Adventures in Picnicking, Old School Style

Oh in the summertime, when the weather is high.... ok, so its not summer yet. Nor spring for that matter. However, over the past weekend we did have some lovely weather here in Dubvegas so we got together with my parents, my neices ( who were staying at Grandma and Poppys for the day ) and my younger sister to go on a proper, old-fashioned picnic. We packed ourselves some lunches, i made some delicious cheesecake brownies for dessert, and we took all the kids ( big and little ) out the park/play area at Taronga Western Plains Zoo ( our favourite playground in town! ). Unfortunately we missed out on a picnic table because when we got there every table was taken up by birthday parties - from what i could tell there was 3 seperate birthday parties going on....

 But no matter because there is lots of open space to run around in ( and a fence around the perimeter so little people cant run into the car park );

There is the great jungle gym/tree house. Flynn can climb up the ramp by himself and giggle his guts out when he goes down the slippery dip. The bigger kids climb right up the top and yell out at the top of their lungs " Hey Grandma! Hey Aunty Amy! Hey, i'm up here! "...

There were Daddies enjoying the sunshine on their picnic rugs ( looking good baby! )....

...and Poppies pushing little people on the swings. Flynn loves the swings and at the age of almost 20 months that the appropriate noise to make whilst swinging is " wheeeeeeeeeeee ! "

 There were also beautiful neices galore! The very cute MissB on the wobbly bridge....

 And the just as pretty, if not slightly more adventurous MissH at the end of her flying fox run.

 Then you had Grandma's playing hide and seek with cheeky little boys ( who then got bark in his shirt and proceeded to itch and scratch... )

And little boys who just l.o.v.e sand and dirt and all things grotty.

And, at the very end, there were silly Mummies ( with no make up, freckles and all ) and crazy Aunty Pippy's ( who had run out of bubbles to blow for the kiddies... ) making silly faces. Ah, a day in the park.... hurry up spring and summer can i do that every weekend!

Pogo Was Right

About ten years ago, my cousin told me of his bankruptcy settlement. I wondered how it was possible that he could have so much debt forgiven and still keep his house and his truck. I figured I’d wait and see. When we were kids he had been so hyperactive and impulsive that I could only hang out with him for short intervals before feeling so drained I had to keep my distance for several months. He had moved to Florida and I hadn’t seen him for a few years, but he called me every month or so and even his phone calls left me feeling tired.

He had told me a couple of years earlier that he had over $40,000 in credit card debt and I was shocked. He had owned a house in New Hampshire at the time though I don’t know what the mortgage was. We were riding in his then-new, four-wheel-drive pickup truck equipped with every option, and I didn’t think he and his wife together made $40k in a year. He said he was worried and I could believe that. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep if I were in his shoes, yet somehow, he was able to sell his house in New Hampshire and buy another in Florida, and that’s where his questionable bankruptcy judgement was made. It was all difficult to swallow and that’s how it had always been with my cousin.

I’ve been thinking a lot about him while watching the debt talks in Washington. My cousin said he was able to keep his house and his truck, and if he was, it was only because his creditors had to eat his debt. Others would have had to pick up the slack for him because he wouldn’t discipline himself enough to control his spending. I believed he would get himself right back into debt again if he were ever issued more credit cards - and I don’t see our government behaving any differently either unless we pass a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution.

The eleventh-hour budget compromise in Washington will supposedly prevent bankruptcy for the USA, but I’m not confident it will. How can this congress bind future congresses for the next ten years? Doesn’t the Constitution allow them to tax, borrow and spend under Article I, Section 8? Without a balanced budget amendment they can do what they please and I don’t trust them to change any more than I do my cousin. Both sides claim there are huge cuts to government spending included in the compromise. How can that be true when the plan adds $7 trillion to the debt over the next ten years? Presidents and congressional leaders set off my internal BS alarm just as much as my cousin always did. The way they conduct their personal lives is similar too, but there’s not enough space in this column to go into any of that.

My cousin depended on everyone else when he went belly up, but if the USA goes bankrupt, who would save us? China? According to one Chinese official, we’ve already defaulted on our debt to them because we’re paying interest on it by printing dollars that are worth less than the ones we borrowed. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likes to call it “quantitative easing” but you could also call it counterfeiting. He reminds me of my cousin too.

Another of our creditors, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said the other day that: “They [Americans] are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy.” The way he describes us Americans, we’re all seeming more like my cousin, no? Putin went on to say, “They [Americans] are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar”

Is he right? I’m afraid he is. How did we get to the point when a communist Chinese official and the former head of the Soviet KGB are making more sense than the US Federal Reserve Chairman and the President of the United States?

As I think about all this, it occurs to me that, for decades, my cousin would call me after a long hiatus and I would go and hang out with him again. It also occurs to me that we Americans keep electing presidents and members of congress who act like just like him. I believe Pogo was right when he said: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Trusting Yourself - 15 Minutes To Live

So, with only four days ( or prompts left ) in the 30 Days of Music challenge ( another post to come this afternoon ), i was thinking i was going to be back to posting the same old stuff again, and hoping that i wouldnt bore all you readers to death. So, happily, whilst cruising around the forums on Digital Parents i found a link to a new (and somewhat more meaningful ) writing "challenge ". In celebration of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 208th birthday, the good people who run a website in homage to him are running the #Trust30 initiative:
 #Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing journey.


Now, like the 30 Days of Music challenge, i think i might spread these prompts out over the course of two months - and seeing as the content will probably be a lot " heavier " in nature, i'll probably need the extra time to think them over.Plus, i'm already a day behind so it wont be so bad if i skip a day or two. So, day one?
( By Gwen Bell ) You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live....

Image from here

Without a doubt, after giving myself 30 seconds or so to panic and ponder my own mortality, i would have to contact my most treasured of loved ones. Only those closest to me, those who have supported me, loved me, truely known and seen and lived me.

To my fiance - Thank you for finding me, and for being ready to accept the love i had to give. You were the light at the end of a dark tunnel, the dawn at the end of the longest night. I love you, and always will.

To my son - If your father was my dawn after night, you are the sunshine who keeps the clouds at bay. You're my honeybee, my baby cakes, and even though your feet smell i love your guts forever.

To my mother - we had our struggles ( as sulky teenagers are want to cause... ) but we've come good in the end. Realise the potential that you have, and go with it - stop your worrying and let yourself "be". And love yourself, the way you always, even in your funny way, loved me.

To my sister - i love you, and despite having called you a bitch when we were kids, i dont really think that. I think you are headstrong and sometimes a bit dramatic, but that you are stronger than you imagine and will make it in the end. Forget your naysayers, and remember you.

To my father - my rock, my sounding board and the first man i ever loved. I am proud of the way you live your life, proud of the way you love your family, and proud to be your daughter. See you on the otherside, wherever they may be.

To the rest of the people who inhabit my life i'd have to leave a farewell note - short, sweet and to the point:
I loved you all. Goodbye, and good luck...









 

My Sweet Family Life

So i'm again participating in the new " Sweet Life " meme brought to you by the gorgeous Melissa over at Suger Coat It. Basically Melissa wants us to celebrate the good things in life, the stuff that makes our lives worth living, and loving. This week, she wants to know about our sweet families...

 Those are my beautiful boys, who make me laugh, smile and burst with love everyday. Sometimes they make me cry  and want to tear at my hair, but isnt that part of being a family? And i've always been a believer that the bad/sad/frusturating times are there to help us appreciate all the good stuff even more. But its not just my fiance and my son that make my life sweet. No, i have to count my extended family in that aswell, with a special mention to my mum and dad... or Grandma and Poppy as they are now more frequently called.

Thats Flynn and my mum at Mayfield Gardens a few weeks ago. I think having grandkids keeps my mum young, because she spends so much time playing chasies in the garden or building block towers that she doesnt have time to ponder any " ah, i'm getting older! " thoughts. And she's always willing to help me out - whether its coming round for a visit, or taking Flynn for the afternoon so i can do something on my own, or whatever. She is one sweet Grandma. But the real sweet star in the family?

Pop. Flynn is in love with Pop, Mick admits to having a man crush on him, and i've always been a Daddys girl. My dad is the most giving person i know, whether it be time, or money, or advice... the man does it all. All the help he gives us - we, a young family, just trying to find its feet - is what helps make my life sweet. I think, without my dad especially, my life would be vastly, vastly different....

Hand-me-down Evidence

Just a quick post - so you now how i mentioned that in my Hand-me-down post that my mother had dressed me in my cousins hand-me-downs, even though i am, in fact, a girl and he was a boy? And that i couldnt find the photo of me in red " Sherriff " overalls? Well, my mother found it and here it is for your viewing pleasure...

Oh yea, thats me - a bit over 2 yrs old i think - in my fash-tastic hand-me-down overalls with my chubbster brother. Aren't we vintage gorgeous?

Waning Summer

Most people know I'm a teacher around here. "Summer's over," they tell me at the Post Office, the store, the gas station, because school started three weeks ago. But it's not over. Waning, yes, but it hasn't ended just because the school busses are running. It started early and it's been a grand one.There was very little rain. Water grass on Lower Kezar Pond exposed some nice red stalks. It was a nice day for kayaking.Out for a walk one day with granddaughter Claire and daughter Annie. Another granddaughter is incubating about three feet down to the lower right. Can't wait to see her. Life is good.Claire likes me.Saw a bald eagle annoyed with an osprey one day over Kezar Lake. Chased him all over the sky for about a minute. It was quite a show.The sun came up behind a spider web the next day. I was running late, but stopped anyway for this. Got my shoes all wet in the dew, but it was worth it. Gotta take time for beauty.Afternoon clouds gathered in the western sky.Alway liked mills like these in Saco. Oak logs were floated down the Saco River - possibly from here in Fryeburg/Lovell - to hold up the floors. Local brick, local wood, power from the river. All so ruggedly built, they survive to this day. Many have been gutted and await commercial tenants looking for office space, but a slow economy and glut of commercial real estate threaten these magnificent old buildings. Hope this sunset over the mills isn't foreshadowing.Sunset over Kezar Lake. Is that a dolphin? A character from "Neverending Story"?

I'm Building An Ark - But I'm Not Growing A Beard

I was listening to one of our local radio stations this morning and, in anticipation of the heavy rain that has been forecast for the next few days ( which, mind you, i bet doesnt eventuate.... ), the morning dj team were discussing whether they had better build themselves an ark. All that had to make it with was some newspapers, some Blutack and a pen but hey.... it got me thinking. If that Biblical flood was a-coming, what would i put on my ark?
( Please note that, like all good hypothetical things, such as deserted islands, my ark will be fully electric. Its a pimped out ark, okay? )

My family -  this one's a given. Mick, Flynn and the rest of my immediate family. Extended family i could give or take but we gotta take Poppy and Grandma and the rest of them. Also , we're going to assume that my friends have their own arks so they dont need to hitch a ride with me.
My computer -  and internet connection. We have to stay connected to the rest of the world ( well, all those people who were savvy enough to prepare for the watery Apocalypse ... ) and how else are we going to know when its safe to come out and dock?
Books - lots of them. Something for everyone to read - everyone except my dad and my brother, who are not such big fans of books. Maybe i should take some magazines aswell, just so they have something to entertain themselves with. Booby magazines are banned though!
Food - uh. Duh.I'd be getting my bake on before we set off into the great unknown - heaps of freezable pastas and casseroles and yummy, yummy cakes and slices. We wouldnt want to run out of food and have it turn into a whole plane-crash-in-the-Andes cannibal type situation, would we ? Because if it came down to that i think i'd be one of the first to go - my bootiliciousness would be delicious!
Blankets and pillows - and possibly beanbags and mattresses. We wana be comfy in our ark because Gawd knows how long we're gonna be in there.
And finally....
Deoderant - lots and lots of it. And maybe dry shampoo. I suppose we could rig up some kind of shower in this electrical ark of mine, and there would be plenty of water to go round, but failing that we gonna need some kind of BO buster.... it'd be stinky up in that house ark!

Uh, How Do I Put This?

The first day of Project Sleepy-time ? Big. Fat. Fail.

I thought we were going to be ok, at first. He showed tired signs at around 8:20 am. I wrapped him up, gave me a quick snuggle and put him into his bed, as described in my last post. It took 45 minutes of crying ( and 2 minutes of me stroking his cheek, which i dont think was allowed ) to get him to sleep. 45 minutes i spent lying bag in a bean bag, with my eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. Not too bad for our first effort. I could put up with that.

Flynn woke after an hour and he was all smiley and cheery and generally adorable. I was going to try putting him to bed again around noon but my sister-in-law asked if i could look after my 18 month old neice while she went to the dentist ( yep, no problem ). Consequently, we didnt try to another nap until 1pm. This was when the fail came in. Long story short - my previously adorable son lie in his bed, wrapped up and tucked in, crying and screaming for two hours. This was only because, after an hour and half, i couldnt take anymore of being in the same room and i cracked, curled up on the floor in the fetal position and bawled my eyes out, before my mum rang and out of the blue and i begged her to come and help me.

Yes, you read that i right - i full on cracked. Crumbled. Came unstuck. But my mum took Flynn outside, and my dad helped me off the floor, and we had a chat and worked out a way to help me ( my dad, who walks every afternoon, is going to come and take Flynn with him so i can have an hour to myself to clean, or cook, or read, or nap... or whatever )..... and i am ok. And i will be ok tomorrow.

Maybe we are not ready for the Parental Presence method. Maybe it will be better tomorrow. Maybe it wont work at all and i'll just have to try something else. But i'm gonna keep trying cos that the kind of mumma i am - vunerable and perhaps slightly mental, but willing to do whatever i can for my bubba....

You Gotta Be In It To Win It

The lottery that is. And i'm not usually - i might buy a lottery ticket once or twice a year, so its highly doubtful that i'll ever win the big bucks but, for the sake of a blog post, lets just pretend that i did win big. Say $50 million dollars big. What would i do with it ? ( NOTE: i totally stole this very simple idea from Erin @ Motherhood Y'all ).

#1: Umm, boring - i'd pay off my debts. Which, for me, means my mortgage, my car loan and a couple of hundred dollars on a credit card. I'd also pay Mickey J's debt and our immediate families. Way to get in the good books right ?

#2: Pay for my wedding and honeymoon - we still havent set an official date yet but Mick and I plan on getting married sometime around September or October next year. My parents have a bit of money set aside to pay for it all but i'd much rather pay for it myself. Either way, whether we had $1000, $10 000 or $1 million dollars, it wont be an extravagant affair. We're just not that kind of people. Beautiful dress ? Yep. Pretty location? Yep. Good food? Yep. Should it cost the price of a new car ? Umm - nup.

#3: Buy a new house - for my little family ( we currently live in a two bedroom duplex that i - or the bank - own ) and one for each of our immediate family members. That way, after having already paid off their debts, they could have a new home to live in and one as an investment property to earn them money. Tricky....

#4: Set some aside for my children - well, i only have one at the moment but i will have more in the future ( i'm like 99% sure ). So i'd set aside a big lump sum as a trust fund, say one that couldnt be touched til they were 25. I would hope by then that they'd figured out their priorities in life and then they could put the money to good use. You know, instead of blowing $50 000 on booze and parties and sexual liasions. Which is all fun, just not what me as Mum would want the money spent.

#5: Investment - i dont really know how the investment market works so i'd have to get some help with that, but i wouldnt wanna blow all my moolah on junk. I'd be smart enough to put some into stocks, or into the property market ( or, you know, whatever ) so that i could make money off of my money. I don't mean for that to sound greedy, but you'd do that too right?

#6: Give to charity - maybe a $100 000 or so. I'd give to a few different causes : Westmead Childrens Hospital in Sydney, Careflight, The Jane McGrath Foundation.... things like that. I might give some to a foreign aid charity, but only after i'd fixed up some Australian interests first. I'm not against foreign aid ( i've sponsored a child through World Vision for 9 years... ) i just would like to give to a charity this is going to help in my community first, thats all.

#7: ( Lucky last ) Living allowance - i'd quit my job so i could be a SAHM for a while ( until Flynn and any subsequent children were at school ) so i'd need to allot some money to the day to day running of our house. Maybe $80 000 a year? Thats more than what we live off now but its not flashy - enough to cover bills and neccessities but with a little extra for luxuries and holidays. Yep, that sounds about right.

So how about you guys? Where would your Lotto winnings go ? ( Oooh, and speaking of winning things, head over to Blog This! and vote for me in this weeks poll. Please!?! )

Us - A Photo Story

So - I've previously mentioned a photoshoot that Mick, Flynn and i had done with my friend Ree. Ree is trying to start up her own photography business and offered to take some photos of us at a discounted rate, in exchange for being allowed to use some of our images on her Facebook page ( her business page can be found under Speaking Onethousandwords ). Of course we jumped at the chance, and had some photos taken on March 27th, 2010 - the day Flynn turned exactly 3 months old. We would have loved to have got some pics of our gorgeous boy with his beautiful smile, but unfortunately he didnt want to cooperate. He was pretty calm for the first dozen or so shots but then he started to get a little upset.... which then progressed to full blown crying. We managed to quiten him down again but i couldnt get him to smile or to sleep either. No matter - we have beautiful photos of our beautiful family ( with over 200 shots taken its going to be hard to choose which ones go on the wall! ), just happens that my little angel happens to look like a sad little dude. Sad but sweet - and sick. Yep, later that day, when he still hadnt managed to cheer up, i checked his temperature - poor little fella had a slight fever and was coming down with a cold. No wonder he wanted to cry. So, thats the story behind these samples from our shoot. Enjoy!

Making Scents

Every home has a smell, some are pleasant, others unpleasant, most are neutral. A relative who liked to flip houses used to bake bread just before the realtor brought a potential buyer on a walk-through. Other people consciously introduce smells with air fresheners or potpourri. Most home smells, however, are an amalgam created by the ordinary activities of living such as cooking, washing, burning wood, and keeping pets. Homes in which people don’t wash or clean very often smell like that.

For years I had a paper route and on Friday afternoons, I’d knock on kitchen doors to get paid for the week. I’d be invited to stand on the floor mat just inside and I’d get a whiff of over forty homes in just a few hours. Many of my customers cooked the same thing every Friday - usually fried haddock or cod - and I’d notice if they changed routine to macaroni and cheese. There were lots of Catholics who didn’t eat meat on Fridays in those days. In summer when windows were open, I could smell homes nearly every day and I began to appreciate how a dog perceives his world with his nose in the air.
We like whatever smells we’ve been conditioned to associate with something good. As a life-long New Englander, I enjoy seasonal change and my favorite season tends to be whichever one is just arriving. Each has its own smells and it’s usually on a warm day in late February when I detect the first scent of spring. Something thaws upwind and a breeze wafts it to my nose. Though I don’t see it, I visualize a south-facing slope under a white pine with fragrant brown needles warming in the sun. A fond memory is tapped and I savor its associated feelings, but then have to remind myself that it’s a tease and more cold is inevitable before a melt can be sustained. A month later thawing days outnumber freezing ones and spring scents dominate. This March has been unusually warm and last Sunday’s gentle showers after seventy-degree sunshine Saturday re-created that sweet smell of soft rain on warm, dry macadam that usually comes only in summer.When I stopped smoking twenty-five years ago, my olfactory detection system seemed to intensify. It didn’t really of course; it just returned to normal. More memories and feelings from childhood were triggered by scents that had always been around me but were masked by tobacco smoke. The only thing that can approach the strength of smell when evoking old moods might be hearing an old song on the radio.

Fifty years ago my parents got an idea to paint the concrete walls and floor of our basement and set up the Christmas tree down there. There were eight of us kids and there would be more room to spread out all the toys and gifts on Christmas morning. Ever since, the smell of certain oil-based paints sends me right back there.
Often my childhood friends and I would build “forts” that were nothing but a hole in the ground with boards placed across and leaves spread over them for camouflage. We’d spend hours digging in the earth with our fathers’ spades. Now, whenever a backhoe or excavator digs a fresh hole, the smell of fresh dirt triggers a memory of the secure feeling I had sitting in the “fort” like a chipmunk in his den.

When catalytic converters were mandated on new cars, I recall the peculiar odor they produced compared to the exhaust from older cars I was accustomed to smelling. Now they’re ubiquitous and I don’t notice anymore. Then someone will start up an old vehicle and that old smell summons those old memories.

It’s almost a decade since I cut my firewood from the stump which I had done for two decades prior, but I only have to fire up my chainsaw, drop a tree and my nose takes me right back there. A freshly-used landing on a woodlot down the street does the same thing when I walk past it. It’s the still-fresh sawdust and the stumps still oozing sap.My favorite smell these days is the sweet scent of my granddaughter. It’s difficult to describe except to say that it’s the same smell all babies who are loved and cared for have. Together with the feel of her soft hair, her laugh and her smiling face, her smell is a reminder, a reaffirmation, a renewal.

Thinking Happy, Week 7 ( ? )

Ok, at leats i think i'm up to Week 7. Either way, its time for another weekly round of Operation Think Happy, brought to you by Holly at Good Golly Miss Holly!

1. Time with family and friends - yesterday was such a great day. Mick, Flynn and I visited with a dear old friend of mine, a lovely older lady that i've known for years, and it was a pleasure to catch up and be able to introduce her to my little family. Plus, after that, we got ourselves some Subway for lunch and headed to one of our local parks and met up with my parents, my sister, my 2 neices, my  uncle and his 2 daughters.... for a huge playdate!

2. Lovely weather - the sun makes me smile. It amkes me smile even more when the temperature is not so hot that you feel like you're going to drown in sweat, but not so cold that you need to bundle yourself up. Its been a week of absolutely lovely weather and i've been fortunate enough to be able to get out and enjoy it.

3. New recipes - So remember how i wanted to be Martha Stewart ? Well i've really been giving it my all this past week. I went through some recipe books, wrote myself out a shopping list, and cooked some really yummy meals this week. Mick has appreciated the effort and always tells me how good the meal was and thanks me for cooking it ( even when its crap! ) so its made me smile that i can cook nice meals for my family, without becoming too boring.

4. Fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans - hallelujah! Again, i dont really feel the need to mention the specific size but fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans made me happy because a) there are 2 or 3 pairs i  just really love and b) i dont have to waste money on hew jeans to fit my post-pregnancy body!

5. My son - he just gets cuter and chubbier and more clever by the day. He's learnt to poke his little tongue out ( cheeky boy! ) and now if he's sitting on my lap and i take hold of his little hands and gently lift them up, he plants his little feet and pushes up with his legs til he's standing. He think its the neatest trick ever and i think its too cute when he looks all chuffed with himself.

6. Getting to have a long shower - most days i get enough time to jump under the water, have a quick scrub of my bones and jump out. So it makes me happy when i can leave Flynn with his daddy and take a long, hot shower, shave my legs and wash my hair properly. Mmm, bliss....

7. ' Special ' time with Mick - if i have to explain this one to you, your too young and naive to be reading my blog...

Life Is Good

There are lots of problems living on the side of a hill with water flow during thunderstorms in summer, snow and ice in winter, engineering issues, and so forth - but there's one big advantage: a constantly-changing view.My hard drive is clogged with sunset shots and they're all different. Just when I think I've captured it and start to go back inside, it changes and I shoot it again. Have to stop shooting though because my daughter Annie is coming through the back door with my new granddaughter - who is visiting us for the first time.It took a few minutes for her to adjust to the new surroundings.Grandparents and great-grandmother admire Claire Lowell, newest member of the clan.Working on an article for the Lovell Historical Society Newsletter and not writing a column this week. Last week's piece didn't run in the newspapers on Thursday because of Thanksgiving and will run this week instead. So, I'm posting some recent shots I like of my day-to-day life. Didn't finish with that this morning.

Noticed some frost on the beaver bog between Christian Hill and Shave Hill while driving to school.A few miles further on, the sun was rising over the Old Course of the Saco River.And another angle.Checking the properties on Kezar Lake after school.Another angle.Still another angle with 120-year-old white pines. I know because I've counted the rings on their recently-deceased sister trees. I'm very happy to have my 18-270 zoom lens back.Heading back home over Hatch's Hill Road.Life is good.