Tag Archive for poohduck

Tuesday

20/07/2010 Joh food, home, work

I know, it’s not a very imaginative title. I’ve been spending some time after school this week getting my computer and blogs up to date with back end stuff. Andy’s Poohduck is getting lots of hits, but the stat’s weren’t working and other things so I thought I’d better finally get round to doing something about that. He’s been taking some wonderful photo’s lately. I also have had more time available to me to potter around with these things. I’ve got my school blogs almost under control lately. See below for the reasons!

I’ve been catching up with heaps of stuff this week with no year 10 classes. The school ground is so empty. I am going visiting starting tomorrow. I was given a list of students to visit and made some calls today to make times to visit them. I am looking forward to it and wish I could visit every student I’ve taught, but that would be most of them, and I don’t have enough hours in the day. Some of them are in Melbourne with newspapers or architects, so I guess it’s not practical to get around that much in a week.

Darin has a new, more time consuming role at work. A couple of people at work have told me how wonderful the food is where is chef. I felt very proud of him, but I certainly already knew how great his food is. He’s working long hours and talking menu’s at home. Last night the conversation made me hungry. I decided I would wait and cook dinner and eat with him tonight. Just steak and veges, nothing as yummy as what he was talking about. Steak and veges will be good though and it’s better than getting stuck into cheese and biscuits at some awfully late hour! My waistline is expanding lately… what with all the chocolate and lemon tarts I’ve been practicing on and just a greater focus on food in general I guess. I do try to give the tarts away and I have done a lot of that, but you always have to eat some, just to make sure it is ok :-) .

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Cranky Day

17/07/2008 Joh friends

Today I was a bit cranky and tired at school. I had a late night laughing with friends, which was fun, but there is always a price to be paid. I am retiring to bed early tonight to read and relax. I really appreciated the visit though last night or I would have stewed for longer in the grumbles mentioned in the next paragraph.

I had some tension with my son’s school yesterday, which also happens to be the school I work in. When this happens, as it has over the years it is awkward for me. I am dealing with colleagues on one hand, so should stay professional, but dealing with an issue concerning my son, so emotional tigress mother side of me comes out. I think it will blow over, but every time I’ve had incidents like this, I am thrown off balance. I question my job, the people I work with, the school and feel very disillusioned. I’m glad it’s my last year of being parent and teacher. On the whole, I love my school, except sometimes when the wrong things happen to MY child. I hope that it adds to my empathy when dealing with upset parents – at least there would be a use for the turmoil then!

On a more positive note, poohduck has resumed transmission. Not really interested in going into why it ceased, but if you’ve noticed, there has been an absence. The break is mended.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

09/07/2008 Joh reading

This book is a delight. It’s uplifting and made laugh during the sad bits and sniffle when things were rosy. The central character, Lily, an innocent, imaginative and optimistic young girl with a hunger for love that leads her toward it in magical ways. I adored it and just have to quote some of my favourite bits to share what a treat it is:

 ” ‘You know, some things don’t matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person’s heart- now, that matters. The whole problem with people is -’‘They don’t know what matters and what doesn’t,’ I said, filling in her sentence and feeling proud of myself for doing so.‘I was gonna say, The problem is they know what matters, but they don’t choose it…’ “(p183)The surprising candid insights into human nature in this book are so refreshing.

Later Lily is anguished about revealing who she really is, but hesitant to share due to bad timing…..

” ‘..And then it would all come out. Whatever terrible things might happen, would. When I peered up at her, though, she was brushing tears off her face, looking for a handkerchief in her pocket, and I knew it would be selfish to pour this into her cup when it was already to the brim with grief…’ (p250)I also enjoyed the secret life of bees that was shared although the title alluded to this, I had no idea how facinating and beautiful it would be….“According to August, if you’ve never seen a cluster of beehives first thing in the morning, you’ve missed the eighth wonder of the world. Picture these white boxes tucked under pine trees. The sun will slant through the brances, shining in the sprinkles of dew drying on the lids. There will be a few hundred bees doing laps around the hive boxes, just warming up, but mostly taking their bahtroom break as bees are so clean they will not soil the inside of their hives. From a distance it will look like a big painting you might see in a museum, but museums can’t capture the sound. Fifty feet away you will hear it, a humming that sounds like it came from another planet. At thirty feet your skin will start to vibrate. The hair will life on your neck…’ “(p354)

It is full of facinating facts about honey and bees. Just before I began reading this book, I’d purchased a rose and honey in olive oil balm for dry skin and I’ve enjoyed using it so much more after reading this book. Bees and honey have replaced pomegranates during this winter as what keeps reappearing in my world. Andy took an amazing photo of a bee that I posted on our blog earlier this year also, and it’s been the most popular photo on the site.

There is a whole lot more going on in this book that I haven’t even touched on. For teachers wanting to share this book with students here is a link to some great resources. This book is not on the CBCA list. I am not as motivated to read the list this year and have read hardly at all lately. Not sure why!

Popularity: 11% [?]

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There’s a Beautiful Mess Inside

17/05/2008 Joh astrology, blogging, family, friends, music

“How can you stay outside, There’s a beautiful mess inside, Take a deep breath and dive”

(Far, Far – Yael Naim lyrics)

This song is one of my favourites for the year. The sound and words are gentle and speak to me. Today I made a beautiful mess of poohduck. I was trying to get the widgets to work on the site and thought I was following the instructions on the wordpress site, but really I had no clue. I spent a lot of time checking and trying to understand. I need to learn a lot more. I think it’s fixed now.

This song is fitting for my weekend of being an introvert. I have only gone out once today to drive my son to work, in my pyjamas. Yes, he has his licence, but I was quite surprised when he asked me to take him to work because, he wasn’t sure where he would be able to get a park on a Saturday down town. I was impressed that he’d thought ahead that much.

It was my nana’s birthday today and is my friend Kathleen.  Happy Birthday Kat! It was my sister-in-laws birthday yesterday, Happy Birthday Nicole! My Auntie Pat’s during the week.  I know and love lots of Taurus people. They are generally wonderful cooks, enjoy food and have excellent taste, making them great to know.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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Breaking the Rules

06/05/2008 Joh blogging

Tonight I am putting up www.poohduck.com. I am hopeless at some aspects of blogging and I’ve been trying to get templates worked out and changed how I want them. I just don’t know enough yet! Thankfully Snoskred and Sephiroth have come to my rescue.

I wanted to take advantage of the new moon, so I have. I know I should wait until it is perfect, but I am more of a go for it and apologise if you get it wrong kind of girl, than a seek permission or wait for perfection type.

The last week has been challenging for me. I’ve had sad news, big problems to solve and a sense of pressure and not enough time.   A new moon, a fresh start.

Andy has been taking some wonderful photo’s and I want to share them. If you want to see the world from different eyes, check out poohduck. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that he has a unique view of the world.

Popularity: 7% [?]

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‘Pooh Duck’

27/04/2008 Joh blogging, relationships

When I began ‘Joh Blogs’ a couple of years ago, I made a blog for Andy too, but he didn’t get into it. He didn’t quite ‘get’ blogging at that time. When pushed to come up with a name for the blog I initiated for him, ‘poohduck’ was his chosen title, which captures his quirky, humourous, slightly irreverent nature beautifully and makes me smile whenever I hear it.

Since I met Andy, his camera and photo’s have always seemed to be a part of him. I think he has an amazing eye and have spent many enjoyable times looking at his photo’s and watching him take them. Almost every photo I have of him contains his camera.

We have maintained our friendship since he moved to Tasmania. I’m always happy to see that paperclip on the top of an email indicating it contains some latest image. Whilst exchanging emails recently, I asked him if I could use some of his photo’s on my blog. He agreed and then one thing led to another and we decided we would create a blog together, expressing his passion for taking photo’s and my enjoyment of them.

So ‘poohduck’ is being resurrected. Past, present and future images will be shared with you. He has an amazing ability to find the best glimpses of nature. I often noticed how we would be in the same places and yet he would have zoned in on beauty that I hadn’t been aware of. I’ve also never had the patience he had to set up a tripod and play with the camera settings and read the manual, like I’ve watched him do. So if it sounds interesting to you, drop on in. Give us some feedback. We’ll appreciate it.

PS: www.poohduck.com should be up soon, for a sneak preview check out www.poohduck.wordpress.com.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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