*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

I'm going home! Visa granted! Oz, here I come!

Things I Miss About Home (Oz)

These are in no particular order and some may be quite sappy...but all are near and dear to my heart.

1. Waking to the sound of the magpies song.
2. Dancing in warm, tropical rains.
3. Going to sleep each night with the arms of my love wrapped around me.
4. My wonderful, new-found friends.
5. Waking early and enjoying coffee with my lil hippie...chatting as he gets ready for work...then seeing him off at the front door with a big hug and kiss as he leaves for the day...and greeting him with the same when he gets home in the evening.
6. Charming towns with lovely little shops to find lovely little things.
7. The markets!
8. Watching the sunset from the back yard every evening.
9. Sitting on the blanket box out back and watching Pat spin with his staves.
10. Kookaburras and cockatoos...rainbow lorikeets and peewees...willy wag-tails...colourful dragonflies...little geckos crawling around on the walls at night
11. Pat's cooking...all of it!!!
12. Our comfy bed!
13. Hearing Lachie attempt to say "ya'll."
14. Watching Isaac run around wearing various articles of girl's clothing...just to be silly.
15. Lachie's big, happy smile and Isaac's mischievous grin.
16. Mid-morning walks thru the park.
17. Sweet mum Gail and silly puppy Fred.
18. Jess and Baz.
19. Eating fish and chips on the boardwalk after a day of sunshiny fun.
20. The gorgeous flowering trees and the lush palms that abound wherever you go.
21. The strong, positive energy that I felt from the land the moment I set foot on Aussie soil.
22. My sweetheart's warm brown eyes.
23. His smile and laugh.
24. Our colourful house!
25. It's home! What other excuse do I need? :-D

Disaster!!!

I've been keeping track of this and I sit here now with tears in my eyes. If I could be back home now, I'd be on that beach, doing what I could to help. The idiocy of some people is just beyond comprehension.

www.news.com.au/couriermai...952,00.html

I have such fond memories of the beaches in these areas and especially Bribie Island. On one of our outings, Pat and I had been up into the hinterlands all day and then spent the end of the day on Bribie, eating fish and chips on the end of the boardwalk as the sun went down.

people.tribe.net/d8d66e42-...f299846414
people.tribe.net/d8d66e42-...0a2f759031

From beauty to disaster, all in one fell swoop.

Showtunes Hafla

These are the pics from Blue Moon's Showtunes Hafla...our group starts on this page, but do feel free to check out all the pics...it was a blast!!!

meganh.smugmug.com/gallery/...050_VoBfW

I'm the one in the white skirt, in case you can't tell...;-)

All pics by the amazing Megan Freeman!

Central NC Pagan Pride Day 2008

I will, once again, be performing at CNC Pagan Pride Day on September 20th. I'd love to have some more dancers come out and do some improv with me during the drum circle. It's alot more fun when you have a group.

Here's the link about the event...hope to see you there.

cncppd.org/2008/

Why Women Should Vote

I received this in an email this morning, from a friend of mine. I had been really trying to avoid the thought of having to deal with voting, partly because I had thought I wouldn't still be here, by now. I was relieved that I would not have to go thru choosing a lesser of two evils, once again, but this has changed my mind.

Regardless of how disillusioned I am with our government, along with alot of people, I've come to realise how very much our country affects people all over the world. It's almost tragic. The animosity of some people towards America is deep and at times, frightening. The worst part is, alot of people equate the general public with what our government does.

Because of all of this, I've come to realise how important it is that I use my voice to do what I can, regardless of the fact that I'm not going to be here much longer. We are allies with Australia and alot of what we do (too much, perhaps) bears a strong effect on their lives. I don't want to be ashamed of that fact, so I'm going to do my little part in trying to make sure that the home I leave behind doesn't inadvertently help to destroy the new home I'm building.

All of us need to vote, regardless of our own personal reasons. Just because of the fact that we have the power to change what is wrong and strengthen what is right. We've not always had that power, now let's use it!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I had to check the validity of the story out, and it’s true. Here’s the link.



womenshistory.about.com/od/suf...tal.htm



Nonetheless, should the story have been untrue or exaggerated, our right to vote is no less important.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE


This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-
grandmothers, as they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women
were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they
were jailed nonetheless for picketting the White
House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by
the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's
blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women
wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell
bars above her head and left her hanging for the
night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled
Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head
against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her
cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and
suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits
describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating,
choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking
the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov.
15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan
Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach
a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House
for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an
open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was
infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice
Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her
to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and
poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was
tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled
out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this
year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties?
We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter?
It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening
of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a
graphic depiction of the battle these women waged
so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth
and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the
reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my
passion. But the actual act of voting had become
less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting
often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied
women's history, saw the HBO movie, too.
When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she
looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,'
she said. 'What would those women think of the
way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of
us take it for granted now, not just younger women,
but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right
to vote, she said, had become valuable to her
'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish
all history, social studies and government teachers
would include the movie in their curriculum I want
it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else
women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of
socializing,but we are not voting in the numbers that
we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in
order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies
try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul
insane so that she could be permanently institutional-
ized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse.
Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave.
That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women
is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the
women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that
was fought so hard for by these very courageous
women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or
independent party - Remember to vote.

Pogorella...

As a little gift to myself, I looked up this little story that Pat wrote one night, less than a month after we met...it was posted in my intro thread on Home of Poi...

***The picture is from Woodford Festival...he was drinking Dark'n'Stormies then, too...*giggle*...***

Happy Hippie Birthday, to me!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
poetic licence...

it's the drunkard's version of ... crap... what fairytale is it again... cinderella... that's it...


pogorella
---------

once upon a time, a young hippie named pogorella got sick of working all the damn time... so he cracked open a "dark 'n' stormy" (that's bundy rum and ginger beer in a can) and sat down to watch "almost famous"... 3 cans later and he was feeling pretty good...

but the movie was over, so he came back to spam HoP for a while... still drinking his bundy bear juice, pogorella tried to take some happy snaps of his tattoos with his sorely neglected camera... but... for whatever reason, he was unable to take a clear shot...

however!! in a flash of brilliance, he remembered that you could see his celtic armband tattoo in a twirling picture in his gallery...

while spamming HoP, the young temptress, rebekah the fyrespirit, ordered the impressionable young pogorella to drink another can, so that she could have her way with him. never one to pass up an opportunity, pogorella traipsed thru the pitch black house... on the way to the kitchen, he tripped over the ironing board and fell on the dog... the irony of having the ironing board out in the middle of the loungeroom, when pogorella irons nothing ever, did not escape him...

after picking himself up off the floor, pogorella retrieved another can from the fridge and returned to the comfort of HoP... where he proceeded to spam away once again.

but as he returned, pogorella noticed that the clock had passed midnight...!! defying all the laws of nature and scaring the fur off the dog, pogorella promptly turned into a pumpkin...

this is how he was found the next day... a mysterious, gigantic pumpkin, sitting on pogorella's computer chair. no-one ever discovered what happened to poor pogorella... but the pumpkin soup was legend for many years to come

THE END

Australianisation Test

To try to cheer myself up a bit, I've been trying to brush up on my Australian...Pat sent me this in an email, quite a while back and I love it...always makes me smile.


You know you're Australian if …

1. You know the meaning of the word "girt".

2. You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.

3. You think it's normal to have a leader called Kevin.

4. You waddle when you walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in your wallet or purse.

5. You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden.

6. You believe it is appropriate to put a rubber in your son's pencil case when he first attends school.

7. When you hear that an American "roots for his team" you wonder how often and with whom.

8. You understand that the phrase "a group of women wearing black thongs" refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds.

9. You pronounce Melbourne as "Mel-bin".

10. You pronounce Penrith as "Pen-riff".

11. You believe the "i" in the word " Australia " is optional.

12. You can translate: "Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas."

13. You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.

14. You call your best friend "a total bastard" but someone you really, truly despise is just "a bit of a bastard".

15. You think "Woolloomooloo" is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.

16. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.

17. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.

18. You understand that "Wagga Wagga" can be abbreviated to "Wagga" but "Woy Woy" can't be called "Woy".

19. You believe that cooked-down axlegrease makes a good breakfast spread.

20. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.

21. Hamburger. Beetroot. Of course.

22. You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again.

23. You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionary known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.

24. You still don't get why the "Labor" in "Australian Labor Party" is not spelt with a "u".

25. You wear ugh boots outside the house.

26. You believe, as an article of faith, that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off to the Yanks for a pittance.

27. You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.

28. Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.

29. You understand that "excuse me" can sound rude, while "scuse me" is always polite.

30. You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.

31. You understand that "you" has a plural and that it's "youse".

32. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle.

33. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.

34. You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call "Anzac cookies".

35. You still think of Kylie as "that girl off Neighbours".

36. When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you're trying to sneak in fruit.

37. You believe the phrase "smart casual" refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered.

38. You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction.

39. When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.

40. You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second.

41. You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government's new test for migrants.

42. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says "cobber".

43. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.

cheers,
--pat

*POUT*

It's taken me quite a few days to be able to write about this, but I'm not gonna be getting back to Oz as soon as I thought.

I called the Australian embassy last week to ask a couple questions and I was told that it will take from 4 to 6 months to process my visa application!!! I had called to ask about a provisional visa that would allow me to enter the country and stay while my visa was being processed, but it doesn't apply to the prospective spouse visa.

This means that I not only am going to miss a bunch of great festivals that we had planned on attending, both my birthday and his and worst of all, we have to postpone our wedding!!!

I know that we've had to wait before. It was over a year before we were even able to meet face-to-face, but it's worse, now. We had started a life together and it was hard enough having to come back, thinking that I'd be able to go back within a few months, but this is torture!!! I miss my lil hippie, something awful...*sniffle*

So, it looks like instead of having a Spring wedding (they're opposite of us on the seasons, y'know?) it might have to be a Fall wedding, instead. I just hope I'm able to get back by then. Even then, it will be over a year since I left Oz to come back to the states. I'm doing all I can to not be depressed and angry, but I'm not having alot of success. Neither of us are sleeping well. We'd gotten used to shnuggling up with each other every night and it's hard to go back to sleeping alone and it's even harder on him, because he's having to sleep in our bed, without me there. He's gotten to where the only sleep he can get is if he's not in the bed, otherwise, he just tosses and turns.

*sigh*...Of course we're not gonna give up, but geez, all I want is to be back home with my lil hippie hubby-to-be and get back to our lives, together. Is that too much to ask?

Good-bye, my Jekyll boy

I've lost my sweet lil kitty. :'(

I had noticed that he was getting a bit skinny, but my animals always tended to get skinny, during the summer months...the thinner coat and just the tolls of hot weather. But just in the past couple of days, he went down, dramatically. He wouldn't eat and he was breathing heavy...he wouldn't even touch his milk and he always begs for it, every morning.

I thought maybe he'd just gotten into something that made him sick and I was babying him, as much as possible. He was still purring and loving the attention, but he was definitely not well. When he went out yesterday morning, I noticed that he was starting to salivate, heavily and when I went out, about an hour later, to check on him, he was lying under the house, not able to move.

I called the vet and they told me that it sounded like he had rabies. They told me that I needed to call animal control, which I hated the idea of doing, but I hated even worse that my poor kitty was suffering. They came and got him, yesterday afternoon and said that he'd have to be put down, which I already knew...there's no coming back from rabies. It broke my heart having to let him go. He was the sweetest little kitty that I'd ever had and I've had quite a few, over the years.

As an aside...it took quite an ordeal to even get animal control to come out. The first number that I called was disconnected. I had to call the sheriff's dept to get the correct number. When I called that number, I had to leave a message. The bitch that called me back should NOT be working with animals. She said that they 'might' be able to send someone out today...and then, they'd have to kill him and cut off his head to send it in to the state to be tested!!! I knew what would have to be done, but I was already crying and upset and she didn't help, in the least. Whatever happened to simple, human compassion??? Well, I sat for a few minutes, so very angry, then I called the sheriff's dept back. The lady there was appalled at how I told her I'd been treated and said she'd call the supervisor of animal control and get some help for me. She said that if I didn't hear back from them to call 911 and that would force them to have to do their job. It was only an hour or so later that the supervisor came out and got Jekyll. He was much more compassionate and put things to me much more gently. I told my little boy good-bye and came in the house and cried.

I loved my little kitty, so much and I'll miss him, horribly. He was a sweety, till the end.

Good-bye, little boy.