YAY..I won...YAY

[cass]

perfect timing

I was listening to the local ABC radio the other day and they had a phone-in competition.:free things: YAY!
It was my dear friend's birthday on the weekend, she is a struggling artsit who works in a really shitty job caring for kids that are out of control( really really REALLY out of control) and placed in care( shesshe her stories are scary) She ends up very stressed and depressed from her work.
SO..I have won 2 tickets to an art exhibition opening night at out Ragional Gallery and dinner for two at one of the swish restaurants I'd never normally be able to afford. I am taking her along next week.
The exhibition will be rather poignant for me.
My middle son turns 18 years old today and he is being interviewed by an army officer next week. he really wants to join up. The unit he wants to join does land-mine clearing.
He gave himself a crew cut yesterday, he looks so handsome, it really highlights his beautiful blue eyes....I don't want to lose him.

so the exhibition is of works by an Australian female artist Stella Bowen. Her most famous painting is called "bomber crew 1944" Six of the seven men in the painting were dead before she finsihed it.
Here is a link if you want to have a look
www.awm.gov.au/stella/


Happy Birthday baby of mine
We are going to Coffs Harbour today to buy school shoes for his little brother. I'll take him somwhere nice for lunch. He's a darlin' boy...I mean...man.18 already...I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday

So YAY...I got lucky...free things YAY

 

[Laura M]

My Mum cried on my 18th birthday earlier this year.


Congrats on winning the tix

 

[cass]

PS....while I'm at it, I want to give thanks for the blessed rain.
It has been very dry here lately, but last night a storm moved through the Clarence Valley and gave us almosy 90 mls of rain. Our creek is just beginning to flow, my garden has had a good soaking...YAY.

Funny thing...just before the storm arrived , about 2 am my little dog woke me up. he was trying to nuzzle under the quilt. he was in such a hurry he stuck his head down the front of my nightie and got a bit stuck, cause it was a tight fit. he seemed quite content to stay there, just his head buried...hub said "I know how he feels"

anyway 10 minutes later the thunder and lightening started and I realised why his need was so urgent. Poor little mite.
He's the cutest thing...we both miss big Gus.
I still shed a tear when i see him in my avatar over there, but I want to keep him there a while longer...Big Boy Boomeroo, he has so many nick names, we loved him.


I just can't stop quoting Special Ed at the moment

YAY ..it rained....YAY

 

[Sicy]

That is so nice of you to take your friend out! Sounds like she needs it

Happy Birthday to your son! He will be ok.. he can come home and visit right?

 

[martha]

I'm so glad you'll get a girls date!


Squeeze that grown up boy for me.

 

[BAW]

That's great Cass...I hope you and your friend have a great time!



And isn't it amazing how fast our little boys become men? I'm not looking forward to the day when my second son (my baby) turns 18 and wants to leave me

 

[HeartlandGirl]

Sounds like all is well with you, Cass! Congrats, and I hope your son has a great birthday! You and your friend have a good time, too!

 

[Angela Harlem]

Congrats Cass!
Have a great time, and tuck in with this free dinner!

 

[Salome]

to quote an old dutch saying:
have loads of fun

 

[U2girl]

Congrats and happy birthday to your son!

 

[oliveu2cm]

Congrats Cass! that is wonderful!

 

[cass]

aww thanks for your kind and good wishes musiclovers
it got better yesterday.
I thought I had best ring the radio station and make sure it was OK my other girlfriend wanted to join us, she said "hang the cost, i just want an excuse to go out with you guys" I thought their might be limited numbers.
The nice woman at the radio station has put two more of my friends on the guest list ..for free!!
It is my husband's birthday the night before, so he's coming along too
and**cass whispers this bit** the radio station manager will be there, and not only do I think he is a funny man on the radio....he's hot to look at too. I get to "rub shoulders" with Martin

thanks for the wishes for my son....the army rang him yesterdy when I was out and did a lengthy phone interview. If he passes the physical etc., he'll be away. Basic training first, they recommend not contacting your family during that time, it's a pretty tough.
My friend's son who is in Baghdad, has only talked to his mum for 2 minutes in the past 6 months. I'll do LOTS of worrying, but there is nothing I can do to change it...he is making his own life choices.
I gave him a hebrew talisman for his birthday yesterday. i thought he would put it on his car keyring. I notice he is wearing it around his neck. He's a beautiful........man

 

[Laura M]

The nice woman at the radio station has put two more of my friends on the guest list ..for free!!

and**cass whispers this bit** the radio station manager will be there, and not only do I think he is a funny man on the radio....he's hot to look at too. I get to "rub shoulders" with Martin

Thats great your other friends can come too


I hope Mr Cass doesn read in here and see your comment about Martin

 

[martha]

Rubbing shoulders

 

[IWasBored]

yeah!

 

[bonosloveslave]

That should be a wonderful night out!

 

[cass]

I hope so BLS...the exhibition is called Love War and art...it might be a bit sad.
Hey Laura...my old man is used to me now...after all these years. He knows I have all these fantasy men...Orlando, Bono, Nuno, Marco...hmmmm, must be something about names ending in the letter"o" ????
He thinks I'm a nice bunch of people once he got to know me
I sometimes have this horrible thought about how public this place is though. I wouldn't mind my old man reading my ramblin's, but there are a couple of people who.......ewwwwwwwwwwww ...banish the thought.

peace musiclovers
'night

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

congrats!

 

[U2MaNaIcWeIdO]

Congrats on you win. I hoped you had a good time

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

PS....while I'm at it, I want to give thanks for the blessed rain.
It has been very dry here lately, but last night a storm moved through the Clarence Valley and gave us almosy 90 mls of rain. Our creek is just beginning to flow, my garden has had a good soaking...YAY.


YAY ..it rained....YAY

It rained here too, finally, after such a long dry winter ... it got cold again, after our hottest September for many, many years.

I hope you have a fantastic night out, Cass. I am such an art gallery fiend, ohhh I am jealous ... enjoy it with your friends!

Good luck also to your son. It's such a hard decision to make, what you're going to do with your future, so I hope that this is the right choice for him.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Sorry I'm so late, but, congrats!

 

[meegannie]

 

[tiny dancer]

Happy news Cass. Hope you all have a super time!

 

[cass]

Thanks for the kind wishes and the words of encouragement.
The exhibition was fantastic.
It is the only time Stella Bowen's work has been collected together. The tour is almost at an end, three-quarters of the paintings will go back to private collections and not be seen again perhaps.
It was very moving, there was so much in her work I could relate to. My personal fave was "le plant"...I said "that is no le plant...that is a bromeliad!" I collect bromeliads and the one she had painted I have..it is flowering at the moment, I'd been admiring it that day. Stella had captured the colour perfectly, the EXACT shade of pink , the markings on the leaves. It was painted in 1931..the year my mother was bornI was very moved by the frames on her work..so beautiful.
She painted a lot of interiors, they think in a search for a sense of "home" her parents died when she was young. One so much reminded me of Bilbo Baggins home, I expected Gandalf to walk in and bump his head.
I found the "war room" section ( as I called it) a bit confronting. She had painted soldiers recuperating in an army hospital so many without limbs. I said to hub it made me so scared for my son.He said he gets scared every time our son drives off in his car...the highway is a dangerous place too. If he does end up a sapper, I have kind of made myself feel a bit better by thinking , removing land mines is a good thing to do...if they remain in situ they blow the legs off innocent women and children trying to resume their normal lives. The army rang my son twice today...it feels more real now..he just has to pass the tests
His big brother really helped my thru a rough patch yesterday, he is so grounded and rational...I want them to grow and prosper...but sheeesh I'll miss their close company.


Anyway, back to Stella. Her most famous painting "Bomber Squad 1944" depicts Aussie airmen,six of whom died in the plane they are depicted with. Two of the men are from the local area and I met one of their sisters last night, an elderly and delightful woman. I have her phone number..I am going to ring her with the name of the Russell Crowe movie about bomber pilots being trained in Canada in WW2( takes me eh?..Big Russ..I liked the movie) She said "the boys were used as fodder", her brother Hector, never made it to 21 years old, she hadn't seen him for 4 years before he died Beth..)
Stella Bowen certainly had interesting friends. She realised she had cancer in 1946 and was too ill to make it back to Australia. Some friends, to help her out finanacially, commissioned a painting...a vase of flowers , gerberas and grapes on a table...she never finished the grapes...too young.
There was so much in her work I could relate too ( solitaire). It was a treat to share it with hub..we don't go out together that often, except when he plays in his band and that's different. My girlfriends, as expected , were a little bit naughty..oh dear they are soooooooo funny.
So it was a rare treat ...and it continues....things have fallen into place again, re: a friend, an artist and "the ripple effect" and a concert in a church...I can go!!!!
If you want to check out his work
http://www.markwaller.com.au/
It's where I took my avatar from.He's an old schoolfriend and I haven't seen him in years. I look forward to it....greatly.

PS....I left martin's shoulder's alone...I just "drool" from a distance. We did exchange brief pleasantaries and both said "wonderful" at the same time...a silly moment.
We should have linked little fingers eh? and made a wish

PSS..I also drank 3 glasses of champagne and woke up with a deadly hang over.

A good time was had by all.

Thanks y'all...wish you were here for times such as these .

 

[cass]

Yowser!!!!

EGADS!!



martin didn't do his morning show yesterday( he may have had a hangover too...j/k)
He was on air this morning, saying how "wonderful" the exhibition opening was AND playing taped interviews he did on the night.
You should have heard the hub-bub in the background..hub said he could hear my voice and laughter

HOW embarrassing!
I didn't notice him making the tape..I did see his sidekick taking pics with his fancy schmancy ABC digital camera...oh dear..dare I go look.
He will be playing a few more taped interviews next week. I wish I had kept my mouth
impossible

There is a Friends of the ABC concert and gathering in Byron on Sunday...I WANNA GO! It is fancy dress too...come as your favourite ABC character. I think I could do a good Kim from Kath and Kim....especially if I got stuck into the cardonnay( with the silent "h" it's french!)

Actually while I'm at....
CONGRATULATIONS Andre and Steffi Agassi.
They have a new baby daughter
They are so lucky, best wishes to them.

 

[cass]

well I didn't get to go to the Ripple Effect concert or the Friends of the ABC gathering
BUT
I did get to hear a whole bunch of U2 songs
and my son passed his initial engineer's entrance exam

 

[Salome]

I was already ondering what happened to your journal cass




so you made aussie radio?


*searches the internet for old radio shows*

 

[Angela Harlem]

look at me kimmy look at me....kimmy....look at me!
my mother is the baine marie of my life