It’s been a doozy of a week. So this resonated with me a lot:
As did this:
Self-care is important, people!
Please, be kind to yourself today and this week, okay?
– KRidwyn
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Tag: friends
#BlogJune for 2024… done!!!
I think 28 June blogposts, almost in a row, is close to my record, so I’m happy with that 🙂
I also found time, before church this morning, to burn off the pile of stuff that’s been accumulating over months and months now, so that was also a very fulfilling accomplishment.
And I think my fire may even have been larger than my friend Steven’s from the other day, so there’s that too 😛
Here’s wishing you a successful end of month too, dear Reader!
KRidwyn
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#BlogJune Day 10
So my Miss16 has 6 months left of school. And what does she do? Join in with the Senior Assassin game, of course!
Wear goggles? You’re protected. Floaties on your arms? Also fine. On school grounds (school bus seats included in this definition) or heading to or at your place of work? Also unable to be eliminated.
Anything else? You’re fair game for being eliminated (shot by a water gun, the evidence caught on video) and no longer able to win the hundreds of dollars in prize money awarded to the winning team.
My girl’s latest obsession: looking over her shoulder anywhere we go. Oh, and the goggles wearing, of course.
Let’s see if she’s a few hundred dollars richer by the end of the year!
Have a goggle-free day yourself, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn
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#BlogJune Day 7
Today was a huge day. I turned 50. It was also momentous for my kelpie pup.
1) I did something I never thought I’d do, and bought dog clothing. She’s been cold at night… even Hubby mentioned that she’s not built like our (now passed away) German Shepherds! And
2) I bought her a new toy. And I swear her eyes widened when she first saw it. It’s bigger than she is! Check it out on her bed:
anyway, I hope momentous things (good ones only, of course) happen to you today, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn
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#BlogJune Day 6
This photo does an abysmal job of showing how beautiful my birthday bouquet really is. Nor can it express how divine my whole house smells.
Suffice it to say. I’m a very lucky girl and I love these flowers so much!
Here’s wishing you had a florally day as well, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn
Better late than never, amiright? Truth be told, it wasn’t until the early hours of June 2 that I decided I was going to do the #blogJune challenge again this year. And 2024’s theme? Daily photo.
So apologies for being several hours late, but here was June the first’s:
Hope your day was similarly festive, dear Reader!
- KRidwyn
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10/52 On yodelling
I would imagine that yodelling is difficult. I’ve never seriously tried it, but to change pitch that quickly and accurately seems confounding to me. And yet people do it. And learn it. And now I can proudly say I know one of them!
Yesterday, I took my Mum to watch the Matthew Flinders Anglican College performance of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was astoundingly good. And I’ve been directing musicals since 1996, and been in them since the mid-1980s, so I’ve had quite a lot of experience.
Honestly, I haven’t seen that level of well-nurtured talent since my time in the music department at John Paul College in the mid-1990s. And JPC used to book out the Queensland Performing Arts Centre for its production week, so that’s saying something!
Seriously though, the levels to which these students were guided was simply incredible. There are some definite future stars at that school. And one of them is only in Year 8, and not even yet a teenager!
Which brings me back to yodelling. You see, she was one of the principals (all the others were Years 10 – 12, from what I can gather) and was cast as Augustus Gloop. [If you remember the story: he was the sausage-loving 9 year old boy from either Germany or Bavaria – depending on the version – who was the first to find a Golden Ticket. He was also the first child to depart from the tour of the Chocolate factory when he fell into the chocolate river and was sucked up the tube, precipitating the first introduction of the Oompa-Loompas.]
And in the Hal Leonard Australia version which I saw yesterday, Augustus and his Mum yodel. Quickly! (I mean, of course quickly. Who’s ever heard of a slow yodel?) And they yodelled brilliantly!
I don’t think yodelling is something you can do half-hearthedly. It’s probably like abseiling or bungee-jumping – you have to commit. And commit they did. It was brilliant!
As was the whole production, honestly. The staff at Matthew Flinders should be proud of themselves, with the amazing standard of singing, acting, dancing, instrument-playing, lighting and follow-spotting, stage-crew movements – even the email prior to explain car-parking! The whole kit and kaboodle was extrememly impressive. And I’m hard to impress.
So well done, students and staff. An achievement you can all be justifiably proud of.
And I doubt I’ll try my hand (or voice) at yodelling anytime soon! I’ll leave that to those with more talent…
Have an inspirational week yourself, dear Reader!
- KRidwyn
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6/52 on celebrating a life
I spent quite a bit of yesterday afternoon with tears in my eyes. Together with what felt like hundreds of people, we celebrated the life of this amazing man, Richard William Whittington.
I met Richard and his beautiful wife Colleen on their return to Australia from South Africa, in 2002. We attended the same church – Chesed – on Friday evenings in Nambour, and he quickly struck me as an amazing man of God, one who ‘walked’ the talk.
It was a beautiful service, full of touching memories. And so uplifting! The thought that Richard is not dead, but alive and with our Father, whom he served so faithfully while here on earth. A true ‘celebration’ of a life well lived.
And to celebrate this life with old friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in person, in well over 18 years! What a blessing they all are to me. Sure, we’ve kept in touch via Facebook, virtually witnessing life events and the like, but to see them again and feel the warmth of their hugs was to be transported back in time again.
What a special afternoon; one which I have stored up in my heart. I am so blessed to have known Richard – and blessed still further by my God for his putting such amazing people in my life! I treasure them dearly.
I wish for you a week of remembering, and catching up with, such precious people in your own life, dear Reader.
- KRidwyn
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Excuses and a photo
Yes, I know. It’s been a while. Life, you know?
On the homefront, Master12 started High School this year, meaning all three cherubs are at the one school again. What a relief! The school notes, the synchronising of term calendars, the transport issues – all cleared up! But yes, settling him into High School was more problematic than I’d expected… but that’s more my excuse for the dearth of blogposts, rather than the reason I’m putting fingers to keyboard today.
Because check this out!
Yup, that’s me! Third on the list of ‘Top Contributors’ for the conference I attended, the last two days. #NESB2021 – the National Educators Summit, Brisbane, 2021 – was absolutely brilliant, and helped me get my tweeting mojo back again, something I secretly hoped for.
Plus, oh! The learning! Getting back to a space where I can hear latest research on issues from Evidence Based Practice to ensuring diversity in the Library collection, not to mention the joy in listening to authors Aleesah Darlison and Peter Carnavas, and (of course) the networking opportunities presented – wow! So it was a stuff-as-much-information-as-possible-inside-your-brain kind of two days, and now I’m exhausted and happy and eager to start planning what ideas I’ll be implementing first. Because there were just SO many!!!
Thank you to all the presenters for giving up their time and sharing their cumulative wisdom; thank you to the organisers ensuring it all ran smoothly, and also a huge thank you to my boss for covering my classes on Friday, and agreeing to the cost from the PD budget. It was well worth the money 🙂
And now, let’s see if I can keep up this whole ‘blogging’ thing which I’ve wrestled with for over a decade now. Hopefully more regularly than has been, so far this year!
Have a wonderful week, dear Reader 😀
– KRidwyn
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31/52
And… it’s August.
And before I start on ‘where is the year flying to?’ and ‘I can’t wait for the winds to kick in… NOT!’ I should focus on the topic of this week’s post: competition.
You see, the first weekend in August is also the weekend of our local Women’s and Girls’ Chess Tournament.
Back in 2017, Miss now-14 won her division and the whole kit-and-kaboodle, with the massive perpetual trophy name plaque and everything. Last year, she placed second.
Miss now-11 was U10 champion in 2017 and U13 champion in 2018.
I entered for the first time last year and placed third. The 2019 tournament was held yesterday. Miss14 won the U18 division, Miss11 placed 4th in U13, and I won myself a red-ribboned medallion. And great fun was had by all!
Here’s hoping you have an enjoyable week this week too, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn