Pinch yourselves :)

Am just skiting as I am actually writing this without a six month gap from the last post. Some may need smelling salts to cope, lol. Have I said I love this time of the year in WA. Today is the shortest day of the year, so I am thinking its seriously winter time. However, I have just come in from gardening outside in 22 degrees sunshine. Towels are on the line moving in the breeze, what more could you want.

I'm feeling that I am due for another house inspection next month so have started on the outside to get things in shape. I have taken weeds out of back paved area, pruned the rosemary bush in the garden, and hacked back at a vine that has totally covered a hibiscus. I left it alone during summer as it was laden with flowers and honey bees (doing my bit for nature, lol)but as it also grew over vine that had died the year before, this is a serious trim. I have become enthused as there is an organic rubbish collection happening this week in our area. I have lugged the broken branches from the gum tree (mentioned earlier this year in a post re storm damage) down the hill so they can finally get taken away. I bought some veg plants last weekend and some small lavenders with a couple of native bushy things to replace some of the plants that died during the hottest summer for a gazillion years. At this stage I have some days off over the weekend so will get them planted then.

The news is on as I type this and mother nature is causing havoc again/still. The airways around Australia, Tasmania and NZ (I believe) are shut down due to volcanic ash from the volcano in Chile. It has been affecting flights for over two weeks now and is costing millions of $ a day. They are saying as of today Qantas have 50,000 people disrupted right now. There has not been one state over here that has not been affected. Makes me glad I had no trips planned at this time of the year.

Just when I thought things were settled with my new roster, hello, it got tipped upside down this week, (but if I had declined the changes it would not have happened). In the 'be careful what you wish for' mode, after languishing for over a week with no children, we got five on Friday from one family and another four (different family) yesterday. When I went in and saw 9 names on the board, I just stood and laughed shaking my head at the same time. Fortunately, both groups get on like a house on fire so it is looking good for the next week. Both groups are in on respite care to give their carers a break so although there has been some trauma in their lives, they are reasonably settled at the moment and are a dream to look after, after a couple of our other reprobates. The saddest case among them is a 6 yr old lad who repeatedly hits himself in the head, calling himself stupid and saying he wants to die. He has had a couple of melt downs and threw a massive hissy fit on me on Sunday night. He had another one yesterday at school and went to start when he got back to us, so just took him aside and held him, talking calmly until he relaxed and was ready to talk. He thinks he is fat, ugly and stupid - and I repeat again - this is a 6 yr old.

Went out to lunch yesterday and sat in the sun and nearly got too hot, lol. Several of the Tardun crew caught up to celebrate Janet's birthday at Dome. We sat inside one of the windows facing the harbour where the tugs were working non stop bringing in boats with about 5 more on the horizon in park mode. I cannot seem to get past salt and pepper squid salad when I go there and yesterday mine was delicious.

Back on the home front, and in preparation for the house inspection, I steam cleaned two floors the other day. I have succumbed to advertising on the tv and bought one of those steam mops that can be altered to a hand held cleaning tool in bathrooms etc. It came with free postage, and a vacuum cleaner as well so a veritable bargain, lol. I put it all together and gave it a road test on the sunporch vinyl floor and then the wooden floor in the lounge and kitchen. I am sitting here fairly dazzled by how clean and shiny the lounge floor looks. Both vacuum and steam cleaner were smaller than I expected, but on first go, both seem to do the job required. Both cleaners are bright lime green in colour but have no problems with any clash in colours with other equipment, lol. I have been looking at the ads on tv for ages and ages wondering how these things worked and what finally sold me was using a steam cleaner on floors at work. That steam cleaner was bigger and heavier and I think mine is much more user friendly, but I could not believe what a difference to cleaning the floor it made. I like the fact that germs cannot live where it has been steamed as it is extremely hot where it comes out. Am going to give the tiles in the "pool room" a go on the weekend. The hand held bit also cleans windows, and will steam clean furniture, bedding, and clothing so there are any amount of possibilities to work through.

Midst all this bliss of warm weather during the day, we have had two wet days, of course the second day was not long after I had put washing on the line. As I do not have a dryer, wet days are not my favourite but I have to remember that the farmers need it and are rubbing their hands as it falls just after seeding. All indicators are this will be a magic wildflower season, woohoo. Cannot wait and hopefully will get out to photograph heaps.

The other wet day was last Saturday. I had been to netball in the morning to take one of our young lasses to play, and then after some baking, and a small $400 shop for groceries (only two baskets and we usually have four), we decided to take the kids back into town to spend their pocket money and to go for a play along the foreshore. All went well but we had only been at the foreshore for about 45 mins when down the rain came in bucket loads. An executive decision was made and we headed to the the new Maccas to get the kids an ice cream and the chance to use the playground there (indoors). Naturally my co-worker and I had to have a coffee to while away the time, lol. Not only did it warm us up but it was a purely altruistic moment as $1 from every coffee sold on the Grand Opening day that it was, was going to the local rural fire brigade ( a regualar Tui's moment I hear the NZ mob say - yeah right, lol). Caught up with Gerard briefly and he said the opening had gone really well and they were flat out. They are doing beyond expectations and though he is exhausted, he is quietly rapt as well.

Just looking at the time, I have 20 mins to shower dress and get to work for a staff meeting and afternoon shift so will dash. Catch you again soon :) This is being posted in the first instance unedited so please excuse any glaring mistakes :):)

It's Been Awhile !!!

Ok, this is about the sixth time I have started a post since the last time I wrote. Life has tended to get in the road somewhat, which is a bit of an exciting change from merely being busy at work, although there has been that too. Last post was written as I arrived in NZ and rather go back to day by day happenings I will cover it by saying I had the best time catching up with family and friends, the icing on the cake - spending time with No 1 and 2 grandsons. I realised it was not a year since I had been home but nearly 16 months so spending quite a bit of time with No 2 grandson now 2yrs old was especially important to me. After saying "Nana. car" numerous times when I arrived, he eyed me up for about half an hour before deciding we were going to be mates. After that it was Nana come, repeatedly, for a variety of requests. Everyone should live long enough to have grandchildren heh, heh. It is such delicious payback, lol as you see your own children manage mini them (if that makes sense). No 2 son was a child of definite likes and dislikes and could often not be budged when he decided he did not like something or someone. Stubborn was not strong enough to describe him - bloody minded is not quite right either but somewhere between maybe (and yes the irony is not lost on me either, lol). I remember bemoaning the fact one day to my mum and she responded with - what you see as stubborn now will mean he has backbone as an adult ...... I had to smile several times as No 2 grandson exhibited similar tendencies. In saying that, he is a dear little boy and we had lots of fun. Best day was going to the zoo, and I was very impressed as he knew most of the animals and the sounds they make but the highlight for the lad was seeing a front loader mini tractor scraping the mud out of the empty hippopotamus pool. He us such a boy!

Had a great day with the No 1 grandson when we went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum - a favourite place of mine since I first visited it at 5 yrs old on a school trip. It was a bit of a gob smack to be charged to get in although as a rate payer I did not have to pay for myself, just the Wellingtonians. I do not mind paying if there is a special exhibition being held in a museum such as the Pompeii exhibition I saw in Wellington 2 yrs ago, but on principal, I think museums should be accessible to all. Moving on from that though, there were many old friends to see - the Egyptian mummy that fascinated the grandson, and Rajah the elephant who has been there for at least 50 yrs. I too have always been drawn to things Egyptian and have to say thought Rajah must have had a bit of work done on him as he looked in reasonably good nick rather than the slightly moth eaten looking exhibit I remember. The museum appears to have gone all trendy and is now themed in different areas instead of rows of display cases which I liked in parts and not in others. The dinosaur area with huge moas was impressive another part which the grandson and I enjoyed together.

Driving on the Auckland motorway remained a nerve wracking experience, and just had to steel myself to do it. There are new on and off ramps all over the place and I guess the good thing about peak hour traffic was that driving between 20 - 40k in central Auckland motorway area, I could get myself in the right lane with only a couple of grey hairs sprouting each time. The price of petrol was the biggest shock - $2.18 from memory as to the $1.47 over here.

The time passed all too quickly and it was back to Geraldton again. Due to time constraints and family gatherings I did not catch up with as many friends as I would have liked to but could not fit everything in. I arrived back here on a Friday morning around 8.30am and did two 12 days at work Sat and Sun so it was like I had not been away, lol. I arrived back to lots of changes which I knew were coming before I left. One little lad left our care two days after I got back and since then another 3 have moved on, leaving us with no children in the house at present. The first week I was back at work I was offered a full time position which I have accepted which is a huge YAY. On a 12 week revolving roster I will average 75 hours a fortnight which is about 20 hours less than I am used to. My pay will drop somewhat due to the drop in hours and loss of penalty rates but on the upside, I get 7 weeks holidays (PAID) a year, will get sick pay and my hours are guaranteed whether there are children in or not. At the same time I have become the Health and Safety rep which will involve some training so another few lines on the CV. The first two weeks back I did several 12 hour days as I was asked to work with one particular lad supporting him through a medical procedure and his recuperation over the following week, then again during the week after that as we transitioned him into his new home. He and I had formed a bond over the past year which had been recognised and supported by work and I am pleased to say, he appears settled and happy with his new carers. We have had great feedback about the four who have moved on, that they have all settled well with their new carers/extended families so I feel a real sense of achievement in being part of their growth from when they arrived in care with us. I do have to say, it is weird being at work with no kids, however the place has been cleaned from top to toe and all those jobs that get saved for a rainy day have been tackled. New gardens have been put in, painters have come in to refresh rooms and all cupboards have been sorted.

Having started my new roster, even though I worked more hours the first fortnight, I have had several days off - woohoo and can now plan for future events with ease. I have visited friends, attended a day long scrap booking workshop, been to watch the ex-workmates youngest son play footie twice, been out to dinner twice, have 2 discs to go, to catch up on the entire "Glee" seasons 1 & 2, finally seen "The King's Speech" (twice, lol) , and kept the ex-workmates eldest daughter company last week post having her tonsils out. This is in between catching up on all my ironing and starting to organise ALL my photos, scrap booking and craft gear, and getting all my family history bits and pieces in order to update on my computer. I have been off the wires over the past two weeks as I have worked numerous night shifts therefore have been catching up on sleep during the day. I head into more afternoon and morning shifts this next fortnight so hopefully the drought of postings will now be a thing of the past.

Big excitement this last week for the ex-workmates family has been the opening of the second McDonald's in Geraldton as Gerard (husband of ex-workmate) is the manager of this new enterprise. They opened on Friday morning and have had the busiest weekend beyond all expectations and this is without a word of advertising - they just opened for business thinking the weekend would be a run through for the grand opening this coming weekend. Their first customers were a bus load (61) of children on a trip somewhere. This all happened a week after Gerard's 40th birthday so it has been an intense time for them.

Have had two vehicle incidents in the last two days, one of which I am grateful to be alive from. Had taken three of the ex workmates kids down to the new Maccas - one to work, two for supplies, and we were on our way back to their place when these two huge wide loads were coming towards us on the other side of the road, with a cop car in the lead. I believe what was being transported was the trays for those huge trucks that work in the mines. Anyhoo, there were two of them with a third of each of these loads hanging over both sides of the truck carrying them, taking up the entire two lanes on the opposite side of the road from us. We watched in almost morbid fascination as the first truck came towards us as it looked like the tray could easily tip off either side. As it came nearer I noticed the car in front of me move to the outer lane on our side of the road and it was only as the vehicles came that little bit closer that I realised the tray they carried was above car height in the front but if I stayed where I was, we would be opened like a can of sardines by the back of the tray which dropped down over the back of the truck. Fortunately the truck behind me in the outer lane must have understood the predicament earlier than me, and I was able to swerve my car into a gap in front of him just as the tray on the first vehicle started to pass over us. Hayden who was sitting behind me had just started to move to the other side of the car when I moved and we all just sat there dumbfounded as the second truck passed by us, at how lucky we were that I had moved the car in time. Heaven knows why on earth they were being moved in the middle of the day on a Saturday when there was heaps of other traffic on the road!!!! Not impressed.

The second vehicle incident occurred today. I went with the ex-workmate and boys to North Hampton to watch Hayden play footie. North Hampton is about 45 min north of Geraldton. Although Hayden's team lost, he got a choc bar for improved and consistent play for the match so it was a good game to watch. We expected to be back in Geraldton by lunchtime but about 5k out of town all the dashboard lights came on so we stopped on the side of the road and looked in the car manual to see what they all meant. The oil light, break light, air filter light came on so lifted the hood and had a look. I checked the oil and that was ok, the air filter was oily but couldn't get it out to check properly and was going to check the water level in the battery but there were two of then and neither had plugs that you could open to add water to. (Such is the advent of a more modern motor than I have ever owned, lol). Because the manual said re one particular light - if this comes on ring the Toyota manufacturer immediately Bronwyn did not think it wise to start the car again. Just to make sure we rang RAC (the equivalent of our automobile association) and they reiterated that we should not move. To that end, they sent out a tow truck from North Hampton and we were winched onto the back of the truck and then transported back to Geraldton so we entered back in style, lol. We got dropped off at the garage where they get their car serviced which fortunately was across the road from the new Maccas where we went to get lunch and borrow another friends car to get back to our respective homes. Not how I had planned to spend the day but it felt like an adventure and we had lots of laughs. I came back home to pick up my car and took chops and sausages back round to barbeque for tea.

Going to North Hampton made me realise how long it has been since I have been anywhere near familiar countryside with views of the hills that are on the way to Tardun. It made me feel homesick for Tarden and the drives about the place we used to do. With a good amount of rain we have had lately, the countryside has greened up and the crops are growing. I am thinking I need to do some more trips out into the countryside again especially as the wild flower season starts at the end of next month. I think we may have to organise a campfire before the winter is over too, as in talking with other ex Tardun mob, we all miss it still. Watch this space, lol.

Since coming back from NZ, the Royal Wedding has been and gone, Oprah has done her last show, the space shuttle has gone into space for the last time, and in keeping with the theme of 2011 there have been some more major disasters from tornado's, flooding, earthquakes and landslides around the world. I watched the wedding from beginning to end and loved the spectacle of it all. I never got to Westminster Abby when I was in London but have stood across the road from Buckingham Palace as throngs of people were arriving for one of the Queen's garden party's. It is always a buzz for me seeing places I have actually visited. I thought Oprah's last show was quite moving in places and what an impact she has had on people's lives over the past 25 yrs, the causes she has backed, the people she has introduced us to, the books, the movies etc etc. I have to say, I felt a sense of sadness when I heard that this was the last time the space shuttle was going to be launched. I remember sitting outside on the quadrangle at school (in Yr 10) listening to the moon landing being broadcast on speakers so we could all hear as history was being made.

Winter has begun with temperatures dropping as low as 5 degrees Celsius last week but have bounced back to 22 degrees today which is much more tolerable. I have not succumbed to putting the heater on yet (have to dig around to find it, lol) as on the coldest night I was working hence air con on full tilt there, but do resemble the Michelin man at home somewhat as I dress in multi layers to keep warm. I have taken to curling up on the couch on sunny afternoons out in the sun porch which is perfect place to read while soaking up any sun available.

It is well past the witching hour so will close for now as I need to get some sleep :)