Tuesday, June 24

The Circus


Thanks to some stars shinning over my head (and a sick friend who gave me their ticket) I unexpectedly found myself at the Circus tonight.

The Joseph Ashton Circus has been in town for the past three days, tonight was their last performance and I am so incredibly glad that I was able to go and see them.

Growing up the circus came to town on a fairly regular basis. I loved it then and I loved it last night as well. I remember sitting there looking at those beautiful girls on the trapeze, with their sparkling outfits and dazzling displays. The very next day I would rush outside to my swing in the front garden and relive the act only this time I was the star. Naturally I was limited it what I could perform, but to me I felt just like the lovely ladies I had seen the night before.

Natural instinct and desire sure has a lot to answer for, as the men in tights and their big bulges is my next fond circus memory. Of course their strength and muscles also stands out, but not before those tights!

Circus Joseph Ashton did not disappoint any of my memories. In fact as the opening act begun I could feel the tears welling. Watching these people with their smiles on their faces as they ran around flipping and somersaulting through the air you could see this is what they lived for. They were living a dream that many of us have wished for at one time or another.

The photo today is taken from the Circus Joseph Ashton website and is of Joseph Ashton and his lovely family. All of whom are fantastic performers. The fact that everyone in the show was related just added to my enjoyment. One can only imagine what a close knit family they must be and the bonds they have formed while performing this death defying stunts is are sure to be unbreakable.

If they happen to come by a town near you, I strongly suggest you go. It is money well spent and will help ensure these treasured performers do not become a thing of the past.

For more information on the Ashton Family please click here

Thursday, June 19

Success - or was it?


I sit here tonight very stiff and sore. It has been a long hard day. Sports day down at the school, and while I did not actually participate in any events as such my body feels similar to one that has just run a marathon!

Carrying a two year old for the better part of the day is not really as easy as it sounds. Despite her weighing little over eleven kilos, after a few hours it starts to become a strain. On the upside think how muscular it could make me. (Mental note to carry her on the other side tomorrow to even things out).

Seriously though my left bicep feels like it has been lifting hundred kilo bar bells!

This was the first sports day that I helped organise and being the ever critical analyst that I am I can't help but wonder whether the wider community will view the event as a success. Last year the food was under catered. This year, after ordering extra, we naturally had too much. (Murphy's law if ever I saw it)

In my opinion there are around a thousand things that I could have done better and or improvements that I would make should I ever do it again. So my question is do these possible improvements for future events, detract from whether or not this particular outing could be rightfully deemed a success.

I guess when we start dissecting the term success, we need to consider what we were hoping to achieve. The desired out come for tonight was that the school community be adequately fed while raising much needed funds to lower the cost of the summer swimming program.

With that in mind, I guess it is fair to say that this was successful. We certainly fed a lot of people, even if we did have some left over. However as the money counting does not take place until tomorrow sometime whether we actually made any money in the process is still unknown.
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My photo today comes from squidonius whose work I found on stock.xchng

The link found here is to a poem I wrote a while ago.
Feel very special as it is not often I openly share my poetry. There are a couple of reasons why I choose this tonight. The first is because I started a new poem tonight, (unfortunately it is not finished yet but you will be the first to know when it is published) The second is because of a recent conversation with an old friend.

Wednesday, June 18

Facebook


While the rest of the world may have jumped on the Facebook band wagon some time ago, I, as ever am incredibly behind the times and have only recently opened an account there. My first ever friend from high school convinced me that it was a great way to stay in contact. She also said the same about mySpace until she found FB.

Anyway as she is one of the few people in my life that I have known for more than ten years, I like to stay in touch with her. Rather than stay in our sleepy old town and raise a family like I have, she set off to conquer the world, and is getting closer to achieving this every day. She is currently in PNG doing some fantastic work within local communities, and I love following what she is up to.

However, FB not only gives me the chance to follow her, but also opened up a whole world of people from the past that I had not given a single moments thought to in many a year. Sure I have heard about FB but until I got my account I had no real idea what it was really like.

I was amazed today to find out that they have games. Heaps and heaps and heaps of games. Granted the majority are crap and nothing more than a waste of time, but do you think that I can stay away from them? Noooooo! The main reason my writing has been non existent is because FB games has drained what little of my brain was left. Fingers crossed I can break free and salvage what ever might be left of a writing career.

The thing that disturbs me most about FB is that despite it being some 13 years since I finished highschool, as I scrolled through my friend's friend list I was struck down by the same fears and emotions that plagued me through high school.

Now before I go on any further I should say that for the most part I enjoyed my five years of high school education. I wasn't the coolest kid but I guess I wasn't at the bottom of the food chain either. I was relatively pretty and fairly smart, but one thing I never felt was popular.

I guess the main reason for that was because I wasn't. I was on the debating team, helped the elderly and actually liked learning. I won endless awards and always had my shirt tucked in. I had a select group of friends that stuck by me (for the most part), but on the whole I felt that there were more people laughing at me than with me.

Anyway FB has kindly given me proof that I am still not very popular. After 3 months I still have under 30 friends, the majority of which don't really talk to me! Anyway at least I got a post here. Again my original intentions when I sat down to post were not conveyed, but I guess it will keep for another day.

The photo for today is another one from my own collection. It is of a local sunset. Though it reminds me of dawn.

Today's article is an oldie but a goodie. It is contemplating whether women know what it is they want in life? Click Here

Sunday, June 15

Success at last

Finally I am able to sit here and say that are few changes have taken place. The dishes are almost under control (providing someone does them from dinner tonight). The back veranda is clean and tidy and shows slight hints of organisation. The dog has also been washed, as has his bed and the washing is slowly decreasing. However now it sits on the couch waiting to be folded. Can't win everything I guess.

I am also very proud to report that this is the third consecutive day of posting, so well done to me! The fact that some may claim that there is a lack of substance to what I have written, is noted but at this point I am choosing to ignore it. Being the ever lasting optimist I can find the slightest sign of good in anything. The fact that I have been able to think (and then actually post) of anything is wonderful, I can work on substance later!

Saturday, June 14

Progress at last


I was beginning to think that the dishes were never going to get done. Thankfully I was grossly mistaken and hubby kindly got them out the way for my earlier this evening. Of course he only did the dishes on the promise of food so naturally there are dinner dishes waiting to be done. At least all the three day old dishes are done!

I was able to successfully waste most of the evening playing silly Facebook games. Unfortunately this is not very helpful for writing. I don't understand way my inspirational words never come when I have nothing to do. Instead it is when I have ten other things to do I that I discover my wiseness.

Anyway I was actually off to bed but since this is only day two of the new rules I didn't want to break them already! So the picture I have chosen for today is one from when I was in Katherine recently. As for a link....hmmm..... have a look at this for something a little different

Friday, June 13

A Real Ramble!


I believe that it is fair to say that I have let life get a little to far out of control. As another long day draws to an end I am sorry to report that the cyclonic state of my house which I have earlier discussed remains the same.

Granted certain piles have grown and others reduced, the fact still remains that there are piles of mess all through the place. Like the dishes. They have all been nicely rearranged a few times now. A few have actually made it into the cupboard (hard to believe I know) However wherever you look the kitchen is still full of dishes that need doing! Oh well I guess there is always tomorrow.

Do you know tomorrow? I seem to be forever saying I will do it tomorrow. Only recently I have realised that tomorrow never seem to comes. We(or rather I) seem to spend excessive amounts of time thinking about tomorrow, rather than living for today.

When I first sat down to write this post I titled it "Gaining Control" now however I am thinking it needs to be changed! I seemed to have gotten a little sidetracked along the way......
...... Anyway in a bid to make this site slightly more interesting, I have decided to introduce some new posting rules for myself.
  1. Each post must have an article link
  2. Pictures are mandatory
  3. Posting must occur daily
  4. Post must be entertaining, readable and if possible thought provoking
So in line with rule number one here is a link to my Child Development Lens at Squidoo

The photo, which unfortunately is at the top, actually started it's life as a rainbow above my house. After much experimentation with paint.net that is what I ended up with. Made me feel very creative really!

Thursday, June 12

Insight to my mind

A little over twelve hours from when I awoke this morning I find that not much has really changed. That is not to say everything has remained the same, for it hasn't. Despite my efforts to maintain some degree of order, it appears as if chaos clearly reigns in my home.

After many attempts my lounge room floor still has toys strewn all over it. Much like it was when I first came down stairs. The pile of dirty dishes that adorns my kitchen sink and surrounding bench space has grown slightly. While the kitchen table is now covered with bags of shopping patiently waiting to be put away.

It is fair to say that my life is a shambles.

I know that the term life my seem some excessive to most. Many housewives and mothers struggle with the constant battle to maintain order with their domain. Washing, tidying and general chores are just part and parcel of daily life. Well for me they are my worst nightmare.

Almost everyday it feels like I look around the inside of my four walls only to be greeted with a sight that resembles the aftermath of a cyclone. My life is a day by day kind of existence, so based on this I am justified in saying my life is a shambles.

While I would love to continue sharing right now, my duties as "head chef" are required. I must provide food for the starving massed (aka 2 children) who need their nourishment before bed