Moral Turpitude

An ad for a $907 fare to L.A. just appeared in front of me. Which led me to wondering about U.S. visas, which led me to the U.S Customs and Border Protection website, which led me to their visa application section where I read this question.

Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude*.... or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

Crimes involving moral turpitude - Such offenses generally involve conduct which is inherently base, vile, or depraved and contrary to the accepted rules of morality and the duties owed to persons or society in general. There are factors, such as the age of the offender or the date of the offense, that may affect whether an offense will be considered a crime involving moral turpitude for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

What the? I once owned a pair of denim cowgirl boots with rhinestones**. That is definitely depraved and contrary to the accepted rules of morality. They do say that factors such as the age of the offender may affect whether it is considered a crime so in my defense I can say that I was only 13 at the time.

Am I seeking to engage in immoral activities? Does ordering porn on the hotel TV count because I never do that.
I do swear - I swear a lot. Some people consider that immoral. I'm not seeking to engage in any sweary activity but if the oppurtunity to swear arises I will not shrink away from it. If I'm not actively seeking to engage in immoral activities but the opportunity for immorality arises is that OK or is it a violation of my visa? Say a stripper in Vegas propositions me..... hmmm am I even allowed to go to Las Vegas? Many people consider gambling to be immoral and I've just said that I'm not seeking to engage in immoral activities.
OK a stripper propositions me in...... maybe not a stripper because visiting a strip joint is immoral..... OK, an off duty stripper who I meet whilst photographing some morally upright tourist site.
You know what. I've forgotten where I was going with this.

If I have to fill out that visa I'm just going to tick the box marked 'NO' because I doubt that the good people at U.S Customs and Border Protection want to discuss comparative morality they just want to know that I'm not going to blow them up.

I won't. I promise. Not on purpose anyway.


**Can I just say that I love the phrase moral turpitude. It's almost as marvelous as slatternly wench.
*I have committed other crimes against fashion but that's the only one I'm admitting to today.

What does my loo say about me?

OK!! I've been stewing on this for a long time. Maybe 4 years by now, maybe longer, ever since the offending ad made it's debut appearance on TV. Even though I don't watch enough commercial TV to see it anymore and it may in fact have been removed from the air it still bugs me.
You might know the ad, the one where a mother has all her friends over to coo over the newborn (it looks about 3 months old but that's how babies are born in Advertistan) and one of her friends asks where the loo is. Mother looks freaked out but then remembers that she's got some kind of chemical loo blue in there which will save her from the humiliation of a dirty loo. Even if I could remember which brand it was I wouldn't tell you.
AAAAGHHH!!!!!
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. So wrong!! On so many levels!!

She's just pushed out a 3 month old baby and she's worried that people will judge her about her loo?
Where is her husband in all of this? Obviously she has a husband because the only single mum in Adverdistan is the one in the Salvos ad (I'm going to take a leap and say that blue loo Mum and Salvos Mum aren't in the same mother's group). Why is no-one staring at her husband in horror because her loo isn't clean enough to operate in?
Why on earth do our loos need to be clean enough for us to perform surgery in them? My uncle once spayed my cat in our laundry (he is vet not just an enthusiastic amateur) but generally operations are performed in rooms specially designed for them. Loos are specially designed for performing our natural functions. So why, oh why, do they need to be polished till they sparkle with antiseptic this, that and the other? There is no need for something to be antiseptically clean in order to receive our waste.
In most homes the bathroom has less germs than the kitchen!! This says to me that maybe we can relax a bit about our loos. Just so long as the smell is kept to a minimum (a window can help with this - the best air freshener is fresh air) and skid marks are removed by the offender I think we can all survive without loos that smell of lavender in spring or green tea and cucumber.

So anyway....... before I got all ranty what was the question?
What does my loo say about me? Nothing!! It can't talk! If it could talk it would probably say that I have more important things to worry about* than keeping my loo pristine in case a visiting medical team need it for surgery.


I can't write for so long about loos without including this one from Japan.

*Important stuff such as ranting on the interwebz, visiting People of Walmart, checking with the BOM before doing a load of washing, reading novels and other riveting and important matters.

Brothers - a tip for you.

If you can still count the years since you reached puberty on your fingers you are too young for a moustache.


If you are Tom Selleck you can grow a moustache.


If you are Brad Pitt you can grow a moustache.

If you are the Mountain Man you can grow a moustache.

If you are a 20 year old snowboarder with a goggle tan you should hold off for a few years.

This has been a public service announcement bought to you by Quacking Quackeroos.

There's no need for anyone to go hungry in Canberra.

You can just eat a 'roo.
I saw this mob on the golf course when I was taking the dog for a walk this morning. I counted 50 but I'm sure I missed some. It must make putting interesting. I wonder what the rules regarding 'roos are - are they a loose impediment? A movable obstruction? An immovable obstruction? Can they be moved or must one play around/through them?

I'm such a numpty!

I went to Brisbane for the weekend with Y5 & I4. We had a blast and I didn't take a single photo. I'm really kicking myself right now.

Which is actually a pretty funny image once you think about it literally.

I rode the pipe!

Oh yes I did!!
I never saw myself in the park. I'm more an off-piste/back-country kinda girl (in my head at least - the half-hour I once spent digging myself out of some powder shall not be spoken of) but on Sunday before last I had an hour to kill and the pipe was empty. Someone has to ski there....
I'm still sort of surprised that I tried it but you know what - it was fantabulous. Heaps faster and steeper than I expected and it was less uniform than it looks from outside. It was really icy on skier's right where the wind had scoured it and has some fresh blown into the middle. I haven't had an adrenaline rush like that for ages.
I might just go back.
Sometimes it's good to take a jump out of your comfort zone :)

I didn't have my phone because it was in the Mountain man's pocket so here are some other people's pictures.


Here is one of the sucker being built.


And here is the finished product.

A tooth!!

A lost tooth!!!

Y4 lost his first tooth. No-one was expecting it so were all a bit freaked out for a moment. I was thrown into a bit of a spin about what to pay for a tooth. Luckily facebook helped me out and he got about $3 worth of change for his tooth.

Another first

I4 started pre-school 2 days a week.

Periser

See anything wrong with this photo?


How about this one?

The mountain man has many admirable qualities. Spelling isn't one of them.

Snowman

We built a snowman at Perisher. I campaigned for a stumpier neck but I was outvoted.

His head had fallen off within an hour!!

What's that?

I bet you're trying to figure out what the hell that is.

That, my friends, is a percussion based musical instrument that is played with a pencil in one hand and a chop stick in the other.

I guess it's my fault for not letting them have battery powered toys.

First Day

Mr Y5 started school!!


The new uniform.


The walk to school.

I didn't cry!!

I didn't cry when we had to leave. I would have but I was too stressed about our overweight luggage and the Mountain man's potential visa dramas to feel sad and when the check in girl waved our luggage through and the passport man stamped our passports and said bon voyage I was too relieved to cry.

Paris

We had a day or 2 to kill in Paris before we flew to Australia but I'm cool with that.
I love Paris in ze Summer when it sizzles, I love Paris in ze Winter when it drizzles....


The view from out hotel. We seem to end up in this hotel quite often. It is near Le Marais which is our favourite arrondissement and for Parisian hotel it aint to expensive either.


The boys take in the view from the Pont Neuf.

The Pont des Arts. It is covered in padlocks - lovers put them there. Sadly the Parisian council is an fucked up as local councils every where and they want to get rid of them. The council is the prime suspect in the disappearance of the locks in May but they deny it.

Rouen

Rouen is where they burnt Joan of Arc at the stake but I'm ok with that. It was a long time ago. There was a market where she was burnt but now there is just a weird building.
It's also where the poor old cat was shipped off too before it decided to walk to St Tropez.


The Clock Tower.


Taken from inside the Clock Tower.


Another view from the Clock Tower.


Y5 in front of the Cathedral.

The Mountain Man in the Medieval Quarter.

Blois

Bigot. Refusing admission to minorities since 1913.


Yasin scaling the Castle wall to rescue his Princess.

More Caves

These caves in the Loire Valley are still occupied!!

They're a bit better developed that the prehistoric ones. Some are used as restaurants and wine cellars, some are used as garages and garden sheds and some appear to be lived in.

Château de Chambord

The Château de Chambord is another of the places the cat visited so we went too. We managed to pick a really busy day. There was a market/swap meet on one side of the Chateau and a horsey event in the fields nearby. We took our picnic and went for a walk around the castle and found one side that was really very tranquil. Then we visited the market but since we didn't want any bric-a-brac we didn't buy anything.

How deep do you think that is?

Off for a walk.

Orleans

It was May Day when we were in Orleans so it was pretty quiet. May Day is a pretty big deal in France. Only waiters and the people who sell Lily of the Valley/Dog Roses work. We saw a march and didn't buy any Lily of the Valley.


A statue of Joan of Arc. She's a bit of a hero of mine and we share a birthday.


The Mountain man and his baguette.

No Smoking

You can't smoke but we're giving you an ashtray anyway. Be sure not to use it!!!

The Caves

When we were driving down a country road we saw a sign saying "Grottes Prehistoriques". The boys needed a break and we figured that it would be a good chance to stretch our legs. I'm not sure which caves they were but after a bit of googling I think they were les Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure. The possibility exists that I'm totally wrong but they're in the right place and look similar so I'm sticking to my story.
The big cave was closed for lunch (because the French take lunch seriously) so we went for a walk by the river and had a look at the small caves. It was wonderful. There was no-one else there except a couple with a black lab and they walked really fast and were out of sight in no time. We were too far from the road to hear traffic and it was so easy to imagine how it was way back then. The caves were all sizes in a row along the cliff face and there was a small river/creek running in front of them. It was no problem at all to see why it would be a desirable residence for cave people.


The boys by the river.


Another picture of the river.


The path between the river and the caves.


A home with a riverside location and wonderful views.


A mansion.


A cottage.

Canal de Bourgogne

The Canal de Bourgogne was one of the destinations from The Cat Who Walked Across France. We stopped at Dijon for a night and then went to visit it near Pouilly-en-Auxois.
The boys had a look at a lock and I think they kinda, sorta got how it works.


Walking along the tow path.


The lock and the lock-keeper's cottage.

Catching up

I'm a bit excited.
A few more posts and I'll almost be up to date!!

The wierd castle

One day as we were driving about we saw a tourist sign for a castle. We had some time to spare so we dropped in. It appeared to be deserted and there was nothing to see but a few old carts in the courtyard so we turned to leave. The next thing we knew an old crone appeared from a cellar and gave us a dirty look. Then she released her dog!!
A giant sooky lab. It's hard to know who was happier. The dog or the boys. I think that it was the dog once it discovered that the mountain man was willing to throw its toy.
The dog was the least successful guard dog ever - not only did it not scare us away it encouraged us to stay for a few more minutes. We took a bit of a walk around the castle afterwards and enjoyed the sight of a few more tourists arriving and then leaving within minutes looking bemused and underwhelmed.

Walking about

Just some random photos taken whilst walking around the countryside.