Bon Voyage!

My sister and niece are off on a big month long vacation today. They will be visiting Israel and England.

We hope they have a lovely time and will miss them heaps.

Dont worry, we will make sure the cat enjoys midnight strolls in the neighborhood and the Tivo is shut down for the month ;-)

Mwahahahaha!

Uh Oh. Another Hill Roadtrip!

We are on the road back from Wyong where we and Roman, Helen and Stacey went to a place called Amazement.

It was great and the girls had an awesome time. They had mazes and games and animals and great big board games.

Going through the mazes was great fun, pretending to be lost, but I think the girls enjoyed the animals the most. They held bunnies and ducklings and guinea pigs.

We are now on our way to dinner at Ramsgate, completely exhausted but satisfied.

Photos to follow.

Mobile Blogging from here.

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Weirdest Dream Ever

I had a dream last night night that my sister was making dinner. She had a large pot on the stove and in the pot was a huge fish. The fish was descaled, covered in some kind of batter and was boiling in the pot. The only problem with this was that the fish was still alive and breathing and looking forlornly at me.

I was incensed. I couldn't believe that Vika was being so cruel!

I asked her why she was being so cruel to the fish, and she said she was making sushimi, so the fish had to be alive.

I was just horrified and began yelling at her that she must kill the fish to stop it's suffering, so she took a large BBQ fork and stabbed the fish in the stomach.

I think the fish died after that but I can't be sure cause I can't remember any more of the dream.

This whole thing stems from guilt I think.

On Friday, one of the girls at work got an aquarium and a Siamese Fighting Fish for her birthday, which she put on her desk. We got a mirror and put it in front of the bowl and made the fish think it was facing another Siamese Fighting Fish, just to see it puff up. Deep down I think I knew I was being a bit cruel to the fish, and finding it a bit funny.

So while I think it was really ME cooking the big fish alive, Vika, please don't cook fish for dinner for a while ;-)

Third Tooth Loss !

Many months after the last lost tooth, Josie has now lost her third. Its her top right tooth and it came out last night at a dinner at Baba's place. Auntie Vika had a hand in it:

I came in and Rebecca said to Josie to show me her tooth and how wobbly it was.

She skipped over and moved it with her finger. The tooth was almost out as I could see half of the root already detached from the gum and the tooth hanging by few threads. She was playing with it all the time so it was just a matter of minutes before it came out.

I told her it would be easy if she did it herself and just pressed on the tooth inwards and it would just pop out.

The answer was no.

I then asked her if she wanted me to take it out, and at first she said no, but I could see she was not afraid and wanted it to come out, but afraid to do it herself. So I called her over and said let me see again. She let me. So I just took it into my two fingers, pulled it down and it was over in 2 seconds. It started to bleed, we ran to bathroom, she washed her mouth with cold water for 2 min and that was it.


The excitement was pulsating out of her she was absolutely ecstatic, running all over. I sent her to look at herself in the mirror, she looked so cute with front tooth missing. I asked her if it hurt and she said nope.

Apparently multiple Tooth Fairies arrived immediately – special case for a special girl and she got 4 gold coins.

We put the tooth and coins in a plastic bag for safe keeping and decided that she would not tell mum and dad what happened and will wait until they had arrived. She would just start talking and see if they notice.

Lucky she did not have to bubble over for too long and first mum and then dad arrived and of course both noticed straight away with appropriate amount of excitement. Huge day for Josie!!

So there we have it. My big 6 year old has lost her third tooth! Thank god it didn't come out at school. I was having nightmares that she would lose it ;-)

On the street!

Hear 'ye, hear 'ye. I am blogging from the car en route to Mat's!

Josie & The Teether 2003

We were going through some old home videos and came across this one..
we laughed through the whole thing..

Update on Harry

Just an update on the Harry situation:

Bec: So Josie how is Harry going?

Josie: He's good.

Bec: Have you told him you like him yet?

Josie: hmm... no. You see I love Harry but Harry loves May, but Harry also loves me too.

These are complicated matters in the first grade..

Josie-isms

Vika & Becca brought Josie home from Baba's tonight, bursting with Josie-isms.

Becca was sitting in the car and telling Josie how Miriam has a boyfriend and that its so cute.

Josie: I also have a new boyfriend!
Becca: What about Beck? (old boyfriend from her old school)
Josie: Yeh Becks my boyfriend from my old school but I have a new boyfriend at my new school.
Becca: So whats his name?
Josie: His name is Harry.
Becca: So tell me about him.
Josie: Oh he's so annoying cause he keeps poking me with his pencil.. but I like it.
Becca: So whats gonna happen with Beck?
Josie: You know, he really doesn't like me hugging him, but I'm so in love with both of them!
Becca: Are you gonna tell Harry that you like him?
Josie: Oh god no, I'm just in love with him!

At Baba's Becca & Josie had a big discussion about who Josie loves and what level of love she reserves for Becca. Then in the car on the way home:
Becca: Tell Vika how much you love me.
Josie: I love you lots.
Vika: What about me?
Josie: Oh! I know the order of who I love now! Ok so first there's my parents, then my cousins (with Becca at the top), then there's the grandmas and the grandpas, then the uncles... and then the Vikas.
Vika: How many Vika's are there?
Josie: Just one!

And then..

Josie was really, really good on the way home with Becca and Becca told Vika that if she was good for Baba that she would get a black chip (reward system we use). Vika took Becca to Kumon, and Vika and Josie waited at Baba's while Vika kept an eye on Josie's behaviour.

Josie was watching one of her DVDs and was fully engrossed in the show, to the extent that she couldn't hear anything anyone said to her. Baba was trying to get her attention.

Baba: Josie.. Josie.. Josephine.. ? JOSIE!!! etc..

.. No reaction.

Vika: Josephine? Are you having hearing problems?
Josie: What?!!?
Vika: Baba is talking to you!

.. conversation with Baba ensues. 5 mins later, same scenario.

Then on the way home with Becca, Becca asked how she behaved and does she deserve a black chip.

Vika: Yeh, hmm I suppose..
Becca: Why? What happened? Josie, was there bad behaviour?
Josie: Well, you see, my ears.. they don't work properly.. and the Tv.. and it was just too loud.. and my ears just didnt work..
Becca: Josie! Seriously! Spit it out!
Josie: Ok. Well, you see, the problem is that my ears dont really work properly when the Tv is on because I cant really hear 2 things at once and the Tv is so loud and I cant hear and I have to tell Daddy about my ears.
Vika: Yeh its a big problem. You might have to go to the hospital and have an operation.
Josie (rolling her eyes): No.. dont be silly.. ill just turn it down!

Once they got here, we dumped Josie into the shower, when we heard: Daddy! Daddy!

Daddy sends Becca to go check.

Becca finds Josie sitting in the bath pointing to her ankle.
Josie: Look, I boompsed my foot bone!

And thats the end of the Josie-isms for today ;-)

Happy Anniversary 2009!!!!

Another year has passed and again I find myself reflecting on the past year and the past, now 16, years of marriage to my other half, my soul-mate, the other side of my coin; head to my tails.

It's fair to say we've neither of us made it easy on the other a fair amount of the time but I'd not have it any other way. There is no other soul on this or any other planet that can be who she is to me, can occupy the space-time that she does, the sub-net of neural pathways that specify not a perfect match but an actual part of myself that must be found outside the self and which she embodies. When I say "I" I mean "we".

I had a dream a few years ago that I was young again, and deeply in love with a beautiful young lady.
And when I woke up and realized it had been only a dream I felt a profound sense of loss; it had felt so real. I felt the tiniest inkling of bereavement. And I was depressed for days afterward.

When I finally came out of my funk I found that details of the dream had faded and were lost. And amongst the fragments I had lost was the face of the young lady. I felt that I knew her from somewhere in real life; an actress, perhaps a childhood crush - I couldn't remember.
Time passed and the memory haunted me less until finally I forgot about it altogether.

Late last year Mari started scanning old photos given to her by all parts of her extended family. And 3 weeks ago she showed me a picture that shot like lightning to my heart and squeezed. I was almost driven to the floor with the power of it. But for the photograph I knew to be the cause I would have thought I must be having a heart attack.

She had found the young lady.
In an old photograph in an old photo album that had lain forgotten in the bottom of a packing box in our shed.
It was Mari.

I knew it was so immediately.
The only image I had left of the dream was a vision of the young lady smiling at me with love; a vaguely familiar room in the background. The room in the background of this photograph.

16 years is a long time. And people change a lot in such timeframes. And in other ways they change very little. And in both ways is the strength of love tested and strained. And the fierce, sharp feeling of those first few days, weeks and months becomes a memory. Replaced by a distant echo of the original.

When my subconscious sought to feel once again the fire of the first passion, it brought my Mari back to me from the distant past and reminded me of the girl who drove all thoughts of others from me. Burned them out with a searing flame until there was nothing left inside but a vision of her, etched on the walls of my mind. Emblazoned on my retinae, ever after I saw only her.

It is for this reason that no matter the row, no matter the problem, no matter the sting of harsh words, I cannot hold onto anger. I cannot hold onto anything but the love I feel. All else slips, silky, through my fingers like smoke and is blown away. Blown away by the solar wind of the sun she ignited in my chest those many years ago.

I can but pray nightly that the same is so for her.
Because I am not easy to live with.

Happy Anniversary Baby. I Love You.