The Wild Lorikeets of Australia

My cousin Craig, his gorgeous wife Vic, and little boy Jack have moved from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. She posted these gorgeous pictures on Facebook today..and i just had to steal them and share them with you all:

'These are ‘wild’ Lorikeets. I noticed them on our neighbour’s balcony and called Jack out to look at them. They saw us and just flew over. On the first day a pair came with their young chick. The next day they invited their mates and now we have seven or eight visiting every day.' Vic

Wordless Wednesday

(a belated Wordless Wednessday..esp for Mitch!)

wherein I take the picture..and you post the comment

Looking over my shoulder

Looking back at the year that has passed, I marvel at the fact that life keeps revealing the best of itself..if we are willing to see it, even after the horrific shootings and death in CT recently, the goodness in people shines through, the love and support that has flowed in torrents was and is quite overwhelming, it can never take away loss, never..but it certainly comforts and helps the healing.

Many years ago I made peace with the melancholy which precedes me into the holiday season, the sadness and angst that gnawed at me from my birthday onwards until well into the middle of January, the memories of happier times before the loss of my son engulfed me year after year and threatened to derail the happiness of my whole family.

Christmas was our last holiday together as a family, Jonathan died early January, and so year after pitiful year I ached and wept and hated the holiday season, unable to listen to Christmas carols or smell the aroma of mince pies in the oven, I dreaded December.

Then came grandchildren with open hearts and the innocent glee of Christmas, their joy and freedom to be happy jolted me into the realization of what I was doing to my own children..robbing them of the Christmas Spirit. I had to take a long hard look at my grief that year and put it gently into my back pocket.

I took out a very dusty old tree and unpacked the battered cardboard box filled with ornaments, and proceeded to decorate the house and the tree with the help of eager little hands. Christmas at Nani's house became the new tradition and their spontaneity and happiness was tangible and... contagious. Slowly I healed bit by bit, each year.

And then I moved to the USA. Alone.

Those years of recovery, of functioning in survival mode for so long that I had forgotten how to live, really live.. began all over again.

So often we get bogged down so deeply with our own hardships we fail to see the good..the new loves, new jobs, new friendships being formed, the love we show each other here each and every day.

I thought I knew love, more than once, I was burned, disappointed, healed and got burned/disappointed once more. Each time I went in with wide eyes and an open hopeful heart and when I left I closed the door quietly but firmly offering friendship expecting nothing. I refused to compromise on the dream of having a wonderfully deep and intense friendship and relationship though, even if it meant the very real possibility of being on my own for a long long time. I still refuse to settle for something that does not work on every level.

I believe we have to strive to be the best people we can be, so that we can be better too.. and for others. Last year this time I took a hard look at myself without the luxury of a filter and excuses and set up goals and a plan for a new me, for me, and I truly am happier this year than I've been in years

It has to start within ourselves I found, we owe it to those who love us to take care of ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually..no matter what our age. This year, get moving.. join a gym or a walking group, stop smoking..and eat to live, nourish your soul..and the body that houses it, set goals and make them public. You owe it to your children and grandchildren, to the mother who loves you and the partner who may be waiting in the wings, to be good to yourself first. As the age old saying goes, we cant expect different outcomes if we keep doing the same old thing...

So yes I still weep on Christmas day, I still remember my tall beautiful boy opening his Nintendo that day and I still remember his joy in doing so as though it were yesterday, but now I don't let the grief stay too long, I move it aside like a heavy curtain in an old theatre, I smell it, feel it and look through it..to the happiness that lies right in front of me...and rejoice.

I am going to try and continue do my best to be part of the good next year, to bring about a shift that allows me and those around me to live more authentically, more lovingly and more intuitively, to practice random acts of kindness and allow the positive actions to cascade outwards and influence more than just the first person it was meant for, I want the results to linger for eons. I want the sparkle of life, I want to sparkle for those I love, I want them to see me happy and fulfilled with a renewed ability to see the joy in everyday.

Wishing you all a Healthy and Happy New Year everyone..find your sparkle and lets see you glow!!

The American River

The day was beautiful, I had wanted to go to movies..

but I walked along the American River instead

found a heart rock embedded in mud

and lots of puddles of water

this is the wrinkled root of a nearby oak tree

..the light was fabulous!

I even saw a sunset, the first in many many days :)

there were hundreds of birds in the area, all just revelling in the sunshine

After a leisurely latte on the deck of nearby Starbucks, I wound my way home in the dark

Movies tomorrow.

Maybe...

Santa Tracker

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/track.html

Brothers in Arms

John Howard's opinion..Australia was right to take a different path to the US and opt for gun control

EARLY in 2008 Janette and I were guests of the former president, George H. W. Bush or ''41'', as he is affectionately known, at his Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. I spoke to a warm and friendly audience of more than 300 who enthusiastically reacted until, in answer to a request to nominate the proudest actions of the Australian government I had led for almost 12 years, I included the national gun control laws enacted after the Port Arthur massacre in April 1996.

Having applauded my references to the liberation of East Timor, leaving Australia debt free, presiding over a large reduction in unemployment and standing beside the US in the global fight against terrorism, there was an audible gasp of amazement at my expressing pride in what Australia had done to limit the use of guns.
I had been given a sharp reminder that, despite the many things we have in common with our American friends, there is a huge cultural divide when it comes to the free availability of firearms.
Just under two weeks ago, my wife and I were in Dallas, Texas, when the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, took place. The responses of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, his presumed Republican opponent, were as predictable as they were disappointing. While expressing sorrow at such a loss of life, both quickly said that they supported the Second Amendment to the US constitution: long regarded as providing an extensive right for Americans to bear arms.

The Second Amendment, crafted in the immediate post-revolutionary years, is more than 200 years old and was designed to protect the right of local communities to raise and maintain militia for use against external threats (including the newly formed national government!). It bears no relationship at all to the circumstances of everyday life in America today. Yet there is a near religious fervour about protecting the right of Americans to have their guns - and plenty of them.

In this respect it is worth noting that the local police claim that James Holmes, the man now formally charged over the Aurora shootings, had in his possession an AR15 assault rifle (similar to one used by Martin Bryant at Port Arthur), a shotgun and two Glock handguns and 6000 rounds of ammunition. All had been legally obtained.
Obama and Romney are both highly intelligent, decent men who care deeply about the safety of Americans. Yet such is the strength of the pro-gun culture in their country that neither felt able to use the Aurora tragedy as a reason to start a serious debate on gun control.
There is more to this than merely the lobbying strength of the National Rifle Association and the proximity of the November presidential election. It is hard to believe that their reaction would have been any different if the murders in Aurora had taken place immediately after the election of either Obama or Romney. So deeply embedded is the gun culture of the US, that millions of law-abiding, Americans truly believe that it is safer to own a gun, based on the chilling logic that because there are so many guns in circulation, one's own weapon is needed for self-protection. To put it another way, the situation is so far gone there can be no turning back.
The murder rate in the US is roughly four times that in each of Australia, New Zealand, and Britain. Even the most diehard supporter of guns must concede that America's lax firearms laws are a major part of the explanation for such a disparity.
On April 28, 1996, Bryant, using two weapons, killed 35 people in Tasmania. It was, at that time, the largest number of people who had died in a single series of incidents at the hands of one person.
The national gun control laws delivered by the Howard government, following this tragedy received bipartisan support. They, nonetheless, caused internal difficulties for some of my then National Party colleagues. Tim Fischer and John Anderson, then leader and deputy leader of the National Party federally, as well as Rob Borbidge, then National Party premier of Queensland, courageously faced down opponents in their own ranks to support a measure they knew to be in the national interest. Many believed, in the months that followed, that hostility towards these gun laws played a role in the emergence of Pauline Hanson's One Nation cause.
These national gun laws have proven beneficial. Research published in 2010 in the American Journal of Law and Economics found that firearm homicides, in Australia, dropped 59 per cent between 1995 and 2006. There was no offsetting increase in non-firearm-related murders. Researchers at Harvard University in 2011 revealed that in the 18 years prior to the 1996 Australian laws, there were 13 gun massacres (four or more fatalities) in Australia, resulting in 102 deaths. There have been none in that category since the Port Arthur laws.
A key component of the 1996 measure, which banned the sale, importation and possession of all automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, was a national buy-back scheme involving the compulsory forfeiture of newly illegal weapons. Between 1996 and 1998 more than 700,000 guns were removed and destroyed. This was one-fifth of Australia's estimated stock of firearms. The equivalent in the US would have been 40 million guns. Australia's action remains one of the largest destructions of civilian firearms.
Australia is a safer country as a result of what was done in 1996. It will be the continuing responsibility of current and future federal and state governments to ensure the effectiveness of those anti-gun laws is never weakened. The US is a country for which I have much affection. There are many American traits which we Australians could well emulate to our great benefit. But when it comes to guns we have been right to take a radically different path.
John Howard was prime minister from 1996 to 2007.

Happy Birthday Alan!

Happy 40th Birthday to my most favourite son in law everrrr...and his twin sister Lynn...:))

You are without doubt, the best husband dad man I know...much love

your favourite mother in law xxx

(Jess, my daughter and Alan at last years school rugby event)

Cold Water!

Oh gosh this made me laugh...

Twirling

Liv ~ just yesterday

12.12.12

another foggy morning

I was sooo tired after work this morning, but for some reason i can not resist the colours of the early morning..

Christmas Tree light up at The Capitol

We wandered around downtown the other day window shopping and waiting for it to get dark enough to watch THE Christmas tree light up!

circle of life

Our family are devout animal lovers always have been. For as long as I can remember we have had animals, cats , dogs, we have spent many many days cruising through wildlife parks and have belonged to one wild life preservation org. or another.

As you know my grandchildren lost their dog Patch recently. Well they got the sweetest little puppy Pixie Stardust 3 weeks ago. The sweetest little border collie schnauzer mix. Smart as a whip.

Meantime their older dog had to have surgery an abscess on his back with had tracked down along his spine, 12cm long the wound was huge, shocking in fact even for me a nurse..but Buff is a strong healthy ridge back staffie cross and with antibiotics he has recovered nicely. During his recovery though my daughter, a teacher, took the pup to school with her so that she wouldn't annoy Buff. Day after day this little dog followed Jess around at school, was joined at her hip she never let her out of her sight.

About two hours ago, Jess got up and let the dogs out for a pee, and Buff still tender from surgery, turned and snapped at the puppy, one killer bite at the throat..a lot of blood..and Pixie was no more. My grandson was with her and was a star, got a towel and immediately took her profusely bleeding little body from Jess

She died in his arms a few minutes later.

They are all shaken and extremely traumatized by this as you can imagine, Alan buried her in the backyard..and tonight there wont be too much sleep for any of them I'm afraid. Poor Buff who really doesn't have a vicious bone in his body is shivery wreck..