Winterr's words

I have loved taking photos over this past year. I have mostly taken family pictures and special event shots, but lately I have been exploring the artistic side. I'm nowhere near anything that you call professional, and i'm very aware of it too, but trying is awesome. Lately I have been trying to reflect my moods and it's been working nicely. I normally keep my pictures on my photo blog but wanted to put some one here.

This is what I call "the lost rose" (yes I name them)
Church doors... Have a great weekend all!

...and thought it was interesting.
A word to women and A word to men it's from
The Holy Family Institute home page. Enjoy, if you want. The page is beautiful, there are lots of other things you might like on there, as I did.

I'm no doctor but lets face it, girls and different from boys. There really is no unisex brain ok? Here is a little article I was reading,

ONLY a girl could write The Female Brain and walk away with life and reputation intact. This new book may be contentious, but in fact modern science is merely playing catch-up with what we know intuitively. Girls are different from boys.
Mind-blowing news, huh?
But here's the really brave bit: the unisex brain is a feminist fabrication. Louann Brizendine, an American neuropsychiatrist, has written a book debunking stubborn notions that girls are different only because society makes them so. It's much more to do with the brain, she says. The female brain, to be more precise.
read more

In this book Dr.Brizendine explains how the female brain works, what women are thinking, and the difference in the way they process thoughts compared with the way men do.
Another good article which explains the book in more detail is here

So girls arrive as girls, and boys as boys. By the time a baby is born, their brains are already wired as girls or boys. Equality feminists might not like to hear that, as they prefer to believe we are male or female minded due how we grow up in society. That ideology is ridiculous to me.

The Pope has expressed his deep respect for Islam, during his speech to Muslim diplomats. Here is some of the text from his speech:

"The Church looks upon Muslims with respect. They worship the one God living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humanity and to whose decrees, even the hidden ones, they seek to submit themselves whole-heartedly, just as Abraham, to whom the Islamic faith readily relates itself, submitted to God"



St.Peters Helpers has the whole text here

Pope Benedict XVI is due to meet Muslim diplomats in Rome as part of the Catholic church's latest effort to mend relations with the Islamic world.


Federico Lombardi, Benedict's spokesman, said the meeting on Monday, at the Vatican's summer residence, was "certainly a sign that dialogue is returning to normal after moments of ... misunderstanding."

More here : Pope to meet Muslim Diplomats

I think this will go well, as it was all taken out of context.

So i'm not in such a serious mood today. Here is the hip hop cat..


You can find them here

My friend Jasmine sent me this email and I thought it was interesting, i'm not sure how factual everything is but i'm guessing pretty much true, I do know that the water information is true as I have read a lot of this before since I am health concious.


WATER OR COKE?
This is really an eye opener...Water or Coke?We all know that water is important but,I've never seen it written down like this before.
WATER
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is soweak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one'smetabolism as much as 3%
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hungerpangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in aUniversity Washington study.
5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glassesof water a day could significantly ease back andjoint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzyshort-term memory, trouble with basic math, anddifficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases therisk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash therisk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% lesslikely to develop bladder cancer.

And now for the properties of COKE:
1. In many states (in the USA ) the highway patrolcarries two gallons of coke in the truck to removeblood from the highway after a car accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke andit will be gone in two days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola intothe toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for onehour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Cokeremoves stains from vitreous China .
4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers:
Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola
5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals:Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubbleaway the corrosion.
6. To loosen a rusted boltApplying a cloth soakedin Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola intothe baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, andbake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished,remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mixwith the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.
8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of cokeinto a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and runthrough a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will helploosen grease stains.
9. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.
For Your Info:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid.
Its pH is
2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4days.
Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bonesand is a major contributor to the rising increase inosteoporosis.
2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) thecommercial truck must use the Hazardous materialplace cards reserved for Highly corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!
Now the question is, would you like a coke or a glass of water?
Do you still want a coke?


I copy and pasted this, I hope it's not all over the place.

I found this banner via the blog
Dymphna's Well and thought...hey I like it! I like the courage that the Holy Father had to say something that should be ok to say. Unfortunately extremists will choose anything to fire back at with and there have been sad reactions from these people who claim that they are peaceful.
This banner is made by Kenneth Kully and is for bloggers use.



Thanks to and email from
St.Peters Helpers I have a link to an essay written by an athiest, who gives a bit of a breakdown of Pope Benedicts lecture.
The link is
here

nt Now that I'm back and have tried my best to get life back to normal, I can finally think enough to blog a bit.
I had thrown myself into an online book, called "The Pivot of Civilization" by Margaret Sanger, you can find it
here. But I recently discovered it's not the kind of book I agree with.
Since i'm pro life and take the Catholic stance on that. I recently wrote how I thought it might be a good book but it was my mistake, I am not fammiliar with the name Margaret Sanger, so when I saw this online book recommendation, I assumed it was a pro life book.
I spent a few days in Melbourne, rushing around and taking care of the last of my immigration appointments.
I had my interview for an American visa in Sydney Australia a while ago, thanks to those who wished us well and prayed. I was told that I would be accepted once I hand in some final documents that had been expired due to unexpected delays I went through, I'll be sure to celebrate once it's in my hand though. It may have taken longer than Jonathan and I first expected but it's certainly been in Gods hands.
On Sunday our priest spoke about stem cell research. The argument is enough to give me a headache but I'm reading more about it, and I must say it's better than reading Margaret Sanger.
That's all my updates, have a great week.

I have been out of town for a few days and now that i'm back, i'm dead tired. Will be updating soon and reading your blogs!

For me it still feels as surreal as it did when I first watched the breaking news in 2001.
Remembering all the victims and their families today.

...but!!! I have been enjoying it. Lately I have been quite standofish about some foods we buy in the stores. Most of it is good, I'm sure but some of the occasional stories have been enough to put me off now and then (depending on how hungry I am at the time)
So I have learned to make home madefresh pasta and now also, home made tomato sauce to preserve in the jars. I'll get onto the more difficult things later maybe.
There is something about eating food that you have made all on your own and know exactly what's in it.
Same goes for growing your own vegetables and eating them knowing that you grew them!


The photo above is not mine, I got it from ebay.

...take a look at Randy Hofman's sand sculptures. I would love to learn this gorgeous art.

Link is here

R.I.P Steve Irwin... Prayers go out to the family.

Happy fathers day to all the dads, it's fathers day in Australia and it's been nice to think of all the great jobs fathers do, and step fathers, adoptive fathers etc.
On fathers day I always remember God the father, and have been doing a great novena to God the father, I can't find it on the net but have it in a book, so if you want it just email me.

Also to the Americans, happy labour day!

Here is something bizarre
US student who sued school officials after he was made to censor his T-shirt that labeled President George W Bush "Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief" and a former alcohol and cocaine abuser won an appeal yesterday to wear the shirt to school.

I am all for strictly uniforms in schools, this is a good reason why. School should soley be about education and learning to follow rules. I don't care that he is a former drug user, I don't think that is relevant, what bothers me is the rest. However, some court judge did not think so.

Oh and I also love this teaching from the Holy father regarding married couples that I got via St.Peters Helpers I'm not married but think the Pope brings up a wonderful point. How thoughtful! This makes me think of my parents and their sacrifice of being married and putting up with 4 rowdy children! Terrible teenagers too I might add.

On married couples
We should learn to accept, whether we are priests or married persons, the need to endure the crisis of change, of the other, the crisis of when it seems one can no longer stay together or proceed as before.Married couples should learn to learn together how to move ahead, if only for the love of their children, and in so doing, to get to know each other anew, love each other anew with a love that is much more profound and much more genuine. Thus love truly matures, through a long course, beset with suffering.I think we priests can learn from married couples, from their suffering and sacrifice. Often we think that only celibacy is sacrifice. But in getting to learn the sacrifices ofmarried persons - think of raising children, the problems that arise from that, the fears, the suffering, the ailments, rebelliousness, or just think of the first years of having children, with sleepless nights attending to crying babies - there is much we can learn from their sacrifices, and our own sacrifices.