Categories
family anecdotes

8/52 On sadness…

Hubby and I have had dogs for many years now. Late last year, we lost our beautiful Aksel, our 14 year old German Shepherd. Like most shepherds, it was his back hips.

Last Sunday, we lost Rocky, our 14 year old Australian Cattle dog. He had cancer šŸ™

Meaning we have one dog left, our kelpie puppy Kiya.

It’s been a hard week on all of us…

See you next week, dear Reader. I hope it’s a good one for you!

  • KRidwyn

 

 

Categories
family anecdotes teaching Work

3/52 Final day before the chaos

Yes, that’s right. The 2024 school year starts back tomorrow. It’s been a wonderful holiday… not the least of it due to family gaming time.

Decades ago now, Hubby was an addicted gamer, to the extent that I was a ‘computer widow’. Since I couldn’t beat him, I joined him, and once multiplayer games became a thing (yes, I did mention ‘decades’, didn’t I) we had some pretty amazing sessions, some of which bordered on the truly epic.

Fast forward to sometime in 2021, I introduced our son to Caesar II and the Age of Empires franchise. Fast forward again to the 2023 / 2024 summer holidays: we had our own Mum-Dad-two-teenagers slaughterfest on AoEIV (Anniversary Edition) where it was me getting slaughtered, Hubby barely hanging on, and our daughter (who’d only just started playing two days earlier) just narrowly being beaten by our reigning champion son. Hours and hours and hours of fun was had! And humbling experiences too, I must admit, for me, as well as Hubby…

Seeing my little computer villagers building castles got me inspired to also spend some time re-reading one of my favourite trilogies: The Heaven Tree series, written by Edith Pargeter (who also wrote as Ellis Peters, of the Bather Cadfael series). The protagonist is a master mason who dedicates his life (literally… he gets killed as soon as its done) to building of a castle on the English border with Wales. It’s a magnificent story, and the writing style is sublime šŸ™‚

And then, to bring it all ‘into the real world’ as it were, this showed up in my Facebook feed:

What a simply stunning piece of architecture! Isn’t it inspiring that someone had the courage to design such magnificence – let alone the bravery of the people who built it (and maybe even, who lived there!)

Anyway, I just wanted to share these thoughts with you, some reflection time, just prior to heading into the chaos of this school year.

Happy first week back of school, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
Blogging challenges family anecdotes Writing

1/52 Memories, from Melbourne, with hope

And so it begins; my first blogpost of the New Year. And Iā€™m in Melbourne, which apparently used to be called Batmania prior to being renamed back in 1837.

(And no, although itā€™s amusing to think of a black-winged crime fighter controlling the convicts in this area of Down Under, apparently it was named after John Batman, a leading member of the Port Philip Association and the person who negotiated a treaty with the Aboriginal elders to purchase 600,000 acresā€¦ so nothing to do with DC Comics, Inc.)

But discovering this fact the other day got me thinking about the past, and how so much of history gets forgotten, both intentionally and accidentally.

I met a lovely lady last night – my cousinā€™s mother-in-law. It was her 76th birthday party and our conversation had moved onto the topic of tattoos. I related the story of one of my family memberā€™s, whoā€™d faithfully kept a diary – until the day his girlfriend at the time found it, read it, and used it against him. Unsurprisingly, heā€™d decided to stop journaling, and ink his memorable events onto his skin instead. Iā€™ve always wondered if this second method resulted in lost memories. And this saddens me.

2023 was one of those years which Iā€™m glad has ended. And although I could blithely say ā€œI could happily forget whole chunks of itā€ I know that, should I *actually* do so? Sure Iā€™d be more free-from-pain than I am right now, but Iā€™d also no longer be me. Our memories are what makes us who are we – and thereā€™s lessons I learned through those painful 2023 experiences that Iā€™m glad I wonā€™t have to re-learn.

So here I am, starting 2024 more despondent than I can ever remember being, but intentionally trying to look for snatches of hope for a brighter year. (They *do* say when youā€™re down, the only way is up, right?) And hope, after all, is all we need, yes? Arenā€™t there a plethora of films out there whose entire premise is that hope is stronger than hate, or fear, loneliness or depression?

So thatā€™s how Iā€™m looking at 2024. One day at a time, one hour at a time. Trying to see the good, rather than focusing on the less-than-good of the recent past. Moving on, moving upwards. And recording it in words here on this blog, which Iā€™m grateful to be able to do. Not everyone feels they have the luxury to record their thoughts in text, after all.

So. Hereā€™s to a hope-full week ahead for us all, dear Reader, and Iā€™ll see you next week šŸ™‚
āƒ KRidwyn

PS Just cos I can: the doubledecker bus I rode from Tullarine aitport to Melbourne CBD. The last time I rode on a doubledecker was in 1980 in London!

Categories
#Springinyourstep family anecdotes

Puppy!

Mum has a new friend. Her first ever dog. ‘Trav’ – the travelling dog šŸ™‚

Isn’t he just adorable!

Have a lovable month yourself, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
family anecdotes Life More about me

thoughtful.

As in, full of thoughts.

It seems as though the majority of children these days have ‘coped’ with the separation of their parents. And it appears as though I’m joining their ranks. At the age of 49.

I’m too full of thoughts, it’s difficult to write them all down.

Sorry, dear Reader. I’ll try again next month.

I hope yours is a good one.

  • KRidwyn
Categories
family anecdotes Life momentous events

Final milestones

Years ago, prior to children, I couldn’t imagine myself as a mum. Truth be told: I still can’t! And yet, I am. Muddling through as best as I can, and making mistakes left, right and centre. Sorry, kids.

But time passes and things get easier (or, at least, more routinized) and then you realise you can’t remember what life was like before the kids were around. Or in primary school. Or in high school. Or university, et cetera.

Me and my family? Well, Master almsot-12 – my youngest – is about to graduate Primary School. Seven scant weeks after, he’ll be the only pre-teen in my house. And just 16 months after that, all three will be teenagers (and yes, I’m already noticing the grocery bill…) and the eldest will be driving and in her last seven months of school.

Wait, what? Seriously?

Life’s going too fast!

Yup. Breathe. It’ll all happen, and it’s all survivable.

*deep breath* *take a moment*

Well, back to my point – because it’s been quite a rambling one this morning – my little man graduates from Primary School in two weeks. Hip hip, hooray!!

Well done, little man. Congratulations – you made it! I love you.

 

Categories
family anecdotes

Gym buddies…

Hubby started gym first, several years ago now. Initially, it was a ā€˜lose weightā€™ thing – but then the endorphins kicked in and he quickly transformed into a gym junkie.

It took a couple of years listening to his convincing and cajoling for me to try it before I joined tooā€¦ but for me, it was the early-morning kid-free time that I got hooked on. I took time off when redundancy meant uncertainty, July 2019 – but then rejoined several weeks ago when I was blessed with permanent work again.

And now Master almost-12 has joined me. Heā€™s done three sessions now, and is happy to continue. In spite of the 4.45am leaving home time! So thatā€™s pretty impressive.

Not only that, but Miss15 is clamouring to go, and Miss almost-13 is making some noises along a similar vein too. Sigh for the loss of kid-free timeā€¦ but as theyā€™re quickly getting older, Iā€™m going to enjoy these last few years while I still have them.

So I collected two more membership application forms this morning, and the gym owner mentioned setting aside an hour for just my family on a daily basis! Iā€™m pretty sure he was jokingā€¦

Anyway, weā€™ll see how that all pans out. Have a energetic day yourself, dear Reader šŸ™‚

– KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes

Angel at my place

My house is surrounded by trees. I love it! But sometimes it can be a little dangerous. When the tree which is closest to your house dies and then falls over, for example. Which is exactly what happened last week.

Fortunately, we had an angel at my place when it fell. No, we have no human witness to this fact, but I’m convinced of this fact nevertheless. The tree, you see, hit the ground.

As in, just the ground. Not the house, not the large green water tank nor the small one behind it, not the clothes line behind the tanks, not even the garden! There was one angle and one angle only at which this tree could fall and not hit anything – and this angle is EXACTLY where the tree fell.

It hit the ground in the best possible place. And our dogs and birds got to enjoy the show (and werenā€™t hit either!)

So, THANK YOU Lord for the angel who was at my house… and have an incident-free day yourself, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
family anecdotes Life Technology

Constructing

Iā€™ve been amazed by my sonā€™s mind ever since he could communicate. Heā€™d show me things and Iā€™d marvel at how he viewed the world; so differently from me. And then once he could talk – which was later than most children due to his autism – I could admire his creativity still more.

Heā€™s always had an affinity for technology. I remember him setting up the playstation, every plug into its correct place, without any hesitation. He was two years old. Which shouldnā€™t have surprised me, seeing as his seventh word (after ā€˜Daddyā€™, ā€˜Mummyā€™, ā€˜yesā€™, ā€˜noā€™, ā€˜pleaseā€™ and ā€˜thank youā€™) was ‘iPad’.

But Iā€™m still surprised by the creations he makes. Like on Minecraft: check this out.

I took the photo for this blogpost, then he asked, ā€œWould you like to see it in the daylight? It looks different there.ā€

Oh! Love him!

Anyway, I just thought Iā€™d share this with you. Have a creative day yourself, dear Reader!

-KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune family anecdotes

#blogJune day 6

Snakes became a problem earlier this year for us: we lost a couple of budgies in our aviary and Miss15 was devastated. I wasn’t much better: the time and energy that had gone into making that thing escape-proof and snake proof! Very frustrating.

So: more money outlaid and we became the proud owners of a couple of snake repellers.

They’re in the ground, buzzing away intermittently, near the corners on opposite sides. And they seem to be working. Miss15 however, is convinced that soon the birds will start imitating the sounds!

I’m not really caring. We haven’t lost a bird to a snake since, and the escape-proof bit seems to be working too, which is good. That cubby-house removal, so a decent roof could be put on, was intense!

And I wanted one more thing to add, before I was completely happy with it. On the houseboats nearby, it’s clear that the ones with owl statues on their roofs keep the bird life away. So a few weeks ago I bought one: just $10 and hopefully it would clear the area of Indian Mynahs and other smaller birds, which can be a nuisance when we have babies.

I installed it on top of the swing nearby, dubbed him Oscar, and sat back, proud. He’s a good looking thing, wouldn’t you agree?

I had to laugh though, when a magpie perched near him just the other day! Pity I couldn’t take a photo – I was too far away šŸ™

Well, have a laugh-filled day yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn