What we See...

Okay.  Here is where you get to see what a complete ninny I can sometimes be... but there's a point to this!

A while ago, a friend told me the story of having sighted, some years ago, a Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) in the bush near Bargo, NSW.  For those who don't know the Highlands, Bargo is not far from where I live.  Now Thylacines have been extinct for the best part of a century - so in spite of his attestation that both he AND his father had seen the animal and been sure of its identity - I was not convinced.  However the story kind of stuck in the back of my mind.

Last week I worked 5 days in a row in a lovely country school, and enjoyed the beautiful drive through the bush every day to get there.  On the first day, I noticed a dead animal by the side of the road, on one of the bends.  It looked much like a dog, but dark in colour and appeared to have some stripes.  For some reason, the idea formed in my mind that it looked rather like a Tasmanian Tiger.  I pushed the thought away, but it kept coming back.  After driving past it several days in a row and deciding it really didn't look like a dog, I decided I should investigate - just in case I really happened to be driving past the zoological discovery of the century!

... A Busy Season ...

Well,  things have slowed down here on the blog - on account of becoming VERY busy elsewhere - For those who don't know, when I'm not wasting time online, or doing crazy things to my house and yard, I earn money as a casual relief teacher.  After a very quiet period, the teacher-absentee-season has arrived with a venegeance!  I've been working full-time hours the last couple of weeks, and had to turn down additional offers of work almost every day - it's gone crazy!!  

In spite of a little unaccustomed weariness at the end of each week, this is a very GOOD thing, as the finances were getting alarmingly shabby!  (note to self:  budget better for the quiet season next year!!)

I'm also really enjoying the schools I've been working at... this week I have the WHOLE week with the most delightful bunch of Kindy kids - & I'm really enjoying the change of pace - it's kinda cool having completely different ages and stages from day to day!

So if the blog updates get a little less frequent for a while, or I don't pop up as regularly in the usual cyber-places, it's not because anything's gone wrong - it's all fabulously right!  My teacher-muscles are enjoying the workout, and my bank balance is singing!!   I'll update when I can, and look forward to hanging out more regularly once things slow down again...

Subverting our Stories...

Image Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/harisroussos/6841284929/

Alright.  Here's my latest "niggle".  What is unique about Jesus?  It's one of those hard questions that can't be answered glibly.  I grew up steeped in the tradition that says Jesus was, in fact, God incarnate.  And that he was the only incarnation of the one true God, to visit us in this way.  That's a very. big. claim.

So, if Jesus was the only human incarnation of the Creator God of the cosmos;  what would he be like?  What would be unique about him?  It seems to me that if the crucifixion of Christ is, indeed, the pivotal point of human history - then there has to be a whole lot more to it, than a substitutionary sacrifice to fulfil the demands of a religion - ANY religion.  That's just not big enough.

Now some of my Christian friends reading this will think I've finally lost the plot and fallen into heresy - and my atheist friends will be cheering because I've finally "seen the light" and abandoned my faith - but settle down, peeps - this is neither.

Women and Men

Image Credit:  genderpolicyforum.wordpress.com

I've never thought of myself as a real "girly-girl", but I've spent a bit of time lately in the company of women - and it has been absolutely wonderful!

You know, at their best, women are honest, communicative, warm, supportive, and my GOD, we are strong!!  The other day, I sat in a cafe nook with a couple of the women from the poetry group I've joined.  Both older than me (closer in age to my mother) - but it felt like time with sisters.  We talked and laughed, and shared.  I got to know them in ways that their public personas never reveal... and was awestruck by their strength and dignity, SO hard-won in the struggles and challenges of their lives.  I got to hear them share about the ways they have adjusted to the difficulties and disappointments of life, love and relationships, often making choices that meant great personal sacrifice - yet never in any way diminishing their knowledge of their own value and personhood.  Sitting there, I saw women who had found their worth, and knew it was not in the needs or estimation of any other person.  It was both humbling and inspiring.

Chatting with another woman friend this morning, the talk turned to "motherhood", and the ways in which we as women tend to "hold it all together" socially and relationally, for our families.  She is a mum who has until recently homeschooled a daughter with special needs, is now an advocate for her as she transfers to formal schooling, is dealing with significant health challenges faced by both her daughter and herself - and in spite of seemingly never-ending challenges, is looking to the future, celebrating some wonderful successes, and remaining strong.  When I talk with her, I get the sense that she is creating a world of opportunities around her family and herself, and teaching her daughter to do the same.

Sometimes it seems, in our culture, that women do all the nurturing, give of themselves, hold their relational worlds together for the sake of others,   while our men focus on wage-earning, live on some kind of "auto-pilot" and become more and more disconnected from their families and the real heart of life.

While I Wasn't Blogging...

OR doing housework, or anything at all responsible...


I wrote THIS!


It's not quiiite  polished (well, new poems usually are not), but I thought I'd share it, anyway :)


I think perhaps I will stick a copy of it on my wall as justification for all the un-done tasks around the house....