Morning Glory

I've been sitting at the computer this morning for an hour or so - yeah wow didn't wake up this morning until just before 6 which is a change. It was dark outside, and as always I stare into the dark yard below my upstairs office window and wonder what's out there. To my absolute delight as daylight filtered through the yard I spotted a kangaroo grazing on the grass between the house and the kennel building. As the minutes wore on I saw there wasn't one kangaroo - but 7 of them out there. The most I've seen there in a long while. 6 Adults and 1 small joey. The male is a big boy - he would easily be 3 feet tall just sitting down, relaxed, checking out the security of the place between feeds, so he'd be a size if you greeted him face to face no doubt.

It's what I love most about living here. That and the echidna's (when they aren't digging up the lawn or the garden) and the parrots. And the fact that it's so peaceful. And it is peaceful now. I just need to find my way back to enjoying it. These past few weeks have been so stressful, so painful. I've tried to bury my head wherever it will keep me occupied and not thinking about the awful situation we're in. And all that while, this beautiful home and peaceful surroundings have been here to be enjoyed and I just haven't been seeing it.

Maybe that's why the kangaroos came to visit this morning. Maybe I needed a reminder of the things that give me pleasure, joy and peace in my life. I'd take a photo of them, but the camera is in the car and there isn't any film in it anyway after the frenzy of photos I took at the Idol comp. Wishing like hell I still had the digital camera anyway. Ahhhh one day.

OK time for a cup of tea and to chill...............

Maree

Forgotten Photos

I forgot I had picked up these photos from the Colac Herald office. The first is of our official presentation to the winner of the Get Out Of Jail fundraiser prize - Richard Cooper who is the principal of the Colac College and won a night's accommodation at the fantastic Cumberland Resort - Lorne.

And this one taken of Lakeisha in the studio when she did an interview about being on air with Otway FM.

I can't wait to get the photos from this weekend developed. Oh good grief speaking of this weekend....... I WAS SO TIRED this morning. I actually went back to bed around 11 a.m. and slept for a couple of hours. I was so washed out. Still floating on the euphoria though LOL.

Had a call from Rosemary today as well asking if I would do some work for the Business Awards - FANTASTIC - I love the local business awards - I mean L O V E the business awards..... Rosemary does such a fantastic job putting it all together and it's absolutely an honour to give her a hand with it. I get to do the street walking thing of talking to all the businesses and suggesting they enter the awards. At least I can give them my own personal experience of what a great thing it is to be involved in it. AND IT IS...... I found it so rewarding in terms of the whole process of the application etc. It really helped me in a lot of areas of the business to fine tune a few things. Looking forward to it immensely.

Some sad news though in that her daughter-in-law gave birth to twins 15 weeks prem. She says they are hanging in there but obviously 15 weeks prem is a real concern. Rosemary & Doug were supposed to be off on an overseas trip this week, so there have been some changes in their plans which is kind of sad. I know how much she was looking forward to the trip but of course I know she wouldn't be able to enjoy the holiday anyway worrying about the kids. Everything crossed for a positive outcome for them. I know only too well the worry about having a prem baby since I went into labour early with Lakeisha as well but thankfully at the Royal Womens they managed to stop the contractions and I went to term eventually. Babies are such precious things - I would be so lost without mine. My thoughts are with these two precious ones tonight.

cheers

Maree

Otway Idol.

WOW what an incredible day. Long - but incredible.

After a few small panic attacks that we might not get to broadcast live....... finally everything kicked in and went pretty smoothly. Thanks Laurie and Blake for manning the operations. I spent most of the day taking photos, meeting the contestants and other organizers of the event, and looking after the judges, including Neil Melville who I met for the first time although I have seen him around town since his move to the area. Many would know Neil from his appearances in LOTS of Australian produced tv shows including Stingers, Blue Heelers, Carson's Law, McLeod's Daughters, and A Country Practice just to name a few. Ex husband to Debra Byrne. I know even if you don't recognize the name you will recognize the face for sure.

Thanks to two wonderful ladies - Sue & Pauline - who not only did the impossible by pulling off this event in such a professional manner, but also in being the perfect hostesses of the day. And of course it goes without saying it was lovely to meet Carmen from MixxFM as well and thank you for being so gracious and encouraging with regard to Lakeisha.

Ahh yes and then there was Boofhead......... You rocked girl! I was soooooooooooo proud. Given it was the first time you had ever co-hosted such a big thing I think it goes without saying you did a FANTASTIC job. Even Carmen commented to me that she thought you had done such a great job. Your confidence and your poise just sends a chill down my spine. Aside from one thing missing - I think today was probably up there with the most enjoyable days on memory for me.

I think I took about 4 rolls of photos - so I will try to post some of them once I get them developed. Oh for the digital camera............ How good is this for a reference for the day ????? - I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Oh and Barry - you want some new talent????????? You need to check out the very first Otway Idol! Congratulations to the finalists - what an awesome bunch you were but well done to Claire Unis on your win and Josef Gardner on being Runner Up. But a big WOW to young Tess Guthrie...... 12 years old????? You've gotta be kidding me......... that voice is absolutely INCREDIBLE. More on these talented people soon......

cheers
Maree

Sweet Revenge......

Now I'm sure this won't be quite what you were expecting..... but it's a late birthday gift to our dear friend Bob in response to his "colourful Otway Idol" announcement. You can hear it here Lakeisha's Response!

Ahhhhhhhh we luv ya Bob!

I see the "ass" is ignoring my messages yet again. I just inquired regarding what was happening about the sale of the Landcruiser - no response and he went offline. Surprise Surprise. Hope lots of homeless and underpriveledged people are getting some enjoyment out of the masses of 2nd hand clothing I donated to the Salvo's............. God knows SOMEONE should be getting something out of all of this.......... I sure as hell am NOT.

I have some really "pretty" pictures to post as well............ oh good grief........... Thank you so much to Em who scanned these for me. Can you believe they are scanned from SLIDES... Now I am really depressed - talk about showing your age hahahahahaha

OK it's alright to stop laughing now.......................

And this is one of my favourites. I actually can't wait to scrap this one. It's a photo from my dear old Aunty Dulcie's collection of slides. Aunty Dulcie wasn't really my aunt but it's what I called her as a child. She was actually my Dad's cousin but I remember every Christmas holidays when I was a child we would spend a lot of time with Dulcie and her dogs when we did our annual caravaning holiday to Lorne. She was eccentric, but she was kind and loving and funny and she sure did love her dogs. I wish I knew the name of this one, but the slide just has written on it D & R preparing the bait. And the date is November 1955. How special is that?........

Maree

Liberating Moments

Given I realised I had some 5000 emails sitting in my inbox, I thought I should probably have a bit of a clean-up. I was inspired though to keep this one which I thought shared some pretty simple advice.....

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a debate that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

I love it.

Liberating moment #2 - I finally took all those bags of stuff to the Salvos on Friday morning. Sitting here for too many weeks and me pretending they were invisible I guess. But they are gone and I was ready to let it all go. I drove away without one ounce of a "pang" so I think that says an awful lot about where I'm at now on that side of things. Even Lakeisha passed some comment as we loaded it all in the car about how she wondered when I was going to get rid of it all.... She's such a wise wee thing - and I hate a smartass LOL

Liberating moment #3 came from a somewhat unusual source..... A rather unexpected email from absolutely the least likely person you could possibly imagine (well least likely person I COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE....), in support of our plight. I'm pleased to see that you have finally found yourself in the forgiving state we ALL need to be in order to move on and live our lives. All the bitterness involved with ending relationships just destroys our spirit and our lives. I learned a while ago that holding onto the hurt and anger never achieves the result of hurting the person who hurt us. It just eats you away, erodes your soul and makes you unhappy - day in - day out. I now try to get through the hurt and anger and get to the forgiveness stage as quickly as possible. Doesn't mean I have let the person off for any wrongdoing - it just means I can get back to being me as quickly as possible. It's the best place for ME to be.

I still have the financial issues to deal with, and that in itself gets overwhelming at the most inappropriate and unfortunate times sometimes (sorry Bob..... and thanks for being there) But I know I have the support of my family, loved ones and friends, and so I know I'll get there eventually. Falling into the various mineshafts of fear have been a fairly regular occurance lately, but I think I'll take that very good advice passed along to me last Thursday - just curl up in a ball and let it pass until you feel up to looking for the ladder to get out - it beats stressing about being there. So true. How did that serenity prayer go???? -

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.......

By the way - there are now 3822 emails left in the inbox so I still have a little way to go on that task....

cheers
Maree

Life & all that stuff.....

Its weird how you kind of drift through life and then suddenly something happens to give you a wake up call and you realize just how precious life is - and how fragile at the same time. On Monday I called a friend I had been expecting to see earlier in the day only to find out said friend was actually at that moment sitting in the hospital having a heart attack. Quite a shock to the system for a Monday (or any other day for that matter).

You get to thinking about how quickly you could lose the people you care about and never get to say goodbye/I love you/whatever, not to mention at 49 - I'm thinking great, this is just 4 years away for me. This particular incident resulted in a severe warning as much as anything I suppose and although I'm still waiting to hear the final prognosis, I imagine it's going to involve some fairly life changing action (which you WILL follow the instructions to the letter won't you!!!!!!!!!!! yeah right........).

Another friend, Jan, has a partner who has been through a similar fate. We were talking last night on the phone about the short and long term consequences. Earlier in the day I had been talking with one of the guys at the station who's wife is a doctor. He said something about approximately 50% of all heart attack victims DON'T follow the instructions they are given and heed the warning. At first I guess I was pretty shocked but then as Jan & I solved the problems of the world last night, I said to her that I could understand why in a way.

I relate it back to before I had my hip replacement and I was trying to show dogs and just not being able to run because of the pain. It got so bad especially after an incident at the Sydney Royal Easter show where the judge clearly had no idea what she was doing and sent us all running around the ring about 6 times for the Bitch Challenge award and on the almost last run around - something gave, I heard a rather unsightly noise and I thought I was going to pass out with the pain. From that day on I was unable to show - that was March and I had my hip surgery in June.

I think it was about February before I showed again - before I could run again. And I recall all through the 11 months that I was unable to show, feeling such resentment that a thing I loved so much had been taken from me. I mean at the moment I'm not showing, but it's MY choice not to do so, so it's OK with me. But when the choice is taken away from you and you have no control over your life - that's where I think the resentment and rebellion sets in. I think we all like to think we have control over our lives - so having to give up a big part of your lifestyle (even if it's in your own best interest) comes with the cost of losing control. And some people just can't give away the control. So I can understand it in that way.

So much for my few good night's sleep - I'm back to waking early again - this morning I woke at 4:30 a.m. and honestly I'm at that point where I don't fight it now. I wake - and if it's clear I'm not still sleepy I just get up. It's easier than lying there thinking about stuff that drives me crazy. So I just get up and make a cup of tea, come to the computer and hope to god I'll get sleepy again so I can catch even another half hour a bit later.

Yesterday of course was Valentine's Day and I did get a huge lift out of a very sweet text message from a not so secret admirer who couldn't be here but obviously took the time to think of me. I had a 6:00 p.m. meeting, while Lakeisha did her radio show, and then we went for dinner at "Culture". They do a nice Salt & Pepper Calamari. When we got home I was sitting at the computer and I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye - gross it was a HUGE huntsman spider. Suffering arachnophobia as badly as I do - I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Lakeisha came in and whacked it with a magazine (No not a scrapbooking magazine girls, so don't fret) but the rotten thing fell down into the fax machine and dead or not I just can't bring myself to fish the damn thing out of there! Yeah OK so I'm a whoos. I'm not planning on sending any faxes in the near future, so maybe I'll let it dry out a little first LOL.

Today is a busy day with lots of meetings and interviews plus a doctors appointment. And some very exciting news for a couple of weeks time when Lakeisha will be the co-host of the "Otway Idol" contest along side "Carmen" from MixxFM's breakfast show fame. Lakeisha is pretty excited about it and not just a little nervous, but I think it will be a fantastic experience. I almost died laughing last night when the phone rang at 10:30 p.m. and it was Bob Knowles with a promo for Idol to go to air. If you want a laugh you can listen to it here - Otway Idol Promo.

Hmmmmm is that a little snippet of a yawn I'm feeling.... I might wander back to bed - another half hour until 7:00 a.m. would be bliss.

Blessings

Here is my latest creation entitled My Eyes. The journaling reads "If the eyes are the window to the soul, may the glass always be clean enough for you to see through to mine". There is hidden journaling but I'll save it's contents for the recipient. To my dear friend.... thank you. I will ensure you are never far from my thoughts and always in my life.......

Maree

Just another weekend????

hmmmm ok well there is one thing I learned this weekend. Actually there were probably several things I learned. But one is, loud music is bad for your ears LOL. Went to a local nightclub last night with some friends, great band playing, local group called the Wise Gents - check them out on Myspace - do a fantastic Jet & ACDC! But it's loud - and it's 10 a.m. and my ears are still ringing. Reminds me of many Saturday nights..... ummmm..... well lets just say some years ago...... only I must admit I am grateful these days you don't come home smelling like you attended a fire from all the smoke. God I used to hate that - waking up smelling of cigarette smoke, the room would have been just a haze. Gross. (yeah I know - spoken like a true non smoker!)

Uploaded my February Design Team layout to Scrap Pile. This one was inspired by Carol Janson's Masters entry but I had already had the idea in mind after playing around unsuccessfully with a shaker box I was wanting to incorporate into another layout. The windows open up to reveal more photos and journaling beneath. Entitled "So Many Things"

Looking forward to the next few weeks of work. Hopefully a new computer will make life a bit easier on the job and allow us to move along with our plans a bit more productively. Fingers crossed anyway. I added some new photos to the www.otwayfm.com website from the Australia Day celebrations. Will update a couple of new pages for the presenters now that I have some photos to include. I can't believe how lucky I was to have this opportunity come up when it did - not to mention how fortunate it was that I took up the opportunity. I know I can help it improve and be more successful, whether it becomes a "full time" job in a monitary sense remains to be seen, but if nothing else I know that I will have left it better than I found it whenever the time comes to part and that is a rewarding experience for me in itself. Not to mention the new friends I will have made along the way as well. Fate plays a hand in everything I think.

OK well I should go and do something more productive than this so I hope everyone had a great weekend. Shaz - we need to catch up sometime!!!!! We are free..... and we survived!

cheers

Maree