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| Weirdest Looking Spider I Ever Saw - Found in Our Yard |
Edited to Add: Google and Wikipedia tell me this is a Spiny Orb-Weaver, in case you were dying to know!
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Alien Arachnid
Edited to Add: Google and Wikipedia tell me this is a Spiny Orb-Weaver, in case you were dying to know!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Grateful for a Break from the Noise
Our day starts out pretty chilled. One by one, the children shuffle from their beds and seek me out wherever I am. We have sleepy cuddles and then they're off amusing themselves. I've got time to have a coffee before we start getting ready. We've got the morning routine pretty well sussed (and it only took five years).
The afternoons are quite a different story. They've been told to sit down and be quiet for the most part of six hours. Their energy is like the contents of a soft drink bottle that has been shaken. Once that bell rings they explode out of their classrooms. They greet me quickly with a kiss and a hug and they're off chasing their friends. After a chat with my school mum friends, I have to find them. They can usually be found at the playground. I herd them toward the car. Once in the car, I attempt to find out out about their day, but am often not very successful. They talk over one another and I can't understand much.
When we get home, they are meant to do chores and then homework. All the while they are doing this, their mouths do not stop. They are not talking, they are simply making noise for the sake of it. From a boombox beat to just repeating a sound they like...eleventy thousand times.
In contrast to that, I've just spent six hours on my own. I listen to classical or country music while I work or I just work in silence. You might think that having had all that time on my own, that a bit of noise might be welcome. It doesn't work that way. After a day of quiet, their sounds are actually quite jarring. As much as I miss my kids while they're at school, the heightened energy and the cacophony when they return home is not my favourite part of the day.
Yesterday, I decided to take them to the beach straight after school. My aim was to let them expend their energy in the outdoors instead of going home to listen to the chatter.
We strolled up and down the beach for a while and then I settled in my folding chair with a book. They carted huge palm tree boughs around, smoothed and dug sand and made indescribable creations. And you know what? With the opportunity to make as much noise as they wanted, they didn't make a peep. They were so engrossed in what they were doing that they forgot about making noise. I finish my book and we snacked on strawberries before heading back home to chores.
Today I am grateful for impromptu trips to the beach as a break from the sounds of hyper children. And because I know that one day I will miss this, I'm sharing a song For Your Listening Pleasure, it is Trace Adkins and You're Gonna Miss This:
Thanks to Helene for introducing me to this beautiful song that makes me cry every time I listen to it.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Surfin' the Web
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| Saw this woodland creature when we went on the Jungle Walk in Kuranda. This is actually smaller than life-size, and I think it's a Golden Orb Weaving Spider |
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Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Hamster in a Wheel
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I am a hamster in a wheel, and I like it. When I walk for exercise, I like to follow the same route. It doesn't suit me to mix it up a bit. There's no straying from the path well travelled. I like to zone out and be alone with my thoughts or my music. If I have company, I would rather concentrate on conversation rather than which way I should turn at the next roundabout.
My husband is a mix-it-up kind of guy. He wants adventure. He wants to explore. In the car, he will often take detours just to see 'what's down that road'. If we are on a walk, he wants to find a path we haven't discovered yet.
I know this about him, and I know what I'm like, so I usually opt to walk on my own. Lately I've been including my youngest son in my walks, because he has a personal goal to be fitter on the soccer field. When I walk with him, it is pleasant. We walk and practise spelling or chat about life. There's no pressure. He slots in to my routine easily. The problem here is that by including one other person in my family, my husband sees it as an opportunity to make it a 'family outing'.
Before I go further, this is simultaneously what makes my husband a wonderfully committed father and also what is going to get his wife committed. He drives me nuts.
I attempted to go for a walk yesterday morning. I invited both boys, but I knew only one would be eager. It was going to be a bit of low-key exercise with my younger son. I needed to get out after a weekend of indulgence. What I didn't count on was my husband's desire to join us. At 7 am, he would normally be doing his chainsaw impression. He must have wet the bed. No problem. "We'll do it as a family", I thought. We told our oldest son he had no choice, he had to come. He was not happy. A stack of Doctor Who DVDs were calling his name.
So as we stood in the drive with our running shoes on, Will emerged with the car keys in his hand. Apparently we were meant to drive to a new location where we would check out some new paths. This was not part of the plan. After exasperated statements of "Fine, we'll go your way" or "Fine, we'll get in the car then", Will's martyr-like guilt-inducing manipulation skills were stronger than mine, so we did what I wanted, but with bad moods all around.
We went on my usual 4 km route with a Charlie Brown black cloud* over our heads. It took us 3 km for the endorphins of exercise to kick in. By the last kilometre, he and I were holding hands with a son each and making jokes about the 'dolphins in your brain'. We even checked out a new path and discovered a park that we didn't know existed. Now we have a convenient park in which to practise our soccer skills. And, as a bonus, we got to watch some remote-controlled airplane enthusiasts making their planes do loop-the-loops.
All in all, I was glad to have strayed from my usual path, just don't tell my husband. He would be unbearable to live with if he knew I was admitting that I was wrong and he was right.
* I could not, for the life of me, find an image of Charlie Brown with a cloud over his head. Maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe I'm thinking of Pig Pen and his cloud of dust?
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Monday, June 10, 2013
FYLP: My Achilles Heel
Just to pass the virus forward For Your Listening Pleasure, here is Sam and the Womp with Bom Bom.
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Saturday, June 8, 2013
I Forgot Dad's Lesson
It's a sort of perfectionism that is impacting my blogging mojo. I've been reading a lot of great writing and I look at my own work and see it simply isn't up to that standard, so I write nothing. But some of the writers I've been reading have been writing for years. They have communications degrees or they've written books. What possesses me to compare myself to them?
It brings to mind the time when I got my first car. The only car I could afford on my cashier's wage was a 13-year-old Honda Civic. I loved that car. It was all mine, and I had bought it with my own hard-earned money. Unfortunately, the Honda was a manual-drive, and I only knew how to drive an automatic.
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As I attempted to release the clutch and hit the accelerator to make the car go forward, the car would bunny hop. If it didn't bunny hop, it stalled.
I was only 19 and so far, learning new things had come easily to me. I had graduated with honours from high school with little or no study effort. My job was not mentally taxing and I was able to master the procedures quickly. I considered myself a fast learner.
My desire to drive my car for the very first time was strong. Every time I stalled that car or made it bunny hop, I could feel the frustration bubbling up inside me. The tears were welling in my eyes and after a few failed attempts, I indulged in an outburst.
Big Mistake.
Dad was not the most patient of teachers at the best of times, but my frustration at not being able to learn how to drive immediately just made him angry.
"Who do you think you are?! Are you so special that you think you can learn something on your first attempt? The rest of us have to practise before we can learn how to do something!"
It was harsh, but he was right. Just who did I think I was? I needed to suck it up and keep trying.
I did. It took me longer than I had imagined, but I kept at it and eventually I was able to manage the clutch and the accelerator enough to take my car for a spin...around the parking lot. It was some time later before Dad would ever let me drive on the road on my own.
It seems I have forgotten my dad's lesson. It takes time and practice to become good at something. I'm just being arrogant if I think I can be as good as the others without putting in the effort. I will continue to write and know that with every word, every story, I'll get just a little better at it.
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Sunday, June 2, 2013
FYLP: San Cisco
The cover they did in the clip is excellent; the bongos make all the difference. I'm a sucker for a bongo beat.
Now I'm very glad to have been introduced to their music. The Triple J session inspired me to go searching for some of their own music, and I came across this catchy tune. Here For Your Listening Pleasure is Fred Astaire.
It really is a thrill when you find some new music and doubly so when it originates from your own country. Have you come across any new home-grown music lately?
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