Creativity.....

L5 *created* some vehicles and a museum out of Lego:




My fabulous cousin Shari sent me some pics of my bro and my Poppa in the post, *creating* a smile on my face (I know, I know, pics of pics never work, but I don't know how to use the scanner, so these will do for now. And I accidentally *created* a new look for my Nana when I peeled some of her off.....)





A11 created a flavour sensation in his Blackcurrant-Vanilla-Lemon-Chocolate Milkshake (note the layers in the shake, and the coaster he cut out, sanded and made last week (sitting on the board he cut, glued, routed and oiled last year)):




L10 wearing her newly-finished apron she *created* (note the pocket), and *creating* a letter (after having *created* a HUA of a mess on her bedroom floor):

Girl Guide Bikkie Time Again.....

So it's flogging our wares to the neighbours and friends time again, too. We don't have too many left to sell, actually, and so it's just getting the stalls out of the way and it's over again for another year:


L10 wanted to learn to sew today, so she cut herself out some material to make an apron (she invented the pattern), then she set about threading and pinning and sewing and un-picking and re-sewing and opting for the no-hem-look because it was just too daunting a thought for her:



Happy Birthday Brittany xoxoxo

A Concert.....

A11 and L5 call us into L5's room for a Rock Concert:


While A11 sings into the Tube Of Sound, and beats a rhythm with the flyswat on the lego box and other equipment he has strategically placed around, L5 does some impromptu rapping:


Then it's L5's turn with the Tube of Sound and the Flyswat Drumstick:


Then it's A11's turn again - get the picture?:


A11 also mowed the lawn today, but apparently the catcher is broken, and it's been so long since the weather was amenable to lawnmowing that the clippings are abundant, which means that they are abundantly dragged inside every time someone comes in. GGGRRRRRR:

Self-Imposed Science.....

L10 wants to know if she can make some sort of edible slime, she doesn't know the recipe but she'd like to try to make one up, and then she wants to do an experiment with it. She wants to make it a colour that doesn't reflect the flavour it is, and see if people can guess correctly:


And she does a great job of it - H8 guesses it's peppermint, L5 guesses it's lime, I guess it's green apple and, because everyone's been wrong so far, A11 opts for smelling before tasting (with his eyes closed for both the smell and the taste test, so as not to confuse himself), and comes out the winner when he guesses coconut. The ingredients she used to make her slime were icing sugar, coconut essence, green food colouring and some milk.

Continuing the Science theme, A11 decides to go one better, and after some consultation with Kate's J12 shows us how to make a Raincloud. He is very scientific (read: lazy) in his choice of equipment, he gets the water bottles still left out from breakfast and precariously balances on them the breadboard still left out from breakfast, and then sets the jug to boiling underneath it:


It was collecting on the bottom of the breadboard (that which wasn't escaping over the top, lol! but I wasn't going to interfere) and 'raining' back in to the jug. He also figured out that the jug stopped boiling when the lid was on it, but not when the lid was off it - I explained how it was pretty much that exact same principle he had been expanding on himself, that makes that happen!:


We took a few photos to send to Nana, because I haven't wiped the reminder off my phone, so it keeps sending me messages near the end of the month to remind me to take one and send it to her. It seems like we haven't seen her for ages. A11 thought H8 looked a bit evil in the second photo, and I sorta hafta agree, really:

Sailing.....

The Lad and A11 went sailing with the Scouts today:

New Wall Art.....

So I had a plan and a vision, but the kids weren't really in on the enthusiasm. I made them all sit in front of the washing on the wet lawn for me, while I tried to take some photos of them (I couldn't get auto-focus to work, so I had to try and manual focus them). And, for the record, A11 *still* doesn't want a haircut:





Then I figured, I would crop some of them and turn them black and white:





My next plan, but I couldn't suss it that far on my own, was to split each photo into 9, and print the individual parts onto canvas, then mount them all (36), arrange them all, sort of tile-like, on the wall. I know. My problem is - I'm a Big Ideas Girl. Details and Visualising The Finished Product aren't really my strong points.

Then I figured I should do something similar with the kids' great-grandfathers, all five have passed away and while I was on the black-and-white and canvas-tile-arrangement-on-the-wall kick, I thought I should send the help-call out to the rellies for some photos.

Like I said, I'm a Big Ideas Girl, we'll see if anything *actually* comes of any of these plans.

Heavy Machinery and a Hedgehog.....

The neighbours have got some men in to drill them a well, we'll go down later in the week, when it gets a bit more exciting, to have a proper jack-nohe, but for now, peeking through the trees is as close as we're game to get:


H8 made this Hedgehog at Brownies today - they had to take natural materials from around their homes, and we picked this growth thing off one of the Camellia bushes:



Happy Birthday Jake xoxoxo

Two Weeks in a Row.....

I went to Church, of sorts, tonight, that makes twice in a row. Never mind, we're off to Great Barrier and we're staying at Uncle Darren's the night before, which is next Sunday, and unless I tag along with Dorothy if she heads of to (Catholic) Church, I don't think there's much chance of me and a hat-trick. And it was more Temple than Church.

I attended the Buddhist temple, it was fabulous, very welcoming, very easy to follow the chanting (in whatever language it was), and some great stuff in the literature they gave me when I asked for it:

The Buddhist Path. The Buddha taught a path of spiritual awakening, a way of 'practice' that we can use in our daily lives. This 'Path of Practice' can be divided into three mutually supportive aspects - Virtue, Meditation and Wisdom.

and, The Five Precepts (to be taken along with a commitment to the Three Refuges (Wisdom, Truth and Virtue):

1. To refrain from killing living creatures.
2. To refrain from taking what is not given.
3. To refrain from sexual misconduct.
4. To refrain from harsh and false speech.
5. To refrain from taking intoxicating liquor and drugs.

and, the longest quote I've seen in a while:

Do not rely upon what you have heard proclaimed, or upon custom, or upon rumour, or upon scripture, or inference, or established principles, or clever reasoning, or favouring a pet theory. Do not be convinced by someone else's apparent intelligence, nor out of respect for a teacher.... When you yourself know what is wrong, foolish and unworthy, and what leads to harm and discontent, abandon it.... And when you yourself know what is right, develop it"

So. Be respectful, and improve yourself - because it's the right thing to do, not because someone tells you to.

I like that.

Mudslides, Carnivals, Orzo Salad and a Movie.....

Whoa, what a busy day - the two girls went to Guides Thinking Day celebrations, they had an old-fashioned carnival where there were toffee apples and candyfloss, horse-shoe tosses, coconut shies, sack races and egg and spoon races.

Meanwhile, on the complete other side of the city, A11 had Scouts Mudslide. But, this year, due to venue issues, there was no actual mud, lol! But, there was plenty of water and a great day was had by all.

For dinner, we had Cathy's Famous (and tasty) Orzo Salad - orzo, sundried tomatoes, black olives, goat feta, chopped basil, and parsley, spring onions and a balsamic dressing. I added cherry tomatoes and used mint instead of basil:


Then I so enjoyed the movie last night, that I went agin tonight (to the theatre, not the same movie). Eastern Promises, great movie, great casting, very sexy (strangely enough) goody-baddie guy.

Camera Trouble.....

Maybe I can blame the foggy day for the lack of focus I experienced every time I tried to take some photos today. L10 face-painted as The Lad:


And soccer in the rain with Matt, Petra, Kean, Christopher and our lot:


We had visits from Tracey and Steven and their kids, and from Louise and Christopher, and then Matt and Kean came to pick up Petra, who stayed the night last night.

I went to see the movie Death at a Funeral tonight - laughed my tits off (and that's not a moderate task, lol!). It was Kerry's birthday, and Louise even came and picked me up and dropped me off home afterwards.

Otanewainuku.....

We jumped in the car after swimming this morning, got an ice-cream (with a flake) at McD's, punched our destination into the GPS and then drove. We had a bit of excitement in chatting with a man whose ute was upside down in a ditch (he didn't want any help 'cos his mate was coming), and then we rendezvous'edwith Colleen, Su-an and their kiddos:


Like Kate's D18 on our Mount walk one day, there were some interesting choices in bush-walk footwear - pink jandals through to riding boots:


A11 had the camera for some of the walk and took some quite cool shots, here's a few of them:



We saw a few of these cute Miromiro (North Island Tomtit) on our walk:


Then we hooned off to Colleen's place for lunch and some afternoon excitement. Here's the smoochiest cow that side of the Black Stump:


Some of the terrain on Colleen's "gentle walk" (that's L5):


Leah was the taxi-driver for the afternoon, much to everyone's delight:



L10 decided to have a go on a *real* bike, *by herself*!:


Sometimes, she surprises me, she'll give anything a go:


H8 had a go also:


But she wasn't quite so successful, lol! No harm done, Colleen assures me - to the bike (or H8):


L5 was out of luck, I couldn't bring myself to let him have a *real* blat:


This was H8's preferred method of transport for the trip back:

The Low Down on The Butter.....

Because I'm really slack, and I forgot to keep the till receipts for my little experiment, I went online and got some prices from the Woolworths site, which will do for comparison purposes.

500g Anchor butter is $4.99 (can you believe this is NZ butter in a NZ supermarket?)
500ml Anchor cream is $3.09 (ditto on the cream, and the cheese, and the milk, and the.....)

For some strange reason, I used 250ml cream and got 115g of butter and 190ml of buttermilk.

I can't even begin to imagine what that all equates to, and whether indeed it is cheaper, or even equitable, to just buying it outright. I think this is a project for Kate to pass on to the bulldog for me, I'm sure he can make some sense of it, and she can can remember what my purpose was, lol!:

Hangin' at Home.....

Yep, another one of those ho-hum type of days where I couldn't really be bothered doing anything. I did get changed out of my pyjamas after lunch, though.

L10 made herself some Face morning tea, and they all watched a DVD - Brother Bear. "Do you wanna play "I Spy"?", LOL!!!!:

Imaginary Friends.....

Yep, they're back, and there is much to be built for them (cos The Lad and Mummy *accidentally* biffed the last apartment complex that they owned):


There's bunk beds with mosquito nets, there's surround sound speakers for the plasma TV, there's an indoor playground, secret doors, paintings on the walls, and it's not finished yet:


So while H8 was at Petra's for the day, and before we had to pop out for drama, L10 was kept busy creating for the morning. L5 decided he could cut shapes of the letters of his name out of a cardboard box (but gave up after the L), and A10 watched the episode of Life he had recorded last night.

How Much Fun Can One Purple Onion Bag Provide?.....

L5:



A11:



L10:



H8 was at Brownies, having real fun, you know the planned, organised type? L5 wanted to take some photos of his lego and train tracks and the sign he made for his door - "L's Room, No Girls Allowed" (L10 wrote "allowed' for him). He loves the girls (or anyone) in his room, so I'm not sure where that came from - maybe from one of L10's door signs which says "NO BOYS ALLOWED", along with a myriad of other instructions, commands and statements, I might add - I think it's to stall you at the door long enough that you forget you wanted to go in!:

Of Church and Hammocks.....

While I was at Church (yep, Church) with my Aunty Vick - The Lad was a bit bewildered also: "Vicky? At Church?", more later ;o), the girls were making themselves hammocks out of Nana's old sheets:



We thought we saw a dust storm on the Desert Road, and A11 was trying (unsuccesfully) to take a photo of it to send to Uncle Darren, who had been freaked out by the Water Spout at Kapiti on Friday night, which he watched travel all the way in to shore, then over the top of the car he was travelling in!


Anyway, back to Church (as in the Spiritualist Church of New Zealand), this rather lovely piece struck a bit of a chord with me when a lady shared it as her reading:

On Children
by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

The 100th Birthday.....

Shari turned 40 and Trev turned 60, so we had to have a partay:


And a cake:


And balloons:


And the obligatory round-robin tawle (backgammon) tournament, with calls of (sp?) "Marris" and "Barratita" as games are won and lost:


Water Balloon Fights with the cuzzies:




Wrestle-Tag:



And group shots to remind us in times to come:

Go The 'Canes.....

Well, it's the start of the season, the first game you're bound to have a few nerves and twitches.

Secretly, I'm GUTTED they lost 20-3 to The Waratahs!!!!! If I was a betting lady, I would've lost all my money (that's why I'm not a betting lady - I suck and I lose all my money).

Happy Valentines.....

Not really a day we celebrate in our house, but when L10 made this card, and delivered it to The Lad (via the receptionist) at work with a 3-pack of Peanut Slabs, I thought it deserved some recognition (I'm so cute on the front there, fatter and taller than The Lad, lol! - and check out my long locks of yester-year):


So I made our pudding along a Valentines theme. I couldn't really do a lot to sexy-up the stew, but I could do the coulis in a heart shape in the custard, and A11 pan-roasted some coconut threads, so I sprinkled them on it for good measure:



L10, You're My Valentine, and I Love You xoxoxo

Bella, Bella.....

Yay for us, Bella and the girls came to visit today, which meant the obligatory game of croquet (because we got our new 6 player set this morning - excitement, excitement!), and much fun with The Gals:


The other way you know Bella is visiting is the beautiful music that emanates from our (un-tuned) old walnut piano, for someone who can't read music, she is absolutely entrancing:

Ciabatta.....

So I'm hopeless at Biscotti, without a doubt, but today I discovered I make *fabulous* ciabatta:


It takes a bloody long time though, so I've started the 'sponge' for tomorrow nights loaves tonight. I tell ya, these puppies were nearly all gone not five minutes after they came out of the oven, I was hard pressed to get a gap in the crowd to take this photo before it was all eaten.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Adi Dazza.

Just to remind myself I have some memories of my handsome big brother tucked away in a Word file, I picked out at random one of the quotes I personified him with in a birthday email I sent him today:

“What about if I kiss the dogs arse instead?”
- Darren on facing the prospect of kissing Debbie on the cheek in a drinking game.

Mmmmm.....

L9's been busy, busy, busy quilling:



And my Treat for Today:


A smoothie in a flash glass. The girls, L5 and I went berry foraging, then we chucked a few handfuls in the vitamiser with a frozen banana and some yoghurt, and played ladies and gentlemen while we drank them, complete with very posh extended pinkies ;o)

He's On The Move.....

Go, baby, Go!!!!!

Fine Sweets, Fine Friends and a Fine Party.....

We zapped over to The Tron for Uncle Paul's housewarming party, and because we were there bright and early (read: The Lad whipped us all into shape and onto real people's time), we traipsed out to Candyland for a wee squizz:


The camera ran out of battery, so I couldn't get a photo of me holding the giant 12.5kg block of Cadbury chocolate. Yep. 12.5kg. And only $90 per block - dark, milk or white and even stamped with the Cadbury trademarks. "NO!" said the Lad. Bummer for me.

I did manage to get Matua doing his thang with the lollipop toffee:


Then we stopped in to see some fab friends:


To meet their new puppy:


And Lucky the Calf:


And to have a play and a catch-up:


All helping us to get in the party mood, to help celebrate the housewarming and share some birthday cake:

Today's Little Pleasure.....

Paint A Picture.

So we got out the painting gears:


And some of the fruits of our labour - L5's picture of "Our house with some red sky, like at a sunset":


H8's flower:


And mine and L10's loose interpretations ;o) of a cool photo I took when I was about 13. It is my cousin, probably 3 at the time, walking back to The Park at Christmas from the beach, she is naked with her back to the camera, and she has sand all over her bum and her feet:



Trust me, they look just like the photo!

School's Back.....

And what a glorious morning! L10 took a photo of one of her petunias, they've been such great value, they've just flowered and flowered and flowered:


She went round some of the fruit trees, the last of the lemons and plums:



And the first of the peaches:


Then it was time to get down to some serious schoolwork. So.....


.....we jumped in the car and headed off to meet Kate and The Gang at the beach! Her big boy had his best walking-round-The-Mount-shoes on:


It took us a fabulously long time to get round, because we had to check out the really black, sparkly sand:


And throw driftwood cabers:


And draw giraffes in the sand:


And wander off the track and climb structures:


And wander off the track and scale rocky outcrops:


And hang off the tree roots:


And check out rats in the vegetation:


And get the obligatory 'kids in the cave' photo:


Don't you love it how, for so many years that there is a well-worn path there, the kids of all the generations that have gone before have walked 'above' the actual *track*?:


We finally made it to the *actual* beach, and it was all on:




Kate didn't do her *delicious* bikini any justice on her blog, so here's the close-up shot of the pink-and-white checks and the frills:


And we were thinking 'bout ya, chick!:


When we got home, The Lad and the kids went for a run through the forest. They decided instead to go hunter-gathering for dessert when they came across The Mother Load of berries:

Waitangi Day 2008.....

Well, I figure if Kate can do the sunrise, then so can I ;o)

Actually, we very nearly missed my annual date with The Mount summit, this morning. I remember The Lad asking me at 3.45am what time I had the alarm set for, and I told him 5am. Then, a few minutes later, he says "Aren't you going anymore?" What, he's got alzheimer's now? "Yes, I'm still going. I'll get up when the alarm goes off. AT 5AM!"

"It's 5.32" he says.

WTF!!!??? It is, in fact, 5.32am.

So much for making hot chocolates and warm toast and waking the kids up gently just before we had to leave. I raced around yelling at them to get out of bed, yanking off blankets and blinding them with any light within my reach. I sent a text to the two friends I was supposed to be meeting at Pilot Bay to walk up with telling them we'd see them at the top! We jammed a few muesli bars and apples in a backpack with a drink bottle each, and headed out the door.

Then, I headed back in, realising with some relief why I was still so bleary-eyed, and it had nothing to do with trying to tie my shoelaces and negotiate stairs in the dark simultaneously. It was because I had forgotten my glasses.

Finally, in true Debbie style, we arrived at the service on the summit at 7am. 1/2 an hour late. Go me. The kids didn't mind though, they said they were quite glad because we'd missed the crowds going up, and a lot of the 'boring' bits. I watched the sun try to bid us good morning through heavy eyelids of cloud, and knew just how he felt ;o)




We got there to hear the last half of Bobby's speech:


We had a youngster on the pipes this year:


And we got to see these guys:


Do their final haka:



And had a last photo before we headed home to L5 and The Lad's pancakes with lemon and sugar they made us for breakfast:



My Little Buzz For Today: Watch an old TV series on DVD. I decided on Little House on The Prairie, and I really enjoyed them, actually. I laughed, drew breath in sharply, and shed a wee tear or two as well. Those twins who played Baby Carrie were so cute.

Childhood.....

I love the way children (L5 today) have the ability to watch a movie they've seen loads of times and still belly laugh at the funny bits. The kind of belly laugh that is contagious, that makes you smile and chuckle yourself just hearing it. The kind of belly laugh that bounces off the walls and straight to your face, coming to rest in a little corner of your heart.

Today's Pleasure: Eat Something Nostalgic From Your Childhood.

Now, luckily I read this this morning, so I had a long time to wonder just what it was I might treat myself to.

Jelly Whip? No-one else in my house likes it.

Lemon Meringue Pie? Ditto.

White Christmas? Ditto, again.

Mjadra? I don't even like it.

Izzit? Nope, that really needs to be made by my Grandmother and packed up as we leave for the long drive home, waving to her as she waves the Sign Of The Cross to us.

Mahshi? I already cut my cabbage in half for the coleslaw the other day, so no good (I could have tried with vine leaves, but then that wouldn't have been so nostalgic).

So now I'm down the Lebanese track - pita, falafel, hoummus, baba ghanouj - all things we have regularly.

Then it comes to me! - something I love, the kids love, The Lad' likes and I don't make nearly often enough. Not sure what the Arabic word for it might be, but we call it by the very exotic title of "Mince and Macaroni" - except I didn't use macaroni, I used pasta shells instead. And I served it with bread and salad. But it had all those childhood memories wrapped up in the smell and the taste. The gloriously rich undertones of cinnamon, and sun-ripened tomato, and freshly ground premium beef, onion, garlic, mmmmm, aaahhhhhh ........

It's Wineberry Season Again.....

Yay for wineberries! Janie and her son came for a visit this morning to drop off some books (and have the obligatory game of croquet!), and so the troops disappeared down the forest to pick some morning tea:



I made *another* bad batch of biscotti, I completely suck at making biscotti, and for years and years now I have subjected my family to endless tins of crap biscotti in the search for that elusive success.

I did make a spondooly dinner though (mesclun, pear, camembert and walnut with balsamic viniagrette; pasta, boiled egg, tomato and spring onion with lemon mayonnaise; and lamb loin chops with tomato, red onion, fresh mint and plum jam - sounds not too flash, but was in fact delish). Croquet after dinner (The Lad and I had to go on a team together and we cleaned up - I'm so talented), milo and a bikkie as dessert while we played Uno for bed. I won at that, too (because I'm still up - see?)

Simple Pleasure for Today: Listen to Bob Marley.

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds....."

Simple Pleasures.....

I have been thinking lately about dropping out of the race for the grumpiest-mummy-there-ever-was title. I'm not sure why, but I've found myself a front runner in those stakes over the previous few years. I wondered to myself what might make me a 'happier' person, one who isn't so negative all the time, or finding fault in ideas that people might throw at me, finding the thing that upsets me about the situation, I want to ask "Why not?" in the positive, not the negative.

I want to be more like my friend Clare, who when she sees you, no matter how crap she is feeling, her whole face lights up, I love the way she makes you feel special because you dropped your son at drama class at the same time she did (well, no I was probably much later than her, because I also love the fact that she's always punctual and relaxed, and drop-dead gorgeous).

I want to be more like my friend Kate, who has that ability to share the love genuinely with anyone and everyone, she'll give you a hug and she'll mean it, and you'll know it, and you don't even have to have been birthed by her. I sometimes struggle to hug with feeling even to those I birthed (well, 'birthed' may be stretching it a bit, seeing as how I had four caesareans). And she's drop-dead gorgeous.

I want to be more like my friend Nush, who can be painting the house (whilst looking drop-dead gorgeous), have a trillion visitors all summer and still make room for your son when you have a wedding to go to and he's asked if I could see if he can stay there for the night. She does things like take photos of them having a ball in the swimming pool at 10pm, and emails them to you so that when you get home from the wedding (where your phone went flat from being stuck in your handbag, wedged between the Carefree, the tissues and your Guess purse you got for Christmas, and trying to get a signal for hours on end - so then you wonder if anyone has been trying to contact you because your four kiddos are at four different houses and in four different directions from where you are sat on the Halo Deck at the Sebel Trinity Wharf, sipping expensive bubbles (I know it was expensive, because a) I don't often drink, b) I can't like wine, c) the more expensive the wine, the more I can't seem to like it, and d) I got the heel of my shoe stuck in a crack in the step and I wasn't co-ordinated enough to un-stick my shoe gracefully and unobtrusively and soberishly. I was, however, co-ordinated enough to sing along at the top of my voice with "John, from Te Puna" - that's all anybody could help me with when I asked who the band was?! Admittedly, he knew more words than I, but being the trouper that I am, I didn't let that stop me ;o). Anyway, I digress (amazing, I know) .....so that when you get home from the wedding and check your emails, you get to smile at your big, goofy son having a whale of a time, and you wish that you were a fun and caring and cool Mum like Nush.

And I wish I was more like my friend Hay, who actually *reads* books by John Holt, instead of just getting them out of the library, then renewing them because I never got round to even reading the blurb on the back cover. Even after renewing them, I return them when *that* extended period of grace runs out and I am still yet to read further than the title. Not only does my frriend Hay read these books, but she walks the walk. She has the balls to trust her children and their autonomy, and she has the balls to trust herself trusting her children. And she lives in Welly-land. And she is drop dead gorgeous, and she has new glasses. I wish I had new glasses.

And I wish I was more like my friend Cally, who writes great poetry, makes hand-bound books, plays the marimba, dances ceroc and attends Womad. And she is drop dead gorgeous. I would love to be that expressive of myself, to have the skills to create my own little piece of special in the world.

And what about my friend Louise, who is drop dead gorgeous and *early* to everything! The only times I've ever been early for anything is when people tell me that things start 1/2 an hour earlier than they actually do (even then, I'm 20 minutes late! Which makes me 10 minutes early by everyone else's standards).

And, my point is, that I had been thinking and pondering and assessing and pyscho-analysing why it was, perhaps, that they were everything I dreamed I could be. Maybe that's why they are in my life, so that I can learn from them. So I figured I might write myself a little (well, it started out little) list of simple pleasures, and choose one at random to do when I remember.

You know what? Today's Simple Pleasure was "Read some poetry".

So I check out Kate's blog, and she has a poem! And I check out Cally's blog, and she has a plethora of poems! Of course, Hay's blog never lets me down.

So I had a wee browse on the interweb ;o) and I got strangely engrossed in this blokes poetry, go figure - a gay, heartbroken man was speaking to me this night?

I realised why, when I read and read and read and came across this one and actually laughed out loud! His "notes" at the bottom read: "I think we all have friends and acquaintances with certain skills... We look at them and ask, "How do they do that?". For me I sometimes feel a deep lack in certain very basic social skills. This poem is a mini-inventory of abilities I crave."

A Simple Pleasure bringing me a Simple Revelation. And my friends rock.

Date With Dad.....

The Lad and L5 went on a date today, they headed off to the trains at Memorial Park:



Then to the Classic Flyers Museum, there's something about boys and machines that move you places!: