Tangled

Is this too much to hope for?

Have you ever raised the blinds with that long cord?
Come back and it's somehow worked itself into an almighty ugly tangle in your absence?


You wonder how this could have happened almost unaided in such a short space of time. And it's no mean feat to undo the damage.

I've spent three weeks trying to 'untangle the cord' - because I'm almost certain it will do some really serious damage very soon.


It's a delicate business, 'cause you pull one way, pull too hard and the whole thing can clench up and you've lost your chance at restoring the cord altogether.


Now my time is up.
I have to leave the cord watching, the cord untangling to others.
How did I ever think three weeks was even going to scratch the surface? Make any difference?

I'm ashamed to say I've made very little headway. Every time I thought I might have been getting somewhere a brand new knot appeared. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that the cord will get worse after I leave. I've never felt so powerless.


I do sometimes wonder if the cord wants to stay tangled.
If it's been this way for so long now that it wouldn't know how to hang straight, exist untangled?


But it breaks my heart to look at it.

Shar :-(

Point + Shoot : Bitter Beauty



Saturday : 6:25pm



This shot was taken as my Mum led Magoo and I into a church in gorgeous Killaloe on Saturday evening.

My Mum's family are from the area and we were attending an anniversary mass for her cousin who died tragically last month.

As we left the service, my beautiful aunty/godmother had a stroke in her car in front of us.

We are praying for her recovery today.

This simple photo is drowning in sentiment and emotion for me.

Join in  Point + Shoot with Lou @ Sunny + Scout

Shar

Grateful For...The Troops

This week I am, unfortunately, very grateful to the troops.

Namely - Corporal Baby Panadol, Sergeant Calamine Lotion and  Lieutenant Zirtek.

They got the call up to duty on Thursday when young Master Magoo could no longer hold off the enemy.

We are valiantly battling the chicken pox here.

 Shouldn't have to call in any further reinforcements yet.

Grateful with Maxabella @ Maxabella Loves

Shar - reporting for duty, sir. :-)

Joke's On Me

Ba ha ha ha!!!
I get it. I do.
The joke's on me.


I wrote this post just yesterday, praising my Magoo's resilience and adaptable ways.
Smugly being delighted in how 'easy' the transition from Oz to Eire has been with him.
Revelling in his comfort and happiness here.


Today, Magoo has chicken pox.
Ha ha ha.
That's the punch line. Get it?
Magoo has chi.cken. pox.

I've never been overly superstitious, but motherhood is trying to sway me.

You know, when you tell your girlfriend how well bub has been sleeping - and spend that entire night trying to lull them into some form of slumber.
When you stupidly think to yourself that you haven't seen the inside of a doctor's surgery for what feels like ages - and then spend the night in ED with a feverish little one.
When you dare to think or say something along the lines of "toilet training is going so much better than I expected" and enjoy the delights of feacal matter adorning the house for the next two days.


When you write a smart alec post about Magoo's wonderful Irish lifestyle and spend the next morning apologising to your cousins and praying that their children won't join yours in 'Spottyville'. At least not until you've left the country and won't have to witness it!!

Magoo has been a spotted champ and if it were not for the cute little pox all over his body I wouldn't have a clue he is poorly.
And now that will also turn on it's head once I send this into cyberspace!

Now that I think of it, there have been a lot of black cats around here lately.

Shar :-)

No need for that, Magoo!! You're still beautiful!

Winds of Change

I am what some labelling types may call a 'control freak'.
Probably because I'm a control freak.
I'm not great with change - but I'm learning.

We sometimes assume our children have similar issues or the same needs as us.
Well, I do anyway.
Mistakenly.

A couple of weeks ago, when I made the snap decision to drag Magoo across the world and through multiple time zones, I momentarily lost sight of the many 'beware of long haul trips' warning signs that I had erected over the last couple of years.

It didn't take long for them to coming rushing back into view though.
Once I had our passports and e-tickets in hand I recalled all those perfectly valid reasons to stay put.
Luckily, by then it was too late for second, third or fourth thoughts.


Spot of plane watching

Magoo has adjusted to globe trotting and Irish life as easily as swapping vegemite for marmalade (except for them being yuck for yuck, if you ask me). He has surprised me with how well he's coped with the flights, the new surroundings, the droves of new people and has bonded with family so quickly.

Making onself right at home

I wonder, has he even noticed the absence of a bath for our nightly ritual, the absence of his own bed and one of his furry toy bed buddies, the absence of his ridiculously overstocked toy room, the absence of routine and structure, sensible sleep patterns...???

Of course, the things we've left behind have been replaced so many times over. With different pleasures and comforts.

Magoo's observations of Ireland are gorgeous.

He comments on how green everything is, that there are lots of "naminals", that this is a "windy place", that people sleep even when the sun is up and that "Nanny/ aunty/ uncle loves me, Mum". He's revelling in the attention here and all the different ways of going about life.

The boy loooves Grandad's greyhounds

For me, it's great to push my cushy, cushy comfort zones.

To remind me to go with the flow and relinquish control.
Co sleeping (previously my idea of insanity) has been adorable.
I have woken to a smiling little face in mine saying "good morning my best fwend".
Living from a single suitcase and being dropped in on continuously are welcome changes. Seeing where a day takes us instead of being Miss Planny Plan Plan has been refreshing.
Waiting for 'de immersion' has been annoying. Seems, I take hot water for granted at Australia home.

 

Whilst I am sitting here polishing Magoo's halo, I am not entirely out of touch. There have been a taste of tantrums, sulking, selfishness and resistance. (But I'm trying to behave. Hee hee.) Magoo is two and in Ireland - not sainted and on the throne.
I may have to eat my laptop here on in and on the return flight(s) for opening my big virtual mouth too soon.
For now though, hooray for our amazing kids and in particular my adaptable, resilient boy!

His inflexible, neurotic mother, Shar :-)

Point + Shoot : Cousins' Couch



Friday 11:30pm
(Wine O'clock)



This terrible, blurry, hazy shot is a beauty.

Not in photography terms, but in sentimental terms.

This shot captures a rare moment in time when some of my cousins, my brother, sister and I are actually in the same country,
let alone the same room.

It as been over seven years, if ever, since this has occurred.

This terrible, blurry, hazy shot is a beauty.

Pointing + Shooting with  lovely Lou @ Sunny + Scout

Shar :-)

Grateful For...Child's Play

Forever young.

While our kids might be responsible for the not-so-fine lines, the dark circles, the extra kilos, the grey hairs, the thumping headaches etc etc. and etc some more, their gifts transcend the physical signs of aging!

If we let them, our kids can keep us young at heart. They can remind us how to have old fashioned, simple fun and how to see the world without prejudice.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be a kid again.

Thanks to my beautiful Magoo, my students and the other gorgeous children in my life I don't have to be a boring, list making grown up all of the time.

What better way to reconnect with your siblings than to revisit your childhood

(minus the name calling, hair pulling & dobbing)?

All for Magoo's benefit, of course.

Playing along with Maxabella's Grateful For...Saturdays

Shar :-)