Daily Bliss: January 2007

Six Weird Things ...

I have been tagged by Cindy

The rules: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write in their blog of 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names.

I suppose one of the weird things about me is that I have a compulsive urge to explain 'weirdness' in this context. 'Weird' = strikingly odd or unusual. I don't see what is unusual about the things I have got listed. In fact, I had to ask Paul & Gabriella to give me a list because I can logically explain most of my actions. LOL

Another weird thing about me is that I will always do far more than I have to. I'm an over achiever. Here's the list. There are 10 official items.

I can usually tell you the time without referring at a clock or other time-piece – It comes from years of teaching to time limits.
I often stand at the bench & type on my computer rather than sit at a desk or table – my shoulders get sore.
I cannot walk past a newsagent, bookshop or office supplies shop without making a visit – genuflecting & holy water as I enter is optional.
I finish sentences in my head or forget what I was saying half way through a sentence, therefore leave the …
I prefer not to turn right when driving the car so will drive 2km out of my way to get where I want to go. This comes from having an unreliable car for many, many years. I'd start to turn & the car would konk out!
I ask for DMC embroidery floss whenever anyone asks what I want for my birthday, Christmas or any other occasion for gift giving (personally, I can't see anything unusal or weird about this because I'm a cross stitcher)
I ask a lot of questions to people I meet - my daughters' boyfriends hate this one. LOL
I’m female but I don’t like shopping.
I know the birthday of the members of my extended family – Aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, in-laws & out-laws - & try to acknowledge them each year with a card, email or phone call. What can I say? I'm family oriented.
I know a lot of trivia about movie stars even though I don’t watch much television or go to the types of films these movie stars have been in. It comes with being a teacher of critical thinking.

I choose: (what am I doing here? I can't remember what's next. I'll get back to it shortly - probably at 4am when I remember) Seriously folks, I'll have to see who HASN'T already been tagged. I'll get back to you with my six people.

Australia Day 2007

Happy Australia Day Everyone!

Paul, Gabriella & I have spent the morning enjoying our neighbours' company, eating breakfast & sipping billy tea. Great time had by all!

I Still Call Australia Home - by Peter Allen

I've been to cities that never close down
from New York to Rio (Rome) and old London town,
but no matter how far or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home.
I'm always traveling, I love being free,
and so I keep leaving the sun and the sea,
but my heart lies waiting over the foam.I still call Australia home.
All the sons and daughters spinning 'round the world,
away from their family and friends,
but as the world gets older and colder,
it's good to know where your journey ends.
But someday we'll all be together once more
when all of the ships come back to the shore.
Then I realise something I've always known.
I still call Australia home.

La Rentrée

School's about to go back. Monday's the big day. Books are being delivered, etc. As our friend, Mike, has observed, the kids are real cranky LOL. Gabriella gave me a long diatribe about wearing 'proper shoes'. I know a few cranky teachers!

Just for down memory lane, here's a shot from school days from the past: 1965.

The Red Paintings

My son David's years of cello practise are beginning to pay off. He's just been awarded the Academic Excellence Award for 2006 at his university (top 5% of all students, grads as well as under-grads) & he has just joined an Orchestral Sci-Fi Art Rockers’ band known as The Red Paintings. I'm a proud mama!

Zooming through January

So far this year, Life here in Australia is zooming nicely – literally & figuratively. Last week we hosted two parties - a New Year's Eve bash & a mini family reunion luncheon to celebrate a family engagement - & then I went on a road trip to Rockhampton in Central Queensland (about 700km north of Brisbane – about par for a long ‘drive’ in country Queensland) where I stayed for 5 days with my long time friend, Terry. All events were delightful.

Paul & I love entertaining. We subscribe the the notion that "Life may not be the party we hoped for ... but while we are here we might as well dance!" so we are often in the kitchen cooking up a storm for some event or other. We had fun for those two events, let me tell you!

As you have already read in previous blogs, I’ve a fairly new Mazda 3 (zoom, zoom, zoom). Until last Friday it hadn’t yet been on the open road, so I was pleased to 'go for a drive' even if Paul was a tad disconcerted. It gave me a chance to renew acquaintances with scenery I have travelled through many times in my adult life on my way south to visit my parents & siblings (I lived in north Qld, including Rockhampton, for 25 years) but which, in the last 4 years, has been neglected by me because Paul & I moved to Brisbane where all my family also now lives. To calm himself, Paul (who flies rather than drives wherever he goes long distance - it's usually for work & timing is everything) flew up to Rockhampton on Tuesday evening & we drove home yesterday, making it a lovely ‘together’ day out – very romantic, really. Sssmile.

Meanwhile, before his arrival & while Terry’s husband, Mark, cooked us sumptuous meals & snacks & left us to girlie friendship, Terry & I spent 5 days catching up on each other’s post Christmas gossip, swanning in the swimming pool (it was 39C), visiting Sunday markets and pouring over baby photos taken when our children were small. We’ve known each other for almost 27 years & although it’s only October since she was here with me, there was so much to say!

Terry is an incredibly strong woman who is in the throws of breast cancer treatment. She’s fiercely independent (she’s had to be – a combo of being a nurse & having a family of boys & no other near-living family members), & while no one wants to take that away from her, her Rocky friends & I find ways to keep her company & keep her strong. I’m expecting her to spend most of March & April with me or my family here in Brisbane while she does the radio therapy part. Although the prognosis is positive, keep her in your thoughts.

New Year’s resolutions beware & those who made them take heart! I’ve just discovered that there is a day for everything, including a ‘New Year’s Resolutions Breaking Day’. LOL. Yes, the date is 22nd January. It’s a convenient kind of entry into the diary, as far as I’m concerned. My New Year’s resolutions included the intention to only drink alcohol on special occasions rather than sip my waistline into oblivion, which I did too much of in 2006. Who needs 22nd January for that one, though? There are, of course, special occasions in every calendar to make this an easy resolution to keep without that date – birthdays, anniversaries, saints’ days – in fact, an event for every day of the year. Cheerful thought! Hick!

Happiness & laughter always,

Bliss

Thoughts about life in 2007

2006 has sped by.

Now, we need to face 2007.

There may be risks involved

We may need to face road blocks

So stay alert,

Share time with friends

Jump over obstacles

with care

and caution.

Face challenges

Remember to laugh

Cooperate

Discover

Make new friends.

Above all, be ready for adventure!

Stick together

And you will be able to go far

Very far...