Jottings from a sore leg

Having been very proud of the fact that I had managed to maintain my balance under circumstances I had seen others fall over with, last Monday I managed to trip up on cords. I went down really really heavily on my right leg. It was not nice at all, and has had two flow on effects. Lots of bruises on my leg, and some more coming out as the week flows forward. The worst side of it was development of cellulitus in part of my lower leg, so a visit to the hospital emergency. Very nice emergency clerk let me know how lucky we were we got there then, as they had had a very hectic early evening.
That led to me not being at school on one of the days I needed to be, but I had the chance to get to be on line and in communication with two students who asked me questions. This is a new development, have sick leave, but be able to have some communication. In my case I did not feel sick, had the leg up as the doctor asked, and so could take the step of making use of the internet to keep in touch with the students.
Now I am thinking about how much this can change requirements for sick leave. Work has already changed so much that we need to have internet access each weekend and week nights so that if we are emailed questions seeking help we can answer them. Once we got our weekends free. This is bad.
This means that the blurring between work and play is greater. Mobile phones give the employer to be in touch with the worker outside work hours. Do we need to specify times of non contact? Or do we accept 24 hour day contact?

Sad times and unexpected visits.

How interesting life is, when someone turns up at the front door that you have not seen for twenty years. The wonderful thing is that this man who has turned up looks no different from twenty years ago. He is doing very well. Going on long bush walk at Milford Sound soon, which is really really nice.
The sad news, the sad times, a future has been cut short because of a tragedy. So sad, and those left behind have lost a friend, family member. How much it reminds us to live today for the day it is, and to value our friends and family.
I have read a wonderful book in the recent weeks, a book called The One Hundred Year Old Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. I laughed out loud at it, and found the farcical story so entertaining. I think the ending was a little let down, but up to that moment, it was good fun, and I am still smiling at the memory of it. By Jonas Jonasson, I thoroughly recommend it.

The thick of things

Why is it that when I am on holidays I plan to be better organised in the new year of work, but when I get back to work, it disintegrates. Somehow I seem to get to work and then not have time around the house to do all I would like to do. Part of that is getting distracted, and other parts are things that come up unexpectedly.
On such unexpected was the pleasure of having someone whom I had not seen for many years call in. That was a pleasant change. It was really nice to see him, and to be able to find out some of the current interests he has. I hope that he will call in again sometime.
I am also being distracted from my reading of books, but have read a great book that I am recommending to anyone who needs a laugh. The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. I recommend it for a farcical, hilarious take on the twentieth century big events, and the fun of having someone live a life unlikely. Still it did have a lot to it. What is even better is that it is now a week since I finished it and I type this with a smile on my face, thinking camels, elephants, many countries, strange help, and all of the wonderful things that the book contained. The end led itself to you filling in the possibilities, and a frightening potentiality for Australia.

Enough for now, the dishes await, and I must get to them.
Hopefully I will get back to the doing of the Sunday type.

Holidays are over work is back

Tomorrow is the day I go back to work, and this is the least prepared I am in going through to a new year. I would like to be able to have more time for my hobbies, and keep control of how much work I have to do outside work. Yes I ahve the kind of job where I have to bring home work. It does get annoying at times.
How do I motivate myself to be organised, and to watch less TV. I enjoy watching TV and knowing what is going on in shows, but really the books I want to read, probably give me more. The only TV shows that are better, are the ones that take me to views in countries that I will not get to travel to.
I love reading books, but some take longer than others to read. I have read the fourth Priscilla Royal book and am really enjoying it.

A New Year of reading is coming

January has come again, and I started it with plans to read lots during the month. Then I started one of the books that I wanted to read, My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, and it is taking me a long time to read it.
I find it absolutely amazing how many books Alexander McCall Smith can churn out in a year, but when he produced a new Professor Igelfed book, I had to buy it. The Unusual Uses of Olive Oil is named for the story at the end of the book, but as usual we have this man who does not read social situations as most do, having and adventure by his accident of not being able to say no, or to tell them he is not the one they expect, and getting away with a very funny publicised story. In some ways I felt as though the first part of the book was not up to the usual standard, but the second half grew on me, till at the end I was happy that I had read it for the fun.
If you like Mystery books and you want to learn more of medieval life I would like to recommend the series of books written by Priscilla Royal. I read two in the first week of January, which had very different story lines, but contained much humour. They are a great read.

The tennis open calls, amazing match last night, it will be interesting to see how Djokovic recovers from this.

Enjoy

Another two weeks travel past

There are some people in my life that inspire me to tackle life in a different way, but I don't seem able to change how I am to be able to do so. Where they are facing the ultimate of challenges, they are just working on at keeping on, and speaking positively in the way they travel through life. One is going to try to keep working, but with a back up plan, and the other is not working but keeping on living to the full, travelling and visiting family, and heading out for outings.
I just do not have the nature to be so positive in the face of difficulties, to the annoyance of my husband, who finds my pessimism annoying. Interestingly a study that looked at the long term survival rates of cancer subjects this year, showed that positive thinking did not increase the rate of survival. It seems to have more to do with your body and how it responds to the treatments and how it fights.
Which leads me to today, the end of the world number 3560000000000000?  How many times and in how many communities before our global connection has the end of the world been declared to be coming on a set day? If the bible is to be believed watch out not on the day of prediction but around it. Why is that, because the bible tells us that only the Father knows the time of the end, and man won't. So these big predicitions make we wonder about the people who go into doomsday mode, do they think they can survive the end of the world? If it is the end of the world, then no one will survive.
Nuclear disaster is a different thing when it strikes there is a chance that people can survive the armageddon, and live a life afterwards, but I wonder what kind of life that would be.

Unexpected visits

This has been a week that included a visit to a property that has such a beautiful garden that has grown in six years to be full of healthy plants.
During the week I had the pleasure of watching my son in a bit part in a  musical, a speaking part in amongst the singing parts. He was surprisingly serious in his role, and made sure that he did not look at mum and dad in the front row seat. We enjoyed the musical and were amazed at the quality of the production. It is an amateur theatre group, but you would say that they had a production that would be up to the standard of some professional groups.
While there friends invited us to a family barbecue that was happening on Sunday to celebrate their son's marriage. He had married in Japan, and some had not been able to travel there. We went to a place we had never been before, and the joy of having had rain recently meant that the surrounding country was still green. Very beautiful spot just outside Ballarat, I think with five acres of land, and with the garden I spoke of.
One of the other joys was seeing sheep in the paddock beside the home. Shorn sheep, with a few lambs interspersed. I did not go on the walk to see the cows, but stayed for the wedding photos. They were beautiful. What a wonderful experience the family had.
My reading is not happening, I am distracting myself from the books I need to read. Must get to and do some reading.