For John

Last Sunday, James' Uncle John (his mum's older brother) lost his very short second battle with Cancer. He was much loved by his family and will be missed immensely. Our thoughts and prayers have been with Carol, Anthony, Jenny and their families as well as Rosalie and Jim and their families.



The tide recedes but leaves behind
bright seashells in the sand
The sun goes down but gentle warmth
still lingers on the land.

The music stops and yet it echoes
on its sweet refrains.
For every joy that passes
something beautiful remains.

A pledge for the new year

I was an avid reader in my youth, then studying English in Year 12 and going to uni seemed to ruin my passion. After reading stories or texts that did little to inspire me I just couldn't muster any motivation to read anything I was interested in. These days James reads more than I do and as a result his vocabulary has now overtaken mine - he's the IT nerd and I'm meant to be the arty one with interests in literature, history and languages....now I don't fall in to any category and seem to have gone through a dumbing down as such. James reads every night before going to bed no matter what time it is, it is just something he has to do. I have tried over the years to reignite the flame but with children I've just been too tired (reading would put me to sleep before kids) - so reading on the bus to work would make me feel tired before I even got there, on the bus home from work, well I was even more tired by that stage and in bed at night....well bed was for sleeping . I've decided to try before I go to bed each night, even if it is only a few pages it is better than the zero pages I read now.

The book I have started is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, let's hope by the end of the year I have a long list to look back on, maybe not as long as James' but hey, it will be a start.

It's funny because we know them...

This one appeals to my sense of humour. Poor Leah.....



Thanks to Kym for bringing it to our attention :)

Zoo Membership Rocks!

I received Zoo Membership http://www.zoossa.com.au/getting-involved/membership for myself and James for my birthday from Ross, Rosalie (parents in law) and Liz (sister in law). It is something I hope we can continue to have for years to come since I have always loved spending time at the Zoo but it can be quite expensive if you want to go several times a year. Having it means you don't feel like you need to do a mad rush to see everything while you are there just to make sure you get your money's worth and if you only have the morning or afternoon and want to do something together you can just pop in, even if it is for only an hour. Yesterday we let Lachie choose what he wanted to see which included the crocodiles, Reptile House, monkeys and giraffes and while there we also went to see the Giant Pandas http://www.giantpanda.org.au/index.php/giant-pandas/australias-giant-pandas.html http://www.wangwangandfuni.com/ They were gorgeous and Lachie loved going from window to window watching their movements. He had a great time and has such enthusiasm and a sense of wonder when seeing the animals which was lovely to see. Thanks again guys for your thoughtful gift - we all love it.

Waiting in line to see pandas



Lachie with one of the pandas - was the only pic I could get him to look at me

Lachie on panda statue - I have been edited out of that one :)



Lachie imitates other lunch goers

Smiley Patrick kicking back

Welcome back

It's about time I made a new post on here. A lot has happened since April 2009 as you will see but I will address that in a later post.

James and Lachie go Swimming

James has taken over from me when it comes to swimming duties - Lachie had a ball. Here are some pics.

Stand back!! I'm yet to see a child do this jump the same way that Lachie does - always gives the other parents a laugh.

Brought struggling into the Web 3.0 age

Well here we are, it’s April 2009, I work in the IT industry and I am, as I write this, delving into social networking for the first time via this blog.

Hazzah!  I hear you cry, welcome to ‘Today’ old man! 

However I’m not so sure this is a celebratory moment.  I’ve been resisting this kind of involvement, why?  Mainly because I don’t have time, or my interest level is not high enough, or I just don’t see why other people would be that interested in what I am doing in order for me to write about it. (probably a combination of all of the above)

On the flip side my wife see's a contrary point of view.

As all other halves are aware, the best remedy in this case is to offer token contributions in an effort to waylay any nagging on the issue later. 

Consider my contribution made ;)