For the love of...Mascarra!!!!!

Take a look to the right on my sidebar, a poet friend of mine had this on a forum and I think it's inspirational, well worth the watch and I love this song.

Hmmm...it's not on my side bar anymore, so here's the link:


for the love of Mascara


Love,

Eaton

Ah! So that's how it's done...

Ever wondered how twins are made?...here's the answer. LOL
























Love,

I did say it was hot here...

*click on the pic
it's worth a closer
look*










Just a little update on the weather... :)

Love,

Thursday Thirteen - Fourth Edition

My TT header for this week
has absolutely no relevance
to anything in my TT...just
funny and a subtle reminder
to take care of your teeth!








It's disgustingly hot here in Melbourne. And this heat is the subject of my TT, just to remind you all of what it's like to be hot rather than bone rattling cold.

1....It's 6.51am and still hot inside the house, outside is pleasant but in
no way cool. We are in for more scorching heat today.

2....There has not been an extended hot spell with Temperatures over 40C in Melbourne for 100 years.

3....Yesterday the temperature got to 43C (109F) and looks like today will be the same.

4....My almost 8 year old is laying on the floor watching Sponge Bob Square Pants looking really disheveled and bleary eyed. I am surprised at her resilience though, she is still smiling and laughing. I look like I've been run over by a truck, and feels like the truck drove on unharmed leaving me a wreck.

5....I worked last night and the night before, just getting to work seemed like a superhuman effort. I have air con in my car but getting to the car and then into work was like walking through a furnace.

6....All the staff look like I do, exhausted, hot and bothered, but still smiling. Or perhaps that is semblances of smiles behind gritted teeth. Not sure now I come to think of it.

7....I wish I could say the same for some of the customers...not everyone was all smiles and sunshine. A few of them should have gone swimming instead of dining out, that way they could have cooled off a few cranky moods. But in all it wasn't too bad, just long and hard on the body. By the end of my shift my brain had packed up and gone home before me, I always know when enough is enough, my head just refuses to work.

8....Melbourne's electricity supply is struggling with the demands of who knows how many air conditioning units working around the clock. Our train service is causing chaos for work commuters, also due to the electricity shortage, the trains are electric. And our water supply that has been short for so long is suffering too.

9....DH, almost 8 and I slept in the lounge room with our wonderful, blessed air conditioner. I arrived home to find bodies in my lounge room, alive and fast asleep. It took me a while to unwind so I could join them. I don't find it possible to go straight to sleep after working at night. Too much adrenaline running around in my body I guess.

10...Our gorgeous little white bunny, Mr. Bun E. Rabbit, is having a hard time in the heat. He has taken to lying on his side, shallow breathing and looking like he is dead, frightens me every time I see him like that. He is much loved and spoiled, I think Buns is a bit like a therapist for DH and myself. Yup, we both talk to him and tell him stuff, if that rabbit could talk...

11....My tiny back garden is looking very poorly indeed. One of my prettiest plants, a Fuchsia is very burnt, I hope it survives. The grass has gone from lush green to dirty looking brown and sad. Fortunately, from experience I know gardens are resilient.

12....It is even too hot to go to the beach during the day, well at least for me and mine. We are all fair skinned and turn lobster red very quickly. Plus I could not imagine how hot the sand would be and I'm sure I don't want to find out.

13....My eldest daughter and her two little girls are coming to visit today because it is too hot in their home. My day is looking very full already and so is my house. Three little girls holed up inside for 8 hours...well, I'm taking a deep breath and seriously in need of my first cup of coffee for today, yes I wrote thisTT without any coffee in my system. Time is up I neeeeeed coffee.

Happy TT everyone, hope your day has been exceptional in every good way.


More Thursday Thirteens here...


Love,

Wordless Wednesday

Too cute!















Have a great WW!

visit here fore more Wordless...

Love

Ruby Tuesday

This weeks Ruby Tuesday hosted by

maryt/theteach, at Work of the Poet, is
on red things in your office.

I don't exactly have an office of my own,
but I do have a desk and I found some red
items in amongst the mess of papers, scribble
notes and mass of long standing filing issues.
Yes I have filing issues...boring!

A book by Stella Cameron, Cypress
Nights, I'm enjoying very much. Eclipse,
by Stephenie Meyer, which is still waiting to be
read even though I have had it since sometime
in 2008. Three poetry books, two of them very
old and I guess a novice poet would have some
classic poetry books wouldn't she! A red pencil,
red ink pen and a packet of Glow-in-the-Dark
Play Foam, a gift from my friend in Utah. A
card from my daughter to me, apologizing for
being a brat, telling me she loves me and thanking
me for my understanding. That by the way, is
the most important item on my desk, let alone
in my collection of red.


*Don't forget to click on the pic*
















Have a great Ruby Tuesday everyone! :)


Love,

Butterfly Award...

Back in October, 2008, I received a blog award
from Lola and AppleJack. I didn't pick it up
straight away, in truth I almost forgot about it.

I remembered it through seeing the same
award on another blog and realized I had one
of those waiting for me at the Bunny Lounge. So,
I hopped on over and collected it. Thanks Lola and
AppleJack, big hugs to my favorite on-line bunnies.















These are the rules:

~Put the logo on your blog;
~Add a link to the person who awarded you.
~Nominate 10 other blogs
~Add links to those blogs on yours.
~Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs


I'm going to break the rules some. Because I have
taken so long to pick up the award I figure I can
be cheeky enough to break them.

I'm going to take my time to give out the award.
I've got blogs in mind, but I need time to ferret
out who might have this particular award
already and who hasn't got it.


Love,

Inner Critic

Every once in a while I have a problem with my 'inner critic' trying to shut down my writing. Just recently I got really mad about this and wrote something that is a bit of a fight against this critic and her meddling ways.

I am sharing this poem just in case there is anyone else that gets slammed by her or his critical side. Sometimes a critical look at your own work is healthy, but not if it stops you from being able to write for days on end.

~

riding a wave of hurt
indulging in personal slander

obliterating words
changing perceptions

carrying away inspiration
on a snarl of satisfaction

an inner critic doing her work
with nasty abandon

time is short
work your worst

words rising out of
the implied decay

I will not be silenced

~

Love,

This is hysterical!

Just received this in an email from my DH. As I work in a restaurant I nearly collapsed with laughter. Enjoy...

The spoon:


A lesson on how consultants can make a difference in an organization.

Last week, we took some friends to a new restaurant, 'Steve's Place,' and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket.


It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I observed that he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket.


Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I inquired, 'Why the spoon?'


'Well, 'he explained, 'the restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all of our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour.


If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.'


As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he replaced it with his spare. 'I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.' I was impressed.


I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly.


Looking around, I saw that all of the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. So, before he walked off, I asked the waiter, 'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'


'Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice. 'Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also learned that we can save time in the restroom.


By tying this string to the tip of our you-know-what, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39%.


I asked quietly, 'After you get it out, how do you put it back?'


'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon.'


Love,

Thursday Thirteen - Third Edition

Thirteen Things about me, where I live and my life...

1....The photo above, I took last weekend while foolin' very
seriously with my camera. I was collecting a series of photos
for Ruby Tuesday, (if you haven't
seen the collection yet, follow the link, I've been told their
worth the trip).

2....Three or four Lorikeets landed in the tree while I was
photographing it. Only had to wait a couple of minutes and
see what I got, the little guy was either having lunch or a drink.
This particular species of Gum Tree, Ficifolia, drip a type of nectar
from the flowers and these birds obviously love it.

3....This week in Melbourne has been a hot one. Summer was
slow to start but has well and truly kicked in. Tuesday around
100F and Wednesday, just over at 104F. Today has been hot,
sultry, with a nasty north wind blowing for the best part of the
day. We have Total Fire Ban at the moment, so typical for this
time of year.

4....My second daughter phoned a little while ago to say there was a
bush fire north of where she and her husband live. That was a
couple of hours ago and I have heard nothing since, so I'm guessing
it's under control.

5....Although bush fires are very common this time of year, I will
never think of them as nothing to worry about. They scare me spit less!
I remember ash and cinders raining down on our home from a bush fire
all to close. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

6....I need to have a serious clean up off the top of my desk. I have bits of
scrap paper with words, ideas and notations on poetry I want to write or
revamp. It's making me edgy all this mess, I don't want to lose anything.

7....How easy it is for me to stuff things in the to be filed pile until it gets to
be a ridiculous mess. I have written more poetry this year than I realized
and it's all sitting 'hard copy' in that pile. I bought a display folder to
keep it in, so far only some of it has made its way into the clear envelopes.

8....I remember now why I don't work in my trained field; as a Secretary!
I did work as a secretary for a while, but it honestly was and still is not me.
If filing for myself irritates me, then let me tell you filing on a large scale in
an office terrifies me. My head feels thick just thinking about it.

9....But I really did enjoy shorthand and was reasonably good at it, pity it
is so outdated now.

10..I remember at business college, I was the only girl who had trouble
learning to type. I was the worst at typos, the absolute worst. Why the
heck didn't we have computers then with, spell check and an 'oh shit'
button. :)

11...I have blogged 100 posts on Passionate Fiction, as of my
Wordless Wednesday post yesterday. I know that in the scheme
of things in blogland, that is definitely not a lot of posts. In fact
I would say it is way down there on the low number of posts.

12..I'm ecstatic! Well that might be a little over the top, but
y'all get my drift here. I'm so close to my first anniversary
as a blogger and had no idea when I first began how I would
ever do one post a month, let alone clock up 100.

13..Thanks everyone who visits, reads and/or comments. My
connection to you has become a big part of my everyday life.
And to those of you who have become friends...I am more thankful
for that than my achievement of 100 posts. I am looking forward
to getting up tomorrow morning and reading the other Thursday
Thirteens of friends and people I haven't even me yet.

Have a great Thursday everyone! :)

Have a great Thursday everyone! :)

and I see I've done it again...screwed with the Html again.
I've tried to fix it. Sorry if it's hard to read but I am at a
lost as how to fix it without deleting everything and starting
again. I am way too tired for that.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here
Find more TT players here


Love,

Wordless Wednesday

Love,

Ruby Tuesday

Click the above for
more Ruby Tuesdays!


My macro Ruby Tuesday photos are over on
Silently Mine this week.

Happy Ruby Tuesday :)


Love,

King David

Emblazoned across the heavens
Stars in their multitude call to me
Reminding me of Your ways
The path of righteousness
The marker by which I live
Do not let me falter Lord
I pray!

Watching from my roof top
Senses reeling
Dark void growing
Filling my chest with dread
Conscience torn in agony
Right or wrong--
Which way to turn?

Such beauty before me
Silken in its allure
Danger dancing on
Her glorious flesh
Bathsheba--bathing
I have already
Chosen!

Dizzying lust molten
Honey in my blood
Laboring my breath
Ruling my thoughts
You cannot refuse me
Obedience your duty
My subject; My will!

Drowning in anticipation
Lost in desire--sin
So easily explained
Excused, cast aside
Ti's my right
Ah! Yes, my right
As King!

What man would do this
Send another to die in battle
Freeing that man's wife
Uriah's blood on my
Black soul
Too late guilty
Am I lost?

Destruction hammers
On the door
I cannot, will not
Turn from this course
My Guilt written
God's decree; the Law
Punishment--redemption!

~

I wrote this some months ago.
My inspiration; the book
of Samuel, Chpt: 11, and Leonard
Cohen's song 'Hallelujah'. I have
been curious about David
and Bathsheba's story since
I first read it and the song just
fired up my interest even more.
Hope you enjoy my adaptation
of the story in poetic form.

Love,

The Letter "C"

*Sweet* of, Sweet Cops Wife was offering a letter to anyone wanting to play along with a fun meme. I put my hand up for a letter of my very own and here follows my version of the game.

It's called “Brought to you by the letter…” game. Here’s how it works

You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on. I suspect that everyone I know is doing this particular meme. But if there is anyone left who would like to play leave me a comment and I will most certainly give you your very own letter.


1...Obvious, oh so obvious. I wouldn't be a woman without Chocolate on this list. I didn't like chocolate at all until I was pregnant with my seventh baby. While waiting for my precious baby to be born I developed a taste for that delicious, nerve soothing, taste bud caressing treat. I wouldn't say it's an addiction, I can stay away from it without too much trouble. But I really enjoy it when I let myself go and indulge that particular delicacy.

2...Cherries are in season in Melbourne, actually almost at the end of their season. All that dark, dark red color and juice, along with the lovely sweet/tart taste of them is so refreshing to the palate. Such an exotic fruit.

3...I enjoy Color, all sorts of colors please me. I especially like soft muted oranges and greens. But then again I love the pink of Oriental Lilies, soft and romantic. Then there's red...oh the vibrancy and fire of red. I think red can overload the senses sometimes, but it is so worth it.

4...Clothes, am I woman? Yes, I certainly am and I adore clothes. I like to wear jeans and t-shirts as day wear, very casual stuff does me just fine. Going out at night black is always my first choice. Although I love a lot of color around me I am not comfortable wearing many colors. Black; sexy and slimming appeals to me the most.

5...Clean lenses on my glasses. I have to have glasses and I just love them clean and shiny so I can concentrate on the computer, reading a book or at work, or anywhere I have to write. I really have to have my prescription lenses. Sure I can see yah without them, everything is blurry though and I may see three 0r four of you. But those lenses gotta be sparkly clean.

6...Cell phone. Who these days is without one? No one I know. How did people ever contact us when we did not have them. Sometimes I love them and sometimes I hate them.

7...Cream, I forgot the cream to go with those delicious dark red Cherries. Cream is one of those things that make me think of my mom and my eldest sister in-law. They were cream ladies, cream on anything you could think of putting cream on.

8...Chickens, I got a thing for chickens. When we lived in the country on ten acres, we had a hen house full of chickens. And we called them the 'girls'. We also had a rooster who had himself one heck of a chicken harem. Different little lady for every night of a fortnight and some. That rooster's name was Graham. Those 'girls' laid the biggest eggs I have ever seen...110gms in one egg. That is impressive!

9...Champagne...Mmmmm! Chilled with lots of fizzy bubbles is the way to celebrate or spend a girls night in or out for that matter. Just got to watch out for the sore head in the morning.

10..Camera!!! I need my camera like air or water and I'm learning to take it everywhere I go, even it I don't think I will need it. I am learning to think of it as an extension to my right arm. Over the last six to eight months I have discovered that photography is addictive in the best way possible. And I have missed some great possibilities for photos because I left that Camera at home a few times.

There you have it, ten "C's" that are important to me and that I enjoy immensely.

Love,

Thursday Thirteen

Thursday Thirteen

1...See that little picture of the ant and the crackers above, well I have felt a bit like that little 'ol
ant today, a bit burdened and weighed down. Although the weather was perfect, I wasn't. Something was chewing away inside of me that I didn't and still don't have an answer for.


2....So to help take my mind of it all I visited my oldest daughter and two of my granddaughters. I took another three of my daughters with me. One more daughter unfortunately lives just over an hour away and couldn't be with us. Confusing huh? :)

3....My almost 17 year old spending the night with her big sister, was another reason for the visit. Plus my 6 year old granddaughter and her almost 8 year old auntie are the best of friends and are always looking for opportunities to get together to play.

4....And for me to just hang out with my kids is always a pleasure!
It's fun and noisy and family and there's a whole lot of love between those kids of ours. But still I couldn't unwind completely.

5....Their laughter and playing around with each other makes me laugh and I feel very rewarded as a mom. It's beautiful to see them so close.

6....Even so, I just couldn't seem to find the balance I needed even in the company of my girls.

7....So I am still trying to relax on the 40 minute drive home. Traffic jams and half road closed stoppages and the loud music my 13 year old was listening to (which by the way, I did an admirable job of blocking out) did absolutely zilch toward improving my emotional state.

8....For those of you who don't know, I have seven, yup, seven kids. Two boys and five girls, all of 'em treasures. They are my joy and sometimes my frustration and a big part of my value of who I am in this world.

9...I mentally roll my eyes when people say to me, "Oh my, you are a glutton for punishment. All those kids. Don't you have a TV!"
I love each and every one of those seven kids, how could I not. My flesh and blood.

10...Even when they are driving me crazy with demands and issues and worrying the heck out me, wondering if they are okay. And so far they are all okay. Their adventures and forays into adulthood have certainly been interesting and in some instances downright dangerous.
By the grace of God they are alive and well. Blessed, yes I believe we are.
*Sigh* We still have three to get to adult hood.

11...Being with my girls today was good, very good. Helped me think about more than just my own issues. But the real turning point for my getting myself together was the quote below.
I found it on A Little Piece of Me while I was supposedly preparing dinner.

12..."It has been said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength." ~ Charles Spurgeon

13...A freeing truth for me in those words.

Happy TT! :)

Love,

Wordless Wednesday

Firehouse in the city of
Ballarat, Victoria
built in 1856.


*Don't forget to click on the pic*
















Love,

Ruby Tuesday

I looked up as I was getting out of my car on Sunday afternoon, heading into work and noticed for the first time, glorious red Gum Nuts on a flowering Red Gum. The tree and its mass of flowers took me by surprise...I had forgotten it was their time of year.




*Click on the pic. the RED is awesome*

















Love,

I couldn't resist this quiz...

I went a visiting to Texas Red's blog and low and behold she had a cute quiz up about what kind of wine are you? Well it turns out I'm a Pinot Noir...could have fooled me I thought I was a Merlot or Rose. I got to thinking about not ever having had a quiz on this blog and thought, "why not!"

Had a wander through some quiz's out there in cyber space and found one I could not resist. Being a writer and all, it seemed like just the one for me and my writing buddies. Give it a go and let me know in comments what your WORD is, I would love to know.

Texas, thanks for the great idea!

Your Word is "Fearless"

You see life as your one chance to experience everything, and you just go for it! You believe the biggest risk is being afraid and missing out on something amazing. Sometimes your fearlessness means you're daring. You enjoy risky activities. And sometimes your fearlessness means you're courageous. You're brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary.

What's Your Word?

I don't always feel 'Fearless', let me tell ya! But I have had moments of utter fearlessness when it has been required of me.

Love,

Wordless Wednesday

Adelaide sometime last year...
















Click on the pic to see what is going on here...

2009...

Happy New Year everyone!



The little cutie in the photo with
me is our youngest granddaughter
... 4 months already!





I have kind of dragged myself into the new year. A little unwillingly at first, but now I'm here wonder what I am going to do and where it will take me? I'm not one for resolutions, mostly because I don't keep them and I feel let down when that happens. Disappointed in myself. I do not want to start this year off with any self doubts or recriminations, just head off into it and see where it takes me.

I've not really blogged much in the last two weeks. Christmas, my school kids being on a six week break and my hubby being on a three week break, has absorbed my concentration and time. Plus we took four days and drove to South Australia, an eight hour drive that was a mixture of emotions for us all. We tried to blend a brief beach break with some relaxation and spend time with my mother-in-law who is terminally ill. My hubby and I came back feeling the trauma of his mom's illness and it has taken a week to move past that a little.

I'm ready to blog and write again as well as share more of the photos I've been taking of my beautiful country. Mind you, if I was to photograph my whole country I would never be done, as it is I will probably never be done snapping my way around Victoria and South Australia. On the weekend I put some photos of the City of Adelaide up on my blog Country Down Under. There are more to come and I hope to get into the central business district of Melbourne (down town Melbourne) to take some snaps for the blog. Melbourne is a big sprawling city with so many possibilities for photos....I'm eager to get at it. And I am eager to catch up with my blogger friends to see what you are all sharing this year.


Love,