Where have I been?

So I injured my knee quite badly at the beginning of November last year.  Then I had to undergo surgery, then rehab, and in between all of this, we decided to sell our beloved old house, I got a second job, my child started secondary school, we bought and moved into a new home…..

I swear to the Universe, that I will never again try and pack all of the above into four and half months. It was stressful, painful and sometimes full of insane laughter, but we got through it. Though just as I’m now getting back onto two feet – down from a silver walking frame, and now a single crutch, the world is shrinking again.

I hope that you and yours remain safe and healthy.

Take care and I will try and pop in again to say hullo soon.

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Fantastic WIW2019 – Thanks Everyone!

I drove out to Dunolly to attend a fabulous event there, and wanted to share with you some of the Fantastic WIW2019 – Thanks Everyone!

Reliving Series 11 of Doctor Who

A great post Reliving Series 11 of Doctor Who by the Time Ladies.

Did you watch the series? What did you think? Was the tardis too crowded?

Three Things to be Grateful for

Life rushes me by, and I look up and realise that January has sped by and now February is to. So I wanted to halt and just reflect on 3 things I am truly grateful for:

1. Running Water. You see we’ve been renovating the bathroom – our previous shower over the bath was always a dicey adventure as we had two huge cracks near the drain hole. So we saved up and had a walk in shower installed, however three weeks later, one massive hot water leak, and several retiling of the floor later, we’re still waiting to be able to use it. So I’m just grateful we had a hose I could shower under….it’s not fun, but I’m thankful for it. Plus I’m grateful we had one outside dunny…..
2. My family. I have a small family, and a larger friend family. They are truly wonderful, and supportive. I’m not sure where I would be without them.
3. Books – they truly are my form of meditation. To get lost amongst the pages for hours is for me to wander in the Elysian Fields.

What are you grateful for?

Because why let gender limit our children’s potential?

I have a child who has always been out there challenging gender stereotyping. Sometimes there have been tears because people just don’t understand, other times they have inspired other kids to march to their own tune. My partner and I have always encouraged them to be true to who they really are, not to what society deems they to be. So when I found this series of wonderfully inspiring videos I wanted to share these with you…..Because Why – Our Watch

Off-Topic: SPACE FORCE

I thought this had to be a hoax, but I went to my ABC news website and there it is….unbelievable…..Donald Trump’s Space Force announcement ups ante as China, Russia race for space supremacy

Darkwreath Gaming

Clearly Trump has been playing too much Command & Conquer: Generals with his latest notion that America should “…not just have a presence in space, but dominance…”.

Mr Trump has gone off the deep end this time, giving the order for General Dunford to oversee the creation of this “Space Army” to ensure America has a place in our space-faring future… right?

I can’t even be bothered to rant about this, it’s just too funny – but is Space Enforcement really a priority here? I think not…

Thanks for reading,

-Wheldrake.

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Celebrating Wolfhounds

Okay so we share a house with a wolfhound, she’s part of the family; loyal and gentle she loves her pack – including the cat!

A great article on the giants of the canine world can be found  via Irish Wolfhounds – “Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked”

My year in review…..

What three words best describe your year?

Challenging, exhausting, inspiring

What achievement(s) are you most proud of?

• Continuing to nurture a creative, free thinking and reading child
• Graduating Uni (again!)
• Securing a permanent ongoing job in an Academic Library
• Marched the Streets of Ballarat in the Reclaim the Night, with my dear family.
• Securing the role of a judge in the Aurealis Awards.
• One of my students winning an Australia wide prize for her Book Review.

What are you most thankful for?

My love of my life: the rock that I hold onto when we enter treacherous waters, who always steers us clear. My friends who are my family – they are the ones I choose to have in my life and I will treasure forever.

What new thing(s) did you learn about?

• Library Advocacy
• Library Research
• The fact I am a survivor.
• Menopause is not a life sentence.

What new thing(s) did you do?

• Entered my school for a book review competition – and one of my favourite students won!
• Networked like there was no tomorrow
• Joined a committee to become a better Library advocate – ALIA Children’s and Youth Services
• Designed my son’s hat for his school performance of the Lion King (I can be artistic…)
• Volunteered at School Libraries (giving back to the communities)
• Research library website accessibilities.
• Took part in an interview about menopause for a PhD student’s research
• Took my child to his first midnight movie opening, and having him say to me I’ve found my community – Star Wars fans of Ballarat I love you!!!!

What activities made you lose track of time?

• Doing creative projects – knitting
• Reading
• Gardening
• Hanging out with my family

What was the year’s funniest moment?

My son bursting into Let it Go! in his Lion King performance – he got the laughs and I was so proud of him for choosing to sing it and singing it….

What little things made you happy on a day-to-day basis?

• My family
• My cat Venom – the great smoocher of cats
• My dog Rhoady – friend of all, and the best friend a child can have
• My friends
• My garden
• Wearing clothes from op-shops
• Picking fresh produce from my garden
• Having a strong body that continues to weather menopause with me
• My lovely friends
• Good books
• Libraries

How was your head? What was your most common mental state?

How am I going to fit this all in and still be the mother, lover, friend that I need myself to be?

Which worries turned out to be completely unnecessary?

Will I be able to finish all my goals this year? Yes I can, but only when I stop procrastinating and get on with it.

What was the biggest challenge you faced?

My stomach – oh the joys of low Fodmaps, gluten, dairy, soy, yeast free living. Everyday I’m not sure what will happen, and each day I try to be more mindful of what I eat. So introducing a mantra I say each morning – May I be mindful of what I eat today.

What was the biggest problem you solved?

How can I eat out – it’s hard for me being unable to just choose items off a menu, without going can’t eat this, can’t eat that. So I’m now focusing on what I can eat, and letting everything else get sorted.

What was your year in review?

Season’s greetings and thanks for being with me on this year of discovery!

She’s still going

14 years and still going

This is Athene, our cat. We nearly lost her in April, but she’s made an amazing turnaround and is coming back. I cried the first night last week, when she came up and asked to come up for a snuggle on my lap. This was the first time in months that she’d asked, and that she’d wanted to be touched.

She’s now curled up in front of the heater, sleeping. She has spent her entire life as an indoor only cat, and I think that’s possibly helped her live as long as she has. We’ve moved more times than I can remember, and she’s relieved that in each place we’ve moved to, her furniture comes with her, as do we the family who love her.

In the fourteen years we’ve been together, she’s helped me through the death of my Dad (who gave her to me), getting married, having a baby, losing our beloved older British Blue cat (who had treated her like his own pet), and the arrival of a giant of a dog – our Irish Wolfhound cross. With the usual cat aplomb, she’s weathered these storms, accepting my choice of partner (phew…that was a deal breaker, he had to love the cats! and Dr Who), and more importantly getting used to the life energy of a young person around the home.

She’s given us her love, lots of fur (sometimes we joke that she produces enough fur to have made her own cat!), and the pleasure of her companionship. Each day we have her now, is a blessing for us, and we truly appreciate this furry individual. (Not that we didn’t before, but the close call, has made us all sit up and take notice of this smallest member of the house).

Enjoy your weekend.

The Importance of a good laugh

I’ve worked in some very serious environments. But you see I’m a natural laugher – yep I’ve coined a new term to describe myself. I love to have a laugh, with friends, family or even by myself. I laugh. And it is no quiet demure laugh, it’s wild, it’s hysterical sometimes, and it’s so empowering. (I do have different laughs for different occasions, but I’m talking about the belly laugh here).

I always think maybe I should go into laugh therapy – the world needs to stand back and have a good laugh at some of the idiocy that is plaguing it. So many people, buzzing on stress and caffeine – and for what? To keep up with the mythical Joneses? Is it really necessary?

But back to laughing, I have laughed through the worst times of my life. When my mother died, my older sister made me laugh with her whale impressions – spouting water and all – I loved it, and it made me for a moment or three forget the grief that was boiling up inside of me. And I laughed recalling some of my Dad’s finer moments as we as a family sat around deciding what to include in his funeral sermon. The laughter was good, and I am not ashamed of it. It helped me cope with the way my life was changing dramatically.

I try for a laugh a day – at a minimum. This is made much easier by having my son around – who happens to make me smile, and laugh with his funny ways. But in the workplace, I’ve encountered some frowns when laughing, but I’ve also had people come up to me, and say thank you for making me laugh, I needed that. Or when a supervising officer popped his head into the office, asked if I was on laughing gas, and then I made him laugh too…..

In the high pressure environments I’ve worked, I’ve found that it’s good to make your team laugh, to have a group chuckle. It brought the team I led for seven odd years, together, and we could laugh over the stupidity of the bureaucratic system we worked in. And for that we were all grateful. (And it also helped when our backs were against the wall, racing to meet a deadline, we worked as a team to achieve the goals).

I also had one supervisor thank me for bringing a bit of laughter to the working environment. People would walk past my office feeling blue, and then they would pop in if they heard me having a laugh, and would themselves smile or laugh, and leave a little bit more light-hearted. And I think that was a simple kindness I could give them. A gift that they could take back with them.

So if you can – give the gift of laughter today!