Missing my passion

As far back as I can remember I have been taking photos.

This photo (not that clear as its a photo of a photo)

was taken when I would have been about eight years old and I won a prize at the show with it.

What makes it even more special is not only did I take the photo but I developed the film as well.
I loved all parts of photography, the use of film, the setting up for the photo,
taking lots of time to make sure the angles and lighting were just right,
not wanting to waste to many shots because film was not easy for me to afford.
Then the magical part, taking the film into the dark room and watching the photos appear.
Don't get me wrong, I love digital technology which means you can snap away without any thought about the photo or wasting of costly film, but for me it took away, for a long time, the joy I had in the art of setting up and planning photos.
The photos I took with a small, cheap, little digital camera were of my children,
I had bought it when we travelled to a state swim championship and I realised I hadn't taken any photos for a long time and I felt it was important to document this moment.
The photos I took from then on were what I considered quick snaps,
used to document my girls lives and what they were doing.
I didn't take anything else, I couldn't really see the point in it all as now my life was about my children and letting them live their lives, there wasn't any time for me to be doing something so wasteful as taking photographs when there was always somewhere to be and something to do that was more important.
Then several years ago my eldest daughter, Heidi, was selected to travel and teach in Sierra Leone and we decided to give her a decent camera as her 18th birthday present so that she could record her trip.
(well it was actually for her 17th, but we explained that it was an early 18th present so she wasn't to expect anything special the following year for her actual 18th)
When she returned from Africa (with many photographs to show) I would take some time with her camera, taking it with me some days to have a go at taking photos again.
I had forgotten all I had learnt in the early days, couldn't remember how the settings worked
or even how to set up a shot.
But it was fun to be back with a camera in my hand, to just be able to go out there and snap away, knowing it wasn't going to cost me anything to just play around.
I had slowly over the past 12 months been rediscovering my joy with the camera,
but of course Heidi has taken her camera with her to Adelaide and I don't even have a fancy phone that has a decent camera on it so I'm stuck without a camera again (well I do have a ipad and I have been using that to take photos, but it's not exactly a camera)
One day I hope to own a good camera so I can continue to do what I love.
 

Birth is not a Competition

I truly hate the competitive talk that sometimes emerges when people tell their birthing stories.

It depends on who you are talking with,

but the subject and angle varies between different women and different groups.

There are the women who are proud of the fact that they had their baby at 9am

and were home and making lunch for their partner and other child by 1pm the same day

"oh I didn't miss a beat and no one missed out just because I had to give birth"
"How many hours did you stay in hospital after you had your girls" they ask, and I know they wouldn't understand if I answered 168 hours and I know they certainly wouldn't 

understand why I spent 7 days in hospital after both my children were born, and that I enjoyed being there, resting and being looked after.
But what I object to is the looking down the nose at other women who chose to stay on at the hospital for a bit longer, the attitude that comes out each time they open their mouth to talk about how giving birth didn't cause any hiccups in the family routine, and the rubbishing of women who admit to having their mum or a friend come around and help out for a few days to help them get used to the new routine.

For some ladies its the "oh I was totally natural" angle and they rubbish women who have an epidural, gas or other forms of pain relief.

They do not understand why if they could do it pain free, why everyone else can't do the same.

Now I have tried to reason with some women who have this thought, explaining how I had given birth twice, and how one was easy and almost pain free without any artificial help and the other one I took the gas and sucked on it as if my life depended on it and it gave me strength to get through my labour.

Then I say that perhaps it is possible that each birth is different and that maybe that pain levels vary each time, but I am just told things like "oh you must not have been in the right head space" and asked "were you feeling weak that day?" and "didn't you want to go natural?"
Then there is the group who can't understand why I had a natural birth,
they tell me I should have booked a cesarean (wasn't an option where I was living anyway but apparently that is still not good enough) as didn't I know that natural birth can cause damage "down below" and that my husband might not "enjoy himself" as much after I gave birth that way? 
Now I don't get upset if you tell me you gave birth in a paddling pool in your lounge room or in a high care labour ward at a hospital and I certainly don't mind if your labour was two hours or two days like one of mine was, or if you went totally natural or used every drug they offered you.
It is your body and your choice and I respect the choices you made just as I expect you to respect mine and all your other friends choices.
It is not a competition to see who gave birth the shortest or the longest, who used the least or the most pain relief, if you were inside a hospital or at home.
It's your individual story of the birth you went through and no one should ridicule you or hold you in contempt for what you chose to do and what you went through, women should be united in sharing they experiences for it truly is a wonderful gift to be appreciated, natured and treasured.

Christine Jean Hutchesson

Christine Jean Hutchesson was the first child and only daughter of Eric and Jean Hutchesson and older sister to Andrew and Greg, Sister in law to Katrina and Cindy and Aunty to Heidi, Natasha, Brooke, Ella and Ben.

She was born on the 11th October 1961 in the old Mt Gambier hospital, just after it was built, 6 weeks premature and weighing only 2 pounds 14 ounces.

She was a fighter and finally left the hospital just before Christmas to live with her parents at Mil lel.

Though Chrissy had early childhood problems and did not walk unaided until 7, she would scoot around on her bottom chasing after Andrew, and the 2 of them would be often found getting into mischief.

One day their Mum heard them both laughing and found them pulling the bone china cups and saucers out of the cupboard onto the floor, luckily it was carpet and nothing broke.

When Greg was being naughty or annoying, Andrew would try and get Chrissy to smack Greg, but she would just laugh at them, but if either of them were hurt and cried she would join in the crying too.

In 1967 Chrissy started school at Derrington Special School in Mt Gambier and in 1974 she moved to the Strathmont Centre in Adelaide where she lived for the next 20 years.

Chrissy would come home every school holidays with her parents either driving up to collect her or she would fly home. She enjoyed playing with her brothers and cousins with her favourite game being Hide and seek

.

Chrissy always came home for any big functions and enjoyed attending both her brothers’ weddings.

Chrissy, Robyn and Michael were the first residents of Strathmont centre to leave and trial living in the community, with Chrissy being handed the keys in1994, she resided happily in the community housing until she moved in 2012.

From the very beginning of life in the community house, Linda has been involved in the care of the residents, and especially Chrissy. Linda we know you went above and beyond what was simply your job description and you have become a part of our extended family and we thank you very much for the care and friendship that you have given to Chrissy over the 19 years.

Over time Chrissy created a beautiful room in the house, being very particular about every item of furniture and decoration that she selected as she had very definite views about what she did and didn’t like. This extended to her love of clothes shopping where staff were left in no doubt as to which items she would be buying and which were to be put back on the rack.

Chrissy enjoyed everything about her life, from swimming to riding for the disabled, but it was her love for 10 pin bowling where she collected many trophies and medallions.

She liked looking at magazines, eating chocolate and going for walks along the beach, which included several holidays in Queensland, with one of those being for a month where she got to celebrate her birthday in Surfers Paradise.

Chrissy also had a love for fine dining, enjoying going out with friends torestaurants and listening to the conversation that would go on, making sure she never missed out on anything that was happening around her. She loved to surround herself with friends and would always be the first to call you to come and join in on the conversation.

Even though Chrissy could not talk you were left in no doubt that she understood what was going on as she would always be the first person to get a joke, and would smile and laugh loudly but often the joke would be on someone else, because if you were getting up to mischief she would make sure that everyone else knew about it.

Chrissy had a caring nature and if staff were unaware someone else in the house was ill, she would let them know as she didn’t like to see anyone in distress.

Near the end of 2010 a lump was discovered in Chrissy’s breast that turned out to be cancer, to begin with she was given the all clear after surgery in early 2011 but in April 2012 the cancer returned and this was a battle she couldn’t win.

Chrissy always had a smile on her face, was often laughing and knew how to enjoy life to the absolute fullest; she loved the company of her friends and family and was loved by everyone.

As Natasha said the other day Chrissy was perfect just the way she was, and that is so true.

Beginning Walking Again

Today was the first day for walking.
Not the best day for it as
we are getting more smoke drift from the fires across the border,
and it was annoying to say the least.
The other thing that was annoying was to forget to take a stop watch
so I have no idea what pace I walked at.
(and no, using the app that tracks the walk is no good here as it keeps giving a weak signal message and is way off the route I'm walking)
But I do know from plotting my walk that I managed
3.53 kilometres (that's 2.19 miles)
at what for me was a medium pace.
It's not much, but its a start,
and is something that can be built on.
As a bonus my feet are not painful after walking
so I haven't had to resort to pain relief.

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRun

Blood Sugar Levels and all that crap

Does anyone know what I've been up to lately?
Well the bottom part of the photo should give it away,
but slightly difficult if you look at the top two as they are the one thing I took apart,
 curious to see how they worked

Yep that's right,

I've been sticking myself with a pin and testing my blood sugar levels.

And if I'm honest with you, they are totally and utterly crap,

and do not seem to be balancing out at all.

I was put on some medication that had many side effects,

one of them was raising blood sugar levels (and the pharmacist said that would happen)

but they didn't think it would be much of a problem once I stopped the medication.

Except it has been an ongoing problem.

It's sent them sky high and my body does not seem capable of returning to normal

It just wants to keep them constantly in double figures.

A non fasting blood sugar test should be under 7.8,

let's just say my average for two weeks of four tests per day is

13.4 which is not good in anyone's book.

So back to the doctor this coming week and we see where we go to from here.

10 Things you must give up to move forward

This came through my news feed on face book the other day and I shared it on my page and with some friends.

It has certainly struck a chord with many people with quite a few actually printing it out to put on their wall. 

It appears to come from Stephen Covey, or at least his tribute face book page 

Is there something from here that you think,you need to take on board?

I know I probably need to keep reading it for several days to make it sink in

and actually get myself into the right thought pattern.

Bush Fires

 This is a photo taken from one of the many fires burning in Tasmania,

You can tell by this smoke cloud just how massive this is and I'm sure, if you're like me,

you can begin to imagine the devastation that it is causing.

The homes and businesses lost, the possible loss of life,

(Only one unconfirmed report of a loss of life)

a whole town nearly wiped out and potential for more losses.

Photo source ABC - taken from Fawcett Towers outside Hobart

Having grown up living in National Parks, always surrounded by scrub,

the danger of fire and the devastation they can cause is something I have always been aware of.

They are to be respected and to never be treated lightly

and anyone who thinks otherwise is not being sensible.

All I can do from here is hope and pray that everyone is okay,

that all firefighters return safely and that people and towns can rebuild.

Photo credit and copyright Timmy Watters - taken from Mt Nelson