Another great quote

Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.
Zig Ziglar

....and I LOVE photography and creating images.

Down Syndrome Calendar cover 2009

Where has the time gone?

I started out 10 years ago with an idea to create a calendar which thumbed it's nose at the "established" way of doing calendars for charities. I was always of the feeling that if only 12 pictures could be used (1x per month) from an interstate calendar creation from a couple of associations around the country, the chances of seeing kids from our specific association in this state could take years. I also felt at the time I suggested this in the first place, that the process lent itself to being political and selective which I felt then, and now, was wrong.

I suggested at an association committee meeting that we create a calendar for EVERYBODY. No one would be left out. The determining factor was to be up to the people themselves as to whether THEY submitted a picture or not. Once I suggested that, everyone offered their points of view and then unitedly turned to me and said, Well? are you going to do it?

Not having the photoshop skills I possess now and with no prior experience I said "yes", thinking I would start it, do one or two and then someone else would want to take it on. 10 years on, I am still doing it, and still loving it though it is an annual contribution of mine I do not get any payment for whatsoever and consumes around 50 hours of time.

There are lots of people who share the same feelings about the calendar as I do. It has taken on a life of it's own and features in many places around NSW and even interstate. I am grateful to be but a small vehicle to help perpetuate positive images of these tremendous people and help build a well spring of community understanding toward Down Syndrome generally.

This is the cover for 2009!

How Cool are these?

I would love a pair of these!

A note of sadness

This tragic news just in today. I am so saddened to learn the following story. Thankfully I can put this into perspective and not judge the world by the stupid antics of one, or a few. What a waste for the couple who perished for being kindly neighbours and what a waste for the person who will now spend a number of years in prison away from a partner and child. All the pain and anguish was avoidable.

Woman 'killed elderly couple in cat dispute'
By Sue Dunlevy
August 25, 2008 12:13pm


Police charged neighbour with double murder

A 42-YEAR-old woman has appeared in court charged with the murder of an elderly couple on the New South Wales far south coast.

Tracey Lee Pratt faced Batemans Bay Local Court today charged with murdering Ken Keyte, 86, and his wife Margaret Keyte, 71.

The couple's bodies were found by police at their home on Beach Road, Batehaven, about 9.30pm (AEST) on August 10.

Both had severe head injuries which police believe were caused by a blunt instrument.

The Daily Telegraph reports that a dispute over a pet cat appears to have led to the bashing deaths.

Ms Pratt, who lives seven doors down from the murder scene, was allegedly involved in a dispute with the couple after Mr Keyte rescued the woman's cat from a possum trap.

Local service station owner Gary Bailey told The Daily Telegraph: "Margaret told me she was very concerned for Ken's safety."

The trouble began when Mr Keyte rescued the woman's grey tabby cat from a possum trap in the yard next door to his house, Mr Bailey said.

When Mr Keyte returned the cat to the woman she is alleged to have accused him of trapping it.

How could she have gotten it all wrong and resorted to this behaviour as an answer? What happened to discussion, understanding and common courtesy.

an effective comment

How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but by how well we are understood.
-- Andrew Grove

Ita

"You know you've made it when, like Madonna, Kylie and George W, the world is on first name terms with you. Ita Buttrose reached that status decades ago and for much of the time since she's been the most famous woman in the Australian media. She ran our most successful magazine through its golden period, showing an unerring feel for her readers' lives. She worked for every major media company and mogul in the country. Then, finally, she went out on her own, launching a magazine named after who else but herself. Through it all, that name's been more than a calling card, it's been a brand, a mission statement, a promise and a guarantee." Andrew Denton

I had the distinct honour and pleasure yesterday to meet and photograph Ita Buttrose, the twice voted Australia's Most Admired Woman. She was a publisher, editor, Managing Director, board member and still is a media celebrity that has done and seen it all. She knows the rich and famous, the infamous, royalty, and people from all walks of life. It may also be appropriate to add that for most Australians, migrants excluded, everybody knows who Ita is. It was a great thrill to meet this charming icon of this nation. I found her to be extremely warm and gracious, imbued with a good sense of humour and gifted with a genuine care for others.

Through a series of mixups, not related to me, Ita had missed the turnoff to the studio and had commenced walking there from the place she had eventually parked in. As panic ensued around the studio, I offered to go and meet Ita and bring her safely to the studio in my car. The production co-ordinators jumped in as we drove to find Ms. Buttrose. We found her, she hopped in my car and after the shoot was done I returned her to the car park. No particular deal I guess for some, but I couldn't wipe the grin from off my face. I feel very fortunate to be a part of the things I am doing of late, and have to pinch myself on the odd occasion to make sure that it is not a dream.

I was asked to photograph some TV presenters for a television station and that in itself was a great thrill, but Ita was the highlight for me. Sorry to the other presenters who are also famous!!! More on the others another time.

I wanted to show you a film clip by Australian rock band Cold Chisel who wrote a song about Ita called, Ita!


The Lyrics to the song are here

Every night when I get home
I settle down to prime time limbo
When all the boys are gathered around
Shouting Ita's on TV
And though the roaches are thick on the ground
Somebody goes to close my window
Keep the noise of the city down
Get a dose of integrity

Every week, in every home
She got wholesome news for the family
I believe, I believe, in what she says
Yes I do
I believe, I believe, at the end of the day
Her magazine'll get me through

Ita's tongue never touches her lips
She could always be my godmother
And though the desk-top hides her hips
My imagination's strong
She's the sweetest thing I've ever seen
I'd like to take her out to dinner
But when I think about the places I've been
I'd probably hold my fork all wrong

Every day and every night
She's the only one we can depend upon
I believe, I believe, in what she says
Yes I do
I believe, I believe, at the end of the day
Her magazine'll get me through

To every housewife through the land
There is no-one else they can depend upon
How could I not believe, when Ita tells me too

The next clip is a send up of Ita by a comedy show here in Australia. It was done tastefully and still brings a smile to me.



The last clip is from a morning show called Sunrise, which is akin to it's US counterpart show. The clip deals with a couple of topics to which Ita is asked to contribute. I have included this clip here for the international visitors to the blog who may wish to see the real Ita.



Lastly the following is a bio from Wikipedia.

Ita Clare Buttrose AO OBE (born 17 January 1942) is an Australian journalist and businesswoman and is arguably the most famous and well connected woman in Australia. She is probably best -known as the celebrity founding editor of Cleo (magazine), a high-circulation magazine aimed at young single women that was ground-breakingly frank about sexuality (and, in its infancy, featured nude male centrefolds), and later as the editor of the more sedate Australian Women's Weekly.

Ita was born at Mittagong, New South Wales in 1942. She worked as a journalist before taking the Cleo appointment in 1972, a position she held until 1975, and was the Weekly's editor in 1975-6 and then was editor-in-chief of both publications from 1976 until 1981.

She has also been a radio broadcaster, editor of the Sydney tabloids the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph in the early 1980s, served on the board of News Limited, among many other prominent roles. Amongst other roles, Ita currently works on the professional speakers' circuit, appears on television and still contributes to many publications around the country.

Another prominent role was as chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on AIDS (NACAIDS) from 1984 until 1987. On one notable occasion, she appeared personally in a nationwide TV campaign to explain that donating blood at a blood bank did not pose a risk of catching AIDS (the fear of which caused a significant drop in donations). Australia's early AIDS public information campaign was widely regarded as one of the best in the world, and contributed to a very low infection rate.

Ita's slight lisp was instantly familiar in the 1970s and 1980s, she became the subject of televison send up shows, mostly done in good taste and in subtle admiration. She even became the subject of a hit song by then Australian rock band Cold Chisel.

She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1979, and became an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1988. In 2001, Buttrose was also awarded the Centenary Medal.

.......and she sat in my car!!!!!

It was a pleasure to meet her and I hope it won't be the last time.

Doing some training

Someone took this panoramic picture of me training some staff on better photography tips and how to get best of the digital cameras for a retailer in Sydney. They look so interested in me speaking on the far right hand side! But I like the shot anyway. I love the variety of what I get to do. The last shot was a bit of fun working in a retail store to help their customers who may have questions on photography or cameras being able to asist them. Though innocently asked, people can have some fun and some silly questions. It is all good fun.

I realise there are people who have not a lot of technical savvy and the like, but I heard someone once say the funniest thing recently. They asked how many "mega PISTOLS are there in a camera? " (should be mega pixels!) I had the vision of a camera that when aimed and ready to shoot would have an audio that would play on a speaker saying the line from Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry films "Are you ready Punk! I will shoot you with this 44 magnum right between the eyes!"....actually as I read that back, I know there would be a segment of the buying community that would go in for that. I have just added some voices to my Tom Tom and I think if you could personalise different things on a camera it could be magic!!

Hmmmm, I need to speak with some manufacturers, maybe Sony, Kodak, Fuji and.........

Dare to be true, dare to be you

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.
--Karen Aaby Kierkegaard

Ricky Martin is a dad!

This was a headline I was hit with in the last couple of days and puzzled me somewhat. I like Ricky's music and think he has certainly done well for himself, I wish to take nothing away from him personally.

My puzzlement arises out of the premise that when you are rich or famous, it would seem that you can buy children and pay surrogates to give birth and whatever else you wish. A line I once heard from a film may hold true. The scene was a policeman interrogating a wealthy man that through his funding and viewing had caused shame, humiliation and death in a "snuff" film, that had been created. The policeman asked So why did you do this? his answer in the film was simply, "Because I can!"

I just feel somewhat sad, that if the surrogate is not going to be the mother in the truest sense to these twins, what sort of life awaits them. I doubt they will ever want for the things of life, but I cannot imagine their world without a consistent powerful force in their lives like the instinctive and protective love of a mother. Father's try as we might, can simply not provide all the emotional nourishment we often take for granted.

Another headline this past week here in Sydney was the lost whale calf whose mother had abandoned the calf. It was following ships and large boats into and around Sydney Harbour thinking that they could be whales. An international call was filed for help as to ways that the whale could be saved, and yesterday they came to an end. A lethal injection was given, fearing the ramifications of a whale that would become dependent on feeding and being hand reared, being unable to again take it's place among the wider whale community. So it was felt by some the best alternative to "save" the whale was to terminate it's life.



We tried so hard to save a young whale. Japan, despite international treaties and condemnation, still kills them for "research" and does so irrespective of what the world community thinks. There were tears in the eyes of wildlife experts when the lethal cocktail of drugs was administered.

I have a CD of a concert of John Denver live at the Sydney Opera House, and when he spoke before singing one of his songs he said some things that had troubled him, and I am paraphrasing here, he noted the senseless killing of the great whale, to a tumultuous applause, and then he said his desire to end world hunger and you could have heard a pin drop. We seem to care much more about these great animals than people at times. We, they, are ALL important.

I learned yesterday about the mines in Papua New Guinea that are killing the environment and the oceans by offloading their wastes from gold mining which includes a deadly cocktail of industrial cleaners and arsenic by pumping the liquid waste by the hundreds of tons, back into the ocean. I can only assume the company involved does so thinking it will all be OK, there is no environmental laws in that part of the world and so, who gives a damn! I do.

We humans can be very arrogant at times.

We live in a delicate eco-system and the growing incidences of people who make choices that impact many people and perhaps even the whole human family are done so on a whim it would seem. We seem to think only for right now, and if money or wealth creation is the basis, it makes everything that is questionable seem justified.

One of the things I love about the Maori people of Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud - New Zealand), the people of my birth, is that they feel a connection to nature, to the world and appreciate and love the balance that exists. They feel and believe that there are forces much higher than ourselves, that extend beyond what we simply know and that there are things that we respect and love without a lot of question. We do so somewhat out of tradition, and somewhat out of acceptance that we are but a small part of a much bigger circle that involves generations before us, and after us.

It is an interesting thing being Maori, speaking purely of myself here, and living in a western society. It is hard being sensitive to many influences and subtleties of nature and people, and yet existing in a sphere where to have such in your possession and to identify these connections, is seen as being weak or effeminate. I just think that there are so many people who "think" they know me, and who really have a fleeting glimpse and somehow think that a nibble at the table of life is sufficient to understand and appreciate the whole 4 courses. If people want me to be a performing seal at times, I can certainly be that, and do it well. BUT, there is so much more to me than that. There is so much more to ALL of us than that. Some of us have yet still to discover that.

Finally on this point, I just feel that there are very few people who are on the same page as me. I say that not in condemnation or judgement. I mention it as recent times would suggest that it seems to be true. I love my differences and embrace each and every opportunity to live, to grow and to learn. I don't think my life could ever be painted in pastel shades. There are lots of bold colours in that growing piece of art. I am so engaged and busy lest I pass and find that I never really lived. I am grateful to note that will never be said of me, by me. What an interesting, complex, beautiful, crazy and rich life I am a part of.

A new day

The day started off differently when I went for my walk this morning, and noticed two new neighbours across the road. 2x Alpacas! They looked cute and wonderful and I of course had to take a picture.

Today I had to do some camera training for a retail store and then had to call on some clients in the city of Sydney. I love this city. I had a small point and shoot with me, as I almost always do when i don't have the big beast of a camera, and I snapped a couple of shots off and I am pleased with them. I am constantly looking for a photo opportunity.

Thought I would share a couple of pics with you all.

This info could save a life!

I received this as an email attachment earlier today and thought it would be helpful to share. Please read it. It could save someone you know!



STROKE I DENTIFICATION:

The following is a quote from the email

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ...she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die..... they end up in a helpless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this and could make a lifetime of difference to someone you love or care about...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke.... totally!
He said the trick was getting a stroke recognised, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple
questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 000 immediately or 911 in the US and describe the
symptoms to the dispatcher.

Also, don't forget to

Stick out Your Tongue

as well!

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

If everyone who reads this understands it and shares it with each one we know it could save a whole lot of people.

Natalie Wood Wagner in memorium

I have chosen to post this news article and picture from the News.com.au website in tribute to Natalie Wood and the mystery that had surrounded the passing of a screen legend and a woman whose films I admired so much.



I visited her sidewalk star of fame, her hand and shoe prints outside Manns Chinese Theatre and then her grave when I went to Hollywood a couple of years ago. I have often wondered about how she "really" died. Tales of intrigue and affairs have abounded in film, books and magazine articles, but Robert Wagner has broken his silence in a biography and I felt it best rather than to have me re-interpret the story, to quote it verbatim.

I miss her in film, she had a quality I haven't seen in anyone for some time. A strength, a fragility and a true on screen presence that could move you, well it moved me anyway. I stood where she stood in a couple of films and standing at her graveside one time was the closest I ever came to meeting her. She died at 43, That is how old I am now.





Star-crossed lovers ... Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner in 1959.


FOR 27 years, Hollywood actor Robert Wagner has refused to discuss the night his wife and fellow film star Natalie Wood vanished from their yacht and drowned.

Now, at 78, Wagner is to break his silence in the hope of dispelling rumours that he was somehow responsible for the death of Wood, the Oscar-nominated actress he had married twice, or that she fell overboard as they partied drunkenly with another actor, Christopher Walken.

In a forthcoming autobiography, Pieces of My Heart, he admits for the first time that he was jealous of Walken, whose performances in The Deer Hunter and Pennies from Heaven had made him a rising star.

He says he felt his wife was being "emotionally unfaithful" to him on the set of Brainstorm, the film she was then shooting with Walken.

According to Wagner's account, tensions boiled over during a late dinner on the yacht, which was moored off the island of Santa Catalina, near Los Angeles, after Walken suggested that Wood should star in more films instead of caring for two young children.

Wagner lost his temper and, he admits, smashed a wine bottle on the table, prompting Wood to go below to their cabin. He says that when he put his head around the door of the cabin and saw his wife for the last time, she was fixing her hair and apparently preparing for bed.

He and Walken went up on deck to cool down. About midnight he returned to the cabin and discovered Wood was missing. Then he realised that the yacht's dinghy had gone too. He searched for Wood on the yacht, named Splendor, but in vain.

"Now he thinks that Natalie heard the dinghy banging loosely against the Splendor, went to fix it and slipped on the swim step, knocking herself unconscious, and rolled into the water, and the dinghy just floated away," said a friend familiar with Wagner's manuscript.

"There was no conspiracy, nobody walking in on something sexual, nothing absurd like that."

The coast guard found the drifting dinghy a few hours later, the inquest into her death heard. Soon after that, Wood's body was spotted floating nearby.

A coroner found that Wood, a former child star whose roles included Maria in West Side Story, had consumed seven or eight glasses of wine but was probably not drunk. He ruled she had fallen into the water and had been dragged down by her heavy clothing. She was 43.

Wagner's friend added: "He writes that he went through the inquest in a daze and after that he took to his bed for eight days in a catatonic state, blaming himself for her death. He's never entirely recovered, but how can you?"

One horrible irony of her death, revealed in the book, is that Wagner had helped his wife to overcome a childhood phobia about water. She had once told Elia Kazan, the director of her 1961 hit Splendor in the Grass, that she needed an anti-anxiety pill to step over a puddle.

Wagner persuaded her to sail by naming their yacht after that film, one of three for which she was nominated for an Oscar.

Yet Splendor in the Grass was a bittersweet memory, he now admits: during the filming his wife started an affair with co-star Warren Beatty, which destroyed their first marriage.

In the book, Wagner confesses to hanging around Beatty's house with a gun. He apparently hoped Beatty would come out on foot so that he could take a shot at him. Wagner started drinking heavily and brooding about suicide, but a friend talked him into psychoanalysis, which he credits with saving his life.

Like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie today, Wagner and Wood were regarded as Hollywood's golden couple. After a brief courtship, they married in 1957.

He was the star of a string of hit movies, including Titanic and Between Heaven and Hell. She had appeared with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.

After Woods and Wagner divorced in 1962, she claimed his obsession with golf had ruined their relationship. However, they could not stay apart.

In 1971, they spied each other across a restaurant and, shortly afterwards, Wood ended her marriage to a British film producer, Richard Gregson. In 1972, they remarried on board their new toy, the Splendor.

The Sunday Times

To be sure to be sure

a comment emailed to me by an Irish gent I know dat I tort wos funny....


Paddy was working at the fish plant in Cork when he accidentally cut off
all 10 of his fingers.

He went to the emergency room in Cork 's hospital.

The doctor looked at Paddy and said,
'Lets be avin' da fingers and I'll see what oi can do'.

Paddy said, 'Oi haven't got da fingers.'

'Whadda ya mean you haven't got da fingers?
Lord Tunderin' Jesus, it's 2008!
We's got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques.
I could have put dem back on and made you like new!
Why didn't ya bring da fingers?!?'

And Paddy said, ' How da hell was I 'spose to pick them up !!!

A thought.....

Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best.
--Michael Johnson

It has been a big week.

Well, this past week, I was traveling in the state's central west and some few hours from Sydney was able to frolic in the snow, and isn't self timer a wonderful thing! For those who don't know, it doesn't snow in Sydney at all, or at least not in any living memory that I am aware of. That said, it is quite a treat when driving a long to see a covered oasis of snow and it just begged me to come and play, and so I did.













and on the way home I saw this beautiful rainbow that I actually drove through. I was looking for the proverbial "pot o' gold" but alas never found it. But I guess it would be remiss of me not to accept that the pot o gold of being able to walk unaided, be relatively healthy and play in the snow and have a wonderful new car is gold enough!



I also took possession of my new car the other day, and am very pleased with it. It is wonderful.

200th post

It has been an interesting journey over these last 200 posts. I have paused over the last few days, weighed heavy with the things in the world that have seemed difficult for me to comprehend. The wars, the whole "power" issue. I heard it said from Bill Clinton one time that the "narcotic of choice in Washington is power". It is not limited to Washington I submit.

I have also had the tail end of a flu which has sapped me of strength and motivation and I was wanting to make this post a momentous post as though it represented a major milestone, though I circumspectly realise if it does mean anything at all, it is probably only to me.

I have been humbled, astounded, angry, sad and elated over these last two hundred posts. I am very grateful that I have been able to express myself in this forum. I have shared a great deal of myself and been criticised and praised for doing so. I have enjoyed it all. I guess I have especially been curious to see myself through the eyes of others, some who write here and others who email me directly and still others who talk with me privately. A big thank you to all of you.

Here is to another 200!

Cheers and thanks again.

A world of contrasts

This following story is happening right now on the streets of Georgia, a former part of the USSR, the birth place of their revered former leader Stalin who still lies in state in Moscow. I am amazed this and much more is happening around me and my life moves on as though none of this affects me. But it does. An interesting twist to this story is that on Wednesday at the Beijing Olympics, Russia and Georgia face off in volleyball. A game well worth watching I submit.

Story is unedited and taken from the website http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24159932-38200,00.html

One more story on the same site is a revolutionary breakthrough and well worth a read. Indeed it is a world of contrasts.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24157781-421,00.html

Chaos reigns in Georgian rebel city after battle
By Denis Sinyakov
August 11, 2008 08:20am
Article from: ReutersFont size: + - Send this article: Print Email
LINED with rubble from buildings devastated in the fighting, the Georgian town of Tskhinvali last night remained on edge, its residents venturing out from cellars for the first time following three days of ferocious fighting.

Many expressed shock as they picked their way through streets strewn with rubble and broken glass from wrecked building facades - and with bodies still lying uncollected.

Some residents of Tskhinvali, the main town in Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region, said scores remained buried under masses of concrete and metal.

"It's terrible. We don't know what's going on," one elderly woman told a Reuters reporter who entered the city with Russian troops.

"I haven't seen anything like this in my whole life."

Hundreds of refugees from the region have sought shelter in Russia. They said they hid in the woods to escape the fighting, being mocked by Georgian soldiers and passing the dead on the roadside, Associated Press reported.

Thousands fled during the first hours of the battle and many apartment blocks in Tskhinvali, their walls pocked by bullet holes, appeared deserted. Repeated shelling felled dozens of trees.

With much of the local infrastructure in ruins, residents scrambled to find water and food while artillery fire rumbled unabated on the town's outskirts.

No one knew just who was doing the firing.

Violeta Kukoyeva, escorting an elderly relative, said she had spent the last three days hiding in an underground bunker.

"We had nothing to eat. We just had a bit of bread, a bit of water," she said.

Doctors at a local hospital transferred patients into a dimly-lit cellar after explosions blew large holes in the upper floors. They said they had neither medical supplies nor fresh water to treat 200 injured.

"We have nothing to feed them. We give the little bread we have to the elderly. They need it most," said doctor Valentina Kutukhova.

Moscow said 2,000 civilians had died and thousands were homeless in a "humanitarian catastrophe" in South Ossetia. The figures could not be independently verified.

Georgia offered a ceasefire and on Sunday said it had pulled troops back from the separatist capital. But the city remained gripped by rumours and locals said Georgian troops were still around the city.

Some spoke of snipers hiding in the ruins.

A Reuters reporter saw bodies of six Georgian soldiers lying unattended in piles of rusting rubble near a burning armoured personnel carrier. Gunfire resounded through the outskirts.

"Everything is destroyed, nothing works, even the morgue," said a doctor in a local hospital, her voice shaking.

"Shooting is continuing. We have nothing left."

The Olympic Spirit

OUCH!!!

I saw these images on line at the nine msn gallery pages and thought they were worthy of sharing. They are Reuters images and are copyrighted by News Limited. I did not take them, but love them and wanted to share them for those who may have otherwise missed out on seeing them.








I also included a link to the same area which shows some amazing pictures of the new classes that appear in Emirates new A380 airbus. Check these out they are awesome. I am afraid to know how much first class is, one day though I won't have to ask.

Enjoy

http://www.news.com.au/travel/gallery/0,26362,5033528-5007153-1,00.html

A path to understanding

Marcelina and I had the opportunity the other day to meet with Denzel's school teacher who was wanting to discuss some more of his developmental strategies to ensure that his time at school is maximised. It was interesting to "see" him at school. Apparently he is very quiet and somewhat reserved. Something he certainly is not at home. I listened as the teacher asked him to do things and saw his vague expression. I said, perhaps the way you are asking him is foreign to the way we ask him, for example she was saying "Denzel would you please sit down?" to which he looked unsure, and then I said to Denzel, "Sit down chair?" which he then proceeded to do straight away.

It made me think on a much wider scope of how we do things generally. Often the way in which I am asked to do something can really affect the outcome. Certainly I can become more belligerent if I determine whether some people ask in a condescending way or whatever, but I am speaking more so of the way we engage people generally through questions. We rarely think that they may have a hearing impediment, and rather form conclusions about them being rude or ignorant. One wonderful lady said last night that she is affected by hearing loss, and then her mother is as well, and that their family has a disposition to hearing loss. It causes me to endeavour to be more understanding that if people are slow to respond that it may be the delivery or the instruction or question itself from me which is at fault, not the person.

Denzel's teacher said that he is more technically able than others in his class, he can read basic to medium things and even if he cannot say a word "properly" he will always give the word a go. They said though that he doesn't fit the mold of what they expected the developmental level to be. He is more advanced and they fear he gets bored, and so were asking us how to be more effective with his learning. We gave them insights to Denzel. He responds to choices, that are clear and that appeal to him on "HIS" terms or currency. In other words, give him choices that are valuable to him, not the person offering.



Denzel also will fall asleep in school and they asked about his sleep apnoea but I said largely Denzel will fall asleep if he is bored. which was illuminating for them. They gave us an example that they will ask Denzel what he wants to do by showing him a CD or asking if he is tired. I said to them that is good, but you should ask him a straight question when you show him the CD like, Denzel sleepy, tired? or Denzel listen to the music? and I know that Denzel will pick the music 95% of the time. It is all in the way he is asked, if it's in his currency, again.

I was chatting last evening when we were visiting with some friends that Denzel is totally deaf in one ear and hears about 80% through his remaining ear. Though the way he says words is largely because his hearing is affected. People sometimes look at him and think he is "silly" or incoherent and rarely think that it is because the things he hears at a normal volume level of speech is impaired and therefore doesn't know you are talking to him. He doesn't know how to say could you please repeat that because I cannot language you!

I once knew a guy who could not understand or more specifically process information on things as correctly as most but had learned a way of letting you know his issues and would often say to people who didn't know him, or spoke fast, "I cannot language you". He also said once as we were on a dusty road in the Philippines, "The road is very powder!" indeed it was. I resisted telling him how he should say it properly because it became a frustration trying to explain, as something I thought was simple to grasp was in fact very difficult for him to absorb. In a short time, I learned to appreciate him just for the person he was / is. So in a round about way, that is what I also want for Denzel, that he has people around him who always appreciate him with his own unique qualities and love him for the way he is, not worry because he doesn't fit the mold. This is no way a rebuke to the teacher, I know she loves Denzel, it is just an observation I have felt would be worthy of sharing to help us all become a little more tolerant and understanding of others.



We are blessed that at least when people look at Denzel they can see there is a "problem" or can at least recognise he has Downs. A friend of ours said it is much harder when the child appears regular or "normal" but had awkward behaviour because they have autism, and until people learn that fact they look at you with disgust and are rude because they think your child is just being obnoxious. It is interesting isn't it. We form conclusions generally, so easily. I submit that often our conclusions are flawed. So, with that in mind, here's to a better understanding and more tolerant me. Be great if it could catch on ha!