HNY!!

I've been for a bike ride every morning this year AND i haven't had a shower since last year!

losing a child...

OK, breathe again, nothing tragic has happened! Well not in the traditional sense of tragedy anyway. But the middle one passed the test for her learners permit. No biggie, i hear you say - but I disagree. This year she has turned 16, started working and has become involved with a boy (the best boyfriend a parent could hope for actually). So she really is growing up and becoming her own person and each of these little steps towards adulthood is a step further away from being my little girl. Yes, I know that this is the whole point of being a parent - to raise the next generation of adults, but it still hurts. So why has the learners permit got me sniffling? Contrary to other parents who complain about being a taxi service, I find time in the car with the kids some of the best times. Sometimes we sing our hearts out to 'drag queen' music, sometimes we solve the worlds problems and sometimes we're just quiet together - so I'm really going to miss it.

early one morning...

Well, I got there - 6.15 in the am (yes Andrew there are TWO of them).

It was such a nice drizzly morning I thought I'd have a look at Jetty Rd as well.

Love my tripod!

christmas rant

...why are they buying things they dont need and cant afford to impress people they dont care about...?

Christmas craziness..

Andrew gave me a camera for my birthday this year - a Nikon D60, thank you very much! So there is a lot of 'scouting' going on at the moment. I look at things in a different way, see interesting textures and patterns all over the place - it could be quite annoying for everyone else i suppose.
Anyway, one morning on a bike ride I went through the middle level of the local Westfield carpark and the eeriness and feeling of abandonment appealed to me - you know, the lone trolley, the low lighting... So I went back the next morning and took some shots. You could have used them as a cautionary tale about the evils of alcohol they were so blurry. I'm not the fittest person and riding my bike up the ramp had me panting. Fast forward to Helen bringing me an early christmas present - a tripod - and you can imagine how eagerly i was off!
It's like Flinders St Station up there now! (maybe a slight exaggeration) Lights on, cars parked, people wandering zombie-like ruining my moment of artistic glory! All at 7 in the morning. Well, tomorrow I will be there at 6!!

I AM the centre of the universe...

My sister is visiting from her sunny Qld home for a few days (without her family - but thats a whole other story!). Anyway she's a blogger, she knows other bloggers and has even made friends with other bloggers from other parts of the world, so of course I wanted some of that action. But it's a bit intimidating, right? You have to write about yourself and stuff. What if people read it? What if no one reads it? ARRGH! I've been staring at the little box that says 'about me' for a day and a half already, unable to decide what to write.
Anyway I drove my sister to our parent's place yesterday afternoon and we were all having tea together (its been a really long time since it was just the 4 of us) talking about stuff. And I mentioned that my niece (she's 8) was, according to my sister, having trouble adjusting to the fact that the world doesn't revolve around her. But here's the thing - she is the oldest child in her family, as am i, so guess what - for a while she and i WERE the centre of our little worlds!!! For 3 years I was the lord of all i surveyed, the queen of my castle, the apple of my parent's eye and then Helen was born...
Every now and then Andrew will pay me out along these lines...
'are you hungry ?' 'not really' 'well, it can't be lunchtime then'
...so even if I don't consciously remember being an only child, I must have retained a bit of the attitude..