New Beginnings

2012 brought some great things...

but, it was a long, tiring

and often... awful year.

But, it's gone!

 

Welcome 2013!

Here's to smiles, love, laughter

and great health!

Happy New Year!

 

And... in Thai:

สุขสันต์วันปีใหม่นะคะเพื่อนๆ

Photo Source

Carols

Go Caroling Day

I don’t know how

I would react if a group

of people suddenly stood

at my front door,

singing carols.

I think I would be pretty surprised…

I can’t imagine it happening.

I wonder how people would react

 if I suddenly appeared

at their doors?

Today is Go Carolling Day,

but… here in Australia,

if we want to go carolling,

we go to the park

and sing along

at the annual carols night.

We sit around a picnic

and talk as people sing to us.

(Carols in the Domain

in Melbourne

started in 1938!)

We don’t walk around

and sing to each other.

I never really thought

about this before…

My voice isn’t cheerful enough

for me to go singing carols

to my neighbours, so…

unfortunately,

I will give this day a miss.

Perhaps I could sing along

to a Christmas CD?

 

I did learn that carols

were very popular 

from the 1130s to the 1150s.

After this time,

Prodestants took over

and carols were regarded as

non-essential parts

of the Catholic religion

and were "ditched"!

Luckily, they still fill

our ears as we rush

to the shops to finish

our last minute

Christmas shopping!

Happy Caroling!

 

Bar Hum Bug

Humbug Day

I’m guessing this is for those

anti-Christmas types…

and, I don’t mean those

who celebrate

different religious events

instead of the birth of Christ -

which to all kids

means the arrival of Santa!

I mean those people

who just don’t believe

 in Santa (What?)

or those who just don’t want

 to be swept up

in the Christmas Cheer…

Perhaps, they just don’t l

ike those carols!

Sadly, I am feeling a little this way

 at the moment.

I cannot believe how busy

I have been lately.

I am longing for the time

when I can lie back a

nd just relax for a little while.

Work has been amazingly busy,

 with obligations

and commitments rolling in,

one after the other.

On Wednesday, just as things

were about to ease up

 and the kids were about to

start their holidays…

one of my girls

broke her collar bones.

Nasty for her!

Fiddly paperwork for me!

Today, however, finally…

is my last day of work!

We’ll enjoy some bacon and eggs

 for breakfast

and will pretend to be interested

 in our fellow teachers

as they present to us

about Literacy and Numeracy.

 After celebrating the end of

the year last night,

a few people may need

 the grease of the bacon

and listening may become

very difficult… but,

it’s the last day!

There will be a few of my locals

 gathering at a nearby

watering hole this evening,

 downing a little bubbly

and celebrating the fact

that we have made it!

 I think, with a little bubbly

and a few laughs,

and no more deadlines looming

 (apart from Santa’s arrival

and Christmas Day!)

I will have a little less

 of the bar-humbug-ness

and a little more

Christmas Cheer.

How’s your Humbug-ness?

Nick and Shoes

Can’t wait until Christmas?

You don’t have to!

Go and check your shoes…

Right now!

Is there anything in them?

Are they filled with lollies?

Apples or Nuts?

Coins?

Did you find a present?

No?

Maybe you didn’t leave

 your shoes by the chimney?

Maybe next year.

Today is St Nicholas Day.

Kids leave their shoes

by the chimney,

Good Old Nick turns up

 during the night and leaves

 a small gift in the kids' (stinky) shoes!

I did read about one poor

 teacher’s story

about this tradition.

She taught some childen

who were lucky enough

to have been visited by St Nicholas.

 They came to school,

excited and happy to tell their

classmates all about it.

 Those poor kids who were not

 visited by St Nick were

devastated and crying,

asking why they were not visited!

Oh, imagine!

I wonder how worried those kids

 were on Christmas Eve –

and how relieved

they must have been

 to wake up to presents

 on Christmas Day!

On that note – I have had

to supress a grin or two

when the kids in my class

 have told me about seeing Santa –

the REAL one!!

Oh, the fun of Christmas

when Santa is still real!

Truck Convoy

Almost 700 motorbikes…

Almost 700 trucks…

crowds of kids

and a family fun day…

all to raise money for Camp Quality

and kids with cancer

in the Illawarra.

The Truck Convoy is impressive.

You can’t help but feel

the love and generosity

of thousands of people,

as they line the streets

and cheer as truck after truck

after truck rolls through the streets.

 Horns blast, sirens shriek

and people wave.

This is the 8^th i98 Convoy.

Since the convoys began,

almost 2.18 million dollars

have been raised.

This year, on November 18^th,

the trucks will move

through the streets again.

Rehearsals have taken place,

so volunteers know

how to park the (almost)

700 trucks at Croome Road.

Bands will play, people will sing…

food and drink will be sold

and money

will be thrown into buckets.

People come all the way

from Queensland

to enter the convoy!

Each truck pays

to enter the convoy.

The truck which pays the

highest amount

will lead the convoy.

This will be decided very soon.

Trucks are currently bidding

at $1800…

A very clever idea,

formed by some locals,

is to enter a People’s Truck…

a truck for the people.

Anyone can pay

to have their name,

business name, logo or website

 put on the truck.

Last year, adding names

 lead to a donation

of over $43,000!

These will stay on the truck

 until the 2013 convoy.

As the truck moves around NSW

 and around the other states,

businesses will be advertised…

the People’s Truck

is sure a wonderful sight –

with lists and lists and lists

of names printed on the sides.

I know some names

on the truck this year.

I’ve had a chance to learn

 a little more about

the truck “owners”.

I’m proud of their creativity

and the incredible money

they will raise again this year.

This Sunday,

bring a hat and a drink.

Bring every coin

from behind the lounge,

the floor of the car

or from your dad’s little stash…

 bring a cheering voice

(and maybe, some earplugs!).

 Bring a smile and watch

as the trucks roll by,

each one expressing

their generosity and love

for kids with cancer.

 (I’m not sure what

Crazy Day today is,

but it is Convoy Week -

and that’s sure special!)

Miraculous

May

Miracle Month

For Premature Babies!

Miracle babies Foundation

supports premmie babies,

sick newborns

and the hospitals

 which care for them.

Watching a premmie

struggle each day…

celebrating their final release

 into the “real” world…

helping them through

daily struggles…

No wonder premmie babies

get a whole month! 

Happy Miracle Month

tiny babies!

Thank you!!

To all nurses…

Thank you!

You are so incredible

that you not only get

an international Day…

 You get a whole week! 

This week has been

 International Nurse’s Week. 

 International Nurses’ Day

is today. 

This day was chosen

because it was also

Florence Nightingale’s birthday. 

Without nurses,

many, many, many

of us would not be here. 

 The Cow would like to

pay special tribute

to a group of nurses,

who knew when

to break the rules… 

A little boy lay

in a hospital bed,

without his mum or dad…

but surrounded by nurses. 

I’d like to thank them

for pulling up the chair

and sitting by his bed-

even when they were not

 in charge of him. 

 I’d like to thank them

for the cuddles they gave him,

 the love they showed him

 and for the adventures

they took him on. 

While he may have been

oblivious to his adventures…

they sure were fun

for the rest of us. 

 

He was a ski doctor…

a spaceman and a rapper. 

 He went on vacation

to Bora Bora

and tried his hand as a dj…

what adventures he had!

Today is special

for two other reasons…

neither quite as serious

as Nurse’s Day! 

But…

it is also

Hug Your Cat Day

and Limerick Day.

  I thought I’d cover them both

with a limerick so awful,

all cat lovers

would have to run to their cat

 and hug them… 

There was once a cat

 named Pat,

Who didn’t know where

he was at,

He looked up and down,

and then turned around,

 Ran into a wall

and went splat!!! 

(And, to the cat

who keeps using

my vege garden as a toilet…

 go find a wall

for some splatting!!)

Photos from here and here.