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Random thoughts

6/52 On shyness and thorns

For many years now, there’s been a small area in my backyard lawn which has grown a really cool plant. When you touch its dark green leaves, they curl up so you can see the purple undersides. How amazing is that! I have memories of my Mum showing it to my middle child when she was still in single digits (she’s the one who just graduated high school last year) and the two of them were leaning over it, heads bent together, stretching out their hands and gently stroking its leaves to watch it react.

Fast forward to a few evenings ago. I was walking barefoot across my lawn, playing with Kiya. Something I do extremely rarely, as there’s generally lots of twigs, leaves, and of course, the risk of snakes. But the lawn looked so inviting, and the grass so green and soft.

Until it wasn’t. Two steps was all it took before I was yelling in surprise and trying to work out how I’d stood on several bindiis in each foot when it’s not even bindii season.

Huh. That shy little plant, which curls its leaves when touched, has a MUCH darker side.

In fact, I’d venture the suggestion that it doesn’t so much curl its leaves because it’s shy, but removes its pretty face to expose its thorns! Because YOW!!! They hurt!!!

And to think that all of my dogs, year in year out, have been running across this foot-stabber, and I’d never known because I’d always worn boots!

So down I went. The several thorn wounds in each foot were throbbing, and I wasn’t careful enough getting them out and managed to prick my left thumb as well. But by the time I was thorn-free, I was also determined. No longer would this cute looking plant live in my garden. I was going to rip it out, then and there.

Easier said than done though. I often garden without gloves, and I didn’t want to waste a minute, so I started pulling at the first long stem I could find (imagine a clover plant structure… a little like a snowflake where the stems run along the ground and smaller stems branch out from there.) Now imagine that there are two thorns which jut out from the stem, approximately one centimetre apart. EVERY SINGLE centimetre!

Seriously! The only place this thing does NOT have thorns is on its roots!

But I was determined. By the time it was too dark to see, I’d pulled by about a third of the patch. By hand! I was quite proud.

In the kitchen that evening, I was relating the story to my middle child when she said, “do you mean the mimosa?”

I replied with, “I don’t know?!” as I’d never been told the name of the plant. Then, when I showed her how purple my left thumb had turned, and the cuts from thorn-skewering on my right hand, and mentioned that I could still feel the holes in my feet throbbing, she said, “I wonder if it’s poisonous?”

Huh. Turns out it is.

My feet holes were still a little ‘twingy’ the following morning, but my left thumb and thumb / index / middle finger of my right hand? Very noticeable the next day. Left thumb still purple! And when I went to get some more Mimosa out (using gloves this time, you’d be glad to hear) I had to stop because I COULDN’T GRIP AND TWIST WITH MY RIGHT HAND!!! The joints in both knuckles of my index finger would NOT move the way they needed to! Crazy or what?

They’ve calmed down now. Mostly. It’s three days later and all except the top joint on my index finger are back to normal. And that joint will hopefully regain its flexibility soon. But I now have a VERY healthy respect for that Mimosa’s defence mechanisms!

I told my mum the story yesterday. She laughed quite a bit. “Didn’t you know it had thorns?” she asked.

Well, no. I wouldn’t have let it remain alive in my backyard if I’d known!

I made the observation that she seemed to have known. “Of course!” she replied. “We used to have to weed it before and after school, back in the village,” she finished (she grew up in Malaya in the 1940s).

Huh. If only someone had told me.

So: lesson learned. Sometimes pretty things hide a defence system that is so overwhelmingly powerful it can take out your right hand for several days! Who knew?

Have a great week of learning yourself, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
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Uncategorized

5/52 on work and being sick

It’s been a BUSY two weeks; working through the 3 day weekend kinda took it out of me, y’know?

And my body decided to let me know about it. Cue the headcold which I *always* get with a change in school.

So I’m going up keep it brief today, and get back to ‘catching up on sleep’.

See you next Sunday, dear Reader!

KRidwyn

PS Oh, right. A photo is needed. This was taken by Master 15, yesterday:

Categories
Random thoughts teaching Technology Work

4/52 Gen Alpha

I was blessed, Monday just gone, to listen to a couple of AMAZING speakers at my new workplace’s staff retreat. Now I’m not one of those people who points her phone at, and takes photos of, a speaker’s screen… but this week, I did.

This one because it’s kinda funny (and true of not just Gen Alpha!):

But this one because it’s really indicative of how society is changing, and the trajectory of this change. It’s not difficult to predict what will be next, yes?

Anyway, these are some thoughts I’ve been pondering over the past week. How my generation influences others… and how they will influence others on turn. No wonder God says to “teach your children” (intentionally!) – Deuteronomy 11:19 and Proverbs 22:6 spring to mind – because it’s so important!

Without intentional teaching, things change unintentionally. And that may not necessarily be a good thing for society at large. Humankind is far more well known for its greed and selfishness than its compassion and altruism.

So: I wonder what this coming week will bring? And how I can go about being more intentional in it?

Have an intentional week yourself, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
momentous events Work

3/52 thinking on dogs and libraries

It sounds like the start of a riddle, doesn’t it? “What do dogs and libraries have in common?” And I must admit to not being witty enough to solve this one, sorry… my blogpost title just refers to these as the two main themes of this last week’s photos!

You see, my girl Kiya turned 2 on Wednesday. This was her on the beach the day before:

And then on her birthday itself (photo taken by Miss17, on whose birthday Kiya was born!) Check out that tongue and the ear curled back 🙂

It was also the week that I started, officially, back at school. New year, new job – Head of Library at Nambour Christian College! So I’ve been thinking all things ‘library’ this week, as I’m out and about, both online and IRL. Proof from my camera roll:

I’ve been back on Pinterest and saving inspirational pins like this:

And from Facebook, an idea that will mean I can keep a ‘live’ plant in my office without potentially killing it:

And for the library floor itself, check out these plants I saw when in Cooroy Pharmacy on Monday afternoon. Don’t you think they’d look good spread out around the library floor, near shelving or book displays?

Anyway, that’s been my week. And today it’s Bloxham Birthday Party day, to celebrate Hubby and both daughters… it’s our eldest’s last day of being a teenager today… now is that a milestone or what!

Have a wonderful week, dear Reader 🙂

KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes

2/52 on road trips and other holiday happenings

Miss16 has until July to get her 100 hours of supervised driving in. But seeing as she’s had other priorities, we started the year at 6 hours and 5 minutes.

Cue a roadtrip, the plan being to drive to Yeppoon, crash at an AirBnB, then drive back the following day, adding an extra 10 – 14 hours drive to her tally. 

To start off with, everything went well. But around 3 hours in, she started hurting. Maybe all that anxiety? Her wrists, her back (although to be fair, she’d hurt her tailbone quite badly, recently) and then when her right ankle joined in on the party, I figured it’d be better to turn around and head back. So we arrived in Boreren, enjoyed a beautiful cheesy garlic bread late lunch before starting the return journey. We made it to Childers and by then she was in enough pain I took over. On the up-side though, her confidence is vastly improved, we missed the storms which hammered our place back home, and I now know significantly more about the wonder that is Star Rail 🙂

The following day, Hubby went fishing,

I decided to finally learn the alphabet codes so I no longer have to try to think ‘m for… um… moustache’ (which was, literally, a conversation I had on Friday!),

and council mowed our road. Check out how pretty it looks now!!!

Looking ahead, it’s school stuff buying time (books, uniforms) and collecting textbooks and laptop, before starting officially on Thursday. And that, dear Reader, is just a little bit EXCITING!!!!!

Have an amazing week yourself, my friend!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
family anecdotes Writing

1/52 and let’s add photos…

Last year was somewhat successful in the blogging department. There were daily blogposts in June (thanks to @FiFYI for the challenge all those years ago now!) and pretty much weekly blogging for all the other months, so all in all I’m happy with that. Consistency was incredibly lacking prior to 2024, so hopefully 2025 will see me consolidate that improvement!

And this year I’m challenging myself with adding photos. Meaning the taking of photos, and sharing of same. Which is confronting, because I’d much rather not show evidence of how not-good a photographer I am.

And this new challenge? It’s going to include photos of me. See? Look how happy I am about this new challenge!

Just kidding. But if it’s ’only dead fish swim with the stream’ then I figure that to ‘be alive’ is ‘to grow’ and growth takes effort… which is uncomfortable. And I want to FEEL alive not just BE alive so this photo challenge it is. Something which takes me incredibly out of my comfort zone – not always a bad thing…

The photo above, taken by Miss16, is one I sent to my Compassion sponsor child earlier this week, when I finally worked out how to write letters online (sad, I know!) and I’m hoping he’ll like it because it’s been years since I sent him a photo of me! Other photos I took this week:

Mooloolaba at NYE after the 8.30pm fireworks. It’s a very pretty part of the world I’m blessed to call home! And:

The new look to my lounge room: the piano that Miss16 and I moved out of her bedroom. And I sightread a two-page Telemann piece after moving it, so I was doubly proud of these efforts! And finally, the social media screenshot which I’m FAR more comfortable sharing with you compared to my own photography efforts! This one I loved due to its surprising simile usage 🙂

And that’s it from me. Have an amazing second week of January, dear Reader, and I’ll meet you all back here next Sunday!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
Blogging challenges teaching Work

52/52 All fixed :)

Today, the final Sunday of 2024, marks my final post for the year as well. Woohoo! And I’ve fixed the numbering too, did you notice? t was easy… I just skipped posts 50 and 51!

So this week had Christmas, with the over-catering and the present exchanging and the relaxing. And next week will have the New Year’s celebrations and resolutions and all that jazz, so there’s that 🙂

Looking back, I’m quite proud of my blogging achievements this year. In spite of everything else that was going on, this was one thing I managed to (mostly!) stay consistent with, so yay me 🙂 🙂 🙂 meaning that I’m going to attempt this again next year. Each Sunday, one post. Preferably with a photo, but we’ll see how I go wth that one.

It should be an interesting year. New job, new workplace, only one cherub left at school, and all the rest of it!

Here goes – and HAPPY NEW YEAR when it gets here, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
places to visit Random thoughts

49/52 on Maths and hammocks

Okay, okay. My Maths skills are woeful. If there are 52 weeks a year and this is the second-last week then *surely* this should be 51 not 49. Sigh. Mathematics? Not my strong point. I guess I got mixed up doing #blogJune or something? Oh well. I can always try again next year.

Speaking of trying things again… this is my view while blogging today:

It’s been years (maybe even a decade?) since I last relaxed in a hammock. And this one – a Christmas 2024 present that I’m getting to use early!) is absolutely perfect! I forgot how much I enjoy having my feet up at pretty much the same height as my head. Now to watch my heat-swollen feet reduce, or something?

Since Hubby and I lashed out on a Stockman Rover back in August, I figured we’d better get lots of use out of it. So the kids are at home (have I mentioned how AMAZING it is to have 2 out of 3 graduated from high school already?!) and we’re HipCamping for the weekend… because we can! Hence the $41 Bunnings hammock. So far, my favourite Christmas present!

Speaking of Christmas, it’s this coming Wednesday, so my next post will be after all the celebrating.

Here’s praying you might have a day full of love and laughter, surrounded by your nearest and dearest, dear Reader. God bless you!!!

KRidwyn

Categories
Random thoughts Reading teaching Work

48/52 Nearly there!

Today marks the 48th of these weekly posts. How cool is that! I must admit, I’m quite proud of myself for keeping this going 🙂

This past week has been all about the catch-ups. I’ve caught up with my inbox (I’m now down to one email in my inbox, and I’m keeping that one; the reason for which will be a post for another day) and also caught up with my bestie and with other friends and colleagues and past colleagues and… and… and the list goes on. I made it into my new workspace briefly, I drank coffee, and didn’t sleep (surprise surprise) and I also visited my old workplace, took Master15 to both doctor and optometrist, managed some Christmas shopping, read “The Book Haters Book Club” and finally finished Season 2 of Arcane. Today after church was more Christmas shopping with Hubby, then we watched Gladiator 2.

Phew! No wonder I’m pretty tired! Looking ahead to next week: there’s fewer things on, for which I’m grateful 🙂

Here’s praying your week is a not-so-busy-one too, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn

 

Categories
Life momentous events teaching

47/52 And it’s clearing out time…

New job next year: I’m back to Nambour Christian College… which was the school that I moved to the Coast for in the first place! Head of Library position, replacing an amazingly talented man who’s retiring.

So, for the first time since 2016, I find myself on Christmas holidays with one job finished and the other not yet started. It’s a weird feeling. I’ve ALWAYS done work over the Christmas break. But I can’t right now. There’s nothing to do for CCPS and I can’t start anything at NCC! So I guess by default that means it’s “clearing out of stuff” time.

And check out my inbox! I can’t remember the last time it was at less than 20. And yes now I’m down to just 13!!! I wonder if I can get it to zero by New Year’s?

Wish me luck! Have have a lucky week yourself, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn