Here is a good opportunity to introduce my husband Jason who is from the Deeper Cries Out blog. Not only is he my companion (and by the way, it was our 15th wedding anniversary on the 27th) but he and his guitar are companionable.
He writes songs, expresses his heart and releases the tunes.
Today I heard the most funny story that even now I’m still peeing my pants thinking about it.
Every Friday I go to a coffee support group with other mum’s who have a child with a disability. Today as we were chatting, conversation steered toward the topic of loved ones who have requested that their remains be scattered in the ocean. During this interesting exchange, Marge (one of the mum’s) told us of a story that was told to her.
She said that she had met a bloke who told her that when his mum passed away he did as she requested, through her body in the ocean. Marg was assuming like most people that it was her ashes, however, he continued by saying;
After mum had passed away in the hospital I took her body, put her in a wheel chair and took her to my car. I then drove her to the harbour and asked someone who owns a boat if he would take me out to the ocean so that I could throw her body out to sea. When we were far enough out to sea I rolled her body over the side of the boat.
Needless to say he got into trouble and couldn’t understand all of the who-ha!!!!!
I got so excited yesterday when I discovered that Tim Winton’s novel “The Turning” is a movie!!!!! And that’s not all, there are two books about to be released and I’ve been doing the happy dance since I’ve found out.
I love the way he writes. I love how I get immersed in a Winton book. I love the characters. I love the stories. I love Tim Winton. Some people don’t get him but that’s okay because we all have our flaws lol. (sorry just being a bit cheeky).
Why is he my favourite author? What impresses me is, how when reading a Winton book I feel like the people he is describing are real and I know them personally. He has a way of connecting me to the characters and making me care about them. He paints a picture with words where the place is real and the landscape is poetic. I read, feel, experience and enjoy.
He writes in a very distinct way that is inviting and unique. I never experience cliché’s that make me roll my eyes. He is an artist and I can’t help but love his books. For some reason he harmonises with my imagination just as Bernard Fanning does when I hear him sing.
Anyway, did I tell you that I love Tim Winton???
We are a family who is affected by VCFS and on most days its like an adventure where life truly is interesting and a delight. Although I have come to terms with the initial grief of having a child with a disability there are moments when it hits you in the face. Most of these moments are unexpected, for example when I asked if I could do something with his class I was refused. The reason given was because when his class gets visitors they find it hard to settle down, which I get and understand. This made me feel extremely sad because if he was a normal child I would be invited to do reading in the class.
This is just one of many examples where his differences are pointed out to me in an obvious way and you can’t stop the grief from occurring. The other side of the coin though, is a much more interesting version of events. When I get sad about his differences I think to myself “But he likes Led Zeppelin”.
We were watching 60 minutes one night and Robert Plant was being interviewed. My son was enthralled by the music and asked “Can Daddy put this on my ipad?” I said “Do you like this? ” and he said “Yeah, its Rock n Roll”. I then understood why The Wiggles never cut it with him and could not have been more proud of him then in that moment.
My son has so many things going for him and I really just want to focus on the positives. I love how he has declared himself a drummer and can actually play the drums. I was amazed one day when the cicadas were singing he knew the moment when they would stop. He said to me “here comes the switch, here comes the switch” and the cicadas were silent. I love how I can test his sound memory by playing a particular colour on his xylophone and he gets the right colour every time. I love how he watches tutorials on YouTube about his apps then recites them. These are the things that I think about and choose to focus on especially when I have a down moment about VCFS.
Although he may appear that he is behind his peers, in some ways he is far ahead and that just makes my heart smile 🙂
I was at coffee Yesterday with my carers support group. I took these photo’s from where I sat.
I have always been fond of the song Cats in the cradle and when it was released by Ugly Kid Joe back in the 90’s somewhere, I was one of the many people who thought it was a Cat Stevens original.
I was corrected from this mistake when I went to an exhibition somewhere in Toowoomba and there was an art work inspired by Harry Chapin, the actual original singer of Cats in the cradle. This information somehow fed my soul with satisfaction and then questions. Why does everyone insists that this song was sung by Cat Stevens???
Mmmm intriguing.
I was reminded of this quirky conundrum the other day when at the garden a radio was playing and cats in the cradle came on. Everyone that was present thought that Cat Stevens was the original singer!!! I quietly corrected everyone by declaring that it was indeed Harry Chapin.
Here is the original
So, why is this a common error that people make? Was it because they are both from the same decade and had a song with a similar theme? This is Cat Stevens AKA Yusuf Islam singing about a Father and Son.
I guess it’s just one of those things that muddle people’s heads and now here I am some smarty bum bringing correction to the masses. (Not really masses as I don’t have that many followers). Nevertheless, I hope you are all well informed and when you hear someone innocently make this mistake you can bring correction!!!
If you go to Jamberoo Action park then there is an opportunity to have a ride on the Funnel Web.
Now this is a very scary ride and I screamed the whole way down!! It felt like I was always going to fall out and made me feel kind of giddy. At the end of the ride I said to the young man who was retrieving the rubber thinggy that you have to sit and hold on to (and please don’t judge me, I was in shock) “I was a Funnel Web virgin” and he said “well you’re not any more”
There’s nothing quite as fleeting as a game of parachute
For a couple of months now there has been a group of community members who have been cleaning up a local eyesore to make it into a place of inspiration and creativity. Last month another community artist and myself started painting some murals on one half of the servo walls.
However, a wonderful volunteer with a spray gun got very enthusiastic when they were asked to paint the other half of the servo and ended up painting over our started murals.
Oops!!!
My response is “That’s okay, I can do it again. There’s plenty more from where that came from”
And that has got me thinking. It doesn’t matter how many times my work gets painted over or lost as there is always an abundance of where it came from. I guess the world can attempt to white wash me or quieten me down, however it won’t work completely as while there is creativity there will always be something to express.
It then occurred to me that I am indeed a very rich and wealthy person as I have an abundance of ideas that makes me have an interesting life. I have to say that my results are not the most important part for me, as the act of creativity is what gets my buttons pushed to excitement.
I’ll finish with this little thought and by saying so I hope that I can inspire a would be artist to just get started and give it a go!!!!
I am a prolific artist and work with the premise that I do 90% rubbish to get to the 10% genius.
I was asked to take part in gathering pictures of people from the community to celebrate their valuable contribution. The photo’s were then compiled into a short film called “Celebrating local treasures”
The people who I took photo’s of are all holding a sign and the sign says;
Kim
Jody
Darren
Felicity 
Max
Brian
Lindsay
Emily
Penny
Tamar's art lounge 