Day 4 - Blogtoberfest - Sunday Sunshine

I picked Drew up from his party - he hardly had any sleep so after a shower he crawled into my bed and had a 5 hour nap. He would have kept sleeping if I hadn't woken him.

Gibbo picked up the couch from Mum's and finally ground the two stumps in her front garden. We still have two chairs to collect. He pumped up the tyres on my bike but I didn't get out for a ride. There's just not enough hours in my days any more - there was a time when there were too many but that's not the case now!

We lost power around lunchtime and discovered a dropped fuse on the pole outside the grid and a very dead bird on the ground. Obviously a collision of some sort took place with the bird coming off second best. A local electrician came and inspected it; then the power company came later to fix it. I spent the time in the garden, cutting back oleanders from around sprinklers, hammering in fallen sprinkler spikes, pulling weeds and watering (once the power came back on to start the pump). The dogs kept me company.

I also wasted time playing with my new extension tube. The moths were landing momentarily on the thyme bush - they'd stay for a millisecond then flutter off again so it was hard to capture them properly. The leaves are some new shoots on the tomato vines and the chicken is a little silkie, just a few days old. The ants are...well....they're just ants.

The NRL Grand Final was on this afternoon. Football excites me as much as cricket does. I watched the teams run on then went back to the garden.

Drewy and I had chicken penne for tea............and that's how I spent my Sunday.

Day 3 Blogtoberfest - In the Garden

Today was mostly lived outside - as the days should be when the weather is this good. It was warm and a dust cloud hung about but it was a good day.

We had a father and son visit to inspect our chooks; Drew mowed the yard; Andrew visited and brought Woofy, the apricot poodle, for a holiday much to Coco's combined disgust (she's not the only dog any more) and delight (now there's someone to play with); I went to town and shopped; Gibbo drained the pool and in the afternoon I took Drew to an overnight 16th birthday party being held at a country hall about 25 minutes drive from here.

The garden is desperately in need of spraying as can be seen from the attractive weeds surrounding the poor old wheelbarrow. It's fallen on it's side and hasn't moved for weeks. You'd at least think it would get up and see to the weeds in the round driveway garden. It's so hard to work at the office and then manage a garden of this size but I give it a good go. The lawn sprinklers have gone on strike permanently so I'm watering by hose sprinklers at the moment. Doug set up a few long hoses while we were away on our coastal trip so I just keep moving them. The outer garden sprinklers still work at least.

Yesterday, after we'd returned from Coco's vet checkup (all clear) I staked the tomato plants and cut back the rampant italian parsley.

Bridge to Brisbane

I ran the 10km in the Bridge to Brisbane at the end of August - well I didn't exactly run it all - I ran and walked it.

My thoughts had been out of sorts for a while and I needed a challenge. I had intended, since the Mothers Day run, to commit to a training schedule so that when the B2B arrived, I'd be ready. Of course, that didn't exactly happen but I still wanted to do it. So I entered the week before, got my race pack and went!

I had no goal in mind except to finish. Gibbo dropped me near the start at 5.30am; my start time was 6.25am - but there were SO MANY PEOPLE that it was 7am before I shuffled my way over the start line. As I was waiting, waiting, waiting, I looked up to my left, up and over the bridge. There were thousands and thousands of people of all shapes, sizes and ability. I decided then that I would run up and over the bridge without stopping and then it didn't matter after that. So that's what I did. I ran for 20 minutes, until I got somewhere along KS Drive and I walked for a bit. From then on I walked and ran, walked and ran. I texted Gibbo at each even numbered km. At 8k he told me "hurry up, I'm hot". It was an enormous relief to finish. My time was long but unimportant. It was all about finishing.

After crossing the finish line and managing to hold down the gallon of vomit that wanted to erupt, I found a quiet spot to sit and remove my timing chip and shared a private smile with myself. I stood in line forever to get my finishers tshirt, then Gibbo and I went back to the Cosmo and I had a long hot bath. Then we met Megs and Chris for breakfast at McD's. I tried to have a sleep, but couldn't.

Gibbo had to stay in Bris for meetings so I caught the bus home. I rang Andrew along the way to see if he could pick me up but he was playing golf. So I walked to Mum's from the bus stop. I think it was good for me to stretch the muscles that, by this time in the afternoon, were seizing up.

I was very pleased to have done what I did but it's probably not advisable to do a 10km run on absolutely NO training. I could barely walk for the next three days.............

My Birthday Weekend

We spent my birthday weekend in Brisbane, as we did last year. Gibbo plays Under 40's cricket and each year, on the second weekend in September, his team plays in a carnival.

Drew and I caught the bus to Bris on Friday afternoon as Gibbo was already down there for meetings. Megs, Chris and Ally picked us up and we went to meet G; the guys gave me my birthday present - a new lens for my camera. It's a magnifier, twice the size of Andrew's so will be really handy. We went to Sizzlers for dinner. It was really nice to all be together again. I draw so much from having my family around me. I sit back and watch them interact and laugh and joke and it's all good.

Saturday saw G head off to his cricket game. The kids and I went to Indro and shopped. Megs and Drew had lists; all I wanted was some new jeans and White Musk from The Body Shop. We managed to find everything we wanted. I made the $50 of birthday money that my Dad gave me stretch to $100 in my all time favourite shop, The Tree or Life. I bought two new cushions (pink and purple); a headband and bangle; a shoulder bag and a paper mache camel type animal for my bathroom. I also bought K a bangle for doing such a great job with her Biggest Loser Challenge, even though she came second and was beaten by her husband.

We went back to Meg's place and checked out Schoolies sites for 2010 for Drew. We had tea at The Ville at a Chinese restaurant; very tasty. Then we went over to meet up with G, who had finished for the day and was watching the footy with the team at the pub.

Sunday morning Megs met us early and we had breaky; G went to cricket and the kids and I went to Rocklea Markets which were quite disappointing. Megs dropped us at the cricket and Drewy and I sat and watched the most boring game in the world ever to be invented. He worked on his Biology assignment then had a sleep on a blanket on the grass. I read a magazine and tried to sleep.

In the end, Gibbo's team won the carnival and he won two prizes - most runs scored throughout the weekend and most 8's scored. We finally arrived home about 7.30pm.

It was a great weekend spent with my children; and G gets to play sport so everyone was happy. The only disturbing thing to emerge from the weekend is Gibbo's wish to join the Golden Oldies Tour to England next year - 24 days of travel with a whole week of GO cricket and another 3 tour games on top of that. Not sure I can cope with all that cricket.

Coco the Brave

We had another dog disaster a couple of weeks ago. If our animals were children, we would have been reported to the child safety authorities months ago.

Gibbo and MF were standing in the back of a ute using brute force to dislodge a large gum tree branch that had broken off in a storm and become stuck in the fork of the tree. As they used all their strength to push it off and let it go, little dog ran out from under the ute - and the branch landed on her and knocked her out.

The boys raced her to the vet and she woke up half way there. By the time she arrived, she had regained consciousness but didn't look good. It was terrible news as we'd just lost Sal. So, over the next 7 days she slowly recovered. She was on steroids to keep the swelling down. I went to visit her 48 hours after it happened and her back legs weren't working. Drew and I went again the next day and three legs were working. She wasn't good.

I thought she probably wouldn't make a 100% recovery but she has proved us wrong and is racing around again, into everything and full of sass.

I'm Loving It

The Blogtoberfest Challenge has opened up some new doors for me. I clicked on a few random bloggers who have also signed up and have now spent hours trailing through their sites. Some of them touch a cord, others don't.

One of them (superherodesigns) mentioned SARK - and that reminded me of how much I loved her quirky books. It also reminded me of how much SARK helped me through the dark days of September 2000 when my world went haywire and started to crumble. It didn't crash down completely; just a few bricks fell from the wall.

On the same site I found these words: "Different thoughts create grooves in our mind. The more we think those same thoughts, the deeper the grooves become. Certain thoughts and ways of being are habit and we can choose to reinforce them or not". I've been thinking along those lines a lot lately. I've become used to feeling a certain way about some things - and then, after a while, that's just how it seems it's always been; but I also realise it doesn't have to be that way at all. I can choose to feel differently.

I've found ten new sites that I'll whittle down to two or three. I still have my other two favourites, claire in chicago and soulemama. What I'm really looking for are some Australian sites that suit my age and outlook. I've picked up a couple in the ten; will see whether they're still with me in a month.

Meeting the Challenge!

I came across a little challenge, Blogtoberfest, initiated by tinniegirl, where you have to write something on your blog every day. I've tried to set this challenge for myself before but failed dismally!! So here is Day 1 of Blogtoberfest - today's was easy! Let's see how the rest of the month goes.

There's plenty to tell. We've just had a week away, exploring the northern NSW coast, so there's lots of photos to put up once I find time to download them all. There's lots of chickens hatching and veges growing so there's a day or two there. I should make it to October 31 surely!

Deb Ball 2009

It's much easier being the mother of a partner than being the mother of a debutante! No dramas about what to wear (that was easy); no dramas about shoes and how hard they are to walk in (black leather dress shoes); no makeup or false nails; no jewellry (except the ss man bracelet his partner gave him); no trial runs with hair colour, upstyles, downstyles (although he could have done with a trim!) and no hissy fits about anything. Just turn up at the rehearsals, have fun learning to dance, then leave again.

Here he is on the page with his two biggest fans - his mother and his grandmother. It was a really happy night and everyone enjoyed the occasion. He was once a page boy, 7 or 8 years ago now; he looovved it then and I remember him saying to me at the time - "I hope someone asks me to be their partner when I'm older". I hoped so too, for his sake. As it turned out we needn't have worried - he was asked several times.

Goodbye Sal

We lost Sally, our border collie, on July 12. She was an ageing, sweet and gentle soul who went about her business quietly and softly. She dearly loved the camels when they were here; after they left she turned her attention to the chooks. She loved nothing more than coming on the rounds with us each morning as we fed and watered up; she would track and stalk anyone who might have been out of their pen and she found a new lease of life when little one, Coco, came to stay. She would play and jump and run around.

She died from pancreatitis. She spent 5 days at the vet, slowly going downhill. We went to visit her and finally made the difficult decision to have her put down. It was very hard. I went and picked her up and brought her home; Gibbo dug another hole next to Tilly and Clarabelle and we buried her there.

We've lost three precious dogs in 12 months, not a very nice statistic to quote.

I'm Back

After a rather lengthy absence I've returned to myself. The Reader's Digest Oxford Complete Wordfinder describes "absence" as being "the state of being away from a place or person" and that pretty well decribes how I've been feeling; and the person I've been away from is myself.

It happens every now and again; I withdraw totally into myself and feel very forlorn and alone although not lonely. I don't want to see, talk or interact with anyone and it's all I can do to drag myself around. This patch has lasted 6-8 weeks; I feel it coming on and dread it, knowing what I'm in for. I can also tell when I'm coming out of it but it's no joyous feeling. This has gone on for years and I've learned to manage it and mostly, to hide it. On the surface, all is well; below the surface, all is turbulent (I have never, ever been a smooth calm sea, I have always - been a storm; Fleetwood Mac).

So I'm back and hopefully posting more regularly. I suspect that continuing to write on the blog during my dark days would actually help me but I have no interest in doing it then. Everything is too much effort. I took a week off work to try to break the rhythm; it helped a little.