A walk sounds good @GeeD I've just come inside after an hour of sweeping leaves, so I am settling down with a cup of tea and radio for a bit. Cheery son has just taken one of the cats out for a walk, but that was short lived as she just wants to flop on the warm concrete and pretend she is a lion in the warm sun.
I must organise for flu shots and also an updated jab having done a covid one at Christmas time.
Today is glorious outside, a little breeze when I began my sweeping efforts, but warming up nicely. Our minimum even stayed above zero this morning!
I do hope people have pleasant things planned for the weekend. Husband has worked late quite a bit this week, so we've not made any firm plans.
I do hope though that we might do a visit to local auction house. I'm not looking for anything in particular, but do like to have a poke around to see what's there. Often we add a drive through coffee to our outing and that is also very much enjoyed.
Daughter is having a week off from work and is hoping to plan some outside recreation and practice her motor biking. Son will be doing nothing much, so I will perhaps find him some jobs to help me with.
I'm amazed to see that our temperatures overnight are expected to remain above zero, that just feels wrong for this time of year.
I saw during the week that a large online book vendor that I've patronised, particularly for gifts has gone into receivership. That's the second one in about a year and that's not the best. I don't know if any others are impacted by this?
Good to catch up with everyone. The lovely computer people sorted things out for me and all is well. for now at least. I think my tablet is dying, but my kind neighbour says she will help me shop for a replacement when I need it. ( mainly for reading ebooks).
We have experienced four night in a row of -4 temperatures and woke today with no water available for 9 hours due to damaged pipes which turned out to be affecting the whole suburb. At least it isn't damage to our place. I don't remember having such a long period of freezing weather. Even our backyard swimming pool had a layer of ice this morning and the driveway looked like a skating rink.
Good to catch up with everyone. The lovely computer people sorted things out for me and all is well. for now at least. I think my tablet is dying, but my kind neighbour says she will help me shop for a replacement when I need it. ( mainly for reading ebooks).
I just quickly glanced at your post and for ebooks read chooks....
Good to see you back, @Huia! Hope your technology keeps behaving.
@rhubarb glad to know the water issues don't involve a massive plumbing bill for you, hope you have water now.
@Sojourner, it snowed about a month before Cheery son was born, but has not done so in our area since. He refuses to believe it has ever snowed!
@GeeD, you did make me smile, now I'm trying to think how echooks might work. Perhaps you can get stats on their egg laying and see which of the birds is hogging all the feed? Perhaps echooks safer than the ones here, we've had a couple of cases of bird flu in backyard birds.
Very quiet weekend, with you guessed it, more sweeping of leaves! It is supposed to rain from about lunchtime, so an afternoon of movie watching anticipated and I am hoping a planned get together with friends next weekend will eventuate, lots of nasties going around her at present.
Ha, @Cheery Gardener, that wasn’t what occurred to me at all, but rather an image of attempting to read an array of chooks as one would read tarot cards.
We live on Sydney's Upper North Shore - about 20 km north from the city, 20 west from the coast, and at about 200m elevation. (You'll note the repeating 2s and 0s) A few months fter Madame became pregant, we were hving a late coffee one very cold winter afternoon at a favourite cafe. As usual we sat outside, under cover and with a heater near us. Suddenly, everything went quiet and then it started to snow lightly. It did not last long, but was definitely snow.
How lovely @GeeD. My snow memory also involves pregnancy. We were getting what had been the spare room ready for Cheery daugher as she was going to be a big sister, we moved her into a bigger room and made a fuss of her. I remember how cold the room was after we pulled up the 1970's mustard carpet and me being inside looking out at husband and daughter making snowballs and a snow man. It's a very happy memory and I think daughter remembers it as one too.
We live on Sydney's Upper North Shore - about 20 km north from the city, 20 west from the coast, and at about 200m elevation. (You'll note the repeating 2s and 0s) A few months fter Madame became pregant, we were hving a late coffee one very cold winter afternoon at a favourite cafe. As usual we sat outside, under cover and with a heater near us. Suddenly, everything went quiet and then it started to snow lightly. It did not last long, but was definitely snow.
That would have been 1986? I recall similar several weeks before the birth of my youngest…
I do remember '92 being freezing and I got a bad chest infection in the latter stages of having Cheery Daughter. We only had one heated room in our house and doctor told me I had to sleep in there. So camped there for the last couple of weeks.
Snow for son was winter 2000 and fortunately we had a much more modern home by then. A definite cold snap that week too. How I have internally smacked myself for having two winter babies. Birthday parties, a nightmare!
Yes now I recall winter 1992 working at the old kids’ hospital @ Camperdown. Doing ward rounds in the wee hours no fun when having to traverse open walkways between pavilions…🙀
Winter storms and flooding across the Cape in South Africa, many left homeless or stranded because larger rivers have burst their banks. Power cuts and a shortage of medical and food supplies in many country places: I have a second bout of bronchitis and am hoping emergency services get to those most in need of help.
Oh dear, @MaryLouise, I'm sorry to hear about your bronchitis, I hope you have access to all that's needed. I imagine it' s putting a spanner in your packing works, too!
Oh my goodness, the flooding does sound really disastrous, are there agencies that will help?
@Cheery Gardener, the most rigid climate-change denialist would be convinced that what is happening in weather shifts across southern Africa is ominous. Coastal cyclones are almost unheard of off the Cape (common enough to get tropical cyclones in Mozambique but not here) and we now have tidal surges to add to flood problems caused by lack of infrastructure and no provincial insurance for rebuilding or repairs. Schools closed, mountain passes closed, bridges washed away -- of course the poorer areas take the brunt but the flooding has been widespread.
On the other hand, I'm slowly getting better, wrapped in thick quilts and drinking fresh orange juice by the litre.
Thanks for the explanation @MaryLouise, I do fear that climate change will feed in to an increasingly unstable world situation.
I'm glad to hear you are slowly feeling better bronchitis wise.
I'm on the ship early (for me) today. In anticipation of visitors tomorrow, I will be having a baking day. I think it will be banana cake and a slice made with dried fruit. Husband is making soup, just something that we can reheat without too much fuss.
Soup is great for no fuss meals. I made 6 litres of chicken soup in the crockpot on Wednesday and gave a friend half as I don't have room to freeze that much, besides which he has cooked for me on numerous occasions.
MaryLouise, the kind of weather you describe is happening here too, not in my area, but on the north east coast of the North Island (Te Ika a Maui).
I am really looking forward to the soup, @Huia! I think it will taste particularly good as I don't have to make it. The friends that are coming are ones we made 21 years ago when both our children were on treatment together. We don't see them a lot, but have kept in contact and now that they are retired and we get closer to being retired it is nice to have more time to spend with friends.
It's been such a grey day today, so good company and soup will be very welcome
Thanks for the reminder @Gee D, a friend has brought over some chicken soup and just the sight of a steaming covered bowl made me feel better. The storms have passed for now and fallen trees are being cleared from our road down through the village, so life will resume after the weekend.
At your time of year, SOUP is the very best panacea for very nearly all ills (and so therapeutic to make!). I was almost feeling nostalgic for Soup Weather (and Bread Making Weather to go with it), but as our summer seems to be just kicking in (and I'm on holiday next week) I'll defer my nostalgia for a bit nearer the time.
Glad to hear that you are getting a bit better, @MaryLouise. Flooding sounds fairly horrendous. There were a lot of floods in various parts of eastern Australia in 2022, and in some ways I think the aftermath is more traumatic than bushfires.
Soup sounds yummy, @Cheery Gardener. We eat soup nearly all year and try to have some in the freezer.
@MaryLouise, I'm so glad to hear a friend is bringing you some soup, not just sustenance for the body but also for the soul in being cared for. I hope your soup is delicious and healing.
Husband is making leek and potato soup, but our visitors are off. I'm a bit sniffly today (probably dust) but as the husband of the couple is having a birthday this coming week we decided to postpone. We both felt it was better to be safe than sorry and as both families are yeah, "let's not get sick" people, we were both disappointed but knew it was the better decision.
I like the idea of having soup in the freezer, @WormInTheGrass, but space in our freezer is almost impossible to get as we buy some things in bulk. When space starts to free up, I know it's time to do the shopping again!
This batch of chicken soup wasn't that great, I think I loaded too many pulses in it - so I bought a box of chicken stock which improved it. I need to find some bacon hocks as I far prefer soup based on them as it was one we had regularly when I was a child, and I still haven't ventured over the other side of town to the only place I know of that has dried chickpeas. It's not on any of the bus routes I regularly travel and there's no shelter nearby if its windy or raining. Years ago the prospect of getting cold or wet wouldn't have worried me so much, but I find it's enough to put me off these days.
@MaryLouise, I hope the soup you were given was better than mine.
@Huia, the soup was fine as far as I could tell -- one side-effect of grief is that all the savour seems to have gone out of life, so no appetite and even though I keep doing all the right things and plodding on day after day, everything feels hollow and empty. Familiar enough I imagine for many on the Ship.
Black storm clouds looming, but the valley is a brilliant green from all the rain, field ditches white with arum lilies.
@MaryLouise that's hard and I'm sending you a virtual hug. You have a lot on your plate at present and that is tiring hard work on top of being unwell and with recent bereavement. It's not easy and some days plodding is the only way.
Your description of the valley is just beautiful and I hope seeing it brings some comfort.
It is sunny but cold here this morning. I discovered that when I rushed outside to grab my clotheshorse to set up in the warmest room. It is supposed to rain over the next couple of days and I don't want to get behind on the washing. That's the one thing that really gets me cross and frustrated. I know it's not earth shattering, but keeping on top of that helps me to keep on top of other things too as in my brain they form part of the week's routine.
Yes, @Cheery Gardener it’s a chilly day isn’t it. Even now the B.o.M. app says the temperature is 8.1°C but feels like 0.1°C. There was an article on the ABC website yesterday, officially informing us that we are indeed the coldest capital in Australia. Our small patch of lawn (mostly buffalo grass) is very yellow at present. Keep warm folks.
I found that a large retailer has tablets on special so I went to one branch and was told the sale ends tomorrow and that I definitely needed the more expensive one. I was dubious because my main uses for the tablet are reading library books, checking the weather forecast and playing patience. I went into town and checked my bank account, then another branch of the same retailer. The friendly young man who served me there told me the sale finishes at the end of the month and that the less expensive one would meet my needs.
Given that the second man listened more carefully to my requirements I'm going for the $200 cheaper one.
@Huia, you are, like me, Jane Austen stuck in the 21st century. I use my newish Tablet for news headlines from trusted sources, looking at the daily Office for the church at prayer, identifying unusual plants, reading Gutenberg novels from the 18th century (The Mysteries of Udolpho, anyone?) and long-read articles on obscure 'big ideas', checking emails and weather forecasts, making out shopping lists, browsing recipes and skimming social media with minimal interaction. I don't store on Cloud, go public with Zoom, devise long music playlists, download apps or use most of the gaming thingies on offer on Tablets.
Not sure if he is still here, but I drove through Wankydilla (let the reader understand) yesterday and thought of him and his family, and a short time spent there with the family and two other Shipmates.
I am on a brief (10 day) camping trip which started with a drive to Lightning Ridge Friday and will end with me being home Sunday. I am off to Winton today to visit the dinosaurs tomorrow. A fair bit of driving each day (for me), but it is giving me a taste of what is around for, hopefully, another, longer, visit.
Hope you continue to recover well, MaryLouise, and my prayers for you and those in the Cape (though terribly sad to read, your keeping me informed of issues, pain and suffering in Africa was when I was here previously and is now valued).
That's a lot of long distance driving @Climacus, I hope you enjoy it. I'd love to hear your thoughts about the dinosaurs. I've thought about taking the young people, but wonder if they'd appreciate such a long road trip and I don't like them much myself, but would be keen to see the whole set-up there
@Climacus, Zappa appears from time to time. Now living in a colder place.
@MaryLouise, I think some of the young sales people can't really understand the basic needs of those who are, to use Uncle Pete's term; technopeasants. He was talking about gaming, I was talking about Patience/Solitaire.
@Huia, I love that term technopeasants and the difference between games such as patience and gaming made me laugh! I am always thankful for the Cheery husband who either makes the purchase for me, or makes helpful suggestions. Life is so techno centred now that it is hard if it's not one's natural bent. I expect to have to pay out $$ for tech help in the future if anything happens to the partner.
There are many shippies I remember from the old ship, that I think may have not moved here, and perhaps others are still lurking, but not posting. I always enjoy everyone's posts and know that Real Life can be too much at times. I am grateful for all the contributions here.
I love the term technopeasant too @Cheery Gardener It was the late Uncle Pete, a Canadian whom I met when he visited NZ who was responsible for introducing it here. I don't know if it was a term he coined himself or if he picked it up elsewhere.
@Climacus, was Lightning Ridge interesting? Hope your travels are going safely. We have just returned home from a very pleasant dinner with another couple and their 90 year old neighbour. Apparent temperature is already down to -2.8°C.
With regard to technology, I have ended as an odd mixture of knowledgeable and ignorant, as I worked in mainframe applications for 30 years, so I have lots of obsolete knowledge about COBOL and relational databases, plus the sort of basic Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills that most people pick up in an office environment. However, as far as the latest generation of phones and TVs etc are concerned, I am not the boss of them.
Having just bought a new tablet I wish someone would update it. But it would probably be on a site that only the technologically literate could access and navigate,
How did people go with the outage on Friday? I had not realised it was happening until the TV program was broken into and TV news took over. Personally, I don't know if we needed that, plus the issue swampng the news, but that's just me, I think. Daughter had headed out to shopping mall and indicated not many shops here appeared to be affected. We were surprised that kids were able to order their normal fast food delivery on Friday night, but those businesses must not have been impacted.
I am really relieved to see some sun this morning as yesterday was so grey and cold that I didn't even bother to open our curtains bar one set. Thought it was best to try to keep the warm inside the house. Ducks were happy though, a puddle formed on the side of the road and they had a nice drink and picked the green along the edge of the footpath. I thought they would have stayed in their nests all day, like us!
Quiet rainy weekend. @Cheery Gardener South Africa was badly affected by the cyber outage on Friday; it came right after Mandela Day (his birthday) with 67 minutes dedicated to acts of kindness, so it was like a public holiday with many civic groups helping those affected by the floods, handing out gift packs to women and children in shelters, extra soup kitchens and pasta stalls set up over the lunch hour etc. Then on Friday, morning the airports closed for international flights and certain banks and atms (Capitec) shut down, hospitals began rescheduling surgeries and almost any company reliant on Microsoft went offline. Not sure it will all be back up on Monday.
I love the idea of 67 minutes of kindness @MaryLouise - that sounds like a perfect tribute to a great man and supporting the flood affected, really essential. Much admiration for those participating.
I did hear of some private hospitals in Oz being impacted by the outage, but public hospital were ok at the time I was listening to news. I had pictured in my mind a subversive older woman, who when instructed to throw out the "old" paperwork because of "everything is online now" thought to themself, nup and just quietly put blank forms in her locker for an occasion such as this.
I was very worried about the impact on airports, not just from a flight safety perspective, but also the delays in travel may have meant lots of people clustering together in cramped conditions and the illness we mostly avoid mentioning now. Urk.
Today is looking grey at present, but predicted to be a warm winter day. As long as there is blue sky for a bit, I will be happy enough with a bit of pottering, some jobs being completed and an overdue phone call with a friend (assuming they are free).
My friend that was coming for birthday catch-up on Friday, was unfortunately sick and I probably need to check in on them too. So the day might be busier than first thought!
Yes, @Cheery Gardener, Saturday was very cold indeed. We were very grateful for our central heating, which very unusually came on in a couple of short bursts in the middle of the night. And windy too. We went to a piano concert at Wesley Church at Forrest yesterday afternoon and saw a whole section of construction fence that had blown down on the way back. Hope you are keeping warm.
Sorry to hear of the outages. I hope all is resolved for those impacted.
I had my first day of TAFE (tertiary college for those outside Oz) today and, thanks be to God, it was as near to perfect as one can get -- great teachers, a beautiful campus with trees and water (I did my undergrad at a concrete jungle in the CBD of Sydney) shared with a university (at Ourimbah, NSW) and very friendly students. I'm studying to become a teacher's aide/learning support officer/something like that, so we'll see how this career change (from a data analyst, mostly) goes.
Cherry Gardener: yes, some long drives due to the short nature of the holiday and all I wanted to see. But I took regular breaks. The dinosaur sites, I visited 2, were incredible! I did tours at each -- and was 1 of 1 tourees(?) at the stampede site so I got my own tour! Seeing footprints, fossils, etc from all that time ago was breathtaking and amazing. I also did a nature walk (under an hour) at the stampede site which was beautiful. Not sure how it compares to other places, but it may get somewhat pricey with a family. Feel free to send me a message or post questions here for more details.
WormInTheGrass: I loved Lightning Ridge. Lots to do and very interesting history. There is an Orthodox mission church there (!) under the Serbians that I knew nought about until I got there; no service that weekend so I went to annoy the Catholics. The priest, the first person I think I've ever encountered named Samson, gave a sermon which appeared to be directly addressed to me as it dealt with a very particular issue I was dealing with. God works in wondrous, if frightening, ways. I hope it works out for the parish the sermon was primarily addressed to.
I also did a bushwalk at Carnarvon Gorge which was amazing. Beautiful nature and some Indigenous carvings and paintings as well.
Comments
I must organise for flu shots and also an updated jab having done a covid one at Christmas time.
Today is glorious outside, a little breeze when I began my sweeping efforts, but warming up nicely. Our minimum even stayed above zero this morning!
I do hope though that we might do a visit to local auction house. I'm not looking for anything in particular, but do like to have a poke around to see what's there. Often we add a drive through coffee to our outing and that is also very much enjoyed.
Daughter is having a week off from work and is hoping to plan some outside recreation and practice her motor biking. Son will be doing nothing much, so I will perhaps find him some jobs to help me with.
I'm amazed to see that our temperatures overnight are expected to remain above zero, that just feels wrong for this time of year.
I saw during the week that a large online book vendor that I've patronised, particularly for gifts has gone into receivership. That's the second one in about a year and that's not the best. I don't know if any others are impacted by this?
I just quickly glanced at your post and for ebooks read chooks....
@rhubarb glad to know the water issues don't involve a massive plumbing bill for you, hope you have water now.
@Sojourner, it snowed about a month before Cheery son was born, but has not done so in our area since. He refuses to believe it has ever snowed!
@GeeD, you did make me smile, now I'm trying to think how echooks might work. Perhaps you can get stats on their egg laying and see which of the birds is hogging all the feed? Perhaps echooks safer than the ones here, we've had a couple of cases of bird flu in backyard birds.
Very quiet weekend, with you guessed it, more sweeping of leaves! It is supposed to rain from about lunchtime, so an afternoon of movie watching anticipated and I am hoping a planned get together with friends next weekend will eventuate, lots of nasties going around her at present.
That would have been 1986? I recall similar several weeks before the birth of my youngest…
Snow for son was winter 2000 and fortunately we had a much more modern home by then. A definite cold snap that week too. How I have internally smacked myself for having two winter babies. Birthday parties, a nightmare!
Oh my goodness, the flooding does sound really disastrous, are there agencies that will help?
On the other hand, I'm slowly getting better, wrapped in thick quilts and drinking fresh orange juice by the litre.
I'm glad to hear you are slowly feeling better bronchitis wise.
I'm on the ship early (for me) today. In anticipation of visitors tomorrow, I will be having a baking day. I think it will be banana cake and a slice made with dried fruit. Husband is making soup, just something that we can reheat without too much fuss.
MaryLouise, the kind of weather you describe is happening here too, not in my area, but on the north east coast of the North Island (Te Ika a Maui).
It's been such a grey day today, so good company and soup will be very welcome
Soup sounds yummy, @Cheery Gardener. We eat soup nearly all year and try to have some in the freezer.
Husband is making leek and potato soup, but our visitors are off. I'm a bit sniffly today (probably dust) but as the husband of the couple is having a birthday this coming week we decided to postpone. We both felt it was better to be safe than sorry and as both families are yeah, "let's not get sick" people, we were both disappointed but knew it was the better decision.
I like the idea of having soup in the freezer, @WormInTheGrass, but space in our freezer is almost impossible to get as we buy some things in bulk. When space starts to free up, I know it's time to do the shopping again!
@MaryLouise, I hope the soup you were given was better than mine.
Black storm clouds looming, but the valley is a brilliant green from all the rain, field ditches white with arum lilies.
Your description of the valley is just beautiful and I hope seeing it brings some comfort.
It is sunny but cold here this morning. I discovered that when I rushed outside to grab my clotheshorse to set up in the warmest room. It is supposed to rain over the next couple of days and I don't want to get behind on the washing. That's the one thing that really gets me cross and frustrated. I know it's not earth shattering, but keeping on top of that helps me to keep on top of other things too as in my brain they form part of the week's routine.
Given that the second man listened more carefully to my requirements I'm going for the $200 cheaper one.
Good luck with your choice!
Nice to see familiar faces -- and any new ones.
Not sure if he is still here, but I drove through Wankydilla (let the reader understand) yesterday and thought of him and his family, and a short time spent there with the family and two other Shipmates.
I am on a brief (10 day) camping trip which started with a drive to Lightning Ridge Friday and will end with me being home Sunday. I am off to Winton today to visit the dinosaurs tomorrow. A fair bit of driving each day (for me), but it is giving me a taste of what is around for, hopefully, another, longer, visit.
Hope you continue to recover well, MaryLouise, and my prayers for you and those in the Cape (though terribly sad to read, your keeping me informed of issues, pain and suffering in Africa was when I was here previously and is now valued).
@MaryLouise, I think some of the young sales people can't really understand the basic needs of those who are, to use Uncle Pete's term; technopeasants. He was talking about gaming, I was talking about Patience/Solitaire.
That sums up the difference.
There are many shippies I remember from the old ship, that I think may have not moved here, and perhaps others are still lurking, but not posting. I always enjoy everyone's posts and know that Real Life can be too much at times. I am grateful for all the contributions here.
With regard to technology, I have ended as an odd mixture of knowledgeable and ignorant, as I worked in mainframe applications for 30 years, so I have lots of obsolete knowledge about COBOL and relational databases, plus the sort of basic Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills that most people pick up in an office environment. However, as far as the latest generation of phones and TVs etc are concerned, I am not the boss of them.
I am really relieved to see some sun this morning as yesterday was so grey and cold that I didn't even bother to open our curtains bar one set. Thought it was best to try to keep the warm inside the house. Ducks were happy though, a puddle formed on the side of the road and they had a nice drink and picked the green along the edge of the footpath. I thought they would have stayed in their nests all day, like us!
I did hear of some private hospitals in Oz being impacted by the outage, but public hospital were ok at the time I was listening to news. I had pictured in my mind a subversive older woman, who when instructed to throw out the "old" paperwork because of "everything is online now" thought to themself, nup and just quietly put blank forms in her locker for an occasion such as this.
I was very worried about the impact on airports, not just from a flight safety perspective, but also the delays in travel may have meant lots of people clustering together in cramped conditions and the illness we mostly avoid mentioning now. Urk.
Today is looking grey at present, but predicted to be a warm winter day. As long as there is blue sky for a bit, I will be happy enough with a bit of pottering, some jobs being completed and an overdue phone call with a friend (assuming they are free).
My friend that was coming for birthday catch-up on Friday, was unfortunately sick and I probably need to check in on them too. So the day might be busier than first thought!
I had my first day of TAFE (tertiary college for those outside Oz) today and, thanks be to God, it was as near to perfect as one can get -- great teachers, a beautiful campus with trees and water (I did my undergrad at a concrete jungle in the CBD of Sydney) shared with a university (at Ourimbah, NSW) and very friendly students. I'm studying to become a teacher's aide/learning support officer/something like that, so we'll see how this career change (from a data analyst, mostly) goes.
Cherry Gardener: yes, some long drives due to the short nature of the holiday and all I wanted to see. But I took regular breaks. The dinosaur sites, I visited 2, were incredible! I did tours at each -- and was 1 of 1 tourees(?) at the stampede site so I got my own tour! Seeing footprints, fossils, etc from all that time ago was breathtaking and amazing. I also did a nature walk (under an hour) at the stampede site which was beautiful. Not sure how it compares to other places, but it may get somewhat pricey with a family. Feel free to send me a message or post questions here for more details.
WormInTheGrass: I loved Lightning Ridge. Lots to do and very interesting history. There is an Orthodox mission church there (!) under the Serbians that I knew nought about until I got there; no service that weekend so I went to annoy the Catholics. The priest, the first person I think I've ever encountered named Samson, gave a sermon which appeared to be directly addressed to me as it dealt with a very particular issue I was dealing with. God works in wondrous, if frightening, ways. I hope it works out for the parish the sermon was primarily addressed to.
I also did a bushwalk at Carnarvon Gorge which was amazing. Beautiful nature and some Indigenous carvings and paintings as well.