|
The Book
I always wondered if I had a book to write, and many others have tried over the years to convince me that indeed I have.
But I have resisted, it's been done, much earlier and in much better fashion than I could ever hope to achieve. But more about that later.
and so...My intention is to blog as I go, creating a journal of the experience of writing what might (or might not) turn out to be my autobiography.
But we will see what develops along the way...
|
|
Weekends
When I lived in New Zealand with my young family, weekends were about sport. My son played soccer with the Oratia United Football Club. He started in the under-eights and played until the under-sixteens. I was your genuine article soccer mum, managing the teams (wash the jerseys, bring the oranges, make the phone calls), and worked on the club committee. It was a very new club, started the year before we joined with only one team, our first year had two teams, and when we left eight years later, there were 24 junior teams and several senior teams, even represented in the local A league We had also managed to fund and build a licensed clubhouse which was the focal point for a lot of the community. This time in my life I consider one of the most important, being the time I spent raising my family. I was involved in the community through the soccer club, and made many friends across a very wide range of cultures and society. The chairman of the club, whose boy played in our age-group was the Orb carrier for the Mayor of Auckland, and a very distinguished person. There were teachers and lawyers, dentists, doctors, taxi drivers, road workers, truck drivers, even morticians and ministers. It was a wine-growing region, and the nationalities crossed almost every country you can think of. English, of course, and Dutch and German and Italians and Yugoslavians, Scots and Finns, all the soccer playing nations and all about the boys and their soccer. And they were good boys, almost all of them. Only a very few lost their way as they grew up, there was very little trouble, I think they were kept too busy, we had two training nights a week, and quite often a 'social' game on the Sunday, following their league games on the Saturday. Over the years we were there, we had on average three teams playing in our age group, and many of the boys who started with us were still there when the team graduated from the 'midgets' to the 'juniors' when a lot of the boys took a break from playing. It was always hard after that to fill a team for the under-eighteens. Watching so many boys grow into young men, spending very many hours on the sidelines with their parents, working together with the community to develop the playing fields and the clubhouses - yes, a very special time. When I moved to Adelaide my daughter took over from her brother, and started at about eleven, to play netball with the Uniting Church competition. She too joined a team that stayed together for many years, even after most of the girls had left school and started work. On one occasion we had to laugh, Carlena was a very good player and was chosen to go with a team representing Australia to play in a tournament in New Zealand. She was mortified, how could she go and play against New Zealand (she is a born kiwi and proud of it), wearing the Aussie green and gold? She did go though, and had a wonderful time, kiwi rellies even turning out to cheer her on. Neither of them play any team sport now, we all switched to golf, and Craig surfs regularly with his wife and his mates. I can't wait to see Craig coaching his little soccer daughter, when she starts, and I guess it'll be back to weekends on the sidelines for Nana. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:24 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
ABC of LIFE
I was having a real problem with this exercise, a tumble and jumble of words in my head, what does that mean? why did I think of that? which one should I use? I started several times but just couldn't get down to it, a matter, I think, of the way my mind works (in cartwheels) than any relativity to the words. So, apply discipline, write the letter, and at least 2 words, the first that come into my mind, quickly without analysis, let's see what I get. A atropy arthritis B bananas boys boobs C cancer cold D dogma delinquent E effort eggs equilibrium F frustration fiction G generosity golddigger garden H hatred humidity heat I intelligence interference J justice juxtaposition jam K karma kiln kooky L love letters M money madness method N nerve necrophilia negativity O operations obesity P people perfume perfection Q quandry quantity R respect religion rubber S solitude sadness T tranquility time U understanding ubiquitous V veracity volume W willingness water X xenophobia xrays Y youth yellow Z zimbabwe zaire Labels: U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:19 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Housekeeping
My mother was never much of a house-keeper, she worked long hours from early morning, and often into the night. She worked as a laundress, starting at 5 a.m., doing the rounds of the two or three hotels she serviced, then to the local catholic convent, to get the washing onto the line.
During the day she would return to the house, where she also took in laundry - in the afternoon it was back around the 'jobs' to bring the washing in, and do the ironing. At night she would be ironing for her home jobs, then back up at 5 to do it all again.
Housework was left to our live-in nanny, and was always a bit hit and miss, but boy, did we learn to wash and iron and cook, and we are talking outdoor copper washtub, wood stove (where we heated the iron) and icebox, in the early days. We did have running water, and eventually graduated to one of those clothes wringer things that stuck on the edge of the tub; gas cooker, and the best of all, an electric fridge.
By the time I married for the 2nd time, women's lib was just getting started, and I look back now with amazement at how stupid we were. We insisted on working, we went to ridiculous lengths to prove to our husbands and bosses that we were superwomen, and could hold down a job without it interfering with being good wives and mothers.
Without ever having had the role-model, traditional mum in the kitchen, dad out at work, dinner on the table at six, I struggled with fitting this concept into a life that has always seen me working. My kids both learned to cook and iron at an early age, my mother was a good cook and it's been passed down, a favourite pastime when we are together is to try and out-cook each other. It's a bit hard to win these days, my daughter works as the head chef at a big fancy restaurant in Adelaide, and my son does almost all the cooking for his family.
We all use a house-work system that is a bit ad hoc, perfected over the years when they were growing up. It's a number rated system that works like this:
No 3 = Visitors have arrived unexpectedly and while they are getting out of the car, rush around and hide everything, including dirty dishes into the oven, pots, that is, these days I have a dish-washer for the rest.
No 2 = Unexpected visitors are about to arrive, same as above but we have time to wash dishes, wipe benches, quick vacuum, empty ashtrays and maybe get clean towels into the bathroom.
No 1 = Visitors are arriving to STAY - this is the top job. Everything must shine, not a speck of dust to be seen, not a dirty mark anywhere, all clothes baskets empty, floors washed, clean towels everywhere, kitchen and bathrooms gleaming, flowers in vases, home-made bread ... I love this one, the house stays clean for ages, and I do enjoy living in a nice clean house.
This system worked well, I only needed to tell the kids, quick, quick, a No. 3 (or 2) and they would know exactly what to do... and because these days it's mostly them and their families who visit, they can see that I've done a No1 especially for them.
Then, of course there is everyday housework - just because we are at home and have time - vacuuming and dusting, maybe a bit of pledge here and there; and spring-cleaning, list of jobs on the wall; pick a job and cross it off when it's done. I think last years list still has a few items uncrossed, but now it's not the kids, just me and him, and, well, I firmly believe that we have no control over what others do, or don't do, so that's another story which I wont go into (yet).
posted at: 7:17 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
miscellany 23/4/08
I could never do 'craft'. I was the one in class always in trouble because my 'sampler' was grubby, jammed into the bottom of my school bag. And nothing has changed, if it's physical, like gardening, okay, I don't do a bad job when it comes to creating websites, but something dainty or artistic, making something with my hands, forget it - I have been lucky though, to have been given brains, thank god, otherwise I would have starved! My life's journey, I sometimes describe as 'flotsam & jetsam" - not exactly an accurate term - but it fits. It's been a kind of floating existence, circumstances creating what comes next. Leaving home at an early age, doing the then-popular trip around Australia, getting stuck in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory for 18 months when I was eighteen, then Sydney for a couple of years, 16 years in New Zealand, 14 years in Adelaide, back on the Gold Coast now for over 10 years. Husbands and jobs, elderly parents, my only grandchild - I can only wonder 'where to next?' I am kind of hoping it might be back to Adelaide, where my daughter still lives, and I miss her very much, but then, my son and his family are here, oh well, wait and see, I guess. Labels: miscellany, U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:39 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Shows/Fates
Ekka /'ekuh/
noun an agricultural show held annually in Brisbane, Qld, usually in August.
Official name, Royal National Show.
Also, the Exhibition.
[colloquial variation of Exhibition]I know that Queenslanders have their own brand of Strine... but I didn't really expect to find an official entry for the Ekka in the Macquarie Word Dictionary. I was living, at age eleven, with my older sister who was fourteen, my younger sister aged eight, our mother, and an elderly aunt, called Maisie, when a man moved into our house. His name was Arthur, he was my mother's friend, they stayed together for the next 42 years, and were married in 1995 when she was ninety years old, just 2 years before she died. Our household was never the same again, and a lot of my story is intertwined with the relationships that developed within the family, and the extended family, as a result of his arriving in our lives.
He was a great show-goer, and insisted on taking us kids, and later grand-kids to any and every show or exhibition we could get to. One of the big ones, was the Brisbane Show, the Ekka as it is fondly known. We were living in Townsville, so getting to the show, some 1400kms away, was always an adventure, whether we drove down, or went on the overnighter train. We went several times over the next few years. Mostly we stayed with a sister of my mothers' called Aunty Glad, who ran a boarding house in a South Brisbane suburb.
One year, we rented a house. It was a big old ramshackle Queenslander, a style of house popular for it's design, raised on poles, surrounded by wide verandahs, it is entirely suited to the hot conditions and outdoor living style that most Queenslanders (the people) still enjoy today.
The house was across the road from the showgrounds, with easy entry to a staff gate immediately opposite. We were there for the two weeks of the show, and it was a very exciting time of my life. Lots of the houses around us were rented to the show workers, itinerants who travelled with the show exhibitions and carnival rides.
A lot of families, and we quickly made friends with the show kids, and because the adults were mostly busy working, we kids had free run around the showgrounds. With the parents manning the rides and the stalls, we were well catered for, and armed with the obligatory 'stranger-danger' warnings, we could pretty much do what we liked.
All the farm animals were there, and we got to know them, there were calves and lambs born and every sort of chook. We had fresh milk, and eggs, and got to help feeding and cleaning in the stockyards. And boys, of course, if I think really hard, I do believe this was my first experience of a broken heart, the end of a holiday 'romance'. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 6:36 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Autobiography class - week one
Momentum is gaining as we get started in earnest. My first impressions still hold good, the topics the leader is setting are relevant, and boy do they take me down memory lane. It's amazing how many paths one memory can lead to. This is just what I needed, an idea for the way to get started, and what to write about. It also helps that we each post our entries to a forum for others to read, and comment. Not on the writing ideas (the leader does that), but a lot of the memories are shared, with most of the class retired or of retirement age. One of the participants wrote this (on Autobiography accuracy): "My brothers and I often talk about incidents that happened in
our childhoods. We often find substantial discrepancies in our memories. Its
probably important to be tentative about making statement about the past unless
we can find ways to have our momories corroborated. Particularly when we recall
childhood memories we need to remember that the initial incident is recorded by
a child with limited experience of life so the incident is interpretted in a
different way to an older person. We also tend to filter information as it comes
to us depending on our own biases, interests etc. Police for example can
interview two people who witnessed the same event and get different stories. Two
spectators can watch the same game of footy and report it in different ways
particulary if their kids were on different teams. Our memory can also be
influenced by commentary that is made by another person, particularly one who we
respect"
Comment by class leader: Truth is what you remember - but if possible avoid hurting others.
Interesting, and prompted me to write this, something I have needed to get off my chest for a while now: I can certainly re-inforce what Bill is saying here, from a very personal perceptive. My sister wrote an autobiography, in 3 volumes, all of which became best sellers. The first volume actually won a couple of important Australian book awards.
Apart from being the cause of my own reluctance/hesitancy to start my own chronicle, I can vouch for some of the criticisms of the books, that not all of the 'facts' presented, or the 'memories' recorded, can be verified as correct.
My interest, of course, is focussed on the events recorded of which I was (am) a part, personal events, not necessarily related to the telling of the story of her own struggles and achievements - but when I read her version of the events, several of which differ significantly from my own memories, I itch for an opportunity to redress or challenge.
Of course I realise that what she wrote is her 'reality', she has recorded the way she saw the various situations. I can only say that if that is how she saw them, if that was her perception of events, I wish I had been given a chance to discuss this with her, to put her straight about my part in the same events, that would have been a good thing... Labels: Journal
posted at: 8:18 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Six Sentences - life story...
The middle child of 3 girls, I was born in North Queensland, at the very end of WWII. These were the depression years, and our household was a constant stream of comings and goings as returning veterans, displaced persons, and assorted children in need of short-term fostering found their way to our house and my mother's loving care. As young children we attended the local Catholic school which mixed boys and girls, but as we reached mid-school age we were separated and the boys were sent off to the Christian Boys College. By the time I was 12 years old, my rebellious nature had surfaced, and after several episodes of running away and other bad behaviour I was sent off to Brisbane to what we then called a 'home for deliquent girls' run by The Good Shepherd nuns, where because of my tender age I was allowed, regulated actually, to continue my schooling. By the time I left, I was nearly 14, the official school-leaving age in those days, and I had very little schooling after that, so that today I can say, "yes, well, I left school at age 14, and that was reform school!". Many turbulent years were to follow, and it wasn't until I reached my early twenties and found myself living in New Zealand, with one failed marriage and my small toddler son, when I began to realise there was more to me than 'that' - I discovered I had brains and ability and luckily was guided by some very wonderful people whose influence was to put me on a path that has taken me through a wonderful and fulfilling career. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 8:07 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Where I Live
Why you live where you live/or have lived: Today write of where you life – or have lived in the past.How did you come there? Was it chance? Design?How does the neighborhood affect it?Tell us about the house?Were you happy there?How did the house affect what you did?Neighbours?Try and use some descriptive words.Anything else about where you live/lived. I did a bit of a count-up, since I was 21 and moved with my very young son to New Zealand, I have lived in a total of 12 different dwellings. Of these, six were minor moves into rented properties, the other six are houses I have owned, or co-owned. The first of these was a bungalow style, 3 bed-room house in a suburban street in Auckland. A typical what they call 'first-home buyers' investment. The 2nd house we moved into about 8 years later is probably still the place I have the fondest memories of - it was on the crest of a hill, and the views were spectacular, on the one side the lights across Auckland to the ocean, and in the other direction across vineyards in the valley below and the rainforest mountains of Titirangi. When I first moved back to Australia, we spent several months living in a caravan on an almond orchard, the property of my 'new' husband's sister. The accomodation left a bit to be desired, but living in the rolling hills of Willunga, surrounded by almond blossom and the beautiful South Australian beaches was wonderful, and a memory that will stay with me. We bought our own place, in the foothills of Adelaide, a walk away from natural conservation parks, and lived happily there until the notorious Adelaide soil did it's damage and the house began to fall down around us. We patched, and sold, and moved closer to the City, this time into a very large double-fronted sandstone villa, with high ceilings and stained glass door panels. During the time we lived there, we were both working very hard and long hours, tending to our careers, and the biggest benefit we got out of the house was it's quick trip to work, and the house itself which was great for entertaining, something else we did quite a bit of. The period of my life I call my 'high-roller' lifestyle. (more here for another story!) When I sold that house (I was lucky, the judge gave it to me in the divorce settlement, since it was mostly my money that had bought it in the first place), I bought two cute little townhouses, brand new, also just on the outskirts of the city. This was the first time I was to live alone, and my little unit was so cosy, with just enough room for a small garden outside the back door. Even better, my daughter moved into the 2nd unit, she was at University and working by then, and we had some wonderful times, close enough for comfort, individual space to enjoy. And then, the current move, back to Queensland, ostensibly to help with the care of my mother. She suffered with diabetes, and needed virtually full time care, her mind was who-knows-where, and her partner was having a difficult time. I moved into a small flat attached to their house, and this proved to be totally disastrous, it wasn't very long before he and I fell out badly and I had to get out and away. I sold the Adelaide houses (managing rental properties from so far away was very stressful), and bought the little house I now live in. It is only a small place, I guess cottage, it was 2 bed-room, lounge, dining room, at some stage, but the last owners had added an extra bedroom and a sort of family room. It is less than 500m to the beach, but enough to fit a 4-lane highway in between. We don't have any problem with the highway, we are far enough back not to even know it's there, until we leave the house. The block is a large one, a double, and will take development into duplexes at some time in the future, but at the moment it is my garden, which I can see from my bedroom, the dining room, my computer room, and the kitchen window - so I have spent a lot of time making it a place to sit and contemplate, and enjoy the incredible range of bird and butterfly life that it attracts. I have a friend, Noel, who shares the house with me. He has his own 2 rooms at the front of the house, so we have his and her computer rooms, and a relationship that fits very comfortably, companionship and space to each do our own thing. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 8:05 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
shopping on eBay
I just had a look, to answer your question, and I see that I first joined eBay in October 2005, and I have made 31 purchases in total. Only once did I pay more than I needed to for something and that was because I was too impatient. It's about clever shopping, to get the real bargains, and I have had plenty of those. The thing (my thing) is to not buy on impulse - and to include the cost of any postage/shipping when calculating if you could buy it cheaper from the shops. An example, I fell in love with Talavera pottery when I bought a gift for my 'opposing' mother-in-law for her 60th birthday - how is it we buy the things we really like then give them away as gifts? - but it is very expensive and quite hard to find in the local shops. I found a supplier on eBay who lives in San Francisco, and have bought several pieces, and even with the shipping, which is quite high because it is pottery and reasonably heavy, I paid about a quarter of the price it would have cost me in a shop here. It can also be a bit like using the local classifieds or trading post - I recently bought a solid timber 8-seater outdoor setting, with bench seats, for $300. I had done the research (always before buying), and the closest I could get to what I wanted was around $600... (we are talking 2nd hand of course). With items on sale in your own area, of course there is no shipping, so we restrict our shopping for heavy/household items to 'pick-up Gold Coast'. We got 4 dining room chairs, very good condition, for a total of $80. Same chairs anywhere else $120 EACH.. We don't usually buy, or recommend buying, electronic gear from eBay; but having said that Noel did buy an almost new TV and a new upper range computer, and paid less than a third of the price he would have paid elsewhere. So, it's about looking for bargains, for things you would have bought anyway, doing your research thoroughly before bidding, and taking note of the sellers 'reputation'. It's also quite good fun, especially if you like to go to auctions. The thrill is still there, it can get quite exciting in the last few minutes, to see if you are going to 'win' the item with your highest bid, the trick of course is not to be tempted to bid higher just for the sake of winning, sometimes people get carried away with the moment and then it's the seller who wins. wow - see, I can write half a novel on anything... Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 8:04 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Influence
So for today’s writing we will think about a relative or friend who had a significant impact on your life. How, why, when, who. Were you a child? Adult? Looking back do you think that they meant what was said/done?I can list very quickly the people who have most influenced the paths my life has taken. I don't know if this is a good thing, or a bad thing - I am mostly a Taurus by birth, and can be very bull-headed when I think I know best, so maybe I've missed being guided by some of the people I should have listened to? First up, is my mother. Some would say her influence might not have been a good thing, she was married more than once, but mostly raised her assortment of kids as a single mother. There is a big story there, and if I do ever write a book, it might well be her story that I write. But she was also a very intelligent woman, in a time when this was not necessarily recognised in women, she worked extremely hard, and did her very best to raise us to think for ourselves and to keep our heads held high. Up until the time she 'lost' it in her late eighties, she was the one I went to when I needed advice, and her advice was always spot on... Next came a woman, an apostlic(spl) nun, who came into my life when I was 12 years old. She seemed old to me at the time, but thinking back she was actually quite a young woman. She took me under her wing, and tried very hard to make me see my 'good' points. She lifted me off a path that could well have become self-destructive, and showed me that, despite my then circumstances, there was potential within me for growth and achievement. Then there was my grand-mother-in-law. An old Italian lady, who we all called Nona, my husband's father's mother. She was well into her sixties when we first met, and she would gather the extended family around her for meals on given Sundays. During these meals she would call each of us 'girls' into her kitchen, on the pretense of us helping her with things. And there she would give each of us her wisdom relating to whatever she saw that we needed. If partners were fighting, and she always seemed to know, her advice was always the same, and it's advice I have lived by all of these years, she used to tell us, "You don't need to fight about anything, just agree to whatever 'he' says or wants - then go ahead and do whatever you want, your way - mostly he wont even notice...". How true this has proved to be. I have really only two others, both men, both bosses. Very similar circumstances, at different times in my life. And, strangely enough, now that I think about it, both accountants... Both hired me, at first interview, when perhaps my qualifications (I didn't have any) didn't really match the position I was applying for, I guess I can say they were prepared to give me a chance, and both helped me enormously to grow and learn in the job. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 8:00 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Names
Touchy subject in my family, and although I am tempted to write a discourse here about naming conventions etc., the purpose of this whole exercise is to start to write my autobiography, saving notes towards the book as I go, so airbrushing or sanitising facts would sort of defeat the purpose. My older sister's full name was Roberta Barkley Patterson, mine is Delores Barkley Patterson, my younger sister, Leonie Mary Patterson. Our eldest sister, who was adopted by my mother at age seven, was Desma. There was also an older brother, almost a generation before us, and his name was James William Appleby. Roberta is an obvious choice, our father's name was Robert Barkley, I've always believed that I was named Delores after a Russian character in a book my mother was reading at the time. I don't know where the Leonie came from - the Patterson was our mother's married name at the time. I myself have cycled through a few names over the years, first at age twenty when I married a man called John Craig Bramley, next came Dozzi [married for 16 years], and finally (probably) Major, married at 38 and divorced 13 years later. It was after the last divorce, which was a messy hurtful time, that I reverted, not to my 'maiden' name, but to the Barkley I had been given as a middle name at birth. There is a LOT of my story in here, I think it's going to take me decades to write this book! My daughter's name has a bit of a story attached, my then husband, Anthony Dozzi, had decided we were going to have a boy, and the name he had chosen was Carlos (who knows why?), but she turned out to be a girl, so we changed it to Carlene. Now, although Anthony was born in New Zealand, his family background is Italian, and one of the dearest people I have ever had in my life, was his paternal grandmother Caterina, and from day one she would pronounce the baby's name with the traditional 'a' at the end, so my daughter became Carlena. My son's name is Craig, and his second name is Lee, called after my sister Leonie, and her eldest son is called David Lee (we wanted to give the boys a link)... my daughter's second name is Rachele, after my mother's second name - her full name was Muriel Rachael, but she was always called Rae. My daughter-in-law has named my grand-daughter Angelina, after Angelina Jolie... And the Della? - Well, apart from getting fed up with explaining that the name Delores was pronounced with the emphasis on the first 'e' - not as in Dolores, I once googled my name with some quite surprising results. Maybe it was Lolita mum was reading at the time... Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 9:08 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Autobiographies & Reading
Apart from the fact that I will read almost anything - I believe the expression is widely read - if I am asked to name favourites, or books and authors, I will struggle to do that. Some of course stay with me, but it's usually when someone else mentions a particular book that jogs my memory. And it's not just books, I remember as a child I would read the cereal packets at the breakfast table. I read manuals diligently, from technology books to instructions for putting together furniture and children's toys. Newspapers, magazines, even the monthly newsletter from the Neighbourhood Watch people. There was a burglary in our street last month; somebody entered a neighbour's house through an open door. I have a small library of books, those I couldn't bring myself to get rid of when I had to reduce my collection of things after moving into a much smaller house several years ago. Many of my favourite books are about people, so I thought I'd find more than a few autobiographies left on the bookshelves. Surprisingly, there is only a handful, biographies, yes, but autobiographies, not very many at all. These are the ones that I found: Lance Armstrong, It's Not About the Bike, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2000 Michael Crawford, Parcel Arrived Safely, Tied With String, Random House Fabian Dattner, Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Penguin Books Australia, 1992 Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The Salad Days, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1988 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel Free Press, Simon & Scuster, Inc., 2007 Roberta Sykes, Snake Dreaming, a trilogy: Snake Cradle,1997, Snake Dancing, 1998, Snake Circle, 2000, Allen & Unwin. Tina Turner, I, Tina, Penguin Books, England, 1986 Among the biographies I have is an even more mixed bunch: Gandhi, Frank Sinatra, Bill Gates, Shirley Maclaine, Bill Cosby, Chopper Read, Mary Moody, Hillary Rodham (Clinton), Barbara Holborow. I have only recently joined the local library. I first discovered the joy of book exchange shops at the tender age of 18. I had moved to Brisbane with an older sister and her six children. She was running away from an abusive marriage and I travelled with her and helped her to settle into her new situation. This was a small book exchange shop, with accommodation for the family in the house tacked onto the back. Whenever I have moved, one of the first resources I would search out was the closest book exchange. The system was always the same, second-hand books are marked with a sale price, and the exchange rate was most commonly half of the marked price. Sadly, the book exchanges are closing, no longer able to survive in today's costly commercial environment. Finally, I have taken up a library card, still early days and I have trouble remembering the return-by date, so I can never decide how many books I should get. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:40 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Helping
I reckon I just can't help it (no pun intended), but it is in my nature to 'help'. One of those people who cannot stand by and watch something being done, or not done, as the case may be, if it's something I know how to do... Luckily for me, I have been able to turn this natural ability into a life-time career. I have been employed for the larger part of my working life in service and support. Initially as a consultant within an accounting firm, helping clients with their computerised systems, eventually starting my own business to do the same. This was back in the early days when anything computer was new and scary, and the people I worked with were quite often hesitant and unsure. Others would ask me, "how can you work all day with computers?" I could happily tell them, "No, I don't see it that way, I don't work with computers, I work with people..." Over the last few years I worked as a trainer for customer service personnel. The organisation I work for is quite large, and training is done over several weeks with groups of about 12 to 15 people. Because of the nature of the work the groups are always very mixed, all ages and widely varying abilities. Bringing all of the group to a successful completion of their training was a great source of satisfaction to me. These days, since I have opted for part-time work, I still work for the same company, but now using the skills I used to train, responding to customer queries and complaints, and helping others to identify and resolve problems. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:39 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Gardens
You probably wont be surprised to know that you are not alone. I happen to like geraniums, I once had a beautiful big red geranium, and every time I had to move, I would take cuttings so that I could have the plant at my new place. But very often visitors would look at my geranium and say something like, "oh, I don't like geraniums, never have.." I could never understand it, but your friend was right, it's care that makes them thrive, for every dead flower head you remove, two more come in it's place and you end up with a beautiful bush full of brilliant colour. We recently had a brief stay in a lovely rainforest retreat called Calurla, (you can google the word calurla to see it), and when I admired their plants they gave me some cuttings to take home. I now have a little patch that I call my 'Calurla garden' - there are pinks and reds and they are coming along nicely. About gardens in general, after the fourth time circumstances meant I had to leave a garden I'd spent years in the making, I determined that 'never again' and for the first 3 years I lived here, I steadfastly refused to plant anything - mow the lawn and trim the trees, nothing more. But of course I relented and slowly started marking out the garden space, and planting just a lttle thing here and there. Unlike June, and her NPW (never pass a weed), an idea I really like, I do not manicure my garden, and like to think of it as an 'informal garden'. Everything has to be able to grow in sand, as we are less than 500m from the beach, we have some beautiful big trees around us, fig and mango and avocado, eucalypts and silky oak, so the smaller plants also have to fight for sunlight. My very favourite sites on the internet are the garden sites, of which there are many, and all around the world, gardeners love to take photos, and to share them with us via their blogs, I've spent many happy hours oohing and aahing at some spectacular displays, and gained a lot of knowledge about plants along the way. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:34 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Shopping
Of the various labels I have attracted over the years, shop-aholic would be pretty close to the top of the list. My son remarked to me recently 'Mum, you know you have always been a bit materialistic..' Well, that took me back a bit, and a long train of thought took me to realising that yes, I have always been a gatherer of 'things', a shopper of serious intent. I also clutch and hoard, but that's another part of the story. My first shops? I have recalled three, very early, from primary school years. We mostly walked to school, sometimes met by our mother on the way home, and when this happened we would stop at the small corner shop that served the district with a range of bits and pieces that of course included ice-cream cones. We came to the habit of stopping at the shop anyway, when mum was not with us, because there was always the chance that she had passed by and left money there for us to get an ice-cream. The second is the school 'tuckshop'. Not actually attached to the school, but on a corner very near by - it was the stopping place just as we entered the school grounds, to spend the penny, or even a half-penny on something hard and sweet to give us energy for the morning lessons. And that is where I also developed my life-long appetite for meat pies and pasties, a popular lunchtime treat if we had the money. And the mushy peas that went on top. I still do that, sometimes. We also walked past a green-grocer's shop. There were baskets stacked outside the windows with things too good to resist. But we knew that if we just quickly nipped up a fresh green bean or pea pod, that we would get away with it. Thinking back, of course I realise the the shopkeeper would have been well aware, in fact this particular shopkeeper was to pay a large part in my life as I got older, he was Chinese, and became over the years, a well known figure and trader in the town (note to self to research this man's name). Later, I recall, when I was sixteen years old and the supermarket was an exciting new concept in shopping, I got my picture on the front page of the local newspaper. The story was about the Grand Opening of the first-ever supermarket to be opened in the town. It was a Woolworths store and we 'young people' were hired to be checkout operators. We were trained to within an inch-of-our-lives, and had to wear a uniform with a skirt that was measured to a precise point above the knee. Some years ago I realised that the reason I never had any money was because of my habit of spending it, and I needed to do something about that. So I made a decision just not to go near the shops, which meant that my partner had to take over the household shopping - which worked well, for quite some time I stayed out of the malls and avoided temptation - but for better or worse I have now discovered eBay and online shopping, and I can't resist dropping in now and then, just to buy myself an 'ice-cream'. Labels: booknote, U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:28 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
starting to write...
I have joined a formal course called Autobiography & Journalling. A professional course with a leader, and about 12 other participants. We are just doing introductions this week, but with encouragement to get started writing daily on given topics. Must say it is a very positive beginning and I have been motivated already to make some contributions. Next step is to get this journal sorted into sections so that I can store the bits that I write as I go, and not leave them mixed in with blog journal postings. If, as I hope this journey is successful and I remain motivated, I am sure the time will come when I will have enough material to consider a book format. I can already see that most of what I write now will be in the format of a memoir (at least I think that's what they are) and over time I will be adding as new thoughts occur. This is good, exactly what I need, some structure and help in how to get started. memoir
memoirist, noun. memoirism,
noun.
/'memwah/
noun
1. (plural) records of facts or events in connection with a particular subject, historical period, etc., as known to the writer or gathered from special sources.
2. (plural) records of one's own life and experiences.
3. Refer to biography.
4. (plural) a collection of reports made to a scientific or other learned society.
Labels: Journal
posted at: 6:23 PM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
Introduction to autobiography class
My name says 'Delores' but I am mostly called Della, except in official communications, and by my mother, well, when she was still alive, that is, and when she really wanted to get my attention. I will be 63 years old next month, and currently live on the Gold Coast in beautiful sunny Queensland. I am only semi-retired, working 3 days a week now. I work in customer service, for a large telecommunications company, primarily internet and mobile phone support.
I have 2 grown children, my daughter lives in Adelaide and my son lives here on the Gold Coast with his wife and daughter who turns 4 this month. Both of them work, and love to go surfing together, so I count myself lucky to get to baby-sit for an hour or so a couple of times a week.
My reason for taking this course is because I have toyed with the idea of writing my story, I don't doubt I have a story, I believe everybody does... but I don't know where to start... I think this will teach me, in fact I am already excited, you know, I could write a whole chapter about my experiences with 'shopping' - I'll try not to though, or I'll be here for a week!
I am also looking forward to meeting everybody and sharing experiences... Labels: U3Acoursework
posted at: 7:45 AM
posted by: DellaB
[Show Link Address]
|
My Other Places
Feeds
ATOM feed
Bloglines
Google Reader
Links
|
