Mis-conception on Miscarriage

I've been mulling this over for a few days now as my mind and body have been going through a rollercoaster of emotions and thoughts on the fallout from a miscarriage that has just 'happened' this week. My 2nd in three years.

Someone I know posted on facebook an article from the brilliant Scary Mommy Blog: http://www.scarymommy.com/blog-2/page/3/And it rang true with lots of my own thoughts and feelings. So, excuse the rambling nature of the post, it is just my own therapy and trying to break down some walls.

Why is miscarriage such a taboo to talk about? Why are women and men taught to keep their feelings to themselves when this happens? 

Statistics show that 1 in 3 pregnancies end in miscarriage, many before the 12 week 'safe'  mark, many before the mother might even know it's happened. I know so many people who have suffered through one or more miscarriage in their lives. In fact, without getting into too much details, I'd say that more of the women I know than not, have had one or more miscarriage in their lives. Sadly I also have a few friends who have had to say goodbye to their little angels at the 5+ and even 9 month mark. I can't even imagine their anguish.

For myself the first miscarriage happened 3 years ago when I fell pregnant, days after knee surgery. I was so focused on my bruised and battered leg that it took me 7 weeks to figure out my clothes weren't fitting and not because I had been on crutches for weeks without exercise, but because I was carrying another life. After the initial shock I was excited and a bit apprehensive about the pregnancy but happy as my husband and I had planned on trying for a second child and had put the plans on hold for the knee surgery.

The weekend before my 12 week scan, we were camping and I started to bleed. It wasn't heavy and dramatic as some people have described, but I knew in my heart of hearts it was not a good sign. We went along to the scan as scheduled and it showed an empty womb, the nurse confirmed what I already knew and said that judging by the size I had lost the baby around 9.5 weeks. As we were leaving for holiday less than 10 days later they agreed to a D&C to clean up my womb as they did not want to risk me hemorrhaging on a intercontinental flight. 

I'll be honest, after the initial shock and sadness I just got on with life and spoke about it to anyone and especially with those who asked if we were "having any more". It wasn't until over a year later that I started grieving. Maybe because my Son was starting school and many of the other mommies around me had a baby in tow, or maybe it was my time to grieve. Either way, I felt like a failure and that my body had let me down. Especially after my first experience with the ultra quick conception and easy pregnancy. It took quite a while to forgive myself for not having that second baby as I had always imagined in my life. And although my husband and I had not used contraception since that first  loss, nothing had happened.
Imagine my surprise when a week after returning from a wonderful family reunion/holiday we found out I was pregnant again!  What?! For over 3 years nothing! Months and years of disappointment and worry. I even had sold the cot bed, buggy and given loads of the baby stuff away thinking it's not meant to be.
I shared with a couple of friends my news, made the appropriate appointments and settled in to the changes that were happening to my body. Being thankful (again) for the lack of sickness and nausea many of my friends experienced in their pregnancies. I started to imagine who this little person might be, how his/her brother and stepsister would react to them. Pink or Blue....

I had just passed the 8 week mark and was out for a mother's day lunch with the family when on a visit to the toilet a horrible reality set in. I was bleeding again and I knew that was it.

I'm a pragmatic person, I know that nature has its reasons and that there was most likely something wrong, but to be able to conceive at 43 and to have no physical problems (in fact I was full of energy and in a positive frame of mind) it seemed like nothing could go wrong. I hate being this statistic, twice. I want to stamp my feet and scream "it's not fair!". 

This may be it, I may just pack it in now and not 'try' anymore, statistically it is unlikely to stick even if it happens again. But I am blessed with a beautiful 5 year old boy, who was conceived within days of trying, a near perfect pregnancy without heartburn or sickness. And although he was delivered through an emergency caesarian, it was a pretty easy natural labour (thank you Yoga!). I also have a beautiful and clever 10 year old stepdaughter who is a wonderful sister to her little brother. I am blessed with my children.

However, I also have friends who have tried every method known to man to conceive with no luck, my heart breaks for them as well. Every time to go in with such hope, and live on the edge of their seats for weeks to so often be so disappointed.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I think this should not be a taboo, this should be something that can be discussed openly without making people feel uncomfortable. Yes it is difficult, yes there is nothing you or anyone else can do to change natures plans, but we should not have to hide in the shadows while our hearts break and mend over our losses. It's OK to say, "I'm really sorry and sad for your loss".

I'll be fine. Mostly because I have a wonderful and supportive family and friends network and I was raised to talk about my feelings and thoughts. I may pause now and then a think of the children who might have been and perhaps even shed a tear to never have known them. 

The next time someone you know miscarries or has a failed fertility treatment, let them know you are there to support them and that they can talk about it or have a shoulder to cry on. Its not contagious, it's just a sad fact of nature. 

Take a Deep Breath and move forward. Blessings.

goodbye Friend

This comes after learning of an old friend who took his own life a week ago after finding himself having made some poor choices in life. The latest having taken the life of not one but most likely two human beings. The news reports are still sketchy.

My initial feelings when I found this out was not shock but deep sadness for my old friend and his family and friends left behind.

I cannot and do not know what transpired in the last days or years of my friends' life but from what I understand it had to do with a previous relationship of love and trust and the other person was not someone who was good at either.

My friend and I grew up in the same small country town, brought up by loving parents and surrounded by opportunities & friends.

He was always generous, kind, loving and would give you the shirt off his back if he could. He was my friend, a true friend, through and through.

I can recall much good advice and many good times in his company; While I am not sure when we lost touch over the years exactly ( has it really been 20since we last spoke?) I was thrilled when a few months ago he found me via that social networking site.

He was still the same person as far as I could tell, perhaps too much so. Kind , open and generous to the point where others took advantage.

I will never know the final details or decisions of my friends' life because he is gone to another place; I hope a kinder, happier place because that is what my friend deserves.

You were loved JFL, may you rest in peace.

Riots Man

Madness to think that mere miles away there have been riots raging in and out of control across Tottenham and parts of London for the past 3 nights. While I have no doubt that people are generally angry about the shooting of the 29 year old Mr.Duggan; who incidentally was carrying a replica handgun capable of firing live rounds. My guy feeling is that this is an excuse for a certain age and demographic to loot and cause havoc, very much like the riots in Vancouver after the the final playoff game. disgusting and pitiful are words which leap to mind when I think of the people who think this might be "a bit of a laugh".

But nice to see that already there are sites set up to clean up after these cretins. http://www.riotcleanup.com/ and various other social media outlets are being used to spearhead clean-ups across London. Good for all you folks who do the right thing, if only all that energy used to cause mayhem was used for good deeds...

Litter Bugs

...God how I hate them! Cockroaches being a close second.
Out for a walk this week I noticed a extraordinary amount of litter along the footpath near our house, understand I live in an extremely rural area with a small industrial estate near-by and some houses. How is it that there is so much litter along a stretch of road that is no more than 50 meters long next to a cow field in the south East of England? Disgusting!
I happen to have a plastic bag in the stroller and promptly filled it, and then went back later and filled another. That was only one side of the street as there is no footpath on the other and therefore dangerous with a stroller.
Conclusion is that some lazy-ass workers can't carry their lunch trash another 20 meters and put it in a bin in their offices. And I know for a fact that also to blame are the Chav-tastic people who live at number 1 on our street who's rubbish bin is always late, over flowing and spilling out onto the road.
This weeks contribution was Styrofoam from some kind of packaging that did not get picked up by the rubbish men cause the fool left it in the recycling box for tin and paper and then it promptly blew down the road with the wind and as he and his wife were coming back from their mutual tanning appointments drove over it as they turned onto the road not once thinking it might be associated with the latest gadget they have bought for their over indulged and spoilt rotten brat who has not yet mastered the chore of putting out the trash properly, (please note there is some of my own imagination used here but the part about being Chav's, having fake tans and having a stupid and spoilt child are all true).
He, the owner of the always late and overflowing bin did not even blink as he went past me on his bike and I was picking the bits of Styrofoam from the hedgerow at the end of the drive. Idiot!
What to do? I have followed people down train platforms in Holland and handed their trash to them asking if they had perhaps dropped something, hopefully shaming them into walking another 2 meters to use a bin or perhaps thinking twice before doing it again. What boggles the mind is how have these folks been raised? Do they think there is a magical trash fairy, did their folks forget to mention littering is bad? I just don't get it. I for one hope that the next time that someone from the offices nearby or the idiot at number 1 go down our little stretch of country road and see it is green and not strewn with garbage perhaps they too will think twice and that a mystical being has been to visit.

Thomas (the Tank Engine) and friends

Well a pretty exciting year in hockey. I happened to be home in Canada for the majority of the Play off season and came home to some nerve racking games where sadly it ended Wednesday with the Vancouver Canucks losing on home ice to the better, faster and stronger team, The Boston Bruins. With Tim Thomas in net it was painful to watch as Vancouver tried time and time again to get a puck past him, he was very impressive.
Well as the Stanley Cup is being paraded down the streets in Boston I hope the boys at home are proud none-the-less of their achievements from the past season, they were great and over came some pretty big injuries and odds, I hope they manage to make it next year take it to the end with a winning result.
As I live in Europe I do not often get to watch NHL hockey and the last time I happen to see the Canucks in the final rounds was my first year backpacking way back in 1994. I happen to be in Prague for the first time, had befriended some Aussies and was up watching the first half of the play-off against the NY Islanders, it was intense and at 2am fuelled by Czech beer, new friends it was even more exciting as I had not seen in my lifetime the Nucks take it that far. 2 months later as I was boarding my plane to go home it occurred to me that I did not know the end result of the play-offs and asked a guy standing in line in Schiphol Airport. He said well there were riots and everything, my first thought was in NY no kidding.. but it was indeed in Vancouver which I could not for the life of me imagine.
On Thursday morning at 3:50am as I was leaving my friends house where I had been watching the game, (she has ESPN sports)I remember saying to her congratulations (she being from Boston and a mega Fan) and that I hoped there would not be a repeat of riots and mayhem as it was back in 1994. Boy was I wrong.
I awoke after 4 hours sleep to read and see the news that hundreds of folks had torched cars, broke windows, looted stores and beat up bystanders for no other reason than to cause destruction.
Seriously what is wrong with the world today. I won't harp on about it because the police are working on arresting the idiots and total morons stupid enough to pose for pictures in front of burning cars, broken windows and post them on their friend face profiles, they deserve to be punished. But I could not be happier to read and see then of all the good folk who stood their ground and did not let that window be broken or put out a fire and the thousands who also volunteered to clean up the next day, kudos to you good folk, it is good to know there are decent people in the city I love.
What possesses people to do such things? It boggles the mind. I only hope they can arrest and charge the complete fools who thought that might be a good idea, and sorry booze or marijuana is not an excuse for behaving like fools.
I have had very strong emotions regarding the destruction after the game and have read countless articles, bad apples and all that stuff, sadly it just takes a few yahoos to get the sheep to follow. Lets hope they get their dues.
2012 Vancouver lets see it happen!

Eric Stoltz

Do you ever have one of those times where you keep seeing the same names pop up again and again? Well this past week it has been Eric Stoltz.

It began when I decided to have a fix of a high school favourite John Hughes and watched Some Kind of Wonderful, not his best I'll admit but having somewhat recently watched Pretty in Pink I needed a change. Besides the fact I have always felt Eric was far cuter than Andrew McCarthy (and something about Andrew's lips make me want to deck him), although what teenage boy in their right mind would spend his life savings on a pair of diamond earrings when he was not guaranteed some action?! But anyway back to the story.

Then I was on to watching the new spin off from the superb BSG, Caprica. And low and behold Eric Stoltz was there again as Dr. Daniel Greystone. That and of course it is always nice to see Vancouver in it's glory. I only managed 5 episodes so far but was thinking it was pretty decent TV although perhaps not as slick and well done as BSG.

Then late one night while trying to convince the child it was bed time, I was watching one of my secret pleasures, Glee and low and behold who had directed the episode I had just watched? That's right Mr. Stoltz!

Just thought it was a interesting coincidence, or perhaps I have way too much time on my hands to be watching all his tv late at night.

Oh and on another teenage note, I also was obsessed with S.E. Hinton book and movie The Outsiders when I was in Jr High and had a thing for C. Thomas Howell, My brother used to harass me as he was the least talented of the cast, or I should say did not go as far as his other fellow actors which included Cruise, Swayze, Dillion, Lowe, Macchio, Estevez, Lane; just to name a few. I picked up recently the cop drama Southside recently on Channel 4 on Demand and who should pop up after years and years but C. Thomas Howell as the drunk and corrupt cop Dewey.

Just a little flash back to my youth and to their I guess as well.

Prefer CANADIAN over Miller!

Lou! Lou! Lou!!!

Wow what an ending to an Olympic games. While mired from the start from bad/good weather, unfortunate press and the death of a young athlete, my home country did not let the world down.

Picking up their socks and pulling out the stops from day three onwards I think finally the Canadian psyche finally got the shaking up it had so desperately needed and for so long.

Canadians have almost always been the underdogs allowing for the larger nations like Russia and the US of course to dominate everything from sports to world politics.

I think it is often the sheer arrogance of the countries like America, Russia, South Korea and China being told from birth that they are the best at everything and believing it that makes them so often win at what they put their heads to. G said he could not believe how disappointed the Americans looked but that is part of the reason for this blog since I was trying to explain to him just how they as a nation are often unbeatable because they believe they are number one and how so very often to me it seems that Canada as a nation will roll over and show our bellies at the first sign of defeat.

Well I am happy to report from the far edge of my couch last night in the South East of Blighty that my home country did us proud. I have been living abroad for so long I rarely get to see hockey games but I am glad we went out yesterday and bought that TV receiver just to watch the final game. Up until now I have been watching the highlights on the BBC iPlayer the day after they have happened.

And it was exhilarating and right up until that last goal in over time, I was trying not to get top excited. Even G who does not watch sports was screaming along side me. Of course I have to also mention the Women's team who kicked butt across the Olympics and won gold a couple of days earlier seemed to never even been mentioned, which I think is a little unfair since I bet none of them get paid the ridiculous salaries that the guys do who play for the NHL.

BUT! A side from all that it was a great game to watch made only sweeter by the fact we beat the US on home soil with a audience world wide holding it's breath.

At least for the next 4 years this can warm the cockles of every Canadian heart knowing we took home gold and lots of it. It should be interesting here in Limey land in two years time to see what happens and if London can create an atmosphere to match the one coming out of Vancouver this past 16 days. I doubt it some how. This country and particularity that city have been paranoid for so long about left luggage and bomb threats it will most likely be more like the police state in the movie V for vendetta. But we shall see.

One last note on the games in Vancouver. for those who don't read more than their own local or national news services it might be a good bit of advice to know that Vancouver and British Columbia did not always come into these games with a clear conscience. How many people know that whole neighbourhoods of people were bussed out into the suburbs of Vancouver to hostels and soup kitchens so as not to tarnish the reputation of the emerald city? In Vancouver there is a few big problems that might have been helped with the money that was used to host and build for the games. Housing, drug problems and food being high on the list of things that so desperately need 'fixing" in that beautiful city. Not to mention that apparently the Olympic village on False Creek is supposed to be used for low income housing. How much do you want to bet that someone will turn around and sell them to the highest bidder because they need to money to help pay off the games. I'd put a loonie on that happening. Oh and the gag order on anyone displaying anti Olympic slogans in their homes or yards could be charged. What the heck happened to free speech?

Just some food for thought!

tot ziens!

God sorry folks I am such a slacker. Busy with a photo exhibit, Crossing Border festival, packing and moving country leaving my job and starting all shitty administration again, de-registering, new Dr's banks etc etc. In between seeing gigs, saying goodbye and driving across Germany and back. You could say I have been busy.

I never thought that I would have stayed in the Netherlands for as long as I did. 10.5 years to be exact. never mind staying in my job for as long as I had, over 7 years for a multi national company. Unbelievable. 

But here I am, settling into the English countryside, it is nice to see some hills and green all around especially after living in the city centre of the Hague for the last many years.

There are things I will miss about living in the low countries:

My friends for one. which is strange because I actually only made real friends with a handfull real Dutchies, the rest were actually from other countries and nationalities and all had moved there to try something new or had been brought there with their families years before.

I MISS MY BIKE. No kidding, I used my bike to go everywhere and to do everything. I plan on picking one up here but can imagine I won't be on it as much since there roads around here are down right dangerous to ride on I think.

In a strange way the smallness of it all, getting from A-B was just so easy and without the aid of a car in most cases.

The Health care and employment packages were pretty sweet from where I sat, I guess the bonus of working for a huge corporation.

What I won't miss is the SUPREME RUDENESS I experienced up until the very last day there. I think I figured it all out from a socialistic point of view. If you grew up in a country the size Vancouver Island with 16 million people and lived in a place that is the most densely populated in Western Europe you too would think nothing of pushing someone aside, invading personal space and being generally rude to everyone around you who did not feel your eyes boring into the back of your head willing you to move out the way. Seriously folks an 'excuse me' or 'pardon me' goes a really long way in getting what you need. I actually will not miss that at all. Never mind the general lack of compassion and human understanding such as a elderly or disabled person getting on the tram and not being offered a seat. And if they are it is almost certainly 99% a buitenlander to offers up.

BAD customer service. I mean really bad. It is shocking how bad it can be. and when you get good service you really have to take a step back and thank that sales person for acting like a human being.

I am not saying living here won't offer it's own challenges, I have already experienced the harsh realities of living between a posh town and a not so posh one. I was in the not-so-posh one on Saturday and was correcting people's grammar (in my head). "it's not Got it's Have" as an example. What happened to the English language, people are just so lazy, where have all the h's gone? But It has only been a week so I guess I need to have my own time to settle and not to be so judgemental. Time will tell.

I am sure I will think of more things I will miss about living in the Netherlands, but for now I am also having a bit of culture shock and trying to find my way, on the left side of the road. 

I bet if I were to go back to Western Canada now I would suffer similar issues of culture shock.. never mind finding out that my own beautiful city has put a crazy gag order on any citizen speaking his or her mind about the bloody Winter Games. Yes it will cost us dearly and for many years to come, just ask Montreal. But if they were not so games focused and looked at the bigger and badder issues of homelessness and poverty that is rampant in our beautiful city and offered some kind of respite for those once these games have passed on and used the huge amounts of new buildings and resources to help those in need. blah blah blah, someone else has already said it better than I ever could, from Mr. M. Good... always on the ball he is.

There is nothing to be done, at least not for the time being. But don’t forget, when the smoke clears and the numbers come tumbling in, there will be those that will have to be held to account. Doing so is of prime importance, as is remaining dedicated to confronting those disparaging issues that the Olympics have highlighted. If anything, a current has been provided with which to energize people regarding the failures of this Province’s government, this city’s terrible realities, and even our own shortcomings. If, when the world leaves, we can look in the mirror and remember that we’re not as self important as we think we are, then, perhaps, the road to change will see more feet upon it than it ever has. http://www.matthewgood.org/

Berlin Wall

It has been almost 20 years?! I can hardly believe it myself and I was not even there. I took this photo outside the German Embassy in the Hague last night coming home from visiting a German friend and another friend who was raised in Germany.

And then it made me think of all my other friends in Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg and Dresden what it must be like for them to think of that occasion. Especially my dear Andreas who was on the "other" side of the wall.

Other walls are being built around the world to divide and separate peoples, don't we ever learn?

This photo was taken in June 2007

Into the Great Wide Open

Last weekend me and the 'lads' went to a little island in the north of the Netherlands called Vlieland. This Island is part of the province of Friesland and judging by the look of the average local they were all of viking decent.
We stayed one night in Harlingen and caught the early boats over. H and I on the fast ferry the others on the slow. We arrived within 15 min of each other on the other side. Picked up our rented bikes and headed for our accomodation for the weekend which was only a few min away.

First impressions were there were many more trees than I expected and there was lots and lots of sand.
We happened to be staying near the festival site and could bike there in less than 15 min as well which was convienient.
The first day we went for a bike ride to get the lay of the land and had a look at the festival grounds, and went for a peek in the shopping street.
We headed over to the festival and saw an act before going home to grab a bite and then back to the festival. It was wet.. and I was feeling not much like staying in the rain so I headed back before the others.

Sat was a fine day and Helen convinced us minus one to go to a bike ride. Cors turned around after many sand dunes and the wind against you not the mention the with the extra 15 kilos on his bike and in hindsight I think he was smart to do so... my calves still ache from the ride which seemed to go on and on. But we saw wild cranberry patches, 'muckle coos' (Scottish highland) cows, large waves off the coast and more hills than we have in the whole of the Area we live in.
After we got back to the house we had a glass of wine, made some food and then headed back to the festival to catch Emiliana Torrini who was as wonderful as ususal. I must admit that by this time I was starting to feel the effects of the cold and was not entirely in the mood to stick around at least it stayed dry.
On sunday we had to be up and out by 11 and the festival started again at 12. The others changed their ferry ticket to an early one and headed over to Harlingen for the afternoon to wait for H and I to come on a later ferry.
We went to see Alela Diane and then for a nice long walk through the art trail in the forrest. Which was really nicely done, we also went for another bike ride and visited some friends of H's for some tea.

We also were hoping to get on an earlier ferry and managed to sweet talk ourway onto the boat a few hours earlier than we were booked arriving us home almost before it was dark which was a pleasent change.
It was a lovely festival with a real family vibe to it. I doubt it will or should get much bigger the accomodation and campsites were already heaving from the extra people and I doubt the island could have coped but nice none-the-less. I felt a little bad that I was not in a better mood for the music but it was a nice weekend to be out of the Randstad for a change.

Beats not Bombs ''FREIe HEIDe"

Another summer has come to pass. Some say it is the first weekend in September when labour day is gone others when school starts for their kids. For myself it is very often indicated by the passing of another Sea U Site party.

Now since at least 2001 I have been attending these underground and always cause driven parties with my friends in Germany. Each year is for some reason or another to protest against military, state or against racism.

This years party was a little bit of a celebration as the protest for the Heide in the area was won.

A quick recap on the issues. The area around this little town and for several hundred kilometers used to be a military testing site for the former DDR (East Germany) and after the reunification the current German air force wanted to resume using the area and the land for bomb testing and fly-over for military planes. Obviously nobody wanted to have jet fighters flying 'low' over their houses nor for that matter dropping bombs in their backyards daily. And the movement for the "FREIe HEIDe" was born. It has now come to pass that this will remain a nature area and be allowed to recover from the ammunition and toll the military has taken on it in the past.

But often times this is just a nice excuse to meet your friends, enjoy the beautiful and often forgotten outdoors of the north east part of Germany and have a nice long weekend in the sun.

All photos not watermarked were from the protest from 2003, Bass not Bombs.

Soundwave music festival 2009

Last year I attended Soundwave festival with my brother Enrico. It was mad, wonderful and crazy. This year was not much different with three exceptions. Bears,Tutus... and my two best friends joined me.

We arrived a few days early as G and I happened to be up on the westcoast of Vancouver Island anyway. H was catching a ride with Keith and we would be joined by Mr. Blayne as well. We converged found what we thought a great place to set up Camp Honeymoon Suite far enough away from the main stages to keep most of the riff raff at bay and close enough you were not shattered from making another beer/ drink run. After setting up our fantastic camp, made a great dinner and had some lovely drinks before turning in for the night.
Thursday rolled around with some Yoga on the beach, and the day slowly took shape. Mr. Blayne was our arts and crafts director while we pimped the camp and the loos nearby.

Afterwards the 5 of us decided to do a little sightseeing back in Tofino and Ucleulet before the Brother unit was due to show. We shopped at totally great places in Ukee called Pina and hit the second hand shop as well, bought some junk and then walked through rain Forrest's, along long beaches, and had a last stop in the town of Tofino for last min supplies.
Getting back to camp we were told by the guards at the gate that they were having a little bear trouble at one of the camps and that we should be bear safe at all time, lock food away in coolers and containers etc etc... we just knew it had to be our camp.

We came back to find Stella, Christoph and Noah quite excited as they were having a picnic at our place and waiting for us to return and low and behold a bear decided to show up and see what was cooking (so to speak). Now the interesting thing is my friends are from Germany and the only time you might see a bear is in a zoo or on a nature program, to see one in real life is quite another thing. They did well and alerted the proper authorities to come and take care of the little critter. Some other campers were not so fortunate, they had not heeded the warnings and had left only a few things (apples, bread and steaks) in their tent to return to find it torn to shreds.

Anyway once the excitement died down a bit the Sibling unit showed up with two buddies to round off the camp and their perimeter tenting, had some drinks and settled in for a last "quiet" evening before the party started.

Christoph was due to open the big stage that afternoon on behalf of Liebe Detail, Hamburg.

We had fun and were only sad that there were not more people there for him, he did get the first bunch of girls on the stage in bikini's and cutoff's though that I saw.

The day turned to night and we kept on till late visiting several stages, meeting friends and enjoying the west coast outdoors. Below are photos from the Renegade stage probably my favourite stage EVER if for nothing more than the location alone.

Saturday morning Keith, H, G and I headed off down the beach for some swimming and relaxing. Then Helen and I decided to swim from the point back to the Renegade stage, it was a longer distance than you might have thought but glorious to be in the Pacific again.

The costumes and people were as wonderful as ever, nice to see some old faces (Beer for a Bear).

And the camps seem to get all the more out there, camp no nickers, camp virgin (who's occupants conceived a child and the previous years SW), Camp Dirt Dog, Camp Saloon, Camp Re-tox, Camp F!@K Off (later to be known as Camp Fame Off), Camp Hummer (cause they discovered a real humming bird next at the entrance), Camp Giggidy and many others not forgetting Camp Last Call. And of course Honeymoon Suite.

Fame Inc held the annual GM Meeting I knew the day would be long from there on out. I heard rumours there was a merger with some gorillas.

We spent some time up in the Meadow drinking yummy cocktails.

And spotted some unicorns as well.