Thursday, June 30, 2011

June is Something Different!

I'm going to do something different with these end-of-the month posts.  Instead of doing a complete summary of what has gone on in the month; I'll tell you what has been the absolute highlights... what were the high points in my month which really stuck out and made the month really mean something to me.  This way, it'll be easier to write and it'll mean more to you as well.
This month, I scored a lot of free things.  During the first week, I had a wine-tasting at my house; and scored a set of beautiful coffee mugs with four ceramic spoons.  The vino was delicious and of extremely good quality; and the guys who came out to my place were just as lovely.  We spend around an hour or so enjoying the wine and I had out a platter of munchies out too; which I ate some of (however they didn't).  I did invite my Aunt and Uncle; however they couldn't make it, how unfortunate, they missed out on a lovely afternoon of top notch wines.
Then, we copped a cold snap around Brisbane and the mercury dipped low!  I love the cold and relished in it!  However, a lot of people around where I live don't.  I love dressing and rugging up in the warm clothes and breaking out my scarves from overseas along with leather gloves and woolen socks and warm boots.  I guess it's the Viking and Scottish blood in my veins that causes me to love this weather so much.
Around the middle of this month, 17th, June to be exact, I scored a massive bag of free books!  One of my neighbours came home from work with them for her Mother and she found the print was too small and so gave them to me.  I was so grateful to accept them that I took them home before I went on my way to the post office; and most of them are this Century books, so I have something new to read for the next few years.
And speaking of books, not long after I received the bag of books, I counted up my collection in this here little office and found I have 929 books squeezed in here!  These books are sharing space with finished artwork and my collection of handbags too!  Wow!  What a small room this place has turned into!
This brings me to today.  I went to my volunteer work and it was so busy there!  We have an art opening at the Logan Art Gallery for 'Timber' the newest woodturning exhibit.  A lot of people have looked in on it and it hasn't even opened officially yet.  Today, we had a workshop begin at 10am  and not twenty minutes into it a home-schooling group showed up without an appointment that had twenty kids and three adults.  This nearly collided with the workshop and anyone else who was walking around and looking at the exhibit (which was around six or seven other people at any one time).  So, it was a very busy day.  Then, I took a call from an elderly lady who kept me on the phone for another 20 minutes until I tried to politely finish the conversation a few times... then she realised I had to go.  She really was a dear though.
This afternoon, I went to Endoe's and found myself a poncho for Kat's birthday party; but couldn't find a sombrero to save my life!  So,  the poncho was all I bought for $12.00... not a bad purchase; and seeing I could wear it anywhere and not just to a costume party, it's going to pay itself off in no time.
Well, until my next post, keep warm and safe and remember, I'm always here!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

School Holidays

It's the middle of Winter here and that means:  school holidays!  Yes, the two weeks off where kids everywhere around Australia will be home from school drive their parents up the wall; after the first week anyway.
Personally, I'm not too crazy about school holidays.  The shopping centres are twice as crowded, you can't go to the movies without most of the seats being taken up by tweeting, facebooking, smsing teenagers doing just that all the way through the movie (and don't tell me they don't, because every time I've been to a movie in the last year, I've been blinded by some idiot's mobile phone while they habitually checked their mail just in case somebody couldn't wait for them to write back!).  I'm not scared of teenagers; I just find a lot of them very annoying.  
I remember school holidays were fun, long and we had assignments set us most of the time to get done before the holidays were finished; which most of the time, I got over and done with before the holidays were even begun.  I wonder what kids get given now; seeing I was always busy on my school holidays with books to read, visiting my Grandparents and long trips to the city that took half the day (and that was just to get in there... getting back was a matter of calling my parents up).  
I remember during high school Mum worked at Chardon's Corner Bookstore on Ipswich Road.  It was a store that was over-run by books; you'd even find them in the kitchen and in the toilet.  Most times, you go to the toilet and sit there for about twenty minutes browsing over books; forgetting what you were there for... oops (and eeww... disgusting).  But really, I enjoyed spending my days sitting in a seat and reading the latest 'Sweet Valley High' book.  If there was only one copy - and somebody wanted it - I'd have to give it up and pick out something else.  My older brother would soon become bored and he walked to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
As the years passed by, she stopped working at the bookstore and Gabe and I visited our Grandparents one a regular basis.  It was fun.  Gabe learnt to play snooker and Billiards while I perused their bookcases upstairs, played the piano and cooked with Grandma.  It may seem boring compared to what kids do today; but we treasured those times with our Grandparents seeing we lost them in our late 20's.  Grandma tried to teach me to play piano - but my brain couldn't work it out properly.  She wished I could and felt I was missing out and I often wondered how she did it; as piano music sounds beautiful seeing it makes our hands play two different ways.  She taught me to knit when I was 12 and I have never forgotten that skill; and now knit a lot of things that are useful and mail them off to friends and give them as presents.
I often wonder if the school holidays of the past are going to ever return; where kids learn from their family the old-fashioned values, skills and traditions as my brother and I have.  I can see that Gabe has tried to instill this in his daughter, Riley, to keep the traditions going from our generation into hers, so she knows how important it is to us that she doesn't lose touch with this kind of thing. 
But do kids of today - and the future - really care about the older ways of things?  If they do, why don't they show it?  If they don't, why not?  Is technology taking over the old skills?  I'm asking because I'm finding that the older I become, the more teenagers lose touch with talking to people, the more plugged into their phones, iPods, MP3's and other gadgets they become... the more detached they are becoming from the world.  It's unhealthy to not want to communicate with anyone around you; to push others away.  Until my next post, take care, keep warm and remember, I'm always here. 

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Antiques of the Future

Just the other day, I was cruising around here on the net, when I read a thread in Bookcrossing about antiques that are going to around in the future.  It got me thinking about what would be considered an antique by Gen-Y standards; seeing we have our own types of antiques now.
I took a look around my house and realised that most of the stuff I own would be considered antiques by the time I get older.  All the books I own would be available in an e-reader format by the time I get around to reading them all (yeah, I did a book count recently and I've collected 929 books in 8 1/2 years!  Amazing, eh?).  I've also got vinyls, cassette tapes and magazines; which will all be completely outdated by the time I'm old and grey.  So, will they be seen as antiques?  What about the good old typewriter?  That's already gone to the way of the do-do as it is; seeing how kids who go to school look at them now.
I remember when I was in Melbourne years ago for medical tests for a possible operation, the professor who was the head of these tests came in for a visit and he brought along his daughter.  She was dressed warmly as it was at this time of the year and it was freezing cold outside the hospital.  She saw my typewriter (as I didn't have a laptop at the time; or access to one) and she asked me what it was.  I told her and said for her to have a go at it.  Well, she did the most amusing thing and ever so gently pressed the buttons; as though not to hurt it.  I said that she had to bash the keys to make it type; but she gave me a shocked look and said that she'd break if she ever did that.  I showed her by giving some of the keys a good hit and typing out something and she cringed at the noise it made; saying it wasn't supposed to be that noisy.  I said that it was a typewriter; and they were a big thing when they first came out and were manual - just like the one she was looking at - until recently when we all began using computers.  
And this was at the beginning of this century.  It got me thinking of what kind of things our kids - and younger - have missed out on already that we grew up with.  I mean, this is a world of remote controls, iPods, MP3's, internet on mobile phones and iPads where everything is tiny and small; and yet children are not being taught anything about how the old world customs are still in use.  How it's polite to let a lady through a door first, once a man opens it for her.  How it's not right to swear in front your elders; no matter how old you are, it's just not right.  Kids today just have no respect for anything old or anyone; and it's getting worse.  
Antiques for the future aren't only objects, they are also customs that began to slip by us years ago.  I didn't realise they had begun to do so until I took a good look around and found that our world is beginning to fall apart all due to our customs and old-style items fading from our living rooms.  I watched 'The Block' last night and the two teams were given a living room with a Victorian fireplace.  Neither of them used the fireplace, instead blocking it up - or taking it out altogether - and they gave the living room a very futuristic, minimalistic feel which left me feeling cold.  Why not use the fireplace and leave out the television and install a bookcase instead... have a hearth with a large rug and make the room nice and cosy instead of bare and uninviting?  Wouldn't reading be more of a wonderful past-time than sitting in front of a box each night squinting at a screen?  Or better still, make the television room a different room altogether?  A place with a fireplace is meant for books, or a musical instrument... not a television.
Maybe it's me who's getting to sound like an antique... sounding like I'm going to fade off into the woodwork of the past and be forgotten; all because I like to read real books and not books off computer screens.  I love to play vinyls and not boom boxes with little iPods attached to them.  I love to play an upright, 88 key, Australian made, Paling & Co piano and not an electric piano that you have to plug into a wall socket.  I hope I'm not alone in this.  Until my next post, stay safe, keep warm and remember, I'm always here.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Bullies

The act of bullying has been around for centuries; and yet nobody will do anything major about it.  Not a week goes by where I don't hear a report about one kid or another gets pushed and shoved around at school by another - or group of them - and yet, there's nothing the school or the parents are willing to do about it.  It's not that they can't do something about it; it's that they won't.
From day one of primary school, I was bullied by boys, teachers and other kids.  I wore glasses, had red hair and was pale with freckles... yep, I just about had a target painted on me that screamed: 'PICK ON ME!'  But really, I was just another student in the class who was sensitive and didn't want to be pushed around; just like anyone else there.  We had another kid who was a redhead and had worse freckles than me, but he didn't get picked on; don't know why, but he didn't.  My bully was Adam Vidler.  Soon he was joined by Adam Bower and his friends; not a good mixture.  For eight years, my life was a living hell (eight because I was kept back a year for failing maths) until year 7 when I had a rotten teacher who bullied me to the ends of the earth.  He picked on me for not being good at maths, sports and other subjects; and hated me being in the school band (to the extent that he'd lock me out of the room after assembly on Mondays and clean off the homework from the board on Tuesday afternoons when I was away at band practice just to get me into detention).  This teacher made my unbearable and I found I didn't want to go to school because of him; and because of the kids who were already making my life pure hell.
But it didn't end there.  I went to a different high school; and thought that a fresh slate would be a good thing.  So, instead of going to Springwood State High, I went to Rochedale High.  I wanted a new place to start; make new friends and see if I'd be able to work from there.  But that didn't happen.  On the first day, I was shoved into the bus wheel by tall blonde chick who made it out to be a joke and laughed; so I laughed along with her.  The next day, she did the exact same thing, and said:  "Get used to it!" I knew I was screwed.  From that day on, I spent my lunch hours avoiding her, running around the school to keep out of her way so she didn't pick on me - or other kids who she didn't like.  Yes, Vicki Brown didn't like people who weren't named the same at her (this I found out many years after school from a friend of mine named Vicki who was close friends with her and didn't know why.  This was why; how pathetic can you get, right?).  I ended up not caring if she saw me and - as the years passed - walking away from her when she made eye contact.  Her bullying began getting a little old by the third year in; all because it was the same old thing every single year.
Not that I'm a saint by any standards.  I did my fair share of pushing kids around; but I did it for the right reasons.  If I spotted a kid with cigarettes on the grounds of the high school (and I was in my senior  year by this stage), I'd freely grab the smokes off him, take one and find a teacher and say that he/she gave me one to teach them a lesson on what not to do on school grounds.  Yes, I did that.  But I never purposely followed kids around and made their lives hell just because I thought it was funny.  That's just sickening.  I did that to that student because he was underaged to have cigarettes, it was illegal to have them on school grounds and he was making a display of having them on his person.  So, really, I was helping him by making an example of him; even if I did hurt his feelings.
However, when I left school in year 11, the only place I didn't get bullied - I found - was college.  The people who attended there were serious about their education.  They didn't have time to pick on each other as they were too busy studying their chosen subjects to be so childish.  We were in between school and the workforce; and passing our subjects were the main things on our minds.
Once in the workforce, though, I found the schoolyard came back and bit me in the butt again.  I worked for RACQ and once I began working - even though I found it extremely difficult at first and very tiring - I was bullied by most of the girls there.  They were very clicky and wouldn't let me in on anything they did; but expected me to put in money for their birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations.  Yet, they didn't bother celebrating my 21st birthday on the day because none of them put it down on the calendar.  So, to get them back, I waited until 5pm and talked about what a great day they had planned for me... how nice it was for them to take me to lunch, the little pressies, the cards and morning and afternoon teas were just lovely.  When they said they didn't do that, I exploded at them all that 'of course you didn't!'  I called them selfish bitches and any other names I could think of (quite a few I can't repeat here) and then I signed out and walked off after I said that my bosses were off the hook seeing they employ me; but the rest of them most certainly were not!  And still, they didn't learn their lesson... I wasn't included in the follow year's calender either.
A few years later, I arrived at work to find one of the girls had decorated my desk with streamers and gotten everyone to sign a card for me.  The whole department had moved and a few new people had been employed here and there; and I found it was the most wonderful thing to have been remembered like this.  Even now - so many years later - I still remember how nice my drab old desk looked with all those colourful streams draped across it.  It was such a great day too; and to think, I nearly took a Roster Day Off because of the last time I celebrated a birthday at work.
It's been years since I have done any paid work; but it doesn't mean that there's no bullying in the outside world.  Where I live - in a unit complex - there's plenty of bullying between people.  It's a matter of boundaries and attitudes in places like this; and it can get really horrible sometimes, while other times it's a matter of standing up for yourself and being your own army.
Otherwise, I can say that once you've left school, it does get easier.  The kids at school aren't there anymore to push and shove you around; and if you do run into them, usually it's in the workforce under very different circumstances.  However, if they think they can take off from where they left off, it's them who haven't grown up, not you.  It just depends on how you deal with them... and there's no shame in just simply walking away from them and telling them to grow up.  In any language, country and at any age you - or somebody you know - will be exposed to bullying.  It will affect you from the beginning of school (or whenever it began) until you find help to deal with it (like I have in recent years).  Otherwise, please do have a zero tolerance for bullying; no matter where you are in life or in your city/country.  If you see anyone being picked on by somebody else, do try to help them by standing up for them and being there to assist them with whoever's bugging them at the time.  Until my next post, take care, keep warm, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Friday...

This has been a very big day for me already; and it's not yet half over.  I woke to my noisy neighbours leaving for work; slamming their ways out of their house and zooming through the complex as though it's a race track.  Then, I made breakfast, after feeding a toasty Little Miss Stevie and listening to the radio and wiping up from last night.  
Then, it was off to the post office at around 9am.  I never leave to go anywhere at exactly the same time each day; never have the same routine for anything really.  I find that for one thing it get boring; and for another people can find ways to judge when I'm away from the house or when I'm doing certain things.  So, variety is the spice of life here.  Around 9am could be between 9am and 9:30am... other than that, I could take up to 10am to collect my mail from the post office; depending what I've been up to that morning.  Sometimes, it's the laundry that holds me up; other times, the washing up or putting out the rubbish; usually small things hold me up from collecting the mail.
Anyway, I was on my way there when I passed unit 16 - one of my closest friends' houses.  They're great friends to hang out with and chat with on the weekends just before we all go to have dinner or in the afternoons when there's not much else to do.  Well, Betty (the Grandmother who lives with the family) was sitting outside having a smoke and I said good morning to her when she said: "Just the person I'm looking for!" and gestured to a big bag next to their side door, "We have some books for you." I walked up and looked in to find the big paper bag was full to the brim with books!  I rummaged through some of them and found they were some of the best-selling novels from over the last few years!  Betty said that Lisa's work-mate has moved house and did out their book collection; well, Lisa brought them home for her to read.  But Betty's eyes aren't the best and the print is too small for her, so she thought to hand them off to me.  I was so happy that she thought of me and we chatted about them for a minute and other things for a while.  She's had a cold and was sounding terrible the other day; but is sounding better today; she said she is feeling better, but it's hard to stay warm with all this cold wind around.

Well, I took the bag of books home and took off to the post office again and collected two parcel pick-up cards and found that Nivea had sent me their moisturiser that I had won on their Facebook page.  I've just put some into a dry spot on my arm and it smells like I've been to the beach!  And it feels lovely.  The other parcel was a book 'Owls Do Cry' by Janet Frame which was a part of a Bookcrossing game I'm playing... and it was off my Wish List! It has been on my Wish List since 2009 and I never thought I'd receive it from anyone; or be able to buy it off the shelf anywhere.  The best thing is that when I looked at it closer, it was the 50th Anniversary of the printing of this particular book!  What a wonderful and thoughtful BCer Izzy5000 is to send me something this poignant by such a brilliant author!
Well, this afternoon, I have to start getting in and cleaning up the house a bit.  There's vacuuming to get done, toilets to clean, the bathroom basin to wipe down and washing up to do as well as newspapers to toss out along with the rubbish.  My Dad is coming over for a visit and he's picky about how tidy my house isn't... well, he'll be surprised about how I treat my visitors I am expecting; especially when it's at night and we can't go outside.  
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  With the weather going as it is, it's sure to be a lovely weekend here; with the sun out and warming up Brisbane nicely, even though our nights are cold right now.  Until my next post, take care, keep warm and safe and remember, I'm always here.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Mid-Week Clean-Up

Yesterday afternoon, I got in and did some serious cleaning up.  But I began some of it in the morning by putting on the laundry and washing the blanket from the lounge/sofa-bed.  While it was being washed, I figured out which angle to put it so it folded out with enough room.  Since I received the entertainment unit, I have found that the sofa-bed doesn't have that much room to fold out... so I thought to pull it out while I had the time.  And I found that while it faced the front window, it opened out with plenty of room to spare around the side and end; so long I had it pushed against the unit and not the piano.
After the blanket - and a few other things - were flapping in the strong winds yesterday, I cleaned out my art area by the back door.  The first things I pulled out were a whole of tools that belonged in the sheds in my carport.  So, out they went back into their places.  While I was out there, I reorganised the left hand one; pulling out a Styrofoam box and throwing it away, moving a nice terra-cotta half pot (one that hangs off a fence by hooks that I have yet to use but haven't due to the rotten condition of my fences) to the bottom shelf, then organising my tools so I can get to them quickly if and when I need to.  Once that was done, I closed and locked up the shed again after I checked up on my poisons and chemicals to make sure they hadn't evaporated to nothing (which one had and I tossed out).  
Once back inside, I picked up the red box with all the broken books inside it and took it out the back yard to sort.  Inside this box, I found three bags: one was empty (so I used that as a rubbish bag), one was full of hair brand new hair clips (oops, I forgot about those!) and the last one had really old handbags in it (double oops, I remember I had those somewhere!).  Well, I also found an unopened powerboard too... so I'll open that one this week and use it at Christmas; add it to the Christmas lights.  As for the broken books (which I bought already falling apart and just made worse by pulling apart and making a collage out of them), I tossed them out in the rubbish for pick up this morning.
When I got back inside, I put the lounge back together, put the cushions back on it, along with the torn main cover (which I have to get another one for) and then threw the colourful cushions onto it and cleaned up the place a little before going upstairs to clean up the office.
I took the hair clips upstairs, put them into the bathroom - where they belong to be used - and the handbags in my bedroom and put my cordless phone where it normally sits when I'm online to tidy up the desk.  A lot of books were put away - mainly ones I've read and needed a home to while away time time before I lend them out to friends and family for them to read.  Otherwise, I grabbed a 'green bag' and put a lot of childrens books that had been sitting on the floor into it and sat it under the air conditioner, then I went through a lot of stuff on my desk and made sure most of it went into a rubbish bag; while anything else that could be shredded went into the yellow Daffodil Bag for shredding for next week.  
Then, I did a big rubbish run, collected the bag from the shredder and tidied up the place a bit before taking all the rubbish downstairs to the wheelie bin.  Before long, it was 3pm:  time for a shower and an hour's work on my painting I've been working on for the last few weeks.  Well, that's my clean up so far for this year... got a lot done for one afternoon.  Still got a lot to do today and tomorrow before the end of the week arrives; and then I can relax a bit on the weekend and get in some serious reading.  Until my next post, take care, keep warm, keep safe and remember, I'm always here.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Queen's Birthday Long Weekend

Well, here we are right in the middle the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend.  It's cold, overcast one minute and sunny the next and I've still got quite a few things to do before this weekend is out; not that I didn't the a lot done in the beginning.
Yesterday, Mum and Dad dropped around and picked up their mail and the Pajero.  Mum was impressed at how I got it backed into my carport after washing it down without a scratch; but I did... and I'm pleased to say she was happy with how the windows looked too.  Dad looked at the yard and fences.  He's going to get the fencer to come around and get my place done; and I asked for 6ft fences all around - and to get the gate fixed too.  He asked why; I said that after Zef and Kylie lost their trees, they've felt as though they haven't got any privacy.  So, a taller fence between us would go a long way to getting that back.  Also, being an end unit, I'm always concerned about people getting into my yard or looking over my fence all the time; so that would be helpful with my privacy.  Also, I don't want to be looking at my nasty next door neighbours ... she whines about looking at me, so a taller fence will fix that; for both of us, as I don't like looking at her either (she's not the nicest person on two feet). 
Then, Mum saw her Poinsettia and agreed that it was rootbound... saying that it was right of me not to move it; but also said it was good that I tried to figure out what was wrong.  Dad said that they'd come back and re-pot it as soon as possible so it doesn't die; as it's a beautiful plant and I know Mum just loves it.  I'm hoping we can save it in time for it to flower before Winter is gone.
This week, Little Miss Stevie hasn't had her covers off her cage;  it's been that cold that she's been playing with them and curling up on her swing in the afternoons for a nap while I close up the house and make sure all the drafts are kept out.  As for me?  I've been taking hot showers during the day and dressing warmly for the afternoon and making sure I eat well, sleep well and warmly and then keep the house as dust-free as possible.  It's hard to do, but it's something we all have to do.  
I am catching up on my reading and knitting as the temperature drops.  I've been sitting in front of the television at night knitting a nice little throw rug for myself and am a quarter way through it so far; and have only been working on it for about month.  I cast on 209 stitches and knitted a garter stitch for the whole thing (as it's an easy stitch to do and fast too; once you  get going). Then, the colours I've chosen are:  maroon, tri-colour purple and black; knitting 20 rows of each.  The maroon is first, tri-colour purple, black, tri-colour purple, then ending with the maroon.  If I feel it needs 20 more rows with the purple or black, I'll add on more as I go along; otherwise, I'll be finishing it with creme tassels on either end and using it to cover my legs soon. I can't wait until it's finished.  As for reading, I've got my nose into a good book titled: 'Tipping the Velvet' by Sarah Waters.  So far, I've read up to chapter 2 and have only had it for a couple of days.  
I'm working on a large painting right now as well.  It's of flowers floating on a dark background.  They look very surreal and lovely.  But I did have my doubts initially when I put the black onto the background at first... as though it could be a wrong move if I didn't like it.  However, I was wrong and it turned out to be a brilliant thing!  I'm just touching up the flowers and getting it all right and then it'll be finished; and time to go onto the next one.
I haven't played the piano yet this weekend; and I'm looking forward to doing some practice.  It's such a lovely old instrument and I am getting better at it as the months go by.  Compared to last year's struggles, I'm flying through the exercises and now I'm looking at getting a book on how to play a few blues tunes and making them look and sound easy.  There's already a few chords I can play, but I'd like to make them sound like they mean something instead of something I struggle with.  Well, until my next post, take care, keep warm and remember, I'm always here.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Friday, Chilly Friday

It's the end of another week; but it's also the beginning of Winter.  And don't we know it!  Yesterday was the coldest Winter day on record here in Brisbane.  Actually, I do remember once I worked a day at RACQ in the mailroom and on the docks when it was only around 12 degrees Celsius and we had to stuff the stock up against the doors to keep out the wind and keep the heat in.  I also remember that day it was sunny; and not overcast like yesterday.  
Yesterday, I had all the curtains pulled, had a blanket over my legs (like I have now because I'm sitting still in the chair) and Little Miss Stevie had all four of her covers on her cage; and still we were feeling the cold!  I even pegged up the curtains so the cold that normally seeped through from the glass of the living room window wouldn't get through.  I simply folded over the section where the two met and put two pegs down the centre... I also pushed a peg onto the curtain hooks on either end to keep the curtains held back against the wall; as the cold gets in there too.
However, once I  got dinner cooking - of spaghetti and a tomato-based sauce with garlic bread under the grill - the whole place warmed up nicely and we didn't need the heater that I had pulled out from storage.  
By 8:30pm, I had pulled down Little Miss Stevie's covers and she was quite happy for me to do so as she sat her swing and plugged her beak into her fluffed up feathers.  And, you know, I really don't blame her for toddling off to bed that early; as I would have if I didn't have something I had to do on the net before bed.  
Well, 10:30pm rolled around very quickly and I made sure the bathroom window was closed up tight as a wind picked up outside.  For once, I wore a light nighty to bed and bed socks too; which I kicked off during the night.  It was really a chilly old night as I cocooned myself into a little ball under the covers and tried to read a bit; but failed.  So, I turned out the light and went straight to sleep until my next door neighbour's laundry woke me at 5:45am... stupid woman!... she either doesn't feel the cold or doesn't care.  
I was up at 7:30am and had all three loads of laundry finished by 9am; along with breakfast and checking the mail.  I also uploaded my daily photo on 365 project and enjoyed some cuddle time with Little Miss Stevie as she has enjoyed the sun for the first time in three days; lucky little birdie!  
For the rest of my day?  Well, I'm looking forward to reading a book which arrived in the mail - 'Tipping The Velvet' by Sarah Waters - which is a bookray from Bookcrossing.  I was on the list for it last year; and it came up to my turn for me to have it last week.  I do enjoy reading different things each year; and this is no acception.  
Well, this weekend is supposed to be a wet, cold one for Brisbane.  So much for a relaxing Queen's Birthday Long Weekend if we're all freezing our butts off here.  The best remedy for that is to stay indoors curled up on the lounge with a pile of books to read under a duvet... and that's what I plan to do; along with knitting and playing the piano and painting.  So long I'm warm, I'm not going to worry.  Until my next post, keep warm, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Cold Snap

This week has been so very cold for Brisbane.  I've been not wanting to get out of bed once I'm in it.  And Little Miss Stevie hasn't been wanting her covers off her for the last few days either (personally, I don't blame her), and so I've left them on her cage to keep her warm and toasty.
Along with the cold, it's been overcast and dreary.  So, I've been getting all rugged up in my art gear and working on my current lot of paintings.  The first one to kick off this lot of paintings was my self-portrait.  Now, I'm working on a larger one of flowers.  It looks good now I've painted the background black; makes the flowers really pop.
Today, though, I was out and about doing the fortnightly shopping.  It was freezing while I was outside in the cool, but I began sweating once I was indoors.  It was good day though.  I bought everything I wanted to buy; and a few little luxuries too.  They were things like an extra-large ball of tri-coloured wool for a few more scarves this year and an extra tub of Western Star Spreadable butter on special; that's all.  Otherwise, I kept myself warm and didn't have to wait at all for a taxi; he dropped somebody off and asked if I needed one.  How good was that?  It must have been just too cold for anyone to go shopping; or everyone was sick (as I heard more than a few people with a bad cough around the places).
When I got home, I found that I had left Little Miss Stevie's cage door open!  I was shocked she wasn't flying around the house acting up!  Instead, she was sitting on her swing staring at the open cage door as though it was wrong to step outside it.  I didn't even know I had left it open, and so was so proud of her for staying inside for the three hours I was gone!  I had a bad feeling that I had forgotten something; but I just didn't know what.  And when I arrived home, it was this that I had forgotten.  I hate it when that happens in life.
Well, just for that, I gave my little bird a nice piece of Baby Spinach and she loved it!  She was so pleased  that she ran around the cage and sang to me while I unpacked the rest of the groceries.  I had even bought her another piece of flannel to keep out the cold for Winter.  She didn't seem to fussed about it, but it'll save me using up towels on her cage in the future; that's for sure.
Well, I gotta go.  It's beginning to get really cold again; so I have to close the house up and get changed into my warmer Winter Woolies for tonight.  Until my next post, take care, keep warm and remember, I'm always here.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lost Skills to the Twenty-First Century

I've noticed over the last decade or so that technology has been taking over our lives.  Take this post for example; twenty years ago, I would never have been able to do this on a computer as there wasn't the access to the internet that I have now; especially in my own home.
So, I got to thinking just this afternoon, while talking to a friend of mine on Facebook, what skills kids don't know today that I was taught when I was young.  I'm heading towards forty years of age - very quickly - and feel as though sometimes I'm getting left behind a little with all the Foxtel, X-Box360 and other things out on the market which are taking over the lives of kids today. Now, don't get me wrong.  I do love how some technology has advanced.  For example, the way medicine has come forward is amazing.  The most brilliant things have been invented to prevent heart attack, stroke and other health problems from happening whereas in other fields of medicine, we're in our infancy still.  The way we look at space and the galaxies and universe around us is just simply breath-taking.  Not in my life-time would I have thought we could see to far back into the lifeline of where our universe's existence began - right back to the Big Bang.  Television had advanced quickly as well from that small box in the shop window where people crowded around it to watch the news on street corners.  Now, there's one - sometimes a small collection of them - in every home.  The way we watch movies has dramatically changed as well.  From the drive-ins to cinemas with the sway-back canvas seats (and yes, I remember sitting in some at Brunswick Heads in one of the last old cinemas on the North Coast of New South Wales before it closed down.  This happened because the old woman who owned the cinema passed away) to the massive, dynamic, 3D experiences we have today when we go out to the movies.
Yes, our future is racing towards us in a dramatic and fast pace!  And sometimes it can be scary.  It used to bother me that things were changing so fast around me when it bumbled along at a cool little pace when I was in high school and computers were new, laptops were around ten centimetres thick and VCR's were the hip thing to have in your home (so long you didn't have a BETA, you were cool).  
Now, I feel as though when I look at a teenager today, I get a brooding contempt from them.  They have speakers stuffed in their ears with music blaring out of them - deafening them before their old enough to vote - and yet, they don't wish to communicate with anyone.  Teenagers have this 'I know everything' attitude; and it makes me feel as though we're losing them, as though we have failed to reach them soon enough to teach them anything our grandparents taught us.  When I was younger, I'd visit my Grandma and Grandpa during school holidays.  It was fun and my brother and I learned a lot of things from them; like how to play pool.  I learned to knit one wet day from Grandma; and more often than not, I'd stare at all the books in the side verandah wanting to read 'Fanny Hill' but Grandma would have put it on the very top shelf telling me I was 'too young to read that yet'.  
When I hit high school, I impressed my Home Ec teacher when she asked the class if anyone could knit; and I put my hand up.  She handed me knitting needles and a ball of hideous pink wool and told me to cast on 10 stitches and then to make a square.  I did and she thought it was good - even though I dropped a few stitches.  When it came to cooking, I picked out a wooden spoon to stir my savoury mince in the pot so that my meal didn't get a metallic smell to it; whereas the other kids picked on me for using that spoon.  The end result was that my savoury mince tasted more flavoursome and theirs tasted average; all because of a spoon.
I learned other things from my Grandparents as well; like when it was going to rain.  Grandma was brought up out at Allora on the Darling Downs.  She always told me that if I was to hear a Kookaburra, rain was coming... we just didn't know when.  However, if we saw one, it was coming within the day or so; and how true this was!  Spiders, lizard and cockroaches coming inside your home speak the same way too; no matter how big they are, if they come in, it's going to rain.  It's just the old-fashioned way of knowing. 
So, what things have you learned from your elders and parents that has stuck with you through your life?  Did you learn something major, or was a minor thing that made its truth known to you when you were younger and you figured it out yourself?  Until my next post, take care, keep warm and remember, I'm always here.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Wine-Tasting and Free Mugs

Today was a busy one; and so I was up bright and early with a shower, breakfast, feeding Little Miss Stevie and off to the Logan Art Gallery to work.  However, it was a very quiet morning.  I worked with a new volunteer, Lori, who keeps getting called in to work at Target and she is always tired.  Well, we had only one person come in and look at the works and a meeting in the workshops that went all day.
Once home, I cleaned up the house, washed up, swept the floors and put everything away in preparations for a man to come from the Pieroth Wines
company to show me some wines.  How this came about is easy.  I filled out a survey that showed up in my PO Box about two weeks ago and posted it off.  And then I got a phone call last week asking when I'd be free to try out their very exclusive wines; and thrown in to the deal would be a four-pack of coffee mugs.  And they're nice mugs too!  So, I set the day and time and I even made up a nice cheese and fruit platter for them to munch on (which they didn't touch; but that doesn't matter).  
When they arrived, we chatted about what kind of booze I'd drunk in my life, when I last had something to drink and if my Epilepsy would be affected by any vino.  And I said that I mainly purchase wine as a gift for people; and I don't drink it much at all.  But I don't mind wine tastings as you really don't drink it, it's your sense of smell that tells you if it's worthwhile.  Tasting it shouldn't be anything but a coating on your tongue and that's it; just enough to get an idea of what it's like.
So, they showed me three wines.  One was a light, dry one.  It was quite lovely.  The second one tasted very much like vinegar to me.  But the third one had a bit of body to it - but not too much - and was quite fruity.  In between trying them out, I ate some pear to clean my palate, and prepare it for the next one.  It was a lovely hour of trying out wines; however, I just couldn't afford to purchase any at this time, and they understood this.  It's always nice to have something like this to break up my week; at least I know there's other great things out there.
And while these people were here, Little Miss Stevie was at her best.  She didn't show off or anything.  She just sat on her swing and snoozed until they left... and then she became the big show-off and blew kisses at me.  I guess she really is a one human budgie after all.

Well, tomorrow, I'm out again for a few hours.  I'll be heading over to Mum and Dad's house to check on it; to make sure it's okay and to throw out the papers and pick up anything that needs picking up off the front verandah.  Until my next post, take care, keep warm and remember, I'm always here.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Winter Is Here!

Well, as you can tell from my change of template background, Winter is here.  I thought to make it look all snowy and lovely - seeing we don't see any snow here in Queensland - and the last time I was in the snow was when I was 19 and in the South Island of New Zealand going through Arthur's Pass.  That was a great day for snowball fights! 
Today, I went out early to a emergency course of what to do at the Art Gallery.  It was really interesting to brush up on my skills of what I've learned from years ago as a Floor Warden when I used to work; and believe me, I had forgotten quite a bit of the information I knew back then.  
But it has been a freezing cold day today; even with the sun poking its head through the clouds.  I rugged up nice and warm and made sure Little Miss Stevie was toastie under her covers when I left the house.  When I arrived home, she was still all fluffed up on her perch, snuggled up to her mirror.  I took the covers off for a little while; but the house was too cold and they went back on.
While I was out, I picked up a prescription and tried to find a copy of 'Good Reading' magazine.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a copy to be found anywhere.  So, I've contacted the editor and let her know of the problem; and she's really not impressed that this has occurred to the newsagencies in Brisbane again.  She knows it's the distributors and deliveries people and she's been cracking down on them when she gets a complaint from us readers - any complaint - about not being able to find their magazines in the right places.  Rowena's happy I've been keeping an eye out for the magazines up here (as she's in Sydney) so she knows if the magazine is making it up here.
Well, that's my first post for this month... not a long one, but not much happened today.  Until my next one, take care, keep warm and remember, I'm always here.