Through the grapevine I heard that a cousin of mine got to have lunch with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, during the final days of their adminstration. She has been heavily involved with a support group of mother's whos children have been killed in Iraq. Her son, my second cousin, was killed in Iraq about 3 years ago. And it was through her involvement with this organization that she received the invitation.

My second-cousin was in his early thirties, married and a father to two young children. I mostly remember him from our childhood when we would go visit my Aunt and her extended family. I suppose the last time I saw him was when he was in his early teens. I didn't know he was in the military or in Iraq, until I learned he was killed. I can't say we were close, but we were family, and that means something to me.

In the 1970's, when I was a kid, she was involved in an organization to bring the Vietnam POWs home. I don't know how or why she was involved, but it was a big deal for her. I imagined that since she wanted the POWs home that she was against the Vietman War. I found it ironic, that thirty years later she would be involved in this other war, and to lose her son in it. Unlike the Vietman War, she is in support of the war in Iraq. Well, if not the war, then definitely in support of the troops.

I have to honestly say that I'm only guessing at her convictions, since we haven't had detailed conversations regarding her convictions. I'm only guessing at her convictions based on the e-mails that I have received from her. They are typically very patriotic, pro-US, pro-miliary, pro-Republican, con-pull out of Iraq, and negative towards that one mother-activist who's son was also killed in Iraq, but decided to protest against the war.

My cousin got to fly to Washington D.C. to meet, have lunch with, and hug the man who ultimately was responsible for having her son killed. I'm sure she thought it was a great honor. I'm sure my cousin's sons would rather have their father around.

It's Summertime, The Bark Is Falling

Ahh Summertime in Australia......

I have been meaning to keep a detailed blog of our trip to Adelaide, South Australia. We brought along our laptop computer so I could do this. Sometimes the internet worked great and other times it was glacially and frustratingly slow, so I gave up rather than heaving this expensive piece of equipment out the window. At the begining of our vacation, I did manage write a couple of blogs to the computer but, other than that, I hardly had a chance to write. You would think that since I was on vacation, I'd have had more time to write. I guess I was too busy relaxing and visiting. Besides, I felt that escaping to a quiet corner of my In-laws house would be a bit rude. As for writing at night, I was too darn tired to stay up. Besides, I enjoy my In-Laws company, and watching all the kids play together was a lot of fun too.

You know you've had a great vacation when you don't know what day or day of the week it is. We departed Melbourne on December 22 and returned on January 11. Highlights occasionally appeared, Christmas, Michael's Birthday, surfing lesson day, New Years Eve, Elliot's Birthday, and Ellen's 1st Birthday, and finally it was Sunday, and it was time to go home. Other than that, it was either daytime or nighttime. No obligations to go anywhere or visit anyone. Just watch the kids play, wander off to go visit a vinyard, saunter off to go grocery shopping, or voyage down to the beach to wade in the water.

My Sister-in-law Sue would cook the dinners and I was happy enough to do the dishes. She is a much better cook, so we were happy with these roles. While Michael helped his brother, Peter, build a new chicken coop, I looked after the kids. The kids had a fantastic time visiting their cousins Clare, Kieran, and Declan. They got along very well. Peter and Sue are really into bike riding. They are planning on riding in some stages of the Tour Down Under at the end of January. Having us there allowed them to get in some extra training. Michael's mother also spent a consider amout of time visiting as well. It was a really relaxing, lovely holiday.

For all you Michiganders out there, the next time you are bitching about the falling autumn leaves, consider this......the eucaliptus (aka gum) trees here in Australia shed a small amout of leaves all year around. Different variety of gum trees flower and develop nuts throughout the year. And in mid-summer the gum trees split their bark and bark strips fall from the trees. So throughout the whole year we are raking and sweeping up leaves, dead flower buds, nuts and bark, ALL DARN YEAR!

So, be grateful for the once a year dumping by your deciduous trees--convenient in the cool autumn weather.

I read in the paper that it snowed a lot in Las Vegas, my old stomping ground. Too neat. It would be beautiful there. Red Rock Canyon is gorgeous with snow. The red sandstone with the white snow would be a spectacular sight. I love the smell of cresote bushes and snow. The winter smell of the desert. I miss that sometimes.

On the other hand, people from Las Vegas can't drive in the rain let alone snow! It would definitely be a time to stay off the roads and stay indoors. Which would be good for the casinos.

I'm getting used to the smells of Australia. I get to enjoy the smell of eucaliptus trees now. In mid-winter when our daphne bush is flowering with it's lovely sweet lemony odor. We planted a gardenia bush in memory of my Mom, and it's first flower came out last week. It's a beautiful white flower and the scent carries to our front door. When it gets warmer we'll be able to open the windows and let it's fragrence drift in. Another one is starting to open today.

Today was Michael's last day at work. Wow, that came quickly. After I dropped Aeryn and Logan at daycare, Ellen and I went to the CBD (Central Business District) to pick up Michael's boxes. After he turns in his keys and finishes up for the day, he's going out to dinner with some of his now, former co-workers this evening.

The ride into town was smooth. The lights were green and I didn't get lost, and I got there on time (I usually run late). I even got a parking space outside of his building! That was amazing! The perfect spot. Going home was the same smooth ride. It's strange when things flow. It's like it's meant to be. I'm still optimistic. I'm shopping for Christmas presents like I'm optimistic.

There is a Christmas Party tonight at the kids daycare. That's always fun. Michael will miss it, but he's been to the previous ones, so that's not a big deal. It's more important that he go out with his co-workers to decompress after the weeks stress. And plot their next moves.

And it's raining too. And that's good news too! It'll make the Christmas Party an indoor event, but that's ok. We need the rain. It's supposed to rain all weekend. Let it rain, Let it rain, let it rain... Now if it also rains in the water catchment areas too, that will be a big bounus as well.

So one door is closing. I'm sure another one will open. The signs are looking good.

Christmas Spirit and the Childsafe Tree

I put our Dean Martin Christmas cd in the player and we put up the Christmas Tree on Saturday. Then we put up some lights around our livingroom window. We have a small wreath that we used to put on a wall in the hallway. But this year we put it outside, next to our door, to compliment the lights. Of course we had a brief rain storm as we put the wreath up.

The kids were really helpfull putting the bulbs up. When I say really helpful, think of me gritting my teeth. They only broke two glass ones, no big deal, and I expected that actually. The rest of the bulbs are plastic, which is really nice. So after a few deep breaths on my part and saying "Hold on, just a minute, I'll get you another one, just let me do thing one thing," a few times, the tree was finally decorated. And Michael put our new star on top. Voila, It's Christmas.

Our tree is somewhat childsafe. We have a small artificial tree that we have had for six years now. Since it is height challenged, we put it on our couch side, lamp table. To keep it safe from the kids (or the kids safe from it) we surround it by a playpen fence. Aeryn and Logan are smart enough and big enough to defeat the system now. But it keeps the tree just out of Ellens reach. She is the main reason for the barracade. This system worked great for when Aeryn and Logan were babies.

We decorated our front window for the first time this year. Good thing I had all that time in Las Vegas putting up Christmas lights on windows that could be opened up in the middle of winter. It's a handy skill to have here, since it is summer and we will be opening our windows. I always think, we'd never be able to use clear tape to stick lights to the windows in Michigan, the condensation would never allow the tape to stick on the window in the first place. Condensation on the windows was never a problem in Las Vegas, and is certainly not a problem here in Melbourne.

On a nostalgic note, I do miss shoveling snow, and scraping frost of my car windows, the shuddering cold of getting into my cold car and sitting on the cold seat. Sigh...and seeing the snow sparkle under the street light at night, beautiful. I miss winter in Michigan. Enjoy it for me.

Actually, we don't have a field of Strawberries, we have 10 plants. We planted them last year in the area formerly occupied by our rose bushes. We thought you can't eat roses, so Michael dug them up and we planted an herb garden along with some strawberries. Now that it is spring out, we are getting about a handful of strawberries every 4 days. Just enough to keep the growing berries and picking interesting to the kids, but enough to be making any desserts or jellies.

The kids see the little strawberry flowers, then the tiny green berries, then the bigger pale strawberries that slowly turn red. The first tricky thing is to keep the kids from picking the pale berries. The second tricky thing is to get the red berries before the millipeeds do! The little buggers! Early in the season, shen the strawberries were first turning red, I would find them with little tiny nibbles taken out of them. I initially thought the bites were from a mouse or bird taking samples. But I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't have eaten the whole thing. Then once I picked up a tasty looking berry and found 3 tiny millipeeds eating their way into MY yummy berry. Ick! So that's what was making making those little marks, and why the berry wasn't completely eaten! The strawberries are massively large compared to the millipeeds, and hence they could only eat the relatively tiny nibble. The millipeeds are ravenous and can make sustantial dent in my strawberry crop.

But the millipeeds only strike when the berry is nice and sweet and red. So, if I keep track of my green berries, I can pick them before the millipeeds can make a dent in them. It's a bit of a race. Sometimes I win, sometimes they win.

We had a nice bit of rain over the weekend, so our water tank is nice and full. The plants are looking fresh and the grass is a lovely shade of green after it has lost it's dry, yellowy, winter hibernation color. Michael may actually have to cut it this weekend.

The weather is lovely today. Temperature is in the high 70's, and there is a moderate breeze blowing the trees around. Puffy cumulous stratus clouds are covering the sky. It's supposed to rain again this evening. Which will be fine. Our mantra is, "Please rain in the catchment areas, don't rain on the wheat crops till after the harvest."

I learned about wheat harvesting since my brother-in-law is a truck driver, and a high school friend of Michael's is a wheat farmer. I have a new appreciation of farmers and truckers. My brother-in-law has several different trailers for different jobs and can haul cattle, sheep, logs, grain (wheat, rice), and I don't know what all. He has a double trailer to haul the wheat and can haul 40 tons a load. He was on a beautiful, productive, wheat harvest getting XX an acre (I'll edit and fill it in when I get the numbers from Michael) for 3 days, and then it rained. Good during the growing season, a disaster when you are in the middle of harvest. You can't harvest when it rains because the grain become wet and then gets moldy. They rain also knocks some of the grain from the stalk and then the seeds begins to germinate. So they were down for 5 days before they could resume the harvest. After a rain, this wheat is not the high quality wheat and is a lower quality that will be used as feed. So after the rain, the harvest was XX an acre of a lower quality wheat. So the farmer and the truckers make a substantially lower profit on the harvested wheat. If only the rain could have waited a few more days for them.

According to today's newspaper, the Melbourne water supply dams are at 33.8% of capacity. At this time the dams were at 40.1%. We are on stage 3a water restrictions, which relatively easy to live by. I don't need to hose off my sidewalk or wash my car at home. I wonder why they just don't move us to stage 4. It makes sense, but wouldn't be politically popular. I'd wouldn't mind it myself. The government is recommending that everyone voluntarily use 155 litres a day, otherwise they may have to take more stringent action. I think we already use below that volume.

The state government is in the process of building a desalination plant in the east and a pipeline to move water from the country area in the north to the city of Melbourne. Neither is very popular. Both projects are experiencing vocal protests and demonstrations. The pipeline will take water from an already drought stressed river system. It's turning into a country vs city issue. And the desalination plant will cost a considerable about of energy to operate, increase CO2 greenhouse emissions (since it will use coal generated power), and cause pollution to the ocean by increasing the salinity in that area along the coastline. People would like to see the issue of recycling water, reducing industrial water usage, and the installation of water tanks at households and businesses promoted. We did get a letter in the mail from the government to trade on our old showerhead for a new, water efficient shower head. Might have to go pick one of those up. Right now we just keep the shower flow rate low.

I'm going to check my rainwatered and tankwatered garden right now and make sure those pesky millipeeds are not eating my juicy strawberries. Oh, and I picked some rubarb this morning, I'm going to make an apple rubarb pie or two to go along with our Thanksgiving dinner.

MySpace and Facebook

I haven't been blogging here lately. I got a MySpace and a FaceBook account. Basic e-mail doesn't seem to be cutting it as a way of keeping in touch with everyone. I got MySpace so I could read my brother's site, and I got FaceBook so I could keep in touch with another family friend. So a lot of time has been used up setting those up, figuring out how to use them, adding information and decorations.

To me Facebook is almost like talking and socializing in a nice, basic room, once you get familiar with the decorations. MySpace is sort of like decorating your bedroom. You stick up your posters and set some music and go have a chat. People come and visit to both locations. It's a bit easier to chat on Facebook, not so much clutter, but people get to know "you" through your decorations on MySpace.

Anyway, that's where a lot of my computer time has gone over the past two weeks. I try to overlap information on the sites to be consistent, but it gets to be an effort. Hopefully, now that they are both set up, I can just jump in and out, without figuring out what all the "Bells and whistles" do.

MySpace has a blog option, but I must say that it is much easier to blog here. My first few attempts at blogging on MySpace disappeared and were lost. A frustrating nightmare, especially after spending the effort to type something. I always do a copy before I attempt to post it, just in case it gets lost. Also, the format is not very good. Too small, doesn't let you divide paragraphs etc. But I don't trust it like I do the LiveJournal site. I'll put my blogs here first and then transfer it there to save my sanity. Thanks LiveJournal.

Pirate Pete's Pet Parrot

On Saturday, Nov. 15th, we went to a birthday for a 5 year old boy, Bailey, from Aeryn's daycare. It was at Hungry Jack's, aka Burger King. McDonalds was too busy that day so the parents went to their second option. Actually, Burger King is not a bad alternative to McD's. All up there were about 15 kids, but hard to count accurately since they were all moving around so quickly. I guess it only cost about $5.50 per kid. They got the party room, play area, and each kid got a choice of hamburger, cheeseburger, or chicken nuggets, with the associated fries and drink choice of pop or milkshake.

The staff, while young and a bit awkward (which was charming), were attentive and helpful, and played some organized games with the kids; pass the parcel and put the patch on the pirate (like pin the tail on the donkey). With the meal, the kids got a Pirate kit which consisted of a paper hat, pirate fun book, doodle-thingo to blow through that makes a noise and extends out from a curl, and some stickers. At the end each kid got a show bag of lollies (gummy critters) to maintain their sugar high for a bit longer. I'd call it a success. The kids had a good time, and Bailey's parents got to go home to their house not being ransacked by a horde of children.

All week Aeryn has been going through her Pirate Pete fun book. It's all of 6 pages thick, front and back. She's colored in it. Put her stickers in it. She's had me read it. I explained the maze to her and she did it. I've read the jokes and we did the riddles. There's still more activities to do.

This morning she did the What's Missing Puzzle. It has a clue and when you fill it out it says "parrot". We did the clue together. Aeryn can write letters if you give he a bit of help. First off, there's a picture of a pineapple. So after a couple of guesses, Aeryn says, "Pineapple."

I say, "it starts with pah, pah, P, for Pineapple. Put the P in the circle." I show her what the letter P looks like, and she writes in the circle. This continues with all the symbols and circles, until we spell parrot: Pineapple, Anchor, Rainbow, Raining, Octopus, Treasure.

"So Pirate Pete is missing his parrot." I say.

"I don't know how to draw one," says Aeryn.

So I draw a simple parrot on an extra piece of paper. Then she copied it onto Pirate Pete's arm. I must say it is rather cute (there goes that bias thing again). It has little blue wings, a red beak and head, and three lines sticking up for the crest on it's head.

Yep, that's a parrot. I'll have to save this book.

Nearly every time I drop my kids off or pick them up at daycare, there is an elderly gentleman, standing in front of his house working in his front garden. So after I've loaded the kids into the car, and as I drive off, I give him a smile and a wave. He waves back too. I can't recall how long this has been going on, but I think for a year now. Probably longer. Aeryn has been going to this daycare center since she was 8 months old, and I've found out that he have lived in that house for just over 30 years.

Last week after I loaded the kids in the car, he is in front of his house as usual. We do our wave, but he starts to walk over, he has a cane. I roll my window down. He asks, "Do you know me from somewhere? Why do you wave?"

I said, "No, I don't know you. My kids go to this daycare, I see you often. I figure you are a neighbor, so why not be friendly."

He said, "You are the only one who waves."

"Really?" I'm surprised, "Ever?"

"Yes," he says.

So, we are friends now. The second time after our conversation he gave me four lemons, fresh picked from his front lemon tree. I've learned previously that this is a great complement and honor. Today, he invited me to see his garden in the backyard. It is a lovely vegetable garden. It is neat and tidy with no weeds, and some young cucumber and tomato plants, pumpkins, some grape vines (to make wine), and some pepper plants. He also has another lemon tree and a plum tree in the back. Along with a 10,000 litre water tank to keep it all growing. Pretty good for an old guy. My garden is not this tidy.

His name is Charlie and his wife's name is Jlubinka (U-bin-ka). They immigrated to Australia from Yugoslavia in the 1970's, and have been in that house practically ever since. He remembers when the area was all farm paddocks, and you could see across to the hills, before it was all subdivided. He remembers when the neighborhood was under construction, and he remembers when they built the daycare.

When he arrived, he worked as a machinist. He came over when Australia still used imperial units, and he was familiar with the metric system. He learned English the imperial units while working. When his company acquired a machine that used the metric system, he helped them all to figure it out.

I'm sure I'll hear more interesting stories from Charlie in the days to come. It seems like we chat for about a half hour or so, before I have to go. I'll have less time to talk next year when I start back to work. But for now, I have a bit of time to spend chatting, I'm not in that much of a hurry. I think I'll bring him and Jlubinka a pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving time.

Who knows where a wave can take you.

Today in Australia is Rememberance Day.

It is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. In Australia Remembrance Day is always observed on 11 November, although the day is not a public holiday. Services are held at 11am at war memorials in suburbs and towns across the country, at which "Last Post" is sounded by a bugler and a one-minute silence is observed (Thank you Wikipedia).

While I knew it was coming, I hadn't looked at the calendar today. The days have been blurring by lately, and I've nearly missed a couple of appointments because I have been slack in flipping my calendar over. What!? Time to turn the calendar page, AGAIN!?

I dropped Aeryn and Logan at daycare and made a quick trip to the mall to get some things and have a quick browse around. This quick browse will help me when I start to Christmas shop in the upcoming weeks. So I'm at the mall having a good look around, when I hear a bugle playing over the speaker system.

It's "Last Post."

Everyone slows down and stops walking. They stop talking. The mall becomes quiet and still. I stop too and check my watch, it's 11:00 am. I think, "Oh yeah, today must be the 11th. Already! Time is flying!" I've been pushing Ellen in her stroller, so we stop and listen to the sad notes of the bugle echo through the quiet mall. The bugel call ends and people stay still for a minute. Ok, time to remember....so I think about the young men who have fought during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all the other unnamed, undeclared wars and military actions, that have claimed so many many MANY lives, and the lives yet to be claimed.

And, since I'm here in Australia, my thoughts return to World War I and Gallopolli and the sheer number (in terms of percentage per total population) of young Australian and New Zealand (ANZACS) men that were killed in the futile and wasteful battles there. I've read that some historians say that this was the moment when Australia became a country. When we are out driving through the little country towns, I see that they all have their own granite monument to those young men that died in The Great War, prominently displayed in their town center or park. When I see those momuments I think of the young men and their lost future. And I also think of the young men's mothers, fathers, and sisters and wives and children. Those left behind. I can feel their collective grief when I look at their tribute to their loved ones. I'm sure that they would rather have their son with them, rather than a cold monument. I'm sure the young men would rather have had a beer on their dusty farm, rather than their brief adventure and then death.

The silent minute passes.
People start to move.
Ellen squirms in her stroller.
We go back to shopping.
It doesn't seem so important now.

Lest We Forget.

When I got home from shopping, I had a message that my Uncle Pete had passed away. If I remember correctly, he was in the Army, I think I remember seeing a picture of him in a uniform. I loved him. He was a really good Uncle. He was a kind and compassionate man. He had a great sense of humor. He will be sorely missed by my Aunt Helen and his children and grandchildren. I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers. I wish I could be there to help.

I'll remember.

It is finally raining. Was threating yesterday, but didn't produce anything.

Due to the drought here in Australia, I've taught my kids a new rhyme:

Rain, rain, come and stay,
Thank you for the lovely day.

It's time we started looking at rain in a positive light. Why say it's a yucky day out when it is raining. It's beautiful-rain makes the grass green, the trees and crops grow, and the rivers flow. So change your paradigm--Rain is beautiful. Well.....until it floods out your house.....

We really need rain. We drove up north to my sister-in-laws place for the long weekend: Sat., Sun., Mon., and Tues.. The first Tuesday in November in Victoria, is a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup horse race. It's also called, "The Race That Stops A Nation." Everyone stops to watch this race.

So Michael took the day off of work and we went "up north" to visit the rellies (aka relatives). On the drive up and back we stopped at the local TABs and placed some bets on some horses, and listened to the races on the radio. The time flies between the races as you drive the kilometers. It makes for an entertaining drive. We were ahead on the drive up, and lost it on the way back. A longshot, by the name of Viewed, won the Melboure much to nearly everyones surprise. Too bad it wasn't my longshot! Ah well.....

My sister-in-law's place is in Koondrook, a town which is along the banks of the Murray River. Australia's great river system. The river is lined with Red Gums, a type of eucaliptus tree, which has a beautiful red wood when fresh cut. These trees require that the river flood occasionally. But due to the ongoing drought, they are really suffering. The local timber industry and grain crops are really suffering too.

I really love visiting there, it's rural, and getting closer to the "Outback". A nice change from the urban landscape of Melbourne. The kids like visiting there too. The can play with their big cousin Jack, see Uncle Ringer's Big Semi-Trucks, and their pet camels-Huey and Babe.

We all went to the local pool. They have a big lap pool, a medium pool, and a little kiddie wading pool that was just perfect for Aeryn and Logan. Luckily Ellen had a nap at the time.

On Sunday, we went to the local "Red Gum Festival" and watched Australian Lumberjacks at work, saw some beautiful, red gum, furniture that the highschool kids had made during their advanced wood craft classes, had a taste of local honey, saw the local crafts, heard some Bush Poetry and local musicans.

Ok, it wasn't all fantastic. Australia is famous for FLIES!! And they were ABUNDANT that day. I got good at waving in front of my face and the kids faces. I got a lot of arm exercise. Michael just said stoically, "You'll get used to them." On the upside, at least they don't bite (at all), like the UP Michigan flies. Thank goodness, otherwise you'd be dead from the sheer number of them.

I haven't been to the deep interior of Australia yet. I've only managed to get a few hours inland from the coast. I've only been a few hours inland from either Melbourne or Adelaide. So far, the furthest inland I've been has been to the Flinder's Ranges and Woomera (Australia's equivalent of the Nevada Test Site) located north of Adelaide, South Australia; Koondrook north of Melbourne, Victoria; and the Telfer Gold Mine (for work), south of Port Hedland in Western Australia.

My sister-in-law's place only has rainwater tanks for their household water supply. They have four or five very large tanks, that collect water from the roof of their house and large truck shed when it rains. The rainwater is filtered at the sink. Since it hadn't rained in a while, I was very conscious about how much water I was using. Since Kate cooked, I volunteered to clean up. I had a game when I did the dishes: how little water could I use and still get the dishes clean. Wow, I really take having a running water supply for granted! I'm careful, but that cautious with my water yet. Melbourne's water supply is currently at about 34% of capacity. It has been at about this level, with minor fluctuations, since I started observing it closely about 2 years ago. We are currently on Stage 3A water restrictions (more about they someday). I don't know why they just don't put us on Stage 4, it wouldn't be that much more different.

Having rainwater tanks is a system that works really well. In spite of the drought, it does rain enough to keep water in their tanks. It even works in the winter when there is a frost. In the morning the frost melts and the water drips into the tanks. We installed a large water tank in late 2007. We use it to water our garden and fill up the kids tiny wading pool. We'll eventullay get it hooked up to our toilets and laundry. We've filled it and emptied it twice now. It's currently near full.

Ahh, look at the time.....I've blabbed on for a while. Time to get to work. Have a good day.
Love,
--am

Yesterday I was feeling lonely. I know it seems strange for someone with three kids to feel lonely, but I was. I was missing my Mom again. There's a hundred little details to share with her about the kids. I know she would have loved to hear them all. I'm sure my frustration and loneliness comes from not being able to tell her, and not hearing her comments and comparisons to my childhood. I think she may have said, "You were just like that when you were little."

I also miss the connectedness that I had with my father and my brothers. I didn't realize that a lot of my relationship with them was through her, until after she passed away. I always thought that we were really close, but I'm thinking that maybe that wasn't the case. My Mom and I talked twice a week, and I always asked her about what my brothers and Dad were doing, and she'd put my Dad on the phone for a quick "Hi." They very rarely called me to find out what I was up to. But that was ok with me because I always got the details from my Mom. So I always knew what they were up to and I felt very connected. But now, while they still only very rarely call me, I don't get the details, and I don't feel very connected. Knowing what they are up to is very important to me, I feel connected and involved in their lives in the only way I can be involved from half a world away.

I feel that my Dad and I don't communicate very well, and I often hang up feeling very frustrated and sad. I feel more connected with one brother than the other. They are both very busy, one with work the other with family and everything else. It's probably an insecurity thing on my part.

The problem probably also lies in the way that women and men communicate. They figure that no news is good news, things are going along as planned. Where I would like to know if they did anything, boring or exciting, over the weekend. I want to know more than that my niece and nephew were over at for the weekend. I want to know if they went to the park, if they saw a dragonfly, who they play with at school, current favorite toy or movie, what games they played in the backyard-not that they squashed the grass. I feel that it is as hard to get details as it is to pull teeth. I feel like I am giving an interrogation, can't they volunteer information.

My Dad says that he is not good at talking on the phone. So I'm trying to keep our conversations short--I can tell when he'd rather watch television--kickboxing or Funniest Home Videos. So, I've started to tell him five things and ask one question, and that will conclude our conversation. I'd rather talk longer, but what's the point, when all he wants to know is if everyone is ok.

I'd like to talk to my Dad about his impressions of our childhood or what he felt being a father, proud or frustrating moments. Did we come to their bed when we were little? But like I said, he says he's not good at talking on the phone and my Dad doesn't write letters or e-mails either. I don't know how I'll ever find this stuff out, I'm not a psychic. Guess I'll have to wait for his visit in March-ish 2009, when we can talk. That is if he doesn't backout because he has an achy shoulder, or elbow, a headache, or a cold.

The technique I use to fill the void of not being able to talk to my Mom is to call my cousins and Aunts. Yesterday after I called my Dad and spoke to my brother, I called two cousins and my mother-in-law. It's still not like talking to my Mom, but it helps and I don't feel so lonely afterwards.

I guess I should still feel lucky, I do have e-mail! I know a couple who migrated to New Zealand from England, and they didn't get their first family visitors from the UK for 32 years! A neighbor of ours recently had a visit from his sister and her husband and kids from Canada. He hadn't seen her in 10 years, and this was the first time he met his nephews. At least my Mom and Dad visited here a number of times, for which I am quite honored that they made the effort. After my being here for 8 years, my brothers are scheduled to come out in 2009. I'm looking forward to showing them around. The most time I've spent with them since I graduated highschool, was for my mother's funeral, and then our trip to the UP in 2008.

Ha-ha-ha-haaaaa......... We've had the cat trap for nearly a month and ended up catching four cats. We caught about one a week. I've called the council and they are coming by today to pick up the cage. I feel that we have caught the offending feral cats and we are done with it now.

Shortly after Cat Rant 2, I called the local council. All the traps were being used but after a week they had one available for us. We put it to immediate use. That night we set the trap at 8:00 pm, and had a cat 8:45 pm. Sweet! This was going to be too easy, we thought. We'll have all the neighborhood feral cats in a week!

Well, perhaps not. We didn't catch another for a week! Maybe word got out among the neighborhood cats to stay away. Or perhaps the cage now had an odor about it, and that told the other cats to stay away. Or maybe he was the big offender. At any rate, we did not catch any cats for the rest of the week. You are not allowed to trap over the weekend, because the ranger isn't available until Monday to pick them up. So we paused our cat hunting over the weekend.

On Sunday night we set the trap again. Actually my husband did and he had the kids help out. Now they know how to set the cat trap now; he's trained them in a bit of urban hunting. Michael grew up on a farm as a kid. When he was about 5 years old or so he and his brother would set rabbit traps for extra money. They would catch the rabbits, kill them, then take them to the butcher in town. They would hang the rabbits over the handle bars of their bicycles, drop them at the butcher's, and then go to school. So you don't feel bad, rabbits are an introduced species here in Australia and are very distructive.

Sunday night we caught our back-neighbor's cat. He heard him meowing, and had to walk around the block to ask us to release his cat. Funny enough, he also had a cat trap. He was trying to catch a feral cat that is living in his next door neighbor's roof. This next door neighbor is a bit of a recluse, there's plants growing in their gutters, and a hole in the tiles over their garage, which is where this cat lives. I doubt they even know the cat is there. Anyway, he said he would be keeping his cats in at night from now on. We released his cat, and didn't have any luck catching another that week.

The week after, that we caught another feral cat! Yipee, but not the one we were trying to get: The one from across the road; the one that keeps spraying our front door.

Then on this Sunday evening, Michael and the kids set the trap. In the morning, at the crack of dawn--NOTHING! Bummer. So I left the trap set, and got the kids ready to go to the mall for our fun day out. We finally walked out of the house after running around getting shoes on, finding my car keys, and a last minute diaper change for Ellen. We all step out on the porch and we hear a "Meow!" Low and behold, it is the cat from across the street! Yippee!! Got'cha! HA!

Ok, so our trip out is delayed a bit while I call the council to pick up this cat. And then I had to text Michael and let him know we caught the little bastard! All I sent was the words, "Got him!" And Michael knew exactly what I was talking about. Time to celebrate!

I have to admit that after catching these cats, I do feel guilty. I don't appreciate having to be a bastard and catch these things, and I've probably sent them to their doom. But they are urinating and defecating on my property, they are attacking birds and wildlife, and they intruding on my space. The poor things, it's not their fault that they are not looked after properly. If they are properly micro-chipped they will find their way home. Unfortunately, I doubt they will. They aren't cute kittens, but they are street smart hunters, so I doubt they will be adopted out again. Still, maybe they'll get lucky.

But if you're going to have a cat, have a cat.
Take care of it; bring it in at night. Give it a home, give it some love, give it a litter box.
Get it registered, micro-chipped, and fixed.
Don't make me be a bastard.

In the northern hemisphere I had an end of summer, beginning of autumn birthday, but here in Australia I have a Spring birthday! It was on September 22, and I need to write about it. But today, I'll write about Spring and our adventure yesterday. I don't know why, but this past winter seemed liked it's been going on forever. Not that we have snow, but it's been cold and we've spent a lot of time indoors. I've been feeling a bit cabin-fevery lately. But spring is arriving, and I can finally open the windows and let some beautiful, warm, fresh air in! Big Inhale! Ahhh....Lovely. The calendar says that Halloween is around the corner, but I look outside, feeling the warmer air, and see the longer daylight hours and I can't help but to think St. Patrick's day or Easter! Makes me happy.

Yesterday, I took the kids to the mall. We needed to get a birthday present for an upcoming birthday party, so we headed out to the Toy Shop. The Top Shop is a vastly exciting place to my 4 year old and 2 1/2 year old. But I prepared myself for their excitement and decided to let them pick out a toy for themselves also. Before my Mom passed away, she occasionally mailed us some minor "off-season" presents, like stickers or a coloring book. It was a fun surprise to get a package in the mail with a brief letter. So I decided to take them out for a treat, and find a little something that I think my Mom would have mailed to us. It was a really fun day.

The weather was beautiful. Too nice to be inside the mall but we had a mission to accomplish. At the mall we headed to Toy Kingdom! It's school holidays right now and the mall was a very busy place. While the single people or fathers are at work during the day, it's the place for Mom's with their new babies in strollers, grandmother or grandfather's out with their grandkids while the children's parents are at work. It's also a popular place for carers and their disabled charges. I saw an older father pushing his diabled adult son in a wheelchair. I smile and say hello to lots of people at the mall, and I made a point to say a friendly hello to them. I don't think they should have to feel like they are invisible, and hope they appreciated the smile and hello.

On the way to the Toy Shop, I did a bit of people watching. The teenagers were all dressed-up in their hip, "look at me, I'm socializing and hanging out at the mall" clothes. The girls have done up their hair and make-up, and have their summery skirts and halter tops on. (I keep thinking I'd be freezing if I wore that.) The boys have their hair carefully gelled into various combinations of sticking up and sticking down positions, and had various piercings of eyebrows and lips in place. Many boys were wearing their surfy, hooded sweatshirts: some had bold,colorful patterns like multicolored, rectangles scattered about, or blue triangles scattered on a white background. Other popular patterns were either a white or black hoody with gold foil crowns on it. Not my style, but I'm a 40-year old mother with 3 kids nearly under 4. We passed under their radar as the girls and boys strutted about like hens and roosters, checking each other out and socializing at the mall. Ahh spring!

Normally the teenagers are all running around in their quaint school uniforms: the girls are in the skirts and blazers, and the boys are in their shorts or pants and blazers. The colors are dependant on which school they are attending: bold blue, dark green, burgandy, or yellow. This gives the mall a bit of an Andy Griffith's feeling that I can't shake.

So we went to the fabulous Toy Shop and had a good look around. I gave them free reign. I followed along with Ellen in her stroller, while Aeryn and Logan ran about like bees pollenating flowers! Laughing and saying "Wow!" "That's so cool," "That's so cute," "Look at that," "I want that," "Aww...". Pushing buttons, and pulling levers, and touching, and looking, and laughing, and very excited. I'm following along with Ellen. I make a comment to a Grandfather with his grandkids, "It's just so exciting for them, isn't it." We smile and laugh, his grandkids are older but doing the same thing but looking at the older kids toys just as fascinated, but with older kid commentary, "I like that because.....," I don't like that because....".

We wandered over to the Pixar Cars section. Here they have an assortment of the characters from the Pixar movie "Cars" about the size and feel of matchbox-type cars. They are very cute, sturdy, and have a personality. I think they are like Barbies for boys. Logan loves his matchbox cars and especially his red and blue Lightening McQueen cars. They fit great into his hand and he takes them everywhere and sleeps with them. So I thought a set of these cars would be a good present for the little boy's upcoming birthday party. So we picked out the Piston Cup Gift set. A set of three cars: Lightning McQueen, The King, and Charlie Checkers, the pace car. Actually we picked up two. One for Logan too, since it was our fun day out. While Aeryn liked these cars, she liked "Sally," I wouldn't let her get it because I had secretly bought one earlier. I encouraged her to look for something else, which she was happy to do.

She went over to the tiny, realistic looking, plastic animal section. They have an assortment of dinosaurs, African animals, various breeds of horses, ducks, chickens, dogs, a veritable zoo of animals past and present from around the world. All tiny, detailed, and real looking. But there is also the fairy elf section. Oh, my! I would have loved this section as a kid. What the heck, I love this as an adult! They have an assortment of boy and girl elves, in elegant, flowing costumes, and a fierce micro-dragon, and a sparkly, graceful, tiny, unicorn. Sigh.....Be still my heart. But Aeryn looks a bit and finds a tiny, butterfly-winged fairy, sitting astride and hugging a dainty and proud, gray arab horse, draped with sparkles and flowers. Gorgeous! She's facinated with it, and of course, I'm going to buy her that one. Giggle....

After shopping we headed to the second challenging location. A lovely cake and pastry shop with nice sandwiches and cappiccinos. We walked there, through the strutting teenagers, the kids clutching their prizes. The kids reaction to the assortment of donuts, sugar-sparkly and frosting colorful cookies is the same as at the toy shop. "Ok," I say, "You can and will have a treat, but you have to eat some real food first." So I got them a ham and cheese sandwich, and myself a steak and mushroom pie and a cappiccino. They did really well eating their lunch and for dessert, I gave them a choice of cookies or icecream. They went for the icecream-strawberry. Which we took outside and ate on the bench outside of the Bendigo Bank. Not a beautiful spot next to the mall's main street, but it was convenient and outside. I got to do some more people watching and the kids did a good job eating their icecream. Aeryn was tidy as always, and Logan needed a bit of help so it didn't get everywhere. Most of it ended up inside him and I got a taste as well.

Can you believe we did more? Well, I'm not foolish enough to go straight home after feeding my kids icecream. So it was back into the mall. Since we had to go past the pet shop, we had a vistit there. The kids got to look at the puppies, fish, birds, and mice. Oh and the hermit crabs. Then it was to K-Marts where they have three seater Mini-merri-go-round. Which will go around for only $2. A bargan for three kids. It was a Hi-5 themed one (who thinks of these things!?); Aeryn sat on a saxiphone, and Logan sat on the guitar, and I put Ellen on the drum. I held her in place and ran around in circles till the music finally ended (thank goodness!). After that, the kids sat at each of the conveniently placed rides throughout the mall; all of which I refused to put money in. Sitting is free after all, and they got a kick out of sitting in the Big Red Car, sitting with Mickey Mouse, and with Bob the Builder, all encountered while walking through the mall to our next distination.

There is an indoor playground at the food court. An area of fun and danger. But a good place to let the kids burn off some the icecream energy. Parents often leave their kids free to run while they have a chat with friends over coffee. I'm one of those parents who wanders in and shadows their kids while they climb and run and slide. The little kids tend to play well together. But it's the bigger kids, the 8 to 10 year olds who are a bit of a hazard. So I keep a look out and the kids have a blast. They even have a little area for the babies and toddlers, so Ellen even had a crawl and a climb on some padded stairs and a little slide with my help.

Ellen is into picking anything and everything up from the floor and putting it into her mouth. Aeryn and Logan didn't really do this. Ellen is making up for them not doing this. Typically I do a finger sweep of her mouth at least three times a day to remove foreign objects like paper, fuzzies, my hair, lint, carpet fibers, and tanbark. Ellen had a great time in the play area, but she must have found every raison that was there the floor. I did four finger sweeps in an hour--three times for raisons, and once of a rock or something. Gack--drives me a bit crazy. I don't know why I bother sterizilizing her bottle anymore. She's got to have the stomach of a goat!

So after an hour at the mall's playground it was time to go home. Well, I did have to run to the grocery store to get some lamb chops for dinner, but then we got to go home. What a fun day. I love my kids.....It was a really good day. And I'm glad it's finally spring.

Oh, man....I did it.......ahhh....I knew I should have taken a shower before I logged on or at least brushed my hair again.......I barely know how to post a photo let alone edit it in some way............

take a picture of yourself right now.
don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair... just take a picture.
post that picture with NO editing.
post these instructions with your picture.

Take a Picture am at computer, blogging

Ah those silly quizzes.........

Your result for Reincarnation Placement Exam...

Starfleet Crewperson

61% Intrigue, 68% Civilization, 62% Humanity, 50% Urbanization.

Take Reincarnation Placement Exam at HelloQuizzy

I'm so sorry Chelsea.
Life is so unfair.
Your life was just getting started.
I can't believe it.
It's not fair.
I'll always remember braiding your hair.
I'll always remember you at my wedding.
I'll always remember you in my heart.
Rest in Peace dear cousin Chelea.
July 28, 1991 - Sept. 10, 2008.
Love Always,
--am

What Would Your Obituary Say? It's a topic that's been on my mind a bit lately. Last week, a work acquaintance of my husband's died in a freak accident. She was a little older than me and had 3 teenage children.

These things hit a bit close to home sometimes and you feel mortal and a bit afraid. I think things are going really good and I'd hate to exit just now. So this topic is a way of looking at my mortality and exploring my fear, in a (dare I say it) fun way. I had a couple tears and chuckles while writing this. I'm not planning on going anywhere and I hope to live a long time with a sound mind and body. I'm just thinking. If I rewrite this in a few years, I'm sure it would sound different. So if I happen to kick off, feel free to edit this in a way that makes you happy too.

So, I'm going to write my obituary, although it's not necessarily press worthy. It's a first draft, it's a bit long. Last names etc omitted for privacy.

AMWELCHER
September 22, 1968 to ???. ??, 20??
Beloved wife of Michael, and Loving mother of Aeryn, Logan, and Ellen. Loved, oldest daughter of MaryAnn (dec.) and Harold "Bud". Loving, bossy, older sister of James and Dan. Loving Sister-in-Law to Laura, Karen, Peter, Sue, Kate and Ringer. Caring Aunt to nephews and nieces: Jack, Gavin and Kaila; and Clare, Kieran, and Declan; and Matthew, Jack, and Joe (dec.). Loving Niece and Cousin to many in her extended family.

She wouldn't have wanted to go just yet, she would have wanted more time with her family, especially her children, whom she loved very much. As an American immigrant to Australia, she always felt a bit guilty about living so far away. She knew that her family understood this and knew she was very happy living with the love of her life, Michael, and her children. She always said how lucky she was to have met such a loving and caring man. And he always said how lucky he was too, even if she couldn't cook.

Once, she bought a refrigerator magnet that said, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the Life you've imagined. - Thoreau." And she felt that she did live the life she imagined. She thought she was so fortunate. AM loved learning and exploring and loved sharing adventures with her husband and children. She goes on her final adventure now, to see what she can see, or perhaps not.

If it makes you happy to send flowers or make a donation to your preferred charity, please do. If you don't have a favorite charity, a donation to one doing research into Scoliosis or Marfan's Syndrome would be appreciated. Do what makes you feel better.

She would have said, "You can be sad for a bit, but then you have go out and enjoy yourself again. I'd be sad if you were sad. Remember me in your happy moments. Go for a hike, or look at a sunset (since you know I'd only rarely get up for a sunrise :) ), look at a mountain, or pick up an interesting rock, hug my kids, your kids, or grandkids, or hug a loved one. Think of me and be happy. Then I'll be happy.

Hiss! I chased four cats out of my yard this morning-2 in the front yard and 2 in the backyard. And my laundry room smells like cat piss now! That was the final straw. I called the local council and requested that they put cat traps in our yard to catch the little buggers. I actually requested 2, one for the front yard and one for the back yard-I don't know if that'll happen but I'll be happy with one. Unfortunately, at the moment all the cat traps are being used. At least I'm on the list. I can't wait! With any luck, we'll catch them at night and it will rain, and the ranger will have to come and get a soggy wet moggy! Ha! A little discomfort for the cat and some financial pain for their owners in return for these past months of my discomfort in smelling their territory markers and cleaning up their waste materials! Shreek!

Here kitty, kitty, kitty.....moah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa (evil laughter is hard to spell).

Here it is.

New Haircut 19 Aug 2008

I've had long hair for a very long time. In 2000, I had it trimmed to be just longer than my shoulders, he cut about 10-inches off that time. I also had bangs/a fringe. Long hair was good for me when I was working "in the field." Braided hair is good under a hard hat. It kept it out of my eyes and out of the way, so it's safe. I used to go to my hair dresser, Jayme, in Las Vegas and say, "I need a style that will work under my hard hat, so I just need a trim thanks." Jayme was not gay, but from talking with him I got the impression that people thought that a gay man would cut hair better than straight one.

My hair was at it's shortest when I was in 6th grade. Dorthy Hamil was a gorgeous and successful figure skater, and I think my Mom wanted me to have a hair style like hers. I think my Mom cut it herself in our backyard. I don't think I really liked it. I don't think I had much of an opinion about my hair at that stage. I was a tomboy, I didn't like pink or dresses, I liked dirt and sandboxes, and because I was young and in gymnastics, I was built like a boy.

In the 1970's boys had longish, straight hair. With my short hair, I think I looked like a boy. I have two stories to show that other people thought this too. One time we were in K-Mart and I heard this K-Mart man saying, "Little boy, little boy ......" My Mom said, "Excuse me but SHE is a little girl!"

Then there was this time when me and my brothers and our friend Matt rode our bikes up the the newly established Taco Bell on Plymouth Road. We ordered and ate our meals. As we were finishing up, some little girls our age came in and had started eating their meals. My brother James and I went out to unlock our bikes, and then Dan and Matt came out of the restaurant laughing their guts out. We asked what they were laughing about. They said that the girls said, "They boy with the braces was cute!" Oh man, I was the only one of us with braces! I was so embarassed.

Every once in a while I get the urge to "be daring" and have a hair cut. Not a trim to keep it orderly, but a proper hair cut. One where you get some "Style". In previous years when I've thought about getting my hair cut, I'd have a nightmare the night before the day of the appointment, and wake up crying or a bit sad about having it short. After those dreams, I'd only get a trim.

For me, long hair is easy to manage. I wash it, let it dry by itself, comb it, and then put it in a long pony tail or a braid. Too easy. It's economic too. I'll just see the hair dresser every six months or so to get the ends trimmed off. Whether they cut off 2 inches or 6 inches, it all costs the same. Typically about $75 dollars. I can hear the men inhale sharply and wince, "GASP!" That's why, I get mine cut every six months or so. My husband only pays $12 or so every four weeks at a barber shop. Not that I want a number 2 on the sides and back, and a number 3 on top.

I like a bit of pampering at the salon, I get: coffee or tea, a chat, a wash, more chatting and some compliments, hair trimming, a blow dry and some straightening with a curler, and more compliments. After an hour I feel like a million dollars, and the hair care professional has earned their money. Which explains why I can't get my hair to look the same after a shower. You need some serious hair tools, an assortment of hair products, two extra arms, and a set of eyeballs about 2 1/2 feet from your own head to get the proper perspective!

In general, my hair is healthy, is mid-way down my back and practically one length, which means I don't have bangs (aka a fringe). I usually wear it in a pony tail or braided, or keep the top pinned back in one of my fancy barettes. After 6 months, it definitely needs a trim. By the time I book in for a hair cut, I am sick of my hair. The ends are a bit dry, and a trim of 1 to 2 inches fixes it up. Then, I'm happy with my hair again. I love my long pony tail. I love braiding my hair. I tried braided pig tails once, but that felt really young, and I kept thinking of native Americans. Weird, cute, but not really my style.

Anyway, my youngest daughter, Ellen is 7 months old now. She is a crawling maniac, and is standing up around the couches and toyboxes. And as she crawls she is my little dustbuster, my adorable lint and hair gatherer. Unlike Aeryn, who never put anything into her mouth, or Logan who only put cars into his mouth; Ellen likes to eat whatever thing she finds on the floor. Crumbs, carpet fibers, and most favored (it seems) is my hair! I've pulled so much from her fingers and mouth, I can no longer stand it. I know that I'm shedding mouse-loads of hair, and she has the ability to find most of my shedded strands. Ack, the poor dear.

So I had a hair cut appointment the day before yesterday (Aug. 19th). And I think it was time to get my hair cut. Not a trim. But a cut. This is not a decision I made lightly, I've been wanting to do it for a while. A long while I guess. I went to a new hair salon. I had a nice talk to the woman, I got a good feeling about her/the place/what my hair may look like on me (because you don't know what it'll look like till it's done)........

OK, lets go for it.

I've had it this length for so long now. It's time for a change. I'm tired of pulling my hair out of my daughter's mouth. I'm tired of picking up masses of hair after my shower and after I brush it. It's hard work to brush it out. Long hair is heavy too. I'll be hitting the big four zero next month, I need something new....

Ok, I'm ready.

Pre-Hair Cut12 Aug 2008

Last year, I was talking to my sister-in-law, Laura, after my Mom passed away. She said that in some cultures, people shave their head as a sign of grief. I thought that was very touching and so I braided a lock of my hair from just behind my left ear and had my sister-in-law cut if as close to my scalp as possible. That way, I could look at the regrown hair and have physical evidence of how much time has passed. This patch of hair is about down to my collar now. So I thought I would have the rest of my hair cut to that length.

So I went for it.

I think she cut 12 to 14 inches off of the length. Afterwards, it looked like a small brown dog had been shaved and was lying on the floor at my feet. My hair just touches my collar at the back of my neck. It's called a "bob." It's short! I'm practically bald! Well no... It's cute. It's light. It can go into a pony tail. Although a very short pony tail.

I like it. I was ready for a new look. I don't look like a boy. And I don't care how it may look under a hard hat.