School days, they pass so quickly...

Dear Friend,

I remember waving my first child off to school for the first time and having a small weep on the way home in the car.

I remember being apprehensive about how the day would go, how he would feel, be accepted and if he would accept readily the new group rules and dynamic.

I worried a bit during the day and was relieved to see his happy smiling face at the end of the school day. He was happy with the change, happy to meet new friends and try new experiences and the people he met that had duty of care and in charge of his learning were wonderful.

Over the years he made mistakes, so did I and sometimes the teachers did too (don’t spam me for this, we are all human), however I came to realize that we all had the same goal, to make sure he was safe and happy and learning.

I now realize, from the parent point of view, that I am one of those people that your children will meet in their school life. I would just like to say that if they come into my sphere of work I will, as far as I can, ensure they are learning in a safe, dry, cool, spacious, fully equipped Library and that they have the learning skills to utilize the tools on offer to the best of my ability.

I will also let them, phone home (outside school hours), print out that all important paper when the printer is not working in the classroom or home and help them with layout, spell check and direct them to the school office if what they are asking is part of their area of expertise.  I will also give them a tissue, a band aid, a chair and a glass of water, or be stern about their, or their friend’s behavior in the library, should it be necessary.

So my advice is buy lots of stationery, get them a new back pack every year, but let them choose it, help with the homework, but don’t do it for them, get a tutor for the ‘hard’ subjects if necessary and love them. Get to know the teacher and the school, and try to trust the people they meet in their school years are there to guide and help.

I waved Mr20 and his girlfriend off back to Perth yesterday and while I still feel mildly apprehensive of how others choices and his own will affect him, (and the feeling you get when you wave a loved one off never leaves). I am proud to say I feel his current choices are the right ones for him and the professionals involved in his learning are helping him move forward towards his goals. The feelings never leave you, it just lessens a bit over the years as your child grows and becomes responsible for their own life.

Smiling, raising my cup to you, friends and Hugs.

@kalgrl

Days 3-5 of our sojourn in Sydney

I am writing quickly to enable me to move along from this task as I have found it mildly difficult to write to you as I should, time constraints and many family gatherings prevent.

Day 3 of our journey saw us at the 'Power house museum' viewing a delightful display of artifacts from the 'Harry Potter' school days. Miss Bennett was delighted, Mr Bennett not so much. We gained a few reminders of this display and I must say that 'Bertie Botts every flavour beans' are just that. The maid by the way got a bit hot and tired and we sat quietly in the courtyard for our luncheon, to enable her to recover her strength, before a stoll around the city.

Day 4 we were able to negotiate the trains system and visit the Art Gallery for a delightful exhibition of works by the artist Picasso. Miss Bennett was delighted to view in its original form, one painting she had studied and tried to reproduce in her classes at school. Mr Bennett was happier with the 'real art' of Tom Roberts and a delightful small Van Gough we found in one of the other galleries.
We met up with a friend at the State Library and had a coffee in the rather delightful surroundings, and then strolled through a park area, I believe called 'The Domain'.

Day 5 was one of rest dear friends as we were all, including and especially the maid, tired from our excursions. We had excellent room service at our lodgings, purchased some 'Macarons' to take home and relaxed prior to the trip home on the Sunday. That was a long trip and Miss Bennett was feeling unwell during the journey, poor thing. The maid perked up and that made the journey a lot smoother.

I hope this news will suffice as I now need to move along with the preparations for the year ahead.
I hope this finds you well and enjoying the summer months.
Your friend
Mrs Bennett

*post scriptum - considering firing that maid as she is such a complainer and has just spilt beetroot on my new gown, well really!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Kalgrl
#blog5daysAustenese

I am in a blog challenge with other librarians, that is, to write 5 blog posts in the style of Jane Austen, I cannot but say that I have indeed found it a difficult challenge. (This is my belated finish to the challenge...ah well, better late then never :)

the other participants are:
@KRidwyn, blogging at Hmmmm
@Girlwithshoess, blogging at Justgirlwithshoes
@jobeaz, blogging at Macaronic
@jzgarnett, blogging at Randomly Yours, Julia

 

Our venture... day two

Dear friends,

I am very much afraid that you may be very disappointed with me as I am such a sad correspondent, my apologies for the tardiness of this update on our activities. These are the main events of day two of our venture to Sydney.

It started out as a very fine day and we were elated to have pleasant weather for our chosen day for a walk around Sydney.  The maid took an inordinate amount of time to unpack and she kept complaining of fatigue (I cannot see why as the silly creature had a good night’s sleep in pleasant surrounds). When finally, I had finished my toilet, and she had dressed my hair to my satisfaction, we ventured forth to find some sustenance to sustain us for the day.

Our first concern dealt with (even though we had a small occasion, dear friends,  of ‘Men won’t ask directions…) we discovered that the light rail conveyance ran under our holiday abode, we took quick advantage of a 3 day family pass and ventured forth. This conveyance was very pleasant and staff were very helpful with directions. We alighted, dear friends at ‘Central station’ and managed to negotiate the reasonably confusing ticket purchase and platform selection and rode the train to Circular Key. Just aside, we do not travel overmuch on public transport in our quiet country town.

What beautiful vistas greeted our eyes on alighting from the train and climbing the stairs to the street level, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, the botanical gardens and the beautiful bay. After many sets of stairs and braving the strong winds at the front of the Opera House, there was no chance of a chill as it was still quite warm, we sat for a while in the tranquil gardens overlooking the bay, recovering our strength and viewing the many craft under sail.

Returning to our lodgings we rested briefly before attending the cinema, a new type of play on a device that may catch on, showing moving pictures. The feature was something about an impossible mission.

That is all I can recall of our adventures and as I am now quite fatigued I will say good night dear friends, until next I write.

Yours in exhaustion,
Mrs Bennett

Postscriptum: The maid continues to be fatigued, I believe she has been affected possibly by 'the lag of the jet' , we must ge her a tonic tomorrow to brighten her up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Kalgrl
#blog5daysAustenese

I am in a blog challenge with other librarians, that is, to write 5 blog posts in the style of Jane Austen, I cannot but say that I have indeed found it a difficult challenge.

the other participants are:
@KRidwyn, blogging at Hmmmm
@Girlwithshoess, blogging at Justgirlwithshoes
@jobeaz, blogging at Macaronic
@jzgarnett, blogging at Randomly Yours, Julia

A letter to my friends..day one

My dear friends,

It behoves me to write this day to inform you of recent events in our lives, so you can, if you should so desire, share our adventure. I wish to recount our journey to the beautiful city of Sydney and what befell us there.

On the first day of our venture, we set forth in high hopes and mild agitation at the journey to come. Flying high in the skies is always a breathtaking experience considering it is not a natural state for man to fly, however it is a necessary step to cross this great land of ours. Fast horse drawn carriages have nothing on the speed and might of these metal birds that take us on these journeys.

After having taken the time to oversee the maid in the packing of my trunk, (alas, she is sometimes forgetful and a small trial to me), to ensure that nothing would be left behind and my best outfits were included, and fortified with a small imbibe at the local hostelry, we set off.

Included in our journey was to be a small break in the city of Adelaide, a fine place and one of, so it is said, many churches. We did not stay long in this fine state, only long enough to partake of a light refreshment and change carriages, for the next stage of our journey. I entertain hopes of a longer visit on our return journey.

Mr Bennett was in a fine fettle and our dear Victoria was excited about the coming treat to visit the finer establishements in the city and take in the views of the much lauded opera house and the bay on which it sits.

The staff who attended  to our needs on the journey and the captain of the ship were very pleasing and kept us entertained and comfortable. Mr Bennett was delighted on being regularly apprised of the weather conditions and speed and height our conveyance would reach.

After many hours we arrived at our destination. Mr Bennett secured another conveyance to take us into the city and we were soon at our lodgings. The building itself was large and had many twinkling lights, which possibly gave it its name, "The Star". Our rooms were perfectly suited to our needs and the bathing room was more than adequate, boasting a deep bath in which to wash off the rigours of our journey. (I blush as I convey this to you, however I know you would want to know we were comfortable.)

A welcome from our hosts was on the picture box on the wall, and we decided on a short walk to try the air and prepare for our rest. We admired a goodly number of fine establishments and purveyors of goods on the walk, esp. an exquisite patissier. The ladies in the party determined to return over the next few days for a closer look at the many items on display.

After this we retired for the night and I will leave the events of the next day for another page.
I do hope that this missive finds you all well and that no-one has succumbed to the summer heat.

Yours in fine fettle,

Mrs Bennett

Postscriptum,  I should also mention that the maid packed my favourite perfume incorrectly (as I said a trial to me, but she has been with the family for a long time) and it had spilled in my trunk, thankfully not through my clothes, but enough to make it necessary to air out the smaller trunk for a number of days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@kalgrl
#blog5daysAustenese

I am in a blog challenge with other librarians, that is, to write 5 blog posts in the style of Jane Austen, I cannot but say that I have indeed found it a difficult challenge.

the other participants are:
@KRidwyn, blogging at Hmmmm
@Girlwithshoess, blogging at Justgirlwithshoes
@jobeaz, blogging at Macaronic
@jzgarnett, blogging at Randomly Yours, Julia

25th December 2011

The rather splendiferious tree decorated by MS14, we left behind, and all our pressies - woe. (Shh...we did have a small carpet party in the lounge and open a few before we went away, shhh...) I spent the few days between coming home from Perth and going to Esperance, (it felt like) running at full tilt to get everything done - I hope I didnt forget anything, it was such a blur..

Much fun, food (thank you to SIL and Niece) and more fun and food was had by all. After cleanup, most of us went to early rest. (note to self - remember *nothing is open in Esperance on Christmas day - Children get hungry again - must take/buy food for other meals as service station stuff is edible but...)

We made Ninja Gingerbreads to take, but didn't get time to ice, so Ms 14 and I did a 'reasonable job' of decorating on Christmas eve in the hotel room. They were well received. (one small nephew loves 'the rocks' - silver decoration and he loved that we put 'a lot' on the gingerbread.) They were a "little pink" for ninjas so good thing we don't have a final photo. @kalgrl

December 24th 2011

On December 24th we, all the family visited Stonehenge - Esperance. This is a (to quote the 'fact sheet') "complete replica to scale of the original "Stonehenge" in the UK. The children had a great time running around the standing stones and playing hide and seek, while the adults took many photos.

"The structure is aligned with the summer solstice - Esperance WA. The station stones will be positioned on this line to allow the sun rays to pass through to the altar. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year (22nd December)and the sunset on the winter solstice is also in alignment, which is the shortest day of the year (21st June)."

"137 Stones of Esperance Pink Granite quarried adjacent to the Beale's property in Esperance, Western Australia." It was interesting and is deliberatly not a 'ruin', but a replica of the original. In conversation with the owner my SIL discovered that there had been weddings and other ceremonies at the site, but that she wouldn't allow 'pagan rituals'. (My mind wondered/giggled at that, as it is a commercial venture and it does cost $'s to enter the site, but hey everyone has a 'personal line' :-)

The gift shoppe had some interesting pens in local timbers, that @flexnib would maybe have liked. :-) @kalgrl

December 23rd 2011

December 23rd was 'Travel day for Christmas' which just happens to also be my birthday :-) Woke to lots of Birthday wishes facebook and twitter and then a drive down to Esperance for Christmas. The cake was given to me by my lovely Niece Jo (thank you) and was 'White Chocolate mudcake with Passionfruit syrup". All the Bennett, Van Viersen family joined us for dinner at the Taylor Street Jetty Tearooms. Thank you everyone for a lovely evening.

#blogjune Day 30 - 'Last day Capricorn 23'

June 2011 - A wonderful Sharing Month.






A'giggle' of Librarians at the tweetup (with a-ma-zing hot chocolate)

Last day of June 2011.
Sunset today at 5:15 pm - Corner of Brookman and Lane Streets - Kalgoorlie Western Australia

It has been a long month professionally with a lot happening in the schools on the campus, and at MPOW, still nothing resolved fully about changes so 'heidy ho'...

It is semester break for the University students, however the Highschool have one more week and TAFE finished officially today. We are quiet and getting the jobs done that we can only achieve in the 'quiet' times. We also had two staff off this week at a Senior first aid course, (so I am feeling safer already)one on long service and two casuals away for semester break.

For a sense of personal achievement, I published my first LibGuide today, I felt I had learnt enough, through all the hints and tips in the emails from Perth colleagues and my own reading, to work out how to put it together. Ongoing learning curve there.

I love being a Librarian, and even though it can be very stressful and isolated at times, it is a wonderful thing to help someone find what they want, even if it is only the 'stapler'. (4x today :-)

Another huge plus was I enjoyed my first 'tweetup' on the weekend and my only regret was not enough time to talk MORE with all the Librarians who came along. Thanks to @lutie for arranging such a wonderful treat (and her a-ma-zing texta pen). Everyone was waving ipads and ebook readers and nametags and hot chocolate and talking and talking and laughing and sharing. so good! Wonderful to meet face to face.

I hope your month was enjoyable and you read and laughed and shared as we did.
Next...
July 2011

@kalgrl
#blogjune

ps* sorry about the 'Logans Run' joke in the title, but sometimes phrases remind me of movie lines and this old scifi was full of 'last days'. *grin*

#blogjune day29 'keeping score for June 2011'

I have been a bit busy, buzzing around and doing. It is nearly the end of June and I feel the need to count up the successes and failures of the month, to see the score...
(things in no particular order... )

1. Began #blogjune with a passion and managed to blog 17 days straight (win)
2. Covering for staff on long service at work and spread myself a bit too thin... Feeling the pinch of tasks not complete and rushed for time constraints - poor time management (fail)
3. Went to my first 'tweetup' with a beautiful group of, sharing, giving, chatty, calorie loving :), wonderful Librarians. Just soaking up the enthusiasm was brilliant! (win)
4. Not enough time spent with @sputty11 and @flexnib - need to rectify that... (fail)
5. Joined 'Bennett nerds ahoy' at Supernova... With all the trimmings of fanboi fun... I love inventive, creative and slightly cracked people, and this venue rocked with that! (win)
6. Geek Souvenirs acquired - tardis cookie jar with noise and light, 'don't blink' and 'I kissed a timelord and liked it' t shirts, 'trueblood' - bar and grill' 1/2 apron, 2 new covers for my iPhone. (win)
7. Funeral of a friend (sad fail)
8. Spent time with my family, doing things we like to do (win)
9. Didn't blog everyday in June (fail)
10. Haven't 'yet' read all the wonderful blog entries that friends are contributing to #blogjune (fail)
11. Started reading fiction again (win)
12. Extended family stuff - Got the date wrong for friends daughters birthday again, sent hoody too small to nephew for his birthday and lost receipt. Horrid, short, tired phone call with brother. Dad not well, Mum coping. Aunty not well. (cluster fail)
13. Was late for work on my early start - twice (fail)
14. E- books and e-book readers - time to assess and evaluate - time management (fail)
15. Hugged Ms 14, Mr 19 and JB more and tried to be as supportive as I could with all their projects. (win)
16. Planted start of new garden at front of house. (win)
17. Began writing and editing book (win)
18. Joined committe for important anniversary of theatre group - organizers 'r' us (win)
19. Was joyful for friend who achieved success and new position at work and Europe trip (win, win)
20. Taken time to breath, a couple of times. (win)
21. Clear wardrobe - domestic task for June . (fail)

Time to stop and count coup:
Win = 12
Fail = 9

Well I do believe I have achieved my eagle feather for June.

Dear family, friends and 'tweeps', I hope you all can count June 2011 as a win.

@kalgrl
#blogjune

#blogjune day26 &17 Barry

Last Friday I went to a Funeral of a friend. I seemed to lose my 'blog mojo' and become more introspective  and wasn't ready to blog then. So here is last Fridays blog. 

Barry was one of nature's gentlemen.
He was a lovely man who was generous with both his personal time and expertise in mechanical areas. He would spend time helping people, patch that bike tyre, get that missing part or stopping to chat.

He also treated people well and always had a kind word for all. I probably don't know all there is to know about Barry, I am sure he had his very human moments, like the rest of us. 

I got to know Barry when he was 'going steady' (can't say dating as the word doesn't seem to fit the man, brylcreme and  Slim Dusty were more his style:)with a close friend. She was recovering from a bitter divorce and had over some years a few difficult relationships.

Barry treated her well, flowers and laughter were in her life. He was nice and courteous and treated the members of her extended family well.

Unfortunately Barry smoked, heavily as did other members of his family. His sister was suffering with cancer and dying. My friend asked him, if they were to continue their relationship would he give up smoking? He would not. Her decision then, to protect herself from further hurt was to end the relationship. Barry stayed a friend to her and her family and helped them in many ways.

The irony is, that friend died of cancer in 2004. Barry was working and right up until the day he died a couple of weeks ago.

I was a friend of Barry and he taught me the value of enjoying what you do, valuing those closest to you and what a true generous soul is like.

I hugged my family more this week.

RIP Barry.

@kalgrl
#blogjune