic though and was her normal elegant self. Shane said the doctors are not quite sure at this stage how things are going and what outcomes to expect. She could do well and still be okay in 3 years time and given that she has always been so fit and well, we can only pray that this is the case. The doctors also suggested if she had not started the chemotherapy last week, she would not have survived another 3 to 4 weeks. Her form of leukaemia is apparently very aggressive. The Forrests are making up a roster so there is always someone with Aunty Betty and they are very organised. Everyone will have her in their thoughts. Marianne

Black's Anniversary

The 20th April is a famous time in the Roff family as the birthdays of Neil ( the original one)and his sister Betty. Sadly the 21st this year marks 5 years since Black went to the great racetrack and card table in the sky. Maybe you could spare a thought for the old guy , and maybe even jot down as a blog your favourite memory of him.

Shane shines down south

Shane Forrest has been in town (Melbourne) this last week with an exhibition in the Art Melbourne 2009 event run at the famous Royal Exhibition Building. The exhibition gives visitors a chance to "taste" the content of galleries all around Australia. Shane's exhibition was in a space named "The Studio" and reserved for artists in the "early stages of their career". Family visitors to the exhibition included all the Melbourne-based Bisley/Forrests, Lara and Milly.
Shane had about thirty pieces up and his space attracted a lot of interest along with offers to exhibit overseas - including an offer from China.
He works in a number of mediums but has developed a really interesting take on poster work. It probably doesn't happen in Geraldton but in larger cities, bands and arts events put posters up in places where they won't be torn down quickly by local councils. These posters are put up over each other and the layers can sometimes be twenty deep. Shane peels the complete pile off, uses a form of archival adhesive to preserve the back and then cuts into the surface so you get information ranging from the first to the last poster. What immediately struck me was the temporary nature of popular culture promotion (a poster can be visible for as little as 20 minutes before the next poster obscures it) but Shane says he likes making permanent something which was originally intended to be transitory.
He does a lot of collage work and I also saw a set of drawings of graphic sexual poses in the style of Kama Sutra illustrations with oriental faces but located in inner-city squat housing - in one there was a couple in deep congress in the corner of a room where the only other thing visible was a cheap, two bar electric heater. I'm thinking of buying it for you for Christmas, John.
Shane and Jane caught up with everyone they could in their week here and I've asked him to forward his future exhibitions schedule and details of Jane's web sites which I'll put up when I get them. Shane says Rory is improving noticably and is getting back to some physical work and Bad Zac is still on the scene. I've started a new savings account so I can have something of Shanes on my wall in the near future. It really is very good.
PS. Speaking of Bisleys, happy birthday for today, Indi.

Dr. Roff's missus birthday

Haven't been on the blog for a while. A bit flat out. I missed wishing moni a happy birthday but her buddies looked after her with some cake. I'm still pretty knacked after not sleeping for a couple of weeks to finish my thesis but I'm glad to have it out of the way. Still having nightmares about the markers and being in exams with no pens and no clothes but I am assured it goes away.

You'll love Fiji Uncle Stuart and Marianne. I've been there a couple of times in the last few years. Just be careful what you take photos of because they are a bit twitchy at road blocks. Make sure you register with http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/ so the consulate knows where you will be.

Holidays in hell

As you read this, Stuart and Marianne are packing for their well-earned break in peaceful, sunny Fiji. Why go to Fiji? Well, Thailand is fully booked by riot police, transfers from the airport in Bagdad are still a little unreliable and all the hotels in the Gaza Strip were bombed last month. Fiji specialises in bloodless coups so things SHOULD be okay.
We entertained Alaine and Milly last night and heard a very entertaining story from Alaine about travelling with Daniel. I can't remember all the details but, on the night in question, Alaine ended up sleeping wrapped up in a curtain and Daniel is apparently now a big fan of Contiki tours. I fear Milly is absorbing too much of Melbourne too quickly and needs to slow down or risk exploding. Lots of fun.
The big news with the Grant Roffs is that Adam has handed his thesis in. It's a major achievement and, despite his misgivings, will soon be Dr Roff. After submitting, the procedure is that the thesis will be marked and he'll either get "accepted with corrections" (meaning he's still Dr Roff but has to fix a few things up) or just "accepted without corrections". The big problem the uni has is finding anyone who knows more about the subject than Adam to read it. My money is "accepted without corrections" and, perhaps, a university medal. He richly deserves a round of applause.

Tipping News

Uncle Damian has finally out tipped Nick the Tipper and has hit the Lead. Dom is last! Toody is roaring up the table. Cal and Amy were the weekly winners. Go Dipper, go Hawks!

Not so cute shots of Armidale kids to chill the soul

Some cute shots of Lismore kids to warm the soul

Party girls

Here's a scene from Annika's wild 23rd birthday party. Annika received a new bike for (her last one was stolen) to help her get from her digs in Brunswick to Melbourne Uni. We dropped it off today and while we were having lunch Annika got a call from Paris telling us that the previous night, the Forrests and Milly had gone to Indi's girlfriend's 21st in a flash penthouse suite in one of Melbourne's grand hotels. While they were attempting to leave, Milly fell down the escelators. She's really taking Melbourne by storm!
Julia and I attended the gala opening of the comedy festival last Wednesday and it was long but very funny. Most of the commedians are doing national tours so if you get the chance to see Rich Hall, Arj Barker or Danny Boye, take it. Most of them had jokes about outback Australian towns ("The thing I liked most about Esperance is that if you put a dollar in the parking meter, you get two days!"). Amanda joined us for lunch today and is celebrating two whole weeks off the sauce. I told her it would help her concentrate with her uni work and Julia asked me how I'd know. I suspect she's working on her own stand-up routine for next Roff Christmas. Nick continues to work, eat and save. His team (Harlequin seconds) won yesterday by two points. Dom is playing union for Box Hill this season instead of soccer. He survived his first practice match but there's a big gap physically between him (just 16) and many of the opposition (17 years and 11 months). In the best family tradition, he played on the wing and, for a short time, at fullback. Drop-kicked a goal, too.
Those members of the family eligible for the Rudd government handout (not me, unfortunately, due to minor discrepencies in the regular lodging of tax returns) are watching the letterbox this week. Julia will be using her money to part-fund another trip to Vietnam in the middle of the year. I plan to join her for two of the four weeks. We have lots of adventures planned before that, of course, including the Puffing Billy race with Damian and co, and Stuart and Marianne visiting a few weeks after that.
I had a couple of days in Sydney at the Ulysses Club AGM last weekend, arriving at Sydney airport to fly home 15 minutes after the great brawl. It was the wrong time to be carrying a helmet...

Pandamoneium breaks out at taipei zoo!

This was in todays Newspaper. Sorry for the poor quality of the scan. You may have to click on it to enlarge.