I'm it

Bells tagged me for a meme, thinking I needed some bloggy inspiration, bless her cotton socks!

She's right, I do.

So without further ado, here are Seven Random Things about me:

1. I wanted to be a vet from when I was about 5 years old. Even though I did pretty well at high school, university came as a bit of a shock to me and I only got very average marks in first year Science (first year of the general science degree was the requirement for entry into the vet program). I applied every year through my Science degree and never got in; I did however get a scholarship to do my PhD.

2. I don't have a sweet tooth at all. I appreciate fine sweet things (good dark chocolate for example, or lemon tart) but can mostly take or leave chocolate, cakes or other sweets, or stop very easily after one piece. Being in the same room as a pavlova makes my teeth ache. I do, however, have a raging savoury tooth and can devour chips or savoury biscuits by the boxful.

3. My favourite snack is Jatz crackers. I used to be a Savoy girl, but when I moved to Darwin I couldnt buy Savoys so moved over to Jatz, and never went back. I have been know to eat a box for lunch. Love them with cheese, mustard pickles, smoked mussels or just on their own.

4. Others have noted their ickiness about feet, so they might want to avert their eyes now. I love cutting my toenails. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction, and I force myself to wait until they're quite long (not claw-long, just a few millimetres) before I cut them.

5. Despite having a couple of dozen pairs of shoes, I wear my blunnies almost exclusively. I *want* to wear other shoes, but I'm just too lazy and value comfort too highly.

6. My first car was a Holden Escort with a 2.0L engine. It went like the clappers. My second car was a red short-wheel base Nissan Patrol diesel. It didnt go so fast, but I thought it was still pretty cool. I once drove from Melbourne city to Brunswick (only about 10 kms) with 11 people in it.

7. I had pet rats as a teenager. My first, Ratty (inspired, I know), used to go most places with me, sitting on my left shoulder. I got a kick out of freaking out checkout chicks at the supermarket and the librarian at the public library when she peeped out from under my hair or ran down my arm to sit on my wrist.

So that's a few random thoughts.

Here are seven people I'd like to know more about (apologies if youve already been tagged this round):

1. Bec from Kids, Knits, Classes, etc
2. Kuka
3. Pransell
4. Kate from Knitting and Knotting
5. Strikerin
6. Twitchy Fingers
7. Cindy2paw

This is....my favourite holiday memory

Eek - has it really been a week since I posted last? 7 whole days? No one nicked any....positive? I guess being my second last week at work, I was unusually busy. Colleagues finally realised I was GOING for 6 months and that if they wanted anything from me, now would be a really good time.

So, thanks to Hila, here is my favourite travel memory.

You may or may not know that Beloved is German, from a small village not too far from Cologne. When I say small, I mean 550 people. His family has lived there for nearly 900 years, and he is related to about half the inhabitants! We try and visit every 1 - 2 years (although that is of course less possible now with kids and costs), and I love going back. It's very grounding.

We went for Christmas 2004, and as Beloved's godson was having his first communion at Easter in 2005, we decided that I would take leave without pay and stay there for the in-between time. We found out 2 days before we left that I was pregnant with Pirate Jim.

Beloved returned to Australia at the end of January, and I stayed with his younger brother, his wife and their 3 months old daughter. (The very same who visited us earlier this year, although Miss M is now 3 years old of course). I had a fabulous time. My German improved out of sight, I got to experience a Karneval in the village, and did some travelling around to visit friends and family all over the country. Nothing like getting caught on an inter-city train without the correct ticket to give one's language skills a run!

This photo was taken a few days before Beloved left the village to return to Australia. The village is nestled in a little valley between several mountains; I am standing on top of Limberg, with the village and it distinctive spire behind me (although you cant actually see that! But what you can see is a bit more than half the village).





There was snow, and there would be a lot more that winter, but it was a period of several warm-ish, rainy days - hence the patchiness of the snow and the umbrella I'm carrying.

It was my first "white Christmas", and very very strange to be celebrating all rugged up with short, cold, overcast days, when Ive only ever had long, balmy (or baking) days in swimsuits and sundresses with post-feast naps in the shade. Athough the post-feast nap is apparently universal.

I have a dozen travel memories I can draw on, but I think this is my favourite because its the time when I really felt that I became part of my German family. It also gave a very strong appreciation of just how hard it was for Beloved to leave here and relocate to Australia (Bundaberg) in his 20s, with no family and only school English.

And PJ was there too!

This is....my pets

I grew up on a farm, and so as kids we had a constant procession of pets (or animals we tried to make pets), ranging from cats and dogs to Miss Margaret the chook , ducks, a tortoise (Bert), rabbits, pigs and countless doomed goldfish. You've already seen my pony Diamond, a few posts ago.

These days we are much more pedestrian, with just a cat and a dog to our name. We did recently find ourselves seriously discussing a fish for PJ. He was fascinated by the one we fish-sat for a couple of weeks last year, and maybe one day soon we will.

But for now, here is Asha, adopted from the pound as a kitten when I lived in Darwin. She's now 8.

And here's Brock, also adopted from the pound as a very neglected 9 year old when we lived in the Blue Mountains. He's now 13. His hobbies consist of sleeping (23 1/2 hours a day) and eating.

Both these two have always been sensational with PJ, never raised so much as a claw in his direction despite some fairly severe toddler treatment.

We couldn't ask for lovelier pets, really.

Me, too!

No Rose Red, you're not quite the last person in blogland to do this meme. I love a good meme, and I'm brain dead after a long Friday, so here it is.

1) What was I doing ten years ago?
I was halfway through the second year of my PhD studies in Darwin. At this particular time of the year - start of the tropical dry season - I would be most likely to be found out at one of my field sites, probably up to my knees in water or mud, taking measurements, keeping a whether eye out for snakes, wild pigs, crocodiles and drug growers. Since 530 that morning.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
Given the day is almost over, Ive done a few of them. Go to the supermarket, visit friends with a new baby, hang out the washing (and bring it in again). I still have to do the heel on a sock (deadline knitting) and do some more research on purchases in Germany for my SIL to bring out with her next month.

3) Snacks I enjoy?
Milk. More milk. Chocolate milkshakes. Cheesymite scrolls. Cheese and crackers (a nice sharp cheddar on Jatz by preference). And if Ive got a sweet-tooth (which you may have gathered is not often) a cinnamon doughnut or a square or two of dark (70% cocoa) chocolate.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire?
There have been stacks of good suggestions here already, and I'm not so imaginative as to come up with anything startlingly brilliant. Buy our own home, pay off my parent's and brother's mortgages and give them some play money, invest for the kid's education. I would also set up substantial trusts for the RSPCA and several organisations that focus on neglected and abused children and women. I might take a long holiday, and might work less, but certainly wouldn't give up working.

5) Places I have lived?
The country town (now outer suburb of Melbourne) where I grew up (3 houses); inner Melbourne while an undergrad (2 houses); Darwin to do my postgrad degree (at least 9 houses, Ive lost count there); outer Sydney and Blue Mountains (4 houses); Canberra (2 houses).

I am so tired of moving house.

6) Jobs I have had?
Nursery hand, devonshire tea waitress, GPs receptionist, bar attendant & waitress (up to management level), gaming attendant (ie. poker machines - soul destroying comes close), university tutor and lecturer, researcher. I'm now a public servant for the Federal Government.

7) Peeps I want to know more about?
Everyone! As I said, I love memes and I also love getting to know people. If you haven't done it, please do!

This is....what reminds me of my Mum

It's funny how scents from childhood have some special place in our brains that are permanently linked to special memories.


My mum has used Oil of Olay every day since she was a teenager, and insists on receiving it as a gift at birthdays and Christmas. It was the first moisturiser I ever used myself, and I still go back to it from time to time. I always have a bottle in the bathroom cupboard.



And, in a similar vein, both the sight and smell of Cusson's Imperial Leather soap are irrevocably tied to thoughts of my Mum.




Happy Mother's Day to all mums, and to all women with special children in their lives.

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This is.....me pre-1985

I missed one part of last week's meme, so in the interests of completeness, here is me before 1985:

with my beloved first pony, Diamond, at out first gymkhana in 1983. Note the plaited tail and mane, and that Diamond isn't too impressed with the whole deal.

We won three ribbons that day: the light blue is for a clear round in show-jumping; then there is a second and third, but I cant recall the events.

Oh, OK, here's another a bit closer up:

A fwe years earlier, maybe 1980. My Nan knitted me that jumper.