As the ticker above shows, I'm getting married in three days time. The house is chaotic and manic. I am running around like a mad woman in an attempt to finish all the fiddly things that make wedding ceremonies memorable for guests.

For the next two weeks I may not be on-line at all. I will be back from my honeymoon on Easter Monday and I look forward to seeing you all then.

Take care and stay safe. Remember to try and post your support of ending sexual violence on April 5, Blog Against Sexual Violence Day.

Do you know what to teach your children to help keep them safe?

The BITSS model of Protective Behaviours (copyright Megan Bayliss) examined a number of existing protective behaviour programs and took the major elements from each program. The elements were lumped into an easy acronym to help people remember what to do - what BITSS they need to cover.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney is one of our family favorites. I gave a copy to my oldest daughter on her 16th birthday (she's now 24) and we consistently say to each other, "I love you stars and moons." This phrase is a direct link to how much we have all appreciated the potency of love expressions in Guess How Much I Love You.



It is fitting then, that this story becomes a reading at our rainforest waterfall wedding this Saturday. Here it is for you all to enjoy too:

Unlike the Seekers famous song, The Carnival is Over, the Carnival of Australia is beginning. After positive discussions with several Aussie bloggers, we are now seeking submissions from Aussie bloggers (and bloggers who have visited and blogged on their Australian experience) for our fortnightly Carnival of Australia.

Come on Aussie, come on. If you are an Aussie blogger, or you have blogged about something Australian, then Aunty Jack (not really, just me, Carnival organiser Megan Bayliss) wants YOU! Over shadowed by a sea of fair dinkum bloggers from America and England, Aussie bloggers sometimes splash about in the virtual surf trying to keep their blogs alive long enough for the snags to cook on the barbie.

Let's really make a lasting splash and snag some new readers. Australia is such a diverse country, we can share our diversity in thought and interest by showcasing the best of our Aussie blogs, and blogs about Australia, to the rest of the world. Let's celebrate what we think/talk about, what we do, how we live, our humour, culture, politics, music, technology, sport and how great it is to visit Australia, etc.

What is a Blog Carnival? A carnival is a collection of posts all in one place: a particular kind of blog community. There are many kinds of blogs, and they contain articles on many kinds of topics. Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic (in our case: Australia). A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title ( in our case, Carnival of Australia), a topic (Australia, Australian bloggers and their diversity), editors (whoever hosts the carnival each fortnight), contributors (you), and an audience (the wider blogosphere). Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis (e.g. every second Monday). Each Carnival edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editors (hosts) opinions, remarks or themed musings.

To see a sample Carnival edition, click here or here.

The amount of information in the blog-o-sphere makes finding interesting stuff time consuming. If there is a carnival for a topic you are interested in (like Australia), following that carnival is a great way to learn what bloggers are saying about that topic, and often about you. If you are blogging on a specific topic, the carnival is the place to share your work with like-minded bloggers and readers. Our carnival will be blogs about Australia with a huge focus on the diversity of thought and blogs by Aussie bloggers.

Want to submit one of your blogs to the Carnival of Australia? Here's what to do:

1. Choose a post you already have on your blog (you can also submit another person's worthy Aussie blog too), or write a new one and post it to your blog as usual. Use this submission form to nominate yours or someone else's Aussie blog musings or blog about Australia. Fill in all required fields. Make sure to use the permalink to your blog post (e.g. http://homeschoolingaspergers.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-make-australian-wedding-quilt.html). Decide which carnival category it fits best into (note, the categories are there as a guide only, if you don't fit a category, still submit under 'walkabout') from the drop-down menu. Leave a brief description of your blog and why it should be included into the Carnival of Australia (i.e., you an Australian blogger living in Australia or overseas, or, you blogged about Australia and would like to share it).
2. Deadline for submissions is every second Monday by 5pm Australian time (begins April 23, 2007). Publication will be every second Wednesday (begins April 25, 2007).
3. Think twice about submitting articles that are adult in nature, abusive or racist. If you go ahead and submit them do not expect to see them posted to the Carnival. Our convict past, is past. This Carnival will operate according to the strictest values of not harming other people. Further, any suggestive or suspicious activity involving children will be immediately reported.
4. When you receive notice of Carnival of Australia publication, visit to check your post and to read the other submissions. Post a notice of the Carnival on your site so that your readers can all come celebrate the best of Australia as well.
5. If you'd like to host the Carnival of Australia on your site, contact carnival organiser, Megan Bayliss, and we'll arrange it. Hosting the carnival will bring many new readers to your site.

Come on Aussie, come on: get those posts submitted (inaugural Carnival of Australia to be held on ANZAC Day, April 25, 2007). Help a mate, be a cobber and email this post to every other Aussie blogger or Australian travel writer you know.

Photo of Luna Park clown courtesy of horizonaus at stock.xchng

If you are feeling brave and looking for a new Carnival to submit your blogs to, why not consider the Carnival of Courage. This fortnightly Carnival features courage related posts: whether your own act of bravery, big or small or that of someone who has inspired you. Share your tales from the trenches as you wrestle with those things that are stretching and challenging you.

The most recent Carnival can be savoured over at The Dragon Slayer's Guide to Life. The Dragon Slayer has a strict one post policy but I submitted two because I just couldn't make my mind up about which one displayed the ultimate in strength conquering fear. Blow me down with a breath of dragon fire: the Dragon Slayer included both of them because she couldn't make up her mind either.

A bonus for me was that this particular Carnival lead me to Scott Davis at Finding Your Marbles. His Carnival submission, “How Winnie the Pooh Taught Me Courage” , is charming, entertaining and inspirational. His site is even better. Dedicated, real and helpful, I'm going to become a Finding Your Marbles regular.

So, be brave and shave or be brave and slay the metaphorical dragons by submitting your courage related posts to the next Carnival of Courage by April 1, 2007.

For those brave souls amongst us who are dedicated to slaying sexual violence, don't forget that it is Blog Against Sexual Violence Day on April 5, 2007. All you have to do is, on April 5, post a blog about your commitment to having communities free of sexual violence. The more brave people around who dare to speak their views about sexual predators being responsible for their violent actions, the quicker the perpetrators get the message that sexual violence will not be tolerated within our blogging community or the wider communities in which we all live. Get your Blog Against Sexual Violence Day banner from Abyss2Hope.