@Huia, hope the battle against the jasmine is going well. Mr WitG has an ongoing rearguard action against bamboo at our place. While he has basically won in our yard, one of the adjoining properties is rented and therefore has somewhat variable gardening standards.
Hoping that nobody in the Cheery household has succumbed to any lurgies.
Forecast rain keeps wandering off to other corners of the map. Full moon tonight.
The forecast train leaves a lot to be desired, @Piglet! I am hoping that we get the promised rain that's meant to come this evening. I have not managed to persuade Cheery husband to take the car to work, but am hopeful it means he will leave work before 8.30pm, as he did last night!
Thanks for good wishes @WormInTheGrass, so far all is well and I have the feeling we have dodged a bullet! I don't know whether anyone is the daughter's workplace has succumbed, and I'm a bit afraid to ask!
@Huia, I don't envy you a battle with the Jasmine, I hope you are winning at present. We have one in our garden and I have to close the windows of an early evening as it seems to be prolifically smelly at that time of day. Well, I'm assuming it's that and not something in the neighbour's yard.
I have declared a slow day today after doing things with Cheery Son on Tuesday and yesterday. Some progress and yet in other ways total display of no common sense which makes me worry for his future.
So nothing much planned for today, a bit of reading and youtube watching and TV with maybe some pot-plant watering. That will do it!
I hope all is well with everyone, am having a rest day after mad garden work at the weekend and then a day of phone calls on Monday. Yesterday was (finally) lunch with a friend, but I overdid it a bit on the treats and am paying for that today!
Hoping normal service will resume tomorrow and back onto normal jobs. Cheery daughter is fortunately quite well, but has taken a week off work as she like to take a week off every few months to keep her leave balance low and also to keep herself well rested. She is certainly doing that, as I've not really seen her before mid morning! Cheery husband working too many hours at work, roll around the end of the year, I say!
Yesterday was not with a lovely blue sky, today it's slightly cooler, but very grey and overcast. I'd love there to be more rain in those clouds, but I suspect not today!
I've been reading but not much to say. I did go for a very short, and steep!, walk to a waterfall today which was nice. I saw a lyrebird which was also nice, but it made no sounds -- other birds, chainsaws, car alarms, babies crying, robot sounds, or the 1000 other sounds the clever bird can mimic. I have 2 Ukrainians I have English conversation sessions with and will share a video of the beautiful lyrebird with them.
Nice to see you, @Climacus. Our detour to Lightning Ridge on our trip to Broken Hill was partly inspired by your earlier travels. Both are most interesting places.
Seeing a lyrebird, even a silent one would be nice.
We had fish and chips with some friends on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin last weekend, but the only wild life was seagulls, which we were bidden not to feed by various signs. On the way to and from this outing, there were various portable electronic signs warning us of the traffic diversions that would happen on the Monday, when Charles and Camilla dropped in for the day. @Cheery Gardener that sounds like you are keeping your garden in very good order.
Your walk sounds just lovely @Climacus, just wonderful seeing the birds in their natural spot doing their own thing. I am sure your conversation class attendees will find the lyrebird very interesting and I do wonder what sort of birds they have in Ukraine and how your chat might go. Have your conversation folk been in Australia very long?
Fish and Chips on the lake sounds very nice indeed @WormInTheGrass, did it get cool there? I have been caught forgetting to take a jacket and it can be breezy and chilly there!
Cheery daughter has had a week's holiday and we plan a family outing after lunch, I think just down to the Cotter, which likes in particular. The day seems as though it will be pleasant and not too hot, so I am sure we'll have a nice time. Cheery husband, brother and she like a bit of a wander and an explore, however I think I'll just take my book with me.
We have been working pretty hard in the garden, trying to catch up on jobs and a day off will be appreciated. I'll try to get motivated in a bit to make a cake to take with us.
@Cheery Gardener it was lovely most of the time we were there, but got chilly quite abruptly about 15 minutes before we intended to leave. I did have a jacket, but was still glad we weren’t staying any longer.
This afternoon, we went to the National Library to go to one of the Canberra Writers’ Festival talks. We got there early as I was a bit worried because the link to the tickets on my phone wasn’t working. However, this was sorted out quite quickly as the person on the door could look up bookings by surname, so we had time to have coffee at the library’s cafe which rejoices in the name Bookplate. We sat right next to one of the Leonard French stained glass windows.
Fish n chips and outings sound wonderful. It is nice to get out and about.
The Ukrainians I speak with are overseas...both had to flee, sadly, so they are in other countries. We haven't talked much about nature...perhaps the next topic of conversation!
I've started my placements at a high school and primary school for my learning support officer (teacher's aide) course which, thanks be to God, seem to be going well. Very different environments but all good learning experiences. I mainly work with children with mild intellectual disabilities.
I hope your placement is going well @Climacus, the work you are doing is really important.
How was the Writer's festival @WormInTheGrass? I've never been, but I'm always interested to see who is attending each year. I was very tempted this year because Rick Morton was making an appearance, but thought I'd finish his book instead.
After a busy weekend, I think today is going to be a slow day. Son and husband have decided we'll have a minimal Halloween this year, after a biggish effort the last couple of years. We might lose our status as best house on the street, but this year we just don't have the time to put into it (or the inspiration).
I have been having computer problems, the the nightmare of resetting my password, and lots of bad words were said - however I'm back now.
@Climacus good to see you back posting. I certainly could have done with a teachers aid like you when I was teaching. I actually left teaching and went to university because I felt I needed to learn other ways of working with the range of needs in my classrooms over the years. The then Government decided that anyone who had left for any reason would be at the bottom of the list for being pre-employed, so I never went back.
The friend who was helping me with the jasmine has braved snow and very cold weather to visit other friends in Dunedin, but will be back in a week or so. Jasmine eradicated will continue then.
Hurrah for the resolution of computer problems, Huia. Snow in October? I do live in a very warm land. I liked Dunedin...though the taxi from the airport to the city cost a small fortune!
I would've loved to work with you.
Good day at primary school today. I'm learning a lot of interesting and engaging teaching techniques from the teachers and learning support officers. I had a headswell moment when one of the teachers said a girl who interacts with me in terms of showing me her work and talking to me usually avoids strangers for a long while.
@Cheery Gardener, the Writers’ Festival session was excellent. It was at the National Library theatre and was the one about language as archive with two indigenous speakers, local man, Paul Girrawah House, and Cheryl Leavy from Queensland. It was a bit of a random choice as Andrew Leigh whom I would really liked to have had heard, was on at my regular aquarobics time on Friday morning, so I just chose what I was most interested in from the times and places that were convenient. I heard Rick Morton at Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2019. He was really interesting. His session at the Canberra Writers’ Festival was being recorded for the Read This podcast, and the one I went to was being recorded for the Archive Fever podcast.
Thanks for the update about the Writer's Festival, @WormInTheGrass, I do appreciate that. I'll look for the Read This podcast, as I know I'd find that interesting.
@Huia, such a pest having computer problems, glad to hear you are back online and that the jasmine battle continues (or will do when your friend returns). It sounds like my battle with the weeds.
@Climacus, I can't tell you enough just how much the parents appreciate the work of Learning Assistants in schools. Our son only qualified for minimal support due to a flawed assessment system (now highlighted in a local auditor general's report), but the people who worked in that space were just gold and I can't praise them enough!! So that you are finding it rewarding work, just makes my heart sing!
Feeling a little bit tired today after Halloween last night. We didn't go all out as in other years because the husband has been a bit too busy at work. Pulled together a last minute costume for the son as Arthur Dent, which gave us both a laugh. Probably the least time we've spent on a costume ever. He has at various times, been Mr Incredible, Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Grug, and Frankenstein. I think we had between 40 and 50 kids come calling and the son had the great idea of making last night, a "get your own" dinner.
As we sat outside, waiting for our callers, he made the suggestion. For him that meant making a cheese pizza and for me reheating a piece of salmon I'd cooked the previous night, adding some potatoes to the air frier and quickly doing some frozen veg. Dinner made in 10 minutes, thank goodness!
I was worried that 2 little boys who are normal callers had not appeared in costume, I think they are twins. But then it came to me that they are a year older and Mum might be letting them stay up late. I'm sad to say we disappointed them slightly as we did not set up our "Thing" table left over from when son was Thing in the school musical. Where is the table??? They cried and I had to apologise that we'd not had time to find it or set it up this year - perhaps next year!!
I think the last callers came around 7:30 and two older boys had to share a bag of sweets between them because that is all that was left. I was so impressed by the number of children who were so polite, Oh look at the effort you've made, they said. Thank you and have a nice evening. Very pleased to have them call.
Woke up to a new month and the scent of old-fashioned roses blowing in from hedgerows below my flat window. Out here in my corner of the Overberg, we don't do Halloween in mid-summer, but Diwali's Festival of Lights is the big celebration with little cakes and homemade sweets given to neighbours.
Glad to hear your work is going so well @Climacus and welcome back to virtual realities on the Ship, @Huia!
That does sound delightful. Although I'm a winter baby (born in February), and come from Northerly Latitudes™, I could almost* envy you south-of-the-equator-dwellers that you're coming into Spring!
* almost, but not quite; I'm sufficiently northern-hemisphere-orientated that having Christmas in summer and Easter in autumn would play silly-buggers with my body clock!
Ha ha. I know some northern hemispherites who continually remain bewildered when I talk of hot Christmases. Just can't wrap their heads around it. Intellectually yes, but I think emotionally no which makes sense. I enjoyed my one Christmas in Dublin; just a different feel.
Late, but just saw my first whale this season not far from the coast up the top of Tomaree Head (Port Stephens) -- "..there is this dragon You formed to play therein..."; a distraction far better than dealing with child protection issues, among other TAFE (college) assessments -- gosh I've had an easy life!
Yes, I can see that getting your head around Christmas in summer and Easter in autumn could be tricky. Although in this part of Australia, there’s often a little second spring with new green grass, if there’s a little rain after the really hot weather has finished. There’s a lot of snow in Christmas carols and very few with hot north winds. Does anyone else here know (and love) Wheeler and James Australian Christmas carols. Carol of the Birds is my favourite. We’re off to Sydney for a few days.
Mind you I ended up wearing a beanie for the second half of an outside evening Christmas dinner in Adelaide last year, as the temperature was only 16°C and the breeze was quite cool. Also I get a cold head much more easily than before the cancer treatment even though my hair has grown back.
We have two photos of our daughter that I love, one taken on Christmas Day and the second on Boxing Day. Photo number one sitting in her new sandpit, wearing a hat and a short sleeved babygro thing, with completely bare legs, a very hot day. Next day, riding her plastic baby trike thing in the house wearing a parka because yes, cold snap overnight - not unusual in our part of Oz.
@MaryLouise your awakening to lovely scents sounds just wonderful with spring time definitely in the air. I've been enjoying our neighbour's lovely crab apple flowering just near our lavender bushes, both just divine (though the apple is on the way out now due to rain and wind).
@WormInTheGrass I love bird carol, which I've only become familiar with from Macca on the radio, I think he plays it every year. One definite childhood memory is learning to sing The North Wind is Tossing the Leaves for the school assembly, probably about 50 years ago.
I also remember a very grumpy Christmas where Mum had slaved cooking the full hot lunch and then being upset because no one wanted to eat it. We were all grumpy because we were hot and very hungry as lunch seemed to take forever to cook. After that we started to introduce more salads and Mum would cook a turkey roll on Christmas Eve so we could have it cold the next day. We are not big seafood eaters, but husband and daughter are quite fond of some prawns on the day, but to be honest, I only eat them rarely and then its because I quite like the sauce, but not the prawns
Is the carol about birds the one that goes "Orana! Orana!" ("Welcome", iirc)?
Not much to smell in the garden here, except the leaves of my dwarf mandarin tree. I do love that scent. Visiting a scented garden is a delight. The relatively new bottlebrush in the backyard has finished its short blooming; I do love its flowers.
Indeed, and I am not a fan @Climacus, dry heat all the way for me!!
I turned the aircon on for the first time today as we were roasting yesterday at 31 degrees celsius. Looking forward to it being a bit cooler and I'd love some rain, the pond is starting to diminish again!
Hi @Climacus, yes that’s the one.
There was some rain in Sydney this morning, but yesterday was over 30°C, and I am not a fan of humidity either. I grew up in Adelaide and can manage dry heat OK, but too much humidity is very flattening.
I am up bright and early today as when nature calls I'm finding it harder to get back to sleep, perhaps a nap later on, I'm hoping I can be at my best today, because it's important.
I'm expecting a visitor who will record my thoughts about the handling of the covid pandemic, here in Oz, for the use of researchers. I first heard about this oral history project on the local radio and one of the producers thought I'd find it interesting.
I didn't put my hand up to say, me, me! But I wrote to them asking them to carefully consider how they allocated the interviews and to make sure they had all voices represented. It was probably a case of teaching mother how to suck eggs, but unexpectedly I was offered a spot. I suspect it was because of our son's medical history, which I mentioned as problematic in this context, that they offered one to me. I'm glad to say that they are trying to gather stories widely and I must ask whether a similar project was done for the 1918 flu (I suspect not) and whether that's something they are trying to rectify in this situation.
I suspect it's going to be wide-ranging and hard at times, but I'm very interested to know more about the process and the type of questions that might be asked.
Thank goodness today is not going to be as hot as the weekend and I'm really relying on it to be cooler at the end of the week because I'm catching up with a friend.
I hope @Huia, that your computer is continuing to behave itself and that you are getting some relief from the humidity @Climacus. @MaryLouise, I'm thinking of you and wondering whether you are still having lovely morning scents.
Lots of my flowers are dropping at present after the hot weekend and I've already been around and given them all a big drink, hoping that might help the blooms to last a bit longer.
Hope the recording goes well, Gardener of Good Cheer. I imagine it may be challenging at times too given the topic. All the best! Please let us know how it goes. How nice to be selected.
I hate technology. I signed in using my tablet with a new password because I couldn't remember the old one, now I'm back on my laptop and don't know which p/w I'm using.
This message is to check I'm properly nack and can post
Enjoying 3 weeks in the Apple Isle. Currently in Bicheno or as my gps says B'cheeno. Tomorrow Wine Glass Bay and Thursday to Hobart to cat up with friends old and new for at least 5 days.
This is truly weird, at least to me a technopeasant and a bear of very little brain. I had to enter a new password when using my tablet, but when I logged on using my laptop I am using the password I have always use and can't remember (I rely on the computer to remember it for me. My laptop and tablet are connected.
My tablet didn't store my new password, but as I didn't run out of time on my old p/w I am still able to use it.
@Dennis the Menace hope you have a lovely time in Tasmania. A few years ago we had a week in Hobart with the kids, I really loved it. The family was mad with me because I kept looking at Real Estate, I would have moved there in a heartbeat!
@Huia, I hope your technology issues are now resolved.
@Climacus my brain is very tired today, so much talking!!! In some ways I wish there had been a more systematic approach, or advice of questions to be asked, it was quite free flowing, but I need more structure and didn't mention a number of things that are important. I hope I didn't come across as a total lunatic.
Taking things quietly today, just the bins to get into the road and dinner is already sorted in my mind, so I can do that on autopilot. I've taken the slow day as an opportunity to read the book of the month for the ship's book group and have caught up with my sister, so that's been very pleasant
I am sure you did wonderfully. It must be quite an intense experience.
Huia: I worked in IT, but devices were never my forté. I too hope all is resolved.
The day started off poorly with a kid lashing out (at inanimate objects) so the kids were moved to their class before the bell. More dramas resulted during the day, which upset their calm. I took one kid to the library during second break. I'm guessing the heat and it being near the end of the school year is playing a part too. This placement is certainly helpful and illuminating.
@Climacus, that seems like a very constructive attitude to a difficult situation. @Cheery Gardener, that sounds as if you gave the interviewer lots of good information. Would it be possible to send them an email about the things you thought of afterwards? @Huia, like @Climacus, I worked in IT, but it’s sufficiently long ago, that phones and tablets still frustrate me quite a lot. I think app designers imagine the world in a completely different framework from anyone over fifty.
I am well aware modern technology is becoming increasingly complex to me.
Set to be 36° today; I usually wear jeans or pants out. I think I have reached an age of not caring now and shorts will be worn to TAFE and the homework centre, my pasty legs on display for all.
Don't get your legs sunburnt @Climacus, or dazzle the kids with the reflected light.
When I was teaching the year was divided into 3 terms. I remember one year the term was 15 weeks long, and by the end of it the children were hot and cranky, so was I. I never taught here in Christchurch, but a teacher told me that once the Santa Parade had happened the kids weren't the least interested in much else. Now there are 4 terms of roughly 10 weeks.
Currently Christchurch has 3 days of 26C which is about my limit. Fortunately for me the easterly wind, known as the "Beasterly Easterly" when it blows in winter, is providing some relief. I think I would live in the bath if the temperature ever edged into the 30s here.
I took my laptop to the fixit place, The receptionist handed back the cable that has the plug on it and I promptly lost it. I went to a place that sells the cables and a helpful young man said they had the right cable for $125, but another shop might have an HP cable. I went to the other shop and they sold me a generic cable for $6! (losing things is my superpower. )
@Huia, I'm very glad you were able to get a reasonably priced cable, that's good news. I also remember the days of the 3 term year from being a student and the winter term always felt long and horrible
@WormInTheGrass I have sent a couple of subsequent emails to my interviewer and she's said I can send anything else onto her.
Thanks for your kind words @Climacus, I found it hard to break out of the cancer parent lingo and abbreviations, that I later realised other people may or may not understand, however I think it is OK and as indicated above I've sent through some more details in print.
I saw on another thread that you are doing some writing @MaryLouise I hope that's going well
I am well aware modern technology is becoming increasingly complex to me.
Set to be 36° today; I usually wear jeans or pants out. I think I have reached an age of not caring now and shorts will be worn to TAFE and the homework centre, my pasty legs on display for all.
I'm in awe you can go out at all. I'd be hiding in a walk in fridge somewhere.
@Cheery Gardener the creative writing has slowed to a crawl, so am busy making some homemade kombucha (fermented probiotic tea) as a distraction. I flavour the SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) with loose leaf rooibos and the kombucha will sit in a dark cupboard for three weeks fizzing away like Frankenstein's monster.
@Climacus , also put my pasty calves on display in rolled-up Capri pants and now my legs are sunburned pink from the knees down. No sun yesterday but the cloud glare burns fiercer than sunshine.
Distraction #2. Made a snack supper for two friends with homemade hummus and a baba ghanoush dip, a great success but I have now used up all my hoarded supply of tahini which is rarer than hen' teeth to get out here.
I am well aware modern technology is becoming increasingly complex to me.
Set to be 36° today; I usually wear jeans or pants out. I think I have reached an age of not caring now and shorts will be worn to TAFE and the homework centre, my pasty legs on display for all.
I'm in awe you can go out at all. I'd be hiding in a walk in fridge somewhere.
At our place, a bit inland from @Climacus it got to 39 yesterday. I believe that was a new record for a November day.
Love the sound of your Kombucha making @MaryLouise, it's not a beverage I've tried, but I feel as though I should be doing more for my gut health. Hopefully inspiration strikes soon an you can return to your writing.
@Barnabas_Aus that temperature sounds as though it's really made for @Zappa, much too hot for me - I think my limit is about about 10 degrees lower.
@Climacus, I say show those pale legs and be proud of them!! I'm not a tanner, but a burner in the sun, so I too aim for the sunsafe look these days!
I just heard a news item that they're cleaning up on the West Coast (of the South Island) after 400mm of rain in 24 hours.
The wind blows over the Tasman Sea picking up moisture, hits the Southern Alps and the rain comes down.
Here on the east coast the year's average rainfall is between 600mm and 700mm.
I love the West Coast for it's rainforest and beauty but the population doesn't support a decent library or a good bus service, two of the essentials of my life.
That is a lot of rain. I had a very brief visit to the West Coast; it is beautiful.
Enjoy your kombucha, MaryLouise. I think I must be the last person on the planet who is yet to try it! I do love both hummus and a baba ghanoush.
We had the bishop visit, a festive lunch and a number of desserts and had a display of 75 years of Russian Orthodoxy in the Hunter region. Photos, icons, vestments, liturgical items... It was interesting to learn of their arrival in 1949 to a migrant camp in Greta and their lives and work from there. Thanks to a priest who came from Europe with them and a friendly Anglican priest who made his chapel available they had a service a week after arriving! It was tough times for them; one poor woman sobbed continuosly wondering what sort of place she had come to, given its many differences from Europe. Made me reflect on my life and its blessings, and, as our priest said, the legacy they left us.
That sounds like a very moving and important event @Climacus.
@Huia, that sounds like a lot of rain, happy to take some off your hands! I'm crossing my fingers that we get some tomorrow.
I imagine home made Kombucha is much nicer than the bought kind @MaryLouise , but I might have to settle for buying a bottle to try, as I've not had it before. Do you feel better for having it?
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Hoping that nobody in the Cheery household has succumbed to any lurgies.
Forecast rain keeps wandering off to other corners of the map. Full moon tonight.
Thanks for good wishes @WormInTheGrass, so far all is well and I have the feeling we have dodged a bullet! I don't know whether anyone is the daughter's workplace has succumbed, and I'm a bit afraid to ask!
@Huia, I don't envy you a battle with the Jasmine, I hope you are winning at present. We have one in our garden and I have to close the windows of an early evening as it seems to be prolifically smelly at that time of day. Well, I'm assuming it's that and not something in the neighbour's yard.
I have declared a slow day today after doing things with Cheery Son on Tuesday and yesterday. Some progress and yet in other ways total display of no common sense which makes me worry for his future.
So nothing much planned for today, a bit of reading and youtube watching and TV with maybe some pot-plant watering. That will do it!
Hoping normal service will resume tomorrow and back onto normal jobs. Cheery daughter is fortunately quite well, but has taken a week off work as she like to take a week off every few months to keep her leave balance low and also to keep herself well rested. She is certainly doing that, as I've not really seen her before mid morning! Cheery husband working too many hours at work, roll around the end of the year, I say!
Yesterday was not with a lovely blue sky, today it's slightly cooler, but very grey and overcast. I'd love there to be more rain in those clouds, but I suspect not today!
I've been reading but not much to say. I did go for a very short, and steep!, walk to a waterfall today which was nice. I saw a lyrebird which was also nice, but it made no sounds -- other birds, chainsaws, car alarms, babies crying, robot sounds, or the 1000 other sounds the clever bird can mimic. I have 2 Ukrainians I have English conversation sessions with and will share a video of the beautiful lyrebird with them.
Seeing a lyrebird, even a silent one would be nice.
We had fish and chips with some friends on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin last weekend, but the only wild life was seagulls, which we were bidden not to feed by various signs. On the way to and from this outing, there were various portable electronic signs warning us of the traffic diversions that would happen on the Monday, when Charles and Camilla dropped in for the day.
@Cheery Gardener that sounds like you are keeping your garden in very good order.
Fish and Chips on the lake sounds very nice indeed @WormInTheGrass, did it get cool there? I have been caught forgetting to take a jacket and it can be breezy and chilly there!
Cheery daughter has had a week's holiday and we plan a family outing after lunch, I think just down to the Cotter, which likes in particular. The day seems as though it will be pleasant and not too hot, so I am sure we'll have a nice time. Cheery husband, brother and she like a bit of a wander and an explore, however I think I'll just take my book with me.
We have been working pretty hard in the garden, trying to catch up on jobs and a day off will be appreciated. I'll try to get motivated in a bit to make a cake to take with us.
This afternoon, we went to the National Library to go to one of the Canberra Writers’ Festival talks. We got there early as I was a bit worried because the link to the tickets on my phone wasn’t working. However, this was sorted out quite quickly as the person on the door could look up bookings by surname, so we had time to have coffee at the library’s cafe which rejoices in the name Bookplate. We sat right next to one of the Leonard French stained glass windows.
Fish n chips and outings sound wonderful. It is nice to get out and about.
The Ukrainians I speak with are overseas...both had to flee, sadly, so they are in other countries. We haven't talked much about nature...perhaps the next topic of conversation!
I've started my placements at a high school and primary school for my learning support officer (teacher's aide) course which, thanks be to God, seem to be going well. Very different environments but all good learning experiences. I mainly work with children with mild intellectual disabilities.
How was the Writer's festival @WormInTheGrass? I've never been, but I'm always interested to see who is attending each year. I was very tempted this year because Rick Morton was making an appearance, but thought I'd finish his book instead.
After a busy weekend, I think today is going to be a slow day. Son and husband have decided we'll have a minimal Halloween this year, after a biggish effort the last couple of years. We might lose our status as best house on the street, but this year we just don't have the time to put into it (or the inspiration).
@Climacus good to see you back posting. I certainly could have done with a teachers aid like you when I was teaching. I actually left teaching and went to university because I felt I needed to learn other ways of working with the range of needs in my classrooms over the years. The then Government decided that anyone who had left for any reason would be at the bottom of the list for being pre-employed, so I never went back.
The friend who was helping me with the jasmine has braved snow and very cold weather to visit other friends in Dunedin, but will be back in a week or so. Jasmine eradicated will continue then.
I would've loved to work with you.
Good day at primary school today. I'm learning a lot of interesting and engaging teaching techniques from the teachers and learning support officers. I had a headswell moment when one of the teachers said a girl who interacts with me in terms of showing me her work and talking to me usually avoids strangers for a long while.
@Huia, such a pest having computer problems, glad to hear you are back online and that the jasmine battle continues (or will do when your friend returns). It sounds like my battle with the weeds.
@Climacus, I can't tell you enough just how much the parents appreciate the work of Learning Assistants in schools. Our son only qualified for minimal support due to a flawed assessment system (now highlighted in a local auditor general's report), but the people who worked in that space were just gold and I can't praise them enough!! So that you are finding it rewarding work, just makes my heart sing!
Feeling a little bit tired today after Halloween last night. We didn't go all out as in other years because the husband has been a bit too busy at work. Pulled together a last minute costume for the son as Arthur Dent, which gave us both a laugh. Probably the least time we've spent on a costume ever. He has at various times, been Mr Incredible, Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Grug, and Frankenstein. I think we had between 40 and 50 kids come calling and the son had the great idea of making last night, a "get your own" dinner.
As we sat outside, waiting for our callers, he made the suggestion. For him that meant making a cheese pizza and for me reheating a piece of salmon I'd cooked the previous night, adding some potatoes to the air frier and quickly doing some frozen veg. Dinner made in 10 minutes, thank goodness!
I was worried that 2 little boys who are normal callers had not appeared in costume, I think they are twins. But then it came to me that they are a year older and Mum might be letting them stay up late. I'm sad to say we disappointed them slightly as we did not set up our "Thing" table left over from when son was Thing in the school musical. Where is the table??? They cried and I had to apologise that we'd not had time to find it or set it up this year - perhaps next year!!
I think the last callers came around 7:30 and two older boys had to share a bag of sweets between them because that is all that was left. I was so impressed by the number of children who were so polite, Oh look at the effort you've made, they said. Thank you and have a nice evening. Very pleased to have them call.
Glad to hear your work is going so well @Climacus and welcome back to virtual realities on the Ship, @Huia!
What a lovely start to a day!
* almost, but not quite; I'm sufficiently northern-hemisphere-orientated that having Christmas in summer and Easter in autumn would play silly-buggers with my body clock!
Mind you I ended up wearing a beanie for the second half of an outside evening Christmas dinner in Adelaide last year, as the temperature was only 16°C and the breeze was quite cool. Also I get a cold head much more easily than before the cancer treatment even though my hair has grown back.
@MaryLouise your awakening to lovely scents sounds just wonderful with spring time definitely in the air. I've been enjoying our neighbour's lovely crab apple flowering just near our lavender bushes, both just divine (though the apple is on the way out now due to rain and wind).
@WormInTheGrass I love bird carol, which I've only become familiar with from Macca on the radio, I think he plays it every year. One definite childhood memory is learning to sing The North Wind is Tossing the Leaves for the school assembly, probably about 50 years ago.
I also remember a very grumpy Christmas where Mum had slaved cooking the full hot lunch and then being upset because no one wanted to eat it. We were all grumpy because we were hot and very hungry as lunch seemed to take forever to cook. After that we started to introduce more salads and Mum would cook a turkey roll on Christmas Eve so we could have it cold the next day. We are not big seafood eaters, but husband and daughter are quite fond of some prawns on the day, but to be honest, I only eat them rarely and then its because I quite like the sauce, but not the prawns
Not much to smell in the garden here, except the leaves of my dwarf mandarin tree. I do love that scent. Visiting a scented garden is a delight. The relatively new bottlebrush in the backyard has finished its short blooming; I do love its flowers.
My prawns are swamped in sauce.
I turned the aircon on for the first time today as we were roasting yesterday at 31 degrees celsius. Looking forward to it being a bit cooler and I'd love some rain, the pond is starting to diminish again!
There was some rain in Sydney this morning, but yesterday was over 30°C, and I am not a fan of humidity either. I grew up in Adelaide and can manage dry heat OK, but too much humidity is very flattening.
I'm expecting a visitor who will record my thoughts about the handling of the covid pandemic, here in Oz, for the use of researchers. I first heard about this oral history project on the local radio and one of the producers thought I'd find it interesting.
I didn't put my hand up to say, me, me! But I wrote to them asking them to carefully consider how they allocated the interviews and to make sure they had all voices represented. It was probably a case of teaching mother how to suck eggs, but unexpectedly I was offered a spot. I suspect it was because of our son's medical history, which I mentioned as problematic in this context, that they offered one to me. I'm glad to say that they are trying to gather stories widely and I must ask whether a similar project was done for the 1918 flu (I suspect not) and whether that's something they are trying to rectify in this situation.
I suspect it's going to be wide-ranging and hard at times, but I'm very interested to know more about the process and the type of questions that might be asked.
Thank goodness today is not going to be as hot as the weekend and I'm really relying on it to be cooler at the end of the week because I'm catching up with a friend.
I hope @Huia, that your computer is continuing to behave itself and that you are getting some relief from the humidity @Climacus. @MaryLouise, I'm thinking of you and wondering whether you are still having lovely morning scents.
Lots of my flowers are dropping at present after the hot weekend and I've already been around and given them all a big drink, hoping that might help the blooms to last a bit longer.
This message is to check I'm properly nack and can post
How wonderful, Dennis! I was in that region many years ago for a short stay. Beautiful. Enjoy your wonderful three weeks.
My tablet didn't store my new password, but as I didn't run out of time on my old p/w I am still able to use it.
My brain hurts.
@Huia, I hope your technology issues are now resolved.
@Climacus my brain is very tired today, so much talking!!! In some ways I wish there had been a more systematic approach, or advice of questions to be asked, it was quite free flowing, but I need more structure and didn't mention a number of things that are important. I hope I didn't come across as a total lunatic.
Taking things quietly today, just the bins to get into the road and dinner is already sorted in my mind, so I can do that on autopilot. I've taken the slow day as an opportunity to read the book of the month for the ship's book group and have caught up with my sister, so that's been very pleasant
Huia: I worked in IT, but devices were never my forté. I too hope all is resolved.
The day started off poorly with a kid lashing out (at inanimate objects) so the kids were moved to their class before the bell. More dramas resulted during the day, which upset their calm. I took one kid to the library during second break. I'm guessing the heat and it being near the end of the school year is playing a part too. This placement is certainly helpful and illuminating.
@Cheery Gardener, that sounds as if you gave the interviewer lots of good information. Would it be possible to send them an email about the things you thought of afterwards?
@Huia, like @Climacus, I worked in IT, but it’s sufficiently long ago, that phones and tablets still frustrate me quite a lot. I think app designers imagine the world in a completely different framework from anyone over fifty.
Set to be 36° today; I usually wear jeans or pants out. I think I have reached an age of not caring now and shorts will be worn to TAFE and the homework centre, my pasty legs on display for all.
When I was teaching the year was divided into 3 terms. I remember one year the term was 15 weeks long, and by the end of it the children were hot and cranky, so was I. I never taught here in Christchurch, but a teacher told me that once the Santa Parade had happened the kids weren't the least interested in much else. Now there are 4 terms of roughly 10 weeks.
Currently Christchurch has 3 days of 26C which is about my limit. Fortunately for me the easterly wind, known as the "Beasterly Easterly" when it blows in winter, is providing some relief. I think I would live in the bath if the temperature ever edged into the 30s here.
I took my laptop to the fixit place, The receptionist handed back the cable that has the plug on it and I promptly lost it. I went to a place that sells the cables and a helpful young man said they had the right cable for $125, but another shop might have an HP cable. I went to the other shop and they sold me a generic cable for $6! (losing things is my superpower.
@WormInTheGrass I have sent a couple of subsequent emails to my interviewer and she's said I can send anything else onto her.
Thanks for your kind words @Climacus, I found it hard to break out of the cancer parent lingo and abbreviations, that I later realised other people may or may not understand, however I think it is OK and as indicated above I've sent through some more details in print.
I saw on another thread that you are doing some writing @MaryLouise I hope that's going well
I'm in awe you can go out at all. I'd be hiding in a walk in fridge somewhere.
@Climacus , also put my pasty calves on display in rolled-up Capri pants and now my legs are sunburned pink from the knees down. No sun yesterday but the cloud glare burns fiercer than sunshine.
Distraction #2. Made a snack supper for two friends with homemade hummus and a baba ghanoush dip, a great success but I have now used up all my hoarded supply of tahini which is rarer than hen' teeth to get out here.
At our place, a bit inland from @Climacus it got to 39 yesterday. I believe that was a new record for a November day.
@Barnabas_Aus that temperature sounds as though it's really made for @Zappa, much too hot for me - I think my limit is about about 10 degrees lower.
@Climacus, I say show those pale legs and be proud of them!! I'm not a tanner, but a burner in the sun, so I too aim for the sunsafe look these days!
The wind blows over the Tasman Sea picking up moisture, hits the Southern Alps and the rain comes down.
Here on the east coast the year's average rainfall is between 600mm and 700mm.
I love the West Coast for it's rainforest and beauty but the population doesn't support a decent library or a good bus service, two of the essentials of my life.
Enjoy your kombucha, MaryLouise. I think I must be the last person on the planet who is yet to try it! I do love both hummus and a baba ghanoush.
We had the bishop visit, a festive lunch and a number of desserts and had a display of 75 years of Russian Orthodoxy in the Hunter region. Photos, icons, vestments, liturgical items... It was interesting to learn of their arrival in 1949 to a migrant camp in Greta and their lives and work from there. Thanks to a priest who came from Europe with them and a friendly Anglican priest who made his chapel available they had a service a week after arriving! It was tough times for them; one poor woman sobbed continuosly wondering what sort of place she had come to, given its many differences from Europe. Made me reflect on my life and its blessings, and, as our priest said, the legacy they left us.
@Huia, that sounds like a lot of rain, happy to take some off your hands! I'm crossing my fingers that we get some tomorrow.
I imagine home made Kombucha is much nicer than the bought kind @MaryLouise , but I might have to settle for buying a bottle to try, as I've not had it before. Do you feel better for having it?