Friday 13th

Any month's 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday. The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia   (say that one 3 times!) 2009 we had 3 in February, March and November 2010 there was just the 1 in August This year May is the only one Next year has 3 in January, April and July

Friday the 13th is a day that has been shrouded in modern folklore for hundreds of years. *Insert Evil laugh* Certain releases of events have been set for that day on purpose to give  dramatic effect. These events include:  1. Resident Evil 5  released in the United States on Friday, March 13th, 2009. 2. The band Black Sabbath released their debut album in the United Kingdom on Friday, February 13th, 1970. 3. The opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games took place on Friday, August 13th, 2004. 4. The 13th book of A Series of Unfortunate Events was released by author Lemony Snicket on Friday, October 13th, 2006. 5. Four of the twelve movies to the Friday the 13th movie series were released on Friday the 13th. 6. The show Dollhouse premiered on Friday, February 13th, 2009. Fans of the Films Friday 13th have their own forums, Facebook pages and of course Websites. Due to the rating of this Blog and it's contents I am unable to provide the links to these. Shame because what some people regard as horror, I find a hockey mask that just won't die humorous. Not as funny as my hero Freddy Kruger who had a wicked sense of humour, but value no less (for the first 8 in the series anyway) Whatever you do today, wherever you go remember: Horseshoes usually bring good luck today, but never trust a horse that wears high heels.(Unless it is a grey) Never walk under a mirror or break a black cat.(tried that 3 ways and this looked bestest)   It is very unlucky  today if a black cat crosses your path or gets flushed down your toilet.(unless your married to a plumber)  Stepping on a cricket can very extremely unlucky today -- especially for the cricket. Wearing garlic around your neck today will ward off evil spirits. It will also ward off good spirits, indifferent spirits, and any other spirits with noses. and changes the flavour of bottled ones NIKE FRIDAY 13TH SHOE A rabbit's foot is not lucky. If you don't believe me, ask the rabbit. Wearing a lucky penny between your toes means good luck and blisters.      So have a good, safe, superstitious Friday the 13th

Blog access

well how unique.

I can access my own Blog!

Blogger and Google

Get your acts together

Contact me with relevant update

on this issue

Blogger Block

I am still living and breathing, I just can't seem to get a full post together on any of my Blogs.

Then some friend decides to redo hers today and I have a hard drive full of photos info and stats with all these ideas and can't put it together.

Maybe a Mai Tai?

STOP

Nope one of those and heavens knows what I will post

Alright, perhaps what is needed is one of those other Blogger s who tell you how to remove Blogger's Block! Good idea I suppose, but too hard and I would expect a post at the end of it and if I haven't got anything good to say then I don't say it.

Look. that's what I mean I type that and immediately think of all the ones I visit or subscribe to and haven't left a comment. Now all these people are thinking "she didn't like my post". I do, I did, I have visited or I wouldn't follow your blog!

Heavens above I remember when Google was my Home Page and now Google Reader is!

Is this what my life has become?

 

No more training the Bodgy Bird to play chess.

Not that it proved a worthwhile exercise as we always argued over who got the white end, and to me a Castle is something a Princess lives in and I think I was conned when he said it was a chess move.

No more collecting Google Logos

all those Beta versions

Braille is still my fave

Conan Doyle was a good one

Of course Christmas

Holidays

Yes I could Scream about now

Daughter proposed to up there

The annual ones

Seasonal ones

Yes and now I blog! Up until today that is!

I have listened to music, inspirational, toe tapping, fell asleep during "Righteous Brothers" in time to have a "Ghost" tear when "that" song came on. Did a minor half album of Kane Alexander and most of Ronan Keating.

Got to Adam Cohen and "Cry Ophelia" before I realised this was a lost cause and not getting me anywhere.

Went onto Facebook instead, really good way to procrastinate in there!

So then I came up with the bright idea that I didn't really need to Blog about anything. It is my Blog (well this one is my place to play) so I am here and not bothering what I put in.

PREVIEW is for the feint of heart and I guess I could always remove it. But I know me, I won't, I prefer the public humiliation to the frustration and guilt involved in not posting.

So my friends, followers and fellow blogger's that as they say is your blooming lot.

Please note no preview involved in this post but spell check has been done. I will look tomorrow

The Sad Sunday

A day I will never forget nor understand

The 2nd of March comes every year, and each time it does, I tell myself that next year will be different. But it isn't. I miss my Dad every day, each event in the family I wish he was here to share. He would be such a fabulous great Grandfather as he was the best Pop my 2 could have had.

The entire Marks Point Primary School was devastated when "Poppy" went, so popular and well known over there was he. To watch Micheal's entire class in tears the day he returned to school was devastating and he came home again, his teacher (who had also taught me) was also in tears. We never knew how much time he had spent on "playground duty" and had assumed he was just out or working.

I should have known he would not let Michael out of his sight for those intolerably long school hours!

As the first grandson, Michael was rather the "Apple of his eye" and even looked like dad. My neighbour used to call him Little Stan, so close was the resemblance. Every Little Athletics, each swimming carnival, sports event, if not working, he was there and it took a lot to keep him on the side lines most days. 

They had an amazing relationship and for that I am eternally grateful.

 The playing of  tennis racket guitar singing "Mr Bojangles" or "Yellow Submarine"  went on for hours, even though Dad never learnt the words he was quite happy to be the smiling musical accompaniment.

The riding of broom horses with their Fire Chief hats on was the favourite outdoor activity.

Melissa on the other hand,  never the cuddly child, was too busy doing "stuff" but loved Pop no less. Just didn't have time to stop for "mushing" for anyone.

As a result of Dad's stubborn streak he kept on trying until she nick named him

"Bucket Head",

( well he did try everything including Bill and Ben impressions, hence the name stuck.)

He then resigned himself to the fact that one on his knee and the other jabbering at his feet was a good thing.

The other member of the family was Melissa's cat. Now Dad didn't like animals (yeah right!)  A sneaky look through the window and he was sure to be seen patting the cat while it helped him with the laundry. To hear him talk of the "Castrated Cat" you would be forgiven for thinking it was not long for this world. A true softy at heart with an exterior that looked tough until he smiled.

So on the 2nd March he was found outside the laundry 

sitting on a Fire Hat,

his head on a bucket

and the "Castrated Cat" sitting under the clothes line.

He was gone.

So was life as I knew it.

All the Doctors/Coroners words of Myocardial Infarction, Atherosclerosis and Coronary Thrombosis all still meant that something the size of a sausage had tried to pass through his heart.

Being told a zero chance at living through it in Coronary Care Unit with all staff available were no consolation.

He wasn't coming back.

if only he was here 

to see Michael in the mines, successful at his chosen career of Diesel mechanic

 

if only he were here

to see Melissa married caring for his great Grandson 

and the 2 on the way

if only he were here

to help Mum through her twilight years

if only he were here

if only he were here

My Dad

STANLEY WALLACE KRAUSE 

1.12.1924 - 2.3.1986

 

Thursday is "Thoughts for Dad's Day" in one of our Facebook groups which got me to thinking of how influential mine was in my life, and remains so . He instilled in me the values that I live by, loved me unconditionally (although I was his favourite) and showed me the importance of being me.

Not that life with Dad was all sunshine and roses, he was himself, true to himself and steadfastly stood by his friends and family. This resulted in many a comical anecdote, to me but not poor Mum, Frustration at his stubbornness abounded, holidays were out for him, and so for us as a family. Why holiday? There is work to do! Idleness just was not in his makeup.

Dishes done and beds made before 9am ALWAYS 

Traveling was not on his agenda, no itchy feet for him. All that was cured in the Kokoda Trail during his war years, a trip to New Guinea was more than enough traveling. So Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the nightmares he suffered were a huge influence on family life.

His father, my dearly loved Pop Krause served in Gallipoli and never spoke of his service years for a very long time.We thought the cannibalism of a mate as Dad watched as bad as it could get in New Guinea, how wrong we were.

Unit 11 LHR [Light Horse Regiment] (June 1915)

Ship Name HMAT Borda 

Dad was more forthcoming with me, and later my son got all the history, stories, and brutal honesty of his time in service and we both marched with him with pride every Anzac Day. Amongst his most respected people remain the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels'

Many a mother in Australia
when the busy day is done
Sends a prayer to the Almighty
for the keeping of her son
Asking that an angel guide him
and bring him safely back
Now we see those prayers are answered
on the Owen Stanley Track

For they haven't any halos
only holes slashed in their ears
And their faces worked by tattoos
with scratch pins in their hair
Bringing back the badly wounded
just as steady as a horse
Using leaves to keep the rain off
and as gentle as a nurse

Slow and careful in the bad places
on the awful mountain track
The look upon their faces
would make you think Christ was black
Not a move to hurt the wounded
as they treat him like a saint
It's a picture worth recording
that an artist's yet to paint

Many a lad will see his mother
and husbands see their wives
Just because the fuzzy wuzzy
carried them to save their lives
From mortar bombs and machine gun fire
or chance surprise attacks
To the safety and the care of doctors
at the bottom of the track

May the mothers of Australia
when they offer up a prayer
Mention those impromptu angels
with their fuzzy wuzzy hair.

'Bert Beros'

These people's philosophy is very typical of Dad

although the reason he parted his hair in the middle was not because a bullet went through his hat (actually he was shot in the bum) 

Stories, yes there were always stories, some taller than others!

 I grew up with 

"do unto others as you would have other do unto you"

and should one of us slip up, was asked "would you like it done to you?"

invariably that answer was no until we took it up ourselves and lived accordingly.

Respect for people and especially adults was a given and still is.

(exception being one long standing disagreement over a neighbours name and "if we couldn't pronounce their name then just call them Mr and Mrs". Well Hello! Their name was Fing not Thing and we weren't the ones calling them the Things, he was.

Then came his humour

(or until, as a truck driver, he tried to fold himself into Mum's little Morris car) 

then there was the time my brother and his friends decided to play cowboys and Indians in his broad beans

and the not to be forgotten

heart attack on the bowling green to which he looked up at Mum and stated "I guess this means your not getting one tonight?"

 Yes dad was partial to a drink, usually in excess, but what a lot of entertainment resulted! Like the time he was late home (again) and he arrived with and a mate, a bunch of spinach with a few not so carefully added geraniums from a neighbours garden and the biggest grin on his face, ever so proud he had bought Mum a bunch of flowers.

The sing a long's(not optional) of "Roll a Silver Dollar" and the "Aeroplane Jelly Song" being his very short repartuar.Amazing Grace reserved for special occasions only.

The surprise 60th Birthday party where the ground wobbled and not his boots, ask him. Pelican developed a rough terrain that day! But we did leave him in the not so capable hands of fellow bowlers, who of course sided with him.

A man who could, and would read 5 western books at the same time, strategically placed all over the house, yet could not comprehend a soap operas still baffles me.

The Sundays he would arrive with either a coconut or a pineapple without fail, where he got them from out of season he would not say.

 

I knew he was human

• He cried real tears every Anzac Day
• His leg broke jumping the fence to save the neighbours chooks
• His truck window always broke (loved fresh air)
• His stubbornness
• The way only he could hold me during my bouts of Myopic Epilepsy
• On the drive to my wedding when he refused to give me away, but eventually agreed on a loan

But to me he was far, far more

and still is.

NX177266 Cpl 2/3 Bn

 

 

 

Rest in Peace

But it's your smile, I will never forget 

Always there, never needed a prompt to appear and lit up your whole face

and my world.

So until we catch up again, take care and, not that you needed reminding,

I love you Dad

Socks

 

Lets get this straight by SOCKS I DO NOT mean Internet protocol that facilitates the routing of network packets between client–server applications via a proxy server.

All sorted? Cool

The sock we are talking about  is an item of clothing worn on the feet that can set you apart and make you shine! These warm and fuzzies warm your feet, ward off illness, keep your shoes smelling fresh, and ensure a more comfortable walk. So why don't more people wear their socks loud and proud? Even if bright purple bed socks are not appropriate in all settings of your life, you can hide them under your clothing. When that little snippet of wacky sock peeks out at the world from under your pants leg, people will notice, and your socks will work to be your conversation starter. Before you know it, you'll have more friends, success, and comfort. Want more conversation quicker then wear odd ones, be individual (and there is always another pair the same at home)

Happy Mother Day

To all you Mum's out there, have a great day today!

Which raises the question, What is a Mum?

A Mother, by definition, is a woman who has conceived, given birth to, or raised a child in the role of a parent.

So this includes all those Grandmothers, stepmothers, adoptive parents, 

foster Mums, Mother to be,Mother in Laws

and never forget those who have lost a child or those who have lost a Mother.

Have a listen while your here to Happy Mothers day by Eddie Kilgallon

Everyday shoes

Okay, so we have covered the "Good Shoe" 

so lets move onto

the ones you wear the rest of the time

This is a bit of a minefield when selecting these.

Practicality enters (cringe), durability (yew), uniform (boring) and purpose driven.

Purpose driven gives the most scope for your personality to shine through

so let me explain.

A shoe says a lot about you so do you really want to be known for those $1.69 thongs?

I am hoping the answer was a most emphatic NO. (if not contact me as there is far more for you to learn and a foot makeover is needed urgently!)

I do not wear thongs, ever, on my feet anyway.

Now I hear you say "what about Havvy's" 

Ha! Havaiana's are to thongs as Billabong is to t-shirts and  Peter Alexander is to pyjamas

A t shirt, pair of PJ's and a thong still just that with or without a brand name only non brands have longer fashion life.

So what do I wear?

Mules, as a preferred foot wear

Crocs 

"great for sand, water, mud, bit like the thongs of the Gum Boot world, for kids and not fashionable!" 

Is that what you just said?

Well let me introduce to the wide world of "Crocs"

 Work or Play: these 2 are perfect

 Driving, grocery shopping or visiting relatives

The ultimate in casual, yet practical and still colour co ordinating with style

Nothing there for you yet? Hard to please?

I like you even more now!

 Well if you  wear these styles then you get the added benefit of support and adjustable straps.

and for special occasions when only Gum Boots will do, 

I implore you to do it with a flair and panache

So get down at your feet, they've done a lot of work for a lot of years walking you around, 

Show them some appreciation

 Pedicures and massages are not luxuries, 

Buy proper fitting shoes,

BUT DO IT WITH STYLE

Shoes

Well this is long overdue

Anyone who knows me would have expected this to be my first post

if not the only topic on my Blog

Never one to deprive those that admire the good things in life

here we are at last!

 

 This is what I am wearing now

Major trendsetter stuff!

There are rules for shoes and an order in which they are stored

Fanatical? No way!

Organised? Not in my vocabulary!

Practical? Oh Yeah!

There are categories and all shoes fall into a category, just one category ever.

There are "The shoes that kill, but heavens they look good"

This is reserved for those must have ones 

 and is accompanied by a

 Handbag and full set of Bling

and a pair to wear while driving

if I am driving

 but a Limousine could be warranted for these shoes!

Week Days,

Why is it my life never seems to care what day it is?

 Could it be that it requires rational thought, organisation and a calendar?

I am very short on all of these things

so I put them to far better use

Rational thought: Which book do I read next in this series

Organisation: Putting my fluffy slippers in the same place

Calendar: Used for straining vegetables???

 Sunday, apart from thanking God I am alive, 

I am expected to remember which one is the 3rd in the month 

to go to a bar-b-que at the Habitat, 

Sheesh!

That will be sorted now I am Secretary 

as emails will go out regularly to all members so I can keep track.

I cruise through and know it's Monday when the neighbour's children got to school 

and there are less playing outside

 unless it is a Long Weekend or a teachers day thingy

Mark goes to work, 

unless it is a holiday or a flex day or a sickie, 

so as reliable as the electricity supply in Port Stephens!

Here I get a bit lucky sometimes

"Ruby Tuesday"

is sometimes posted on Facebook wall by a friend

Mum used to go and see "The Eye Candy Surgeon" on Tuesdays. 

I stress USED to, denied that pleasure now too,

Middle of the week, If I am still on track that is

Hump Day for workers who work Mon to Fri

Creative Arts Day at the Habitat, 

but it starts at 9am and I usually figure this out about 10am

I previewed this and found out I had missed Thursday!

You would think that Blogger would have popped up a message telling me so, 

gee 

it corrects my typo's, makes me add words to my dictionary,

 barrages me with tips and tricks

saves when I don't want to save,

and even it can't keep track of the days in a week!

What hope do I have?

Well TGIF!

No

This means Mark will be home tomorrow morning, unless he is doing overtime

in which case I am back to confused again

Last day to raid Mum's bank account or have to wait till Monday 

(lucky she has a stash somewhere)

 Okay, usually handle Saturdays!

 Unless the neighbours kids have gone out, Mark is working or I am at Mum's,

 Postman doesn't come today should be a tip, but that could just mean no mail today

Football is on the television, but I don't watch it

Seventh Day Adventist are in church, but I am not one

 and the mother of all questions that I dread to be asked 

"What is the date"

Like I'd know!

So if you see me wandering the streets, 

don't ask the date,

just smile, say Hi and 

tell me what day it is please!