Sydney Trip

For her 7th birthday we gave Catherine a flight to Sydney - something Christopher also got when he turned seven. We left home very early, flew from Brisbane to Sydney, spent the day, then flew back and drove home again. With Catherine's potential to throw up on the plane (she gets carsick very easily), it was decided that I would travel with her, rather than Garry.

We developed some photos of the trip today, so here is a small sample:

On the ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour.

Catherine traveled beautifully, even when I felt a little queasy at one point!

Shaking hands with one of the "live statues".

Catherine absolutely loved Circular Quay - she couldn't get enough of walking along, watching all the activity and interacting with various performers.

Catherine's scariest moment: "going through the security checkpoint, and mum had to take her shoes off, and I couldn't go back to be with her. The man was very angry when I tried to walk back".

Bravest moment: "when I met the statues".

Happiest moment: "being around Circular Quay".

What she thought of flying for the first time: "I had fun, and it's cool going on my first flight. I noticed that we went very, very high. There's little bumps everywhere you go in the clouds. My favourite bit was taking off". Clearly she takes after her mother, not father, when it comes to flying.

Party Invitation

Last week, Christopher received his first-ever party invitation from outside his family circle. The irony is that it's from our local cerebral palsy organisation. He was so excited that it made my heart ache. Here he is, nine years old, and he has never been invited to a friend's party - basically because kids his age are simply not ready to befriend someone who doesn't speak clearly and is in a wheelchair.

Thinking about this late last night, I tried to come up with an alternative way for him to be friends with someone his own age. I thought that perhaps a penpal arrangement might work - especially if they could use a chat program. Christopher could speak to me, I could type for him, and that way he could chat with a friend without the limitations of speech standing in his way. It's something I will pursue, because it's not fair for him to miss out on this as well as everything else.

Mind you, Christopher himself has never expressed a feeling of missing out on having friends his own age. He says he is "rich" because he has such a loving extended family. He also counts a number of adults as his special friends - notably J. and R. He talks about his friends at school as well, but there's no-one in his class that would invite him to their birthday party. I guess a penpal might not be able to invite him to parties either, but it might still create a new level of friendship with someone his own age.

Pepper Two

Catherine is currently in her room with tears running down her face as she cradles tiny Pepper Two, who appears to be dying. She is decorating a wooden box for Pepper's burial; on the lid she wrote: "Pepper Two is in here". Pepper Two wasn't well when we got her but I had hoped she might get better. Today, however, she won't even move, just sits shivering in the cage or on Catherine's palm. Part of our motivation in letting her have mice as pets was that she would eventually have to learn to cope with their death - we just hadn't counted on it being so soon! Poor kid - it's hard watching her deal with this, even though she is doing so beautifully. Anyway, it looks as though my next post about the Adventures of Salt and Pepper will be about a mouse funeral.

London

One year ago today, I left Australia for a trip to Holland via London, not something I would want to do today! It's hard to imagine the London of my memories thrown into chaos by the bombing. My heart goes out to the people whose lives have been torn apart by this terrible act of violence. What will the response of the world be now?

City Living

As can be seen in two photos posted earlier today, Liz and Peter are now living in a cute Queenslander in the city! After a fairly stressful move (and what move isn't stressful?), they are very happily settled in their new home. I am really looking forward to visiting and enjoying the delights of gourmet pizzas and excellent icecream, as promised.

Liz at the new house.

Annika and Liz in the hallway of their new house.

Sacred Space

One of the online discussions I'm part of is currently exploring the concept of "Sacred Space". As part of that discussion, I plan to spend some time thinking about Sacred Space in my life. To me, creating Sacred Space is a natural way of weaving a spiritual dimension into everyday settings. In fact, it's largely about creating a deeper awareness of the world right here and now. As Terry Pratchett says, "most people live in a temporal blur around their own bodies" and I find I need reminding to live in the sacredness of the present moment. So my approach to Sacred Space is one of creating an environment which encourages me to live with greater awareness and presence.