American Tribal Style Belly Dancers



Cinnibar Red Dance Collective - ATS belly dancers

At the Willunga Folk Festival today Mum and I were very impressed with the folk dancers, singers and musicians.  My favourite was the Cinnabar Red Dance Collective an amazing group of contemporary American Tribal Style (ATS) belly dancers. 

ATS is an elegant belly dance style created in San Fransisco about 20 years ago and incorporates various other dance styles such as Flamenco, Egyptian, Indian and Oriental.  It was explained that the various movements are learnt like the alphabet and then used to create the vocabulary of movements and cues.  There is no choreography as such as it is created on the spot.  How fantastic to enjoy free movement.

Rachel - belly dancer

The women were absolutely stunningly beautiful with a mixed age group.  They wore the most magnificent black flowing dresses with red, black and white frills, and beautiful tribal belts with tiny coins that jingled as they moved their hips. They were adorned with impressive tribal jewellery like silver earrings, headpieces, bracelets, anklets, and wore tribal head pieces and red and white roses in their hair. They had zills or otherwise known as finger cymbals are tiny metallic cymbals in their hands.

It was lovely to see these beautiful women dancing, it gave me a feeling of encouragement and embracing being a woman.  It made me feel strong and proud of them.  They chanted Lu Lu Lu with a hand above their mouth which is a middle eastern chant that women use as a compliment like well done to each another. 

To help set the tempo there were some men playing percussion too.

I would love to learn this one day.  They looked like they were enjoying it so much. 

To read more about American Tribal Style Belly Dance see their website http://www.cinnabarred.com/

Owen's bronchiolitis - 10 days in Paediatrics at Flinders Medical Centre

Owen 6 months playing in the activity center

We've been home a week now since Owen's 10 day admission to the Paediatrics ward at Flinders Medical Centre.  It was a surreal experience spending those days watching little Owen fighting the bronchiolitis that had taken all of his energy and smiles.  It felt like we had lost time.

Usually Owen is a happy baby but we always know when he is unwell because he is not happy either laughing or smiling.  But that is pretty rare and its not the sort of thing you want to happen to your child either.

After our walking tour at the Kuarna community centre at Bedford Park, Owen started really struggling to breath.  He seemed to be so miserable too.  We were celebrating Michael's 27th birthday with the family at Diana and Chris' that night.  Owen was crying the whole time.  When people started to leave we had a good look at Owen and good see that he was very sick, so we rang the Health hot line to speak with a registered nurse.  After determining that he was struggling to breath, his whole body was moving, the skin was being sucked in around his ribs, and neck.  The RN advised us to take Owen to hospital straight away.  It was an emergency.

We arrived at Emergency Flinders Medical Centre around 10pm and by 1pm were admitted to Paediatrics Ward.  They had determined he was seriously ill with bronchiolotis a condition caused by a virus in the lungs.  Because his work of breath was hard, his oxygen levels in the blood, they determined his saturation was too low at around 90%, respiratory rate, and heart rate were elevated to dangerous levels. Respiratory rate at around 70 breaths per minute normally no more than 30 and his heart rate was around 170 beats per minutes normally no more than 130.  The virus had put his whole body under stress.  They put him on two litres per minute oxygen via  a nasal tube to assist with his breathing.  The virus wouldn't allow the deeper part of his airways to transfer oxygen into his blood.  He also had a temperature of 39. They did an xray too. 

They tested for the type of virus but two days later it came back negative.  Their is usually not a lot they can do when its a virus causing this problem.  They can only provide support through oxygen, panadol and fluids.  It just determines how long baby will be in hospital. Owen also had an intravenous canula put in his hand so that they could give him fluids for a few days.  This meant that I wasn't to feed him normally, only comfort feeds, so that his stomach wasn't full of milk and making pressure on his lungs.  I was so upset when they put the IV line (gelco) in his hand, I nearly cried but Owen was fine.  He was connected to a monitor to check these via a probe attached to his foot. 

It was awful to see him hooked up to all these machines, and lying there lifeless.  There was absolutely nothing I could do for him, except cuddles of course.  But he was in the best hands ever.  The nurses and doctors were absolutely fabulous.  For the first four days they were in every hour to do their observations.  These were recorded on a graph.  They checked saturation, respiratory rate, heart rate, and temperature.  There were also some others things they did too.  After four days they did two hourly obs.  There seemed to be a cycle in his obs depending on whether he had been feeding or sleeping. 

Luckily for around eight days we had our own room.  I was so tired on the first few days I hardly remember anything.  I spent some time watching a few movies, reading, going for quick walks to the sports oval nearby.  As a breast feeding mother I was provided with all of my meals too. 

On the night that Owen was admitted Jamie was to go to Sydney early in the morning for a server and desktop installation for one of their major customers. I decided not to tell him that we had been admitted until around mid day not to interfere with his work. He was so worried he decided to come home to see Owen that evening. Jamie also had to do a trip the following week to Hobart for the same customer.  Diana and Chris cared for Charlie on the days Jamie was interstate for work. BTW the nurses enjoyed the Crispy cream donuts from Sydney airport.

Doctors visited us twice a day and the Professor visited us on the weekend.  I was impressed to see him working weekends.  He was a lovely man. 

We missed Charlie because we didn't see him for quite a few days because we didn't want to expose him to any bugs in the ward.  There were all sorts of nasty viruses in the ward. 

The Paediatrics ward had recently been refurbished with an ocean like a big fish bowl.  They had a fish pond in the nurses station where the children could view the fish through a hole in the side of the wall.  All of the doors were glass with different marine life imprinted on them like clown fish, starfish (ours), dolphins, fish, sharks and sea grasses.  There was a play area for children and a laundry for parents to wash cloths.  I washed clothes most days.

On around day eight much to my surprise my BF Renae's little boy Jai was admitted to the ward too.  He was very sick with bronchiolitis.  It was good to have the support of a friend at the ward, but how are the odds of having a close friend in hospital at the same time.   Pretty rare hey! I felt sorry for Renae and Jai because they were put in a share room with four other babies/mothers and she had no sleep that night.  After they found out what Jai had they put him in his own room straight away because he was so contagious.

After day eight they started to reduce Owen's oxygen from 2 slowly to 1.5, then 1.0, then .5 and then nothing.  He seemed to be working very hard with his breathing but they thought that he would cope ok. He respiratory rate, saturation and heart rates were better but not completely back to normal but he would be ok at home as long as we kept an eye on him.  The Doctors were confident I would be able to see the signs of another relapse if that was the case.

By day eight they had also moved me from a single room to a share room, with a young lass suffering from anorexia.  She was lovely girl.  Very sad to see her fading like that.  The whole time she talked about her fashion design and was doing small paintings and putting them in frames bordered with beads. I hope she is going to be okay.

So we left on day 10.  I found the support from staff amazing.  The whole environment was ideal for supporting families with sick children.  You are not made to feel that you are costing them money. 

It was pretty rough watching Owen suffer but I knew he was in the best hands ever so this relieved the stress of the situation.  We were happy to see Owen be back to his normal self again, that is of course smiling and happy.

It was nice to go home.

My yoga practice

I have been doing a combination of Hatha, Iyengar and Vinyasa for about five years since giving up my karate practice.  I decided to begin yoga as a new form of exercise to replace karate.  Despite practising karate (Kin Bushi Rye) for five years and getting my black belt, I realised that I was growing tired of the injuries, aches and pains and that as a woman I would like to do something more feminine.   So my goal now is to continue with a combination of walking and yoga to provide me with what I need to remain healthy and fit.

During my recent pregnancies I had a break from yoga too as I neither had the motivation or energy to engage in any sort of physical activity (continuous morning sickness will do that to you).

I have been doing yoga with a few different instructors not far from home.  Unfortunately a few of the instructors have finished their classes because of time, money and other influences in their lives.  I have really admired all of them.  They are nurturing types and totally amazing people.  My current instructor is Ann who is lovely and a little quirky too.  We practice at Trott Park Neighbourhood Centre only five minutes from home.

When practising my yoga, I feel the energy, emotions and angle of every movement in my body that helps to realign everything. It creates a flow through the body, an energising and relaxing to every part of my body and mind.

I tend to prefer classes with a teacher who can talk me through the different poses, and the energy of the people in the class is present too. I love the meditation side of it and the way it totally relaxes both the mind and the body. I remember one session being so relaxed in meditation that I heard myself starting to snore and also another time whilst sitting upright in a meditative position remaining in this removed state of consciousness for at least 25 minutes and not having any concept on time. It was just incredible.

Believe it or not Yoga is the ancient science of life that originated in India around 300BC.  So its been around a long time.  It is a practice of relaxation, meditation and stretching to realign and relax every part of the body.  The types of yoga include Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, Hot Yoga, and Kundalini. 

The benefits of yoga include flexibility through stretching, balance through holding poses, better circulation to organs and muscles, a relaxed mind and body, a positive outlook on life, feeling happy, some quiet time, better muscle tone, better breathing, reduced pain, stress reduction, mental calmness, and better body awareness.

The different asanas or otherwise poses we do include Mountain pose (Tadasana), raised arms pose, Warrior (Virabhadrasana), Extended Side Angle pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottonasana), Salute to the Sun (Surya Namaskara), Salute to the Moon (Chandra Namaskara), Child pose (Balasana), Downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), and many more.

I have found Iyengar yoga quite interesting as you tend to use props to assist in attaining ideal alignment, even if the body is not yet open enough. You can use a roll shape pillow called bolster, foam block and a strap to attain a perfect position whilst being supported. 

All of my yoga instructors have been into alternative natural health and therapies, and also Bowen therapists and remedial therapists. They are healers too.

I hope to be able to attend my yoga practice at least once a week but hope to do more once things have quietened down with raising to small children.  I've been attending on Thursday mornings and also Saturday mornings when I can.  I think its ideal to go at least twice a week, but if you do it once a week you can really feel the benefits although a few days before you the next practise you feel the need for more again.  I've been doing some yoga at home to help alleviate aches and pains too.

So I really appreciate and love yoga and all of the benefits.  It's just amazing. 

My long term goal is to gain a deeper level of yoga by understanding and knowing about the philosophical background and history of yoga to prepare and deepen the spiritual practice.

For more information about yoga see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
http://yoga.about.com/
http://www.yogajournal.com/
http://www.yogaindailylife.org.au/

The circle of life

Fred and Alice Lindstrom at Rosewater a1950

It's been amazing putting together the pieces of my grandmothers family history.  Its been great hearing the old stories and looking at the old photos of my grandmother and her sisters as young women.  They were all such beautiful girls, and just natural stunners the lot of them.  They must have had so much fun too. 

In 1995 I started writing notes while my Nanna Jenkins talked about her past. A lot of it focused on the Mayo family who lived at Port Augusta and also past Hawker in a hut along the Wonaka Creek.  I loved listening to these old stories and staring into the old photos in her album.  I wrote like mad.  Took it all in, as much as I could.  I formed some sort of connection with the past into the present.

At the time I decided to send a questionnaire to Nanna's brothers and sister so they could write me old stories and I could compile a family history of sorts with information about their own children.  I few of them responded, the old reliables but the ones who may have a little secret or two, or just weren't really interested didn't.  

I still kept listening to my Nanna throughout time, and loved every minute of it. 

Then when I had my first son Charlie in 2007, I thought it might be a good chance to do some family history research.   I met up with Nanna's nephew Ray Hayward because Nanna's eldest sister Eva had a lot of history collected throughout the years.  She kept close ties with the Port Augusta family too.  Too bad I hadn't asked her more questions before she had died in 2004 around about the time of the bad Tsunami. 

Lindstrom Girls a1940

So from Ray, I took down first names, some second ones too.  Then started looking in the phone book for relatives and put an add in the Port Augusta paper asking for Mayo descendants to contact me. I did a few calls who were relatives so they were able to help me put the pieces of the puzzle together.  These were more distant relatives, probably 3rd and 4th cousins.  So that's where more self discovery began. 

I travelled all over the state visiting people, helped to organise a big group to the Wonaka Creek hut for a bbq reunion, reunited long lost relatives, uncovered hidden hushes, and identified people in old photos, and most important made new friends.  Throughout these travels I was blessed to be given the Mayo family bible more than 130 years old.  I collected information for more than 700 people in my database and thousands of old photos and stories. 

Since then I have started compiling the Lindstrom family book, who are my closest relatives in the Mayo family.  The book is dedicated to the memory of Fred and Alice Lindstrom. It will start with an early history about the Mayo family at Wonaka Creek.  There's a lot of information about the family written by a local reporter.  Also, some more information about the Lindstroms, Fred and Alice's life story and that of their children, photos and descendant charts.  There will be an descendant index at the back and a gallery.  I'm going to have it professionally bound and printed.

Lindstrom family picnic at Blackwood a1945

I've been talking with all of the cousins who are also very excited and most of them have now provided me with a lot of things to make a beautiful keepsake.  So hopefully I will have something to give to my Nanna Jenkins and Auntie Betty in the next few months.  My Nanna will be 93 years old in December 2010.  She's in a nursing home now, and her memory is fading.  This is so important to me, to treasure her memory and that of her beautiful parents and siblings.  They were just amazing people.  It sad to think there are only the two of them left. 

They've been passing away over the past 20 years or so.  They were all lovely.  Sometimes I wish I had more time with them.  It was lucky to know such wonderful people and hearing their stories though.  Sad to see them go but unfortunately that is the circle of life.

The Lindstrom family a1980

Some beautiful writing about Mothers

My cousin Kathryn (she is a gorgeous girl) sent me the below beautiful writing about Mothers.  I don't know who the author is but I value what has been said.  They have touched my heart and brought a smile to my face especially when I reflect upon my own life experiences.  Please enjoy.  xx


Mothers

Real Mothers don't eat quiche

They don't have time to make it


Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils

Are probably in the sandbox


Real Mothers often have sticky floors

Filthy ovens and happy kids

Real Mothers know that dried play dough

Doesn't come out of carpets


Real Mothers don't want to know what

The vacuum just sucked up


Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'

And get their answer when a little

Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'


Real Mothers know that a child's growth

Is not measured by height or years or grade...

It is marked by the progression of Mummy to Mum to Mother.....



The Images of Mother


4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mummy can do anything!


8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mum knows a lot! A whole lot!


12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't know everything!


14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn't have a clue.
.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mum? She's so five minutes ago.


18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!


35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mum's opinion.


45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mum would have thought about it?


65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mum.


The beauty of a woman

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,

Because that is the doorway to her heart,

The place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,

But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she

Shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Nothing beats a cup of tea with Nanna



Nanna and Owen September 2010

Nothing beats a cup of tea with my Nanna. 

I've just returned from my bi-annual visit with my Nanna Jenkins at Mount Gambier in the south-east.  Nanna has been in a nursing home for nearly two years.  I don't stay at her place anymore.  We used to have such good times at her place.  We would always sleep in the bed together at a night time and enjoy the days. 

At the nursing home we just sat around enjoying the moment.  She loved playing with the boys.  Charlie went straight for the lolly tin, so we ate at least half that during our first visit.  The lollies were a real hit. 

Spending time in Nanna's room

I tried to see her everyday. Its a bit harder with the boys, so by the time I had got them and myself ready I could only be there for an hour or two and one day I spent the whole day with her.  I enjoyed just hanging out with my Nanna, chatting and drinking cups of tea. 

Nanna's short term memory has deteriorated but she still remembers who I am and other close relatives too, although she gets the boys names mixed up a bit but that doesn't matter. Every now and then she asks me if her husband Tom is there.  This time I responded with a no and then changed the subject that her son Tom will be at a party tomorrow for Zac's eleventh birthday.  I often change the subject now when she asks who is living and who is dead out of her family because she mourns each time she is reminded about a death especially her sisters.  I always remind her that they had such good times and are all so lovely.

Charlie giving love to Owen


Nanna gave Owen a little teddy bear that had a green and white scarf and matching hat.  It was really cute.  She enjoys giving things to the boys especially lollies and teddys.

Nanna has made close friends with the other ladies in her area.  Their names are Dawn, Jean, and Jessie.  There was a new lady Irene that arrived on a day I was there.  I think they are lovely and we all talked together in the sitting room.  There were some other ladies there but they seemed to be sticking to themselves. 



Jessie

We also spent some time with Mary Dermody who is related to Auntie Marie.  She is lovely and was happy to play with the boys.  Mary Dermody was a Hayes, and  her brother was Jack Hayes Auntie Marie's Dad.  Mary's daughter is her only child a red head Jeanene. 



Mary Dermody playing botchi


I shared some bakers delight bread and dried fruit as a treat as they can't get out from the nursing home very often.  An old man came walking along, so I offered him some fruit too.  He took the biggest handful you could imagine and it was great to see him enjoy the fruit and try fit it all in his mouth in one go! 




Charlie playing botchi

 

On the Tuesday all of the oldies were gathered in the activities hall to play bocchi.  It's a game where there are two teams the red and the blue.  The aim is to throw their ball at a white ball and whatever team has a ball closest to the white ball is the winner.  They are pretty good at it and they all enjoy this activity.  It even gets a bit competitive but they laugh a lot too.  When we first arrived the lady who works at the nursing home asked me to introduce the children.  They were all so thrilled to see the boys.  Then the lady took baby Owen around to each of them.  It was like show and tell.  It was amazing to see the happiness the two children gave them.  Charlie played bocchi too. 

Botchi in the activities room

On the last day we had a little party in Nanna's room with some yummy food, ginger ale and lemonade, some bakers delight bread and dark chocolate coated ginger.  I wouldn't be surprised if Nanna didn't eat her lunch after that.  We sat around talking and playing with the boys.

My Nanna and I are very good friends.  I said that to her and she agreed that we were good mates and that she had raised us since we were little ones.  I think that has definitely strengthened our bond. When Dale and I were growing up she often had us at her place.  The little things have stuck in my mind like cuddles and laughs, hot baths and fresh hot water in a jug to rinse the soap out of our hair, cheese on toast, sausage rolls, the big lolly tin, cream puffs, hot milk before bed, cuddles, card games, fruit trees, playing in the garden and more.  She was a lovely Nanna to us when we were kids.  I'm so glad we are great friends now and she now knows my two boys. 

It was wonderful to spend time with my Nanna at her nursing home and I'm so happy that she is happy and cheerful, and cracking jokes at every opportunity.  She is lovely and I love her dearly.  I'm trying to cherish every moment.

The walking history tour of North Terrace, Adelaide

This may actually sound sad, but I realised the other day how little I know about my own city and history. 

This week Charlie, Diana, Owen and myself caught a train from Seacliff to the city.  On days that Diana has Charlie they often catch the train into town just for fun.  I wanted to experience his experience I'd heard about so frequently even the part where he goes "toot toot" all the way into town.  I hadn't caught a train in many years and it was so easy just walking from Diana's house on Maitland Terrace to the train station.  Also, I wanted to see "The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize" being exhibited at the SA Museum.

When we arrived at the train station in the city I was immediately reminded of my Nanna Jenkins who worked an the Railway tearooms as a young girl.  We walked past the donut shop that a friend is constantly talking about and then up the ramp onto North Terrace.

That's when I realised how little I knew about my own city. 

We stopped to look at Parliament house where you can go watch politicians in the House of Assembly and can do tours to learn about the history of parliament house, and how parliament works. 

The South African War Memorial Adelaide

We saw a statue commemorating the South African War otherwise known as the Boar War from 1899 to 1902 and in memory of those who fell.  I'd seen that statue a thousand times on my way into town to collect some lunch but never had a close up.  It's a beautiful big statue of a soldier on his horse and has a plaque explaining its purposes and the names of soldiers who died at the war.  After doing some reading I found that at the time people were dedicated to their Queen and the Empire so it was South Australian's way of contributing towards the Empire.  Its been there since 1904 and is made of bronze.

We stopped to look at the gentlemans' house on North Terrace.  Its been there for the prestigious society men since the beginning of Adelaide.  It still stands there today for that purpose and apparently you can do tours. 

Then we stopped to look at the many plaques on the footpath remembering great South Australians like Sir Henry Ayers (business man, banker and parliamentarian) 1821 - 1897, Sir Richard Baker (lawyer, pastoralist, and parliamentarian) 1841 -1911, Robert Barr Smith (business man and philanthropist) 1824 - 1915, Jean Lady Bonython (community work for women and children) 1891 - 1977, Sir Donald Bradman (cricketer and businessman) and many more.  There are a lot of places named after these people like Ayers house, the Barr Smith Library, Bonython Park and Sir Donald Bradman Drive. 

 The most interesting plaque for me was David Frederich Dallwitz (Jazz musician and artist) born 1911 and has only just recently passed away in 2003.  I knew this because the Dallwitz family are friends with the Penhall family.  Jamie is friends with Nick Dallwitz the grandson of David Dallwitz who has passed his legacy to his children and grandchildren who are amazing talented artists and musicians to this day.  I've been to his old house at Seacliff which is wall to wall from ground to ceiling of the families amazing paintings.  I like the idea of having paintings on the walls like that.  The old house is like a rabbit warren, with many rooms and parts to the house upstairs and downstairs where the who family lived.  I've seen David Dallwitz's paintings which are incredible.  Some of them stand 6 feet high from floor to ceiling.  His whole life was dedicated to art, teaching and exhibiting his work, and he is represented in the Australian National Gallery, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Bank, and the University of South Australia.

Mary Lee

Another was a statue standing out the front of the Governor's house was of Mary Lee  1921 -1829 who devoted her life to the improvement of social and political conditions for those who suffered the most, in particular those that affected women.  She also was a major influence in gaining the right for women to vote on 18 December 1894 and the first in the world to be able to stand for parliament.

Matthew Flinders 1774 to 1814

There was a statue of Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age and probably most famous for his exploration of the Australian coastline and promoting the use of the word Australia.  He was considered an important explorer of Australia and has a number of landmarks named after him in South Australia include the include the Flinders mountain range and Flinders Ranges National Park, Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island, Flinders University, Flinders Medical Centre, the suburb Flinders Park and Flinders Street in Adelaide. The statue is made of bronze.

Spirit of Compassion

We stopped to look at the National War Memorial commemorating those who served in the First World War. Opened in 1931, the memorial is located on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue.  Memorial services are held at the site throughout the year, with major services on both Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November).  Inside the memorial are the names of soldiers who fought and died in WWI.  Diana has seen Sandor Stolz's name before, I had a look but couldn't find it.  On the outside of the memorial is the Spirit of Compassion as a winged spirit of womanhood holding the body of a dead soldier, and a the Fountain of Compassion. 

Spirit of Duty

On other side of the monument facing North Terrace is the Spirit of Duty with three people a girl, a student and a farmer that represent the abandonment of the symbols of their craft and unprepared for the war to come.

Venus

In Prince Henry Gardens the statue of Venus Adelaide's very first statue, and a copy in Carrara marble of Canova's Statue. The pedestal of Sicilian and Kapunda marble.


Next a statue of King Edward VII King and Emperor 1901 - 1910 and his mother was Queen Victoria.  Hewas King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India. He was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was renamed the House of Windsor by his son, George V.  Before his accession to the throne, Edward held the title of Prince of Wales and was heir apparent to the throne for longer than anyone else in history.  During the long widowhood of his mother, Queen Victoria, he was largely excluded from political power and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite.

Robert Burns 1759 to 1796

And what city wouldn't have its own Robert Burns statue which stands out front of our State Library.  Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply He was was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide.

Then to the SA Museum to see the Waterhouse Natural history art prize.  Now that was incredible to see too.

It was such a lot to take in such a short walk. Actually I feel a little ashamed that I don't know more but I suppose I can't remember being taught about this at school or by my parents and life goes by.  The only history I really know well is that of family.  Looking at the positives, this little walk has given me a motivation to learn more.  There are some tours available, so will look into that and I'm sure some friends will be interested too.