Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.
December 2024
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Visits since May 2016

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Just big enough

On the final day of the camp we went back up to the ski village (hauntingly empty) in search of some decent snow drifts. There really wasn’t much on offer but we managed to find a couple of patches of snow that were just big enough and slopy enough for the Scouts to go tobogganing and […]

Sunset on the tor

Carr Villa Hut, which is owned by a northern Tasmanian Scout Rover crew, nestles just below the escarpment that marks the edge of the Ben Lomond plateau and affords some rather spectacular views of the dolerite cliffs and crags.

While tea was being organised and the chocolate self-saucing pudding was cooking I popped outside and captured the […]

Journey to Little Hell and back

It’s been nearly 6 months since our last proper Scout camp (as opposed to camping in our backyards) and, since Tasmania seems to be coronavirus-free at the moment, we are now able to do overnight things as a group. With barely contained enthusiasm we made a booking for Carr Villa Hut on the slopes of Legges […]

Putting the “outing” back into “Scouting”

COVID-19 restrictions have eased a little and permitted activities now include socially distanced outdoor gatherings with people outside of households. We can’t yet have camps, and we’re not yet able to meet back in our Scout hall, but today we could have a Scout hike. The kids were so excited to see each other (and so […]

“Camp at Home”

We’ve been trying to keep Scouts happening in some form or other and this weekend we had a “camp at home” camp.

We had sessions via Zoom, including opening parade,

the kids were encouraged to learn to tie some knots using the knot videos I’d made (we’d managed to get a kit of dowel and cord to them […]

12 of 12, April 2020

Today is the first 12th that has fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Church ceased having meetings across the world even before we started getting restrictions on large gatherings in Australia (we haven’t had services since before March 15th). Just before things stopped I was called to be the ward music chairperson, so, in these strange times, […]

A strange new world

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has seen great changes to everyday life, as regular activities involving groups of people — where viruses might spread — have been shutdown. Church has not been meeting for a while, our TSO Chorus concert was performed to an empty hall and we are now rehearsing online from home, the University is […]

2020 Scout Guide Regatta

The annual March long-weekend Regatta tradition continued this year. We had fewer numbers and smaller-sized people this year, and so our patrol boat rowing teams weren’t quite as strong as they have been, but we managed a win in the under 13 500m and very credible placings in the other races.

On Saturday, Tahlia (one of our […]

Pontoon party

It has become something of a tradition that one of our last Scout nights for the year be a “pontoon party”, held down at Sandy Bay Beach. There is a pontoon moored just off the beach, and the kids enjoy jumping from it and pfaffing around in “Bob” and the kayaks.

At one stage I had a […]

Bruny Island bike hike

Two of our older Scouts planned a three day bike hike on Bruny Island. I had originally planned to attend the whole thing, but a bunch of other commitments needed my attention and so I only made it to the first day. I supplied the support vehicle and so boarded the ferry first, and was able […]