blogged out and work weary...

i spent a bit of time on saturday refining a new parenting blog we're 'unveiling' at our in-service day on wednesday... i took care of the aesthetics and Sailor Lil took care of the written content - i must say i'm quite proud of the way it looks and extremely thankful that Lil's a 'wordsmith'... more on that next week...

but consequently having spent all day friday and (i won't say how much of my) saturday on it i found it hard to do some personal blogging - i was a tad 'blogged out' - i had intended to spend some time writing last night, but i was way too tired after working at albert park - i can't believe how busy it was - the unallocated list seemed never-ending, the returns kept coming thick and fast and the phone kept ringing ("sorry, we're totally booked out today) - i never want to see a dvd again - you get sore hands and arms opening and closing those bloody cases (let alone what all that bending over searching does to your back)!!! it was pretty much the same last sunday...

i saw my mother today, she needed a few things and wasn't feeling well enough to go down the street - she's having a lot more downs than ups at the moment... at times she's black and blue all over - as she describes it "i look like i've been 10 rounds with muhammad ali" - that's her chronic kidney disease - kidneys are deteriorating and have problems removing waste from blood...

i thought i'd share a couple of pictures of her - it was 1950, her 21st birthday...

and i was sent these amazing pics  - i just have to share them - they tell an amazing tale...

Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay...

The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in.

the polar bear appeared to want company, and returned every night for a week to play with the dogs.

a gentle giant - unfortunately an endangered species - such a magnificent creature - the dog's beautiful too...