(*) My brothers' in Cairns

I go a quick call from my only brother all the way up in Cairns earlier tonight. He's moved up a few weeks ahead of 'C' to get things ready in their brand-new house. he said it's been pretty hot up there... and when he needs to, he said he just jumps in their pool for a few minutes! What a tough life! heh heh. Nah, he sounds well, happy and excited it's all happening and becoming a bit more of a reality for them, I guess. 'C' should move up in a few more weeks. It looks as tho soeone has finally bought their Blue Mountains house at last! So, thankfully, it *has* all worked out well for them in the end! Yay!

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Postscript...
Caroline asked how far is it between us now? Well, to drive betwen here and Cairns in Far North Queensland, it's only a short trip just 'up the road'.... 3,000 km / 1,865 miles! Gagh! Driving is more-or-less out of the option! Flying is tho... maybe once or twice a year.

(*) Grab one last packet

It's still busy in town this morning, even a week after Xmas - it was chaOTIC then! I tried to stay clear, but failed miserably... I forgot one of the boys little prezzies at the last minute! The big major prezzies I had for months already! Gagh! My brother and his wonderful wife paid me an excellent visit on Xmas Eve - we went out to a beaut Bakery Coffee Shop for lunch, sitting in the shade on an old wooden verandah. Lovely. Always good to hang out with them... my brother and I are so comfortable with each other now we can prattle on for hours non-stop without getting bored! heh heh They showed me piccies of their new place up in Cairns, Far North Queensland (he's moving up himself this week, just to get things ready). The place looks awesome! I saw a version of it when they were 'house shopping' back in May when we went up for 10 days, but I think this one is even better! Wow, a brand NEW house! Sen-sation-al! Three blocks from the beach and all... what a tough life! Plus he landed a job straight off no problems at all (the joys of nursing). Good luck to 'em tho. I *am* really happy for them tho, even tho I'ma gona miss them like crazy.

Today I paid mah rent, some money for the boys' holiday away with their Nan (yay!), picked up a new name sticker for mah new boat, "Wyreema II" (and not "Gherkin" as Geoff suggested! rofl), and finally got those old beach trolley dolly-trailer tyres replaces (pic 'em up tomorrow, hopefully...). Even fishie got some new food... I mix his feed around now and again to give him a change etc. he eats anything I give him... thankfully the change in diet doesn't seem to faze him at all. He wasn't too fussed with his new sea shells in the bottom of his tank that I got him for Xmas either - ungrateful git! rofl. I also managed to find some spare fuses for mah cat too... naturally, they weren't the *regular* ones, so I had to hunt around just a little bit... managed to grab one last packet left in one place! D'oh! I blew my indicator lights fuse towing the boat on the way to sailing last Saturday... thankfully that's all it was. But one side-affect is that, because I replaced one fuse with another etc, I somehow managed to disconnect the CD player/radio. Now it won't play without putting in the right security code... the problem being that I *have* put in the right security code, but it still refuses to co-perate with me! Norty thing. Not a biggie tho... it's not as tho I wont survive a few days until I get someone to figure out how to get thru the code of mah CD-player at the car retailer! heh heh.

Hosting the Sailing Club's webpage has been lots of fun. Lately we've received some old photos from people who used to sail there back in the 1980's and 1990's. That's really great how a simple thing like a website can keep like-minded people together like this. Yay! There's even a hilarious 'alternative' photo someone took when one of our loyal members, Timothy Hone, was receiving a Maritime Medal (for his contribution to sailing, especially with the disabled) a few days before Xmas... gotta love the internet! I'll post them later this evening, when I finish fiddling and adding them to the webpage etc.

And yeah, now I've got a different type of boat, I've gotta figure out how to sail it properly! I managed to pick up a brand new book on sailing that class of boat (a 'Laser') for just cost price down in Melbourne, and lately I've been cramming as much as I can into my brain, trying to remember some tips and hints on sailing it more efficiently. I've just gotta get out there and practise practise practise! Too bad there's not enough water at Carcoar to do that at the moment... bugger! :( Ya, I can read and read, but it's not until I actually start *doing* it all out on the water that it's gonna make any difference, in reality. Like I said yesterday (?), sure, it's still 'sailing', but it's like the difference between a car with manual and automatic transmission... same result, just different ways to achieve that. Anyways.... I'm really looking forward to it. There's a whole weekend regatta in 2 weeks' time nearby, so I'll sail my butt off then, and come home in an exhausted heap, I'm sure of it!

Mah flowers are growing again, like wonderfully! Isn't it amazing what a few drops of water every day can do, hmmmm...? rofl

Glad the weather's been good for 13-yo JD working out in the cauliflower paddocks over the last 2 weeks... well, he's seemed to have missed the major rainstorms of the last few days anyways. Now, if only it would keep raining... gotta break this drought and fill the dams up again... for the sailors... oh, and for the farmers and stock, of course [cough cough] lol.

And, oh yeah... there *ARE* new photos on the way... just gotta get around to editing and uploading 'em...

(*) Thursday Thoughts

SJ and IX had their School Presentation Night and Xmas Play last night. The play was fun - but bizarre! Like "A Bug's Life" Xmas! rofl The best bit was the crickets - playing cricket dressed in cricket whites! hahahahaa. Oh, and of course - 'The Beetles' performed as well! heh heh

Speaking for cricket... the 3rd Ashes Cricket Test starts today... I think we'll win the series somehow... oh YA!

My brother sent me their new Cairns address the other day... I'm really excited for them, but also it's like... it's really happening! Gagh!

I was amazed to realize that I've had a fishie for three years already! Thoon IV is going wonderfully well, cheeky as ever.

And our water is dropping rapidly! Already our sailing dam is at 14%! Whenever we get a bit of rain [the occasional storm or short shower], it just gets sucked straight into the ground with little or no runoff... bugger! Last weekend I hit a submerged tree [in an Access dinghy] at what I thought was the deeper, clearer part of the dam, but looks like I wont be taking my little Wyreema out again there - until we get some rise in levels. Thankfully the trailer is 100% right to go... Ben Chifley Dam, Wang and Windamere, here we come!

The 'task' I've set myself over the Xmas break is to organize 35 years' worth of sailing club paperwork... old minutes, regatta stuff, correspondance etc etc etc... it should prove 'challenging' [to say the least!] Oh well, once it's all done and organized [I actually enjoy doing that kinda thing! Gagh!] - it's done! THEN it can go back happily in the filing cabinet at the clubhouse.

(*) Funeral

My poor cousin's funeral went really positively this afternoon... she had a small but tight network of friends, most of whom were able to make it. There was a lot of grief expressed... most realise (as do we) that she took her own life, so there was a sense of unnecessary loss. Her partner bade her farewell in a very special way - just the way he stood before her weeping... not something you would have expected a big, burly, tough guy in a leather jacket to do - but it expressed for all of us what we were feeling. Afterwards he simply said, "Bugger" - and for me, that summed up our sense of the whole thing. My brother gave an amazing eulogy [this was his fourth in about 6 years... he quipped he's getting the hang of them by now! lol] - and he spoke really well. What he wrote was at times funny, sad, moving, realistic, but a heartfelt, sincere tribute to our cousin. For me it was still a bit 'raw' and too close to home in some ways... it just made me think of my own mum's funeral just over one year ago... not in a negative way, but feeling that revisited sense of grief again, even tho I know that I have coped really well physically and emotionally with my own mums' passing. My dad's passing, over 10 years' ago, well... that's a whole different matter... ya, to be honest, I don't think I really got over his removal from out of my life... funny how these things bring out the stark reality of these things sometimes, huh? No, I'm fine with it all. It was a good, positive day.

My brother and I had a great time hanging out together - as we always seem to do, swapping stories and just catching up on things that affect our lives. It's so wonderful just having the freedom to be able to do that again... for so many years we felt so totally opposites of one-another and never knew what to say to each other. So for us to be able to hang out for a few hours,under such an intense situation as a family funeral, goes to show how close we are nowadays. Ya - it's excellent!

The funeral was held at Rookwood Crematorium (Sydney), and the adjoining cemetery is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere! It's freaking *huge*!!! Some of it is really modernm sleek etc etc, while other parts have these amazing gravestones and plots and structures that look like something out of a scary movie! Tell ya what - I wouldn't enjoy hanging around there at night! lol We saw four graveside funerals taking place at the same time, let alone the 12 cremations over the day... perhaps it was a slow day? lol. An amazing place... I've always found cemeteries to be fascinating places - not in a ghoulish way, just in the social history aspect of it all... and some of the mausoleums are just plain staggering! lol

My brother and I finished off the day sharing a Chinese meal, trying to doge a pouring rainstorm that crept up over the mountains and just dumped bucket-loads of water all over us! heh heh. At least the car got a good rinse... aww god... I'd almost forgotten what rain felt like...

Random thought... I'm currently listening to a CD of Santana's first album (1969) - funky latin jazz rock! Nam nam!

I'm looking forward to these next few days down at Tuross Head visiting the guy who used to play guitar in one of the bands I used to play in, about 563 years' ago... should be fun just hanging out with him again. It'll be nice having 'no agenda' apart from just enjoying each others' company again... I haven't seen him in over 7-ish years! wow... but thanx to email we've been able to keep in touch... look out Ajax! lol

And yes, I'm sitting on the edge of the guest bed in my brother's house writing this on my laptop! [giggles]... it's still an outrageous novelty for me [blushes]

Cyalayta

Mal :o)

(*) Plainly bizarre

I must confess - there are just some things I will not share about myself on this blog. Yes, I know, I have poured out a good measure of my joys and angst thru this thing over the past 18 months, but there are just some things I just cannot bring myself to talk about in a public forum such as this. So - I apologise. Anyway - it's my blog, so, nuts to you! hahahaa!

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The boys have the school presentation night tonight, which I'm looking forward to... mind you, their mum started our hour-long dialogue last week by 'telling me' that I should not go 'for the boys' sake'... well, I told her that I WILL be going 'for the boys' sake'! She later backed down and said she shouldn't keep saying things like that to me. Anyway, tonight will be a relaxed fun night. JD's last year in Primary School, so he'll get some sort of special award. Gasp! I cannot believe he'll be going to High School next year! What happened to my little baby boy?!? Mishtah booy is all growing up! Boo hoo! hahahaa.

My brother has not only invited me to their place for Xmas Day, but we're planning to have 2 or 3 days together in Sydney as well! Just getting a cheap motel and do a bit of sightseeing, and just hang out together. I'm really looking forward to that too. I'll actually *have* a Xmas this year, by the sounds of it. Plus he's still talking about taking me away on some cruise or rather to Fiji or something next year! Holy shite! lol

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Sailing was a bit of a fizzer this week... at one point the lakes' surface resembled glass from lack of wind! Luckily I was about 100 meters offshore when that happened, but one poor bloke had to paddle about 1km back! Mind you, the first time I get to use the paddle on my boat - snap! Right at the handle! Useless! The handful of ppl on shore could hear me laffing my head off - it was very funny! On the very first stroke - snap! hahahaaa. Luckily I was pretty close in and was able to get myself in without much trouble.

But the magical part of the day was in mid-afternoon, while we were waiting for the wind to do something - anything! - about six of us jumped into the tinnie (aluminum speedboat used as a starting/safety boat) and anchored in the middle of the lake. All wearing our lifejackets (for the heck of it), we all went swimming in the middle of the lake! Now, in all my 41 years I've never done that before! The water and weather was awesome - just floating about and splashing about like twits - a really special time. I had an absolute ball. Needless to say, sailing is my big chance to just relax and feel as close as I can get to the elements at the moment. I love it, I really do.

The funny thing was - one of the guys and I went out to the lake last Tuesday to go for a sail, but we ended up doing a bit of work about the place, as - the wind was way too strong to even go out! hahahaaa!

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Save a tree this Xmas season - don't burn logs in your fire - use old rubber tyres instead...

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This has got to be my favourite, if somewhat slightly warped, song lyric of the week! I first heard this 1969 album by The Who way back in 1980, and altho I have the CD nowdays I don't play it all that much (it's a special one to me). However, driving out to sailing on Sunday, I remembered the whole lyrics to this song - just a total random thought on my part. Needless to say, I was pissing myself laughing as I was driving along a quiet country road! (I think I needed the stress relief in just laughing out loud, methinks!!!) Mind you, some of these lyrics are just so plainly *bizarre*! I still can't believe something so plainly cruel and awful would even get released as a commercial 'pop' song! hahahaaaa!

We're on our own, cousin, all alone, cousin.

Let's think of a game to play now the grown-ups have all gone away

You won't be much fun being blind, deaf and dumb,

But I've got no-one to play with today.

Do you know how to play hide-and-seek?

To find me will take you a week.

But tied to that chair, you won't go anywhere;

There's a lot I can do with a freak.

How would you feel if I turned on the bath, ducked your head under and started to laugh?

What would you do if I shut you outside, to stand in the rain and catch cold so you died?

I'm the school bully, the classroom cheat

The nastiest playfriend you ever could meet

I'll stick pins in your fingers and tread on your feet... (P.S. That line had me howling with laughter - it's just SO bizarre!)

Cousin Kevin (c) John Entwistle/The Who 1969

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On This Day...
Born: Charlie Rich, 1932.
Died: Dianah Washington, 1963.
Events: Mick Taylor leaves the Rolling Stones, 1974.
Useless Trivia: Is black the absence of all colour and white the presence of all colour?
My Soundtrack: 'Tommy' The Who
Footwear: bare butt nekkid
Weather: gloriously sunny with light winds

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

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(*) Xmas is rushing towards us too fast!

This Xmas will be my first in 4 years that I won't spend the day alone! wOOt! My brother and his missus have so very kindly invited me to stay for the night at their place, up on the Blue Mountains. That's just soooooo brilliant for me! My dearest sister-in-law - who I really love and I really *do* like and think is the greatest ever (really!!!) realised a few months' ago that my ex has fed her a whole lot of bs about me... my s-i-l was feeling awkward about me, but just recently realised that there was no evidence to back up what she'd been told about me! Isn't that cool? My s-i-l realised that the boys' mum has been spinning her a whole lot of fibbies out of her feelings of sheer guilt about how she's treated me over the past few years! So now it's cool for my bro his wife and I to just hang out together again, like we used to. I'm really looking forward to this Xmas - the first time in like 4 years!

The last few Xmas days have not been good ones... the first one I saw the boys open their presents at home then was promtly kicked out, then went to the place I was staying at and got excessively drunk and slept all afternoon!... I can't remember the second one off the top of my head... the third one I slept (again)... last year wasn't so bad, as my housemate and I spent the day just hanging out at home... I rarely get to see the boys on the actual day, but that's just the way it is. This year'll be different tho, finger's crossed.

Got SJ and Ix's birthdays to celebrate this month before then, tho! SJ turns 9 and Ix turns 7! Ack! Too fast! Too fast! They had their school photos taken yesterday... I've got last years' pics on the desk right in front of me right now, smiling away at me :)

Right now I'm enjoying some old memories listening to Men At Work's 'Contraband' CD... ahh, the early 80's in Aussie pop music, eh? lol Aussie Crawl, Men at Work etc etc! I never got to see MAW play, but I sure did see Chisel, Crawl, Angels Oils etc all play live back in those heady smoky-pub days.

(*) Happiness is a warm gummy bear

Life remains great for me. Happiness is not something I've been so used to over the last four years! hahahahaa. No, seriously... things at work are positive I'm finding it easy to get back into a 'normal routine' and the work isn't hard, altho a bit of heavy lifting is making me use some muscles that haven't been used much lately. As a result of the physical activity 5 days a week, my emotional state is a whole lot better... sleeping well, eating OK, all of that. It's a nice place to be.

My brother came over for a visit for a few hours yesterday, and we just hung out together - really really positive. It's good we're at a point where we don't have to talk about M and all of that anymore, because, well, basically - it's all in the past now, isn't it? He and his wife are quite jack of the shite the boys' mum has been flinging in my direction over this year, so they're quite happy to just ignore all of that now. Me too - I'm jack of it too, and it doesn't affect me so much as it used to anymore, thank gawd. Boys ae going well, but getting to see them as ofetn as I'd like to is a bit of a hurdle at the moment. Hmmm...

There was supposed to be a sailing club meeting today - but only 2 other people showed up! Damn! The wind was great too (despite a bit of light rain) - I was keen to go out for a sail too! But - not today [sigh!] Not to worry.

Working with people with a disability is funny sometimes. One bloke who came out with me as a helper on my van run on Friday is quite physically handicapped, but has a great cheeky sense of humour all the same. While he's quite hard to understand sometimes, as I was walking out of a hotel back to the van I heard him say out loud, clear as a bell, "Get the lead out!" hahahaaa. Pretty funny. It's a nice gang of people to be working with too - they're all quite crazy, so I quite naturally fit straight in.

Thanx for all your lovely comments too - I really appreciate you taking time to stop by. Thank you!

(*) Sailing - wOOt!

What a great weekend! Sat saw me towing my little boat and getting it ready for the season, practising rigging it and checking every detail, rope, knot and connection in glorious warm sunshine. Yesterday saw me actually 'christen' my little 'Wyreema' and I went out for about a 90-minute sail in moderate winds - wOOt! Amazingly easy little sailing dinghy to rig and sail too... I had an absolute ball. I'm feeling pretty weary today tho... using muscles i'd forgotten I had tho... hahahaa. But well worth it. Someone took some photos of me while I was out on the water... I'll post them when I download them off my camera - some look really great! A really great day all round.

My brother got home fine from his holiday up in Cairns yesterday, and they'll be coming out to visit me in a week or two. Not next weekend tho... it's the 'Great Race' here, and everything and everyone goes slightly potty while it's on... plus I'll be sailing again next Sunday too! hahahaa. Gotta get as much practise as I can... yeah, it's like riding a bike - I hadn't forgotten, but the skill level was pretty low! hahahaa! At least i didn't capsize... but the club scretary capsized his boat instead! hahahaa.

Good win by the West Tigers last night oo... go the Tigers.