be nice to me!

The first day of trauma at the ANZACT pre-conference workshop was great, I am looking forward to more today. The most excruciating part was near the start of the day when we had to 'meet' three other people non-verbally. This kind of stress brings on the hot flushes, but the point is, I survived and enjoyed the rest of the day.

The food was surprisingly good, varied and plentiful. 

I am so tired today, as my insomnia is back and I had an info night to attend and facilitate last night, for future MMH AT students, after a full day at the workshop. It was an interesting night, and it makes me appreciate again how difficult it is to get into art therapy training, and also, how tough it is, to get through it. 

I think I need to make an insomnia monster, to help me externalise this sleep issue, and I have an idea of what to make it out of, a dark brown sweater I bought in my workplace's op shop...(did I mention work has its own op shop? - very cool!). Its probably going to have to have at least two heads, and other unpleasant protuberances. My next art project...

I was going to try to make it to Body Balance class at 6am today but just felt so tired, having been awake already for about two hours, so decided no, I will BE NICE TO ME today. So I didn't. That felt good. 

This link is to an interesting article by Cathy Malchiodi on art and happiness.

more later.

anticipation of trauma

Not many people would be this excited at the prospect of spending two days learning more about trauma therapy experientially, but thats me! Its time for the ANZACT pre-conference workshop...at QUT, a university I may be a student of next year...

I am hoping for some good networking, good ideas, and even good biscuits...although these Mater biscuits are hard to beat.

more later.

'Devon hippie' - now an official category

Moonlight by Samuel Palmer

I know because I read it in The Australian weekend magazine. Joss Stone is described as 'leading the lifestyle of a Devon hippie'. Sadly (or not) the details of said lifestyle are not documented.

Meanwhile, in a village called Chagford, near Exeter, (where I was born) in Devon, a vege box scheme with a difference. The boxes are delivered in a horse and cart. So old school (thanks for the Banksy birthday card, boys).

It wasn't quite Cider with Rosie, (although the cider part would be true), but I think of my childhood as being basically rural: even though we lived in on the outskirts of a small (hippie) town called Totnes, I could see Dartmoor from my bedroom window. So it was nice to get out into the hills on my birthday yesterday, even though the hills around Boonah, in South East Queensland, are nothing like the hills of Devon.

me and the boys at Kooroomba

Lavender!

We were at Kooromba Lavender farm and vineyard, Mt Alford (near Boonah) for lunch. I came home and made lavender bags...(this is true - but I didn't steal the lavender - its in my garden).

Big week just about to start (in an hour or so).

more later.

feeling my age

 Um...Today is a special day, like every other day...

I missed writing a daily post yesterday. By the end of the day, I was feeling tired, and feeling my age! Its my birthday today, the day when you always write the date incorrectly, as you automatically write the year you were born instead of the current year.

Some days thats all I want to do...

I am finding it difficult to get things done at the weekend at the moment. I need to accept that doing nothing or not much is ok. However, I did make myself a birthday cake, I think it looked better before it was cooked, here is a photo.

an (uncooked) version of Nada's cake from JaMie's Italy

Birthday flowers, a day early! Thank-you...

more later.

bad coffee day

This morning started badly - the coffee machine told me it was out of beans and I couldn't find the packet - S had put them in the place we usually keep dog biscuits. I had to ring him, as it was a sort of emergency,  and then just saw the packet as I was talking to him. I left a message but he didn't listen, he just rang me because he had a missed call. He had to come home as he had left his ID at home. I made coffee, then spilt it all over my clothes whilst I was eating breakfast and not paying attention. 

Things did improve once at work. We made Mindfulness cards (left at work, so no photo yet) and I remembered fontifier, which allows you to make your own handwriting into a font on your computer, which is really useful for writing christmas letters, and making them look handwritten. 

I have written every day this week so far, Which is more more than I expected. As I was running with the dog this morning (before the coffee episode, so actually the day started out ok, then went bad) I wondered if I could use a Motown song title as my blog title each day for a month. Like Rocktober, but actually more like Soultober or even Motownober. What a wonderful source of random thoughts the human mind can be at times.

more later.

my word - namaste!

peace poster (using HOPE Poster I phone app.)

When I wake up early enough, I enjoy this Thursday morning ritual. Driving to the gym, I listen to the last segment of the very retro 'My Word'on Radio National with Dennis Norden and Frank Muir (about 5.45am). Dennis and Frank have to tell outrageous stories to explain the (imaginary) etymology of phrases such as 'Maybe its because I'm a Londoner' or 'Better to be envied than to be pitied', which were the phrases featured on today's show. Dennis Norden's morning contribution was a classic appropriately involving a long explanation of doing difficult and strenuous gym exercises (or PT as it used to be called) thus yielding the term: 'Better to be unfit than to be PT'ed'. The longest applause determines the winner.  The original Spicks and Specks, 'My Music' is on another day. Must date from the sixties or seventies, I am guessing. Pure gold.

After the drive to Sunnybank, its time for Body Balance, which is a class that combines Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates, all choreographed to music. Very good for stretching those hamstrings and glutes (not to mention all the rest). The class ends, like yoga, with a ten minute meditation. Today this somehow involved the word 'peace', and we were invited to notice any examples of 'unpeace' in our heads - I was so focused on this abuse of English I felt quite unpeaceful there for a while. We end the class with our hands at the 'heart centre' saying 'namaste', a salutation from Sanskrit, which has a nice friendly and inclusive tone.

more later

full mailbox on empty lot

What were they thinking?

Good day today, teaching journal-making to a group of teenagers and two other staff members, all seemed to really enjoy it, although we were knee deep in materials by the end of the day. 

This is the type of journal we made, but without the padding. The girls were very creative and got very immersed in the project. Perfect for a school holiday activity.

PT first thing this morning, I can tell I am getting a little bit stronger, which is exciting. Just as well, as I spend a lot of time carrying materials and equipment around, its an integral part of my job.

more later.

fear of failure: blogjam and laser show

Laser show, Brisbane festival

Late again - I had been thinking a lot about trying the challenge of posting everyday for a week - thinking so much in fact that I forgot to do my usual weekly post. However, the theme for today is suitable - (fear of) failure.

The chooks ate well last night - a food experiment based on leftovers went wrong. I must remember to follow recipes and not improvise so much with 2 day old root vegetables. I may have gotten away with it, if I hadn't used beetroot, but that pink coloured bubble and squeak mocked me somehow as it sat in the frying pan - not a meal I could believe in. 

The nice thing about chooks (as well as the eggs) is they are not too fussy about what they eat, as long as it contains calories and/or chlorophyll. I have been picking weeds for them on my morning walks. This is because they are now banned from free-ranging to protect the new vege bed. Hopefully one day soon we will have a chook tractor for them to roam around the garden in, getting some green stuff and fertilising the ground, without decimating the crop. They seem to like the weeds but they prefer pink bubble and squeak. They are not dumb. One woman's mistake is six chooks' feast....

Brisbane city lights, from South Bank

Another area I can stuff up in easily is painting. I would love to have the skills to paint something (ok, a painting, not a wall) I can be happy with. I have been trying to complete a piece for the art therapy conference exhibition in November. I think I messed it up the other day.  I reached this familiar point, where I thought it was going well, but I went too far and now I am thinking I need to paint over it and start again. The theme is recovery from disaster, suitably enough.

I definitely need more skills, and this comes from informed practice (10,000 hours to be really proficient at something), but at the moment, the more I practice, the more discouraged I become. I think I need to go to a painting class or have some coaching or something. But that would involve exposure. Perhaps its worth it as I often think about wanting to enjoy painting (yes, the product as well as the process, sorry art therapists) - that would be a change I could believe in.

No 3

The laser show at South Bank on Sunday (and every night, for another week) was cool. It started 20 minutes late, but we were also running late, so it didn't matter. What a warm night, and its only early Spring.

more later.

parenting muse

'talking to S.. about relationships' - pastels

'work life imbalance' - pastels

These two images are from the online parenting group I have been participating in, which finished last week. It was strange but gratifying to be part of a group that only met online, but no more strange and gratifying than writing this blog...

The first image 'Talking to S.. about relationships' was made after reflecting proudly on what a thoughtful and emotionally literate son I have - taking so much in his stride at the moment despite a very difficult year, and about to graduate as a high school English and ESL teacher in about 6 weeks time...the drawing is supposed to show the ebb and flow of our conversation the other night as we discussed the trials and tribulations of love and romance in 21st century, well more particularly, coping with break-ups in a Facebook World...wish I could take the pain away, but motherhood has its limitations.

The assignment was to make a piece of art about spending time with your child/ren. Which I found surprisingly difficult, as they seemed to be quite elusive at that time...

The second image 'Work life Imbalance' is about work commitments, and trying to find the right balance. If I am studying next year, something will have to give...just trying to decide what that should be. The drawing is rather formal, restrained and geometric, compared to the first image (they go together). Perhaps its just a timely reminder. I have worked two Saturdays in the last three. On the third I was sick in bed all day with the Headache Virus. Not a cold or flu, just a very bad headache.

I planted out some seedlings in my new vege garden this weekend (well, Sunday), after strewing the beds with chicken manure and compost (who knew we ate so many peanuts?) Dirt under the fingernails again, yay! I am looking forward to success, which has eluded me on previous attempts. For the record, I planted rainbow chard, corn, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and marigolds. We'll see what happens...

We  took S's younger brother to see Submarine at the weekend, which deals with young love, with great British (ok, Welsh) humour and quirkiness. What could be more embarrassing than an honest and awkward movie about your first girlfriend? Seeing it with your parents, right?

more later.

sick sick sick - and its Spring!

outside Logan Regional Art Gallery - this is so cool!

I spent two days last week in Logan, at a Child and Youth Mental Health Conference, Priority One. It was a thought-provoking conference, with a creativity theme, but I was surrounded by people coughing and sneezing...

'headache' - how it feels, blurry and colourless 

...so it had to happen eventually - just as I was congratulating myself on getting through the winter without a single cold or flu virus - I had a lingering headache for three days, followed by a weekend where I barely got out of bed until Sunday lunchtime - and suddenly, its Spring!

'baby shower owl' - stuffed fabric toy/pillow

This owl was supposed to come to a baby shower with me this weekend, but sadly we didn't make it. I will have to deliver him another time...

I did manage to see a couple of quirky films this week on DVD (great for sick days). Junebug and You and me and everyone we know. Junebug is definitely the less weird of the two...plus it has Embeth Davidtz in it, a city slicker who collects 'Outsider art', and who played a patient undergoing couple therapy in Season 1 of In Treatment...

Plus, the September Issue on ABC1 was a disappointment last night, despite the beautiful frocks and shoots... If this is the reality, give me fiction (the Devil wears Prada) every time.

Plus, I put in two applications today, for further study. 

more later.