How to turn organic

Something is eating my Broccoli. I must defeat this daemon of the plant world before it defeats me.

I really enjoy watching cooking shows. Yeah you know the ones with Jamie and the cook and the chef, et al. The dude that runs around in a Combi van I'm particularly jealous of. I know, sad right? The most envious I get is from the ones who roam around nice places and con an entire basket of fresh herbs and vegetables out of local farmers. They then proceed to turn their ill gotten gains into a five course extravaganza.

Anyhoo, in an effort to combat envy I re-started my home veggie patch this year. Only this time I got a bit more intelligent about it. I now have some Rosemary, Mint, Parsley, Coriander and Basil growing away happily. Lots of herbs WE WILL USE. I even went and got some chook poo, turned over the soil....several times. Got in there and got my hands good and dirty. It is really fun. You should try it some time. I am religiously watering everything as well, making sure they grow nice and strong and we can use them all for years to come (Except the Basil, that will finish in a few weeks folks, good pointer there.)

It was not all plain sailing though. The obligatory approval from the wife was required. A tip for young players - use the children. My 'story' this time was to use the garden patch as an educational experience for my boy. Which it has been, truly. (Another tip - don't post a blog while she is also yapping/yelling at you about every task she wants you to perform for the foreseeable future. A long time in some circles)

We only went with one vegetable this time. Broccoli. Baby steps. If this works then I might be allowed to upgrade to tomatoes. But now I find myself facing a dilemma. Something is eating them. Little green worms under the leaf. So I did what every engineer in his right mind does - Hit up Google for an answer. Apparently these worms are from Cabbage Moth larvae. Why they love brocolli so much beats me. Why call them Cabbage moth? Why not resort to "little bastards who will annoy the hell out of you". I don't want to spray the food we are going to eat with all manor of stuff that will most likely also kill us humans....eventually. So I've given an ORGANIC soap spray a go. Hopefully that will keep them at bay and we can enjoy some nice brocolli quite soon.

Now to get the worm farm producing again.......

Is jealousy really a sin?

I am really jealous of my wife. Kindly let me elaborate as to why.

Today was the first day back to school for my son. He is in grade two this year and was jumping out of his boots to get back into it today. I went along and got to help unpack his new pencil case, reading materials and books. I got to see where his classroom is, where he sits and where he will kick the football with his mates during breaks. For a brief moment I got to live in his world. I got to experience what it is like to be seven years old again. That is why I am jealous of my wife.

I don't get to live in my kids' world as much as she does.

Sure, that is a 'life decision' and as the 'bread winner' it is incumbent upon me to do the responsible thing and keep a solid job. That is the choice I/we made and I am comfortable with that. It still doesn't mean that I can't feel even a little bit envious of the fact that my wife gets to see and experience feelings that I might only get to experience rarely.

So to all you parents who are lucky enough to stay home and look after the kids; spare a thought for us out in the workforce because we are often sparing a thought for all of you.

I'm back baby!

Well it has indeed been a long time since my last posting. Sorry about that. It's the new year, this being 2012 and I have decided that it is high time I start recording my thoughts and rantings so that my progeny can look back at the person I was and ponder on life, etc, etc...
To that effect I have now met my first new year resolution - take up blogging again. My second resolution is to lose at least 16 kg's by the end of 2012. So at least I have something else to post about.
My initial thought for this year is regarding family driving holidays. We took the kids to Tasmania over the new year break and I personally did have a relaxing time; for the most part. (see beautiful pic).

However, I would caution all men about to reach mid-life that taking a 4 and 7 year old on a bit of a drive a few days in a row can get a bit....testing. Let's put it like that. At least I can now tick this off my bucket list - family truckster style holiday a la National Lampoons. That bucket is approaching faster than I'd like these days.
Note to self: Find more ways to relax/unwind/forget the "Muppets" for a while.
So this has been a bit of a ramble, next time will be scheduled and more structure....I promise.

Now I know...

A few things about myself that I did not before. This week my wife had some of her wisdom teeth removed, so I took some leave and worked from home for the rest of the week in order to look after her and the two children (both under five). Now I know that I do not have the patience to be a nurse. I also know that I do not want to be a single parent - EVER! Having to look after two children and then work in the evenings (after the kids are in bed) must be one of the hardest things to do. Well, that's what I reckon after this week. I also know that I have no patience to be a Kindergarten teacher. I can't get one four year old to listen to me, let alone twenty (keep reading).
I also know that I am immensely proud of my son. He graduated from Kinder this week and I was fortunate enough to not be travelling and saw their concert and ceremony. The kids performed a few songs for us with actions and then they had a graduation ceremony - of sorts. There was lots of food waiting for them after all. Can't keep hungry kids at bay for long. Lachlan performed quite well, but it was a bit weird for him to have all the attention from the mums and dads whilst doing so.
I'm off to Singapore now for a week and then Christmas Holidays - cannot wait for those. It's been a long year.

Sunset on San Diego

Well, I am on my way home again after what feels like an eternity away from home. Ten days is a long time. I cannot wait to see the family again. Cazz (my wife) sent me some pictures during the week and it seems like Caitlin (my daughter) is growing up daily. Lachlan (my son) has been a good boy this time as well, which is great. Really helpful to his mum.
My flight out of San Diego departed just as the sun was setting. My gosh, what a sight! The clear blue water stretching off into the horizon with an orange-grey sky above and only a few wisps of cloud. This certainly is a beautiful place this earth of ours. I hope we don't bugger it up for our kids.
I'm glad to be sitting in the airline lounge typing this, it really makes a difference to be able to relax before a fifteen hour flight across the pacific. Still had to battle through LAX security though. The security guards in LAX are the second most self important security people in any airport I've been to. Closely behind the one guy at Bangalore. I had to laugh though. Right out of nowhere, with a queue of about 100 people waiting to get through security, one of them yells something incomprehensible at the top of his voice - everything stopped. People with half a shoe on were told to immediately stop what they were doing - for no apparent reason. Five minutes later we were all told to continue on. I think the boss simply wanted to go for a piss, but us plebs couldn't be alerted to that fact.

Singapore Sling

So, here I am sitting in the Qantas lounge at Singapore airport after another week of business travel. Apologies for the tardiness of this blog. My last update seems like ages ago. I had a free day today and went to the Singapore Zoo and Simlim square for some electronics shopping.
Singapore Zoo is very beautiful. Set amongst lush tropical forests, the animals are in their element. Saw three white tigers and a lot of monkey species. They also have a large variety of African animals and big cats.
Simlim is the shoppers paradise for all of you who are into techie gadgets. Mobile phone shops abound and be prepared to bargain hard.
Anyway, short and sweet, they are calling out my flight to board.

Satchmo was right!

Currently I am sitting in my hotel room in Johannesburg having travelled all the way from San Diego. My itinerary was via Heathrow. Very simply, just want to detail something I saw on the way which proves just how beautiful this planet of ours is. And, why we need to look after it.
After taking off from Heathrow on British Airways BA057 at just after nine in the evening, we climbed into the clouds. England at this time of year still has daylight savings and the sun was still bathing the green countryside with it's fading warmth as we set off.
When we poked through the clouds I got to see the sun shining over what seemed to be a pillow of the softest fabric you'd ever feel. Glistening like a perfect kimono. Then, the pilot banked the aircraft to the right in order to head us toward Africa. At that moment, I got to experience the exact opposite sensation. The moon in all its full glory. Reflecting the suns rays down onto the same pillow of cloud. What a sight. Won't forget it in a hurry. Also one of those times where not getting the preferred aisle seat was a bonus.
What a wonderful world!