Friday, April 23, 2004
Columbine High School Murders
This article provides some analysis of the psychopathic natures of the two boys involved in the tragic shootings.
Kite Memories
John reminded me of the kite my Gran and Grandad bought for me on a trip to England
Thanks for the memories John
I started with constructed kites that my Dad helped me build. I rremember the first he built for me. It was painted red
I remember the struggle to make it fly. Then when I was 8 my grandparents returned from a trip to England with a Barnstormer - a stunt kite.
this was a light 2 stringed affair with a 60ft tail made of plastic
I loved this kite and living in a river valley with a steady breeze made it the ideal thing
I used to tie my sisters plain kite to the fence and then fly my kite at it attempting to crash it
Or I would lie on my back in the paddock across the road with the kite floating laziliy 120 feet above me on full string length
Or do power dives at my little brother on the ground pulling out in the last few metres as he tried to catch the tail
Sometimes I would do loop the loops over and over again counting the rotations so I could reverse them to untangle the string. Figure of eights and sideways flying were also fun
Of course tangles are part of flying a kite and many hours of untangling string in the paddock occurred - but the effort of untangling tightly knotted nylon string was always rewarded by the kite soaring effortlessly on the wind.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Search Engines
Some of the more bizarre ways people have visited us include searching for the following phrases
LITTLE CEASER PIZZA DOUGH
anzac biscuits + cooking + lessons
stew lamb
babysitter to feet clean up head the kids in tub down (with the spaces)
What does a 15oz. bottle of Cocoa Butter Skin Care Cost?
heavily pregnant belly photos
journal of job shop 2003-2004
arvo pratchett
"shutdown addin" key
gadwin printscreen spy
"lamb Shanks"
travelling around coochiemudlo
spy training
trend of MIS
what is idabiz
chicken stew
simple lamb shank stew
poem about what i spy
tramol
innovative church layouts
"emma page jewelry"
spy poems
greatest shave
posh spice real name
"Financial Report Analysis"
"tony abbot"
cherrios
astronotus ocellatus (my oscars are fish - this is their latin name)
cannaloni
bearded dragon fact sheets
burpengary baptist
Aftermath
I hate returning from travelling to find an In Tray that is overflowing.
To do
- Tax reporting due yesterday and some more due next week but needs to be done now
- Emails to catch up with
- Banking and finances
- Invoices to get out
- Two client's work to complete before this weekend as Monday is a public holiday and Tuesday I am on a plane 6am heading north for a week
I would far rather be helping my kids with the photographic essay my wife has set them for schoolwork today.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Travel Blues
Tuesday
3AM and we were on the road, traveling in Uncle Graeme's Prado with David at the Wheel. 2 hours of hilarity ensued as we early morning zoomed to Picton. Arriving at the Picton ferry terminal we bade farewell to David and headed onto the ferry. It was still dark and we secured a place for ourselves in the comfortable chairs up in the front observation deck, right under the bridge and over top of the foredeck.
John pulled out the guitar and we settled down for the trip. I went to the work station area and did some work including writing my entry regarding the funeral. Most of us dozed for a while until Priscilla announced she could see dolphins. AS it was pitch black we couldn't test her observation, but Sjoerd went topside to see, and came back to announce it was seaweed not dolphins.
By the time he came back we were able to see the bow of the ship cutting through the water and a faint glow on the horizon. At this point we were only a few minutes away from exiting the sounds into the open sea, and a patch of bright cyclamen pink appeared in the gap between the hills. I went up with Sjoerd on deck and started snapping photos and video of one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. The pink spread gradually wider and wider. The camera just cannot do justice to the sight.
40 odd photos later I came back down to the observation deck, and then settled down for a snooze. By the time we started coming through the Wellington harbour heads, we all woke up and decided to play one last game of diminishing whist. RuthEllen won again! She is unreal! Her husband John continued his strategy of losing by the biggest margin possible, equally amazing!
Disembarking from the ferry we met Steve, Lara's husband. They had looked after the Magna for us in Wellington. John and Rufus and I went to pick up the car, then came back for Sjoerd and Pris and the baggage. We then headed out onto the road north with me at the wheel.
We stopped briefly in Paraparaumu for Maccas, then continued on. A short while later, we were held up in a long line of cars for roadworks. Just as we drew abreast of the roadworks, I crept forward a few metres, and then watched in my rear mirror as the truck behind me kept coming and kept coming and didn't look remotely like he was going to stop, I sneaked another couple of metres closer to the car in front, but to no avail. He finally saw we had stopped and braked, but he smacked the rear end
the car. We stopped and exchanged insurance details etc, before getting back on the road. The traffic sped back up, and we continued north.
Just north of Marton, we entered the spectacular Rangitikei gorge. During this time, we called both Jono, and Dad and Mum on the phone. It was 3AM in the Ukraine when we rang Jono, so that was funny. It was evening for Jo and Frank, Nicki, Melanie and Benji along with Mum and Dad, so we were able to chat with them all. As we pulled out of the top of the gorge up a long hill, the car felt sluggish, and rattled a little on acceleration, I cruised down hill and said goodbye to Dad as we noticed the temperature gauge go ballistic. We stopped right outside a little servo in the middle of nowhere, pushed the car up and got out. Lots of steam and very hot. The mechanic who couldn't really be bothered to help checked it briefly and suggested a tow truck to the next town where we could get it evaluated. We called the AA and were told no problem, they'd be there shortly, but could only take two.
The three lads decided to hitchhike, and after walking about 2 km were picked up by a nice old ex bikie in a van. We had a great conversation with him and his lovely golden retriever while sitting on a sheet of tin in the back of his van.
By this stage we were introducing Sjoerd to everyone as George. George became Sjoerd's alter ego rather rapidly, and sometimes they would even talk to each other. This became intensely amusing to the rest of us who took delight in attempting to work out whether it was Sjoerd, or George who was present at any particular moment. I think George is secretly a rather naughty side of Sjoerd because he delights in getting up to mischief.
At the next town, we met up with the girls again, and were told that the tow truck could have taken us all. The mechanic removed the heater hose that had split, causing the water to run out, and bypassed it. We then filled the car with water and drove up two hills to test whether it was ok or not. It wasn't, so back to the garage. We arranged a towtruck to bring the car to Tauranga where John and Rufus live, and they supplied us with a little diesel station wagon to get us to Tauranga.
It was hard to be positive by this stage, but the provision of a vehicle and the only slight delay to our travel plans was a blessing we focused on. 2 hours later, we were feeling a little less positive as we struggled to be comfortable in the car. John drove from Taihape to Taupo and I slept as much as possible. The mountains of Ruapehu and Ngaruhoe were covered in snow, but I completely forgot to take photos. The sun was setting as we came into Taupo, and I took a bunch of the lovely golden and red autumn leaves with the lake as a background. Also managed to photograph some of the amazing cloud formations New Zealand is famous for. The land of the long white cloud.
I drove from Taupo through to Tauranga, where John and Rufus had arranged a friends car to drive through to Auckland. After a brief stop, we headed off and stopped for 15 minutes and Uncle Meryvn and Aunty Bronwyn's place to say hi. From there I drove through to about 1/2 an hour out of Auckland, where Sjoerd took over and I napped until we got to their place. I went straight to bed after arranging the details of getting away.
Wednesday
At 4AM Sjoerd woke me for a shower and then I packed and headed off to the airport. Sjoerd and Priscilla live in a quaint little house beautifully decorated by Priscilla, who has a great eye for decorating.
I almost didn't leave the country when I discovered that my departure tax hadn't been paid, and I could get my credit card or bank accounts to work, and they wouldn't take a cheque. I had $4 so they took that and I dunno what happened about the rest. I checked my travel documentation but there was no mention of departure tax so that was a trap for the unwary.
I slept for most of the flight then typed this up on my laptop as we prepared to descend to Brisbane.
Funeral
The funeral was the best funeral I have ever been to.
My day started with a two hour talk to my old pastor Phil Field regarding emerging church, ecclesiology, eschatology and some church management and procedural stuff. Was a great catch up and very thought provoking. More details in an emerging church post later.
David and Sjoerd and I went to the church to set up my laptop for the presentations and check sound and lighting were how we wanted it.
We started off the process at Aunty Jans place for lunch. From there we picked some flowers and paid last respects to Grandma in the open coffin, before they whacked on the lid. Then we practiced pall bearing down the front stairs and out to the hearse. Rufus and I had to brush past a bush that was flowering and got pollen on our black skirt and pants respectively.
A 15 minute ride to the church in procession had us arriving about 5-10 minutes after 1:30. Here we walked the casket in. Fortunately the entire church was facing away from us so we didn't have to make any eye contact.
We sat in the front two rows if the church.
Donald Irvine started off the service and we sung a hymn, then we started tributes.
Aunty Jan was first, followed by me on behalf of my Dad. This was quite strange at first reading what Dad had written, as if I was him. It got more bizarre when I had to talk to myself as he had made comments addressed to me. I felt I managed this one fairly well, only a few tears blurring my eyes and causing me to guess most of the words in a couple of paragraphs.
Uncle Graeme then said his tribute followed by my sister Priscilla reading Mum's on her behalf.
Then Bradley read his, Greer read Danella and Rick's and Brad read Anita's. Anita is alone in Canada, and Danella and Rick are in London.
Then I had to read mine, including displaying an awesome picture from Judith that she had drawn of Gran. Please have a look.
I stuffed a few words up but got it out OK.
Then I had to read Jono's. He is in the Ukraine and I had the hardest time with his because I had called him to give him the news, and we had cried together on the phone, so when I got to the bit where he said that in his tribute, I did it again.
David then read Jo and Frank's, Nicki and Melanie's (their children), followed by two short sentences of his.
RuthEllen and John and Priscilla and Sjoerd went up all together while the two girls spoke their pieces.
Now David's tribute of a 5 minute slideshow of a pictorial walk down memory lane with Grandma was shown to the classical music pieces that she was listening to in the weekend before her passing.
One final hymn and it was time to walk the casket out.
Afternoon tea was a time to catch up with old friends of the family, and to thank the numerous people who had come, over 100 had gathered.
This was followed by a slow processions to the cemetery, where family and a few close friends were invited back to the graveside. She was buried on top of Grandad so they were back together again.
After this we got changed quickly and headed off to Gran's old house. The neighbours are great friends and the people who purchased it have made very few changes. However major renovations were about to be undertaken so we felt some great closure would come from visiting. We remembered all the fun times at their house, playing in the creek, the wattle tree (now chopped down) the silver dollar tree, the grape vine (we gorged ourselves on the ripe grapes and also took bunches away with us), the mini golf course grandad had made in the lawn, the hedge at the back by the clothesline, the "coffins" with flowers in them on the front patio, the glasshouse at the back, the driveway and garage, the last paint job to the roof, the patter tennis we played on the concrete pad below the bathroom window, the french cricket with the homemade bat on the front lawn, the lemon tree and all the special times we had with Gran and Grandy there.
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