Photographer Grandma

Took these lovely pictures :-)

10 Minute story

Using the same prompts as Jenni's story (fog, the distant sound of laughter, suspicion, surprise) It was a cold, miserable day and Sinead was late. Late for work, late with her rent, late to the party of life. Her friends all seemed to be moving on, settling down, finding some kind of meaning in life. Sinead was standing still. At 37 she felt she had finally mastered the role of being a twenty-something. She had flatmates she got on with, she wasn’t dependent on her parents any more, and she had settled in a job she didn’t hate. Her credit card bills wiped out most of what was left of her pay cheque after rent, but that was OK. She was staying afloat. Sadly it seemed like she was floating in the shallow end. Fog curled around her legs as she walked slowly through the park. Somewhere a little kid was laughing, lost in the grey mist. No doubt the kid’s proud mother was adjusting her pilates friendly running shoes and beaming with a pride Sinead’s biological clock was getting ever closer to denying her forever. Still, they could get 60 year olds to have babies these days, couldn’t they? Maybe it was all too much? Maybe she should give up on the whole thing and admit that she was a square peg in a round world. She just didn’t fit. Never had, never would. She didn’t hear the child’s approach but she felt he impact distinctly as the rampaging toddler collided with her legs, knocking her to the ground. Staring up at the still standing youngster Sinead saw his lip wobble slightly, his eyes begin to tear up. The mother was nowhere to be seen, lost in the fog. Sinead fought down the urge to panic, smiled at the child and laughed.

Roy and the Vampire

Roy wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and exhaled slowly as he stood at the edge of the kerb looking up at the old Wallerston clothing factory. The building was a long, broad wooden structure with tiny windows high up in the walls. On one side of the building an old tarmac parking lot was now overgrown with weeds, tendrils poking up through the faded surface and wrapping around the partially collapsed chainlink fences. To the other side the broken remnants of an old cheese factory slumped like an old skeleton against the late afternoon sky. Between these barren neighbours the old clothing factory looked almost respectable, despite the many holes in its wooden cladding. Roy had a letter in his hand. This was not unusual, Roy being a mail delivery worker, but he’d never had to deliver a letter to this building before. He passed it every day on his route but he’d always thought it was abandoned. He pushed his bicycle up the kerb and headed up the cracked path toward the doors. As he neared the building weeds gave way to dust, the shadow of the factory choking the life out of the ground. Roy kicked out the stand on his bike and balanced it at the bottom of the steps. He looked over his shoulder quickly, checked that the street was empty, and climbed the steps. He’d expected to find a mail slot in the building’s front door, or perhaps a mailbox, but the dilapidated wooden doors hung slightly ajar on their hinges and there was nowhere to put the letter. A paler patch on the wall indicated where a mailbox had once hung. Shrugging to himself Roy pushed on the door gently and it swung open. It was cool in the shade of the building, so Roy wasn’t in a hurry. He stepped into the dimly lit interior of the old clothing factory and looked around. There were old machines covered in dust, rotten fabric in piles, and a row of mannequins all staring towards the door. Their blank faces looked somehow sad in the silence of the large building. “Hello?” Roy called out, the letter held out in front of him. “Anyone here?” For a moment there was only silence, then a voice called out from somewhere inside the building. “Down in the basement, please.” It was a gentle voice, with a slight European accent. Roy was surprised to find anyone in the building but he had a job to do, an envelope to deliver. He pushed past the first row of mannequins and walked between two bulky steam-press machines. A trap door stood open in the middle of the floor with stairs leading down. “I have a letter for you, Mr Alucard?” he called out, reading the name off the envelope as he tentatively stepped down onto the top step. “That’s great, my friend. Please bring it down,” replied the smooth voice. Roy smiled and felt himself relax. Something about the voice was so cultured, so friendly that he found it impossible to be nervous when he heard it. He bounded down the stairs like a Labrador returning a stick to its owner, full of enthusiasm. At the bottom of the stairs a man stood in the shadows, his eyes glinting slightly. He was dressed in elegant evening dress, as if he were ready to attend the opera or a state ball. He reached out a white gloved hand and took the envelope without speaking. “Have you been here long?” Roy asked to break the silence. “I always thought this place was empty.” “It has felt empty, until now,” the man replied. He smiled, showing pearly white teeth. His canines were abnormally long, wickedly sharp. “But I need not be alone any more.” The man dropped the letter, unopened, and fixed his eyes on Roy’s. He raised a hand dramatically like a stage magician mesmerising his assistant and let out a quiet hissing sound. Roy smiled blissfully and began to sway gently in time with the man’s hand movements. “Do not worry my child, it will be over quickly and you too will be a creature of the night,” the man reassured Roy as he stepped forward and bit into his neck. Roy smiled to himself and patted the mailbag at his side. He’d been right. Alucard was a vampire. It had been risky coming here, but it was going to pay off after all. He ripped the bottle of holy water out of his bag and tipped it over Alucard’s head, tearing himself away from the vampire’s iron grip. Smoke began to pour from Alucard’s head as he flailed and screamed, and Roy grabbed the wooden stake from his bag. “Why? I would have shown you the night as you had never seen it!” the vampire screamed. “Whatever sucker,” Roy replied, lunging forward and plunging the stake into the vampire’s heart. “I don’t want to be a postal worker forever. I’m turning monster hunter, freelance.” Roy was talking to a pile of ash now, but that didn’t stop him. “I can collect a small fortune for these.” He bent down and picked up two fangs from the pile of ash, popped them into his pocket. The letter, a lure in Alucard’s own handwriting, could be left as a warning to any other creepy crawlies. You don’t mess with The Postman. Questions: 1. How is a spooky atmosphere built up in this story? 2. What language techniques are used? 3. Is there anything surprising about the ending? 4. What do we learn about Roy in this story? 5. What do we learn about Alucard? Is he a stereotype? 6. How could this story have been made better?

Sickness, visitors and ducks

Hmmm - it's been a while since I updated. The last week has been quite busy in one way or another. Debbie has been fighting off a yukky head cold. Lots of blocked nose, sore throat, feeling unwell horribleness. Dominic had his first cold this week too, though not 'til several days after Debbie's started. It could be the same cold but if it is Dom's wee body fought it off a lot faster as he was only sniffly for a couple of days.

He had his 15 month jabs on Friday so I took the day off to stay home and help out. The worst part of the jabs was probably the waiting around. Dom might not agree with that statement but he seemed to recover from the needles quite quickly, but was forced to wait about 30 minutes before and 25 minutes after and got quite frustrated that we weren't letting him race out the door and romp around in the sunshine.

He's started letting go of support, and even took a couple of steps towards me yesterday no-hands, so once again we're thinking walking's not too far away. We've been thinking that for at least 4 months now though :-)

Our house is currently slightly tidier than usual as we had visitors yesterday. We're going to try to keep it tidy as my folks are coming down next weekend! Should be awesome.

We took the camera to the park yesterday to see if we could get a fwe photos of Dom feeding ducks but the ducks were too lazy to get out of the water and a bunch of pushy seagulls ended up swarming the place and nicking half the food. So we'll try again another time :-)



Dom walking - in little shoes!

Happy St Pat's Day

In celebration of St Patrick's Day, I made Dom a little leprechaun costume. A pretty budget affair really with a decorated $2 hat, a homemade bow tie and a waistcoat made from an old reuseable shopping bag. He got to wear it to the St Pat's Little Wrigglers group today and also enjoyed playing with green balloons, eating a green easter egg and a cupcake with green icing.

Here are a couple of photos that were taken in the brief moments between him pulling his hat off. He seems obsessed with pulling hats off at the moment, especially any on his or his mother's head.

 

The Leprechaun in training races around the house at frantic pace. You can't afford to waste time when there is so much mischief to be had.

Ever wonder how a green sock or handkerchief sneaks into your white wash? It's the laundry leprechaun at work!

Who's hiding between that innocent green hat? It's Dom!

Laundry baskets are the perfect spot for plotting your next St Patrick's Day trick.

Posing with his hat at a rakish tilt.

Tables and chairs

I've been wanting to get a kid-size table and chairs for Dominic for a while. I have delightful maternal fancies of having tea parties (possibly with teddy bears) and sitting with Dom to do arts and crafts. However, the main obstacle seemed to be Dominic's complete reluctance to ever sit still on a chair. Even at other kids' birthday parties when the other kids would sit up nicely at small plastic tables to eat their food, Dom would grab the food and then clamber down and make a break for it at full-speed.

My hopes of a getting Dom to sit on a chair for longer than five seconds without being tied to it were rekindled this weekend at Baby City. Whilst we were perusing for a replacement cup (his cow cup is starting to look worse for wear these days as he has nibbled extra holes in the nozzle), Dom took himself over to a shiny Winnie-the-Pooh wooden table and chairs. With gleeful blubrling he climbed up and sat nicely in the Tigger-backed chair and slapped his hands on the table with delight, pointing at his favourite characters. Disney has already got their evil merchandising hooks into my young boy it seems. Not content with reading Pooh books and watching the Pooh DVD, he now wants his furniture plastered with the characters.

I was thrilled and insisted on getting the table and chairs there and then. The sales assistant claimed it was the last one in stock.

We got the furniture home and Dom was eager to play with it further. I sat down with him and we shared a bit of brownie and apple.

 

Yummy brownie mess.

To my joy and rapture, Dom would sit in the chair even later when there wasn't food present.

He was happy to sit and point to the pictures of Pooh and friends.

We could read him books and still he remained seated in the chair.

Another happy storytime at the table.

However, in less than twenty four hours, Dominic showed us that there is nothing he cannot turn into a dangerous extreme sport. To him, tables and chairs were not merely items of furniture on which you had docile storytimes and indulged your mother's desires for playing tea party games.

No, tables and chairs were like mountains, they needed to be scaled.

Dominic makes his way up the perilous Mt Pooh table.

Once at the summit, the intrepid climber enjoys a quick story or two.

More table mischief

 

Head shaving vid

Gym class

I managed to sneak away during my non-contact and go to Dom's gym class again today. It's awesome fun and they have some really cool aparatus there for the kids to play on. The massive pit'o'foam was once again a popular attraction for young Dom, and I spent a tiring few minutes clambering around and bouncing on foam before exhaustion overcame me.

There are a few cool photos which will probably be posted in the near future, but here's one I particularly like as it shows off my new look rather well (and is a cute pic of the boy too):

Total so far more than $850

Debbie likes this photo. I do too :-)



$317.50 collected at the door yesterday
$115 in raffle tickets/donations
$270 in credit card donations
$150 from student council

Total so far = $852.50

Writing challenge - First Words

Expensive hair cut!

In a good way. I think the total has now passed $800? (once we bank the school money).

Here are the promised photos. Video coming soon.

close to 500

Person, Place, Weather, Time

Gym photos

Here are some photos from Dom's gymnastics class. Matt popped along during interval a couple of Fridays ago to play photographer and get a bit of a workout in the pit o' foam.

 

An overview of the whole gym circuit. It's kind of like Tux Wonderdogs but for toddlers.

The infamous pit o' foam. It's deeper than it looks and surprisingly hard work to move around in and clamber out of.

Dom in the pit.

Upright again and ready for more romping through foam action.

Dom lowers himself down into the donut centre.

Then he crawls out of the donut and it's down the slope.

Dom makes his way through a tunnel.

Then through another smaller tunnel. Dom didn't fancy going through the tunnels on his first week but now he enjoys a good tunnel or two.

The trampoline is hugely long and it's good for a bouncy race-track.

Then he has a good old bounce on the mini-trampoline or rebounders as I believe they are sometimes called.

There were lots of other pics but alas most of them came out blurry. Hopefully Dom's photographer will make it to another session in the future.

Crossgrazing posts - State of Play

The importance of being Billy Crudup

 I'm not sure if it's the excitement of his beloved Watchmen finally coming out on film, or the result of a brain-frying working week but I don't recommend attempting to have any kind of coherent discussion with Matt this evening.

Over dinner, I was remarking upon the Empire article I had read and my thoughts on the casting. At first, I thought lovely Jeffery Dean Morgan was a weird choice for The Comedian but then it grew on me. By the time I saw pics and the trailer I had him firmly fixed in my mind as being perfect for the part. Hopefully he is.

I only recently realised that it is Billy Crudup playing Dr Manhattan which I can not so easily imagine. Unfortunately, while trying to express to Matt that while I liked him as an actor I was uncertain as to how he would pull off the part, I forgot Billy Crudup's name.

Me: I still think he's a weird choice for Doc Manhattan.
Matt: Who?
Me: The guy playing him, whathisname?
Matt: Dunno.
Me: You know the British actor. He was in Big Fish and Stage Beauty and a bunch of stuff...
Matt: British actor guy?
Me: Arrgg, I've forgotten his name. Maybe I'll go look it up...
Matt: Let me guess. Ralph Machio?
Me: No. British
Matt: Handsome von Hunky Face? Actor McStarsinfilms? Lord Guy Whoactsin films?
Me: No (gets up to grab magazine)
Matt: Wait, is he like a younger British Hugh Grant, only British?
Me: What the?
Matt: (Spiels off more stupid names...)
Me: (Finding the page) Aha, Billy Crudup.
Matt: Uh.
Me: You don't know who Billy Crudup is, do you?
Matt: Yes, I do. Mr Crudup. Billy. The Crudster to his close and personal friends.
Me: It doesn't matter...
Matt: He's that actor who stars in that movie "Billy Crudup in huhhmmm".
Me: You can stop now.
Matt: He's the one who uncannily has the face of Billy Crudup.
Me: Forget it.
Matt: Billy Crudup. Lord Billy Crudup von Cruddinson. Cruddie. (Starts singing to tune of Rock me, Amadeus) Billy Crudup, Billy Crudup, Billy Crudup...
Me: If you don't stop, I'm going to write this up on my blog.
Matt: No, wait. What movies was he in?

Funds Raised ;-0

Film recommendations for a Y13 boy?

Favourable response

 

Advice on being sick

 1. Don't get sick. It isn't any fun at all and it is always much worse than you remember it being. 2. If you have a small, energetic child who expects you to run around after them all day, then really, DO NOT GET SICK. There is no calling in sick and spending the day in bed for parents. 3. If you do have the misfortunate to become ill whilst looking after aforementioned busy toddler, make sure your partner does not also get sick at the same time as you. Guess who failed to follow the above for the last couple of days?

Shave for a Cure

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