(*) And the winner is

It's been a nice week. Ya! It has. Retail therapy helps sometimes... plus I've spent some great time with the boys, which always helps this tired ol' soul.

I went out to help with the Sailability team at Carcoar Dam on Sunday (www.sailability.org)... ended up taking three different people out for a sail... while the weather was gloriously sunny, the wind was rather icy! Lots of jumpers etc under the lifejacket keeps ya warm, but there's only *so* much you can do for bare hands exposed to spray and wind... gagh! Not to worry... I had a ball. There's probably only one more sail this season before it just gets TOO cold... hopefully next week.

I'm not exactly sure what prompted me, but I attended my first ANZAC Sunset Service at the local War Cemetery on Tuesday. And yes, for whatever reason, I got teary during the playing of 'The Last Post' [I'm still trying to figure out all the underlaying emotions of the whole experience! heh he] Anyways - it was short, sweet and positive.

I spent hours with the boys yesterday. We went to one of those Lazer shooting range thingys - and we had an absolute ball! Loved it! Tell ya what - talk about *tiring*! Ya just gotta keep moving or you get shot! 7-yo Ix won the last game - much to JD's jealously! heh heh.

I had my first musical 'Jam' (playing with another muso) in absolutely years on Wednesday night... playing bass [and guitar] is like riding a bike [for me] - you don't forget. My new 5-string MusicMan bass sounds like a million dollars thru my stage rig [amp and speakers etc], much to my delighted pleasure!!! The actual jam wasn't that spectacular, but it was good to hang out and have a play all the same. The other day saw me grab myself a little piano/keyboard for myself (I *used* to own this stuff, but it all got passed on over the years...), a small mixer for musical instruments, a brilliant drum machine too - all work well... now I can sit in my room with just two tiny little black boxes practising my bass without making a noise - thanx to headphones... oh yea... the new bed matress feels just wonderful!!! Yay!

The end.

On This Day...
Died: Mussolini, 1945.
Events: Mutiny on the 'Bounty', 1789.
Useless Trivia: Nicky Bove ate 124 Moroccan snails in 15 minutes on April 1st 1974.
My Soundtrack: Stevie Wonder "Inner Visions" [1971].
Footwear: bare butt nekkid!!!
Weather: gloriously sunny yet cool.

Cyalayta
Mallard d'Quackers :o)
"Excuse me, which way is the stage?" (Audience member, lost at Altamont, 1969)

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(*) Eisteddford

It’s Eisteddford Time again! It’s when all the young people from the region get a chance to air their talents in a strict competition in front of an audience on the local Entertainment Centre stage. Today the boy’s school choir sang their two numbers - very well, I may add! It’s very cute, as it’s a small school, so there’s the whole size range from JD in Year 6 looking about 7 feet tall to the kinders who look about 2 feet tall!

BUT - the highlight of the day - something I won’t easily forget - happened earlier in the schools’ choir session. Half way thru it’s second song, one boy in the back row from another local school decided a projectile vomit would be a good thing to do all over his fellow choir members (nerves? bad food? who knows?!) He bolted for the side of the stage, poor kid! But - the two girls standing in front of him copped all of it, but despite that the whole group soldiered on like troopers and just kept going without batting an eyelid. The girl in the front row just kept singing, despite huge tears rolling down her left cheek - I mean, it was all in her hair! Every heart of every parent in the audience went out to this girl, who just kept going, despite obviously feeling absolutely horrible! As soon as the item had finished, the teacher/choir mistress gave her a big hug and led her off - to a very loud round of applause for their combined mighty effort in keeping going despite the huge distraction! The girl who’d been standing next to her had been standing with her left arm kinda sticking out a bit from her side as she sang - she, too, didn’t stop or waver in the least. It wasn’t until she had to turn to exit the stage that it was obvious that all down her side was the evidence of her obvious discomfort! Eewww! Yeah, our combined hearts went out to those kids today. I’m sure they’d get a high commendation award or something for just keeping going strongly thru all of that unrehearsed disaster! A very memorable choir session at the Eisteddford!!!

When a stagehand came armed with mop and bucket soon afterwards, he received a rousing cheer for his fine command performance! It was very funny and bizarre to hear peals of laughter at such a serious competition - but it helped break the ice for the next school choir who had to front on the same stage, the floor still damp from the mopping...

The boys went really really well - their music teacher led them so well and they respond so well to her. They looked as tho they were having a lot of fun… I mean, they’re old hands at this sorta thing now… I think this was their third year! Lol.

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The boy's mum occasionally acts like a nice person (just kidding... no, I mean... oh fark... forget it! lol)... she's given my brother and I copies of two really nice enlarged glossy photos of my late mum taken with the boys, about 6 months before she passed away, when she was looking quite good. That's really nice, hey? They're getting framed tomorrow. If my scanner (or the port, I think...) was working properly, I'd scan a copy and post one here, but...!

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- oh my gawd! They're at it again...!!!

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On This Day...
Born: Guy Sebastian (singer, 1981), Bob Hoskins (actor, 1942); Leon Trotsky (revolutionary, 1879).
Died: Pablo Picasso 1975.
Events: Beatles invested with their MBE's, 1965.
Useless Trivia: Red for port, green for starboard!
My Soundtrack: "Ampology" CD by the Hoodoo Gurus
Footwear: bare butt nekkid
Weather: gloriously sunny but strong winds

Cyalayta
Mallard d'Quackers :o)
"Excuse me, which way is the stage?" (Audience member, lost at Altamont, 1969)

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Kelso High School Fire

The after affects of a fire which totally devestated one of our two major public High Schools here goes on... after two weeks authorities are no closer in discovering the cause of the multi-million dollar blaze, which may have been caused by an electrical fault (latest reports indicate). The original story's here as is my blog post.

The whole town community is rallying together behind the kids and staff of this big school - they lost practically everything.

The boys mum, who went to the school herself, showed me thru it when I first came out here about 12+ years' ago - it was a big big school - now there's nothing left.

Kids are being accomodated in different schools and venues across town, while there's a mad rush to try and build at least some demountable buildings on the school oval in time for the start of term 4. In terms of rural community spirit, it's awesome to see how things are coming together, but it's still a big loss for the local area.

(*) Local High School burns down!

Kelso High School, one of our two large local public high schools burnt down last night! It's a tradgedy for our small city. It must have been a major fire, as it was a LARGE school. Luckily no-one was hurt, but it took the fireys 6 hours to get it under control!!! Gesus...

(*) Norm still around

You might remember I've been visiting an elderly chap 'Norm' in one of the local nursing homes about once a week, just to keep him company and help him have another friend while he's slowly disappearing into his dementia. I've caught up with him twice this week - just quick 10-minute visits. Tuesday was the first time I'd seen him really 'bad' and muddled/disoriented in the past few weeks since we've been getting to know each other. It was a little disturbing at first, but I just took it as it comes. It's nothing personal, it's just how the disease progresses - good one day, not so the next. Then 2 days' later, he was the same ol' Norm I'd been hanging out with for the past few weeks. Funny how it works like that... actually, the local library have a large collection of books and videos about caring and dealing with people going thru dementia, so they'll be getting some closer attention as the months' progress. Healthwise, he seems quite strong, which is sad sometimes, as his memory is so fragmented at times. There are other people living in the wing with him that are in much much poorer condition, both health and understanding-wise. I don't know how he copes in there, but he seems happy enough. He seems to be the youngest of the people in his immediate area (he's only in his late 60's), but he's not mentally alert enough to be left alone for too long, poor bloke. He's a nice bloke too. I'm still enjoying visiting him tho, as sad as it feels somedays. Not to worry.

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See? I TOLD you not to sit so CLOSE to the computer!!!