March 2017

Andrea Edwards

A fluffy story of our dogs first experience in the ocean

In the spirit of sharing cute fluffiness, as well as to get away from serious subjects, here’s a little story about our dog, Freddy – a six-month old Golden Retriever puppy.   We decided to take Freddy to a BBQ on East Coast Park in Singapore this weekend, to celebrate our great friend Amber’s birthday. It was our first beach outing with Freddy and I’ve got to say, it was delightful.   After everyone settled in, I took him down to the beach with the boys and Freddy absolutely shat himself. Throwing himself back from the waves, almost ripping my arm from its socket, he then decided there was nothing to be done but to bark at the ocean. He wasn’t having any of it, however he did enjoy all of the rubbish on the beach. That was a welcome distraction….   So much rubbish!   It didn’t take too long though and he was in! Awesome work Freddy. But it’s difficult to get the full experienceof the ocean when he was required to stay leashed. This is a common requirement in Singapore, as mainstream dog ownership is a very recent thing and culturally, many people just don’t like dogs at all. We have to respect that.   Anyhoo, Sunday morning it was time for Nippers in Singapore – yeah we’re not enjoying those early Sunday morning wake-ups let me tell you! But after the misery of getting up, it really is superb being out in nature with the boys, watching them learn a fabulous new skill – surf, lifesaving. ANZA is doing a superb job, as are the incredible volunteers.   Steve and I took it in turns with The Fredster while the boys worked their arses off, all the while keeping Freddy leashed so he wouldn’t jump into the kids’ lessons. A very strong possibility. At one point, I wandered down the beach a bit, away from the lesson and Freddy jumped in. He went out further, and discovered he could swim.   I was rather pleased with this photo – BBQ under a flight path It was a light-bulb moment for Freddy and I could see a new passion emerge in that instant. He couldn’t get enough of it and fur mumma was feeling super proud of our clever boy. Class over, kids in the ocean for free time, and Freddy was bloody delighted to be in there with them. The kids weren’t though. Both boys came out covered in scratches as Freddy swam up to them and tried to jump on board. My screaming at them on how to manage the situation was, of course, ignored.   Unfortunately, a little lad (not of my loins) got scratched as well. Sorry, sorry it’s his first swim, I said to the dad, who was more concerned his son would grow up scared of dogs – something he didn’t want to happen. I applaud that.   Steve probably had the best reaction though. His heart was in his mouth the whole time, worried about his little Freddy. I’ve got to tell you, watching a man fall in love with their first dog is a pretty special thing to see. Freddy is definitely Steve’s dog – no doubt about it.   Was that cute and fluffy enough for you?   Yours, without the bollocks Andrea     Thank you for reading my ramblings. My brain and heart are a work in progress, always. I’d love a comment if it stirred any thoughts or feelings and of course, please feel free to share it with anyone you know who might be interested or entertained. I sure do appreciate it when you do. If you want to connect, I’m on Twitter here, Google+ here, Instagram here, and Facebook too. I share loads of stuff, not just my own xxxxx

A fluffy story of our dogs first experience in the ocean Read More »

Uncommon Courage

A look into my mind over the last month

In a recent blog, I talked about how hard it is to blog in the midst of all the global chaos we seem to be enduring – and nothing has changed.   It’s hard to think about anything else when our days and minds are consumed by the idiocy going on in the political sphere, as well as big business’ continuing negative impact on the environment, the massive increases in defence spending around the world, and the incessant talk of small men with smaller hands threatening war.   It’s the most demoralizing time of my life. The world seems caught up in a frenzy of fear, and we all know from our own lives that you can’t move forward in fear. It paralyzes you. The world can’t either – right?   I do believe the people who are spreading fear actually believe in what they are saying. They believe it’s as bad as they think it is. So I try to be empathetic to this. But this circus must stop, before it’s too late.   Obviously central to all the fear talk is Donald Trump – a man I am not a fan of – AT ALL! #DonaldTrumpisanAsshole   I want to highlight a piece published in the New York Times recently – I Ignored Trump News for a Week. Here’s What I Learned. Yeah I know, fake news right? The key points ·        He could find almost no Trump-free press •         “Coverage of Mr. Trump may eclipse that of any single human being ever” •         “He has taken up semipermanent residence on every outlet of any kind, political or not” •         It’s not just that Mr. Trump’s coverage beats anyone else’s. He is now beating pretty much everyone else put together – according to Paul Senatori, chief analytics officer, mediaQuant. Essentially, based on the paid value of media coverage on Trump, he is essentially surpassing the next 1,000 most covered people. Think about that! •         He’s 90% of the news but not 90% of news It’s crazy! So do I share my outrage every time something happens? No! Because I’d be a very boring social media pal if I did. Many people are completely over it and just don’t want to know. I can’t blame them, but I can’t hide from it. I’ve always been interested in world news and I care about our combined future. So I keep reading, I just don’t keep sharing. It’s all I’d be doing if I did. This about sums up my reactions (or stream of consciousness) since January 26th – Australia Day – another stalwart ally he’s managed to piss off!     (You might not want to read these bullets if you don’t like the f word. I’ve used it excessively) WTF? Fuck No really, What the Fuck? You’re fucking kidding me, right? Is there a place we can escape to right now? No. there isn’t, we’re all in this shit storm together Who says shit like that? Who says Fox is truth and the rest of the media are fucking fake news? In a democracy? You have studied Rupert Murdoch right? Of fucken terrific – here we go again and again. Banning Muslims is the right thing to do – not! Oh for fucks sake, you wanna a piss off China? Really? You think you can Make America Great Again without China? Good luck with that You assholes of humans, who the fuck do you think you are? You think you have the moral right to deliver a blanket ban on contraception/abortion in developing nations, fucking up millions of women and families around the world? You’re arseholes! Don’t you care about the fucking air we breathe, the water we drink, the earth we live on? You are unleashing environmental crime and to that I say FUCK YOU! Oh you’re not going to feed the elderly and impoverished kids? That doesn’t work, is that right? Nice one with Angela Merkel. Oh how I miss the beauty of diplomacy Oh you’re going to take on North Korea are you? Oh that’s not going nuclear, which means we’re all fucked you morons! No seriously, what the bloody fuck? All of this is why I can’t blog, because what is there to say other than what the bloody fuck! Everything else seems completely pointless and insignificant right now…. Everything.   I need to cleanse my mind and soul of this shite. It has consumed me more than anything else in my life, and it’s not a good place to be in. There is so much that is good in our world. But with the fear mongers dominating our social channels, telling us daily that all is fucked, it’s hard to be centred if that’s all you’re hearing.   All I know is we’ve got to fight back. Share the love people. Share the joy. Share the hope. Hey the Dutch gave us hope this week by rejecting the white supremacists. It can be done. These arseholes do not get to win this war of minds and hearts. They can only win if we let them.   What do you reckon? Is your mind like mine, or have you managed to find some peace in it? Any tips or strategies you’d be happy to share with the rest of us?   Yours, without the bollocks Andrea   WTF graphic courtesy of Shutterstock   Thank you for reading my ramblings. My brain and heart are a work in progress, always. I’d love a comment if it stirred any thoughts or feelings and of course, please feel free to share it with anyone you know who might be interested or entertained. I sure do appreciate it when you do. If you want to connect, I’m on Twitter here, Google+ here, Instagram here, and Facebook too. I share loads of stuff, not just my own xxxxx

A look into my mind over the last month Read More »