Thankful for the soldiers

A replica fighter plane from 1942

Yesterday marked a rather important date in the history of little old Darwin.

It was the 72nd anniversary of the day that the perils of war hit the Australian shore.


Just before ten o'clock on the morning of 19th February 1942, the same commander responsibly for the attack on Pearl Harbour just ten weeks earlier, led 54 land based bombers and approximately 188 attack aircraft to assault the Northern Territory's capital city. Heavy bombers pattern-bombed the harbour and town followed by Zero fighters attacking the military and civil aerodromes as well as the hospital at Berrimah.

The attacked lasted around forty minutes and was then followed by a second onslaught an hour later which involved high altitude bombing of the Royal Australian Air Force base at Parap. This lasted for around a further 25 minutes. In all at least 243 people were killed in these first two attacks and between 300-400 were wounded. A total of twenty military aircraft were destroyed. Eight ships at anchor in the harbour were sunk and most of both the civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.

These air attacks on the Northern capital continued until November 1943. During this time the Japanese bombed Darwin 64 times.

A modern day soldier dressed in his predecessors uniform
as part of the re-enactment held to commemorate the bombing of Darwin

More photos on how Darwin celebrates this important day in history can be found here

Today I am thankful for all those who tried to defend the city that I now call home. I am also incredibly thankful for each and every member of our armed forces. Be they Army, RAAF or Navy they are all equally awesome in my book.

Signing up to a career that could quite possibly led to combat is nothing to be sneezed at and takes a certain amount of bravery and courage. I have nothing but total admiration for the men and women that are prepared to fight for their (our) country. And just between you and me I have known a few of them in my time and they are all amazing.

I am also thankful that war is not something we in Australia need to worry about on a daily basis. Every year Darwin is home to numerous military training exercises. Living rather close to the air base I am reminded of what it must be like to actually live in a war zone. I am thankful that the planes I hear flying overhead are there just for practise and there is no threat of them dropping bombs upon me.

What are you thankful for this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

Dear Me (The soon to be second time breastfeeding mum who thinks she has it all sorted)...

So you think you have this all worked out do you? 

This being a mum and breastfeeding and what not, is walk in the park is it? 

Don't understand why some people go on about it being hard work and hurting?

Living with a warm and fuzzy memory of being a breastfeeding guru on account of such a text book and perfect experience the first time around are you?

Well sorry to be the one to break it to you sweetheart but all will not be as expected and you will quickly be reminded of the fact that no two babies or breastfeeding journeys, are ever exactly the same.

Oh and yes, breastfeeding is actually a learned experience, one that each baby must learn, regardless of how much mum may think she actually knows. And on that note regardless of how much that mum does know nine times out of ten there is still more that she doesn't know.

Sure you may have managed to blitz through the whole breastfeeding thing the first time round with Lovely being a total booby fiend and suckling like there was no tomorrow the instant a nipple was anywhere near her little mouth, but that doesn't mean this next one is going to be like that. Especially since Lovely was just a natural sucker, given how much she loved her thumb and all. 

This next little baby will test and try your breastfeeding love in ways you could never imagine. Those first few days where you are still in that total new mum haze might seem blissful, enjoy them while you can, because once your milk comes in things will change in ways you never imagined. In those first few weeks months, your new little bundle of joy will enlighten you to the pain, trouble and difficulty that you have heard others speak of. The pain, trouble and difficulty, that somehow you managed to escape the first time round. (Or perhaps remove from memory? Five years is long time between drinks) 

Thankfully though due to some determination, magic cream and the wonders of time it will change and you will reinstate the belief that breastfeeding is pure bliss. The burning electricity that runs through your breast during those first few sucks will eventually start to fade. The cracks will start to heal and slowly but surely feeding your baby will be just as picturesque as it should be. Only now you will have greater compassion and understanding for the many women who don't find it as natural as the postcards make it to be.

You will slowly evolve into an experienced feeder who will be able to do all manner of activities while baby is attached. You will learn the wonders of feeding and laying down at the same time, something that somehow you never thought of the first time round. You still won't bother too much at all about expressing and putting into bottles so Dad or Big Sister can have a turn but with hindsight there will be a part of you that wishes you did. Mind you that hindsight won't kick in until well after you have finished breastfeeding and baby making.

You will also go on to feed babies for a total that exceeds seven years. Each baby staying on the boob for around two and half years. The third time round you will enter the journey more prepared than ever before. A good balance of reality and optimism in your hand. As well as magic nipple toughening cream to lessen the damage of those almost inevitable cracks.

You will also feel rather special when an Online Breastfeeding Cafe set up by the Australian Breastfeeding Association asks you to write a letter to yourself as part of a Dear Me Campaign they are running to help women who may be feeling ambivalent about breastfeeding and encourage them to share, discover and chat about breastfeeding via a supportive online forum and resource centre. They also have a wonderful Online Breastfeeding Cafe's Facebook page to help such discussion.

Love Me.

Totally pinworthy decorated fish biscuits. Easy. Yum. Fun.

For some reason there is the general expectation that Bloggers are all over Pinterest. Not just in the way they spend hours pouring over pins but also in their ability to create pinnable things. 

Personally I have tried to stay away from the dangers of Pinterest (though I naturally have an account there if you are interested). I am easily distracted and my box of distractions is always overflowing. I most certainly do not need a Pinterest addiction to deal with. 

Of course my ability (or perhaps lack there of) to recreate the images generally found on the likes of Pinterest may also have something to do with my aversion to spending too much time there.

There have of course been a few exceptions. Well one really, my infamous Pigs in Mud Cake. I still get all tingly when I think about how awesome that little beauty turned out. Well worth the effort I must say, though I am not sure I am in a rush to go to that much effort again. 

Thankfully though I recently discovered a new little party winner that, is dead easy and will leave you with a totally pinworthy creation all of your own.

Drum roll please as I proudly present my 

Totally Pinworthy Decorated Fish Biscuits

The most enjoyable and easy to make biscuits delights I have ever come across. These little fish were not only fun to make but pretty tasty too boot!

So where did I come across this brilliant party idea?

While Essentially Jess and I were checking out the super cool entries in this year's Royal Darwin Show. We went along early on the opening day so as to avoid crowds and take advantage of reduced gate entry. Since we were only taking the littlest children so they could see the animals (read so that Jess and I could get our yearly show fix) it all worked quite well.

These ones were not created by me,
I did however take the photo
It was taken at the Royal Darwin Show.
If by chance you made these
(and hey stranger things have happened)
Please get in touch.

 Sadly though the downside to the opening day early entry prices is that not all of the judging is completed and some displays don't have up all their information. Hence why crediting the creator of the inspirational fish is easier said than done. Massive kudos to whoever you are though.

So as I stood there taking my very dodgy photo with my once lovely camera that now only seems to take a decent shot in broad daylight, I mumbled to Jess something about hoping to remember these next time I needed to make cupcakes. Since my kids have all had their birthday this year I could imagine when I would get the chance to try my hand at these.

"Bring on Monday for Ava's birthday, she says with a smile, "then you can blog about it for IBOT and get lots of pins"

Brilliance if ever I saw it!

Little did Jess know, was that even if she hadn't have given me this totally viable excuse, I probably would have made them any way I was so crazily keen.

Now I know I haven't made exactly the same as the photo and that is purely because despite having the joys of modern technology I don't always have the sense to use them. Even though I took the photo I didn't think to look at it until after I had been shopping for supplies.

At which point I of course realised I didn't have any jelly beans or black things (which I suspect might be licorice) for eyes. I temporarily fleeted with the notion of running back to the shops. They are after all literally only five hundred meters down the road. But then I decided I would somehow make do amongst the five packets of lollies I came home with. Not to mention what I may already have had at home.

Anyways as simple as these decorated fish biscuits may be I still have a few tips to share for when you create your own.

Tips for making your own totally pinworthy decorated fish biscuits

Sorting the sweets into colours is not mandatory.
On a side not I would be totally excited to have bowls
to match for all the colours

* Set yourself up before you start. I found having the smarties and sweets sorted into colours made creating the fish much easier.

*Make up one big batch of white icing. Add the various colours as you need them.

*To make the icing mix 2 cups of icing mixture with 2 tablespoons of milk. The easiest way to get rid of lumps is use an electric mixer.

*To make super yummy tasting icing add a splash of vanilla essence

*Make the lightest colours first. In our case we started with yellow icing, which we then turned to orange by adding a drop of red. After orange we added more red to get a pinkish of sorts kinda colour. After this we were out of icing and started again with blue, then green and finally purple.

*I found it best to do the eye and mouth, then the tail and fill the gap up with smarties. It could be just me but I never seemed to leave enough room if I left the mouth or tail till last.

*In case you want to use the same as me I had milk arrowroot biscuits, smarties, fruit flavoured soft jubes (tails) and starburst fruit jellies (mouth). Mind you I think the jelly beans in the orginal may actually be the way to go.

*You don't have to keep the colours all matchy matchy if you don't want to. Though just between you and me if you are going for the whole pinworthy thing then colour matching is a must, as demonstrated below.

While these fish are certainly still very cool looking I am just not sure if it is
quite worthy of a Pinterest board, of course feel free to prove me wrong

These ones however...well I am sure it would be crime not to pin them

So what about it, are you a pinner? Did you pin me?

Can you recreate pins with the simplest of ease?

Do you like fish biscuits?

Have you joined in the fun of IBOT like I did?

#Hashtags. What are they and why are they here?

If you are a regular social media user and like to hang out at the likes of Instagram or Twitter you are probably all over the term hashtag. If however your social media habits only extend as far as Facebook you could very well be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Now I am by no means a social media expert but I do like to think I have a grasp of the basic. Some may even say that I have a strong grasp on the basics and I for one would not argue with them. With all of that in mind I feel that it is only fair that I share some of my knowledge with those less informed but curious none the less.

A thought that was confirmed for me when I asked my loyal Facebook likers if they were interested in such information. Sure only two out of 416 responded but that is enough confirmation for me.

So what is all the hashtag (#) fuss and why do I feel the need to share the fuss with you?

Well hashtags have recently been added to Facebook and if you are someone like me trying to gain greater exposure on through this medium it is a little exciting. If however, you are an average Joe Blow, free from the addiction that social media can be, you maybe left wondering what all the hashtag fuss is about. I do assure you that once you understand the joys that are hashtags your excitement levels will begin to soar.

Bear with me and let me explain a little more.

What is a #hashtag?

Essentially a hashtag is just a means of grouping like minded posts together. It is represented by the # at the start of a word or term. 

To find the # symbol you generally just push shift and 3 on a standard computer keyboard. It is often found on the second number/symbol keyboard on smart phones. Please don't think I am patronising here by telling you where to find it because just between you and me it took me ages to find it on my phone. Thankfully most apps are now designed to make it easier to find the hashtag button it can sometimes take a bit of looking for. Anywho...

The moment you place a # in front of a word or term it becomes automatically linked to all other posts that have the same word or term hashtagged. Which means it is a great way of searching for things. 

Say for example you were looking for some new crochet patterns or inspiration. All you have to do is go to the internal search feature and type #crochet and wham bam thank you 'mam there are heap of posts full of crochet goodness.

Some of the posts that came up when I searched the hashtag
#crochet on Facebook.

Why are they here?

According to the reliable source that is an uncited article on Wikipedia, hashtags were first seen in Internet Relay Chat, which as the name suggests is some sort of conversation mechanism via the internet. It was deemed handy there to group conversations and this was seen as the way to do it. 

By grouping conversations it was easier to keep track of conversations that were of interest to those from varied backgrounds and not necessarily friends with each other. By hashtagging posts similar content can be grouped together making it easier for all relevant information on a particular topic easy to find.

On services such as Twitter, if enough people are using a particular hashtag it is known as trending. Trending topics are those with the highest popularity and seen as a great way to gain exposure. For the user trending topics are a way to stay a float of what is hot.

Ultimately though hashtags are here as they provide a nice easy uniform way of grouping things together and what computer nerd doesn't like grouping things together?

So there you have all you need to know about the wonders that are hashtags.