Some cheer for Christmas

Now we're actually IN the 12 days of Christmas... some suitable music to enjoy

That's the thing about the Muppets - no matter who you are, or what you stuff up, they're still friends and support each other.

More fun - with no relevance to Christmas, just enjoyment

And Elmo's person

Christmas youtubing

Last year was Bing & David, this year the Pogues, of course.



Merry Christmas to all - and to all a good night. See you in the New Year.

Catching up

Thanks to Smart Bitches I spent some time playing online dress. You, too, can dress your Heyer-like heroine or hero!

More bunnies spotted today - but not by me damn it!!!

See what you can do with time and photoshop! Part One, Two and Three.

And, because I can, one of my favourite music videos

Notes from the field

I've been keeping an eye out for those bunnies at Western Springs and can report that I have seen one last week, a friend said there are heaps if you go in the afternoon and - this morning - reported from the field... 3 bunnies at Motions Road end of the Springs! Thanks Pat!

Strawberry fields forever

This morning I went strawberry picking with my mum, a niece and her son - $5 a kilo for freshly picked strawberries. And, even at 9am, it was getting hot!

It must be summer! How suddenly!

And yet, still not quite warm enough at night to change to cotton sheets (but nearly!)

Gosh! How time flies

Good grief! Almost a month has gone by since I've been on!!

Sorry - been busy. Poor excuse I know! But there you go!

I've been working. Out of Auckland. Going to meetings. And sleeping!

Oh - and watching the league! Go the KIWIS!!!!
Black Caps - hmmmmm.....

Book review time

It's been a while since I reviewed a book on here - so...

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

What a joy! I read it in one gulp because I just needed to find out what would happen - would Juliet end up with Mark. What about Dawsey? He was so wonderful - something had to happen! Would Elizabeth come home?

As you read through you know what you WANT to happen - and those wants could contradict each other.

I love novels in different formats and this one is epistolary (ie in letters, and notes, and telegrams in this case).

And then there's the experiences of the Guernsey Islanders during German occupation - and the stories of the German soldiers. Yes, a lot of bad - but those glimpses of humans behind the badge are well-drawn.

And the wonders, joys, and friendships that come out of reading...

This is now on my wish list - fancy that! An adult novel!!!

I'm re-reading it shortly...

Fun stuff 2

Need a laugh?

4D gloom

No! Depression has struck my family... and the guessing begins - who will/should be the 11th incarnation?

PS notice how the first comments at the bottom of the article are all from women? Photo stolen from Times site, too

Commenting on the climate

Or... the art of dressing for yesterday's weather...
Monday - warm, sunny
Tuesday - forecast high of 20 & overcast. Sucked in, I wore spring clothes: skirt, shoes (not knee-high boots), lightweight jumper... and froze all day
Wednesay - forecast high of 19 & overcast. Dressed slightly warmer - jeans, medium-weight cardy... and froze all day
Today (Thursday) - didn't get sucked in. Jeans (another pair), heavier jacket and took the coat!
Lesson: ALWAYS take my coat...

Selfishly doing good

Thank goodness for Canteen's Bandana Challenge! It means that I can wear bandanas every day for a week and people think I'm supporting Canteen (which I am! Honestly!) while looking good - and hiding the fact I really need to dye my hair...

There's method in my selfishness

Photo of my bandana collection - yes, even a Dan Carter one

General silliness

Check it out... hanging out at Waiau Waterworks - and Driving Creek Railway (not the best place for someone who doesn't like heights that much - see that little sight seeing point? We went there. Twice)

Ponderings part 3

I'm still wondering about the sheet thing in hotels - I've solved my problem by taking a polar fleece away with me (but it's a pain to pack, I must admit)

Am I ever going to turn on the sports news and hear that the Black Caps have done well (brilliantly would be better) ALL match? Instead I hear "X and Y have pulled New Zealand out of a batting slump when they were some-ridiculously-small-number-of-runs for some-ridiculously-large-number-of-wickets". Again, why am I surprised? Mind games I tell you! [In an aside, then there was the Silver Ferns against England. UP down...]

Why am I obsessed with desserts? I don't usually eat chocolate or sweets. So that obsession with looking through dessert menus first is strange. If there are nice desserts (brulee tops the list, currently) then I'll decide to have an entree, rather than main. Hmmm... dessert... [yes, I even take photos of the prettiest desserts...]

Back to sheets (blogged about them before... what's with THIS obsession) I have finally found the t-shirt material sheets I've been searching for for years! But then - it was a 'set' of one fitted sheet & 2 pillowcases. Do you know how difficult it is to find a flat sheet - not in a set!!! (Had to settle for a flannette sheet...)

Have more photos to upload, then I'll work on the next post... more photos of the Oxford lookalike school... Just for you Philip!

My excuse this time is...

I was in Christchurch. Had some lovely desserts. Visited a couple of shops. Walked around a lot. Played with my new happy suitcase (yes, it is sort of pink - but it stands out on the luggage carousel). Oh, and went to a conference... some of the sessions were held in Christ's College. This is the dining hall. Bloody intimidating place for someone brought up in a new suburb and new schools (built in the 60s and 70s).

What I did on my holiday...

was very little.

A few walks into the local shopping area. Bought some organic meat from down the road. Supported my local retailers.

As always, took home half the library to read - and re-read books from my shelves instead.

Officially became older.

Had lunch with people I worked with about 10 years ago.

Celebrated the entry of a new family member - congratulations guys! You looked fabulous. And your vows were beautiful. All the best for your lives together.

Birthdays

I don't work on my birthday - haven't for years. It's not just that I'm against working on my birthday (which I am, avoids all the fuss) - I just don't want to tempt fate.
Last time I worked on my birthday I was alone in the department (joys of lunch time - one staff member at lunch, the other running an errand, and me on desk) - wearing fairy wings & a tiara - hey, it was my birthday!
My working day ended at the police station, giving evidence after stepping in to an attempted bag snatching/assault in the women's toilets beside our desk. The sounds of screaming gave it away.
When, eventually, the errand-running staff member came back I said - 'next time you ask if I'll be ok by myself for a few minutes, the answer is no!'
Added to the fun was most of the senior managers were on a 'bonding exercise' or something. So ringing reception for one was entertaining. I started going down the list but by 3 names, had given up and said 'I've just prevented an assault, and I need a manager.' There was one very quickly found. Thank goodness for the senior staff member on the floor below who heard the screaming and came running upstairs. The weirdness of acoustics! The staff on the other side of the floor hadn't heard a thing!
The interviewing officer - at the station - wasn't one of the arresting officers, so was a bit nonplussed when an arresting officer walked past the interview room and said 'you look different without your wings.'
My family had visions of the girl I rescued telling everyone about how this guardian angel swooped in and saved her.
The interviewing officer was impressed with my description of the assailant. I'm such a girl I said her pale blue eyeshadow matched her faded denim jacket. And, when I said she'd tried to leave the scene to get her kids, he said 'she didn't have kids last time I arrested her.'
Fun and games at the public library...
All in a day's work.
And that's why I stay at home on my birthday...

Holiday calls...

I'm on holiday... and trying to stay away from the computer...

Unfortunately I'm NOT on a tropical beach somewhere...

PS Go the Mighty Vodafone Warriors! [to be said in the style of the Mad Butcher]

The empty space

I tried doing this post for Fathers Day, but couldn't find the photo in time... so, a week late...

Last year we had an inorganic rubbish collection and, amongst other things, my flatmate put out Dad's concrete mixer, which he'd inherited. It was old - rusty - pretty nearly unworkable. I thought I'd better get a photo of it, so I could scrapbook it - and all the memories that went along side it. Hearing it go meant Dad was at home, working. Many hours I spent down by Dad's workshop as a little kid, watching, mucking around. There was a period when Dad would put swirls of paint into water in the wheelbarrow and I'd make marbled paper. The concrete mixer was one of the sounds of home.

So, out I went to take a photo, only... there was an empty space.

I was upset that I'd missed the opportunity. Then realised how much more symbolic it was. A photo of the empty space where the concrete mixer had been.

A symbol of the emptiness where Dad had been. How grateful I am that there were no missed opportunities with Dad. That he had been dying for a period that allowed (most of) us to make sure he knew we loved him. That we'd had a chance to be with him. To laugh and to cry. And to share.

As always Dad, I miss you and love you.

Top Gear fun

A conversation last night reminded me of this moment of Top Gear fun...

Thoughts on family

Due to the evils of work - I missed the biannual working bee up north - and the glorious flowering bulbs on Dad's grave.
I missed the camaraderie of my mad family while we work like navvies - digging holes, weeding gardens, concreting posts, moving concrete...
I missed the chats and reminiscences. The jokes and pranks. The sheer silliness of us being together.
And people wonder why I'm so close to them. Why I spend every second Sunday with the sisters (as many as possible). Why we prefer to sit together at an extended family gathering, instead of catching up with relatives we don't see that much.
Because they're my friends.
Because the shared history we have - the shared love - the shared stories - the shared joys (and jokes and pranks) - and the shared sorrows - has made us a whole.
Because our parents made us that way.
Because my sisters married men who fit in - although, as Muzz has been in the family only 6 months less than me - he's blood now.
Because each of us sorrow and grieve for the sibling outside the circle. Grieve for the roads and choices that have made it difficult for us to be truly whole again.
Because, although each of us had/have a very individual relationship with Dad and Mum - we shared them. Every weird, kooky, loving moment.
Who else understands that history? Those joys? Those sorrows?
Who else can understand the visceral reaction I have to the smell of that icky pink stuff used in tiling? Why that - and the sound of a concrete mixer - means home?
And, by understand - I mean, truly understand. Without words. Without explanation.
They are my family.
They are my life.
They make me whole.

Happy birthday to...

this blog!

I know it started some time in September last year... but I've deleted all those early posts (related to work stuff....)
A whole year of friends, family and workmates actually visiting and reading the thoughts out of my strange wee head... Who'd have thunk!
Highlights of the year... in my opinion, anyhoo
Cute widdle duckies last spring
My fav coat - and I still get favourable comments
Days of our lives
Charlie & Lola madness (PS my 2009 diary is already organised...)
Genre blindness and again
Dad's birthday
Eddie Izzard
Sean Connery
Beading success!

Random weirdness

So this is what happens when you have hundreds of songs and you hit random...
Nat King Cole followed by



Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Major eye-candy at work

Just a few special visitors in today...

Fun stuff

Check this out...
Random Romance Novel Title Generator
So far...
The Pacific Islander Paper Company Sales Representative's Lovely Mistress
The Aztec History Professor's Virgin Secretary
The Maltese Thane's Virgin Model
The Parisian Pirate's Reluctant Princess
The Venusian Emir's Anarcho-Syndicalist Captive

Beading beading beading

Happiness is getting Highly Commended for these two pieces... the one on the right is a brooch

Birthday wish list

T-shirt - option one

T-shirt - option two

T-shirt - option three

T-shirt - option four

T-shirt - option five

T-shirt - option six

Messenger bag - option one

Messenger bag - option two

Messenger bag - option three

Bead Hold vouchers

Buttons - lots and lots of buttons - any size, any shape, any colour...

Reading and libraries

The power of reading...


And, if you want to - just fast foward to about 6.20 for the bit about reading. Otherwise - 8 minutes of Sean Connery - good day.

Then there's this gem a friend sent me ages ago & I've just rediscovered while clearing out files - How to use a library

Adding to the coolest medal list

Yes, seanfish - you're right! Anything NZ wins is a good thing! Go Valerie!

To add to the list... after due consideration...
8. Rowing 8s [well, we used to win it...]
9. Equestrian 3-day eventing [seanfish's contribution]
10. still up for debate

What are the coolest Olympic medals?

The other day the flatmate asked me what would be the top 10 coolest Olympic medals you could win for your country. We agreed on the top two without a problem, then discussed the rest... Oddly enough, most of them are men's medals - you know, the men's 100m is way cooler than the women's (sexual equality or not)

1. Marathon
2. Men's 100m
3. Heavy weight boxing
4. Individual overall gymnastics
5. Weightlifting - but we couldn't decide on the coolest weight division
6. 1500m [but this could be a result of being Kiwi kids & raised on Lovelock, Snell & Walker!]
7. Swimming individual 200m medley

Then we got a bit stuck... any thoughts welcome

Stumbling around...

I stumbled onto this Guardian article today...

Jane Brocket's top 10 food scenes in children's literature

I so agree with #1 - Maria's feast scene in The Little White Horse - fabulous! I want a Marmaduke Scarlet

And the Famous Five's picnics... and Marilla's 'raspberry cordial'... and Paddington's elevenses... though I'd add Winnie-the-Pooh's smackrels [although Paddington's cocoa and buns sounds much nicer to me than Pooh's honey!]

[image stolen from: blogs.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/food/2007/09/]

Oma rapiti!

In January I wondered where the bunnies had gone from Western Springs - today I can report a confirmed sighting! And not just a 'well, that lump could be a bunny' - but a running-full-tilt-across-the-field bunny sighting!

Fandom fun

Ok - this makes more sense if you watch Discovery channel - but it's still fun...



Discovery have even encouraged people to do their own versions - check out the list

There's even a Doctor Who version!

Ponderings

Why is that hotels keep having cotton sheets & only one duvet - even in the middle of winter - and in Christchurch? Call me a wimpy Aucklander - but I have flannette sheets, and an electric blanket, and a blanket, and a duvet...

Why are the Olympics such a 'surprise' - we know what the kids are going to ask for every four years... but still we're caught on the hop. Related subject... why do organisations only put up their Olympic related sites a week or two out from the start of the games...?

Why has my cat started moulting - it's not spring, yet!

And... why are there so many daffodils & snowdrops out? Do they know something we don't...

Test time

Very cool...

Video time!

Who couldn't love this...

For Montana Poetry Day

To recognise Montana Poetry Day... a poem by New Zealander Joy Cowley (from Psalms for the road, pub 2002)
Grief
Friend,
I don’t know what you are going through.
I’ve had grief in my life, but this is your grief,
Your pain, and I am on the outside.
I realise that words of comfort are useless
to someone hanging on a cross.
All I can do is be here for you,
bring in the washing, answer the phone,
make a pot of tea for visitors,
hug you when hugs are needed,
and listen when you need to talk.
If you want silence, tell me.
If you want me to go, please say.
You know me well enough
to treat me as one of the family.
Friend, I can only stand here
at the foot of your cross,
but know in your desolation,
that you are not alone.

Guard Kitty

So, there I was at home alone on Saturday night - had suffered through the All Blacks' loss, and was watching UChoose40, when a drunk and/or injured guy decided to camp out across my ranch slider - while yelling "call 111" and rattling the door to get in. Yes, I called the police - I'm not stupid - and thank god I keep the doors locked when I'm at home alone, any time of the day.

Police came quite quickly (female, at home alone with man on deck, what did you think), and they called an ambulance. When they arrived he'd moved off the deck to the driveway.

As soon as he'd left - I had Guard Kitty on duty. She'd spent the time he was on the deck, sitting on the coffee table staring at him. Now she was keeping an eye out... spent ages sniffing around the deck later, too.

I love Guard Kitty.

Happy songs

Having - finally! - loaded songs on my MP3 I've been thinking about the songs that make me happy. The ones that I have to not sing along or dance to (in public), and make me smile. In no particular order, and subject to change at any moment:

• Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis
• Grace Kelly by Mika
• Sam's song by Dean Martin & Sammy Davis Jnr (ok, this is just a tribute)
• I believe in a thing called love by the Darkness

Need a laugh...

Lots of fun!

Cuteness

Happiness (even through stinking cold) comes from videos like this one...

GON OUT

BACKSON, BISY, BACKSON

blame it on... Storylines Festival and AnyQuestions. Note: don't start a new role as your 'volunteer' role takes off...

The colours of autumn

The view from the balcony at work. Soon we'll be able to see the clocktower.

In the news

The value of a good librarian...

Happy birthday, Hairy Maclary! From Kerre Woodham, TVNZ, TV3 - we ALL love Hairy Maclary.

New game...

Roger Sutton's blog is so much fun...

Check out this entry - games to play on public transport... and with children's books titles. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about adult books to join in the game...

Winter wonder and woe

There are things I love about winter...
The clothes; the coats; the hats; the scarves... Western Springs on a cold morning. The crispness of the air.
There are things I loathe about winter...
The main one is - the lack of umbrella etiquette. Is it so hard to keep your (furled) umbrella close to your side - not sticking out behind you, ready to skewer unwary pedestrians?

The joys of public transport

Normally it's an hour bus trip home - ie I leave work just before 5 and get home around 6 (5 minutes either side). Today, yep traffic on the motorway was bad - but the bus driver compounded the issue by deciding to take a detour out of the traffic. Bad call. It was bad everywhere. So (this will make sense to those with a bit of knowledge of West Auckland), instead of just getting off the motorway at Waterview (as per normal) or even Pt Chev and going along Great North Road, we ended up going past Pak'n'Save in Mt Albert! WAY out of the way. And walked in the door at 6.40... Ok, the time would probably be the same if he'd just travelled the normal route - but very disconcerting trip all the same.

It's just like paper dolls!

Confession time. I was addicted to paper dolls as a kid. Made my own outfits for them. Treasured my mum's collection from the 40s/50s (Rita Hayworth from Carmen included), even reverted as an adult and bought nice new ones (for no apparent reason, really).

And now, thanks to the Society, there's online librarian dress up!

Happiness is memories and time reverting to childhood - and being childlike (not childish)

Youtubing

I tried putting this on last night - but there was a technical hitch... like the song (either original or this) and the video...

Youtubing

Starring one of our regular customers...

More IPL madness

Go Mumbai! It was my support that did it...

Cricketing madness

After much debate and discussion, I have finally decided which team to support in the IPL - using the old kiwi standbys... the team with no (big name) Aussies, and the underdogs (who shouldn't be, by the way)... so go the Mumbai Indians!

Lest we forget

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives...you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie, side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.

Tribute to the memory of the ANZACs by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, 1934

They shall grow not old,

As we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them,

Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,

And in the morning,

We will remember them.

From 'The Fallen' by Laurence Binyon

Book review time!

Airman by Eoin Colfer

First off, I think it's odd that the blurb calls this his first historical novel. Yep, it's set in Victorian-times, but it's set in an imaginary island...So - contrary to the blurb statement - I think this is far more steam punk - fantasy/science fiction, set in a steam power world with fictional technologies.

That said - this is a cracking read - great for boys, especially.

Conor's birth is eventual - born, slightly prematurely, in a hotair balloon under attack from gunfire. Thus his love of flight.

His father is the right-hand man of King Nikos, ruler of said imaginary island. And Conor becomes close friends with the crown princess. Behind the scenes, however, lurks someone who wants it all for himself.

As a teenager Conor's life falls apart when his trusted tutor/mentor is framed for the assassination of the king, and killed. Conor himself is framed as co-conspirator (as he is led to believe) and shipped off to the prison islands, bullied and persecuted. He finds a friend and a new identity, totally loosing himself.

When the chance comes, Conor must decide whether to regain himself and his family - or just seek revenge.

Getting help

If you've ever wondered if I get help doing stuff - I do get help..


Help with typing stuff up...

Help with beading...

Spam! & winter

Wow! Look at the comments from my previous post - I got spammed!

Another clue to winter... the cat sleeps on my bed - sleep tight Molly

Ponderings in the chill morning

As it turns to autumn, I wonder...
Why am I obsessed with the thread count on my cotton sheets when I only use them for about 4 months a year? When are we going to get high quality flannette sheets?
How many layers to I have to have with me to be comfortable all day? At the bus stop at 6.20am, at work with the tempermental air con?
When is the steam going to start rising off Western Springs in the pre-dawn air? My favourite view of the Springs...

More ramblings...

Sorry for lack of posts - due entirely to lack of thoughts at the moment...
Anyway, while I was sitting at my computer one night, trying to come up with something to say here - I played some stupid little online game - can't remember what it was - and at some point it told "you have a life" and I thought - "if I had a life, I wouldn't be playing this stupid game..."
In my defence - I get up at some ungodly hour for work - and there's only so much tv you can watch - especially when your flatmates are watching something you can't stand...

I have a theory...

Have you noticed that almost everyone around you is tired at the moment? It's not just at work, either.
I think we've all been adjusted to daylight savings time - and it's extra this year, so our body clocks are adjusting to the change - and the darkness in the morning.
Just a thought...

Music of a generation...

So, Duran Duran performed and the news said something about them being the music/voice of a generation. And I thought - yep, I was the right age & all, but they weren't MY voice or MY music. Apart from the required metal component (westie...) and a massive dose of 70s (not disco - Suzi Quatro - also visiting! - Slade - Sweet - Alice - Kiss)... My music was a-ha - and not just because they were cute. Someone even bought me an a-ha 1988 calendar (I still have it, with all my assignment due dates, the joys of 6th form cert).
So, I've been trying to figure out what my favourite a-ha song was/is... and it is a very hard choice, and I think it might be this one (choice subject to change)

Easter...

What I could have been doing over the long weekend - seeing old fav bands in concert - some again, some for the first time (band tees bought at concerts: Poison '89, Alice '90 and Kiss '91, Blackcaps a birthday present) What I did do... head north and work lots... And it was great. Time with the family is utterly priceless, and worth so much more in the long run. And, for those who read this blog ages ago - I remembered the buzzy bee & daffodils for Dad's grave this time!

Happy Easter!

Easter time - which means heading north for another weekend of family bonding and working bee at the bach... more weeding... So, in honour of the day - Eddie Izzard on Easter (& a touch of Christmas)

St Patricks Day

St Pats - an important date in my family history. 53 years ago on St Pats my mum & dad met at the movies. A day for reminiscence and sadness as Dad isn't with us to celebrate.
Okay - late - very Irish celebration of St Pats - thanks Fi! Bring out the tissues.

How does he do it?

Mass murderers... world wars... and it's funny...?



Circuitous route to get to this video... friend sent a couple of Lego Star Wars videos... and one of them was Eddie Izzard discussing the canteen on the Death Star... which led me to Eddie Izzard. He is great live!



Stonehenge...


Noah & the flood...

(Sean Connery was also Henry VIII in another clip)

Many happy returns...

This month it is Margaret Mahy's 72nd birthday - but I will be sans computer at that time (well, not with access to this photo... taken at a casual get-together to celebrate Margaret's Hans Christian Andersen award win, and soon after her birthday. That's me with Margaret, who is wearing the bracelet I'd made her. I even made the silver jump rings - it's Byzantine chainmaille.

Websites to love...

Cricinfo - the site to keep cricket fans sane while stuck at work... updated quickly, commentary fun
Literature Map - play for hours...

Book review time

M is for magic by Neil Gaiman.

A collection of Gaiman's short stories, chosen for teen readers - but as thought-provoking, creepy, funny... as any selection of his tales should be.

Favourite? "Chivalry" - with Mrs Whitaker buying the Holy Grail at her local Oxfam shop, and Sir Galaad trying to buy it off her. Followed closely by "The witch's headstone."

you tubing & fandom

Garth Nix... from his UK site (via youtube)

From despair to delight

the tale of 2 weekends...

Week one: making felted beads... end of 2½ hour class... despair at my disastrous looking pumpkin-shaped beads, with big cracks...

Week two: embellishing felted beads... end of 2½ hour class... delight at the beautiful necklace...

Result!

Is everything better with zombies?

Here's a lot of links to author Maureen's Johnsons Insert a Zombie - Win a Prize competition that went off, like a rotting zombie. Must say, best Pride and Prejudice version I've ever read.

The inspiration
The challenge
Zombie Idol: Bigger, Longer, and More Famously
Zombie Idol: Round One
Zombie Idol: Round One updated
Round One winner
Shakespearean Zombies
American Classic Zombies
Children's books Zombies - Green eggs and ham, The cat in the hat...
YA books Zombies - including Little Women
Zombie Idol: Round Two
Zombie Idol: Final
Your Zombie Idol

Gosh 100 posts!

100th post! Where does the time go!
And to celebrate - people from 1 to 100 playing drums... thanks Seanfish

You tubing

Oldie, but a goodie - something to cheer you up...

Closest I've ever been to wanting to go near gym equipment

Book review time

You know that feeling when you buy/get something new and it's so fab that EVERYthing is better?

My mum got some new shoes - bouncy shoes - ones that made her feel like she could run and jump and do a lot of stuff she really shouldn't/couldn't. But that feeling of joy and invincibility can come at any age (even 70).
It's like getting the perfect bag/shoes/jewellery for the perfect outfit for the perfect day. And you know it's going to be perfect - because everything has to be when you have your new [insert object].

So, what does this have to do with a book review? Bring on New socks by Bob Shea.
A hip little chick with Buddy Holly glasses gets some new socks. And he can do anything! What's the first thing to do with new socks? Introduce them to wooden floor - whoa! What else do you do? Invincibility and confidence...
'Watch me not be scared on the big kids slide. In my new socks.'
Joy and exuberance abound in this retro/hip picture book - with fab retro illustrations and minimal colour palette.

Give it a go and remember how cool that feeling is.

Youtubing

Thanks NZbookgirl for the heads up... Neil Gaiman speaking about Fragile things and other things...



I think Gaiman is the reason I like Good omens - as I can't get into Pratchett's solo books.

Book review time

Whale talk by Chris Crutcher
I love Chris Crutcher's work. His characters are flawed, human, funny, have issues - and hope.
In Whale talk the hero is TJ Jones (the J is redundant - his full name is The Dow Jones). TJ is attitude on legs. He's one of 3 'people of colour' in his town - and the other two aren't his parents. His English teacher makes him captain of the non-existent school swim team - and TJ has his own agenda. His team is made up of rejects - and he wants every single one of them to letter in swimming. Driving together to meets, they bond and share life stories.
In so many ways it's like Stotan! - which is also fabulous - but each book has its own strengths.
You don't have to like swimming - or even sport - to appreciate the characters and their lives.

Valentine's day...

Loved this blog post last year - so thought I'd do the same thing...
Which literary character/s have you been/are in love with?
Totally in love with Robin from The little white horse (but really, I think I just wanted Maria's life!)
I agree with the suggestions for Eugenides (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia). He is just wonderful.
Although an Anne of Green Gables fan, Gilbert was too much of a wimp for me.
George Cooper (Tamora Pierce's Alana books) - bad boy made good.
Don't understand the whole Austen thing - sorry, can't take part in the whole Mr Darcy discussion.

Happy 75th birthday Dad - miss you....

Dad used to find ways to entertain me - my older brother and sisters had each other to keep amused. So out came the wire to make bubble wands and the concoction to blow bubbles with. Or he'd bring out the wheelbarrow full of water and odds and ends of paint from his workshop - all laid out to make marbled paper.
Climbing into his bed in the morning - a big foam squab indented with his weight, so if you sat on the edge and let yourself go you'd fall down the crevasse into him.
Dad brushing my hair in the morning. It didn't hurt getting the knots out - but it did when he brushed my ears.
Me begging and pleading and guilt-tripping him into getting a cat - 'but Dad, the kitten will starve and die if we don't take it home.' And Dad named him Raz (short for Razputin, after the Boney M song he liked). I think Dad like the cat after Raz ripped open the housekeeper's dog's nose - Dad didn't like the dog much.
Dad telling me to tidy my room or he'd put all the stuff on the floor out with the rubbish. I'm pretty sure he did - but my room's still messy.
Dad taking me to stay with Mum in Kerikeri. I woke up one night while Dad was carrying me out of Mum's room - but I pretended to still be asleep. In the morning I was in Dad's bed and all was right with my world - my Mum and Dad were together again.
All the holidays together. Like the one to Rotorua with Nana and Grandad where I stayed in a motel for the first time - and it had private spas. Or setting up tent in the dark, only for it to blow down during the night.
Dad watching rugby - contorting his body in an extended cross-fingers pose to will the ball over. Often it was Grant Fox kicking - so it usually did work. Or celebrating a try and the chair falling over - so Dad was stuck there with his legs in the air and we're all laughing too hard to save him.
Somebody teasing me about having a large head and I said 'of course, I've jut got a degree,' and Dad saying 'that's right, rub it in, be proud.' He always corrected me when I said 'it's just a BA,' 'it's not JUST anything - you worked hard for it.'
Dad not always accepting my choices - like when I go my ears pierced, the 1st time, he studiously ignored it. Or my 1st tattoo - 'I don't agree with them, but yours means something, it doesn't mean I like tattoos.'
Dad always there - a gruff, shy and retiring - but loving, supportive and protective presence - to the end. The last words I remember him saying were 'good as gold.' I don't know whether he meant him, or us in the future.
He was the sort of dad anyone would be lucky to have and he was mine. I will be forever grateful for having the privilege to say that. I love you Dad - thank you for everything.

Ryder rocks!

And McCullum... McCullum's strike rate of 170! Ryder's of 127. Record opening partnership for NZ v England...
Ten wickets! With 16+ overs to go!
It was a thing of beauty.
Especially interesting was the pitch mike not being turned off in time when Sidebottom spat the dummy, leaving Rigor in hysterics in the background...

Heroic librarians

We all know librarians are perceived as geeks - not that heroic. Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's watcher - is pretty typical for a librarian - bespectacled and tweed - but there's always the possibility he could break out and do something physical. In real life, however...
There's Alia Muhammad Baker - who risked everything to save the collections of Basra library when the second Gulf War began in 2003. Iraqi government officials moved into the library, and installed an anti-aircraft gun on the roof. Alia began smuggling books out of the library to the restaurant next door then, eventually, to her and friends' homes. She saved 30,000 books. It's a fabulous story - and it shows the love that librarians have for the physical collections - and the freedom and knowledge they encompass and embody.
Then there's Miss Clara Breed, who epitomises the other - sometimes even more important - aspect of librarianship the people. Miss Breed was the first children's librarian in San Diego and her customer base was predominantly Japanese American. After Pearl Harbor, their lives were uncertain - many fathers were taken by the FBI. When the worst happened and her 'children' were due to be interred in camps, Miss Breed gave out stamped, self-addressed postcards to as many as she could. When they wrote to her, she responded - sending out books, gifts, and the knowledge that not everyone on the outside - not every American - hated them for their heritage. Yes, the books were important - the access to knowledge - and those 'children' carried that message for the rest of their lives, passing it on to their families. But what Miss Breed did for them was far more - hope, and humanity, small actions taken by someone who knew that what her government was doing showed that it had lost its humanity and purpose.

I wish I was more like Miss Breed - I despair that I'm not. A wonderful person - who lived the highest professional, and personal, ideals.

If you haven't read either of these - bad you! Read them forthwith!

Youtubing

Remember the ad with the bouncing balls? Now they have bunnies, which are cute, but this one rocks... and the music is fabulous



And check out this behind the scenes (which may never, ever load...)

Book review time!

The little white horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Oh how I wanted Maria's bedroom! Thanks to JK (who said it was her favourite childhood book) it was reprinted, and big talk of movies...
Mid-Victorian setting, with touches of fantasy. The poem, at the very beginning of the book, sets the tone wonderfully:
It was under the white moon that I saw, / The little white horse, with neck arched high in pride.
After the death of her father Maria is sent, along with her governess, Miss Heliotrope, and her dog, Mr Wiggins, to the West Country to live with her nearest relative, her father's cousin, Sir Benjamin. There Maria learns of a long-standing family curse and the locals wonder if she is the one to finally break it - the Moon Maiden.
The characters are all strong - Robin, Maria's childhood 'imaginary' friend; the Pason; Miss Heliotrope - and Wrolf the family 'dog'. Even the animals rock! Marmaduke Scarlet - who wouldn't want him in your kitchen! And the Black Men of the Forest! The perfect children's book villians.
There are fabulous feasts and great one-liners... As Maria returns from an attempt to reform the Black Men, Sir Benjamin says "I've never seen a clearer case of the morning after the night before".
There is romance - and not just Maria's - action - ghosts - redemption - forgiveness... and all wrapped up in Christian undertones, which allow for some otherwordly happenings (like astral projection).
Many of Goudge's work has that combination - something attributable to her upbringing as the daughter of an Anglican minister, who was brought up in various Catherdral cities/towns and holidayed with her French grandparents on the Channel Islands, where things were occassionally otherworldy.

A trip down memory lane...

So, this new book appeared on our shelves which led to much discussion... what was your favourite Little Golden Book?

Mine were:

The monster at the end of this book - when you're a child, you never know when a book's ending might change...

Sleeping Beauty - no, NOT the Disney version! But a fabulous version with people dressed in high-middle ages garb (women in hennin and stuff) [which I cannot find anywhere!]

Tootle was pretty cool - rebellious wee train engine that he was. Color kittens and Busy Timmy (which had the wonder of Eloise Wilkin's illustrations)

And you?

The joys of a single TV household...

You know, there are some TV programmes I can't watch... they're just not me. And, there's probably things I watch that my flatmate doesn't like. But, you know what, he can go to his girlfriend's place and watch them there... instead of me suffering through something on state TV, instead of what I want to watch on Sky... So, tonight - Ugly Betty... thus my blog entry.
The worst thing is when he's home on Monday - my day alone, which is pretty much arranged around what's on TV. Must watch Time team at 1.30 on Living Channel - it all goes wrong when there's someone home disrupting my schedule. Sets me off on a bad foot for the working week...
Soon, I promise, I'll have something more interesting to blog about - but need to dig my brain out of hiding first...

Check this out...

A great youtube video - with comments - for those involved with children's learning in the 21st century.

Book review time

After sharing my thoughts, and finding fellow Georgette Heyer lovers out there... my favourite Heyer is... A Civil Contract. Why? Because it doesn't fit the traditional romance mould. Adam, newly made Viscount, has returned a hero from the Peninsular War (standard so far). Because he's trying to rebuild his family's fortune, his love match is denied and he must marry for money. His first love's father puts him in the way of Jonathan Chawleigh who has a daughter, Jenny, he wants to marry into the gentry. Adam makes the best of things. Jenny isn't lithe, she isn't beautiful, she doesn't glide - none of the qualities of his first love - Julia - at all. However, by the end of the book, it is obvious they have all made peace - even though Adam knows how he feels for Jenny isn't how she wants to be loved - he still loves her and appreciates her good qualities, and they share a sense of humour and genuine affection. He has also come to realise that a life with Julia wouldn't suit him at all - in alt at every moment!
The little character studies are gems - Adam's youngest sister is a delight. Jenny's father is so terribly a cit. And the glimpses into social mores are interesting - Julia offers to become Adam's mistress once they are both married, and Adam declines as Jenny has been raised with different expectations and behaviour.
A book to be savoured and reflected upon.

Fandom mashing

Herewith... Johnny Cash - the Muppets - and Me First & The Gimme Gimmes (thanks to glorifiedpixels who made me go to the concert last night... and the one who gallantly picked me up & drove me home)

Needed steel caps I think at the show - and maybe some oxygen... haven't been that close to an asthma attack in years! But worth it! Even if my inner fogginess meant I didn't join in the pogo dancing
PS - listening to Alice as DJ again... last week admitting to liking Burt, this week - the Carpenters! And playing "My Sharona".

Then and now

Call me odd but am I the only one who can see the similiarities between these two bands?

Then.. T-Rex...

Random stuff

They did it! Go India!

And, if I was still doing that whole 23 web.20 thingy... fav tech thing... streaming radio live. First radio sport... now... Hauraki - currently listening to Nights with Alice Cooper - who, as I type, has admitted to being a huge Burt Bacharach fan.

This, while I'm working on the Storylines year book (yay also for handy-dandy flash drive) and double-checking references and making sure names are correct and all that stuff. Now... is it HarperCollins or HarperCollinsPublishing? Is it Bloomsbury or Bloomsbury Press? Shesh... continuity's a pain.

PS - still no bunnies at Western Springs

And my comic reading buds understand my rant... knew they would. Have also received support via email. Yes, I did read it - and am trying to think of any authors to recommend. PS - my sister is currently going through a Lackey phase - mainly 500 Kingdom series. I like the Elemental Masters series, myself.