Friday, February 22, 2013

Prostitute Or Is It Prosecute?

Friday 22nd February, 2013

This week has flown by, so many plans, so little achieved.  Still, we have had no rain.  The hot and humid weather continues. Come late afternoon the clouds build up to what look like threatening thunderstorms, but then quickly dissipate leaving one feeling hot, sticky and frustrated.

The city is shrouded in smoke that has drifted in from a bushfire in the Grampians in Victoria which is some hundreds of kilometres away.  The fire brigade and police have been inundated with calls from people thinking that there may be a fire locally.  Some days it smells just as if the fire is down the road, so to speak.  They assure us that it is not.  A good downpour is what we need to clear the city of all the smoke and smog.

Tonight we had to meet Katie at the airport.  Kahra and Darrin were flying to Melbourne.  They were going over for Zoe and Michael's engagement party and no kids had been invited.  Katie was not happy that she was not flying as well.

After picking her up we went off to do some grocery shopping, have some dinner and then we took a drive down to the beach to get an icecream.

On the way to the beach Katie asks, "Nanna, what is a prostitute?"  I explain to her what a prostitute is and then asked her why did she want to know.  "Oh, because back on that fence they had a sign, Trespassers will be Prose........"  Tony tells her that the word is prosecuted.  He then explained what the sign meant and what it meant to be prosecuted.  Gives a different meaning...."Trespassers will be Prostituted".  We had a laugh about it!  

She had just finished telling us about her class at school having discussed sexual abuse and also about having a boyfriend/girlfriend.  She said that one of the boys had asked one of the girls to be his girlfriend and the girl had said no.  The boy got quite upset and so he went off to tell the teacher.  That is when her teacher decided to give them a talk on boyfriend/girlfriend relationships.

I made a comment that she is too young to have a boyfriend.  I said that her friends should include boys and girls but not single out one particular boy.  "Oh, but I do have a boyfriend" she said.  "You what!" I exclaimed, trying to sound shocked.  "Yeah, this boy who is a cousin of my friend, Kiriana, asked me to go out with him and I said yes".  "What do you mean go out, Mum wouldn't let you go out with a boy on your own?" I said. 

"No Nanna, not that sort of going out, it just means that we all hang around together at school, playing chasey, on the play equipment, kicking the footy and soccer ball, things like that".  Oh my how the times have changed.  Back in my day boys were the farthest things on our mind at 11 years old, we were still into playing with dolls.

As for sexual abuse, we didn't even know what sex was.  Sex was a taboo subject back in my day.  I was well into my high school years before we were taught about it in Physiology and even then I didn't go home and discuss it with my mother. Whenever it was mentioned at school it was all giggles and laughter and jokes that you couldn't go home and repeat to your Mum and Dad.  

I remember my sister, when she was about 10 or 11 years old being totally disgusted thinking that this woman had a ball stuck up her dress.  The woman was pregnant.  We were never told where babies came from.  Somehow they magically appeared.  

These days our children are more aware about what sex is.  It is a good thing that we can openly discuss it with them.  It is still the butt of "dirty jokes" but it doesn't hold the stigma of being "dirty".  Unfortunately the children of today have to be more aware about the sexual predators who live in our communities.  I'm not saying that there weren't any in my day, obviously there were as we hear about the abuse children suffered at the hands of the various Churches and of others who have come forward to tell their stories of being abused by some family member or acquaintance.   

Thankfully it's not being "swept under the carpet" anymore.  At least one would hope not.

The clouds build, get darker but no rain

and then we have a fiery sunset


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Mad March Has Come Early

Sunday 17th February, 2013

I have been so slack in writing my blog lately.  Well for a start nothing much has been happening in my life.  I have been doing all the mundane things, cleaning, washing, ironing.  Let me tell you it feels soooo good to have those things done, finally!!!

Our weather has been great too, except for the last couple of days.  Mid to late afternoon the clouds roll in, the humidity builds, they forecast thunderstorms and what happens......nothing!  All we get is the feeling of uncomfortable, hot and sticky due to the heat and humidity.  I would love to see some rain.

On Friday night was the opening parade for the Fringe Festival.  This is suppose to herald in what is known as Mad March here in Adelaide.  The Fringe goes on for the next four weeks, plus we have the Clipsal 500 (a car race), the Adelaide Cup (a horse race), the Festival of Arts (a bi-annual event), WOMAdelaide (international  music event) plus numerous other events in and around Adelaide.

After doing some shopping and then going to have some dinner, Tony and I thought we would go into the city to watch the parade.  I was very surprised at the large crowd that had gathered along the route to watch it.

The parade is like no other.  It's not formal like the Christmas Pageant, it's a mish mash of all kinds of people, artists and performers.  What seemed to be an orderly start to the parade quickly turned into organised chaos.  

Nevertheless it showcased some of the acts that will be appearing during the Fringe and also some of our talented acrobats.  It was a fun parade!

Yesterday I wasn't feeling too well and so I slept most of the afternoon.  After my sleep I felt much better......perhaps the heat had got to me.  In the evening we decided to go to the movies.  We went and saw "Flight".  The movie itself wasn't too bad, it held my interest.

Last weekend we went and saw "Django Unchained".  What a fantastic movie!  Loved it!  It had everything, drama, comedy, violence. For those who haven't seen it.....it's a must see film!

Aboriginal didgeridoo players give the traditional welcome





Fireworks reflected in the office building windows






Thursday, February 14, 2013

Friday, February 8, 2013

A Dark Day For Australian Sport

Friday 8th February, 2013

The weather has been ideal for most of the week, although it did get into the mid 30's on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The garden looks as if it could do with some rain.

I am still doing laundry.  What I failed to mention was that when we we arrived home on the Saturday and I was sorting through the clothes I realised we had left a bag of dirty laundry at the motel in Swan Hill.  Tony rang them, the cleaner had found it, and so they posted the bag back to us which we got last Friday.  There were more clothes in it than I thought.

On Thursday I met Dianne for lunch.  We ended up going to West Lakes.

Other than that the week has been relatively quiet.

For sports enthusiasts, the news was not good.  A report, done by the Australian Crimes Commission, has found that across a number professional sporting codes in this country, some are accused of  illegal drug taking, doping, match fixing and connection to organised crime.

It has been a long held belief that cyclists and weight lifters are involved in drug taking.  This has been proved recently with Lance Armstrong finally coming out and admitting that he was involved in illegal substances and doping.  Consequently he was stripped of his seven Tour Du France wins.

Now it appears our football codes, Australian Rules, Rugby, Rugby League and Soccer are also involved.  One of the footy clubs, Essendon, have admitted they might have compromised their players.  An investigation is now under way.

Who knows where this may lead.  Has the football supporter been duped?  Was that unbelievable high mark really the players ability to leap high, or was he able to leap due to some other means.  A mid fielder runs a marathon practically every game, is that because of his pure athletic ability or ..........? The questions will always be asked!




Sunday, February 3, 2013

Congratulations Kerrie and Ashley!

Sunday 3rd February, 2013

Friday evening Darrin dropped Katie off.   On Saturday we had been invited to a wedding and in the morning I had organised for Katie to go to the hairdresser to have her hair curled.  She was looking forward to it.

The weather forecast wasn't looking too promising, clearing showers for the morning and cloudy afternoon with a high of 23C.  As  it turned out just before the ceremony started the sun came out and it ended up being a lovely afternoon.  Perfect for a garden wedding!

Katie's hair appointment wasn't until 11.00am but she was up early and ready to go at 9.  Finally it was time for the hairdresser and I had also arranged for them to wash her hair.  She said she felt so grown up sitting at the basin.



With her hair done we went back home, had some lunch and Tony and I got ourselves dressed.  Katie was eager to get herself dressed as well.  OMG she looked so grown up!!



The wedding ceremony was held in a beautiful park, Stockade Botanical Garden, Northfield and the reception was at the Para Hills Community Club.   The food was great and a fun night was had!


 Congratulations Ashley and Kerrie!   

                                   Throughout the years ahead
                                              may all your sweetest dreams come
                                        true, and each future anniversary brings
                                                       more happiness to you

                                                                                            Ruby Burns
                                                                                                  

Saturday, February 2, 2013

What's Happened To Summer?

Friday 1st February, 2013

One month down, 11 months to go.  So far, this year is skipping along as fast as previous years.

Since we have been back from holidays we've wondered where summer has gone.  Before we left the temperatures were hitting the mid 30's and above.  Since we've back the temperature is struggling to get into the mid 20's.  The weather man assures us that the warmer weather will return for a couple of days next week.  Not that I am complaining.  I am loving the cooler weather!

All I have been doing since we have been back is laundry.  I didn't think we took so many clothes away.  The laundry pile doesn't seem to be getting any smaller.  Then there is that dreaded task of ironing once the washing is done.  Ugh!