Sunday, July 11, 2010

7/12/10

A return to the Day Book formula! Once I wrote a weekly diary but I found that a bit restricted. Since then I've been haphazzard, and that doesn't work either because it's all too easy to say 'I'll do it tomorrow'. I find writing poetry on http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/ more to my taste, but I enjoy other peoples' journals so I feel I must make the effort.

Outside my window... all is dark because this is mid-winter. Our 'dusk' time is almost non-existent though, compared with the UK. In both winter and summer the change from night to day is much more sudden. When we were over in the UK on holiday I really enjoyed the long, long evenings.
I am thinking......that I hope all goes well for our little Harry tomorrow. He has a slight turn in his eye and tomorrow he goes to have a muscle tightened. I'm not concerned about the operation as such, but I'm worried that he'll be frightened at being put to sleep and also concerned that he'll rub his eye once it's done. He hasn't got to stay in hospital, though, so it can't be considered too tricky.



This is a recent picture of Harry and his little brother Max, ready for soccer practice.


I am thankful for... all the good friends I have. Yesterday one of them had a 70th birthday party and about twenty of us got together to celebrate with her.  Her name is Betty Druzina and she's forever jetting off to far distant places with her boyfriend! It must be right what they say...... that 70 is the new 50!
Here Betty is about to cut the cake!
And here am I with the Guest of Honour.
From the kitchen..... I surprised everyone a the party by actually taking along something I'd made myself! I'm normally renowned for turning up with a packet of biscuits. I'd only made Rock Cakes, but they really were quite nice, and they were cut in half so everyone could have a taste. While I was in the kitchen making them I also put the slow cooker on again and made several meals for next week. I don't really mind cooking, but I'm not crash hot at it and I do get bored with the daily necessity to produce a meal! If I lived alone I'd buy one big cooked chicken a week and just gnaw on it till it was all gone, and then go out and buy a slap-up meal.
I am wearing...  A beige jacket with matching trousers, a purple jumper and cream necklace and earrings. We've just been out to my friend, Joy's for tea. Her daughter teaches Aboriginal children in a remote part of the state, but she was home for the holidays, and I wanted to share some thoughts with her about teaching reading. It turned out she'd already got my book on the subject though, and I don't think it will help her circumstances. I had ideas about how to involve a native language with English, but it turns out her pupils are some of the saddest among Aborignal  people. They have lost their own language and have just picked up the very worst of European 'culture'! In other words, swearing and walking out of the classroom are commonplace! She's passionate about teaching them, although she lives in relative isolation and her Mother worries about her.
I am creating... well, tidying-up three plays for a festival. It's called 'Short and Sweet' and no play must be longer than ten minutes! One of my plays is my old faithful 'Unhand Me' a ridiculous melodrama in verse, that I've shortened for the purpose. The other two are a monologue called 'Naked Ambition', and a thriller called 'The Old Block'. I don't suppose I stand much of a chance but I'm going to give it a try.
I am going... wherever my daughter, Rebecca, wants to go tomorrow. She's got a day off work because it's the school holidays and she's bringing Blake (11) over for the day. I suggested we could go shopping but she said Blake would hate that, so we'll see what transpires. We'll go out for lunch anyway. There's a new chef at The Leagues Club and we hear good reports of him. Blake will be easy to entertain as he's lost in some electronic gadget a lot of the time! I'm giving Rebecca a rug I no longer need as she has a cold floor in her office. She works for an Income Tax Assessment firm in the season and they've just moved premises.
I am reading... 'Year of Wonders', a novel built around the Plague Village of the 1600s. It's based on fact and very welll researched and I'm enjoying it very much. When I say 'enjoy' consider the fact that life was very harsh in those days. There are gruesome scenes of witches being drowned and people dying of the plague but the story is good and very well told.
I am hoping...my next Melodrama performance will go well. Most of the cast are off to the Blue Mountains for a Xmas in July excursion, so I've had to rustle up an alternative cast, some of them new to the game. Still, it doesn't really matter how we go. We had a great show last week at a VIEW club. We made an awful lot of mistakes but the ad libbing and asides made it funnier than ever and the audience was very receptive.
Here is Maisie (Me) being carted off to prison
I am hearing... a ringing in my ears! It sounds such like cicadas a long way away. The doctor says it probably means I'm going deaf! No sign of that yet, though, although both Malcolm and I put the sub-titles on for shows in which people 'mumble'!!!!!
Around the house.....we gave the two single beds to the Salvation Army and we now have a double bed in our spare bedroom. When I came home yesterday I found Malcolm had bought a bed-head for it. He was worried I might not like it but I think it's quite nice. I like anything wicker.
The new bedhead
One of my favorite things... is helping Harry with his school-work. I really do miss teaching even after twenty years of retirement. As soon as I start talking about it I get goose-bumps!
A few plans for the rest of the week:  A fairly quiet week this week. I should have Choir Practice tomorrow but I'm having a day with Becca instead. Then, on Wednesday it's the monthly Scrabble get-together but it's not at my house this time. Then the only other thing is the 'Tiddly Pom' rehearsal on Friday.
 Photograph and a Thought
A magnolia (?) tree in my daughter's garden this week! Mid-winter in Australia!

For some reason old comments have attached themselves to this new blog! And I don't know how to get rid of them!

15 comments:

  1. My goodness it sounds as though you are one busy woman! I love that you keep up with your teaching skills, I am sure the grands enjoy the help.
    Your dinner sounds delicious, I am alone all week and hate cooking! Wish I could afford a chef for the week! Love Di ♥

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not that mad on football, but I must admit I always enjoy the World Cup. Until England's knocked out, anyway :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing a period of your life. You are quite busy and very creative! Thanks for your visit under my umbrella! We have a Dutch nursery rhyme about two children under mother's umbrella, splashing through the puddles in the street.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi....thanks for visiting my blog....sorry you couldn't get the "follow" button to work.
    Do try again.

    And I'll be back......

    ReplyDelete
  5. good morning rinkly..i had written you a comment last night and just when i was going to post it, the internet gave up!
    i was thanking you for visiting my site.
    here i am in the beautiful heat in my beloved manitoba and there you and your friends are in the chill of winter!
    i would have loved to have been at your friend's birthday party.
    elderly folk have always been my cup of tea!..although since the truth must be told, i am 60 now and so i suppose that i am part of the senior crowd!
    i hung around older people so much when i was growing up that i got cattaracs when i was 29 and grey hair when i was in my early twenties.
    rinkly do you know mr.jim?
    he claims to be 108 years old!
    he is on my favourite links under "jimmie". he is a real nice guy.
    i am hoping that your little harry is all right now rinkly....thanks so much for your visit and god bless....this, your post has been so interesting and fun to read...love from terry of southern ontario canada and cheers from the little red car....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Feel like a bit of a voyeur peeking in on your journal here (you were nice enough to visit my site) but found it refreshingly candid and sweet!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The grandsons are very cute.I had to laugh about gnawing on a chicken, because I love to cook!
    But I am not very good at rhyming.It usually takes me quite a while to get something together.
    Have you made a poem for the birthday girl?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for visiting my blog and posting a comment on one of my Hawaiian vacation posts.

    You did very well writing by the "Day Book formula". That is a very nice portrait of your two young grandsons. I hope all went well for Harry's eye operation. Interesting that you should write about someone celebrating their 70th birthday. This past Sunday my husband and I attended the birthday celebration of two of our friends. "Corky" is 80 years old, and his daughter, Debbie, is 60 years old. The wicker headboard is attractive. I, too, like wicker.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Meravigliosa pianta di rose !
    Grazie della visita :-)
    Buona giornata.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for sharing. My son had an eye surgery like your grandson's and he's fine, but you'll have my thoughts and prayers.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your grandsons are very handsome youngsters!

    I love to cook, but I still struggle about cooking for one. I almost have it figured out, but it is hard. I've gone from a family with five children, slowly learning to adjust as the children left home, then to being completely alone for 5 years. I'm STILL working on it! And I'm not one who likes to cook a full recipe and eat the rest later. Not much for left-overs.

    I have to chuckle from time to time about the differences in our languages. "Bedhead" to an American means the messy hair one has upon arising in the morning! And, although I know that your "biscuits" and mine are different, I hesitate every time I read about "your" biscuits! I'm sure you have a second thought on occasion when you read one of our colloquialisms!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You sound like you have a full week to me, I will keep Harry in my prayers, be well....Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  13. http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/6244/

    Thanks a lot for the support to Jingle Poetry Potluck, I could not always find time to show how much we appreciate your support, here, three awards for you, hope to see you in of week 7, our theme is love and romance. Happy Monday, Happy Blogging! xxx

    ReplyDelete