God's Got a Sense of Humour

There have been a number of occasions over the years when I have been able to enjoy God's sense of humour. A non-Christian friend of mine once asked me for an example and I couldn't recall any specific incidences, which was particularly frustrating. It's not something you think about keeping a record of. 

A couple of days ago, I  couldn't help but laugh at a little practical joke that God played on me, so I thought I would share it with you. And since I have written it down in my blog, I can always go back and find it again should anyone ask for an example of God's sense of humour.

On Tuesday I spent some time scanning in photos from one of my photo albums dating from about 18-20 years ago. It made me feel so nostalgic for friends from the past and experiences that I had in my twenties. There were people I had almost forgotten at one of my previous workplaces, and going over the photos I prayed for a number of old friends and workmates. 

One of the things I had forgotten were the two or three Easter camps I had attended with other young adults from across Queensland. One of the earlier photos from a camp was of a young woman I had always liked. Let's call her Kate Dawgard. Kate always had a great sense of humour and we got along well. But leading busy lives we really didn't keep in contact though we saw each other at common Christian gatherings on occasion. But it had been at least 18 years since I last saw Kate.

I prayed about her as I looked at the photo, wondering how she was doing, what things had happened in her life, and asked for God to bless her. 

On Wednesday evening I received a phone call from a woman asking for some information on the Christian singles group that I co-ordinate. She said her name was Kate, and the thought popped into my head "Wouldn't it be funny if it was Kate Dawgard."

After we talked for a while, I asked for her full name and address so that I could post her a calendar of our upcoming activities. She gave her address then said her name was "Kate Dawgard."

I said, "You're kidding!?"

"No," she replied.

"Do you spell that D.a.w.g.a.r.d?"

I asked her if she had lived at the town we had both lived in twenty years ago but she said, "No."

"You're not going to believe this," I said, then gave her a rundown on what had happened the day before with the photo about a woman with the same name as her, and how I'd been wondering about her.
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"That's spooky," she said. "My last name is not very common, and I've never heard of another Kate Dawgard."

We both laughed at God's sense of humour.

For me, this came at a particularly good time. Financially I have been struggling and I had a very large bill around $2,000 come in (rates for my home) and no way of earning enough money in time to pay for it, nor could I afford to pay it off over a period of time.

The amount was so far out of my league, that I just continued saying to God, "You promised to look after me, so I'm going to leave it to you to sort out."

While I'm naturally a worrier, it was completely pointless for me to worry because I simply had no means to pay for this bill.
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The bill had been sitting there at home for around six weeks and I was only managing to pay off the normal bills. Every now and then I'd remind God that I was holding Him to His promise.

Late last week, some money came in which was enough to pay the large bill. In addition, there was enough left over to do some maintenance on my home that I have been putting off for more than six months.

But, God has been even more faithful. Earlier this week, I received some more money which enabled me to completely pay off my credit card bill. (I have tears in my eyes as I write this.)

But astonishingly, I am yet to receive some more money as a tax refund.

Isn't God amazing?! He has blessed me abundantly for my faithfulness in Him, though my faith was small. This money will ease my financial stress considerably and enable me to get ahead with my house payments.

The last twenty-one months have been incredibly difficult - especially the last ten months that I have away from my workplace on stress leave and suffering ongoing depression. The financial stress also added to the burden. 

Since I have now been officially "fired" from my workplace (which is where some of my money came from), it feels like an enormous burden has been lifted from me. It feels like I have closed and locked the door on that part of my life, and have new hope for the future. I can look ahead positively because of God's assurance and blessings, knowing that He is in control.

The last week has been like a culmination of all that has gone before, almost like God threw me a surprise party to say, "Finished! Now let's celebrate and have a bit of fun!"

Romantic Destinations in the UK

Years ago, I recall reading a list of some silly place names in the USA and Australia. I had forgotten about it until just recently when by accident I found the place names "Little Snoring" and "Great Snoring" in the UK.

(FYI: Little Snoring is a village north-north east of London in the county of Norfolk and Great Snoring is located in the east in the UK in North Norfolk.)

"Wow! What great names," I thought.

But rather than repeat what's already been done multiple times by others, ie create a list of the silliest names , I thought it would be nice to find some lovely romantic ones.

Then if anyone wants to go for a honeymoon for example, one of the couple might like to organise a trip to romantic sounding destinations.

Here then is a list of places in the UK:

• Caring
• Church Town
• Cupid's Hill
• Darling’s Hill, Darling Fell, Darling How, Darling Field,
• Fancy
• Gentleman’s Cave
• Heart's Delight
• Honeypot
• Husbandtown
• Kissock, Kissthorn Farm
• Loves Green, Lover, Lover’s Lake, Love lane, Love Lodge, Loves, Lover’s Leap, Loves Farm, Love’s Hill
• Red Roses
• Sweet Bit
• Sweet Hope
• Sweetheart Abbey
• Truelove
• Valentine's Park (London)
• Weddington
• Yearn Hope

I then thought that as a single woman,I could create single women's tours with the second last place on the tour being at Husbandtown and the final destination being Truelove. Mmmm, sounds like a winner!

But I would definitely have to say that my favourite romantic destination in the UK is "Isle of Ewe" off the coast of Scotland.

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For more interesting place names in the UK go to http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk and search to your heart's content.

Weird Web

While online auction websites can be a great place to find items to purchase, sometimes they simply do not have those hard to find things. 


Sometimes, I go searching on the internet for shops in my own country that sell the item I am looking for.


What I discovered though, is that when you search for a particular item, the search-engine can come up with some pretty strange choices. Following are some of the results I found when searching for particular items.

A search for 'large cotton robe', resulted in:

• radiation safety and protection plan; and
• guide to choosing a horse rug 

"Of course," I thought to myself, "That's exactly what one thinks of when wanting to purchase a terry-toweling bath-robe.


After a recent blog entry in which I wrote about a 'singing cast-maker', I thought I'd do a search on that phrase which resulted in:

• Encyclopedia of the romantic era;
• Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; 
• Ringtone: Fallout Shelter; and
• Caesar or Nothing

There's probably some obvious connection here, but I seem to be missing it!

I also did a search for a game called "light the candle" which resulted in a rather interesting entry from WikiHow called:

"How to light a candle: 12 steps"

And I always thought lighting a candle was easy. Obviously I'm missing out on some vital steps.

Odd Thoughts

Anyone who knows me well will probably not be astounded that I regularly come up with some odd thoughts and ideas. From my interaction with others, I know I am not alone.

For example, a few weeks ago as I was travelling back to my home-town by train, I spotted a blue tractor.

"Do tractors come in more than one colour?" I wondered.

As the train passed by some more farms I was mildly surprised to spot an orange tractor, a white tractor and finally a red tractor. So then my next query was, do they go through colour phases like cars? 

"Were all tractors between 1983 and 1988 blue? Was that the fashion then? Is it more fashionable to have a red tractor at the moment? Do tractor manufacturers have to take macho preferences into consideration when developing their next line of tractors? Are then any colours that they won't paint a tractor?"

"I can't imagine any Australian farmers willing to buy a tractor in sissy colours like purple or pink. His neighbours might start talking."

Sometimes my random thoughts end up as blog entries and/or newspaper articles, but often they're so random with no real links to anything else that I simply can't write anything more than a few lines, eg the time I looked at a walnut (minus the shell).

"Mmm," I thought, "I imagine this looks something like an elf's brain."

But what further line of thought could I possibly develop from that?

Sometimes I discover important facts purely by accident, such as our remote control holder at home is the perfect size for holding a family sized block of chocolate. My mind of course imagined that this was deliberate. The manufacturers had obviously taken the important requirement for chocolate consumption whilst watching TV or a DVD into consideration when developing their product.

And while I would like most areas of my life to somehow be connected to the consumption of chocolate, we sometimes do have to take medicine as well.

Currently I am forcing myself to swallow down compressed fish oil each day to help with an arthritic knee. While this is quite disgusting to consume, my friend Ana has had medicine that was even worse.

Ana mentioned that she once had some peppermint antacid which she swore was like trying to drink foot-lotion.

I've had something worse-tasting than that! I recall having to swallow several amounts of barrier meal in order to x-ray my gastric reflux. Barrier meal tastes like what I imagine nuclear waste must taste like.

Marvellous Bird Photos

What an incredible morning I had recently! Not only did I spot a Laughing Kookaburra with a nice snake for his meal, I spotted both a Capricorn Silvereye and a Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, neither of which I have ever seen in the wild. It was fantastic! And here are the photos to prove it:

Laughing Kookaburra

Capricorn Silvereye

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Ah! The Desserts of Youth!

With my financial restrictions, and for health reasons, I've been trying to make our own desserts at home recently. We've made a variety of muffins during the past couple of years, but JD seems to be getting a little tired of them.

"Have you ever tried tapioca?" I asked recently.

"What's that?" he replied.

"It's also called sago. 'Frog's eyes' was what my dad used to call them."

"Why's that? Are they made out of frogs?"

"No," I laughed, "It's just because the tapioca turns out like little soft, transluscent, little round beady things that look like frogs eyes."

"Yuck!"

"I haven't had tapioca in years, but I remember it always tasted good when I was a kid," I said.

"If I don't like it I won't eat it."

"I'm sure you'll like it," I said. "Have you ever had junket?"

"Is that made from some animal's tongue?" JD asked with a smile.

"Urk, no," I replied.

"Does it look like anything?"

"Well, it's kind of... Do you know I can't really remember what junket tasted like, or even looked like for that matter," I said. "I think it was a little bit watery, but that's all I can remember."

"Ok," he said with a resigned sigh, "If I have to, I'll try it."

"I wonder if the supermarket even sells it anymore," I thought out loud. "Well, next time we go I'll look."

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So that's how we ended up with a packet of tapioca seeds, junket and custard powder (for good measure) in our pantry.

So far the tapioca has been acceptable (according to JD) but he thinks it would be better with ice-cream.

"The whole point was to make our own desserts," I said.

"Well, why don't we make our own ice-cream?" he asked.

"Mmmm, I remember Mum telling me about making ice-cream out of carnation milk. I'll have to ask her again how to make it."

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Next, will be the junket experiment. I have a sneaking suspicion that JD will turn his nose up at that.

Two Discoveries

Recently I made two interesting discoveries. I'm sure neither one will change the world or eliminate poverty, but I found them interesting nevertheless.

We've had a lot of wet weather this month - much more than we usually do in spring. As young JD has been home during school holidays, we decided to have a pie from a local bakery for lunch, just because of convenience.

I discovered a wet-weather phenomena that probably only bakers know about: wet weather is pie weather. Unfortunately, our pie choices were much more limited than usual because they had sold quite a number of pies. This is something we will have to take into consideration next time we experience wet weather and want a pie. 

Or perhaps our family too equates wet weather with hot pies and automatically heads towards the bakery during wet weather. Mmmmm, perhaps there's been some government conspiracy, in connection with bakeries throughout Australia, to entice the population to ingest hot pies whenever it rains. 

Perhaps we have been subjected to subliminal advertising on the television and feel prompted to eat hot pies at the slightest hint of wet weather. Perhaps each bakery has to give back to the government a certain percentage of their pie sales. Perhaps I'm reading far, far too much into this and I really should restrain my overactive imagination.

The other interesting thing I discovered was not a 'what' but a 'who.' When JD broke his arm some weeks back, we came across Joe at the local hospital who put the cast onto JD's arm. It was during the cast-making process that somehow we found Joe the cast-maker extraordinaire singing a song as he worked. 

Recently when we returned to have the cast removed, I mentioned that after our last encounter with Joe, I had been expecting to hear a song. Joe the cast-maker extraordinaire then sprang into action and sang the entire song "Mama's Little Baby Loves Shortning Bread."

It's not often one gets serenaded, and certainly not something one would expect when getting one's arm in a cast.

Walking the Dogs

When my dogs were younger and I was a little more spritely, I used to take my dogs for walks around the neighbourhood or to a nearby park. From the start I trained my dogs not to bark at any other dogs, even ones that rushed up to the fence furiously barking at us as we went past. 

I used to hate that part of the walks - those rotten dogs that would rush at us, especially when they were rather large or stuck their heads over the fence at us. My heart would leap into my throat when I was startled, which would ruin our leisurely, relaxing walk. But over time we got to know the nuisance dog and would stay well away from their fence.

What was worse though were the dog owners who thought it was perfectly acceptable to allow their aggressive dogs to freely roam the streets. Occasionally I would have to pick my two little dogs up and hoped I could hold them high enough out of the reach of the snarling dog that wanted to chew on them. Fortunately the scary, nasty incidences only happened a couple of times, but it too would ruin what was supposed to be a nice leisurely walk together.

I discovered a dog-park nearby that allowed people to take their dogs there to walk, run or play. It was a great spot, right on the banks of a salt-water creek which gave the dogs an interesting place to explore. One section was full of mangroves and the dogs loved to roam through the mud, sniffing the over-whelming smells and chasing the occasional crab.

In a large area, one could throw a frisbee or a ball and still have lots of room left-over for others to use. My two dogs could play with others that came along to the park as well, though mine were a little overwhelmed at times as most of the other dogs were much larger than them. My older dog Scout was especially mindful of this and would usually stand between me and the other large dogs to protect me. Once I realised that she was not enjoying herself because she felt compelled to protect me, I began to stay away from others with larger dogs so that Scout could relax and have some fun.

Late one afternoon I turned up at the park with my dogs and there was nobody else around. We took our time walking and exploring and before long the sun began to set. We were standing in a large area when a vast swarm of insects flew up from the grass. At that moment, a huge group of small birds, swallows I think, swooped in and started eating the insects. Flying and zipping around us in a large clowd, it was like being inside a small storm of birds.

Standing in the midst of it, I twirled around and despite their large numbers, not one bird even came close to touching me. It was incredible to be inside that swirling, swarming living mass!

Bizarre Beautification

I was watching a news show at about 5.00am one morning, which in itself kind of begs the question about why I like to start the day with such mindless torture. Normally I flick it onto something more palatable and brain-friendly, but it was the reporter's presentation that caused me to pause, with the remote control suspended mid-air.

She introduced two people as specialised interior decorators. What was so intriguing about the husband and wife team was that they were qualified psychologists and had combined the two careers! Imagine that combination! According to the reporter, the decorators would meet with each potential client, and ask them to complete a number of psychology tests to discover their unconscious selves. Their interior design was then based entirely upon the person's unconscious self.

What a frightening concept! Would you really want to everyone to see the REAL you splattered across the walls of your lounge-room, figuratively speaking of course. If the resulting design was completely hideous, it could cause a person to have serious doubts about themselves or possibly cause a complete breakdown.

What if a room was decorated for couples who were completely different? How could the designers possibly combine the two styles? Can you imagine a husband who felt unconsciously that he was really Genghis Khan while the wife's inner desire was to be like Ghandi?

Can you imagine if they'd decorated homes or rooms for well-known celebrities? Would Elvis Presley's home have been covered in glitter and sequins, complete with an automatic peanut-butter sandwich fryer in the kitchen? Or would they have designed a humble, wooden home, reminiscent of his childhood where he may have felt more at home?

Perhaps those celebrities perceived as less than intelligent or lacking a personality may in fact prove a challenge to the decorators. Would they paint their room white and leave it completely free of furniture to indicate what they found of their character?

And what do you imagine they might design for fictional characters? Dame Edna Everage might have walls painted with gladioli and adorned with pictures of her megastar self.

I shudder to think about what the decorators would create if they'd come across Hannibal Lector, although "Butcher-shop Boutique" springs to mind.

But I'm sure the designers would have no problems creating a home for Wile E Coyote. They'd simply kit out his entire house with Acme products.

I believe that I've decorated my own bedroom in a way that says something about me – it's a bit like Aladdin's cave, and perhaps deep down I feel that it's somewhere I can go to hide when I need time away from the world.

So, what does your favourite room say about you?

Naughty, Naughty Cat!

It's been raining for the past few days, and though the cats are not normally allowed outside, they seem to feel the heaviness of the weather. Larci has taken to biting and scratching in one of his crazy moods. He did lick me afterwards as if to say "There! All better now."


So, braving his sharp claws and teeth, I got out my camera and took a few photos:

Think I'll start with your finger...

Mmm, tasty knuckle. Munch! Munch!

Mmm, and thumb tastes especially nice!

Time to move onto the rest of your hand.

And then your arm follows that! Crunch! Scratch!

And finally, the camera!

Own Your Style

Do you have your own sense of style? If I'd been asked this question I would probably have said "No." 


I've seen the way some people dress and I would say without hesitation that they don't have a sense of style. But what if their sense of style is "trailer trash?"


This question arose after I asked someone's opinion about a shirt I was considering purchasing. My friend replied, "That's definitely your style." 


I was astonished! I'd never considered that I had my own style, because I'd never gone out of my way to develop a "Vicki-S style." My style came about through the need for comfort, colour and creaselessness. The most important factor being the requirement that it does not need ironing. 

I pride myself on the fact that in the last 15 years or so, I've only ironed twice! Frankly it seems rather silly to me to buy clothes that require you to spend time ironing them. Why not purchase crease-resistant clothes in the first place and then spend the time that you've saved doing more important things like solving the energy crisis or eating chocolate!


The bride at a wedding I attended quite a number of years ago dressed herself and her four bridesmaids in crease-resistant clothing. Uncrushable satin was the theme for the day, with each of the bridesmaids dressed in a similar though different coloured dress. One wore bright blue, another yellow, red and finally iridescent green while their partners wore matching cumberbunds.


Perhaps it was the glare from the bridesmaids dresses that affected my eyesight, but I could have sworn that the bride herself was dressed in a badly-sewn home-made white sleeveless dress. What was even more unfortunate about the low-cut dress with gaping sleeve-holes was that the buxom bride chose not to wear a bra for the occasion.


A rather eye-gouging style, I thought at the time.


My friend Ana definitely has her own sense of style, with the colour purple being a recurring theme. I love that she is confident in her choices even though on occasion it has lead to some less than favourable comments.


Ana recounted one incident when she decided to wear a muslin shawl over her dress to church. 


Seated in the pew behind her were two young men. One turned to the other and said, "Look, she's wearing a towel!"

Flower Blossom Photos

Some tidying up recently revealed some forgotten photos and I found a couple from our garden:

This is the flower from a common weed vine.
It's rather intriguing to look at up close,
but the weed itself is a real pain to manage.

I think this bush is called China Girl. I love the gloss on the petals of
its flowers. They are the tiniest blossoms but gorgeously coloured

I'm not sure what this bush is, but the little flowers are sweet.

I also found some photos of some native flowers that I'd taken previously:

This one is such an amazing blossom - it almost looks like a piece of art