News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 53

Still baby sitting our daughters kitty cat and boy is she spoilt.

About 2pm every day is when we sit down and take a time out by reading, watching TV or I play a couple of games on the tablet and Princess Georgia knows that when we sit she will have our undivided attention.

If we dont sit for a time out she will pace around, and carry on until one of ussits, when shes up onto out laps.

Of course she cant just sit on the lap, we have to have her favourite blanky on our laps.

She loves curling up on it or in it and we startedcalling her a princess because of her demanding ways.

So of course every Princess has to have a tiara and while down shopping I decided to drop in to the cheapy store and see if they had any dressups for animals.

They didnt but I found a small tiara and although its not a perfect fit is does stay on her.

Funny enough she wasnt phased with it so it often gets put on her now. I think it suits her!

One of lifes little pleasures is sitting back at the end of the day and watching the sunset.

Weve often have the most spectacular sunsets but I never have a camera or phone handy to capture them, even when I do I just dont seem to be able to do the colours justice.

However one day at the end of May the whole sky was ablaze no matter which direction we looked.

The photo with the silhouette magpie was to the south of us and it was such a vivid purple and pinks.I went round to the front yard, looked to the west and my first reaction was oh geez, where is the fire (I may or may not have not used the word geez, but Ill keep it clean for the newsletter!).

Then realised that the only fire was in the sky. It truly did look like many of the fires Ive been to with the glow and the colours but thankfully this time it was just this brilliant sunset.

I think the last few months the sunsets have been more spectacular due to there being so much less pollution/dust in the skies because we are treated to these night after night lately.

Just so relaxing sitting watching the sky change in the afternoons.

In March I decided to take a leap and do a nationally accredited course about recognising and responding to Domestic and Family Violence.

Ive had a fair bit to do with people who have been in abusive relationships and been able to help them get out of those relationships and into safe homes over the years, so I thought this course might give me more insight into supporting those people.

With my daughter in the police force and my nephew in Child Safety it felt like something that was a natural progression for me to do.

As a survivor helping people in abusive situations is something Ive always been passionate about.

It is not only abuse in family situations but also in the workplace and the Fire Service is also very big on stamping out all forms of abuse and big in the prevention of Domestic and Family abuse.

May was Domestic and Family Violence Prevention month for 2020 so very appropriate that I completed the course that month.

The course covered everything from families, children, people with disabilities and the workplace. June 1 was my birthday and what better day to be awarded my certificate.

So proud of my achievement. I obtained 91% on my first assessment and was happy with that but the final assessment was very tough, having to answer questions but also having to do 2 interviews and then transcripts of both interviews.

These both had to be written and processes explained of why certain questions were asked. I nearly gave up a couple of times doing this final assessment but ended up with 100% on completion!! Because of the COVID pandemic there was no presentation and it was all a virtual graduation.

I now have more knowledge and will be able to provide a lot more support to those who need it and that is something Im very happy about.

So what has everyone been doing while they are self isolating? I decided it was a good time to pull out boxes and boxes of old photos and scan them onto the computer.

Not sure it was really a good idea as there was so many of them, but I made a start with all the old photos from my Fire Service days when I was at my first station for 10 years and they were the first batch to get done.

It was a very nostalgic session doing these and looking back at incidents and training etc Id done over the years.

Proud moments like getting Firefighter of the Year in 1999, memories of the demonstration for International Womens Day in 2001 when there was a simulation set up in the middle of King George Square of a car crash (much like the simulations they do even today for Senior school students who will have just obtained or soon to obtain their drivers licences).

This photo was used in our training manuals for many years in the First Aid courses. Then there was the hot fire gas training we did at Lyntton training ground in 1998, which is now closed with the opening of the state of the art facility at Whyte Island.

Photos of many many fires, one of the biggest I was the Incident Controller at was a fire that had homes and a dairy threatened (we didnt lose one structure!) in our community and jumped the main highway in 2007.

So many many memories in the hundreds of photos from over 20 years ago now. I also look back at how things have changed so much in 27 years from equipment, trucks even our PPE to what they are now.

So many memories…….. happy memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life, not just incidents etc but the many many wonderful people I have worked and trained with over the years.

We still are babysitting our Granddaughters cat. Georgia is her name but she usually gets called Meow Meow or lately Princess. She came to us a scared and timid kitty who would always hide under beds, she would never sit on a chair or bed in the open.

She hated being touched and growled if you tried to pat her. If a male was in the room she was terrified. This we believe is because of the treatment that her mothers boyfriend at the time (now an ex) was dishing out to her.

She wouldnt go outside at all.

Thankfully she is a very clean kitty and there has never been an instance when she didnt use her kitty litter (thankfully).

Because the granddaughter couldnt have her where she lives with her Dad now due to them renting, we were asked if wed take her for a few months.

Well its been well over a year now and Georgia is still with us and a totally different kitty.

Her favourite place to curl up these days is on my lounge chair, or on our bed. In the afternoons she will actually come and hop up on either hubbys or my lap and have cuddles while we have our nanny and poppy naps.

She actually looks for us and gets rather indignant if we dont sit down so she can have her cuddles.

Last couple of weeks weve been letting her outside while we are out but I worry that something will spook her and shell take off so we brought a harness for her.

Didnt know how shed take to having it on but there was not one bit of resistance to the point that she will go sit on the chair by the door, where the harness is and meow until its put on and we take her out.

She loves it!

Still is hesitant about going too far from the house but has learnt her way right round the house now and is happy walking and exploring.

She is a gorgeous girl and so glad she finally has faith in us and knows we love her and no harm will come to her.

This is a first for us too as in the 50 years Ive had cats, Ive never had a harness for any others!

This is Georgia on one of her outings.