Notes on Andrew Belinda & Benjamin Lattimore

Made Me Smile

I was sitting around last night a little down in the dumps and came across this fabulous app for my iphone. I have just fallen in love with it. It made me SMILE which can never be a bad thing.

I cant remember the last time I took photos with me in them. I am always snapping away at everyone else. I just couldn’t help myself. Everyone joined in, even Bonnie our dog. It was a hoot!! We all had a great time!! It’s called Pocketbooth…. so cute.

I am going to attempt to hook this up to a ‘Life Made Lovely Monday’. A wonderful hook up all about the little surprises in life.

Where Have I Been?

Anyone who reads our blog would have noticed that there hasn’t been much blogging of late. For some deranged reason I returned to teaching last semester. To say the least I did not enjoy it. Here is a portrait one of the children drew of me. I think it sums it up…… I was a CRAZY LADY and didn’t handle myself as gracefully as I would have hoped!!

I did however learn a very valuable lesson. I am truly blessed to have to opportunity to be home with Ben. I will never take it for granted again! Family means the world to me!!

So ….. I am back, once again sane and our blog has a new look. I have missed blogging and have so much to catch you up on. So from time to time I will add an ‘update’ from 2010…..enjoy.

Under Construction

Watch how my wonderful brother in law Al and Blessed Little Nest transform the look of our blog over the next week. Just bursting to see the final product!!!

What Will Monday Bring?

I know it happens to every mum. I know I’ll survive. But my little boy heads to Pre-Prep (Kindergarten) on Monday!! He will be three years and eight months old. He is my little boy but insists of telling me he is a BIG boy now!! I am excited, nervous, sad, but also happy. I pray that we have made the right choice of school, that he will make friends, that he likes his teachers, that he will find the toilet, that he will pack up, that he will use a nice voice, that he will share/take turns…….. BUT really I hope he loves it and has fun!! We have met his teachers. We have played in his classroom. We have practiced eating out of the lunch box. I have made the Kindy sheets (which are very cute). We have our uniform. And will do a last minute drive by on Sunday to refresh Ben’s memory. He doesn’t really say much but seems to be excited. Here he is practicing how to eat using a lunch box.

On Monday I will wear my sunglasses and hide my tears. Better still I will try not to cry until I reach the car. I am not even sure what the tears are all about…. but I am a little emotional just writing this. I think the tears are all about …… I love my not so little boy Ben xo.

Brisbane floods: before and after

I thought these two news items on the ABC web site were a great use of tech for visualisation of the flooding around Brisbane and Ipswich.

Part 1: Milton (Lang Park), Rosalie, Rocklea (Markets), Fairfield, South Bank, Brisbane (overview), Bundamba (Ipswich), Riverside (CBD), Rocklea (wide view), Basin Pocket (Ipswich), Chelmer, Milton (Coronation Drive), Bellbowrie and Riverhills, Jindalee, St Lucia (University of Queensland), Toowong, West End, Graceville, New Farm, Yeronga.

Part 2: Floating pallets in Rocklea industrial estate, Rocklea industrial area, Ipswich farmhouse, Houses in Elmes Road, Ipswich, Riverfront homes in West End, Cow takes refuge on Ipswich roof, HMAS Diamantina in ‘dry dock’ at South Bank, Trucks and cows stranded by floodwaters on Ipswich Road at Rocklea, Riverhills Rowing Club, Jindalee Swimming Pool, Toowong CityCat terminal, River Walk floating walkway New Farm, Eagle Street Pier, Milton business precinct, Riverfront restaurant in Milton, Rosalie Village, Albion Park Raceway, University of Queensland running track and tennis courts St Lucia, Debris in Brisbane River near Pinkenba, Homes in Fig Tree Pocket, Homes and streets in Fairfield, Moggill Ferry, Industry on Donaldson Road Rocklea, Riverfront homes in Tennyson, West End parkland, Two men in a floating ‘spa’ in Chelmer.

These images or PhotoMaps are provided by NearMap. Here you can see the entire region with a time scale across the top. Move the slider to the left for the “before” images.

View Large Map

Ipswich & Brisbane Floods January 2011

Well there has been an amazing response to the flooding in Queensland in December and January. The media coverage by almost any channel is extensive, although some is a little more sensational than necessary.

Our experience was only very minor perhaps even insignificant compared to the total devastation seen in most other areas. The rain on Monday night (10th) and Tuesday all day was unbelievable. Very heavy, constant and loud. The water running off our land (some of which was coming from our neighbour) was in deep sheets and torrents, carving out ruts in a few places.

All this was heading to the local waterway, Ironpot Creek just below our western boundary. As we have only been in this house less than a year, we were unsure of how the reported ’74 flood levels would impact us.

We were watching out the window and through the trees we could see the rising waters getting closer. In this photo you can see the water coming in behind our chickens.

A walk down our northern boundary towards Ironpot Creek and we realised just how much water was heading toward Ipswich (Ironpot Creek flows into the Bremer River at Brassall just upstream of Hancock’s Bridge).

The rain finally backed off on Tuesday afternoon, and subsequently the water in the creek dissipated fairly quickly. We would be lying if we said we weren’t a little nervous on Tuesday. The pictures of Toowoomba were very distressing and on everyone’s mind.

A quick look around and you realise the extent of damage in some areas is unbelievable. The support response around Ipswich has been fantastic (as it has been throughout Queensland). We look forward to providing assistance in the coming weeks and months.