Sideways Rain

It truly is raining sideways as I sit on campus, researching and writing. Not the most fun kind of writing, but it IS taking me outside of myself, closer to a new professional life, I hope.

Every day I think of something to blog, see something in the world. Do I come here and write? I do not.

My baby is five, and still cares for me..

Got that Nina Simone song in your head yet?

The Pumpkin is five, taller, thinner, has a new haircut, and is almost ready to be 5 himself. There was a great outburst not long ago: I want to be 4 forever, tears, inconsolation... It turns out he's sure he can't go to His Christine anymore, and will have to stop sucking his thumb when he's 5. Yes I know.....So I reassure him, often for days... that it's not a line to cross over just like that.

And today on his birthday, I see him and wonder if in fact, it is a line: I'm viewing him differently. A great piece of my work is done: the outside world will have him, with school and all. I know we took him to Cork and all those other places in Europe - and the USA and then Samoa two weeks ago for good measure. But. He most looked to me for what's what in the world. And his dad, the Leathermanman.

We went to the beach early, then home to play with great new toys, and had a fire in the back garden at the end of the day. Last year, he asked for pizza for dinner, and got it in our small apartment, with special friends in the autumn. This year it was dumplings with his godparents, who had cycled over on a warm evening. So we had Asian pork dumplings, stir-fry greens with oyster sauce and BBQ duck around the fire. Oh we're back in Australia all right!

A June to Remember

A year ago, as we were in the throes of packing up our house to prepare for this trip, a massive storm hit Newcastle, followed by floods for days. Winter, lashing rain, grey for days.

A coal ship, the Pasha Bulker, washed up on the beach 10 minutes drive from our house, grounding on the sand - and remaining stuck there for more than a month.

It was primal, collective - as people lifted out of what they thought they were doing in their own worlds that weekend, to participate/help in this disaster. We thought we had my parents to visit, to help pack up: instead we, and 2 other neighbouring families, ate dinner at a neighbour's, who had an open fire and a gas stove - the power was gone for 12 hours that Saturday. And we all fared very well compared to much of Newcastle.

The local ABC Radio site is running some memory stories with lots of pics from 2007, having been THE source of information and support for everyone for DAYS, they just stayed on air, suspending all normal broadcasting. Amazing effort, which won them awards later last year.

And I was talking about it to someone here and promised one of my photos from then. BIG days they were.