Tale of a Saturday Ride

Saturday afternoon on the bike path, and the sun is golden and the trees rush past, and I hear a beep from a passing station wagon and a friend waves heartily.

Cruising through the park three boys in footy shirts kick a ball around. I wonder briefly why one has turned away, then the light catches a liquid arch. Ok.

Turning down a quiet street, a granny watches patient from her tidy porch - the little patchwork world goes by.

As I pass a smallish figtree, I see a man, arms stretched to guard. A small voice cries,
"I can see the whole world from here!"

Another little person waves madly at me from the cosy grasp of mother's arms. Dad smiles,
"Hola".

A huge pom-pommed, blow-dried poodle trots by, owner in tow. I see a large man with a small dog, and a small lady with a large dog.

Among the rows of lonely boats, a cheery bunch of blokes enliven one craft - a tight rowdy circle, sipping their beers.

Down by the fish shop a mop-haired toddler dances on a grate while dad looks on.

I sit by the pearly water in my own mind as the waves crash and the sun ebbs.
The pebbled stone is warm beneath me.

Coming home two girls are faced away from the road, peering through a fence. One catches my quizzical glance and turns around. Lurching toward me, arms outstretched she intones,
"It's the end of the world", and collapses into giggling.

I laugh back.

My not-quite-so-small friend

About a year ago (actually, make that two) I wrote a post about a small friend of mine.

Now he's a lot bigger. He can run and talk and hop and gallop and kick a soccer ball real good. He says any number of suprisingly insightful or just plain hilarious things every day.

He can even 'help'...

Tonight we were at his parents' place making pizza and he was tugging the high chair around between us and the bench, trying to get in on the action. At first I managed to keep him at bay by calling on him as primary pizza-making supervisor:

"How about you tell us what you'd like to have on the pizzas. Bacon? Excellent idea."

But soon that was not exciting enough. He passed us cheese and ate cheese - until the cheese snuck off to a safe distance. Then he began on the capsicum. One bit for me, one for the pizza...

Then he passed the bacon and ate the bacon and sprinkled the bacon on the middle of the pizza.

"Ok, doing well, let's just spread it out a bit" say I in my most patient voice.

I drew the line at him helping with the paste.

Anyway, the pizzas were made and devoured - much to everyone's satisfaction - and he was sitting on the couch with us a bit later when he exclaims:

"I just did four parts!"

"What, you had four pieces of pizza?"
"No, out of my bottom!"

"Ohh, farts....!"

Dinnertime with a 3 yrold? Priceless.

The awkward moment when you've finally done all your washing, you go to put it away and there's not enough space

Does that mean I have too many clothes? Does it mean my drawers/cupboard are too small? I prefer the latter excuse, but I think what's really going on is that I suck at getting rid of stuff.

"But I still wear it sooommetimes, I swear.."

"It's a bit stretched/stained/doesn't really fit anymore but I might still want to wear it!"

And it's not just clothes. The underneath of my bed is piled full and trickling out with all of the lecture notes and books from all of the 3 years I've been at uni, because I might want to look at them someday. And the notes from the diploma I did before that.

Plus old journals, stuffed toys I can't be bothered to have on my bed but feel sentimental about, cd cases, random bits of paper about goodness-only-knows-what, old photo frames I don't have a place for, odd socks, spare folders and toenails (ok hopefully not the last one, that was just being creative).

There's a stack of books a foot high beside my bed (and more on my bedside table) which are there because I might happen to want to read all of them before I go to bed.

Crispy dried flowers, dusty cards, shiny rocks, blue glass, seashells, odd earrings..... I'm sure you've gotten my drift by now!

Why do I keep all this crap? I know some of it is useful, and some of it's a bit too special to let go of just yet, but a lot of it I will probably never look at or use again.

I think part of it is that I love the memories this kind of stuff can bring back. I love to tell the story of my life piece by tiny, obscure piece. I love to remember where we went, what we did, how it felt.

I like to be prepared, (in control?) so I keep things 'just in case'.

I'm attached to stuff?

I'm just plain lazy?

To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure of the whole answer. But I'd like to get just a leetle bit better at chucking out stuff. Cos I actually like things being clean and tidy and less crap-filled.

And being able to put all my washing away.

Maybe tomorrow.

Something beginning with P

You guessed it: Placement!

This has been such a saga and it hasn't even started yet! (though I am really looking forward to when it does!)

So, getting ready for placement began last semester.

-I went to the police station and got a police check ($52)

-I went to the immunisation people and they told me what I needed to get proof of (3hours later :P).

-I harrassed my old doctor and Community Health for all the data they had on me.

-I emailed them off.

-I handed the police check into uni.

This semester:

-I put preferences in late (oops).

-I went to the immunisation people again (1.5hours)

-I had a tuberculosis skin test

-Went to the doctor, organised to get my measles-mumps shot done, cos I don't have proof of them both.

-Had a blood test

-Went back to get my skin test checked. They told me I have to come back in, TWO MORE TIMES in a couple of weeks, so they can be doubly sure (even though this test came back negative). Which means I'll have to wait till right before placement to get my health certificate. And I can't get my measles-mumps shot until they've finished the TB thing, cos it might interfere.

When they told me all that I nearly cried.

It's a good thing I don't have a job, otherwise I don't know how I'd fit all this in!!

Enough of the whining. I finally heard from my placement supervisor person (after trying to get on to her all week!) and she sounds lovely. She's very open to whichever parts of what they do I most want to get involved in, was very relaxed and encouraging and said not to bother dressing up! Sweet.

Three weeks till D-day! eek!

ps. and only 9 posts left of my little 30-day challenge!

Toilet wall #2

This is a bit of a random post. It relates to a post from last year observing the history evident on the walls of the toilet in a house I used to live in, in S.A.

And it has had a makeover, as I discovered in my last visit. My historian urges kicked in - "I must record this!!" - so here it is:




Probably the coolest thing is actually the quotes on the bits of paper, so it's a bit of a pity they're too small to read.

Here are a couple of interesting ones:

"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give" - Winston Churchill

"Promise yourself to live your life as a revolution and not just a process of evolution" - Anthony D'Angelo

night of a thousand coughs, or why I'm up so late blogging

I can't sleep. The little tickling, rasping beast hidden somewhere in my larynx won't let me. So I thought I'd update you on some stuff:

I'm on holidays! yay!!! man, if you ever feel in need of a holiday, just take up university. It's great for that.
So now I'm in sunny little Strathalbyn, the Antiques capital of South Australia: cut in two by a prettily meandering little river, dotted with old stone buildings and delightful cafes, and current residence of a disproportionately large bunch of the world's best people.

This week I have:
-Had coffee(s) with friends (and the best hot chocolate _ever_ from the Appleseed cafe)
-Wandered rainy Rundle st mall and sung songs to strangers
-Picked and squeezed a hundred lemons (give or take), ready for cooking all-things-lemon tomorrow :)
-walked, run & skipped along the river
-made new friends
-coughed (a lot)
-baked choc & walnut cookies
-been entertained by a friend's band in The Shed hangout space - along with a gang of young Strath punks
-drunk copious amounts of tea in the kitchen, with any number and combination of the constant stream of people
-written two cards
-started reading three books

That's all I can think of for now.

My throat seems to be settling (lemon and honey tea is my hero!), so I'll leave you with a quote from the toilet door:

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

Our chain of thankfulness: very pastel, very happyhappyjoyjoys, very fun.

...couldn't resist

On Wagging.

Some thoughts* :

To get the full pleasure from wagging a class, it must be one which you generally feel you should attend, and thus generally do attend, so that when you don't you have a heady, soaring sense of freedom (wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) - and a slightly wicked joy at your own naughtiness.

It helps if you pick a class which is going to be terribly boring, because afterwards you haven't missed anything whatsoever and you can snigger inwardly at the poor suckers that went along (when later your suspicions of its dullness and utter uselessness are confirmed).

If you happen to be pretending to be sick or fiendishly busy and sacrificial by taking your 2nd cousin-twice-removed-who-is-at-death's-door to the hospital, don't go on facebook. Or wander up to uni to get the paper or a coffee when your class/es are still on.

Last but not least, if you're going to wag, make the most of it! Sleep in! Run, jump and be merry! Climb a tree! Eat cake! Find a hammock and read a book in it! Nap! Sing a song! etc..

*not that I would ever wag a class, you realise...

Stuff[ed things] I Made

Here are some pics of fun little toys I made in the hols:
(click on them to enlarge photos)


Smirky.

I've got to admit that he is my favourite. I just love his blissful smirk and the way he slouches around so contentedly wherever he is!


Ginny the Giraffe

She was actually given eyes, but I didn't get a pic with them before I gave her away.


Elephant - I can't remember if he ended up with a name!


Little Pup


Thanks to the supercute patterns and ideas in the More Softies book - The Penguin Group 2008.

Funny bits from Desert Trek which I would do cartoons of if I was as clever as some of my friends..!

- Pete playing Bunny Bunny Carrot Carrot (sorry, you had to be there!)

- Sam melting marshmallows on his fingertips


- Watching boys fruitlessly chase goats up and down steep rocky ridges

- What happens when someone who'd been balancing on the other end of a log to someone else gets up

- Doughboy wars
- Running out of sugar and Katrina sweetening pikelets with blobs of marshmallow - so good! They went all caramelly and yum.

- The mines inspectors Mark introduced himself to. They'd just finished agreeing with eachother that no one ever came out near these mines, being on private property and in the middle of nowhere and all... when next thing they know around 25 people walk past!! And by the time Mark caught up with us to say that he'd promised them we were the only ones who came and we never did anything silly, there we were all standing round peering into a completely unguarded unfenced mineshaft!

that's all for now...

10 days with a pair of playful niños

This is what it sounds like:

"oye, oye, oye" (listen, listen, listen - or hear me)

"mira, mira, mira" (look, look, look)

"ven, ven, ven" (come, come, come)

"ten, ten, ten" (take, take, take)

Me (or other adults present):

"dame tu mano" (give me your hand)

"esperate" (wait - or 'you wait')

"come" (eat)

"Que estas haciendo??!!" (what are you doing?!)

etc.

I had a lot of fun playing with them. It wasn't always easy, as these two little cherubs were rather competitive and didn't always get on so well, and the 5yrold was quick to tears, but it was fun.

We played crazy animals on the 'brincoline' (trampoline), and hide and seek, and cop & robber type games and shooting games and memory games and goodness knows what else!

I got a lot of practice with the imperative tense :)

View from lunch

It's nothing more than the happiness of sunshine and sparkling clothes. Feels caught somewhere close between spring and summer.