While all you beautiful Flowers, Thorns and Gnomes are sunny yourselves in Barmy summer weather, spare a thought for poor Ange and I (although I think Ange is somewhere on the Kokoda Trail by now) freezing our proverbials off, In the land of the Down Under.

Last night here in Tassie, we set a New Record Low Temperature for July. In a small Township Liawenee in the Midland of Tasmania, it reach or dropped depending on how you see it the mind numbing temperature of MINUS 10. Now I know it gets cold in places, but this was coming straight from Antarctica so the wind chill was even colder. The Liawenee Police officer when he went to start his patrol vehicle, a diesel 4WD, this morning reportedly first needed to break the ice of his handbrake, then pop his break callipers to allow the handbrake to release, he also needed to bring large amounts of hot water in buckets to melt ice in them in order to pour over his car so he could get in.

In my driveway in order to open the driveway required the use of a hammer and my hose (once thawed) to get the door open… frozen shut.

Although it is Winter in Oz, On the West Coast of Tassie our weather is about 2 months later than the rest of the Country, so this time of year is normally autumn/early winter so mild…. all this comes after rain since Thursday Last week and Occasional thunder storms, 43 mm fell in 6 hours in town here. It has certainly been a rough week. Snow is on the peaks around town, the roads have been closed off and on, several people killed or injured for driving stupidly on White and Black Iced roads. It has just been amazing…

Just to top it off that beautiful area of Trial Harbour I showed earlier this year had huge waves on top of a massive swell in parts Yesterday. It has luckily died down for now and we are just getting frost and ice so all is well.

I am left wondering at the moment if this just the start of severe winter where we are snowed in or if it has passed, fingers crossed for the latter. A town of 5000 cut off from the rest of the country is not a romantic notion when our supplies come in from the coast by Truck, the airstrip will be closed from the ice. No milk, bread, petrol, mail, newspapers, fresh produce, medication etc and last time this happened it lasted 3 weeks.

No they wont send in helicopters with Food drops.

So this leads me to the question…

What is your worst weather experience, sunburn, snowed in, cyclones, flooding do share

and think of us down here as you sun yourself at your BBQ.. jealousy raging…

Arvind here back after a break from the online world.

It seems that summer has finally arrived in London, just in time for my annual picnic.

This is the 7th year that I will be holding my “Friends and Friend’s Friends” picnic /party in Regents Park, central London.

So if you are in London it will be great to see you! If you are not in London, here is my guide to organise your own friends and friend’s friends picnic.

For me this is a great way of celebrating friendships and keeping in touch with close friends & acquaintances. It is also a great way of meeting people and making new friends. At my annual picnic, I usually meet people who are 3 or 4 degrees removed from me.

The world is definitely getting smaller and perhaps we are now even more closely interconnected than implied by the principle of six degrees of separation.

How do you keep in touch with your friends?

What will you be doing this weekend to celebrate your friendships?

And which one person in the world would you most want to invite to your picnic?

I really like Japan as a place to visit and I’m lukcy enough to go there about 6 times a year on average. Everything works, the place is spotless, the people are great, super polite and the food is fantastic, especially okonomiyaki in Hiroshima and crab sashimi in Nagoya.

One thing I love there is the gizmo’s, gadget’s and strange trends. Some of the things you find are awesome and some just plain daft but all bring a smile to my face.

The latest one, apparently, is for ladies to wear printed skirts like the ones shown below.

I hope and pray they don’t catch on with the fellas though.

So readers, would you wear something like this seriously for a standard day around the house/work/town?

Arigato gozaimaishita.

Mighty Morgan here!

Some of you don’t necessarily understand some of the stuff I do, the things I write about or why I may ponder upon some of the subject matter that I sometimes do. But all of it and I mean all of it, is because it is the process that allows me to continually grown and become more of the person I choose to be and to live the life I desire.

Some of you already know about the picture puzzle of my life, but then there are some of you who don’t. I figured I would share some pieces of my story in order for the whole picture of what I do to become clearer.

I was a stone cold heroin addict for over 12 years of my life.
I was a liar. I was a thief. I hated myself and I hated the rest of the world.

I was not a nice human being.

When I made the decision to get and stay clean, I rebuilt a life for myself and redefined who I was. I continued to stay clean and at this point last year I came to realized that the equation for life that I had been desperately trying to live by, would never, ever, ever offer me the results I believed they would.

I began my experiment in a last attempt to discover if life would ever offer me more then the daily struggle to survive in this world….and if not, I was done trying to live this life. I examined and re-examine every aspect of who I was in order to discover that the limited life I felt trapped within was a direct result of what and how I believed and felt.

Since I began this journey, my life has unfolded before me almost magically into the life I am currently living…which you can read more about here if you wish. I have learned that every challenge, struggle, setback or limit I perceive in the moment is the gentle teacher of life allowing me to choose a better way of being through the very painful contrast it provides.

I would never know what aspects of my life were not serving me if I did not experience the inner discomfort they produced. A simple shift in my perceptions allows me to discover that all that I desire is being offered to me if I take a step back, out of any situation to see the bigger picture that it encompasses.

So is there any challenges, struggles, setback or pieces in the puzzle of your life that you can turn around by stepping back to take a better look at?

Mike here

I’m doing an interview with the world’s longest running literary agency AP Watt at moment. Here’s a sneek:

Can you tell me about some of the more bizarre submissions you have received?

You get all kinds of things – from someone re-writing the bible and claiming it’s all about UFOs, to a million Harry Potter and Dan Brown copycats. And, of course, there are the deluded many who are convinced they are undiscovered geniuses. It’s a bit like The X Factor auditions on paper sometimes: painful, embarrassing, and very wrong.

Heh heh. So if the bible really was rewritten today what do you think it would say?

Here’s one from Spike Milligan:

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.

And God said, let there be lights in heaven to give light to the earth, and it was so, except over England where there was heavy cloud and snow on high ground.

This is a man’s world?

Maybe not as the century of the woman is well underway, according to some.

Before you comment enjoy this James Brown & Pavarotti mix that regular Urban Pagan posted earlier this year:

Beautiful eh! We’ve added it to the flower jukebox over in the fun section of forums - all you need to do is add the link of one of your faves.

Comments on this song and the joys of duality welcomed…..

As a younger man I was useless at getting up in the mornings, Mr Snooze Button was used often and led to me missing many important lectures at uni and some overtime in my first job.

These days that is not so much the case, at least Monday to Saturday anyway. In general I’m pretty keen to get up and get on with life and living it. Normal start is; 5.40am alarm goes off, by 5.45 I’m on my rowing machine, by 6.30 in the car for the hour long drive to work clutching orange juice, coffee and a ham and cheese sandwich, of course having a great view from my balcony has made the experience even more enjoyable since I moved to Thailand.

I decided almost 10 years ago to relocate my alarm clock to the other side of the bedroom so that I have to get up to turn it off, I also bought one with the loudest, most annoying and insistent wake up tone I could find. That simple action made my life hell for about 6 months as I got used to it, but the last decade or so have been great as a result of being able to easily get out of bed and hit the day hard.

So do you need a crow bar to get you out of bed ? Are you up with the lark or are you lucky enough to not have to worry about getting up at all (careful life doesn’t pass you by) ? Any advice?

Hello, Everyone.  Empress busting on the scene once more.  This time, I want to share with you about my dream….

I’ve always had very vivid dreams. The other night was no exception. However, when I woke from this one, I felt as though it was trying to pass along a message….

In short, I dreamt about trillions of rabbits, a rich lady and a talking golden retriever.  I know that all sounds ridiculous, so if you want to know the entire story read my last blog entry, See Martin?  I Had a Dream, Too!

This dream of mine accurately revealed my frienship and hopefully, predicts the future of my Haunted House (I found a location, by the way).  This is not the first time in which my dreams have “spoken” to me which is why I pay close attention to them. 

I believe in my dreams.  Do you believe in yours?

Hippy Hat ON!

Bush Walking Boots On!

Commence the Hugging!

25 years Ago today, the 1st July 1983 something very unique and revolutionary occured in Australia.

You see a war had been raging for about 2.5 years in the Australian State of Tasmania. This war threatened the beliefs of the many, it set brother against brother, tore families apart. The police where arresting their own sons daughters, husbands and wives.. it divided the entire country… People came from many other countries to support those being arrested.

So what was it?

It was a Dam..

Yes a dam across some of the worlds most spectacular and dramatic gorges.

The Gordan Franklin River protests saw More than 6000 people block the river, the township of Queenstown only had a population of around 800 at the time and Strahan 400. 1400 where arrested in total and hundreds charged. The Australian Liberal Government lead by the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser fell to Labour and its leader a former Union boss who held a beer drinking record in the Guiness Book of Records took Government (only in Australia would this be possible).  This also ushers in a new political party, a new environmental group and a whole new way of thinking for the entire country…

The whole area had been listed on the World Heritage List along with the Great Barrier Reef, and the Grand Canyon. This was what eventually saved the area. Through a High Court finding in the Constitution, the area was found to be of International interest and therefore the Federal could and had the right to step in and forcably stop the development.

Many Tasmanians believed the sky would fall, there would be mass sackings, life as they new it would come to end, meteors would fall from the sky and a new dark ages would follow, this of cause did not happen.

This beautiful area became National Park and tourists visit the area every year. The protest area is not far from me in the national parks and tourist also visit and pay homage to the  protestors camp site areas.

The Full story is on Aussie

But what events can you think of from your home land in recent times which have had such a dramatic effect on the people and changed your peice of the planet for ever?

Today is Canada Day (in Canada). Today is usually a day when everyone sits around and has a bbq and drinks all day.

I think my favorite part of Canada is it’s Great Lakes. Growing up I always lived within a half an hour from the beach. It is so hot and humid in Ontario that if you didn’t live by a beach it would be a horrible summer! In high school we used to even have a Beach Day on every Friday in June when we would all skip school and go to the beach for the day. But most teachers would try to put tests on Friday so sometimes we would have to stay at school and think about everyone having fun at the beach.

But now that I live in the west there is something I get to enjoy every day….the mountains. I can go outside and see them everyday. They are pretty amazing…but they aren’t the Great Lakes for sure.

What is a favorite part of your country?

Anyone catch Glastonbury 2008 as the 137,500 revellers return and put the dirty washing on?

This year, the legendary event won’t be remembered for the infamous Glastonbury mud - but for founder Michael Eavis’ controversial decision to give the premier Saturday night headline slot to New York rapper Jay-Z.

Amy Winehouse caused controversy with this performance:

Ouch.

Then up stepped rapper Jay-Z as he turned the tables on Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher:

Gallagher had insisted that headlining the main event with rap was ‘wrong’. Jay-Z then strutted out on stage with a cover of Gallagher’s Wonderwall anthem. A refreshing way to handle the criticism and one we could learn from!

All Glastonbury 2008 comments welcomed here flowers & thorns. What was the last concert you went to and do you have any planned in the near future? Do tell!

Ok I know I haven’t ranted for a while - generally I’m just too nice you see but if there’s one thing that ‘gets my goat’, its incredibly silly news…. take this example from the other night…..

SOme big UK Cycling (pedal power) club are putting forward some suggestions for inclusion in a new highway code which should be slanted towards green travel (e.g bikes) …(naturally!).

Here are some of their suggestions… (don’t laugh)…. 1) that cyclists should be allowed to cycle the wrong way up one way streets and 2) at traffic lights, cyclists should get a green light ahead of other traffic to give them time to move off.

Well, not only do i see plenty (most) cyclists (no not kids but adults commuting or leisure racing) already doing these silly antics… but plenty more like going the wrong way round roundabouts, using pelican crossings at high speed (no waiting for the driver to stop first) and using traffic lights to wobble down the outside of patient queing cars before getting stuck in the outside lane when the lights have changed.

Now I’m not anti cyclist - i do the odd bit myself. I’ve even been on cycling holidays - me, a bike and a tent to France! so don’t call me anti-cyclist.

But already many cyclists seem to have a death wish and these new ‘rules’ will only encourage them to break every civilised motoring law when it suits them…. so motorists - watch out! They’ll soon be legally aloud to come at you from all directions. We’re the ones that will need the helmets.

What do you reckon? Any bad experiences you’d like to share (as a motorist or cyclist)? As I said I’m not anti-bike, far from it! But the few are spoiling your reputation…..

Anyone for tennis? As Wimbledon 2008 hots up we thought it’s high time for another competition here at Flowers! Your chance to win $60 of flowers delivered anywhere in the world courtesy of our partners Flora 2000, the International delivery experts.

Seeing as it’s summer Deep and the gang have planed these new banners here around the garden for you to click and send anywhere in the world:

To enter just pop in ONE CAPTION in the comments section AND include one fact about yourself, your blog, your webiste, your business or how you feel at the time of writing. Your chance to have fun and promote yourself. So here we GO! flower folk:

You could always celebrate summer and send flowers to someone right now, anywhere in the world . Simply click on our spanking new summer flowers banners and use code GSTF00 to send someone flowers and you’ll be entitled to a bit of flower smelling discount! Contest ends on Friday 4th July Midnight Dubai time. Good luck flower smellers!

**Remember - Only 1 caption per person please - if you think a more than one then get a friend to enter

Thanks to O’DB in Manchester, England for sending GO! Smell the flowers this BBC news link announcing another world first from Dubai - a building that NEVER looks the same!

This shape-shifting skyscraper may someday energize the Dubai skyline with its revolving floors and environmentally friendly, electricity-generating wind turbines. The Dynamic Tower design is made up of 80 pre-fabricated apartments which will spin independently of one another.

“It’s the first building that rotates, moves, and changes shape,” said Italian architect David Fisher. “This building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime,” he added. Pretty much like us humans then?

The 420-metre (1,378-foot) building’s apartments would spin a full 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor. The skyscraper will cost an estimated $700m to build and should be up and running in Dubai in 2010.

No site has been finalised for this project or any of the project team so how they’re going to close our by 2010 amazes us, even by fast-track 24×7 construction, Dubai style where 28% of all construction cranes now exist.

Comments on this twisty-turny idea are most welcomed! Will they REALLY pull it off. Shape shifters anyone?

The other day I got a new tattoo…now the count is up to five…and I’m not done yet. Anyways, I think it’s weird how many people still look at me funny. Getting a tattoo is a fun thing…picking out the tattoo, picking the spot and then watching it be created. This tribal sun was put on my left wrist. I have to say it has hurt the worst of the five I have. That skin is so tender there and when he tattoo’s over a bone…it just vibrates all the way through.

One of the best things about getting a tattoo is talking to the artist. If they are the talkative type it can keep your mind of the mind numbing pain (just wait until I get the huge tattoo on my arm! the stories I will have then!) This tattoo artist was known to me before I got a tattoo from him. I used to babysit his daughter when I tried the whole day home thing. So, he may have been more open with me more than the next girl.

He asked me what I was doing now that I wasn’t babysitting…so I told him that I wrote on the web all day about celebrities. He thought it was crazy and hadn’t met someone who did that yet. So after a bit he said …you know Heath Ledger? I did one of his tattoo’s… I almost hit the floor! I have had a really hard time dealing with his death, and always having to write about him sometimes doesn’t help. So, there the artist was telling me some awesome stories about him. It was a surreal feeling.  The tattoo guy also decided he would add an Australian symbol (aussie you can correct me if I’m wrong) around the sun to symbolize Heath. Now this wouldn’t be so significant if it wasn’t by the same guy that did a tattoo for Heath.

Is there any questions you have ever wondered about tattoos? Ask them and I will try to answer them the best I can. I want to clear up any myths people have about them.

These are fictional Childrens Book Titles.

I wondering, how long it will before we see titles like this on the shelves of our book stores.

Given the presence of the Social Awareness Groups and the acceptance of new and interesting lifestyles in the Western world.

Would you read these to your kids? there are more at Aussie Cynic ( Pagan should appreciate them)

With the openess of our societies these days and the push for more and more exceptance of alternative life styles is it only a matter of time?

And What’s Next?

Mike here,

Do you sit and watch as things spin around you in life or do you reach out and try to change them?

Trawling through the old gmail inbox earlier this arrived:

This E-mail is to inform you that you have emerged a winner of£500,000.00 GBP (Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds) in our online Give-away 1Oth year Anniversary draws.GoogleUK has successfully organized for the second time a Cash Give-Away marking 2008 10th Anniversary in the UK. Over £20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million British pounds) is to be given out for this Anniversary Draws. No purchases of tickets were required. Participants for the draws were randomly selected from a world wide range of web searchers who use the Google search engine (Googler) and other Google
ancillary services.

Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, Google is running an e-mail beta test. Your email address was linked with our Computer Generated Profile Numbers (CGPN) and attached to the following details:

It then goes on to give me my ticket number, serial numbers and lucky number and that I was picked among our lucky winners to receive £500, 000.00 British pounds. Winners were selected randomly through a computer ballot system from worldwide users of the Google search engine.

To claim your give-away prize, send the following
Your full names…………….. ,
sex………………………….,
Location……………………….
Alternate e-mail address………………
Your winning details……………..

To your processing agent (Mr.Francis Henson) who have been assigned to handle your winning file and payment processing.

Your Processing Agent contact:
Mr.Francis Henson,
Email:payment.giveaway@gmail.com ,francis.henson01@live.com
Tel:+447031958488,+447031930187

SO - There we have it folks! How would you handle this ‘win’ so others don’t get caught into giving away their data through SPAM - Unless we’re missing something? Do tell and have you even been Spammed and scammed?

I received this the other day….

“Sorry I haven’t emailed but something crashed on my computer and my mouse is missing”

We had a good old chortle here in the Fabulous Photo Gifts office i can tell you.

What excuse have you used in the last 24 hours and why?

Yes folks - one of those mad midnight hour moments to share - Mandy has been checking the webcam on Rhosneigr beach - Anglesey - as a prelude to a possible weekend visit.

We just sat down and she thought she’d login and see what the beach looked like, forgetting it is now dark!

However, we got an even bigger surprise - the camera seems to be stuck on sunset! - how nice.

So have you had any surprises when you’ve logged onto a particular site - something other than what you expected to see on a regularly visited website?

Us flowers have recently learnt that the New York Daily News reported that off-label Viagra use has become “bigger than creatine” among athletes and bodybuilders looking for an extra power boost—one that’s not banned from competitions, at least so far, as steroids are.

Among the nonsexual benefits that blokes are allegedly enjoying from the small blue pill is ‘helping build endurance if you happen to be competing way above sea level’.

 We ask you - would you ever take something that was not originally intended for it’s original use AND do you think athletes can carry on avoiding playing with science like this?

Are there any high level athletes classed as ‘natural’ thesedays and does it really matter?

Comments welcome  - stiff upper lip is optional!

Mighty Morgan here!

I have allowed aspects of certain situations of my past to follow me throughout much of my life. This was not something I choose to do consciously, but more of a way for me to protect myself from the trauma that these particular aspects inflicted upon my inner spirit at these moment in time.

Throughout my personal  journey of recovery I have utilized the various tools and methods available in order to allow myself to redefine many aspects of my past that have served only to have me relive situations and circumstances infused with pain and hurt.  I feel fortunate that I have the willingness to keep fighting for the parts of myself that at some point in time stopped growing from these emotional wounds that life has inflicted upon my spirit.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a psychodrama, a group setting of sorts that permits one to almost go back in time to re-vist particular aspects of ones life and to face them full one to discover the closure that many of theses hurts still cry out for.

It was strange and surreal, but very therapeutic in that it allowed me to go back and say what needed to be said to myself and others in order for me to move on with my life.  During it all I found myself cycling throughout many emotions that I have surpressed for most of my life and allowed them to be released fully.

During the session I let go of the need to cling to the rationalization and justifications that an adult mind often likes to use in order to explain away the hurts that have occurred. I spoke, screamed and cried from the deepest parts of my being and did not allow my mind to filter my words, thoughts or feelings.

As the end I came face to face with myself as a seven years old girl, confused, hurt and scared; and I allowed myself to embrace that little girl who no-one thought to protect from the actions of others and I let her know once and for all….

It wasn’t her fault.
She was safe now.
It was okay for her to come out and play.

Any moments of your life you would like to be able to go back and redefine by re-living them in the present. With whom and what would you say?????

This is my first post ever on my new laptop…but that story later. My youngest child’s last day of school was today…he’s now going to be in Grade 1! Now, I remember this day with my daughter and she’s already in Grade 6! I tell you life goes so quickly…and before you know it, life is over!

Being a parent has it’s challenges too. I’ll tell you what they are thinking of doing in Canada. They want to pass a law that makes parents get charged if they spank their child. Just a tap…they will get charged with assault. And just the other week a girl, 12, (which is the age of my daughter) sued her father because he grounded her from a field trip. And she won! Something isn’t right with this world when they want children to think they rule the world. It’s wrong!

What is a crazy rule they have in your country??

 Yes Ok I know it’s a bit of a thin link but to be honest I was dying to try out image uploading on GSTF’s since the move as i haven’t been able to - thanks Deep and Jim for helping!

Anyway - back to the post.

Recently, a group of divers were washed out to sea (where else?) and managed to clamber to shore only to find themselves on the island of Komono Dragons (have I spelt that right?).

Apparently the wee beasties were not pleased to see them (note the Star Trek reference there) and were quite territorial (fancy that?)

It made me dream of waking up in the shoes (or should that be flippers) only to be eye to eye with one of these dragons - you could have been forgiven for thinking you’d washed up on some lost island.

All that would have been needed would have been Doug Mcclure running out of the vegetation closely followed by a fur bikini clad Ms Welsh (i told you this got better!).

So what’s your desert island fantasy? and if you were washed up on a desert island, what would be your first task?

Continuing the theme of healthy debates at GO! Smell the flowers here’s a brief musical interlude for discussion. Feel free to add keep adding your own music vids over at the flowers jukebox at Forums - all you need to do is copy and paste the link .

As we ‘pop’ back to 94′ with Dr. Dre Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr, erm we mean Snoop Dogg: 

Onto the topic at hand - Does the media paint a tempting picture when it comes to Gangster rap encouraging others to follow suit that could spill over into other aspects of their life?  

Does the media inspire gangland behaviour as man fights man or would it happen anyway to the same degree? Do tell - it’s a rap!

I just finished up a long and tedious project for one of my clients.  All I can say is wooooooohooooooo!  It’s like a ton of brinks off my shoulders, a feeling I can unfortnently say I’ve had before as a freelancer. 

I’m inserting this tomato because I like how red it is and honestly couldn’t find a good picture mimicking a ton of bricks!

Everyone’s had some kind of project whether it just be the dreaded math homework from their school days to the more involved hassle of life on the job that’s been like a heavy weight on their shoulders.  What’s the last project you had that just took forever to finish?