There’s a great story in Dad’s (soon to be released) biography about the amazing lengths he goes to

To make his grandchildren happy

It really is a beautiful thing to watch

I know my girls think that everyone’s Poppy is just like theirs

Who writes funny little songs about them (clean ones!)

Who takes them on adventures

Treasure hunts

And writes magical fairytale stories, that they get to star in

They have some brilliant, one of a kind books in their collection

Written just for them, by their Poppy

Last time the girls were in Lancelin, where Mum & Dad have a beach house

Dad took them, & their cousin, on a 2 day adventure (all us grown ups went along for the ride too)

Full of pirates, princesses, dressing up

That culminated in 3 little girls, dressed in DILLIGAF t-shirts (Poppy forgot the costumes that day)

Digging furiously at the ‘X marks the spot’, that the map had led them to

In the sand dunes where I’m sure it’s totally illegal

Dad wrote a book about their big adventure, using photos he’d taken of them over the 2 days

“Miss 6 & Miss 4 – The Fair Dinkum Fairy Princesses”

My brother’s boys have a fantastic book Dad wrote for them too – “Deaf Captain Bungeye & his 2 dickheads deckhands, Lefty &Righty”

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Having a bit of time while we were in Carnarvon (& having sent off the final draft of his biography) had Dad thinking of his next project

And this is how it starts…

He went shopping

Then he tells me & Mum he wants us all to go for a walk on the beach

And for me to bring my camera

I’m assuming there’s some topless sunbathers he wants to perve at get his pic taken with

Then he’s like, what’s THAT?

I’m like, what’s WHAT?

THAT, he says, pointing at the rocks

Then I realise what he’s up to

It’s the beginning of another treasure hunt

And I’m the photographer for the next book

So I snap away

Oooooh, TREASURE!

And I’m thinking, ummm Dad….that’s lovely and all…but I have 2 daughters…who don’t share for shit and they don’t share well at the best of times

And as I’m working out ways in my head to cut this little treasure chest in half without ruining the whole thing

He starts pointing again

What’s THAT?, he says again

Oh, OK Dad…you win…you’re ahead of me here

Well, would you look at that!

And even Nanna’s in on this one

They get just as much joy out of this as the kids do

Lucky I’m on my way home

‘Cause once the girls find out about this, they’ll be DYING to get their hands on their new treasures

I had to have a little peak

And it’s pretty safe to say Miss 6 & Miss 4 are going to lose their shit when they see this stuff

It’s totally, what Miss 4 would call, the MOTHERWOAD!

The world’s best Poppy has done it again

Can’t wait to read the book!

When we were in Tassie, we met a great little girl

Her name was Shianne

You may have seen her on the Tasmania vlog

At about the 2:36 mark

Her Mum, Chantelle,  had sent a letter asking if Shianne could meet Dad

She’s only 11, but knows all the words to Dad’s songs

And loves him

You have to be 18 to see the show

So she came backstage before the Burnie concert to say hi and get some pics taken

Shianne has Alopecia

It’s a disease where your hair falls out

Sometimes in patches, sometimes all over

Shianne has Alopecia totalis

Which has made her totally bald

Eyebrows, eyelashes – all of it

Shianne first started loosing her hair when she was 7

As a Mum with a daughter who will be 7 this year

I try to imagine how she would cope losing her beautiful, long hair at this age

Being her Mum, I’m not sure I would handle it too well

Chantelle’s letter told of the hard time that Shianne gets at school

She gets teased constantly

Because we all know what motherfuckers how cruel kids can be sometimes

(And how much I hate bullying BUT how standing up to them can help)

So having something as obvious as ‘no hair’ would be such a magnet for the arsehole kids

So they give her a hard time

All the time

According to Chantelle, the school where Shianne goes, does fuck all about it is not too great at handling the situation

Shianne was told to, ‘deal with it’

As she would look like it for the rest of her life

So it’s in her ‘best interest’ to get used to the stares and smart arsed comments

When I spoke to Chantelle about it, I was gobsmacked

I’m not sure if changing schools is an option

But it’s something I would look into

After I told them to all go fuck themselves!

Asking an 11 year old girl to just deal with name-calling and constant teasing?

If that’s not absolute bullshit, I don’t know what is

Then I spoke to Shianne

And seriously, she is the cutest, sweetest, giggly little girl in the world

It seems so unfair

What she has to go through every day

Her friends and family are currently raising money

So that Shianne can go and meet some other kids who have Alopecia

She’s the only one in Tasmania

And has never met anyone else who suffers from it

She’s very excited

She wanted to have one of my albums, but we’d sold out on the night

Plus I was a little hesitant

OK, I was A LOT hesitant

About handing over an album of my ‘fuck’ songs to an 11 year old kid

Her Mum assured me it was OK

So I ended up sending her a signed copy

Along with a kick boxing dvd

To help her deal with the fuckers at school

And maybe kick some arse

I figure if I’m going to be a bad influence

I might as well give it my best shot

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Update – they raised the money, so Shianne is planning her trip to go & meet some new friends!!