PART-TIME BLOGGER

Yes I'm back; I wasn't in a position to have ALL the problems solved but at least I'm decluttered and while the computer does work it's a little faster! So much has happened since I've been "computerless". Rob (my baby boy...LOL) had a birthday;

Lynn and Steve have been holidaying in Cuba and should be back some time today; I've had to turn the central heating on once or twice; Manda and co have had stinking colds; Leanne has had an ear infection but luckily managed to have a much earned child free girly weekend and I've had 3 teeth out at the dentist (just call me Gummy...LOL);

I've handed in 2 assignments....don't know yet what the tutors thought of them; I've cleared out the shed and lined it with bubblewrap and fleece ready for the tender plant winter pack-away; I've been to the CAB re bankruptcy...once again my bereavement benefit precludes me from cheaper court charges....(that's a month or so down the line though so won't go into it); had time to watch TV and probably best of all I've been SLEEPING! I have missed you all; both your comments and reading your posts but it has certainly been of a boon not staying up till all hours or getting up at 4am to make posts and do my blogvisiting. I really feel like I've caught up on the sleep that for various reasons I've missed out on over the past few years.

I said to Manda the other day "How on earth did I care for Mick; keep the house tidy; keep the garden going; endlessly cook and prepare bedrooms for visitors etc etc and still mange to keep (what was then) 6 blogs going.

Now I've only me to care for; no visitors; just 2 blogs and a college course and I feel under so much pressure! Is it this blue funk I'm in making me go soooo slow?"

Her answer "Well we always wondered how you did it Mum! Maybe you've just come back to the real world that only has 24 hours in a day!"

Now I'm back on the computer I have a lot of study research to catch up on so I'm making no idle promises that I'll manage to read ALL the posts I've missed and comment on them though I will do my best. I'm also temporarily suspending my Photo A Day blog and can't guarantee daily posts here for the time being or maybe I'll just do shorter posts....I'll see how the computer holds up......I still do feel really "blue" despite the antidepressants .....no doubt this will ease in time. Doing the course is helping a lot and I'm enjoying "losing myself" in the studying plus the social face to face interaction with other people. We're studying the Theory of Marxism in Sociology at the moment so time for me to do some Googling now.......

Before I go though...some of you may visit Helen at Helen's Haven.......just before my computer went away I received an email from her friend Gina...sadly Helen has suffered another stroke. I have managed to email her at the hospital in Perth (what a fabulous system that is!). Any one wishing to keep up to date with Helen's progress...please visit Patra's place. I'm sure we will all be thinking of Helen and her family and wishing her a speedy recovery.

GOING TO THE DOCTORS!

I'll be off the Internet for a few days while my PC visits the doctor.

It's not on top form at the moment and I'm going to need it a lot in the future both for research and for typing up my assignments. All being well I'll be back by the weekend.

BREAKING OUT!

Akelamula has kindly awarded me with this!

This award orginated at Bobborama Dot Com who says:

This award casts a spotlight on bloggers who are just beginning to draw lots of attention — the equivalent of a song with a bullet on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Lotsa good posts. Lotsa good buzz. These bloggers are going places in a hurry.

The instructions for passing on the Break Out Blogger Award are:

1)Display the Breakout Blogger button in a post about the award —- using the special code. Please do not alter the code, because the button links up to Bobborama's Awards Page listing both the history.

2) Give the award to three to five of your Breakout Bloggers … and then send them to my Awards Page here for the instructions and code.

As you all know I'm now a "nontagging blog" and in order to pass an award on you have to in effect tag someone.....I know I'm breaking the "rules" of the award by only tagging one...but then I'm breaking my own rules by tagging any so let's call it a compromise......

David..........Authorblog.....better than any daily newspaper for keeping us informed of all the quirkier stories from around the world and an invaluable help to any would be authors.

NEW FLOWERS AND RE-FLOWERS

Having finally finished my homework I had a chance on Sunday to catch up with the garden. It's been a strange year...the weather alternating between long periods of drought and torrential rain. It's no wonder the garden's not sure which season it's in. I mentioned a few weeks ago about the Clematis Montana re-flowering....well the same has happened to the Philadelpus

and I've never had my AUTUMN flowering Cyclamen in flower at the same time as my SPRING flowering Aubretia.

There are also a few new flowers in the garden.....my Clematis Sieboldii started flowering quite a while ago but yesterday I noticed that the "Alba" variety had started to come into bloom.

Two plants that were mere cuttings and seedlings at the start of the Summer I hadn't expected to flower until next year......................

This is Alison Patricia...one of the upward facing flower Fuchsiasand this is one of the Phlox seedlings...................

and "joy of joys"a third variety of Ginger Lily has come into flower and the scent is heavenly...

For those who are interested in the course; yesterday was Literature again and we learnt about plots, themes and symbols. We read an extracts from "Jane Eyre", "Oranges are not the only fruit" and "Bluebeards Egg" analyzing the evidence given in the text to work out characters and relationships.......... the homework is a similar task using an extract from "The remains of the day".

My computer certainly seems to have a bad "limp"...it's taking AGES to get anywhere on it.

Is there a doctor in the house?????

A BIT OF A VIEW

At this time of the year although some plants are starting to fade and some parts of the garden look fairly drab there are the odd parts that seem to be thriving. While I was taking some photos on Sunday I snapped a few of my favourite views/areas.



Do you have certain areas that are your favourites at the moment?

I've had some PC problems this week end...I'm hoping it's not going to start playing me up again.....I know I'm going to need it more than ever now for research. I hope it hasn't caught anything nasty.

CHANGES

After my "Changes" failure photo last Sunday I had another go.........

September -now

August

July

June

February

A collage of overhead views....the top two are the front garden...the bottom two the back garden. The third photo was taken at almost noon....you can see how little morning sun the back garden gets at this time of the year. In fact the lower 2/3rds of the garden towards the house now gets no sun at all.

One of the benefits of a warm, dry day yesterday was that I could my homework/studying in the garden!
So much nicer than been cooped up indoors. I've finished it all now so today I'll have time for some pottering......YIPPEE!!! .........as long as the weather holds........................

PHOTOHUNTERS - PAPER

It's Saturday....Photohunter day...I'd almost forgotten!!!!! Right PAPER....think Ruth ...PAPER....well there's the NEWSPAPER.....................

TOILET PAPER....................
BOOKS ARE FULL OF PAPER......................
AND OF COURSE THERE'S PAPER MACHE.................
OR THAT RUBBISH BIN FULL OF PAPER I POSTED YESTERDAY....................
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....of course Origami would be perfect but I'm not very good at that...except of course the Origami Fortune Teller I've been making since I was knee high to a grasshopper..................


PICK A COLOUR....GREEN.........OKNOW A NUMBER....DID I HEAR 7?AND YOUR FORTUNE!!!!!

If you'd like to make your own FORTUNE TELLER just click on the link.

photohunt click to see who else has joined the hunt

HAVING A BAD BRAIN DAY!

I'm falling so behind with my blogvisiting.....hopefully after a while my poor brain will get used to all this THINKING and I'll get myself into some sort of regime. At the moment I've been trying to get up really early and visiting as many of you as I can.....apologies to those that I'm missing.

My childhood was very strict and my parents of the "Children should be seen and not heard" and "Do as I tell you not as I do" ilk; in school we accepted verbatim what the teacher's taught us and in my relationships before I met Mick I always "knew my place"; so it's quite a shock to suddenly be asked to form my own opinions about Sociology, History and Literature. To be asked by a teacher/tutor "What do you think" and to be able to answer honestly without thinking "Well what do you WANT me to say" seems so alien. I guess I'll get used to it after a while.

It's making the homework very difficult; as much as I know I should write my own view of things I'm constantly screwing my work up and aiming it towards the nearest rubbish bin convinced that my thoughts may be WRONG!

At least the Literature Homework is just to do some creative writing concentrating on creating atmosphere or character....that can't be too difficult....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HOPE!

INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY

INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY

“The journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step. So we must never neglect any work of peace within our reach, however small.”
Adlai E. Stevenson

A THURSDAY THOUGHT

IF YOUR FEET SMELL AND YOUR NOSE RUNS;

ARE YOU BUILT UPSIDE DOWN????

HISTORY AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE!

Had my first history tutorial today. OMG I thought I knew what History was, I learnt it at school didn't I? I remember SOME of it well.... all those Kings and Queens of England from Anglo-Saxon to Windsor. The battles and wars; important events all those dates 1066 Battle of Hastings, 1666 Great Fire of London. The Romans in Britain till 410AD, the Egyptians, the Greeks etc etc. I sent hours listening to the teachers, scribbling away in my notebook...spending endless hours of homework learning hundreds of dates and the names of Henry VIII's wives.

Well History now isn't like that......History is MADE by Historians in an attempt to understand about the past by studying and analysing historical sources...like artifacts and documents....and examining these sources for validity and bias and organizing in order to shed light on human experience. Of course the result is dependant on the interpretation of the Historian so half the time they probably won't agree anyway if the interpretation is based on differing resources. AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This is probably old news to many of you but it was certainly a new approach to History for me. Re my Sociology homework..."What is Sociology"...I rewritten this at least 3 times now! and I've yet to THINK about the difference between Crime and Deviance.

And my History homework?

Wistful look out the window..................oh the pansies are flowering...

and I see a Dragonfly....

maybe I'll skive off for a while take a well earned break and take some photos.


BTW it's now thought that the Battle of Hastings may have taken place in 1067 and wasn't in Hastings at all!