EAT

Living in PE for the past year has afforded me the time to pursue interests that I have put off for a long time and for a variety of reasons.  Along with traveling, gymming, and bagpiping, I'm also taking photography courses and language lessons, putting a major dent in the stack of books I've been meaning to read, and brushing up on some piano pieces that have fallen by the wayside over the years.  I'm certainly not looking for things to occupy my time, but when this week's Crawl took us to a new coffee shop adjacent to The Scrapbook Nook, I got the itch to start scrapbooking again.  My daughter, Liz, and I have worked on a couple of family vacation  scrapbooks and, in the course of doing so, have accumulated two huge boxes full of scrapbooking tools and materials.  I left them in NY.  So, this week's Coffee Crawl started off with a quick look through the scrapbook shop to make a list of things I need get started on my "African Adventures" scrapbook!





Meet the Owners
Philippa and Cassandra Dyson


Now, as I said, The Scrapbook Nook is adjacent to this week's Coffee Crawl site, a new shop called EAT that officially opened on Monday, Aug 22.  It just so happens that the owners of the shops are mother and daughter, Philippa and Cassandra Dyson.  Cassandra's new coffee shop venture came about as a result of her providing "eats" at scrapbooking events held at her mother's shop.  And, as one thing leads to another... Cassandra is now the proud owner of EAT, located at 152 Main Rd. in Walmer.  The shop is open Monday-Friday, 9-4, and Saturdays, 9-1 for freshly made salads, sandwiches and baked goods to take-away.  Patrons are also welcome to eat in and enjoy a LavAzza coffee at one of the tables or in the lounge area of this cheerily decorated shop.  Whether you eat in or take out, EAT has two chefs on staff along with Cassandra as the barista to quickly serve you.  There is a spacious parking lot in front that can accommodate customers for the scrapbook shop and for EAT.

Thursday's Crawlers, Gail Darne, Les Baldwin, Nomusa Nkomo, Beth Vieira, Fran and Keith de Beer, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Margaret Zoetmulder, and June Nash, were dertermined to follow the No Food On The Crawl Rule this week despite the shop's name nad the Luciano Pavarotti quote on the chalkboard.  We were successful, though the temptation was intense with all the delicious looking pastries on display.  So, we all ordered our usual coffees (and Nomusa, her tea) sans goodies and everyone got busy checking out Beth's family scrapbook that she brought along.  Nice work on the book, Beth.  I'm sure your family treasures it!  After Beth's book made the rounds, I brought out my Kindle that I've been promising to bring with me.  It kind of felt like Show-and-Tell Day at the Crawl!






This Week's Crawlers
Les, Margaret, Nomusa, Keith, Fran, June, Beth, Stella, Beryl, Gail


Once our coffees were served (and Beth and I put away our props) the Crawlers made mention of the earthquake that shook the eastern coast of the U.S. last week, and Hurricane Irene that was heading toward the U.S.  Guess it was a crazy week in NY!!!  We then talked a bit about the northern/southern hemisphere opposite seasons thing and how beautiful the northeastern U.S. is in the fall.  Autumn is my favorite season in the U.S., not just because of the changing leaves but because it's the start of the football season... American football, that is.  For those of you who know what an avid football fan I am, no worries, we get the Sunday and Monday night games televised here, though in the middle of the night.  Lou and I record the games them watch them poolsode later in the week.  So, the talk of autumn led to football which led to rugby (of course, it's SA) and finally ended up with cricket, the one sport that I totally don't get!  All this talk of sports wouldn't be complete without some trash talking about celeb singers who screw up their own national anthems at major sporting events.  Such a travesty recently occurred here in SA at the New Zealand All Blacks vs. the SA Springboks rugby match.  I can understand how such an error can be made here since the SA national anthem is actually a combination of two songs, "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" sung in Xhosa followed by "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" sung partly in Afrikaans and partly in English.  Now there's some hard-core pressure to get that right!!!

A brief discussion of the Crawlers' favorite music ensued with The Beatles and Broadway musicals topping the list.  Keith abstained from voting because he doesn't like music... except the SA national anthem... maybe he'll be asked to sing it at the next big game!  So Keith's only input at the end of the Crawl was his useless fact of the week... giraffes have the highest blood pressure of all mammals... totally irrelevant but that's the whole point, right?



A final thought ~  What my friend, Nancy in Corning, NY, says about scrapbooking: "If it's not in the scrapbook, it didn't happen."  Well, I better get down to The Scrapbook Nook, pick up some supplies for my "African Adventures" scrapbook.... and grab a cappuccino at EAT while I'm there!

Thank you to Philippa and Cassandra for combining your efforts and sharing your passions with the residents of PE.  Good luck with your new shop, Cassandra!

Until next week,

Ellen

CEO Capital Football Heather Reid Has A lot To Say On Football Overseas and Here In The ACT Region

This is a Nearpost Local special edition – an extended discussion with the CEO Capital Football, Heather Reid. Heather is still the only female CEO of a member Federation within the FFA. Heather Reid is also the CEO of Canberra United.

Heather has only recently returned from Europe, where she attended the Womens World Cup, represented the CEO of the FFA at the FIFA women’s football symposium and recruited a new Head Coach for Canberra United.

Photo above is of the new Canberra United coach.

Heather talks about the standard of Football across the nations in the World Cup and the issues discussed at the FIFA symposium. A very interesting football discussion and some candid observations about the Matilda’s performance.

And this is just the start of this discussion with the CEO Capital Football.

We cover a lot of ground and it’s all about things that impact on Football in the ACT region.

The matters we discuss evidence some decent forward planning at Capital Football and I must say, in the nick of time. Nothing is ever completely resolved in the biggest particpation sport in the ACT region, but we are beginning to see some important progress, good ideas, some fortuitious opportunites emerging, and a healthy dose of pragmatism.

Now the challenge is to bring the Clubs along and before things too far ahead at Football House. This appears to be happening for some for the issues, but its essential that conversations and analysis at Football House (Board, Standing Advisory committees and staff) translate into substantive engagement and support across all Clubs  at the earliest possible time. There is always the temptation to serve up a one solution option as effective consultation. Supporting documents which underpin discussion need to get published on the Capital Football and Club websites as soon as possible. Good communication and time for consultation is essential. This takes time at Club level.

Here’s a starting list of some of things that get honorable mentions in this discussion:

• New Canberra United Coach – why a female coach?

• The Canberra United roster – fascinating and not yet finished!

• The financial management of Canberra United – sponsorship and grants see this "club" just about cost neutral to Capital Football which is good news. This is a big step forward. Something to celebrate! (Its an important first step to detaching Canberra United from Capital Football and perhaps separating the management of both - but that's clearly a little further into the future)

• The importance of ACTAS women’s program and the Capital Football age representative teams that compete at the National Junior Championships

• The review of the Mens Premier League structure – changes to be implemented in 2012. This is likely to involve significant change to the present arrangements.

• The impact of the FFA’s National competition review on football in the ACT – considerable! Can’t wait till it arrives, best to get started.

• Steps being taken to cover the talented Mens 17 to 20 years development pathway. Changes in circumstances at the AIS have given the ACT Football community an extra-ordinary opportunity, which Capital Football looks to have siezed upon (frankly, this is more than we could ever have hoped for and if delivered in full provides exactly the pathway we have all sort for these young players - at a fraction of the cost of a youth league team):

o AIS to provide a team in the Mens Premier League and to include 4-6 young Canberra players (on non residential scholarships)

o AIS and ACTAS Mens to form a “Club” for the purpose of participating in the Mens Premier League. Allows for movement of players when required to ensure all games are played when scheduled (except where agreed otherwise)

o AIS to include the Canberra based non residential scholarship holders in the National Youth League squad (so they play in this competition as well! Amazing opportunity.)

• Some good progress on the future development of artificial playing surfaces (note I use the plural!) in the Mawson / Phillip area (and not the former golf course range - though that too must not be lost to medium density housing developers - hope this has not been traded off by anyone in football!). This one might just happen.

• Futsal registrations going gangbusters – North and South Canberra, the astonishing Boomerangs FS who are now a part of the NSW Premier League and the start of a local junior Premier League based on Football Club involvement (at last we have tapped the right organisational structure to support Futsal).

Look there is plenty more, so best you get a restorative drink, headphones on or speakers turned up, door closed, feet up and listen in.

Download Podcast here: