My Friend Batman

Jayden & Batman

I have just had the best five days.  A whirlwind visit from my daughter and my two grandsons, all the way from Western Australia, had me realising just how cool it is to hang out with a three and a half year old!  What joy he brought into my home, along with his ever smiling 7 month old brother.  My daughter is obviously doing something right to have such lovely children.  

There were so many funny moments courtesy of Jayden, but the highlight for all of us was when he met his hero Batman at Movie World here on the Gold Coast.  Batman even took the time to talk to Jayden during the end of day parade which totally brought tears to my eyes! I never thought Batman could be so cool :) Jayden was totally awestruck, especially after the Batman Show which had him shaking in his sandals it was so intense, and after he had his photo taken he just had to tell everyone about "my friend Batman". What a magical age three and a half is!

Happy Taj

And who could resist this little cutie? Taj was either eating or laughing. I don't think I've ever seen such a happy infant.  I'll miss out on seeing him crawl for the first time, but he was giving it a good shot whilst he was here.

All good things must come to an end and we said goodbye on Wednesday. Jayden left armed with his new Bat Cave that I couldn't resist buying him, and I've been left with some fantastic memories.  Now I'm counting down to Easter when I'll fly over for Taj's first birthday.

Hungry Taj

Being a Nana (albeit a far too young one lol!) is a truly wonderful experience, and I can highly recommend it. 

All this excitement hasn't left me much time to read this week, and I was ill for a couple of weeks prior, so I have a lot of reading to catch up on.  Plenty of recommendations are coming in via Twitter and my Kindle will be put to good use soon as I try a few Indie horror authors. Right now though I'm finishing off Dicken's Dombey and Sons (depressing), The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (compelling argument against religion) and Damned by Chuck Palahniuk (disappointing so far).

I'm up to Book 9 of The Iliad.  So, I'm off to bed now to spend some time with the Greeks and Trojans.

Happy Reading All!

Maxine

A Dedication to Queensland

West End, Brisbane -
Photo from www.theage.com.au

What a shocking week this week has been, to watch the devastation in my beautiful state of Queensland is overwhelming, and the fact that only last week I was driving through Toowoomba and Chinchilla is a very sobering thought for me indeed.

I continually have tears rolling down my cheeks as I watch the news reports, and listen to the Premier's updates. I now really appreciate how fortunate I am to live in what appears to be a protected corner of Queensland as there is flooding to the north of us and now flooding to the south in NSW.  It felt very surreal this morning as I was driving to the shopping centre to meet a friend for coffee - the sun was shining and all the locals, myself included, were going about their daily lives when an hour up the road a different story was unfolding. I am very lucky indeed.

Ipswich - West of Brisbane
Photo from ABC On-Line

There will be much work and heartache ahead, many families will be displaced for some time, and some have lost loved ones and their beloved pets.  But, the human spirit is a wonderful thing, and stories of bravery will emerge and Queensland will continue on, and through all this we can be so proud of Premier Anna Bligh and her government for the way that they have handled the situation.

For those of us not directly affected by the flooding it has certainly put minor problems into perspective and if you have not done so already, please give generously to the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal at www.qld.gov.au/floods and help our state get back on it's feet. 

Thank you.

A Horror Trip

Heading back to Toowoomba

I’m back safe and sound after a horror trip west of Brisbane.  The trip was to run in the new car and I christened it well and truly - it’s a wonder I still have any suspension left and that my tyre’s weren’t shredded - the roads were atrocious.  Do Australians know how to build roads?  I have a new respect for our truckies who have to use the Warrego Highway, it’s a disgrace, loaded with pot holes and in the rain (which we’re getting plenty of this summer unfortunately) there's water all over the road.  I’ve never felt so stressed in  my life than when driving to Chinchilla and back from Toowoomba.

Then, to top it off, the day that we left Toowoomba to head back to the Coast we got stuck in a convoy of trucks, waiting for the road that heads down the range to re-open thanks to a landslide, and our other road out was under water thanks to the flooding.  I’m so happy to be back home in familiar territory and on fairly decent roads. But, I’m not happy about the stone chip on my bonnet thanks to a truck racing past me on the way home.  I’ve only had the car a week!

I didn’t do any reading whilst I was away, but I did take my Kindle and browsed the Kindle Store for a whole evening and downloaded twenty or so books and collections ready for this years 25 reads from the 1001 list.  Thanks Tanya, I really enjoyed spending my voucher!

Today, though, I read another short horror story which I really enjoyed.  It was called Green Fingers by R C Cook.  Basically it is about a widow who is surprised to find that whatever she plants in her garden grows without too much trouble; even clippings of hot house plants take over and grow amazingly just planted in the ground.  The widow is very pleased with herself and believes that she must have ‘green fingers’.  One day after eating rabbit she throws a bone out into the garden, but when tidying up the garden one days she sees that it has taken root, it is pulsating and has started to grow fur.  She finds this a little alarming to say the least, but she feels herself compelled to grow other strange things, like hair and a piece of wood that grows into a tree.  When the ‘rabbit’ plant disappears from her garden with what looks like paw prints in the snow, she decides that it would be best to go back to growing normal plants and to tidy up the jungle growth that has taken over.  The garden, however, has other ideas and she starts to experience various accidents culminating in losing a finger whilst trying to chop down the tree. On returning from hospital the widow finds her finger and against her better judgment she plants it…..

Vera (Cruze) parked up in Chinchilla

Honestly this was written in a light hearted manner but the sinister undertones were creepy and had me thinking that maybe she had murdered her husband and that the ground was bewitched like in Stephen King’s Pet Cemetary.  But, it wasn’t like that; it was just a disturbing story of an innocent elderly lady who keeps a clean house and has ‘green fingers’. And what a nasty little ending it has – very much of the bodysnatcher variety.   I think this one will stay with me for a little while J

Anyway, I bought a mobile wifi device today, so going to have a play with that now... so until next time......