"Flatty's" travels have ended.

Well, "Flatty" started his travel February 2 and slid into "home base" (school) on May 29, being UPS'd by his host mother in Ontario so that he could make it back on time before school ended. What a whirlwind adventure he had thanks to his many hosts! Thank you, Hosts!! Because of your kindness and generosity, "Flatty" traveled around the world leaving St. Louis flying to Hawaii; then Agery, Australia; Queensland, Australia; Germany; Spain; and ending in Ontario. Wow! He and his classmates learned a lot besides having fun w/him. He came back w/some new clothes that people made for him. It was too fun and educational! Thank you everyone! Visit Webshots or Facebook for pictures of his adventure.

Flat Jake in Ontario

This is the continuing adventures of Flat Jake, AKA “Flatty,” told by Ontario Host Janis Stewart:

Ontario was a very short visit but oh so sweet!

Flatty arrived in Wiarton at 10:30 AM on Wednesday May 27, 2009, for a short, whirlwind visit with Gord and Janis Stewart. He was so tired after his trip all the way across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain that he curled up with Holly, our cat, and had a little nap. It was pouring rain all day here and good napping weather.

Flatty did get up in the afternoon to inspect one of the quilts that I am working on for a customer in my studio at Quilts Unlimited. I was not running the computerized machine today as we get severe electrical storms and power interruptions so I did not want to risk having problems especially as I am working on a very fancy quilt on that machine for another customer which will go in a quilt show on June 12th and a quilt competition in September.

My husband, Gord, drives a school bus and enjoyed showing it to Flatty. We took Flatty for a drive into Wiarton to meet Wiarton Willie but Willie was hiding in his den. So, instead, we took some photos of Flatty at the Wiarton Willie statue. It was so foggy from the rain that you couldn’t see the water in the Bay. Wiarton Willie is our town’s albino (white) groundhog. They make sure he gets out on Ground Hog Day, February 2, to check if we’re going to have an extra 6 weeks of winter This year, he didn’t see his shadow…..so that meant 6 more weeks of winter!

Flatty helped me make some rhubarb pies. Yum! Do you eat rhubarb pies in High Ridge? They are so good, both sweet and tart at the same time. Rhubarb is a vegetable with long red stalks (that looks kind of like long, red celery) that are cut in small pieces and cooked although I remember eating them raw when I was young like Flatty. They are very sour though, and you really need to add sugar to sweeten them up.

Flatty arrived too late to go to my quilting group which meets every Tuesday evening at the local Quilt Shop. I think Flatty might have been a little bored at our meeting, but he certainly would have received lots of attention and heard lots of laughter and fun. He also missed going hiking with me on Monday when I hiked along the shore of Georgian Bay with two good friends and found a piece of driftwood that made an excellent new walking stick. But, he did arrive right in the middle of hockey play-offs and watched “Hockey Night in Canada” with Gord. Gord was going to take his classic truck to the first Cruise Night of the season tonight, but the rainy weather changed his plans, and he watched the hockey game instead.

I will tuck Flatty into bed early tonight because he will need to get up very early tomorrow morning to begin his trip home to High Ridge and Fenton. He will be taking a very fast trip home from Canada via UPS (United Parcel Service) and is scheduled to arrive at school Friday morning (May 29). Although his stay was very short, we sure are happy that he made it here as part of his big adventure. If he ever wants to visit again, perhaps we can give him a tour on the motorcycle, take him for a hike on the Bruce Trail, and maybe even a ride in an ultra-light aircraft to see our beautiful views from the air. We send “Greetings from Canada” home with Flatty to all of his classmates in Mrs. Owen’s class at Brennan Woods Elementary School and wish all of you a safe and happy summer.

Janet Stewart

Flat Jake in Spain

In Spain, my host family was Vilches Arcenegui family – Juan, Cristina, and Pablo, Cristina’s son who is 9 – one year older than me.

Spain is divided into 17 regions. My host family lives in Andalucia which is the largest region of Spain located in the southern region of the Iberian Peninsula. It is divided into 8 provinces with the capital being Sevilla. The town is called “Alcala de Guadaira”. That name comes from the Arabs who lived in the region for more than 500 years.

I arrived in Alcala de Guadaira on the 23^rd April, and the first thing we did was to get around Alcala. The town has 70,000 inhabitants and is 10 miles away from the capital of the region (Sevilla).

On the 25^th, we went to one of Juan’s cousins christening of two twin girls. First we went to church. Even though Spain is a multi-religion country, most people are Catholics although they are not very religious any more. It was a very big event. Spanish families are big. I mean, they enjoy getting together, parents, children, cousins, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents. They celebrate everything with their families: a baby’s birth, the christening, and First Communion at 10 years old, which is a really big day. At First Communion, all the family goes to church, and they have a big banquet celebration. And finally, the last event in any Spanish family is the wedding. So, the christening was the perfect event for me to meet the rest of the family. They were amazed of all the places I have gone, and they wished they could go with me just like my Daddy wishes.

I had a hard time trying to understand them because although I had already been taught some Spanish by Pablo, the people from this region speak quite fast so it was difficult to understand them. On top of that, Spaniards are quite noisy, especially when they get together like the day of the christening. Well, after the ceremony, we went to the “feria” to have a big meal. We started eating at 1400 hours (they do time in a 24 hour clock – 1400 in 24-hour clock is 2 p.m.) and finished at 1800 (6 p.m.). Why did it take so long? Because Spanish love talking so much! Everybody wants to talk with everybody! After that, we went to see the attractions; and, finally, I went off to bed after a long, fun day.

On Sunday, we went to the cinema to watch “Monsters vs Aliens” IN SPANISH. It sounded so weird. Then, I got to go to school with Pablo. He is in 3^rd course which is a level for children born in 2000. Education in Spain is mandatory from 6 years of age until 16. Then they can study 2 more years to prepare for the university. Pablo usually goes to school Monday to Friday from 0900 hour to 1400 hour (9 a.m. until 2 p.m). Then he stays to have lunch and then practice some sport or learn new skills like English language after 1700 hour (5 p.m.).

Well, I have been taken to Pablo’s school almost every day of my stay. Pablo’s colleagues were also delighted to meet me, and they all wanted to teach me all kind of plays. Spanish people love soccer and so do the kids. I wish I had pictures of Pablo’s school, but I wasn’t allowed to get any there because of security.

On April the 30^th, I travelled to Los Gallardos with Pablo and his father, Rafa. Los Gallardos is a very, very small village in the province of Almeria. We went there to stay for the bank holiday weekend. May 1^st is a bank holiday in Spain. They celebrate the day of “Work.” I had such a lovely time. We got to go to the beach. The weather was warm and sunny so I had the chance to see the Mediterranean Sea which is a warm sea. On our way back to Alcala, we crossed the very famous desert – The Tabernas’ Desert – known because many western American movies were filmed there – like “Laurence of Arabia” and “Conan”. In that desert, there is a complex called “Mini-Holliwood” which was famous way back in the 1960s and 70s for western movies like “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” and “For a Few Dollars More.”

The following week, I accompanied Pablo again to school, and in the afternoons I was able to see his mum working in her studio. She quilts quilts using in a very big quilting machine like my grandma Sandi uses. And her machine came from Iowa here in the United States – all that way it was shipped to Spain because they don’t make these machines other than in the United States.

By the way, Spanish people have a funny way of eating. They usually have a light breakfast, toasts and coffee, heavy lunch between 1400 hour and 1500 hour, a snack of pastries or a sandwich around 1800 hour and then a light dinner at 2100 hour or 2200 hour. Also, they go to bed around 2400 hour. During the summer, due to the heat, they have something called siesta (a nap) that means sleeping for 1 or 2 hours after lunch.

The following weekend we went to Sevilla on Saturday. I was taken to a patchwork shop first. It was full of surprises, beautiful quilts, dolls, etc. I was presented to the owner whose children are Americans since she is a married to a gentleman from San Francisco, so they spoke to me in English. When we left the shop, we went to see the Guadalquivir, which is the river that crosses Sevilla. This river is famous because in the XVI (16^th) century the Spanish used the city of Sevilla as the main port to America. This city was the most important of Europe in those years since all the ships that went to America departed from here.

After that we went to Naboo land, yes, I am not joking. Well, the proper name is Plaza de España, Spain’s Square. This is one of the favourite places in Sevilla for tourists and Sevillians. It was built for the Ibero-American exhibition of 1929. He mixed a style inspired by the Rennaissance with typical elements from the city. Plaza de España was used for one of the scenes in episode II of George Lucas in “Star Wars SAGA Attack of the Clones.”

After that, we went to have lunch and stayed the rest of the weekend with Pablo’s family – you know, cousins, uncles and all that.

Finally, on my last weekend in Spain, we went to the Medieval Castle of Alcala built by the Arabs located at bank of the river Guadaira.

Well, it was quite an experience since I was able to see those old walls, and I could imagine the warriors, Arabs, and Christians fighting. It was a very hot and sunny day. We had a lovely time as well. Oh, we went to church as well. That little church was built in the XIV (14^th) century, and it was so different from what I am used to see in the States - very small with old stones.

Then we went to a neighbor’s house where we had lunch. Their house is very typical here.

The following day we went to have a walk in the banks of the Guadaira River (an Arab’s name), and I got the chance to see The Dragon bridge, also know as the Gardian of the Castle. It is so cool with all those coloured tessellations. It is the only figurative bridge in Europe.

And finally, on Monday, I said goodbye to my Spanish family and took a plane to Ontario. The host family will forward me back to school as soon as she gets me because I need to be back by May 29^th. The US Mail takes a long, long time to get anywhere!

P.S. Juan, Cristina and Pablo said they had a lovely time with me and thanks everyone for letting them be a part of my travels. I was a good boy!

"Flatty's" leaving Spain on way to Ontario Canada

Well, Flat Jake had a wonderful time in Spain, and I'll be writing about his adventures as soon as I get them. Am also awaiting Spain pictures.

I just uploaded Queensland's pictures to my webshots and facebook that I just got from Leonie via snail mail and on a CD. Please be sure to take a look.

Also....time is coming to an end for "Flatty's" adventures as he has to be back to school by May 29. These international travel destinations have taken a long time to get to and from. But, what an adventure for "Flatty."

"Flatty's " adventures in Germany

FINALLY, I've made it to Germany! It has been a long travel from Australia to Europe but I made it just fine – and just in time for the Easter holidays! Please check out Grandma Sandi's Webshots to see my pictures. We don't know how to attach them here.

I'm staying with the Schueller family – Birgit and Thilo and their two children Colin (12) and Alisha (9). (My brother's name is Colin, too, only he's 4.) I'll stay here for 12 days from Thursday, April 9th till Tuesday, April 21st, 2009.

My host family lives in the Saarland which is the second smallest federal state of Germany. The Saarland is located in the South-West of Germany at the border to France. Birgit has mailed the map on these pictures to you and she has highlighted in pink the places we will visit. The little town I'm staying in right now is called “Riegelsberg”. Colin is pointing at it on the map with his finger (Webshots again).

After a good night sleep, I had to get up pretty early on the morning of Good Friday. Here in Germany, they call Good Friday “a silent holiday” – all the stores and shops are closed and most everybody is off from work and school. Even the church bells are silent on Good Friday in mourning Jesus' death – and that's why I had to get up early...To substitute for the church bells, the kids and youth of the parish walk the streets at 8am,
noon and 6pm making a terrible noise with selfmade wooden "instruments" called “Kleppern” (basically approx. 10”x8" boxes hanging around their necks on a string with a handle – when the handle is turned a wooden setup inside the boxes creates that terrible noise...). Colin and Alisha took me along and we met our group in front of their church. You won't believe the noise they made with those “Kleppern”! Thilo even recorded a short video to give you a visual and acoustic impression of what we did (http://www.thiloschueller.com/ftp/Kleppern.mpeg). The kids also have a rhyme they repeat all the time telling the people that the bells are silent in mourning and that the kids' noise is supposed to call people to mass. The last walking session was on Saturday morning at 8am (so, no sleeping in on Saturday either as I wanted to accompany the kids again...). Then all the kids meet for a joint breakfast at the parish's community center before they walked their streets again, ringing at the doors to collect donations for the church's servants and the kids' and youth' activities... This was a very different but very exciting experience for me.
After all this walking, I slept like a stone.

Following mass on Easter Sunday, Alisha and Colin let me participate in their Easter egg hunt in the garden. I piled up all my finds in front of some pretty daffodils and had Thilo take some pictures. Over here in Germany, Easter Monday is another holiday where everybody is off from school and work. How cool is that? Anyway, the weather was great, and after mass we packed a backpack picnic and everybody's hiking boots and off the Schuellers drove with me to Mettlach, a town the Saar river is flowing through. This town is the home of the headquarters of the famous tile, porcelain and bath ceramics manufacturer Villeroy & Boch. However, we didn't go shopping but parked our car there and took off into the woods for a beautiful hike. In Germany, distances are measured in kilometers (km) rather than miles. We took a windy trail from the banks of the Saar river walking up and down the slopes of the hills alongside the river. After 6 km (1 mile = 1.6 km – can you do the math?) we reached a very scenic point – the Cloef – from where you can overlook the so-called "Saarschleife” (Bend of the river Saar). The Cloef is located high above the point where the Saar river flows down from Saarbrücken, makes a gorgeous U-turn and flows on towards Trier. As this is one of the famous sights of the region, there is a tourist information office nearby. Birgit talked to a nice lady behind the counter who found her a number of brochures in English about the Saarland in general and the Saarschleife in particular. I've packed up these brochures in a big envelope and have mailed it off to school. As the mail needs to go by plane, it will take a while before my package will arrive. But believe me it's worthwhile waiting for it...

After having collected the brochures, we took a short break at a café and had some strawberry cake. Everybody was so hungry that the cake was gone before we thought of taking a picture. But it tasted
wonderfully! Next, Alisha and Colin wanted to show me the playground next to the café. They have been there before quite often and wanted to show me this terrific slide. Wow, that was lots of fun. I enjoyed the seesaw very much, too. Now, we had to go back. As the weather forecast had predicted thunderstorms for the later afternoon, we decided to take a slightly shorter route back to Mettlach. The rain started about 10
minutes before we reached the car. But luckily, I was securely packed away in my Aussie travel bag so that I stayed cozy and dry.

You won't believe where we had dinner that night! In a real brewery! They make their own brand of beer there and serve local specialties to eat. Thilo suggested that I had to try the “Gefillde mit Sauerkraut und Specksosse” (potato dumpling filled with ground meat, sauerkraut and creme sauce with ham). D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!! After all this excitement and the wonderful food, I almost fell asleep in the car.

Tuesday brought my next adventure. The kids are still on spring vacation, so Alisha had some time to make me another outfit. Guess what she made me – a horseback riding outfit! She even made me a helmet! And in
the afternoon, I got to accompany her for her riding lesson! I've never been in a barn before – and today I got to not only help to clean and tack the horse but to sit on it together with Alisha! That was pretty high up there! Those horses are HUUUGE! To tell you the truth, I was pretty glad when I was back on the ground. But it was an exciting adventure. What I think is funny, though, is that although everybody speaks German here (luckily
Birgit and Thilo can translated for me, Colin has had English in school for almost two years now, so he's pretty good at communicating as well, and Alisha is just talking with her hands and feet and we get along wonderfully, too) a lot of the horses in that barn have English names! The horse Alisha and I rode on is called “Shadow”. You understand that, don't you? Would you ever consider calling your horse “Schatten” (which is the German word for “shadow”)?

On Wednesday, Birgit took the kids to Saarbrücken, the capital of the Saarland, to do some shopping. After we had everything on our list, we stopped on one of the bridges crossing the Saar river and took a few pictures to give you an impression of the surroundings.

In the afternoon, yet another adventure was waiting for me. This time, Colin took me along. He is a member of
the junior pole vaulting team of the Saarland and had a training session scheduled for the afternoon. It is absolutely fascinating to watch the kids run with those long poles and have themselves thrown up into the air and maneuver over the bar. I did NOT give this a try but insisted on having my picture taken together with Colin holding one of those “tooth picks”...

Thursday and Friday were pretty busy days as the family had to prepare a lot of things because Alisha will celebrate her First Communion on Sunday! And I'll be here to see her in her pretty dress!!! So, we had so much going on that we didn't find time to take some pictures. As it rained all day long, this was ok with me and I just relaxed for a bit.

On Saturday, Alisha's grandparents arrived for the big event the next day. I got to meet Opa Otto and Oma Karin! They stayed for two nights. We had coffee and cake and spend the afternoon playing a number of board games. Sunday was the big day for Alisha that she has been anxiously awaiting for so long! Uncountable guests arrived and the entire party went to church for the ceremony. After a two hour service, lots of congratulations and pictures taken, everybody returned to the house for a wonderful selection of food and lots of fun and talking. More pictures were taken throughout the day. The entire house and yard were humming with excited people and Alisha looked to very pretty in her white dress. Finally, we found a quiet moment to have a picture taken of her and I. Doesn't she look wonderful? Most of the guests left before the second service of the day in the early evening. Everybody was so very tired that night! While Colin had to go back to school on Monday after the Easter break, Alisha had another day off – but had to attend service at church to complete the official First Communion celebrations. Some friends and neighbors came over in the
afternoon to help eat the left-over cake and cookies.

Finally, on Tuesday, everyday life returned for Alisha as well. She had to go back to school – and took me
along to visit with her 3rd grade class. As her regular teacher still is on sick leave, the substitute teacher took
a picture of the entire class and I on the school's playground during break.

Well, and this is rounding off my adventurous stay with the Schueller family in Germany. As you can see, I'm
heading to Spain next to stay with Cristina. As Spain is another European country, this trip will take just a few days. Watch out for my next travel report from Spain!!!”
Love to all,
Flat Jake - "Flatty" as they nick-named me!!

P.S.from Birgit: Dear children, I hope you will enjoy hearing and reading about Flat Jake's adventures in Germany as much as my family enjoyed having him here and showing him around. I've mailed some brochures (in English) on our part of Germany your way last week and hope the package will arrive soon.
Everybody here who has gotten involved in either taking pictures of or being in a picture with Flat Jake loved this project and sends greetings to you! Have a wonderful summer.
Hugs, Birgit, Thilo, Colin & Alisha Schueller

Flat Jake Upcoming German Adventures

While staying w/Birigt Schuller in Riegelsberg, Germany, stay tuned for Flat Jake's German adventures.......but, he just went on a hiking tour there, and we'll learn more about that soon.

The rest of his plans include the following schedule:
Tuesday - accompany Alisha to her riding lesson
Wednesday - go watch Colin (Colin is also Jake's brother's name) during his pole vaulting training
Thursday - shopping trip to Saarbruecken
Friday - nothing planned yet
Saturday - meet Colin and Alisha's grandparents
Sunday - attend Alisha's first communion
School will start again here on April 20th
FJ goes to school with Alisha (3rd grade) on April 21st
Then he's off to visit w/Cristina in Spain.
Whew! Is he having fun!!!

Flat Jake Arrives Germany today!

Finally Flat Jake has arrived in Riegelsberg, Germany, today! It was a long trip after departing Queensland the end of March! He's just in time for Easter.

Queensland, Australia

Flat Jake just finished visiting the home of Leonie Gittins in Queensland. She sent six pictures so far and has more coming. I will post them as soon as I get them.

This is Leonie's story of FJ's visit:

Flat Jake reporting here from Queensland . I have had such a busy day.

First I had a good look around this place - a funny house - it is an A-frame. The bottom floor is for the garage and the sewing room, the next floor up is the kitchen, bathroom lounge room and a couple of bedrooms and there are more bedrooms up on the top floor. You can see the Pacific Ocean from the front verandah. There used to be 5 kids live here but they all grew up. I did get to play with the cat - he has blue eyes and his name is Cami.

Early this morning we did some quilting on a quilt for someone who lost their home in the Victorian bushfires last month. I liked the quilt with crocodiles on it best. Victoria is another state and is about a thousand miles away from here.

Then we went out into the garden and picked some tomatoes and chokos and pumpkins. I played hide and seek in the vines. Chokos are easy to grow here but they don't have much flavour unless you pick them young and put them in a stir fry. Pumpkins make yummy soup and you would not bevieve how good pumpkin scones are. It is pretty warm here all year round and most things grow all the time.

The people in this house have never seen snow falling. Of course it gets pretty hot in summer but only some days as summer is the rainy season. Winter days are beautiful, usually about 25 degrees celcius (you can find out what that is in Farenheight) and the nights rarely go below 10 degrees C. It does get a fair bit colder if you go inland a few more miles, and they get heavy frosts which kill all the gardens.

You can see me in the paw-paw tree and a banana bush but the fruit was not ripe enough to eat.

We had to go about 40 miles to the patchwork shop down at Maroochydore which is at the beach (look for it on a map) I looked at all the fabric and met some ladies having a sewing lesson. Leonie used to work at this shop and she knows all the ladies there.

ON the way to the patchwork shop we called in to the Big Pineapple. It has just been put on the heritage list so it can't ever be pulled down. There are stairs up inside it and you can see people up on the top of it - it is really big. We saw some pineapples in the shop and some more growing outside. Did you see the windmill - did you know they were invented in Australia? The wind blows the sails around and that works a pump which pumps water up from a well in the ground below.

The little train used to take sugar cane to the sugar mill, but now it takes visitors for a ride around the farm.

We saw lots of animals there. The white bird is a sulphur crested cockatoo and he said "hello" to me! The yellow dog is a dingo, a native dog. Farmers don't like them because they kill farm animals and sometime attack children. They never can be fully trained. They don't bark but we heard them howling - a bit scarey.

I was glad all the snakes were in cages - see the snake skin I am sitting on? Snakes shed their skin each year. Some of the most poisonous snakes in the world live in Australia. The lizzards are funny aren't they!

Isn't the wallaby pretty! Wallabies are smaller versions of kangaroos - there are lots of different types. The tawny frogmouth owls looked so sad. They sit perfectly still and are hard to see - they look just like a broken branch. I liked the little chickens best. Here a chicken is a baby, grown up ones are called chooks, or hens and roosters.

It was hot when we finished looking at the animals so we went back up the hill to the restaurant and bought a pineapple sundae - doesn't it look yummy! lots of chopped sweet pineapple, cream and lots of macadamia nut icecream on top. That is Leonie sitting behind it and she ate it all up!

We went down to the beach for a while and saw the lifesavers rescue boat. See the red and yellow flags? You have to swim between them because that is where the lifesavers watch and they choose the safest spot. Lots of visitors get drowned because they don't know about the dangerous rips in the surf and they swim in unsafe areas. Sometimes there are sharks in the waters here and the lifesavers tell everyone to get out of the water fast.

On the way back to Nambour we saw some sugar cane growing near the road. It is about 12 feet high.

We stopped to look at a few houses because they are different here in Queensland. People build them high off the ground so they can check for termites (like millions of little ants) that eat timber houses. Also under the house is a good place to park your car and store stuff. Houses here never have basements. The kitchen and bedrooms are all upstairs. Many houses have big verandahs around them - it is a cool place to sleep when it is hot, a space for little kids to play when it rains and somewhere to have a BBQ and just sit outside and relax.

We shopped in the big Woolworths supermarket - we saw yummy Easter Eggs and some oranges that were grown in America. Oranges are out of season here just now.

After we came home we went to the Kondalilla National Park, just down the road from Leonie's house. We went on a long walk through some tall trees and saw a little waterfall. I sat on a young strangler fig tree - it grows from a seed droped by bird onto another tree where it starts to grow. It's roots reach down to the ground and it eventually strangles the original tree.

The one I am sitting on grew on a dead tree stump. They can get really enormous - and because the original tree dies and rots away they are hollow at the bottom and a man could sleep inside one. We did not see any animals here because they are shy or only come out at night. We did hear lots of birds, including a cat bird. It sounds just like a baby or a cat crying.

I have about 60 photos of me here but I am including only a few to start with.

Well, Grandma Sandi, I think I have seen everything here so I am looking forward to my next holiday - so where do I go next?

love from Flat Jake

Well, Flat Jake.......you're off to Germany!

Flat Jake in Australia March 8 - March 27, '09

Well, Flat Jake finally made it to Australia. And, here is his adventure so far:

Flat Jake started his adventures February 3 by traveling with his grandma’s friend, Mr. Erv Schmidt, to Hawaii for Mr. Schmidt’s month-long Hawaii vacation. Mr. Schmidt was really suppose to get Flat Jake on his way once they reached the Big Island, but he didn’t leave until Mr. Schmidt left. So, he got a late start on his travels, but he sure enjoyed Hawaii. Mr. Schmidt mailed him on to Australia on March 3, when he was flying home to St. Louis.

Flat Jake arrived in Australia and got busy visiting the Browning Family on the farm at Agery, Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The Browning family crops approx 3000acres with wheat, barley, peas, canola, lentils & oats each year. They also raise some sheep primarily to sell the lambs and also make some money on the wool. They are mainly merino crossbreds.

The Browning family consists of Paul & Tracey & three children, Emma nearly 16 yrs, Nicholas 13yrs & Sarah 10yrs old. Both Nicholas & Sarah attend Harvest Christian School in Kadina and catch a school bus everyday out in front of our house. Emma stays and boards in Adelaide (which is South Australia’s capital city) and attends a school down there in preparation for university.

The first photo of Flat Jake is in Sarah’s Yr 5 classroom. Sarah’s school is a multi-denominational Christian school, and they have lovely small class sizes! Some of these children are keen to write some notes to regular Jake, & Mrs. Browning will post them off (mail them) once she gets them. FJ is also taking a look in our front office at our wonderful triptych quilt that Mrs Browning designed & lots of mums assisted to make over a 12 month period for the school. After this, he had a good look at one of our school buses that transport some of our children over 120km (about 75 miles – 1 kilometer = .621371191 miles) one way to come to school each day. Luckily, Sarah & Nicholas only have 40min each trip on the bus as they lives only 26km (about 16 miles) from Kadina & school.

Next, whilst Nicholas was at his guitar lesson after school, Sarah & FJ went down to the “jetty” in Wallaroo. A “jetty” is “Australian” for what we call a pier here in the states. And a pier is like a bridge to “nowhere.” The “jetty” in the pictures can take trucks, people, etc., to get to the ships that pull up alongside to be loaded with grain from the silos. (Also, you can see the jetty and the silo’s in Mrs. Browning’s triptych* quilt if you look close.) Mostly recreational fishermen are on there. There is also a fenced area closer to shore that is used for the local swimming pool. It is fenced for safety for the swimmers with all the boats & equipment that is also in this area.

You can see the big silos in the background which is where the Brownings deliver all their grain. Wallaroo is a major port that big ships come into to be loaded with grain. They then sail to lots of countries to deliver the grain to people for food & production of other things. The Brownings are lucky that they are not too far from the port to deliver their grain in their own big semi trucks each year.

Not too far from the jetty & silos there is a really beautiful beach that we can drive down onto to go swimming & playing. Last weekend this beach had thousands of people there having a big Beach Day Out festival with fun rides, volleyball games, & cricket games to raise money for the “Make-a-Wish Foundation” for kids. Flat Jake has his “swimmers” on with Sarah, but it was a little cold today for a swim.

We had to get home quickly after this as Paul (the Dad) had to be driven home from Kadina to collect one of our tractors that we use for spraying our fields. We left a vehicle at a property near Kadina so that he could get home after dark later. Flat Jake is inspecting this tractor & even tried to drive it!! Nicholas is supervising in the seat and explaining all the little silos that you can see as they hold all the different types of grain that we use to seed our crops. We are currently just controlling any weeds that are trying to grow & waiting for some opening rains so that we can sow our crops for this year. They are usually sown around April and May and grow over our winter through to September. Winter in Australia is when summer is in St. Louis. Harvest time can start as early as October after we cut & make hay as well. Then we are finished in December when our summer starts. Yes, summer starts in December “down under” in Australia.

After this, Sarah & Nicholas went playing in their haystacks behind their house. Sarah’s cat, GUS, is a ginger cat that is never far behind Sarah ever. He even sees her off on the bus every morning and is there to greet her and Nicholas when they get home at night. He was down there too to say hello to Flat Jake. The Brownings make the big round bales of hay to keep for feeding the sheep in the summertime when there is no feed in the fields as well as some small rectangle bales that are easy to sell and transport to gardens & horse lovers.

Nicholas loves riding his bike and his motorbike as well. Flat Jake got close up whilst Nicholas was going over one of his home made jumps behind his house. Inside Sarah decided to teach FJ how to play the organ. You can see where she has made it easier with the names of the notes! Lastly FJ got to jump around whilst Nicholas was practicing on his electric guitar! He did look funny in those strings whilst Nicholas was playing.

Now Flat Jake is going for another long trip – over 2300km (1,426 miles) north of here to Queensland. It is a lot warmer up there as well.

* I asked Tracey to explain her beautiful triptych quilt creation further. This was her reply:

Our School Community! This 3 part textile mural was designed by me to be displayed in our new administration building, to represent our history & foresight in creating a Christian run & controlled school in our local town. The first panel is representing the different backgrounds our school community is drawn on. Agriculture with cropping, animals, fishing industry, mining industry, olives and farm house & yard. The silos, railway line and a motorcross track! The second panel focuses on our school logo & motto. Our heritage is detailed in accurate reproductions of local buildings and festivals (Maypole at our Kernewek Lowender-Cornish Festival). Also our school oval extends to this panel showing the variety of sports that are represented & our 'house' colours and names. The final third panel is our school and subjects that are covered. The children are dressed in our school uniforms and our pride & joy, the school bus is also featured. The 3 dimensional tree & leaves are representative of God's arms sheltering our school & children. We even have ants & ladybugs on the trunk of the tree, along with many 3 dimensional gum leaves. This quilt was achieved in one year of hard work from a great number of mums who participated! Many had not even had any experience in creating patchwork, but were willing to be involved & learn.

Thank you, Tracey Browning, and your family for hosting Flat Jake!! He had such fun visiting with all of you and learning so much of your country, community, home, businesses, and school plus even playing on the beach.

Please check out my webshots for the pics of his adventures. If I've done something incorrectly, please let me know so that I can correct what I've done. I'm new to this, ya know.

Flat Jake just left Hawaii on 03/03/09

I was told that Flat Jake was sent on his way to Tracey Browning in Australia as of yesterday from Hawaii. So, he's in the US mail, and starting his travels now! Boy, he got a slow start.

As soon as I get the Hawaii pics, I'll post them on Facebook and in my webshots album. Then, as he travels, I'll be posting his pics as I get them in email from his host family.

Also, upon his arrival, please email me so that I know he's arrived safely, and I can tell you what needs to be done (if I haven't all ready). And, of course, first and foremost, you're to have fun w/him, and he'll learn so much from all of you. You're all just the BEST for participating!! Thank you! My Jake and his class is soooo excited.

Please let me know if you have any ideas, hints, or questions for me as he travels. I just want to make his travels available to everyone who is having fun following him. Thanks!

Flat Jake Hawaii

Haven't heard from Flat Jake since he started his travel in Hawaii. I took him to Erv's to travel w/him, and Erv was staying a month, yet he would send FJ off to Australia w/in 2 weeks. Well, they might be having too much fun because Tracey Browning is still awaiting anxiously for his arrival. We'll see. Keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I'm quilting a huge 115.5 x 115.5 customer quilt. The thread has been shredding to no end, and the crossh-hatching has been a bear because of it especially. Finally have the cross-hatching done and have found out that the shredding was due to a burr on one of my thread guides. URG!!! I make this sooo difficult for myself! Today, after my workout, I'll continue to work on this. Hmmm.......can I put pics here? We'll see as I learn to blog.

Flat Jake

February 9, 2009

This blog is to follow Flat Jake as he travels all over the world visiting friendly quilters and friends who want to give my grandson, Jake, a great experience of where they live, work, and play. Let's see where Flat Jake goes and learn about his travels!