Tired

So, so tired. Very tired. Need to sleep. Early start tomorrow ...

Sleep. Please??

A Different Sort Of Day

I woke up this morning at my usual time of 04:45. I looked out the window and was satisified the cars were still there and also noted a pretty thick mist. No matter, I've run in worse. I got myself dressed in my running gear and was very shortly out the door.

The first thing that struck me as strange was the mist - it was very dry and not cold at all. In fact the weather was still somewhat balmy. I'd worn a long sleeve shirt and realised very quickly I would get quite warm.

Within a minute or two I also noticed by throat was very dry and my eyes were itchy. My hands felt a bit dirty. Bugger me!!! It's not mist - but some sort of sand/dirt thing in the air.

Suffice to say I kept moving and ended up staying outside for about an hour. By the time I got back home my clothes had changed colour to brown and I had little rivulets of mud running down my legs from the sweat and dirt combining. I smelt like dirt!!!

I spend the next 3-4 hours coughing. As I type I am still occasionally coughing but will probably clear out all the dirt in my lungs just in time to go outside again :-)

There was some interesting commentary about all this on the radio. A young girl (about 8 years old) suggested the colourings made Sydney look like an old fashioned photo - everything becoming sepia toned. A cheeky lad suggested today was National Ranga Day.

My favourite was a bloke who called in claiming to be God. Apparently the folks in heaven had decided to test if they could make the sky run red with the blood of sinners and they were quite impressed with the results :-)

Misty Morning

I took this picture while spending some time up in the mountains in early July. We woke up one morning and the scene was 'just there'. All I've done to the picture is added a sepia effect.

Summer is coming ...

I know it's really an Aussie thing to say but I don't like summer very much.

There are certainly plenty of good things about it - watermelon and rockmelon, ice-creams and gelato, swimming, cricket and lovely young ladies in mini-skirts, opening a very cold beer and hearing the fizz of the carbon, BBQ's (these can be had at any time really) and being able to drive to and from work in the sun.

But there's so much about it that isn't good. The heat for a start. I start to feel some distress at about 25 degrees. Which means I'll more or less spend the next 6-8 months feeling vaguely uncomfortable just because of the temperature.

Now that I think about it that's the only issue I have. The heat - and the fact that I never seem to cool down. Any maybe that I have to get up very, very early to see the sun come up.

Which brings back a memory for me.

I went out at 04:45 yesterday for a bike ride - which carried me nicely through sunrise. There was a point where I looked to my right and in the foreground was a field sparsely populated with trees and a slowly rising mist. In the midground was a pond and in the background the sun was just starting to peek through the mountains.

It was one of those moments where I felt lucky to be alive and in that moment. I'm going out again tomorrow morning (I ran today, and in a different suburb. Same time but the sunrise wasn't nearly so good) and maybe I'll be lucky and see something similar.

Intermission

It's been a funny old day for me - at points I have been very sad remembering those who have gone before me, and at others I have been delighted by the antics of those whom I have helped to produce.

Today was, essentially, a day of chores. We woke up and we were straight into it. It would be fair to say I did 'man jobs' and Mrs G did 'womans jobs' for the most part - but it wouldn't be entirely true.

I did have the pleasure of destroying a matic while trying to remove the stump of a long dead tree. And I got a hayfever type response from mowing the lawn/weeds/clover/green stuff in our backyard.

Somewhere in the midst of all of this I got several minutes of video of the kids performing magic tricks, and playing and being generally friendly towards each other. Hugs between them are not uncommon and on the whole they get along quite well.

I feel as though there should be more to say but in all honesty this entry sums up my day quite nicely - a bit of this and a bit of that with some extra thrown in.

Athletics

The kids started back at athletics last night. LGR is an U/7 and Hayz is still in the Tiny Tots (aka U/5) age group.

They love. All winter they've spoken about going back to athletics and, sure enough, when the time came they were keen as mustard.

We didn't take any pictures last night but it looks as though LGR is turning into a handy long jumper. I acted as the age manager for his group last night so didn't get to see Hayz (big sob!!) but by all accounts she had a great time.

Cuddles

Is This the New Normal?

I feel like my life is starting to become 'normal' again. Days are starting to slide by and the events of the day are, largely, fairly predictable. This is a good thing.

What's been going on my life?

The kids are growing up faster than they should. LGR had a rought trot over the past 6-8 weeks but seems to be coming out of it with added maturity and patience. He has regained his sense of empathy and compassion - but can be a fiery little chap. Hayz is ready for school. Very, very ready. Love is her big thing right now - she loves everyone :-)

The social life has picked up a little. There is something on each weekend - but we seem to be able to make plenty of 'family time' also.

My footy team can't play as well as they could last year. Still better than Mrs G's team though.

Work is more interesting than it used to be. I seem to be getting out of bed at 03:00 more and more often. This is good and bad. Good because I get a very nice trip into work (peak hour doesn't begin until 05:00) and I get to come home early. Bad because I end up working 12-14 hour days (I work from home in the afternoons) and sometimes I get a bit tired.

I still have dodgy knees; but ride my bike more often (esp since getting riding tights). It reminds of being 12 years old and riding everywhere because it hurt too much to walk.

I still love loud music. I am mostly listening to a fantastic Danish band called Volbeat. The singer sounds like Elvis. The music sounds like the devil is playing it!!!

The tomatoes are going beautifully in the backyard, as are all my herbs. The poor old Aloe Vera is a bit sunburnt and will need to be relocated.

My grass is 18 inches tall in some places. I should mow it, and probably will one day. Maybe.

My car, after complaining to the warranty holder for over 15 months, is suddenly driving nicely. Why? I replaced the tires. Makes me wonder how hard they actually looked for the problem I complained about. Also makes me wonder how they have been inspecting my brakes during servicing ....

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All in all I feel like my life is in a good place right now.

A Full Weekend

Clan Jones has just completed a very full weekend.

Grandma arrived, with dinner (yay) on Friday night and we ate, drank some wine and then watched 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. It was a bit eery watching it - having just been through a similar situation with my own Mum.

Saturday began with an early morning bike ride - temperature was just above freezing and the wind was very cold. Especially when the bike gathered a bit of speed.

I popped off for a haircut at about 08:30 and Mrs J, Grandman and the kids walked over to the soccer fields. After I was made look presentable again I ventured over there and had the pleasure of watching both kids wind up the season. Will we play soccer again next year? I'm not sure but at least the kids had fun.

After soccer it was back home for a slap up lunch and then, after Grandma left for home, out to do some groceries and get some stuff to setup a home office. Why? Mrs J has a (very exciting) new job and is a 'mobile worker' so her office is more or less at home with trips off to here, there and everywhere in between.

We also got some groceries ....

Saturday finished with a party - for a 6 year old. Wasn't as bad as it sounds. We're friends with the family and there was very much an 'adults' section and a 'kids' section - although both worlds collided fairly frenetically on the jumping castle :-)

Sunday is a day of rest. Allegedly. We woke up gracefully enough and had a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and crumpets before pottering around the house doing a variety of jobs that need to be done eg vacuuming, changing sheets etc.

Mid morning it was off to the Chef's house for a working bee - but the only work any of us did was painting their pergola. Make that two pergolas. When we left neither was complete. So much timber, and so dry ....

We got home very tired, dirty and sore but the kids found enough energy to help me make enough marinade for some spatchcock chickens and we all had a fairly pleasant dinner.

So that was pretty much our weekend. Pretty much a normal weekend and we haven't had one of those for a long, long time!!!

Returned

Here I am. Back again. It's been a long, long time since I last wrote anything.

Things got a bit tough for a while. Very tough. There was laughter and tears. Humour and mirth.

Memories recalled and memories discovered. In the end there was sadness, emptiness, loss. Then hope emerged and a large garthering assembled to remember, to enjoy and to share.

Farewell my dear Mum. You will never be forgotten; you will always be missed. You are in our hearts forever.

Karate Kids

Little A's Presentation

Closer

I was uploading some pics from our Queensland trip in 2006 (so long ago but so fresh in my mind), and then looking at other pics from NZ in 2007 and I suddenly realised just how much I am looking forward to getting away from everything with just Mrs Jones and the kidlets.

It feels like an eternity since we've had an 'adventuring' holiday and it will be a thrill to get and see new sights, do new activities and spend a bunch of time together with nothing much planned.

We should also be able to get some more pics of Mrs J and myself on this trip - both kids know how to use a camera now so we can share it around a bit. We got maybe 5 or 6 pics from NZ and none from Qld in '06 ....

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The kids were their Gi to karate last night and they seemed to so much better for now having a 'uniform'. LGR in particular looked to have some really good technique and is beginning to look the part. He has almost learnt his first kata and once this is done there'll be a bit of refinement and then possibly a grading in the near future.

Hayz is still quite happy to play karate and dips in and out of the lessons. Her technique is a little behind LGR but she's so cute when she practices :-)

11 Days

It's been 11 days since my last post - and 11 days until I go on holidays!!!!

As always our lives have been filled with a lot of nothing - weekends are busy for social reasons again and weeks are busy for work reasons again.

I'm possibly the only person left in Sydney who is still loving the rain. Everything seems so much cleaner, fresher and more vibrant when the rain is about. It's terrific to run in and so important for the world we live in.

A Sad Birthday

It's my Mum's birthday today - and she celebrated by spending her 30th consecutive day in hospital. 

I managed to get over to see her after work and was there at just the right time to run into Aunt LJ and her cute little family. After forever (maybe 15-20 minutes) we finally got in to see Mum (she was with some nurses) and celebrated by handing over a card, a kiss and having some ice cream cake!!!

I am very sure there will be a celebration when she finally gets out of hospital - probably sometime next week now.

Happy birthday Mum.

The Weekend is Over

The long weekend seemed to go for a very long time. We did a lot of things.

Saturday morning began well - soccer was cancelled due to all the rain. Ironically it was a beautiful day with bright blue skies and sun, but the grounds were water logged.

We started the day with some grocery shopping and then Mrs G and Hayz went to do some clothes shopping while LGR put the groceries away and then headed out for some lunch, a visit to Nanna (still in hospital) and some Aqua Golf. Ran into Grandpa at the hospital, broke the DS and saw the helicopter take off. Aqua Golf was fun - LGR hit the ball pretty well and had a good time.

We had dinner guests on Saturday night. The kids all got along famously and the adults had a good time. Dinner was some Chinese which tasted pretty good and was provided at a very good price. Somehow LGR and Hayz got away with sleepovers - LGR went out and Hayz's friend stayed with us.

This wasn't a huge problem - both girls went to sleep straight away and didn't stir until 08:45 on Sunday morning.

After a leisurely breakfast we dropped off Hayz's mate and then made a very good lasagna for our afternoon/evening engagement - a group affair where each family had to provide a dish. Another good evening spent chatting, dancing (not me of course - but plenty of others were doing it) and playing pool. LGR played a few games with me and was starting to get the hang of it by the end of the evening.

Monday was a bit slower. Hayz woke up at 10:00!!!! We breakfasted and showered and decided to head out to visit Nanna and do a bit of shopping while we were out and about. The kids behaved very well at the shops and picked up a few DVD's for their efforts. We were home by about 15:30 and straight into a period of doing nothing.

I worked on LGR's first school assignment with him and we finished our busy couple of days with a lovely meal and a terrific chat.

I'm Only Happy When It Rains

LGR's soccer training was called off last night - apparently the council shut down the grounds. It hasn't rained for two days ..... but it did rain last night and I ran in the rain this morning. I love running in the rain - it makes the run feel fresh and natural and almost like a battle of wills against nature.

Instead of soccer training we had a nice, leisurely meal of burritos followed by LGR performing a selection of songs - some on the guitar and some with him singing. LGR has joined the school choir and I love watching him sing at the top of his voice. He's a better singer than I ever was or will be.

I was outwitted by the kids last night. I put them in the bath and told them I had to go downstairs to do a few things, and that I'd be back to wash their hair. While I was downstairs they (predictably) got into a fight.

What I didn't expect was for them both to get out of the bath, pull the plug and then come downstairs to dob on each other and get dressed!!!

A week is a long time

I've been a bit slack but here's my summary of the last week:

Mum had some more surgery last Tuesday. She's recovering pretty well and is well and truly into the next phase of treatment. There is good reason to suspect she will be out of hospital later this week.

LGR and Hayz both played in losing sides on the weekend. Hayz's team got thumped - I think she is actually in an U6 comp and nobody in her team is old enough to go to school yet. The team they played on the weekend definitely had kids who were school age.

LGR's team lost by a goal. I didn't see the game but when I turned up a majority of the parents on LGR's team were yelling abuse at the referee and bemoaning that the boys were losing because the other team were cheating. What I saw of the game (about 3 minutes) looked ok but I won't comment on what came before it. I don't know what it is about soccer parents - in both teams I've been involved in it's all started out so positively and degenerated into vitriol.

What else? I've been running heaps and it feels good. My legs are consistently sore/tired and today my shoulders are a bit heavy - but I'm enjoying it immensely. Including today I've done 10 days in a row .... 3 cheers for me!!! Diet is still a bit shocking so I doubt I'm losing weight.

Mrs G has been going on a few work trips recently. Two weeks back she was in Newcastle for a night, and last week in Canberra for a night. I think she's back up to Newcastle again today but only for a day trip. I expect she'll be tired when she gets home.

There's also been some talk about Mrs G moving into a new job in her present company. Some things have to occur first but it seems as though the question has moved from if it will happen to when it will happen.

Serene LGR

In early 2006 we packed up the car and took the kids for a couple of weeks in Noosa and Surfers Paradise. While in Noosa LGR made a habit of waking up early - so we would get dressed and go for a walk while the girls slept.

This photo sums up the mood of those walks - very serene, calm and beautiful. It was a gorgeous time - my little boy and me walking around with nothing much to do and nowhere much to be.

A Long Weekend

My Nan turned 80 this weekend. A very large part of the family was able to attend her party - which stretched from lunch at a restaurant thru to cake and afternoon tea at our house, and then into dinner and finally some post dinner drinks for most of the grandchildren.

A very notable ommission was my poor ol' Mum - who is still in hospital and still travelling the most unpredictable rollercoaster. Whenever we think she is starting to show signs of improvement something happens and we all feel as though we are back at the beginning.

Early last week it was 0 steps forward and 3 steps back, then it became 1 forward and 2 back. Right now I think it is 1 forward and 1 back but, as we are discovering, this can change very quickly.

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We took advantage of a relatively quiet afternoon today to watch a movie called 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua'. Lil' Ms Hayz cried in this movie too - the chihuahua got dognapped and Hayz was very convinced the dog missed her owner. I enjoyed it because Hayz snuggled into me very tightly :-)