Work Space

A very timely Friday Five from revkjarla at RevGalBlogPals who asks about the tschotske (momentos, weird things, etc.) in our workplaces.  Timely because I have spent this Saturday morning creating a home workplace in the bedroom of a child departed to university. And yet it is still Friday in some places! I love these dice that revkjarla has in her space: with GOD on every side.

But for my five things:

1. Here at home I am in someone else's space and surrounded by shoes, boots, very interesting books that are not my own, paints and odd earrings.
2. It is also the temporary home of my yarn/knitting wool stash. Both inspirational and comforting.
3. I look out the door to a large print of a mandolin-playing angel (brought back from Rome many many moons ago)
4. At work I have a shelf with a small statue of Notre Dame (bought at Oxfam one Christmas), a season tree (removable/ replaceable leaves), a taonga from Aotearoa and other sentimental tschotske
5. I seem to be a paper magnet and as a 'piler not a filer' this tends to overwhelm.  I am beginning to get the hang of using my new and wonderful Kindle to reduce this aspect of my workspace.

Seasonal meme

Another great meme from kathryn who writes:

The Season You're In - Friday Five

Headquarters for me is the northeast of the United States. Here school is getting back in session, the tease of autumn is in the air (or the hope for the tease of autumn is in the air) and church life is gearing up to full throttle.

One thing I've learned with blogging and social media is that the where I live is not necessarily where you live. And so I want to know what September means to you, in your place of the world and time in your life.

This week's Friday Five is:

What are 5 things that the beginning of September mean to you?

1. Spring!  It's in the air with a definite warming of the temperatures and also evident in the garden where lawn-mowing is once again a weekly task and the green waste bin is full to overflowing.

2. Father's Day.  First Sunday in September.  A bit strange this year with no father or father-in-law, no children at home, and the one-I-love away for a week. Good opportunity to indulge in some memories though.

3. Exams.  It's coming to the end of the school year and time to finalise the assessment stations and examination papers (see below)

4. Selection. Also time to select the students for the 2012 intake in January. A challenging task with 2065 applicants for 112 places - most of those applicants would probably make good doctors but we have to identify a subgroup who will thrive in our programme.

5. Parcel. 19 years ago a beautiful, wise, thoughtful, friendly September-birthday person became part of our family. Now is the time to send off her birthday parcel.

Bonus: What's one thing you could do without? Writing those exam questions.

"Busman's holiday'

It must be a month since the last post as Kathrynzj is again posting the Friday Five.  And such a delight to see it up before I head home on this balmy springlike winter day in Sydney (26 degrees C).

Kathrynzj writes:
I'm wrapping up a two week vacation that has taken me from beach to basement.

WHAT?

It's true, I took a week off of work to clean out the basement. Sadly, to look at a before/after photo would not make it look like my time had been used wisely. Just about everything is still down there, it's just in a different pile. BUT... our church rummage sale this year is going to be very, very blessed.

I'm wondering if anyone else out there takes a week off of work to do a different kind of work:

1) Have you ever 'staycationed' in order to work on a project? If no, would you?

YES. Many years ago returned early to work on a thesis.  It was worthwhile and productive. Attempts at garage tidying have been less effective!I grew up with the term 'busman's holiday' (we weren't gender neutral back then let alone affirmative) to describe taking time off regular work to do other work. Have accompanied the one I love doing relief holiday ministry in a seaside parish one summer. Here.     It was idyllic.

2) What project did you or would you tackle first?

We have a stash of unsorted items taking up the space where a car should reside. 

3) Any other projects?

It also feels like time to be getting organised for Christmas gifts and cards. So I'd maybe get out the sewing machine and get crafty with a vacation at home. 

4) What are the pitfalls of a staycation for you?

Not actually getting that sense of re-creation necessary to step back into the regular work role.

5) Never mind this staying at home business, where do you want to go and what do you want to do there?

The RevGal cruise looks so brilliant and 'one day' I hope that I might join it. There's not really room for my whole list of 'wannabethere' places but to start:

• Prague - supposedly the most romantic city on the planet
• Tonga - where beloved family member will be spending the next year
• Aotearoa - to feel my feet fit back into the land in which I learnt to stand and where our other beloved family members are studying
• Gallipoli - to pay respects
• Tasmania, Uluru, Broome, the Kimberleys - to have a broader view and understanding of this great island continent. Before we leave I would love to be able to take the Ghan and Indian Pacific trips ...

The meme to entice me back

In the introduction to this week's Friday Five I learn I am not alone in having declining participation the blogosphere.  kathrynzj writes:
A friend and I were lamenting recently about the good ol' days of blogging and memes. Certainly there are still some very active blogs around our web ring, but the days of the Friday Five getting 50-70+ responses are in the past. We lamented that the Friday Five is the equivalent of the women's guild of RevGalBlogPals.

I am one of those who went from blogging just about daily to periodically at best. Unfortunately, the number I routinely read has gone down as well. What about you?

1) Have your blogging (writing/reading) habits shifted since the days of yore?

Absolutely. It would be generous to describe my blogging as 'periodically at best'. I have always read more than I write, even more so now. 

2) Do you have some favorites that you miss?

Each time I open my dashboard I see the notifications from bloggers that I signed up to follow, and enjoy reading their posts. Some of my favourites are on Facebook, so I get to see their posts through a different window.  I do miss participating in the monthly poetry party at Abbey of the Arts and in fact was reflecting the other day that my creative output has decreased markedly over the past couple of years. Just as well I'm relaxing at the movies tonight. 

3) Are there some blogs you still put in the 'must read' category?

Joan Elizabeth is a 'must see' and each tab has it's own unique character Eternal Echoes and Life, Laughter, Liturgy always inspire, Pete and Ruth regularly share their creations. Jan is moving against the trend and is almost up to 2000 posts! Despite the long absence, the ritual of checking out each Friday Five comment also leads to serendipitous interchanges.

4) If we gathered at your knee, what would you tell us about those early days of blogging?

The perfect occupation for an unemployed introvert. After putting a tentative foot in the water I found this an excellent medium to help clarify thoughts and express creative impulses. The RevGals web ring provided encouragement and synergy. Those early days were an important component of the process of adjusting to life in a new country and context.  

5) Do you have a clip or a remembrance of a previous post of yours or someone else's that you remember, you know an oldie but goodie?

The post that lured me into blogging was Sally's wonderful reflection on the woman of Samaria. And I loved Jan's long ago clothesline avatar - all those clean clothes blowing in the wind

Person-focussed bureacracy

A great announcement from the Australian Government regarding a new approach to data collection about homelessness in "Australia Fair".  The paradigm shift is from a focus on service providers to a focus on people’s experiences of homelessness.

The press release includes the following: ‘Previously, homelessness was measured by the number of services provided to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness,’ said Mr Geoff Neideck of the AIHW’s Housing and Homelessness Group.
‘This new data collection will provide better information about people who are homeless, the pathways people take in and out of homelessness and the kinds of work homelessness agencies do.’
...
For the first time, children will be counted as individual clients and family information will be more accurate.

It is also encouraging to read details of the Government's homelessness strategy, which seems to recognise the choice of 'rough sleeping' as well as the need to address 'involuntary' homelessness.  The goal is to decrease the rate of homelessness by 2020 and to "provide supported accommodation to all rough sleepers who seek it."

A great step forward in data collection to support healthy public policy. And a welcome recognition of the rights of children to be counted, considered, provided for and protected.

Hills hoist blues

As a little girl I noticed that the other girls' mothers (yes I thought like that then) had clotheslines with a handle to wind the line up and down. I was convinced that our standard fixed height line was a sign of social inferiority and was somewhat ashamed of it.

Imagine the delight more than 40 years later arriving in Australia and finding that the Uniting Church provided a home complete with a Hills Hoist clothesline. Winding the handle up and down each week always prompts reflection on those long ago days.

Until the handle jammed. With the clothesline at its highest point. Hanging laundry is now a bit of a gym workout: squat by basket, lift out garment, step up, peg, peg, step down squat by basket ...

As Mothers' Day approaches I remember how privileged our childhood was, with an abundance of good things. The fixed height line was not the result of deprivation or disadvantage. Probably, more like Helen Mirren playing her majesty in the Queen's LandRover, there was a sense of not replacing functional items just because a newer version is available.

And some practical common sense that the more complicated a piece of equipment, the greater the chance of malfunction. They missed the gym workout though.