And there's more.... netball that is!

Yesterday Ian and I drove to Wollongong to watch the girls play at the Illawara District Carnival.  It is quite a long drive really!  They go by bus - which leaves the netball courts at 4:30am.  Anyway, after arriving a little late and missing the first game, we quickly (!) settled into the day.  There are nearly 40 courts and the numbering is very confusing; as was the timetable.  It was also bitterly cold - despite being located on the coast!  The beauty of this carnival was that we were able to watch my nieces, Maddy and Chelsea, play.  Unfortunately our girls and Maddy were all playing at exactly the same time.  Consequently we saw a lot of Chelsea.  But it was great!

Our girls are both improving but will have to play really well to make it to the finals!  But we love watching them despite the early morning and tiring day (it is surprising how tiring it is to stand all day). I'm so grateful we got to see Maddy and Chelsea play netball.

When the body starts to fall apart

Today I'm grateful for "compression" clothing!  I have a few and they make life easier.  I wore skins yesterday while playing netball (for the first time in a long, long time).  It was fun and I couldn't have done it without skins, because my knees and calves just can't quite manage it anymore.  But I had fun!  (And I was wearing the skins underneath the pants!!!)

Girl Power

I've been feeling a bit unsettled about the direction of equality in Australia - particularly with respect to racism and gender.  I guess that I'm more personally concerned about gender equality given that I have three daughters.  I feel that we've gone backwards in the last 10 years, and I think some survey's support that as well.  It's quite worrying!

Anyway, I was looking through the Australian Newspapers at www.nla.gov.au and I saw the article below in the Daily News, Perth, Western Australia on Tuesday 28 May 1929, page 5 about a couple in England.  It is so ridiculous that the only reaction possible is laughter.  But it also made me think that we have come a long way in equality.  I doubt that any man would ever think he could get away with saying that he was against his wife's haircut and therefore was justified in going into a violent rage!

So funny really, but also sad!  I'm grateful that I'm living in this era and not 100 years ago!  I have a lot more freedom than most of those women could ever imagine!

That's what friends are for

I may have mentioned how much I love my friends! I just spent the evening with Leontine. We never run out of things to talk about and at the end of the night I feel like we're just warming up! Tonight we were chatting quite a bit about the fact that Mel is about to turn 18! It doesn't seem that long ago that Mel was a baby! we were looking at the photos of Mel growing up. There are lots of photos of my girls in there as well. We have shared lots of really special times together and I am sure we will continue to do so! Anyway, I am very grateful for friends like Leontine.

And the fence came tumbling down....

Our fence has been 'leaning'.  Not all of it, just the bit along the driveway.  So we asked our hedge guys if they could fix it.  And they did.  It's all fixed and looks fantastic!  I'm so grateful for the work they do in our yard.  I know that we pay them, but they are very responsive and they do such a great job.  I also think that just about anyone else would charge an awful lot more for the same work - so I feel very lucky.

Why?

There are quite a lot of articles in the news today about the young man who interrupted a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie to shot as many people as he could.  There are stories of young people (and all but two of the victims were under 30) diving under chairs and being sheltered by friends who were then shot, and the six year old victim attending the movie as a special ‘treat’ and the 27 year old victim celebrating his birthday.  It’s so sad and so meaningless.  The scary thing is that they were doing something Sam, my daughter, had just done.  Even she commented on the parallels. 

Now as I’m writing this, I’m wondering how I can possibly be grateful for anything connected to this event.  So I’m not going to try.  It is so horrible to accept that there are human beings who are prepared to behave in such a way.  There are big questions: “Why”?

So instead I’ll be grateful for something that occurred over 65 years ago, and something the victims of the above may not get – closure!  I’m been doing some work on my family history ‘project’ and was re-reading some papers from Ian’s Grandfather, Albert Charles Joyce.  Eric Joyce, Ian’s uncle and Albert’s son, was a casualty of WWII, one of the hundreds of thousands of men who died as part of Bomber Command.   Albert was sent to London towards the end of the war for his work and he asked if he could meet the sole survivor of the crew of which his son was part of.  This man’s name was William King, and he was a Scot.  The RAF asked (ordered!) him to come to London to meet with Albert and discuss the events of the night.  Albert and William talked one afternoon.  Albert took very detailed notes on what had happened, which he kept and I now have.  As a result of this conversation, the Joyce family received closure on the death of their son.  The story itself is amazing; the fact that someone survived to retell that story is miraculous!  It didn’t make his death easier to accept, but there was an understanding that most families would not have got!

I suspect our desire to understand events or make sense of things is innate…

Thank goodness we have the iPad

I love our iPad. And I'm loving it today because I can put a new post on the blog while sitting in the kitchen cooking pumpkin soup. I use Kindle for iPad, watch movies on my iPad, show my photos on the iPad and play games on the iPad. They really are wonderful things. I was reading the other day that sales of laptops were down and the "experts" think it is because people are replacing them with tablets like the iPad. I'm really not surprised. So today I'm grateful for the iPad and its versatility!

Good Hair Day

I had one today - a good hair day!  You know, when the stars are aligned and the dryer seems to really be your friend and the brush is working properly.  All day I was thinking that my hair looked good.  That's a slight exaggeration, but the three times I looked in the mirror I though that!  Gotta be grateful for small things sometimes!!!

My children need me to always be there, don't they?

OK.  I"m going to start by saying this is pathetic - but I'm grateful my children can have fun without me.  Yes, that is extremely pathetic and writing it down makes me feel silly because OF COURSE my children don't really have fun without me!  They just pretend they do!  And I'm almost laughing out loud at my statements.  So maybe I'm feeling to silly to write anything sensible tonight!   Ian and the girls went to the snow today with Andrew and the girls.  They had a great time and I'm pleased they went - even if I wasn't there!

What will we do today?

I've got today off work so that I can spend the day with the girls.  It's now 9:30am and there is no sign of any of them.  I suspect that two of the three could sleep until the afternoon if I allowed it!  We have nothing planned, except that I'll have to prepare dinner at some stage.  What a lovely way to think of the day - we can do just about anything we want - it's completely free...  This is why I'd like to be a morning person.  I could contemplate every day at the beginning.  Unfortunately, I am NOT a morning person and I've read (!) that it's just part of your make-up. Ummmmm.....  I'm grateful for this quiet time before OUR day begins.


We will probably end up doing nothing!!!

(The picture is courtesy of my cousin's blog! I'd already posted this entry and just thought it so perfectly fit this page!)

Government Processes

I was thinking today about some of the amazingly silly things that we have had to do in order to complete the work we are currently doing.  I can't bear to think about it, because it's too depressing.  As a government employee, I have to accept that MOST of these processes are in place to ensure that government is transparent and accountable.  But sometimes we can't help but trip ourselves up!!!   And, so I end up spending a lot of time performing tasks that somehow are meant to make the process more robust, but in reality, are there to make someone, somewhere, feel that they have helped.  It's so frustrating.  What would I prefer - more to the point, what would the Australian taxpayer prefer?

So I'll be a true "glass half full" girl and say that I'm grateful that there are lots of checks in place to ensure that government funding is spent in the best possible way....

That's very depressing really, even when being optimistic.   So I'll post a photo taken on Saturday in Namadji National Park.  So beautiful.

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with Chocolate!

I came back from three days in Darwin bearing gifts.  I'd purchased five 'hot chocolates'!  They are essentially spoons sitting in a small block of chocolate that you immerse in a mug of hot milk to get a lovely hot chocolate - while licking the spoon every now and then (until all the chocolate has melted or been eaten!).  Yum.  We all enjoyed our 'drinks' - except Ian wasn't quite as vocal as the girls!  
So grateful that I get to spend time with four fantastic people.
(And the title line is on the side of the packet!)

What was I trying to remember...

Earlier today I said to myself - "that is a great thing to be grateful for".  Except now I cannot remember what it actually was that I was going to be grateful for.  Which makes me think that I'm grateful for my mind.  Slightly silly thing to be saying when I've forgotten something, but I generally can remember most things (now that I have my diary on my iPhone I don't tend to double up on events).

Tash and Rachel got their reports today.  They both did very well and I was very pleased.  I'd like to think they were pushing themselves and setting themselves up well for the rest of high school and into University.  It's a good thing to have options about what you can do (especially if it's for the rest of your life!)

I work with three people who have children with some form of brain damage.  It is not easy for any of them.  Sometimes life is not fair.  I feel so lucky.  I won't take it for granted.

Tap Dogs

Last night we went to the Tap Dogs.  They are fantastic - uplifting!  We all enjoyed the entertainment.  How fantastic that we can go and see performances like Tap Dogs.  I've been smiling all day whenever I think of the evening!

What's good and acceptable and perfect?

There is a considerable amount of pressure being placed on me to get off the computer!  Maybe we do need the third computer after all.  I think that we all like the "big" computer more than the "little" computer.  It's crazy how we discuss these things.
Anyway, Rachel is downstairs reading out a verse in the Bible.  They've been studying Romans 12:2.  She explains that the verse is saying that it is OK to stand out and don't just fit in because it's the easiest thing to do.  The actual verse (in the Revised Standard Version) is:
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
What a great verse.  I'm very grateful that my children are studying verses in the Bible and making up their own minds about what it means to them.

Baby, it's cold outside

I don't like being cold.  I don't like winter very much really.  Sometimes I wonder why I live in Canberra (even more so if summer has been non-existant!).  It's really cold at the moment.  Yesterday I'm sure that it was nearly snowing!  So I'm grateful that we have heating in our house.  Keeps us warm - especially if you go upstairs!  Of course, I good cure for feeling cold is getting on the machine that is changing my life!  I must stop going on about that machine...