and she does it again!

- another stunning performance from Susan Boyle in the weekend's semifinal, sees her through to the final. Go, Susan, go!

Memories - Susan Boyle

bush weekend

- going away with the rehab centre admin lady, for a 3-day weekend in the bush. She is an honorary ranger at one of the medium-sized reserves, which basically means her job is to drive around and steer visitors in the right directions, keep them out of trouble and make sure they leave at closing time. Plus other fun bits like counting animals, monitoring them and anything exciting that happens. She is 69, and my greatest worry is that I won't be able to keep up with her! Her holiday last year was climbing volcano slopes in the Congo to see the gorillas. I'm really looking forward to it though, as she is great fun to be with, and it also means we go to all the closed areas of the reserve that the public is not alllowed in.

- the downside is that it means no dude for 3 days, and he has been sick this week as well, with flu. We met for coffee today, and I suggested to him that he take up some bad habits. I smoke, drink, don't eat properly, don't exercise enough, am fat - and am generally in amazingly good physical health. And he, who does all the right things has been sick numerous times in the last year - flu, colds, sinus, major gastric problems.... maybe there are merits to being a bad person! And, my friend Duckling is having a major psych meltdown at the moment, and is back in hospital on strict suicide watch, and feeling very unloved at the moment. I haven't helped much by being so chaotically busy this week that - although we have chatted lots on Facebook, I haven't been able to visit her in the 3 or 4 hours of the day that she is awake enough to register a visitor.

- great news though, is that my long-distance buddy Aqua, who I've been worrying about for the past month is OK, and is posting again. Her life is undergoing huge changes at the moment, so mention her in any prayers you might make, but I believe she is strong enough and smart enough to make good choices for herself. But it would be nice to be close enough to give her a big hug....

the end of the world......

....is surely coming. Or at least that's what it feels like. I am worrying about special friends in crisis and don't seem to be able to reach them or help. And I feel like I'm in terminal meltdown as well, with the dude. There are only two facts there; 1. he doesn't love me, even if he loves being with me and all sorts of other crap, and 2. I love him, absolutely, completely, without reservation. I know he has faults, and I am very aware of many of them, but it doesn't change things - I love him anyway.

I can't sort myself out, I can't help my friends, I don't seem to have any control over anything anymore. And I don't see any of it ending well either....

sweet wedding

- spent most of the day at/travelling/returning....a wedding between two of my fellow rehab volunteers. They are one of those lovely couples that proves the saying about every pot having a lid. Completely different in almost all ways, but wonderfully happy together, and a lovely example of how a relationship is built on mutual respect, mutual caring and mutual support.

Even the wedding was perfect for the two of them - it was held outside, next to a river, about an hour out of town. She designed stunning and unique invitations, he did most of the catering. They came up with a number of lovely touches that will make their wedding memorable for eveyone who attended.

I have an extra memory, as I'm looking after their pets for the week. One very large and lovable rat, and seven parrotty things, 6 of them being conures of various types. Gotta give them credit...those birds really love the sound of their own screams :-)

brilliant!

- thanks to the Cranky Professor for the link.

News on the swine flu epidemic : link to news report

Me personally, I'm betting that this might just be the promised plague that the avian flu failed miserably at being. Apart from the fact that I reckon the world is due for a good plague on Biblical levels, I'm also so relieved that it is being blamed on things that have nothing to do with me. At the height of the bird flu outbreaks, we had soooooo many phone calls along the lines of this:

Rehab volunteer: hi, how can I help you?
Concerned member of the public : I have a sick bird in my garden!!
RV : ok, can you bring it thru to either me or the centre?
CMP :NO!!!
RV : umm, can't you catch it?
CMP : NO!! And I'm not going to try! It's lying there on my lawn!
RV : could you maybe throw a cloth over it and put it in a box, and I'll come and fetch it?
CMP : NO!! I'm not leaving the house and I won't allow my family out either!
RV : umm, why not?
CMP : it might have bird flu! I want you to come and pick it up RIGHT NOW!!

- concerned RV heads there immediately. Lying on the lawn is a dead sparrow with fairly life-ending injuries of the feline type, and said feline lurking in close proximity......

At least, if any flying pigs are dead in their environs, they are a lot less likely to call a wildlife rehabilitation centre :-)