Take nothing for granted

My nephew Godzilla is in hospital.

Yesterday at school he and some mates were fooling about trying to get someones attention by banging on a glass window. The glass broke and Godzilla's wrist went throgh it. Result - lots of blood, two cut tendons that they could see and some nerve damage. He goes into surgery in two hours after spending the night in hospital. The glass missed his artery in the wrist by a centimetre. It is his right hand.

Today he was supposed to be travelling to Rockhampton to represent his school in athletics. He is also a promising cricketer, having played for Queensland Schoolboys last year. I am praying that the surgeon is able to repair the damage so that he doesn't lose any function in his hand.

It just goes to show that we should take nothing for granted.

Catching Up

On a fine Sunday morning in early January 2007, Jess and I walked the 70 or so metres from our hotel next door to the hospital to attend a service in a small, unassuming fibro church building. Little did we know that we were walking into the arms of a warm and loving church family that would have a profound impact on our lives. Especially mine.

Jess was coming from a sister congregation in Baulkham hills, but for me it was the first time I had returned to church in many years. Over the next few weeks I was inspired by the sermons of the minister who was the best I had ever heard. It was months before I got through a service with out being overcome by emotion. They supported us in prayer and I personally wouldn't have got through the next 18months without them. They are still my church family even though I only attend services a few times a year as I live 900kms away.

It was on this Sunday morning January 2007 when E introduced herself to us and we all formed a bond. We had Mackay in common and I found that I was once employed by her sister in law. Small world! So when E said she was coming back to Mackay to attend a 50 year reunion of her Intermediate school year I was keen to catch up again. So we went to the local hardware store last week for coffee/tea. As you do!E spend some of her youth here and went to school and high school here. She still has family here so comes up regularly to visit. Which is good for me as we usually catch up. At the hardware store. Not the best angle but we took it ourselves! After I dropped E at Caneland shoppingtown, I was stunned to see what they had done to the lovely park that used to be here in this wasteland.

They are, of course, extending the Caneland Cathedral of Consumption. This devastation is in order for a Myers store to be built. Sigh, this town is getting too big for me.

On Sunday, KISA was on call, and they called him constantly. So we were just about able to sneak off to the lookout for a coffee. At least he got to drink it before they called him.The weather was beautiful and the sea was glassy. It was also clear of haze so I took some pictures.

This is Lamberts Beach. I think it nicer than the one at the harbour now, the park has become very lovely now the trees have grown. Pity they catch so many sharks here, the water certainly looked inviting. It is warming up now. Summer is coming. Double sigh.

Zoom in on Dally Bay. Not usually clear enough to do that.

Zoom on the harbour entrance. There were lots of boats out. I was really trying to spot a whale or two, but no luck. I took E up here today, it was not so clear but just as calm and the water was clear and sparkling. Still no whales, I would have loved for her to spot one.

E and I went back to ours for a spot of lunch and we compared school experiences. Turned out that although she had gone to high school some 12 years ahead of me, we had many of the same teachers, so I was able to get out old school magazines and share some pictures. Such a small world!! So as a special treat here is one from 1973.

Night Shift Sucks

KISA has been on night shift these last few days. We hate it! Apart from the fact that I don't sleep well when he is not here, he hasn't been sleeping well either. The first day or two he got 4 hours sleep per day, the third only 2 and yesterday he got the most, about 6 hours. He is a walking zombie, and thankfully any minute now he should be home from the last one. He goes back to regular shift tomorrow, so I am hoping he can sleep tonight as he will have to sleep today. My evenings alone have consisted of chick flicks and baileys irish cream. Kisa's days have consisted of sleeping. Here he has dropped off just after breakfast, before he even got started on his cup of tea. Poor man.I have been trying to find things to do that don't make a noise inside the house. So I have been spending time in the garden. The bottle brush is looking fine, KISA pruned it hard a few months ago and it seemed to like it. This is the most flowers it has had yet.

They are really pretty up close with the gold tips on the end. Very Christmassy. We get lots of funguses down the back in the mulch, some have very psycadelic colours. This pretty lavender one is new though, haven't seen it before.

To keep myself busy I applied the secateurs to the overgrown gingers and tree fern fronds that and died off or got damaged in the recent heavy winds. I know it looks a bit bare here but it will grow back. We prune it all this drastically a couple of times a year. Look at all those bananas. I think we will have to dig them out. Sigh.The bird of paradise plant will have to go too, it just takes over and has now migrated next door.

Can't do any more till the bin gets emptied this week!

A great blog

No.

Not this one, - this one.

It is about parenting teenagers and although the worst is over for us, I have just finished reading it all, (it only goes back to June) and I have both laughed and cried. Though mostly laughed.

It is nice to know we are not alone in this parenting minefield. Anyone who has or is parenting teens will love this I think. I did.

Have a great weekend.

The Diggings

As from last night KISA started 12 days of 12 hour night shifts while they deal with the "going live" of the new software project he has been working on for the last few months. This is the source of all the recent work stress and the climax as it were of it all. So nearly over, for this leg of the project anyway. There is another one early next year around May. So, as he had to work on his birthday weekend, on his only day off before all this started, we went to The Diggings. Just because KISA loves to drive the track, which is a 4WD track it is safe to drive alone, and because he had swapped land rovers with a guy he works with. He has a defender, so it was like an extended test drive for each of them. Here it is with the latest model KISA. Looking pretty fine eh? (Not the car) Very peaceful spot, there were even some campers. This is the creek crossing. It is the dry season so it was very low, only a foot or two deep. The road had been built up with rocks on the other side, and that is really the only tricky bit of the track. The steepness of the exit angle is the other bit.

The Forestry people had just graded the track, so it was pretty tame. Just as well really since it wasn't our car! We even passsed a young guy in a sedan on the way back.

This is one of the camping spots by the river. As you can see very nice place. No taps or loos though, you need to bring it with you and ship it out. No, I am not going to explain what "it" is!

Same spot looking where the tent goes. We may try this one. My sister and her family have a favourite spot here but the road to it seems to have been closed. Needs further investigation.

A defender in its natural environment.. Shhh...

Happy Birthday KISA!

Today is KISA's birthday. He had to go to work today, not only on a Saturday but his birthday too. I have a nice candlelit meal waiting for him when he gets home. Happy Birthday my love!!

He received cards from his sisters and Jdubya, series one and two of Live on Mars (UK Version) from me, a box of Grolsh from A&P and some of E's precious dry roasted peanut stash. That last was truly a gift from the heart as you can't get dry roasted peanuts here and E had a precious packet or two her Dad brought out from Scotland.

Having a whale of a time

Yesterday, someone at KISA's work snapped these photos of a whale and calf near the jetty. She was very curious and came right up to the jetty. Fantastic shots..so watch out over the water, they have arrived at our place!

Weekend in Pictures

A quiet uneventful weekend here at Chez Whitby. We started the weekend with a Friday night treat. We don't normally have such nibblies with Friday night drinks as a rule, but while camping I had made a proper guacamole so I did it again as it was such a hit with KISA and it is good for you. Had a little of the precious Tilba Smoked Applebox that Jdubya brought us and sliced it thinly so it looked like more! Put it all in the nibbly do dad I won at the recent cent sale. It was a sunny weekend but there was a sharp cold wind blowing so it was cold. I wasn't feeling that well so after a quiet day on Saturday we went for a drive and picnic to Teemburra Dam on Sunday. We thought to suss it out as a potential camping spot. Well no camping is allowed there and even if it was we wouldn't. It was underwhelming to say the least. In fact I didn't even take a photo! A hole in the ground to stock with fish. It was in the hills so we got a nice shot of the upper Pioneer Valley. The dam is THAT way! But don't bother. Even the picnic area had no view, just some tables by the road. We only ate a third of our picnic there and drove to Kinchant Dam for the second third.

Then out to the harbour for a coffee and the rest. As you can see from the seagulls, it was cold and windy there too. Wouldn't want to be a seagull for quids! As we had had a progrssive picnic that lasted all afternoon, we didn't feel like dinner.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend too, even if it was a quiet one like ours.