Weekly Photo Challenge: Through

I see the sky through the leaf and I am in awe of the wondrous place we live called earth!!

Post a week challenge 2011- a reflection!!

Wow, so we are nearing the end of the year and I have been partaking in the post a week challenge 2011 and I’m glad to say that I’ve done okay, apart from a lagging week here and there. My lagging weeks however had a very good excuse such as, I had to get rid of a stalker , the commencement of study and……yeah being bogged down due to academic reading!!!!

I love being able to write and the weekly challenge helps keep up the commitment. One of the creative ways to partake in the challenge was to be a part of the weekly photo challenge. As I am an Instagram  addict I have many many many photo’s so there were many pic’ to choose from.

I found myself blogging about what is important to me and if something strikes me as outrages I can express it in a post. I like to share my book discoveries or words that interest me.  I like to share about things that inspire and to give voice for those who are effected by VCFS. Blogging regularly has been an expressive joy in my life and certainly hope there is a 2012 challenge.

Some of my most exciting events in 2011 was when I got 729 clicks in just half an hour!! whoo hooo!!!! That’s probably nothing to some people but to me it was awesome!! Another exciting event was when I posted about my local community garden and I made mention of Richard Louv, who is the American journalist who wrote The last child in the woods. Within a couple of hours of pressing publish Richard Louv himself left a comment on my post requesting that I email him.

It’s been a great year and amazingly has gone too fast. I hope you all have a wonderful 2012 and for those who have a blog….keep on posting 🙂

Just needing to vent a little

• I need a cup of tea
• I need a hair cut
• I need extensions (and I don’t mean hair ones but rather the kind of the assignment type)
• I need to reconsider doing a study period at this time of year (am I insane???)
• I need to grieve (my Father-in-law passed away last Sunday)
• I need Christmas to be relaxing and back to basics (got no money)
• I need money (who doesn’t lol…sorry for that bit, I hate windging about such matters)
• I need empathy not symathy
• I need space to do my uni stuff (bugger!! it’s school holidays…..six weeks of it)
• I need to purchase more undies for my son who is now toilet trained (albeit he still does have accidents…..did I use albeit in correct context???)
• I need to find out why our electricity sky rocketed out of control ( we have a leak somewhere)
• I need to pause as I make myself a cup of tea
• pause
• I need to get more exercise
• I need to get on with my assignments (I’m distracted and here I am writing a blog)
• I need to eat one of those chocolate truffles that I made (they are soooooo yummy)
• I need to think of more things to need (just so I can extend this post out a little longer to make it look more balanced since I threw a pause in there. It will look top heavy other wise…..or maybe not??)
• I need to check my Facebook and Instagram regularly (No!! I’m not addicted!!!)
• I need to stop venting and get back to my studies!!!
• I need to say “see you in the next post and thank you for reading” 🙂

Weekly photo challenge: Self Portrait

This is me

I don’t understand this saying??

“You can’t have your cake and eat it too”!!

 Can somebody please explain to me how this pointless saying has become so popular?? Why can’t I have my cake and eat it too? What is the point of baking a cake to then not eat it??? Why does anybody even bother to bake a cake or buy one from a shop when consensus says  you are not even allowed to have a bite?

I’m not really a big cake eater myself but if I go and grab some delicious rich mud cake from the cake table then trust me: I am going to eat the lot!!!!!! If I was going to comply to the saying then I would grab my cake, sit it in front of me and just look at it. Oh, what a pretty cake, shame I can’t eat it because according to some pointless saying “I can’t have my cake and eat it”  Seriously, there needs to be a big review of this saying because it lacks no common sense at all!!

Life would just make so much sense if this saying could just bite the dust……if you want to describe how one can’t have everything then please dig deeper and come up with a more appropriate saying!!!!!!!

Memorable books part 2

I really love reading books and enjoy sharing the good one’s with others so here is part two of my memorable books!!!

• At home by Bill Bryson, When I first heard about this book I immediately wanted to rush out and get it, however I didn’t but I booked it from the library and throughly enjoyed my choice to do so. It’s just a wonderful history of why we do certain things and where particular saying’s came from. It addresses why we have salt and pepper to accompany our dinner table, you know all those interesting things that don’t really matter but for some reason one must know about it!!!!!
•  The turning by Tim Winton, This book ends and I want it to keep going. I even wrote more in the back of it as I felt like I knew these characters and had become a part of their lives. It may not suit every one but for me it was totally engrossing and I even had a laugh out loud moment when some of the characters visit a relative who mistakenly think they have the right back yard, have a jump in the pool then hilariously realise their error!!!…..anything by Winton!!!!!
• The source by Robert Michener, This is an epic of a book but totally worth the endurance. It was a book full of interesting  history and thrilling stories that had me engrossed  for six weeks. It’s about a group of archaeologists  who dig through a mound of dirt. As that part is unfolding  you are taken on a journey about the history of the Jewish people throughout the times!!!!
• Purge by Sofi Oksanen This book had an intriguing cover so I picked it up and it turned out to be one of the most absorbing books that I have read in a long time. Set in Estonia, it centres on two women from different generations and as the story unfolds connections are made. I found it to be a haunting read and one that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
• 1984 George Orwell, I read this a few summers ago and found it to be very disturbing yet completely fascinating. One of the most powerfully disturbing images was when the main character Winston Smith has been captured, starved and tortured. After a period of time, the torture stops and he views himself in the mirror and is horrified to see an emancipated man standing before him!! Not really the type of book for light reading but if you are a suspicious sort then this ones for you!!!!!
• The lion the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis My second class teacher Miss McKell read this to us in class and it was one of the most fascinating stories that I had ever heard. Can I have a wardrobe that enters  into another land too??? As an adult I still found it a powerful tale and is one of my all time favourites!!! Another interesting story about this book is, a number of years ago My hubby and I went fruit picking. While we were at Bairnsdale VIC we got a job picking beans and on one of the days I was having a conversation with a man who in my opinion  was just a little bit creepy, we were having a discussion about books. When I mentioned my love for The lion the witch and the wardrobe he very sternly said “I don’t!! its way too obvious. I should know I used to teach it!!!” I then replied ” oh were you a teacher?” Where he then said ” forget I just said that, I don’t want to talk about it”  We then had a very had a very awkward moment where I broke the silence with ” What about the Lord of the Rings trilogy???”
• The Broken Shore by Peter Temple This is a book that had me hooked with the first paragraph and was intriguing all the way through. I normally struggle reading Peter Temple novels but this is the exception. It is very symbolic as the title reflects where the main character is at while at the same time a murder is solved. A beautifully written piece of work!!
• The little Match girl by Hans Christian Anderson This is a story that captured me a child and made me feel deeply sad for this poor girl. There is a part of me that would love to write stories like this, I just want to make everyone cry!!!

I must share this!!!

A while ago I wrote a post in response to an article that I had read about bullying, Tonight I viewed this video and it brought me to tears. There is so many things that I want to say about bullying but I just keep deleting what I have written. Perhaps I should just let this video speak for it self and I’ll just quietly withdraw!!!!

Paying somebody else to decorate my tree!!….No Way!!!!!!

See this tree? Notice how it doesn’t look like it should be in a shop or some designer department store? That’s because it was decorated with much gusto and enthusiasm by my 6-year-old son and myself who now  has taken ownership of the design and repeatedly tells me how much he loves our Christmas tree.

Now think for a moment what it would be like for my son if I paid someone to decorate my tree that showed the world that I am all about style. It would send the message that Christmas is something that happens to him rather than he being a participant of the festive season.  I know I’m sounding a bit harsh right now but I want to express how I feel about the notion of paying somebody else to decorate your Christmas tree.

I know that people are busy and time poor these days but putting up a tree and decorating it does not take that much time. It took My son and I ten minutes tops!!! During the process we ( um huh I) were singing Christmas carols and having a jolly old-time together.

I really don’t want to make anyone feel guilty or incensed about what I am scribing, I just want us to think about how it seems the world wants to move away from simplicity or things that encourage connections for building strong relationships. It’s when we do these simple and sometimes inconvenient things together, that life is being performed and memories of love are being established.

Please, have a Merry Christmas together and enjoy the inexpensive and simple things that make up the special things in life.

So I joined the community garden

While I was studying my last subject ‘Play and pedagogy’ I was required to watch a lecture by Richard Louv who is a journalist and wrote the book Last child in the woods. As I was listening to what he was saying I was very moved, especially when he was explaining how this generation of children spend less time in nature than any previous generation before. He then went on to describe how in his childhood he had a special place that was in the woods, where he would play unsupervised and made a connection with the earth. I then began to reflect on my special place that was at Minnamurra River. I would spend hours chasing soldier crabs, climbing mangroves and feeling the squishy sand in my feet.

It was from this moment that I was suddenly struck with sadness that my son does not have a special place and really hasn’t had the same opportunities to connect with nature as described by  Richard and myself. It made me wonder why it moved me so and I think it’s because I believe that God made us from dirt and gave us a paradise called earth. I am convinced that we are  supposed to enjoy this planet and be connected to it.  I then decided that I must take action so I rang my local council about a community garden that I had noticed while walking to coffee one day. I was delighted to learn that they had a working bee the very next day and was invited to go along and check out the garden with my son.

It was like a hidden paradise and my son’s favorite part was standing on a dirt mound to be King of the castle where  he got to throw the dirt!!!! It’s a small commitment on my part, of once a week after school I will take him down the garden. I hope to gain through this experience an appreciation for nature and to educate my son about the importance of being connected to this great gift called earth.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Breakfast

Sorry for re- sharing this photo but when the weekly challenge said breakfast

I just couldn’t resist this shot!!!