Is there a curse on photography websites? It seems the Cafe server has also crashed and the site is unavailable right now.

Our new "Corner" looks good and it's nice to see so many members joining right away. A is working very hard to keep up with the glitches that arrive thick and fast whenever you launch a new website.

I am very anxious as I've only had one brief email from K in Alberta since she got home from hospital, and my phone messages have not been returned. I don't want to be a pest and keep bothering her.

I'm also worried I've not heard from another friend, AS. I hope she's ok and I miss her.

I'm not feeling 100% and am wondering if I may have IBS - isn't the internet great for self-diagnosis? I don't really want to go to the doctor in case they investigate further - yuck, don't fancy THAT at all. It's a pretty embarrassing condition all round. Oh well...I reckon I've had this on and off sonce I was in California so I guess a bit longer won't hurt - it's not like it's curable anyway.

I am exchanging emails with my brother. It is really nice but I'm nervous in case things go wrong. Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for any human relationships at all - maybe I should have been a hermit.

What a week :(

The photography website that I'm Admin of has been lost to the depths of cyberspace due to an unfixable server error. The site owner has worked her socks off trying to recover it and at the same time trying to build us a new site. Hopefully this will go "live" at the weekend. I'm heartbroken to think of all we've lost from the old site - but our members have been really supportive and are eagerly awaiting the new site. I'm sure we'll lose some but we won't be defeated by this disaster!

Apart from that, I've been working extra hours so have had less time on the internet than usual. S seems to be settling down ok into high school after the first awful day when she said she wouldn't be going again!! Now she has made some friends and seems to be getting on ok.She looks great in her new uniform (see above)

I am feeling much happier and more postive. I've done a lot of thinking and reflecting and trying to get things into perspective. I'm feeling less insecure. Hope these good feelings last.



The new kitten is growing fast and is very entertaining. We all love him a lot, it's hard to take a pic of him as he never stops moving but here are a couple anyway.

My Best Friends & I
by Karen L. Schenk

Throughout the years
I have had many different girls and women as my best friends.
They have all been very different from each other.
Yet somehow they have all been similar.
They had characteristics that blended with mine.
They were kindred spirits with me --
they were truly the soulmates of my life.


Together, these best friends and I
have laughed, cared, talked, listened, and cried.
Together we played, worked, and dreamed.
Such special friends were they, that at times,
we enjoyed doing nothing together.
Years have gone by
and I sometimes wonder
where they have all gone.
Some have moved.
Some developed different interests.
These were friends whom I once thought
I could never live without.

The best friends of my life
have had an integral part
in me becoming who I am today.
They brought out the best and the worst in me.
They loved me enough to confront, to challenge and to console.
They encouraged me in my strengths and
helped me overcome my weaknesses.

Though I know not where they live,
have discovered where they all left something for me.
It is a room -- a delightful room which lies within my heart.

It is one of my most favorite places.
I go there when I am lonely, sad
or when I want to remember... and be with
the treasured golden memories
the best friends of my life left for me.

Forever -- my friends will be a part of me
as I hold onto and cherish them
in that special room in my heart.

I have just been reading an article on the BBC website about the way New York City has changed since 9/11.

This quote is from press photographer David Handschuh, who was possibly the first photographer on the scene after the first plane went into the Tower. He was trapped under the falling debris from the second tower and badly injured.

"Having a good day with my kids is the most precious gift that I could have in the entire world," he says.

"Waking up the next morning and looking out the window and whether it's snowing or raining or storming or brutally hot or freezing cold, it's another day that we get to experience things on this Earth."

This man has seen such horrors; yet he can feel grateful for each day that he is alive. It's humbling.

I'm sad and worried and lonely right now but i have hope that things will get better.

I'm feeling very sad tonight. It seems as if there's going to be a big change in my life and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it.

Work was really hectic yesterday. It's one of our busiest days of the year as it follows a four-day closure for the August Bank Holiday. For once we had plenty of staff so it felt pleasantly busy instead of grindingly so. I even got some time at my desk to catch up on stuff.

I heard that applicants for my dream job were VERY high powered academics, teachers and even one psychiatrist. So knowing that i would probably have not even got to interview makes me feel better - not as if I'd had to walk away from a wonderful opportunity due to home circumstances.

I visited a friend from the Corner after work; we had a very pleasant chatty evening (well, I did!!) She is a film buff and like me thinks nothing of watching the same film over and over and still enjoying the experience. We watched "Pride & Prejudice". I got home about 12.30 and realised to my horror I'd forgotten my house key. I seriously considered sleeping in the car rather than waking the Kraken (P) but it had to be done!!

Today is my last day of "time off in lieu" of the summer. S has a sleepover tonight and we said we'd take all the kids to Pizza Hut as an end of the holidays treat. I'm not planning on doing much today, just ironing and general chores.

I wore my pedometer all day yesterday but FORGOT TO SWITCH IT ON!! What a blonde moment.