Alan has a cat...his name is Bob

Do you have a pet?  What is it...a dog, a cat, a bird...or maybe even fish?  My wife and I have always had pet cats..well, since we bought our first house...our first cat came with our first house, and his name was Moey.  Moey lived a very long time. We had him for 23 years.

My son Andrew missed Moey so much that we had to replace him with a similar looking cat...his name is Bob.  Bob is now 17 years old, and we have had him since he was a kitten.

Bob likes to help with chores around the house...he just loves to watch Coral do the ironing.  Here are some photos of Bob:

In the photo above, Bob is lying on my wife's sewing table, watching her do the ironing...he has a clothes hanger on his paw.

Do you remember Nemo?

Do you remember Nemo, what he is, where he lives, and what he eats?

Well, first of all, Nemo is a star of a Disney movie....did you see it?  He is a member of a family of fish commonly called Clown Fish.  Clown Fish usually look like the one above, but they are not always orange with white and black stripes.  A different one is shown below:

Isn't this one pretty?  Yellow with blue stripes.  Do you see more colours?

Clown Fish live in tropical Coral Reefs, one of which is a very big reef off the east coast of Australia...the Great Barrier Reef, which is so big it can be seen from space by astronauts.  Other tropical reefs are found in the Indian Ocean and in the Red Sea....do you know of other such reefs?

Clown Fish live among, and sometimes within, sea anemones which have poisonous tentacles.  The Clown Fish is not hurt by the tentacles, and actually helps keep this sea creature clean by eating food scraps it has not consumed.  The Clown Fish also eats algae and plankton...very very small plants and animals that live in the sea.



The following is a picture of  a Clown Fish living inside an anemone:

Can you see the fish?  Look at the tentacles he is hiding behind...they are colourful too!

And here is a picture of Nemo's home...the Great Barrier Reef, from Space...the Reef is the white bits inside the blue ocean...the brown and green is Australia.  How about that?







DAMPER - Australian Recipe for your Restaurant

Australian DAMPER

"Damper" is a simple bread originally made by Australian Stockmen (cowboys) when camping out away from the Cattle Stations. Traditionally it is made in a cast-iron pot with a lid, called a "camp oven". The entire pot was either covered in hot wood coals or the camp oven was placed in a hole in the ground and surrounded with hot wood coals. It was usually spread with Butter and Syrup or Treacle and served with tea made in a billy over the camp fire.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 450g (3 cups) self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 80g butter, chilled, cubed
• 185ml (3/4 cup) water (or half milk/half water)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the water to the flour mixture and use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until the mixture just comes together, adding 1-2 tbs extra water if the mixture is a little dry. Use your hands to bring the mixture together.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Shape into an 18cm disc and place on tray. Use a sharp knife that has been dipped in flour to mark 8 wedges on top. Dust the damper with a little extra flour and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the damper is cooked through and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature. It is best eaten warm on the day it is made.



Damper in a Camp Oven - see the hole in ground with hot wood coals on the lid

Another famous Australian animal!

Welcome back to school.  I hope you had a happy vacation over Christmas and that you are now ready for more interesting studies. We had a quiet Christmas in Toowoomba, and it was not too hot.

More on Australian animals!  Do you know this one?  It is on Australia's two cent coin, which is no longer used.  Japanese people love this animal, probably because they like dragons.  This animal is a Lizard, and it is sometimes called a "Bearded Dragon" or "Frilled Lizard". There are many different types of this lizard in Australia, and they can be found even in my garden...or out in the desert.  When they want to defend themselves they puff out the the big collar of skin around their head.  Just like in the pictures below.

Some children keep them as pets.  They can bite, but are not poisonous.

Until next time, study hard and practice English every day.

Alan

Santa Claus' Six White Boomers

 

Feliz Navidad desde Australia todos!

Did you or your teachers find out why White Boomers are important to Christmas in Australia....or did you watch the video and song above first?  Alan wonders!

Well, as you now know, it is too hot for reindeer in Australia at Christmas.  It is over 40C in some places...very hot.  So Santa uses special White Kangaroos to pull his sleigh when he delivers Christmas presents to good children in Australia.  Honest!

Have a very happy and safe Christmas everyone.  Alan will write again in January 2012.

Alan

White "Boomers" (Kangaroos)

Kangaroos are a very Australian animal, and more common or plentiful than Platypus. There are millions of them in all parts of Australia, from the forests to the deserts, and they are one of two animals in the Australian Coat of Arms...ask your teacher what a Coat of Arms is.

Kangaroos are usually either RED or GREY in colour, just like in this photo below.

But in this important Christmas month of December, I'm letting you know of a very rare Kangaroo, a very special WHITE Kangaroo.  Next week I will tell you why it is "special". 

Can you and your teachers figure out why these White Kanagaroos are very special?

Alan



A famous Australian animal!

Un gran saludo a mis amigos de El Villar! or, in Australian...A big Hello to my friends at El Villar

 

Is Alan's Spanish improving?

 

This week I have some photos of a famous Australian animal...those of you in Year 3 may remember Alan's Australian coins. Well, the 20 cent coin has a strange animal on it...remember?

It has webbed feet and a bill (mouth) like a duck, it lays eggs like a duck, has a flat tail like a beaver, makes a burrow like a rabbit, has very soft fur, and just loves the water.  It's a Platypus...remember?
Here are some more photos of this strange animal.

 

Do you think this animal is cute?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan's EasyStar electric powered model flying over his Club Field at Hodgson Vale, near Toowoomba, Australia.Farms in the area grow wheat and barley, and some raise Cattle

Click on the image above to play the video!

In my last post I promised that I would would next use a video of my flying club field taken from a mini camera attached to my EasyStar electric glider.
A picture of the glider is at the start of the video. Can you see the little camera attached to the nose of the aeroplane?
The video was taken in March 2010, when my region was in a very bad drought. This is why it shows the country as being very brown, with little water and few crops in the fields.
It was a very windy day, and the aeroplane is very small. This is why it is not very still in the sky. Notice how it rocks a bit?

Thanks to all who have written to me this week. When you next write, can you tell me what you are doing in your English classes. I will like that very much.

Alan

Alan's Hobby is flying radio control Model Aircraft

G'day good friends at el Villar.  Remember "G'day" is Australian for Hola.

When I came to el Villar I brought with me a very small helicopter, which I flew with Jose Manuel in the "Indoor"...remember.  I also helped many of you make paper aeroplanes, and we had flying competitions in the indoor...remember?

Back in Australia I fly much bigger miniature aircraft, two or three times a week.  On Wednesday mornings I go to my flying Club just outside Toowoomba, at Hodgson Vale (google it on google maps!), to fly with my retired friends, talk a lot about aeroplanes, and have a "sausage sizzle" bbq lunch - we cook sausages on a gas grill, fry some onions, and place cooked sausages and onions between two pieces of sliced bread, and top with tomato sauce or ketchup.  On Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I travel with friends to a place called Crows Nest just north of Toowoomba, to fly our aeroplanes in a cow paddock or off a hill, depending on where the wind is blowing from.  Only about six people fly here, and it is very peaceful - except when the planes are making a bit of noise.  Often there are cows and bullocks in the field while we are flying...they make a big mess of our landing strip.

My friends and I fly both electric and gasoline (methonol, actually) powered aircraft...but usually the electric ones because they are clean, and we can switch the motor on and off in the air. In the photos below only the middle aircraft is gas powered and makes a lot of noise.

Hope you like this little story about one of my interests.  Next time I will post a short video of flying over my Club field at Hodgson Vale, using a micro dvd camera on the nose of one of my planes.

See you next time,

Alan

Fun at Nuestra Señora del Villar.mpeg

This is one of Alan's fond memories of your school.
How many children do you recognise, and what are their names?
Who are the teachers whom you recognise?
Do you know the name of the music that is played?

Be good  and work hard,

Alan

Toledo Cat cartoon

Alan and Coral found this funny drawing in a Toledo alley (a narrow street) when they visited Spain in 2009.

 

Hola to all my friends at El Villar

 

Alan