Blog This Challenge 47 - Water

Water - a photographic challenge from Blog This.

Water - so many types of water, so rather than give you one I am giving you a range of my interpretation of water.

If you would like to vote for me - voting starts on 10th June and finishes 15th June.

Raindrops on spiderwebs

Jellyfish floating

Historic Augusta waterwheel

Waves crashing on rocks

Turquoise and navy ocean

Froth and bubble of tannin filled rivers

Wide blue rivers surrounded by forest

Wet Sydney day 2001

Too much rain, too much wind, too full bin - Sydney 2001

'Truth Counts Howard Out' protest on a wet Sydney day 2001

Blog This Challenge No 45 - On the Soapbox

What a timely Blog This Challenge. This post has been brewing in my heart for a number of weeks and then tonight when I decide to write this post only to find the On Your Soapbox Challenge, so here I go.

Injustice riles my heart.

When Justice goes wrong it makes me shake my head in disbelief - no more so than when I see it do more harm than good. Very recently not 1 but 2 of my friends have been on the receiving end of what I consider Justice Getting It Wrong.

Case 1 : My friend's ex daughter in law takes out a AVO (Apprehended Violence Order) against her, my friend's son and my friend's daughter. This was month's ago. Firstly they had to wait over 2 months to get a court date - causing untold anguish to my friend and her family. Let me say I have know this woman for over 35 years and she is the most caring and beautiful women I have ever met. Court date arrives and the 3 accused front up - and then the accuser is a no-show. The Court then sets another date, another few months away - more anguish for the family as they wait for this to stop hanging over their heads. They know they are innocent.

So they all turn up and the accuser is a no-show yet again. Judge is not impressed but instead of dismissing it, sets a 3rd court date. So how is it that a person can accuse someone else of intent to violence and then just not show because she supposedly has issues getting there? Now I understand that no violence has to be committed and that threat of violence is enough. But surely you can't just not decide to come. Where is the innocent until proven guilty part of this justice. Can the judge really look at my friend and she her as a threat to anyone?

Case 2 : One of my 'sisters', minding her own business at work, is verbally abused by a client of her boss. Yelling at her, using the threat of his body to back her into a corner - all the while still yelling right in her face. He returns to the office more than once to continue the tirade and is actually apprehended while on the premises. The police take it to court, not my friend, but she is subpoenaed to testify. What makes it worse is the accused is representing himself and so he gets to cross examine the woman he has terrified, caused to have counselling and who still has nightmares about the assault. He is also allowed to pre-read her witness statement and use it to manipulate her on the witness stand. Is she protected by the judge, oh no, he throws the case out for lack of evidence as it becomes, in his eyes, a he said - she said situation. Now where is the bloody justice in that. My friend is now forced to look for new employment as she has flash backs at work.

I know there are many cases where AVOs and the like are valid - but they can also be used for malice - the system needs to change to protect everyone from this.

I know that not everyone can afford a lawyer and that they should have the right to defend themselves, but what about the victim here - could they not do a video cross examination rather than put her right back in the role of being assaulted, and why oh why did the police bring it to trial if there was not enough evidence - get it right and protect the innocent.

Okay I will now step down from the soapbox until the next time.

Imagine Waking Up Here Everyday

Blog This Challenge No 37 - A Room With A View

Last last year we discovered this amazing place called Hilltop Studios in Margaret River (WA).

This was the view from our Studio. At various times of the day you could see kangaroos and cows and a never ending display of honeyeaters and other birds stopping in to visit the grevilleas right outside the window. At night there were endless stars and one night we had a lightning storm to end all lightning storms. Even the bathroom had this view.

Needless to say - we are going back.

While I Am Away

The Blog This Challenge 35 is now open for voting, if you like my post (relinked here) please pop over to Blog This and vote for me. Or if you like someone elses entry better then please vote for them. It's all about sharing the love in the name of blogging.

Blog This Challenge 35 - How Things Change

Blog This Challenge 35: You've Come A Long Way Baby - Take us on a journey. Your journey. Something you've achieved, somewhere you've travelled, someone you've become. How has it challenged or changed you?

So here is my story - and if you would like to vote for me, then voting starts on Thurs 11th to Tues 16th March.

I'm 55, I'm overweight (well if I am truthful I am obese) and I decided 2010 was the year this was going to change. And so I started going to the pool. This was a huge obstacle for me to overcome. I know what I look like naked, I hate it so much I avoid mirrors like the plague. Yet I found the courage, with the help of one of my 'sisters', to get into the pool and to exercise.

We made a commitment to each other to do 3 days a week - Mon, Weds, Fri and for the first 2 weeks we did just that. I now go 7 days a week if I can - I do 45-90 mins per day of walking, running and swimming and I feel good about myself for the first time in years.

After week 2 I even bought bathers, which in itself was another challenge especially as when I walked into the swimsuit store the woman was no more than 25 and no bigger than a size 8 - I kid you not. But somewhere I found the courage to try on bathers, talk to her about my concerns and come away with a 3 piece set.

It took me another week to actually wear the bathers to the pool - I mean I look like a large lumpy black sausage - but now it means nothing to me - I can walk into the pool and not care - because I am doing this for me, no-one else, just me.

I am still obese but I am taking back control and I will win this battle before it kills me - you just watch!

For anyone out there who needs encouragement to do the same thing, let me know, I will follow your blog and encourage you all the way. One unexpected thing I have found in cyberspace is a new lot of friends who have been there supporting me pretty much every single week. My heartfelt thanks are sent to the ladies who don't know me from Adam, but take the time in their busy lives to make me feel that someone cares.

To explain my journey a little further, I thought I would share with you a post I wrote in Jan 2009 on a day when I was feeling particularly down and angry at myself. Just over 12 months later, while I am still obese, I am feeling so empowered about the changes I am making in my life.

Lost and Found

I've lost this girl
Where can she be
Can I find her
Let me see

I've looked in the mirror
She isn't there
Someone strange
Looks back from there

She's in my head
She's in my heart
Now comes the hardest part

She's in my head
She's in my heart
But can't you see
She isn't really lost to me

She is me when I was young
When my life was full of fun
When I felt filled with grace
Before I found this older face

She is me before I aged
Before my weight
Before self hate

She is me before
When I could look
and like what I saw

She is me and she is here
Somewhere in my soul
She is part of me the whole

She is who I was
She never really left because
She's in my head
She's in my heart

She will always be a part
A part of all the girls I've been
Of the woman I've become

If you look close
You'll see that smile, that face
You'll see she still has that grace

You may have to look hard
But persevere
Cause she is really
standing here

Sage Words Of Advice - Or A Heartfelt Warning?

Blog This Challenge 34 is "If I Met My Younger Self" (I haven't entered one of these before, so finger's crossed) Oh and voting starts on the 5th March-9th March, if you feel so inclined.

If I met my younger self would I offer Sage Words Of Advice or a Heartfelt Warning - I'll let you be the judge.

I could talk about having how she will have a baby at 17 and then be divorced at 21 - then meet her soul mate and have 3 more children.

I could talk about learning to manage her money better.

I could talk about many life lessons, but I wouldn't.

Why, because even with the ups and downs that have come throughout my life, I wouldn't change the day to day things for they have made the woman I am today - a kind-hearted, loyal, loving and giving woman.

But there are 3 things that I would tell my younger self to look out for, 3 things that have given me and those I love too much heartache. 3 things that I would change if I only had the chance.

The first would be to "listen to her gut and not her daughter assurances" thus avoiding an assault which can never be erased no matter how much time passes.

The second thing I would tell her is "to push her father in law into getting his chest checked for cancer" even though a doctor will tell him that small shadow on his lung was nothing to worry about as it was, and it will kill him 5 years later at 68.

The third thing, the one I have shed more tears about, I would tell her "to make sure that her grand-daughter comes to her f-i-l's funeral and is not left in the care of her mother's friend" - that way avoiding the life-changing car accident that will happen in the early hours of the morning and will leave her grand-daughter with acquired brain injury, leaning disabilities and epilepsy.

and then I would give her a hug, a long hard hug and tell her to enjoy the journey.