Well she appeared again recently in response to a time of need.

This time she looked quite like a mayfly as she sat trapped in the string mesh covering a leg of ham.

“I am quite hamstrung by all these regulations”, she wailed.

“What is the problem?” I asked.

“Whatever I want to do I need a permit or a certificate or a qualification. It is just not fair! Why don’t they just let me get on with granting wishes?”

I fought the desire to say “Because you are not very good at it. Your heart is in the right place but you are just not very efficient”

“Anyway, enough about me dear! What are you wishing?”

“It’s Conference time again and I can’t afford to go”

“Well, I could turn this lettuce into a pile of money (green stuff, you know) or I could turn this bread into dough; but last time I did that I was taken into custardy (sic!) for counterfeiting. That was a sticky situation, I can tell you!”

“And now there are all the Food Handling Regulations and the Use by Dates. If you miscalculate, things can change back before the proper time. And I can’t always get the dates. It is getting harder as I get older!”

“In fact I can’t really do too much until I qualify for the Super Sparkle Wand. If you have a Super Sparkle people really take notice of you; and you can be much more effective, even if what you do is just the same as before“

“Why don’t you complete your Super Sparkle then?” I asked.

“Because while I’m doing that I would have to take time off from being your Fairy Godmother” she said with a big sigh

She will be very much missed as she had lived with us for 14 years. She was at least a year old when we adopted her from the lost animal shelter. We chose her because she was so vocal and affectionate.

Also in appearance Chup was an exact copy of Kitty-Kat, the small tabby cat which Rainer and I adopted from the animal shelter when we were newly married.

Chup always set up a network for herself so that she could score several meals each night. We knew about this because she would go out and return with a full stomach and smelling of a wood fire before we had given her tea. And one night we caught her red handed miaowing at a neighbour’s door and being let in.

Although she was very petite she had most of the small dogs in the area terrified of her as well as many of the cats.

She used to go walkabout with me. She would accompany me to the local shop or to church, sit outside in the bushes and walk back with me.

At Christmas time she and the dog both had tinsel wrapped around their collars to get into the festive spirit.

She loved to sleep on beds or chairs or curled up in Christian’s bookshelf.

And she had a conversational and rather demanding tone of miaow and a purr which could be heard half way across the room.

R.I.P. CHUP

Our new home has a large area of lawn in the back yard and we have been giving our 12 year old Australian Cattle Dog, Ogie a refresher course in Dog Obedience.

Ogie is apparently in her second puppyhood. She is still very fit and active. Her enthusiasm is excellent but her attention span is woeful.

Sometimes she seems to confuse commands completely and I am wondering whether the problem is forgetfulness due to approaching senility or failing eyesight. For example on the hand signal for “stay” she often barks very enthusiastically as if she had been given the hand signal for “speak up” 

Luther College who give me the use of two rooms in the Centre for the Exceptional Learner for the Gifted Resources Office and Library

Charlotte Forward, Co-ordinator of the Centre for the Exceptional Learner, Luther College

Janette Phelan, Learning Needs Co-ordinator for Luther College

Jamie Tarling, the website designer for Gifted Resources

My husband, Rainer Freitag, the accountant who keeps track of Gifted Resources finances and tax returns

Jennifer Grant who has helped me pack and unpack and move and gives help and support at Gifted Resources Guest Speaker and Film Discussion evenings

Gail Forbes who gives prayer support and help at  Gifted Resources Guest Speaker and Film Discussion evenings

There are many others who should be thanked also but this time it was the turn of these particular ones to be thanked. 

Thank you very much all of you.

When he was 8 he was adopted by a Tasmanian Teddy Dragon called Smidgen Smollett Smutts and when he was 9 or 10 he wrote about them (see http://giftedresources.org/jo/teddydragons.htm)

At the time he told me that Teddy Dragons (TDs) have a tonal language with only one word in it - MEEP - but that dyslexic TDs say MEEP but spell it EPME, EMPE or PEEM.

I have been thinking about dyslexia quite a bit recently because of the OGTOC Online Conference with Drs Brock & Fernette Eide and also because of discussions with two Education Consultants who work with Gifted Learning Disabled (or 2e Twice Exceptional) children.

As I was walking home from the shop I was considering the lot of dyslexic TDs. Christian had said that singing was an important way for TDs to learn their tonal language and I was thinking that although there could be a large number of possibilities relating to the tones; the language was necessarily limited by having only one word.

TDs are expected to find one new piece of knowledge or combine existing knowledge in a new way to increase their communal knowledge and to receive a personal reward of a truck full of chocolate.

I wondered if the dyslexic TDs represented the next evolutionary step forward as they would be the ones to introduce new words to the language. I wondered whether they would be appreciated and hailed as innovators or just declared WRONG and ignored.

When I asked Christian about this he laughed and said ” Really, Mum! That was just a joke! TDs don’t have a written language. They only have a tonal one. How can you be dyslexic in a non-written language? That was the joke!”

Ok, call me slow - it only took me 8 years to get my son’s joke!

I need the cavalry to arrive, I thought, or the fairy godmother. Where are fairy godmothers when you need them?

The tears resolved from shimmering blobs into two small shimmering figures. One was slim and neat and perky a la Tinkerbelle and the other was rather dumpy and crumpled looking from too many nights sleeping under pillows.

“You called?” said the dumpy one. This must be my fairy godmother! “What do you wish for?”

The spritely one started bouncing up and down, face beaming and sparkles cascading in all directions. “Ask for an end to poverty and famine” she said. “Oh and Wooooorld Peeeeeeace” she added, sounding just like Miss Congeniality.

“We can’t grant that” said the dumpy one. “It’s not in the FGM job description. We only do personal wish stuff.”

“So what are your problems?”

“Well there’s the house…”

“What’s wrong with the house? It looks very nice to me”

“The fence and  gate need to be fixed and the back yard and BBQ and…”

“That’s easily fixed - we’ll call in Burke’s Backyard or Better Homes and Gardens”

“No that’s not the real problem” I said. “We really need this house to be sold very soon.”

“Oh that’s easy to fix too,” said Dumpy (who I had decided by now was called Fairy Nuff - hey, she’s my FGM - I get to name her!) “We’ll do a pamphlet drop! All the postcodes from 3134 to 3138 and a few in the CBD, coz that’s where the wealthy guys hang out.”

“You can’t DO that these days, grandma!” said Spritely “It’s called littering. You can only do it for parades for politicians and sports stars” (Nice to see my grandson’s FGM is environmentally aware and is concerned about the big world issues)

“Well … what else are you wishing ? Well..Wishing. Wellwishing. Wishing Well. Get it?” Dumpy started rolling around laughing at her own lame jokes until the tears ran down her face and the fat rolls on her stomach jiggled. Spritely looked heavenwards and rolled her eyes.

“I would like to go to the Conference”, I said.

Now Fairy Nuff was on more familiar ground.
“You can’t go looking like that”, she said. “Bibbity bobbity boo!” and POOF! I was wearing a beautiful ball dress.

“Oh yuk, Grandma! That’s so sixties! 1460s!” said Spritely.

“It’s very nice, thank you,” I said “but not exactly what we wear to Conferences”. I was thinking to myself that I might get curtains or at least a tablecloth out of the material.

“And you would have to get there. Do you have a pumpkin?”

I produced the half butternut pumpkin from the fridge.

“It’s not very big” she said. “I don’t think I’d get a coach out of that - maybe a motor scooter. Where did you say this Conference is?”

“Fremantle, Western Australia”

“Great. I’ll make you a coracle. If you start paddling now…..”

“She might get there in ten years. She needs an aeroplane,” said Spritely.

“It would take a HUGE pumpkin to make a plane” said Dumpy. “Lucky the Royal Melbourne Show is on - we could get a giant one there. We’ll be back!”

Several hours later as the street lights were coming on, one yellow circle resolved into a truly huge golden pumpkin with a tiny shimmering figure on either side holding it. They were right above the road outside the kitchen window. I could hear them exhorting each other.

“Come on! We’re nearly there!”

“It’s so heavy!”

“How will we get it in the door?”

“We should make it outside.”

“What? In the middle of the road?”

“No we really should take it to the airport”

“Lilydale’s closer. There’s an aerodrome for small planes there. We could get MAF Air to give it a safety check before she flies it”

“Why didn’t you think of that before?”

“It’s SO heavy!”

“Come on. Nearly there!”

“It’s slipping…..”

“Hang on to it!”

It is a mystery why fish fall from the sky - but I now know why giant pumpkins fall!

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
see  http://tinyurl.com/nnpau
states that the physiological needs take first precedence closely followed by needs for safety and security. If these needs are not being met other needs will be deprioritised.
At the peak of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Triangle
see diagram at http://tinyurl.com/hb982
is self actualization and spiritual needs

Dabrowski rejected Maslow’s theory and instead posited the Theory of Positive Disintegration
http://tinyurl.com/f8lw3
For Dabrowski actualization is not a developmental outcome but the need to become aware of the different levels of self and inhibit the influences of the base instinctual aspects of the self and actively choose and assemble higher elements into a new unique self. The more actualised the self, the more it becomes altruistic and pure.

In the Beatitudes and other aspects of the Sermon on the Mount  http://tinyurl.com/nusuw
Jesus outlines conditions for happiness and blessedness which are independant of material possessions.
We are extolled not to be overly concerned with food, clothing and shelter as God will supply our needs as attested by the lillies of the field and the birds.

SO - Maslow says it is only natural that my concern about the house is on my front burner. Dabrowski says I should actively push the concern to the back burner and get on and think about things which will be beneficial to others. And Jesus promises that I do not need to have the concern on the front burner and I will have my socks blessed off if I put someone else’s concern on my front burner.

We have been in this home for a whole two months and now the landlord is selling this house. We have a one year contract. When we were signing for this place we made it very clear that we would only sign if we would be able to stay for at least 3-5 years until the children had finished uni studies and were financially ready to move out; at which time we would be looking for a small place for just the two of us.

We needed this assurance as the last two places we rented were sold out from under us. We were assured that this place was a long term proposition. We would not have even considered signing if there had been any doubt.

We were told that the fence which encloses the back courtyard would be replaced before we moved in. It was not and still has not been. We have had to tie the fence and gate up with tie wire to prevent it falling over. This means the gate is sealed shut and we have no access to the back yard from the outside.

There is no garage or garden shed so we have the contents of the large garage we had at the previous house stored in the rumpus room. We have not been able to unpack properly and can only use a corner of the rumpus room. A friend was going to sell us a shed; but do we need it now?

Very shortly after we moved in the real estate agent came to value the house. We were told not to worry - the landlord just wanted to know how much the place was worth. Then agents from another real estate firm came to value the house. When I queried it with the rental department they claimed to not even know that the sales department of their own company had come.

Two days later on a Sunday afternoon the lady from sales phoned  and said that our landlord wanted to sell and the whole sales team would be coming to inspect the place on Tuesday. She said that as the landlord was the one breaking the contract he would pay for our relocation.

A phone call to the rental department on the Monday morning dispelled that reassurance. The head of rentals told me very sternly that we could not be put out until next July and in the meantime we just had to sit put and cope with all the Open for Inspections etc., that if we moved earlier we would be the ones breaking the contract and liable for extra expenses. When I told her we had signed on the understanding that we would be there more than one year, she said “Tenants only have the right to expect exactly what the contract says - no more!”

Since then we have been on a roller coaster of tears, glimpses of hope, frustration and insecurity. We were 2/3 of the way to being unpacked. Should we keep unpacking or start repacking?  Where will we be for Christmas?

There are two possible scenarios which would be OK for us
1. Another investor buys the property who is prepared to make the required repairs, appreciates having excellent long term tenants and we stay on happily for several years
2. The house is sold very quickly and we are given notice to leave and therefore relocated to a property of similar size and rental rate at the owner’s expense.

The worst case scenario is that it takes a long time to sell, taking us right up to the end of our one year contract and we are forced to move at our own expense, having put up with countless instances of Open for Inspections and private showings. We really cannot afford to move at our own expense at this time (or even in a year for that matter)

The advertisement has gone up on the Internet with no mention of the house being suitable for an investor and having long term tenants installed.
See http://tinyurl.com/md794
So far in our two months here there have been evaluation inspections, a full sales team inspection, a photo session, a private showing and one Saturday afternoon Open for Inspection. On each occasion I have done extra cleaning and moving of furniture and fittings.
And we have ensured that someone was home as we are not prepared to have our home entered while we are not here. Does this constitute quiet enjoyment of our home? I think not!

So please pray that this can be speedily and amicably settled.