Our Happy Little Vegemites

A little note from my Dad...... We all stand on the hands of the clock face of time. At first, when we are young the hands moved slowly, then as the dramas of our lives unfolded, the hands of time seem to speed up and there never seemed to be enough time to do all of the things that living a life requires in this crazy world. Every now and then we took a moment to reflect on the things that have happened in our own little world, we watched as our children grew from babies to adulthood, and we wondered where the time had gone, and this is the place that I find myself in now. The doorway has opened to the autumn of my life. I look back through weary eyes, and I reflect on the things that were, those that I knew, and those whose lives were never fulfilled. I am at the final fork on the road of my life and I wonder as to where it shall lead me. I recently wrote a book about my journey through life. It starts out with me as a child in an orphanage in the 19...

 Not only is Little Miss Penelope 6 and a half months old, it's already almost February!!! School goes back on Monday and while I am glad cause summer holidays are long, these ones have not left me anywhere near as frazzled as they normally do. I think it's because I've been just so busy! Along with all the other stuff that happens around here, we've been painting the kitchen. Our amazing landlords have yet to say no to anything we've asked of them. They installed a new aerial for us, let us put a ginormous wall mount up for the tv, had pest control people around even though I don't think we've had any pests! They installed a new garage door, send the lawnmower man around every three weeks to do the lawns, sent handymen around to replace the clothes line, fix electrical outlets, change and fix taps, they re-tiled part of the bathroom and repainted after it leaked at the very start of our tenancy and probably more stuff that I'm forgetting. In shor...

It's been a little while since I posted on here so to make up for it you get to see Penelope in action! I'll have a few videos of the Little Miss later in the post so you can see her giggle and play. So on to what's been happening around here the last week or so: well.....last night was a momentous occasion! Or should I say this morning? Little Miss Penelope slept all night for the very first time!!! Yep, that's right. I got a full 7 hours sleep in a row for the first time in over 6 months! I did wake around 5:30am and peered over into her cot from my bed. I could see her starting to stir a little so I closed my eyes and went back to blissful slumber and the next thing I knew it was 6:30am and she was happily talking to herself, wide awake and smiling. She was happy to have big cuddles with her brother when he got up. It was very exciting, so excuse me while I relish in the moment of what a full nights' sleep actually feels like! The Eldest One has ta...

I need to talk about an issue that is bothering me in a big way. I feel....I'm not sure how to describe it. I feel upset, I feel angry and I feel cynical. Not for myself, because I had a better upbringing and childhood than I could ever have asked for. But for my Father, and for the hundreds of thousands of other people who suffered abuse, mental physical and sexual, at the hands of the people who were paid to 'care' for them. I'm sorry that this post won't be my usual fun and lighthearted one; but as the title says, my sense of injustice in the world is burning me so hard that it hurts right now. And I don't know what to do about that. So I'm doing the only thing I can do which is to share this story and hopefully raise some awareness of this issue. My Dad has written a book, which I know some of you already know about. It tells his story; of a 'childhood' spent in institutions, a 'childhood' that was absolutely robbed from him. In h...

Yes...I am basically reposting my post from my art site . But I want to get this out there to as many people as possible. So you'll just have to bear with me on this one! I want to tell you about a book you just have to read. Honestly, this story will change your life. Well...it will make you feel a big range of emotions and that's pretty great for a book. Nothing like reading something that makes you cry and laugh and makes you want to turn the next page just to see what happens next. You know the kind of story I mean... one that you just can't put down, you just have to keep reading no matter how late it is and how tired you are because you just want to see where it goes. This is that kind of story. The title of the book is A Long Way To Goulacullin and it's a true story. Not based on a true story, but an actual for reals 100% honest true tale. I know this because I know the author. He is an amazing person who I respect, admire and love. The author...