Parties and time

This is Levi jamming it up at a party for one of his school friends.  Actually, I really should go back.  It was a great weekend.  Hot and humid and they are promising more days like it even though it is Autumn on Tuesday.  Saturday was busy but in a fairly productive way.  I mowed, Levi played at Ty's for a bit to give me a chance to do the mowing.  We played Sequence over and over.  Levi learned sight words and I started to worry less that he would ever get to reading.  I'm not truly worried but he has been set against even trying.  Probably some failure in me again.  Nah, I think he is just happier about maths. 

Then we had one of those Sundays.  Swimming at 7.30, Andy's party ( 1 year old ) at 8.30 - 12, Grocery shopping and then another party at 3.  It was a disco party.  Levi clung to my leg for about 20 minutes and then he went and joined the rest of the revelers.  He is still very shy with new activities.  At one point the girls were all dancing and the boys were all running around like mad things trying to beat each other up.  I stopped Levi at one stage just telling him to calm down a little.  This set him back about 20 minutes again.  He cried for about 5 minutes and wouldn't leave my side again for the other 15 minutes.  So between the 20 minutes that it took him to warm up and the 20 minutes that he had in the middle, he had about an hour to actually have fun.  But fun he did have.  That and I finally got Levi to bed on time on a Sunday. 

Friday again

 It has been an enlightening day, for me anyway. Not much has happened with Levi. He had a 'good day' and was picked up by Ty.  He went to Mini golf and played digging in the yard.  He was happy most of the day.  The only down fall was that he fell and opened up his knee again.

I think that we are up to about 4 times that this poor knee has been re injured.  However he barely makes a fuss unless he is very tired.  At least for him the whole school thing has blown over.  For me perhaps not.  Levi's teacher wants to meet with me and I suggested next Friday.  Hopefully it will just get smoothed out.

This morning when I went upstairs, I told Jo that I had written a letter.  She was very cranky about the whole thing.  She said that Levi should learn that life isn't fair.  I said that I don't mind his learning that from other kids but thought that I should protect him from other parents.  Her response was that he needed to learn that sooner or later and that he shouldn't learn that his mother would rush in to protect him.  I was too mad to respond.  The only response would have burned way too many bridges.

I thought that if there was any 5 year old that understood life wasn't fair it was Levi.  His family had been destroyed by divorce before he was more than 1, he lost one brother to death before he was born and the other two through no fault of his own.  He has been forced to move away from family and friends that adored him.  To top it all off his friend's funeral was only days ago.  Do I think Levi understands life isn't fair, Oh Yes most assuredly.  What really surprises me is that he is so happy at all.

Levi never knew that I wrote a letter to his teacher.  His mother didn't 'rush in to save him'.  But with that one statement from Jo I realized something.  Now I know what Levi would turn into if I did leave him to face the world completely alone now.  Levi would learn resilience and hone it to a level that is frightening.  He would learn that the people closest to him were not to be trusted to protect him.  He would struggle to learn to trust anyone.  In short, Levi would turn into me.

Now there is something that I will spend a lot of energy preventing.  He can have my love and he can have whatever skills are passed through my genes, but my hangups and my fears can stop here.

Bad Boy?

Today Levi got pulled out of class to talk to a teacher because he and his mates had a playground spat yesterday.  I was cranky enough to write a letter to his teacher.  Here it is:

Dear Brooke,

I am a little concerned about what happened to Levi today. I am concerned that he can be bad enough to get called up to another class to be 'in trouble' and I find out about it from another parent.

I am not a parent that thinks that their child can do no wrong. I think that Levi and his friends are all learning how to be friends together and although there is a curriculum for this, I truly believe that the most effective learning is going to be the playground interaction they have with little adult intervention. Last week Levi came home crying because 'none of his friends would play with him' and 'everyone at school hates him'. 'I even speaked to them twice and got to Step 4!' was also stated. I assume this is the curriculum coming out. My response was to talk over what had happened and to try to decide if he needed to do something to help his interactions with his friends. My response was not to call all his friend's parents and berate them because their child wouldn't play with mine. I assumed that it would all blow over the next day and they would all learn something. It did blow over and I hope they have learned something.

I assume that Luke didn't deliberately 'flick his yogurt cap into X's eye' and frankly they are 5 years old, their chances of hitting something deliberately from that far away is approaching zero. I do think the other kids laughed.

Here are my concerns:

1. Why were Luke and Levi in trouble but not Ty who was also laughing, and if he was in trouble both Luke and Levi did not see that happen and both feel singled out

2. Pulling the kids out of class seems a huge over reaction to a playground spat

3. X's mother now tells other parents that Levi is a 'bad influence' and not to invite him over to play. Levi's real friends are ignoring this but what of the new friends he is trying to make in his new classroom. Levi is not perfect but he is also one of the youngest in your class. He is bad like a 5 year old, he isn't dismembering cats. I want to make sure that he is not getting some reputation just because one mother believes her own child can do no wrong.

4. I am a single mother with little support. I don't have the luxury to pick up and drop off Levi at school each day and I am nervous that he isn't being protected, not from the children but from the parents.

5. Levi has a lovely self esteem at the moment but he is also very empathetic. How long before he starts to react to the negativity?

6. One of Levi's good friends Ethan died last week and it definitely affecting Levi. He is talking about it and coping quite well, but he now sleeps with the light on because he is afraid. The stress level is high enough at the moment, please can you protect him a little from more undeserved stress.

I am sorry that you get this cranky Email. I am disappointed in X's mother but want to make sure that more than just the squeaky wheel is being heard. Please let me know if Levi is a bad influence or he is a bad friend or anything else that I can actually help to change. If he is the problem, then I don't want to be the blind parent that just lets it slide. I am happy to discipline him at home but to do that I need to know it has happened.

Thanks for listening.

Sue Nicklin

So we shall see.  I am restraining myself from calling this bully Mum and attacking her on the phone.  I am hoping that the school does what it is supposed to.  Again we shall see.

Bad Day

This is what I did today.  I was fine at the funeral, although I did think that it was designed to not rip out your heart too much.  I was crabby as hell at work and I feel very sorry for my work mates.

I am really tired

I am really cranky

I am very fragile and I'm not coping

I wish that kids didn't have to die and I wish that Ethan's parents get some peace

I wish, oh I wish !!

Sleepless Tonight

Tomorrow morning is Ethan's funeral.  I don't think that I will take Levi.  We had a long talk about it tonight before he went to bed and he said that he "had already said goodbye to Ethan and he didn't need to tell Ethan that."  He is right.  I think that I need to go to support Tracey and the family, but I will struggle.  I think Levi will do better at school.  I think that I would do better with him beside me but it is not his job to support me.  I don't mind showing him that adults get sad and that they grieve but I draw the line at requiring he be a support for me.  I have seen too many adults doing that. 

I am being dragged back to that night for me and it is hard to escape that comparison.  I remember those nights with clarity sometimes, but the memory is blurred as well.  I think that it is hard to remember that much pain.  I think that your body protects your mind from that kind of pain.  I remember sitting down to write Frankie's eulogy and how hard that it was to try to have people understand what I wanted to say.  I didn't want them to perseverate on the tragedy of it all.  His life was worth more than that.  It still is.  His life showed so many people how it was possible to approach life with courage, determination and above all humour.  His approach to death was just an echo of his life.  I don't doubt that Frankie is now "looking after Ethan".  I just wish Ethan's parents had more time with him to do it themselves.

Storm Front Coming

 This is the storm this afternoon.  It is a raw picture, straight out of the camera.  Yes, it really was that green.  I think there is some reason to believe that whoever La Nina is, she is currently pissed off at Queensland and Brisbane in particular.  We lost power in Samford for about 4 hours.  It meant that we had dinner in the dark and Levi had his bath in the dark.  Just as it was bed time, the lights came back on.  It was actually really fun, esp for Levi. 

 We had dinner upstairs where there is gas.  Downstairs is all electric.  By the time I got home from work/the doctor we had already had about an inch of rain in that first half hour.  Wind was whipping stuff everywhere and it was raining so hard, there was a layer of water on the road making hydroplaning likely.  I hope everyone got home safely, I suspect that it could have gotten ugly out there.  I got a few photos as I sat at a light, waiting for that red light in the picture to turn green.

Also I went to the doctor today to get my thumb checked out.  It isn't getting better at the rate that I have expected it to.  The doctor actually thinks that I broke it at the time and that perhaps as it is the thumb on my dominant hand, I should have done something a little sooner.  Actually I was just hoping it would get better on it's own.  The joint is now much bigger on the right than the left and it feels like bone has built up.  I will get the X-Ray sometime tomorrow and go from there.  Turns out I am anemic as well.  All those tests done last year turns out I'm iron deficient and anemic.  Maybe I can start feeling better, soon. 

Let's see anyway.

Busy Day

Today in contrast to yesterday, was incredibly busy.  We started by swimming practice at 7.30am.  Then we went skating at the skate park with Luke.  From there we went to climbing with Ty and then grocery shopping or the week and then Zac and Alex's house for water slide and dinner.  Levi loved it all.  I am a little sore from the climbing but it feels good.

 We stuck black plastic down with tent pegs and ran water and detergent down it.  The kids had a blast and ran up and down for an hour or so.  The dog also raced up and down, occasionally biting the kids as he went.  They were all trashed by the end but it was a great day.  Levi had one big meltdown but as Mattie (the dog) had just bitten him, well mouthed him, it was forgiven quickly.  And yes, he still reaches for his belly button when sad, or mine if it's close enough!!

Pajama Day

Today was a pajama day.  It was a day where we didn't get in the car.  In fact, we didn't get out of the house.  It was perfect.  Levi pitched a fit if I even looked like getting dressed, let alone going out.  We watched TV and videos and wrestled.  As you can see he also dressed up in multiple outfits and did tricks on the couch. 

Better Day

I was right!  Today was much better.  He had fun playing at school and didn't mind going back in the morning.  He just needed sleep.  He just needed to remember that kids all go through a 'not playing with you' stage.  I am glad that I didn't make a fuss.  We have our quiet day tomorrow.  I asked Levi this afternoon if he wanted to go to the skate park or the pool but he was adamant that he wanted to stay home.  Let's see how it goes. 

I think we will dig up the peanuts!

No More School!

Well, the honeymoon is well and truly over.  Today after I picked Levi he was fragile and then cried at the smallest provocation.  He sobbed and reported that he didn't want to go back to school and that he hated it. 

 Look at this sad face.  Other than the fact it looks like a truck has driven over him, isn't it the saddest, most adorable thing.  You just want to solve everything for him but you can't.  That is just not what the real world is all about.  He was sad because his friends wouldn't play with him today.  I don't know why and he professes to not know why either.  It was very real when he was telling me so I don't doubt it.  

There must be some five step method they use to talk to friends at school.  He said that he "speaked to them twice" and "walked away".  He reported in an incredulous voice "I got all the way to Step 4".  He never wants to go back because his friends don't like him anymore.  He will be fine in the morning and really he just needs some sleep.  I explained that his friends may just have wanted to play with other people today.  I explained that they likely wanted to play together or play something different.  He was not convinced and cried himself to sleep.  I hope this is the biggest disappointment that this little guy has to cope with.  I hope that he wakes up refreshed and happy and I am confident he will.

Levi tripped at school about 3 days ago and ripped up his knee.  Coming out of After School Care this afternoon, he opened it back up again.  I think that it didn't help this afternoon. 

I am going to rub antibiotic cream on it tonight while he is asleep.  He wasn't coping with the whole idea of cleaning it tonight.  He will be much more amenable tonight in his sleep I'm sure.  At least tomorrow is Friday and a much more relaxed day all around.  It should be a quiet weekend.  Levi actually asked for a quiet day, and I think that we both need it badly. 

Parent Night

It was Parent Information Night tonight.  That means, we go in and sit in 'Little Butt' chairs and listen to the teacher tell us about what they are going to do this year.  It was a great night from his teacher.  She is a young (read: incredibly young - are we sure she is out of Uni?) very bubbly happy thing.  The problem was the other parents.  Not all of them.  Just the selfish parents who thought that the rest of us couldn't live without having their 1 - 4 kids in there as well, playing loudly and taking out every possible toy.  The sheet inviting us there clearly states, leave the kids at home.  Frankly the person in that room who has the hardest time getting babysitting at 5.45pm on a Wednesday would be me and yet Levi was at home.  There was a time in the talk where we could barely hear and the poor teacher could barely yell above the noise.

An older teacher would have just dealt with it.  I would have put them outside, but unfortunately this teacher is too young and inexperienced and allowed herself to be bullied by bratty parents.  I also didn't say anything.  Perhaps I should have. 

Tooth Fairies and Cranky Children

Tonight the tooth fairy finally came.  I really mean finally! He lost his tooth about 3 days ago but we have been too busy at night that it has been impossible for the fairy to make it happen.  But tonight it finally happened.  I got a ring box from a jeweler in the mall and when they heard what I wanted it for they searched through and found a cute boyish box and were very into the whole thing.  "Power to the Tooth Fairy" they said as I left.  He put out his tooth.  This is what he will wake up to:

Levi was fairly cranky this afternoon but I think it is mostly because the weekend was so busy.  He was tired and wound up and started to push the limits.  I had to give Levi a haircut tonight as well, as if we had enough time!  This morning, Levi decided that he wanted to send his Dad something in the mail.  I don't have a problem with that, it was because he decided to send him his hair.  After huge chunks were taken out of his hair and there was a plastic bag full, he was happy.

So consequently he now has a Really short cut (About number 3 razor) and Robert is about to get a chunk of hair - in the mail!

Both wearing ourselves out

 Levi had a good day today.  We started at swimming practice.  He is doing better with swimming but there are still times when he drives me nuts.  When he gets tired, or stressed, or unhappy, he just gives up.  I don't know how to get him to just keep going.  It is not a thing that I ever really did.  Certainly not when I was old enough to remember.  I was happy as the underdog and made getting up after being knocked down an art form.  I don't know how to teach him though!

 We went to a friends house, mostly to decide if we were going skating but there was too much inertia and we all just stayed and drank coffee while the kids swam in the pool and generally ran around.  It is great to watch them.  The kids had a wooden pallet that they were cutting up with a saw and hammering nails into.  They loved it and it is so good for them!

I then spent the rest of the afternoon cutting weeds with a Whipper Snipper.  I love to use the Weed Whacker when I am kind of cranky, esp if I am cranky at God.  At the moment I am really mad at God. 

I am mad because of DMD

I am mad because of Neuroblastoma

I am mad because of SMA

I am mad because of Pulmonary Haemosiderosis

I am mad because of all those kids missing from families because of a random disease that no one deserves.

I'll never understand the necessity for sacrifice, God's hands are bloody with them.  How does having a 5 year old die of brain cancer help anything?   

Levi tired out after the pool

Not a Twihard

Tonight I am watching Twilight on TV.  It is fairly obvious that I am not a Twihard, because,

1.  I am watching it for the first time on commercial TV
2.  It was one of the only books that I ever read that I was unable to finish
3.  Even watching the movie, I am struggling with the mix between Mills and Boone books and a teenage wet dream

Levi has taken to going to sleep with the light on.  He says that he likes it because "he can watch me with his heart", which is very sweet, but I am a little nervous that this is some of the repercussion of Ethan's death.  I hope that he is able to speak about it if he wants, but the last thing I want to do is read too much into it and put words in his mouth.  At least sleeping with the light on allows me to get some very cute sleeping photos

Is it Friday yet??

Thursday!  Still not Friday yet but getting closer!  Today after school Levi was picked up by Ruby's Mum and he had the afternoon playing before I came and got him.  It has been really lovely lately.  Mothers are really helping me out.  Levi can be in After School Care but it is much more relaxing to play with just one other person at a home.  Much cheaper for me too!  That and I don't have the panic to pick him up exactly on time.  Ruby has a pool and they are now such good swimmers, you can watch them with your feet up and drinking a glass of red, rather than having to watch every move with your togs already on.  They can both swim laps and are like fish underwater.

There is no news on Ethan.  I hope that they all find some peace.   

Ethan going to play with Frankie

 Today was hard on multiple levels but it was nowhere near as hard as it was for another little family just over the hill.  Little Ethan now likely won't make the weekend.  His Neuroblastoma wins, he and his family are about to lose.  I remember being there; knowing that there is nothing you can do but not quite there yet.  I wish there was some way to help them but I know they just need to do it their way. 

I am kind of trashed out, I think because it reminds me so much of how much it hurt.  Just when you think you are doing OK, suddenly, you are back at the beginning.  I keep wishing that the pain will get smaller each time but at the same time dread that because it would mean that I am forgetting and that is the last thing I would ever want.

I told Levi tonight.  I don't want him to find out from some other parent or kid. 

"Levi, do you remember that Ethan has been really sick?"

"Yes, Is he getting better?"

"No Honey, He's not getting better.  He is very sick.  He is so sick, he is going to die"

Levi had a little cry but then he perked up.

"Mum, Ethan can play with Frankie until I get there to play with him."  "And Don can look after him until his Mum and Dad get there!"

"Yep, Sweetie that is a great thought!"

Levi struggled to get to sleep tonight.  I suspect that it will be worse for me.  I already have seen my little boy's face all day and have hurt for this new family joining our club.  The club that no one wants to join and that changes you forever.  I see Ethan's face smiling back at me from these pictures, taken before any of the kids knew what cancer was.  

God Speed Little One ..... and give my love to Frankie when he comes to play with you.  I will miss you.  I miss Frankie 

In the Wars

Today both Levi and I were in the wars.  Levi was playing on the new exercise bike, which he loves but he was getting tired tonight.  He slipped and whacked himself, both on the back of the leg and also right where Funniest Home Videos would have thought it was really funny.  Levi, however, saw less humour in the situation.  I was a bit with him as he did actually hit hard enough to rip off skin.  Suffice to say there were many tears and after I put cream on it he finally went to sleep.

I had a bit of a different fall and it may well have unexpectedly good consequences.  It is still impossibly humid here and raining on and off, so every surface has a layer of mould or green slime on it.  If you don't pay attention all the time, green mould is incredibly slippery.  So when I was picking up Levi from After School Care today, I slipped on the slime and landed hard on my right hand and knee.  That right thumb has been sore since I tore a ligament sledding.  It has had significantly reduced movement and the strength is really low.  It was getting to where I was going to have to do some thing about it.  When I fell, I felt something in my thumb break and it hurt like you wouldn't believe.  It has swollen back up again and is sore like the first couple of weeks of the injury, but it works!  I think I must has ripped apart an adhesion that was holding it back.  Even swollen and sore, I have more strength and more movement than I have had for about 2 months.  I am excited to see what it will look like in a few days when the swelling goes down.  I think I was very lucky.  That said I had better go and clean up my knee. 

On the news now, they are talking of all the animals that need carers because their homes and/or parents have been destroyed by flooding/cyclones/fire/whatever else Australia dreams up.  Other critters in the wars.  My Mum is going to try to look after baby echidnas (puggles - what baby echidnas are called).

Are these not the cutest things you have ever seen!  This is not ours yet but I really hope we can have one to love on for a while.  It would shed a bit of positive light into what has been a gruelling few months for everyone.  Jo would be perfect too.  She has lots of time and can lavish love on this little spiky thing!

Why do we lose teeth?

Tonight Levi cried because he was losing teeth.  Now I thought he would be all excited and wriggle his teeth until they came out early.  No, he cried because he wanted to keep them all.  I had to explain that he didn't have any choice, and that regardless of if he did or didn't wriggle them, they were coming out.  I actually just think he was tired and he was trying to find something to help put him to sleep.  Poor little guy.  I let him read his book until he fell asleep. 

Natural disasters continue to plague this poor land.  Now with bushfires in Perth, all of the states have at least one major disaster to deal with.  

I think it is time for the weather to settle down a bit but I think we are 3 months off being out of the woods.  If nothing else it would be lovely for the humidity to drop below 80% 

Doing nothing

Today we did nothing.  Really!  Nothing!!  We got up at the usual time and went to swimming practice.  Levi's really good teacher is back after having her little girl and I was very pleased to see her.  She knows Levi well and only pushed him over the edge once.  She raised her voice to him once and then after hysterical crying for the rest of the lesson, she hasn't done it again.  I can't believe how sensitive he is some times.  Anyway, she seems to be able to get the best out of him and the replacement never really pushed him very hard. 

Then we did nothing.  And Boy did we need it.  I thought about going out and finishing the Weed Whacking.  I thought about mowing.  I even thought about harvesting the peanuts.  We did nothing.  I think it had to do with the 32 degree (90F) heat coupled with the 89% humidity.  You start to sweat just walking outside, let alone actually trying to do something.  For about a minute the humidity went to 100% but the rain did nothing to cool anything off.  Frankly it got worse.

Tonight when Levi went to bed he said: (Have I said how much I love what Levi thinks about as he goes to sleep).  Anyway he said:

"Mum, Who invented numbers?"

I said; " I don't know, honey, probably someone counting sheep".  So he didn't get the joke about falling asleep but I didn't really expect him to and I think at the moment at least I just say them to keep me amused. 

He said; "That would make sense, because if they had 10 cows at night and only 8 in the morning, they would know they were looking for 2 cows"

So I am not worried about his math skills ..... or his logic

Parenting and thoughts of Inadequacy

Sleepovers are Rites of Passages for kids and Levi's went really well.  First off Ty's family picked him up from school and they went to play Mini Golf.  He loved it and then they went home and camped out on the deck.  Levi didn't really even ask for me which was great.  They went to bed late and woke up at the crack of dawn but they loved playing so much that I brought Ty home in the morn and they played all day as well.  I attacked weeds with the Weed Whacker until I got tired (and the motor got too hot and wouldn't restart).

Ty's parents and I talked when I went to pick him up.  They loved having him and are going to take Levi one afternoon a week which will reduce his time at after school care.  She said that they were going to invite a couple of kids but one of the other mothers said that if Levi was going then she didn't want to because Levi is a "bad influence".  Now regardless of how much that makes me want to jump up and beat someone, I have to think really hard.  The mother has a kid that I see as a fairly spoiled, bossy little guy that can't seem to do any wrong in his mother's eyes.  Now if I am looking really hard at Levi, maybe he could be a fairly spoiled, bossy little guy as well, but at least I recognize it.  But even after all of that, really how bad an influence can any 5 year old be?  I mean really!

Maybe I can forgive the slight to Levi's character but it is a little difficult to forgive the broadcasting of that to other families that are my and Levi's friends.  I told Ty's parents that the last thing that I wanted them to have to do was to choose a side over anything let alone something so ridiculously petty.  At least all the classes were split up, so they are in different classes.  I wouldn't do anything anyway.  It won't hurt Levi.  It will hurt me but I am big enough and ugly enough to be the parent.  But I will watch.  And I will have a low threshold for it actually impacting Levi.  Really they are all 5 or 6.  It is not like they are all going to be friends for life or anything.  I mean how many people even remember friends they had in Grade 1.  I see the early years of school as the place to learn things like getting along with other kids and working out differences

It is making me look harder at Levi and try to decide if perhaps the deluded parent is actually me.  Maybe I think he can do wrong but I don't set enough store by it.  Maybe I should be more controlling but even in the cold light of day I think it is nuts. 

How is he possibly able to learn anything if I show him how all the time? 

How can he possibly learn reasoning if I impose adult reasoning all the time? 

How can he learn to value truth without at some point feeling the repercussions of a lie? 

How is he supposed to mature if he never has to face up to any consequences or mistakes?

OK I am done! 

Now for happier stuff.  Our creek has changed since the big flood!



 Now it has a beautiful place to swim under the trees where the first little rapid is.  The kids can get in and it is incredibly safe for all out bigger kids.   Ruby and her family and Ty's family all went down for a dip after the hot, humidity that was the day.  The kids played in the water and threw rocks.  They were so happy and relaxed.  It did my heart good to watch them.  They are so lovely together.  At one point Ruby was having trouble getting across the stream and I when I let Levi know he came running over and held her hand until she was across safely.  It was a lovely afternoon!

Then tonight just when I thought it wasn't possible to love that little man more he said to me: 

"Mum, you know how I think you are the best, all the other kids must think their mother's are the best!"

I told him he was right. (Not until after there was a little pang in my heart for all those little kids out there for whom that is not true)

"So you might not be the best of all, but you will always be the best to me!"

Yes he's right.  I might not be the best mother ever but as long as he thinks that I am doing OK, that's sweet with me! 

All By Myself

Tonight I am by myself.  Well, now I am.  Levi is on his first real sleepover at Ty's house and so I can go to bed and sleep in until I actually wake up by myself.  It means that I might actually get to sleep past the crack of dawn.  I am so excited I can barely sleep!  Just Kidding!

It will be interesting if he happily stays there all night.  I am hoping that he will.  It is a right of passage that will be fun to remember.

I am off to bed!

Surviving the storm

Well, Yasi hit last night.  I think all of Queensland stayed up to watch and hope.  The big towns of Far North Queensland but there are certainly little towns that copped it.  Mission Beach, that perfect, beautiful, dreamy little town has been hammered.  Carwell, hammered.  Tully is looking at major destruction of at least 1/3, likely 1/2 of all the structures in town.  We stay warm and dry and muggy.  The statistic that blew my mind was the one where they said Yasi generated enough power in a day to power the entire world for a year!

It is inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between Katrina and Yasi.  I think that as storms themselves they were fairly comparable but the most obvious difference is the difference in the loss of life.  Katrina lost 1800+ lives and Yasi is actually up a few lives.  Three babies were born.  two in Innisfail and one in an evacuation shelter in Cairns.  The parents are all resisting the obvious and are not naming their babies 'Yasi', although I think I would have.  The biggest difference that I see is the evacuation procedures.  New Orleans just wasn't evacuated in time!  That and it's a bigger city, but I think that there would be some loss of life here if towns like Carwell and Mission Beach weren't almost totally deserted by the time the cyclone hit.  Cairns had completely airlifted the entire Cairns Base Hospital, leaving only ER staff. 

I was wavering in regards to Anna Bligh, but she has redeemed herself.  She was brilliant in the last few days.  She got less sleep than all of us.  She spoke directly to us all and never had to read off notes.  She deferred to people who knew more when she needed to.  There is a fleet of helicopters out of harms way but still waiting to help.

I am proud of how this was handled.  I am sorry that the destruction was so severe.  I am sorry bananas will cost $20 a kilo for about 3 years.  I am amazed that Queensland got out of this without losing a life.....yet. 

But most of all, I am amazed that they didn't call that little girl Yasi

Heat and Cyclones

It is incredibly hot here at the moment and because of the standing water around it is also much more humid than it is normally.  On top of that we are all bracing for another weather onslaught, none more than Cairns.  Cyclones are funny things, just yesterday they were predicting Townsville and now Cairns has been evacuated.  They flew out all the patients from Cairns Base Hospital this afternoon and by tomorrow, Cairns will be battened down and will be a ghost town.  I hope that they all come through OK.  I hope that the families up there can keep dry!

Here is the prediction map.  Unfortunately it is huge and they are predicting up to 1.5 metres of rain.  Some of that will be felt in places that have not dried out from the last dumping.  Again, I hope that they are prepared, and that they get out of it with a few ripped up trees.  However, I fear that at Category 4, that will not be the case.  Good luck my friends, I will be thinking of you at 1am Thursday morning!