I still knit, I still vote.

Last night saw Australia change Prime Minister again. Back to the chap who wasn't good enough before the last election, and abandoning a politician who grew into the role and built one of the most interesting and productive parliaments I have seen in my chosen blood-sport of politics watching.

There were things that I found uncomfortable about Ms Gillard's policy, but what has got my goat has been the increasingly febrile and vicious way in which she was denigrated no matter what successes she achieved.
One can only appreciate her grace and poise in her public dealings, and her concession speach last night was poised, constrained and even generous. Oh, and polite. (So unlike the comments that have been thrown at her these last three years.)


Of one thing I am sure. Right up to the last minute, as an idea, seeing Ms Gillard hold the highest office in our country was a vindication of 'having a big dream'. And for that I think that her legacy will be more appreciated by historians in the distant future, rather than in the next few months or years.

I don't know what to do about my incredibly roiling emotions, as there is an election in our near future and the thoughts about it that I had last week are having to undergo an intense reconsideration. I hope I can make that choice for me with as much style and poise as Ms Gillard.

Journal Bindings

Seriously - what was it with the colour choice for bindings back in the day?  l mean, mostly blues or greens as befitting a previous government library involving water, but nearly all the older journals dealing with any thing sewerage seem to be "poo-brown"!

It's not the only library l have seen this in. But it makes me wonder at the options available back then, and if those previous colleagues also had a suitably warped sense of humour (carefully camouflaged beneath their spectacles and bun)?

Spoons

There are occaisionally days when I borrow the phrase "I'm running out of spoons".  Spending the weekend working in the garden to get soil amendments into the soil before the rain came (didn't quite get it all done) meant that l slept like several short planks last night. And this morning was hard work to wake up.

l really struggle when my day starts like that. Fortunately it gets a easier to cope as the day passes, but when l get home l really appreciate that my beloved has a hot cup of tea waiting as l walk through the door. Even though I've had cuppas during the day, that is the one that puts all things right again.

Roast chicken

It's been while since l roasted a chicken.

Shame it's only half as good as it was.

Compensations

There are some compensations to getting up and leaving for work early. Unfortunately the one that means the most to me, I can't take a photo of as I am usually driving and for some reason people get quite upset if you try taking photos whilst driving!

There is a bit of wetland I pass on the way to the train station, and when the view from the front drive is like this, I know there will be a 'magical, mystical' view as I pass the wetlands. The trees are all interlaced with the mist, and the different greens and occasional autumnal/winter brown leaves make it look like somewhere else, possibly Europe, certainly a little closer to some one's dreamtime landscape

I think I should be spelling that 'myst', because at that time of day I am not really awake, though I am aware enough to keep both hands on the wheel (which is probably a good idea). As I drive past the wetland, stopping and starting with the traffic, I am mildly entertained in a slightly hypnogogic manner by wondering who lives by the 'mysterious lake' and what adventures they might likely face ... then I have to put the brakes on, because the lights have turned red and I have to get to the station in one piece for some totally mundane reason, and my idle musings are burnt away like the myst once the sun actually crawls out of her bed and hauls herself up over the horizon.

Polite Perth

I was late to work this morning because a train got stuck in the underground tunnel. Apparently it got stuck quite early this morning, as I spoke to one chap at 8:30am who claimed he had been stuck long enough to get some coffee from the Hay St Mall. It smelt like good coffee too.

What struck me most was the reasonably cheerful resignation of the gradually increasing crowd on the platform. I did have one moment of distinct amusement though. Just as the damaged train crawled back into the station, an announcment was made that "The next train to Joondalup will depart in ... minutes."

lt took another half hour before a train actually departed, and everyone piling into the carriages was accommadating and polite in moving into the carriage so everyone could get where they wanted to go.
I was quite impressed with my fellow train travellers this morning.

My man!

My man has never worn glasses before, so this is the first time he has ever seen himself wearing them.
But it's not the first time he's made a spectacle of himself!

Also, this post was recorded on my phone which transcribed itself beautifully, all Star Trek like.
Well it would have done, if only my accent was 'pure' English/Australian/USian. That man of mine thought it amusing that I have to still edit for puntuation and capital letters, and repeat myself to get the words right, removing the excess like so much dead wood. It's a fun toy, and may actually be worth learning (if I can find the right help file) for recording the odd stray thought more quickly than diving into my handbag for a pen and notebook or scribbling a note on my phone with it's stylus.

Everything needs a niche or two

Everything needs a niche or two,
originally uploaded by AletheaRaspa.

I got stuck at the train station on Wednesday evening with a flat tyre. Waiting for the RAC to rescue me, I spotted this little chap and a mate running up and down the embankment. I think they are native rats (as they look a bit big for mice), as I know there are some in this area in spite of all the loose cats around.

Wednesday?

I'm never quite sure about Wednesdays. I think it is because it is neither one end of the week nor the other, and there is this mental lacuna as to what shape the day should be.

Monday has always been fairly straight forward. It is a STUFF TO DO! sort of a day, though with some regrets for the weekend just past.
Tuesdays feels more like that moment when you get in the zone and things just happen. I like days like that. Thursdays are often a zone kind of day too. And Fridays can be both days of completion or days of preperation for the weekend and the following week.

But Wednesdays seem to have three modes. They either fit right in with Tuesdays and Thursdays, or are flatter than pancakes and much more boring, or they are exciting to one extreme or the other!
 

Today is one of those as on my way home, I'm stuck at the train station with an incredibly flat tyre (I must have picked it up this morning on the way to the station *sighs*). Mind you, as I wait for the RAC to come and rescue me, I consider myself having achieved another of those 'bucket list" futuristic thingies that raised a low Wednesday to a high Wednesday *G*

The update to my phone's operating system means that I can just talk to my phone and my phone does the typing for me.

Finally my Star Trek dreams have come true!

Regular things ...

Recently, I read a post (though I can't find it right now) about 'the regular things' someone does each day. And it struck me that starting back at work and trying to maintain my previous 'regular things' would necessitate me getting up at five (or possibly four) in the morning - and that just is not happening for this little black duck!

Since I'm not too keen on the earlier wake up drill (definitely more of the owl than the lark) I decided to document what I did this morning, knowing that I had to be at the train station by 7:30 to catch the train.
I can get the day off to a reasonable start, providing I only skim the emails that have come in overnight and listen to the ABC Breakfast Show. But I am also starting to wonder that my internet fed mornings were probably getting a little out of hand as I am finding a real sense of missing something while staggering around the kitchen trying to wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed and read email. So this 'info-diet' could well remind me to practice a little more moderation in my info-consumption!

What I have noticed in this last week, is the regularity on my homeward journey of whipping through my twitter stream and favouring those sites that might provide an interesting longer read later in the evening. It is definitely one of the benefits of being chauffeured to work and back again. Doing it that way means I can read longer articles with more ease on my desktop or laptop screens. Shorter ones get read on the train inspite of the slower downloads.
Though I am starting to just favourite things far more for some reason. There seem to be a few more blogs and such that I'm reading... *g* Perhaps they will become part of my 'regular things' next month?

Winter moon

Winter moon.

It's not quite time for lunch and I get to see the moon above my gazebo where the bougainvillea is starting to really get going.
There is a gentle wind coming from the north west and standing downwind of my roses I am bathed in their sweet scent. Because now I have a job for five minutes they blossom like crazy, of course. It is a treat this morning to wander through my garden and see the difference a week makes in growth. Even the Mop-Top tree that hangs over the back fence is starting to look a little autumnally moth-eaten *G*
This means that this next month will have to see me repot my hanging garden and weed all the fast growing winter grass that just goes nuts at this time of the year. How odd. I'm actually looking forward to finishing that particular chore this year. And then I get to hack the roses back, in the anticipation of lots of roses next summer!

Annoying changes (or where did I put my manual?)

On Friday I decided that I would take advantage of #BlogJune and add blogging apps to my smartphone (otherwise known as my spare brain).
So I upload the apps that I want to use, and they worked fine. Added words to apps on phone, check on the desktop at home (because of spelling and grammar and such - I would like to have some *G*).

I decide I want to illustrate my post yesterday morning, so wander over to Flickr to link to an image I had previously uploaded on to Flickr.com.

Disappointment strikes!

I cannot get my image to link between the two platforms!

Oh yes, Yahoo! has just updated the Flickr platform. And I spend an annoying hour searching for the instructions on how to just LINK to an image on my Flickr account.


Mind you, the irritation was not assisted by yesterday's delay in getting started because my smartphone decided to update itself and I then had to reorder the home screens so I can access the stuff I use the phone for. *grumps*

It is very disconcerting to suddenly have your brain (or spare brain) not work the way you have been used to it working. It is one thing to have change happen when it is expected and planned for, but another when your 'brain' changes unexpectedly in unexpected ways.

Anyway, I finally got everything to work and documented the process in my "Manual of Me" so I will remember it in the future.

1st June: That means it's time for #blogjune!

Where has this last twelve months gone? Apparently it has passed almost without me noticing. Yet some fairly amazing things have happened in that year.

And they are are still happening too. This week l started a six week contract which is proving interesting and reminding me how much fun it is to talk to other librarians "in the flesh" so-to-speak. The best bit is that l finally have an excuse to travel to work on the train.

I don't know what it is about riding a train. I think it is a hangover from it being a big treat when I was a very small person. But then I like the idea of being able to get places without having to worry about parking (and the incidental exercise to get to the actual office ain't a bad thing either).
This means that I have a fondness for other forms of public transport like buses. Not so much ferries, although there is one across the river in my city I don't live or work where I could take advantage of them.

I often wonder what it would be like to live somewhere where I could take advantage of more exotic (by comparison) public transport.

USS Enterprise on board the USS Intrepid in New York Harbour (Sep 2013)

Shod, if not necessarily well shod!

I had spent most of the day wondering around feeling. wobbly. I'd been running late in the morning, partly due to staying up for too late the night before, and had effectively dressed in the dark. That was the problem, but because I hadn't been really awake when I got dressed, I just thought that it was because I was feeling" delicate” due to the late night that I felt wobbly as I raced around visiting the various offices on the campus. I was putting it down to my shoes needing to be re-heeled.

I made a comment to that effect to my boss. Who, looking down as I looked at my heels, started laughing. "You're hearing odd shoes!" she giggled.

Grey carpet and grey trousers and odd black shoes!

"Oh my goodness!" I said. And grabbing for the camera in my handbag, I preserved my insanity for all tine - and reduced my boss to more giggles. Yep. That's me! Having so much fun that I hadn't noticed that I had odd shoes on!

Even more fun was to be had the next day, as the big database that we had decided to subscribe to this year contacted me with log on details.

I'm afraid that my co-workers were entertained for the rest of the day by my little squeals of delight and excitement as I worked out another useful tool that I had been handed. 

Eating, drinking and being merry

I managed to spend the weekend feasting, and realise that even though I'm trying to stick to low-carbohydrate dishes, every now and then the indulgence in eating fabulously at a good resturant is not to be refused.
It's a good job I like Italian foods, because if I choose carefully from this particular menu, I still get to taste all those rich, robust flavours and that lovely indulgent feeling of a full tummy, a happy heart, and no washing up - and I have still achieved an avoidance of all those carbs ...


I do like my food. There is an endless delight in putting together odd things and having them work. Some of the odder things I have done involve trying out recipes found online or in cookbooks borrowed from the local library (and it's amazing the differences in cookbooks in different branch libraries in one locality *G*) and perpetrating them on my family.

Case in point - the discussion over dinner on Saturday night was on the dishes that are to be brought to the next family feast. One sibling was asked to do a roast beetroot and carrot salad (yum!), another sibling a particular family meat dish, my son was assigned the task of his "world famous potato salad" and I had to bring "something weird"!
We do have fun planning what is to be consumed ... as much fun in the planning, the anticipation, the making, as in the consumption of said feasts!

So ... something weird for the family feast?
Berry Brandy (adapted from the recipe here)
Blueberry Ketchup (I do love the Instructables site)
Fresh "Cottage" Cheese (this is just one and I have another half dozen or so in my recipe book, it will depend on my mood a week out, I think)
And my infamous "Death by Chocolate Bread" Pudding, which started as an accident and has now to be repeated until I get it 'right' *G*

I think that should do it nicely and if all else fails, I can always have a cup of tea
*evil planning type grin*

And he left on the Transit of Venus

This morning I heard that Ray Bradbury died. One of the responses on BoingBoing was that he left this mortal coil at an appropriately "science fiction like" moment.

I don't remember the first Bradbury I read. It was probably one of his 'juveniles' at either my public library or my high school library, and would have been consumed together with the others of SF's "BACH quartet".

I don't remember exactly which of his books I read first, but I do remember learning how to use the card catalogue to see if there were any more of his books at my library. The one story of his that seems to be getting a mention today is "Farenheit451". But I think it was one of his shorter stories that I read first.

I do remember having to sneak into the “adult” section of the public library to borrow some of his books, along with the more 'adult' Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein's, and being puzzled because their writing was so easy to get my head around.

I stumbled acros a meme this afternoon asking which book one would choose to be, should “Farenheit 451” actually occur. I think most people would go for the high profile books, but having lurked in some ancient libraries in my time, I think I would try to remember something by an author closer to home ... somebody local to me like Winton, Jolley or Bedford. 

Is that the secret?

I've just watched a bit of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee on the TV. There is a part of me that feels quite tickled by the idea that I have lived during “the second Elizabethan age” as it was apparently heralded sixty years ago.

It's not as if it could have been called anything else, in the end. Despite all the other things have not gone right for the House of Windsor at times, the one constant is that tiny woman has just kept on “being the queen”. It is hard to imagine that the image of “Queen” could be anything other than Elizabeth II, but then I suppose that the same was said about her great-great-grandmother on her diamond jubilee.

There is a cynical part of me wonders to what extent a lot of the enthusiasm has been whipped up by the media, and to what extent just knowing that the Queen is doing her “queen thing” contributes to a sense of continuity to a national psyche. I could wish that we had something of the same here in Australia, though for the life of me, I cannot imagine what it could be – except possibly the Country Women's Association?!

I have to admit that the weather has been suitably British in that it seems to have rained a lot, and as is traditional, the British just carried on. I wonder if that is the secret … just carrying on, no matter what!

Monday, a public holiday

It's Monday, and I didn't get up until after nine am – what a slacker! It's now after noon and I'm still in my pjs and have just had my breakfast/brunch served to me on the patio. I feel so delightfully decadent somehow *G*

We repaired to our local garden centre to indulge in a little coffee and cake to complete the day's decadence.I really enjoyed today!

Rhubarb pie with cream

Where did the time go?

I was surprised when this weekend arrived because I hadn't realised that almost a year had gone by since the last #blogjune. (Well, I had noticed that a year had gone by, it was more that sensation in mid to late November when one suddenly realises that Christmas is just six weeks away)

Because I had the long weekend to look forward to and could put off to Monday things that I usually did to get organised for the next week, I felt I had time to bop over and read some of my favourite websites. That's when I realised that I hadn't been keeping up to date quite as well as I thought!

It clarifies a couple of things for me too. Working for an organisation that locks it's internet down so that places like twitter and other social media sites where I have been used to lurking, are now out of reach during the day is both frustrating and deleterious to my ability to stay aware of the changes in my profession. As a result I think I have also missed out on some interesting conversations about the things that I do as an 'information professional'. It also brings into focus the extent to which so many of my co-workers have for bringing tablets and smartphones into work and openly check their Facebook or Twitter accounts on them.

I think that I have been so used to reading all my favourite blogs and Twitter on a computer screen, and using my ancient smartphone for reading/listening to books and playing music, that I had missed the bit where I was reading my social media during the day as well. And since I like doing other things in the evening, I hadn't noticed that I had slipped myself off the radar, so to speak.

This leads to the interesting question as to whether I should replace my phone and if so, which smartphone I should purchase as planning to travel overseas later this year I need to be aware of how much electronic stuff I am planning to cart with me.

Do I go for the concept of a separate camera and a basic phone that need not travel with me. Or do I succumb to my desires and purchase the smartphone that most closely replaces the one I currently own, that would also reduce my carry as I travel, but that also would cost a heck of a lot more?

Somehow, I think just in writing these words I have decided what I will choose. And it was a lot easier than I really wanted it to be *G*

a

Tau Day

Today is apparently Tau day … 6.28 This provides for all sorts of amusement, but I prefer the concept of Pi, mostly because I get twice as many days to celebrate (3.14 and 22/7)

But what has me most thoughtful tonight is an article about business cards and how they 'say' a whole lot about the person they represent.

If a brand can describe its core values and philosophy on its business card without resorting to a detailed description, then the brand becomes a full representation of its vision. - Martin Lindstrom

This makes me wonder if the symbol I chose for my business card reflects on how I present as an information professional.

I've used an owl (in various forms) over the years on my personal business card. Owls have a reputation for either keeping secrets (appropriate for records management) or seeing through subterfuge to things that have been hidden (appropriate for librarianly research). Owls are also supposed to be wise, and I have often delighted at the wisdom of my fellow librarians. I wonder if it is due to the fact that we read/find all sorts of odd information that bubble up in other situations to illuminate them like lava lamps.

I rather like those attributes for two of the sides of the information dynamic. The bringing of information to light and the organising of it for later retrieval. How odd that something chosen because an owl lodged in the tree in my garden for a week when I decided that I would study librarianship at university, years later starts to inform me about how I am creating my own philosophy of being a librarian.

I need to take some of the ideas in this article and see how I can make my 'brand' as a librarian/information professional more explicit.

The quality of my business card will be the next thing I have to work on, I think. So long as I use inexpensive card stock, it makes it easy to dismiss the idea that employing me (or my fellow librarians) is an investment. Unless it can be demonstrated in a profit and loss statement that having a professional locator of information on staff makes a difference to how an organisation (or a society) operates, then the library side of the equation of information dynamic will be reduced even more than it is now. Managing records is an easier economic proposition than investing in someone to help find good information.

I'm still thinking, somethings will be easier to 'fix' than others, as they are perhaps more easily deciphered. Having a nice business card that is an accurate reflection of my 'brand' is one thing. Actually demonstrating that emplying a librarian as well as a records manager is a good investment?
When I've worked it out, I'll let you know.