Telling Tales (true or tall)

  My husband was very proud of his Christmas gift to me but I'm afraid I was not very happy about having a kitten in the house, pedigreed blue Burmese or not.  I had a new baby and a toddler so this cute ball of grey fluff seemed like too much hard work.  It occurred to me that she was going to be more trouble than the baby.  She had to be fed four times a day at first and came complete with suggested menu for those meals.  We named her Misty but that gradually became Bee because our toddler, Kara, couldn't pronounce "Misty". She was as cute as a button and wonderful but there were times we could have cheerfully strangled her. However, she turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to our family because if not for her, we might all be dead!  The children were three and four when one winter night she woke me, making a hell of a racket at our closed bedroom door.  She was scratching at the door, yowling and leaping up at the door handle...

       Whenever I see a news report of volcanic eruptions anywhere, I relive vivid memories of the terror my (now ex-) husband, Paul, and I suffered in 1979 in Indonesia, although it would seem our experience was mild in comparison to most reported eruptions.  That weekend in August promised to be an adventure; we had no idea just how close to death we would come. Along with three other Australian expatriates living in Jakarta, we signed up for a trip to Krakatoa,   west   of Java (the film title is wrong) in the Sundah Strait, arranged by the Diplomatic Club.  There were groups from all over the world on the tour, including Canada, France, Britain, USA, Germany and elsewhere and we were all eager to get a close look at the famous volcano. Krakatau, as it is known in Indonesia, erupted in August 1883 after 200 years of slumber, killing approximately 36,000 people.  It was a blast that “shook the world”, sending shock waves arou...