Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Burrum Heads Inaugural Fun Tour

So much for planning a couple of quiet days at home ...

I am sunburnt and exhausted after a busy (almost) five hours pedalling around town catching up to and photographing 80 odd participants in the Fun Tour today.

I actually left home at 7am but didn't begin my duties with the Fun Tour until 8.20am.

The Fun Tour consisted of three different tours to choose from

  1. 5km short walk.
  2. 10km long walk.
  3. 10km bike ride.
It was an optional dress-up day - as something beginning with 'B'.

During the walk/ride, there were check points where tasks had to be completed and there was also a questionnaire that had to be completed with about 45 questions.

At the end of the walk, there was an inflatable water slide, inflatable rock wall and a dunking machine for the kids.  The Bar was open.  A sausage sizzle.  Market stalls.

There were over $1000 worth of prizes for participants and also three raffles.

I left before the winners were announced and the prizes distributed.

It was quite a big crowd, considering it was the first time this event had been held and the Progress Association only had 3 months to plan it.

They did an excellent job and the crowd was enthusiastic and happy.  There were lots of groups walking together and families and a couple of groups of young teenagers who joined in using their skate boards and scooters.

A couple of photos from the day.  I haven't looked at them all yet.

'B' is for bogan
'B' is for black.
'B' is for Bikini Babe
'B' is for ...
The questionnaire
The starting point.
... and they're off
The waterslide.
The weather was pretty wild today with cyclonic winds, which made it just little bit uncomfortable - especially pedalling into a head wind!!

I'll add some more photos tomorrow after I send them all off to El Presidente.

I'm off to bed so that I have enough energy to enjoy the NRL Grand Final tomorrow between Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs.  Wahoo!!

GO STORM!!!

Nite all.

Friday, September 28, 2012

It's all Relative

When I lived in Sydney (for 3 long, less than ideal years), I had to commute an hour to work every day to the city by crowded train.  Sydney was dirty, loud, busy, fast and angry.  To cope with this lifestyle, it was imperative to move from a standing start to 100kms hour the second that you walked out your front door.  

I worked at Centrelink (and had done so for 13 yrs prior to moving to Sydney) dealing with angry, frustrated, frail, ill and depressed customers day in and day out.  I was often the one called upon to deal with the angriest of customers and I was often the one called upon to give these customers bad news about their ineligibility for payment or the cancellation of their payments.

My ability to calmly deal with this kind of anger and frustration was envied by many, and I often surprised all levels of management with the way I could change a customer from screaming, shaking anger to smiling calm and thankful in the space of twenty minutes.  I was strong and felt empowered and confident in that job.

The only time I ever felt really stressed was when I had to deal with incompetent work colleagues who were the ones causing the anger and frustration in the customers in the first place!

Incompetent staff could reduce me to a trembling, steaming fit of rage in a split second!  Especially the ones who had worked in their department for ten years or more and still were unable to display any real expertise.  Still, I controlled the anger and only ever slammed one door once.

While I lived and worked in this stressful environment, my adrenalin levels were pretty high all the time, so it took a LOT to upset me.  It seemed that I was always switching to 'cope' mode and I coped with everything, big and small.

The WAY that I coped may have been less than ideal and possibly detrimental to others, nevertheless I coped.  I FELT like I was at least 'in control'.

Then my mother passed away unexpectedly.

After I got all of her affairs in order, I fell apart.  I no longer felt, in the slightest way, in control of anything.  I didn't even have the emotional strength to walk to the train station to go to work, let alone deal with angry customers or stupid work colleagues.

A year off work, fully paid.  Months of counselling.  Months of time management planning with the Dr (in place of anti-depression medication).  Months of planning a life and lifestyle change with Adoring Husband.

Eventually, I quit the job.  Eventually we moved to our quiet little town.

Four years later, and we are living a quiet, calm, healthy lifestyle in a relatively remote little fishing village where nothing bad ever happens.  There is nothing to stress over.  The people are friendly and happy and they smile and wave wherever we go.  The sun shines.  There is no pollution or traffic or crowds.

We have found our own little niche in the community.  We love it here and can't imagine living anywhere else.

So why is it, that this morning when I arrived at the Seat of Knowledge, when I found an empty 2 litre coke bottle lying in the rocks, an empty plastic bait bag and an empty tomato sauce sachet on the ground, did I feel that familiar steaming, trembling fit of rage that was once only fuelled by incompetent staff????

It's all relative really.

When you are coping with a lot of stress, it takes a lot to break you.

When you are living with minimal stress, it takes little to make you angry or upset.

School holidays and tourists - guaranteed to make me disgruntled.

It upsets me that I go out of my way to welcome holiday makers into my town with a friendly smile and a happy 'good morning' as I pedal my way around the streets each day and I am rewarded with litter and filth.

Yesterday, a tourist was greeted by a red belly black snake as he prepared his boat to reverse down the boat ramp.  He killed it and tossed it in the gutter.  I was told about it today, so I went searching for it (I didn't even take my camera with me!).

There it was, still lying in the gutter, very dead.

A poisonous snake is still poisonous, even after it's dead.  It's currently school holidays.  If a kid had gone running bare foot down the street and stood on the snake's head ... I hate to imagine the consequences.

Maybe I am just super paranoid because of what happened to Dad.  So I found a big stick and used it to pick up the snake and take it to the sulo bin near the boat ramp.  It might stink for a couple of days til the garbo empties the bin, but I'd rather put up with the smell, than see a child get hurt (or worse) ... even if it is the kid who left the empty coke bottle lying in the rocks!

So, what is stress?  It can be caused by a screaming shaking human being coming down from a drug high and blaming you for all that is wrong in their life ... or it can be caused by the sight of an empty plastic coke bottle lying on the ground, instead of in the bin where it belongs.

It's all relative really.  Nine days and counting, til the tourists go home lol.

These lovely things are nesting in the block of land beside my house at the moment.  The one on the ground is at the mouth of the nest, which is a tunnel in the sand.


Normally, I would say 'nite all', but it's only 2pm so ...

Afternoon all.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Couple of Rest Days

It has been a very full month.

Setting up the photography exhibit, the opening night, two weekends of visitors, two whale watching trips, a family reunion, half a dozen trips into Maryborough, photo restorations, a trip to Fraser Island, entering the Canon Photo5 competition, photography sales, new iPad, a drive to Tuan and farewelling the Chicklet family on their overseas holiday, just to mention a few.

We are worn out and need a couple of quiet days to rest and relax and build up some new energy.

I think our diet has suffered a bit too, which doesn't help with energy levels.

It's time to get back on track, start eating properly again and find that nice comfortable routine that makes us happy.

An early night tonight would be a pretty good start.

Sharing one of Adoring Husband's photos tonight.  One that I love and that I wish I could take credit for.

The Maheno wreck on Fraser Island.
Nite all.

Public Nuisance

Remember, ages ago, probably a year, or more, I posted on here about internet trolls?  People who go looking for trouble on forum sites and social networking sites and stir the pot to incite anger and mistrust?

Today, I was called a troll, and my comments were deleted from a certain politician's facebook page.

A friend from my old town, whom I shall call 'Fox', is gay and is feeling angry at the current leader of this country, after she engineered a failed vote for gay marriage rights in Australia.

In retaliation he 'liked' the certain other politician's page, and in particular a photo of him waving with words to the effect "Goodbye Julia Gillard, don't let the door hit you on the way out".

I commented to Fox that this certain politician refused to allow his members to vote with their conscience and they were required to vote in unison.  This was part of the reason that the bill failed to receive the required votes.  I warned Fox that he should think twice before supporting this politician.

A female supporter of this politician then made a derogatory comment about gay marriage (I wish that I could now find this page again so that I could quote accurately) and that when in power, this politician would right the moral wrongs of this country.

I then replied that this politician was a sexist, chauvinistic bigot, that women's rights would take two steps backwards if he came into power and that the 'men's club' would become stronger than ever.

That was when they called me a troll, deleted my comments and made reference to pathetic Gillard supporters finding their page.

I wanted to go back and tell them that I didn't support Gillard, or any party, because I believe that they are all liars and not worthy of my support.  None of them can be trusted to fulfil their promises and I am angry that we are forced to choose from a line of liars because of laws that demand compulsory voting.

I am not writing this to invite political opinion or debate.

I am writing this because I am surprised at how little it takes to be labelled a troll!

I didn't go looking for them.  The page popped up on my feed because one of my friends 'liked' it.   My first comment was just stating facts and I honestly didn't expect any response (perhaps naively so).

Admittedly, my second comment was little aggressive ... in response to their 'righting moral wrongs' comment, and I threw women's rights into the mix because it was a female who made the comment to me.

Anyway, my comments were deleted, I was labelled a troll and the last comment by that same woman stated how thankful she will be when men take back control because of the mess that 'women' in politics have made of this country to date.

blah blah blah blah blah

So I am climbing back into my box and have decided that any comments I want to make regarding such risky subjects, should be made privately to the person intended and not publicly for the world to see.

Today, briefly, I was a public nuisance and a troll.  I will try not to let that happen again!

Nite all.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Carnival of Flowers - by proxy

I was invited to H & R's house this morning to have a look at their photos from the Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba on the weekend.

Their camera is a tiny 'point and shoot', but they were really hoping that I could do something with their photos.  The best I can do is share them with you.

Most of the photos were taken in the harsh midday light ... and worst of all, it was a Nikon camera!!  (chuckling quietly to myself, knowing that I have a couple of Nikon using readers)

So here are a few select photos, with compliments of R & H ...






The lovely R&H



I have seen enough photos on facebook and flickr from this beautiful carnival, that I have put it on my bucket list to attend one year.

Today was a quiet day for me.

Nature has gone into hiding during the school holidays, so there are no birds, lizards, kangaroos or other wildlife to be seen in the area.

I remember, last year, almost putting my camera away during the September holidays because there just was NOTHING to photograph ... except noisy, boisterous kids.

Twelve days and counting down til the end of the school holidays!

Twelve days and counting down til my town gets back to 'normal'!

But who's counting?

Nite all

Monday, September 24, 2012

Storming

Check this out!

4.25pm
4.35pm
This was the first storm which kind of scuttled over the top of us and disappeared out to sea.  The second one came about an hour or more later.  It was loud and heavy and brief.  It made the house shudder and scared the dogs into submission.

I saw my baby today.  They leave town tomorrow for two and a half weeks.  That's a long time - especially when they will be out of the country for most of it.  I already miss them and am worrying about them

Serious learning business on the iphone.
Serious exploring business through the restaurant.
Fun singing/music business on the iphone.
Be safe my baby.  Be safe all three of you.  I love you and I hope that you have fun!!  Come back refreshed and rejuvenated ready for your next big adventure!

Submitted my photo for the 'Spring is in the Air' challenge ...


Now for the Photo5 competition.  Sheesh, it's never ending!

Nite all.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Writer's Block/Foto Funk

Now that all the hype is over and done with for the exhibit, I'm in a foto funk and have writer's block.

I have my Photo5 box laid open on the lounge chair beside me, hoping that it will trigger some kind of inspirational epiphany.

I pedalled around town for two hours this morning hoping that I could find some kind of Spring-like moment to shoot.

Nothing.

No nests.

No flowers.

No baby birds or animals.

No lizards or snakes.

Plenty of Rainbow Bee Eaters, but I used a Bee Eater shot for last month's challenge, so I can't use them again.  It's not like they have a repertoire of spectacular moves.

The roundabouts in The Bay are pretty special at the moment with flowers and manicured shrubbery, but I don't think that I want to risk my life for the sake of a 'boost to the ego' prize!

So I'm stumped.

There are only three days left for the challenge ... I DO do my best work under pressure, but I'm not feeling too confident.

Somebody told me about a flock of swans and their cygnets about twenty minutes from here, so perhaps we can go searching for them tomorrow on the way into town.

Soon, it will be 'desperate situations call for desperate measures'.

Here are my failed Spring shots so far ...






Nite all.