The last day of the year...

...already.

Enough said.

How can I write about an entire year?  List all the major events I've been to?  Look at my calendar (still amnesia) and check out those days I highlighted?  Summarise each month, maybe, or as some other clever bloggers with large cameras have done:  collect my favourite photos of the year and show you all.

Actually, the latter is what I was about to do, but then I jumped on Picasa and noticed a collection of my absolute favourite photos ever.  They're some of my most recent photos, taken this month...115 photos of the same thing...

2011 is the year this little person made her entrance on our planet.  She's my honorary niece and my best memory of 2011, so her slightly blurry photos (such a wriggler she is!) will mark 2011 on the Mouse Files.

A new little life is one of the most precious things ever.  Aria Heaven's birth date means 2011 will always be celebrated by those around her.

{and to her real aunty who reads this blog - give the little pumpkin a big kiss for me!}

I'd better stop before I start gushing and gurgling like someone possessed by the cute baby bug.  Major self-control happening right now!

Here's to another year of blogging sporadically and taking slightly blurry photos with my very large camera!

Thank you SO much for reading - it means the world to me!

The Farmers' Market

I used to think a farmers' market was where you could go an buy food from a farmer who had just picked it fresh off the farm.

When we moved into the greener side of Melbourne, Mum took me to some farmers' markets to buy organic veggies, or maybe some 100% rye sourdough bread and half a dozen free-range eggs or so.  It always involved getting up very early and freezing over the morning dew.  That was about ten years ago.  In fact, what I was unconsciously witnessing was the birth of The Farmers' Market.

Yes, that's right.  Not a farmers' market, but I repeat... The Farmers' Market.

Fast forward to 2011.  It's Millie B.'s birthday and we are going to go visit Yering Station.

{FYI: Yering Station is Victoria's first winery, nestled in the Yarra Valley just past the township of Yarra Glen.  I'm pretty sure it's one of the most picturesque places on the entire planet.  Pretty sure.}

Her Pinkness

Yesterday the Queen came to Melbourne for four and a bit hours (though I heard she began to run late when she stayed overtime in Fed Square).

I call it a real historic event.  I know it was an historic event because my family only ever watches the news on tv when something historic happens (this includes Black Saturday, tornado in NZ, and the Australian Open finals).

In Melbourne, the Queen walked on red carpet, she accepted five carloads of flowers from little children, she saw the tops of everyone's heads as they curtsied/bowed, she sat on an uncomfortable seat in a royal tram, she saw the meerkats at the Royal Children's Hospital (and the children too), and she stood on a pedestal in Government House while everyone looked at her.

And the sun shone the whole time.  That means Melbourne didn't let her down (breaths a big sigh of relief).

Photo from Heraldsun.com.au

Let's talk about the Queen.  I love the Queen!

WWW: Commiserate

This is a very belated post which was held up by one week of organised chaos which ran from last Monday to this Saturday.  Yes, the Children's Institute is an oxymoron like that. 
Rewinding the clock...let us imagine that we are back at last Tuesday (when I actually started to write this post). 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"AFTER a near-perfect home and away, Collingwood has been unable to win on the day that it mattered, losing the Grand Final to Geelong by 38 points at the MCG."
From CollingwoodFC.com



Wonderful Word of the Week had to be directly related to all the messages of condolence I have received since Saturday.
 
I was expecially impressed by the fact that one caring friend bothered to email all the way from the Solomon Islands, just to make sure I hadn't sunk into depression.

"My" team lost.  Oh well.  Has anyone noticed the amazing Melbourne weather this week?  Are there any good movies coming out these school holidays? 

Ok, now seriously, a follow up on last week's prediction for Saturday:

I did yell.

I did not attempt to study at half time.

Prediction for this Saturday

Frederick Wentworth is getting excited.

And it take a lot to get a gentleman mouse excited.

The Chooka Parker Effect

When I first met Chooka Parker, I noticed his name, his hat, and the funny way he walked.  When I saw him on TV a year later, not much had changed.

Especially not the way he played the piano.



Funnily enough, the way he played the piano didn't startle me too much.  I'm obviously completely blind to talent.

*Me walking past the piano in the YTC dining room*
*Chooka thundering up and down the keys*
*He stops*
*I stop*
Me: "That was cool.  Did you make it up?"
Chooka: "Yep."
Me.  "Cool."