That Janis song again

The army is LOANING seven F111s for display (see Dept of Defence). Imagine having one of those in the back yard for the kids to play on? If you could actually fly them, trips down south would never be the same however using them as a commuter vehicle might be showing off. Perhaps a Bushmaster would be better for that daily trip to Bundy.  Thanks to Grant Geddes for this website...the reason he knew about it was because he wanted to score 2 troop carriers for their SES group. 

Archives

I was watching a news article about the restoration of a WW2 bomber and they commented that a lot of the pilots died in training crashes. And it made me wonder if any reports of my grandfather's RAAF air crash was on the web somewhere. And yes it was in the archives of the Sydney Morning Herald 16/2/1938 and again in the Canberra Times. Grandma's story goes that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft and they thought the pilot had had a "touch of the sun" from playing tennis that day and therefore was delirious and passed out. But as Mine was strapped into the seat behind the pilot there was nothing he could do.

My grandfather died in 1974 of a stroke so I have only the memories my Grandma gave me. My name for him was, "Mine" because when people used to ask, "Who's that?" I replied, "He's Mine" so Mine he became and that is the name we always used for him.  Grandma regularly told me that story and how extensive his burns were, how the doctors pumped the cigarettes into him "to steady the nerves" and how eventually they had to move to Qld for his health. These days that sort of injury would earn him a discharge but he was too valuable for that, especially with another looming world war so the RAAF looked after him until he was ready to return to work. In the articles he is billed as a fitter but later in his career he rose as high as was possible for a person not of the upper classes.

I remember everything in their Qld home was painted blue and white - EVERYTHING except the floor and the bricks. And his workshop was in perfect order - you could always find stuff. Nuts and bolts were all graded and in labelled jars. Tools had their spot in the garage. Dad tells me Mine ate peanut butter sammies for lunch for 40 years. And you knew what day of the week it was by what was on the dinner table. I forget exactly now but the menu was steamed chicken & white sauce on Saturday, grilled chops on Tuesday and I'm sure my parents can fill in the rest.  Oh dear. It's 1am and we have a busy day ahead. Goodnight.

Eureka Stockade - NOT!

One of my grant clients, the Curra Country Club, has had a coup. A group of blokes snuck in during the night,  changed all the locks and the next day locked the management out declaring themselves the new committee.  So! Their bank account is frozen, they have very little idea of what they are doing and - after the elections on Saturday - the Gympie Regional Council will be on their tail. No doubt they think they are very clever and fighting for freedom, yadda yadda yadda, but all they had to do was stack the next AGM in July if they wanted a change of management. I shall watch the progress of this with interest!

Visitor

Kirk spotted this echidna on our way out last Tuesday night. He was cleaning up the ants in the cracks in the stairs. He pretty much ignored us and Spook wisely stayed away from him which makes me think he has  encountered an echidna before (hehehe).

PLEASE don't do that in public

My husband.
Kahki camouflage shorts.
Blue & white old-man-plaid shirt.
BRIGHT native Ghanian bucket hat.

Knockin' them over

I said I would try to get all the 1/2 finished sewing projects completed and so far so good. 
I completed a dog bed for Jessie, a 14 year old cattledog but she scratched it to pieces while making herself comfortable so now I have fabric scraps covering the lounge room floor (People keep telling me she's a dingo but it's illegal to keep dingos so she is MUST be a c.a.t.t.l.e.d.o.g.) . Oh well, win some - lose some. So I shall mend it and give it to Spook and I'll probably felt a heap of raw wool into a shade cloth cover which I trust she will not be able to destroy.

I also finished my crochet experiment with bread bags. I now have a plastic basket which I plan to use for wet swimming gear. Crocheting bread bags was interesting but it was a lot of effort for insufficient result. IF my dogs did not chew things I could make springy, flea-free beds for them but...you know...they're right up there on the scale of destruction they cause to homes - floods, fire, tsunamis and dogs....maybe they should be included in insurance?

Disturbing in two completely different ways

Cartoonists are spying on me

Next Challenge

I'm continuing the Scroogezilla habit as strictly as possible because it makes life easier AND now that my craft room is well ordered and I can start SEWING! Obviously my next challenge is to complete all the unfinished projects. I think, realistically, I can average one a week.  First I'll make a heap of bags for Angels for the Forgotten and then marsupial bags from Rachel's old flannelette sheets (thanks Rach!).  That should move a lot of the material out of the cupboard.
Mum, how many would you like and what sizes? Or would you prefer hemmed box liners?

 

Ghetto Hikes

This guy leads urban kids on hikes. He likes to write down what they say at Ghetto Hikes.

“I’mma sneak one dem tadpoles in De’Shawn’s ingredients bag, or whateva you call it… trail mixers.”

“I’mma tape a Kudos bar on Raymond’s back… We get attacks by a bear or sumthin, he gunna eat his ass firs

“Mr. Cody, me n’ Patrice gunna poke holes in the top of dis tent. My mama gunna be pissed if I come home stuffocated.”

Whitegoods revolt

The microwave's turning pin has broken so it don't go round no more. No biggie - but annoying. So, for the record...in the last 3 months the following items have died...

• freezer
• washing machine 
• mower
• oven & a stove element
• camera
• PC speakers

That's enough to make any animist deeply paranoid.

Why?

New emerald-cut shaped galaxy. Why Not?

Still going

I'm into month 3 of my buy nothing challenge and am easily managing to shed something every day. We even managed to avoid buying a wedding present because Sean gave his friend the gift voucher which was originally the end of year work bonus. In lieu of a card we stuck the voucher to a some sort of computer circuitry (A computer card! Boom! Boom!). 

However today we're breaking again to buy a camera - a water resistant, SHOCK resistant camera because I can not satisfy the home education registration requirements without being able to take photos of the things we do.

P.S. 5 April: Bought a heap of art materials today and flippers yesterday. Oh well... time to cull all those winter clothes I pulled out of storage.

The Chosen

I read The Chosen by Chaim Potok months ago and I MUST find the novel again because its plot and themes are like those jingles that get stuck in your head - it won't go away!!

Quickie explanation: Two boys are growing up on either side of Judaism (modern & fundamental). They struggle with the burden their cultures place upon them and one makes the decision very painfully to walk his own path as opposed to the one determined by tradition. Potok (a rabbi) is not advocating one throws away tradition but demonstrates that one needs to engage actively with the issues and make a very conscious decision. There are layers upon layers of themes, motifs and information shoe-horned into this slim novel. Very interesting for me were the descriptions of Jewish life in post-war America, of which I was barely conscious, and how Zionism created the Westbank-Gaza conflict.

Damn it! I borrowed that book from someone...who was it?! Obviously I should have stolen it instead.

Busines logo tweaks

Recently my office gave the grant writing division a new logo. Now we have a picture to go with our job title. Isn't it sweet? But then I thought..."But not all grant angels are women." So I tweaked it a little.  And then it occurred to me that we're not all angels either, so I had to make a few more changes. And then I thought...even that does not suit me because I'm not one of those cute, sexy, little devils...I'm a subversive creature who works in its cave at night, digging for gold - AH! I must be a goblin. So I sent my tweak back to the boss. She laughed and said she'd sack me if I used it.  ...sigh...there ain't no truth in advertising.

In for a penny

 Mum has commented on my previous post, "ET phone home", that she does not think that a child of an atheist should be attending a Christian activity. This is a fair call however my making light of his ignorance about religion does have a serious side.

Firstly, to clarify, this activity is open to the public. Anyone is welcome to attend and I am sure they would be delighted to greet people of any religion walking through their doors - they are honestly accepting people (note the difference between "accepting" and "tolerant"). Also these days there are plenty of other-faith and non-faith people attending private Christian schools but that is a post for another day.

So why am I sending Kirk to a Christian activity at all? Just like every one else - we value the education! It is not possible to be fully conversant with world culture if you are not aware of biblical history, the role religion plays in our society and how it has shaped our metaphoric language. Three major religions; Christianity, Judaism & Islam all share that founding Middle Eastern culture and a very large amount of the "lore" is based on the same documents. Yes, I could easily teach him all this myself, but then it would just be a history lesson. He also needs to understand the context and the culture wrapped around it and nothing beats direct experience hence, "In for a penny, in for a pound".