Weather bomb

 Levi with his new Play Doh

 After being outside

 Our road, well over

 Rain!

Today Brisbane got hit by what they are calling a 'Weather Bomb'.  It feels like that!  We got 124 mm just between 9pm last night and 6am.  In the two hours after that we got another 15mm.  It has rained incredibly hard all day with a few little moments of quieter rain.  The river rose and then fell slightly, but the rain has picked up again, so I doubt that tomorrow will be much better.  I worked from home.  I can access our server from our house and frankly at the moment, it gives me a faster connection and more peace and quiet.  Not that I am not the instigator of most of the rumpus at work.

Levi and I made Play Doh and he played beside me at a table much of the day with a rolling pin and knife and cookie cutters.  He had the TV on and very little to do.  I think that it won't hurt him to have a few quiet days.  The school would have been very quiet.  Many houses in Samford get cut off on these days.  Our causeway generally goes first, but this rain was cutting off roads that rarely get cut.  My work at Strathpine was also flooded out, so there was no stress about not getting to work. 

Jack was due to fly out today.  He got very stressed and tried all sorts of different options to get out.  I had worked out about 8.30am that there wasn't a chance on earth that any of us were going out safely.  Eventually after trying several different ideas, including chartering a helicopter to get him out, he relaxed and is now back upstairs waiting out the storm. 

If you had 30 seconds to live

I have been watching Xena lately.  Xena and her mate Gabrielle swing swords and other weapons, in an extended Robin Hood style of fighting.  I'm actually disappointed that they didn't use the Robin Hood legend, because they had an episode based on pretty much every other legend from multiple lands, religions and times.  Xena does a thing called the "Pinch" that "cuts off the flow of blood to the brain" giving you "30 seconds to live".  It seems to be a brilliant method of interrogation leaving no discernible brain damage.  But the best thing about the "Xena movies" is right at the end of each of them. It is worth watching even the bad ones for the end. Where most movies have a line at the end saying;

"No animals were harmed in the making of this movie"

The producers of Xena always had a tag line at the end after all the credits that they must have written after a few drinks and daring each other to do it.

"Several Centaurs were harmed in the making of this movie"

"Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was severely harmed in the making of this movie"

And my personal favourite:

"The concept of linear time was severely harmed in the making of this movie"

It always gives you a laugh and is very tongue in cheek.  I think that it would have been fun to work on that set, just based on how funny the last line is. 

I know that it is an odd entry to this but Xena got me thinking...What would you want if you had only 30 seconds to live.  The other interesting thing about that series is that at least once in each series (there are 6 of them) at least one (or both) of the main characters dies, dramatically of course.  Now in the series, they also come back to life with the same frightening regularity.  The concept of life, death and the afterlife has only a tenuous hold on reality regardless of your religion.  The other really funny thing about the series is that Gabrielle's costume shrinks in each subsequent series.  I am sure that they didn't have a seventh series just because the rating wouldn't allow Gabrielle to wear pasties.

I can watch most of the DVDs but there are some that I am still unable to watch.  I am absolutely incapable of watching the first few episodes.  I could quote them word for word and I can see them if I close my eyes but I am absolutely incapable of watching them.  Frankie watched Xena.  I think it is why I do too at times.  He watched the first few episodes of Xena over and over in the last few days.  He never really got beyond those, not because he didn't have time but because he didn't want to watch any more.  He watched movies like a three year old, watching the same thing over and over; rather than watching like an adult, following a storyline over months and years.  My mother who is a great fan of flooding would believe that I should sit in front and watch the videos over and over until they no longer affect me, but I don't want to hate Xena, esp those episodes.  I don't want it to be a chore either.  I want some day, when I am strong enough, to watch them with someone I trust.  I want to be able to laugh and cry and trust that life will go on.  I want to be able to believe that for the last 30 seconds of Frankie's life, he was exactly where he would have wanted to be.  I want to believe that perhaps lying in his mother's arms, surrounded by love was the best that anyone one can hope for.

We tried to organize for Frank to meet Xena.  Had Lucy Lawless been in USA at the end of March 2003, I suspect it would have happened, but by the time we were getting organized we had both just run out of time.  One of the other actors lived nearby and he sweetly called to see if there was something he could do and to try to get the whole thing organized.  But we had run way out of time.

So I wonder.....If I had 30 seconds to live, what would I want?

Shark Bait Kids,

It has been a long day but a really good one.  It was the first day of Shark Bait Kids.  Levi gets to come too.  He swims around for a couple of hours and then 'helps' a bit.  I would love to show the photos of happy smiling kids on this blog, but I can't.  Instead I can put my happy smiling kid on there.  It was very successful and we have some really fun plans for them all this year and I'm really looking forward to it.  We are planning to do a 'night dive' and put them in the pool with lights.  I think it will be really exciting.  We can do a BBQ before hand as well!

After the SBKs, Levi and I went to his Art Show.  OK no tiny school art show is any good but it was really fun and Levi was very proud of his painting of a clown.  It has been raining fairly hard here and we got 40mm last night.  It means that the causeway is flooded but not enough to make it dangerous.  It is about 30 cm deep.  I am happy to go over it at about 40 cm and I imagine that the car can do about 50cm but I am too nervous to travel across at that height.  He loves it when the creek is over, because I can go really fast at the end and splash his face when he sticks it out the window.  I like that about living on a farm, it gives Levi the opportunity to do country life sorts of things even though we live close enough to the city to do city things as well. 

Books and Scrolls

Levi has been better today.  He had a better night and then woke up fairly happy.  He happily played around until it was time to drop him off for school.  Then he decided that he was too sick to be in school.  Anyway, finally he decided that it would be fine to stay.  Friday is a good day for him because for the next term I drop him off and pick him up from school, like "all the other parents".  I am trying to have Friday off for the next term, because I have to work Saturdays but I'm not very good at it.  I had yesterday off so I went in today to check that everything was ready for the Shark Bait Kids.  Next week there is a kid already booked in but after that, then I have Fridays off.

Levi has been into making books lately, usually about the Rocket Car or Super Heroes.  He does the drawings and I have to write the words.  Then he sticks it all together with more and more tape.  Tonight he switched to something else.  It is always something that makes you think.

Tonight he switched to taping the pages end to end and rolling up the pages.  Now by itself it's just a slight shift in what he was doing, but of course there was more.  He wanted me to write on it.  Now that is always a bit of a shift and I asked him why he wasn't drawing on it first. 

He said, "These are different.  You think things and then write them down"

I said, "Isn't that what we do in the other books?"

"No", he said, "This is different.  You write important things that you want people to know"  

He was very serious about it all.  I think that I am going to have to change his name to Solon.  He has switched to scrolls and has started to write his philosophy.  There is a part of me that wonders whether or not the best possible options for the world, would be to start to listen to the deeper thoughts of an empathetic 5 year old who thinks deep enough thoughts that he wants to write them on scrolls.

His thoughts?  He thinks that we should be friends with the inside of ourselves.

Why I chose Solon?  His philosophy? 

"Know Thyself"

Sick Day

This is what we did most of the day. Levi has had a high fever and a stomach bug. He has pretty much been in the same position all day, sometimes with his eyes open and sometimes they were shut. He has been better this afternoon and I am hoping he can go to school tomorrow, for the most selfish of reasons. I want a day to myself. I am hoping that he can but I am fine if he can't.

Today I think I won a vacuum cleaner. You know that I never believe it unless they place it in my hands, but I got an Email today. I never really believe things through the internet, but when I got the Email, I did at least remember that I had entered the competition in the past, so it may well be legitimate. It was through the Asthma foundation. I am not sure what the next step is but the Email said they would contact me. We shall see!

It is a Start

Term 4 has started and it is going to be as busy as term 4 ever is. I have Shark Bait kids starting up this Saturday. It kills every Saturday for a term but it's worth every minute. The kids love it and I love to watch them having fun. Levi will be joining us this year again and will be playing in the pool at the same time. He is very funny about it and loves all the kids. This year there are a couple of other things in his (and my) favour. He is now a good enough swimmer, that I can leave him to his own devices most of the time and he can play in and out of the pool. The second thing in our favour this year is that the pool rules require a lifeguard this time, so I can even know that there are always another pair of eyes watching him. It makes me just a little more comfortable.

The other thing that I love about Term 4 is that at the end of it, we get to go back to USA for a whole 5 weeks. We are both counting the days!

Morning After

Levi posing

Levi climbing

Levi happy

With cousins

This was from the morning after at Penny and John's house. After waking at the crack of dawn Levi was still fairly happy, but I did warn everyone at the brunch that the Collapse Factor was well above 100% and that was proven to be true as he did have one little collapse.

In the afternoon, Levi went and played with Ruby and I actually had a minute all by myself. It was great! Georgie and I got to chat for about an hour and a half and then I got to read a book at my home until I went to get Levi again. We did work out some of the logistics of getting Levi to the concert. It seems that an All Access Pass is more complicated than I thought. We are going to try for the Nov 10th or 12th concert. Levi and Ruby will play in an area set aside (called the Little Fingers area) and eat there for dinner. Then they will put on the fancy ear protectors and watch the concert from the side of the front, so they can get in and out if they want. We shall see how he goes because we might just have him sleep over in the unit near the Riverstage, so there is no driving for anyone. I will go to the movies but will need to be enough awake to go and get him if the sleepover gets too much. Now all I have to do is to start to familiarize Levi with the music. It seems that I shall be listening to Powderfinger for the next month or so. At least I will start to get to know it.