"Tomorrow" A $50 Bunnings Voucher Giveaway

Hello everyone!

As promised in my post below, here is the competition! I have one $50 Bunnings Gift Voucher here thanks to Planet Ark and Toyota for National Tree Day which is tomorrow.

To win the competition, simply take a photo of an outdoor activity you and your family will do tomorrow and blog about it in your blog tomorrow, then come back here and comment. Make sure you link back to this post and also National Tree day in your blog!

The winning blog post, will be featured here as well as get a $50 gift voucher to spend at Bunnings.

I will also be blogging about an outdoor activity my children and I will be doing tomorrow.

I am looking forward to reading and seeing photos of what you will be doing tomorrow!

I hope you are all well.

On my mind: trees

Hello everyone,

This post is part of Rhonda's "On my mind" series and is inspired by the National Tree Day campaign.

Trees outside my backyard. Photo taken this morning. It was so cold! In the summer, I often string up the hammock between these trees and enjoy the view in the shade.

A few days ago, Jarrod from Green Bean contacted me to let me know of National Tree Day campaign. Now to be honest, I have never heard of the campaign before. But then, like many things in life, upon hearing it, suddenly I am seeing it everywhere. My children came home from school on Wednesday letting me know that today, is School's Tree Day. Schools Tree Day part of the National Tree Day campaign, organised by Planet Ark in partnership with Toyota and its Dealer network. Today, up to 250,000 Australian school children will take part in learning more about their environment.

In my children's school, they are planting 7 more trees. I'm glad they are doing that. In the past, I have to say I have been disappointed with decisions to cut down trees (as opposed to replanting) in my children's school property to make way for more buildings.

In March 2011, Planet Ark commissioned an independent study to investigate childhood interaction with nature and how this interaction is changing. The research was conducted by Pollinate, a specialist communications research company, and was sponsored by Toyota Australia.

The results of this research show that the landscape of childhood has changed. In a single generation there has been a profound shift from outdoor to indoor play. This comes at no surprise to me. Almost all of my children's learning takes place indoors. Even their environment learning centre is a building (with a small yard for planting vegetables)!! Someday, I would like my children to go to school where trees, outdoor play and outdoor learning are an integral part of their school environment.

National Tree Day is actually on this Sunday, 31 July 2011. (Click on link for more details.) I am planning on planting a tree in the nature reserve area just outside my backyard. My lovely neighbours have already checked it out with the local government and apparently, tree/shrub planting on the nature reserve along Lake Tuggeranong is allowed. How cool is that?!

To commemorate this event, I am planning on a little competition for readers of this blog. I will post details about it tomorrow (Saturday, 30 July 2011)!

On my mind: Why do they do this? *cries*

Hello everyone,

Today's post is part of Rhonda's Friday on My Mind series.

Now normally, I like to write positively, or if not postively, then at least constructively. The way I see it, this blog are like snap shots of my thoughts and I'd hate to look back and see only the negative thoughts.

But today, I thought I'd capture something that bothers me A LOT. Regular readers here know that I live near a lake. And I love it. I love the lifestyle of this place. I love my view and I love coming home and seeing the water and feeling the peacefulness just wash over me.

While my side of the lake is beautiful, only a few kilometres away, this is what's on the other side of my lake:

Yep they're trolleys that have been pushed into the lake. I went for my morning cycle around the lake and took a photo of them. :(

Now the shopping centre is about 2 blocks away from the lake. So people would've had to take the trolley out of the shopping centre, walk it two blocks, THEN somehow push it over the wire barrier and in to the lake. :(

Why?

Why would you go and wilfully pollute something so beautiful? Its not even laziness (where people can't be bothered to put rubbish into the bin). This is wilful pollution.

This lake is home to many types of fish and water birds (I've seen about 6 different species), including these black swans:

(These swans came up to me as soon as I stopped my bike. :) )

This lake gives pleasure to all those who walk, cycle, row, paddle, swim and, or sail in it. All along the lake are parks and free barbecues. There are so many places in the world where facilities like this would NOT be free to just anyone. This lake is a gift.

So why pollute it?

Every now and then, the government comes along and remove all the trolleys out of the lake. This comes at a cost... and its a cost to all of us tax payers.

I wish I can do something to stop this, but I don't even know where to start.

Guess what this is?

Hello everyone!

What a week I've had! I managed to get a week off for the winter school holidays and I've been having a ball with my children, ice skating, exploring the local parks and even had a bonfire to toast marshmallows.

Today, I spent much of the day painting with my daughter. Both my children are quite creative - my son with music and my daughter with paints and drawing.

The last week of the school was NAIDOC Week. My daughter learned about Indigenous culture, dreamtime stories and also did some dot painting. Her painting inspired me to do something similar at home.

Inspired by Indigenous art, this painting is of something that is very close to my heart. Each element was chosen carefully to depict something that means much to my children and me.

Can anyone guess what it is?

(Hint: It is a physical place. Second hint: Southern ONC natives will have a distinct advantage over guessing this.)

Sigh the picture really doesn't do justice to the colours in this painting.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend.